Winter's Revenge [winter soldier//Bucky Barnes AU]

Chapter Eighteen

*Bucky's POV*

I woke up to a brightly lit room, full of sunshine. It was the strangest awakening I've ever had- it's not often I wake up pleasantly.

It's also not often I get a good amount of sleep. And looking at the clock, I got eight hours of it, the most I've slept in seventy years.

I went to move my arm, and I remembered that I was sleeping with Sarah. Her body was entangled in mine, no way to tell where I began and she ended. Our feet were a tangled mess under the thick blanket, and she was lying on her stomach while I laid on my back. Her head was in the crook of my neck and my arm was wrapped carefully around her shoulder, as it was my metal arm she was lying on. It couldn't have been comfortable.

Her eyes were shut and she had a pleasant smile on her face, as if dreaming of something nice. Her curly blonde hair looked gorgeous even after a full night's sleep, and it was splayed out on the pillows beside her, glinting in the sunlight.

Right then I knew that I was so lucky to have met her.

She had saved me from myself, and I now had made it my life mission to protect her until my last breath. With the help of the Avengers, who seemed to think I was now one of them, I was confident that I could protect her better than last time.

She stirred in her sleep, instinctively moving closer to me. I smiled and turned, putting both if my arms around her. Her eyes opened, a goofy grin appearing on her face, and she kissed me. Our lips moved in sync and I shifted us so I was lying on my back, her on my chest. Her blue sweatshirt was twisted across her, but neither she nor I cared.

We came up for air after a while. I steadied her by grabbing her elbows tightly, and she laughed, rolling off of me.

"Bucky Barnes, you are the love of my life." She announced, sitting up with a smile. I laughed and sat up next to her, throwing my arm around her shoulder and she leaned her head on mine.

"Sarah Connors, you are the love of my life and the most beautiful girl I've ever laid eyes on." I replied, and she giggled, kissing me on the cheek.

It was one of those moments that seemed like it'd never end, as we sat there, smiling and laughing and together. It made love seem infinite.

But we were superheroes, and we don't get a long life, and sometimes don't get happiness. All we can do is buy time, and me and Steve have already bought seventy years. There's only so much time you can buy before there's none left for you.

--

--

After we had showered and brushed our teeth, we wandered over to the kitchen to find everyone sitting at a table except Bruce and Tony. Me and Sarah grabbed two trays full of food and sat down with the team. They smiled and greeted us, before getting back to their conversation.

"Crossbones was never seen or heard of when we fought in WWII. The only villain was Red Skull and his various scientists and armies, running around blowing things up. Very few people knew about Crossbones. I guess he was put on ice as well, and now as Hydra has finally compromised S.H.I.E.L.D., he is looking for revenge for his partner and Hydra." Steve told everyone, receiving a few nods. Natasha frowned.

"It's just strange. How did he manage to cover himself up like that? I mean we've all dealt with people who've covered their tracks, but this man doesn't have tracks. It's astounding. How did he manage to do that?!" Natasha exclaimed, ripping her scrambled eggs apart. Steve put his hand over hers, stopping the egg destruction, and Nat calmed down.

"Well either way, he is dangerous. The fact that he is almost untraceable is even more dangerous. But Tony managed to put the tracker on his plane, so at least we have coordinates on him." Peter said, and I nodded in agreement, biting into a hash brown.

"That true. We have a location for his plane, so even if he isn't on the plane, he will be close by. It's at least something, and something is better than nothing." I replied, adding to the conversation. I got a few nods.

"Fury said that he was given a smaller amount of the serum Red Skull was given, before it was perfected and given to Steve. It messed up his face, sorta like Red Skull but worse, and made his cells double in size. That's why he is so huge. The only skill he got from the serum was stunning marksmanship, hence the crossbow." Steve said. I shoved more hash brown in my mouth.

An hour later, we were finished with breakfast. We threw our trays away, walking in different directions, and me and Sarah went to the hospital ward. She wanted to visit the lady that had her skull severed from her spine.

She pulled me down the hallway by my metal arm, leading me through the maze of a base to the hospital ward.

When we got in there, we stopped and looked around for the woman. All the people we saved were lying on beds, some awake and ok, some looking miserable, and some asleep. But all of them were alive, and that in of itself was amazing.

Then Sarah tugged my metal arm again, in the direction of the woman. I hadn't paid much attention to what she had looked like, but I saw now that she was very young, with long, straight brown hair. It was silk-smooth, and her eyes shone a light hazel color. She was able to move her head just slightly, even though she was still in a huge brace, and turned her head as we came near. I gave her a smile.

"Hello," Sarah greeted, grinning. The girl gave a small smile back.

"Hello." She croaked. Her eyes flicked to me.

"Thank you for saving me," she said, and I put my hand over hers in comfort.

"Of course." I replied. Sarah shifted and an awkward silence ensued, before she spoke up.

"What's your name?" Sarah asked, and the women turned to her.

"Kylee."

"I like that name!" Sarah commented, glancing at me, and I laughed.

"Do you have any family?" I asked Kylee, to which she shook her head.

"No, my family was killed." She whispered, looking down as well as she could with the heavy brace on. Sarah grabbed Kylee's other hand, and I tightened my grip on the hand that was in mine.

"It's alright, you have us as friends." I told her, and she frowned, gazing at us.

"You consider us friends? But why?" She asked innocently. I looked at Sarah, and we exchanged glances, before turning back to Kylee.

"Because you are a nice person, who looks like you could use a friend." Sarah replied. I nodded in agreement. Kylee smiled, squeezing our hands back, and her eyelids fluttered closed briefly. The amount of medicine in her must've been making her tired.

"We'll leave you alone so you can sleep, alright?" I said quietly, smiling and standing up. Kylee nodded and closed her eyes all the way, embracing the sleep the drugs brought. I took Sarah's hand and led her to the door, opening it and gesturing for her to go through. She laughed.

"Such a ladies man!" She commented, in an overly exaggerated British accent that made me laugh really hard. She put her hands on her hips and tried to stand all proper, but Sarah couldn't really pull it off, so I just laughed harder until my stomach started to hurt.

"Sarah! Stop!" I gasped between laughs, and she broke down in laughter as well. I heard footsteps down the hall and I tried to be quiet, but then Sarah posed again and I lost it.

Steve came into view, looking completely bewildered. The look on his face was priceless.

"Um, you guys alright in here?" He asked slowly. I exhaled and stood up, clapping him on the back while trying not to laugh.

"We're wonderful, my friend." I told him. He gave me another strange, confused look and walked away.

I turned around, seeing Sarah still in her pose, and a new round of laughter began.

--