Radioactive: I Will Always Return

6~ People Change

A/N: Hey all! I apologise for the long wait for an update. My last year of high school has just started, and so even though I've only been back for two days I am pretty booked up with work and other stuff. So I will give you one last update (for the next little while) s I don't leave you all hanging on the end of the previous chapter. Hope you enjoy it, and I will update when I have the next chance! :)

Thanks,

J xxx

_____________________________

*Steve's P.O.V*

That conversation was somewhat successful. Went better than I thought it would, but it definitely told me that she is just as scared as I am. However, I noticed how she seems a lot more mature. Sure, Jodie seems a bit more soft spoken than I remember, but apart from that she carried herself with a confidence I do not remember much of, she is not afraid to speak her thought, and she is willing to fight back. But she has definitely matured from the young woman I knew her to be, and I'm not sure if I am quite liking it just at the moment... It might take me awhile to get used to this new Jodie.

But at least half of my thoughts have been put to rest. Although, this just makes me think of Bucky. I thought he was dead, but he's actually alive and working for HYDRA. We were always close, right from when we were kids, and he has always looked out for me, even when I didn't need him to. I stuffed my hands in the pockets of my jeans and faces the abandoned viaduct again as a memory came to mind. It was after my mother's funeral, outside my apartment, and Bucky was there with me.

*FLASHBACK*

The sound of the church bell was still ringing in my ears, but I blocked it out as I climbed the thin, rickety stairs to my apartment. Bucky trailed behind me, and I could tell he was trying to cheer me up.

"We looked for you, after," he told me. "My folks wanted to give you a ride to the cemetery."

"I know, I'm sorry. I just kind of wanted to be alone."

He was silent for a moment as we focused on climbing the stairs and not falling over; there stairs are not the nicest. "How was it?"

"It was okay. She's next to Dad." That thought made me happy, for I know it is what she would've wanted.

As we approached my door, Bucky was silent for a moment. "I was gonna ask -"

"I know what you're gonna say, Buck. I just..." I trailed off, searching for my apartment key in my jacket pocket, and then the pockets of my pants. Darn it! Where did I put it?

"We can put the couch cushions on the floor like when we were kids," Bucky grinned, still trying to both convince me and cheer me up. Deep down, I knew he was concerned and was just looking out for me. "It'll be fun. All you gotta do is shine my shoes, maybe take out the trap." I saw him push away a brick on the round with his foot, revealing the spare key to my apartment. He handed it to me with a small smile. "Come one."

I took it from him, glancing away briefly. "Thank you, Buck," I told him, and I meant it, "but I can get by on my own."

"The thing it, you don't have to." He placed a hand on my shoulder and smiled at me, a classic Bucky smile. "I'm with you to the end of the line, pal."

I sighed quietly, and smiled back at him."

*END OF FLASHBACK*

Geez, where have those years gone?

"He's gonna be there, you know."

I opened my eyes, and saw from the corner of my vision that Sam was walking towards me. "I know." Instinctively I knew he was referring to Bucky. Who else?

"Look, whoever he used to be and guy he is now, I don't think he's the kind you save. He's the kind you stop."

"I don't know if I can do that," I answered after a moment.

"Well, he mit not give you a choice. He doesn't know you."

"He will." THere was a brief silence before I smiled. "It's funny, I once thought that about Jodie, when I first met her. She was wild, violent, didn't like to be kept in a cage or ordered around. I thought it would be impossible to work with her, let alone talk to her. But once I was past the barrier of meeting her officially, and we actually held a conversation... things got better, and she no longer tried to knock me out whenever I snuck up on her ot entered the room."

Sam looked at me curiously. "You really care about her." He actually sounded genuinely surprised, as if it were impossible for us to think about this sort of thing with the situation we're in at the moment.

I nodded. "I have for a long time, and after New York I thought I would never see her again."

"So... you two were a thing?"

I shrugged. " I guess. I didn't really get a chance to ask her on a date because of what happened."

"She died."

"Or did she? She said she was in a coma for month, and then she lived undercover for the last six months. Fury's been hiding her right under our noses and I didn't know."

Sam sighed. "If I had you a photo of her, when I was trying to set you two up together... would things have been different?"

I sighed. "I don't know. She might've run again; she's good at that."

"Then why her? How do you know she is gonna come back to you?"

That took me longer to answer, for even I am not sure. But there was a small part of me that felt like I did still know her, even after six months of believing she was dead. And what she'd just told me confirmed that. "Because when you love someone... you don't give up on them."

And I'm not just talking about Jodie. There's Bucky as well; he's like my brother, my best friend. I'm not willing to write him off as a helpless case just yet.

My answer seemed to surprise Sam but he merely nodded and looked out over the viaduct. I looked up at the sky and suddenly felt something stir in my gut, like an internal feeling returning from when I'd been at war - that gut instinct about the time being right.

"Gear up," I told him. "It's time."

I began walking back to the door and heard him ask, "You gonna wear that?"

"No." I looked at him over my shoulder. "If you're gonna fight a war, you got to wear a uniform."

I saw him frown, but he followed me back inside anyway. It was then we hurried to the others and I sought out the one person I knew I could count on. "Jodie!" She looked up as we approached, and she looked a bit confused but ran to meet us, her blue-grey eyes questioning. I stopped in front of her and smiled slightly. "Do you still have all your skills from living on the streets?"

Her eyes narrowed slightly, but more in curiosity than suspicion. "Perhaps. Why do you ask?"

My smile grew a bit bigger. "Do you think you could get something for me?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Get something for you, meaning with no intention of giving it back, or someplace that would be considered stealing?"

My smile turned a bit sheepish, and she smirked. "All of the above, I guess."

Her eyes lit up. "I thought you never ask. Where have you got in mind, and what do you need?"