Better Love || A Bucky Barnes Fanfiction

- Bucharest Chase: The Staircase -

It had been going so well.

The couple had been walking around the city, stopping at the little market stalls that had popped up on one of the streets to examine what each one had on offer.  They had found a fruit stall where Bucky had gotten his plums before moving down to where a little book stall was set up. While a majority of the books were in Romanian, there were a couple that were in English. The pair browsed what was there but in the end didn't buy anything. They had to travel light so the only books that were allowed were Bucky's journals. However, it didn't bother Elena too much to be away from physical books. She had hundreds downloaded on her kindle.

After exploring the stalls they came to stand at the edge of a busy road, waiting for the cars to pass. Elena had been telling Bucky about a past memory with her brothers that had involved her being dared to flip out of a tree (she had done so successfully, her eldest brother not so much) when he suddenly went quiet, staring across the road. Elena tilted her head to the side, looking up at him with furrowed eyebrows.

"Bucky? What is it?" She asked, gazing towards the newspaper stand that Bucky was looking at. She watched as the man there continued staring at Bucky, recognition crossing over his face that made Elena's go pale. She followed Bucky as he crossed the road, hand holding his tightly as the man suddenly bolted from his stand. Picking up the paper that the man had been reading, Bucky and Elena both read the headline. Her Romanian was still new to her, however it was unneeded. The words "WINTER SOLDIER", "BOMBARDMENTUL", and "VIENNA" jumped out at her with enough power to make her exhale sharply. She looked up at Bucky who was already scanning the area.

"We have to go," he said quickly.

Elena wouldn't lie: she was upset that they were having to leave Bucharest. She had fallen in love with the place and she knew that Bucky had too. However, this newspaper had ruined it for them. As they hurried back to the apartment Elena spoke.

"Why was that in the paper? We haven't been to Vienna, we didn't blow anything up-"

"I don't know, but there's a picture and there's people who say that we were," Bucky replied as they entered their building and took the elevator up. Inside the small space and thankfully alone, Bucky turned to Elena, cupping her face with both hands.

"Look, I don't know what's going to happen," he murmured, looking at her with dark eyes. "We haven't had this kind of media attention on us before. They don't have a picture of you, thank God, but the whole world will be on the lookout for me. If you want, you can fly back home. I'll come for you once I shake these people off our trail or once it all dies down, but I'm not going to tell you to go."

Elena smiled sadly, hands wrapping around his tightly.

"Thank you," she said softly. "For giving me a choice. But my decision has already been made. It has been since the hospital. I choose you, Bucky."

She could see in his eyes that he was worried about her choice. He always was when it came to anything to do with him or her or danger. However, he didn't argue. Instead he kissed the top of her head and held her hand as they reached their floor and walked out of the elevator and towards their apartment. As it turns out, though, they weren't the only ones.

He hadn't noticed that they had come in. He was standing in front of the fridge, head bent as he read something that could have only been one of Bucky's journals. From behind, Elena was shocked to see just how big Captain America was in the flesh. It was almost intimidating to see him standing a few feet in front of her, kitted out in his full uniform, the myth and legend living and breathing before her eyes. Beside her she felt Bucky squeeze her hand gently and she reached up, touching his arm comfortingly. She could only imagine what he was going through right now.