When You Were Never Mine: Part 2

Going Home

"Steve, I can't let you leave, come on.  Just go take out your frustration on the gym or something," Tony offered, though he was just as filled with anxious energy.  "As much as I hate to say it, we have to wait.  We have to give him a shot to do this on his own.  If we make one wrong step, we don't know what they'll do. I can't risk that, so we wait."

"Wait for what?  For body bags to be dropped on the front step? How can you possibly be this calm? This isn't like you."

"I gave my word."

"Well, that's just perfect," Steve scoffed, shaking his head in disbelief.  "I try to get you and Buck to get along for months to just be civil to each other, and you can't figure it out.  All of the sudden I'm being kept in the dark and you two are secret pals."

"You're kidding me, right?" Tony began to unravel.  He was barely holding on as it was, and if the Captain was trying to pick a fight, this really wasn't the time.  "Seriously, you're kidding?  We're nowhere near pals, alright?  If your old war buddy wasn't here, this wouldn't be happening.  If the universe wasn't such a dick to make him her soulmate, then I'd be packing for my honeymoon right now.  No, Steve, to hell with your friend.  There's only one person that I care about seeing walk through that door again, and goddammit, it had better be her."

~~~

You kept your eyes closed while Bucky worked on the mess of wires and straps that held you to the chair, trying to free you from an instant death.  With each wire pulled free, just when he saw a glimmer of hope, it would be connected to a trigger and he had to start all over.  He thought that there would at least be some dummy wires to throw him off a little and to toy with him, but no.  They were all live and ready to kill.

"You can't do it, can you?"

"I will," he whispered as he chewed on his lip, deep in thought.  "I will...I just need a minute.  There's a way to disarm it...I'll figure it out."

"Buck, if this goes off-"

"It won't."

"It'll destroy most of Brooklyn."

"I'm not doing this for Brooklyn," he snapped.

You could feel your hands begin to shake, and you knew that he could see them as they were tied at your back.  The sensation in them was beginning to dull to nearly nothing now, so you couldn't stop the tremor if you tried.  Some of it was fear, obviously, but what you didn't know was if the fear was for yourself, or if it was for Bucky.  His movements became frantic again, as if he had found a miracle to work with him, but he slowed again and you began the rollercoaster of emotions all over.  It was only when you felt the warmth of his hand over yours that you realized that you may have been right, and he was coming to agree.

He couldn't do it.

"Bucky...don't do this."

"Alright, you win," he called out to no one in particular, his voice booming throughout his small apartment.  "I can't take her place, and I have no idea which line to cut.  I'm not about to let (Y/N) be terrorized just so you can have the Soldier back, so it's over.  You've got me, so let's get this over with."

Your heart stopped first, at the sound of utter defeat that his voice carried, and the pain of understanding exactly in every detail what he was giving himself up to do.  Bucky was giving himself up to the life he had fought so hard to leave behind, and he was doing it for you.  He released your hand and wouldn't so much as look at you now, as if he were trying to begin the disconnect from the second that his mind was made up.  "Bucky...please, there has to be another way.  If we call Tony-"