Winter (A Bucky Barnes recovery story)

6. S.H.I.E.L.D.

They got Bucky into the complex across the street and he'd been living there for almost two weeks with constant visits from Steve and Natasha. He was though he wouldn't admit it happy to be there but there was one neighbor he was extremely weary of. His next door neighbor would often be in the same places as Bucky showing up minutes after.

Bucky knew that he was being followed. But he remained silent, curious as to why. Steve invited him and Natasha over to his house for dinner, most likely an attempt to get Bucky out of his house. So Bucky walked quietly over to Steve's house only to see his neighbor sitting on the steps. He went to go up the steps and the man stood as to follow him.

He went back down the steps and the man sat down. Bucky grabs the man by his shirt and pulls him into the alley.

"Why are you following me." He hisses pinning him against the wall.

"I'm S.H.I.E.L.D. I'm supposed to be your guard." He replies clawing at Bucky's hand.

"Why should I believe you." He growls, lifting him higher.

"Please. I work for Fury." He coughs.

"You tell Fury I don't want his 'protection'" he let's go and the man holds his throat coughing. Bucky turns to leave.

"Hey." He calls standing right behind Bucky. Bucky turns around and stumbles back as the agent punches him, he rubs his jaw and tries to get his balance. The agent punches again and then knees him. Bucky doubles over coughing, "so maybe I don't work for S.H.I.E.L.D." He says.

Bucky throws a punch and hits him square in the jaw. "Then... you're Hydra-" he breaks off coughing, "Am I right?"

"Yes and no. I was Hydra, but now I'm S.H.I.E.L.D. I just don't like you and old habits are hard to break." he knees. Bucky again and watches as he falls forward. He attempts to stand only to get pushed into the dirt again.

"You're quite a disappointment. I'd thought there'd be more of a challenge, Winter Soldier."

Bucky stands up rage burning in his eyes, he punches him with a calculated hit directly in the face. Hearing his nose break under the pressure of the punch. The metal helping quite a lot as well. He pulls back and delivers multiple punches, the man falls back and scrambles away only blocking himself in. "You stay away from me." Bucky hisses, the guy nods and scrambles away.

Bucky wipes the blood off his lip, then walks into the complex and goes up to Steve's door. He knocks and Steve answers the door. He takes one look before exclaiming, "What happened!?" Natasha appears beside him looking worried.

"Nothing it's fine." He brushes their questions off.

"James it is not fine. Your hurt, get in here." Natasha instructs Bucky dragging him inside. He huffs a response. She pushes him down onto the couch and goes into the bathroom.

"I'm fine." He grumbles.

"What happened Bucky?" Steve asks, "We want to help you but we can't do that if you don't tell us what's wrong."

Bucky huffs and leans back against the couch, closing his eyes. Natasha comes back in. "Look at me." She instructs him, he looks up at her slowly making himself kind of dizzy, he screws his eyes shut. "Are you okay?" she looks at him concerned.

"Fine." he mumbles, she cups her hand on his chin and holds him still while she cleans up the scrapes on his face. "Who did this to you?"

"No one" he mutters, she looks at him frustratedly.

"You're going to have us believe you did this to yourself." Steve says in disbelief.

"If you stop asking questions." He replies.

Natasha give him a death glare and sternly says "James you tell us who did this to you right now."

He sighs in defeat. "My next door neighbor who apparently worked for Hydra but now works for S.H.I.E.L.D. And he doesn't like me and says old habits are hard to break." The words just spill out and he realizes how good it feels to tell someone.

Natasha cleans up the rest of his cuts and he gives her a small sad smile.

"Oh, James." she says shaking her head, he can taste blood in his mouth an he prods his lip with his tongue to reveal a nice split.

"Come on Buck." Steve says offering him a hand. Bucky tiredly accepts and allows Steve to lead him into the bathroom, he leans over the sink and spits about the blood he was trying not to swallow. Steve rubs his back soothingly. Bucky straightens up again and looks at Steve. "You ready to go eat?" Steve asks him, he nods quietly and follows Steve into the kitchen.

Natasha looks at him with a sad half smile. They eat in silence, Steve cleans up the plates and they move into the living room. "You want to stay here tonight Buck?" Steve asks walking into the living room. He nods already half asleep. "What about you Nat?" He asks quietly, grabbing a couple blankets from the closet. She nods, and wraps the blankets around Bucky who had fallen asleep with his head on her shoulder.

"Night Steve." she calls softly as he walks into his bedroom. She hears his quiet response, and relaxes. About halfway through the night Bucky stirs a memory gripping him. He starts muttering things in Russian, and pulls away from her.

She feels Bucky move away from her and his fevered Russian words wake her. "James?" she asks softly.

He whimpers then says, "Don't hurt me. I'm sorry. I don't know how," he cringes as if being hit. "I'm sorry." He whimpers.

"James, shh hush. It's okay. It's okay." She whispers softly, she shakes him lightly. He cringes repeatedly and his soft cries soon become screams of agony. Steve comes in alarmed, then spots the two of them.

"He's having a nightmare and I can't wake him." Natasha says, Steve nods and walks over and their combined efforts wake Bucky. He looks around with wide eyes full of fear, pain and sadness.

"Natalia" he whispers in Russian. She nods and brushes his hair out of his face.

"It's okay James. Your safe, were here. You'll be okay." She whispers and strokes his face lightly. He looks at her quietly and nods jerkily. Steve stands and walks into the kitchen grabbing a glass of water and bringing it back in for Bucky. Bucky shakes his head as Steve offers the glass.

Steve puts the glass down on the table. "Do you want to tell me about your nightmare?" Natasha asks in English, as an attempt to get him to switch back. He looks at her quietly. "Please, James."

He takes a shaky breath and nods, he continues in Russian. "It was, t-the first time they had me. They... it hurt." his breath catches.

"Shh. It's okay James. I you don't have to continue. You can stop if you want." She watches as he shakes his head then takes a deep breath and continues.

"They... they gave me things. All sorts of tests... There was so many injections." He whimpers, she pulls him into a hug and just soothes him. Steve looks at her and mouths what's he saying?

She looks at him and mouths back I'll tell you later. He nods and sits back. Bucky starts to cry softly, He buries his face into the crook of Natasha's neck not wanting them to see. She continues to rub his back until he pulls away. The silence that had settled is broken as Steve asks "Do you want breakfast?"

Bucky shakes his head.

"You sure? You didn't eat a whole lot last night." Bucky just nods, Steve sighs then looks at Natasha. "You?"

"Sure." She says.

Steve makes eggs then hands a plate to Natasha and then sets one on the table for Bucky just in case. They eat in silence.

A/N: I am so happy I decided to write and post this. I am going to

continue with daily updates and I want to thank you all. I've had this posted for four days and I have 48 reads that's more than my original story which I posted in May and only has 45 views. 48 reads is a massive accomplishment for me and I want to thank all my readers. Please comment, vote, share your opinions. How am I doing on portraying the characters? Thanks again.

Love, spideymanandloki