Taming The Ghost

Chapter 21

London Heathrow was just as stressful as Newark, if not even more so, because not only did we have to get Bucky through without causing a scene, but we also had an hours layover to deal with. The longer we stayed in one place, the more likely it was that someone would recognise Bucky. It also made it much easier for Stark to track us; the place was covered in CCTV cameras and there was security wandering around everywhere; not to mention all of the people on their phones, skyping loved ones or making buisness calls. I was almost certain we were gonners, but as soon as we set foot on our connecting flight, my hopes rose once more. One step closer to freedom and one step furter from the Land of the Free.

When we landed in Bucharest, I realised I hadn't quite thought this plan all the way through.

"Now we just have to find somewhere to stay. Know anywhere that will take in ex-assassins and rogue Avengers trainees?" I whispered to Bucky as we kept our hats low and waited for our luggage to come around the carousel.

"Actually, I do." he leaned in to me, "When Hydra stationed me here, they gave me a key to an apartment just outside the town centre to use as base," he said, rumaging around in his pocket, "and I never gave it back." I looked up from under the brim of my hat and grinned at him

"You sly fox, you." I said, giggling

"Well they didn't need it for anything, they all lived in Russia, some of them, believe it or not, had families. They didn't need the holiday, but I figured I might someday." I spotted our bags coming round the conveyor belt and grabbed them. Handing Bucky his, we walked into the airport crowd and out into the streets of Romania's capital. "C'mon, this way." Bucky said, holding onto my jacket arm with his thumb and two forefingers and tugging slightly, guiding me in the direction of what would be our new home for as long as we could stay there. The building wasn't exactly a luxury resort, but it'd do for it's intended purpose.

Bucky unlocked the front door and we began the climb up the stairs. One thing I did notice is that none of the doors had numbers on them, only a peep hole. As I was observing this, I didn't notice that the stairs we were climbing were incredibly uneven, some even missing chunks of concrete from the lip of the step. Given that I wasn't looking where I was going, too busy observing my eye-level surroundings, it was all too easy for me to trip and fall on said uneven stairs, and that's exactly what happened. My ankle buckled underneath me and I cried out in pain. I may be some sort of super person but if I fall at the wrong angle, I'm just like everybody else. Upon hearing my cry, Bucky whipped his head around and rushed back a couple of steps to where I was now sat in agony.

"Laura! You ok? What happened?" he asked, coming down to my level and giving me a visual check over just to be sure I wasn't bleeding.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just wasn't looking where I was going. It was my own fault really. I was too busy realising these doors don't have numbers to notice the missing chunk in the step." I said, breath staggered, nodding to the side of me where the step in question sat. Bucky took both my hands, one in each of his, and helped me up.

"Yeah, Hydra bought this entire building back in the day, just for missions. They didn't see the need for numbers; it's not like we were getting any letters." he explained as I got back to a standing position, my injured ankle hovering off the ground slightly to keep the pressure off, "Can you walk?" I tried gently placing my foot on the step we were on but it stung, causing me to hiss and recoil it. "I'll take that as a no." said Bucky, putting his right arm around my back and under my own arm, ready to take my weight as I hopped up the stairs.

After a few steps, he got impatient. "Alright, this is going to take forever. We're gonna get caught before you climb these stairs like that." He put his metal arm under my legs and kept his real arm behind my back, swinging me up to cradle me in his arms as he continued up the stairs at a much faster pace now that he didn't have the hinderance of me hopping.

Once we, or rather, Bucky, reached the top of the stairs, he said "Hold onto me with both hands for a second, I need to let go of your back and grab the key from my pocket." I put my right arm around the left side of his neck to meet my left and tightened my core to keep myself up while Bucky supported my legs with his left arm, which I'm sure wasn't difficult, and grabbed the keys with his right. Once unlocked, he pushed the handle and let the door swing open. "Welcome to our humble abode, m'lady." he chuckled as he carried me over the threshold, kicking the door closed behind him and returning his hand to my back. "What do you think?" he asked as we arrived in the main living area.

"Well," I began, looking around the space, "it's not much, but it's home enough for now."