A Game Of Hide and Seek - A Bucky Barnes Short story

Chapter 9

Another two weeks passed and Natasha found Bucky sitting outside, near the lake, on a bench after another failed mission. Everyone tried to comfort him, but if done at the wrong time he snarled at them, and they gave him his space. He seemed in a somewhat dull mood at the moment and Natasha deemed it a good time to talk to him. Everyone saw how he suffered, but no one really knew what was going on inside him, even Steve struggled in understanding what his best friend was thinking.

"You okay?" Natasha sat next to him.

"No," Bucky gruffly answered, "I haven't been okay since they took her."

"I don't think anyone has," Natasha sadly looked at the lake in front of them.

"If only I had gotten to her," Bucky fiddled with the leather glove in his hands that was worn down by his fingers, "If only I had protected her."

"It is not your fault, Barnes," Natasha looked at him with intensity.

"You know what she last told me?" Bucky's voice cracked, "She said, 'Help me.' I failed her, you know I felt like a failure when I heard her say that? She needed me and I couldn't help her."

"Cassidy wouldn't want you beating yourself up. She needs you to still help her, Yakken is doing God knows what to her and she needs you to save her. You need to be strong for her, as we all do. We all need to get a grip and keep our heads on us if we want to save her. Being closed off and breaking won't do it, I know that now."

"Thanks, Romanoff," Bucky stared at the glove still, "How...How have you handled it?"

"We all have our different ways, I didn't take it well at first. Cassidy is like a sister to me, and I quickly realized that shedding a few tears and yelling wouldn't save her. I needed to stay strong for her, stay focused. Because if you're looking for something while emotional, you'll usually never find it."

"Buck, Nat," Steve's voice came through Natasha's watch, "We have another lead show up on our radar. I know it's two in a day but Cassie needs us, we leave in twenty after briefing."

The duo stood up and walked back to the compound. Hoping as always that this would be the one where Cassidy was.