Sunflower

87

The moment I parked my bike, I jumped off, seeing Bucky on the porch, his eyes on me. I felt sudden regret for just leaving him in my bed, but what else was I supposed to do?

My eyes looked away from him, to Sharon, Emrys, Scott and Samuel at some crates. Scott and Emrys were carrying the crates into the woods, but I didn’t question them. I made my way Sharon, where she looked at me with light curiosity.

“Do you have the hard drive on you?” I asked her, giving her a light frown.

“Why do you ask?” she asked, before pulling a necklace out from under her shirt.

A small smile filled my lips when I saw the hard drive on the chain. “Because I want to see it.”

She shook her head lightly. “We can’t open it. That’s why we’re returning it to the past, or future, or whatever. It’s coded and not even Bruce could un-code it-”

“But I can,” I said, meeting her shocked eyes. “I know how to open it.”

Behind me, Steve parked his car, where he got out, making Bucky and Sharon frown at the same time. He walked over to Sharon and I, making Bucky stand up on the porch.

“I think she really can,” Steve said, making me look at Sharon again. “She immediately knew what hard drive I was speaking of when I mentioned a silver one.”

Sharon frowned but took the chain off around her neck. “But how?” she asked as she held it in her hands.

I smiled. “Because I shot one to splinters about ten years ago. One I stole from a SHIELD base when I was used as a thief at Hydra. One that looked exactly like that one.”

Sharon looked at me in surprise. “You mean to tell me that this hard drive is over ten years old?” she asked looking at Steve.

I nodded. “Indeed. That hard drive is supposed to contain highly classified files, which include SHIELD bases and agents. That’s why Hydra needed it. All along. And I managed to open it, but just as I wanted to search through the files, well, my house was bombed.”

Steve and Sharon looked at each other, which made Steve nod. Sharon handed the hard drive to me, making me smile. “Just please don’t shoot it into splinters,” she joked, making me chuckle.

“I won’t,” I said, looking at her. Only then I noticed how beautiful she actually looked.

Without waiting another second, I made my way to my lab where I shot down onto a chair. I pulled on my bracelet, before pulling it under through the monitor, switching the screen to my wrist. After taking a deep breath, I pushed the hard drive into a USB slot, making a password tab open on my monitor. I turned around in the chair before meeting Bucky’s eyes.

“James,” I said, standing up.