Honesty ♧ Bucky Barnes

An Unexpected Ally

"You little-" she began, and Private Goodwinson, held up his hands in surrender, not happy with the confrontation.

"Listen. I'm sorry-"

"SORRY?!" Erin yelled, somehow seeming to exude more power than Goodwinson, despite the fact that she was sat on a blood-covered mattress and he was stood up to his full height. He winced at her incredulous tone.

"You're sorry?! If standing up right now wouldn't cause me to lose consciousness I would come over there and punch you in the fucking nose!"

He rolled his eyes at her comment and walked towards her slowly as if approaching a wounded animal.

"Fucking traitor," Erin spat out but he continued nonetheless, walking up to the wooden chair, the blood on it now long dried, and taking a seat on it before crossing his legs over each other. He looked so young, Erin thought, barely out of his teens. It wasn't fair that he had been brought into this life, a life of blood and torture and secrets and espionage.

"Tell them what they want to know, Erin." His voice was surprisingly soft.

She rolled her eyes at him.

"And what? Have one of the most powerful formulas in the world at the hands of a guy who takes his pleasure in turning somebody into a human voodoo doll?" She gestured to the patchwork of cuts and stab wounds on her bare legs. One of the scabs had opened, and was oozing red fluid.

Goodwinson averted his eyes, unable to look at them.

"Please, Erin."

For once, Erin didn't have a sarcastic quip. The tone of Goodwinson's voice was something that she had never heard before. He was begging her. He was desperate.

"They're never going to stop, you know. You don't deserve this." He continued. His eyes found hers, blue on brown, and she could see his supposed sincerity.

"You're bloody right I don't" She replied, more of a mutter. Why did James Goodwinson suddenly care so much about her well-being? He was the one who caused her to be brought in here in the first place.

"Erin. You'll die here."

"Why the fuck do you care, James?"

His reaction was instant. At the sound of his first name, his eyes snapped up in shock, wide and blue. His whole body language was tense, his scrunched shoulders and the way that his thumb was tapping quickly on his thigh.

"I can't help but feel responsible-"

"You are responsible-"

"I don't want you to get hurt, Erin."

She stopped, shocked. James' face was red, the blush highlighting his cheekbones, his eyes were looking everywhere but at Erin.

"And I don't want to see you die here." he continued.

Well. That was unexpected.

She pushed herself up from her sitting position, wincing and muttering out a low curse at the pain. James stood up in shock.

"No. No don't move. You'll hurt yourself..." He moved forwards to catch her slightly as she stumbled, his hands grabbing hold of her upper arms. His skin was warm in comparison to hers.

"It's a bit fucking late for that."

He let out a small chuckle at that, and Erin felt the corner of her mouth lift up into a smile. Despite the fact that he was a traitor and a mole, he had worked with her at S.H.I.E.L.D. The familiarity was nice. He half-helped half-carried her to the chair, where he sat her down, and kneeled down in front of her. He wasn't unattractive, she noticed. He had a nice face. Friendly.

"Tell them what they want, Erin. Please."

He was flat out begging her now.

"You know I can't do that," she replied in earnest, still slightly in shock from what was happening, "How many people are going to get hurt if Pine can make anyone tell the truth?"

He broke eye contact with her, looking down at his hands, which he was anxiously wringing together. He knew that she was right. Standing up, Goodwinson placed a hand on Erin's shoulder, and unlike she had with Pine, she didn't shake him off. Instead, she looked up at him, still confused, still slightly dazed.

"I need to go," He said, looking at his watch, "They only sent me in here to check you were still breathing..."

She raised her eyebrows in surprise. Everything that was happening right now was too much, and maybe if she'd had a good night's sleep and enough to eat, she would be able to understand it. As she was, dehydrated, and down roughly a pint of blood, her sluggish mind was taking longer than usual to catch up.

"Well that was nice of them..."

He shook his head at her, and muttered, "Be careful, Jefferson," before removing his hand and walking around her to the door. Erin heard the distinct metal clang of it opening and closing, and was once again left on her own in the silence of the room.

What in the fuck had just happened? Was she hallucinating again?

It made no sense, she had only spoken to the guy on one or two occasions, certainly not enough for him to have developed any feelings towards her, yet what she had seen in his eyes, the desperation. He couldn't have faked that.

She let out a long breath that she didn't know she'd been holding in.

"Shitting hell, Jefferson. What have you gotten yourself into?"

OKAY please review because I want to know what you guys thought of that chapter WTF IS GOING ON??? Nobody knows!!!! I don't even know and I'm fucking writing this thing!!!

Bucky will appear next chapter (with muchos heroics) I promise x