Family

Part 12

You sat at a table in a marketplace in Bucharest, Romania. You wore a baseball cap, sunglasses and a black jacket as you sat sipping a coffee and pretending to read the paper. You kept your head turned toward the paper to hide the fact that you were scanning the area for any sign of Bucky.

"Anything?" Steve asked through the earpiece.

"Nothing yet." you replied trying to hide your lips so that no one could see you talking. You looked back down at the picture that was supposed to be Bucky. But the more you looked at it, the more it didn't look like him. You looked back up to scan the area again. That was when you saw him. The big man in a brown jacket, a baseball cap with long brown hair underneath and jeans, buying plums.

"I've got eyes on him." you reported to Steve.

"Where?" he asked.

"In the marketplace, buying groceries like an ordinary person. I like it." You couldn't help the smile that tugged at your lips. Bucky turned around and looked across the street waiting for a break in the traffic so he could cross. You carefully watched him. He kept glancing at the man in the newspaper stand who was staring at him. You smoothly got up from your chair so you wouldn't attract any unwanted attention and began to head to Bucky's apartment.

"Steve, I'm on my way." you told him.

"What? Why?" he asked.

"Because, Bucky's about to look at the newspaper and on the front page is the story about Vienna. Once he sees that he'll be headed home to pack his things and run." you said.

"Alright. I'll be waiting."

You stepped through the door to Bucky's apartment, breathless.

"You okay?" asked Steve, worried that something bad might have happened to you.

"Yeah. I just ran up the stairs." you said. You took a big breath which seemed to help your heart rate go down.

You looked around at the old, run-down apartment. A couch, a small kitchen and bathroom and a mattress with a pillow and a thin blanket for a bed was all that filled the small apartment.

"So this is where he's been staying this whole time?" you asked.

"Apparently." Steve replied.

"Are you sure?"

Steve walked over to a shelf and pulled a notebook off of it. He began to flip through the pages, revealing several pictures and notes of Bucky's memories of the 1940's. You could suddenly feel someone else's presence behind you. You looked back to see Bucky standing there, watching the two of you.

"Heads up guys. German special forces approaching." Sam said over the com.

"Understood." Steve replied.

"Steve." you whispered gently as not to startle Bucky. Steve turned around. Once he realized who it was, he set the notebook down on the counter.

"Do you know us?" Steve asked Bucky.

"You're Steve, and you're Y/N. I read about you at the museum." Bucky replied.

"I know you're nervous, and you have every reason to be, but you're lying." Steve said.

"You know why we're here, Buck." you said.

"I wasn't in Vienna. I don't do that anymore." he answered the question that neither of you had to ask.

"Well, the people who think you did are coming. And they're not planning on taking you alive." Steve said.

"That's smart. Good strategy."

"Bucky." you said, horrified that he would say that.

"Their on the roof, I'm compromised." Sam said through the earpiece.

"You pulled me from the river. Why?" Steve asked.

"I don't know." Bucky replied.

"Yes, you do." Steve retaliated.

"Were you watching me in the marketplace?" your brother asked you.

"I was making sure that you were okay." you said.

"Why?" he asked.

"You know why. And it's a good thing we found you first." Bucky walked over to a shelf on the wall.

"This doesn't have to end in a fight, Buck." Steve said.

"It always ends in a fight." he said and pulled the glove off of his metal hand.