Captain America and Bucky Barnes Imagines

46. STEVE: Stalked Pt. 2

Steve shakes his head. "He shouldn't have let her go. None of you—you should've stopped her." Steve pushes past Nat to stomp down the hall.

"What were we supposed to do, Steve? She's a grown ass woman. She can do whatever she wants—there was no keeping her." Steve's forced to stop as Nat's firm grip is suffocating his forearm. He looks down at her with hard blue eyes. She only sighs, "She's scared, Steve, and she misses her old life. She wanted to have some normal fun. Tony may have let her go, but it was only because she would've gone with or without his approval."

Begrudgingly Steve brings himself to nod. He knows Nat's right, but he loathes the idea of you being out there in the world with that stalker still looking for you.

Nat's hazel eyes closely inspect her friend's face. She's known Steve for a long, long time. But never has she known him like this—she's never seen him act like this for anyone before. She sees similarities in his behavior in his love for his brother Bucky, but it's not the same.

"You really love her, don't you?"

Steve's thrown off by the question from Nat's lips. She's watching him closely, waiting to hear what he'll say.

"More than anything."

Nat's soft grin is the sweetest one she's ever mustered. "You need to tell her."

Steve takes a small step away. "No, I can't."

"Don't be coy, Rogers. Man-up and tell her." Nat rolls her eyes with a loud laugh. "She probably already knows."

Steve sighs, thinking back to how you'd curled up next to him in his bed that night last week—how he'd waken up with your arms wrapped around his waist and your legs tangled with his. And how after that night you'd only seen him a few times here and there or across the dinner table: how his eyes had lingered a little too long on your perfect face and you never even noticed, how he always brought himself right outside your door to knock—ready to go in and tell you everything—before turning around and walking away.

"No, she doesn't." Steve shakes his head. "And she can't—not now. That's not what's important now."

"Yeah, maybe you're right." Nat shrugs. "But eventually..."

Steve chuckles. "Yeah, Nat. I'll tell her eventually," he caves in and agrees. From the back pocket of his tight jeans he hears his phone ringing. It's an obnoxious song that Tony set for his ringtone on everyone's devices and Steve's not patient enough to get rid of it. Grunting, the blond digs out the cell and brings it to his ear. "Yeah?"

"I know who it is."

By Steve's face and the snippet of Tony's tone she can vaguely hear, Nat knows what this is about. She tears Steve's phone out of his hands and puts it on speaker. "What'd you find, Stark?"

"Doesn't matter what I found, all that matters is that we need to send out a team to bring Y/N home right now."

Steve doesn't waste a moment. He starts jogging down the hall in the direction they first came, shouting out for Bucky to come. Bucky, already dressed in his pajamas for a nap, pokes his head out his bedroom door with a confused look on his face.

"Get your ass in gear, Barnes!" Nat calls at him.

"Oh—okay." He disappears while the two others keep running for the stairs.

"Drop the coordinates to the jet." Steve speaks dry but stern into the phone receiver. "We'll take off in five."

"I shouldn't have let her go. I should've told her to stay...."

"Yeah, you shouldn't've," Steve snaps. Nat glares at him and he begrudgingly adds, "But that's irrelevant now. We'll find her. Just tell us what you know."