Don't Hide | Bucky Barnes |

19

"And you're that someone? No one knows you, you have no pull anywhere. No one would listen to you" Nick argues, his tone harsher than before. I feel a pang of hurt slice through my heart.

"Nick, I'm tired of running and hiding. Barnes needs my help and I'm not just going to leave him to fend for himself" I fight gently, not wanting to raise my voice. I hear him laugh humorlessly.

"You don't get it, do you?" He asks rhetorically, his tone biting, "You can't help him. You can't intervene here, I won't support it. If this all blows over, then we can continue with this mission"

My mouth opens slightly in complete shock. I can't help but think back to Bucky, the lingering pain that haunts his eyes in a way that makes my stomach twist. I don't know when, but somewhere along the way of getting to know him, this mission began to not sit right with me.

"I don't think I can support this mission anymore Nick!" I suddenly exclaim, my chest tightening and flooding with a sudden burning anger, "Bucky doesn't need another fight, he needs peace, he needs a chance to heal!"

"This world is burning enough, Dawn, we don't have time to let a trained super soldier out of a fight because he needs to heal" Fury fired back, and for the first time in the years I've known Nick, I disagree.

"That makes us no better than HYDRA!" I fire back, making the man on the other end of the line go silent. My words shocked me too, the second they burst from my mouth a startling realization slammed into me.

Feelings like this burning one inside me that's so adamant about protecting Bucky, they don't come from nothing. I don't spend more time pondering the conundrum of the meaning behind that, though, the very thought of the answer I'd find scares me.

"Nick, look, I know you're just about as stubborn as I am so I won't try and change your mind," I begin, piercing the silence with a much softer tone, "Just know I won't do it, and I won't let you send anyone else to do it either. I did start this mission, though, and I'm going to help him, with or without your permission"

"I can't risk you getting hurt! I can't risk them getting you back" he suddenly barks, his tone charged with emotion. I freeze, realizing that he's admitting that he cares for me. That's something Nick Fury has never done.

"Fury, I-"

"No, listen," he interrupts, his voice much quieter, "I won't sit by while you get yourself killed"

I blow out a sigh, bringing a hand to my forehead. I'm painfully torn between the plea of the closest thing to a father I've had in ten years and the pull of my heart to step out of hiding and help a man who needs it, a man who I don't think anyone has stopped to help his entire life besides Steve Rogers.

"And I won't sit by while he's punished for a crime he didn't commit," I gently object, biting my lip, "I've watched Bucky Barnes be so much more than the stigma of the Winter Soldier and I'll be damned if he's reduced back to it"

Silence crackles over the line yet again.

My cheeks are slightly heated, my heart thundering in my chest. There it is again, that emotion that swells deep within me and crawls up my throat. It's something foreign to me, something I don't yet understand fully.

"Your heart's always been your weakness, but it's also your greatest strength. If I can't stop you, I wish you the best of luck" he finally responds. I smile softly, relieved that he's not furious with me.

"Thanks for everything, Nick" I state, referring not just to the last month, but to every moment in the past six years that he's devoted to seeing me grow.