A Winter Soldier and A Lost Cause

Chapter 14 - Operation Indigo

I led in Bucky's arms for over an hour. We stole kisses in between stories of his life in the 40s and the few memories I had of life before the organisation. I told him about my little brother, Lucas, who died from pneumonia about a month before I was sold to the organisation. I'd never told a soul about him but it felt right to tell Bucky. Bucky told me about saving Steve from back alley fights and his sister Rebecca who he was separated from after their parents died. It was a true bonding moment for us, to have both lost a sibling. Bucky had gained a brother in Steve which I envied but he still understood my pain. We didn't talk about our lives as assassins, we didn't have to. We both knew the people each other had been but that didn't matter anymore. Together we were starting a new chapter and that was all that mattered.

I shivered from the night's breeze and pulled the blanket up further over my shoulder.

"We should head back before you freeze doll" Bucky said pulling me closer to him.

"Nope. I'm staying here forever"

"You're so stubborn"

"Not stubborn, just strongwilled" I said giving him a wink.

Bucky chuckled. "We can come back another time but I'm not really on board with my girlfriend getting hypothermia"

I smiled gidily looking up at him.

"What?" Bucky asked me.

"I like how that sounds, 'my girlfriend'. It has a nice ring to it boyfriend"

"I couldn't agree more" and he kissed me.

Eventually even I couldn't deny that it was too cold to stay out so we got dressed, put everything into the picnic basket and made our way back to the Avenger tower.

We got back about an hour later to find everyone sat in the lounge looking devastated. Some were crying, others just stared into blank space.

"Everything ok guys?". Everyone's heads turned to us and their shock and relief were evident. Nat and Wanda ran and hugged me as Steve hugged Bucky.

"Can someone please explain to us what's going on?" I asked glancing at Bucky who looked just as confused as me.

Tony stood, "Friday, please bring up the communcation we received on the screen"

The TV flickered and filled with a note that read:

'Operation Indigo to terminate y/f/n y/l/n, also known as Agent 57, is complete. Threat posed by accompanying male determined to be James Buchanan Barnes, also known as the Winter Soldier, has also been removed. Stage 2 is complete. 62/89'

Nat turned to me, "We got that 2 hours after you'd left and we tried calling Bucky but you didn't pick up. We even tried scanning the city for you both with Tony's drones but when we found nothing... we figured the note was real and that you were really gone"

"Who sent it to you?" I didn't move my eyes from the screen, reading it over and over again.

"No one. I intercepted it. From the Organisation you came from y/n" Tony replied.

My fear spiked as he said it, "How they hell do you have access to their servers?! I was sent to kill a man who tried that a few years ago"

"I'm very good at what I do y/n." Tony's eyes then narrowed as he looked at Bucky, "You shouldn't have taken her so far away from the city, she's vulnerable and you could have gotten her killed! You should have answered your damn phone!"

My temper flared as I saw how guilty and angry Tony had made Bucky feel and I answered before anyone else could, "Excuse me?! Who the hell do you think you are?! James didn't do anything wrong and that note is clearly fake so cut overprotective Dad act and shut the hell up unless the next words you say are an apology to my boyfriend."