Rebirth - A Bucky Barnes Fanfiction.

Chapter thirty one - It's not the end of the line.

Amelia began to feel a soft pain in her head. It was bearable, but still there nonetheless. There was also a beeping noise, and it beeped in every sustained second but was covered by a slight ringing noise in her ears. She wasn't sure what was wrong, but she felt irritated and on edge, and her body felt numb all over.

After countless attempts, she tried to open her eyes again. And with success they fluttered open, letting them adjust to the brightness around the room. Her vision was blurry for a second, but when her vision became more focused she saw a familiar face sitting in a chair next to the bed she was lying on.

Bucky.

He looked worried, and immediately leaned forward and propped his elbows on the bed when he saw that she was awake. She looked down at her arm next to her side, and saw that Bucky's hand was intertwined with her fingers. He gave her hand a comforting squeeze. "How do you feel?" He asked softly.

"Where am I?" Amelia uttered huskily, ignoring Bucky's previous question and looking around the bright room with her eyes. Her mind was still hazy, and she tried to remember any recent events but all she could remember was darkness, and then waking up in here.

"You're in the hospital."

"What?" She mumbled with disbelief, looking at Bucky like a sad puppy. Suddenly she remember what happened -- not all of it, because if she was to lay there going over everything what happened then she'd be thinking all day, but she remembered being tortured. She remembered killing Voronkov. "...Oh."

Bucky paused for a short moment. He never wanted to drag Amelia into his mess. He didn't want her to get hurt, he didn't want her to become a murderer like he was. But still he tried his best to reassure her. "You're a hero." He told her, giving her a proud smile, "You saved everyone who might of had the misfortune of meeting Voronkov in the future. You disabled HYDRA's leader... You saved me."

Amelia nodded her head slightly. She didn't like the new label of being a killer, but she knew it was for the best. Voronkov for the biggest killer of them all. Nonetheless, he was human and so was Amelia, so she wasn't sure if she liked the sound of being a hero. 

Bucky frowned slightly. He knew Amelia was hurting but didn't know what to do to help ease her. He opened his mouth to say something again, but suddenly Evan walked into the room, and his eyes lit up when he saw that Amelia was awake.

"Lia!" He said happily, rushing towards the hospital bed she lay on and leaning over to give her a gentle hug. "Bout' time you woke up."

Amelia chuckled but didn't respond with anything else. Evan removed himself from their embrace and gave her a goofy smile, sitting on one of the wooden chairs nearby. "Guess who got a promotion."

Amelia widened her eyes, "What?"

"Yeah." Evan grinned proudly, "They were astounded by my bravery. I'm a frickin' agent! And I'm not the only one..." He trailed on and paused, the edges of his lips pulling up into a small, excited smirk. Bucky shifted uncomfortably, unsure with the whole thing. Amelia looked at both of them with confusion, but then a dark man walked into the room, dressed in black, with an eye patch secured around his left eye. Amelia knew who he was instantly, but couldn't understand why he was here. Last she heard of him he was dead.

And he didn't come alone. Steve Rogers entered the room after him, now looking more happier and cleaner. His hands were dug deep into his leather jacket. "Good to see you're awake." Steve gave her a smile, and Amelia returned it, before looking at Nick Fury, waiting for an explanation.

"Everyone has informed me of the effort you put in to help save one of our best people." He started in his usual deep voice. "When none of my agents could find him, you and your friend here were able to. It took courage to do what you did. And you also managed to take out Voronkov." Fury started confidently. He paused, seeing if she wanted to speak up, but when she didn't he carried on. "So I'm going to give you all an offer that I haven't before. Evan has already accepted it."

"What about Bucky?" She finally asked.

"He's a highly skilled soldier, that's for sure." He began again, glancing at Bucky for a moment before looking back at Amelia. "However he has a past we can not ignore. HYDRA has taken it upon themselves to do all sort of experiments on him, so we will have to do a few tests to ensure he is no longer under their control."

"What do you mean, "under their control"? He's fine! He doesn't need you treating him like a lab rat."

"Amelia..."

"What, Bucky?" She didn't mean to snap. Just that everything they had been through, she would have thought he deserved to be treated better. Bucky looked at her, not really knowing what to say. She could tell he didn't agree with it either. She turned to face Fury again. "I'm afraid I'd have to turn down your request, and so will Bucky. If you don't mind we're going to be getting on with our lives."

"Please understand that it is not that simple." Steve stepped forward, cutting in on the conversation. 

"You agree with this?"

He paused for a moment, before letting out a soft sigh. And again, she could tell that Steve didn't want this to happen to his friend either. But what she couldn't understand was why Bucky was being so quiet about the ordeal. 

"It's more complicated than you're imaging, Miss Williams--"

"I think we should leave her and Bucky alone to talk for awhile," Evan spoke up, cutting Fury off from his sentence. Fury looked annoyed but nodded his head in agreement anyway. Soon enough, Fury, Steve, and Evan left the room, leaving an uncomfortable silence in the air.

"Are you in pain?"

"Don't try and change the subject."

"I'm not talking until you let me know you're feeling okay," Bucky responded with a sharp tone in his voice, narrowing his eyes ever so slightly at her. A small simper found it's way to her lips knowing that Bucky could be so protective. It made her heart flutter.

"I'm fine." She answered, her voice quiet. "I'm a little tired, and my head hurts a little, but other than that?"

"I'll get the nurse--"

"Don't." She quickly grabbed his hand again, stopping him from leaving. "Please, just talk to me. You're letting them experiment on you?"

"No." He shook his head, pausing for a moment. "I don't know. I just... I don't want them to. But maybe it's for the best, you know? I'm trying to figure out what's best for us at the moment. I'm only going to put you in more danger if I stay with you."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Silence. Amelia stared at Bucky impatiently, waiting for him to answer as he looked anywhere but her eyes. 

"You should get some rest."

"Bucky."

He gave her hand a comforting squeeze before plastering a small smile. He reached his other hand up to caress her cheek softly, looking into the beautiful colours of her eyes. It was moments like this that made Amelia weak at the knees and forget everything that was happening around them, but she couldn't help but think that there was something Bucky wasn't telling her. 

"I will be here when you wake up." He told her, "I promise."

He leaned down and placed his lips on hers, their lips moving softly in sync. But before she could enjoy it for any longer, he pulled away. 

"I love you."

"I love you too." She replied. And she meant it with all her heart, but she knew it'd be the death of her. 

AN: IT'S FINISHED!! 

Don't worry, it's not the end of the line.

Thank you so much to everyone that has been reading and supporting my work! I honestly can't thank you all enough! :)