Baby Barton

Chapter 86 Steve Rogers

A/N: Hello! Please leave a little vote and some feedback. I'm going to aim to try and get this finished. A chapter a day perhaps...

Standing in the kitchen of the one bedroom slum Natasha sent you to, you look around for clues that this could be the right place.
There are newspapers on the windows, someone definitely doesn't want to be found here.
A thin mattress lies on the floor of the tiny living area, the sheet and pillow made up pristinely.
Perhaps a woman's touch?
The apartment is clean, you open the refrigerator inside are some beers, fruit, milk and cheese. You close the door and look on top where loaf of bread sits next to a red journal.
Taking it down to skim through it for clues it quickly becomes evident that this is the right place, and this journal belongs to Bucky.

He looks back around at the apartment, deciding now that the conditions are bleak, not fit for Bucky.
Bucky would have done anything for you and now given the chance, you would happily return the favour.  You will get his friend out of this.
Bucky stands behind Steve watching on as he reads the journal, a small creak underneath his foot alerting you to his presence.

You turn cautiously keeping your guard up just in case, "do you know me?" You can tell by his eyes that he is your Bucky, and that The Winter Soldier hasn't been activated. Not yet anyway.

But you grip your shield tighter holding your stance.
Bucky shuffles uncomfortably, "you're Steve, I read about you in a museum." He replies some what ambivalently, you get the sense that he is trying to hold onto something.
Its clear to you that Bucky has his back up, he is a wanted man.
"I'm not here to arrest you Buck, its just you and me." You place the journal on the kitchen counter and hold your non shielded hand up in surrender. 
You take a small step towards him, "I'm here about Chloe...the girl you..."
"I know who Chloe is." Bucky snaps cutting you off.
Okay good, maybe he'll be able to shed some light.
This is good news.
Any information no matter how insignificant he might think it is could help you find out what happened to her.
"Why are you here?" Bucky scowls.
You walk closer to him, desperately trying not to provoke him but even just knowing who Chloe is has ignited a spark of hope.
"Did you see her after you pulled me from the river?" Your tone becoming more aggravated as the flashbacks of that fight flood your mind.

"Please stop! I love him!" Chloe screamed as she clung to your body.

Bucky looks up from his feet, his nostrils flaring, "I pulled you both from the river, then I left."
Your shoulders slump, feeling your shield slip from the grip of your hand you tighten it.
So Chloe was alive, at least she didn't drown in the river.
The picture of her grey corpse floating underneath the surface of the river that had taken over your mind for months,  now replaced with the image of her lying in a back alley thin and frail, arm covered in track lines as she injects the poison into her veins.
Or maybe she is dead, maybe she has overdosed and they haven't found her body yet.
Coming here only rid you of the fear of her slowly being eroded at the bottom of that body of water, now a completely new fear was setting in.
But something isn't adding up, why is Bucky hovering in front of that bedroom door.  Why does he keep looking at the door to the apartment.
And why,  if there is a bedroom, is he sleeping on the floor of the living area?
Does he know more...
"Why do I get the sense that you are hiding something?"
Bucky shifts flexing and releasing his metal hand his chest moves rapidly as his breathing quickens, "I don't know what you're talking about...you need to leave." His head twitches as he scrunches his eyes together.
"Bucky, you pulled us from the river. You must have seen something, anything!" Losing patience you raise your voice.
He knows more, you know he does.
Why wont he tell you?
"I don't..." Bucky's voice trails off as footsteps approach the door.
He sends you a sorry look as a key enters the lock.
"Buck! I got it..." Chloe's voice calls out as she enters the apartment.
She's alive.
And she's here.