Change of Pace

The Assassins New Groove

Bucky jolted awake with a terrified roar, eyes darting around as he took stock of his surroundings. Bella and Charlie rushed to place soft touches on his shoulders and his face as a means to soothe him which he found to help immediately. He closed his eyes, leaning into Bella's palm which reached around his headrest to cup his cheek, and released a heavy sigh.

"I'm sorry, I get nightmares a lot." Bucky shrugged, he peeked out the window and noticed that they were pulled into a driveway. "This yours, pops?" He asked, an attempt to distract the others from his previous state.

"Sure is, it ain't much, only one bathroom but I hope we can make you happy here." Charlie patted Bucky's shoulder before stepping out of the squad car and moving around to pop the trunk. "I'll take your bags in kids. Bells you know where you're staying so do me a favour and show Buck where he'll be sleeping." The man called as the other two left the car as well.

Bella took hold of Bucky's hand and began to lead him into the house. She lead him up to the first floor and then pulled down the ladder to the loft in which he would be staying.

"You go first, I'll keep ya from fallin', tiny." Bucky jerked his head towards the ladder and stepped forwards to hold it firmly as Bella climbed it. He himself not mounting the ladder until she stepped off it. He threw his luggage up ahead of him and strapped the weapons bag tightly to his shoulder before climbing. The ladder wasn't hard to climb and it didn't shake or rattle under his weight which he was very thankful for, he was worried that the entrance to the attic and even the attic itself would remind him of his time as a fugitive.

His mind flew back to a particular place he hid in New York, climbing up a fire escape that creaked and groaned, a loft that was cold and dank. It made him very ill to stay there but he had nowhere else to go, the mold filled his lungs with fits of coughing and wheezing. Steve had to roll him out of there and carry him to Bruce because he was too weak to move. Too weak.

Bucky grunted as he hoisted himself up into the attic to join Bella who was patiently waiting for him. She hugged him tightly as soon as he was back on his feet.

"Do you like it?" Bella asked, her head still pressed into Bucky's chest as if to avoid any disappointment that she may see on his face.

The room was bright, natural light flooded in through a wall of floor-to-ceiling windows facing towards the driveway, there was a large steel light fixture that hung from the ceiling and reflected the light from the bulb all over the room. A large double bed sat central on a raised platform, it's covers were grey and made of silk. The drapes were also made of grey material but they were thick and made of tweed. There was a bookcasenon either side of the beds platform that were overflowing with books some of which Bucky had read and some he hadn't. Against the foot of the platform there was a short table upon which stood a music system that was larger and more confusing than anything Bucky had ever seen in his existence, with the obvious exception of all that magic bullshit from the final war with Thanos, underneath the table was being used as storage for an insane amount of CD's which was something that Bucky hadn't come into contact with before. On the wall across from the music system there was a large chest of drawers upon which stood a screen, one of Tony's, that Pepper had clearly sent ahead for him. The rest of the room was varying storage units and a small nightstand with a lamp made of sculpted steel upon it.

His heart leapt into his throat and tears clawed their way out of the corners of his eyes to fall oh-so-slowly down his cheeks and drip onto Bella's head. With a smile so wide it made his entire head ache Bucky tilted Bella's head up to him.

"Thank you." He spoke, his voice broken.

"You deserve this." Bella answered. "There is more, let me show you." She took his metal hand with a gentle touch, almost as though she were aware of how it scared him to touch others with it when he could use it to kill so easily, and lead him across the room to a door which had been previously hidden by the drapes.

Opening the door Bucky stepped through onto a balcony of flowers and lounge chairs. It was not a large area, maybe 8 feet wide and 24 feet long, but it was so peaceful and perfect. No one had ever given him a space like that before. It was so beautiful too, there were a lot of potted plants among which he recognised various types of ferns and some particularly gorgeous purple freesias that reminded him of something he had seen in Wakanda. A wave of hurt crashed over him as he bowed to one knee and lowered his head before the pot of freesia's in honour of T'Chaka and the fallen warriors of Wakanda. He still felt completely at fault for their involvement in all of the awful business that the world had thrown at that wonderful hidden gem of a place.

"I honour you," Bucky whispered, a fist clenched over his heart as he defaulted to silence to honour his past and how different it was to his present. Then he rose and turned to face Bella who was fiddling with something on the wall beside the door, suddenly he heard a switch and the balcony glowed as though it were adorned with fireflies.

Bella turned to him and blushed when she caught his gaze.

"So you can be out here at night," Bella rose one shoulder to her ear and lowered it in a bashful shrug. Bucky chuckled, he pulled her toward him and gently ruffled her hair as he pulled her to look over the edge with him.

The air was crisp as though it would start raining at any possible moment, the scent of it was floral and clean but sharp due to how cold it was. His eyes took in the driveway, the road, the trees. Everything in a shade of grey, brown or green. His ears picked up on the wildlife in the forest nearby, hearing creatures running, birds singing and something going extremely fast. It reminded him of how it sounded when Steve had run after him, the wind rushing past both of them. His heart saddened and he found himself holding Bella closer for comfort. A truck began to rumble closer, starting far off in the distance and moving closer and closer.

Bucky stiffened and removed himself from Bella's side, he picked her up and held her in his arms tightly, looking down at her confused face he smiled.

"Hold on tight and close your eyes." He ordered gently, pleased greatly when she complied without asking questions which to him proved trust. Holding her even tighter he leapt from the balcony, landing on the driveway on one knee, his metal fist landing on the ground too, to absorb some of the impact. "You okay, tiny?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, Bucky." Bella replied in a soft affirmative.

"Go get Charlie then," Bucky released Bella onto her feet and nudged her towards the house as he stood sentry on the driveway. "I hear someone coming. Ask him if he's expecting visitors." Bucky spoke relatively harshly, almost back in work mode, his protective urges kicking into overdrive. He didn't notice the soft smile on Bella's face as she went inside to collect Charlie. No one had ever protected her father, or her, in this way before and she found it sweet.

Bucky, waiting on her return, didn't move a muscle, his body on high alert, a head ache forming as the truck drew nearer. He still had his bag of weapons strapped on and he slowly removed it, taking out an M249 Paratrooper and ensuring it was fully loaded. He held it tightly in both of his hands, the safety on, for now.

"Woah, Buck," he heard Charlie approach at a jog from inside the house. He sounded panicked but because of his tone Bucky suspected that it had more to do with the heavy calibre weapon in his hands than the surprise visitor. "They're friendlies, son. You can put that back in the bag." Charlie rushed around Bucky, unzipping the bag again and holding it wide for Bucky to put the gun back in.

"I'd feel better holdin' onto it, Chuck." Bucky spoke sternly, he waited until Charlie had reluctantly tied the bag again before kicking the thing up and into his hand so he could hang it on his right shoulder. His face was grim as he stared down his great grandnephew.

"Just don't shoot them, they're very important to me and I hope they'll be important to you too." Charlie scratched the back of his neck, feeling awkward, just as the truck pulled onto the driveway.

Bucky manoeuvred the gun so that it was only in his left hand and leaned against his shoulder. An air of danger resting upon his shoulders. Time to meet the guests.