Soldiers (Completed) •Soldiers Series• Bucky Barnes/ Avengers Fanfiction

Chapter 10: History

Shield provided me with whatever I needed to recovery from my test. With Tony and Pepper's help, I had returned to my best shape. Since Director Fury wasn't certain of my strength and ability, I was scheduled to train at Shield with different Avengers every day. Natasha had complained that this was merely one of Fury's sneaky plan of building the team too.

To my dismay, Matron hadn't called me back since. I had tried her phone for a few times yet she never picked up. So I gave up. Annoying her wouldn't be the best idea when she was busy.

Anyway, in my downtime, I could usually be found on top floor at the Stark Tower. Tony hated it when I disturbed him and Pepper's down time but I knew Pepper was quite happy about having some girls' time. Natasha and Pepper almost had a pact of never leaving me alone after the incident at the mall. I was sure that they had already retold the tale to the fellow Avengers, confirming that they would indeed take it seriously and look after me.

It was nine when I was finally going to leave Stark Tower. Pepper walked me to the elevator while Tony whined on the sofa. "You're joining us for supper tomorrow night, right?" Pepper had a warm smile on her face. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a pony tail. I grinned sheepishly, feeling guilty about stealing Tony's private hours with his girlfriend.

"Ah no, Pepper. Lottie is busy settling in her new apartment!" Tony called out hastily.

I giggled nervous and waved at Pepper just as the elevator arrived with a rang. The woman frowned and shook her head. "Forgive him, Tony's just being Tony."

"I can hear that, too!"

Behind me, a man laughed. I jumped and turned, only to see Sam stepping out of the elevator with a toothy beam. "How's your night been, Lottie?" Sam asked, leaning in for a hug. I wrapped my arms around him briefly. He was so much taller than me to the point where I had to stand on tip toe to exchange a proper hug with him. When I pulled back, disbelief glinted in my eyes, "Sam, did Pepper make you come pick me up?"

This time, I was the one who shook her head at Pepper, who simply made a face and winked at Sam. "Nah, I just wanna make sure you arrive home safe. It's quite a late hour to be fair."

Sighing, I entered the elevator with Sam. Despite having to be groaning about my presence for the last hour in the Stark Tower, Tony poked his head over the arm of sofa and waved, "Take care, Lottie."

Pepper flashed her typical, welcoming smile at me, "Good night, Lottie."

The pair of metal doors slid shut, and the machine began to grind and whir. I exhaled quietly and leaned back, feeling the cool surface of marble touching my skin. Sam crossed his arms casually and stood against the wall too. Around us, Jarvis' voice rang, "Good night, Miss Black, Mr. Falcon."

Sam peered at me with a smug expression. "How's the new life coming?"

"Good," I nodded, fluttering my eyes close briefly to collect myself. I was pretty tired lately. Not to mention I had a pretty hardcore training session with Steve only this afternoon. "It's just that...There's so much happening recently, and I don't know if it's possible for me to settle down again."

Sam knitted his brows in thoughts. The elevator continued to descend.

"I'm sure you will do fine. You've got everybody looking after you," Sam paused before moving on with a new idea, "Maybe you should go check out the museum. It will take your mind off things."

I pondered quietly over this. Sam and the others knew I was not familiar with this city. Maybe I should start taking his advice properly.

Leveling gaze with him, I lifted the corner of my lips tiredly and he gave me a thumb up. We had finally arrived on ground floor then, and he stood aside to let me out first before leading the way to his car.

Since I didn't go to school for a long while, Monday didn't mean much to me. So when everybody was groaning about the day, I woke up at seven to get ready for my day trip to the museum. I was still taking my time to get used to my new flat and new clothes that Pepper and Natasha had gotten me. Guilt had always nagged me whenever I saw my new belongings, since I was basically rolling on Tony's money.

I put on a plain white top and wore a army green jacket over it. My dark hair was in a messy bun today. It was just my lame attempt to hide my bad hair day.

It didn't take me long to get to the national museum. It was almost empty inside. People were either at work, school, or probably still sleeping in beds. My eyes grew restless as I toured between corridors. There were just so much to see.

Then I had arrived at a dimly lit corridor. The system above head rang robotically as it explained the history of the area, the history of Captain America.

I was more than mesmerized. I was wilder than amused. Was this really Steve Rogers that I was hearing about? I took a step closer to the information boards. There weren't many people around and I spent my time reading over Steve's life story.

I moved on gradually and paused whenever I found something interesting. At one point, it was mentioned that Steve had had a childhood best friend called Bucky.

I sighed and glanced up to examine the poster. My eyes narrowed as I tried to pick out the details. Steve looked vintage in the picture. His was at his dorky self. And this guy next to him must be his childhood best friend as described-

Holy cow.

Stumbling back, I almost tripped over my own feet in shock. This couldn't be right. This was not possible. Scared and confused, I turned on my heels and was ready to leave, until I saw the figure standing in right of me.

His eyes were gleaming with remorse as they were focused on me. An attempt of a polite smile was a shadow at his lips, and those blue plasters were barely a hint under his baseball cap.

Thanks for reading this story so far:) I hope you have enjoyed it and please bare with me and my crazy storyline! I have so much planned ahead *I have an idea growing for Matron:) I'd just like to say that a vote or a comment will truly mean the world to me:) And please do tell me what you think about the story so far! xx