• Winter Widow • 1

'Chapter 21'

(Bucky's POV)

Steve, I needed Steve to help her. I looked out into the broken mess of a building in front of me to see a blue dressed man running towards the carrier. He ran past me and I followed him and I froze, Lillianna, my sweet Lily, passed out on the bed, I could almost see the colour draining from her usual rose cheeks.

"Steve," My voice cracking as tears filled my eyes. I felt people come around behind me, Bruce Banner coming inside, swarming over Lillianna trying to bring her back. I turned to my right and saw a girl dressed the same as Lillianna next to me, she was blonde and had her same green eyes. I felt someone grab my hand and pull me away, I had no thought of what to do so I went. It was Natasha and she sat me down, far away and held my shaky hands in hers.

"Hey, seeing her like that," She paused looking off into space. "You just don't want to remember seeing them like that."

"She said you were with her?" I looked up to her, her face bruised and beaten.

"I uh," She paused, looking away from me.

"You were with her? Yes or no Natasha?" I begged. She shook her head.

"I wasn't when we were in there, she was separated from us but Yelena was with her for a little." She answered, I nodded and looked over at her. She was still on the bed, unconscious. I nervously ran my hand through my hair, I couldn't lose her, not again and most definitely not for good. The blonde, came and sat, replacing Natasha.

"I was with her for a bit." I looked at her as she turned back to me from looking at her.

"She was shaken up a little, I think they might have done something to her. She was tasked to distract the boy, she said she did. I was with her when we were running down the hallway and then there was an explosion," she paused,
"She was on the other side and when I looked for her after the window was smashed, she must of fallen through and then fallen from."
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(Bucky POV)
The plane landed at the avengers tower, Lillianna was in a stable condition. I followed the table she was on our as Bruce and other nurses moved it. They hushed me into a waiting room and took Lillianna inside. I sat in a chair in the waiting room as I heard the monitors come from the room she was in. My head in my hands I remained quiet as time passed, minuets, hours, days passed I didn't realize.

A knock on the door brings me back from reality. Bruce and a nurse that stood behind him still in medical scrubs and looking tired.
"Lillianna is stable, the surgery was a success but she is still unconscious. I expect her to be out for a few hours." I looked up at him and nodded.

"Thank-you." I managed to mumble. I took a long shaky breath. They walked away and I heard someone come and sit next to me.

"Is she okay?" I felt someone's hand on my back. I looked up and saw Steve. I nodded my head
"She's okay Buck, I told you it would be okay." He tried to comfort, I didn't know what to feel, relief? Hurt? Satisfied? I wasn't sure.

"Bruce said you were a bit shaken, he told Tony and now he wants someone to talk to you about it." I sigh, I had an agreement with Stark. I would live under his roof, and in exchange I would cause no trouble, not that I wanted to, I couldn't look at him or speak to him absolutely necessary, and lastly I couldn't steal or drink his alcohol. Classic Stark. If he ever thought I was losing it again, he put me with a therapist or worse he put me in a guarded room for the night. I had to comply or I was going to be trialed in court, a battle he knew I couldn't win.

"Okay," I nodded my head. I stood to my feet and followed Steve out to a small room with a couch and camera. I took a seat and looked up as Steve shut the door, locking me inside.

"So, Manchurian Candidate." I hear Tony's voice call out from the speaker. I glare at the camera, knowing fully well he can see me.

"I wanna ask a few questions and you better answer truthfully, you know what will happen if you don't." I huff and nod my head.

"Number 1, who's the girl, why are you close and how is she related to Natasha and the other little spider?" He asked.

"That's like three questions," I mumbled.
"Answer." Stark growled.

"The girl is Lillianna Melora, she was my, partner, during 2014. We escaped and together we hid until I got, found in April, we got close together when we were hiding from police and other, organizations."

"She was swift enough to get past the rest of security that you had. She was a widow like them before HYDRA, a child assassin killing many before ever going to HYDRA. I don't know how she got to Natasha and her sister, Yelena but she did."

"The call you got me with her she said that they were together and they were going to take down the Red Room. Until they got her, I'm sure they gagged her until she was unconscious. That was the last I heard of her until me and Steve found her stabbed, broken, bleeding. She had barely gotten out of there alive."

I answered, it was silent for a while as Stark took in the information. I said back into the couch.

"Right, Lillianna. God her SHIELD file never ends." Tony muttered.

"She killed more people than you, surprisingly." Tony sarcastically continued.

"Are we done yet?" I grouched.

"Not yet, you can wait." I sighed.

"Lillianna, she was born in 1989 so she is 27? She doesn't look a day over twelve."

"She's fifteen, they froze her for twenty years."
"Right." I could hear his foot tapping and I could hear the clogs in his head churning.

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They let me see her, I sat by her bed in silence just watching. Gripping onto her lifeless hand. She looks so peaceful, she looks asleep of in dreamland which will forever be better than this one. I gripped her hand and felt the tears down my face. It had been three days since we had come home, three days from when Bruce said she would wake up soon. Bruce and Tony and the head nurse had all said that if she doesn't wake up within the next two days she was brain dead, there was no hope. I waited day in and day out for her eyes to open for her to squeeze my hands I squeezed hers.

(Three weeks later)

It was the day before they they were going to pull the plug, they said she was dead. I sat in the seat watching her, I heard the door open and the blonde walked in, Yelena.
"She's okay, she would have passed peacefully." She sat next to me and rested her head on my shoulder. She inhaled and then pulled away.

"Bucky, how long have you been here with her?" She asked.

"I can never get enough time with her." My voice a bare whisper.

"You should go, get some rest take a shower, you smell really bad." She smiled at me. I looked from her to Lilly then back to her.

"I'll stay with her, she'll be right here until you get back. Okay." I nodded and stood up, walking to the door and walking out.

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(Yelena POV)

Bucky had never left her side. He had been here day in and day out since they let him see her. He missed dinner, showers and everything just to be with her. I looked at her and smiled, we all had theories of what happened, people saying that she she fell out and hit glass and then had something on her, some saying she did it to herself (Mostly Tony, he wasn't very trusting in her). I came back to reality when my phone vibrated. I looked down and saw it from from Natasha saying that Tony had called a meeting. I sighed and stood to my feet and walked out of the room and down the hall.