When Time Collides ★ [2] ✔

A Time of Healing - Part One

I needed air. I needed time away from everyone and everything to think. I stood on the bridge overlooking the empty dam.

The whole time, Bucky was assassinating people. The look he gave me...it was one you would give a stranger. He looked like he didn't even know me. What HYDRA had done to him had destroyed him.

"We looked for you after. My folks wanted to give you a ride to the cemetery."

I thought back to that day. It was before I became Captain America. It was before the war had even began. My mother had died. I was coming home from her funeral. Bucky was with me, following me up the stairs to my front door.

"I know, I'm sorry," I said. "I just kind of wanted to be alone."

"How was it?"

I brushed hair from covering my eyes. "It was okay. She's next to Dad."

"I was gonna ask..."

"I know what you're gonna say, Buck." I fished through my pockets for the key. "I just-"

"We can put the couch cushions on the floor like when we were kids," Bucky tried. "It'll be fun. All you got to do is shine my shoes, maybe take out the trash." He kicked the brick near the door where the spare key was hidden. He handed it to me. "Come on."

I took it, flipping it thoughtfully in my hand. "Thank you, Buck." I looked up at him. "But I can get by on my own."

"The thing is, you don't have to." He placed a hand on my shoulder, gripping it supportively. "I'm with you to the end of the line, pal."

I smiled gratefully.

I blinked and the present rushed back, and the dam was spread out before me again.

I shoved my hands into my pockets. I wasn't going to give up on him. He was still my best friend.

"He's gonna be there, you know."

I watched Sam walk up to me from the corner of my eye as I kept my gaze on the dam. "I know."

"Look, whoever he used to be and the guy he is now, I don't think he's the kind you save. He's the kind you stop."