Save Me || Bucky Barnes

47

The next morning, the sound of Sam's alarm going off downstairs startled all three men awake.

"Sam, shut that damn thing off!" Bucky yelled before he groaned and rolled over away from the sun shining in through the window he forgot to shut in his haste to get to bed night before. 

From his room downstairs, Sam mumbled a quiet, "Shut up, Barnes," before he gave in and turned it off. Now that he was awake, Sam knew there was no chance he was going back to sleep. Upstairs in his own bedroom, Steve realized the same thing.

Sam headed to the bathroom to take a shower while Steve rolled over so he could read through his journal. As he flipped through it still half asleep, he almost mistook his sister's handwriting for his own. With a jolt, Steve shot up in bed as quick as if something had just shocked him. He stared at the words for a minute before he shoved the covers off of his body and ran to Bucky's room.

"Bucky, Bucky! Get up!"

"Shut up will ya Steve? I'm tryna sleep." Bucky whined as he flipped a pillow over his head to shut out Steve's yelling.

"Buck, this is important, wake up!" Steve urged.

"I'm sleeping. Leave."

"Bucky, I think it's something from Charlotte."

That got him out of bed faster than a speeding rocket. In mere seconds, he was standing at Steve's side, staring at Charlotte's handwriting.

"What happened to her handwriting? She used to be so proud of it and now it looks worse than mine." Bucky mused as Steve slowly flipped through the pages.

"My guess is she didn't have much time to write anything these past seventy years." Sam interrupted them from the doorway. Steve and Bucky simply shared a look before they walked over to Sam so the three of them could examine what she had written.

"It looks like she translated her file. Look, it starts with her name and birthday then moves into more specific details about her life." Bucky pointed out as Steve flipped to the beginning of the notes.

"Thank god because I have no idea how to read Russian." Sam stated. Bucky gave him a hard glare before he returned his attention to Charlotte's translations. 

"Wait a minute. If she translated her file, that was in my room...in my journal...she must have been here last night." Steve inferred. 

"How in the hell did we not hear her then?" Sam asked, bewildered. 

"She's a master assassin. She knows how to get around places without being noticed. It's kind of what assassins do, Sam." Bucky replied in a 'duh what else would you expect' tone with a roll of his eyes. The boys were silent for a minute then before Bucky decided to bring up when he woke up in the middle of the night.

"Last night, I felt like I could hear someone talking while I was asleep. I thought it was just one of you two, but then something touched me. When I got up, there wasn't anyone in the room and I just thought again that it was one of you two pulling my leg or something. It had to have been her!" 

"You're right, it probably was her. But why would she risk waking you up if she doesn't want us to find her?" Steve pondered.

"Why would she leave the notes if she didn't want us to find her?" Bucky countered.

"Hey, idiots, shut up and look at this. She left a note." Sam pointed to a few scribbled sentences a couple of pages after the translation ended before he stopped talking so Steve and Bucky could read it.

Steven and James,

Please, do not come searching for me. I barely know my own name and must figure out who I am on my own time. I cannot have the both of you searching for me and therefore bringing unwanted attention to myself. This may pain you and may not deter you from your current path, but I beg of you, leave me alone. I will find you in due time. But I must remember who you are in order to find you again. I believe this is where I am supposed to tell you I love you both, but I cannot, for I do not know who you really are anymore. Until I see you again, Steven and James, I wish you both a good life. 

After they finished reading, the boys stared dumbfounded at the page for a moment longer before staring at each other.

"Alright, well I guess we can put this case to rest." Sam stated, bring the two out of their stupor.

"Are you crazy, Sam? We still have to look for her." Bucky insisted, looking at Sam like he had sprouted a second head.

"Dude, she literally told you not to look for her. Are you blind?" Sam countered, glaring at the brunette. 

"We can still look for her and not interfere. It would be best for us to know where she is just in case instead of letting her fall off the face of the earth again! I'm not losing her a second time, Sam! Now that I know she's alive and struggling, I can't make myself forget about helping her. I did that once and it turned out she was alive and was being tortured, abused, and God knows what else! So I'll be damned if I let her go again. For all I know, HYDRA could reform and get her back or she could actually end up dead. You don't have to help if you don't want to, Sam." Bucky exploded before he grabbed the fresh seat of clothes he had set out the night before and left the room.

"Well, Steve, I assume you're joining him."

"You know I have to, Sam. She's my sister."

"I know, I know. What do we try first?" Sam sighed, resolving to help the two. He may not agree with their decision to disregard her wishes, but he wasn't going to let them go into the search with too much passion and not much to lose. Sam decided he would act as a check and balance for the two, in order to keep them and Charlotte safe.

Meanwhile, Bucky silently stood in the shower, simply letting the hot water run over him. The thought of Charlotte wanting them to stay away from her hurt him. There were too many questions and what-if scenarios running through his head. What if, like he told Sam earlier, HYDRA reformed and kidnapped her and made her the Winter Soldier again? What if HYDRA or someone else just wanted her dead and killed her? What if she never wanted to come back and never contacted him or Steve ever again?

Bucky let out a grunt of frustration before he turned and smacked the curtain. It flew out of the tub, letting some of the water leak onto the floor surrounding the tub. He thought about punching the wall instead, but he thought a broken hand wouldn't do much to help him get rid of the thoughts or help Charlotte.

He fixed the shower curtain and finished his shower while continuing to think over the questions swirling through his mind. Once he finished and dried off, he changed into dark wash jeans and a black t-shirt. He threw a dark blue flannel over the top of his shirt and brushed a comb through his short brunette hair.

He stared at himself in the mirror for a moment, contemplating a few more things.

"What did I do to piss God off so much that He thought I would deserve this?" Bucky wondered aloud, but quietly so Sam and Steve wouldn't question if he was insane or not. Bucky sighed before he hung up his towel and went to meet Sam and Steve downstairs in the kitchen.

"Took you long enough, Barnes. Good thing I showered before you." Sam teased as he passed him a cup of coffee. Bucky mumbled a quiet 'thanks' as he took it. He then took a seat next to Steve who, as any senior citizen should do, was reading the newspaper and drinking from his own cup of coffee.

Everyone was quiet for a few minutes as they did their own thing. Sam read through something on his phone while eating his breakfast, Steve drank his black coffee while flipping through the newspaper, and Bucky scanned over Charlotte's note once more while he practically inhaled his coffee.

It was when Bucky was rinsing out his coffee cup five minutes later that Sam spoke up.

"So, what's the plan?"

"Well, I want to suggest we split up. At least for a week or so. I'm really not sure where she would have gone but we can split up and check the country. After a couple of weeks, if we don't find her, then we can regroup and figure out a new plan." Steve suggested.

"You're right. I mean, we probably shouldn't split up, but what other choice do we have? We need to cover ground quick and with only the three of us doing this, our hands are kind of tied." Bucky nodded along, leaning back against the counter.

"Alright, let's get this show on the road then."

~

I'm not really sure how I feel about this part but it's kind of important-ish? Oh well, it's up lol. Anyways, how are all of you? I hope you're all doing well and are happy <3 I'm always here if you ever need to talk at any time!