Save Me || Bucky Barnes

50

"C'mon you geezers! We gotta get going!" Sam yelled from the base of the stairs. Outside, snow was lightly falling, covering the city in a glittery white.

"I may be old, but I look better than you do." Bucky quipped as he bounded down the stairs, Steve not far behind him.

"I don't want to go if you two are going to be quarreling the entire time." Steve chided the child-like adults.

"We won't be quarreling the entire time. How could we ruin the holiday spirit?" Bucky spoke innocently as a lop sided grin spread across his face. Steve just rolled his eyes and moved to pick up a baseball cap from the couch to shield his face from the falling snow.

Bucky followed suit and picked up a beanie instead of a baseball cap. Sam opted to pull his jacket hood over his head to keep him warm.

"They're going to be all out of trees by the time you two are ready." Sam groaned as the other two pulled their jackets on. Following Steve's wishes, Bucky chose to remain silent instead of responding to Sam with a snarky comment.

When Steve and Bucky were finally ready, Sam let out an exasperated sigh before leading the way to his truck. He figured with all the snow that D.C got it would be better to replace his steering wheel-less car with a more snow efficient truck.

Steve claimed the front seat before Bucky could, leaving the brunette to sit in the tiny backseat that wasn't really made for either him or Steve. But, it would have to work because neither Steve nor Bucky had a car. Either they relied on Sam to drive them or they relied on public transportation.

The ride to the tree farm wasn't too terribly long, so it was spent in comfortable silence. The radio played 80s songs on a low volume so the truck cab wouldn't become completely silent. 

When Sam finally put the truck in park, Bucky and Steve were quick to get out of the truck. They hadn't actually picked out a Christmas tree in a long time, seventy years to be precise. It was their favorite part of the holiday, along with actually decorating the tree. Sam had a fake tree that the three of them had put up last year, but it just didn't feel the same so the two insisted they get a real one this year.

As the trio searched the grounds for the perfect tree, Bucky couldn't help but wonder what Charlotte was up to. Or moreover, where she was. Sam had relayed to them the information she had told him when he caught up to her in France, which only gave him more of an inclination to find her.

But Steve, of all people, told him otherwise.

"We have to give her the space she wants. If we don't we might never get her back. We have to trust that she'll come to us when she's ready."

"But what if she's never ready?" Bucky had argued. Steve had thought of this, but he argued with his best friend anyway.

"Then we'll go looking for her. She can handle herself, we've all seen what she's capable of. If she says she needs time, then dammit give her time! Buck, I know it's hard. Trust me, I want to find her as much as you do. But we have to give her time to heal on her own."

Bucky had tried resisting Steve's advice at first, but he soon came to realize that Steve was right when he couldn't find so much as a trace of Charlotte anywhere.

"Hey, what about this one?" Steve called, tearing Bucky out of his thoughts. His attention was brought to the broad-shouldered man who stood by a full fir tree, about seven or eight feet tall. Bucky walked around the tree once to make sure the entire thing was healthy before he came to a stop at Steve's side.

"I think it's perfect. Sam?" Bucky called out. But when he didn't get an answer, he turned to Steve and asked the blonde man if he had seen where their friend went.