When It Snowed

Chapter 14 - A Little Longer

Bucky looked at the file before him, finger tracing over the picture of her. It was an old 1940s photo, but he missed the way things were back then. In the folder, the file contained as much information about her that SHIELD previously had. Natasha got her hands on it for them.

Things were a lot simpler when it was just them, the bar, and a few distasteful protein shakes. Now, there was so much more on the line. Everything was at stake, it wasn't about just getting Steve into the Army anymore.

Now it was about everything, the world, the better place that it could be if Finley Reaser were there to defend it once more. The history books could do nothing more than agree with that. But with some of the things that she has done, SHIELD had other opinions about her involvement with their special task force. Bucky just needed to speak with her though, he never got the true chance too. As soon as she let him go on that helicarrier all that Bucky saw was black.

Once he woke up though, the man was a proud owner of a fractured jaw, a broken collarbone, three bullet wounds, a completely reconstructed set of organs, and over three hundred stitches. Finley really did a number on him, but at the same time- he let her.

"You two are going after her?" Sam asked from the corner of Bucky's hospital room. Bucky was stuck here for a while, but the Serum allowed him the chance to be released faster than most people. He healed like the Super Soldier he was supposed to be, and Steve was thankful for it too.

Nodding, Rogers looked towards Bucky from his sitting position . The man was staring out of the window, his mind wondering to just where Finley could be exactly. "We have to." Bucky whispered quietly because of his wounds. "But you don't have to come with us."

They knew that Sam wanted to help, he was a good guy- and he liked Finley. At least he liked some of the things he heard about her. It was a person he was interested in getting to know. Sam knew he would never get the chance unless he helped them get her back.

"I know." He nodded.Steve and Bucky were his friends now, so like it or not, that meant Finley was too. He was in. "When do we start?"

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The hood rested firmly over her head. Around her, people scattered back and forth- kids raced between exhibits wearing their Captain America and Sargent Barnes merchandise.

The Museum was packed today, especially after the events that had just happened? She found that the public fed on tragic shit like that. In their own way, it was how the mass crowd of people got off.

She used it to her advantage though. The hype made it all the more easy to go unnoticed.

Finley's hand rested against the glass before her solemnly. It was a cool feeling, dry but comforting against the palm of her hand. Finn had already read over Steve's tribute as well as Bucky's. They had information on them that Finley wasn't aware about. Their roots, their friendship, how important they really were to one another. The fact that they survived until today together, it spoke levels to her about their friendship. Standing before the name that came off of Barnes' lips though, standing before hers, her mind worked restlessly to sort out what HYDRA had drilled into her head and what had really happened. Was this really her, could this woman really have done all of this?

She trained them to get into the army, she joined them in the service, and died protecting them. Everything in between was a blur, but she knew those set three points were for sure.

Staring at the green hat in the display, Finley took a breath knowing that it had some significant meaning to her, she just didn't know what. She couldn't pin anything to it, so with one last look, the woman moved on. Eventually, her steps took her to stand before an old black and white phot of Steve and Bucky. They were standing on either side of a girl, smile on both of their faces. Rogers however, he was looking somewhere towards the ground motioning his hands like he was speaking. On the other side, Bucky was looking at the woman in the middle with an expression her professional eye would pin as nothing less than adoring love. He smiled at her, stared at her and wore a soft and pathetic look. He was dependent on that woman, it looked as if both the Super Soldiers were. But then, she looked to the woman through the glass. She was smiling as well, but hers was so weak and concealed. She was laughing at something the captain had said, but she was doing it subtly.