Fighting the Demons (Hiatus)

The Truth

(Steve's POV)

"What the hell was that T'challa!" I yelled as I watched my little sister run out, obviously terrified and in tears.

Bucky ran after her, so I wasn't worried about her right now. I was more upset about T'Challa's reaction to her. He called her a monster. He looked like he was gonna kill her.

"I don't know who you think that is but I want her dead, Mr. Rodgers," T'challa growled at me.

"Nobody is killing her," I stated harshly.

"She is a monstrous psychopath with more blood on her hands than the Devil himself. She killed my two youngest sisters in cold blood, along with dozens of my people. She tortured me for days for information. You can not, in good conscience, protect her," He barked back.

"And I don't know who you think she is, but that is my little sister. She is not capable of what you have accused her!" I yelled.

"You thought the same of Sergent Barnes. People change. Sometimes very drastically," T'Challa told me seriously.

I stormed out of the medical room. How could he accuse my Sarah of such things? She's a good person. She always has had a good heart. She's protective and passionate, but not the person T'Challa had described. Of course, why would he lie? What reason could he possibly have to target her? Why would he have such a violent reaction to just seeing her? I didn't want to believe she was capable of the horrors T'challa had described. I was feeling torn, between a man I knew to be honorable and truthful and the sister I loved.

I prayed that Sarah would have a good answer when Bucky brought her back.

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(Sarah's POV)

I sat in the coffee shop for over an hour before Bucky found me. He wrapped me in a tight hug, thankful to have found me.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered to me, "You shouldn't have been put into that position."

I felt so weak. Now that years of Hydra conditioning was starting to crumble away, I was emotionally vulnerable, skittish, panicked. My paranoia was high, especially considering the voice that kept reverberating in my head. Angry at my disobedience. It kept me up at night and when I did sleep, my nightmares were filled with horrors. I was started to break as the abuse, both physical and mental had finally started to crack the layers of my mind. Like dropping a block of concrete onto a watermelon.

I had done so many terrible things. The guilt had begun to crush me and, to be completely honest, I had contemplated suicide many times since Bucky and Steve came back. They were the only thing keeping me from ending my suffering. I couldn't hurt them that way. Bucky was fragile as it was and I knew Steve couldn't handle another death in our family.

However, being strong was becoming so hard. I could never tell my brothers, adopted or not. I'd feel like I was burdening them with my pain. Having Bucky there was certainly helping. He understood what our lives had been like. He didn't blame me for what I did and held me when the nightmares woke me screaming. He knew the torture we endured and knew how my brain worked. Sometimes when my mind wandered into the creature I had become, Bucky would just hold me and whisper facts about myself into my ear.

'Your mother's name was Sarah.'

'Your brother's name is Steve.'

'Your father was Joseph Rodgers.'

'Your mother died of tuberculosis when you were very young.'

'You liked it when I sang to you.'

'Your favorite song was Blue Champagne by Jimmy Dorsey'

They somehow pulled me back into my memories and cleared my head.

We sat down at the table I had been sitting at for the last hour.

"Steve's gonna be worried about you," Bucky said softly, brushing his thumb over my hand as he held it.

"I know. Can we just stay for a little while longer?" I whispered, loathing to see the look on my brothers face after T'Challa tells him everything.

"Of course doll," Bucky smiled.

I smiled softly at the nickname and pulled his hand closer so that I could rest it against my lips.

"Thanks for everything sugar," I giggled, throwing in my own pet name.

"Sugar?" he asked with a smirk and a chuckle.

"What? You call me doll. I decided to call you sugar," I answered, innocently.

"Why sugar," he wondered.

"Cause, when I was little you were always spoiling me with sweets like cotton candy and taffy," I reminisced.

"I miss the old days," Bucky gave me a dreamy-eyed look.

"Things were simpler back then weren't they," I mused.

"Yeah, doll. Much simpler," he answered, "But I didn't have you, at least not like I do now."

"Time's been a tad bit muddled lately, huh?" I laughed.

"If this is what I get, I don't mind at all," Bucky smiled, leaning across the table to kiss me.

"Neither do I sugar," I giggled, kissing him again.

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(A/N: Oh things are getting exciting now. And I just had to add a little fluff between my babies. Thanks for being patient and I hope to do a chapter every month or so. Thanks again for you're patience and continued support of this story :3 Love you all!