Let Go: Winterwidow

Chapter 14: Lunchbox

A/N: Hey all my lovely readers! I just wanted to say thank you so much for the 1K reads!! Like what! That is absolutely amazing, please don't stoooop! You guys are just so wonderful and it means so much to me to finally reach that milestone!

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Bucky checked his appearance in the mirror for what felt like the thousandth time that morning. He was clean shaven with a haircut he had acquired from his wife herself- which wasn't half bad surprisingly. He felt nervous as he fumbled the apartment keys in his hand on the way out the door.

The day they had been found by Nick Fury was a day both relieving and confusing. Both Barnes's were at a loss as to how they were found by him, but through the tracking of social media and insiders Nick had found them. Bucky wanted to determine if that was even lawful or not, but Natasha didn't seem surprised by this guy's behavior and trusted him, treating him like an old friend. And even though Bucky didn't completely trust this man who had basically digitally and physically stalked them, he knew any friend of Nat's was a friend of his.

But this still didn't explain all the unanswered calls and texts, and how this man managed to disappear off the face of the earth. Apparently the office's phone lines had been hacked, along with Fury's, and although that seemed highly unlikely Bucky had not come up with any other explanations. Everything all seemed so hush-hush and suspicious, but Natasha seemed in on it and that bothered Bucky even more. What the hell was going on?

Fury had been in such a mood the day that he finally found the two because he had been trying to contact them for a while now too, and nothing was coming through. Bucky had been kinda more protective around Natasha and Stevie because for all he knew, this sketchy dude could be some sort of psychopath!! He didn't trust him very much since he didn't seem all that solid, and he always made sure he had his wallet and phone on him, just in case.

Today, however much he tried to show his distaste for Fury and his company, he had an interview with the man himself. Barnes wasn't very confident or good at these types of things so he was starting to overthink everything that could go wrong. Since Natasha had such a... weirdly strong connection to Fury, he had to trust in her judgement of course, but he just wasn't comfortable being around someone so... shady. Nat had told him not to worry and he tried to swallow back the desire to just suffer through it and get an application for McDonald's, but he knew Nat would be pissed so he sighed and soldiered on.

His wife had stayed at the hospital since it was supposed to be the day before Stevie's release and someone had to be there for him so he wouldn't get all lonely and scared. Bucky always had the poor baby on his mind, and he would constantly check his phone for any updates he might have missed. He just prayed that his son would be strong and push through to the end, for his sake, and for Nat's as well. If he didn't, then he didn't know what either of them would do... But that didn't matter because Stevie was looking better already! He WOULD pull through!... He had to...

***

When Bucky made it to the office complex, he stepped outside the cab and double checked the address just to make sure that this was really the place. 624 Winchester Dr. This really was it...

The building was shabby and washed out, and even some of the windows were boarded up. There were overflowing dumpsters and it stank like rotting... well, for all he knew they could be corpses. He pulled out his phone and glanced around with paranoia, not wanting to be out here for so long.

"Perestan' mne zvonit', ty idesh' na to intervyu!" he heard from the other side of the phone and flinched slightly. "Stop calling me, James. You are going to that interview!"

"Nat- Nat wait! This place is like super ghetto and I don't think this is right-"

"Are you at 624 Winchester Drive?"

"Well... yes..."

"Then stop crying and get your ass in there, mister "I can find myself a job!""

Bucky was about to retort when his wife hung up on him and left him alone standing at the stained wooden door. Well, if Natasha was going to be that way then there was no backing out of this now... With a heavy sigh he pushed open the door and glanced around. It smelled pretty bad in here too, like cat piss. Bucky choked slightly as he closed the door, which creaked ominously as he stepped inside and walked up to the front desk. There was nobody there.

"Uh... hello?" he called and glanced around again, fingering the pepper spray in his pocket that he always kept on hand in case of a hairy situation. This place was so small, he felt like he was being compressed into some sort of box- like a lunchbox!

The brunette felt slightly claustrophobic and considered turning back and facing the wrath of Natasha when he noticed a little post-it note on the desk. He squinted and peered down at it, realizing that it was maybe addressed to him? New Guy- Bottom floor.

"Bottom... floor?..." Bucky repeated aloud and looked around for perhaps a map of the building or something.

Instead there was a stairwell sign and the brunette trotted over carefully to peek into the hole. There was a single light down at the bottom where a steel door was placed, with a keypad on the wall beside it. This was all screaming you're about to get murdered in the basement of a random building in the middle of nowhere, but nonetheless Bucky tentatively climbed down the steps, listening to the echo of his footsteps.

Heart racing, head pounding, the brunette reached the bottom of the flight of steps and knocked slowly. Two taps on the door echoed and he clenched his fist on the pepper spray. If someone burst through the door with the means to kill him, he'd never make it to the ground floor in time.

There was a moment of painstaking silence, then the door swung itself open and Bucky, before he could realize what was happening, was grabbed roughly by the front of the shirt and yanked inside.