|1| Promise Me ✦ {Bucky Barnes}

Chapter 4: Señorita

A/N: Hi guys... apologies for a lack of a good writing schedule. It's hard for me to update on a regular basis since I tend to get bad writer's block sometimes. Sorry for the late chapter. It's a long one this time, hope you guys enjoy!

- Harper E. Pierce

BRIAR:

"I'm telling you, Fury, we had a major breakthrough today. We began actually getting to know one another. I think he's beginning to trust me," I explained to my boss, "his progress is going faster than mine did. I wasn't talking much until almost three months after I came back. I think he's beginning to see me as a friend, " I told the people in the meeting room. It was me, Fury, Agent Hill and Natasha. But suddenly the door swung open and a familiar blonde burst in.

"He's beginning to see you as a friend because he's starting to remember you, Maddie," Steve told everyone at the table. I cocked a brow at my friend from the forties.

"Steve, I think I'd know if he was remembering me," I folded my arms in disagreement.

"He told me that you two had a bit of a moment in your bedroom last night," Steve began. Immediately, I knew what he was referring to. He told him about the nightmare I had.

"What kind of moment?" Natasha snickered.

"Agent Baker, I didn't put you on this mission to sleep with him," Fury frowned at what Steve said, directing his disappointment at me.

"Sleep with him? Jesus Christ, no!" I defended myself, "he was my best friend seventy years ago, I'm here to help, not fraternize!" I tried my best to put the idea of that out of my head.

"That's not what I meant," Steve cringed, "I meant that she had a nightmare and he came to her aid. Maddie, you know that he called your name a few times, and you calmed down, but you called him Bucky in your sleep. It triggered a memory of you; of when he first met you," Steve told me.

"He never told me about the memory," my breath hitched in my throat, "does he remember me?" I panicked. He couldn't know now, it was too soon. And if he knew, why didn't he tell me?

"No, he doesn't think it's you," he said, "why don't you just tell him, Maddie?"

"Because I don't want to force that on him!" My tone came out harsher than I expected.

"What would you be forcing? Unless you two got into some major thing before he left that I don't know about, what's the big deal?!" Steve argued with me.

"That's my fucking choice, Steve!" I angrily shot back.

"You two need to stop. Sort out your shit after the meeting," Natasha grumbled.

"Right, Agent Romanoff. Anyway, as much as I am happy with the current state of progress, I'd like you to push it a little more. Get to know him better, let him open up to you about his memories and his feelings. It's good that you two are finally talking, but you need to speed this up a little,"

"Fury, you can't speed up recovery. It doesn't work that way," I argued.

"But you can speed up trust. You need to give him reasons to trust you. And I'm going to be honest with you, being honest about your involvement with HYDRA may just do the trick," Fury suggested. I was bewildered.

"I'd have to tell him about my entire past!" I yelled.

"No, not necessarily," Nat began, "you could lie a little bit. You can just say why they put you on this mission. Say you were only with them for a few years. Make up a story about how they captured you. But you can be honest about what you did with them," she suggested. At first, it sounded crazy.. As much as I didn't want to lie to Bucky, when I thought about it I already was. But I wasn't sure I wanted to go as far as to make up a story about my involvement with HYDRA. Personally, I didn't want to tell him at all. I didn't want him to start getting suspicious of me. But it wasn't the worst idea I had heard that day.