Well Behaved Women Rarely Make History

Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at http://archiveofourown.org/works/24687088.

Rating: Mature
Archive Warning: Choose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Category: F/M
Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The
Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Thor (Movies), Captain America
(Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Agent Carter (TV), Agent
Carter (Marvel Short Film)
Relationship: James "Bucky" Barnes/Darcy Lewis, Jane Foster/Thor, Peggy
Carter/Steve Rogers
Character: Darcy Lewis, James "Bucky" Barnes, Jane Foster (Marvel), Thor
(Marvel), Howling Commandos, Timothy "Dum Dum" Dugan, Peggy
Carter, Howard Stark, Steve Rogers, Clint Barton, Sam Wilson (Marvel),
Bruce Banner, Darcy Lewis's grandfather, Phil Coulson, Chester Phillips
Additional Tags: Time Travel, Alternate Universe - 1940s, Eventual Romance, Slow
Burn, BAMF Darcy Lewis, Darcy Lewis-centric, World War II, Doctor
Darcy Lewis, Jane Foster & Darcy Lewis Friendship, alternative
universe, Darcy Lewis & Peggy Carter friendship, Angst, Humor, Sexual
Tension, Dum Dum Dugan is a little shit, Fluff and Smut, Darcyland
(Marvel), I Will Go Down With This Ship
Language: English
Stats: Published: 2020-06-12 Completed: 2020-09-26 Chapters: 11/11 Words:
44845

Well Behaved Women Rarely Make History

by Nelsbels

Summary

Darcy's journey from Thano's decimation as she copes with the aftermath up to its reversal
five years later.

Finally reunited with Jane once more she accompanies her friend to the Avengers new
facility as Jane joins their science division.
There she unintentionally rediscovers a talent and is made an offer.

An accident occurs as they dismantle the spacetime machine Stark created, which throws
Darcy back in time to the 1940's where she meets Peggy Carter and later the Howling
Commandos in Europe. Inevitably she catches a certain Commando's eye but all she wants
to do is punch him in the face.

Notes

See the end of the work for notes

Chapter 1
Nothing could have prepared Darcy or anyone who survived Thano’s decimation to what came
after. Following the loss of half the population they lost more lives due to the multiple catastrophes
that trailed shortly after.

In the midst of the annihilation planes all over the world fell out of the sky crashing into the cities
below and killing thousands due to the pilots having disintegrated moments prior. Trains came off
the rails without the train conductors, cars crushed on motorways with the drivers no longer
present behind the wheels. The number of casualties and the wounded spiked and rose with every
minute that went past.

They were in London at the time of the decimation. Jane disappeared right in front of Darcy’s eyes
while she could do absolutely nothing to save her friend. The terror, the confusion and the
devastation that followed when she had learnt about what happened to her friend along with half of
the population of the world was shattering.

Her only relative, her rock, her grandfather had passed away when she was still a teen. Then Jane
came along and she became like family. She couldn’t help tethering herself to her, her big space
soldier loving mad scientist. Darcy felt like she had lost her granddad all over again when she lost
Jane. It had felt like someone switched off the light in her life, she could no longer see, hear nor
feel.

She had spent weeks locked inside their apartment in shock whilst her hands shook and her mind
became progressively numb as she watched the news display the apocalypse that ravaged the
whole world outside the four walls she hid in. She could barely function.

Multiple global civil wars broke out due to political unrests as many of the figureheads disappeared
in a blink of an eye creating power struggles. There was no end to the greed and the horror that the
human race was capable of because ‘Chaos was a ladder’. A dangerous yet a true analogy she had
learnt during her Political Science degree.

Cases of burglaries, muggings and sexual assaults had increased because there weren’t as many
police on the streets. The world had suddenly become a very dangerous place.

It took awhile for the dust to settle and some semblance of order to come back to the world but it
did somewhat eventually, costing four agonising years of uncertainty and unrest.
During that time Darcy had volunteered to help in a local hospital in any way she could after
watching an announcement on the news pleading for volunteers. Hospitals unable to cope with the
sheer number of casualties.

‘First aid finally came in handy after all these years’ she mused darkly.

The medical staff were short, half the hospitals had also gone in a blink of an eye, surgeons
disappearing in the midst of surgeries, it was a catastrophe, especially when the wounded pilled up
at the gates shortly after whilst skeleton staff run the hospitals.

Spending time and assisting the nurses and the doctors with the meagre and simple tasks of
cleaning and dressing non-fatal injuries or clerical side of things Darcy got a strange sense of
belonging. There was this sentience of comradely among the medics that she never felt anywhere
else, not in the science world of Jane nor during her limited experience in the political field. The
scientists and the politicians collaborated among each other sometimes but ultimately they always
focused on themselves and their own personal goals or agendas. The health professionals in
comparison were different, they were in some ways selfless, their ultimate goal was saving and
caring for their patients despite the disagreements or egos that got involved at times. Despite their
best intentions even they are human and thus prone to making mistakes sometimes but nothing was
more sacred to them than the oath they take ‘to do no harm’ and do their best.

Darcy had realised that she wanted to be a part of it, their community, and so it didn't take long for
her to decide to apply for an accelerated Medical degree at Imperial College London University,
which was four years instead of the traditional six. However, before she could begin the course she
had to pass a specific exam and go through an interview process to show that she was capable and
a person of the right calibre to be trained as a medic. It was no walk in the park but Darcy was
nothing but determined, her drive and intelligence evident to all the arbitrators. There was nothing
she couldn’t accomplish if she put her mind to.

Darcy had graduated highschool at the age of 14 and completed her first degree by 18 but she
never saw a clear path in her life until now. For a long time she felt like a drifter, especially after
her beloved grandfather passed away just before she graduated. She never went to the graduation
because what was the point of going up those steps to receive a piece of paper to then go down to
be greeted with an empty space? A stark reminder that she was now truly alone and no one would
be waiting for her.

That is why she followed Jane for as long as she had. Four years. Sadly admitting to herself that
she never really thought of her future because she never really knew what she wanted to do with
her life. Her attachment and bond to Jane somewhat solidified it, she did not want to be alone and
so she followed her astrophysicist like a stray.
Despite her previous years of wondering and sightlessness she had never felt so sure about
anything else in her life as she felt about this step now. Ever determined she studied at Imperial
College London University, a world-renowned institution, which also was one of the few places
that was still running like a well-oiled engine.

Due to the daily dangers that lurked around the streets of the current dystopian world Darcy pushed
herself to get some self-defence lessons as a necessity for her own safety. Between her studies and
the long shifts of the hospital placements, the short bursts of time of rest were spent studying and
practising self-defence. She wasn’t nimble nor long limbed to be able to do much damage with
offence but she could use her small stature to her advantage, so she focused on effective defence to
protect herself if such a situation ever occurred whilst praying that it never did.

She was qualified for a year when everyone came back in one whole sweep.

After loosing everyone in a blink of an eye and then getting them back was incomprehensible for
both sides. For those people who reappeared it was mere few hours, the world that they returned to
was unrecognisable to them.

Having lived through those dark five years had hardened Darcy. She no longer babbled like she
used to or said dude at the beginning of every sentence when she was carefree with Jane by her
side. She had changed.

So when Darcy dropped everything as soon as she could to run back to the flat to see if Jane came
back, Jane almost couldn’t recognise her. They were now nearly the same age. They broke down in
tears and reconciled the last five years they spent apart and which Jane had lost, it was heart
wrenching for them both.

Jane was taken aback by how much Darcy had changed but she hugged her and told her how proud
she was of her for finding her path and following it with her whole heart.

“You are making it sound like I’m some mother Theresa.”

“At least your sarcastic charm is still intact.” joked Jane, laughing through her tears of relief.
They sat in silence drinking tea in their apartment, still reeling from the day’s events, when
Darcy’s phone rang suddenly. She looked at the unrecognisable to her number but answered it
reluctantly anyway.

“Hello?”

“Lighting sister…”

She did not think she’d ever hear his voice again. Despite their break up Thor had never forgotten
Jane or her. The last time they spoke was a couple of years ago when he checked up on her in
London to see how she was doing, it was bittersweet because they both missed Jane deeply. She
saw the never yielding warrior now become a shadow of his former self, defeated. He had told her
of what happened and her heart broke for him, for he had lost so much more, his home, his people,
his family and the one woman he ever truly loved. It was too much, too raw.

“Hey space knight in shining armour.”

Jane inhaled sharply at hearing those words and Darcy glanced at her big sister with a gentle but
knowing smile. She knew of how deep her feelings run for Thor, how much it had hurt her when
she decided that going separate ways was for the best. Jane was inconsolable for months after,
ignoring and burying her feelings in her work instead, denying it till the very end.

“Are you well? Is she…” His voice was a little uncertain, gruff but filled with heavy emotion.

“Yes blondie, here.” Darcy passed the phone to Jane but all the woman could do was only stare at
the phone in her hand, her eyes wide and glossy, welling up with unshed tears, her brows furrowing
but a few second later managed to slowly bring it up to her ear. She tried to slow her uneven
breathing before she spoke softly.

“Thor…” she heard his heavy sigh at the other end of the line, full of relief.

At this moment Darcy walked out of the room to give them some privacy, happy for her friends
and secretly hoping they would reconcile after all this time apart.
Darcy was able to take a couple of weeks off, her first vacation in five years, to go with Jane back
to US, which was a difficult task because all of a sudden there were twice as many people now
trying to travel to get home to see their loved ones.

Darcy did not want to part with Jane after only reuniting with her but knew it was inevitable sooner
or later, she would need to decide if she wanted to leave London after it had become somewhat
home for her. Her purpose of accompanying Jane was to support her with her new job as well as
seeing the love of her life again, which the woman was freaking out about.

Jane was twisted up in knots and Darcy could do nothing but tease her.

“Excited to see your hunk?”

Jane gave her a stern look, which said ‘I’m not even going to dignify that question with an answer’.

Darcy rolled her eyes at her friend’s denial as she settled next to her, waiting for the plane to depart
to New York.

“You know that denial isn’t only a river in Egypt right?”

"Shut up Darcy!"

Before the war Jane had finally accepted a job offer from Stark after eventually letting him
convince her to join his science division but as the world unravelled everything was put on hold,
also due to Thor’s involvement and not wanting his lady love to be anywhere near the imminent
danger.

Unfortunately under such despondent circumstances Jane was finally able to join their science
division. Stark's absence was felt greatly.

Jane was given her own apartment inside the base where Darcy was able to crash with her,
however she did not have to sleep on the couch as Jane and Thor were getting reacquainted in his
chambers. Darcy snorted unladylike. She was truly happy for her friends, she just hoped they'd
make it work this time.

Consequently they meet some of the Avengers or what was left of them. Initially they only met
Bruce Banner and Sam Wilson briefly. Jane knew Banner from previous encounters while still in
Culver University, she also knew Betty who was a mutual friend of theirs that she still spoke to
often. Upon their arrival to the new Avengers base he subtly tried to ask her about how Betty was,
which did not go unnoticed, in between the girls comically gawking at his green giant self.

They are somehow invited to attend Tony’s funeral but Darcy declines as she wasn’t a close friend
nor family to him, she felt it would be a little inappropriate for her to go as they had only shared a
handful of words of sarcastic banter. She knew that perhaps if things turned out differently and she
had an opportunity to get to know Tony more she’d form a sort of kinship with him. It was this rare
feeling you got in your gut upon a first meeting with certain people who you just knew were your
people. Perhaps in another lifetime they’d make great friends.

Jane accompanied Thor and so instead Darcy rented a black BMW and went to visit her own
parents and grandparents' graves. They were buried in a little cemetery in New Jersey, the grounds
were surrounded by trees throughout with leaves that were now turning vibrant colours of orange
and reds, autumn had come, and as she walked the familiar path some of the leaves fell from the
trees in a slow glide.

She carefully laid the beautiful bouquets of flowers made up of peonies, roses and baby breaths
upon their graves with a heavy heart. She couldn’t really remember her parents all that well as she
was very young when they passed away in a road traffic incident. A drunk driver hit their car at
great speed, Darcy was the only survivor. She only faintly remembered the crash but retained a
long scar on her forearm as a reminder of what had been and what she had survived.

She stared at her Grandfather’s head stone for a long time, tracing his name, Dimitri Alexander
Lewis, her throat tight and sinuses burning. There was so much she wanted to say to him, to
apologise to him and to thank him for all that he had done for her. Her grandmother's head stone
lay right next to his, his beloved wife. She had passed away when she was only a baby from brain
haemorrhage, a subarachnoid bleed, also know as a type of stroke that had very low survival rates.

She had been a difficult teenager, perhaps more so due to the circumstances she was orphaned by
and being raised by a man had come with its own struggles but he'd tried his upmost. He was her
everything, her brother, mother, father and everything in between.

He had strong character, despite loosing so many loved ones in a short space of time, he never
caved from his grief. He was a World War II veteran and just like in the army he had kept his spine
straight and his chin lifted as he marched on ahead. He supported her in any way he could and gave
her tough love when she needed it. He taught her how to drive a car and shoot a gun despite her
many reservations about firearms.

He did his best and she couldn’t love him more for it, she just wished she didn’t give him so much
shit as a teen. Despite her moodiness they were close. His cooking wasn’t Michelin star level but it
was edible. When she was old enough she took over the cooking much to both their relief, which
they laughed about many times after.

Darcy kissed her fingers and then laid them on his head stone lovingly, her eyes glossy and chest
tight with emotion as she kneeled down.

“Hey granddad…” she sighed heavily before continuing, “it’s been a bit of a shit storm to put it
lightly the last five years…” and so she talked to his head stone as if she was talking to him for
real, telling him of what transpired in her life since the last time she visited, which was too long
ago, making her feel sad and ashamed.

“Never thought I’d say this but you were right, well you were right in most cases but I was
convinced that there was no way you could've been right about this!” she chuckled in disbelief “I
did become a medic and I never looked back since. Go on I know you want to say it, I told you so
Dee…”

She knelt by his headstone for what felt like hours but when her legs started going numb she rose
slowly.

Darcy mouthed silently her love for them all before leaving.

Her feet took her back to her rental car. After settling into her seat behind the driver's wheel she
just sat there lost in thought for few minutes, reminiscent. She then finally decided to take a walk
down the memory lane. Darcy drove past the street where her granddad’s old house was, where she
lived with him for all those years before she moved out to go to university. She still owned it but
had rented it out as a source of income, which she was desperate for at the time.

As she observed her childhood home from the car, the two-story house in a cute and quiet
suburban area, she realised that it hadn’t changed all that much in the last decade, surprisingly. The
feeling of homesickness suddenly overwhelmed her and she fought the urge to knock on the door
and disturb the family that currently lived there so she decided to leave before she did something
embarrassing.
Instead she just drove around. She enjoying driving again, being back after so long just felt surreal.
She was very tempted to drive to Virginia where she went to Culver University but waved the idea
away as it was a good seven hour drive.

'Perhaps another time' she thought before she spotted a coffee chain 'Artisan coffee' she used to
love at university. She decided to grab a cup and people watch for a bit before it was time to drive
back to the Avengers facility and meet back with Jane.

Sitting quietly while sipping her filtered black coffee ‘black like my soul’ she mused, it was the
only way her granddad drunk coffee and so she got used to it. Her university friends had always
used to tease her about it and the thought of them made her feel a little guilty as she hadn’t wrote to
her friends this past year.

It had taken her a long time to come to terms with her femininity, her body and her beauty. She had
always felt awkward growing up. Puberty had come a little earlier than to other girls in her school
and perhaps a little overly generous. In her teenage mind being different was a bad thing, she just
wanted to blend in and be just like everyone else.

Darcy chuckled at the memories of her foolishness whilst a teenager.

She was shy and embarrassed of her generous curves. To over compensate she wore baggy clothes
to try and hide them. Teenagers were cruel especially when jealous. Popular girls always picked on
her because she held the attention of the majority of the boys at school, both younger and older. It
was all unintentional, she never wanted the attention in the first place. Her insecurities always held
her back and were only made worse by the bullies that tried to exploit them.

Without a mother figure in her life she struggled with the changes her body was going through but
graduating highschool at 14 as soon as she could and running away to university had made life a
little easier despite missing her grandfather. University students weren’t as petty as the highschool
kids were and meeting girls at college and making friends had helped her to come out of her shell
somewhat. She’d never forget Cat’s and Iris’s words to her at the time, her fellow housemates,
after confessing to them about her horrible time in highschool, the bullying and her insecurities.

“It is not your fault if other women are threatened by your beauty, real women support each other
and don’t go belittling others only to make themselves feel or look better.”

“Celebrate your curves! You are a gorgeous girl, have faith in yourself and learn to love yourself as
you are! Fuck the rest who say otherwise!”
They taught her that real friends supported each other, boosted each other’s moral and confidence
so you could grow together and become better versions of yourselves. That was true friendship.

She’d become more confident from the support, the praise and the compliments from her close
friends. They treated her like their little sister, taking her under their wing. She knew it wasn’t very
feminist of her but having kind words said to her while she was still an insecure teenager had been
invaluable to her.

Their shared love of sarcasm and heroes like the notorious Ruth Ginsburg, Peggy Carter and Jane
Elliott solidified their friendship. They felt like old souls trapped inside young bodies. Despite
going their separate ways after graduation, Cat going back to Australia and Iris back to Germany,
they still kept in touch. They wrote each other extensive emails of what was going on in their lives
at the time and exchanged moral support but it wasn’t quite the same as having them by her side.
She missed them dearly.

Darcy checked the time and it was already 3pm so she made her way back to the Avengers facility
out in the sticks of New York, Esopus, missing the majority of the traffic she had arrived early
before anyone else. Thoughts and feelings of homesickness were still prevalent in her mind and
unable to sit still she stood to go walk around before bumping into one of the security guards they
called Bob.

“Hey.”

He looked at her a little comically, puzzled as if to say ‘Who? Me?’

“…Bob…right?” to which Bob could only nod dumbly.

“So what do you guys do here for fun?”

And that’s how she ended up in the practise barracks of the building. As soon as he mentioned the
shooting range she asked him to take her there. They were located in the lower levels of the
building. Registering and borrowing a gun to use for an hour from the desk she made her way with
the equipment she needed. It was blissfully empty. Putting on the headset to protect her ears and
clear glasses to shield her eyes she tried to recall all that her granddad had taught her over a decade
ago.
She wanted to let loose, feelings of loneliness were starting to choke her, she missed her granddad
and so in her mind's eye as if he was talking her through the steps of the way you held a gun
properly, the correct stance leaning forward slightly, the way you aimed before gently pressing the
trigger like a caress, she fired and once she started she could not stop.

It was exhilarating and it took her a few tries before she remembered it like riding a bike.

Despite fighting her granddad initially against learning how to shoot when she was thirteen she
could never forget his proud look when she had made the mark for the first time. He told her she
was a natural and before she knew it he was putting his old hunting rifle in her hands. He drove her
to shooting ranches where they shot those flying plates. She later conceded that she enjoyed it, as
they competed against each other while exchanging sarcastic banter. It was priceless quality time
spent with her granddad and some of her fondest memories.

Before she could stop herself she went back to the desk to exchange the 9mm for a rifle to the
bewilderment of the guys sitting there. She saw the video feeds on their computer screens, which
meant they were watching her. It made her smile because it was evident that they didn’t think
much of her at first and had underestimated her skill but when she came back to the desk for the
second time to give back the rifle they were just shy of unabashedly gawking at her. One of the
boys who found his voice asked her where she learnt to shoot like that and so with a signature
Lewis smirk that she picked up from her dear grandfather she said.

“My granddaddy taught me all I know. Was a second World War veteran.”

They watched her dumbly as she walked away towards the lifts.

Apparently her demonstration did not go unnoticed.

 Chapter 2

The lift came to a stop at the main lobby and as Darcy exited the Avengers and co were already
dispersing, everyone solemn.

She spotted Thor and Jane straight away and moved to approach them. She saw their intertwined
hands and couldn’t hide her amused smile.

Thor accompanied them to the science labs and watched the girls settle in and helped move Jane’s
heavy equipment into place. It felt like a lifetime ago, a déjà vu from their time in New Mexico.
They remised and laughed about their first meeting. Jane ‘grazing’ Thor with their car and Darcy
'tazing' him for good measure.

“Yes I did.” She said proudly and they howled with laughter.

At that moment Clint Barton came in to pick up Thor for a brief.

“Ladies, Thor, heads up, the team got a brief in 20. So eh what you guys laughing about?”

“Weren’t you in the leagues with the ‘son of Coul’ the iPod thief back in New Mexico?”

The girls remembered Clint from their time in New Mexico. He looked like he had aged, the stress
lines made him look older and more tired than he really was. The war and the loss of his friends
took its toll but Darcy’s humorous comment still managed to make him smile.

“The one and the only.”

“Actually we were just remembering our time in New Mexico and Thor falling out of the sky.
Darcy tazing the God of Thunder while I knocked him a couple of times with my car.”
“Was your head egg shaped before she hit ya?” Clint couldn’t resist making fun of Thor who
looked at him in confusion, still taking everything literally even now.

“What’s wrong with the shape of my head?”

“Nothing dear he’s joking. I love it.”

Clint and Darcy snickered at the lover’s exchange.

“It’s good to have you with us ladies, welcome to the Avengers.”

Hawkeye left with a still confused Thor in tow.

She’d been contemplating on her potential move from London back to New York, having spent the
last 7 years there, a couple with Jane and the rest alone. It was a great city, she loved it more than
she loved New York, it had more character and a vast history, it was a hub of the most multi-
diverse community she had ever seen or experienced.

Darcy was not attached to Jane at the hip no more and she could stay if she wanted to but after
visiting her family’s grave she already knew in her heart that it was what she needed to do.

She had made friends over time during her medical degree and work while rotating between the
five hospitals that consisted of Imperial College Trust. She wasn’t a hermit but due to the
circumstances social events were very few and very far in between as everyone were just too busy
and too hurt after the annihilation. Neither was it safe enough to do so for the first three to four
years due to the heightened crime rate. Many establishments and shops as well as restaurants had
closed, going out of business, there was economic strife around the world, many countries falling
into recessions.

Her mentor and the team she currently worked with were good people but due to the rotation every
4 months or so the team changed, she would be sent to another ward or hospital. It was the nature
of the job initially as a junior doctor, you rotated for the first 2 years and then picked your
specialty. And for those reasons it was hard to form any sort of lasting friendships and so she
wouldn’t really be leaving anyone behind so to speak.
She also understood that it wouldn’t be an easy transition from one country to the other, she would
have to sit exams to be able to obtain the registration she required to work freely in the US but it
did not deter her so in the evenings when Jane and she finished their work in the lab she would
open her laptop to do her research while Jane slipped away to Thor’s apartment.

There is no time like now so she wasted none.

Darcy emailed the regulatory body to register for the exams. They weren’t cheap but she had saved
up enough over the year for it not put her out of pocket or anything. She also emailed a couple of
hospitals in New York to arrange a visit as a potential job candidate. She wasn’t sure if they’d be
able to accommodate her within her tight two-week time frame but it didn’t hurt to try. It would be
good to see and get her bearings of how the hospitals in New York functioned differently in
comparison to the ones in London as preparation. To her surprise one of the hospitals answered her
the following day and she was invited for a visit.

Her steps were sure, back straight and chin levelled, stilettos resonating in the large space softly.
Her black two piece like suit fit her perfectly, high waist trousers and a short sleeve crop top that
came down just below the waist line, part of the upper back had a cut out in a shape of a V. Her
hair was pinned up in a high bun exposing her long neck. Makeup perfect and dusty pink lipstick
on her lips.

Darcy was playing with her car keys as she made her way to the car park, turning a few heads as
she passed by appreciatively.

She gave Bob a little salute with two fingers before getting into her black BMW rental to which the
poor man flailed and saluted right back even though she wasn’t military, it made her cackle at his
blunder.

Having her friends back felt like the semblance of the old Darcy was somewhat coming back to her.
She was able to make jokes again instead of throwing around aggressive sarcasm. Neither had she
felt overwhelmed from being surrounded by people with special abilities again, she knew her
worth.
The brief visit to one of the hospitals had gone surprisingly well, lifting Darcy’s mood and plans
for relocation. She thought that perhaps it wouldn’t be such a difficult transition after all, the
practises weren’t that much different, she could adapt.

To unwind she decided to go down to the shooting range again, too lazy to change her clothes.
There were the same two guards on duty as on the previous day and when they saw her approach
one of them wordlessly handed her the form to fill in while the other moved to get her a gun of her
choice.

“What will it be today ma’am?”

With a devilish smile she asked for the rifle.

As she proceeded to set up at her designated booth, falling into a comforting routine, which made
her feel somewhat closer to her grandfather once more, the same steps she took with his careful and
watchful eyes, she couldn’t help the sense of familiar that lulled her into a calm state of mind.

With the ear and eye guards in place she raised the rifle to take aim, regulating her breathing to a
slow exhale as she pulled the trigger.

It ironically felt like coming home.

Just before she was done for the day she heard a low whistle to her right and saw Clint and Sam
Wilson. They looked at her with awe and a growing sense of a different kind of respect, which
made her smile. Flipping the safety on the gun she lowered it before taking off the guards.

“Can I help you gentlemen?”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything hotter than a petite lady tare it up with a rifle.”

Sam’s flirty comment made her snort and then laugh out loud.

“Well this petite lady is starving, you guys coming to the canteen?”
They accompanied her to the facility’s restaurant with friendly banter. After grabbing the food
from the generous buffet they settled themselves on one of the tables. They exchanged fond
memories, trying to keep clear of the people they have lost along the way as the wounds left
behind were still raw. However, it had felt nice, making new friends, which she hoped she could
keep.

“Do you shoot often?” Sam questioned with a friendly grin.

“Actually, I picked up a gun for the first time in a decade only a few days ago.”

“You were out of practice for that long and still retained that kind of level of competence?” Clint
almost chocked on his food from her honest answer and did a doubly take, looking back at her
baffled.

“It’s like riding a bike.” She mused.

“I don’t know what kind of bikes you ride but Lewis that ain’t it!”

Darcy chuckled almost bashfully, looking away.

“You are gona be head hunted if word of your talent gets out. Mark my words!”

Flattered she laughed and could only rebuff their statements.

“I’m a doctor not a soldier. The oath I took said to do no harm.”

“We shall see…how about a bet?”

Ironically, the next day she is paid a visit by the notorious agent Phil Coulson, back from the dead,
who she remembered from New Mexico. He personally came to see her in the labs, which made
her a little nervous and very suspicious, wondering if Barton had anything to do with it but
nevertheless she greeted him with a mischievous smile, Lewis style, and some of her old sass.

“Oh the Son of Coul, the iPod thief. Welcome.”

“Miss Lewis.”

“How may I be of service?”

“Funny you say that. We are currently hiring and it has come to my attention that you hold certain
qualities of an agent in the making. How would you feel about training to become one of our field
operatives?”

If it was five years prior Darcy would have proceeded, very unladylike, to choke and then sputter
the coffee she was drinking while letting out an interesting and inappropriate choice of words along
the lines of ‘Come again for big fudge?’ a quote she used to love from a series she watched once
upon a time (how I met your mother) and ‘What the actual fuck?!” all from shock and
ridiculousness of the proposal.

However, after having lived through the last five years, some of the darkest of her life, nothing
seemed to faze her all that much anymore. Perhaps it was partly due to her training as a medic
during a dystopian time on earth, having to keep a cool head on her shoulders as she barely had
minutes to stabilise her patients before they asphyxiated or bled to death. Getting through scenarios
like that, sometimes with positive and sometimes with negative ends, really changed you as a
person.

Now she was able to maintain her slight smile before parting her lips to take a sip of her coffee
from a mug she held firmly in her hand, sustaining eye contact, her expression neutral.

“Of course you can take time to make your decision. There can be a preliminary time period if you
wish. I look forward to your answer.”

Coulson smiled enigmatically, leaving his business card behind on her desk, before taking his
leave as quickly as he had arrived moments prior, just like he appeared and disappeared in New
Mexico with Jane’s equipment and her beloved iPod, which was the last gift she had received from
her dear grandfather.
“That over confident shmuck...”

She muttered under her breath as she watched him go, reeling a little from the encounter. Her eyes
lowered to observe the card he'd left behind and the significance behind it.

She was a good shot, she acknowledged her skill, but there was a big difference between the ways
you used firearms. Shooting targets or plates to unwind and shooting people were in two very
different leagues. Her proficiency for it did not mean she was prepared to go shooting people for
real, whatever cause it may have been for. She firmly believed that people lost something within
themselves when they took a life. It was not an easy thing to do, to kill someone, under any
circumstances. Her training as a doctor stood firmly against it but somewhere deep within her was
tempted if only ever so slightly. She was flattered by Coulson's proposition but she knew herself
and she was no killer.

Her trail of thought took her to her recent meeting, if one could call it as such, with the Winter
Soldier, a proficient killer in the field. The silent assassin with the distinct dark metal arm was
walking alongside Sam in one of the corridors on her way to the labs. Sam stopped to exchange a
greeting and introduced her to the soldier who went by the name of James Barnes. His tall stature,
his long hair that fell across the sides on his face creating shadows only added to his foreboding
presence. His cold and unfeeling storm blue eyes pinned her in place.

She had limited knowledge of the said man, a former indoctrinated assassin, a brief memory of the
incident in Belgium flashed in her mind's eye. She gave him a small smile out of politeness despite
feeling a little intimidated but when she looked up at his face all she could see was an impassive
mask. She could feel tension coiling in her gut almost unbearably before he walked away leaving
Sam and her behind. Sam called after him but the other man didn't stop nor look back.

During the next couple of days the feeling of tension in her abdomen remained somewhat,
pinpricks of awareness of being watched followed her, setting in like lead in her stomach. It
unnerved her.

She had finally caught him staring at her with an impassive expression on his face, which she
could not understand what she had done to cause or deserve. Having one of the most dangerous
men in the world look at you in such a way would make any sane person run but Darcy obstinately
refused to be intimidated.

“Take a picture it’ll last longer.” She snarked at him last time, not sure where the courage had
come from but his odd behaviour was putting her rather on edge and she couldn’t repress her
kneejerk reaction to it.
She could not believe her eyes but her response almost made him falter and caused Sam
unceremoniously to guffaw along with Clint chortling like a hyena at her words. She couldn’t stop
her own little chuckle, trying to hide it behind her hand. The tension somehow disintegrating a little
before she saw how angry he seemed to become, trying to temper down his rage before picking up
his own gun and shooting a target at the practise barracks they were all in.

She could hear the muttering between Clint and Sam while the Winter Soldier kept staring at her in
cold silence as she walked past them to her own shooting booth, shaking her head.

“Is she related to Stark in any shape or form?”

“No, I remember her from New Mexico. Heard she tazed the God of Thunder good.”

“I’d pay money to see that!”

“Me too! And she’s too pretty to be Stark in drag but I got to say that would be the biggest prank in
history of the mankind if it were true.”

The image that came to mind of Stark dressed as a drag queen made them howl with laughter while
the broody Winter Soldiers looked at them disapprovingly.

They watched her from a distance shred her target with a 9mm gun at 40 yards.

“I’d pick up your jaw off the floor but finding it a little hard to pick up my own. Who is she
again?”

“She’s a medical doctor.”

“Run that by me again cause I think I heard you wrong as none of the words that came out of your
mouth contained agent, FBI, CIA or special forces.”

All Clint received was a punch to his arm from Sam.

“Ow”

Bucky had then abruptly left, in a darker mood than he’d joined them initially. The scowl on his
face bade no questions and they let him walk away from the shooting barracks.

“What crawled up his arse and died?” asked Clint in a flippant manner.

“Who knows? He’s been cooped up in his place like a hermit since Steve left and as soon as he met
her he’s been acting weirder.”

Darcy woke with a shudder just after 3am from a vivid like nightmare. Her skin was covered in
cold sweat with legs tangled up in the bed sheets. They weren’t so common any more although the
lingering trauma from Thano’s decimation still pulled her into very dark corners of her mind
sometimes, and this time instead of Jane she watched her beloved grandfather disintegrate while
she was trapped in her seven year old body unable to do anything but scream.

It shook her. She hadn’t been so affected by a nightmare in a long time. Unable to shake it off she
got up, threw on some sweats and a hoodie, to take a walk and before she knew it her legs were
taking her a familiar route to the shooting barracks, however it was not empty.

She watched the Winter Soldier as he skilfully used what looked like a sniper’s rifle. It did not take
him long to acknowledge her presence, only a slight movement of his eyes. He probably had heard
her footsteps ages before she entered through the main door.

In all honesty she did not know what to make of him. History had been her least favourite subject
and back then she didn’t watch the news all that often either so could scarcely remember his
involvement in the Belgium attack a few years ago as well as the destruction of SHIELD. She did
eventually ask Thor about him and he gave her a brief overview of what he barely knew about the
said man himself, his capture and involvement with an organisation called HYDRA against his
will, his friendship with Steve Rogers, a bitter fight with Stark, and him eventually fighting along
side them in the war against Thanos.

He was a complex man with a very dark past.

As she picked up her gun from the desk she silently walked passed him as he tried to ignore her. A
sudden change from his usual intense glaring she mused. She also noticed in that moment that he
had cut his hair short and trimmed back his beard to a light stubble. He looked almost like a
different person, it was strange.

His heavy stare had always unnerved her, she could not comprehend why he looked at her in that
way. The basics she knew of him being a brainwashed assassin, used as a weapon against his will,
kept her from approaching him and confronting him directly about his odd behaviour towards her
because you know self preservation and all that jazz.

He had that air around him, of a predator and he carried himself as such, it was alarming to say the
least.

She laid her equipment onto the table in front of her and before she could put on the guards she saw
movement in the corner of her eye. She eerily could barely hear his silent footsteps. ‘A habit or
intentional?’ she wondered a little unsettled as she turned to face him. Her heart rate picked up and
almost jumped into her throat from his sudden approach, her hand twitched toward her gun, which
did not go unnoticed by him before he came to an abrupt stop in front of her only a couple of feet
away.

“What’s your name?”

She never thought she’d ever hear the silent soldier speak, it was a bit of a shock. It was deep, like
a low growl, which resonated in his chest but did not sound threatening. She stared back at him
dumbly before finding her voice and muttering with slight humour.

“Why? Are you going to detain me?”

He raised his heavy brow in response, which she couldn’t help but mirror.

‘She was making fun of potentially one of the most dangerous and proficient killers on earth, she’s
gone mad, she has lost the plot along with her marbles’, Darcy thought within her jumbled and
sleep deprived brain before she caved and spoke.

“Darcy Lewis.”
He observed her intently with his cold stare as if contemplating if she was lying or not, as if testing
her. She got the sense that he most likely, if not undoubtably, already knew who she was by now
along with her whole life history. Perhaps it was his nature as an assassin that stalked his pray,
observed from a distance before striking. She tried to will that thought away, swallowing thickly.

He took another step forward towards her, only leaving a short distance between them. He towered
over her by almost a foot. She was very tempted to take a step back but held her ground. She did
not know what games he was playing but she would not yield. Her pride wouldn’t allow her to. She
was tired of his behaviour towards her.

“Do you remember me?”

His question confused her beyond words, but it was the look in his eyes that threw her off the most.
At this shorter distance she could see how bright his stormy blue eyes were. His face was almost
expressionless but his eyes, previously cold, now held much emotion, which she could not name
and was too afraid to decipher.

She spoke her next words carefully and watched his reaction closely, trying to figure out this
puzzling man that stood in front of her. From such close proximity she vaguely registered in her
mind that he smelled of pinewood and mint.

“I don’t believe we have ever met?”

Something akin to hurt flashed in his eyes and he took half a step back, sharply looking away,
turning his head before looking back at her again as if searching her face for answers. His hands
were fisted by his sides and he seemed to be fighting some kind of inner demon, a battle he seemed
to be losing.

She licked her lips unconsciously, a nervous habit, and he traced the movement with his eyes, his
gaze almost burning. Her chest rose and fell with each breath she took, her mind unregistering the
increase in respiratory rate with every passing moment. However, she did finally concede to herself
within her fatigued and blurry mind that yes she did find him appealing despite the bizarre
circumstances. He was a very striking man, the bone structure of his face was distinctly masculine
and enthralling.

Winter Soldier was a good-looking man in his thirties.

She could not look away from his eyes, she wasn’t sure what was wrong with her, was it the
exhaustion finally setting in due to her sleep deprivation? For the world she could not answer but
the longer she held his intense gaze the further the tension between them built.

And then suddenly she felt his hands come up and settle on her shoulders before he was backing
her into a corner, the only blind spot of the cameras dotted around the room. She stumbled
backwards with her mind going blank unable to think in that heavy moment, being swept away in
it, listening to his rhythmically heavy breathing that matched her own like a trance before his
mouth came crashing down onto hers and she let him kiss her senselessly.

She had never in her life felt nor received such passion from a man. It was an intoxicating feeling, a
feeling of being wanted with such burning intensity and need that you could not help being
completely and utterly swept away by it.

He held her against him tightly, with ease as if she weighed nothing he brought her whole body up
to meet his hot and demanding lips half way, her tiptoes barely brushing the floor. On instinct her
arms came up around his neck for stability, her nails gently running through his short hair on the
back of his neck and head, which made him shiver, enticing a low groan from the back of his
throat. The sound made heat pool low in her gut.

He kissed her like a lover. The things he did with his sinful tongue made her toes curl, goading soft
sighs and low moans from her. He bit and nipped her plump lips, so pliant and warm and oh so
inviting.

She then felt his fingers thread into her hair, grabbing a fistful of her curls at the back of her scull
before pulling her head back roughly but not enough to hurt, breaking their all consuming kiss and
making her gasp for air. The act of dominance ignited something within her, heat coiled within her
abdomen. Then she felt his wet burning lips make a trail from her ear down to her pulse point on
her neck painfully and tantalisingly slow, his soft lips barely brushing her skin, making her unable
to suppress a shiver and enticing a soft whimper as soon as his open mouth finally connected to her
skin. He sucked the milky skin of her neck gently without bruising, she could feel herself
unravelling in his arms. His burning mouth then came up again, she felt his stubble grazing her
skin while his lips trailed her jaw, catching her chin with his lower lip and side of her mouth before
kissing her again.

It ended with a lingering chaste kiss before he lowered her feet to the ground and took a step back.
As soon as her feet touched the floor she opened her eyes slowly to see his hair dishevelled, lips
swollen and eyes hooded, observing her. Her delicate hand came up to softly touch her abused lips,
still burning from his kisses. Then she blinked and somehow came to before she brushed passed
him and run from there as fast as her legs could take her.
 Chapter 3
Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

The following day she couldn’t decipher if she dreamt it all up or if it happened for real. She was in
shock and utterly confused when she got back to Jane’s flat and fell into bed face first, passing out
shortly after from pure exhaustion.

She got her answer when she saw him next across the dinning hall of the cafeteria, in his heated
glance. Her face must have resembled a tomato. She hadn’t felt like that since she was an awkward
teen, it was embarrassing and the fact of it being just who made her react like that was worse. One
of the world’s most notorious killers kissed her senseless last night and she let him!

She didn’t know how to feel about that. How does one supposed to feel about such an unlikely
event transpiring and managing to survive it? She did not know how to speak to him. What would
she even say?

‘So do they teach you how to kiss at the assassin school too or what?’

Or perhaps ‘Is this how you woo all the girls?’

That was definitely inappropriate so she did the next best thing, avoid him or as close to as she was
capable of. He was a tracker if he wanted to find her he would, perhaps he was giving her space?

She did not question it.

She couldn’t decide if she hated him or not, but how can you hate someone who gave you such a
kiss? Her knees felt weak from just remembering it. She couldn’t bring herself to talk about it
because who would believe her? She hardly believed it herself.

In that moment Darcy decided to stop thinking about it and that it would be best forgotten, she
failed miserably.
A week after Tony Stark’s funeral and the disappearance of Captain America, who she never got to
meet unfortunately, they started dismantling the spacetime travel machine he built. Even Jane
understood the gravity of such an object and the dangers that lay within it. If it ever was used
poorly or fell into the wrong hands they could do irreversible and potentially catastrophic damage
to this world and more. The grim possibilities made the blood in her veins run cold.

Darcy gingerly took the steps up to stand in the middle of the said contraption where the Avengers
stood weeks prior to save the world as they knew it. It was a surreal feeling.

Bruce and Jane were distracted at the control panel, he was showing Jane how it functioned and
explained to her how they managed to achieve time travel.

It was incomprehensible to Darcy that something such as this existed and was ever a possibility. It
was meant to be science fiction fantasy but yet here she stood on top of the evidence that it was
conceivable.

She couldn’t help the selfish thoughts that assaulted her in that moment, which she tried her best to
tamper down but couldn’t quite do so. Dark memories of her family plagued her mind.

Lost in thought she started moving away and back towards the steps, her hands suddenly shaking,
understanding that she needed to distance herself from the machine before she lost her mind to any
selfish impulses, dark corners of her psyche trying to consume her.

She did not see the sudden panicked faces of Bruce and Jane behind the console of the machine a
few yards away from her but she acutely heard the power come on that brought the Stark’s
apparatus to life.

The following events had unraveled almost like in slow motion in front of her.

She saw the mirrors of the machine moving at a hazardous speed into position all around her,
encapsulating her and as she heard Jane scream her name a dark vortex appeared behind her before
she could even will her body to move.
Darcy in that instant looked back in terror, almost on instinct, not knowing what compelled her and
saw the Winter Soldier in the distance smiling at her. It threw her off as to why he would do such a
thing in a moment like this but before she could formulate another thought she was sucked into the
obscure wormhole.

All see could see was a never ending abyss of darkness, it felt like free falling, unable to breathe
she began to asphyxiate but before she felt herself loose consciousness the vortex threw her on top
of a six story building.

She laid there on top of the concrete roof coughing and trying desperately to suck air into her
burning lungs. Her arms shook as she tried to pull herself up but had to stop due to a sudden wave
of nausea that assaulted her, almost making her heave. Halting all her movements she sat still for
what felt like an age, trying to breathe through the nausea before trying again.

When she shakily managed to stand she moved slowly to the edge of the roof to look at the city
around her. Her breathing rapid from rising panic, trying to get her bearings and understand what
happened.

She thought back to the small smile on the Winter Soldier’s lips just before she was yanked back
into the darkness. ‘That bastard.’ She could not understand why he smiled at her predicament.
Who knew what would have happened to her, she could have died within that wormhole. The
thought made her almost sick to her stomach. ‘Did he do this to her?’

She shook her head in disbelief and laughed bitterly, ‘no it can’t be’.

She looked around at her surroundings and saw the Empire state building in the background before
almost breathing a sigh of relief, however it was late at night. She tried thinking rationally, as how
could it be so late already when it was only 9 in the morning ten minutes ago?

She tried again to concentrate and finally realised that the skyline was missing some of its sky
scrappers, then she looked down at the street below her and saw cars, old models she did not
recognise.

Darcy could feel herself beginning to hyperventilate from an upcoming panic attack but was
distracted by the footsteps she heard from behind her, as she turned around she noticed a woman in
uniform approaching her cautiously with a gun held up in her direction.
“Who are you?” she spoke with a levelled commanding voice.

Darcy stared at the woman dumbly, unable to find her voice, her throat tight from overwhelming
emotion and then felt moisture sliding down her cheeks silently as realisation of her situation
dawned on her.

“Where did you come from?” The woman pressed on trying to interrogate her. She was a stunning
brunette with a vintage hairstyle, slightly taller than her and wearing rouge lipstick. She looked
familiar to Darcy but she could not remember from where or how.

“What date is it? What year?” Darcy finally managed to croak out.

“November 15th, 1943.”

‘Oh dear God’ she thought helplessly.

Darcy tried to collect herself and finally was able to find her voice again, she spoke while hastily
wiping away the tears from her damp cheeks.

“My name is Darcy Lewis, I’m a doctor. Did you see…how I got here?”

“Yes.”

“…I…err…I…I’m from the future. I was transported here by accident.”

“Lord have mercy…”

The brunette stared at her intently for what felt like hours before lowering her gun after having
concluded that she wasn’t lying or a threat, or so it seemed to Darcy in that moment in time. Then
she hurriedly proceeded to usher Darcy to follow her, saying it wasn’t safe for them to stay there
out in the open as someone else could have witnessed her arrival too. She took her down the stairs
to the ground floor of the building before running across to the building opposite and sneaked her
up to the fourth floor where she resided. The building was a strictly women’s only establishment.

In that moment it occurred to Darcy that she had a British accent.

“You from England?”

“Yes.”

“I’ve lived in London for seven years, it’s where I trained as a medic.” Darcy murmured softly as
she settled on one of the dining chairs while slowly observing her surroundings, tasteful vintage
deco was arranged neatly around the apartment.

“Tea?”

Darcy couldn’t help but smile at the mention of the national and very much beloved beverage of
the British Isles.

“Please.”

They calmly sat across from each other over the little table in the tiny kitchenette, slowly drinking
tea. Darcy learned that the woman’s name was Margaret Elizabeth Carter and that she worked for a
government agency called the SSR.

Darcy was struck dumb as she recognised that name, it was famous in it's own right, she was one of
the co-founders of SHIELD and was a strong female lead in a time when it was so rare. One of the
prominent feminists she admired during her Political Science degree. The said woman looked
much younger than the photograph she had seen of her printed in one of her textbooks back at
university but Darcy recognised her now.

She looked up from her tea cup at the woman across from her in wonder.

"Peggy...Carter?"
“You know who I am?”

“A little.”

“I hope it's only good things?” Peggy gave her a somewhat nervous smile, still reeling herself due
to the startling circumstances of their meeting, as well as having met someone from the future who
knew her name.

“Great things actually.”

And just like that the ice was broken and they were able to speak freely. Darcy told her of what had
happened to her in the lab and who she was.

“I’m not sure if we should be careful about what you disclose to me, in case it changes the future.”

“My knowledge of history is shocking, I don’t remember much of it from my highschool days to be
perfectly honest. It’s a bit embarrassing sorry.”

Darcy blushed in shame and Peggy could only chuckle in response, shaking her head.

That night as she laid on the other side of Peggy’s bed trying to will herself to sleep she thought
back to the moment before she was swallowed up by the Vortex that brought her here. She tried to
remember every detail, any clue that she may have missed and then it hit her. He stood by what
looked like a possible power source of Stark’s invention.

The hatred that bloomed in her chest in that moment was so overpowering that she almost
screamed.

Peggy decided it would be best not to disclose her to the SSR or anyone in that matter, as it would
be too dangerous especially if HYDRA somehow managed to find out about her existence. They
would only try to exploit her and any knowledge she may hold of the future. There were too many
variables and they agreed that the best course of action would be to keep it a secret and so she
helped hide Darcy in plain sight while keeping her close.

With Peggy’s ties she was able to get fabricated documents for Darcy, necessary identification
papers. They also quickly settled on her backstory, Peggy passed her off as a distant cousin. The
simpler the story the easier it was to convince people as such, it also helped that they had similar
attributes in certain departments, beautiful brunettes with ahem hourglass figures ahem.

They didn’t know what to do initially, how to help Darcy to get back to her time. Peggy knew
Howard Stark but she also knew that he did not possess anything close to such a device among his
many toys or 'bad babies', as he liked to call them. The man was a man-child.

They initially waited with bated breath thinking that perhaps someone would come for her, from
the same place she arrived but the likelihood was growing slimmer and slimmer with each day that
went past as they watched the building’s roof from Peggy’s window.

After a couple of weeks of waiting Darcy finally acknowledged that there was a significant chance
that she’d never be able to go back. If the Avengers were able to get her back they would have
done so already. The thought was so heavy on her mind that she almost felt paralysed by the fear of
it and the realisation of her predicament dawned upon her making her chest feel constricted before
she finally let go and like opening a flood gate she was wracked with violent sobs. Peggy held her
close in an embrace while stroking her back and long wavy locks in a soothing motion, trying to
give the other some semblance of comfort, knowing it was futile in a position such as hers,
possibly never being able to go back to her original time and never being able to see her friends and
family again.

During the time Darcy spent with Peggy, Peggy tried to familiarise Darcy with the life in the 1940s,
she told her about her job and her frustrations of the misogynistic treatment she had to bare almost
on a daily basis. Darcy listened intently and was scandalised by some of the things Peggy
confessed to her. She then passionately told her that it will change in the future and how the
feminist movement will sweep across the country and the world. She admitted that it still wasn't
perfect or completely fair in the 21st century but at least it was going in the right direction. She told
her not to give up or to give in because better days surely were coming.

Peggy was able to lend her clothes to Darcy as they were basically the same size and the girls grew
close as the time went past. They spent Christmas and New Year together, drinking hot chocolate
and eating cherry pie, walking around the scarcely decorated streets of New York. The stark
difference of the city to her time was startling to Darcy but she still loved it anyway.

Not wanting to be a freeloader Darcy got a job, working in an office as a secretary for a small law
firm, not too far from where Peggy lived. The job was simple and thankfully the law firm partners
weren't sleazy. She kept telling herself that it was temporary, trying to hold onto any thread of hope
of going back to her time. Perhaps the Avengers didn't know where she landed in time? But how
could she get a message through to them? The dilemma ate at her mind.

A few months after Darcy’s unexpected arrival Peggy received her letters of deployment to
London. She was torn about what to do, she had to go but did not want to leave Darcy behind
alone. In the end both girls decide that they did not want to be separated.

“I can apply to join the medical team deployed to Europe with you and that way we can stay
together.”

At first Peggy wasn’t sure if it was a good idea but Darcy convinced her eventually and so Peggy
helped her once more to get fabricated qualification documents to register as a military medic. She
discovered that a female doctor was almost as rare as a female agent in the 40s, which did not
surprise her but with Peggy’s connections they managed to get sent together to the same regiment
in London. She was going to be able to practise medicine again and that had brought some peace to
her, it was her calling.

Once in London Darcy underwent thorough training to prepare her before being deployed
alongside Peggy to Europe. She undertook all of the mandatory military drills, protocols and safety
procedures as well as medical preparation. It was a bit of a shock to the system to say the least,
especially the vast limitations of early 20thcentury medicine but she listened intently during the
lectures and made necessary notes of what she'd be able to work with.

She even impressed during practise demonstration on a slab of pig's leg and skin as they learnt how
to stitch the ligaments, muscles and the skin together. Her nimble fingers moved quickly and
efficiently, closing the wound perfectly with a style of stitch they weren’t familiar with. The men
around her watched her work with fascination and growing respect. To some it was still a bitter pill
to swallow, a woman showing them up, which caused some backhanded comments to be thrown at
her.

“Did you learn that during your ladies stitch club?”

Unfazed she replied immediately with a Lewis signature smirk. “Why yes and you must have
picked up your skills at the butchers?” the man scowled at her but the majority laughed, which
seemed to shut him up.

The girls bunked together in a modest accommodation provided to them on the military base. In the
late evenings as they settled to go to bed they talked about their day and the past. Darcy told her
about how she’d only been qualified for a year but luckily spent five months in the accident and
emergency department and then general surgery, which would come in handy for what she imaged
was going to come at the front lines.

Her next rotation was meant to be cardiology and she was sad that she was going to be missing it.

Peggy listened to her intently without interrupting.

She then told her about her time while training at university, how she had picked up quite a bit
during her degree years as the style of teaching was a lot more hands on with the students than it
had ever been before due to the circumstances at the time, a lot of them were used as another pair
of hands. Her last year was predominantly spent between vascular and orthopaedic surgery.

“What a motherfucking coincidence.” to which Peggy sputtered with mock indignation.

“Language Darcy!” but Darcy could only cackle naughtily in response.

Perhaps she’d be able to live through it after all. However, Darcy was not naive nor arrogant and
despite the knowledge and the skill she currently held did not equate her to being at the same level
as a consultant surgeon or a senior doctor but she would strive to do the best she could. She also
understood that what she had learnt back in her time won’t be on the same level of experience she
was about to be exposed to on the front lines of Europe. Road traffic accidents, stabbings or even
gun shot wounds weren’t the same as war torn limbs caused by explosives. It was in a way a
different kind of ball game altogether.

She confessed to Peggy that she was scared, almost like the front line soldiers that were going to
war for the first time and did not know what was waiting for them behind the enemy lines. The
expectation and the reality were two very different things.
She knew deep down that she wasn’t going to come out unscathed, literally or metaphorically
speaking. It would change her irrevocably because that was what war did to people.

“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” was Peggy’s words of comfort and encouragement.
Feeling reminiscent Peggy reluctantly told her about her older brother who encouraged her to join
the SSR, how strongly he believed in her before he was killed in action. Darcy heard the strain in
her voice, it showed how difficult it still was for her to talk about him.

From her top bunk Darcy reached out her hand to Peggy, a long moment passed before the other
girl took her hand and Darcy squeezed it in a gesture of solidarity and comfort.

During a rare afternoon when she finished early Darcy decided to find Peggy and inevitably got
invited for a ride in the military jeep to go check on the new training recruits. She eagerly agreed.

As they drove she could see in the distance soldiers running in a formation before the car came to a
stop just in front of the group. The drill officer yelled at the soldiers that if they were able to
retrieve the flag located at the top of the pole they’d get a ride in the car. The men hastily
proceeded to gather around the pole, trying to climb it but failing miserably. Darcy couldn’t help
her chuckle and tried to hide it inconspicuously behind her hand before she saw this slight man
walk slowly towards the pole while intently assessing it.

Both she and Peggy observed him with bated breath and heard the drill officer shout at him to fall
in line. Undeterred he walked to the base of the pole, pulled the metallic bolt that held it in place
and watched it fall to the ground. He then wordlessly walked over to where the flag was, picked it
up and folded it neatly as he strolled towards his officer, passing him the flag before getting into
the car and sitting down next to Darcy in the back.

They all watched him in astonishment.

“You are one smart lad.” Darcy praised him, which made him blush.

“Thank you ma’am.”

“What’s your name soldier?” she watched his ears turn pink with growing amusement.

“Steve Rogers ma’am.” She was silent for a moment before her face broke out into a grin as if she
had just met a celebrity.

“Well I’ll be damned!” he looked at her in confusion, still bashful.

“I’m sorry?” but Darcy only smiled at him enigmatically.

“Pleasure to meet you Steve.”

“Likewise miss…?”

“Darcy Lewis at your service!” his blush only seemed to intensify, resembling a cute little tomato,
which made the girls melt a little inside.

She couldn’t help teasing him, his cute and bashful reactions only spurred her on, it also made
Peggy chuckle fondly.

As the time came closer to their eventual deployment to Europe both girls grew restless. The stress
was eating Darcy painfully slow. She needed to unwind and wished she was able to go back to the
shooting barracks at the Avengers facility but then a thought sprang to mind. They were at a
military base, obviously they would have shooting ranges and so she roped Peggy into going with
her.

They decided to go during the quieter hours of the day to forgo any unwanted attention.

They fell in line and shot the targets with practised ease, wordlessly competing against each other
with friendly banter.

They were interrupted by the sound of footsteps approaching them and stopped for a moment,
turning to face the new arrival. It was Colonel Chester Phillips, director of the SSR.
He came to stand a few feet from Peggy.

“At ease ladies. Carter the project Rebirth will start at eight hundred tomorrow morning. Don’t be
late.”

"Yes Colonel."

He then turned to observe Darcy.

“And this is your esteemed cousin I presume?”

“Darcy Lewis sir.” He was silent for a moment, looking out towards the targets, before he spoke
again.

“I see the shooting skills run in the family.”

“Yes sir.” Darcy smirked amused.

“As you were.” And he walked away leisurely in the same way he came.

Peggy told her that despite his sometimes dismissive manner and biting remarks, he was a very
kind and fair man. She had learnt a lot while working under him in the SSR and held much respect
for the said man.

That night she asked Peggy about the project the Colonel mentioned earlier and Peggy disclosed to
her quietly about the super soldier initiative. Darcy could already make an educated guess which of
the soldiers was selected.

“It’s Steve isn’t it?”

“How do you know? Ok stupid question.” To which Darcy only laughed.

“You worried?”

“…Yes.”

“It’ll be ok you’ll see. He’s tougher than you think.”

Darcy could see clear as day that Peggy had a soft spot for Steve and she completely understood.
There weren’t many men like him around, he was respectful, loyal to a fault and courageous to the
point of insanity. They were both fond of him.

Peggy told Darcy some of the stories she knew about Steve whilst she watched him during his
training. He was one of the few men that treated her equally while treating her as a lady. He did not
look down on her just because she wore a skirt. He acknowledged her skill and talent and admired
her for it.

"And he doesn't know how to speak to a girl even if his life depended on it." they laughed at that,
he was just too cute for words.

After the successful procedure that turned him into the super soldier, that Darcy knew of in the
future, she watched their interactions closely and listened intently when Peggy spoke about him.

Darcy remembered vaguely how the two were connected but did not image that they were actually
sweethearts. They were a unique pair of people who were able to see the inner good and beauty of
the person before anything else. She felt an overwhelming sadness come over her, knowing how it
would end.

Should she tell Peggy?

What was better? To have loved and lost or never having loved at all?
She decided it would only hurt her friend more if she revealed Roger’s fate so she kept quiet.

Peggy was a very private person and sometimes found it hard to express herself. Many thought of
her as cold, calculating and unnatural for going against the society's expectations of a woman in
the 1940s. 'An unmarried woman in her mid twenties was preposterous.' She confessed to Darcy
that she did not have many female friends, not any in actual fact, for she was too out spoken,
independent and apparently wild, the last part made the girls chuckle in amusement.

"Don't change yourself just because the society expects you to act in a certain way. Learn to love
yourself and never apologise for it. Find people of equal mind like me!" Darcy then hugged Peggy,
almost tackling her as they fell back onto Peggy's bottom bunk bed, and told her to never change
because she was perfect as she was. Just because she was different did not make her unnatural or
wild, it was what made her unique. Peggy gave her a watery smile, a rare weak moment for her and
hugged Darcy back just as fiercely.

Eventually once they have completed their preparation and training the girls get sent to one of the
bases in Europe, Austria, which was looked after by the 107th regiment at the front lines.

She was given a few khaki uniforms consisting of long sleeved shirts, trousers as she had
requested, tall black boots and jackets. She couldn’t fathom how anyone could wear a dress in a
war. She was also given her white armband with a proud red cross on it signifying her designation
within the ranks.

It was a whirlwind of brief introductions before Darcy rolled up her sleeves and was thrust into the
thick of it all, head first. The medical bay was filled with wounded soldiers, their painful moans
resonated in the open space, the stench of the anaesthetic strong. The battalion had been hit and
half the boys captured by one of Hitler's organisations called HYDRA while many others were left
wounded.

She didn’t know how much time had passed as all of the days started to blend together, she worked
flat out alternating between working from 8 in the morning till late evenings or nightshifts. They
were given barely half an hour for lunch and dinner before she had to go back.

Stumbling into her and Peggy’s tent for some shuteye before the cycle repeated itself again. The
girls didn’t get to see each other often, both busy with their never-ending tasks.
Some nights Darcy laid in her cot awake trying to will herself to sleep, exhausted but her mind
unable to rest, too affected and chaotic from the day’s hardships.

She contemplated if she could and if she should try to change the course of the war and the future
for the better. There were just too many unnecessary deaths but what could she do?

In all honestly history was never her forte and she never paid much attention to it because all it
ever was death, famine, disparity against women and repeat. The images and thought of war had
always made her sad and she always remembered the far away look her grandfather got, lost within
his own mind whenever he spoke of his time in the second World War so she avoided it. He didn’t
like to talk about it, even after all those years it was hard for him, to remember the horrors he had
witnessed with his young eyes.

Darcy having experienced it now understood her grandfather that much more and just how lucky
he was to have come back in one piece despite the clear affect of shell shock or PTSD, which was
common among the soldiers that returned home.

She knew that they win in 1945, but not much of the specifics. She berating herself but how could
she have known that she’d end up being thrown back in time?

‘Just a year or so to go.’ Could she hold on for that long? A dark thought weighing heavily on her
mind.

She did what she could, trying to teach and change medical practises with much difficulty because
people didn’t like change but she persevered headstrong not afraid to challenge her colleagues and
their out-dated practises. Thinking perhaps at least this way she might be able to save more lives.

Peggy came into their tent, finally finished with her duties for the day and smiled at Darcy in
greeting as she started to get ready for bed.

“You alright?”

“Had better days.” Darcy muttered solemnly before staring out into space, lost in thought.
She then felt her cot dip and realised Peggy had sat next to her. She looked down with worried eyes
and squeezed Darcy’s hand soothingly.

“Hey…stay with me. Us girls have to stick together right?” her words of solidarity coaxed a small
smile from Darcy.

“Right.”

They tried to keep each other posted about their days, Peggy kept Darcy updated about what was
happening inside and outside of their regiment. She told her about Steve and how he was
conducting a solo rescue mission. Worry was heavily laced in Peggy’s voice and so Darcy
squeezed her hand back and told her confidently that he’d be alright.

It was an uncharacteristically quiet day before Darcy heard a commotion in the distance.

She finished up quickly what she was doing, washed her hands and then dried them before running
out of the medical treatment tent and saw people up ahead gathering and cheering. She had undone
the high bun on top of her head as it was beginning to give her a headache from the weight of it.
Her heavy locks tumbled down past her waist in waves.

She kept to the back not wanting to be trampled on but eventually spotted Steve at the forefront
and then someone shouting “Lets hear it for Captain America!” before the crowd erupted into a
roar. She couldn’t help laughing and cheering along, the atmosphere triumphant and light, she was
so relieved to see him again, safe and whole.

The crowd divided and let the new arrivals through. Steve smiled at her as soon as he noticed her
and she gave him a little salute with two fingers, winking at Peggy by his side.

Darcy then looked to his other side, to a tall man walking slightly behind him and she felt ice run
through her veins like she had seen a ghost before indescribable rage began to burn within her
chest.

It was that bastard!

Chapter End Notes

Dun dun duuuuun!

Next chapter she meets the notorious Bucky Barnes! Sparks are going to be flying with
perhaps a black eye or two >:D

So much fun to come eheheheheh >: )

Stay tuned!

*shakes tin can bashfully for comments and kudos for encouragement* :D
Feeeeed my muuuussseeeee \(@'o'@)/ ...pretty please \(>.<')/
 Chapter 4

As soon as she saw him his eyes had found hers, locking onto them, his lips parted almost as if
perplexed.

The look on her face darkened progressively the closer their group got. His face went through a
serious of expressions. The idiot even had the audacity to look behind him and around, thinking she
was looking at someone else. ‘Oh no you asshole, I’m looking at you!’ she thought hotly before his
expression finally turned to ‘Oh shit!’ she ducked him real good.

BAM! He almost went out like a light. Couple of the commandos walking behind him stepped
forward to catch him as he fell back, grabbing an arm each to prevent him from falling on his arse
while they sputtered with uncontrolled laughter.

She watched with satisfaction as the soldier flailed for a moment before looking back at her in
astonishment as his brothers in arms held him steady.

Realising in that moment that everyone were staring between her and the soldier Darcy
straightened, blew a stray curl away from her eye and tried to shrug acting nonchalant.

“Oh err mistake of identity, ahem...excuse me.”

She berated herself within her racing mind at her loss of control and knew this was going to be hot
gossip till the end of time in the whole regiment very soon. ‘Damn’. It was definitely him, however
much younger in age and without the weight of the world on his shoulders that was portrayed on
Winter Soldier's face.

Darcy felt all eyes on her as she hastily left the scene.

Upon their initial meeting when he saw Steve wave to someone he followed his friend’s line of
vision and saw a gorgeous dame waving back.

Her beauty struck Bucky, his mouth hanged open like a complete idiot.

She was like his favourite pinup girl come to life, she looked so much alike to the beautiful
brunette with crimson red lips in soldier’s uniform drawn by Gil Elvgren it was surreal. He had
saved up for weeks to buy a copy of the original print when he was barely 18.

Bucky felt like a teenage boy in that moment but tried to give her one of his most charming smiles
as their group neared. The instant their eyes met he vividly thought that he’d never seen such
stunning blue eyes but then acutely noticed that the closer he got the more her expression darkened
until it was bordering aggression. It made him almost stumble over his own two feet from the sheer
look she was giving him and he looked back behind and around him to check if she was really
looking at him or someone else before a fist came flying in his unsuspecting face. The force of the
punch was much greater than he would have ever expected from a petite dame. He staggered back,
his friends catching him in time before he looked back at her in unabashed astonishment.

As they watched her leave Dugan finally spoke gruffly with much humour in his voice and his
signature Cuban cigar hanging between his lips.

“Jesus Bucky! What’d ya do ta piss off that little spitfire?”

Bucky’s lips immediately curved up into a thrilled smile.

“No idea... but ’m goin’ ta find out.”

His Brooklyn accent prominent along with the dimples in his cheeks as he grinned while watching
her retreat, her luscious long waves swirling as she turned sharply around a corner and out of his
sight.

Despite the painful sensation of a developing bruise on his left eye he’d never been this affected by
a dame before.

He loved boxing and was an avid amateur fighter back in Brooklyn before being drafted. He
wondered if she boxed? She was gorgeous with a mean right hook and any man would be lucky to
have such a tough dame by their side.
They believed in love at first sight back in those days and for the first time in his life he thought he
understood what they meant cause by God he was going to find out her name and marry her.

“No guts no glory boys!”

The group roared with laughter. Even Steve, who was utterly confused by the event, shook his
head while watching his childhood friend’s antics and laughed heartily.

However, Colonel Phillips wasn’t so amused.

The stoic man summoned Bucky to his office for a not so subtle questioning and threatening.

“Son, what did you do to merit miss Lewis’s fury?”

The expression on his face was stern and Bucky suddenly felt nervous, almost like when he was
being interrogated by a dame’s father before taking his precious little girl out on a date when he
came to pick them up.

At least now he knew her family name, Lewis, it almost made him smile if it wasn’t for his current
predicament.

“Sir, I swear I’ve never met her before and would never treat a lady with less respect than she
deserved.”

Colonel watched him closely with a blank look, like a scientist dissecting a frog, before concluding
that the boy wasn’t lying but he still looked at him suspiciously.

“You do anythin' out of line to upset miss Lewis again and I will personally discipline you.”

Bucky swallowed thickly at the threat and could only nod at his commanding officer as the man
dismissed him.
“Yes sir.”

Bucky was unable to stay away even if his life depended on it. He went to see her as soon as he
could after the debriefing. He walked briskly to the medical barracks and saw the long line of
soldiers waiting to be attended to, all walking wounded with no life threatening injuries. With a
heavy sigh he queued up but as soon as the soldiers saw him they pushed him to the forefront,
insisting their superior had to be seen as soon as possible, claiming he was their Sargent after all.

He was suspicious as to the real reason why they were so insistent but he suspected it was due to
the earlier event with a certain pretty dame almost knocking his lights out. They smirked at him
knowingly and he warily concluded they wanted a continuation of the droll scene they all
witnessed an hour ago.

‘Those punks! Nothin' but a bunch of gossipin' broads’, Bucky thought chagrined.

He’d take any excuse to see her though. He was meant to be assessed by a physician anyway after
his capture and imprisonment by HYDRA. Bucky almost felt himself break out in cold sweat just
thinking back to the tests they conducted on him for days. He shook his head trying to rid himself
of those dark thoughts.

As Bucky came to the forefront of the queue there was a medic delegating the patients to different
parts of the barracks depending on the type and severity of their injuries. When the medic saw him,
straight away without missing a beat he called out to Lewis, the pretty dame he came to see.

“This one is for you Lewis.” It was said with a taunting tone and a low snicker. He saw her
washing her hands in the back before her head snapped up in indignation after hearing the medic’s
words.

‘Did everyone witness that?!’ Bucky thought disdainfully, groaning internally, a little embarrassed
now.

He had somewhat rehearsed what he was going to say to her in his mind to charm her and get into
her good books but it all got thrown out of the window as soon as he saw her, because as soon as
she saw him a grimace appeared on her delicate face. He observed her attempting to school her
features but in the end it turned into a passive aggressive smile, which threw him off a little, not
understanding why he elicited such a reaction from her towards him in the first place.
She dried her hands using a towel and told him to follow her, which he did silently. They shortly
arrived at an empty examining station and she motioned for him to sit down. She grabbed the
charts she needed to fill in as she checked him over grudgingly.

Initially she wanted to pass him off to someone else but having her superior insist on it she
relented, seemed like she didn’t want to cause another scene, which the people around them looked
to be eagerly waiting for.

“Miss Lewis, I was hopin’ I could’ave a word.”

His voice carried a little bit of the nerves he was feeling due to a couple of reasons. He tried not to
fidget. The first, being years since the last time he lost his tongue in front of a beautiful dame but
he reminded himself that she was no ordinary woman despite barely knowing her. It was an innate
feeling he got in his gut, and it was easy to recognise that she wasn’t like any dame he’d ever met
before.

The other reason being due to the swift silence that befell within the medical tent and the dozens of
eyes that were watching them intently, not even bothering to hide their curiosity, wanting to know
the juicy gossip. But she put a stop to that as soon as she pulled the curtains around them for
privacy, both sighing gratefully straight afterwards.

“Take off your shirt.” She said with a clipped tone not looking at him as she filled in his details at
the forefront of the form but he obeyed her without question.

“I don’t believe we have ever met?” Bucky spoke tentatively but his words made her sharply look
up at him with a bit of a surprise, which baffled him a little. Thinking to himself ‘No they’ve never
met, he would never forget someone as strikin’ as her. He’d never would’ve let her go either.’

“No…we have not.” She said carefully in measured tone, as she then proceeded to take his blood
pressure.

“I’m James Buchannan Barnes but friends call me Bucky.” Bucky tried to smile and lighten the air
a little to which she only raised an unimpressed eyebrow catching onto him quickly.

“What do you want Mr Barnes?”

He chuckled lightly at her direct question. She seemed like a dame that did not beat around the
bush. He tilted his head to the side appraising her lightly.

“You don’t pull any of your punches do ya? I was hopin' ta clear the air.”

With a deadpan expression she spoke professionally. “Consider it cleared.”

“I don’t mean ta be rude but I realise that you mistook me for someone else? I’d beat the fella to an
inch of his life if I had the opportunity.” He cleared his throat looking away a little shyly.

His words made her snort with amusement and his head snapped up to look back at her.

“Yeah, I’d pay to see that show.” Her comment dripped with sarcasm but the small curve of her
lips made him brighten.

“Clean your face” she handed him a wet little towel and he did as he was told. As soon as he was
done she stepped closer and started to disinfect the cuts on his face, a few small ones and one
slightly bigger gash just above his left eyebrow. The smell of the disinfectant on the swab was
strong and it stung slightly as she cleaned the smaller cuts but he was unable to repress a flinch
when she moved onto the bigger gash. He was so surprised to feel her blow on his cut to ease the
stinging that he couldn’t help looking up at her in wonder. It reminded him of a memory of his
mother, she used to do this for him when he was younger while she told him off for getting into
fights, "Jimmy ya little rascal!" she would say.

She seemed a little perplexed herself at the tender action and they stared at each other for a few
seconds before she blinked and turned away, her movements more hurried afterwards.

Observing her at such a close distance made his heart stutter ‘by God was she heartbreakingly
stunning’. Her dark lashes were so long they almost rested on her soft looking rosy cheeks as she
looked down while writing. Her dark pigmented lips were full and plumb, and she had three little
adorable moles on her cheeks, one on the right and two on the left. He couldn’t stop staring at her
and he hoped he didn’t come across creepy. Bucky did not want to scare her.

He was impressed that she was a doctor, it was a rare thing in their time, she was unique like the
dame Steve kept telling him about while they marched back to the base, Peggy Carter. From their
initial meeting and how she treated him like any other man to how she had risked her career to help
him rescue the troops. Bucky could see just how stupid his friend was for her. It made him smile,
happy for his brother.

“Ok you’re all patched up, you may go.” His reverie broken as she spoke suddenly, not looking at
him. He stood from the table and put his shirt back on trying to think of what to say. She seemed to
have finished her paperwork and started to move away so he spoke quickly after her.

“Thank you miss Lewis.” She turned her head partly and nodded in response but carried on
walking.

Bucky headed back to the tents to interrogate Steve to see what he knew about her and to finally
get her first name.

After cornering his best friend he finally got her first name, Darcy, he liked it. Stevie told him all
he knew of her, how sweet and funny she was from the few encounters he shared with her back in
London before they turned him into the super soldier. She was one of the very few dames along
with Peggy that had treated him like a regular man and not a 90-pound asthmatic defect, he felt
comfortable speaking to her because she felt familiar, she reminded him of Bucky in some ways.

“She’s got this easy and friendly demeanour, like you Buck if you weren’t such a jerk.”

“Shut up ya punk!” Bucky couldn’t help the grin that bloomed on his face at his friend's words
though, despite her not showing any form of friendly demeanour towards him, it did not deter him,
it only spurred him on.

In the following days he would visit her when she wasn’t too busy, wanting to get to know her. She
rebuffed him mercilessly while acting demurely at times but he grinned back at her unrepentantly.
Bucky had never met anyone quite like her, her fiery character pulled him in.

‘He liked fire in a dame’.

He remembered when she was checking him over on that fateful day they met, how prettily she
had blushed for a moment and how her ears adorably turned pink when he took his shirt off for her
and when she listened to his chest with the stethoscope.
Despite her cold treatment of him ‘He wasn’t gona give up that easily’.

She cursed her colleague Richards for throwing her under the bus, the bastard still held prejudice
against her. One of the reasons being her enforcing, quite aggressively, the proper hand hygiene
onto every single member of the medical team and calling anyone out if they did not adhere to it.
She taught them the proper methodical way as washing hands effectively before and after each
patient was essential in preventing infection and cross contamination. Richards wasn’t her biggest
fan.

As she examined the soldier she tried to act professionally and treat him as she did all her patients,
which turned out to be a bit of a difficult task. When he took his shirt off, showing her his perfect
physique, the hard muscles on his broad chest and arms, her mind did a bit of a blunder and she felt
her face heat up. ‘God why did he have to be this attractive?’

Darcy tried to be careful where she looked and made herself go through her usual systematic
approach, check blood pressure, pulse, listen to his chest as he breathed while keeping her distance
and cool composure.

When he uttered those words to her “I don’t believe we have ever met.” It felt like a cruel Déjà vu,
as if the tables had turned and she was back in front of the Winter Soldier as she said the exact
same words to him. She fought hard not to think back to the kiss they shared at the shooting range,
as this younger version of him looked at her with the same but more expressive blue grey eyes,
trying to figure her out.

And then when he told her that he’d beat the man who treated her badly to a pulp she snorted very
unladylike with amusement at the mental image it provided, young Bucky Barnes beating himself
up as the Winter Soldier. Her sarcastic remark made him brighten and show just how young he
was, around mid twenties she guessed. She was older than him she mused unconsciously.

He looked almost sweet before she reminded herself that it was the same asshole that sent her there
for unknown to her reasons in the first place. ‘He’s the enemy!’ she tried to repeat it like manta
within her mind.

Lastly she asked him to clean his face with a wet towel she handed him before she cleaned the
lacerated wounds on his face, which were caked in dried blood, the biggest just above his left
eyebrow.
The sting of the antiseptic evident on his face as she applied the gauze drenched in the medicine to
the cut. She watched him try not to flinch and unconsciously blew gently on the wound, which
eased the stinging and he looked up at her with those soft blue grey eyes of his, filling
progressively with something she did not want to decipher. Quickly dressing the cut she then
coolly sent him off as she had many other injured soldiers to attend to.

She watched him retreat a little disappointed but still with a hopeful look in his eyes, unsuspecting
to what was to come.

The following days he kept coming round to attempt to speak to her when she wasn’t too busy,
about random things. She tried sending him packing but he would not budge so she mostly kept
quiet, trying to get him to leave her alone with her silent disinterest but it only seemed to spur him
on, much to her chagrin.

Her nurses giggled at their antics and she shooed them away.

“Get back to work.” she barked at them.

Darcy could see amusement sparkling in their eyes as they turned nonchalantly back to their tasks
with teasing smiles but there were some that glanced at her with annoyance, eyes filled with
jealousy. She considered herself a good boss and team leader, treating her staff well and with
respect they deserved was very important to her but even that couldn’t trump people’s pettiness
sometimes. It wasn’t her fault for unintentionally holding the attention of a lot of the men in their
regiment, specifically the one that stood before her, one of the most handsome apparently.

She scoffed.

Darcy sighed with annoyance. She just couldn’t understand some women or people in general
sometimes and turned to Bucky with determination.

“Can you stop coming round and distracting my staff?!”

“I wouldn’t dare do such a thin’. See ya same time tomorrow doll?” He grinned back at her lazily
with his whole debonair flair and strolled away.
She almost wanted to growl from frustration.

“Peggy I don’t know what to do with him, it’s as if he’s a sucker for punishment.” Darcy confessed
to her friend while they got ready for bed.

“Why do you hate him so resolutely? He’s completely gone on you. Steve said he’s a good guy at
heart.” she questioned curiously with a teasing smile. Somehow Darcy wasn’t too surprised to hear
that she had vetted the guy who was so stubbornly stupid over her, but what she was surprised
about was that she seemed to approve of him.

“What else have you been talking to Steve about?” Darcy squawked but Peggy only raised an
eyebrow as if to say ‘you are a dumbass’.

“The whole regiment is talking about you two. It’s good entertainment. There are even bets going
around.”

“Oh gawd!” Darcy sighed heavily in utter embarrassment before plopping herself into bed. She
was quiet for a few minutes before speaking again but with a low tone.

“He reminds me of an asshole I know from the future who, I’m guessing, is potentially the reason I
ended up here in the first place.” She saw Peggy sharply throw her a curious look but did not push
the subject as Darcy didn’t say anything else.

Darcy did not know what to say without revealing too much and opening another whole can of
worms.

Darcy on a rare occasion and on her rest days accompanied Peggy.

They were in one of the bunkers of the SSR as she watched the whole scene unfold in front of her.
She frowned at Steve for even letting the blond get that close to him in the first place, he was a
naive boy too polite for his own good.
She felt Peggy’s jealous anger despite the girl's poker face and tossed her a gun before Peggy
caught it swiftly as if rehearsed and shot at Steve repeatedly as he held his soon to be signature
shield. Darcy snickered at his and Howard Stark’s dumbfounded reaction to both girls antics as she
nonchalantly trailed after Peggy.

The same overly flirty blond that tried to lay her moves on Rogers seemed to set her sights on
another beefcake.

She saw Bucky casually leaning against a post on his outstretched arm as he flirted right back with
the pretty blond but his eyes kept glancing towards where Darcy stood as she pretended not to take
notice of them.

When she saw the woman cheekily lay her hand on his chest briefly Darcy didn’t know what came
over her but the anger flashed hotly in her chest and before she could stop herself the words flew
out of her mouth.

“I wouldn’t touch him if I was you, you don’t know where he’s been.”

She saw him gape at her, before his shocked expression turned into a pleased smile and his eyes
darkened as he watched her briskly walk away while she flashed them a patronising grin.

His suave attitude, his natural swag and easy charm grinded on her nerves more and more each
day. She was so tempted to give him a matching black eye.

After her prolonged cold treatment of him, which only seemed to encourage him more in the
beginning but after weeks of it had started to make him doubt himself. Bucky had a moment of
uncertainty and feelings of dejection so he decided to test her, to finally perhaps get a glimpse of
her true feelings towards him. He wasn’t too thrilled about the way he planned to do it but he
desperately needed to know if she felt at least something towards him.

He was nervous, he wanted to know and at the same time he didn’t because if she truly hated him
then he didn’t know what he would do. He was so gone for her already. It wasn’t just her beauty
but her demeanour around other people, she was so incredibly kind, her smart remarks and sharp
mind always on point. He admired her. He felt out of her league but he hoped he could prove to her
that he was worthy of her love and attention.
He planned to flirt with the pretty blond gal in front of Darcy, that's been after him and Steve for
some time now but both uninterested as they had their eyes set on a pair of cousins they were sweet
on. When he put his plan into action he couldn’t help looking over at her constantly, trying to gage
her response, he was probably giving himself away so obviously but after seeing her reaction and
words, merriment sparked in his eyes.

His brothers in arms were close by and witnessed the event, laughing at him and Darcy’s
words. He quickly bid the gal a farewell and almost run towards his friends, speaking his next
words like a man besotted.

“She likes me!”

Steve and the Commandos stared at him in utter silent confusion for a few seconds before Dugan
snorted and they burst into laughter once again in unison.

“I think you are delusional Buck.”

“How hard did she hit ya that time? Think it’s still affectin’ him Steve?”

“She was jealous! I just know it!” Bucky was undeterred in his belief, only Frenchie nodded in
understanding and agreement.

“Chérie is unpredictable mon amie but we’ll enjoy the show anyway.” He slapped Bucky’s back in
sympathy with an amused smile.
 Chapter 5
Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

Over the coming weeks since Captain America rescued the prisoners of war Darcy had slowly
learned about and met the infamous Howling Commandos, the name somewhat familiar to her
from a couple of her granddad’s war time stories from decades ago, which she was ashamed to say
she remembered very little of. They were the special elite squadron hand picked and lead by none
other than Captain America himself. They consisted of Steve Rogers, James 'Bucky' Barnes,
Timothy Dugan, James Falsworth, Jacques Dernier, Jim Morita and Gabriel Jones.

First there was Timothy Dugan or also known as ‘Dum Dum Dugan’ to his friends. He wore a
trademark bowler hat and usually had a cigar hanging off his lips. He was born and raised in
Boston, Massachusetts to a family of Irish immigrants. She was so surprised to learn that at the
young age of 14 he joined the circus as a strongman and part-time prize-fighter to make money,
however she did think that he definitely had the build for it, tall, broad and incredibly strong. He
told her one time that he was on tour in England on the lead up to the war before signing up to
help.

Then there was Jacques Dernier, nicknamed the ‘Frenchie’, who was from Marseille, France.
When the war broke out he had joined the French resistance to fight back against the German
forces that had occupied his homeland before being captured and sent along with the others to the
Austrian Alps to work on the HYDRA weapons facility. He was an explosives specialist and had
mixed certain chemicals with the help of the Howlies during their time while detained to cause an
‘accidental’ explosion that killed a high ranking HYDRA Colonel. He told her with a mirthful
smirk that the Nazis withheld their food rations for a week, which almost made them fight among
each other constantly but it was so worth it. She was at awe with their bravery, for taking such a
risk as they could have been easily executed for it.

Standing next to him was a proud British man James Montgomery Falsworth. Born in
Birmingham, England. He was a member of His Majesty's 3rd Independent Parachute Brigade of
the British Armed Forces with the rank of Major but sadly the only survivor of his brigade. He had
a strong English accent and was an expert strategist and a talented marksman much like the rest of
his brothers in arms. His British sarcasm and dry humour brought back fond memories of her time
in London.

The other side of Steve stood Jim Morita who was a Japanese American soldier born in Fresno,
California. Before his capture by HYDRA, he served in the Nisei Squadron of the US army as a
Ranger. Jim was a silent and serious man, but a loyal soldier who believed in honour and respect.
He was the only married Howlie, he had to leave behind his wife and two children to do the
honourable thing as he put it and join the right cause. He reminded her of Hogan, one of the
warriors three, and a close friend of Thor who she got to meet in New Mexico. They had the same
demeanour of an honourable warrior, loyal to a fault.

And lastly there was the sweet Gabriel Jones or Gabe to his friends who hailed from Macon,
Georgia. He was a highly intelligent man and had studied both German and French at Howard
University before joining the US army, the 92nd infantry, a unit he described as ‘All black, all
proud.” It made Darcy smile fondly and ruefully because black soldiers were the unsung heroes of
World War II. It made her so angry seeing people in the regiment sometimes uttering racial slurs,
she let them have it though every fucking time.

“You shut your fuckin’ mouth before I shut it for you, and shove your bigoted Nazi opinions where
sun don’t shine! He bleeds the same colour just as any of you do.” she would shout unabashed, it
stunned people but she always managed to shame them, which shut them up.

Some even had the nerve to complain to Colonel Phillips but he always backed her up and
disciplined every single one of those shameless bigots.

On a rare occasion when Peggy and her got to spend some time with the Colonel, they would
sometimes talk about the past and he would reveal bits and pieces of his. One of his closest
brothers in arms was an African America soldier who died fighting along side him in the First
World War. He didn't give them much else on the subject and they didn't push. Darcy noticed the
far away look he got just like her granddad once upon a time when he reminisced about the war.

So no one dared to lay a finger on her or say a word against her in front of him or otherwise.

“Come on stud, I’ll patch you up.” She spoke sweetly to Gabe who gaped at her with astonishment
as no one had ever stood up for him in that way except the Howlies. Always left to be the last
person to get any medical attention before she stepped in. She was a force not to be reckoned with.

“Ma’am, I thank you for your kind words but I worry that there may be a retribution as not all folks
are as nice as you have been to me.”

“Oh pish-posh! You ever have a problem you come to me I’ll patch you right up, and don’t you
worry about those bigots I can take care of myself and I got loyal friends watching my back.” She
smiled at him warmly with confidence, which he returned tentatively.
“Thank you ma’am.”

As he took off his shirt so that she could have a look at the bullet wound in his arm a little photo
fell out of his breast pocket and Darcy bent down to pick it up. It was a portrait of a beautiful girl,
luscious black curls, full lips and perfect warm brown skin.

“Is this your girl?” she winked at him teasingly.

“Yes ma’am.” He looked down almost shyly and a bittersweet smile appeared on his lips.

“She’s gorgeous.” She looked at the photo once again with a smile before giving it back to him as
he carefully put it back in the safety of his shirt. It warmed her to see how much care he took as he
held the precious to him photo.

“I better make sure I patch you up to the best of my ability so you hardly have a scratch, don’t want
to be upsetting your lady love.” He chuckled at her words, Gabe was silent for a few minutes
before speaking.

“We met at university, well…I saw her at university but was too much of a coward to actually
speak to her. She moved to Georgia with her family and they all attended the same church too,
that’s how we got introduced. I think I fell for her from the first moment I saw her. She was just so
charismatic and positive it was contagious.” He smiled fondly as he told her their story. Darcy
listed intently with an indulgent smile on her lips as she worked and hummed in response.

“I think she got tired of my fumbling so one time after the Sunday mass finished she walked up to
me and asked me if I would walk her home as our families stayed behind to socialise. I looked at
her like a dumbass before eventually agreeing, probably caught a few flies in the time it took me to
gather my wits.” He chuckled before continuing, “We walked and talked about everything and
anything, it was so easy to talk to her all of a sudden.”

“I was so gutted when we arrived at her house, our walk ending too soon. We said our goodbyes
and I reluctantly turned away to walk back home before she called out to me again almost in
frustration.” He laughed harder. “She asked me out and I felt my jaw drop to the ground, don’t
know how I managed to pick it back up to ask her when she was free, she told me she was free
after Sunday mass, I was so confused. I said what? Now? And she yelled back with the brightest
smile that I ever saw ‘well we ain’t getting any younger!’” Darcy laughed merrily with him, their
sweet but humour filled romantic story warming her heart.
“Someone should write a book about your love story! It’s too precious!”

Darcy was in awe with the Howling Commandos. Against all adds they came together in the
darkest hour, an assorted group of men from different regiments and countries around the world,
during their time in the clutches of HYDRA, collaborating together to escape and bring down the
base, and inadvertently forming an unshakable friendship. It was amazing for their time when
racial tensions and prejudices were still strong. They were a great example of how things should be
everywhere in the world because we shared more things in common than what separated us.

The story was gripping as the boys reiterated it for her and Peggy during one of their first meetings
over dinner at the 107th regiment, as they sat across from each other on the wooden benches and
tables.

She got to meet them and spend time with them due to Peggy and Howard Stark, who knew and
enjoyed the boys' company. They also loved to play poker twice a week when not on duty and so
reluctantly at first she joined them sometimes when work allowed it but it didn’t take her long to
warm up to the infamous Howlies, except Bucky of course.

The banter Bucky and her fell into inevitably turned to like a tennis match of wits and insistent
teasing. He gave her as much as she gave him. Darcy did not know how to interpret the change at
first but then felt it was safer not to dissect at a closer inspection, as a wise man once said
‘Ignorance is bliss’.

After insulting Bucky yet again with her wit and a bit of a potty mouth it made the Howlies hoot
with laughter. They looked forward to it. The proclaimed Lothario getting shredded by a beautiful
dame that didn’t fall for his shit? Well, they’d pay good money to see the show every time. They
said that all in good humour about Barnes but did not truly meaning any of it.

“Oof, the dame sure knows how to shoot a guy down, tell my ma that I loved her.” Bucky
dramatically pretended to be shot in the chest.

“Girlie you are a killer!” Dugan threw across the table chucking.
She cackled merrily at their words.

“Where’d ya learn ta play like dat’?” Dugan questioned with amused curiosity.

“Back at university, it’s also where I earned my nickname ‘Four Aces Lewis’ so don’t you forget
it!” she accidentally got all of the four aces in a game once and her girls came up with that
nickname right off the bat. God she missed them.

“A swell name for a swell dame!” Howard piped in.

She was good but the Howlies had game as well as Stark! It was a challenge and she never backed
down from a challenge, however Peggy had the best poker face out of all of them, girl got game!

Peggy and her liked to collaborate sometimes too, much to the chagrin of the boys.

“Now that just ain’t fair.”

“Us girls have to stick together” Darcy sung the words as a matter of fact to the boys, full of glee
before coughing abruptly from the sudden smoke that she inhaled.

Dum Dum Dugan smoked like a chimney. She had been a teen smoker herself for a little awhile
once upon a time, because you know kids had to rebel somehow. She rolled her eyes at herself
from the memory but she did kick the habit when she realised she couldn’t run up the stairs without
collapsing out of breath and of course when her granddad caught onto it. Oops. However, on a rare
occasion after a particularly gruelling shift or when under extreme stress she smoked one for the
nicotine hit but she agreed it was a terrible habit and a difficult one to break.

So she told Dugan about how bad smoking was for one's health and how the lungs looked inside
when cut open, "All black from the tar." They all looked at her dumbfounded and bodies almost
recoiling like she just told them a horror story.

“It’s the reason why you have a violent cough sometimes.”

“No way this stuff is good for ya!” Dugan protested almost offended as if she had insulted his
favourite child.

“There is no evidence to say that it’s healthy, there have been no studies conducted to prove it
either. It’s all about money. The industry bribed some doctors to say it’s good for you so that’s
how they advertised it. If some doctor asked you to jump off a cliff while claiming it would make
you stronger would you?”

“Only if that doctor is you darlin’!” Dugan hooted with laughter and the Howlies chimed in.

"Head first doll." Bucky winked at her.

“If you say jump I’ll only ask how high!” Falsworth followed with a grin.

“Wouldn’t even question it Chérie.” Added Frenchie without missing a beat.

She laughed so hard it brought tears to her eyes.

She managed to utter, “You fellas are fuckin’ unreal” in between her gasping for breath.

Once she calmed down and got her breathing under control she raised herself from her chair in
between Peggy and Howard.

“Sorry guys got to get back to work. Break time over.”

“But we were just getting warmed up!” Howard protested.

“I was just about to get back the money I lost to you Aces! Don’t tell me you runnin’!” Steve added
humorously.

“As if you’d ever be able to win it back from me Rogers! HA!” She snorted, shaking her head with
mirth at their disappointed looks. She reached for the shot of vodka in front of Barnes saying “For
the road” and swung it back with a nonchalant face and handed it back to him. Darcy chuckled to
herself as she walked away, Bucky's expression was still of wonder and his jaw hanged open as he
watched her retreating back while holding the little glass in his hand.

“Girlie can take her liquor too.”

At the end of a long and difficult shift, unable to sleep Darcy picked up one of the books on her
shelf that she had collected. She loved collecting old books. She skimmed the spines of the ones
she had acquired over the months. They were like her little reprieve, a little heaven from the horrors
that lay outside her little tent she shared with Peggy. The tent was slightly bigger than most, perks
of being Colonel Phillip’s favourite army daughters. In some ways, the more she got to know him,
the more he reminded her of her granddad, which made her smile wistfully.

The topic of hobbies randomly came up during one of the poker games and she casually mentioned
her love of collecting old books. She noticed Bucky’s thoughtful look, watching her intently every
time she revealed a new piece of information about herself. He really seemed like he genuinely
wanted to know her but she just couldn’t let him get any closer than the arms length she kept him
at. However, her resolve was slowly crumbling because the more she watched him and spent time
with him the more she was able to separate him from the Winter Soldier from the future she
encountered, the one that sent her here. Why? She still couldn’t understand why he would do such a
thing, what were his motives?

She missed her friends dearly as well as the obvious conveniences of the future technology and
21st century medicine but as more time went past the more the pain in her chest ebbed. She had
come to realise it was because of the amazing people she met, the new incredible friends she made,
which she knew she would keep for the rest of her life, her people. They filled a hole that was left
in her chest when she was yanked back into the past.

The man she left behind and the one that stood before her now were two very different people. It
bothered her. What must have happened to him for him to have turned into the Winter Soldier?
What torture he must have endured? How could he have gone from the happy go lucky Bucky
Barnes to the solemn Winter Soldier? She wasn't sure if she actually wanted to know.

They may have looked alike, even though almost a decade in age apart, but they were definitely the
same person, they had the same striking blue grey eyes. She could never forget them.

Bucky Barnes of this time was persistent and sometimes she couldn’t help relenting in the end and
finally giving in, telling him the mundane facts about herself like her favourite colour or a fond
childhood memory. It always made him look so elated and so sweet. She conceded to herself that
she did not know how much longer she’d be able to keep him at a distance because he was surely
chipping away at the wall she had built between them.

Perhaps Darcy should not have been as surprised as she was when he found her a week later, after
one of Howling Commando’s missions, and gave her what looked to be a crudely wrapped parcel.
She stared at it for a long moment before speaking.

“It’s not going to explode in my face is it?” she threw him an apprehensive smile, which made him
chuckle at her comment.

“No doll, just a little somethin' that caught my eye, thought you might like it.” She was glad that
she wasn’t the only one feeling a little nervous, as she saw him rub the back of his neck almost
shyly. He was really starting to get under her skin and it was scaring her.

As she opened it and saw the book inside Darcy couldn’t help the tug on her lips.

“Hemingway? How the hell did you manage to get this book? It’s in English too.” She was
shocked at his thoughtful gesture and it made her cheeks heat up.

“If I told you all my secrets babydoll then you’d loose interest in me.” He teased with a cheeky
smile.

“I’m not interested in you.” She spoke almost automatically, her ears starting to burn.

“Of course.” her blush intensified at his cocky words as her expression turned indignant. His grin
only widened.

“Barnes.” She spoke tersely raising her eyebrow, finally getting her flustered feelings under
control.

“Lewis.” He mimicked her mockingly but she couldn’t bring herself to be angry at him even if she
tried so she released a long sigh before she spoke somewhat hesitantly.
“…Thank you for this. You really shouldn’t have. I hope it wasn’t too much trouble.”

“No, no trouble at all, sweetheart.” his expression and eyes turning from teasing to suddenly soft,
which caught her off guard. His endearing names for her made her heart stutter sometimes if she
didn’t hold her emotions in check around him.

This was when Dugan cut in out of no where.

“The idiot almost got shot tryin’ ta get that blasted book.”

“Dugan!”

“Barnes!”

“Lewis!”

“I can’t believe you risked your neck for a book!” she chastised him, poking him in the chest for
emphasis, wanting to bash him with the book he gave her.

“I did no such thing, I had it all under control.” Bucky acted nonchalantly trying to pass it off as a
no big deal.

She threw him an unconvinced and exasperated look before threatening him.

“Don’t do anything stupid like that ever again! Ya hear me Barnes?”

“How can I? You carry all the stupid with you!” despite his teasing remark she couldn’t help the
bloom of warmth for him in her chest, which was a little startling. His grin then widened and he
poked her in the ribs which made her jump, squeaking, she was ticklish and he laughed joyfully at
her reaction.

"You worried about me doll?" the soft smile he gave her in that moment, his attitude no longer
teasing, made her heart stutter.
"No!" she yelled as she stomped away, cheeks red.

Bucky often had nightmares of his time in the concentration camp of HYDRA. They came and
took soldiers one by one from the cages they kept them in, sometimes some came back and
sometimes some never did, he could make an educated guess as to why.

Then they started coming for him, every night they would drag him to the experimental lab. They
would inject him with something that felt like liquid fire, it burned him from inside out. They
would hurt him and beat him into submission each time, strapping him onto the exam table. More
and more guards would be required to restrain him, to subdue him each day that went by. He could
feel himself getting stronger, it was strange and it felt unnatural. He saw the mad Nazi scientist
Zola by his examining table nodding in approval.

He didn’t think he’d ever get out alive until Steve showed up in all his Captain America glory to
bust him out. He shook his head fondly at the memory.

He tossed and turned for a while but felt incredibly restless, cold sweat covered his feverish skin.
He decided to try to walk it off. He left the tent he shared with Steve quietly not wanting to disturb
him, only wearing a sleeveless white shirt, tac trousers and his black boots despite the chilly night.
He welcomed the cold, it was like relief.

Bucky didn’t mean to but his legs took him to the medical barracks like muscle memory,
subconsciously wanting to be closer to her. He stayed back in the shadows, sitting down on one of
the wooden benches, he tried to see if he could get a glimpse of her to calm his disturbed mind.

Coincidentally in that moment the object of his thoughts had stumbled out of the medical tent with
a heavy sigh. It must have been her break time or something he thought absentmindedly. He hoped
she wouldn’t go any further and catch him because he did not want for her to see him in that state
but it was too late. His eyes widened as she started walking forward but before he could make a
swift exit she spotted him, the soft creak of the wood as he hastily stood gave him away.

“Barnes?” she spoke a bit apprehensively as if not sure if it was him or not, squinting in the dim
light. He could only hesitantly nod in response.

“What are you doing out here at 3 in the fuckin’ mornin’?”

He thought of lying to her but decided against it, his mind too wired to think of any excuse.

“Couldn’t sleep.”

She walked over to him as if sensing something wasn’t right and before he knew it her hand
touched his forehead. Her hand was soothingly cool against his hot skin. He couldn’t help leaning
into it because it felt so damn good.

“You’re burning up.”

“I’m fine doll, don’t fuss.”

“Come, I need to take a look at you.”

“M’ fine.”

“Now I said.”

Her tone bade no argument so he didn’t argue, he’d never win anyway so with a rueful smile he
followed her like a lost puppy into the large medical tent. He briefly noticed that there weren’t so
many people around, a rare quiet night like a calm before the storm.

She drew the curtains around them for privacy and he sat on the examining table heavily, which
made him suddenly nervous, flashbacks of his detention by HYDRA still fresh in his mind’s eye.
He almost felt the echo of the leather restrains and the long needles piercing his veins.

“What’s wrong?” her eyes widen with concern as she observed his ashen face, checking his pulse,
which he knew must have been erratic, he could feel his heart hammering within his chest. He
decided he didn’t want to fight anymore and confided in her.

“…They…did somethin'…to me.” He swallowed with difficulty, throat dry, before continuing
“Please don’t tell anyone, I don’t want to become a lab rat again.” His hands were shaking, he
gripped his knees trying to ground himself. He must have looked like a wreck, dark circles under
his eyes from lack of sleep. He chanced a look at her and saw her eyes grow soft and become
glossy, filling with something akin to tenderness. She had never looked at him like that before
now, it was almost like she held affection for him, which tugged at his chest and made it tighten
painfully with longing.

It must have showed on his face because then she did something that surprised him even more. She
brought her arms up to cradled his neck with her right hand and stood between his legs to pull him
into a hug in a gesture of comfort. Her left hand soothingly stroked his back. Suddenly he felt all
the exhaustion set in and rested his heavy head in the crook of her delicate shoulder where it met
her neck, breathing in her gentle intoxicating scent. He was unable to stop his arms from encircling
her and pulling her even closer, revelling in the human touch he ached so much from her. After a
while his breathing slowly started regulating again.

It had been a long nightshift so far for Darcy. It was quiet, which made her really tired from the
idleness of the shift. To wake herself up a little she decided to step out for some fresh air and
inadvertently stumbled upon Barnes at such a late hour but the way he held himself set off alarm
bells in her mind. Something was wrong she could feel it. His temperature and heart rate were
elevated. She desperately wished for the conveniences of modern medicine in that moment and the
readily available imaging. If they were back in her time she could have requested a CT scan or an
MRI to try and figure out what was wrong, as well as an extensive blood test. She felt handicapped
in this time.

When he told her vaguely about what had been done to him in the HYDRA base she couldn’t help
the flood of emotions that struck her in that moment as she watched him struggle to rain in his own
emotions in such a vulnerable state. She couldn’t stop her overwhelming need to comfort him. The
way he buried his face in her neck and hair spoke to her on some intuitive level, and she tightened
her arms around him in response. Perhaps it was the exhaustion of the late hour or her sleep
deprived mind, which prevented her from keeping her guards up around him, to keep him at a
distance. She tried to grasp onto any excuse in that moment to explain her actions but then decided
to stop thinking, she was too tired of fighting him or her growing feelings for the said man, at least
for now and in those few stolen moment.

After a little while as she felt him getting heavier she pushed him sideways so that he could lay
down on the cot while whispering comforting words to him, that he was ok and it was over and
that he could rest now, that she wouldn’t leave his side.

“Sleep.” She murmured to him, stroking his hair soothingly and he closed his eyes and fell into a
deep slumber. She covered him with a khaki woolly blanket to protect him from the chill.
She sat down on the chair by his side and leaned against the desk resting her head on her arms as
she watched him sleep. He looked even younger in that blissful moment, his face completely
relaxed as he breathed evenly.

Within her exhausted mind she wished she could prevent him from being turned into the Winter
Soldier, to save him from over half a century of pain and torture. Absentmindedly she reached out
and softly ghosted her knuckles against his smooth cheek, taking great care not to wake him.

When Bucky woke she was the first thing he saw. Her hair glowed from the soft light of the dawn
breaking, the sun light filtering through the gap of the curtains around them while she sat on a chair
close by, resting her head on her arms on the desk. She slept soundly despite the slight awkward
angle, softly snoring adorably. He remembered her last murmur of words to him the night before,
that she would stay by his side, and his chest felt so full he thought it might burst. It gave him
hope.

He got up quietly and noticed that he felt better, the fever seemed to have broken during the night.
Bucky was torn between if he should wake her or not but decided against it, not wanting to disturb
her sleep. He’d come to see her again later so he wrote her a little note using the paper and the pen
he found on the desk she slept on. Once he was finished he glanced down at her peaceful face and
couldn’t resist the urge to tenderly kiss the top of her head before reluctantly departing back to his
tent.

‘Thank you sweetheart.’

Once Bucky was finished with his duties for the day he eagerly made his way to see her, it was
already late evening and he was sure she was doing another nightshift that night.

He came to an abrupt halt as he saw the object of his affections sitting to the side with a distressed
colleague that looked to be a junior nurse. Unable to repress his curiosity he moved closer, but out
of sight of the women, to be able to hear their conversation as Darcy tried to comfort the younger
girl.

“How do you cope with all this? The death...I can't sleep at night...it torments me.” the
inexperienced nurse questioned with distress evident in her voice and body language.
“It’s called compartmentalisation and desensitisation. After a while and a bit of practise you are
able to separate your work and your life outside of these walls. And once you have done something
repeatedly it’s not so new any more so you develop a routine in your mind, which also helps to
cope and adapt. I’m not saying it’s easy cause it’s not, it can take years. It’s something you have to
mentally train yourself. Imagine leaving your work worries as you take off your gloves and thrown
them in the bin or as you wash your hands after you have finished for the day, imagine the water
carrying away your stress.”

The younger woman watched Darcy with wonder and listened like she was hanging on every word
that left her mouth, like gospel.

“Like hypnosis?”

Darcy hummed amused “Yeah almost. You train your mind and in turn have a cooler head so you
can concentrate on the task at hand and are able to relax once you finish your shift without taking
your work stress home if you know what I mean? Even i struggle sometimes. Remember we are
only human but we should strive to do our best.”

“Yeah...yeah I think I get it…Thank you miss Lewis.”

“No worries sweets, any time. And please call me Darcy, miss Lewis makes he feel old.” The pair
giggled lightly before the young nurse walked off.

His admiration for her grew the more he knew her.

Bucky then saw her struggle to get something from the top shelf and without a second thought he
crossed the distance between them with long strides and stepped up right behind her to retrieve the
item with ease but it only earned him a glare in response, however lacking in any sort of anger.

“Are you gonna blame me for everythin’ now? It’s not my fault you are vertically challenged doll.”
He loved to tease her and push her buttons, to get a rise out of her. It was always a lot of fun
watching her reactions.

Initially, in the first few weeks since he'd met her, he tried to act the perfect gentleman, refraining
from any sort of banter, but she didn't take him very seriously. He shouldn't have been surprised
because she wasn't like any dame he'd ever met. Over time his personality started to bleed through
and he noticed how she reacted differently to him then so he stopped acting and tried to be more
himself, the way he was around his friends. He discovered he loved pushing her buttons, he had
never teased a dame so much. He always looked forward to their verbal spars, they were just too
entertaining.

“You’re vertically challenged! Give it to me or so help me God Barnes I will kick you!” She
muttered hotly.

He kept holding the box of supplies just out of her reach while looking at her with unrestrained
glee, her ire increasing as her arms flailed unsuccessfully.

“Oh yeah? And what will you give me for assistin’ you short stack?” Perhaps he thought he could
wrangle a sweet kiss out of her as a wishful thought but watching her cheeks flush with anger
brought a lot of joy to him too. It was just too easy, too fun to poke her and he was addicted.

“What’s the magic word Lewis?”

“Fuck you Barnes!”

His eyes darkened a little and his smile almost turned predatory as he leaned down towards her
face to whisper to her so that she was the only one able to hear his words.

“Don’t tempt me sweetheart.”

Her eyes widened and a pretty blush bloomed on her cheeks, their faces only inches apart. He
could see she was just as affected by their closeness as him, her pupils dilating and lips parting.
God he wanted to kiss her so bad, his lips ached for it but he wouldn’t cross that line, not yet, not
until she admitted her growing attraction towards him. Before he was able to formulate another
teasing remark she kicked him in the shin and he doubled over from the pain. Without missing a
beat she quickly made a grab for the box.

“In your dreams Bucky!” she said to him still embarrassed before stomping away and leaving an
amused Bucky behind with his shin still aching a little but it didn’t deter him at all from grinning in
triumph as he watched her basically run away from him.

Cause she had finally called him Bucky.

Chapter End Notes

Hooo, another chapter! It was actually meant to be one but it was getting waaaaay too
big so i had to split it up into chap 4 and chap 5! Gawd this story is turning out to be a
lot more winded than i originally thought lol. Dont know if anyone noticed the story
length going from 5 chapters in total to now 10! I hope my mojo lasts that long D:

Thank you so much for everyone who has left kudos or commented! It means a lot!
Much love to you all!xx
 Chapter 6

Her last encounter with the infuriating Bucky Barnes had left Darcy feeling a little too hot under the
collar. 'When had her feelings shifted so blatantly?', she wondered, trying to calm her franticly
beating heart.

The way he said those alluring words to her while standing so close, their faces only inches apart,
licking his lips unconsciously whilst glancing down at her own parted ones, she felt a delicious
shiver run down her spine and heat coil low in her gut. His eyes were dark, his pupils dilated, the
sight had made her heart hammer within her chest like a frantic bird trapped within a cage as she
breathed his earthy scent. She was so tempted to grab his navy jacket and pull him down for a
searing kiss. 'Oh so so very tempted'.

She could feel the wall she built crumbling, which was a little alarming but she tried to ignore the
rising panic and the confusing flood of emotions within her hazy mind. However, the sudden
memory of another kiss at a different time snapped her out of her reverie. Darcy straightened her
shoulders and told herself that she was not affected by that, by him. Not in the least. So she kicked
him and grabbed the supplies box before running away from him like a coward.

Lying awake in bed that night she replayed the scene that wouldn’t let her rest within her mind’s
eye, over and over, and then doing the same with the memory of his gentle smile and soft eyes
when he gifted her that book. She didn’t think she could fool herself into thinking she wasn’t
affected by him any longer. She knew the real reason why she was afraid and it wasn’t of him but
of herself because she wanted to let him in and knew that once she did she didn’t think she’d be
able to let go.

She got attached too easily, too deeply and hurt just as much once it was all over. She didn’t date
for the sake of dating or by looks alone, it went much deeper than that for her and was the reason
why she only had two long-term relationships in her life. She found it hard opening herself up and
only did so with certain people, her people.

So if she gave in she knew he’d make her happy but to what end? She did not belong in the past
and after waiting so long her hope of ever going back to her time had diminished to dying embers
but it was still there. What if they did come back for her eventually? Would she be able to leave it
all behind? Knowing his fate to be a cruel one, to be tortured for over 70 years until they met
again. It would tare her apart, the mere thought already was.

She just couldn’t.

It was a warm October afternoon and she came out of the medical tent to grab some lunch with
Peggy. The tree’s leaves were turning various shades of reds and oranges, it was truly picturesque.

Everyone was curious about the dame that had ensnared the so called Lothario of the Howling
Commandos. She felt eyes on her wherever she went. It was annoying.

She saw people walking around excitedly, rushing around and then noticed the letters clutched in
their hands protectively. It must have been the post day, which made her smile a little sadly at
everyone’s happy faces, such a stark change from the circumstances they were all in, surrounded
by war and death. It amazed her how people still managed to smile in the darkest of times.

Darcy grabbed her food and finally joined Peggy on one of the wooden tables, she sat with some of
the Howlies. She watched Bucky excitedly open his letter from his family, his food untouched. She
felt a tug in her chest, a pang of jealousy and her thoughts turned to her young grandad who was
somewhere out there in Europe fighting. Could she perhaps go visit him? Would it be so bad if she
asked Colonel Phillips to track him down for her? She stared at her food while deep in thought and
was pulled out of her reverie when Dugan spoke.

“Did you ladies get any letters?”

Darcy’s lips thinned and then she put on a fake smile as she cracked a joke about getting letters
from secret admirers but they were a little too inappropriate to read in polite company. It earned her
a good laugh from the group.

Bucky noticed it though she could tell in the way he looked at her, he could tell that her smile
didn’t quite reach her eyes. One of the boys tried to ask her a question about her family but got
kicked by Bucky under the table not so subtly, which almost made her smile at his perceptiveness
but poor diversion technique.

Sometimes she struggled to truly accept his kindness because she had never been treated the way
he treated her nor chased with such perseverance and vigour by a man before. It confused her,
doubt along with paranoia crept inside her mind. Was he genuine or was it just on purpose because
she was a challenge to him? Was there much truth in his Lothario status and would she only be
another notch on his belt?

Her mind went back to the scene where he flirted so blatantly in front of her with that pretty blond
secretary. She didn't want to be one of his many and that thought alone kept her heart guarded. She
didn’t want to fall for a guy that would break it once he got what he wanted or realised she was too
much for him. She knew that a lot of men found her intimidating because she was open minded
and spoke her mind, she was intelligent and successful, not afraid to challenge others or their
beliefs. That’s why she wouldn’t let a guy get too close until she was sure of their intentions. The
time wasters dropped off quickly enough when they realised she wasn’t going to let them get
anywhere near her pants, some persevered for longer for the thrill of the chase and a challenge, as
it was a matter of a man’s so called pride. She wasn’t sure enough about Bucky to let him get too
close but at the very least they could be friends. She’d be lying if she said she didn’t care for him
on some kind of level.

She knew Peggy did not speak to her family any more after they basically disowned her following
her cancelling her wedding and move to the US to join the SSR.

Neither of them really wanted to talk about the subject of family so they dodged and diverted the
conversation effortlessly.

The regiment took heavy casualties at the front lines and many bodies poured into the medical
barracks. It was a rough shift. Everyone was rushing around like headless chicken to try and save as
many as they could. She had not eaten for most of the day and run on adrenaline alone.

She came out of the medical tent covered in blood, her uniform splattered along with her hands to
her elbows. Blood got smeared across her cheek and forehead as she tried to wipe the sweat from
her face. She couldn’t stay in that tent a moment longer, she knew she was being foolish and
needed to go back to at least wash her hands before grabbing a shower but her chaotic mind could
only focus on one thing at a time and in that moment what she needed was space to breathe.

They needed more supplies of anaesthetics and antibiotics but there was a shortage.

Sometimes, more often than she was willing to admit, she’d just be there holding these poor boys
hands in their last moments on this earth, to provide some semblance of comfort as life faded from
their eyes. Catastrophic haemorrhages by war severely torn limbs or fatal gun shot woods most
often than not were irreversible and they did not have the means to transfuse blood to these
patients, there was just not enough blood to go around. The other massive problem was infection,
once it entered the blood stream there wasn't much that could be done without antibiotics.

It was tough and brutal, her years in London couldn’t compare to this and even the messiest road
traffic accident cases were nowhere near as traumatic as this. Vast advantages of modern 21st
century medicine separated the two worlds completely.

After being unable to save a young soldier’s leg, which was beyond saving, she had to amputate it
with a medical saw with the help of her colleagues. They held him down as she cut into what
remained of the boy's leg, blood sprayed as she amputated it, she felt like she was condemning him,
ending his life because for a soldier that’s what it was. He begged her, “Please no!”. He was barely
18 and already a cripple.

Lives of the disabled were riddled with strife and much difficulty, even in the 21st century but at
least in the 21st century the government was finally catching up and implementing necessary
changes to increase the quality of life for people with difficult circumstances.

But here and now these amputees would go back home if they were lucky enough to survive and
never be themselves again. People would treat them differently, most women would look the other
way, they’d struggle to find jobs that suited their disability that would allow them to make a living.

It was grim.

She walked aimlessly at first and then stumbled across Howard and Colonel Phillips smoking, who
looked at her in horror when they saw the state she was in.

“What happened? Are you injured?” Their rushed worried voices grounded her somewhat.

She was unable to suppress her anger at the world and before thinking better of it voiced her
despair.

“I feel like I’m killing these boys. I feel like I can’t do enough and that all I am is fucking butcher.”

“Lewis, you do the best you can and no one can ask more of you.” Colonel spoke morosely,
understanding laced his words but they brought no relief to her current state of mind.
She turned to Howard in almost blind desperation after a thought striked her.

“How would you like to become the richest man of the future?”

“Sure as hell I would!”

“Invest in antibiotics and vaccinations. Many won’t survive without it…and if you are able to
increase the supply you will save thousands.”

“Antibiotics?”

“Penicillin, which is a type of antibiotic, will be 'the wonder drug' of the 20th century. It fights
infections. The production of them by the pharmaceutical companies will take precedence in
modern medicine. These boys might survive the explosions but they wont survive septicaemia.
Once the infection enters the bloodstream it’s game over.”

“You got vision sweetheart.”

“So I’ve been told.”

“Alright, I’ll see what I can do.” Howard spoke confidently trying to give her reassurance.

“I’ll provide any necessary documentation for justification.” Colonel Phillips added.

She sighed heavily in palpable relief “Thank you Howard, Colonel.” She nodded sharply, a bit of
relief sweeping through her then, able to think a little more clearly as she searched her brain for
details she needed to give them. She had studied the birth of modern antibiotics in med school.

“You will need to contact Howard Florey and Ernst Chain in Oxford University, those scientists
are the Godfathers of antibiotics.”
She bid them goodbye and took her leave, needing to get away, to walk and calm her still reeling
mind.

She prayed it didn’t take too long for Howard and Colonel to push for the wide spread use of the
drug. Historically speaking by 1944 it should have been widely distributed and used in the World
War II but it was taking too long. It would save countless dying needlessly. Images from earlier
that day plagued her mind and she couldn’t fight off the despair she felt. The boy was her
grandfather’s age in this time and something in that poor boy reminded her of him.

“God I’d kill for a cigarette right now or a stiff drink or five.” Talking to herself out loud helped a
little as she continued walking aimlessly. She was glad she didn’t come across any more people as
she walked the outskirts of the regiment, everyone too busy to loiter.

It was the end of her day shift so she didn’t have to go back till the morning. She walked for what
felt like an age before feeling the pitter-patter of the oncoming rain, heard and saw the dark and
violent thunderclouds in the distance. The sound so familiar it was almost therapeutic. It reminded
her of Thor’s power. She missed her friends so much.

The rain then suddenly picked up but she was rooted to that spot, lost within her mind, listening to
the thunderstorm.

Bucky was on his way to see her but she was no where to be found, he asked around and someone
mentioned that they saw her walking in the north east direction a little while ago. He started
jogging as he saw the dark clouds looming above, an umbrella safely clutched in his hand. When
he did eventually find her he had never seen her so crest fallen.

It started raining heavily but she just stood there unmoving and unbothered by the cold, looking up
at the sky for a moment and then closing her eyes before looking back down at her hands, watching
the blood drip and get cleaned off by the onslaught of the rain, swept away into the earth below her
feet. She was drenched in moments and any residue of blood on her skin was completely gone.

It looked cathartic in some way.

“Doll, you’ll catch your death if ya keep standin' in this weather.” Bucky spoke gently as he
approached her and held the umbrella above her head. He took his jacket off and wrapped it
snuggly around her.
She turned her head towards him but didn’t speak, gratitude shone in her eyes, she looked
exhausted. Wrapping his right arm around her shoulders to keep her close, under the safety of his
umbrella to keep dry, or so he told himself, he dragged her back to her tent for her to get changed
and then waited to take her to dinner.

As they sat on the bench with their food he gently encouraged her to eat while trying to cheer her
up by telling her about what his sisters wrote in their letters. He managed to make her smile
tentatively and lift her mood a little. The rest of the Howlies joined them and they sat in a
companionable silence watching the thunderstorm rage outside the sturdy canopy they sat in.

A few days later it was poker night and Darcy welcomed the distraction. Throwing banter around
with Howard always lifted her mood. He always flirted with her and Peggy but it was all innocent
and friendly teasing than anything akin to romantic hints.

“You guys look like long lost siblings.” Gabe joked at her, Peggy and Howard. It was because all
three had dark chocolate hair and similar demeanours in some ways.

“He’s my brother from another mother.” Darcy piped up with a grin.

“She’s my sister from another mister.” Peggy added humorously without missing a beat.

“Naaw naaaw ladies come on don’t do this to me! Peggy! Darcy! I thought we had somethin'
special?” Howard pretended to be mortified and wounded.

“I’d rather jump off a cliff Howie. I’d bag Stevie but he’s taken.” She winked at Steve and he
almost combusted from embarrassment. They all burst into laughter.

“Oh my God! Just look how red he is! It’s too funny not to mess with you Rogers, sorry but not
sorry, I’m just kiddin’, it would be like kissing a brother, you’re too goodie goodie, can’t even say
a dirty word around you without you self combusting!”

“That’s why you love me!” Howard tried again innocently.

“Like a house on fire that comes with it’s own screaming people.” Darcy deadpanned and they all
chuckled in unison.

Both Darcy and Peggy could tell that Howard acted like he was this flamboyant lady killer but he’d
never overstep and make a dame uncomfortable. He wasn’t misogynistic nor selfish, he did hold
respect for women. He had a heart of gold underneath the bad boy persona and was a deeply loyal
friend nor would he ever leave a friend in need. He knew exactly the type of trouble he could get
himself into, dying was the least of them, when he agreed to help Peggy and Steve after they
approached him about Roger’s daring solo mission to rescue the captured troops by HYDRA. He
jumped in without a second thought.

Darcy came to love him like a sibling, she imagined if she ever had a brother that he’d be someone
similar to Howard. A sad thought then came to mind, the heroic demise of his son, Tony Stark. She
wished she had known him better.

She mentally shook herself trying to get rid of the melancholy that tried to creep in. It was best not
to think about these things and just live in the moment at times like these. She looked around her
friends and smiled.

Seeing his girl, because that was how he came to think of her in his mind, flirt with Howard Stark
made Bucky insanely jealous. His previous admiration of the man turned into contempt. He knew
he was being irrational but couldn’t help feeling possessive. She was his and he irrevocably hers,
he somehow knew that she felt the same but couldn't understand why she wouldn’t give in to him,
give them a chance.

Seeing Stark being rebuffed brought a sense of satisfaction and relief to Bucky and he released a
breath he didn’t realise he was holding. Steve looked at him knowingly and it made him scoff at
his best friend.

The Howlies were all given a week off from their duties and they were going to be travelling to
London before their next big mission. Colonel Phillips conveniently pulled some strings and the
girls were able to take the same time off, which made Bucky insanely pleased. He’d finally be able
to take her out on a proper date, if she let him that was.

So when the group dispersed for the night before their flight in the morning he stepped up next to
her to walk her back to her tent. Peggy stayed behind talking to the boys.
“So I was thinkin' maybe we could go dancin' in London. What do ya say doll?”

“You don’t give up do you?” Darcy teased half heartily, he couldn’t really hear any annoyance in
her voice, which was a good sign.

“For the right cause babydoll never. So is that a yes?”

“No.” she said automatically with a smile and he could see she was trying to repress it. She seemed
tempted.

“Is that a no?” He tried to trick her into saying yes.

“No.” she looked away trying to hide her smile, knowing exactly what his game was.

“So I’ll pick you up at 7?” they came to a stop just outside her and Peggy’s tent. She shook her
head exasperatedly at his persistence as she bid him a good night and went into the tent but was
unable to rid herself of the grin on her face. He smiled after her.

As they arrived in London they were taken to their accommodation for the week in Notting Hill
area. After settling in they all decided to go to a pub to unwind. Not that many establishments were
still open as London had also taken quite a hit from the bombings by the Germans, however was
still in a better state than most of Europe.

Darcy convinced Peggy to wear her ‘man killer’ red dress while she threw on her favourite navy
satin one. The fact navy was Bucky’s favourite colour meant nothing. Really.

As they entered the establishment all eyes turned to them, cat calls and wolf whistles followed
them as they walked.

Steve stood dumbly struck by Peggy’s beauty before he found his tongue and they engaged in a
conversation. Darcy couldn’t supress a knowing smile before she felt Bucky’s gaze on her, turning
her head she saw him standing at the bar, his left elbow leaning on it. He looked striking in his
perfect military uniform and sharp sweptback hair as he took a swing of his whiskey, his heated
stare never leaving her.

The way he looked at her made her knees suddenly weak. She broke the eye contact and walked to
the bar but teasingly opted to stand away from him with another man between them. She tried to
ignore his gaze as it followed her and as she waited for the bartender to become available so that
she could order her drink.

Not a moment later she noticed a pretty red head approach him, Darcy was close enough to hear
most of their conversation despite the busy and noisy bar.

“Hey handsome, fancy a dance?”

“I’m sorry but I’ve got my heart set on another dame to dance with this evenin'.”

Darcy could feel Bucky’s stare, she felt her cheeks start to heat and then heard the same woman
ask him in a disappointed tone.

“You sweet on her? Or could I tempt you away for a spin soldier?” her voice turned flirty at the
end as she batted her eyelashes at him.

“...Yeah, very…”

As he said those words she couldn’t help her eyes trailing down the bar and connecting with his
own. She felt her whole body flush, a strange feeling overcoming her as she took in his handsome
face, the sweep of his dark eyelashes that framed his striking grey blue eyes, the fullness of his
mouth and the strong curve of his jawline. He was really something.

As the woman walked away disappointed after he apologised to her like a gentleman, he moved to
stand behind her. He put his left hand on the bar and leaned on it, towards her, almost caging her
with his body, her back and his chest almost brushing. She could feel the heat radiating off his
chest behind her making her back tingle with awareness of him and warmth.

He brought his lips to the shell of her ear, his warm breath making her involuntarily shiver before
he spoke, his voice a low baritone.
“What’s your poison sweetheart?”

The alluring sound of his voice and the way he said those words made her heart stutter and heat
pool low in her abdomen with want. She didn’t know how much longer she could hold out and
keep him at an arms length. The wall she built between them was crumbling, crashing down and
she was suddenly terrified.

So irrationally she turned without looking back at him and rushed away. She wasn’t sure if he was
following but couldn’t chance looking back for her resolve would surely crumble. Once she was
outside she took a deep breath trying to ground herself, there was no one around, and then she felt
Bucky’s hand grab hers, turning her towards him. She could see he was annoyed so defensively she
pulled her hand away with more force than nessesary and turned to face him fully before hotly
lashing out.

“Stop playing with me!”

When she walked in he couldn’t help the look of pure infatuation that must have surely passed over
his face. It was the first time he saw her dressed in anything but army's standard medic uniform.
She was simply stunning in that navy dress that complimented her flawless pale skin, flattering her
generous curves. Her beautiful wavy hair were swept to one side with a pearly clip holding them in
place. Her full luscious lips painted a fire engine red, which made his throat go dry and his heart
stammer.

He also couldn’t help the possessiveness that swept over him when other men in the room started
cat calling and wolf whistling at his girl.

He was disappointed when she didn’t approach him and chose to stand away. His frustration with
her refusal to admit her feelings for him were starting to tip him over the edge but when the red
head approached him he could barely look at the dame, his eyes unable to stray from his girl for
too long.

Darcy’s sass and wit blew Bucky away every time, he’d never known a dame like her so he did
everything in his power to prove to her that he was serious about her. Despite his flirty nature and
proclaimed nickname of Lothario, he’d never mistreated any dame or lead any on. He had nothing
but respect for women. After all he had four sisters and his ma raised a gentleman.
He looked over at her, feeling of longing overcoming him as he took in her profile. She was really
beautiful. Her refusal to accept his affections for her almost made him want to punch a wall, to
perhaps retaliate and accept the other dame’s proposal but he knew that he’d only be fooling
himself because he didn’t want anyone else but her, he couldn't even bring himself to look at
anyone else but her. His heart was set. So he turned the red head dame down and moved towards
his infuriating girl.

He didn’t know what he had done wrong for her to run from him like that but he’d be damned if he
let her, so he followed her closely behind as she rushed out into the cool October night.

Once he heard her accusing words he replied with the same heat.

“I ain’t playin' doll, surely you must know that by now?”

“I don’t plan to be your 'one of many'.”

“For me there is no one but you! I don’t want no one else. Why can’t you see that?”

“Then stop being like this with me!” She shouted almost in desperation, frustrated at herself and
him.

“Why?” he shouted back just as hotly.

“Because it’s confusing me...You look like someone I used to know, kind of. He did something...to
hurt me.”

“He touch you?! Did he force himself on you? Tell me who he is cause I’m gona hunt him down
and kill the fucker.” His voice rising progressively in mounting anger and eyes wide at her possible
revelation.

“No! Not like that. No he didn’t force himself on...me” her voice lowering towards the end.
“He didn’t treat you right doll?” Bucky looked away hotly, tension visible in the set of his jaw,
jealousy spiking within his chest.

“Something like that”

“...Did you love him?” He asked in a whisper almost reluctantly as if he didn’t want to know but
couldn’t stop himself from asking.

He saw her head jerk up sharply at him. At her silence he deducted that she did. Something ugly
within his chest twisted with jealousy, painfully.

Her eyes widened at his words and her heart stuttered. No she didn’t love him, she couldn’t, she
hardly knew him but she got to know this Bucky, from this time before he became the Winter
Soldier. But they were the same person. Her heart clenched painfully. It confused her but she knew
the truth deep down, she knew for awhile now, just chose not to acknowledge it. She fell for the
man standing in front of her despite her best efforts not to. Her hand came up to cover her mouth in
realisation, finally admitting it to herself.

“I’m not him, I’d never intentionally hurt you.” He spat before his voice trailed off softly, his face
going through a serious of emotions, anger, hurt and desperation.

“I’d like to believe you but I can’t.” she could feel her voice trembling. She tried to walk away
from him again but his hand shot out and grasped her shoulder, stopping her.

His eyes shone with something that told her that he was not done with her yet.

“It’s ain’t fair that you pre-judge me 'cause of some punk I’ve never even met. I’m not him, why
can’t you see that? It feels like I’m fightin’ an invisible enemy…Fuck! Doll! You cut me deep!”

His other hand came up to turn her towards him. He squeezed her shoulders hard but not enough to
hurt as he spoke, wanting her to understand.

“I’ve never felt like this about any dame before you came into my life with a mean right hook
might I add.” He swallowed thickly attempting to smile and lighten the mood.

He was desperate to make her understand to make her see that whoever that man was, the man that
hurt her in her mind wasn’t him, he’d never do that, he’d sooner take a bullet to the chest than hurt
her.

“Bucky...” she looked away unable to hold his intense gaze, his eyes so full of hurt and affection
for her.

“Please sweetheart, don’t shut me out and push me away.”

Bucky gently took her chin between his thumb and forefinger, guiding her face back up until he
could look her in the eyes again. Her gorgeous baby blue eyes glistered with unshed tears.

“If you run I will follow, even if your try to push me away again, I’m no quitter."

His right hand let go of her to come up to tuck an errant curl away from her face, fingers lingering
along the shell of her ear softly as he tucked the lock behind it. Darcy’s breath caught in her throat
at the tender look he gave her.

She stared at him with eyes welling up with fat tears before they started rolling down her cheeks,
her lower lip trembled as she brought her hands up and fisted them into his uniform on his chest.
His hands moved from her arms to wipe away her tears. They stayed like that for a few long
seconds, just looking in each other's eyes, before she took a shaky step towards him and his arms
immediately enveloped her, pulling her into his strong embrace.

He kissed the top of her head gently and rested his head on top of hers as she cried.

After a few minutes she stopped sobbing and pulled away slightly to rub the underside of her eyes.

“Don’t look at me I probably look like a panda…I’m sorry for getting your uniform wet.” She
hiccupped but he did not let her move away any further.

He lifted her chin to look him in the eye once more and watched a pretty blush spread on her soft
cheeks, her eyes filled with tenderness for him. He felt her warm breath on his lips and saw her
eyes flutter close before his lips finally connected to hers in a warm chaste kiss, and something
exploded within his chest like fireworks. His heart soared and warmth spread through him like a
shot of whisky as he held her close, brushing his lips against her own like a slow dance. The kiss
grew in heat with each minute and she held onto him just as fiercely, just as hungry for him as he
was for her.

He desperately tried to convey his love for her in that searing kiss, wanting for her to know that he
really loved her and that there would be no other, no one else for him, ever. Till the end, till the
end of the line, till death.
 Chapter 7
Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

They stood among the shadows exchanging stolen kisses fervently.

Her hands clutched Bucky’s uniform, as she tried to anchor herself against the onslaught of her
own raw physical response to him. She felt Bucky’s hand sliding into her hair, tilting her head just
so to allow him to deepen the kiss. Their laboured breaths mixing together as he licked her bottom
lip and she opened for him eagerly, her tongue shyly meeting his own at first before growing with
need and desire.

“Just give me a chance sweetheart.” he asked softly before leaning in to catch her lips with his once
more, his mouth hot and demanding. Darcy pressed her body firmer to his, trying to communicate
just how much she wanted him too, to be with him.

“Ok.” Was all that she could manage to utter in between the heated kisses they shared under the
cover of the street’s dim light.

Her resolve crumbled to dust forgotten and now replaced with overwhelming want to stay with
him, to love him and never be apart from him.

Insecurity and self-doubt were things Bucky hadn’t experienced often. He had always been
confident, if not bordering a little cocky at times, but never unsure of himself. Perhaps it was
somewhat expected of him as he had to step in during the absence of his father when he was away
on the fishing boats for months at a time. His pop always told him ‘while ‘m away you’re the man
of the house Jimmy so you gotta look after the girls’ before he shipped and so he looked out for his
four darling sisters and helping out his ma in any way needed to the best of his ability.
He was close with his sisters and perhaps that was one of the reasons why he was so good with
women generally, he knew how to treat a lady but when it came to Darcy she threw him off at the
deep end. She was one dynamite gal in every sense of the word. She made him feel out of his
depth, which was what’s brought on the feeling of self-doubt at times because he realised that she
was everything he never knew he wanted in a woman and more. She was a rare diamond in the
rough and fought him every step of the way.

His mind was still reeling from finally having her in his arms after having chased her for so long. It
was worth it though and he’d happily do it all over again and more. What wouldn’t he do for his
perfect woman? Not much he thought amused.

When she agreed to be with him he felt his heart soar, his chest fill with overwhelming happiness,
his breath catching in his throat for a moment as he finally, finally won his girl and nothing,
absolutely nothing could bring him down because he held his girl like he always yearned to and
was finally able to kiss her the way he ached to longingly all those weeks.

When they broke apart to catch their breaths she saw the red smudges of her lipstick around his
mouth and couldn’t stop the laughter that bubbled up from her chest suddenly. He looked at her
confused, still holding her close to his chest, until she brought her hand up to try and remove the
red smudges but it only made it worse and she chuckled at his adorable handsome face. He
understood straight away what had happened and didn’t seem to care for the world that his face
must have looked like a clowns. It made her fall for him that little more.

“Can I have a dance with my best girl?”

Her chest felt full and her heart stuttered at his reverent words and goofy smile.

“Anything for my fella.” She whispered and smiled warmly at him.

She grabbed a handkerchief from her clutch and tried to remove the red lipstick from his face with
a grin. As she carefully cleaned his face she couldn’t help looking at him lovingly, his affection
reflected in his eyes, which made her want to kiss him again but then her handy work would go to
waste.
He was so much taller and bigger than her, it made her want to swoon as once she was done
cleaning his face he bent down and enveloped her in a bear hug that felt so warm and safe, like
coming home. All she wanted in that perfect moment was to cuddle with him and let the world fall
away around them.

They went back into the pub, away from the cold. Darcy excused her self to the ladies restroom to
correct her make up. The elated feeling within her chest made her feel like she was walking on
clouds. Caution be damned, she wanted this little happiness for herself and couldn’t bring herself to
care any more about the predicament of his future self being the one to land her here in the first
place. She had suffered enough.

Once she was happy with her handy work and put her mind to rest somewhat she left to go find her
fella, her Bucky.

He stood by the bar with their drinks, he saved a stool for her to sit on as he leaned on the bar by
her side. She settled on the chair and thanked him, they clanged their glasses and took a sip. His
gaze never leaving hers.

“Tell me about you sweetheart.” he asked intently.

“What do you want to know?”

“Everythin’.” His answer made her smile.

“Well that narrows it down quite a bit.” She chuckled.

“Where did you grow up?”

“New Jersey, New York. My granddaddy raised me.”

“And your parents?”

“They died in a car accident along with the drunk driver that hit us...” she swallowed thickly before
continuing “I was the only survivor, got a scar on my forearm as a souvenir.” She tried to pass it off
nonchalantly but he could tell how much it still affected her, the weariness in her eyes told him so.

His heart clenched with ache for her, for her having grown up with little family. It stirred
something inside him that was hard to describe, a feeling of protectiveness grew within his chest as
he moved a little closer to her then. He always wondered where she got that scar from, she dodged
that question initially when he first asked her but didn’t pursuit the answer due to her cagy
response. He noticed it when she first examined him back at the medical barracks all those weeks
ago.

“I’m so sorry sweetheart.” She looked up at him and her eyes softened at the troubled look he gave
her but before she was able to say her next words they were interrupted, Steve and Peggy bumped
into them on purpose.

“Rude.” Darcy faked indignation.

“Finally! And I thought we were bad enough. And that’s a lot comin' from me.” Steve spoke with
mock seriousness.

“Doll what do you think about showin' these punks how to dance?”

“I don’t know how to dance…”

“You can’t be serious!”

“I was raised by a man, what do you expect?”

“I say I can’t wait to teach you!”

So he took her hand and gently tugged her reluctant self to the dance floor. He guided her left hand
to his shoulder and held her right hand on top of his chest with his left. His right hand slid around
her to rest on her narrow waist as he held her close. They rested their foreheads against each other
as she followed his lead and they swayed gently to the smooth jazz music.

It was so peaceful, she never wanted it to end. She moved her head to rest on top of his chest and
he leaned in to kiss her forehead lovingly.

They didn’t escape unscathed as the Howlies teased them relentlessly for the rest of the night when
they joined them at the table once again. ‘About damn time’ was reiterated at least 15 times.

Bucky sat close beside her with his arm draped along the back of her chair, staking his claim on his
girl with a prideful and goofy grin on his face.

They reluctantly parted for the night with a lingering kiss at the top of the stairs just outside her
door.

Darcy closed the door behind her, of the room she shared with Peggy, leaning against it and
bumping her head with a heavy sigh. She felt so light, like a weight had been lifted from her chest,
it felt so freeing to be with him openly.

Her thoughts still with him as she lay down in her bed to sleep.

She later noticed that her partner in crime did not come back until the early hours of the morning,
sneaking in at sun rise. She heard the woman enter and couldn’t contain the snicker that broke
thorough.
“Ooh you naughty, naughty girl.” Darcy teased without opening her eyes as she turned over in her
bed going back to sleep.

“Shut up.” Peggy’s embarrassed response only made her snicker more.

The next few days were spent in a blissful haze. They went out for walks and even gone to the
pictures, one of the very few that was still open, sitting side by side with his arm wrapped around
her shoulders possessively, exchanging kisses in the dark. She could hardly remember what the
movie was about.

In the evenings they met up with the rest of the group in the same pub, Churchill Arms. Bucky was
persistent with teaching her how to dance despite her having two left feet.

She hadn’t had that much fun in a long long time. Watching him as he directed her and laughing
together brought a sense of belonging to Darcy, which she hadn’t felt quite like this before.

As the end of the week neared to their departure, back to the Austrian front lines, Darcy was sure
that she wanted this, him, to be with him completely. So when the time came to part she told him
that she didn’t want to let go yet, didn’t want to sleep apart, wanted to be with him. The surprise on
his face made her smile.

“Are you sure sweetheart?” his voice quiet and reverent as he held her face gently in his hands, his
eyes searching.

“Yes.” she closed her eyes as she leaned into his loving kiss just before he took her hand gently
into his own and lead her to his room.
He watched her eyes, as the lids grew heavy, their breaths mingling. He held her face tenderly as he
kissed her, slow and deep, taking his time to show her, to convey to her something important,
something he wasn’t sure he was able to put into words just yet. Words he was unsure wouldn’t
scare her but wanted to say them all the same, his mind made up and heart set.

Her arms wound around his neck as he pulled her closer, his own caressing her back and pushing
her firmer into his chest. His right hand then came around to the front to trail along the slope of her
neck and slide his fingers into her soft chocolate curls.

He felt his heart racing and could hear the blood roaring in his ears as his tongue grazed hers
tantalisingly.

He broke the kiss to brush his lips along her jaw and down the curve of her neck pausing at her
pulse point and gently sucking. He could feel the increase in her heart rate between his parted lips,
the firm thrum her heart created. Their breaths growing rugged.

She pulled away slightly to tug his jacket off before their lips met once more in a burning kiss as
they undressed each other with hurried hands.

He undone the clasp of her satin dress and it glided seductively down her body before pooling at
her feet and revealing the dark lace she wore underneath. He couldn’t supress the deep, low growl
of approval that escaped his throat before his lips moved to her shoulder, he heard her breath
hitching at the sensation of his hot mouth on her skin.

His mind far gone, he was unable to repress the heartfelt words that left his mouth as he lifted his
head to look into her eyes, cradling her face with his hands once again.

“I love you sweetheart.” His voice was thick with emotion that shined through his blue grey eyes,
words sincere.

Seeing her stunned face made him realise what he just said, the haze clearing from his mind. He
swallowed thickly and looked away, suddenly unable to meet her eyes, feeling exposed and
vulnerable.
 She had a revelation then and she thought she finally understood why the Winter Soldier did what
he did. Everything suddenly made sense, his attitude, his questioning of her, the searing kiss he
gave her. He had met her in the past, he knew her, she was always meant to go back. And in that
moment she forgave him for what he did, for sending her back and for letting them fall in love like
they always meant to.

He had loved her all this time, all the time they’ve been apart, for over 70 years. The thought
tugged painfully at her heart and her eyes stung, filling with unshed tears.

“I love you too.” her throat constricted with raw emotion.

His eyes shot to hers, widening in disbelief and elation at her confession, not having expected her
to reciprocate just yet but the truth in her adoring eyes solidified his love for her that much more
and he pulled her into an urgent kiss.

He was so damn happy he could burst. His hands trailed from her cheeks down her shoulders and
slender waist before cupping her heart shaped ass and heaving her up, he felt her chuckle against
his lips. Her legs wound around his hips on instinct and without breaking their kiss he moved them
towards the bed so that he could make love to her tenderly, reverently and in every way to show
her how much he adored her.

Chapter End Notes

I have to say i was blushing like mad trying to write the intimate scenes cause i'm a
god damned prude lol

Soooooo...to write sexy times or not? That is the question... but then again i think the
whole purpose of fan fiction was born for the sole purpose of writing and reading
unashamed smut! Am i right or am i right? lol (ok ok maybe not the whole purpose but
a significant portion heeheehee) so i think i might attempt it in the next chapter \(@' ^
'@)/ hail to the smuttiness! Watch me turn into a tomato XD
 Chapter 8
Chapter Summary

Hail to the smuttiness!

\(@' ^ '@)/

You've been warned >:D

The two wonderful songs that helped me to write it are both by Alina Baraz called
‘Show me’ and ‘Unfold’.

Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

‘Touch me with no hands only with your eyes.

Unwind me with your mind tonight.

Speak with no words.

Show me and I'm all yours

All that you are is all that I need.

Rising like the smoke you linger on me’ -

Alina Baraz (Show me)

Darcy watched Bucky intently, his muscular chest now bare to her, as her dress fell away revealing
the sensual dark lacy slip underneath that came up to her creamy upper thighs along with a peak of
the black suspenders attached to her high stockings. She saw his pupils dilate, blown wide, as a
look of pure unadulterated want flashed across his features, which sent a thrill of anticipation
through her, making her ache for his touch.

She run her hands down from his broad shoulders to his lower abdomen, fingers exploring every
contour of his chest and abdominal muscles along the way until she reached the buckle of his
trousers. Neither stopping nor breaking eye contact, making the anticipation build, she unfastened
his buckle and let it clutter to the floor with a thud.

He sharply pulled her closer to him and captured her lips again in an all-consuming kiss. She felt
his fingers hook around the thin straps of her slip and pull it down in a smooth motion, it glided
down her body and joined her dress on the floor.

He then picked her up with ease and her legs wound around his hips instinctively. She slid her
arms up his broad back, her nails lightly scratching the skin along the way to then dig into the skin
of the back of his neck, she felt his muscles contacting bellow her finger tips and the shiver she
drew from him at the action.

She bent down to kiss his lower lip, sucking lightly, agonisingly slow before biting and tugging on
it as she tilted her head back, letting it slip between her teeth. Through her hooded eyes she could
see it, in the way his jaw became slack and lips parted, that the teasing motion had affected him,
saw the heated arousal within his eyes, could feel the evidence firmly pressing into her core as his
hips bucked into hers. He was already rock hard and she instinctively grinded against him,
desperate for friction, his low throaty moan encouraging her.

He laid her down onto the bed gently with great care, his strong arms supporting her as he settled
between her thighs. She broke the kiss to lay her head down onto the pillow and looked up at him.
He stilled in that moment, his arms outstretched on either side of her shoulders as his eyes roamed
her body, full of devotion.

“Wanna burn this image ta memory…Goddamn you are so beautiful sweetheart.”

She felt her cheeks grow warm with a blooming blush at his sincere words. The way he looked at
her as if she was something precious tugged at her heartstrings, giving him a warm smile as she
reached out to brush his cheek tenderly. She was so in love with him it hurt.
“C’mere stud.” She whispered before pulling him down for a loving kiss, the kiss growing with
need and desire like a burning flame.

Bucky wanted to make it good for her, desperately, to give her another reason to never leave him.

His hands glided along her arms to her thighs, revelling in the softness of her creamy skin and the
fullness of her thighs. He pulled down the straps of her lacy bra at the same time as his mouth
trailed down the slope of her smooth neck and shoulder, travelling lower, over the generous curves
of her gorgeous breasts. He could hear her uneven breathing, hitching when he sucked, nipped and
licked her supple skin.

He could see her dusty rose nipples through the lace, his hot mouth enclosing over one as he
cupped the other gently with his other hand, eliciting soft sighs and gasps from her. He felt her
fingers thread through his hair, scratching the scalp, pushing his mouth closer, encouraging him
and at the same time needing more.

His hand snaked behind her back to unclasp her bra before tugging it off completely. His head
ducked down immediately after to brush his lips along the nipple before latching on and then
switching to the other rosy bud, as she grinded against his hardness almost making him falter.

His head came back up to kiss her sinful lips with urgency and she helped him remove the rest of
her lingerie.

Her hands slid under his arms, down his back as she scratched along the skin, making him shudder,
and then pushed her fingers under his trousers and boxer briefs cupping his firm ass, squeezing and
pulling him deliciously harder against her core. Her hands then pushed his remaining clothes down
his thighs as far as she could before he kicked them off and settled between her thighs again,
lowering himself on top of her without crushing her and capturing her soft lips with his own once
more.

He could feel her clear arousal as she rolled her hips along his length, impatient for him and he
thought he’d loose his mind right there and then before he felt her reach down with her hand to
guide him. He bucked his hips, breaching her warmth gently, not wanting to hurt her, before
pulling back and repeating the motion until he was fully seated within her to the hilt, whispering
words of love in her ear.

The heat unfurled within her gut as she watched the muscles of his jaw clench, could see him
restraining himself but she could wait no more.

She felt him exhaling ruggedly against her lips, breath hitching, both overwhelmed with raw
sensation as he finally filled her, drawing a low throaty moan from her lips due to the delicious
stretch. She urged him to move and he did not disappoint, thrusting into her hard and deep, loving
her, worshiping her over and over. His right hand slid under her ass, lifting it slightly so that her
bundle of nerves rubbed against him as he bucked into her, making the white heat coil tightly
within her abdomen before finally bursting intensely from pleasure. She thought she saw stars.

She felt weightless as she clung onto him breathlessly, almost shaking as his rhythm became erratic
before his hips stilled, gasping sharply and grunting lowly his pleasure into her neck.

Their chests heaved from exertion, bodies flushed, slowly coming down from their high,
exchanging tender lingering kisses full of affection for each other.

He lowered his head onto her soft chest, his arms sliding around her narrow waist as her arms came
round him, holding him closely. She run her fingers through his hair, kissing his temple lovingly,
wishing they could stay like this always.

They fell asleep in each other’s arms.

They woke early, the light from the sunrise filtered through the thin curtains, illuminating the
modest room. She didn’t want to leave his side but knew she had to.
As she dressed he sleepily watched her from the bed with hooded eyes and a crooked smile on his
elated face.

A teasing smirk appeared on her lips as a mischievous thought came to her mind and she moved to
sit next to him on the bed.

“Next time I’m keeping the suspenders and the stockings on as you fuck me hard and fast.” She
whispered seductively, her voice a low drawl as she leaned over him, leaving a tantalising kiss on
the corner of his mouth.

That had earned her a perplexed look of wonder from him, his jaw slack, which made her chuckle
with amusement, adoring the look on his face.

“Anythin’ you want sweetheart.” His eyes then turned dark, inviting and voice enticingly deep,
making her blush. His arms coiled around her waist and pulled her to him, rolling them so that he
leaned over her now before catching her lips with his own in a searing kiss as he undressed her
once more.

Darcy tried to creep inconspicuously into the room she shared with Peggy, her heels in hand. She
should have known that nothing gets passed her sister in arms and it was her turn to blush in
embarrassment, caught red-handed, when she heard Peggy’s sleepy voice drawl from her bed, her
head propped up by her right hand.

“Who’s the naughty girl now? Hhmm?”

When they finally got back to the SSR camp in the wilderness of the beautiful Austria it was
suddenly painfully difficult to be away from each other for prolonged periods of time. After they
shared that beautiful night together Bucky had found it that much tougher to keep away, to keep his
longing for her at bay.

They had to be extra careful with their stolen kisses and embraces away from prying eyes as they
both could get into a lot of trouble, meeting up sometimes at ungodly hours of the morning to
spend a few fleeting moments together.

They agreed to meet at 4 in the morning in the showers. It was risky but what wasn’t in their
situation?

As soon as they entered the showering cubicle with the hot water steaming, he crowded her against
the wall, caging her with both hands flat against the smooth tile on either side of her as he bent
down to capture her soft full lips in a needy kiss, warm water cascading over them. He’d missed
her.

Within the privacy of his mind he was jealous, jealous that he wasn’t her first but he already made
up his mind to be her last. He was going to make sure of it.

He slid his hands down her narrow waist and full hips, cupping her heart shaped ass and pushing
her against the wall with his body before trailing his mouth down her neck and chest, teasing her
dusty rose nipples with his tongue and licking down to her naval, making her breath hitch and
shiver in want.

Not breaking eye contact his hand glided down her creamy thigh to the back of her right knee and
pushed it up to rest over his left shoulder. He could see her chest starting to heave from
anticipation, her left hand curling against her parted lips, the elbow pushing her breasts together,
while her right hand rested against the wall for balance. Want clearly shining in her eyes as she bit
her lower lip hard, watching his every move with a heated gaze.

Bucky felt his throat go dry from the erotic sight of her in that moment, trying to will his eyes to
burn the image to memory.
He kissed the groove of her knee and then trailed open mouth kisses along the inner part of her
supple thigh, stopping midway to suck on the sensitive skin, leaving a love bite that only he would
know about pleased him more than he could describe.

Her subdued sounds, trying to contain her moans and gasps, which he provoked with his hot mouth
and tongue, aroused him that much more. Once he brought her to her peak, her legs shaking and
almost unable to stand upright, he stood before heaving her up with sheer strength, her legs
wounding around his hips so that he could slide into her. He thrust deeply into her warmth and it
felt like coming home. He slammed his left hand against the shower wall next to her head for
balance, almost cracking the tiles from the force, making her gasp.

He bit her shoulder roughly but not enough to hurt, then soothed it with his tongue. With every
urgent thrust the heat coiled tighter and tighter within his lower abdomen, chasing sweet release.
He swallowed each of her moans with his mouth as she gripped his broad shoulders, coming apart
in his arms. His hips slammed into her a few more times and then froze in place, pushing further in
with desperation, grunting his pleasure into her neck and biting into the muscle of her shoulder,
almost blacking out from the intensity of the high.

Coming down from their fervent love making they tenderly washed each other. Bucky massaged
her head as he lathered her hair with the soap and then helped her rinse it under the water. Once
they were done they quickly dried and dressed themselves.

He came up from behind her and slid his arms around her waist firmly, her back flush with his
chest as he nuzzled her neck for a few minutes before they had to leave and go back to the world
outside their little happy bubble.

“We need to stop this.” Darcy sighed softly with a small smile tugging at her lips.

“Why?” he mumbled into her hair.

“You’re gona get me pregnant. I’ve been counting days of my cycle but this is cutting it a little too
close.”

“You’re mine doll I’m never lettin’ you go. And if we have a little runt of the litter a little earlier
than planned then so be it.”

“You can’t be serious!”

“Why not?”

She could feel his smile against her neck as his hold tightened.

“Well for one the trouble we both will get into! And two they will ship me off back to US on the
first available boat!”

“Then you’ll be safe.” He murmured quietly.

“…is that…is that what you are trying to do? Get me pregnant and send me back for safety?” her
voice incredulous but devoid of any true anger.

Bucky had been afraid of her getting hurt from the very start. Thinking that if he got her pregnant
she’d be shipped off back home where she could be safe and he’d do his damn best to come home
to her, to them, his little family, after the war. He didn’t want to miss watching her grow heavy
with his child but if it meant her and the baby’s safety then he’d do just anything.

He knew what it also meant but he’d marry her in a heartbeat either way, the pretty silver band
inside a little leather box safely placed in the little cardboard package he received from his mother
burned in his pocket. He didn't tell her what he planned to do nor asked for the ring but yet
somehow she knew, he had told her of Darcy and how she’d become important to him but didn’t
think he said anything obvious in his letters to reveal his intentions except perhaps somehow he did
unconsciously without realising and his ma just read between the lines. It made him smile,
‘mother’s intuition’ she always claimed when she caught him and Stevie causing trouble as young
boys often did, so maybe that was it.

He wanted to find the right moment to propose to her, not because he may get her pregnant but
because he loved her, she was it for him, he wanted no one else and couldn’t imagine ever wanting
anyone else in this lifetime or the next.

He tried to avoid answering her question by distracting her again, trailing warm kissing along the
smooth slope of her neck, eliciting soft gasps and moans before she tore away from him and
slapped his chest playfully while giving him a knowing look that said ‘I know what you are trying
to do mister and I’m onto you!’
Darcy thought exasperatedly that she’d never been this irresponsible, having unprotected sex, her
mind at war. Counting days was no where near as reliable as effective contraception and she was
lucky that her cycle was regular but after having lived though so much, knowing that any of them
could die at any point during this cruel war, torn from each other in a blink of an eye, a part of her
just couldn’t bring herself to care. Their camp could be attacked or bombed at any moment and she
could potentially die so she decided to just live in the moment and try to enjoy life within her
lover’s arms.

They snuck away to go for a walk around the camp during a rare quiet evening.

“I want a big family.” Bucky suddenly spoke breaking their peaceful silence.

“Yeah?” she smiled as she turned her head to look at him.

“Yeah, at least four bubs.”

“Oh God, and do you plan to push those watermelons out of your ass too?”

He chuckled at her amused with a cheeky smile appearing on his face as he looked at her.

“Nah doll that’s your job, my job will be to catch them as you pop them out.” He laughed loudly as
she slapped his chest good-naturedly in mock indignation. It was so nice to dream of a future
together, a life together, a family.

Having grown up with little family she shared his dream, she too wanted a big family to love and
adore and spoil. His hand sought hers in that moment and their fingers laced together, intertwining,
a shy content smile tugging at her lips that reflected his own.
Chapter End Notes

Phheeewwww! My cheeks are still burning! lol

Hope it met peoples expectations somewhat lol, i'm fairly happy with how i wrote the
smutty scenes teehee :D

This story is progressively expanding further than what i initially planned ohmigod!

Comments are love <3

 Chapter 9

Peggy teased Darcy.

“Sneaking off again to see your lover boy? For shame! And here I thought you were a good
Catholic girl!”

“Pot, Kettle?”

Peggy only snickered in response.

Darcy could see by the way she smiled at nothing in particular and got a far away look in her eyes
that she was thinking of her own boy.

“You’re the one that fell for a good Catholic boy, the only man that didn’t stare at your tits while
speaking to you, despite the fact they were almost eye level for him at the time.” they snorted and
burst into laughter.

Darcy felt her heart ache each time she watched Steve and Peggy together, when Peggy spoke
about Steve or how adoringly Steve looked at Peggy. She didn’t think she’d be able to keep Peggy
in the dark about what was coming, despite not knowing all the details. All she could remember
from her school days was that he brought down a plane full of bombs capable of mass destruction
somewhere in the Arctic, which helped to end the war.

She hurt even more so for Bucky, knowing he was captured again at some point in 1945, just
before they won the war. She didn’t know how to stop it but would try her upmost to prevent it in
any way possible. She’d be damned before she allowed those Nazis to get their hands on her boy.
“You boys always watch each other’s backs ya hear me?” She would shout after them each time
they left for their missions and they would shout back “Always!”.

Howlies in tern teased Bucky.

“Well well well, someone is happy this mornin’”

“Looks like someone got some sweet sweet lovin’.” Dugan piped in trying to hold in his chuckle
but failed miserably.

“Ah jeune amour” sang Frenchie with a wistful smile and Gabe added that he couldn’t agree more,
in perfect French.

Bucky could only shake his head, giving them a stern look in warning.

In their few stolen private moments they learnt about each other, talked at length about everything
and anything. Bucky eagerly listened to all her little stories and reciprocated in kind.

“I’m the eldest of five, got four darlin’ sisters that would love you and can’t wait to meet you.”

“Yeah? I’d love to meet them.” She smiled nervously, which made him smile warmly at her as he
saw her fretting in the way she sometimes chewed her bottom lip.

He learnt that she was raised by her granddad, who she fought and rebelled against throughout her
childhood and who taught her everything she knew, including how to hold and shoot a gun, which
surprised Bucky and not at the same time.

“His reasoning behind it was ‘Got to teach ya Dee so that I could sleep better at night’.” She tried
to imitate his voice and it came out funny, she shook her head at the fond memory.

“Got ta show me your skills doll before I can believe ya.” He poked her in the ribs where he knew
she was ticklish, it made her squeak and jump, eliciting a girly giggle he loved hearing so much
that he knew he would never tire of.

“What happened to him?” her expression grew a little solemn at his question.

“He passed away when I was 17, was at university at the time. It was…tough…coming to terms
with being alone but then I met Jane, a crazy scientist that became like a sister to me.”

He tightened his arms around her.

“You’ll never be alone again, you’ve got me sweetheart.”

She turned to face him, her eyes full of so much affection for him it tugged at his heart, and pulled
him into a tender lingering kiss.

He was so gone for her.

Darcy’s thoughts had strayed to her granddad again, after the conversation with Bucky it made her
want to find him that much more. She knew he’d met the Howling Commandos briefly after his
unit was attacked but when was that supposed to happen? Could she prevent it? She told Peggy one
night, throwing the forewarning of the butterfly effect and caution to the wind, but without dates or
facts there was little Peggy could do, you couldn't always tell when the enemy was going to strike,
even if you tried to ready yourself as much as possible.
She had finally approached Colonel, who readily agreed to find him, much to her surprise, ‘her
distant cousin’, and it had been a few tense days of anticipation and hoping afterwards.

As she was preparing to sterilise some of the reusable equipment she heard a commotion outside
the medical barracks. Her head jerked up sharply along with her colleagues and she nodded to her
superior and said that she was going to check what was going on outside. As soon as they stepped
out with her rotational nurse in tow, she heard the words she had been dreading to hear for weeks.

“In coming!”

“105th heavily hit!...”

Her heart sank painfully within her chest, she knew her granddad lived but that didn’t stop her
hands from shaking and her eyes darting around searching for him desperately. Mind frantic ‘What
if he’s injured?

And then she saw him, recognising his young 17 year old self, tall and lanky, just like in the old
photograph she always kept of him, back in her time, safely resting on top of her chest of drawers.
But he wore no smile, there was no joy in this young man’s eyes. Already the whole world was
resting on top of his shoulders. His features ashen and solemn, dark bags under his eyes, shoulders
hunched from the weight of the war, the fighting having taken a toll on his young mind.

He didn’t seem injured but his lip was split and he held his rifle with a death grip, his knuckles
white, his eyes unseeing. She felt her heart break all over again for him. It was too much. She
swallowed her tears and steeled herself, walking back hurriedly into the tent to receive the
wounded. She pushed through and told Richards that she’d take the minor injuries.

There were only maybe twenty men out of a few hundred that survived. She swallowed thickly at
just how lucky her granddad had been to survive. The massacre of the 105th. She remembered it,
he had told her the story briefly once upon a time, which she tried to forget, it was just too sad.
However, hearing the story in comparison to seeing the result, the handful of the boys that had
lived, almost made her sick. The same could have easily happened to the 107th and she couldn’t
imagine it.

She delegated the walking wounded to each of the nurses until her granddad stepped forward. He
looked her in eye but it felt as if he was looking right through her, his mind far away by what
seemed to be the effects of shell shock. She told him to follow her and he did like a silent robot, it
unnerved her.
As he sat on the examining table she looked him over and took every step methodically but kept
loosing her concentration. Her dear grandfather was sitting right there in front of her, whole but
suffering within his mind. She grabbed his shoulders firmly and looked directly into his eyes, the
same colour as hers.

“Look at me Lewis, you…did…your…best.”

The serious look she gave him must have thrown him off, his eyes widened and she hoped that her
words had brought him some semblance of relief. She understood his survivor’s guilt intuitively,
having survived Thano’s decimation herself. Sometimes having someone voice your biggest fear
could ground you and give a reprieve from the guilt that ate you alive.

‘What if I could have done better? Saved more people? If only I was faster, smarter, a better
shooter...’ Like a broken record those thoughts afflicted him for hours, as they marched to the
nearest safety, the 107th regiment.

The piercing words of the medic who grabbed his shoulders, pulling him from the dark corners of
his mind, had quietened them, at least for the time being.

He looked at her then, really looked. She seemed familiar, especially her eyes, they were the same
as his, his grandma’s.

He realised he had never given her his name.

“You know me?” he mumbled, voice resonating how weary he was, how bone tired he was.

She stilled for a moment and then spoke.

“We are related from my fathers' side…distant cousins.”

“I’ve never heard of you.” He spoke with scepticism, not quite believing her words.

“Oh you know how it is with big families, too many people and look I got the ‘skips a generation
blue eyes’ same as yours and your grandma’s! Anyway…I’ve heard of you. Little runaway from
home, signing up to join the army underage.” He could tell she tried to divert the conversation back
to him, whispering the last bit. When the words sunk in a look of mortification flashing on his face
as he knew if it was discovered he could get into a lot of trouble.

“Please...I!” he started desperately, alarmed, but then she cut him off.

“Don’t worry I won’t snitch on you but you got to promise me you’ll stay safe.” her eyes and words
rung sincere.

His shoulders visibly sagged from palpable relief and he could only nod in response. Once she
finished looking him over and patching him up she spoke again.

“Go rest, try to get some sleep and come back tomorrow at lunch time, we’ll catch up then.”

Still sceptical he got up to find his commanding officer, he could feel her eyes on his back.

The next day he lingered aimlessly around the entrance of the medical tent before gathering his
courage and walking inside. He approached the attending nurse and spoke quietly.

“I was hopin' to speak to miss Lewis?”

“Oh…erm. M’ not sure, she’d busy at the moment…can I pass on a message?” She spoke
hesitantly, glancing at him from under her lashes bashfully.
He nodded in understanding.

“’S alright, just wanted to thank her, she’s my cousin I’ve only just met yesterday.” He shook his
head with a rueful smile, voice laced with slight disbelief and just as he turned to leave the nurse
stopped him with a little tug on his jacket while she looked around.

“Wait…just wait here.” She spoke softly before walking away and a few moments later the female
physician he saw yesterday came out of the back, his cousin.

“Hey, you alright? Ready for some food?” the lady smiled at his reluctant self.

“Yeah, ‘m fine, thank you for…yesterday…I could eat.”

“It was no trouble darling. Follow me, let's get some food in you.”

“Who’s this lad you’ve brought? Should I be worried that you plan ta leave me for a younger
man?” Bucky joked but partly looked worried, it made her want to laugh at him, her boy was a
territorial man and got jealous easily.

“We are related you goon. He’s my distant baby cousin.”

“Dmitri Alexander Lewis, sir.” the boy by her side introduced himself.

Bucky then squinted, looking at them again and seemed to notice the slight resemblance.

“We have another Lewis among our midst men!” James shouted to the group with a grin.

“Lord have mercy!” joked Dugan, coming up and slapping the young boy’s back, welcoming him.
“Hey Lewis!” shouted Gabe and both Darcy and Dmitri turned uttering a “What?”

“Yeah, I definitely see the resemblance.” They all laughed in merriment.

They had the same eyes, wavy dark chocolate hair and similar smirks on their lips, the signature
Lewis smirk.

Darcy tried to spend as much time as she could with her young grandfather, wanting to be close to
him, wanting to know this version of him. It felt so surreal to her, to have him with her once again.
Sometimes just observing him made her choke up from the memories it brought, they were the
same person and not at the same time, it was only natural as at this moment in time he was a little
more than a kid really, so young.

They walked around the camp, talking, getting to know each other. Darcy tried to speak to him
about shell shock and ways of dealing with it, hoping he would heed her advice and that it would
help him. It seemed as though being around her, having a family member close among the horrors
of the war, seemed to lighten the young boys mood, no longer so solemn or weary, able to crack a
joke again.

“That’s a nice rifle you got there, any good with it?”

“I do alright.” He shrugged nonchalantly.

“Hhhmm, I’ll need to see it to believe it pal, lets go.”

He looked up at her confused but followed her dumbly like a lost puppy anyway.

She brought him to a clearing that was within the forest their base was hid. Attached to one of the
trees was a makeshift target practice and so they fall in and show each other what the other can do.
After a few beats he was immensely impressed by her skill, at awe with her, and so she taught him
all she knew, everything he had taught her when she was younger than he was now.

The irony wasn’t lost to her, she taught him and in tern he teaches her in the future. It was almost
like the chicken and the egg question, what came first?

Spending time with him was so bizarre, getting to know her baby grandfather. He was so cute.

“You’ve got a girlfriend back home waiting for you?” she teased him, making him blush.

“Nah.” He said bashfully, rubbing the back of his neck.

She then told him that he will meet his ladylove once he gets back from the war, from the very first
meeting he would know straight away she was the one.

“All shy like, soft curls and big grey eyes.”

He watched her intently as if he believed her every word and then shook his head from cynicism.

“Sounds like a dream.” he thought she was joking, was only teasing him but he remembered those
words, tucked them away safely to the back of his mind, a sweet fantasy he wanted to keep for his
own.

When Darcy was younger she never understood why her granddad was so adamant that she learnt
how to shoot, he also tried to push her to become a medic but she point blank refused, thinking him
mad and afraid of blood herself at the time. He told her in absolute confidence that she’d be great at
it, which forever baffled her but after the decimation it was the only thing she could think about,
his words and her new desire to help and make a difference in this god forsaken world resonated
within her mind.
“S’ cause you are a Lewis Darcy!” Was always his reply.

Perhaps he remembered her? Perhaps this was always meant to happen? Her going back to the
past. The thought gave her mixed feelings. Was that why he tried to push her into medicine, teach
her how to shoot? It was a surreal thought. Another coincidence. First Bucky and now her
grandad.

She wished she could have asked him.

As she watched him shoot, following her directions closely, it made her feel proud and humbled
that despite him no longer being in her time her grandfather had found a way to protect her in her
future endeavours of travelling through time and she had done the same for him in the past.

While reminiscing a memory popped up in her head randomly and she spoke before thinking better
of it, her voice full of amusement.

“Hey…if you ever have a granddaughter one day and let's say she pours that expensive French
perfume you bought for your wife all over the carpet, go easy on her alright?”

He looked at her oddly and rolled his eyes at her weirdness before she smacked the back of his
head in retaliation but they laughed anyway as he rubbed his head.

It was suddenly Christmas and New Year was just around the corner. A quiet time on both fronts to
her surprise. She heard stories of soldiers playing football and exchanging gifts at the front lines,
the war stopping on a sacred day to all, which only showed how the animosity wasn't carried by the
whole nation but the few who unfortunately lead it. Soldiers had no choice in the matter, you either
joined with honour or was jailed if not shot as a shameful deserter, traitor to your own country.
Soldiers were expected to carry out orders without question but the one day of the year, a sacred
day to the Christians, they were able to put down their guns and set aside the hate and the orders.

Austria was beautiful, covered in ethereal snow, a silvery winter wonderland, glistering in the
sunlight like diamonds.
Bucky got her a small box of chocolates as her Christmas gift and she loved them, kissed him
sweetly.

“Oooh chocolate! Gonna Share Dee?” Howard popped up besides her with a grin as if appearing
out of thin air.

“Over my dead body.” she answered with deadpan, voice full of threat. He tried to reach over to
steal one anyway, the cheeky man.

“I will bite your hand and you won’t get it back.” She swatted his hand away like a fly.

“That’s cold Dee! And keep your rabies.”

She had knitted Bucky a scarf with the help of one of the nurses, it was navy in colour, and a
maroon one for her grandfather as it was his favourite colour. She knitted those scarfs for her boys
with utter love and care, however she didn't have as much luck with the hat she tried to knit for
Peggy and both were in stitches laughing so hard at her creation.

“To keep you warm when I’m not around!” she beamed at them.

Howard brought his camera to take pictures and they huddled together for a few to be taken for
memory, as he set the timer he quickly run to kneel in front of Darcy and she put her hand on his
shoulder, beaming at the camera.

She had never thought any photograph could be so dear to her as the one she held in her hands
now, displaying her standing by her youthful granddad, Bucky on her other side close to her with
his arm around her waist, Peggy and Steve huddled together next to him, Howard crouching in
front of her along with Dugan, James and Jim while Frenchie and Gabe stood by her grandfather’s
side.

She would treasure it till the end of time.

The 105th regiment boys stayed with them for two weeks until they ultimately were dispersed to
another battalion.

She had her grandfather back again for two weeks, her best friend, a short lifetime that came to an
end too quickly but she was so happy that fate had allowed her to be able to see him once more
despite the circumstances. She was grateful.

Darcy kissed his cheek and hugged him tightly, a watery smile on her lips as she sent him off.

“Stay safe troublemaker. Until we meet again.”

A week had gone past and her thoughts had not strayed from her young granddad, fighting out
there again, she was worried sick. Bucky tried to comfort her, kissing her temple and telling her
that Dmitri was a good kid with a good head on his shoulders, that he’d be ok. She knew that he
would be but it did not make her stop worrying for him.

As she entered her and Peggy’s tent, after her shift had ended, she saw Peggy angrily muttering
under her breath.

“What’s wrong love?”

With a heavy sigh Peggy faced her, quickly walking over to her to pull her to their beds and as they
sat down she whispered to her about the new mission to bring in Arnim Zola, the right hand man of
the Red Skull, the head of HYDRA.
Darcy didn’t recognise the name initially but it bothered her, something clawed at her at the back
of her mind.

“Tell me more about this man…”

Peggy told her all that the SSR knew of him as well as how the man conducted tests on the
prisoners.

Bucky flashed in Darcy’s mind at the revelation and the unrepressed anger flared with in her chest
hotly, her fingers curled into fists until her knuckles turned white.

“They plan to try and make a deal with him but it doesn’t feel right to me. He is not the same man
Abraham Erskine was.” Peggy spoke quickly, lost within her thoughts as she looked away.

Darcy wrecked her brain as to why the name rang an alarm within her mind and then it hit her. She
remembered when SHIELD had fallen, her and Jane had managed to read some of the files that
were released, they had one on her as well as Jane and Thor, which was a little alarming to say the
least.

She remembered Jane telling her about a Nazi scientist who had infiltrated SHIELD, the
organisation Howard and Peggy built. How he had corrupted it from the inside, slowly, over many
decades after they had recruited him. That scientist's name was Arnim Zola.

The files weren’t available on the net for very long, most were corrupted within the hour of them
being uploaded. It seemed many did not want others digging around in their personal business or
things coming to light that people didn’t want the world to know but she remembered Jane finding
those files.

With a startling realisation and a sudden hit of adrenaline, she spoke with a frenzied voice.

“Under no circumstances can that man live.”

“I absolutely agree but it’s not up to me Dee.”

“Listen to me Peggy. That man is like cancer. He might look benign at first but in truth is
malignant to the core, like a tumour if not removed in time will spread and slowly kill the
recipient.”

In that moment they shared a look and Peggy acutely understood that this wasn’t just her opinion
but something she knew from the future. Peggy’s face turned ashen from realisation of what it
might mean to the SSR, to the US or perhaps even the world.

They both knew that not everyone was redeemable and some were rotten through their entire core.

“I’ll speak to the Colonel.” she rushed out of their shared tent.

Darcy fell back onto her bed reeling from the adrenaline pumping in her veins from the revelation.

Darcy knew she couldn’t approach the Howlies about their mission as it was meant to be top secret.
She did not want to jeopardise Peggy’s nor Colonel’s positions either if it suddenly came to light
that a civilian was made aware of an undisclosed assignment known only to a few.

She had to trust in Peggy to sway the Colonel and the General to make them understand that
capturing that man alive would only bring misfortune on them all, he was not like dr. Erskine that
Peggy rescued and who made Steve who he was today, no, that man had no soul.

So as she watched the boys leave the regiment she kissed her fingers and brought her hand up,
whistling loudly and shouting to them to get back in one piece.
With that knowledge Peggy influenced the mission’s objective and instead of bringing Zola in alive
the mission had changed to an assassination, to blow up the train.

And in turn it had changed the course of history and without realising it Darcy had saved Bucky
from capture and certain fate.

(Winter Soldier’s POV in present time.)

When he first saw her around the new Avenger’s facility in their current time, he had felt as if a
bullet had pierced his chest right though, like he was bleeding out slowly, the pain was
indescribable. She looked so much like his Darcy.

He could never forget her, she was distinctive in both beauty and mind.

He wasted no time using his high clearance to dig out her files. She had the same name, she was a
medic, her only family, her grandfather was deceased, but how could it be her?

Then Wilson introduced them in the corridor and she looked at him like at a stranger. It had felt
like a knife to the gut and the longer he stood there in her presence the further the knife twisted. He
couldn’t take much more of it so he walked away, he had to think, to process it all, to try to
rationalise what was happening.

Observing her from a distance, watching her interact with other people had brought back
bittersweet memories. He had missed her so damn much. It had been so long.

All his memories came back when he was on the run during those two years after the fall of
SHIELD. He still thought of her often, he had tried to find out what had happened to her after the
war but there was no trace, no records left behind, like she had never existed. He couldn’t
understand why.

Innately he knew it was her, it couldn’t be anyone else, but how?

After their encounter at the shooting range, when it got too much and his longing couldn’t be
supressed anymore he had cornered her away from the cameras and kissed her senselessly, pouring
all his feelings, his hurt into the kiss.

Following her running from him, he had a realisation. They were going to be dismantling Stark’s
invention in the next few days, the space time machine.

There was barely a quarter of the particles left, it wasn’t enough for a specific jump but might be
enough to send a person to a random time.

He knew that it would work. He had to believe it. Their first meeting rationalised it, why she hated
him on sight. There was no other explanation.

He was meant to make sure that she was sent back to the past, he was sure of it.

And so he did it and it had worked.

He stepped back into the shadows and walked away from the scene.

From the day she went back to the past he felt himself change every day, it was subtle at first but
each time he woke he had a new memory.

He understood that history didn’t always quite repeat itself and some subtle changes caused ripple
effects.

The other Avengers had figured out pretty quickly that he was the cause of the calamity, the reason
Darcy disappeared. They reacted with outrage at his betrayal. He did not fight back as Thor
punched him, his body making a crater in the wall from the sheer force.
As Thor held him with his hand around his throat, he roared.

“WHY?”

“She was always meant to go back.”

“You knew her?” Sam’s voice was full of disbelief but he did not doubt him, it finally made sense,
his attitude towards Darcy.

“Yes.”

“What was she to you?” Clint asked in a calculating voice.

“She was…everything…the echo of my memories of her were the only reason I was able to cling
onto my humanity during those 70 years, even when they wiped me each time.” He was resigned to
whatever they deemed just to do to him, for what he had done, but he did not regret it.

Jane watched him intently with bloodshot eyes. She was torn by anger initially when she had found
out who was responsible for her dear friend's disappearance, thinking it was her at first, but his
words made her pause.

“You loved her…all this time?” Jane’s voice fractured, becoming choked up with tears at the
wretched situation and saw him close his eyes as he spoke.

“Always.”

On the seventh day as he sat in his apartment within the facility while the others tried to think of a
way to get Darcy back, he saw himself start to disintegrate into light particles, it didn’t alarm him.
He was at peace, smiling fondly at the new memories in his mind, he left that world without regret.
As the past was rewritten the Winter Soldier was erased from history.
 Chapter 10

Following the assassination and the death of Zola, Hydra retaliated. It hit the 107 th regiment after
having tracked them down to their hideout deep in the Austrian forest.

The medical team tried to move the wounded to safety but there wasn’t really anywhere to go.
Bullets were flying dangerously close as they ducked for cover.

Bucky along side a few others burst into the medical barracks to help protect the staff and the
patients. He crawled towards her spot.

“Give me a gun!” Darcy urgently shouted to Bucky above the noise of the conflict around them
and without any hesitation he gave her one of his weapons. Getting into position she waited for the
right moment and as the Hydra soldiers breached the entrance of the medical tent she moved and
consecutively shot down three of them.

She ducked back and then looked over to her boy who gazed at her as if she was a God’s given gift
and proclaimed that she was his perfect woman, which made her laugh out loud despite their
situation. And then he did something that utterly stunned her. He proposed to her while they were
being shot at.

She never seized to amaze him, she kept surprising him at every turn and he couldn’t help adoring
her for it.

“Will you marry me?” the adrenaline and excitement rung through his voice, smiling at his girl and
her shocked expression.

“This is hardly the best time to talk about this!” she shouted back, bewildered, cheeks flushed.

“Sweetheart, I’ve come to learn that any time is good as any! Come on baby-doll, say you’ll marry
me!”

She grabbed his jacket and tugged him to her, giving him a searing kiss as her answer.

“Is that a yes?” he gasped for breath as they broke apart, smiling, breaking out into a massive
dopey grin.

“Yes” she grinned back and pulled him back for another brief kiss.

The fighting did not last much longer, with the help of Steve and Howard they managed to break
the Nazi’s formation, which sent Hydra into a retreat.

It was so close, the war would soon come to an end, they were only a couple of months away from
it, they could feel it. The Nazi’s have slowed down, having taken heavy losses after attacking
Russia despite having signed a treaty, which everyone knew was only a pretence on both sides. For
Stalin it was so that they could gain time to supply his army with new weapons and hit Germany
but Hitler beat him to it, striking first. However, Russian winter is cruel and Germany had lost a
significant amount of their troops to the elements due to lack or resources to protect them from -30
Celsius temperatures, literally freezing to death.

Stalin was out for blood and soon they’d take Berlin, it was only a matter of time.

Late at night, tucked in their cots, Darcy and Peggy spoke earnestly in the darkness, first time in a
while as recent events had kept them busy.

“It’s a little scary how fast everything is moving with Bucky. It hasn’t even been a year and I can’t
see myself without him, I’ve never felt so strongly about anyone before and no one has ever treated
me like he has, like I’m something fucking precious you know? Something to keep for always. It’s
frightening but I couldn’t love him more for it.”

“That is still a substantial time in this era. If you were back in the US you’d be married and
expecting already…”
They chuckled at that and then sighed.

“If…I was given the choice to return to my time now…I don’t think I could. I’d stay for love...as
corny as it sounds and the feminist in me is somewhat outraged but for real love I would and that’s
what it feels like. I really love Bucky so I’d stay for him…This 40s sentimentalism is getting to me
Jeez! Can’t believe I’m saying this but I can’t deny it.”

“What wouldn’t we do for true love?...I never thought it would be in my cards, as you know…I run
from a perfectly good man on my wedding day. I wanted more though, I wanted a career above all
else, to be recognised for my work, hungered for it. My brother always understood, had encouraged
me, he was the one that recommended me to SSR, to Colonel Phillips. Despite it being always an
uphill struggle but I’ve come to realise that meeting the right person to share your troubles with, to
share the struggle, a person that would love me for me, someone to come home to was just as
valuable as having a career. I want both and in this era it’s made difficult and people are so
judgemental…Steve...he’s got this pure heart that is so rare. I didn’t risk my career just for some
hunk when I helped him with that rescue mission. I believed in him and what he stood for but some
still treat me as some girl infatuated with the America’s golden boy.” Darcy could hear the
exasperation in Peggy’s voice.

“Women my dear will always be judged for their choices. For wanting to get married or not,
wanting children or not, wanting a career over family or vice versa, working or not working after
having children. We can’t escape it. But who gives a shit if you do what you feel is best for you?
What right do they have to judge us for doing what we want and not following what the society
dictates? As long as we are happy why should anyone else’s opinion matter?”

“Preach.” Peggy snorted before continuing with sarcasm “comforting to know that at least some
things never change no matter if its 20th or 21st century...I want the whole package so shoot me!”

“What kind of package are we talking about here? Over six foot, blond saint and the junk he’s
packing in his undies?”

“Oh shut up!” Peggy threw her pillow across at Darcy and it connected with her target. Darcy
cackled and they laughed and laughed and laughed.

They weren’t the type of women to become infatuated easily, it went much deeper for them both.
They didn’t swoon at handsome strong men because they intuitively knew that what was on the
inside counted the most, everything else came second.

When the silence had stretched once more Darcy whispered to Peggy.
“Bucky asked me to marry him…”

“About time.” they chuckled and Darcy tried to swat Peggy in the darkness with her own pillow,
trying to reach over from her cot and succeeded.

When Darcy asked her to be her witness Peggy happily agreed, squeezing her dear friend’s hand.
And then Peggy revealed that Steve also proposed and they wanted to marry right after the war.

“You kept that quiet! And did they coordinate this?” Darcy chuckled before she tried imitating
Steve’s voice “Hey Buck m’ gona propose to my gal, you should too!” they laughed.

Darcy was so thrilled for her friends but it also tore her apart, she didn’t know what to feel, or say
or do, knowing what was their fate and before thinking she spoke.

“Why don’t you guys get married along with us and we’ll be your witnesses? Why wait?”

“No we couldn’t…don’t want to overshadow your big day.” Teased Peggy.

“Don’t be ridiculous!” Darcy laughed but tried to convince her anyway and in the end she did.

They got married in secret in a little church in an Austria village and stayed a night in an inn that
was still functioning.

The room wasn’t anything special but being there together, their first night as husband and wife
had meant everything.

Bucky’s heart had swelled twice its size at the thought, his wife, wished he could give her so much
more, and he planned to as soon as the war was officially over, as soon as they flew back to US.
Whatever she wanted he’d give it to her, this extraordinary dame who chose him, whose beauty he
still couldn’t get over nor how it still astonished him every single second that she was with him.
She had looked so lovely to him, no matter that they were dressed in their army clothes, that there
was a hole in the roof of the church or that it was freezing when they exchanged their vows in the
eyes of God with their closest friends there as their witnesses. He meant every word of his pledge
to her, until death he would love and cherish her with everything that he had in him. She had
looked at him with adoration as he slipped the wedding ring onto her finger, returning his love and
then they had shared a chaste kiss, sealing themselves to each other till the end.

Standing in the warm room they stared at each other in almost disbelief, sharing a secret smile that
they reserved for no one else, he pulled her to him, kissing her temple as he stroked her soft curls.
He had felt pride for having won the affections of such a woman, she took his breath away with her
strength, resilience and love. He felt safe within her embrace, knew innately that she would never
abandon him and would be there for him no matter what.

Cupping her cheeks he gently rested his forehead against her own. She was his girl, his wife, his
life. She had become everything to him and he couldn’t wait for the rest of their lives, to hold their
children within his arms, watch them grow as he held her hand, grow old together while they
bickered, laughed and loved.

His thumb stroked over her lip gently, feeling the softness of her plush mouth. The cheeky minx
that was his girl had opened her mouth and captured his finger, biting and sucking on it sensually
as she looked him in the eye, which sent a bolt of arousal right through him.

She released his thumb before raising herself on her tiptoes and kissing him sweetly. They took
their time, the kiss was deep, languid and sensual, their caresses slow and teasing. They didn’t need
to rush, didn’t need to steal moments when they could, tonight was for them.

He cradled her head in his hands, looking deeply into her eyes as he slid into her heat, felt her arch
against him until he was fully inside, to the hilt, wrapped around him light a silk glove. His mouth
fell open slightly, breathing heavily in a way that had nothing to do with exertion. Her throaty
whimper, his name on her lips, urging him to move. His thrusts were slow and deep, a repeated
languid roll of his hips, their lips slightly parted but touching, sporadically kissing as their breaths
mingled, watching each other’s pleasure.

The slow build was getting too much and not enough at the same time. He could feel her nails
scratching down his back, her hands coming to rest on his ass before pushing him, urging him to
speed up, their breaths becoming erratic as he complied, giving her what she needed.

He snaked on of his hands under her lush ass, tilting it up so that her bud rubbed against him. He
heard her breath hitch, felt her clench around him, her muscles tightening as she had found her
release and it had sent him over the edge, pumping into her a few more times before stilling as his
own release pulsed deeply into her, coming apart above her as he whispered her name like a prayer.

She held him close, her body still shuddering slightly from her high, their chests heaving. He didn’t
move away, still connected, his arms coiled around her and he kissed her tenderly as he murmured
sweet things to her, reverent words of love and devotion, meaning every single word.

The Howling Commandos got sent on a highly classified mission that lasted three weeks, during
which Bucky got hurt, shot in the chest but the Howlies manage to keep him alive until he was
brought back to base.

He was in and out of consciousness during their journey back on Howard’s plane. They had
managed to bring him back in time. She removed the bullet from his chest cavity and inserted a
chest drain to help re-inflate the lung. His fever spiked and despite the antibiotics he was
unconscious for 2 days. Any other soldier would have died by then.

Darcy stayed by his bedside as long as she could and as often as she was able to. Eventually
Richards discharged her as she was useless to him emotionally compromised, she couldn’t be more
grateful.

She could hardly rest nor has she slept due to her worry over Bucky’s condition, couldn’t stop the
tears for the hundredth time as she sat by his cot, her breath hitching as she sobbed, missing the
slight movement, his fingers twitching.

Her head was lowered as her elbows rested on her knees, her face in her hands. She tried speaking
to him, her voice thick with tears, hiccupping in-between.

“You got to wake up Bucky…I haven’t got to tell you yet…cause you were away but I…I think I
might be pregnant.” She gasping for breath before continuing “The hormones are making me
crazy…and…and the smell of canned tuna makes me…retch.”

“M’ gonna be a dad?” He rasped, voice horse from disuse and dryness. She sprang from her chair
almost knocking it over in her haste to lean over him sobbing in relief and elation.

“Yes, yes you are.” She tried to smile but it came out a little watery, she tried to bite her lips to
prevent them from wobbling, to prevent herself from crying again.

“Happiest day of m’ life.” he smiled drowsily from all the painkillers running through him still and
she kissed his face all over tenderly, relief washing over her.

She then checked him over, his pupils, blood pressure and felt his forehead. Everything seemed on
the mend and for the first time in over 48hrs she could breathe easier.

Darcy told Peggy that she was pregnant and begged her to keep her secret, not wanting to be torn
from Bucky’s side. Her sister embraced her with a gleeful smile.

“I’m going to be an aunty!” she whispered excitedly as she hugged Darcy tighter.

“But Dee, you won’t be able to hide it for very long. We need to think of something.”

Colonel Phillips wasn’t too surprised to find out that both his infuriatingly independent girls had
married in secret and the fact that one of them was already expecting. He suspected that all of the
Howling Commandos knew and had kept their traps shut about it. He signed heavily. ‘Kids’. And
then thought ‘was it too late to give them a wedding present?’.

When Peggy told Darcy of Valkyrie, the plane containing nuclear bombs to end US, she knew it
was the one so it had burst from her lips all that she knew of what awaited Steve. Peggy’s ashen
face had made her feel incredibly guilty but she couldn’t regret revealing the future event.

“I’m sorry but I can’t keep it in any longer. We have to stop it some other way.”

She had lost enough, she didn’t want to loose anyone else she had come to love and care for dearly.
However, sometimes some things can not be changed no matter how hard you try because fate has
her own agenda.

Bucky jumped onto the Valkyrie along with Steve who shouted at him to go back.

Bucky knew that there were too many of them on that plane and Steve would die if he didn’t help
and in turn millions would loose their lives as the nuclear bombs detonated. He was doing this for
them, to make sure he left behind a safer world if the worst were to happen, for his little family and
his family in Brooklyn, so that they would see another day.

He still had hope that they could get out of it unscathed, ‘with some fuckin’ luck perhaps they will.’
 Chapter 11

She was there with Peggy at the SSR base when their boys put the plane into the water.

“Sweet dreams stud.” were her last words to him after she had told him she loved him.

Even if they used parachutes to jump from the plane they’d land in ice-cold waters of the Atlantic
Ocean and freeze to death in minutes. Their fate was sealed either way. She knew Steve would
survive but wasn’t so sure if Bucky would. Whatever serum Zola gave him may not be enough at
this point to preserve him like it did Steve but she prayed that it would.

Peggy embraced her and they cried together, gut wrenching sobs.

They couldn’t stop it but there was still hope, a chance that they could find them and they held
onto that thread of hope. Darcy had told Peggy and Howard to look for them somewhere around
Iceland but nothing was ever found.

Frustrated and angry beyond words, she couldn’t sleep, couldn’t eat. Bitterness consumed her mind
and heart, distraught at the hand that fate had dealt her yet again, never being able to hold onto the
people she loved for long.

She had lost the only man she had ever truly loved and it tore her apart. She had completely shut
down.

“Come on sweetheart, you got to eat, think of the baby.” Peggy tried to encourage her to eat
something.

She could see how Peggy tried to swallow her own sorrow to try to take care of her, it broke her
heart. She felt incredibly guilty too. She had thought that perhaps by encouraging her friends to get
married that somehow it would help to alter their fate but fate can be an unpredictable thing.
She suddenly remembered the words of a writer, whose books she enjoyed and read back in the
21st century, and how the truth within them rung true to her now.

‘They say that when a life of a mortal is being decided, the Gods throw dice but Fate plays chess
and only in the end, when it is too late, does the mortal realise that Fate has been playing with two
Queens all along.’

Whatever happened in the past directly affected the future and perhaps it was always Fate’s plan to
have Steve wake in the 21st century. He was needed in the fight against Thanos. So after awhile
she understood but it did not lessen the aching within her chest nor did it help her put back the
pieces of her fragmented heart.

Her only comfort was that she had saved her boy from a lifetime of torture and that he had left a
piece of himself with her.

She had to stay strong, not just for herself but the little world now growing within her womb. Her
hand came up to rest on her little bump and she felt their baby kick against her palm, it made her
throat burn painfully from the unshed tears she tried to fight. She tried to swallow the thick lump
stuck in her throat from the unbearable grief overwhelming her but was unable to, trembling and
gasping for breath as her tears fell. She wasn’t alone, their little baby was proof of their love and
that it all really happened.

She and Peggy went back to New York shortly after the war had come to an end on the 8th of May
1945. The war concluded with the Red Army, Soviet troops, capturing Berlin and the subsequent
unconditional surrender of the German army.

Howard along with some of the Howlies flew them back with the permission of Colonel Phillips.
He hugged them both before their departure, a rare display of affection by the grouchy old man.

“It’ll be alright…it will get easier with time.” were his solemn parting words of comfort. He had
made them promise to keep in touch regularly.

Dugan, Jim and Gabe had gone back home to different states of US while James Falsworth and
Frenchie went back to their respective countries.
The girls had kept in touch with the Howlies and the boys checked up on them often, so did
Howard. They were all worried for them, much to the girl’s chagrin but they couldn’t begrudge
them their concern, they were their friends after all.

She had met Bucky’s mother and sisters. It was a tearful meeting, they had cried together for what
they have shared and lost. Bucky’s family were sweet to her and she had loved them all on sight.
They visited her regularly and accompanied her to all of her doctor appointments.

They had a picture taken together and she kept it close to her bedside along with the one they took
back in Austria, with Bucky and her granddad by her side.

She never took her wedding ring off and she felt like she never would.

And so she and Peggy almost fell back into their old routine before they left New York for London.
Peggy worked at a branch office of the SSR and Darcy had found a job as a general practitioner at
a clinic a few streets away from where they lived together, despite being in her 2nd trimester. She
refused to sit at home and wallow. She needed structure, she need a routine to fall back on so that
she wasn’t living inside her head, drowning in bitter misery or what could have been if things
turned out differently.

She hated the pitying looks she sometimes got when people found out her situation, a widow of a
soldier that never came back from the war. She didn’t need their pity, she was strong, she had to
be, the alternative wasn’t an option, her grandad taught her that and was the example she clang
onto. So with a raised chin and a straight back she tried to move forward, trying to build a life with
the people she still had around her that cared for her, that loved her. She couldn’t let them down
but most importantly she couldn’t let herself down.

It was almost the end of summer and the heat was sweltering in New York. They had opened the
windows to try to get any air in, along with three fans dotted around the flat to keep them cool.

And then Thor arrived with a crack of thunder as a portal opened in their living room, along with
Jane, Steve and Bucky. As soon as Peggy saw Steve step towards her she dashed to him with a sob,
embracing each other for dear life.
She stood there, struck dumb, staring at her boy, her chest feeling constricted like she couldn’t get
in a full breath, tears rolling down her cheeks as her hand came up to cover her mouth from shock,
and before she knew it his arms came round her, pulling her to him.

“Bucky” A chocked sob escaping her lips as she hugged him back just as fiercely.

When Bucky saw her, for the first time in years, he wanted to fall onto his knees, could feel a
painful lump forming in his throat. Unable to swallow nor stop his own silent tears from running
down his cheeks, he gasped for breath before briskly taking the few steps towards her, enveloping
her with his arms.

He kissed her temple and hair as relief and elation swept over his whole being, clinging onto each
other as he whispered words of love to her and she cried harder, her shoulders and whole body
shaking from the force of her sobs. She buried her face in his chest, her hands clutching his navy
tunic while he held her tightly to him. Finally reunited with his girl, finally able to breathe again.
He felt as if a large piece of himself, a vital piece of his very soul that has been missing had finally
reattached itself back into place.

His hands came to rest on her full belly, he rested his forehead against her own as he stared down at
his heavily pregnant wife’s bump completely mesmerised.

“Sleeps during the day and torments me at all night with constant kicking, my innards are bruised.”
Chuckling he embraced her again, nuzzling her neck, breathing in the gentle scent of her hair,
trying to convince himself that she was here and she was real.

“God I’ve missed you sweetheart.” He swallowed thickly, closing his eyes as all the pain of the last
few years dissolved.

“I’ve missed you too stud.” Came her quiet watery reply.

He thought he’d never see her again, never see their child being born nor hear their first scream as
they entered this world unknowing that he or she were unconditionally loved, never be able to hold
their baby in his arms.

And for the first time in years he could breathe easy.

“But…how…how can this be?” Darcy whispered as she looked up at him. Her hands came up to
brush his stubbled cheeks and run her hands through his longer hair, eyes searching.

This was not the man she left behind in the future, he was not the Winter Soldier, the metal arm
missing confirmed that she had changed his fate.

“The serum…that Zola gave me was enough to preserve my body in something like a cryo stasis,
Steve too.”

She lowered her head back down, cheek to his chest, relived beyond words and suddenly
exhausted.

He must have sensed it because not a moment later he picked her up gently, bridal style, to move
them to the couch, Thor and Jane smiled at them, moved by their reunion. She held out her hands
to her dear friends and Jane came to sit next to her on the other side while Thor kneeled down in
front of her, taking her hand between both of his. She hugged them both fiercely.

Thor explained that he powered Stark’s invention while not requiring the particles as the magic
within him, the very same he inherited from his mother, was the key.

He went to the Seers to find a way to travel back in time and they had laughed at him as they
sucked his immortal life force as payment. ‘A few decades he could spare’ he assured her when
she gasped in distress. They had told him that he already had the means, his powers of a Norse
God.

“Did you swallow a watermelon?” Jane was flabbergasted at her massive bump and she chuckled
at her friend’s reaction. Then something akin to understanding had dawned on Jane’s face that
turned suddenly sad.

“You aren’t…coming back are you?” Jane’s voice was shaky and full of repressed tears, her smile
wobbling.
Darcy looked back at Bucky who sat by her side, his eyes soft and smile gentle. She knew that he
would do whatever she wanted and her heart swelled with love for him. He still had family here, a
family that still mourned him, she couldn’t take him away from them, she wouldn’t, she’d always
feel incredibly guilty of it, so she hugged her friend fiercely once more and asked for her blessing.

Thor and Jane couldn’t stay for long as the portal required massive amounts of power to be kept
open and so they went back to the future and Bucky and Darcy along with Steve and Peggy stayed
in the past.

Bucky later explained to her how he was awakened along with Steve, how they fought along side
the Avengers and defeated Thanos.

The time line was slightly changed but the events were more or less the same. Captain Marvel, the
strongest of them all was the one that had wielded the gauntlet with the stones to decimate
Thanos’s army and to end the war.

The Starks had lived. Howard’s boy survived and she couldn’t have been more happy nor relieved.

When he woke up along with Steve and found out how much time had gone past his whole world
shattered.

He searched for Darcy desperately, but Steve had found Peggy first.

He watched his best friend hold his love’s frail hand, suffering from dementia. He watched as
Steve raised the casket that contained the only woman he’d ever adored, watched his world be
buried in front of his eyes. It broke something within him watching his brother as he cried for his
lost love.

He’d only ever seen Steve cry once, it was when his mother died. He remembered Steve’s bone
deep sadness at the funeral from the knowledge that she had died alone, due to the high infection
risk of TB no visitors were allowed. He’d never forget Steve’s soulless eyes for a long time after,
never quite regaining that spark until he met Peggy.

Steve had never shed a single tear after the death of his ma, not even when the bullies beat him to
an inch of his life, his eyes remained dry. Until now. He watched his best friend wrecked with
sobs. He saw how it tore him, it nearly killed him too. He thought that was what awaited him if she
or their child was still alive but couldn’t find any trace of them. He didn’t know what to think so he
assumed the worst.

Neither of them could reconcile what they have lost so they threw themselves into work, battle
after battle, until years later, he was given the news about Darcy. How she was from the future and
that they were going to bring her back. The shock he felt at the news had floored him.

Having woken in a foreign land, in a different time, away from all he knew and then suddenly be
given a second chance to be with the woman he loved, his little family? He’d take it in a heartbeat,
knowing innately his brother understood and agreed. Steve had tried to move on for a time, but he
couldn’t, he could never forget. Never. The look Steve gave him had told him everything he
needed to know, he wanted to take that chance and go back to the past, to be with Peggy.

No matter what Darcy wanted, if she wanted to go back to the future or stay in the past, he would
follow her to the end of the earth.

“I’ve never felt as if I ever belonged here in this time.” Steve spoke earnestly.

“Me too punk, me too.”

They had both done enough for this world ten times over.

From the very beginning Bucky never wanted to fight, not like Steve did, until he was drafted so he
had no choice. But even Steve only wanted to fight because he felt it was his duty, he didn’t like
fighting really, he just didn’t like bullies. And after all these years of fighting Steve was ready to
hang up his shield.

Everyone got tired eventually of constant fighting, endless battles. Because what was the point of
constantly fighting? They fought the good fight so they could end the fight, not waste their whole
lives fighting someone else’s battles because there would always be more wars, more conflicts and
in equal measure the people who stood up for what was right because when darkness rose, the light
would always come to meet it. There was more to life than fighting, more important things.
They fought so that eventually they could come home.

And so the both of them went back to the past to be with their girls, their everything, because
without them life was just so irrevocably empty.

The boys made up a story to tell SSR of how they managed to survive the plane crash and were
found by a fishing vessel somewhere in the Atlantic. However, they asked for non-disclosure of
their identities and location, for the world to still think that Captain America had gone down in the
Atlantic.

The only videos that have been released to the public have always had him wearing his helmet and
referred to as Captain America so Steve’s identity and name had been preserved, only the members
of SSR had known what he looked like.

And so they had retired from the army permanently.

They both bought houses with their girls in the suburbs of Brooklyn and enjoyed a fairly simple
life, a life they both dreamed about once upon a time, with block parties, BBQs with family and
friends along with neighbours as their kids played together. They even got dogs.

Life was surreal and they couldn’t be happier.

Darcy had found a part time job as a general practitioner at a clinic not too far. His ma and younger
sisters were more than happy to baby-sit both their kids and Steve and Peggy’s kids.

They used their military pay to go back to school and got degrees. Steve did architecture and art,
while he completed an engineering and mechanics course.

The Howlies, Howard, their close family members and even Colonel Phillips sometimes, got
together a few times a year for dinners and family trips, their friendship forever strong.
 He walked up behind his girl, hugging her from the back as he swayed them side to side to the
music playing from the radio. He nuzzled her neck and breathed in the soothing scent of her wavy
locks he loved so much. His hands caressed her bump, making him smile, their third rug-rat on the
way.

How the fuck did he get so lucky to get a dame like her? He didn’t know but thanked his lucky
stars every day anyway.

“I love you sweetheart.” He heard her hum before she turned to face him within his arms. Her
smile warm and eyes shown with love and affection, going on her tip toes to give him a sweet kiss.

“Uuuuggghhh! Mooooom! Daaaad! That’s disgusting!” their eldest, Dmitri, 6 years old, running in
with their dog, a German Shepard.

“Diiiiimaaa!” their 4 year old girl in tow, Daliah, with her little dolly in the fire truck attached to a
string, tugging it behind her.

They chuckled.

“Wash your hands, dinner is almost ready!”

Fin :)

End Notes

I hope you have enjoyed this chapter!

Would love your feedback! Let me know what you think :D

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