The North Star (B. Barnes & S. Rogers)

Chapter Seventeen

Bucky seeks out North after the party dies down and everyone splits off to do their own thing, Odin had granted them somewhere to sleep, allowed them to stay, knowing that they are North's best chance at getting better, despite the mistakes he made, he is willing to put them right now, knowing how close he has come over the years to losing his sons, his daughters, his wife. Bucky finds North in her chambers, he lets himself in and looks to where she stands in the doorway to her balcony. She's changed from the dress and into something more comfortable, something softer. He closes the door and her head moves only slightly to show that she's heard and knows he is there.

"I'm sorry" Bucky tells her, she glances over her shoulder at him. "I know that me being here, being there to at the facility, it isn't......" she moves towards him. "I'm so sorry" he whispers getting upset because how can he not, she loves the Winter Soldier, and he loves her, and now Bucky is in the way of that, and he does feel terrible about it, because he knows how much the Winter Soldier does love her, more than anything. She touches his cheek, her fingers soft and cold on his skin. He closes his eyes and leans into her touch.

"He promised he would save me" She admits with a shrug.

"They told me you were dead" he counters. "Told him" he corrects himself. "He didn't know you needed saving" she looks away from him, her hand falling from his face as she moves. He grabs her arm to stop her. "He loved you" he assures her. "Still does" he adds, she glances at him. "Even when he had nothing, he had you" her jaw ticks as she gets upset. "And I know how much this must suck for you, how much it must hurt....and I don't want you to hurt, I don't" he assures her. "Because what he felt for you....that's still me" he reaches up with his metal hand to touch her face. "That's still inside of me. He's still part of me." he steps closer to her.

"You can't have me" she tells him. "And I can't have you, it wouldn't work, not now, not the way it did before...."

"Why?" he asks her. "Why can't you....we..." he looks down.

"Because you have Steve" she answers. "Because..." she sighs a little and moves away from him. "Because he makes you a better person then I ever could" Bucky watches her sadly. "He makes you happy" she looks down and sighs. "I left so I wouldn't get in the way, so I wouldn't have to..."

"Watch" he finishes, she nods.

"Watching someone I love be in love with someone else, someone better for them...." she glances at him. "Makes me wish I was still in that hole"

"I'm sorry"

"It is not your fault" she assures him. "It's just what it is..." She sighs and wraps an arm around herself. "I'll return to Midgard, and I will undergo treatment but then I will return to Asgard...and that will be it, the next time I return here, will be the last time I return here, do you understand?" Bucky nods. "And you and Steve can go on as if my appearance hasn't altered everything" Bucky nods a little, there is no arguing with her, she has made up her mind and nothing he can say or do will change that.

...............

Frigga holds North's face in her hands and gives her a sad smile, she hates to send her daughter away, but if it is for the best then she will wait for her return. Frigga sighs and nods a little before releasing her.

"Your home will be here, waiting for you" Frigga assures her. North nods a little and moves to join the Avengers on the bifrost platform, Loki watches her as she stands at his side.

"I'll look after her" Loki assures Frigga, and she knows it to be true, Loki has lost her once already and he will not risk loosing her again. Loki threads his fingers with North's just as the bifrost erupts around them all, taking them from Asgard, back to New York.

................

Steve watches as North looks around the apartment at the facility, they've just put her back where she was before, a sense of familiarity.

"Everything is just as you left it" Steve tells her as she touches the back of the couch. "Bucky wouldn't let anyone move anything" she glances at him. "He...I guess he just..." Steve shrugs a little and clears his throat.

"I'm not here to cause a problem with you two" she points out.

"I know" Steve assures her as he moves closer to her. "It's okay, it's complicated, this thing between us, all three of us, you and me, we have history, and you and he have history, and me and Bucky....it's tangled" she nods a little. "But first and foremost, we are here to help you get better, we are your friends...okay?" she nods again and gives him a small smile. "Is there anything you need?" she takes a breath and then nods.

"The last time I was here, Thor gave me something called...pop tarts" Steve laughs a little and nods.

"I'll add it to the shopping list" he assures her warmly. "Make sure there are plenty for the two of you"

"Thank you" she tells him. "Not just for the pop tarts but...." he shrugs a little.

"It's okay, like I said you're one of us" they share a look, he is the first to look away from the intensity in her eyes.