Venus | James B. Barnes✔️

li. 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚜𝚘𝚕𝚍𝚒𝚎𝚛'𝚜

EVELYN HELD her head in her hands as she sat across from Bucky in a large abandoned warehouse. Bucky's metal arm was clamped in a machine to keep him from moving when he woke, and Evelyn felt everything come crashing down on her. She did not want to fight anymore. She just wanted to take Bucky and run. No more fighting. Peace. A home. A family. A life.

"You all right?" Steve asked, standing next to her. Sam stood next to him, both men worried for Evelyn.

She let out a mocking laugh as she tilted her head to glance at him. "He was doing so good," she whispered. "Less nightmares. He even wanted to talk to you, Steve." Steve's eyes widened. "He was ready to start moving on. We were going to look for somewhere permanent—try to get him reinstated in the world. All the work for the past two years with him, gone," she said with a snap of her fingers, "just like that."

"That's not true," Sam argued. "Not with you, at least. He knows who you are, Winter Soldier or not."

Evelyn smiled slightly. "I'm sorry for how hostile I was in Bucharest," she said to Steve. "My job is to protect him. It's like a switch that gets flicked if he's in danger. It's why I'm going to jail if they find me. I openly helped him escape—in front of Tony, Sharon, Natasha, T'Challa."

"We won't let anything happen to you, Eve," whispered Steve as he crouched to place a hand on her shoulder. "Once we figure out why the psychiatrist wanted him, we'll try to get that life you want."

Evelyn smiled slightly as she looked at Bucky. "That life moves further away by the day."

Sam frowned as Steve walked off when they heard the whirring of a helicopter. Sam sat down next to Evelyn. "If it's any consolation," he began, "I saw you two at the market. He really does love you."

"I knew that," Evelyn said with a smile before it fell as she turned to look at him. "You were spying on us?"

Sam shrugged. "To make sure he wasn't trying to kill anybody."

Evelyn rolled her eyes with a smirk. "Right."

Evelyn looked up when she heard a groan of pain. Standing quickly, she and Sam went separate ways. Sam went to get Steve while Evelyn fell in front of Bucky, a hand going to his cheek. She watched his eyes open slowly, his gaze soft as he finally focused on the woman in front of him.

"Lyn," he whispered.

"Hey, honey," she said quietly. "It's bad," she told him, and he did not need her to clarify her words to know what she meant.

Evelyn backed aside as Steve and Sam stood watching them. Bucky's eyes moved from hers to his best friend, a small smile moving onto his face as he said, "Steve."

"Which Bucky am I talking to?"

"Your mom's name was Sarah," Bucky said with a small laugh as he added, "You used to wear newspapers in your shoes."

Steve smirked at Evelyn. "Can't read that in a museum."

Sam glanced between them with a curious gaze. "Just like that, we're suppose to be cool?"

"What did I do?" Bucky asked them, pain in his voice.

"Enough," Steve replied to him.

Bucky shut his eyes in pain. "Oh, God, I knew this would happen. Everything Hydra put inside me is still there. All he had to do was say the goddamn words."

Evelyn held herself back from reaching out for him again, knowing they needed to focus. She took a deep breath as she asked, "James?" He glanced at her. "Who was he?"

Bucky averted his eyes. "I don't know."

"People are dead," Steve told him. "The bombing, the setup. The doctor did all that just to get 10 minutes with you. I need you to do better than I don't know."