Three hours. Bucky has been sitting outside your door for three hours. The first hour was spent knocking every five minutes and begging for you to talk to him. The rest of the time was spent sitting on the floor and hoping you would open the door. You, on the other hand, were laying in your bed staring at the ceiling. The anger had subsided, but you were still upset about the situation.
"I need to talk to you, Barnes," Tony yelled from the living room, breaking him out of his staring match with the wall.
Bucky gave your door one last look before walking down the hall. Tony was leaning on the back of the couch, seemingly relaxed, but the look on his face told another story. Tony was scared, and Bucky had never seen that look in his eyes before.
"I don't like that look on your face," Bucky said as he stood across from Tony.
Tony let out a sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I don't like you right now, but I need you to do me a favor. Hydra shouldn't have been able to get this close. They won't stop until they have her. The only way I know to protect her is to send you and her to a safe house. I don't like the idea of being away from her right now, but keeping her safe is my only priority."
Bucky shook his head and scoffed, "She isn't going to like this."
Tony smiled at him teasingly. "Well maybe if I'm lucky, she'll kill you in your sleep."
Bucky rolled his eyes and looked out the window beside him. Tony was right, sending you to a safe house was the best thing for you. There was no record of you on any S.H.I.E.L.D database in order to keep Hydra from locating you. They shouldn't have known you were here. No matter how angry you were at him, Bucky would protect you no matter what.
"When are we leaving?"
Tony tossed a pair of keys to him and patted him on the back as he walked towards the elevator. "Leave as soon as you're packed."
The keys felt heavy in his hand as he thought about how he was going to tell you. Before the elevator doors could shut, Tony yelled out, "Oh I almost forgot, Peter is still on break for the next couple weeks so he'll be coming with you. The kid needs a vacation, so be a dear and pick him up."
Bucky groaned in annoyance and turned to your door. He knocked softly three times, not really expecting a response. When nothing happened, he decided to take a different approach.
"I know you're pissed and you have every right to be, but we have to leave. It's not safe for you here. Tony set up a safe house for us to go to. I know you can hear me, so please just get ready and pack so I can get you safe."
Buck waited outside the door for a reply, but none came. The shuffling of feet and rummaging through drawers was the only indication that you had heard him. With a sigh of relief, he went to his own floor and packed for himself. He didn't know how long this was going to last, so he packed as much as he could fit in his suitcase.
He knows he fucked up, but he can't lie and say he would've done anything differently. When the first shots went off, his first thought was to keep you safe. Bucky had been the target of many Hydra attacks, but they had been off his radar for the past few years. In that moment, he was certain that you were the new objective. There was no hesitation when he told Friday to keep you in your room. He hates that it brought back such a traumatic experience for you, but he didn't want you anywhere near that fight.
"You okay?"
Steve's voice brought the Bucky out of his thoughts. Bucky nodded his head to indicate he was okay and finished packing.
"I'm good. Trying to figure out how I'm going to survive being in a safe house with the kid."
Steve laughed and tossed a shirt to Bucky. "He's not that bad. He'll talk your ear off, but he's a good kid. Plus he's like a little brother to (y/n) so you have to make nice."
Bucky huffed, but couldn't fight the corners of his lips from twitching upwards. "I know. She made it pretty clear that she doesn't want to talk to me right now, so I'm just going to let her know I am willing to give her time and let her talk when she's ready. I'm glad she'll at least have Peter to talk to."
A light tapping at the door stole his attention and he was shocked to see you standing there, expecting you to have just waited by the elevator to avoid him. Your eyes were red from crying and Bucky wanted so desperately to wrap you in his arms and make all your pain go away.
"I- uh, I'm ready whenever you are," you whispered.
Bucky nodded and zipped his suitcase up, giving Steve a quick hug before walking up to you. He picked up your suitcase and the two of you walked in silence to the elevator. Your eyes remained forward as the elevator descended to the garage. Bucky, however, was incapable of keeping his eyes off you. He could see every bit of pain you were feeling and knew he was the one to blame.
When the doors opened, you let Bucky lead the way to the car. Tony had set up a Hyundai Palisade specifically for times like this. The only person who could track it was him. Once the suitcases were secured in the trunk, Bucky hopped in the driver's seat and set off to whatever safe house Tony programmed into the navigation system.
After a few minutes of driving, you noticed he wasn't going in the direction of the safehouse. A few turns later, he was pulling up to a familiar street. He parked outside of the apartment complex and shot Peter a quick text. Bucky turned towards you and chuckled at the confusion on your face.
"Tony said that Peter was in need of a vacation so he's going to be joining us."
"Oh..." you simply said.
Bucky frowned and looked up at the building to make sure Peter wasn't coming. "I know I'm the last person you want to be secluded with right now. I'm sorry for keeping you locked in your room, but I didn't know how else to keep you safe. I wasn't going to let them take you and fuck you up like they did in the past. I'm sorry I treated you the same way they did and brought up all those painful memories again, but I can't sit here and tell you I wouldn't do it again. If it meant keeping you safe, I'd do it a million times over."
You sat in silence, listening to every word he was saying. As much as you hated to admit it, you couldn't blame him. You would do anything to keep anyone in that compound safe. However, your stubbornness was keeping you from fully forgiving him yet.
Peter opened the door and waved before his Aunt May was pulling him back in for a hug. As they had a final moment, Bucky quickly concluded by saying, "You can avoid me the entire time and I'll be okay with that. You can spend time with Peter and I will stay out of your way. I just... I can't lose you."
When you finally looked him in the eyes, Bucky could feel his heart pounding in his chest. He was waiting for you to say something... anything. The vulnerability in his voice made your heart break and you knew in that moment that you were done being mad. Your mouth opened like you were about to speak, but a tapping on the window stopped you. Peter was waiting outside the door with a wide smile on his face. Bucky pointed to the back and Peter quickly hopped in.
"Hey guys! I heard there was a situation at the compound. Is everyone okay?" Peter asked as he threw his suitcase in the back and buckled his seatbelt.
You glanced back at him through the rear view mirror before looking over at Bucky. "Yeah... we're okay."
Peter smiled at your answer and continued talking about the adventures him and Ned had been up to. Bucky, however, knew the real meaning behind your answer. The two of you were going to be okay. You reached across the console and grabbed Bucky's hand that was not on the wheel and interlaced your fingers. Bucky smiled to himself and brought your hand up to his lips to kiss the back of it.
Peter aw'ed from the backseat. "Look at mom and dad being all cute. It's like a family vacation."
Bucky smirked at him through the rear view mirror. "If that's the case, keep quiet for the rest of the ride or you're grounded."
Peter gave a mock salute and put his earbuds in. The drive was an hour long, so he decided to take a nap since it was way too early for any normal person to be up. When Bucky pulled up to a red light, he looked at you and squeezed your hand lightly.
"We're okay?"
You gave him a small smile and squeezed his hand back. "We will be."
The drive to the safehouse seemed longer than what it was and you were all pretty restless by the time Bucky parked in the garage. The house was completely modern with floor to ceiling windows around most of it and dark wood paneling for the rest. You were in awe as the three of you walked the short path to the front door.
Once inside, you immediately relaxed from the warmth of the fireplace and felt the exhaustion kick in. It was currently five in the morning and you had been up since the attack around eleven. Bucky did a sweep of all the rooms to make sure they were safe and showed Peter where he would be sleeping. Once Peter was settled in, Bucky grabbed your suitcases and led you to the master bedroom.
Bucky set the luggage down and rubbed the back of his neck. "So I- uh, I know you said we'd be okay, but I can sleep in the guest room if you want."
You crawled under the covers and pulled them open as an invitation for Bucky to join you. He made quick work of removing his shirt and settling in beside you. He wrapped an arm around your waist and pulled you close to his chest, tangling your legs together as you wrapped your arm around his front.
"I really am sorry. The last thing I want to do is remind you of Hydra. I know how much it sucks to relive those memories," he apologized softly.
You placed a soft kiss on his chest above his heart. "I'm sorry I reacted the way I did. It wasn't fair to you to compare how Hydra treated me to you protecting me. I understand why you did it."
Bucky slid his hands down your back, gripping your ass and pulling you further up his body to straddle him. Whatever tension that was there before was long forgotten as you looked into those steel blue eyes that brought you so much comfort. Cold metal met your back as his hand slid under your shirt while the other cradled the back of your head. He nudged his nose against yours, your lips barely grazing each other.
"I love you."
For a second, Bucky's body froze at your confession and you panicked. However, the smile that quickly graced his lips eased all of your worries. He pulled you in for a slow, tender kiss and wrapped his arm fully around your waist. The kiss was unlike any other you had shared, letting every bit of emotion you felt pass through each other your lips. Bucky reluctantly pulled away and guided your head to lay on his chest. Your legs found each other again as you settled into his side and looked up at him through your lashes. He tucked the hair that had fallen in front of your face behind your ear and placed a chaste kiss on your forehead.
"I love you too."
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(What I envision the safe house to look like: http://www.home-designing.com/modern-single-story-forest-house-with-pool-in-ukraine)
A/N: WE ARE BACK!!! I just want to say a quick thank you to all of you for being so patient with me. I know it's never an ideal situation for a story you love to be put on pause, so I thank you all for sticking with me. I love you all so much and can't wait to write more for you!! 💙