“Bucky I’m going out. I’ll be back in a hour.”

Gwen called as she hit the down button the the elevator. Down the hallway Bucky walked out of the bathroom.

“Where are you going?”

“Just out. Bye Buck!”

Gwen said then the doors opened and she got inside the elevator and the door slowly shut as she pulled out her phone. As the elevator moved down Gwen sent a text off to her friend Jennifer.

To: Jennifer- On my way. I just left the tower. Can’t wait to see you guys!

When the doors opened Gwen hopped out and walked quickly through the lobby and out to the street. She walked for the next few minutes until she came to a small cafe. This was the cafe that her and her friends alway ate at when they all could take time off of work. When gwen was about to open the front door of the cafe she heard someone yell her name from the patio. Turning her head Gwen saw her group of friends huddled around a table. Gwen smiled and walked over to the gate door of the patio, opening it she hurried over to her friends. Ronda was the first to hug her.

“Girl, it’s been too long.”

Gwen laughed and hugged her back. Gwen was pasted off from Ronda to Macey, Abigail, then Jennifer. After the hugging was over they all sat down at the table. Gwen saw that on the table in front of her was a champagne glass filled with orange juice. She picked it up and raised it to her friends.

“Really?”

“You know it.”

Gwen laughed and took a drink. Ronda looked over at her and noticed the fading bruises on her neck.

“What happened to your neck?”

Gwen looked at her with a weird look on her face then remembered what Bucky did to her. She put her left hand to her neck and gave her a small chuckle.

“Nothing.”

“Gwen.”

Abigail said looked at her with a stern look on her face. Looking around the table Gwen saw that they were all looking at the marks on her neck. She let out a groan and took another drink.

“When I was in DC last month-”

“Wait. You were there when SHIELD fell apart.”

“Yeah, I was kinda in the middle of it.”

Jennifer let out a dream like sigh.

“You were with Steve, huh?”

Gwen rolled her eyes at her friend. Jennifer had a crush on Steve, who could blame the girl. Steve was the ideal guy for any girl. He was tall, handsome, strong, loyal, and a sweetheart. Gwen would be lying if she said that when she first met Steve that she wasn’t attracted to him.

“Yes. It was nothing, really guys.”

Gwen told them as she took another drink. After the talk about Gwen’s bruises blew over, the girls started talking about what the rest of them were up to. Jennifer was now working as a professor at Yale, Abigail was still working at as local news reporter trying to become an anchor, Macey and her fiance were planning their wedding that was planned for late August, and Ronda was the same as ever the party girl of the group. The girls asked if Gwen was seeing anyone, her mind drifted to Brock. She hadn’t seen him since the fight on the highway. She didn’t know if he was alive or not.

“What about that one guy…”

Ronda said snapping her fingers together as she tried to think of the man’s name.

“I can see his face…. what’s his- Oh Brock. What about him?”

“Oh yeah?”

“Girl, from what you’ve told us about him, damn.”

Gwen let out a laugh as she took a drink of her third mimosa.

“Did you see him in DC or was he off saving the world, again?”

Macey asked as her and the other girls looked at the browned hair woman. Lifting her gaze from her drink, Gwen cleared her throat.

“Yeah, I saw him, but nothing ended up happening.”

Her friends around her booed at what she had said, bring a smile to Gwen’s face. The conversation changed from Gwen’s love life to Macey and Devon’s wedding plans. That was the whole reason for this brunch, all of the women sitting at the table were in Macey’s wedding party.

“Here’s what I have so far.”

Macey said pulling out a large two inch light blue binder. The girls groaned but Macey continued to talk about the dress to the appetizers.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Bucky stood in front Gwen’s office door. He wanted to go in and look for his sweatshirt. Grabbing onto the doorknob and opened it. Walking inside he went to her desk first. Looking around the chairs, his eyes drifted over to the tabletop. Files covered it and he couldn’t see the top of it. He chuckled and looked at the papers more. He’s blue eyes went to a stack of papers that had his name on it. Picking it up he read over the paper, as he read his eyes grew wide. This was a file about him from HYDRA. He wanted to stop reading but he couldn’t stop. He would read the page then quickly flipped to the next page.

After reading ten or so pages Bucky threw the papers. He was breathing hard and he put his hands over his face. The papers flew around in the air like snow as Bucky shook his head and closed his eyes. He took a step backwards and knocked into the chair and sent it to it’s side onto the floor.

Bucky watched as flashes from the Winter Soldier came to his mind. Him sitting in the chair, the pain of having his memory wipe, him shooting someone, and him being dragged in the snow with a trail of blood coming from his left arm. While he watched his memories go by he hear in his head the voice of the man that haunts his dreams, doctor Arnim Zola.

Bucky opened his eyes and found himself with his back against the wall. Putting his hands back over his face and slid down to the floor. His body stiffened and he felt a jolt of pain rushed through his body, making Bucky let out a cry of pain.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Gwen looked down at her feet as the elevator took her up the 39th floor. She was out longer than she had planned to, she had been with the girls wedding planning for two hours. They had gotten a lot done in the two hours. They paired up the bridesmaids up with the groomsmen, the food for the reception, and what flowers were going to be used. Macey had the idea of planning the wedding with her party so she didn’t bother Devon with it.

The elevator doors opened and Gwen looked up to see the living room and kitchen were destroyed. Her eyes went wide as she took her first steps onto the floor. Looking around her jaw dropped. The couch was flipped over, the TV was ripped off the wall, in the kitchen glass was all over the floor, and holes were punched in the walls all over the place.

“Bucky?”

She called out as she walked into the room. Her eyes were looking left and right, trying to find a sign of him. She heard something crunch under her foot, she looked down and saw that it was a page from one of Bucky’s files. The first thing that came to her mind was that HYDRA had found Bucky and came to take him back.

“JARVIS.”

Nothing.

“JARVIS!”

Fear was now in her eyes.

“BUCKY!”

She yelled, hoping that she would get a response in return. She was about to run down the hallway but then a gunshot from behind her, then she fell to the floor with a scream of pain. Heavy footsteps coming towards her, Gwen flipped over onto her back and saw Bucky standing over her with a gun in his hand. Her eyes grew wide as she looked up at him. She kicked her feet out and knocked Bucky off of his feet . When he hit the floor Gwen tried to get up but the pain from her chest caused her fall back onto the floor in pain.

Bucky looked over at the woman then got on top of her. He straddled her waist and hooked his feet around her knees, so she couldn’t move them. She let out another scream of pain as the pain from the gunshot wound became more present. Bucky just looked down at her with a blank stare on his face, he had a feeling that he knew who she was, but he knew that it didn’t matter. Gwen opened her tear filled eyes to see Bucky staring down at her.

“Bucky.”

He did nothing. His blue eyes just looked down at her and his right hand twitched has it held the gun.

“Buck, it’s me Gwen. Come on, you know me. Just remember, please.”

Bucky’s jaw tightened and he brought the gun to Gwen’s face and held it between her eyes.

“Please listen to me. You’re not under the control of HYDRA. You’re not a weapon. You know me, Buck.”

“Stop lying to me.”

He growled as he cocked the gun in his hand. Gwen let out a whimper and closed her eyes for a second.

“Just look at me, Buck. You’re not a weapon. This isn’t you. Remember me please. You’ve been living with me for a month now. We’ve been working on getting your memories back. It’s me, Buck.”

Gwen choked out the last part as she let tears roll down her face. Bucky looked at the gun in his hand then back at Gwen’s face. Then memories flashed in his mind of her. Them sitting talking in her office, when she told him that it was okay not to be normal, them sitting on the couch at night watching Seinfeld.

Bucky’s eyes grew wide and he looked down at the gun. He threw it across the room and rolled off of Gwen. She stayed there and just looked at the ceiling and listened to Bucky breath next to her.

“Bucky?”

He sat up and looked down at her, looking at the gunshot wound in her chest. His eyes winded again and filled with panic.

“Oh, my God- did I?”

“Bucky, it fine just-”

“No it’s not. I just- JARVIS!”

Still no reply.

“Call Tony.”

Bucky looked down at her and saw her phone had fallen on the floor. Quickly he grabbed it and typed in the man’s name.

“Hey, Gwen-”

“Gwen was shot!”

Nothing came from the other end. Bucky looked at the phone to see that the call was still going. When he didn’t hear anything he hung up the phone and looked at Gwen. He put his hands on the open wound on her shoulder.

“Gwen, I am so sorry. I didn’t kn-”

She lifted her hand and placed it over his mouth.

“I know. You’re back here with me is all that matters.”

Seconds later the elevator doors busted open and Tony came rushing in to Gwen’s side.

“Happy is down stairs, we’re getting you to the hospital.”

Tony told her as he went to pick her up. Bucky stopped him and grabbed her himself. Nothing was said between the two men, they just stood up and took Gwen into the elevator.

~*~*~*~*~*~

“She’ll be able to leave tomorrow morning. Don’t worry she’s a fighter.”

The doctor said to the group of people that stood outside of the hospital suite that Tony had gotten for Gwen. The group was made up of Tony, Bucky, Pepper, Happy, Jennifer, Macey, Ronda, and Abigail.

“She woke up and you may all go and see her now.”

Saying those words the doctor was pushed out of the way of the door and the group flooded into the room. Gwen was sitting up in the bed with a bandage wrapped around her right shoulder. When her friends busted into the room, Ronda and Jennifer were the first to her bedside and started shooting off questions at her. She gave them a half hearted smile and answered what she could. Everyone was crowded around her and they all seemed to be talking over each other to the point where Gwen didn’t know who was saying what.

In the faces that looked down at her Gwen noticed one face she was hoping to see. Bucky. She looked past Pepper’s shoulder and saw him sitting in a chair in the corner of the room. He was just staring at the floor and she noticed that he was back to wearing his long sleeves again.

“Gwen. Did you hear me?”

Her brown eyes snapped away from Bucky and went to Ronda who was sitting on the bed on her right.

“Do you parents know about this?”

“They don’t want to know that their only child was shot, Ron.”

Gwen said with a small laugh. Slowly after an hour past the group started to disperse until Pepper was the only one left at her bedside. Gwen looked to the corner to see Bucky was still there. Pepper followed her friend’s eyes and a smirk came to her face. Taking Gwen’s hand in her, the touch made Gwen pull her eyes away from Bucky to Pepper again.

“I’ll leave you two alone.”

“Pepper, you-”

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Gwen.”

The older woman said with a wink as she stood up. The sound of her heels clicking across the floor was the only noise to be heard in the room. When the door shut, Gwen looked back over at Bucky, he was still looking at the floor.

“Buck?”

He lifted his head and looked at the brown haired woman in the hospital bed. He stood up and walked over to her with a guilty look in his eyes. When he stood at her bedside Gwen reached out for his left hand and took it in her’s.

“I’m so fucking sorry, Gwen.”

“Don’t blame yourself.”

“It was all my fault. If I hadn’t have looked at the HYDRA files, I wouldn’t have done that.”

“What files?”

“The ones in your office. I was looking for something and I looked in there.”

Looking down at Gwen Bucky felt even more guilt rush over him as he looked at the bandage on her shoulder.

‘Don’t say that. Bucky, it wasn’t you that did this to me. It was the Winter Soldier. Don’t you dare blame yourself. Look at all the progress you’ve made.”

“Look how fast it all was for nothing. If reading a file could trigger the Winter Soldier, I couldn’t even try.”

“Since when is surrender in your nature, Buck?”

“I shot you, Gwen.”

Gwen frowned and pushed herself up onto her knees. She turned to look at Bucky right in the eyes and grabbed onto the collar of his shirt.

“This wasn’t you. I am not made out of glass, Bucky. If I was, I wouldn’t be here to yell at you right now. I am here to help you Bucky and if me getting shot is part of that, I don’t care. I’m here to get the real Bucky back and to bury the Winter Soldier. Don’t give me this bullshit about giving up, because that’s not you either.”

Bucky just looked at Gwen then in a matter of seconds he pulled her into him and placed his lips on hers. Gwen’s eyes widen as Bucky kissed her. She paused for a moment and thought about what he was doing then she pushed on his body as he took a step back. Gwen just looked at him with a look of utter confusion.

Bucky looked at her, waiting from something to come out, but nothing did.

“Look, forget this happened. I’m sorry.”

He said with a look of disappointment and anger on his face. Turning on his heels he made a beeline for the door. Gwen watched him leave didn’t saying anything till it was too late.

“Bucky.”

But he was already gone. She just looked at the door and slumped back into the bed.

“For a psychologist I fucking suck with people.”

~*~*~*~*~*~

The next day Happy brought Gwen back to the Tower. She didn’t go up to see Tony or Pepper or called her friends, she just went up to her floor. It was cleaned up from the most part, but the damage was still there. On the floor there was still a large size blood stain on the carpet from her.

“It’s good to have you back, Ms, Brewster.”

“Make sure no one bothers me, JARVIS.”

“Of course ma’am.”

She just walked past everything in the living room and just walked down to her room. Locking the door behind her she looked at her room. The Winter Soldier didn’t touch anything in her room, everything was how she left it that morning. Gwen hit a switch on the wall and large blackout curtains came out of the ceiling and covered the large window.

With the room now balck, Gwen made her way to her bed and layed down face first onto the mattress. Her face covered she let out a loud long scream of frustration. Bucky’s kiss was still haunting her and she was still beating herself up for how she acted. She still didn’t know what to do about, but what she did was definitely something in the ‘do not do’ list.

Rolling over onto her back Gwen looked up at the ceiling. Her thoughts went to Bucky, and not about last night, she wondered where he was. Was he safe? Is he here? Where did he go last night? DId he want to talk to her? Does he even want to see her? Is he even up for still working with her?

“JARVIS?”

“Yes, ma’am?”

“Is Bucky here?”

“Sergeant Barnes is in the gym.”

“Can you put me on the speakers down there?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Gwen cleared her throat before she spoke.

“Buck, it’s Gwen. I’m not sure that you want to talk to me right now, but I wanted to say that I’m sorry. Last night, I wasn’t sure on what to do. I guess after finding out that the last guy I was with was apart of HYDRA and was going to kill me, don’t blame me that I’m not so forward with guys. But, I understand if you don’t want to see me, or talk to me, or work with me anymore. I get it… I just wanted to know if you were safe… Bucky, I truly am sorry.”

Gwen closed her eyes and let out a sigh.

“Would that be all Ms. Brewster?”

“Yes JARVIS. Thank you.”

Notes