Captain America: The Winter Soldier | Alive but not Awake | Past brought to the Present

Steve sat in the driver's seat, Natasha sat in the front passenger's seat and Bucky decided to take up residence in the back seat all by himself. Laying back to make himself comfortable, similar to what Natasha was doing as she placed her feet on the dashboard without a care in the world.

The three of them had just escaped another near hit by Shield, as the Strike team had nearly intercepted them again. They had gone to the nearest mall so they could quickly use one of the Apple Store's 'for-sale' computers to find out what was on the memory stick Fury had given the two super soldiers. In the end Natasha wasn't able to find out what was on it – only a location from where the memory stick information had actually came from. The location was a blast from the past, for both Bucky and Steve; the signal was coming from 'Wheaton, New Jersey' – the place they had both trained for the war.

So, now they were on their way their way to 'Wheaton, New Jersey'; hoping to gain information that they didn't already know – or at least find out who's orchestrating every event that's happened so far. A nice thing to know as well, was who wanted them dead or was it just Shield themselves.

Natasha turned to glance between the two boys, "So, where did Captain America and Lieutenant America learn how to steal a car?" She questioned, honestly shocked – well, Barnes she would expect that from, but Steve … it was a shocker.

Steve let out a small chuckle, "Nazi, Germany." He began, "Avery, my sister – she taught us quite a few things before –" His words got caught in his throat as his mind revolved to his twin sister.
Bucky leaned his head on the window pane with a sad smile, "Ava would call it borrowing though, it's not stealing if we plan to give it back." He turned to see Natasha with her feet still up on the dashboard. He smirked as he brought his head back up, "Nat, you should take down your feet before Stevie throws a hissy fit about keeping the car clean." He snorted.

Natasha looked at Steve who raised an eyebrow at her, confirming that Bucky was indeed correct. She rolled her eyes and brought them down to the floor, but her back still leaned against the chair lazily. "Okay, I have a question for you Steve." She turned her head to the lighter haired soldier. "Which you don't have to answer – but I feel though if you don't answer it –"

"What!" Steve impatiently said, but a smile was set on his face.

Natasha's lips turned into a teasing smirk, "Was that your first kiss since 1945?" Bucky immediately barked out an amused laugh when Steve's face turned slightly red at the question.

Steve didn't agree nor disagree but it was obvious to which answer it was, "That bad, huh?" He hadn't actually gotten much practice anyway before the ice-burg, since he was always out on mission or busy with things to do with the war – he never really got a chance to have a proper date with Peggy and do things like that.

Natasha held up her hands in surrender, "I didn't say that." She protested, but the smile was still on her face – she found it really easy to tease him. She would leave Bucky alone though, from what she had read in all the reports he hadn't taken it too lightly when his love life was asked about – it was just best to say nothing unless you wanted a broken face in the morning. She had found it understandable, this 'Avery' seemed to have true love set up with the darker-haired soldier and it didn't seem like Barnes was going to be letting go of those feelings any time soon – or ever.

"It sounded like it." Bucky pitched in, now leaning forwards so his head was poking through the middle of the two front seats – he had just put one of those waist seat belts on, he had found the ones that go across your chest to be extremely uncomfortable and anyway; if there was a car crash, the super-serum would protect him enough.

"No-" Natasha still denied, "I just wondered how much practice you got it?"

Steve scoffed at the question, "You don't need practice."

Bucky pursed his lips with a grin but nodded, "You so do, Stevie. Maybe you should practice with Natty here?" He suggested, wiggling his eyebrows at him.

Steve ignored his comment and glanced to the red head beside him, "That was not my first kiss since 1945." He lied, but Bucky looked at him in skepticism – not believing him at all, "I'm 95 – not dead." He gestured his head to Bucky, "He's 97 and alive, too."

There was another moment of silence until Natasha broke it again, "So, is there anyone special?" She looked back at Bucky, "Have you set him up with anyone yet?"

Bucky shrugged, "I tried, but the girl it got him a date with was an undercover agent who lied about everything she was – I won't hold it against Steve to forget the coffee idea when this mystery is solved."

Steve let out a sarcastic breath, "It's also kind of hard to find someone with similar life experience too." He muttered, keeping his eyes on the road.

Bucky turned his head away from the couple to look at the moving trees as the scenery passed. His mind thought back to a moment he spent in a forest with his Ava.

...

Bucky held his right hand securely in Ava's left, he helped her climb a rock. He had a surprise for her that he's been wanting to do for a while now. They had been dating for almost five years now; they had secretly started seeing each other more and more when Ava was 17 and Bucky was 19.

"Bucky," Ava whined, her lips forming into the cute pout he knew and loved, "Where are we going?" She asked. Bucky had told her to make sure she wore flat shoes before they went as they were going to be doing some climbing today. In a small forest that was a couple of towns away. The two of them had been walking through the trees for the last 20 minutes, Ava wasn't usually one to whine about this but her legs were really starting to hurt because of how high the hill was they were climbing.

Bucky smiled at her, "We're nearly there." He assured her pulling her in for a sweet kiss as it silenced her as usual. When they parted, he nodded his head up the hill, "Come on." Ava sighed and continued on.

The two of them walked for another five minutes before they came to a clearing in the trees, Ava gasped at the sight of what was there. The clear land was about an acre big, full of different flowers that were fully blooming under the midday sun in the sky. In the middle of the field was a small blanket laying on the ground with a basket on it. One that they used for spending time together at the nearest park, just them and some food. "Oh, my gosh." She breathed, taking in the beauty from the dozens of flower species around the area. "It's amazing."

Bucky held both her hands and directed her to the blanket before sitting down with her, he pulled her into his lap and hugged her waist as his chin rested on her shoulder from behind. "I love you, Avery Lola Rogers." He whispered in her ear, making her giggle as his breath tickled her skin.

Her head turned to him, leaning in her forehead against his so her lips were almost touching his, "I love you too, James Buchanan Barnes." Her eyes gazed into his and-

...

He was jolted out of his memory lane by Steve shaking his shoulder with a concerned look on his face, "Buck, we're here." He told him.

Bucky blinked before looking back out the window, he saw the facility both he and Steve were trained at before they were sent to war in front of the car.

~ 8 ~

The Winter Soldier sat in the kitchen of Alexander Pierce's home, she had been waiting there for about an hour so far as Pierce had requested her to come to him earlier that day – she waited for him to come down and start this little meeting. Winter kept her body in the shadows but a shimmer of light reflected off some of her dark silky hair.

Her head snapped up when she saw the familiar male figure walk into the kitchen and head for the fridge, Alexander Pierce. He got out a carton of milk and placed in on the counter but when his head looked up, he saw Winter sitting there silently – just watching him, waiting for him to speak first. Pierce looked like he was about to speak but a high-pitched female voice filled the air from the hallway, "I'm going to go, Mr. Pierce." Her voice had a twinge of an accent laced in. "Do you need anything before I go?"

"No," He immediately denied, "I should be fine Romana. You can go home."

"Okay," Her voice started to face, "Night, night!" She called before Pierce heard the front door click shut.

Pierce's attention focused on Winter again, "You want some milk?" He asked, turning back to his cupboard to grab a glass for himself. He got nothing in reply. "The timetable has moved," He spoke, knowing what she needed to be told – she needed to complete the mission fast before those two weasels try and destroy their plan for Hydra, "Our window is now limited."

He took a sip from his milk-filled glass as his body moved over to sit opposite the deadly assassin, from the table he ate his dinner on every night. "The two targets we talked about before. Captain Rogers and Lieutenant Barnes, the two boys you want so desperately want revenge on," He smirked, "It's you're time to shine, Winter. They need to be dealt with as soon as possible before they wreck anymore of our progress."

Winter nodded, her voice staying emotionless but a giddy feeling of revenge was slowly working its way into her system again, "Easy." She promised.

Pierce nodded, pleased with her answer, "I want death confirmed in 10 hours." He told her.

Both their heads suddenly turned to the doorway when the maid came back in holding her bag and keys, "Sorry, Mr. Pierce. I forgot my-" She halted in her speech when she realised the other female sitting on the opposite side of Pierce, wearing all black clothing like an assassin would. "-Phone."

"Oh Romana," Pierce sighed, closing his eyes in exasperation – he was gonna have to get a new maid now; his hand grabbed the handgun he had left on the table earlier, "I wish you would have knocked." He lifted the gun and before the woman could even think about running he lodged two bullets into her chest, making her fall dead on the floor until silence filled the air.

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