Bangity-Bang
Dread settled like cold lead in Bucky’s stomach, fear dogging his every step and filling his veins with ice. The only thing that seemed to cut through the chill was Darcy’s hot, little hand tucked into his, her thumb tracing light circles over the webbing between his thumb and forefinger.
It had been three hours since they had landed in one of the smaller Romanian cities near the border. It was large enough that it had a hangar for them to keep the quinjet without drawing too much attention, and close enough to the border that their travel time via public transportation wouldn’t be any longer than necessary.
They’d all changed into their civilian get-ups before exiting the aircraft and proceeding through customs. After that, it was a quick matter of finding temporary lodging for Steve and Natasha while they waited on the other couple to complete their mission. It had been decided that Steve and Natasha would remain on the friendly side of the border, ready to rush in if all hell broke loose and he and Darcy needed the assist.
Natasha assured him that it was unlikely that the op would go sideways, but Bucky felt better just knowing Steve would only be a short trip in the jet away if he needed him, international incidents be damned. Steve seemed to be of the same opinion. Natasha called them overly cautious old farts and rolled her eyes at the way Steve had gripped his forearm in solidarity as they gazed intently at each other.
Darcy had laughed and asked if they were planning on kissing and if she could post it to Instagram. Whatever the hell that was.
No one was laughing now, the mood somber as they said their goodbyes to Steve and Natasha at the train station. Steve pulled him into a crushing hug, his big arms coming around his shoulders like a vice. It still threw him off sometimes when Stevie hugged him and he didn’t end up with a rock hard skull crammed against his ribs and bony little bird arms barely squeezing around his middle.
“You be careful. Don’t do anything stupid,” Steve said sternly.
“Like what? Jumping out of an airplane with no parachute?” Bucky glared at him and Steve had the decency to look somewhat chagrined. “Besides,” Bucky continued, “how can I when you’re taking all the stupid with you?”
Steve’s responding smile was blinding. The punk really loved it when Bucky brought up stuff from before...everything.
It was announced over the station intercom that their train would be boarding soon. Bucky watched Natasha sweep a kiss over Darcy’s cheek, murmuring soft words to her before turning and taking Steve’s hand in hers. Darcy moved over to them, her arm slipping around Steve’s waist as she hugged him goodbye before coming to stand by Bucky’s side.
And now they were sitting in the stiff seats of the train, her hand in his, still rubbing those little circles as they watched the Romanian countryside fly past. It was gorgeous and fully green, as spring had fully descended, and the section of the Carpathians they were passing through was incredible. Or it would have been if his brain had been capable of interpreting any of the information his eyes were feeding him.
The only thing he seemed capable of focusing on was the worry gnawing voraciously at his gut.
When they finally reached the border, an announcement was made that all passengers were required to provide passports for inspection at that time. Shortly thereafter, armed Latverian guards boarded the train and they were forced to wait as the men slowly made their way through the passenger cars.
With each passing moment, he could feel Darcy growing tense, her hands fiddling with the zipper on the light jacket that she wore.
“Stop fidgeting,” he murmured. “You look guilty.”
“How am I supposed to look?” she asked, her voice pitched low and urgent.
“Bored. Tired. Annoyed, even.”
Darcy clicked her tongue, slumping back into her seat with a huff and an eyeroll.
“That’s more like it,” he said around a grin.
When the guards reached them, Bucky handed over their passports, responding to the guard with a polite smile and quiet greeting in Romanian. The guard’s eyes bounced briefly between their IDs and their faces before he handed them back with a bored salutation.
Despite her uninterested affectation, Bucky could feel Darcy’s pulse bouncing erratically against his fingertips and he stroked along her wrist until he felt it return to a suitable tempo. He leaned into her, kissing the spot just behind her ear.
“You did good, sweetheart. Really good,” he whispered.
She cut her eyes over to him, but stayed facing forward, a pleased little smirk tilting up one corner of her mouth. He dipped his head again to drop a kiss to the upturned corner of her mouth.
“You must be newlyweds.”
Bucky looked up to see an elderly woman sitting across from them and wearing a sly smile.
“Yes, how could you tell?” he replied in Romanian, a smile smoothly sliding into place.
“The way she still fiddles with her ring, like she’s not quite used to it yet. And the way you kiss her,” she answered with a dreamy sigh. “I can still remember what that was like. Bet she can’t keep her hands off of you, as handsome as you are.” The woman gave him a salacious once over and a wink.
Bucky flushed and his grin grew genuine. “Ah, she um- we are quite happy, that’s for sure.”
The older woman hummed and nodded, a knowing gleam in her eye.
“What is she saying? Why is she looking at you like she wants to eat you for dinner?” Darcy whispered in his ear.
“She asked if we were newlyweds. And said I was handsome. Said you probably can’t keep your hands off me. Which is true.” He dodged the finger that she’d meant to jab into his ribs, catching her wrist and bringing her knuckles to his lips with a quiet chuckle.
The woman clicked her tongue happily. “So sweet. Your wife is American?”
“Yes,” he replied. “We met at university. She was a foreign exchange student. You know how those things go.”
She nodded heartily. “Oh yes, the allure of the unfamiliar. Very enticing. It is strange that she hasn’t learned to speak the language though.”
Nosy old biddy. Bucky made a show of rolling his eyes. “I know. Bless her, she’s brilliant in so many subjects, but cannot for the life of her learn any other languages. She had an interpreter all through university and I’m afraid I’ve spoiled her since.” That part was actually true. Nat had tried desperately to give her a crash course in Romanian pre-op, and had failed spectacularly. Even back when they were staying at the cabin, she’d asked him to teach her some Russian and had been met with similar results. Darcy may have been a genius, but a polyglot she was not.
The woman nodded in understanding. “Some people are just like that. Oh well. At least you know she’ll be able to give you beautiful children. And feed them quite well!” she cackled with a pointed glance to Darcy’s chest.
Bucky felt himself blush to his hairline and the mild irritation he’d been nursing over the woman’s insistent questions was fanned into full displeasure. Their children would be beautiful and brilliant. Darcy wasn’t just some pretty broodmare.
Darcy nudged him in the ribs. “What’s she saying?”
“Nothing,” was his curt reply.
“She was talking about my boobs, wasn’t she?”
“How could you tell?”
“People always talk about my boobs. Also, I saw her look at them. Sooo? What was she saying about them?” Darcy raised her brows at him expectantly.
He sighed and tried to consciously stop his blush from deepening. Didn’t work, but dammit he tried. “She was basically saying that we’d...um...make pretty babies. And that you are...fully equipped to feed them.” He cleared his throat awkwardly.
Darcy glanced down at her chest. “Oh,” she said thoughtfully. “Yeah, definitely,” she confirmed and then gave the old lady a wink and a thumbs up.
The woman responded with another round of throaty laughter. “Oh, son, she will keep you entertained for many years to come, I can tell.”
Bucky’s smile grew soft and less forced. “I’m inclined to agree.” His eyes dropped to his right hand, lingering on the plain silver band on his ring finger. It was strange having it there, but the weight of it felt...right in some way. Like it was supposed to be there. And when he had seen Darcy with her ring on for the first time, it had made his heart flutter in his chest in an unfamiliar way.
He must have stared at his ring long enough for the old woman to lose interest in them and drop off to sleep, as his thoughts were then interrupted by the soft snoring coming from their travel companion. It seemed the train had also started up again during his musing, carrying them into Latveria with increasing speed.
He looked over at Darcy to find she was watching him, a glimmer of some emotion flashing behind her eyes. She smiled broadly when he caught her gaze, leaning in to kiss his cheek.
“You’re just too damn cute, Bucky Barnes. Anyone ever tell you that?”
“Sure, sweetheart. My Ma used to say it all the time. Usually right after I got into some mischief and had to use my charm to get out of a spanking.”
“Is that what I’m in for? A bunch of tiny Barnes running around being little shits and looking like angels?”
He grinned at the pretty picture she was painting. “We can only hope.” He grew quiet as his thoughts turned towards the child that was waiting for him and his smile faded. “Do you think...do you think she’ll look like me?”
“I dunno, babe. I hope so. As I mentioned before, you’re hella cute.” She reached over to glide her fingers through his hair.
“What if she’s….not normal? What if she’s like me? Enhanced. Or what if Strucker had already started...experimenting on her?” His voice dropped to nearly inaudible with a slight tremble as he swallowed back on the bile in his throat.
Darcy’s hands came up, bracketing the sides of his face as her eyes bore into his. “Then we take her home and we make sure she is treated with kindness and love for the rest of her life. And we deal with the rest as best as we can. Okay?”
Bucky nodded, his breath leaving his chest with a hushed whoosh.
“I don’t think you need to worry about that. She’s only eight months old, and the files that we have don’t give any evidence that he had begun any experimentation of any kind. Actually, his notes seem to indicate that he thought that the likelihood of...survival of his experiments increased with age. Like the twins. They were the oldest of his test subjects.”
That knowledge provided some relief, but not much. Even if his kid was totally normal in every way...could he even be a father? He pushed the thought away, shying away from the guilt inducing implications of it. He'd cross that bridge when he got to it. If he got to it.
Darcy reached over to where his hand rested in his lap, interlacing her fingers with his. Their rings made a quiet, pleasant clink and the sound thrilled through him, sending tingles down his spine and up through his scalp.
Fuck. He was too tired for all of this, the emotional roller coaster that he couldn't seem to hop off of. He always hated the feeling of falling.
His head thumped back against the green upholstery of his headrest and he shut his eyes against the blaring sunlight of mid afternoon, matching his breathing in syncopation with the clicking of the train over its tracks. It took a while but eventually his mind sunk into blissful unawareness and dreamless sleep.
***
Bucky woke with a jerk, his body sensing the slowing of the train and bringing his brain to near instant alertness. Between one breath and the next, time slowed as his brain went through a rapid-fire catalogue of his senses and threat assessment. Finding nothing alarming in his immediate environment, time snapped back into place and the short spike of adrenaline in his system dissipated.
It was always jarring when he woke up like that and generally left him cranky and with a headache. He could already feel the throbbing at the base of his skull and the tension coiling down his neck and through his shoulders. Although, that was probably partially caused by the way his head had lolled awkwardly against his seat as he slept.
He rolled his neck from one side to the other, trying to stretch out the tension, and rose from his seat along with the rest of the passengers. He pulled the duffel bag of clothing and toiletries that Natasha had packed for them down from the luggage rack above them, his mind instantly wandering to the tiny cotton sundress and matching booties that were tucked into one corner of the bag.
A gift from Aunty Tasha, she’d told him when he’d spotted them in the duffle. His fingers had slid over the bright blue embroidery that decorated the little white sarafan and it felt so impossibly small. How could a person possibly fit into something so minuscule?
He tucked the bag to his chest, reaching for their elderly travel companion’s bag and handing it to her.
“Such a nice young man,” she cooed, her weathered face breaking out in a riot of wrinkles around her beaming grin as she took her luggage from him, patting the back of his hand as she did so.
He nodded at her, smiling politely, and then moved out into the aisle with Darcy to make their way off the train. The train station included a fairly well equipped food court and Darcy made the call to grab a bite to eat before heading towards their dead drop.
They ate quickly and quietly, Bucky’s eyes constantly tracking the movement of the travelers and the occasional armed guard that wandered through the food court. It was with great relief that he threw their trash into one of the garbage cans near the exits and trekked out into the dying sunlight.
It was full dark by the time they neared the dead drop that Natasha had set up for them. The street they were on was poorly lit and what looked like gray tenement buildings lined either side. He led Darcy down the side street to their destination per Nat’s directions. The street was empty save for an ugly, beige coupe that was probably the same age as Darcy.
When Darcy realized the intent of his direction, she wrinkled her nose in distaste. “Really? This is what Nat set up for us? I thought she had style.”
Bucky crouched down by the left, rear wheel well, running his hand up under the rusting metal before snagging his fingers on the keys. He tugged them free, jingling them at her in triumph. “Come on, princess,” he said as he rose from his crouch. “Your chariot awaits.”
She rolled her eyes, but followed him around to the rear of the vehicle, watching him as he popped the trunk. Bucky gave a low whistle as he perused the contents inside. “Whoever Nat’s contact is, he did good,” Bucky muttered as he carefully pawed through the myriad of weaponry and explosives that lined the trunk. There were also a couple of backpacks that seemed to consist of mostly survival gear and freeze dried meals. There was one bag that was a bright turquoise that, when he peeked inside, contained diapers, wipes, a canister of formula, and all manner of baby accoutrements.
“Yeah,” Darcy said with some amount of wonder as she fingered an emerald green pacifier. “Four stars for that guy, this is some legit baby stuff.” She snatched up what looked like a rubber giraffe. “This thing is like twenty-five bucks at Babies R’ Us.”
Bucky wrinkled his brow and ran a finger down the neck of the giraffe. “What’s it supposed to do?”
“It’s a teether. Babies chew on them.”
He looked at her with blue eyes blown wide with shock. “Are you kidding me? Twenty-five bucks for a goddamn chew toy? You know what my Ma gave us when we were teething? A fucking stick! That she got off a tree! For free!”
Darcy bit back on a smile. “A stick? Really?”
“Yes. Really. And Rebecca had a habit of picking up rocks and gnawing at them. Ma said it was probably why she was so stubborn.” Bucky ran a hand through his hair, warmth spreading through his chest at remembering another little piece of his past.
“Well, Grandad, we don’t let babies teethe on sticks and rocks anymore.”
“Yeah and that’s why you’re all so damn soft,” he muttered under his breath. Not quietly enough though, if Darcy’s raucous laughter was anything to judge by. “Shh, woman we’re supposed to be inconspicuous,” he admonished, slamming the lid of the trunk down.
She stuck her tongue out at him and made her way over to the passenger side of the vehicle as he lowered himself into the driver’s seat. He started the engine and was pleased to hear it turn over with a steady rumble. Despite its age, it still ran pretty damn well. He patted the dash affectionately and ignored Darcy’s snort. He leaned over her, glancing down her shirt with a leer before popping open the glove compartment and pulling out the map of Latveria that Nat had assured him would be included.
He pored over it quickly and then handed it over to Darcy, put the car into drive and rolled out from the side street to make their way to the main highway leading away from Doomstadt that would take them north to the small city that was closest to Strucker’s compound.
From the intel they’d received, the compound lay on an isolated parcel of land about two miles outside of the city. They planned on finding a place to squat, out in the warehouse district on the outskirts of the city, that would act as a home base while they spent the next few days mapping out the land, searching for the best location for Darcy to set up her sniping position, scanning for possible booby traps, and tracking the guard rotations. They already had the architectural layout of the compound and with Darcy manning the sniper rifle and the trusty thermal imaging tech that Stark had provided, safely picking off the guards inside the building would be a breeze for Bucky.
That was the plan, anyway.
***
“Darcy. Darcy, you need to wake up.”
Darcy felt a firm hand gently shaking her shoulder and she flopped her arm up to slap at the offending appendage. “‘M busy,” she mumbled.
“I can see that, but we’re here and you might sleep better if you can lay out flat.”
“I’m not sure a warehouse floor is better than this seat, Bucky.” She yawned and stretched her arms over her head, opening her eyes to blink slowly at their surroundings.
There wasn't much to see. It was fairly obvious that whatever industry that the large, concrete buildings once held was long dead. The street lamps overhead were shattered, along with the majority of the windows in the surrounding graffiti covered buildings. All in all, the whole area had the eerie appeal of a ghost town...if that ghost town had been born of a capitalist’s wet dream that went astray.
Darcy cracked open her door, the elderly thing shrieking as it swung on its ungreased hinges. She stepped out onto the cracked pavement of the parking lot that was swiftly becoming more field than lot. Bucky popped open the trunk and pulled out a couple handguns and knives which he tucked into various spots on his person. When he'd finished, he crooked a finger at her, called her over to him, and began strapping her down with her own arsenal.
“We’ll check this place out first,” Bucky said, nodding towards the building closest to them. “It's one of the lesser run down buildings in the area. Hopefully that means we’ll be less likely to run into wildlife inside.”
“Wildlife?”
“Cats, dogs--”
“I like dogs--”
“Snakes and rats.”
“....Fuck. I'm sleeping in the car.”
Bucky chuckled and tugged her by the belt loop towards one of the boarded up entrances at the back, away from the street. “Come on, you sissy. This wouldn't be a problem if your ma had let you chew on some sticks every once in awhile.”
“Sure. Right,” Darcy replied, keeping a weather eye on any potential creepy crawlies as they came closer to the entrance.
Bucky made quick work of busting into the building, pulling a flashlight from his pocket to light up their path. He swept the room with light and gun from one corner to the next before creeping forward. Darcy followed closely at his heels, her eyes peeled and desperately trying to distinguish whether or not movement in the corners of the room came from wind-rustled debris or from something more sinister.
She nearly jumped out of her skin with a shriek when she felt something scrape the back of her calf, only to find Bucky wheezing with laughter behind her.
“Oh fuck you, Bucky Barnes,” she gasped out with not a small amount of ire.
He sucked in a gasp of air between silent giggles, leaning in to kiss the tip of her nose. “Maybe later. We should probably finish sweeping the building first.”
He sauntered off a few paces only to turn back. “Oh and maybe try not to make so much noise.”
Darcy stomped her foot and swept down to pick up a chunk of concrete that she hurled straight at him. It hit between his shoulders with a solid thunk before falling to the ground with a noisy clatter but didn't seem to even faze the man. He twisted around, one finger to his lips and shushed her.
Darcy narrowed her eyes but followed him silently through the huge room. It was obviously some kind of factory at some point with rows of massive machinery and a conveyor belt system set up throughout the room. It was eerie in its shadow and silence, but thankfully uninhabited by mice or men. Or snakes.
Other than the main factory floor, the only other rooms seemed to be a bathroom on one end of the floor and a staircase on the other end leading up to what was probably an office space. The bathroom was disgusting and Darcy refused to even step foot in it, shutting the door firmly behind Bucky after he'd returned from examining the little room. If there was anything unwanted that was going to be sharing living space with them, Darcy was convinced it would crawl out of that toilet that was surely a direct portal to hell.
The journey up the set of steel steps confirmed the office space theory and proved to be the best spot for them to bed down. It was fairly clean except for a thick layer of dust and even contained a large metal desk and a couple office chairs. Bundled up in one corner were great swaths of canvas drop cloths that weren't too terribly filthy.
With the confirmation that they'd found their base for the next few days, Bucky began making trips to and from the car to bring in their supplies while Darcy set to the task of cleaning up the office somewhat and airing out the drop cloths over the stair rails. She figured she could fold them up and lay them down beneath their sleeping bags to provide a smidge more comfort on the hard, industrial-carpeted floor.
With their gear unpacked and their bedding put together, they sat in the office chairs and snacked on trail mix while they planned out their next moves. They had already decided that when they finally made the move to infiltrate the compound and retrieve the target, cover of darkness would be their best bet.
With that aspect solidified, it left them with needing to do most of their intel gathering of the guard rotations and surveying of the land in the middle of the night as well. Which was just fine for Bucky. He was used to working in the dark. Ghosts don't often appear in daylight after all.
Darcy, with her less than perfect night vision and farsightedness, wasn't quite as confident in her ability to traipse through the woods in the middle of the night but she understood the necessity of it.
It was already nearing dawn when they had finalized their plans so any intel gathering would have to wait until that evening. They stripped down into sleep clothes and crawled into their sleeping bags, listening to the other breathe steadily before they both sank into sleep. Their hands stayed linked between them through the night, their rings sliding against each other as they shifted in their sleep but never fully parted.
Darcy woke well into the afternoon but would have likely slept later if it weren't for the insistent pressure of her full bladder. Without a suitable alternative, Darcy had to resort to squatting inelegantly outside against the building. She wasn't exactly pleased with the situation, as she had always been a staunch supporter of indoor plumbing, but at least the grass in the field/parking lot was overgrown enough that she was afforded some semblance of privacy.
Honestly, she was just glad that she'd been able to pee without dribbling all over her pajama pants.
With her immediate business attended to, she returned to the office and rummaged around in her backpack to find a suitable breakfast from within. The best she could find was some granola bars and beef jerky and decided that would do until Barnes woke up. She was hoping he'd spring for a trip back into the city for a real meal. Maybe. Hopefully.
She sat swiveling back and forth in one of the office chairs as she chewed her way through the beef jerky, watching Bucky as he continued to sleep peacefully. Just as boredom was about to consume her completely, Bucky did that creepy thing where he woke up instantly. No slow fluttering of eyelids, no restless stirring. Just dead asleep and then: boom. Wide awake.
He swiveled his head from his position on the floor and Darcy greeted him with a little wave with the hand holding on to her jerky.
“Morning sunshine,” she garbled around a sizable hunk of beef.
Bucky sat up in his sleeping bag and scrubbed a hand over his face. “Morning.”
He slid out from his bedding, standing to stretch his arms high above his head and then bending at the waist to touch his toes. Darcy gave an appreciate grunt at the impressive flex and give of muscle under the bare skin of his upper body.
“Keep it in your pants, Lewis. I haven't even had breakfast yet,” he said with a tired smirk.
“I don't know what you're talking about. I'm just glad that someone your age can still get around so well. They say maintaining flexibility in the elderly keeps them spry.”
Bucky served her a withering glare.
“Jerky?” Darcy asked, thrusting her snack out under his nose.
He went a little cross-eyed looking at her offering before opening his mouth to bite off half of it. He chewed thoughtfully and stepped closer to her to run his fingers through her hair. She leaned forward with a happy sigh, resting the side of her head against his hip.
“I gotta go powder my nose,” he said when he'd swallowed down the last of his jerky.
“Alright,” she replied, shifting to sit up. “Just so you know, I've claimed the spot underneath that giant lime green graffiti penis, so you had better do your business elsewhere. We may be fake married but I'm still not ready to piss on the same patch of grass as you. Or worse.” She wrinkled her nose in disgust and Bucky threw his head back with a full laugh that she hadn't heard the likes of in far too long. She beamed at him as he kissed her full on the mouth, morning breath be damned, and then he took off down the stairs.
Her hopes of eating at a nearby restaurant were shot down, but Bucky was kind enough to build a small fire down on the factory floor and boil up some water to make some fairly decent coffee and resuscitate a couple of their freeze dried meals. She happily munched on some reconstituted huevos rancheros that weren't half bad while he tried his luck with what looked like sausage, hash browns, and scrambled eggs. When she asked how they tasted, he'd merely replied, “‘S better than what they fed us in the army,” and went back to shoveling it into his mouth.
The rest of the afternoon was spent readying themselves for their intel gathering that evening. As the sun finally dipped below the horizon, they wolfed down another freeze dried meal and suited up in their tac gear.
Bucky stomped out the last coals of their fire and silently slung a backpack full of all sorts of military grade goodies over his shoulder. Darcy followed suit, picking up her own lightweight pack and double checking the Glock that she had strapped to her thigh.
With a curt jerk of his head, Bucky marched out of the warehouse and into the cool night air. Darcy appreciated the slight breeze as it played across her face, cooling the feverish feel of her skin beneath the many layers of her suit. Her gut clenched with nerves as she followed him down the deserted roadway.
They were a little under two miles from the compound and would be walking to their destination. It wasn't ideal, but they were less likely to be spotted on foot than they would be in the hideous rust-on-wheels coupe. They veered off the cracked pavement, cutting through public lands and sticking to the shadows of the treeline. Bucky kept them moving at a good clip, though not quite running. His sharp eyes and fast reflexes saved Darcy from tripping over various bits of forest debris on several occasions with a firm grip to her arm or around her waist. It was somewhat embarrassing for her, but also necessary if they were going to get near the compound in a timely manner and without her having to pick splinters out of her palms every few feet. She tried her hardest to stay on her feet however, keeping her eyes peeled and glued to the path in front of her.
They'd been traveling for close to an hour when Bucky's hand darted into her field of vision, the back resting against her abdomen and stopping her in her tracks. “We’re here,” he said, voice just above a whisper.
Darcy's head snapped up and followed his line of sight to see a six foot high chain link fence blocking their path a few yards away. Bucky knelt beside her, slinging his bag down in front of him to dig out one of the fun little scanners that had Stark tech written all over it, literally and figuratively. He pressed a button along the side and the scanner turned on with a soft whir.
Bucky turned his head to look up at her, his face drawn and grim. “We’ll check out the perimeter first, see if there are any gaps in the fence, scan for land mines and any other surprises and then go from there. Stay close to me, keep your weapon at the ready in case we run into any trouble.”
Darcy swallowed hard and nodded, pulling her Glock from its holster and keeping the barrel aimed at the ground and slightly to their left.
Bucky's lips twitched at the corner. “That's my girl. You ready?”
Darcy tried to speak but was stopped by an acute case of cottonmouth, so she resorted to giving him another nod and sweeping her eyes from left to right and back again. Bucky rose to his feet, slipping on his pack and then fitting the scanner over his head and pulling up the display screens. His eyes darted back and forth, reading displays that Darcy couldn't see, and then he began moving slowly along the edge of the fence. He kept it to their left with a few yards between them and it, focusing his attention on picking up anything that might go boom or alert Hydra to their presence.
Darcy was glad for the slow pace as it kept her from tripping, but at the same time she thought it might be driving her slightly mad. As each minute slipped by with excruciatingly little progress, the tension between her shoulders tightened, as did the knot in her stomach. She kept her head on a swivel, every one of her senses on high alert as they crept along.
It was a very long night.
When they finally finished their circuit and traipsed back to their base, she sank onto her sleeping bag with a bone deep weariness. Her eyes felt dry and gritty, burning every time she shut them, and her stomach roiled with a combination of hunger and nerves. Bucky silently passed her a granola bar and sank into his own bedding. They were both asleep in minutes as the first light of dawn began to creep in through the cracks in the boards covering the office windows.
Despite the strain of it, their first incursion was successful. They were able to conclude that the entire parcel of land was surrounded by the fencing, with only one gated entrance. The scanner had uncovered systematically placed land mines and they'd marked those off on their maps and strategically carved a nick out of a nearby tree at each spot.
They were both pleased to discover that there weren't any sensors along the fence that tripped an alarm system other than a row of pressure sensors that ran underneath the gated entrance and a couple security cameras mounted on either side of the gate.
This left them with the ability to cross into the perimeter on the second night with near certainty that they'd remain undetected and all in one piece. Bucky helped Darcy over the barbed wire that curled menacingly over the top of the chainlink by gripping it with his metal fist and pulling it down and out of her way.
Thus began the second in a string of very long nights.
On the third night, they decided on where Darcy would be setting up her rifle.
The fourth and fifth nights were spent surveilling the building and determining the guard rotations. The sixth night was spent double checking the body count inside the compound with their thermal imaging cameras and familiarizing themselves with the exterior building. The seventh night was spent in silent, tense surveillance again, but was cut shorter than they'd previously done so they could return to finalize their plan of attack.
Darcy chewed at her lips as they went over the entire plan for what felt like the thousandth time. Her eyes were starting to cross and her mind was beginning to wander, much to Bucky's displeasure.
“Dammit, Darcy, I need you to focus!” Bucky barked out sharply, slamming his fist against the metal desktop and causing her to jump.
“I have been,” she uttered calmly, slowly. “I have been focused for hours. We have gone over this over and over and I am as prepared as humanly possible for tomorrow. I promise you, I've got it memorized and know it better than I know the back of my hand but for the love of god Bucky, I am fucking exhausted and my brain cannot function anymore. I'm only human!” Her voice pitched high with anxious tears and frustration, the strain of the past few nights weighing heavily on her.
Bucky's nostrils flared and his eyes narrowed. “Fine,” he spat, rolling up the compound schematics they'd been poring over and sliding them into his pack which he zipped closed with a violent jerk.
He rose from his chair and stomped over to his bedding, not even taking the time to change clothes or take off his boots, just laying down stiffly on top of his sleeping bag and crossing his arms over his chest.
Darcy stayed in her seat, just watching him with weary eyes. She blinked hard, pushing away the desire to snap back at him and rising on unsteady legs to slink over to his side. She bent over to wrap her left hand around his wrist, tugging at his arm.
“Come on,” she murmured. When he only glared up at her with disgruntled confusion she tugged at him again with both hands. “Come with me? Please?”
He rolled his eyes but sat up and let her pull him to his feet. She turned away from him, lacing her fingers with his and leading him out to the steps and down on to the factory floor. He followed her silently as she led him up and down the rows of machinery until she came to what she was looking for.
She stopped in front of a massive piece of machinery that had a series of long steel arms hanging at equal intervals over a conveyor belt. She stepped closer, lifting his hand in hers until she could wrap his fingers around one of the arms. The circumference fit perfectly into the palm of his cybernetic hand.
“Break it.” Her words were soft but clear, and a steely glint lit up her tired eyes.
“What? Why?” Bucky's brow wrinkled and he released the metal to cross his arms over his chest.
“Because you're angry and it will make you feel better.”
“I’m not angry,” he denied flatly.
Darcy scoffed. “Yes. You are.”
“Look, I might be frustrated because you were--”
“Hey, buddy, I'm gonna stop you right there. You're not frustrated with me. You are pissed about something. And I know it's not me.”
Bucky snorted and ran his hands through his hair. “What are you even talking about Darcy? I'm not angry!”
“Yes. You. Are!” she practically shouted, stomping her foot in emphasis.
“Darcy...” he growled.
“No! You've been snippy with me all week and getting worse with each passing day, so don't try to tell me you're not fucking angry when I know that you are!” She was definitely shouting at this point.
Bucky gripped his hair at the roots and then loosened a snarl that had her jumping back a few paces. “Okay, YES! I'm angry! Of course I'm fucking angry!” he roared. “Have you seen the shitshow that is my life?” He swung his arms out wide in demonstration. “Fuck, Darcy, I've never been so furious in my goddamn life, but honey, I cannot afford to get angry. Not when we’re a few short hour away from rescuing my kid. If I let myself feel it, I'm going to get us all caught or killed or worse! Damn it, Darcy, you can't push me on this! I'm barely holding it together and I need to keep a clear head. So please, please, just leave me the fuck alone!” He finally fell silent, breathing heavily.
Darcy sucked in a sharp inhale and stepped into his space, pushing him dead center on his chest. “Nope!” she barked and then pushed him again, this time using both hands and leaning into to it with her whole upper body. “That's bullshit, Barnes. It's too late to try and keep it together. You're already way past furious and it is going to get us killed tomorrow night if you don't find a fucking healthy outlet for it before then, which is what I’ve been trying. To get you. TO DO!” she emphasized each phrase with another push to his chest until she had knocked him back into the machinery.
He stared at her with eyes wide in disbelief until something dark and ugly swept over his features. His entire body language changed, hardening and turning predatory. He stood glaring at her, breath heaving in his chest and hands curled into claws at his sides. It was enough to shoot ice through her veins and she found her feet moving her backwards on pure instinct.
His eyes tracked her motion and his body shifted as he snarled and for one brief moment Darcy seriously considered the fact that she may have fucked up royally. But before she could blink he had turned his back to her and gripped one edge of the conveyor belt, tearing it from its frame with an unholy roar and the sharp shriek of metal against metal.
Darcy's pulse slowed again while she watched him rip through the massive machine in an almost animalistic frenzy, shredding through the metal like it was nothing more than tissue paper. She watched as he worked out all the hurt and rage that had been bubbling under the surface for weeks now, and probably longer.
Finally, with a heart-wrenching cry, he ripped the base of the machine from the floor, tearing out its steel bolts and hurling the entire thing thirty feet through the air and into another block of machinery.
The fire went out of him then and he fell to his knees like a puppet that had its strings cut. His hands curled up to grip the hair on either side of his head as he moaned pitifully. Darcy approached him slowly, joining him on the floor and wrapping her hands around his to gently untangle them from his hair. Tears streamed down his face as he looked down at her with aching eyes.
“They keep hurting me, Darcy! No matter what I do or how far away from them I get, they won't stop hurting me!" he gasped out sharply.
“I know, baby, I know,” Darcy murmured, her own eyes growing wet as she wrapped her arms around his trembling shoulders. His arms wrapped around her waist and his head dropped to her shoulder.
“I’m so fucking tired of Hydra taking from me. Taking my arm, my life, my memory. Taking my dignity and making me a murderer. Taking my fucking humanity.” His arms tightened around her. “Goddammit I'm so fucking tired of this shit. I thought I was done with all of it, thought it was in the past and maybe I could move forward with my life, with Steve, and with you...and then I find out about my daughter and it's just one more thing they've taken from me! I'll never know what her first months were like. Fuck! I don't even know if I want to be a father in the first place!” He leaned back on his heels to meet her gaze. “They fucking took that decision away from me too and now I have a kid and what if I can't be a dad? What if I'm shit at it or I'm not father material or-or-or she grows up hating me and--” his panicky words died out when Darcy placed a gentling hand to the side of his face.
“Hey, hey,” she said softly, her thumb dipping into the dimple in his chin. “You can't worry about that right now. We’re here to rescue her, save her, and then burn that fucking compound to the ground. But after that...we’re going to find her the loving home that she needs and deserves. Whether or not that's with us...well we can decide that later. But no matter what, she will be safe and she will be loved.”
Bucky's eyes darted rapidly between hers. “Us?” he whispered, voice thready.
Her lips quirked up in a half smile. “Yes. Us. I'm not letting you do this on your own. I'm in it to win it, Barnes.”
He huffed a relieved laugh and rested his forehead against hers, their eyes falling closed and his hand sliding up to rest against the side of her neck. His thumb stroked lightly at her skin while his breathing slowed and he calmed himself.
“For what it's worth,” she began, “I think you’d make a great dad.”
His answering smile was small and bittersweet. “If you keep saying things like that you're gonna end up getting committed to a nuthouse,” he teased.
She scoffed and smacked the back of her hand lightly against his chest. “I mean it. I really think you'd be wonderful. You're a good man, James Barnes. A kind man.”
“Yeah, yeah,” he groused, rising to stand and lifting her with him. “Come on, crazy lady. Let's get you to bed.”
They stripped down to their underwear, both too tired to bother with pajamas, and crawled into Bucky's sleeping bag. The fit was snug but the emotional upheaval of the night had them both craving closeness.
Bucky lay on his back with Darcy partially on top of him. She had her head propped up on one hand and was tracing the lines of his face with the other. “You seem calmer now. I'm guessing the temper tantrum helped?”
“Is this your way of trying to say ‘I told you so?’”
“It is. But only if it made you feel better.”
He could hear the smile in her voice even if he couldn't see it. He opened his eyes and reached up to run his hand through her hair before pressing at the base of her skull and prompting her to bring her lips to his.
She went gladly, enjoying the soft, chaste give of his lips against hers. When his lips parted slightly beneath hers, she sighed quietly into his mouth, her tongue sliding against his lower lip and then flicking into his mouth to glide against his tongue. He groaned at the contact and the vibration of his chest had her heart thumping heavily in her chest.
Strong hands wound into her hair, holding her tight to him as his hips rolled up into hers. She shuddered and gasped when his thigh came up between hers to press warm and firm against her. He pressed his thigh higher and then rolled them until she was beneath him, his weight held up by his elbows on either side of her head and his hips against hers.
He peppered feather-light kisses over her jaw and cheeks and nose and then gazed at her with an openness that made her dizzy. “Thank you,” he said softly, dipping his head to kiss her chastely. “Thank you.”
“Don't thank me yet,” she smirked, her hands sliding down to grip his backside and pull him harder against her.
He chuckled and then grew serious, his fingers playing idly with the ends of her hair. “Really though, Darcy. Thank you. For helping me. For, for being here.” His eyes skittered away from hers. “For understanding what I needed earlier and being...okay with it. I know that couldn't have been pleasant to watch,” he said with a self deprecating smile. “Thank you for just...for just everything. Everything you've done and said and been. Thank you for being who you are and being kind and brave enough to share yourself with me because god you mean so much to me, Darcy.” His eyes finally met hers again, the sincerity in them stilling the breath in her lungs. “So much,” he whispered.
She felt tears prickle at her eyes. “Bucky, I--” she broke off, not sure what to say, and surging up to kiss him, showing him all the things that she couldn’t express.
He met her with equal verve and she couldn't help the soft whimper she made when he sucked lightly at the tip of her tongue. Between his mouth and his hands and the heavy weight of his thigh between her legs, she was a trembling mess of aching desire in mere moments. When his fingers dipped beneath the elastic of her underwear, he hesitated, pulling away from her hungry kisses. “Darcy...I want…” he paused, uncertain. He cleared his throat and began again. “I know this isn't ideal…but I want you so badly, sweetheart. I... Please?” His breath was hot on her neck and his lips tripped lightly over the shell of her ear with each word.
“Yes,” she sighed, rolling her hips up. “Please.”
He groaned into her neck and his fingers slid her underwear down her legs until midway down her thighs and she had to help him a bit. She helped him shuffle his own boxer briefs down over his hips before pulling her sports bra over her head and tossing it across the room.
Bare to one another, they settled back together in the sleeping bag, their legs and hearts tangled together. He kissed her deeply, his heart pounding so hard that she could feel the reverberations against her chest, sending a thrill through her that he was so deeply affected by this moment.
He shifted his weight, planting himself between her legs. They both hissed at the contact and Darcy dug her fingers into his back, trying to ground herself and fighting the urge to rush him.
Bless the man, he didn't make her wait very long. They each took a deep, steadying breath in tandem, exhaling when they were fully joined.
“Ah fuck,” he groaned, eyes screwed tight.
She understood the sentiment entirely.
She made a low moan, seeing stars, and briefly lost the ability to breathe. “Finally,” she sighed.
Her eyes fluttered open when she heard Bucky make a strange, strangled noise at the back of his throat. His eyes were still tightly closed and he looked like he was in pain.
“Bucky are you alright?” she asked, concern coloring her voice. She reached up to brush his hair from his forehead.
His tongue darted out over his bottom lip, pulling it into his mouth and trapping it between his teeth. He nodded, keeping his eyes closed still and sending worry gnawing at her.
“Honey, you don't look alright. Please talk to me.”
“I'm reciting pi,” he said through gritted teeth.
Darcy froze. “Uh...what?”
His eyes finally popped open, a blush rising up over his cheeks bright enough for her to see even in the dim light.
“I'm reciting pi. In my head. So I don't shame myself in front of you.”
“Shame? Wha-- oh. Oh!” Darcy bit down on the knuckle of her first finger, trying to stem her giggles.
“Shit. You gotta be still, sweetheart, or this isn't gonna last long,” he grunted, eyes snapping shut again.
“Sorry, sorry!” She focused on keeping every muscle in her body still, waiting for him to relax and open his eyes. She could see his lips mouthing the numbers under his breath and she found it both bizarre and utterly endearing.
She was beaming up at him and fighting to keep a second round of giggles at bay when his eyes finally fluttered back open.
“Hi,” he mumbled, wincing slightly.
“Hey there,” she responded with barely contained delight. “How many decimal places did you have to get to?”
“...Eighty-seven.”
Darcy slapped a hand over her mouth, turning away from him so that she wasn't laughing directly in his face. She cut off in mid cackle when Bucky snapped his hips into her sharply. The laughter died in her throat, replaced by an embarrassingly loud whine.
He stilled again and she was unsurprised to see the smirk gracing his face. She rolled her eyes and pulled him down by his ears to kiss him with unhurried heat until he finally began to roll his hips against her in earnest.
With each stroke, he lavished her with kisses and gentle nips along her neck and chest. It was exquisite and had an undercurrent of emotion that had the muscles in her thighs trembling where they gripped at his hips.
If she were honest with herself, the only way she could properly describe what Bucky was doing to her, with her, was that he was making love to her. It was a phrase that always made her think of the gag-worthy, sappy love stories her mother had loved to watch on the Lifetime channel. But the way he was looking at her, touching her, it was with a reverence that she had never experienced before and it broke her to pieces and put her back together again with every beat of her heart.
It frightened her, the intensity of what was happening between them, but succumbing to it was the sweetest kind of bravery, so she let the need and want and love rise up in her chest and wash over her. When she was so close she could almost taste her release, words filled her throat and spilled out over her lips in a cascade of pleas and cries of his name.
“I know, honey,” he breathed, the low timbre of his words carrying across the delicate skin of her throat.
She felt him grip her left hand in his right, interlacing their fingers and locking their palms together. The body-warmed digits of his metal hand slid down her ribcage and over the swell of her hip, dipping in and under her thigh to catch the back of her knee in the crook of his elbow. She keened as the waves of her pleasure crashed over her. “I love you,” she gasped out, succumbing at last to the blissful whiting out of her mind.
She came back to her senses right around the time that Bucky collapsed into her soft warmth, just barely holding himself up enough to allow her to breathe shallowly. His grip on her leg loosened and her thigh slid down to cradle his hips once more. When they'd both calmed their racing hearts, he gently moved himself to curl along her side, sliding his left arm under her head and keeping their still-clasped hands tucked to his chest.
He stared at her in open wonder and sated exhaustion, pulling her knuckles to his lips. She could feel herself smiling up at him stupidly in her blissed out state but she had no plans to stop anytime soon. She dragged her free hand up from where it had been resting heavily on her belly to thumb at the dimple in his chin and stroke along the edge of his jaw. Light was beginning to pour in through the cracks in the windows, the dim morning light sharpening the blue of his eyes.
“Did you mean it?” he whispered against her knuckles.
She tilted her head in confusion but he elaborated before she could open her mouth to ask what he meant. “When you said you loved me, did you mean it?”
Her eyes widened slightly, the memory of her confession hazy but still there amongst the clutter of her overwhelmed senses. She hesitated before answering, sussing out the depth of her feelings. She wasn't the kind of woman who could say she meant it when she didn't, and he wasn't the kind of man that deserved anything but absolute honesty, so she peered into the depths of herself, deliberate in her search to find anything but truth in her confession before she gave him an answer.
She did love him however, with every bit of her heart, and desperately hoped he felt the same.
She dragged in a lungful of air before nodding and answering him. “Every word. I meant every word.”
His answering smile was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen, a joy-soaked marvel that made him shimmer and gleam in front of her. Of course, that could have been partially caused by the tears gathering in her eyes.
“I love you, Darcy. I love you so much,” he whispered fervently, gently wiping away a tear that had escaped to slip down her cheek with the back of their clasped hands.
She released a wet laugh, one of pure happiness and relief. It felt so good to have the words out. Over the past few weeks and even months, they had pressed against the back of her tongue, pushing at her teeth and begging to be released. She didn't want to ever have to swallow them back down again.
And now she never would.
They held each other close, their sweat dampened skin cooling and drying as the sun rose higher in the sky and they finally slipped into the embrace of sleep.