User:~Silverstream/FanFiction Visits

Visits

An alternate universe fic in which Peggy Carter is the one turned into the Winter Soldier. Please enjoy.

The name on the door of the nursing home rang all too clear with me. "James Barnes". I wrung my hands before knocking gently. A weak voice from inside approved me to enter. Slowly, I opened the door, and saw the man I had not seen in 70 years. Bucky.

"...Hello?" He rasped.

"Buck, I..." I came closer to him, and say down next to the bed. His aged face obviously carried the burden of a full lived life, but I could still see the bright spirit of the young man I knew.

"Yeah, it's me. I'm here." His looked briefly confused, but his brow lifted in realization.

"I remember, Steve... They brought you back..."

I nodded earnestly. "Yeah, they did. I never thought I'd see you again."

"I could say the same thing," he replied. "You've changed, you know. You're Captain America now."

I shrugged. "Well yeah, but I'm still the same old Steve, you see?"

His eyes sleepily scanned my body, and he looked down at the bed. "Sure, you get to stay young and dashing, and I become an old man? How is this fair?" A smirk on his friendly face reminded me he was only messing with me.

I chuckled. "Well it isn't all good news... I broke my promise to Peggy. I never took her dancing."

"That's hardly your fault, Steve." I searched his deep brown eyes for the sincerity that matched his voice.

"I don't know, Buck. I think think I could have done better." I looked down at my lap.

Bucky sighed thoughtfully. "You always want to do the best you can do, I know that better than anyone. But sometimes, the best you can do is to start over. Do you understand?"

I nodded, still avoiding looking my best friend in the eyes. "Yeah, you're right."

It was only a few days later I went back. I really had something I needed to get out. Once I got back to Bucky's room, I rapped on the door and peered in to see a nurse at his side, helping him get into his bed. He noticed me, and smiled. "Back so soon?" He teased.

"Well I figured you'd miss me," I shot back. At a motion from Bucky, the nurse nodded and left the room. Once the door was firmly shut, Buck steered his eyes into mine. "What's happened?"

I sighed, and sat down in the chair next to his bed. "You might not believe me..."

He cocked an eyebrow. "I'm talking to Captain America, I don't think believing will be a problem..."

I smirked at his statement before explaining. "Remember when you told me that sometimes the best you can do is start over?"

His face knitted in concern as he nodded.

"Well," I continued. "What if I told you that wasn't entirely true? That maybe I... Wouldn't have to start over with Peggy?"

"...What are you getting at?"

My mind flashed back to the previous night. As I had crouched over Fury's lifeless body, I spotted a flash of metal from the rooftop. I ran after it, and tossed my shield at a masked person with a gleaming metal arm. The shooter grabbed my shield with ease, and tossed it back at me before fleeing the scene.

"I saw her Buck," I whispered. "The shooter had her face obstructed, but... I'd recognize those eyes anywhere."

"...How?"

"I don't know. Nor do I know why she would shoot Fury, or try to hurt me. But she's different. Got a metal arm, and didn't seem to know me from Adam." I rubbed my tired eyes and sighed. "Maybe I'm just imagining things."

Bucky took a sip from the water sitting at his bedside. "Well that's for you to decide. Either it was her or it wasn't... Which do you believe?"

"Part of me wants to believe it's her. But part of me doesn't... Whatever she's turned into, it's not good." I replayed the scene in my over and over head as I pondered that thought... -- By the time I visited Bucky again, everything had changed. Even as much as after I went into the ocean, these events changed my life. I was a bit surprised to see the door to his room slightly ajar, and I crept in. I saw my best friend sitting up in bed, watching me on the news. "I imagine you'll tell the story better than they do," he said to me.

I smirked and approached him. "I barely know where to start. She was brainwashed, Buck... By HYDRA. She wasn't the same. Said she had a mission to finish, and I told her to finish it..."

He picked up the tv remote and muted the news, directing his full attention to me.

"We were up in an aircraft," I continued. "I really thought I was done for, but it was ok... Because I thought the last thing i would be seeing was her. And I fell... Down into the water below us... I woke up on the shore, nobody around."

"But you assume it was Peggy?"

"Oh I know it was." I nodded reassuringly. "I know it was. Now all that's left is to find her... And take her dancing."

He gave a slight smirk. "Even after all this time, huh?"

"What can I say? I don't break my promises."