With a sigh of content, Connie rolled over in bed. She stretched her arm out as if to locate Bucky's body, but the space beside her was empty, much to her confusion. Connie frowned and opened her eyes, pulling her blanket over her bare body as she sat up. She looked around the room, her eyes falling on the clock hanging on the wall. It was nearing 11 in the morning, so Connie assumed Bucky had woken up earlier.

Connie hopped off the bed and onto the floor, hurrying over to her bag to grab a change of clothes. After putting on some undergarments, she threw on a plain black shirt and a pair of black skinny jeans. Just as Connie was about to head out of her room, an envelope sitting by the sink caught her attention, and her brows furrowed in slight confusion. She walked over to pick it up from the countertop, her brown eyes scanning carefully over her name written in the familiar handwriting on the front of the envelope. It was from Bucky, but what she couldn't understand was why he had left it for her.

With a swift movement of her hands, Connie had ripped the envelope open. She pulled out a small slip of paper and unfolded it, wasting no time at all in reading over the words written on the page.

Connie,

If you're reading this, I'm probably gone. Where am I? I don't know. Where will I go? Once again, I don't know. All I know is that I had to leave in order to keep you and Steve safe. Hydra will never stop looking for me as long as I'm alive, and that's a burden I can't put on yours or Steve's shoulders. I know you can take care of yourself against just about anyone, including me, but I would never be able to live with myself if you were harmed or even killed because of me. I almost lost you a couple days ago, and for a few minutes I did. It might not appear this way from your perspective, but you almost died because of me, Connie--you almost died trying to save me, and that's something I can't allow to happen, no matter the circumstance. The only thing I knew I could do to prevent it from happening was to leave, and it's something that's torn me apart from the inside-out.

I love you, Constance Mae. I love you more than I've ever loved anyone, and that's something I will always be sure of. Never ever forget that. You brought me back. You showed me who I truly was inside. You saw me and said I was worth saving, and I will forever be grateful to you because of that.

I'm so sorry that things have to be this way, and if I had any choice they wouldn't be this way. Just know that I'm doing this because I love you. I'm doing this because I care more about you than I care about myself. I hope to see you again someday, I really do. I just hope when that time comes, things will have changed. Maybe by some strange miracle, Hydra will have been eliminated and we can be together again? I'd really like that.

Goodbye, Connie.

With love,

James Buchanan

The moment Connie finished the small letter she sat it back down on the table in which she grabbed it from and cried. The tear spilled from her eyes without much control on her part. Her heart was broken, and she wondered if she'd ever find a fix.

Not only was Connie absolutely brokenhearted, she was very angry. She wondered how it was so easy for him to leave her after everything the two had been through during the last couple of months. She wondered how it was so easy for him to look her in the eye the previous and promise her that he would always be there, only for him to break that promise the very next day.

Connie couldn't begin to understand why he had decided to do what he did; not even his letter could help her determine why. Sure, he was afraid of her putting her in danger while Hydra was in pursuit of him, but as he wrote, Connie could take care of herself perfectly fine against anyone. Even now, without the serum running through her veins, her determination and her will to fight for those she loved made her more than capable. She just wished he had taken that into consideration before leaving her.

Without another thought, Connie ran from her room, stopping only when she took notice of Steve sitting against the wall across the hall. He looked up at the sound of her door opening and his face fell.

Steve had been waiting for her to wake up and come out of her room for about two hours now. He had woken up earlier in the morning as the plane landed in some random, Eastern European grassland. He watched Bucky leave without so much as saying goodbye, and it was in that moment he knew he hadn't said a word about his departure with Connie. Steve wanted to be there when Connie woke up. He wanted to be there to comfort her after she'd figured it out, and by the tears that flowed down her face, Steve knew she had figured it out.

"Steve," Connie squeaked.

Steve sighed sadly and stood up, moving to wrap his arms tightly around her small frame. Connie collapsed in an ocean of tears as he held her, and she held onto him as tightly as possible. It was almost as if she was reliving that day back in 1945—the day Steve had come to tell her Bucky wasn't coming home.

"I'm so sorry," Steve apologized to her, though he knew he had nothing to apologize for. It was just a common response for people in such a situation. "He didn't have a choice, Connie."

"Yes. . .he did."

Steve wasn't allowed the chance to respond. Skye strolled down the hallway towards the pair, her eyes on the bottle of medicine in her hands that Jemma had instructed her to give to Connie.

"Hey, Jemma gave me these weird vitamins to give to you," Skye said with a quiet laugh. "She and Fitz spent all night working on them; they're supposed to build your strength and help with agility and stamina."

Connie pulled away from Steve and wiped her face, shifting her gaze to Skye. Skye finally looked up from the bottle in her hand and looked at Connie, her face falling as she took in the tear stains and her sad eyes.

"What happened?" Skye asked as she glanced between her and Steve.

Her question only elicited another sob from Connie, and Steve pulled her to him again, a sigh escaping his lips as he tried to conceal his current anger towards Bucky for putting Connie in such an emotionally draining situation. Connie loved Bucky so much, which was something Steve could not only see, but he could feel it as well. Bucky left her, though; he looked her in the eye and promised her he would never leave her, yet he turned around and did the opposite.

"Bucky left earlier this morning," Steve answered Skye, his words only causing Connie to squeeze him tighter.

Skye's brow fell in confusion. "What do you mean he left?"

"He left," Connie told her as she pulled away from Steve once again. "He left me and he left Steve because of Hydra. He didn't want us to be in danger and he didn't want us to risk ourselves to help him if he needed, which is stupid, because why wouldn't you risk yourself for someone you care about?"

"Connie," Steve warned. He could sense that her anger was growing, and if she didn't calm down she would likely end up doing something to get herself hurt. She loved to lash out when she was angry, which resulted in her punching through things or throwing things, but without the serum, doing either one of those would likely only get her in trouble.

Connie groaned angrily and grabbed her head in her hands. "Why would he leave me? After everything I did for him? I thought things were finally gonna go back to normal for me, for all of us, but I was so wrong."

"Connie, calm down," Steve spoke.

Skye threw a hand up at Steve and shook her head. "No, let her get it out."

Connie sniffed and ran a hand through her hair. "He looked me in the eye—the fucking eye—and promised me he wouldn't leave me. He promised me he would always be there, but he lied to me. Why would he do that to me?"

"To protect you," Skye told her.

"I can protect myself just fine and he knows that," Connie defended herself. "I spent the last two months protecting myself and protecting him. I can't even tell you how many times I had to reassure that man that I wouldn't leave him, yet it's so okay for him to leave me? Clearly he couldn't have cared about me as much as he said he did if it was so easy for him to leave me like this. And he didn't even tell me about it; he just left a note. . .a note."

During her rant, Connie had backed towards her room door. As the warm tears streamed down her face, she slid down to the floor. She hugged her knees to her chest and and covered her face with her hands, muffling the sound of her cries.

"I just. . .why does everyone I love always leave me?" Connie cried.

Steve could only watch her with sad and glistening blue eyes, while Skye knelt down beside her, placing a comforting hand onto her back.

"He did love you, Connie," Skye reassured her. "I could see it in the way he looked at you that he loved you. Maybe it wasn't easy for him to leave you, and I'm not at all trying to justify what he did or the way he did it, but I don't think it was easy for him. I think he was genuinely concerned for your safety and Captain Rogers's safety. It doesn't change anything, Connie."

Connie shook her head. "No, it changes everything."

Connie got up from her spot on the floor and wiped her face. She hurried down the hall with Skye and Steve following behind her, and before long she was approaching Phil's office door.

"What are you doing, Connie?" Steve asked as she knocked on the office door.

"What I need to do," Connie answered.

The door to Phil's office opened before anyone else had the chance to say anything. Phil looked at the three in front of him with raised brows, unsure of why exactly they were all gathered in front of his office.

"What brings you all here?" Phil asked the group.

"I think she has something she needs to say to you," Skye said to Phil as she gestured to Connie.

"And what might that be?"

Connie let out a breath and looked at Phil, her golden brown eyes filled with nothing but determination. "Phil. . .I think I'm ready to accept your offer."

Connie was still angry, but she could not ignore the reason why. Bucky was gone. He left her and he had left her because of Hydra. Bucky was far from receiving any kind of forgiveness from Connie, but if there was any chance at all in her ever getting him back, eliminating Hydra needed to be her main priority. She refused to let Hydra take away anyone else she loved, and joining Phil's team was only the first step in preventing that.

Connie Jones was going to put an end to Hydra, and she dared anyone to get in her way.