Walking from Austria to Italy is not one of the things that I actually planned, but we didn't have another choice since the transponder got damaged and we were still behind the hostile line. Three days have passed and they were not quite magnificent. First off all, I am the only girl under those 150 men which has been awkward so far. Then they are all also injured and the first-aid kit wasn't enough but I did my best to take care of them.

We also had to feed on the nature, even went fishing since we had no provisions at all. But thanks to my powers, I managed to make a fire, so we would at least not freeze at night. Dugan and his friend were actually fascinated by my abilities while Bucky weirdly remained quiet about that. We still haven't talked about our argument.

"I hope we're going to the right direction." Steve sighs next to me, our little army walks behind us. "Do you think this is the right way?"

"I don't know." I shrug, showing him the rest of the black burned map. "Our map got burned through our jump to the other side while everything was blowing up. Bucky, are you alright?"

"Hm?" He blinks, waking up from his daydream and stares at me. He's been walking quietly next to me the whole time which just makes me nervous and insecure, not knowing what to do. "Yeah, I just could use a shower."

"I think we all could." Steve agrees and I can't help but keep thinking of Schmidt's -or how I call him now- Red Skull's words. He intends to harm my world, it sounded like a promise. And I just can't get rid of the creepy feeling that with world he doesn't just mean my country but also the people I care about, especially since he mentioned Howard. And Howard even told me that Hydra once tried to attack him.

"We should arrive soon. Three days walking are enough, even for me." God, what would I do for Mr Jarvis' tea now? And some of his self-made biscuit.

"If we won't land in France." Dugan adds jokingly. "Y'a know, you're quite impressive, Eve. I understand now why you're Bucky's girl, not everyone would be insane like that and fight against Hydra."

Bucky suddenly shoots me a look, asking with his eyes if I want to be called that. I signal to him that we can talk about this later since we look pretty rough and exhausted. Also, I don't think it's a good opportunity to make a declaration of love or anything in the wilderness with dozens of soldiers.

"Thanks." I smirk half forced. "It doesn't happen every day that I threaten the leader of a german terror group."

"We arrived!" Someone shouts and I look forward, recognizing the camp from the distance. A breath of relief leaves my mouth, even though it is assumed that Colonel Philips is gonna kill us.

"Look who's back." Howard walks towards me when we enter the camp and grins, next to him stands Peggy. "We thought you were dead."

"Who's that?" Bucky frowns at Howard, a hint of disapproval is in his eyes and his tone tells me that he doesn't seem to be overzealous.

"You're late." Peggy tells Steve and I recognize a little smirk behind her severity. He smiles like a fool and lifts the damaged transponder, just to prove to her that he tried everything to call her. And he actually did, I even used my powers to revive the device at his request but it didn't work.

"Couldn't call my ride." Then he turns to Colonel Philips who approaches us. "Some of them need medical examination. I'd like to surrender myself for disciplinary action."

"Me too." I salute like Steve and not gonna lie, it's quite odd.

"That won't be necessary." He looks at both of us with a slight approval that vanishes as fast as it came, then he leaves. Every soldier cheers joyfully, either glad to be alive and back or relieved about the return of his friend.

"Hey!" Bucky suddenly calls out, making everyone listen to him when I was actually about to talk to Howard about Hydra. "Let's hear it for Captain America and Voltricity!"

A loud and cheerful applause and shouts break out, Steve's and my operation names fly through the air. I'm not quite sure what to do, it's sort of unusual for me but I just try to shake it off with a smile. Bucky claps the most, but I notice how his proud smile slowly falls and a sadness spreads over his eyes.

***

"Mr Jarvis! I've missed you although it's been just a week." I greet my friend with enthusiasm as he places a cup of tea on the table for me. The beautiful advantages of London. "It smells delicious."

"Your absence was inescapably noticeable, Miss Farrell. The people here are strict and barely bubbly." He responds with his usual formal tone. "I've heard a few things and I am glad that Mr Barnes seems to be alright and back, but your walk from Austria to Italy must have been quite exhausting. Where are your friends at the moment?"

"It was." I assure him, taking a sip of the tea. "Took me three days. And Steve is deploying our team with Colonel Philips since we're finally allowed to fight now. I trust him with this task. And Bucky's getting examined and probably taking a shower- "

"Could you two please stop talking about unnecessary topics? I'm trying to work!" Howard interrupts our conversation, busy with analyzing the blue light capsule that I stole. "What did you wanna tell me before Jarvis came in?"

"Johann Schmidt is not as weak as I thought. His skin is red and my powers don't effect him as much as they should." I report from my mission, then I hesitate for a second. "And he threatened you."

"And?" Howard shrugs, still looking through the microscope.

"It's not like you already got attacked by Hydra once but this time the leader of this organization may be after you because of me."

"It's sweet that you care." He says teasingly just to annoy me.

"Of course, I do, you're my friend and I also don't want to cause you any more trouble than you're already in." I state, speaking seriously to him. "By the way, why do you have a black eye?"

"Let's say that you shouldn't ditch the woman that likes to wear a lot of rings." He just clenches his teeth, scrunching up his face as I roll my eyes. Why does he have to be such a douchebag? "You can go to your Bucky now, I'm busy anyway and your training isn't necessary anymore, you can control it."

"Okay, thanks." I sigh and stand up, leaving the lab. Mr Jarvis stays there to help him and I seriously don't know what to do now. How the hell should I talk to Bucky? What happens now? I just bite on my lower lip and know that I need to see him now. Although I'm aware of his safety here, I still need to see him.

On my way to his room, I try to slow down and get rid of my flurry, being nervous won't help in this situation. I knock at his door, waiting for him to open while my heart still thumps loudly.

"Hey." He smiles softly when he opens the door and I already need a second to survive this look. Barely any injuries are left on his skin, the dirt and mud is also gone and he looks refreshingly great.

"Can we talk?" I ask and the excitement just grows when he motions me to come in. God, I become so nervous, how should I even start with telling him about my feelings? How does it usually work? I have no idea, let alone experience. Being completely edgy, I just start with something I would have usually done. "What happened there?"

"What do you mean?" He arches his eyebrows and I sit down next to him, glancing at him concerned.

"Dugan told me that they experimented on the soldiers there, you were in the lab. What did they do to you? And please, don't lie or anything. I saw how much it changed you."

He takes a deep breath and looks at the ground, his shoulder touches mine. "They basically just tortured us after they captured us in Azzano. We either had to work under awful conditions or play lab rat."

"How long..." I ask carefully, gulping slightly. The thought pains me and I just wish that I could have prevented this.

"A week maybe, I don't know. I lost the sense of time eventually. And then you were suddenly standing there, it was like a dream. Why were you there?"

"They told me you were dead. Do you really think I'd just sit around and do nothing?" I ask in disbelief.

"You weren't supposed to be there, you could've died." He points out, sounding upset and even almost guilty.

"There are worse things than death. And one of those things is letting you die." My words lie heavily in the air, causing him to look at me longer than usual. "How could you survive this?"

"Easy." Now the corner of his lips twitches up, something that I haven't seen for an eternity. He takes out a piece of paper of his pocket and holds it in his hand. "I held onto your letter."

"You still have it?" My eyes widen in surprise and my heart tightens in affection. He kept the letter, it really arrived.

"It strengthened me, of course, I did." He puts the letter away and doesn't want to talk deeper about it, it's clear that he tries to avoid thinking of his time at Hydra which I understand. "So your mother was an agent?"

I let out a cold laugh, the topic is still strange for me. "Apparently, yes. To cut a long story short- she was one of the best, I'm basically a born agent and she retired immediately after she left me. They don't know either where she is, the SSR thought the whole time that she left them because of me."

"I know how much this means to you, even if you pretend that you don't care." He sighs and his thumb rubs shortly but slowly over the back of my hand, leaving a warm prickle. He's the only one who knows how I actually feel about it.

"It's okay." I half smile, appreciating his kindness. "I mean, through this project I became stronger. I changed. But can you be honest with me?" I bite on my lower lip, being afraid of the truth as my heart seems to explode any second. "Are you scared of me now?"

"Stop biting on your lip. You always do that, every time when you're nervous and it's damn distracting and drives me crazy." He blurts out, slightly confusing me. "All the little things you do drive me crazy, no matter if you croon a song to yourself or walk out to be under the crying sky or blush because of a compliment. Because I have no control of myself then and can't help but love you. I don't care if you produce electricity now or not, because you're still you."

I'm completely speechless and can't breathe, my eyes are attached to him. "Bucky..."

"And I've never been insecure with a girl because no one was as important as you to me! I couldn't risk our friendship. You already suffered so much because of your past and I didn't want to make you feel uncomfortable around me by telling you about my feelings."

I smile and am overwhelmed by a chaos of emotions inside me. What would I do without him? "That's actually the reason why I didn't tell you anything. I was afraid of rejection and I didn't want to make Steve feel like he'd be torn apart between us. I also thought that a guy like you would never love a girl like- "

"Wait, what did you just say?" He cuts me off, his eyes widened. "Did you just confess... "

"I love you, James Buchanan Barnes." I say with a bright smile and my heart races, the happiness overwhelms me. It feels satisfyingly free to tell him about something that I held back for years. "You're the first person I love and the only one I'll ever love."

"You love me?" He repeats in disbelief and his shoulders tremble, still processing everything.

"I always have." I confirm, smiling about his facial expression that staggers between delight and dumbness. "You changed me more than this experiment, you turned me into someone and made me feel alive. My life started when I met you in that alley in 1936."

"Say it again." He demands, his mouth slowly forms a smile and I laugh but do as he says.

"I love you, Bucky."

He doesn't hesitate and pulls me into a passionate and deep kiss, his tongue meeting mine, and I close my eyes. My mind is dazed, my thoughts drift away and a dizzy happiness spreads over my whole body. I put my arms around his neck and my hands run through his hair as he grins into the kiss. His hands are placed around my waist, not letting go of me, instead he pulls me closer to him. My only desire right now is that this moment would remain forever and for this night, it does.

A/N- Basically, they fondued. Sorry, I'm not really about the writing smut life hahaha. BUT YAY THEY ARE OFFICIALLY CANON NOW!