Chapter 48 - A soldier's promise
HYDRA base - Siberia, September 3, 1946
"Tell me."
"No."
"Come on, tell me."
"Christ, woman, you are relentless."
"Don't pretend like ya don't like that about me."
"Eh, sometimes. Ow! Hey, no punching!"
Evelyn giggled at Bucky's pretend pout as he rubbed his chest where she hit him. As if her fist could have done any damage to those perfect, rock-hard pecs. Still, Evelyn leaned in to kiss the 'pain' away.
"Better?" she asked.
"Hm, not really." Bucky shot her a playful smile. "I think ya might need to go a little higher."
"Here?" Evelyn kissed his clavicle.
"Higher."
Another kiss, on the side of his neck this time.
"Higher."
His jawline.
"Almost."
"Then how about... here?"
The moment Evelyn captured her lover's lips, everything faded away. They weren't sitting on blankets in a dingy room on the lower levels of a remote enemy base in Siberia, but dancing to their song in the Poppy Lounge, kissing underneath a single spotlight meant only for them. There were no evil scientists using them. No second personality biding his time until she was subjected to him again. No war, and no loss. Just them. Just love.
"Hm, all healed," said Bucky with a content hum. "You're a miracle worker, Nurse Rogers."
"Happy to oblige, Sarge."
Evelyn settled against Bucky, resting her head on his shoulder. He gingerly caressed her hair. The soft strokes almost lulled her into a slumber, but she remained ever vigilant, listening for the telephone ring that would carry Nikolai's voice on the other side of the line.
Neither of them had ever suspected they'd be able to be with each other until they got back home. Until they escaped and could finally start their lives together. But somehow, whatever God was dealing the deck had given them a good hand these last two months.
Evelyn had mulled it over so many times. Had they been careless and had someone discovered them? If so, why on earth would they enable them to grasp these precious moments? To increase the changes of Zola's breeding project succeeding? It couldn't be anything else.
First, there was that mystery virus that killed twenty-seven people in two days. Then, it was the intruder alert, and now, it was an inexplicable fire near the turbines. And every time, Evelyn had been left alone with Bucky, with the guards either taken ill or called up in all urgency to join and aid the others before they shut down the elevator for yet another safety lockdown.
If only we could escape this wretched place, she pondered, drawing circles on Bucky's collarbone with her fingertip. But we can't get out from this level, and I can't very well walk out the front door with HYDRA's greatest asset. Our only chance is an invasion by the SSR, but that'll end up in a massacre, with or without the Winter Soldier joining the fray. And I can't risk him bein' away on another mission. We need a stroke of luck. Anything at all to —
"Doll, you okay?"
"Huh?" Evelyn blinked at the concerned tone in Bucky's voice. "Oh, sorry, I was just... thinking of Brooklyn. Never thought I'd miss the old neighborhood this much."
"Me neither," said Bucky wistfully. "I'd give anything to see home again. Pops and Becca. The Poppy Lounge, the docks, the clinic... God, I even wanna go to Coney Island and ride the roller-coaster. I hate the roller-coaster."
"But you love the corn dogs."
Bucky chuckled. "True. And the Ferris wheel. It was perfect for a few minutes of uninterrupted kissing."
"Speakin' of which, ya still haven't answered my question."
"Ugh, I was hoping you'd forgotten about that. Why do ya wanna know about the girls I slept with, anyway?"
"Because," Evelyn pushed herself back up, "you know about all the guys I've been with —"
"I'm the only guy you've been with."
"And I don't think that's fair. Besides, when we get back to Brooklyn, I gotta know if I'm gonna have to fight off any of your old girlfriends. You're mine now, James Buchanan Barnes, and I sure as heck ain't lettin' you go."
Evelyn pushed her mouth to Bucky's. Her nails scratched over his sculpted abs as she swayed on top of him, moaning at the feel of the little Sergeant still inside her. But as much as Evelyn wanted to go another round, she didn't think she'd survive another earth-shattering, firework-inducing orgasm barely twenty minutes after the last four she'd gone through. Or was it five?
"Tell me?" she tried again. "Please?"
Bucky huffed and slowly licked his lips with the tip of his tongue. His sweet, succulent lips... and his skillful, strong tongue... The never-ending, simmering heat Evelyn had been experiencing for the last weeks flared up again.
"Tell me," she whispered, "and I'll make ya feel real good, Sarge."
Evelyn placed her hands around Bucky's neck, fingers tangling together, and swayed again. Her peaked nipples brushed against her lover's chest. Bucky leaned his head back against the wall and groaned. "You're—ah—gonna be the death of me, Evelyn Rogers."
"We'll both die happy then," she teased.
Bucky's arm snaked around her, halting her movements before she could entice him any further. A pair of intense blue eyes gazed into her own. She drew back, registering the unspoken plea.
"I won't judge," Evelyn said. "I promise."
A sigh. And then...
"I don't know the exact number," said Bucky, "since I don't know how many there've been since Zola made me... as the Winter Soldier. But as Bucky Barnes, I've had sex with six girls, including you."
"Wait, only six?" Evelyn blurted out. "That's it?"
"Well, don't make it sound like that ain't enough for ya."
A blush crept up Evelyn's cheeks. "Sorry, it's just... I expected more. You were the most popular guy in the neighborhood and in school. Girls were swoonin' at your feet wherever you went."
"That don't mean I picked them up and slept around like everyone else did," Bucky reacted sharply. "Nothing more than kisses ever happened with the girls from school, and later... I grew cautious about who I went out with."
He cast his eyes down, darkness crossing his features. Evelyn bit her lip, guilt settling on her.
"I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't mean to upset ya. You don't have to answer if ya don't wanna."
Bucky looked back up. There lay something in his expression Evelyn recognized all too well — the need to share. To admit something so shameful, it was bound to make her turn her away. But it never had. Nor would it now.
"I'm here," said Evelyn, repeating the words she'd spoken far too often in the clinic after a physical examination or sex ed class. "Whatever you wanna say or do next, I'm right here."
Bucky's chest rose as he took a deep breath. Hesitantly, he said, "You... You remember that day at your place when you treated me for the rash on my shoulder? I admitted to having had sex once without protection?"
How could she forget? She'd made him believe he had syphilis, for crying out loud. And then they'd had that awful row at the clinic... Not one of her fondest memories.
"Amanda, right?" she asked, recalling the name of the school's most infamous hussy.
"Yeah, she, um... was my first."
"How old were you?"
"Eighteen. She started comin' to all of my Saturday boxing matches to cheer me on. I knew she had a reputation, but I didn't really care back then. I was... a typical teen, I suppose. When I picked her up for our first and only date after graduation, she asked me to drive round to the bridge 'cause she knew a spot to see the sunset. The moment I parked the truck, she crawled on top of me. I don't even remember her takin' her clothes off. She just worked me up, and... it happened."
It wasn't the first time Evelyn had heard a story like that. Granted, she rarely heard it from men, but she knew women used men for sex just as much as men did women. She'd never imagined Bucky, of all people, to have fallen victim to that, though (not considering their current situation, of course). Evelyn vowed then and there if she ever saw that strumpet again, she'd tie Amanda up in a shipping crate and have a cargo boat take her to Timbuktu.
"I saw her with another guy two days later," continued Bucky, "and I felt hurt, but also... relieved, maybe? I don't really know how to explain it. Anyway, I didn't linger on it too long, and a month later, I met this immigrant Italian a girl at the Atalanta. She was goodlookin' and a swell dancer. It was well past midnight when she asked me to escort her home. Her parents worked at night, so we had the place to ourselves and... well, you can guess the rest. When I got home, I found out she stole every dime from my wallet. I went back over to her house, only to find her mom in tears, and her dad talkin' to a copper. She'd been stealing from the men she slept with to run away from home. I was her last quick grab. I never even knew her name."
Bucky's words and doleful expression cut straight through Evelyn's heart. She gently pecked his cheek and wrapped him up in a loving embrace. It wasn't nearly enough to protect him from the past, nor of the evil in the world, but in that moment, it was all she could give him.
"I'm so sorry," she whispered. "Does anybody else know about that?"
"I told Steve," answered Bucky. "I knew he'd keep it to himself. He was my person."
As Lucas was mine... God, I hope I can see him again someday.
Evelyn kissed Bucky's temple and calmly stroked his hair. He pressed her flush against his body, and she bit her lip to keep in a moan when his shaft brushed her walls. After what he told her, Evelyn wanted to give him every ounce of love she possessed. But her damn curiosity needed satisfaction first.
"So, who was your first proper girlfriend, then?"
"Ginger Mulligan, from down the block," answered Bucky. "I'd started workin' at the docks by then and joined her brother's crew. He did her dirty and told me she had a thing for me, but was too shy to ask me out. One day, after church, I just walked up to her and did it myself. We went steady for a little over a year, started having sex after five months. When her brother died on the job, her parents couldn't cope with the loss and wanted to move to another state to make a fresh start. She begged them to let her stay with her aunt, so she could continue her life in Brooklyn with me, but they wouldn't hear of it. We ended things the day before she left."
"I remember Ginger. She was so mousey in school, and then she just... blossomed. Like the ugly duckling becoming a swan."
"She was always a swan. People just didn't see her like that."
The way Bucky spoke of the girl sparked a flicker of jealousy within Evelyn. She quickly suppressed it, though. There was no reason to be jealous of a past relationship from so long ago, and it wouldn't be fair to show even a hint of the little green monster. She swallowed, her heart thumping in her throat, and dared to ask, "And, um... the last two? Y-You said six, including me. We just went over three, and I'm here. Who were the other two?"
"I was with Judy Parker for almost six months. Caught her cheatin' on me, though, so I broke it off. Four months later, she tried to —"
"Pin her pregnancy on you," Evelyn finished with a sneer, remembering that eventful day at the old clinic. She'd been so grateful Steve'd dropped in for an early lunch, instantly setting the record straight on Bucky's relation with Judy. "She actually believed we couldn't tell she was only two months along. Even if she hadn't cracked then, we would've known the truth when the baby came out half and half."
"Another lesson learned," said Bucky with a grimace. "And the last one was —"
"Bonnie."
"No, not Bonnie."
The denial made Evelyn raise a brow. "But... she was your girlfriend, wasn't she?"
"Yeah, but we never slept together."
Evelyn intended to ask why not, but quickly reconsidered and instead asked, "Who, then?"
A sudden forlornness settled on Bucky's face. He nudged Evelyn away, almost making her part from him completely. Though her heart bled at this action, she didn't struggle. Whoever this last girl was, she'd clearly left an impression.
"Ruby Greene," he finally whispered.
Evelyn uttered an inaudible gasp. The once vivacious girl with freckles and dark-auburn hair had died of leukemia at the far too young age of nineteen. Despite every attempt at this new treatment with arsenic, it'd already been too late. Over a hundred people had attended her funeral, and her friends and family still left a fresh bouquet on her grave. Evelyn would never forget the moment she'd died, having sat with her former classmate in the hospital for her last hours. Ruby hadn't been afraid or sad, but completely at peace. She was the first patient Evelyn had lost, and the first of an unfortunate long list written in a little notebook.
"I didn't know you two were that close," she said.
"We were never an item, but," Bucky smiled weakly, "she was my first kiss at sixteen. This one evening, we were both studyin' late in the library, got to talkin', and... she told me she'd never kissed someone before. I admitted the same, so we just did it. We barely spoke to each other afterwards until..."
His words fell away. He averted, lips pinched together. A tear rolled from the corner of his eye. Evelyn tenderly brushed it away with her thumb.
"Ruby and her mom were waitin' for me to come home from work one day. She told me she wouldn't go on with any of the treatments for her leukemia. That she was dying, and that she wanted to... with me. I didn't know what to say, but her mother must've already known her intent, 'cause the next thing I knew, she pushed money in my hands and told me to get a nice hotel room. I didn't take any of it, though. Just didn't feel right. I'd gotten my wages that day, so I paid everything myself. We went to Sunset Park and walked around a bit first. Guess I wanted it to be more like a proper date, 'cause her mom urged me to treat her well before we left. And I swear to God, I was as gentle as I could be and made sure we didn't overdo anything. I told her the next morning when I took her back home that she could always call me for anything she needed, but she never did. Three weeks later... she was dead."
Bucky didn't bother holding back his silent tears anymore, just as Evelyn didn't bother clearing them from his cheeks. She sat silently on his lap, pondering his story. Ruby hadn't been like Amanda, or Judy, or that Italian girl. She'd been kind and deeply loved in the community. Her illness had kept her out of the dating life, so... it made sense she would've asked something so important, so special of that one person she'd shared a connection with, however brief it might have been.
"You did a good thing," Evelyn spoke in a hushed voice.
"That's what I tell myself whenever I think of her," reacted Bucky. "I just... After the funeral, there were days when I felt guilty about not reaching out again during school. We could've shared so much together, so many firsts, and I... I could've helped her with her illness. Maybe... I don't know, maybe even convinced her to keep fighting."
"I know you would've. And I think she did too. She wouldn't have asked you to spend the night with her otherwise. But she was tired, Bucky. Death was a relief for her."
Bucky took Evelyn's hand. He lightly caressed her skin with his thumb. It was such a simple gesture, but in that moment, it was everything and more.
"Ruby was the last girl I consciously and consensually slept with," he said. "Bonnie told me several times she was ready, but I couldn't do it."
"Because of Ruby?" wondered Evelyn aloud.
"That's what I thought at first. But no, she wasn't the reason. You were, Evelyn. I didn't feel with Bonnie what I felt every time I was near you. Apart from perhaps Ginger, I'd never felt what I felt around you with anyone at all." Bucky let go of Evelyn's hand and cupped her face. "You're my whole world, doll. And I promise I'll be only yours for as long as you'll have me. I'll be your friend, your lover, your partner... Everything. Don't you ever forget I love you, Evelyn Rogers."
"I love you too, Bucky Barnes."
She closed the remaining space between, wrapped her hands around his neck, and pressed her mouth firmly to his. Bucky answered the kiss eagerly, his arm gripping her around her waist. As their bodies came together, Evelyn felt Bucky harden inside her. She didn't waste a second and swayed, spurred on by the building heat between them to take him in her furious hunger.
Bucky threw his head back, groaning when her walls clenched around his long shaft. She loved seeing him unravel like this. He was a soldier who'd gone through hell and back, a man whose identity had been brutally stripped and who'd been forced to suffer and inflict suffering, yet was still standing strong. He seemed indestructible — and most likely was, thanks to the super-soldier serum in his veins — yet when they were together like this, with their feelings and bodies bared for only each other's eyes, Bucky let go of every inhibition, willingly surrendering to her.
"Tell me what you'll do when we're home, Bucky," pleaded Evelyn, never once breaking her rhythm. "Tell me about our future."
"I'll get a new job. M-Maybe... union like Lucas. And you can study to be a doctor, like you always wanted. Open your own practice."
"Mmm, yes."
"We'll—ah—get a nice place. One of the new projects. With a yard."
Bucky pulled his hand back from around Evelyn's waist. His fingers dug into her thigh, guiding her motions further, and his lips latched onto her throat.
"We'll go out to the beach in summer," he said in between fervent kisses, "and go skating in winter."
The slow crescendo of moans harmonized with the strumming symphony their bodies created. Evelyn chased her high, moving even faster, but Bucky suddenly flipped them over, giving him the upper hand of being on top. His chest grazed against her hard nipples, sending shivers throughout her body. Using only his lower body strength, Bucky swiftly buried himself deep inside Evelyn. She clutched her thighs around his waist, gasping as a fresh wave of sensations waltzed over her.
"More," she begged. "Tell me more, Bucky, please."
He maintained his cadence even as he brought his lips to her ear to whisper, "Every day, we'll play our song and dance."
"Yes."
"Every night, we'll make love."
"Oh, God, yes!"
Evelyn arched her back, rolling her pelvis as she met every powerful thrust. She was so close to giving in, so close to being taken by her lover's heat and rapture. And Bucky knew it.
"Touch yourself, Blondie," he demanded, his deep voice sultry and sweet like honey. "Lemme feel you hit that high note."
He shifted slightly, allowing Evelyn to slip her hand between them. She rolled over her clit, whimpering as the combined onslaught of Bucky's fast pace and her own fingers, coated and slick from her wetness, assaulted all her senses. It didn't take long for her body to shudder, ears ringing with the blood rush and echo of her screams.
Bucky caught and ravaged Evelyn's mouth. His tongue danced around hers as the frenzied swing of their bodies reached pure ecstasy. Then, after a few more powerful thrusts, Bucky's hips jerked frantically against Evelyn's as he came undone with a strained grunt.
They stilled, bodies sweating, hearts running wild, and souls transcending yet again. Evelyn enveloped Bucky in her loving arms, letting him rest his forehead against her shoulder. Her nerves tingled, letting her be fully aware of his weight on top of her, of his hot breath against the side of her neck, of his member still stretching her, and of his cum filling her. It was heaven.
"Bucky?" she caressed her lover's back. "You okay?"
He pushed himself up, but remained close enough for Evelyn to brush her fingers through his long, disheveled dark-brown hair, and for her to see a yearning question burning in his eyes. He whispered, "Evelyn Deborah Rogers, do you take me, James Buchanan Barnes, for your husband, to have and to hold, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and health, until death do us part?"
Evelyn stared at him, completely speechless at the impromptu proposal. If this were any other time and place, she would've assumed it was a joke. People back home had blatantly told her she wasn't 'marriage material'. Some guys had even admitted they weren't looking for a relationship but just wanted to sleep with her, because they believed her temper must show in her bedroom skills as well. She'd ignored every single one of them — and had slapped a few, as well — and had already resigned herself to becoming a spinster married to her job.
Yet here she was, literally naked and still entangled with the man she'd hated for almost her entire life. And the way he looked at her, with nothing but utter devotion, ardor, and honesty, prompted her to say the only thing she could say.
"I do."
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