Winter Soldier's Soulmate Ch. 10

Lucy stared at Bucky as he drove the bulky white minivan down the highway. She was curled up in the passenger seat facing him as she contemplated his figure. It was so.....odd to see terrifying soldier Bucky driving a soccer mom vehicle.

They had left late that morning from the Petrov's penthouse apartment. Katarina had fussed over them, making sure they had everything they would need when going on the run. The list included: baby wipes, a homemade recipe book, cue-tips, a book titled the Brothers Karamosav, an iPod full of a variety of music, a lighter, a handgun (for Lucy), mace (also for Lucy), washcloths, sun hat, sunglasses, sunscreen, lotion, contact info for Katerina, and condoms (for them both).

Lucy had tried desperately to return both the condoms and the hand gun, but Katarina would have none of it, and Lucy was tired of arguing. Luckily Bucky hadn't seen either yet. She wasn't quite sure how he would react and frankly didn't really want to know.

Nicoli had given them Lucy's forged papers, a burner phone, and the keys to a white minivan they were currently in. He had told Bucky that it was fully armored, had switching license plates for a quick getaway from police, and could even change color given an hour or so. He winked as he added that it had plenty of room for a growing family.

Lucy was convinced that the two of them were being shipped by the Russian couple. After that they had stopped at the storage facility and picked up their camping gear, making them all ready to go on the run again.

So here they were in the white minivan with Bucky driving down the highway. She looked at the screens on the back of their seats, perfect for entertaining wayward children. Lucy couldn't keep in the snort that she let out.

Bucky looked at her sideways before flicking his eyes back to the road.

"I was just thinking all we need to do is pick up a few kids and then we would look like a family," Lucy responded, in answer to Bucky's unspoken question.

"That would be considered kidnapping, and that's more illegal then I would like to be," Bucky replied deadpanned.

Lucy couldn't help the burst of laughter that escaped at the unexpected response. "I wasn't thinking kidnapping." She finally replied when she caught her breath.

"Then what were you thinking?"

Lucy flushed at the suggestive question and shrugged her shoulders.

"Do you want to see what music Katarina provided for us to listen to?" Lucy said to change the subject to something she felt she could handle.

Bucky grunted. So they were back to that. Lucy shook her head and reached into the bag that Katarina had put all of their necessary running away gear in. she grabbed the iPod that had slipped to the bottom of the bag, judiciously ignoring the gun and condoms. She would find a way to surreptitiously throw away the condoms later, and how to break the news to Bucky that she now had her own gun.

Lucy tugged the iPod out of the bag and figured out how to connect it to the car's sound. She hit shuffle and almost banged her head against the car window when the first song that came up was "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" by Elton John from The Lion King soundtrack. Bucky looked over to her, with a raised eyebrow.

"Not my idea," Lucy said defensively.

She switched the song and grimaced when the next song was "Secret Love Song" By Little Mix and Jason Derulo. She changed the song quickly and got "Love On Top" by Beyonce. She clicked next again and "Kiss the Girl" from The Little Mermaid came on.

Lucy face palmed out of aggravation and sheer embarrassment.

"There seems to be a theme here," Bucky said with a quirk of his mouth.

Lucy could see the humor dancing in his eyes.

"It's not my fault, I didn't ask for this, but seriously Katarina and Nicoli have the subtlety of a herd of elephants," Lucy complained, sliding down in her seat.

He shrugged. "They always wanted me to find my soulmate, they can't help themselves. They want everyone around them to be happy."

"It's a sweet sentiment and all, but it's fucking annoying."

"That's the first time I think I've heard you swear."

"I don't usually but people butting into my personal life irk me."

Bucky smiled at that. "Me too." He said quietly enough that Lucy almost didn't hear him.

They fell into companionable silence once more continuing to listen to love song after love song. Lucy got fed up when "Marry Me" by Jason Derulo came on. She flipped off the car's sound system, succinctly ending the music foray.

*******

"Hey, Bucky?"

"Yea?"

"Can I use the burner phone and call my mom?"

It was evening now, Lucy had grabbed a quick catnap for a while and they were now cruising down 81 going north, having been on the road for roughly 5 hours. The route was starting to look familiar to Lucy, meaning they were in Virginia now, her home state. Lucy ached to see her parents but didn't want to put them in danger.

Bucky responded with a grunt, driving down the now darkening roads. It wasn't dark enough for the headlights yet, but it was getting close. He grabbed the burner phone out of his jacket pocket and handed it to her.

She looked at the black, nondescript, flip phone; considering it. She opened it and typed in her parent's landline number. They wouldn't get cell service if they were at the farm. She waited a breath and pressed the send button before slowly raising the phone with shaking fingers to her ear.

The phone rang twice before it was picked up with her mom's worried voice coming through the speakers. "Lucy?!"

"Hey, mom," Lucy replied tears coming to her eyes.

"Oh my god, baby. Are you alright? Where are you? Are you hurt?"

"Woah mom slow down." Lucy laughed in relief. "I'm fine, can't say the same for my apartment though. I'm somewhere safe, but if you guys knew where that could put you in danger. I made a friend, he's been taking care of me."

"You said you made a friend who is it?"

Lucy looked over at Bucky. "I don't think he would appreciate me giving out his name, but I'm safe with him. I promise. How are you guys? How's the farm? Did the boys get the fields prepped in time for spring?"

"Yes, yes everything is fine here. Maggie is getting rounder every day. She looks like she is about to pop. Keeps complaining about her swollen feet but Roger's got her well taken care of."

"I can't believe she's already in her third trimester. I'm excited for them both, and can't wait to be an aunt to another one."

Lucy's mom was speaking but the girl's attention was diverted by Bucky swerving off the highway fast.

She looked behind them and spotted the two black SUVs barreling down the road.

"Hey, mom. I'm gonna have to call you back another time. I've got to help my friend lose so-" Lucy was interrupted at the sound of gunshots, and the ping of them hitting the van. "-me unwanted company. Bye, mom." She quickly hung up and tossed the phone at her feet so she could reach into her bag and grab the gun that Katarina had given her.

"Where the hell did you get that?!" Bucky bellowed as he swerved around a corner and onto a back road in the rural southwest of Virginia.

"Katarina," Lucy replied as she undid her seatbelt and turned her body around so she was facing the rear of the car.

Bucky let out a heavy sigh. "God damn that woman." He muttered under his breath as they swung around a curve.

Lucy braced herself with one hand against the window and a foot against the car seat back.

"Do you know how to check your magazine?" Bucky was now speaking to her.

"Nope," Lucy replied with a bright smile, eyeing the chasing cars, and the men firing bullets from them.

"Pull back fast on the top of the gun, a round should pop out, if it does then you're good and you can start firing. Remember-"

"Yea yea aim for the tires, I remember." Lucy interrupted doing what she was told and pulling back on the gun. It was full, she snapped the top of the gun back in place and lowered her window. Bucky just shook his head and sighed again as he flung the vehicle around another corner.

Lucy's body was jacked up with so much adrenaline that she didn't even feel any fear. Just pure excitement at the thrill of the chase. Lucy leaned out the window and aimed for the other car.

She was still a pretty lousy shot but considering that she had only shot a gun once before and that time was also in a moving bouncing vehicle aiming at another moving bouncing vehicle, she thought she was doing pretty well.

Ok so she missed more than she hit the vehicles but she still got in a few good ones. She blew out one of their tires and managed to accidentally hit the other vehicle on the windshield, cracking it into a spiderweb pattern.

Everything was going great until the choppers arrived. That's when things started to fall apart a little.

"Shit," Bucky swore. "Luce get back inside the vehicle now!" He yanked her back in before she could move.

Lucy was about to snap at him before gunfire landed outside the window, right where she would have been.

Lucy shrank into Bucky's side, flipping the safety back on the gun.

"Hey, Dollface I need both arms here."

"Oh sorry Bucky. Dollface? Really?"

"Knee jerk just ignore it."

"No, I like it just... wasn't expecting it. It's kinda an old saying."

Bucky grunted back too focused on the road to really respond. He swiped the car into the forest on the side of the road, to avoid the eyes of the choppers.

The trees were sparse enough that the minivan could fit through them but it was close. They hit quite a few bushes though as they went.

"Bucky you're scraping up the car, we just got this one," Lucy complained.

"Yea? Well, tell that to the helicopters."

"I will." Lucy snapped.

She looked through the front windshield and glared at the choppers above them.

"NOW FUCK OFF!" She shouted as she gave them the finger.

"That's not goi-"

Bucky was interrupted by an explosion above them.

"Never mind," Bucky added as he dodged around falling, flaming debris.

"Ok so I know I'm not psychic or magical or anything so what the hell took down that chopper?!" Lucy demanded quickly buckling herself back in her seat, terrified she would go flying out the window at this rate.

"That's what I want to know," Bucky growled out as he got them on another road.

"LOOK!" Lucy shouted, pointing up into the sky.

She had spotted a small flying device moving around the second helicopter.

"What the hell!" Bucky snarled.

They were still being chased by at least one SUV and what sounded like a motorcycle.

"It looks like..." Lucy's voice trailed off.

"WHAT?!" Bucky shouted over a blast from behind them.

Lucy whipped her head around in time to see a giant fireball take up the entire rear window of the car. Her eyes got big and she gaped at it.

"Woah," she whispered under her breath, She had not been expecting that.

"Focus Luce. You gotta tell me what's up there."

"Right, sorry Buck."

Lucy looked back up at the...thing that was circling the last helicopter and sending blue blasts at it. She squinted at it. It was yellow and red. It looked ...like a man.

"It's Iron man!"

"Who?"

"An avenger. One of the good guys."

"No one's just good or evil, Luce. One of the reasons I don't trust anyone." Bucky said calmly as he swung the car around another bend, avoiding hitting a mailbox to an old looking farmhouse that reminded Lucy of her childhood home.

Another blast exploded the sky as the other helicopter went down in a burst of flames.

"Well, that's one way of solving the problem," Lucy said sardonically in response to the falling ball of flame and metal. She tried not to think about the people that were being torched alive inside.

The roar of yet another motorcycle behind them and gunfire made Lucy whip around again. It seemed someone else was tailing them but shooting at their enemies. This was getting out of hand.

Bucky suddenly slammed on the breaks and threw out his flesh arm to prevent Lucy from flying into the windshield even with her seatbelt on. She instinctively grabbed onto the arm and whipped around to see Iron Man standing in the middle of the street with his metal-covered arms folded over his armored chest.

The minivan screeched to a halt mere feet away from hitting him. Lucy would have peed her pants if she was in Iron Man's shoes but he stood cool as a cucumber in front of them.

Everyone was still as the motorcycle sound kicked off behind them. Lucy was too wary to turn and check about the others behind them. She could feel the tension rolling off of Bucky in waves.

The soldier unhooked her seatbelt, bodily picked up Lucy from her seat and pulled her into his lap on the driver's side. She wasn't exactly happy to be squeezed between the steering wheel and the hard plans of Bucky's chest, but when she looked up at the man his face was blank from any emotion. He looked like the first time she had ever met him.

Her suspicions were confirmed when the man holding her pulled a gun from his waistband, popped the driver's side door open and pointed the gun out the door at Iron man.

Iron man's face mask flipped up and revealed Tony Stark's superstar face.

"Sergeant Barnes, do you know who we are?" Stark asked in a calm voice, uncrossing his arms and lifting them up in a gesture of surrender.

Who the fuck were they talking to? There wasn't a sergeant Barnes in the car, just Bucky and her. That didn't seem to stop Bucky's muscles from tensing up even more and his grip on her to increase to the level of pain. She needed to do something to drop the level of tension.

Lucy put up a hand signaling as best as she could, non-verbally for Stark to not speak or move and make things worse than they already were.

He seemed to get the point because he didn't say anything else. Lucy focused back in on Bucky. She raised her hand up and placed it on his cheek trying to draw his attention away from Iron Man and on to her.

He resisted her attempts to change his focus with an ability that she hadn't seen in him since that first day.

"Bucky, please look at me." She whispered to him, but he didn't turn.

Lucy used her last resort and leaned up to kiss his cheek and moved her lips coaxingly towards his mouth.

Instead of responding as she hopped he dragged his flesh arm up and pulled her face away from his and tucked it into his neck. "Stay put." He growled out. "Not safe."

"I know you're worried about me." Lucy tried to console him. "Let me at least grab my gun, I dropped it on the floor over there."

Bucky shook his head at her words. "Not safe." He repeated. "Need to keep you safe."

His eyes stayed on Iron man then flicked sideways as two more figures walked around the car at a more than reasonable distance and joined Stark. They were a redhead and a blond man holding a bow and arrow.

"Bucky your grip is too tight it's hurting," Lucy mumbled into Bucky's neck. His grip immediately loosened enough so she could breathe again but kept her pushed against him where she would be the safest. "Thanks."

The soldier didn't reply.

"Can I talk to them?" Lucy asked cautiously.

Bucky growled but didn't say no.

She raised her voice so hopefully, the Avengers could hear her.

"I think it would make everyone more comfortable if all weapons could be dropped on the ground." Her voice was muffled by Bucky's skin but she heard someone speak up.

"Understood, we're putting weapons down and Tony is stepping out of his armor. Are either of you injured?" The voice sounded female but Bucky wasn't letting Lucy move enough to confirm the woman was speaking.

"Nope," Lucy shouted back. "Just a little worried about keeping me safe."

"More reinforcements are coming would that be a problem?" The woman called back.

Bucky's growl and tensing answered that question pretty fast. "Most definitely," Lucy responded.

"How about if one of us stays and everyone else leaves?" The woman called back.

"Worth a try."

That plan, however, didn't quite work out, it sounded like someone tried to move and Bucky fired a warning shot. Lucy let out a sigh of exasperation. While Tony shouted, "What the hell was that for?! We're trying to help!"

Another male voice replied with "Shut up ass hole. You're not helping."

Then some more grumbles followed.

"Alright, big guy this ain't working," Lucy said to Bucky. "We need to talk to them and you aren't helping with this overprotective bit. What would it take to make you comfortable enough for me to talk to them face to face."

"No. Not safe." He responded robotically.

"I got that, it doesn't change the fact that I need to talk to them face to face."

Bucky shook his head but didn't say anything beyond that.

"Bucky, baby. I know you don't like this. I don't either, but I need you to meet me halfway."

She could feel a frown changing his face from the tensing of his neck. Her Bucky was starting to come back to her.

"That's it. Now you need to let me move, not only because I have people I need to talk to, but also this steering wheel is digging into my hip bone in a really uncomfortable way."

The hand pushing her face into his neck immediately dropped and the seat moved back so Lucy could finally be more comfortable. She sighed in relief as the pressure went away.

"Thanks." She mumbled into his neck before turning to see the three avengers standing in the road waiting.

Lucy recognized Hawkeye and black widow from their pictures and Stark was easy. Stark was the one who looked like he was about to explode with impatience. It appeared to be that the Widow's hand on his arm was keeping him somewhat under control, which she appreciated.

Bucky's arm wrapped around her again but avoided smooshing her face into his skin. She gave a tentative wave to the three avengers. Hawkeye waved back with a half-smile.

"See Bucky? They're being friendly."

The soldier growled in response to the wave, placing a possessive hand on the back of Lucy's neck.

"Oh for God sakes you don't need to be a caveman. None of those people are my soulmates. Relax."

"Mine," Bucky growled in Lucy's ear and pulled her in for a fierce possessive kiss that Lucy had not been expecting at all.

She couldn't help but respond in kind, kissing him back. Lucy pulled herself back breathing heavily.

"That's not what I was expecting. Seriously Bucky we're in the middle of a standoff. It's not a private moment."

"You're still mine."

Lucy rolled her eyes. "Now is not the time. We can talk about this later after I deal with this."

Bucky let out a sigh, coming back to himself fully. "Fine later."

"So you going to let me talk to the Avengers now?"

"Yes, but if they do anything I don't like I'm killing them."

Lucy pecked him on the cheek. "I would expect nothing less."

She hopped out of the car and waited for Bucky to join her. He stepped out of the car and flexed his muscles threateningly. If he wasn't so muscular, it would have looked ridiculous, but on him, it was kinda hard for Lucy to not drool.

She shook herself out of it and faced the three avengers. Bucky stood behind her with guns pointed at the Black Widow and Hawkeye.

"Really is that necessary. We're heroes, remember?" Tony snapped sarcastically.

"Can we not argue about the situation?" Lucy sighed, rubbing her forehead. "We've got some trust issues, seeing as every time we turn around someone else is attacking us. So Stark you can just chill."

Tony looked taken aback by her snark but a tiny smile graced his lips after a moment. Lucy didn't want to try and interpret that and focused back on Natasha, who seemed to be the most reasonable.

"So yea, thanks for helping out earlier. Is there anything else we can do for you guys before we get back on the road?"

The avengers looked at each other then back at Lucy in response to her statement.