In from the cold - Part 1

[innitmarvelous_og]

Bucky Barnes, formerly the Winter Soldier (or at least he is trying to formerly become the Winter Soldier) woke up early on a cold winter morning, his senses on alert as he scanned his surroundings. He was in the barn of a remote cabin in the mountains, surrounded by snow and silence. The cabin was occupied with a small family, so he had spent the night in the barn, not wanting to alarm those inside of the house.

He had been on the run for months, trying to escape the memories of his past as a deadly assassin. But now, in this peaceful wilderness, he felt like he could finally breathe.

He got up and he was preparing to leave the barn behind, knowing he needed to get started as soon as possible of he were going to put miles between this place and his next destination before nightfall.

When he opened the barn door, and peeked outside, he found himself wishing for a hot cup of coffee. Huh, he mused, that was a strange reaction upon seeing his own breath rising up before him. He'd not had a thought like that in decades!

Seventy years to be exact, Barnes!

Bucky shook his head, and cleared his thoughts. He returned to the inside of the barn to retrieve his backpack carrying his meager possessions, and was stopped by a voice at the door.

"Hello," said the voice.

He immediately turned around, taking a defensive stance, and was surprised by who he saw standing there: a girl about eight years old is standing at the door. The way she's dressed is warm but not for someone who is going to be out in the cold for long, and there's a bucket hanging from one of her hands.

"I said, hello."

Bucky tried to make himself relax, although he couldn't do it fully. Not with everything HYDRA had done to his mind and body over the 70 plus years they used him as the Winter Soldier. Maybe he would never be able to relax fully, who knows.

"Can you talk, mister?" the girl asked, her face contorted with worry.

"Of course, I can," he replied, gruffly but not as gruffly as he could have. "Who are you?"

"My name is Annie, and I'm supposed to be milking our cow right now." As if on cue, the cow mooed, and turned her head to look at them both, munching on hay. Annie pointed to the bovine, and told him, "That's Penny."

Bucky nodded his head, "Hello."

"Mister, why are you in our barn?"

"I'm a friend of your Dad's."

"You mean Tommy? He's not my Dad. He's Mommy's boyfriend who stays with us."

"Oh."

"You don't know him do you?"

Bucky almost lied, and told Annie that of course he knows her mom's boyfriend, but there's something about the way she is looking at him that keep him from doing it He finally shook his head, and muttered, "No, no, I don't know him. Or your mom either."

"Then why are you in our barn?" Annie asked, innocently.

"Because I needed a place to—"

"Annie, what is taking you so long in getting that cow milked?" a hard, male voice asked from the outside.