AN: Jessica's outfit for the beginning of the chapter is up top. Yes, I know it's not really "the times" but I couldn't find anything else that I liked for this act.

Get ready for this chapter. It's... it's a whirlwind.

✧

Steve and Jessica Rogers had fought with the Howling Commandos for two, long years.

They had destroyed Hydra facilities in France, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Stalingrad and many more within this time, as well as taking over several of their submarines.

The group was on a mission to obliterate Hydra from the maps of the U.S Army, which is what let them to be currently on a side of a mountain, over looking a railway track for their mission.

Jessica's head was on Bucky's shoulder as she watched Steve gaze out into the snow, causing her to lightly smile before she frowned .

"He's got his thinking face on," Jessica whispered. Bucky furrowed his brows, turning his head and speaking into her hair, "How can you tell?"

Jessica chuckled, "I think I would know my husband."

"I would sure hope so, Brooklyn baby," Bucky winked down at her. Jessica's face dropped at the act, a ping of panic electrifying her body as she whispered, "Something bad is going to happen today."

"What do you mean?" Bucky questioned, eyes narrowed a bit.

Jessica turned and looked to Dugan, Morita, James, Dernier, and Falsworth, saying, "I don't know... maybe it's just me. I've been on edge today."

Bucky wrapped an arm around her shoulder and began walking them over to Steve as he said, "It's probably just because you're stressed about this mission. I wouldn't worry about it."

"Yeah. You're probably right."

When they made it over to Steve, Jessica immediately tucked herself under his arm, causing him to smile down at her. He kissed her head and wrapped his arm around her waist, fingers discretely finding themselves at her waistband on her pants.

It was quiet between the trio of best friends before Bucky broke it, saying, "Remember when I made you ride the Cyclone at Coney Island?"

"Yeah, and I threw up on Jess' shoes?" He asked, following Bucky's gaze to the zip-line in front of them. Jessica pouted against Steve's chest, "I liked those shoes, too."

"This isn't payback, is it?" Bucky questioned, hesitation wavering his voice. Jessica smirked, turning to him, "Afraid of heights, Buck?"

Bucky chuckled and reached under his neckline, producing a leather necklace with a Bloodstone gem in the middle that was wrapped in a silver wire to the leather.

"I have this to protect me, right? Why would I be?"

Jessica nodded, her voice affirmative, "Every one of you has one. Though, everyone's is different."

"What are the others?" Steve questioned, pulling the same necklace out, the only difference his being the Malachite gemstone.

Jessica hummed, "Well, every stone means something different as you know. They also have different vibrations, like how every person does too. Just match them. You have Bloodstone, Buck. Falsworth has Amethyst, Mortia was Prehinate, Gabe has Obsidian, Dernier has Black Tourmaline and Dugan has Onyx. All of you need different types of protection."

"And what does mine mean, Brooklyn baby?" Steve asked, a smile on his face from hearing his wife being passionate about something.

Her gaze fell back on him, "Oh, Malachite? It's a guardian stone as well. It helps with protection from negativity, sensing danger and resisting temptation."

Bucky let out a laugh and said, "He always had a problem with getting into situations which are dangerous."

Steve went to say something, scoffing when Jessica cut him off, saying, "This is true. Plus it's my signature color, so it's perfect."

"Like you," He whispered into her red hair, causing Bucky to roll his eyes. The man licked his lips as he spoke, "Even after two years you are still disgustingly in love. I thought this would leave."

"Buck, if you have a true and genuine love, the honeymoon phase should never leave," Jessica winked, "One day you'll find that."

Bucky sighed, "Then we better make this quick, because I need to find a girl before I'm eighty."

"You were right," Jones' voice took the trio from their conversation, making them turn to him and Mortia who were listening to a radio, "Dr. Zola's on the train. Hydra dispatcher gave him permission to open up the throttle. Wherever he's going, they must need him bad."

"Perfect," Jessica smirked, "Thank you, Gabe. Mortia."

The two men nodded as Steve put his helmet on this head, everyone following suit by grabbing their gear. Jessica threw her gun over her shoulder in case she needed it, not that she liked using it in the first place.

She never had.

"Let's get going, because they're moving like the devil," Falsworth told, taking the binoculars from his eyes. Steve nodded as he prepared the zip-line, "We only got about a ten second window. You miss that window, we're bugs on a windshield."

Jessica grimaced as Falsworth gave her the same expression, "Mind the gap."

"Better get moving, bugs!" Dugan exclaimed as Steve gripped onto the handles.

Steve waited for a moment as Dernier counted down softly, eyes on his pocket watch. He nodded and yelled in French, telling Steve to go making the man jump off the mountain.

Jessica watched and Mortia turned to her, saying, "Jess, you next."

She nodded and walked over, Bucky handing her the next pair of handlebars. Jessica gave him a grateful smile before she looked back to Steve, who was mid-air, and jumped off the snowy terrain.

Gravity strained her muscles in her upper arms as she flew through the air, her grip on the metal handlebar tightening instinctively. Bucky and the others followed suit as Steve landed on the freight train, Jessica behind her husband slightly.

Her knees were bent under her as one hand was placed on the train's roof, her other hand behind her as she kept her body close to the metal. She smiled at Steve when he briefly turned back to make sure she had gotten on safely, making her wink at him.

Everyone stood and followed Steve on the fast train, balancing with their arms slightly out in front of them. Steve was the first to climb down the ladder on the side of Dr. Zola's form of transportation, entering the train as Jessica quickly found her same doing the same.

Bucky quickly entered after, shutting the door before arming himself with his gun. The trio took in the freight car in front of them, Jessica following Steve on the left side while Bucky took the right.

As Steve stepped into the second car, the door suddenly slid shut in front of Jessica, causing the couple's eyes to wide as they stared back at one another. Jessica turned as a gun went off in behind her, Bucky moving in front of his best friend as he fired back.

Five men made their way toward Jessica and Bucky, causing them to split apart and find shelter against a shelf of canisters. Bucky reloaded as Jessica's eyes flashed green, her hand curling against her palm as she made the gun that was in the Hydra soldier's hand move.

The butt of the gun slammed against his helmet before his head was thrown against the side of the train. Bucky suddenly made his way over to Jessica's side, throwing his larger gun to the ground.

"I'm out!" He yelled. The best friends were pressed against one another, Bucky's back against Jessica's chest as she said, "Move so I can smash his helmet against his skull."

"That's violent."

Jessica's normal husky voice was several octaves higher, "Says the one with a fucking gun!"

The door to the freight car behind them opened to reveal Steve, who threw Bucky his handgun. The pair nodded and Steve ran in, hitting the canisters in the middle of the car.

They flew against the Hydra agent and Bucky moved to shoot the man, successfully killing him.

Bucky walked over to Steve, Jessica following as he said, "I had him on the ropes."

"The fuck you did not," Jessica rolled her eyes, her stomach clenching unconsciously.

The sound of a replusor took them from their conversation, a massive mechanical Hydra agent behind them.

"Get down!"

The trooper shot at Steve, his blasters blowing the shield from his hand and causing a large explosion. The back wall blew out causing the wind to obscure Jessica's vision as she was thrown against the side of the freight car with Steve, a gasp escaping her lips as she landed on top of him.

Her ears hummed with a high-pitch screech as she blinked away her shock, watching as Bucky gripped onto Steve's shield that had fallen to the floor.

Dread washed over the woman as whispers of Bucky's name entered her head, causing her to scream, "NO!"

The trooper's cannon went off again, using Steve's shield as a target, sending Bucky through the hole in the train. Steve quickly stood and took care of the trooper as Jessica ran to the side where Bucky had fallen out of, her breath rapid as she saw him holding onto the side of the ladder they had climbed in on.

Panic set in her veins, thoughts crashing against one another as she reached out for the man, yelling, "Bucky! Please! Grab my hand!"

She strained as she couldn't reach his hand, causing her to get back into the train. Steve, who had been watching, knew what she was thinking and took her place, reaching out for his best friend.

"Take my hand!" He screamed, Jessica's eyes flashing a bright green behind him.

The metal Bucky was on curved and his fingertips brushed against Steve's his eyes wide before he lost his grip, the handlebar he was holding onto giving out from under him.

"NO!"

Jessica let out gasp as her eyes met Bucky's as he fell, the man screaming. The red head watched as he fell, causing her knees to give out under her as she screamed his name.

Her hands that were on the ground shook as tears streamed down her face, feeling Bucky's soul grow close to death. Loud sobs wracked through her as her scream caused the train to shake, Steve turning back to her with tears.

Jessica's body was shaking as loud whimpers left escaped roughly, causing her breathing to be uneven. Steve knelt down beside her and cried into her hair, the couple gripping onto one another in pain as they had lost their best friend.

✧

Three days later, Jessica and Steve were numbly beside on another in the ruble of Arthur's pub that had been bombed in London, a bottle of whiskey in Jessica's hand.

The woman planned on drinking it, but she hadn't even pressed her lips against the bottle.

She didn't have the will to.

Instead, she decided to look around the bar, memories of her and Steve's wedding night flooding her thoughts.

The man on the radio was the only sound throughout the bar until Jessica whispered, "We were married there."

Steve's eyes left the glass in his hands and he followed her gaze to the park across the street, seeing the destruction of trees on the grass.

"It seems like such a long time ago," He murmured, eyes dull. Jessica gulped and set the bottle of whiskey on the table, discarding it as she said, "Bucky was so happy for us... Steve, what are we going to tell his family? His sisters?"

"I don't know," A stray tear fell down Steve's cheek as his voice grew hoarse, "But he won't die in vain."

Jessica nodded as her chin quivered, "Why did this happen? He was a good man. He deserved so much better. All his dreams in life? They're gone because of this god damn war."

She was a mess by the time she had finished, resting her elbows on the table as she put her head in her hands. Steve sniffed away his tears as he sat closer to her, wrapping an arm around Jessica's shoulders.

Steve pulled his wife to him and let her cry against his chest, fingers brushing through her long hair as he bit his lip to stop him from letting out a sob.

The breaking of glass pulled the couple from one another, only to see Peggy standing there with Lorraine standing in the ruins of the bar. Jessica wiped her eyes as she sat straight in her chair, the women walking over.

Steve was looking at his empty glass, pouring himself more as he said, "Dr. Erskine said that the serum wouldn't just affect my muscles, it would affect my cells. Create a protective system of regeneration and healing. Which means, um, I can't get drunk."

"He's been trying to for three days," Jessica sniffed as the women came around the other side of the table.

Lorraine bent down beside her and gave her a grim smile as Peggy said, "Your metabolism burns four times faster than the average person. He and Jessica thought it could be one of the side effects."

It was quiet for a moment before Peggy looked between the couple, "It wasn't your fault."

"Did you read the report?" Steve simply questioned. Peggy sighed, knowing what he was going to say, "Yes."

"Then you know that's not true," Steve didn't look up from his personal bottle of bourbon. Jessica shut her eyes and roughly said, "It's not your fault, Steve. It's mine. If only I gotten him closer to you... you could have grabbed him better."

Steve met the crown of her head, placing his hand on her thigh, "Jess... it's not your fault."

"Then you shouldn't blame yourself either," Jessica scoffed through her tears, humorlessly chuckling as she met his eyes with her green ones, "You can't blame yourself and not me, Steve. I was there. I was apart of the mission, too."

When Steve didn't respond, Lorraine spoke for the first time, saying, "You both did everything you could. You believed in your friend, right? You respected him? Then stop blaming yourselves. Allow Barnes the dignity of his choice."

"He damn well must have thought you two were worth it," Peggy followed, voice hardened. Jessica gave the women a grim smile before Steve said, "I'm going after Schmidt."

"Then we'll go together."

Steve turned to Jessica, giving her a wary look making her say, "Don't even think about it. We're in this together, remember? It's been us as a pair since the beginning. Till the end of the line, right?"

Steve grabbed her hand and brought it to his lips, kissing it tenderly before he looked to Peggy, "We're not gonna stop until all of Hydra is dead or captured."

"You won't be alone."

✧

AN: This chapter was rough... the rest of this act is going to be the same way.