THREE WEEKS LATER: AUGUST 16, 2014

★ ★ ★

It was nearing the middle of August, which meant that Marlena had now been enjoying everything Hydra had to offer for an estimated time of three weeks. Bucky was less than pleased with the fact of it, and his anger and sadness towards the matter only grew as the days dragged on. He absolutely despised the fact that it was taking so excruciatingly long for them to find Marlena. The situation was growing so terribly awful for Bucky that it was becoming almost impossible for him to deal with. It threatened to bring the former assassin to tears, and that was something he would rather his temporary colleagues not witness.

Even with the world's most advanced technology, the team still had yet to find any sort of leads regarding Marlena's whereabouts. Maria Hill was working very diligently on attempting to locate Marlena for Bucky (mostly Steve), but there had been nothing for her to follow for the past three weeks. It was almost as if Hydra had completely fallen off the face of the earth, their widespread bases and facilities along with it. Completely removing Hydra from the face of the Earth had originally been what Steve was aiming for months ago, but now he was aiming on finding Marlena, and he couldn't necessarily do so if that was the case.

Steve let out an exasperated sigh and ran a hand over his face, unsure of what to make of the current news he had just received through the phone. "Please, Maria, give me anything else—anything but that."

"I'm sorry, Steve, but there's nothing else I can do. . .literally," Maria informed him. "It's been almost a month, and you know I want nothing more than to help you find her, but if there was something to find I would have found it already."

Steve nodded, although Maria could not see him. He had been speaking with her about Marlena for the past fifteen minutes, and she had given him some information that he hadn't exactly been planning on hearing: she couldn't find Marlena, and she would not continue to try.

Maria Hill was never one to give up, but under certain circumstances she felt it was only necessary. This just so happened to be one of those circumstances. Maria had put everything she possibly could into the mission, yet she received absolutely nothing in return.

As a former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and one of Tony Stark's many employees, she was very intelligent in the field of technology, as well as the field of finding her way around it. With the right technology, Maria proved to be successful in almost everything she was asked to do, whether it be hacking into something as simple as a cell phone or hacking into something as dangerously complex as the Pentagon's firewall. She could not, however, hack into a single Hydra database in order to locate one teenage girl. It was very rare for someone like her to fail, and although failing only encouraged her to try harder, she could only try so much harder before there was nothing left to try for.

"Even with Natasha's expertise in the field of technology I highly doubt she'd be able to locate her either," Maria continued. "I wish there was something else that I could do, but I can't. I really am sorry, Steve."

"This is going to destroy him," Steve muttered absentmindedly. "What am I supposed to say to him?"

Maria sighed through the speaker. "I'm not sure, Steve. But don't give up just yet; I'm sure she's out there, and I will be sure to report to you any kind suspicious activity that I come across. I'm sorry that I couldn't do more."

"It's okay, Maria," Steve assured her. "I appreciate your help."

Steve hung up the phone and laid it down on the table. He wasn't sure what to do now. The person best fit for finding Marlena couldn't find her, and he was stuck on what exactly it was that he needed to say to the person most intent on finding her. He knew he needed to tell Bucky about it, but learning that there was a possibility of Marlena never being found would surely crush him, and he was already in enough emotional turmoil as it was. Steve didn't exactly need—or want—to see his best friend experience anymore.

"Hey, what's the matter?" a voice sounded, removing Steve from his thoughts.

He looked up to find Bucky staring down at him with a rather curious expression on his face and sighed. "Maria has given up the search to find Marlena."

Bucky's face fell at the sound of his words, and Steve watched with a frown as his eyes filled up with anger. "What the hell do you mean she's 'given up'? She can't give up!" Bucky exclaimed angrily, attracting Natasha's attention from the bathroom.

"I'm sorry, Buck," Steve apologized as Natasha hurried into the dining room, her red hair still damp from her shower. "She said she's done everything she could to locate Marlena, but apparently there's nothing to locate."

Bucky bit the inside of his cheek to keep from snapping at Steve. It wasn't his fault Maria had chosen to give up the search, so he needn't take it out on him. It would only make things worse for all of them.

"What the hell is going on in here?" Natasha chimed as she eyed the two men.

Steve looked up at her. "Maria's called off the search for Marlena. She can't seem to find a trace of her existence anywhere, so she felt there was no need for her to continue trying."

The tears burned in Bucky's eyes as he was reminded of the situation, and he stormed out of the dining room without another word.

Natasha and Steve watched with a frown as he stomped away. The guest bedroom door slammed shut seconds later, and Steve sighed before standing up.

"I'm gonna go talk to him," he told Natasha as he made a move to walk passed her.

She grabbed at his arm and pulled him back, prompting a seemingly confused expression to appear on his face. Natasha only shook her head at him and walked away, making her way towards the room Bucky had just angrily charged into.

She turned the knob and pushed the door open. Almost immediately she was met with the sound of sniffling, and she knew then that Bucky was in fact crying. He was hunched over on the queen-sized bed with his head in his hands and his fingers gripping what little bit of hair had escaped the tie that held his perfect man bun.

Natasha padded quietly across the carpeted floor and moved to sit down beside him on the bed. She was sure that he was aware of her presence, but he didn't act on it. He never said a word and, instead, continued crying. Natasha, much to her own surprise, wrapped her slim arm around his shoulders and pulled him to her in a comforting notion. What further surprised her was that he allowed her to do it and had even buried his head into her neck in an attempt to suppress his sobs.

Natasha wasn't sure why she had decided to come talk to Bucky; all she was sure of was that he needed someone, and she felt that that someone needed to be her. She still didn't trust Bucky, and she didn't think she would ever be able to fully trust him at all, but she didn't think she needed trust to be able to comfort someone.

Over the past few weeks she had spent around him, she had become more aware of the fact that he wasn't the person she met back in May. He wasn't intent on killing everything in his path as the Winter Soldier had been, and, instead, he was intent on determining the whereabouts of someone he seemed to care deeply about. Natasha could only begin to feel sympathy for the broken man, and as someone who had felt the pain he felt once before, she felt she needed to do something to rid as much of it as she possibly could.

"Everything's gonna be okay, Bucky," Natasha assured him as she rubbed his arm. "We're gonna find her."

Bucky sniffed and sat back up, wiping at his tear-stained eyes with the back of his hand. "How are we supposed to find her when the one person who could find her can't? I can't live without her, I honestly can't. She's the most important person in my life, and being without her hurts like fucking hell."

Natasha was seemingly surprised by his words but did her best not to let it show. "Wow, you really do care about this girl, don't you?"

Bucky looked up at her, his blue eyes meeting her green ones. "I don't only care about her, Natasha," Bucky sighed, "I'm in love with her."

Natasha opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out. Bucky noticed the expression on her face and let out a small chuckle.

"Steve didn't tell you that, did he?" Bucky questioned.

Natasha shook her head and ran a hand through her still-damp hair. "I just—how? How did this happen?"

Bucky shrugged and began playing with his hands. "It just kind of did, I guess. I had never intended on getting so close to her when we first met, but she's the type of person that you just can't help but be drawn to. And I guess the way she treated me made it much easier for me to become so attached to her."

Natasha gave him a small smile and looked down at the floor. "I can understand where you're coming from. I feel the same way about Steve."

Bucky's head shot over to her the moment the words left her mouth. He was sure that Natasha and Steve both held feelings for each other, but he had never questioned either of them about it due to the fact that finding Marlena was where his attention seemed to remain. Now that Natasha had somewhat confirmed it for him, he no longer felt the need to ask either one of them about it.

"I knew it," Bucky stated, causing Natasha to look back up at him. "I knew you and Steve had the hots for each other."

Natasha rolled her eyes. "That isn't the point here, Barnes. The point is that you have someone to fight for just as the rest of us do, and just because one person gives up on them doesn't mean that you have to. You have to be willing to do what that person wasn't able to in order win the fight for them."

"Who knew Black Widow could be so inspirational?" Bucky said with a smirk.

Natasha chuckled. "And who knew the notorious Winter Soldier could be so in love with someone that he was willing to risk everything—including his life—in order to get her back?"

Bucky sighed. "I will bring her back."

"I know, but you're not gonna do it alone," Natasha told him, patting his back.

"Thanks, Natasha."

Natasha smirked and stood up. "C'mon. We've got you a girl to find," she chimed as she pulled him off of the bed.

Bucky didn't respond, and, instead, followed Natasha out of the bedroom, his determination to find Marlena now at an all-time high. He would bring her back if it was the last thing he did, and there was nothing and no one who could ever get in the way of that.