★ ★ ★

Bucky sat on Marlena's bed. His focus was on the wall at the opposite side of the room, and he was absentmindedly twirling Marlena's phone around in his hands.

After darting up the stairs, he immediately found his way into her room. He noticed the odd way one side of her comforter had been folded upward, while the rest of it was completely normal. Because of that, he assumed she had been hiding underneath her bed when Hydra first stormed into her house, only to be found and yanked out by a Hydra agent. After further investigation his assumptions were proven to be true, and it only made him feel worse about the entire situation.

For the past several minutes, his mind had been drifting elsewhere, though. He was not only angry and upset because Hydra had taken one of the most important people in his life away from him, but he was also confused as to how they had even found her house in the first place, let alone found out he was staying there with her. He knew Hydra wasn't to be underestimated—S.H.I.E.L.D. figured that out shortly after the helicarrier accident in the Potomac—but he had kept such a low profile. Marlena made it a point not to tell anyone about him. The only person who had known about him was Hallie, and even Hallie hadn't known who he truly was. . .at least that was the way it used to be.

The moment realization struck Bucky, Marlena's phone vibrated in his hand. He turned it over to see Hallie's name—along with several emoticons—being displayed on the screen with a small paragraph of text below it.

The text read: Hey, Mar! Would you maybe wanna come over for dinner tonight? I miss you, and mom and dad miss you. Plus, I felt like a nice, steaming hot bowl of chicken alfredo would make up for the stress I've caused you. Text me back when you can. Love you lots.

Bucky squeezed his eyes shut as he began to process the newfound anger flowing inside of his body. This was the very reason why Hallie had apologized to him the other day. It had nothing to do with her thinking he was a killer but everything to do with turning him in because she thought he was a killer. Hallie was the reason they had found the house; Hallie was the reason why they knew where to find him; Hallie was the reason why Marlena was gone, and he was going to make sure she was aware of that. She thought she had been protecting Marlena from Bucky when she called it in, but she had, in fact, only endangered her best friend further.

Although Bucky was increasingly angry with Hallie, he would not hurt her solely because of Marlena, as well as the fact that he grew to sort of respect her. He would, however, make her feel the pain of allowing her best friend to be captured by such a sadistic group of people, and he was going to make her live with that. In his eyes, from this point on, whatever happened to Marlena was now Hallie's fault rather than his.

Bucky let out a sigh and shoved the phone into his pocket. He turned to look at Steve, who stood by the door watching him rather intently.

Even though he and Bucky hadn't truly seen each other in the better part of seventy years, he still knew his best friend better than he knew the back of his hand. He didn't, however, know what it was that Bucky was feeling at the moment. He knew Bucky was angry and upset because of the current situation he was in, but there was another emotion he noticed hiding in those familiar blue eyes of his. Steve noticed just how much Bucky cared about Marlena, so much that it was consuming him, and he couldn't recall him ever acting this way about a female.

Throughout high school, and even after high school, Bucky had had quite a lot of girlfriends. Most of his relationships were casual and happened more so along the lines of trying to boost Steve's confidence with girls. Bucky cared about them, of course, but never to an extent such as this one. Bucky was willing to risk everything to bring Marlena back to him, no matter who he had to hurt or kill in the process, and although Bucky was one of the most caring people in the world back then, Steve doubted he would do something so drastic for those girls. It was a new side to the old Bucky that Steve was beginning to notice, and he was slowly working on the mystery of what exactly it could be.

"You're goin' after her, aren't you, Buck?" Steve asked as he leaned against the door frame. Hearing his name come out of Steve's mouth comforted him slightly, but it was not enough to remove him from the agony of the situation he was feeling inside.

"You don't have to come with me," he said with furrowed eyebrows.

"I know—when do we start?"

Bucky gave his old friend a small smile in response. He stood up and shoved Marlena's cell phone into his pocket before heading over to Steve. He was more than ready to head out of the door until he remembered Mason. He hadn't seen the boy since he had ran upstairs to Marlena's room, and the thought of something happening to him as well scared him even further. He couldn't lose another Claire. He was barely holding himself together because of Marlena's absence, and he didn't know what he would do if he were to lose Mason too.

"Where's Mason at?" Bucky asked Steve frantically.

It was more than obvious to Steve that Bucky cared deeply about the Claire family, despite not having known them very long. Steve cared about them as well, but his affection had more to do with the fact that they were the descendants of one of his very dear friends. Bucky's emotions were based solely off of the time he had spent with them, as well as how much they contributed in helping bring him back. He was grateful for them, and he had every right to be.

"I'm not sure," Steve answered, stepping out into the hallway to look for him.

Bucky angrily ran a hand through his hair in an attempt to keep from punching Marlena's bedroom wall out.

He was about to head out of the room when he heard sniffles coming from inside Marlena's closet. He rushed over and pulled the door open, startling the small boy sitting on the floor. He was holding one of Marlena's sweatshirts in his hands, and Bucky frowned when he noticed the tears running down his face.

"Is my sissy gonna be okay?" he squeaked.

Bucky knelt down in front of him and did his best to smile at the boy. "She's gonna be fine, buddy."

He had a hard time trying to convince his own self about Marlena, but he didn't want Mason to be upset. He looked so much like Marlena that watching him cry was almost like watching her cry, and he did not need images of a crying Marlena inside his head. It would only make him feel worse than he already did.

"Are you gonna save her from the bad guys, Bucky?"

Bucky sighed and removed the sweatshirt from his hands, laying it on the shelf beside him. "I'm gonna try. I promise you I'll do whatever I can to bring her home."

"Good. Because I really wanna be the best man at you guys' wedding, and you can't have a wedding if you don't have the bride," Mason mused.

Bucky raised his brows at the young boy but laughed nonetheless. He reached out and pulled Mason off of the floor, ushering him out of the closet. "Right you are, Mason."

"I take it you found him," Steve chimed as he stepped back into the room.

"Yes," Bucky answered, his demeanor completely changing as he realized the task at hand. "But we need to get a move on. I have somewhere I need to be."

"Where are we going?" Mason asked as Bucky gently pulled him out of the room.

"To a friend's."

★ ★ ★

Bucky, Steve, and Mason arrived at the familiar house in less than ten minutes. Mason hopped out of the car the moment he realized where he was, and Bucky and Steve followed closely behind him. Bucky noticed Hallie's car in the driveway, as well as another sitting beside it. She assumed the other vehicle to belong to her parents, so he paid it no mind.

"Buck, where are we?" Steve asked as he gazed up at the house.

"Marlena's friend's house," Bucky answered, his tone cold. "She's the reason we're in this mess, and I came to make sure she knows that."

Steve snapped his head towards his friend, questioning his intentions. "Are you sure you wanna do this right now? It may only cause more damage than good, Bucky, and if we're gonna find Marlena we need to get to work right away."

"I'm well aware, Steve, but she deserves to live with this," Bucky told him. "Plus, I have nowhere to take Mason. His mom is at work, and I'm not exactly sure where that is."

Steve only let out a sigh in response and hurried up the steps with Bucky. Mason had already knocked on the door, and the moment the two men stepped onto the porch, the front door flew open.

Hallie smiled down at Mason, but it dropped the moment she noticed the two men standing behind him. Bucky practically glared daggers into her, and she frowned, wondering what he could possibly be upset about.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" she asked, her eyes flashing over to Steve. "And why is Captain America standing on my porch?"

Bucky didn't answer. His anger was getting the best of him, and without another thought he grabbed Hallie by her arm and roughly yanked her back into her home. She struggled to come up with a protest against his actions, but she was too busy trying not to fall over, despite the tight grip he had on her arm.

Hallie winced as Bucky pushed her into a wall. "Ow! What the hell, Bucky?" she seethed as she attempted to remove herself from the wall, only to be pushed back into it.

"You're an idiot, Hallie, you know that?" he spat at her.

Being in Hallie's presence—knowing that she was the one responsible for Marlena's disappearance—only made him angrier. He remembered telling Marlena that he didn't want to hurt anyone anymore, as well as telling himself earlier he didn't want to hurt Hallie, but now he did. At the moment he was willing to hurt anyone for Marlena, yet at the same time he was trying to control himself for the sake of her. He knew she would never forgive him for hurting her best friend, and he didn't want that.

"What did I do?" Hallie strained.

Steve stood several feet away from the two of them with Mason behind him, watching Bucky closely. If he were to lose control of himself and make an attempt to hurt Hallie, he would be right there to stop it. From what Bucky had told him, Hallie had done a horrible thing, but she didn't deserve to be harmed because of it.

Bucky grunted and pushed away from her. "You turned me in to Hydra and they came to the house looking for me. I wasn't there, so they decided they would take Marlena instead," Bucky explained to her, a scowl on his face.

Hallie's face dropped as she took in his words, but she wasn't given the chance to answer before he continued.

"I came here to tell you that this entire situation is your fault—I came here to make you feel the pain that I'm feeling now that she's gone," Bucky said to her.

He watched as the tears pooled in her eyes, but he didn't care; it was exactly what he wanted.

"I didn't mean for this to happen," she squeaked, running a hand over her face.

"It doesn't matter anymore, Hallie," Bucky grumbled. "Just know that from this point on, whatever happens to her will be on your hands."

Hallie's mind was running a million miles an hour. The moment the words fell out of his mouth she regretted everything her and Dylan had done. Because of their actions—because she couldn't just trust Marlena like she had been told to do that day at the museum—her best friend was gone, and she wasn't sure whether or not she was coming back.

"I-I didn't—I didn't. . .oh my gosh, no. This can't be happening." Hallie squeezed her eyes shut and pulled at her hair with her hands.

The sound of footsteps rushing down the stairs caught Bucky's attention, and he turned to see a very familiar face. It was Dylan, Marlena's ex-boyfriend and the one who had tried to harm her when the two were at the mall together. His presence confused Bucky and also added to his anger.

"Whoa," Dylan spoke as he slowed to a walk. "I could've swore I called the cops on you days ago, man."

Realization hit Bucky like a truck, and he turned back to Hallie with such hatred in his eyes, a hatred that only frightened Hallie.

"So, you've been working with him this entire time just so you could find some way to get rid of me? You hated me that much that you felt the need to go behind your best friend's back? You felt that you needed to betray her trust?" Bucky snapped.

"Bucky," Steve warned, only to be ignored.

"I'm so sorry, Bucky. I really, truly am sorry," Hallie said to him, the tears now streaming down her face.

Bucky scoffed and shook his head before stepping away from her. If he wasn't out of the house within the next thirty seconds he was going to lose it. "When I bring her back, you can tell her your-damn-self. I just wouldn't count on her being so forgiving of the situation, though."

Hallie could not answer him. She knew he was right, and that pained her even more. She knew Marlena wouldn't forgive her if she found out about what she had done. It was hard for Marlena to trust people, and when she did she trusted them with everything she had. However, when someone did something to lose her trust, they lost it for good, which meant that there was a very slim chance of Marlena ever trusting that person again.

"I'm leaving Mason here with you to keep him safe," Bucky said to her as he approached Steve's side. "I suggest you call Miranda and inform her of the situation; I'm sure she'd love to hear the story about how her daughter's best friend is a complete joke."

Hallie could only stand there and watch through her tears as Bucky bid a quick goodbye to Mason before taking off with Steve.

"Was that really necessary?" Steve questioned Bucky as the two approached Marlena's Jeep.

Bucky paused and turned to face him. "What's necessary is focusing on trying to find Marlena."

Bucky moved to get into the car, but Steve stopped him and let out a sigh. "I think I know someone who can help us—or several someones, actually."

"Then what are we waiting for, punk?" Bucky smirked as he tossed the car keys to Steve. Steve caught them with ease and smiled at the old nickname before hopping into the driver's seat.

The two men were definitely in for a long night ahead of them.