The grass prickled at my arms and legs. My hair spread out on the grass created a bright contrast between the white and green. My hands were folded over my stomach and the tree's branches above me shielded my face from the sun. It wasn't a very hot day in Wakanda, but the shade from the tree was very helpful in keeping me comfortable, so was the cool ground against my back.

"My name is James Buchanan Barnes," Bucky recited next to me.

His eyes were fixated on the light that sparkled between the leaves above us. His right arm resting on his stomach, his hair also spread out on the grass as far as it could. 

"Correct," I replied. "That's an easy one."

"I was born in March... Uh... the tenth... Nineteen... Uhm... You're gonna have to help me on this one," the grass shifted under his head as he glanced at me.

"1917."

"Right, I knew that one," Bucky gazed up again. "That makes me... What? 100?"

"Close, 101 to be exact," I giggled.

"So are you!" Bucky laughed.

"Nuh-uh, I'm 96," I corrected. 

"We're both old, accept it."

"Didn't even save up for retirement," I faked a whining voice. When there wasn't an answer from Bucky, I turned my head to peer at him to find him staring at me. I narrowed my eyes, wondering why he was looking at me for so long. "What?" I asked and he smiled. 

"Nothing. You're just pretty," he answered. 

I felt my face turn red and I turned my head to look at the branches again. A nervous laugh escaped my lips. 

"Have you ever been complimented before?" Bucky asked, laughing with me.

"Yes, but it has been a while." I replied, feeling flustered. 

"Well, you are pretty," he repeated and I laughed again. 

"Thank you." I looked at him again. "You're pretty, too."

"Thanks!" Bucky laughed before continuing his memory recitation. "I lived in Brooklyn, New York, United States."

"Yeah," I nodded.

"I have a younger sister... Had? Have?" He struggled with the current state of his family.

"You can say have," I said. 

"I have a younger sister named Rebecca," Bucky finished. "My best friend is Steve Rogers."

"Yep," I nodded. "Steve said that you boxed?"

"Did I?" Bucky questioned.

He turned his head in the grass to look at me for confirmation. 

"Yeah, you were a uh... YMCA welterweight boxing champion... Three times I believe," I said. "I'm not surprised, you throw a good punch."

"Oh, I did!" Bucky exclaimed. "Yeah, I'd train Steve at the Goldie's Boxing Gym to help him defend himself against bullies, because... I was drafted into the US Army."

"Hey, you remembered something on your own!" I pointed and Bucky grinned, proud of himself. "Which regiment?"

"The uh, 107th. In 1943 I was shipped out to England," Bucky answered. "That same year my unit was captured in um... I can't remember."

"Azzano, Italy," I finished.

"Right," Bucky nodded. "That is where I met you." He reached over and his index finger lightly tapped my nose, causing my face to scrunch. "You came on a rescue mission with..."

"Wes," I gave a thoughtful smile, remembering the kind and brave soldier who became my best friend. My smile slowly faded when the image of Wes falling into me with bullet holes in his back came to my mind. "Sorry I failed that mission."

I turned my head to look at Bucky. His hand was now laying on the grass next to my head, locks of my hair were weaved through his fingers.

"You still feel guilty about that?" Bucky questioned, his brows curving upwards. "Ellie, please don't still be beating yourself up over that."

"Well, yeah, I could have let all of you out," I raised my hands. "Instead, I ran out of there."

"I told you to," Bucky argued. "Wes told you to, he said that if anyth-"

"I know what he said, I know," I cut in. "I just... feel even worse now knowing what happened to you."

"We've already had this conversation a very long time ago. I know you have regrets. I have regrets, I have a lot, but I try my best to not let it get to me. You aren't responsible for what happened, none of that was your fault, alright?" Bucky emphasized. "You came back, you got us out of there. You and Steve both." 

There was a bit of silence. A breeze went by and shook the leaves above us. A goat bleated, the wind stopped and there was silence again.

"Mostly Steve, you both ended up carrying me," I chuckled.

"You did your part," Bucky added. "After that, we formed the... Oh, what was our name?"

"The Howling Commandos," I grinned.

"Right, those were good times. Dancing with you, mostly." Bucky's fingers combed through my hair. 

I hummed a laugh. "Stormy Weather."

"Huh?" Bucky turned his head to glance at me.

"Stormy weather," I repeated and he continued to stare at me, blinking once. "Bucky, no..."

I sat up, causing his fingers to quickly rush through my hair, pulling out a few strands.

"What? Ellie, what?" Bucky sat up as well, a worried look washing over him. "Did I forget something very important?" 

"Kind of? I may be overreacting, but that is shocking to me," I began to stand up.

"Ellie, you're not mad, right?" Bucky struggled to stand up using one arm. "Ellie. Snow Angel."

I strolled towards the hut with Bucky frantically following behind me. Once inside, I bent down in front of my duffle bag, pulled out the records that I brought with me, then grabbed the closed gramophone and set it down on the chair while folding my legs under me.

"Ellie," Bucky walked into the hut.

"Sit down," I quickly said and I heard a thump behind me.

I opened the gramophone, removed the Ethel Water's vinyl from its case and placed it on the spindle. I lowered the needle and the crackling sound appeared. I lifted my body off the ground and spun myself around, sat down and faced Bucky, who sat at the edge of his mat, his face still had an expression of worry.

"Just listen," I said, this time a little more calmly.

The string melody played, Bucky's brow furrowed with concentration as he listened. When Ethel began to sing, his eyes widened with recognition. He looked at me and I nodded, relieved that he remembered the song that we first danced to. A hum came from his closed mouth, following the melody as his memory of the song became clearer.

"You remember?" I asked.

"Yeah," Bucky replied. "I can't believe I forgot that. What I remember is a different song, and now that I'm hearing Stormy Weather, I don't know where I got that other song from."

"Dream a Little Dream of Me?" I guessed, remembering his dream of that song while he was on ice.

"Yes, how did you know that?" Bucky tilted his head. "How do I know that song?"

I turned to my duffle bag and pulled out the Doris Day record. I stopped Ethel Waters, and switched the two pieces of vinyl. Bucky moved from his spot and was now kneeling next to me, staring at the gramophone. This may have been the first time in a long time that he had seen one, and it was probably taking him way back.

"We were on a mission, we had a target inside of a house and we were on an opposite rooftop looking in through a window, from the house we could hear this song, I guess it always stuck," I explained and Bucky silently nodded. "Do you want to dance?"

Bucky turned his head to look at me, his eyes flicked down to his left shoulder doubtingly, unsure how he was exactly supposed to dance with only one arm. I stood up and took his right hand, pulling his arm to stand him up then taking him to the center of the hut. Bucky stood in front of me, trying to figure out where to put his one hand. I took it again and put it at my waist, then reached up and wrapped my arms around his neck, bringing myself against his chest, and turning my head to the side. Bucky's hand slid around from my waist to the small of my back and he rested his forehead on the top of my head. We slowly began swaying in time to the music, all other sounds were muted to me except for the song and Bucky's heartbeat, nothing else mattered.

"Sweet dreams till sunbeams find you
Sweet dreams that leave all worries behind you.
But in your dreams, whatever they be
Dream a little dream of me," Doris sang on.

"This is nice," Bucky mused.

"Yeah, I missed this," I smiled, turning my head and gazing up at him.

"Me too," Bucky smiled as well, his eyes flicking down to my lips. Both of us becoming hesitant towards the next move like we had never done it before.

Bucky seized the opportunity and slowly began leaning towards me, as our noses touched for a brief second my eyes fluttered closed and our lips met, soft at first but then tensing into the kiss. My heels lifted from the ground to reach him, his hand pressed against the small of my back to try and lift me towards him, then slowly made its way up my spine till he was holding the side of my jaw and leaning even further into me. The fluttery feeling in my stomach appeared as the kiss went on. Our heads were now tilted and our lips moved together. My left hand entangled in his hair and my right hand rested on his shoulder. His once warm lips had cooled down from my touch and he pulled away for a quick breath before returning. A mumble came from Bucky's mouth, sending vibrations between our lips, I pulled back slightly, our lips just barely brushing against each other.

"Hm?" I hummed.

"At least Sam isn't here to interrupt us," Bucky repeated, lightly kissing me again and I quietly laughed.

Bucky inhaled and leaned forward again and just as our kiss began, Shuri's voice was heard from outside the hut. Bucky glanced up, a hint of a smile pulled at his mouth from the irony.

"Oh, White Wolf, you spoke too soon," my hands returned to his shoulders and I rested my forehead against his chest.

"Sorry, Snow Angel," Bucky pressed his lips to my forehead and the sound of the curtain swooshing was heard as Shuri entered the hut.

"Ellie, no wonder you didn't hear your phone going off. You have music playing and you too are so lost in each others' eyes a bomb could go off and you wouldn't even flinch!" Shuri exclaimed.

"Were you texting me?" My hands dropped from Bucky's shoulders and I turned around.

"Yes, we have another meeting, I can't read the dumb book!" Shuri pointed in the general direction of the Golden City.

I sighed and looked down, knowing that I was going to have to be the person to read the Red Book.

"Alright," I looked back up at Shuri. "Let's go."

~~~

The Red Book stared up at me from the work table, waiting to be opened and read from. Bucky sat in a chair while Shuri placed a wire on his temples, connecting him to a computer which showed a digital representation of his mind and his heart rate.

"Look at those levels, the HYDRA programming has gotten smaller," Shuri pointed. "Looks like we are making great progress!" 

"Good job, Buck," I glanced at him before staring down at the Book once more.

"Meditation is helping? Clearing your mind and all that?" Shuri asked Bucky.

"Yeah... And all that," Bucky glanced at me as I stood almost in a trance.

This one book had almost everything you needed to know about HYDRA and the Winter Soldier program; every secret, strategy, programming, experiments, everything. It practically powered HYDRA and the Winter Soldier project.

"Well, are you going to read it?" Shuri was suddenly standing next to me and I jumped, causing a layer of frost to branch out across the table.

"Jesus! Shuri!" I pressed my hand to my heart and heaved. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Bucky suppressing a laugh. "I can see you, Barnes." His smirk disappeared and he looked at the computer monitor.

I slowly lifted the Red Book from the table and opened the front cover and continuously turned pages to find what I needed. Everything was written in Russian, but that wasn't a problem for me. I turned one more page and reached a separate section.

Зимний солдат
Winter Soldiers

I turned the page slowly, the writing across the top of the paper in all capital letters read: BARNES

"Here's all his information," I handed the Book to Shuri and she squinted at the words as if she could read it. 

"Could you read it, please?" Shuri looked at me.

"Oh! Right, um..." I took the Book back and read the first sentence.

"Стирать воспоминания после каждой миссии," I read.

"Wipe memories after each mission," Bucky translated.

"Well, we've figured that out," Shuri's eyes trailed down the page before coming to a list of words. "What are those?"

Without even thinking I began to read again. "Желание." Longing.

"Stop!" Bucky shouted, his heart rate increasing.

My hand clapped to my mouth when I realized what I was doing. I looked at Bucky who was staring at me, eyes wide with panic. Shuri turned her head back and forth between us, confused as to what just happened.

"I'm so sorry. That was stupid. I just read without thinking," I put the Book down and held my hands up. 

"What was that?" Shuri questioned.

"Those are Buck's trigger words, HYDRA programmed him to become the Winter Soldier when those are read out loud. I had words too as a failsafe to really hold me under HYDRA's control," I explained. "Bucky, I'm so sorry." 

"It's fine, it's fine," Bucky's eyes were shut and his head tilted upwards. "Just don't read the rest of it."

The green line on the monitor continued its straight line across the graph, the red line was wavering up and down. As Bucky inhaled deeply, the red line's slopes decreased and came to a straight line, the green line began wavering up and down at a steady pace.

"Objective number one, remove trigger words," Shuri announced. "I can set up a program that could reset his mind, and destroy the HYDRA programming without removing his memories. A reconditioning."

"You can do that?" Bucky looked at Shuri. 

"You underestimate my powers White Boy," Shuri deepened her voice to sound villainous.

I quietly chuckled, looking back down at the Book and scanning the page, I turned to the next page and read the top line.

FLINT

"Hm," I hummed, glancing down at the notes below.

Имя: Eleanor Flint
Лата рождения: 1922
Обучался в HYDRA: 1961

Below that were my own trigger words. I avoided looking at them, fearful that even just reading them might set me off. Once I concluded that was a ridiculous idea, I scanned the list. 

Сияющий. Shining.

Два. Two.

Ловушка. Trap.

Один. Alone. 

Двадцать. Twenty. 

Гроза. Storm. 

Эволюционировать. Evolve. 

Контроль. Control. 

My brows hung low on my forehead as I read the string of words. Each of them were personal to me in a way that I could not describe. Perhaps that's why they worked. I moved on to the scribble of handwritten notes about me as an assassin. 

Skilled in hand to hand combat, abilities are very useful. Works well with Barnes. Memory serum was successful, Frostbite Serum needs testing. Has been having trouble following through with missions, needs encouragement from Winter Soldier. Do not engage or intervene during missions, very deadly. SHIELD will be needing her back soon.

"Very deadly?" I repeated, glancing over at Bucky. Shuri stood at a computer, working on the algorithm. "I thought I was terrible at missions."

A smile pulled at the corner of his mouth, he nodded once and breathed in. "When you did follow through with a mission, it got pretty dangerous, with both of us in the field it was even worse."

I shook my head in disbelief with a smile on my face. Me? Deadly? Dangerous, yes. But 'deadly'? Bucky nodded at me, trying to prove his point.

"I could barely shoot a guy without having you persuade me, or Zola's torture," I said.

"I meant with your ice," Bucky said. "You didn't have it under control like you did or do now, you just let all hell- or ice- break loose."

"Oh," I tilted my head, not remembering any of those details.

"It was usually during big missions where there were a lot of people, people who would fight back," Bucky went on. "There'd be ice everywhere, I had to keep an eye on who was coming at me, where I was stepping, and where you were."

"Why don't I remember that?" I furrowed my brow. "I only remember the bad stuff, and that sounds really cool!"

"What wasn't cool was getting you to stop," Bucky added. "I had to go in, inject you with a serum that would knock you out, then wrap you in a blanket and carry you onto a heated van."

"See, that's why I keep my abilities contained," I pointed.

"Yeah, but I've seen your full potential, you could freeze an entire city if you really wanted to," Bucky said.

"Ooh, no that's not something I plan to do," I shook my head. "I wouldn't be able to control it. There'd be another ice age."

"Let it go, let it go..." Shuri sang to herself and I gave her a warning glare.

"Not you too," I groaned.

"What?" Shuri played dumb, a grin stretching across her face.

"I already had all the Avengers singing it, I don't need you too," I said.

"I'm confused..." Bucky looked at the both of us.

"I'm just singing Ellie's theme song," Shuri joked and I sighed.

"Theme song?" Bucky furrowed his brow. "Like Steve's 'Star Spangled Man'?"

I chortled and leaned my head back, remembering the song that the patriotic girls sang during Captain America's War Bonds Efforts. "No, no, I don't have a theme song."

"Ellie was in her own Disney movie," Shuri went on, only confusing Bucky even more. "She froze the entire kingdom of Arendale, sang a few songs, then melted everything from the love of her sister."

"Ellie has a sister?" Bucky looked down, reaching a new state of confusion and questioning everything he knew.

"No! I don't have a sister," I reassured Bucky then turned to Shuri. "I wasn't in a movie, and I didn't sing any songs."

"Ellie, we have to show him now!" Shuri laughed.

"No, we don't! Don't get Bucky in on this, it'll drive me crazy!" I began to laugh as well.

"Disney? Like, as in Snow White and the Seven Dwarves?" Bucky asked. "They're still making movies?"

"Oh yeah, they practically own every entertainment industry," I replied. "They have two, wait, three parks now? Disney World, Disney Land, and the one in Tokyo."

"Yep," Shuri nodded, continuing to work on the program and humming 'Let it Go'.

Bucky nodded, trying to understand the concept of Disney being such a large industry when the last time he had heard the name was when it was just a small company that made films. I had been in the same place that he was now, and it was easy to sympathize with him waking up to an entirely different world where everything and everyone are one hundred steps in front of you. A beep came from Shuri's computer and she let out a "whoop".

"Got it!" She took a step back from the monitor. "I need to tweak a few things, but we should be able to start by Monday. It'll take a lot of therapy and figuring out what each of the words mean to you and how we can rewire your brain." 

"That's great!" I looked at the monitor, scanning over the sequences of numbers that made no sense to me. "Bucky, you hear that?"