SLEEPING BEAUTY

                                    

                                          
"You know," Elizabeth said lightly as Steve opened his eyes for the first time in two days. "You look exactly like sleeping beauty."
                          
The blond groaned softly as his eyes adjusted to the bright light. Sam and Elizabeth sat in an arm chair at each side of the hospital bed. The two of them smiled softly at Steve as he took in his surroundings. The flowers on the table by the door to the hospital room. What looked like at least four cups of coffee on the bedside table by Elizabeth's side. 
                          
The faint sound of Marvin Gaye's Trouble Man soundtrack filled his ears pleasantly. "If that's the case, which one of you is gonna kiss me?" Steve retorted groggily, his voice sounding rough and dry as he tried to sit up in the bed. 
                          
"Hate to break it to you but it's not gonna be me," Elizabeth chuckled lightly as Sam helped Steve readjust his position. 
                          
"Take it easy," Sam told Steve. "You're still pretty roughed up from the fall."
                          
Steve furrowed his brows as he tried to recall what happened before he blacked out. "The fall," he muttered quietly to himself, his eyes fluttering shut for a minute as he watched his foggy memories play out. The fall, the water, strong hands pulling him out just before he felt himself ready to give in. "Where did you find me?" The man asked Sam. 
                          
"I didn't," Sam corrected as he titled his head in Elizabeth's direction. "Lizzie did."
                          
Noticing Steve's expectant look, she explained where she found him. "Found you washed up by the river like some mermaid," she half-joked. 
                          
The two of them watched as Steve's face lit up. He grinned so wide that the stitches by his right eye almost disappeared. "He remembered," he said proudly as Elizabeth felt all of his excitement and hope. "Bucky remembered me," he repeated as he caught her eye. 
                          
Sam shook his head slowly as his friend, "How would you know that?" Sam was always so careful and thought every little detail out, it made sense why he would be wary. 
                          
Turning toward him, Steve's grin didn't falter as he spoke. "He pulled me out," he said with so much conviction that it somewhat convinced Elizabeth as well.
                          
"Don't forget he's the one who dropped you in there too," Sam retorted as his eyes looked at Steve carefully and calculated for a moment. "Steve, are you sure you wanna go down this road?"
                          
Letting a sigh out, Steve turned to Elizabeth for some help. "Back me up here, Lizzie." He pleaded as she gave him a small smile. "You said he was there, remember?"
                          
She did remember. When Steve had told her all about Bucky and she decided to give him just a little bit of hope. Now that hope was practically bouncing out from him. "He could be there," she agreed with Steve as his hope increased. "If he is what are you gonna do?"
                          
The super-soldiers brow creased for a moment as he thought about what to do. "I'm gonna talk to him," Steve came to a decision. 
                          
"You forget that we don't even know where to find him," Sam said, "He is an enemy of the state."
                          
"Then we'll look for him," Elizabeth suggested, willing to help Steve out in any way she could. It wasn't like she had anything better to do. "And eventually we'll find him."
                          
Steve looked surprised at her words, the 'we'  throwing him off for a moment. "Really?" He asked as he turned to Sam for confirmation. Knowing that he and Elizabeth came in a buy-one-free-one kind of deal. 
                          
"Dude," Sam started with a smirk. "A friend needs our help."



                          
***



                          
"Saw you on the news," Elizabeth called out to Natasha as she walked over to the trio standing over Nick Fury's grave. 
                          
And by grave they meant the empty casket six feet under. The man himself had just said goodbye to the three mere minutes ago. The cemetery was bright as the trees overhead provided some shade for those standing below.
                          
"We all did," Steve added as he remembered watching her on the tv with Elizabeth in the hospital. 
                          
"That was one hell of a speech you gave," Elizabeth pulled the older woman in for a hug that Natasha reciprocated, much to the two mens surprise. "Almost gave Steve's speech a run for his money."

                          
Natasha chuckled as she stood between Steve and Sam. "I don't think I'm on that level just yet."
                          
"You going with Fury to Europe?" Sam asked. The former director had offered each of them a spot to help him out in finding some answers. Needless to say they turned him down, having a small mission of their own.
                          
"Nope," the red head answered with a small shake of her head.
                          
"But you're not staying here?" Steve questioned disappointedly. 
                          
"You know I can't," She told them with a grimace that Elizabeth could see despite how hard Natasha tried to cover it up. "When SHIELD went down all of their files went public, and that includes all of mine. And I hate to break it to you guys, but they aren't very pretty."

                          
Knowing that there was nothing to do to change her mind, Steve proceeded to ask the question they were all thinking. "Where're you gonna go?"
                          
Natasha thought about it for a moment, her longing for a proper home resonated in Elizabeth. "To find a new cover," Natasha settled on that as her answer. "And hope I don't take too long."
                          
Elizabeth felt bad for Natasha, always having to move from place to place. Never having a permanent home, even if she did it was probably empty. "You could always come with us," She offered. 
                          
"Thanks," Natasha started but there was a hint of something else behind her words. "But I really just came to drop this off," she raised the file in her hand. It was somewhat thin with some Russian words stamped in big bold letters on the front. 
                          
She handed the file to Steve who opened it with a quick glance inside. "Thank you," he thanked Natasha as he closed the file in his hands. 
                          
"Just be careful," she instructed the three of them sternly. "I don't think that's a thread you wanna pull on." Natasha walked over to Steve with a soft smile, she pulled him down for a light kiss on the cheek. 
                          
Elizabeth and Sam watched the interaction with amused eyes. Natasha stepped back from Steve and brought her green eyes to meet Elizabeth's blue ones. "Take care of my boys for me," She told her before giving a friendly wink to Sam. 
                          
The three of them watched Natasha until her vibrant red hair disappeared between the trees. Without a word, Steve handed the file in his hand to Elizabeth to look at. She opened it and took a look at it's contents. Sam peered from behind her as she observed the handsome face pinned in the bottom left corner of the page. 
                          
The face of a sergeant that looked so full of life compared to the bigger picture in the middle of the page, of James Buchanan Barnes that showed him frozen in cryosleep.  She felt her heart ache for what the poor guy had to go through. 
                          
"When do we start?" Sam asked, ready to jump right back into their new mission.
                          
Steve lifted his gaze off from the tombstone on the ground to meet both their eyes. "Right now," he said with his mouth set in a determined line. "Let's go find him."