I've been wanting to finish this story for so long. I am determined to start back working on it regularly so look for updates soon. I would like to be able to post a chapter each weekday. No promises, but that is my goal. I hope you guys are all looking forward to finally knowing the ending to Eden and Bucky's story. -ECorley

Eden POV

It would take quite some time to convince Bucky to leave me alone after he updated me on the last 24 hours. I needed time. Time to think…time to process…time to decide how I felt about everything that had transpired.

Violated. You were violated.

My stomach rolled violently. Bucky's arms were still wrapped securely around me and despite moments ago being reassuring, they now felt like chains weighing me down. I tried and failed not to shudder at his touch and he abruptly pulled away with confusion in his eyes. He looked shocked when I asked him to go.

I went from quietly asking him to leave, to pleading, before finally my patience ran out and I angrily demanded that he get out. I had said the words with such fierce, intense anger that he immediately stopped arguing. My heart ached at the look on his face as he swallowed hard and turned towards the door to leave. My anger dissipated quickly at the obvious hurt I had seen in his eyes as he had lowered them to the floor. I half-heartedly muttered "sorry" as he pulled it open. It wasn't much in ways of an apology, but it was all I could muster for now. He didn't turn around, but nodded his understanding and stepped into the hallway, closing the door softly behind him. The click as it shut was deafening. I was torn between running after him and letting him go so I could be alone. In the end, the need to be alone won.

I took a long, shaky breath and looked around the room. I was alone at last. Alone. Did I want that? To be alone? I felt the panic start to rise and my heart began to race. The sickening, nauseous feeling started again, and I looked around frantically. I stumbled to a nearby trash can and fell to my knees, grabbing it just as the taste of bile hit the back of my throat. I retched loudly for several minutes before setting the plastic trash can aside and leaning back against the wall to draw my knees up to my chest. I wrapped my arms around my legs and laid my head on my knees, taking in deep breaths as the sick feeling faded away slowly. Minutes went by, the second hand on the clock above my head ticked obnoxiously loud in the now silent room. I put my hands over my ears and rocked back and forth, thinking about everything Bucky had told me.

Earlier, I hadn't dared to say otherwise when Bucky told me Dr. Banner was confident that I would probably never remember everything that had happened during my black out. Whether it was because I didn't want Bucky to know exactly what I had done (or what I was capable of for that matter) or because I hadn't truly come to grips with it yet, I'm not sure which but when it came up during the conversation, I bit my tongue and kept my mouth shut, leaving that small piece of information to myself. For now, I didn't want anyone to know the truth.

I remembered everything.

It had all come back to me as Bucky spoke, his hands rubbing my back comfortingly. He had no idea at the time, it was a killer he was touching so gently…so tenderly. Not that it would bother Bucky…the killer part at least. Bucky had killed too…. just as unwillingly as I had (and just as effective), he'd been forced to do the same. But for some reason, I didn't want him to know exactly just how lethal of a killer I was…not now, maybe never. It was ludicrous really. Bucky was the most dangerous man I had ever met…maybe not to me, but he was still a highly trained assassin and had been for decades. If there was one person in the world who could understand how I felt, it was him.

Still, I remained silent. To Bucky, I was this good and perfect person…incapable of the evil I had caused those men. And though I knew it would never change how Bucky felt about me, I didn't want him to see me as anything but his perfect Eden. When he had asked if I remembered anything, I had shrugged my shoulders noncommittedly and buried my face in his chest, hoping he would accept my answer and move on. It had worked and he believed that my amnesia was real, when in fact, I remembered it all.

At the time, I hadn't been consciously there…not really. It was like looking up from the bottom of a deep well and seeing a warped reflection of myself. It wasn't like the reflection I had seen in the mirror at the hotel the night before the wedding. While that one was disturbing and had left me unnerved, it still felt like a part of me. This person was cold and disconnected from all emotions. I could feel the knife in my hands, the warm splash of blood…it's metallic scent mixing with the cold, crisp night air. I had felt the rush of adrenaline as I was commanded by some unseen force to terminate those men. Their sounds of death would live with me forever. I felt no guilt…if they worked for Kaine, then surely, they were bad men and I had no control in the situation, it was kill or be killed. No, what I felt was shame…shame at the fact that I was now a killer. The echo of a snapping neck reverberated through the room and I squeezed my eyes closed and drew in a long, deep breath.

I had been violated. Maybe not in the way most people would assume upon hearing that word used but to me, it was all the same. Without my consent, Alan Pollard had touched me and implanted my neck with an unknown device that caused me to completely lose control of myself. I had done terrible things…the details of which I never wanted to come to light. I would take those secrets to the grave.

I let out the breath I didn't realize I had been holding and opened my eyes, "I'm a killer" I whispered to myself softly. From that moment forward, it didn't matter what I did, I would always be a killer…the act itself was irreversible. I had been an unwilling participant, but the fact remained that I had taken four lives. I pushed myself off the floor and walked over to a small sink tucked away in a corner of the room. I looked into the mirror hanging above the sink and stared at my reflection. I looked at the pale, gaunt face reflected back at me.

I was angry. My life had been completely normal only a few months ago. I had been a successful businesswoman, albeit an alone and single businesswoman. Then out of nowhere I met a stranger on a bench and now I had Bucky. I had Brooke and Steve and Clint. I was happy. And there was one person who wanted to take all that away.

Milton Kaine.

Bucky kept insisting he was going to keep me safe…that he would hunt Milton Kaine to the ends of the Earth if he had to. I knew all that had transpired in the last day or so was more than enough to solidify the sure and inevitable truth that Milton Kaine would not be amongst the living for much longer.

I stared at the woman in the mirror and she stared back at me. She was back.

"You know what you have to do Eden"

My reflection's lips didn't move but her voice continued into the silence of the room.

I watched my lips move in the mirror as I nodded and spoke aloud, "I know what I have to do"

I had been violated.

I had been used.

I had been made a killer.

…..and I was fucking pissed.

Yes, I knew for sure Milton Kaine wouldn't be on this Earth much longer -cause I was going to kill the son of a bitch myself.

I watched the mirror as my reflection smiled at my resolve.

"Yes, we'll kill him ourselves"