Assistant

Part 21

You rush down to the lab as quickly as you can. You pause before you walk in to calm your breathing. Stepping up to the door, you place your hand on the keypad and walk in through the sliding doors. You see Tony at the far side watching number sequences flash by. You walk over and stand by Tony watching what he's doing.

Tony gives you a side glance. "I thought you said 15 minutes, it's been almost 30."

You look down, blushing and not able to meet his eyes. "Um... sorry. I uh, ran into some trouble."

Tony gives her a funny look and starts to chuckle. "Right. That trouble wouldn't happen to be named Barnes would it?"

Your blush gets hotter and you focus on the screen in front of you. "Oh, uh, why would you say that?"

Tony just looks at you and then rolls his eyes with a sigh. "You're blushing. Look, whatever makes you happy. As long as Fury kills Barnes and not me." 

You duck your head "Umm...ok."

Tony chuckles at you, "Well, moving on." Tony explains what he's done so far to break the encryption. "I'm going to have you take over monitoring for a while. I need a nap. For the most part, just let Friday do her thing and watch the screens."

You nod, "No problem Tony. Have a good nap and sorry again for being late."

Tony just shakes his head as he leaves. Tony's lost in thought as he makes his way to the elevator. He stops abruptly as he almost walks into Bucky.

Tony smirks at him. "So..."

Bucky quirks his eyebrow. "So.....what?"

Tony just chuckles, "I hope your feelings are real because when Fury finds out, you're a dead man."

Bucky runs his hand over the back of his neck. "I...um..."

Tony shakes his head and walks past him. He turns back, "You distracted her long enough that she didn't get a coffee this morning."

Bucky gave him a smile, knowing that this was Tony's way of giving him his blessing. "Thanks Tony."

**

After Tony leaves, you sit down to watch the screens like Tony asked. About 5 minutes later Bucky walks in with a large cup of coffee. You smile as Bucky hands it to you. You lean down and take a deep sniff, loving the smell.

Bucky smiles, "Tony said you didn't have a cup and I knew you'd need it." He leaned down and kissed the top of your head.

You take a long sip. "This is liquid gold. Thank you so much! Wait.... you talked with Tony?"

Bucky chuckled, "Yup, I was told Fury is going to kill me."

You laughed with him. "Don't worry. I'll protect you." You give him a wink and he kisses my hand. 

You turn back to the screens and explain to Bucky what Tony is having you do. Bucky pulls a rolly chair next to yours and you sit holding hands. Occasionally talking but mostly sitting in silence. It's been about 3-4 hours that you've been watching the screens and you can tell Bucky is getting bored because he's spinning in his chair. You're about to tell him to go do something when a file catches your eye.

You move closer to the screen, you're heart starts beating faster. "Friday. The file that just became viewable, labeled Jamie. Can you open it?" You feel like time stopped and are breathing shallowly.

"Yes Ms. Y/N. Opening it now."

The pages start popping up in fast succession. They're so many pictures and documents and they're opening so fast that you can't read each of them, but what you do see makes your blood run cold.

Your breaths are coming fast and you're starting to feel light headed. "Oh God!!" You scramble for your phone. Your hands are shaking so hard you can barely hold it. Bucky reaches out and steadies your hands. You look up at him. His eyes are filled with concern but he doesn't say anything.

Your voice is shaky, "Bucky, I need to talk to Fury right now." He nods and quietly takes your phone from your shaking hands. He clicks through and finds Fury in your contacts. He clicks on the name and he puts the phone on speaker.

Fury's commanding voice comes through the speaker, "Y/N?"

Bucky looks at you and realizes that you're too scared to even form words. "Fury, It's Bucky and Y/N. We were decrypting the information the team got and Y/N saw a file. It's shaken her pretty bad." He starts rubbing your arm while talking.

You take a deep breath, "Dad. The file was labeled Jamie. It has old and current personal information, there were pictures of all my old apartments, mom's house and our old house. I didn't get to look at everything but there were notes that said Erin. Why...how would Hydra have that information?"

The words spill out fast while you start to cry. Bucky is looking worried, listening intently to what you're saying, but stays quiet. Fury is silent for a second before his voice comes through the speaker, it's very soft and dangerous, "Barnes, do not let that girl out of your sight. I'm on my way. Your mother and I will be there soon. Tell Stark I need to see all that information and then we'll have a meeting." The phone disconnects without any further words.

You start to feel nauseous, you lean your head forward into your hands and try to breathe through it but you realize it's not going away. You run to the trash can and throw up. You feel a hand on your back, softly rubbing.

Bucky waits until you're done before speaking softly, "Whatever it is, you know that Fury and the team will take care of it, of you."

You can't look at him and just nod at his words. The fear gnawing at your stomach doesn't go away. You shakily stand up "I'm sorry you had to see that."

You turn away and reach for the trash can to clean it. Bucky stops you by putting his hand on your waist and turns you back to him.

Bucky's looking at you with concern in his eyes. He brushes the hair out of your eyes. "Doll, you have nothing to apologize for! Want to talk about it?"

You squeeze your lips together, unsuccessfully trying to hold in your tears. "I... there are some things I want to tell you...that you should know before Fury has the meeting and tells everyone. But... not yet. I need a few minutes."

Bucky rubs his hand on your waist "It's ok, Doll. Take your time."