The Forgotten ❤️

Chapter 7

After breakfast in the morning Victoria decides to visit Bucky to see him still asleep. The room was empty except for the two of them. She ran her fingers through his dark hair and across his cheek. As she left to walk away she heard his voice, "Vick?" He was the only one that ever called her that.

She walked back to him, placing her hand back in his hair, "hey Buck." He tries to sit up but she stops him. She sends calmness over him, "don't make me put you back to sleep."

He starts crying, "I'm sorry I left you there. I..." he shakes his head.

"It's fine Buck. I don't want to talk about it. Really. I just came to check on you." She pulls away as she hears Dr. Cho and Bruce enter behind her. "Um, he's awake. I'll leave him to you." She ignores his calls to her as she leaves the lab. She goes to Steve's room instead of her own and falls asleep on his bed.

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Victoria doesn't know how long she is asleep for when she is woken by someone laying in bed with her. She feels the familiar calm wash over her as her head finds his chest. She feels him wince when she put her arm across his chest. She reaches over and turns on the light so she can see him. "Steve!" She sees his lip swollen, and a black eye. She reaches for the bottom of his shirt and lifts it up revealing bruised ribs.

He pulls his shirt back down, "I'm fine. Don't fret. Come on, lay back down." 

She does as he requests and lays back down as he turns the light back off. 

He rubs her back softly, "I went and saw Buck when I got back. He's asking to see you."

"I know. I don't want to. I'm not ready. I'm sorry."

"Why not?"

She sat up facing him, turning the light back on. "I shared my memories of us with him." She felt him tense up, anxious. Jealous. Worried. "Exactly." 

"Do you want to talk about him? You can, if you want." He sits up, wincing again. 

"I don't know, do you want to talk about Peggy?"

He groans and shakes his head. 

Victoria stands up, "yeah, that's what I thought."

She turns to leave his room when she hears him, "Victoria, stay. Please. I missed you."

She turned back to face him, "yeah I missed you too. But I'm gonna go sleep in my own room Steve. I'm sorry."

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Steve enters the kitchen in the morning just before sunrise to find Victoria sitting alone at the table. He doesn't say anything, just grabs her hand. She follows him to the roof and they sit to watch the sunrise. He breaks the silence first, "you can ask me anything you want about her."

"I know you loved her. You still do." She turns to face him, "do you still dream about her?"

"I did, until recently. Until I met you." He grabbed her hand so she could know he was telling the truth. "I can still love her and move on. But I don't have to tell you that, do I?"

She stands up and shakes her head, "no, I guess you don't." She turns back to him, placing her hands on his head. "It would be easier to show you. May I?"

He just nods as she brings forward her memories of Bucky for him to see, the good and the bad. When she finishes, she backs away and watches his reaction. "I need a minute." He gets up and starts to pace. 

"I'm sorry, it can be draining for someone when I project onto them."

He put his hand up to stop her, "no, I asked for it. Do you still love him?"

"I really do. I'm sorry."

"I don't know, it's a lot." Steve shook his head as she reached for his head. "I think I need some time, I'm sorry." She watched Steve walk away, passing Tony on his way.

"Brother, what's up?" She suppresses her emotions, not wanting him to see her cry.

"I came to announce I'm throwing a party at the end of the week. You've been home a few weeks now, I think it's time for a party." He looked back to where Steve left and back at her, "what's with him?"

"Oh. I don't know. I thought there might have been something there, but now I'm not so sure."

"It certainly looks to everyone that there is something there. And what about Barnes? There's something more than he took you and trained you."

Victoria sighed, "yeah, it was more than that. But if it's okay, I'd rather not talk about it. I'll be able to work with him when the time comes."

"Okay. Fair enough." He stands up, "let's go have breakfast." 

Victoria follows Tony to the kitchen as everyone starts to file in for breakfast. She walks over to Steve, "let me help you." She helps him plate breakfast and hand them to everyone as Tony announces the party. Some groan, some cheer as Victoria and Steve laugh at their reactions. Steve pours her a cup of coffee and offers her a plate of food. She sees a full table as Loki comes into the kitchen, grabbing his own plate.

"Do you want to eat outside with me Pet?"

She looked at Steve who was obviously watching her and turned back to Loki. "Sure."

"What's the matter Pet?" Victoria looked up from her food she had been eating in silence. 

She shrugged. She rubbed her foot on his, projecting her feeling of rejection she felt from Steve.

"Captain Rogers?" She looked back up and him and nodded. "Meh, it's his loss Pet."

"I think he was jealous of my past with Bucky. I don't think he can handle it." 

Loki stopped eating and stood up, "oh come on Pet, you're gorgeous. We all have pasts, that's no reason to not be with someone." He grabbed their plates and she followed him inside. She watched him place the plates in the sink and motion for her to follow him. She looked at Steve as he watched them leave the kitchen. He guided her to the roof. "What are we doing up here Loki?"

He turned to face her, "I don't know, I thought we could help you forget about Rogers for a bit." He placed his hand on her cheek, leaning down towards her. He stopped just as his lips were about to touch hers, teasing her. "can I kiss you?"

She doesn't say anything as she runs her fingers through his dark hair, pulling his lips to hers. He moaned at her forwardness. The fact of the matter was that she was attracted to Loki, how could she not be, but she didn't have feelings for him causing her to pull away from him. "I'm sorry. It would just be that, a distraction."

"I don't mind being a distraction Pet." He pulled her back to him, kissing her more aggressively as his tongue invaded her mouth making her moan. She let him lift her up, setting her on top of the parapet. He held firmly to her so she didn't fall. 

She pushed him away again and he set her on the ground. "I'm sorry Loki, that isn't fair to you. And I already have enough to deal with without adding you on top of it." 

Loki runs his fingers softly through her hair, "that's okay. Let me know if you want to use me as a distraction any time you want." He smirked at her and left her alone on the roof.

She didn't know what to do with that knowledge. She had longed to be touched the way he wanted to touch her, but she couldn't get over her developing feelings for Steve. And she wasn't sure she could sleep with someone just for the release she desired.