Like no one does

Bucky part two

Steve's POV

He watched as Ronnie walked into her office and closed the door behind her. It hadn't escaped his notice the way that Ronnie and Bucky had looked at each other. The surprise on her face as she took him in and the flushed look on his friend's face as he looked her over. Steve wasn't proud of himself for the jealousy he felt, but he couldn't help himself when it came to her. When Ronnie had hugged him he held onto her a little longer than he needed to. Almost as if he was staking his claim on Ronnie. Not that she was his or that Bucky even wanted her. God, he felt like a jerk.

Glancing over at Bucky he sees that he was also starring after Ronnie. Looking back over at Steve, Bucky asks him, "Who exactly is she? I feel like I've seen her face before." He looks like he's lost in his memories trying to remember.

Frowning at him in confusion because as far as Steve knows Bucky has never been anywhere near Ronnie, he tells him. "Her real name is Veronica. She runs her family's company with her brother as well as helping run the Avengers."

Bucky rapidly shakes his head like that's not right and is frustrated at himself for not being able to remember. His eyes drop to the ground flicking side to side as if the answer is down there somewhere. "What's her last name?"

"Stark. Her full name is Veronica Stark. Sorry, I thought I told you." With his mind so clouded with jealousy he wasn't making the connections he normally would.

Buck's eyes widen as they snap over to the closed door, his breathing all but stops for a moment. "Howard's granddaughter?" His question comes out in a broken whisper.

Steve takes a step closer to Bucky who takes a quick step back putting distance between them. He stops and tries to keep his voice even so as to not spook him off. "No, she's his daughter. Howard and his wife had her later in life. She was born a few years before Howard and Maria died."

Steve watchs as panic and distress cross his friend's face. His bad feeling from two years ago feels like it's just been confirmed. Not wanting Bucky to spiral he tried to distract his mind. It wouldn't do either Bucky or Ronnie any good to deal with this right now.

"Do you want to come with me to the TV room? I'm sure we can find a movie you remember liking in Ron's extensive collection." Ronnie was fine with Netflix and the other streaming services, but she liked being able to hold onto things. It's why she prefered actual DVD's and real books. Ronnie says and he agrees that you don't get the same experience unless you can touch and smell the book.

"No, I'm gonna go back to my room. I need to be alone for a while." Bucky says quietly, glancing at Ronnie's office door one more time.

"Alright, I'll come grab you when it's time for dinner." Bucky doesn't give him any kind of reply, he just walks past him down the hallway to his bedroom. When Steve hears the bedroom door close he lets out a disheartened sigh and heads towards the TV room.

On his way past her office he can hear Ronnie laughing as she bickers with Tony in the way that loving siblings do. Steve's heart clenches at the truth he's withholding from them both, but he can't lose Bucky, not when he just got him back. Maybe if Ronnie and Tony got to know Buck they could forgive him for what Hydra made him do. Maybe if they could get Bucky into therapy they could get those trigger words out of his head. He could get the help he needed to deal with all of the trauma and learn to let go of what they did to him.

Sitting down on the chair by the window he lets himself get lost in thought. Steve could only imagine the pain Bucky was in knowing that he had been forced to kill their friend and his wife. What would he have done if he was in Bucky's place? The guilt and the self hatred he must be feeling. In the few days he'd spent with Bucky he'd heard him in the night. Whimpering and crying out in his sleep as he had nightmares. Steve had his own ghosts that visited him at night, but Bucky had seventy years of ghosts that haunted him every moment of the day and night.