The Winter Witch (A Hawkeye/Avengers fanfic)

Chapter 6

Bucky reached Winter's room and knocked but didn't hear a response. He opened the door and stuck his head in. She wasn't in her bed and just as he started to panic, he heard the bathroom door open. He sighed as he saw her come out.

"James? You ok?"

"Yeah," he replied, "What were you doing?"

"Oh, you know, just going to the bathroom as one does when they get up in the morning." She gave him a look like he had gone crazy. "You sure you're ok?"

"Of course!" He watched her as she sat back down on her bed. He noticed how small she looked in the large sweatshirt that Natasha had given her. He knew that JARVIS had told them all during his evaluation that she was extremely malnourished. After what happened last night, Bucky couldn't help but wonder if it was Hydra's doing or self-inflicted. "The team is in the common area, getting breakfast. I know you've got to be hungry, and this will be one of the few opportunities to find us all together at the same time, care to join us?" he asked.

Winter knew she would have to be around the others sooner or later and Bucky was right, she needed to eat, even though the thought of it made her feel ill. She got up from her bed and took his hand, following him to the elevator. As they made their way to the common floor, she could smell bacon and pancakes. The sweetness of the pancakes almost made her nauseous, but she continued to follow Bucky from the elevator, hanging on tightly to his arm. As they made their way closer to the kitchen, everyone looked up.

"Lady Winter!" Thor boomed. It made her jump a little and squeeze Bucky's arm even tighter.

Bucky led Winter over to the table. Steve and Sam brought plates of bacon and pancakes over. Natasha had a large bowl in her hand that had various fruit cut up in it. Clint grabbed a carafe of coffee and a pitcher of orange juice. Everyone sat down around the table and began digging in. Winter didn't know what to do. She had never experienced anything like this before. Bucky leaned over towards her.

"You need to eat doll," he whispered.

Winter felt shaky. Was it hunger? Her nerves? She didn't know what to do. Steve looked over and saw the panic in her eyes.

"We have other stuff too if you don't like pancakes and bacon. We've got different kinds of cereal, English muffins, bagels... I could whip you up some eggs." Steve said.

"You don't want him making you eggs," Natasha mumbled across the table.

Winter smiled at Natasha's comment. "I like bacon... and fruit." She said quietly.

"Then bacon and fruit you shall have Lady Winter!" Thor boasted as he dumped a pile of bacon onto her plate.

Winter's eyes grew when she saw the amount of bacon the god had put on her plate. Clint, who had sat down next to her, cleared his throat, grabbed Winter's plate, and proceeded to take more than half the bacon off, leaving her with a few pieces. Winter looked up and Clint and he smiled and winked at her. Winter felt her cheeks get warm and softly smiled.

"Here," said Natasha, as she scooped a small bit of fruit out of the bowl and placed it on Winter's plate. "Unlike some people, I know not to overfeed someone who hasn't eaten in weeks."

Winter slowly began picking at her food, taking small bites. The bacon was good, but it felt too greasy on her empty stomach, so she stuck with the fruit.

"Do you want anything to drink?" Bucky asked her.

Winter looked up and saw the pitcher of orange juice. "Orange juice sounds good."

Before Bucky could grab it, Clint began pouring her a glass. "Here you go."

The rest of the team continued their idle chatter while Winter continued to pick at her food. She glanced over to Clint and softly said "Thank you."