Troubled Mind | Bucky Barnes

Part 8

A/N: I hope you're liking the story. I know it's a SLOW burn but trust me this part and the next are thrown-together-in-close-proximity kind of chapters and it's coming! Leave me comments! <3

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Opening her door slightly the next morning, and with as little noise as possible, Alexi poked her head out just enough to see down the hallway. It seemed quiet so she stepped out, closing the door silently behind her. She tiptoed to the closest bathroom finally having a chance to examine her face, the top left side of which was black and blue from where Bucky had struck her. Her whole body was sore, especially the space behind her left shoulder blade. She knew no bones or ribs were broken but it didn't stop her feeling like she was run over by a truck. She knew she would heal quickly but this was worse than she'd been recently.

Great. I'll be useless in a fight.

She left the bathroom forgetting to check the hallway, which wasn't like her to be so careless. Something about this house and these people made her feel like she didn't need to be on guard all the time. She was letting walls down without even realizing.

About to enter her room again, the door next to hers opened and she found herself face to face with a surprised-looking Bucky. He was dressed in what looked like a uniform with a backpack slung over one shoulder. They both froze. He mumbled a 'good morning' under his breath and walked quickly down the hall and out of sight.

Natasha appeared around the corner, having missed that strange interaction. "Hey! How are you feeling?" she asked with some concern looking over her bruise.

"I'll live," she answered quietly.

Natasha nodded. "I was coming to see if you were up yet. We need you in the conference room if you're up to it."

She nodded saying she would be down in a moment and slipped inside her room. Quickly changing, she made her way down to where everyone was already gathered the conference table. They looked at her with mixed reactions as she entered. They were mostly looks of concern over her black and blue face.

Steve spoke first as Alexi entered the room, "How do you feel?"

"About as well as I look," gesturing to her face. "But I'll be fine. Look, I didn't..." But Steve put up his hand to stop her from continuing whatever apologetic speech she was about to make.

"It's not your fault. No one got hurt," he said sincerely, seeing the distress in her eyes.

Tony chimed in, "We're looking into the security breach. Someone at the party was there for you."

"I saw him," Alexi confirmed.

"Did you recognize him?" Sam asked concerned.

"No. I've never seen him before. By the time I realized what was happening, it was too late." She hid the fact that she had felt something was off when she saw the man earlier in the evening and ignored it. Pushing the guilt and shame away as she didn't usually ignore her instincts like that, but she was thrown off last night and didn't want to admit why. Her eyes flicked over to Bucky for a millisecond and back to Tony.

"Either way," Tony continued, "They were sending a message. They know you're here and they can still control you. And next time, you might not walk away with just a bruise. Hell, you might not walk away at all."

Natasha rolled her eyes at Tony. "Real nice." Turning to Alexi, seated next to her, she put her hand on her injured shoulder, but Alexi didn't flinch. "You're not safe, Alexi."

"You're the ones that aren't safe with me around. I've put you all in danger. I'm sorry."

Natasha smiled, "We can take of ourselves. It's not our first time up against Hydra."