Never Safe

Chapter Fifty-One

"So what happened?" Tony asked.

You'd fallen asleep. They were all standing around your bed as Bucky sat next to you.

"Is this why you were in California?" Nat followed up. 

"Her dad lives there."

"Did you take her away from him again?" Tony quizzed.

"Yeah, but you can see why."

"Did he do that?"  

"Now you understand why I didn't want her to go?"

"Why didn't you just tell us?" Natasha queried, moving closer to Bucky, putting her arm around him.

"I don't know... I didn't think it was very fair on her... and it's not like you could convince her to stay if I couldn't."

"So what happens now? When she wakes up?" Bruce wondered.

Bucky looked up at Tony. "Am I in trouble for stealing the Quinjet?" he asked. "Even if you fire me, can we please stay here? I can't take her back to our apartment, not  now they know where we live."

Tony shook his head. "You're not fired. You had good reason to take it. And it's not like we needed it. It's lucky we didn't have a mission."

"Thanks, Stark."

"Yeah, no problem. We'll, uh... we'll give you space for a couple days" Tony said, cueing his exit.

"Thank you" Bucky responded as Tony headed for the door.

"I'm gonna go too" Nat decided. "I'll come find you tomorrow."

"Okay..."

She kissed him on the cheek.

"Wait, doll..." Bucky stopped her walking off. "Are we okay? Are you mad at me?"

"No, I'm not mad. I understand, baby." She kissed him again, on the lips this time. "But next time, can we talk things through instead of running away to the other side of the country?" she whispered to him.

"There's not gonna be a next time."

"No" Nat smiled lightly. "See you later, baby. I love you."

"I love you more."

She left, leaving just Bucky and Bruce with you.

"You can go and I'll stay with her."

"Yeah, okay. You can take her back to her room if you want. She doesn't need to stay in here."

"Okay. Thanks for everything, Banner."

"Anytime Bucky. You have everything you need to treat her cuts, but if you need me you can come and find me. I'll see you tomorrow."

Bucky watched him leave then turned his attention back to you. He stroked his hand over your hair as he watched you sleep.

He waited a few minutes before he decided that he'd take you back to your room. He managed to get there without running into anyone. He got there and lay you down in your bed. He bent down to kiss your forehead.

"I love you so much y/n" he whispered. "Please be okay."

He tucked you in before going to sit in your hanging chair so he could get some rest too.

***

Bucky woke up in the middle of the night. He opened his eyes and looked around the room. It was dark, but he saw the shadow sitting up in bed. You were hugging your legs to your chest, hiding your face behind your knees. You were mumbling something. Bucky could hear you crying.

"Hey, y/n, hey sweetheart" he said softly as he hurried over to the bed. He sat down in front of you. "I'm here, honey, look at me." He tucked some hair back behind your ear which made you look up at him.

You crawled over and leaned against him, crying into his T-shirt.

"Bucky..."

"I'm here."

"I can't do this anymore. I can't- I... I can't" you weeped.

"Yes, you can. Y/n, you can get through this. I'm gonna help you get through it, sweetheart... it's okay."

You shook your head. You couldn't believe that.

"It's over, y/n. I promise. Nothings gonna happen. I'm not gonna let it. You're gonna be okay."

He pulled you up to sit in his lap. "You're gonna be okay" he said again. As much as he wanted to, he wasn't sure he could believe it either. Because as much as he had tried to keep you safe, something kept happening.

"We're gonna be fine" he continued a minute later. "We're safe here. We're gonna stay at the compound. No one can hurt you here. You're gonna get better and everything will be alright again. And you're gonna go back to school. Or you're gonna be homeschooled. You can be homeschooled so you don't have to leave. I won't have to leave you. So I can keep you safe. I can make sure nothing will happen. And then- then you know what, it's gonna be your birthday. It's your birthday soon. You're gonna be sixteen. And we're gonna have a party. A big party. With lots of presents. And we, you and I, we'll make the cake like we do every year. Like we normally do. Because everything's gonna go back to normal. We're gonna forget anything ever happened. Okay?"

Bucky looked down at you when you didn't say anything. He smiled when he saw your eyes shut. He carefully wiped the tears off your cheeks before moving you to lie back on the pillows. This time, instead of sleeping in the chair, he lay down beside you. He put his arm around you and you rolled over, cuddling into him.

He kissed the top of your head and made himself comfortable to fall asleep next to you.