Time Bomb

Chapter 25

—1 month later—

I got out of the shower and put on one of Bucky's shirts and a pair of leggings. I tied my hair up into a bun and walked out of Bucky's room to go to the common room. I haven't been back to my room since that first night without Bucky. His scent is still all over that room and I'm going to cherish it for as long as I can. I had started wearing his dog tags from when he was in the army just to have a piece of him close to me.
I sat down on couch and stared out the window, the stars in the night sky twinkling away. I noticed something bright slowly coming towards us and a ship right above it. I stood up and went to the window, getting a better look.
"Hey guys?" I called out.
"What is it, Sweetie?" Pepper asked. Pepper, Tony's wife had come by earlier to check in on us and see if the others had any leads on Tony.
"We have incoming." I said and ran to put my shoes on. Pepper followed me outside as well as Steve and Rhodes.
We all stopped at the bottom of the steps and watched as this bright figure set the ship down. The bridge opened up and 2 people began walking down.
"Tony??" I said out loud. He looked at me and smiled weakly. He doesn't look so good. Pepper and Steve ran to help him.
Once we all got inside, we all opted to let Tony get some rest before asking any questions. Nebula as well. It seems they had gotten stuck in space without fuel for the ship after the whole Thanos thing.
I made my way back to Bucky's room and laid down on his bed. Letting his scent wash over me before I fell into a nightmare filled sleep.

I woke up with a jolt. The nightmare of Bucky falling to the ground into dust still haunting me. I checked the time and it read 5am. I got out of bed and changed into a pair of jeans. Deciding there's no point in trying to go back ti sleep.
I went out to the living room where Tony was already awake as well as Pepper and Rhodes. They had Tony in a wheelchair hooked up to an IV.
"Thank god you're not gone too." I said to Tony and hugged him. Weakly, he hugged me back.
"Oh honey, I'm so sorry for what happened." He whispered in my ear before letting go.
"I don't wanna talk about it. But thanks I guess." I said and smiled weakly at him before sitting down at the table. Pepper brought over a cup of tea for me.
"What kind this time, Pep?" I asked. She's been giving me all sorts of stress relief types of tea for the past week since I finally started coming out of the room.
"It's actually just blueberry. Your favorite. The stress ones don't seem to be working so I'll just stick with your favorites, honey." She said and kissed the top of my head. She's really grown on me. She's like a mom to me and I've never had one before so it's really nice to have her around now.
"Thank you." I said and took a sip of the scalding hot tea.
"Morning everyone." Steve said as he entered the room and got himself a cup of coffee.
All of a sudden, him and Tony started going at it. Blaming each other for the loss. The new girl that brought the ship back last night just standing in the corner. Thor sitting on the couch with his head hung down in defeat.
"Enough!" I yelled and stood up. Finally having enough of their bickering.
"So we lost. I get it. It fucking sucks. But there's nothing we can do to change it so just drop it. We can't always win every battle. We have to accept our loss and move on!" I said loudly, knowing I'm one to talk seeing as I can't get over the loss of Bucky.
"You're one to talk, Dani. You don't even sleep in your own room. You've locked yourself in Bucky's room and cry yourself to sleep every single night. Look who's done so well at accepting their loss." Rhodes piped up. I stood up and got in his face. I saw Steve go into defense mode beside me as well as Tony and Thor.
"Rhodes. I HIGHLY suggest you leave before I fuck you ip myself. Don't you EVER speak his name to me again. What you don't understand is Bucky was the love of my life. He became a part of me. Him being gone has literally tore my insides apart. I will NEVER be able to accept that he is gone. So get out." I said angrily.
"Oh, little girl is gonna hurt me? Ha! I'd like to see that." He said and before he could even say anything word, my fist flew to his face and I knocked him to the ground. I jumped on top of him and started punching him even more. I felt his nose break under my fist just before Thor pulled me off of him.
"That's enough, I think he gets the point." Thor said quietly in my ear and let go of my arms.
"Rhodes. Leave. Now." Tony said, standing up from his chair.
"Why should I leave? I'm an actual Avenger and you all just watched as she attacked me." Rhodes said and pointed at me.
"Yeah well, you asked for it." Steve said matter of fact.
"But I.." Rhodes started but Tony cut him off.
"Leave! Now! I won't tolerate you treating my kid like that!" Tony yelled, grilling the table to balance himself. Pepper helped hold him up.
Tony sees me as his own kid? Since when did that happen?
I walked over to Tony and pulled him into a tight hug after Rhodes finally left.
"Thank you." Was all I could say as he hugged me back.
"I know it hurts, kiddo. And I wish there were something I could do to help, I really do. I just don't know. Not yet at least." He said and rubbed my back.
"When... when did you start seeing me as your kid?" I asked, pulling away from the hug and helping him sit back down.
"For awhile now. Since awhile before I built the studio for you. Something just clicked and I knew that given the chance when you were younger, I would have adopted you. I love you kiddo, I hope you know I'd never do anything to hurt you." He said and patted my arm.
"We all love you, Dani. And I know what you're going through isn't something you want to talk about right now. But know that we're here if you ever do." Steve said and patted my shoulder from behind. Thor nodded and pulled me from them and into a hug.
"You're family, Dani. We got your back for life." Thor said as he let me go.