the team doctor || bucky barnes

15.

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ꜱᴏɴɢ: ꜰɪʀᴇ ꜰᴏʀ ʏᴏᴜ - ᴄᴀɴɴᴏɴꜱ

~

VALERIE WAS BORED. 

She grew to hate missions because it left her with an empty tower. Well, at least the top of the tower was empty. The lower floors occupied by engineers and other employees were left unphased. 

She then wondered if maybe she needed to get some non-Stark friends. But that would require her to leave the tower and go socialize. Too much work. 

The mission began three days ago, the morning after the AC broke. In the time since the air conditioning was fixed, Valerie finalized her serum for Bruce, and she began texting Cody. 

A productive three days, she would say. 

Cody was not a bad texter. He would send her memes or articles he was reading that morning. He always responded within minutes, even when she would take hours to text back due to her various projects. 

However, Cody went to bed early. He called himself a 'morning person'. So, the last three nights, she just laid in her bed, bored. She didn't realize how much she had grown accustomed to sleeping on that godforsaken metal table, talking with Bucky. Even if it was mostly her talking, it became comfortable to be in that room at night. Being alone in her apartment almost felt foreign now, despite that being the case her entire adult life. 

She wondered if he felt the same, or if these past couple of nights were a relief. A break from her. She overthought every single conversation they had, wondering if maybe he was annoyed by her talking. Definitely at first. However, and maybe she imagined it, he seemed to thaw. 

She wished he would be rude to her, however, because it definitely made her feelings more absolute toward him. But with him asking her to tell him stories, the lines began to blur and she caught herself thinking about him when he wasn't around. 

Like now. 

Here she was, laying in her bed, staring at the 'goodnight' text from Cody. It was 10:27 pm. She tried finishing her book, but she found herself losing focus. She threw it across her bed in frustration, looking around her room. 

Suddenly, her team device buzzed. She grabbed it at lightning speed, excited to get any form of communication. 

These idiots are injured. Tony wrote. 

She smiled with glee. Not that she was happy they were injured, but she was happy to have something to do. 

She threw on one of her black skirts, swapped her t-shirt for a white camisole, and finished the look off with a red cardigan. Slipping on her loafers, she skipped out of her apartment. 

It wasn't until she reached the elevator that she saw her reflection. The skirt must've shrunk in the wash because it was suddenly much shorter than she remembered. She pulled it down a little, not helping much but making herself more presentable. 

"There she is," Tony had said when she came into the common area. Wilson decided the wings needed to test their limits and ended up making love to a tree." 

"You and hyperbole are close, huh?" Sam rolled his eyes. "It's just some scratches."

"Come on down, Sam." 

She glanced over the rest of the team, all sitting down or taking their boots off or grabbing some snacks. When she deemed them all in good condition, she walked off with Sam. He sat in her chair and waited for her to grab some ointments for his cuts. 

"So, are you happy to be back so you can ask your receptionist out?" 

He laughed. "Yeah, I asked her for lunch tomorrow."