Death Where is Your Sting? - B. Barnes

Chapter 20

Hey, man. How's it going?

"Sam, I need your help."

Buck, good to hear from you. Me? No, I'm fine. Sarah and the boys are -

"Sam! I'm serious."

Alright. What's going on? Did someone find -

"No, no one's found us. It's Ray. Something's...She's...sick but I don't know..."

What do you need?

"I don't know. I'd say a doctor but...She can't eat, her fingers are twitching, she's getting headaches."

How long has this -

"A week, at least." Bucky sighed. "Sam, I don't know what to do. She won't listen to me, won't let me help. She acts like nothing's wrong but clearly...I'm going crazy here. I need to-"

Alright, I'll send Torres to get you tomorrow. You and Ray can come here. Sarah and the boys are leaving for vacation anyway. We'll try to figure it out. Maybe Strange...or Banner? I'll make some calls.

"Thanks, Sam."

Any time, man. I'll see you tomorrow.

~<>~

Ray's head was pounding. It'd happened the first time two days ago. It only seemed to last about ten minutes but it was miserable. She decided to just lay in bed, knowing she could hide it from Bucky if she pretended to sleep through it. Won't be long...

Bucky had told her Joaquin Torres was coming that day to pick them up. She'd been livid that he'd called Sam behind her back. She'd yelled at him, told him she was fine. He'd told her she obviously wasn't and he wasn't going to watch her die before she'd stormed out and shut herself in the bedroom for the afternoon. She didn't deserve his help. She wanted to handle this alone, she didn't want to be weak. The Power Broker must've done something to her - intentionally or not - and she had no idea what it was or how to fix it.

As her headache finally ebbed away, Ray got up, got ready, and met Bucky in the living room. She took one look at his face and said, "Don't."

"What!"

"Don't look at me like that. Like I'm sick or...dying. I don't want the pity. It's fine. I'm fine!"

"I'm sorry, but you're not -"

Bucky was interrupted by a sequence of knocks  at the door.

"Saved by the bell."

Bucky rolled his eyes at Ray's statement and opened the door.

"Ready?" Torres asked.

Bucky nodded.

Ray strode forward, bag in hand. Bucky moved to take it from her and she pulled back. "I can handle it. Stop." She moved past him, heading for the door. Just as she reached the door, Torres stopped her.

"Ma'am." He removed his hat and then held it out to her. She looked at the hat, then him, incredulous. "To hide your face. We have to be cautious."

She snatched the baseball cap from him, put it on, tugged it low, and headed to the car.

"Sergeant Barnes." Torres saluted.

Bucky just sighed and headed to the car.

~<>~

Once the plane was in the air, Torres put on auto pilot and took a look in the passenger area. He'd heard the pair screaming at each other before takeoff, but now it was quiet. He wanted to be sure they hadn't killed each other.