Faces of Bucky Barnes - More One Shots

5. Get What You Need

It was there in black and white.  All the tests, all of the imaging that had been done; everything pointed to the same conclusion.  Lane sighed, pursed her lips together in a grim smile then looked at the doctors. 

"I would like a second opinion," she said.  "Could you send my file to Dr. Bruce Banner and Dr. Helen Cho of the Avengers?"

"You're a patient of them?" asked Dr. Roberts.

"No, I was an agent at one time," she replied.  "They'll look at it as a courtesy to me."

"If they concur?  Anything that can be done would only be palliative."

"I understand," said Lane.  "I'll be in touch."

There was a ringing sound in her ears as she left the office and went down the elevator to the main floor.  Before the door opened she took a deep breath and calmed herself.  The nanny had Danny on her lap on one of the lobby chairs, reading a story to him.  He turned his head when he heard Lane's footsteps coming out of the elevator.  Already, at 3 ½ years of age, he was displaying his abilities and he wriggled off Carol's lap, running to his mother. 

"Momma, are you done?" he asked.  "Can we go for lunch?  I'm hungry."

"Sure, baby," she smiled, kneeling down to his level.  "We'll get something to eat, then we'll go to the playground, okay?"

She stood up, taking him by the hand, smiling at Carol, the nanny, who knew her well enough to know the news wasn't good.  Taking Danny by the other hand she looked at Lane as they walked towards the exit.

"What's next?"

"Banner and Cho are going to look at my file," replied Lane.  "But I don't think they'll be able to do anything."  She glanced sideways at the woman who became her good friend this past year.  "I know, I'll have to tell him.  I just ... I just wanted Danny to have as normal a life as possible."

As they stepped outside the building she looked up at the blue sky, feeling the sun on her face, and hearing the sound of birdsong in the trees.  For a moment, she felt her throat constrict, at the thought of not being there for her son, but she swallowed it down.  If Bruce and Helen couldn't help her then she would tell Bucky, tell him what she had kept from him when she left the Avengers over four years before.

☀️☀️☀️

Bucky landed the quinjet on the platform of Stark Tower, then went through his checklist before shutting the aircraft down.  Behind him he could hear people standing up, groaning and stretching after the long flight from Australia, where they had undertaken a humanitarian rescue in a gold mine, after it collapsed.  Feeling a hand on his shoulder he looked behind him at Steve's face.

"Beers?" he asked.

"Yeah, but shower first," replied Bucky.  "I swear I'm still caked with the dirt from the rescue."

Grabbing his go bag he followed the others out and they made their way to the residential level, all of them crammed together into the elevator.  With being pretty ripe from the long flight they all held their breath as best they could before streaming out of the opening doors.  After entering the door code of his quarters Bucky dropped his bag off inside the door, toed off his boots and stripped down as he walked, coveting the warm shower that beckoned to him. 

Fifteen minutes later, with clean clothes on he stepped out of his quarters and headed to the lounge area.  Steve already had several beers on the counter, handing one to Bucky and Sam who was right behind him.  As others followed, he gave them a beer and they all fell onto the big sectional couch, taking long pulls of the refreshing beverage.  Just as Bucky took a second long drink of his bottle Friday interrupted the quiet of the gathering.