the team doctor || bucky barnes (EDITING IN PROGRESS)

23.

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ꜱᴏɴɢ: ɪɴᴛᴏ ɪᴛ - ᴄʜᴀꜱᴇ ᴀᴛʟᴀɴᴛɪᴄ

"𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐝𝐨𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫."

~

VALERIE SLEPT WELL. 

For the first time in a week, she slept without waking up once. She was appreciative of a good night's sleep considering today would be a busy day for her. 

"Happy quarterly!" She sang as Steve walked in, the first to come see her for his check-in. 

"Happy to do it," 

"So, let's get started." 

She had a sheet for each team member to fill out. It was a simple survey, asking them to rate various questions using a Likert scale. This meant they had to answer between strongly disagree, disagree, agree, and strongly agree. It was only a formality to get through before she would simply talk to them. 

Wanda and Bruce were her favorite members to meet with. They always kept her entertained with what was going on in their lives. Vision was by far the hardest, being a synthezoid and all. As the day went on, she finished almost all of her evals. All but one. 

Take a wild guess. 

"You are all done," She told Sam, filing his sheet away in his personal folder. 

"Are you done for the day?" 

"I have one left. Not sure if he's even going to show," 

"It's Barnes, isn't it?" 

She nodded. She checked her phone for any messages before slipping it into her pocket. 

"We never finished talking about that," He added. "I need to know how that even began," 

"I don't know. One day it went from him absolutely hating my guts to shoving his tongue down my throat." 

"Gross."

"You asked!" She laughed. "I don't know what changed, to be honest." 

"Nothing," 

"What?" 

Sam chuckled, shaking his head. "You got a lot to learn about men," 

"I have a doctorate in Clinical Psych," She deadpanned. "I think I know things about people." 

"Not enough, apparently." 

"That's upsetting. I spent a house on that piece of paper." 

"I just mean," He grinned. "It sounds like he always liked you. He just didn't know how to express it," 

"He's a grown man! Quadruple my age!" 

"Bucky's complicated. Steve'll tell you. But, I do know, the two of them have started having some deep conversations on our missions." 

"Really? How do you know?" 

"They're always sitting in the back of the Quinjet looking like they're discussing the nuclear codes." 

"They're not talking about me," She scoffed. "Come on."

"Maybe not, but they ain't talking about the weather either." 

She looked at Sam incredulously. He grinned as she made a 'pssh' sound with her mouth. 

"Look, I'm not saying Barnes is Mr. Right. I'm just saying I see how you stare at him sometimes, and it's duly reciprocated."