the team doctor || bucky barnes

36.

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ꜱᴏɴɢ: ᴅᴜᴠᴇᴛ - ꜱᴘᴇᴅ ᴜᴘ ᴠᴇʀꜱɪᴏɴ - ʙÔᴀ

~

A WEEK WENT BY.

The first two days, Valerie couldn't sleep. By the third, her exhaustion finally relieved her. Her empty bed only reminded her of Bucky's absence, realizing how much she had grown accustomed to sleeping near him. One night, she awoke in a cold sweat from a nightmare that MONA had captured him.

She reminded herself that wouldn't happen.

They had a team stacked with the most powerful of people, of course he would be safe. After the first day, she began working with Peter. She quickly grew fonder of him, his playful attitude giving her relief from her anxiety. He was like this little brother figure, equally pestering and entertaining.

"How far can the webs shoot?" She asked one day in the training facility.

"About this far," He shot them, reaching the other wall in the large room.

"Cool," She grinned.

"I know, right?"

She also loved that Peter was a fellow science nerd.

"You wrote this?" Peter asked aloud one night in her lab as she ran tests on his web fluid.

"I did,"

"And you were how old?"

"Twenty-two."

"Damn!" He hollered. "You're like Tony,"

"I'm nowhere as smart as him," She laughed. "But I have my moments,"

With every single day empty of tasks, she had a lot of downtime. She was grateful for Peter because she'd be losing her mind if she was alone. They spent almost all of their time together, eating meals and watching movies.

"This is absolutely the best one," He spoke up.

"I don't know, I really like Return of the Jedi."

"Yeah, yeah, that one's good but this one got the best Rotten Tomatoes score. Just saying."

She laughed. "Anything is better than the prequels."

"What?" He sat up. "Wait, no. We can't be friends if you don't like Revenge of the Sith. Anakin, my allegiance is to the Republic! To Democracy!"

"That's the only good one!" She exclaimed. "Come on, Jar Jar Binks is the most annoying thing to happen to the franchise."

"I love Jar Jar," He whispered.

"I still can't believe you were Team Gale."

"We're back to this? Peeta has no personality!"

"Have you read the books? Hm?" She grinned when he shook his head. "Exactly!"

"No, I didn't read the books. Only girls read those books."

"And here you are, on Team Gale. You're basically saying you think Liam Hemsworth is hot."

"And so what if he is?"

She laughed, anxiety taking over as she thought of Bucky.

"Do you think they're okay?" She shifted the conversation.

"Of course! They're the Avengers."

"Were you upset you couldn't go?"

"No, this has been so fun!"

She gave him a knowing look.

"Fine, a little. Mr. Stark doesn't like me on the big missions. He's worried about my safety or whatever,"

"He just cares about you. Even if he doesn't say it,"

"But I'm more than capable!"

"Of course, you are, Peter. But you have the rest of your life to prove yourself, what's your hurry? You're only sixteen."

"I don't know, I guess, I don't feel like my age. Kids at my school look at me like I'm some science freak. When I'm Spider-Man, I finally feel like I'm at the adult table. Until Mr. Stark benches me, anyway."

She nodded, smiling. She used to feel that way, too. She remembered being in such a hurry to get her first Ph.D., then in more of a hurry to get the next two. She always felt like when she attained those, that's when her life started.

Weirdly enough, she didn't feel like her life really started until she started working here. Then when she met Bucky, she knew she wanted to start slowing down the hurry.

"I used to be the same way, Peter," She spoke. "Now, I just want to slow it down."

"Because of Bucky?" He asked after a moment.

"It's weird," She said. "When I'm not with him, time seems to go so slowly. Like it creeps by in his absence. But when I'm with him, I swear, it's like time just...stops."

Peter grinned, popping Chex-Mix into his mouth. "Yeah, I heard love will do that to you,"

She froze at his words, watching him eat so nonchalantly after dropping that word. She knew her feelings for Bucky had gotten immensely stronger, but she never thought about it enough to come to that conclusion.

Being a science person, feelings were hard for her. They needed to be computed, or tested. They needed to make sense. With him, they never made sense. That confused her because, well, she never felt like that with a man before. It was always so matter-of-fact, like sex or dates. With him, it was more than just that. It was complicated. It was whiplash. It was slow, like thawing ice. Then, it was raw. It was liberating. It was a curtain being pulled back to reveal the most beautiful piece of art she'd ever seen.

She finally looked at Peter, smiling. "Yeah, I guess it does."

<>

On the eighth day, she heard the jet return. She couldn't stop smiling as she ran down the stairs, not taking care to use the elevator. She wore a red cardigan, once remembering Bucky saying it was his favorite. Out of breath, she arrived in the common area.

The tunnel opened after a few moments, and members began to walk out.

Her brows furrowed as they began to walk out with looks of despair on their faces. She began to count them as they walked by, not even taking care to look for injuries. She greeted each one absentmindedly, eyes searching for the next figure to walk through.

"Valerie," Clint nodded. "Good to see you're okay,"

"Hey,"

Next came Natasha and Bruce, eyes avoiding hers. Wanda came running out to give her a hug.

"I'm glad you're alright,"

Valerie shook her head confusedly, wondering why they were checking on her. Finally, Steve and Tony came through, looking hesitant once they saw her. She watched as the rest came out, Sam being the last. He sighed a breath of relief once looking her over. Realization began to flood through her like a tidal wave.

Bucky wasn't with them.

"Where is he?" She asked Steve, the tiniest fraction of hope in her voice.

His eyes lowered to the ground, shaking his head. Her head whipped around the room, taking in their faces in the silence. Sam stepped toward her, reaching for her shoulder. She dodged it, not taking her eyes off Steve.

"Where is he?"

"Valerie," He began.

"Steve," She warned. "Tell me where he is."

A long pause of silence wrapped around her throat to choke her. Her mind instantly went to the worst-case scenarios, tears beginning to well in her eyes. Finally, he opened his mouth to speak.

"They got him,"

~

:O