When Love Blooms || Bucky Barnes x OC

Chapter 12

songs: Train Wreck (James Arthur), You Are the Reason (Calum Scott), Say You Won't Let Go (James Arthur)

Veronica felt like she was in a daze. It had been a few days since Bucky had left, and Veronica had withdrawn into herself, pretending to sleep on the cot in her dad's hospital room more than she actually did. Steve tried to talk to her, but every time she'd either play asleep, or roll out of bed and go walk around the hospital, avoiding that one particular waiting area.

The morning of his last day in the hospital, Steve was doing much better, and Veronica was glad he looked and sounded more like himself, even though she felt less and less like herself, and more like an old version of her that she thought was gone. She couldn't eat, couldn't breathe, couldn't do anything but lay in bed and think about everything that she had done wrong.

"Veronica? Honey, are you awake?" came Steve's voice, quiet and cautious. Veronica held back a sigh, but nodded and sat up.

"What do you need, Dad?" she asked, getting ready to get up but Steve raised his good hand, stilling her.

"Talk to me kid, that's what I need. Tell me what you need, because honey, you're starting down that path again, I can see it. And we need to stop it before it gets worse."

"I can't," Veronica whispered, and Steve leaned forwards, as though to move to her, but he couldn't, so she got up and sat on the bed by him. "I can't Dad, because it hurts too much."

Steve put his hand on Veronica's shoulder, squeezing it. "I understand, honey," he said, rubbing her back and Veronica burst into tears, covering her face as she cried. Her dad pulled her in to cry on his shoulder, her body shaking with the force of her sobs.

"He left me," Veronica whispered, pain in her voice, agony in her heart as she stopped crying, going numb. Her dad continued to rub her back, but she barely felt it. She sat up after a minute, wiping her eyes and standing. Steve looked at her with concern, but she ignored it.

"I'm gonna go find the doctor, see if we can get out of here today," Veronica said with fake cheer, smiling to hide the emptiness. She left the room and took a few deep breaths, putting on a happy face as she saw the doctor and called him over.

The doctor got Steve all set to be discharged, and Veronica gathered up their things, the sky darkening with the sun going down. She put everything into the bags she had and brought them down to the car before going back to wheel her dad out. A nurse helped her get Steve into the car, much easier this time than the last, his breathing not so stunted.

Veronica drove them home quietly, turning a music station on to drown out the noise in her head and keep her dad from talking to her. She pulled into the driveway and went around with a new crutch, to the passenger side, helping her dad out and into the house, moving slowly and carefully.

Veronica got Steve back into his own bed, clean somehow- Veronica hadn't even thought to change the sheets, and she realized Bucky must have been there at some point, cleaning up for her. The hole in her chest ached, and she tried to ignore it.

"Okay, so, I'm gonna go get some supper ready, anything you want, Dad," Veronica said cheerfully, the enthusiasm not reaching her eyes.

"How about some of your famous chicken noodle soup?" Steve asked, trying to meet Veronica's eye but she wouldn't look at him.

"Sure Dad, I'll go get started on it," Veronica said with false brightness, leaving the room and going into the kitchen, smile dropping immediately. She went through the motions making the soup, pausing when she thought she heard the front door, but shaking it off when she heard her dad turn the tv on.