Life As We Know It | James Barnes AU

It

1• IN WHICH WE MEET ADALINE BENNETT, A TIRED NURSE

I sighed, pushing a loose curl of dark hair away from my face and tugging at the front of my navy blue scrubs to try and create some sort of breeze, no matter how faint it might be.

"It's too hot in here," I complained good-naturedly, leaning over the nurse's desk for a minute as I caught my breath. "You would never even know how badly it's snowing outside."

Wanda glanced up at me without stopping typing, her reddish-brown hair catching the florescent light. "I know. Happy New Year, by the way."

"Oh, did I miss it?" I turned to check the clock beside her computer. Sure enough, it read a bright 1:27AM. I must have lost track of the time while I was moving from patient to patient. I scuffed the toe of one of my white tennis shoes on the tile floor with a slightly disappointed sigh. Working overnight on New Years Eve wasn't a big deal, and I didn't mind, but I was still a little bummed that I had missed the special moment. There was always next year, though.

"Thank you for taking Pietro's shift," Wanda said, returning her attention to her computer screen. "I know he appreciates it - I stopped by his apartment to check on him earlier today and drop off some soup and he could barely get out of bed." Wanda and Pietro Maximoff were twins from Sokovia; he was a children's nurse like me and she had a position here as a payroll specialist that she kept saying was only temporary until she found something better. She was insanely good with numbers, something I envied her greatly for.

"It's not a problem," I said, shooting her a little smile. "I don't mind at all. What does he have, do you know?"

"Some kind of stomach bug," Wanda said. "I didn't get too close, but he said he had a fever and was throwing up."

"Yuck." I made a face. "Well, I hope he feels better soon. The kids miss him."

"Have you seen his hair yet?" Wanda asked with a laugh, her accent rounding her vowels as she did so. Her eyes sparkled at me.

I rolled my eyes. "No, not yet. Does it look awful?"

"It's a shock, for sure," Wanda said. "Ordinarily, I would want to know what on earth could have possessed him to do such a thing, but I know he did it for the kids."

"How much money did he raise, again?"

"I don't remember exactly. Over five hundred dollars, at least," Wanda said with a fond smile. "I would never bleach my hair, but I'm proud of him for doing it. The kids were so excited."

"What did he get them?" I leaned some more of my weight on the counter as Wanda and I talked.

"Just small things," Wanda said. "I helped him do some of the shopping. Action figures, a lot of candy, some socks for the older ones. Things like that. "

"Aww," I said. "That's sweet. I bet they loved it."

"You should have heard the screaming when they saw his hair," Wanda laughed.

"I can imagine," I chuckled. "Being away from home on the holidays always sucks, but I bet that made it a little easier for them to be in the hospital over Christmas."

"I'm sure it did," Wanda said, glancing up at me in earnest, before pausing and adding, "He likes you a lot, you know."

I flushed, instantly embarrassed. "I know, Wanda. And he's a sweetheart, you know he is. But it's just...I don't know. It's weird because we're coworkers, I think."

"Has he said anything to you yet?"

"Not yet," I said, "and I hope he isn't going to. You know I think he's a great guy, Wanda, but I don't know how I feel about dating him."