Taming The Ghost

Chapter 12

After breakfast, I spent the rest of the morning with Bucky, preparing him for his first real meeting with Steve since he'd been sent to kill him under the order of HYDRA. Two o' clock soon rolled around and, as Bucky and I waited in his room for the Captain to arrive, I had to admit that I was nervous. My stomach churned while I stood, leaning against the cool metal wall, watching Bucky, who was sat on the end of his bed, his real hand clasped in his metal one and vice versa, eyes trained on the door intently. I could see how tense he was from how his knuckle whitened in his lap and the straining tendons in his wrist and neck. His jaw was set and locked in a stiff position. Suddenly, something made his whole demeanour change. His back straightened and his facial express changed from focus to panic. I looked at the door and heard voices outside, among them was Steve's. This must have been what he'd heard. With a buzz and a metallic clunk, the door heaved open slowly to reveal the Captain as he walked in clad in his uniform, military grade trousers and a fitting white shirt with some black combat boots. Once he was fully inside, one of the guards hauled the door closed, securing us all in with a dull clunk.

I nodded to my boss when he acknowledged me standing by, just in case this whole thing fell on its head. In my peripheral vision, I could see and hear the metal plates on Bucky's left arm sliding and whirring as his body tensed, trying to stay in control, and he shot me a worried glance. I turned my head towards him to reassure him that it was ok.

"You've got this." I said to him softly, looking directly in the eye. Behind their blue-grey surface, I could see all of his doubts and worries passing in his mind like constant traffic. When I spoke to him, I saw the rushing slow and he turned to face Steve with as much composure as he could muster.

"Hi." Steve spoke calmly for the first time since he'd entered the room, although there was pain behind his words, and I could understand why. He had to build friendship and trust with someone who was once his like a brother to him.

"Hi." Bucky replied cautiously "How... How are you?"

"I'm good. What about you? How's your head?" I was concerned that Steve's attempt at a joke wouldn't work but my worry soon faded away as I heard Bucky choke out a chuckle, as though he were unsure of what he was doing or if he should even be doing it, but he went with it anyway and smirked happily.

"I mean, I'm still sort of brainwashed but other than that, I'm good." Bucky said, clearly understanding what he was hinting at

"Good." Steve laughed in reply before his expression faded from joy to sorrow "... What do you remember about me?"

"I don't know. Laura told me some things and I've figured some stuff out myself. It's a good use of my time when I can't sleep."

"Well, tell me what you remember and I'll help you fill in the gaps." Both of them seemed more relaxed around each other now compared to when Steve first came in, Bucky was less tense and Cap had unfolded his arms from where they were folded defensively across his chest before, and it made me smile seeing them together again.

I let the talk for a few more minutes about the 40s and their childhood before suggesting that we should leave it there for today, not wanting to push the amazing luck we'd had so far. I lingered behind after Steve left to ask Bucky how he was feeling. The great, dopey grin plastered on his face gave me and indication of his reply.

"I feel- That was great! I feel like I'm finally getting better, and it's all thanks to you, Laura." And before I knew it, Bucky was up off of his bed and holding me in a warm embrace. At first, I was shocked, he'd never been so forward and confident with contact before, but, after a few seconds I melted into his hold with a smile. "Thank you." he whispered softly in my ear.

"You're welcome." I replied in the same way, closing my eyes ad I began to feel comfortable in Bucky's arms, safe, even, like nobody could ever hurt me. However, our embrace didn't last long before Natasha cleared her throat at the door, causing us both to leap apart, my heart racing ten to the dozen

"Sorry to break up your little, uh, moment, but Steve wants to see you." she said in her usual serious tone, gesturing to me before leaving promptly after, standing outside the door, waiting for me to follow.

"Ok." I replied to Nat before turning back to Bucky and smiling at him bashfully. "See you at dinner." I said, leaving upon hearing the Black Widow's impatient huff.

Once I was out of the room, Natasha locked Bucky's door and began to lead me down the corridors.

"You know," I said, trailing behind ex-assassin, "I know where Steve's office is. I can get there on my own."

"Yeah, well, I just wanted to make sure you didn't get distracted." she said bitterly

"Distracted by what?"

"I think you know what." And she was right. I knew exactly what, or rather who, she was talking about.

"Look, me and Bucky are friends, I think, and I'm also his therapist so I have to spend time with him otherwise I wouldn't be doing my job."

"Friends?" she scoffed "You're not supposed to befriend prisoners. I'd have thought you'd know that by now."

"Why the hell are you being so hostile towards me, Natasha? What did I do to personally offend you? Please, enlighten me." I retaliated with venom in my voice. I took her stunned silence as a cue to continue with my rant "And in case you don't remember how you go here, let me remind you. Clint saved your life by becoming your friend instead of killing you like he was ordered to because he saw that there was good in you. That's exactly what I see in Bucky. You were once a prisoner and an assassin, just like he was and friendship saved you from being put down. I'm just trying to do the same for him. Now, if you'll excuse me, this is my stop." When I'd finished tearing into Natasha, I broke away from her, leaving her stood speechless in the middle of the hallway, and entered Steve's office without so much as a glance backwards.

Once I got inside Cap's office, I breathed out an exasperated sigh and Steve looked up, raising an eyebrow at me.

"Everything alright out there?" he asked

"Yeah... No. I don't know what's gotten into Nat. She seems so annoyed with me all the time ever since we started this mission." Then I realised something "Did you hear?"

"Oh yeah, I heard." I hung my head in shame. She just made me so frustrated, I had to say something. "Anyway," Steve said, steering us away from the topic, "I just called you in to say thank you. You're doing an incredible job with Bucky, it's almost like he's back to his old self again." he smiled nostalgically

"You're welcome. He's a great guy, you're lucky to have him as a friend."

"Yeah." he replied fondly. I was just about to get up and request permission to leave when Steve said "I have something else to tell you. From now on, you're going to be the only one down there with Bucky I'm moving Natasha out and up here because it's obvious that she's... Stressing you out a bit." we both laughed at this "The guards will be a little further down the corridor to give you two some space. I hope you don't mind, although by the sound of things I'm assuming you won't. Besides, I think you can manage Bucky for yourself." I smiled and nodded in reply, slightly relieved that the pressure of having Natasha on my ass most of the time had been relieved from me a small bit. "Good. Now, if you don't think it too rude of me, I'm going to have to leave and dismiss you because I have to go and welcome Sam to his new home for the next few months. He just landed, I called him in last night to help me run this place." Great, just when I thought I'd escaped his attention. I groaned internally but maintained an outward front of indifference.

"Of course, I'm about to go and relax a bit before dinner anyway."

"Great, I'll see you later then."

"See you later." and with that, he and I went our separate ways, him to the hangar and me to one of the many staff rooms to mentally prepare myself for Sam's arrival.