Shattered Thoughts : Book Two (Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier)

Chapter 10

  Bucky was sitting in front of the cell bright and early the next morning. He jumped up when he saw Steve, "Let me in."

"Bucky, she doesn't want to see you. Or anyone on the team for that matter," Steve said sadly. "I don't think it's exactly Willow in there. Maybe part Willow and part something else."

 "You have to let me, you have to let me help her," Bucky begged. 

 Steve looked like he was undergoing a deep internal struggle, not wanting to put Bucky in danger, but not wanting to say no to Bucky.  "I wish I could Buddy. But I don't have the clearance to open the door, only Coulson. If you talk in the air grate to the left of the door, she should be able to hear you. And I didn't give you that information." Then Steve walked off, probably to confer with Thor about what to do with Loki. 

  Sinking down against the door, Bucky spoke directly at the grate, "Willow? Can you hear me?"

  There was a bumping noise that Bucky assumed was Willow sliding out of her wheelchair, and sitting with her back against the door, "Bucky?"

  Her voice sounded dry and cracked. "Yes, that's me," Bucky said. "Why won't you let anyone in."

"I can't control my abilities, the headband isn't stopping them. I can hear the presence in my mind, it's whispering. I can't shut it out, and I won't risk hurting anyone I love."

  "How can I help you if you won't let me in?"

"Just sit there Bucky, and talk. Let me hear the sound of your voice, tell me whats going on out there," Willow said quietly. 

  "To be honest, I'm not sure. I know Thor and Steve are discussing what to do with Loki. Bruce is working on a way to get that thing out of your mind, you'll be back to normal soon." Bucky felt like his heart was being ripped into a million pieces and he had never felt so helpless. 

"I know Buck," Willow's voice broke before she could say anything. Bucky knew she was crying, though she was trying to hide it.

 He couldn't think of anything to say her, more than anything he wanted to knock the door down and crush her in a hug. Instead he let his right hand rest against the grate, and he knew Willow was doing the same thing. Sitting on opposite sides of steel door, each with a hand resting against it's surface, able to tell that the other had their hand in the same place. 

  Then Bucky Barnes said something he hadn't said in the two and a half years he'd know Willow Dariela. Something he'd been afraid to say, because then his feelings would be out in the open, and he was terrified something would go wrong. His voice full of tears, Bucky Barnes whispered, "I love you Willow."