Taming The Ghost

Chapter 14

I woke up the next morning and prepared myself for what the day would hold. Just thinking about training with Sam made me want to crawl back into bed, but, nevertheless, I put on a brave face and got changed into my gym clothes, which consisted on black lycra trousers and a floaty tank top, allowing me movement so that I could give my all without being restricted. As usual, I carried out the routine of greeting Bucky, putting on his cuffs, taking him to breakfast before taking him back to his cell.

When I reached the training room, Sam was stood waiting for me in his grey tank top, biceps exposed, and a pair of black basketball shorts. The door slid open and the sound alerted Sam that I was there. He looked up and greeted me with a grin

"You ready?" he smirked

"As I'll ever be." I tried to return the smile with as much enthusiasm as I could muster but I fell just short. Sam didn't notice and continued to talk as he bandaged his hands.

"I'm just going to warn you, I won't hold out on you just because you're a girl."

"I wasn't expecting you to." I replied as I wrapped up my hands in bandages, just as he had. Once my knuckles felt secure, I wandered over to the centre of the floor and turned to face Sam, who had followed me over.

"You ready to get your ass whooped, Jones?" Sam smirked confidently. Just looking at his smug face, I knew I had to take him down a peg or two.

"I was about to ask you the same thing." and with that, I took the first jab.

It had been a while since I'd done any sort of training so I was a little rusty and Sam ended up beating me by one round so I challenged him to a re-match after we'd done some cardio. To be honest, I was beginning to enjoy myself with Sam. I wasn't going to reject fun out of spite. After a 15 mile run on the treadmill, we broke for lunch where I saw Bucky at his usual table in the corner with a rather unhappy-looking Natasha and shot him a smile which he returned immediately. Both Sam and I ate our salads fast, hungry from the morning's training and wanting to get back to it.

Once back in the training room, we shut the door and re-wrapped our hands, ready for another bout of boxing. This time, I was determined to beat him. We were about fifteen minutes into the fight when I landed my sixth right hook-round house combo on Sam, I had him on the ropes and I knew it so, stupidly, I began to let my guard down and loosen up my punches. As soon as my concentration started to slip, Sam took advantage and threw a solid upper cut at my ribs, winding me just long enough to left hook my jaw and bring me into a choke hold with his right arm. He might have gotten a little too into it because his hold on me tightened considerably. As a warning, I tapped out on his forearm, patting him just hard enough so that he got the message and let go slightly. Suddenly, before I could even look up to see what was happening, I heard the sound of people yelling, the crash of the training room door being ripped open and then I felt Sam's being wrenched away from my neck with enough force to spin me around, allowing me to observe the commotion. The solid metal door to the gym lay on the floor, with a fist mark embedded in it and quite a distance from where it should be in the frame. I looked to my right and saw Sam, terrified for his life, being pinned up against the wall by and infuriated Bucky, except he didn't seem like Bucky anymore, he seemed like he was very much the Winter Soldier again in that moment, his metal arm holding Sam at least a foot off of the floor by his neck, Sam grasping and pushing and kicking against him, desperately trying to escape. The sounds of screaming and the work "Run" resonating from down the hall made me hazard a guess that the guards had all ran away. God knows where Natasha was. Much close to me however, I could hear Bucky shouting at Sam at the top of his voice, drowning out all other sounds.

"You leave her alone! If you even lay one finger on her like that again I'll kill you, you understand?!"

"Yeah, yeah! I understand, just let me go!" Sam choked in response. He was starting to severely struggle for breath as I ran over to them and started yanking on Bucky's hand, trying to pry it open and let Sam free. Bucky was still yelling when I shouted over him

"Bucky! Put him down! Let go! This isn't you!" as I wedged myself underneath his arm and between their bodies, trying to distance them from one another as well as trying to get Bucky's attention and look him in the eyes. As I looked at him, I could see the anger that held him in this state, but I could also see some awareness. Some sort of glimmer behind his eyes that registered my voice and chipped his soldier persona. All I had to do was keep talking. "James, look at me. Focus on me. Let Sam go." I said more calmly but still breathing heavily, my pulse ringing in my ears. Slowly, I saw the metal plates in his arm retract and relax one by one, allowing him to inch his hand open while I kept talking, distracting his mind and chiselling away at his blind rage. The more relaxed Bucky became, the more moisture gathered in his eyes and the more his face dropped and changed from anger to horror. Eventually, he let go completely, moving his hand from Sam's throat to the wall, in order to support the weight of the regret I could now visibly see that he felt, then to his side, allowing Sam to duck down and run out of the door to a doctor while Bucky stumbled forward. I caught him in both arms and pulled myself into his chest, whispering "It's okay, I've got you." in a soothing tone, closing my eyes and relaxing into him to try and make him feel less tense. It took a couple of seconds of hesitation for Bucky to react to my gesture, but when he did, he placed his right hand gently on the back of my head, resting it there, and then followed up a few moments later with his left arm on the bottom of my back. We stayed like that for a few seconds before I steadily pulled back upon feeling wet drops hitting my scalp. When I looked up at him, I found him looking back down at me with tears trickling down his face and onto our clothes, leaving small black splatters behind.

"I'm sorry..." he muttered "I'm so, so sorry. I don't know what came over me. I- I just saw you fighting and then- then I got angry and I- I don't know what happened-" he rambled frantically before I cut him off with a soft smile.

"Hey, look at me" I said, sandwiching his face between my hands gently "It's okay. None of us are seriously hurt. Sam might have a few bruises and a sore throat but he'll be fine in a few weeks. I'm okay. I haven't been harmed, and, most importantly, you're okay." I reassured him

"But I'm not, Laura. I'm not okay. That's why I'm here. Because I did this." he said, gesturing to the mild destruction around him.

"It's a side-effect Bucky, and nothing we can't work on. I'm always here for you, you know that." I replied

"What if I hurt you as well?" he said with a worried tone

"You won't. I trust you." I said looking directly into his eyes to reinforce my statement.

"But what if I do? The last thing I want to do is hurt you."

"Then I'll heal. Believe me Bucky, I'm living proof that this," I gestured to him and then to the fist mark in the door that still lay on the floor, "Gets better." When I said that, all was silent for a moment before the sound of heavy boots came thundering towards us from down the corridor. It was then that I realised that we still had our arms around each other and, to be quite honest, I didn't mind.