Nightingale (Sequel to Solider Boy)

Nineteen

Over the next few days, Bucky's team regrouped in the lab trying to plan their next move and so, all he had to do until they contacted him was wait. When they'd first begun their attempts, the waiting had driven him insane. There were only so many things he could do in the compound and only so much of Steve's constant "they'll get it" pep talks he could put up with before Bucky went insane. With Melody present, however, that waiting wasn't so maddening anymore. While Bucky had six months to get used to the compound and the jungle around it, Melody had no such claim. And so, to pass the time, Bucky became her tour guide. Today, as the weather was nice, they were out in the gardens, a place Bucky knew about, but had never really bothered to visit. Plants weren't his thing. Melody, however, was enthralled by the exotic flowers, trees and shrubs and was beaming at each one of them when they passed them.

"It's so beautiful here," she said for what might have been the eight hundredth time. Bucky didn't really care, Melody looked so happy she could have said the same thing a thousand times and it wouldn't have bothered him. "I don't think I've ever seen this many colors anywhere in New York." Her voice sounded normal now, no longer raspy as it had been initially after the attack. The bruises on her neck, once a violent purple were faded to yellow and nearly gone. 

She brushed her fingers along a large, leafy green plant that looked a bit like a fern but Bucky wasn't entirely sure. "That's because New York is all glass, steel and concrete. You're not likely to see that many colors there. But personally, I liked that about New York, this is nice," he gestured with his hand to the expanse of green around them, "but it's also a bit blinding."

"Speak for yourself," Melody kept a steady pace, walking across the smooth concrete path, excitement bouncing in every step. "This is amazing, I could stay here for hours."

Bucky smiled as they wound their way around a concrete panther. It wasn't directly in their path, but the open maw and curved teeth gave both of them the sense that it was better left alone. This was smaller than another panther statue Bucky had seen from a window in the compound, as that had been the size of a building, but this one too, despite it's much smaller size, seemed to hold the same amount of power inside it as the other.He pulled at one of the small vines growing around the old, withered stone. Studying the twisted vines, he wondered how long this had been here. Had it been with the last Black Panther?

"Oh my!" Melody's excited cry brought him away from his thoughts and he pulled his gaze from the statue of the panther. Bucky looked up and saw she had paused by a small tree which was covered in vibrant orange flowers. "Aren't they beautiful?"

Glad to see you're varying your branching out a little, Bucky thought, noticing that while she had uttered the word 'beautiful' once again, she had at least changed the other words. "They're nice," he muttered as Melody drew one down towards her to smell it. He wasn't crazy about flowers, but he liked the smile these brought to her face.

"Here," Bucky reached up above her to one of the flowers and snapped the stem off. Melody turned to regard him, a curious expression on her face. Without saying anything, he tucked the flower into her hair. "Perfect, now you look like a real tourist."

She giggled, gingerly touching the flower. "My goal while on this vacation."

"You have very low standards for vacations." Bucky commented. For most people, vacation did not involve visiting a secret base owned by royalty to spend their days with internationally wanted criminals. Melody, however was not most people. "But I guess this is probably the only one you've actually been on."

"No."

"No?" He was unable to keep the bemused grin off his face. "You mean you've actually, willingly taken a vacation before this?" He wondered what had driven her to that. Melody loved her job even more than she loved coffee which was saying something. Every day she'd gone to work, she'd been half-running out the door, even after they'd become...well whatever the hell they were.