Mother Nature || Avengers

Nighttime Talks

I stared at the ceiling in the darkness of my room. Scott had brought me to bed not long after the sun set, everyone seemed exhausted and soon made their own way to their rooms. Scott was reluctant to leave me alone but Tony convinced him to leave me alone and to 'Not baby me'. At first I felt tired but my mind was retreating back to its usual structure of staying awake, fueled by fear. I shot up in bed at the image of the Academy, my breath increasing rapidly. I ran my hands through my hair gripping it slightly in frustration.Deep breaths, that's all I need to do, take deep breaths.

Once my heart rate and breathing had slowed down I groaned quietly. This was starting to irritate me, I was free and had nothing to worry about yet here I am at 2 am, jumping at any sounds made and not getting any sleep in fear of them coming back. I roughly ran my hands over my face and slowly stood from the bed, pulling my jumper back on while walking out of my bed. The whole tower was dark, the light from the city illuminating the living room drawing me to it. My bare feet padded against the cold floor as I turned to the kitchen to get a drink. I stood leaning against the island, staring at each cupboard trying to decide which one would have the glasses. "You need something?" A husky voice made me jump and shrink into my jumper slightly. "I-I..needed a drink." I replied, covering my mouth with my hand hidden in my jumper sleeve from habit. Bucky nodded slightly, watching my movement then retrieving a glass and filling it with water. "Here." I went to reach out for the water and he swiftly grabbed my arm, gently compared to what he could do. I froze in place as he placed the glass down on the island, folding my jumper sleeve up to expose my hand then placed the glass in it. "So you don't drop it." He explained noticing my fear/confusion. My hand shook faintly while I brought it to my lips to drink. "Thank you.." I muttered and leaned against the island again while watching him make himself a coffee. "So." He began while pouring the coffee into a mug and bringing it to the island, taking a seat to face me on the other side. "How come you're awake?" He questioned making sure to keep his voice down. I shrugged my shoulders slightly and tucked a bit of hair behind my ear "I just couldn't sleep. For most of my life I've gotten use to less than 2 hours sleep. I guess it's going to take a while to get back to 'normal'." I sighed quietly and stared out of the window. Bucky hummed in response and sipped his coffee, pulling the stool our beside him gesturing for me to sit. I pushed my glass over the  countertop and walked around taking a seat beside him. 

We stayed in silence for a while, both of us slowly drinking our drinks enjoying the peace. "I don't really get to sleep much, the main reason being the nightmares." Bucky stated, placing his empty mug down and resting his arms on the counter. I looked up at him slightly, leaning my chin on my hand  in thought while taking in his features. His harsh looks, long hair that fell below his chin and five o'clock shadow forming on his face contrasted his ocean blue eyes. It was plain to see he didn't like talking or showing emotions, but you can never your emotions from your eyes no matter how hard you try. That is where people fail when trying to understand someone, they rely too much on what the persons body is doing rather than looking deeper and finding the mirror of the soul that reflects everything the soul feels. "I'm sorry for what they put you through." I spoke softly after a moment of silence. He turned to me and tilted his head slightly. "You know what I'm talking about? I didn't know anyone told you.." I shook my head slightly at his last comment. "No one in here has told me anything, but I know what Hydra have told me." I took the last drink of my water before getting up and placing the glass in the sink. "You've been with Hydra?" He copied my movements but cleaned the cups. "More like I was forced into Hydra. But yes." I rolled my sleeve back down over my hand and watched him. "What'd they force you to do?" He asked in a very serious tone, drying his hands and folding his arms. His mechanical arm reflecting the dim lights that lit up the kitchen area. I remained silent not really wanting to relive my experience, I had already lost sleep because of it and I didn't want to feel all of the pain all over again. I guessed he took the hint because he quietly sighed to himself and looked down at the floor, his long hair falling into his face. "I guess Hydra boasted all of my successions with my missions around like some hero 'saving the world'" He used air quotations while talking. He looked up, his hair falling back out of his face, and met my eyes pain filling his. "But I guessed they also liked to boast about how inhumane they could be." I nodded slightly as Bucky walked forward, placing an arm around my shoulders and stood beside me. "I promise you Hydra won't come near you or me again. I know it may be hard to trust that fact at first, believe me it took me a while, but I can tell Scott is like a father to you. And if that's true then that man can be real protective over his family and always puts up a solid fight. He may be a pain in the ass but he is part of our family now, and so are you doll." And with that he walked away, presumably to bed. 

I remained in silence for a while taking in everything that has happened over the past day while tracing the faint marks on my wrists that the handcuff we had to wear in bed had made over the years. I closed my eyes from exhaustion but they quickly shot open as the thought of Aleksandr entered my mind. I covered my hands back up with the sleeves and checked my surrounding to make sure it was just my mind then slowly walked out of the kitchen. After turning the lights off I made my way to Scott's bedroom who had the second spare room next to mine and quietly knocked. There was no sound of movement so I slowly opened the door to see him lay in bed still asleep. I quietly made my way over to him, gently tapping his shoulder to wake him up. He stirred slightly before opening his eyes and yawning. He looked at the time before sitting up. "What's that matter? Its 2 in the morning." He looked concerned at me. "I-erm couldn't sleep....I keep seeing him and I'm getting scared he might come back...Like any minute he will walk into my room and-" I was stopped mid sentence by my throat closing up while tears fell down my face. Scott frowned and moved over in his bed, pulling the covers to allow me to get in. I crawled into the bed and held tightly onto Scott while he quietly shushed me, wiping my tears and began humming a song faintly. I recognized it as the one he once told me about, one that he sings to Cassie when she couldn't sleep. It felt nice to finally have someone to protect me and be my family in my life, and to have someone to comfort me like a father. I soon fell asleep in Scotts arms after he kissed my forehead and quietly muttered a goodnight.

A/N: The chapter if finally up! I pushed this one off so much oh my lord. Honestly I'm always procrastinating it's seriously a problem, like what is my life. Anyway, I thought there would be some Bucky and Ela time, since I imagine both to be struggling with their past with Hydra and the fears of what happened. And also a short paragraph of dad Scott, we stan a great father Scott. This chapter was crap, I know, but I have serious writers block and I'm happy to take suggestions for chapters or any ideas for added plot since I only have a brief outline of what I want this story to be and the character of Ela. I honestly love the idea of her being so shy and quiet but one day the team goes out on a mission and come back to see Scott on Tony's electrical drum set and Ela with a microphone singing her heart to a song like My Heart Will Go On, something really unexpected, playing a game on the Xbox trying to beat Tony's highest score from when he played the electric guitar. It makes me laugh tbh. Anyway, I hoped you all enjoyed this (ReAlLy LaTe) chapter and I'll see you soon.