Woman Out of Time: A Maria Stark Story

Chapter 7

A/N: Got a surprise in this chapter for you!

"Again!"

Maria groaned from her place on the mat. They were doing training and Bucky was a hard taskmaster. Reluctantly, she pushed herself up and took position in the middle.

Bucky circled her but Maria stayed still. After the fifth time around, he reached out on her left. Her weaker side.

Maria knew he would so she reacted quickly, ducking out of the way and blocking his arm. He only ever used his right arm with her so she was surprised when his left arm made contact with her other side. He'd faked her out.

They parried for another minute before she was back on the mat groaning.

"Let me have a turn." A voice called out.

Maria stopped glaring at Bucky and looked sharply over at the man on the other side of the bars.

One of the downsides of training was that the serum recruits were on the other side of some impressive bars. But they could watch and talk and be a general nuisance.

Bucky growled at the man who just smirked and backed up.

"That's enough for today," he told her, grabbing her arm and pulling her out of the room.

A deep laugh sounded behind them and Maria knew without looking back that the recruit was watching them leave.

***

The next few weeks continued as the rest. Training in the morning, lunch, medical or psych tests in the afternoon. She actually stayed kind of busy.

It wasn't until about a month after the encounter with the recruit that Maria heard the emergency sirens blaring. The strobe lights bounced across the walls.

Maria froze for a second. They'd had a few drills so she was ready. Bucky and the Major were in the training room, where the emergency originated from, so Maria followed her route to the lab.

Her backup bodyguard followed her nervously. The halls were silent except for the bone-crunching sounds emanating from the training room behind them.

Maria risked a glance back once to see if Bucky was there but all she saw was an empty corridor. They kept running and a few minutes later stepped in.

A cryo chamber was out and prepped on the table. The doctor looked up from where he was checking the settings panel and nodded to her.

"Come quickly. This is not a drill so we need to secure you in the safest place."

She looked at the coffin-like container and shuddered. She'd heard that she had bee in it before but that was a while ago. At least a year that she'd had with Bucky this time.

The doctor sighed. "I understand you're not ready. We are not either but this must happen to ensure you survive for the next phase of his training."

Maria bit her lip and nodded. She removed her shoes and pulled her hair out of the messy ponytail. Just as she was climbing up to sit in the chamber, the door bounced open.

Bucky and the Major stepped through, bruises littering both of them.

"Are we secure?" The doctor asked.

"No," the Major replied. "We barely got out. Get her secured now so we can move out."

Strong arms helped lift her into the chamber and Maria looked back to see Bucky. It was him today, not the soldier. His eyes held concern and although he wouldn't have understood the science behind the cryo chamber, he understood that it would protect her while they moved and set up again.

She bit her lip and impulsively reached out to touch his cheek. For a second, he flinched but then stopped when he remembered it was her.

Maria studied his eyes for a moment longer. Caressing his cheek with her one hand, she reached out to pull his face closer with the other.

"Don't forget about me, Bucky Barnes." She breathed.

He stood motionless, barely breathing as he let her touch him and pull him closer.

Her lips ghosted over his before she lightly settled onto them. Reflexes took over and his lips tasted hers for a brief moment. Maria was the one to pull back, knowing too much affection would put both of them at risk.

A throat cleared behind them but Maria ignored it. Leaning to his ear, she whispered one last thing.

"I love you."

No one else heard it but Bucky's breath stopped as she pulled away and sat down. The doctor frowned but quickly strapped her in and settled the lid over it.

As the chamber prepared the cryo blast, Maria's eyes locked with Bucky's one last time. And right before she went to sleep, his eyes seemed to be quietly answering back "I love you too."

***

Two weeks after Civil War

Beeping sounds surrounded Maria as she struggled to open her eyes. Not sirens, like when she'd gone to sleep. These were gentle beeps. Like a heart monitor.

She was out of cryo.

Maria wanted to bolt out of the bed and find Bucky, but her body was sluggish. Her eyes finally opened and she slowly looked around the room.

She was expecting a hospital or lab room but this looked like a motel. The walls were yellowish with somewhat peeling wallpaper. Dingy curtains blocked most of the sunlight from coming through her windows.

The door opposite to her bed stood open and showed another room. Three different voices sounded inside with a fourth muffled like it was coming through a phone.

Her fingers twitched as she regained movement and soon she could feel the rest of her limbs responding to her brain's commands. As quietly as possible, she sat up and looked at the wires attached to her. The easiest thing to do was turn off the machine by her bed--it sat on the nightstand instead of the usual motel alarm clock.

With a flick of her finger, the power switch went to the off setting and the machines quietly died. No noise sounded from the next room so she continued moving off the bed.

There were no shoes nearby but she was in sweatpants and a t-shirt--that would pass for regular clothes until she was safe.

With a last burst of energy, Maria stepped off the bed and moved to the main door. Two steps later, she collapsed in a heap.

Footsteps came towards her and Maria tried to push up off the floor. There were no weapons around and she was too weak for hand-to-hand combat. Her breathing started accelerating at becoming a prisoner again.

Warm hands touched her back before she saw the face.

"Hey, take it easy." It was a soothing voice and for a moment she froze. That voice was supposed to be dead.

"You ok? Maria?" Her rescuer gently turned her towards him and upon seeing his face she gasped.

"Steve?"

***

A/N: And we're getting closer to the reunions! I'm so excited :) The first time around I mostly liked my take on a Tony & Maria reunion but I've got ideas on how to revamp it a bit. For now though, she's mainly with Steve and his group. So we'll get to see a bit of what they might have gone through while they were separated from the rest of the Avengers. 

How's your week going? Love you all!