Lost

Chapter 4

When I woke up the following morning, it was with a pounding headache, a nauseous feeling in the pit of my stomach, and a mouth full of cotton. Great, a migraine is all I need right now.

I stumble into the kitchen and make a beeline for the coffee pot, completely ignoring the snickers from the team behind me. "Nice jammies y/n," Sam chokes out as I look down at my matching Minnie Mouse shorts and tank top with a grunt. Looking through half-lidded eyes I plop down in a seat and rest my head on my arms.

"Y/N, are you okay? You're looking a bit pale there, maybe we should skip the testing today, let you rest," Bruce says with concern evident in his voice. "Please, migraine," is all I manage to groan out before a surge of bile sends me sprinting to the nearest bathroom.

As I sit, resting my cheek against my arm, trying to catch my breath, there is a sudden flash of golden light behind my eyelids and I see two faces, one is young with slick, shoulder-length hair and mischievous green eyes, the other is older, a salt and pepper beard and mustache adorning his face, a perfect match to his short hair, both wearing sad smiles. "I'm sorry y/n, but this is for the best, it's the only way to keep you safe," the older man says just before I am surrounded by glowing golden light once more, and then nothing but empty darkness.

It must be hours later when I regain consciousness because the first thing I notice is that I'm laying down and there is a cold cloth on my forehead, soft voices murmuring around me. When I finally get my eyes to open, I am on one of the overstuffed couches in the living room with Bruce, Wanda, and Bucky hovering over me. "I already told you doc, I ain't leaving her side until she wakes up," the brunet supersoldier whisper yells to which Bruce shakes his head in exasperated resignation.

"Welcome back to the land of the living," Wanda jokes in her soft, lilting voice as she helps me sit up. The two men are there in a flash, concern etched deeply onto their faces. "Y/N, do you know what happened? Who I am?" Bruce is the first to speak. "Relax, Bruce, I just had a...I guess you could call it a vision, or a flashback and then I blacked out.

"What did you see?" Bucky asks as he sits beside me, hesitantly rubbing circles into my back. "It was weird...there was this golden light, then there were these two guys, and one of them told me that he was sorry, that it is for the best and the only way to keep me safe, then there was more light, and then I blacked out..." It is silent for a few moments before Wanda perks up. "Y/N, would it be alright if I searched your mind? Maybe I can see who they were, maybe they know why you are here."

"I guess it's worth a shot, go for it," I smile at her. I know that I've only known these people a few days, but I already trusted all of them with my life. A red haze washes over me as Wanda starts sifting through my memories, going faster and faster the further back she goes, until she comes to an abrupt halt. "I can't go any further back, it's like there is a brick wall between me and the rest of your memories that I can't get through. Whoever did this, clearly doesn't want to be found, or want you to remember. I'm sorry, y/n." She looks sad and frustrated that she cannot help more. I gently put my hand on hers and give it a soft squeeze. "It's not your fault Wanda, I can still vaguely remember the flashback, what if I show it to you, or we try to draw it?" She nods slowly and I try to remember what I saw until I have a more or less clear picture in my mind of them.

"They do look vaguely familiar, I'll go show this to Steve and ask him to do a drawing for us." And with that, she bounds off in search of the captain while Bruce mumbles something about being in his lab before walking off, leaving me and Bucky alone.

The silence that descends upon the room is comfortable as I absentmindedly lean into his touch, closing my eyes to enjoy the sensation of the skin-to-skin contact. "So, I wanted to talk to you about last night," he says quietly and I hum to show that I'm listening. "Look, I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable or crossed a line or anything. I don't want you to think that I was trying to take advantage of you, because I would never, ever do that. It's just that, since you put me on my ass in the gym, all I could think about was kissing you, I know that it doesn't excuse my actions but I just wanted you to know that-" I gently cut him off by pressing my finger to his lips. "Bucky, you didn't make me uncomfortable or cross a line. Trust me, if you had, I would've let you know. I can't really describe it, but when you're around, even when you're being a cocky asshat, I feel safe. I know it doesn't really make sense, but I just thought you should know."

The smile he gives me is blindingly bright as he gently wraps his arms around my waist in a soft hug. For the moment we get lost in each other's eyes, neither aware of the eyes watching from the shadows with a mischievous smirk.