Terrified

Running

Amy felt as though her lungs were going to explode as she ran desperately through the woods behind her house. The final straw of her boyfriend's cruelties and brutality finally crushed the last of her soul and all she could think to do was run. She knew she should have ran away a long time ago, specifically months ago when she first found out. She left behind everything, her clothes, her pictures, her jewelry, everything. Her body ached as she kept running for what felt like 10 miles, her muscles ready to give out. She finally came to a clearing where an enormous building stood with a large "A" lit up on the side. She bolted for the building not thinking about what could possibly be in the building. Even with her boyfriend passed out on the couch, she didn't know if he was going to wake up soon, find her gone and start running after her.

Amy ran faster, seeing that the lights were on in the large facility and found herself in front of the door, now suddenly unsure if she was going to actually enter the place. She quickly put her fear aside and tried the door. Locked. She began to bang on the glass door and yelled, praying someone would hear her and let her in. Her throat was going sore from the run and now her screaming. Finally, a large figure in black sweats and a dark blue tank top emerged from the shadows and ran towards the door. Seeing the look of fear in her eyes the tall brown haired, blue eyed Adonis unlocked the door and let her in, catching her as she collapsed before she could even thank him. He collected her in his arms and carried her to the living area of the facility. After she got her breath and water was suddenly in her hand, she thanked the man that she now saw had a metal arm and took another sip of water. She slowly began to look around the room she was in and saw that it was clearly a living room complete with a beautiful fire place and large curved TV right above the mantle with two couches and an oversized loveseat set up in a conversation pit style.

"Are you alright?" the man sitting next to her that was rubbing her back with his flesh hand soothingly asked her.
"I'm okay," Amy breathed, "Thank you for opening the door."
"It's all right," he said, "I'm Bucky."
"I'm Amy," she responded, her voice barely above a whisper.
"Do you need anything? Do you need to make a phone call or anything?" Bucky asked her.
"I don't have anyone," she said, taking another sip of water. Her brown eyes fell to the metal arm attached to the intimidating man next to her. Bucky saw where she was looking and he moved his arm so it was more behind him and hidden away from her a little.
"What happened to your arm?" she asked, an attempt at a distracting story.
"Long story that we don't need to get into right now," Bucky answered as he looked her over in her sleep tank top and shorts. She was bare foot and had bruises on her arms, legs and neck and her raven hair was disheveled with twigs and dirt. Her hands were covered in dried blood and dirt as well. It looked as if she had been running for a long time and had fallen in the woods. "Let's get you down to the medical ward so you can get looked at." He picked her up in his arms and carried her down to where Dr. Strange was working late.

"I'm busy, what could possibly be wrong at this time of night?" Dr. Strange stated in annoyance before turning to see Bucky carrying a young woman in his arms, "Oh god!" he exclaimed, rushing over to the examination bed, "put her down here." Bucky did as the doctor ordered and set her down on the bed. He stayed close to her and held her hand as Dr. Strange examined her little by little, cleaning up the dirt and blood as he went, looking for cuts and scratches and trying to clean them as much as possible to keep them from getting infected. He explained that he did want to do a better examination of her when the nurse was in but she wouldn't come back for another week so he told Amy to take a shower to clean off the rest of the dirt and debris on her body and in her hair. Bucky offered her his room and said he would sleep elsewhere until they could make up a room for her to stay in. Since the rest of the facility was asleep, it was just Dr. Strange and Bucky making decisions until everyone else was awake. Amy didn't tell them anything about what she was running from other than saying that she was running from her boyfriend but she didn't explain what had happened, although they could guess what had happened from her current condition.

When Bucky took her to his room and turned down the bed, Amy asked him to stay in the room with her. She explained that she didn't want to be alone and would feel better if someone else was in the room with her. He agreed and chose to sleep in the chaise lounge in the corner of the bedroom. When she asked him if he was going to be comfortable there he responded, "Slept in much more uncomfortable places, doll."

The next morning, when the rest of the Avengers had woken up, Bucky introduced Amy to the group and explained what had happened the night before. They accepted her immediately and Tony offered her some work in exchange for her staying there while healing, just so she didn't feel bored. "Just little things," he told her, "like getting coffee or maybe a little paperwork." Amy agreed happily and the Avengers welcomed her into the fold. She finally felt safe for the first time in years and she enjoyed the company of Bucky Barnes the most. In spite of his large size, metal arm and dark demeanor, he was soft and gentle with her and, most of all, patient. He helped her with her panic attacks and flashbacks, without knowing what had really happened to her other than her having been abused by her ex boyfriend but he hadn't known the full extent as to what had happened. Dr. Strange's nurse had called and explained that she had a family emergency so she wouldn't be back for another week or two, which meant that the full examination of Amy would have to wait as well, which meant she got to keep her secret for a little while longer.