Rings (Bucky Barnes x OC soulmate AU)

Chapter 3 - Brownies

Returning to work the next week was a big relief for Clara. She got to see several of her friends and get away from the stress of figuring out how to get to know and help Bucky. In fact, most people didn't know about her assignment. The only person that knew was Mack, and she rarely dropped by Clara's department unless she needed something.

And that Monday morning, she did need something.

"So how's your soldier?" Mack asked, casually leaning against Clara's toy-covered desk.

"Can we not talk about this?" Clara looked up from her computer to glare at her friend. "Not here."

"Nobody knows who we're talking about! We'll just call him 'Soldier' and not his name."

Clara scoffed and shook her head. "Alright fine. What do you want to know?"

"Well," Mack ran a hand through her black cropped hair. "Are you soulmates in love yet?"

"No." Clara thought back to earlier that morning when she had left to go exercise at the park. Leaving the apartment building, she passed Bucky, who had only nodded when Clara greeted him enthusiastically. "I'm pretty sure he hates me." She turned her attention back to the computer long enough to print some papers, then stood and walked across the office with Mack hot on her trail. "I said 'Hi' to him every single day and I get nothing."

Mack snorted. "Soldier doesn't hate anyone. It just... takes him a while to warm up, I guess."

"Maybe I should make him cookies. Or brownies. Which one do you think?"

"What about cupcakes?"

"No no, those are too extra. I'm trying to buy his acquaintance here, not show desperation." Clara smiled as she pulled warm papers out of the copier. "I know. Cookies baked like a brownie. That works, right?"

Mack shook her head. "Nah, they taste different. I don't get why you want to bake something for him in the first place."

Heading back to her desk with her stack of papers, Clara thought about what her friend said. Why did she want to make something? "It's a peace offering. I dunno, I grew up with my mom baking to apologize to people. I just thought I could do the same thing and gain a little trust."

"Your mom is a professional, Clara."

"And I've learned from her! I think I'm a pretty good baker!"

"You are a good baker!" Mack's phone buzzed in her pocket. She pulled it out and smiled when she read it. "I've gotta go," she announced. "Got a mission."

"Where are you going?" Clara asked. She hoped Mack wasn't going in a mission she planned.

"I have no idea. Isn't it great?"

As Mack left, Clara thought about how much her friend had changed. Over five years before, when half of the world population disappeared, they were at the movie theater, ordering popcorn. The next thing Clara remembered was waking up in that very theater with a group of four people - but their friends were nowhere to be seen. She called Mack and was shocked when Mack burst into tears three seconds into Clara demanding to know what happened. She then learned that she had been gone for five years.

In those five years everyone she knew changed so much. Mack, who had been a been a mild-mannered, patient SHIELD agent, became a adrenaline junkie who did just about anything to feel the rush of adventure. She took more and larger risks than any of the agents did. Ad much at it concerned Clara, she tried to consider what she would do if if had been Mack who disappeared. She supposed that maybe she would have a similar response to try and feel some excitement in a world devoid of friends and family.