Rings (Bucky Barnes x OC soulmate AU)

Chapter 8 - Camping Part III

That afternoon the girls decided to go swimming. Sam declined to go when he saw how uncomfortable the idea made Bucky, so they stayed back at camp, poking the fire with sticks and talking quietly.

"We used to fight all the time," Sam commented, an amused smile pulling his lips up. "What happened to us?"

Bucky shrugged. "I got used to the real world, you introduced me to therapy."

"That may be it. Or we just decided to get along, for Steve's sake, and... it stuck."

Bucky was grateful their relationship did change to something more friendly. He remembered how his nerves would shake whenever he and Sam were in the same room together at first.

"You and Clara seem to get along real well," Sam continued, not noticing the way Bucky's eyebrows drew together at the mention of her name. "She's cute, real nice. Seems outgoing. Good for you."

"And she has a soulmate." Bucky sent Sam a dark look, trying to communicate his desire to not talk about it.

Sam pressed his lips together, nodding, before he said, "See, something about that doesn't add up." He sat up straighter in his chair. "The one time we asked about her soulmate, she said he was too busy and hates camping. Then she moved on pretty fast. And when you two were on your little hike this morning, I decided to ask Mack about it. She's not too good with secrets when she's tired, I think. Anyways, Mack said that Clara hasn't found her soulmate yet."

Bucky clenched his teeth together. "Really," he said dryly, irritated at what Sam was trying to say. "Clara wouldn't lie to me, Sam."

"I think she's a good lady, don't get me wrong. I'm just saying that she's not being entirely truthful about all this."

They heard Mack and Clara's voices as the girls walked back to their campsite.

"Maybe she has a reason," Sam continued, hurrying to wrap up the conversation.

"I'm sure she does."

Clara tripped over a rock as she entered camp but managed to balance herself and continued to walk, holding her head high as if nothing ever happened. "Are you guys ready?" she asked. "This is going to be a really long hike."

The hike was something nobody was really prepared for. None of the friends wore good shoes and they had heard from a family nearby that it wasn't too bad. It was 10 miles total and, not really realizing what that meant, only brought a few snacks and water bottles.

The destination of their hike was a waterfall, where they planned to go swimming. Everyone except Bucky swam. Bucky sat at the bank of the river leading up to the waterfall, letting his feet dangle in the cool water.

Clara drifted by him, floating on her back. "You should join us, Bucky," she mused, not opening her eyes to look at him. "It feels really good."

"I'm fine." Bucky reached his hand into the water and splashed water on her.

"Please?" Now Clara had her eyes open.

"No."

Clara dropped her legs to stand in front of him. "Bucky please! You don't even have to do anything, just float with me."

Again, Bucky declined.

"Is it because you don't know how to swim? Because if that's the case, we can teach you."

"I know how to swim."

"Then why won't you swim with us?"

Admitting how he felt about his arm seemed to be the theme of his little vacation. The physical aspect of his insecurities felt so petty but his scars - both literal and metaphorical - ran deep. Not only did he have scars coming from his shoulder, but he had others with stories that he didn't even know. That wasn't something he wanted Clara to see or know about. Ever.

If the time ever came that he needed to tell her, he would. But now was not that time.

Realizing Bucky wouldn't answer her question, Clara decided to ease up. She pulled herself out of the water and sat next to him on the large rock he'd been resting on. "It's been a really nice trip, hasn't it," she commented softly. "I wish we could go for longer than a weekend. We have to go home tomorrow."

"Maybe we can come back again soon."

"I sure hope so. My dad used to take us camping for a whole week. Or we would drive for forever to get somewhere fun and go camping. I always knew that that was something I wanted to do for the rest of my life."

Bucky knew what he could say. Clara had told him that her soulmate didn't like camping. If Sam was right and she was lying, then he could catch her. "Well, I hope your soulmate likes camping."

Clara looked up at him, smiling. "Yeah. Me too."

Bingo.

Bucky kept his face straight and stared out at the water. Why had she lied to him?

Soon their relaxing time came to an end. As they were preparing to leave Bucky realized that Clara's shoulders were bright red. Mack commented on it and Clara groaned, saying something about how it would hurt badly when she showered the next day. They began to walk back to their campsite tired, hungry, and thirsty.

The first half of the hike had been uneventful, but for some reason on the walk down her hips ached and every step was agonizing. She began to consider that the hike was a mistake, but kept her pain to herself as they began to head back to their campsite.

Bucky noticed her limp and, due to his super soldier abilities and therefore was barely tired, fell behind to walk with her. "You okay?" he asked.

"Peachy."

Noticing the glances Sam and Mack sent them, Bucky decided to keep his voice low. "Come on. You were in the lead on the way up and now you're limping. You sure you're okay?"

Clara inhaled deeply. "My joints just hurt. That's all. I'll survive."

"Do you want a ride?"

Clara stopped in her tracks, looking up at him with wide eyes. "What?"

"A - a piggyback ride," Bucky said. "If not, that's okay -"

A smile of relief broke out on Clara' s face. "Sure," said. She looked around for something to climb on, as Bucky was quite tall. Then, she spotted and pointed to a large rock. "Let's go over there. I can climb up easier." After getting on the rock, Clara leaned forward and wrapped her arms loosely around Bucky's neck and he hooked his arms under her thighs. When she felt secure Clara loosened her arms even more so that her hands were dangling loosely over his shoulders. Her left arm could feel the spot where Bucky's metal arm met flesh in his shoulder.

"Is that okay?" he asked.

"Thank you," Clara breathed. She leaned her head against his affectionately. "I don't exercise as much as I should. But I really like just being out in the woods. It's so relaxing."

Bucky grinned. "I know. I just don't like sleeping out here."

"Really? Did you not sleep well last night?"

Bucky was a little disappointed she didn't remember their talk last night but realized she was probably too out of it for her brain to have processed anything. Still, the softness of her voice and the way she said "I love you" echoed in his brain. He wondered if she meant it. "No, I didn't," he admitted. "Maybe we could come out here for a hike on the weekends you have off."

"I would love that!"

"How's next weekend?"

"I'm free."

"We can go to dinner after, or something."

"James Buchanan Barnes, is this your way of asking me on a date?" Clara questioned, playfully poking his cheek.

Bucky felt the old him slip back as he said, "Of course, doll. If that's what you want."

Clara was certain that he felt her heart burst out of her chest. Yes. She wanted that more than anything. But before they did that, there was something she needed to tell him. She prayed he took the news well.