Little Situation

Chapter 17

Sarah woke up in a sweat, sitting up abruptly. When she dipped her head over the side of the bunk she looked to see that Peter was still dead asleep. The mouth guard did its job or maybe she didn't scream. Either way, she didn't disturb her friend's sleep. Sarah quietly got down from the top bunk to check her phone and saw that the time read six in the morning which for a Saturday was definitely early.

She also saw the text from Bucky saying that he'd be there at seven. Peter still didn't wake up as she got ready— which was just brushing her teeth, Sarah always stayed in pajamas and headscarf while getting work done in Wakanda. She took a sticky note from the cube on his desk and wrote a little note saying that she had to go and would catch him at school on Monday as well as writing a second sticky note for May. Peter's note, Sarah stuck to his forehead— taking a picture.

"Let's go, hospital's not too happy I parked the quinjet on their helipad," Bucky said as he met his niece outside the apartment building.

Sarah usually slept on the ride there while Bucky flew. He looked over to see her curled up in the passenger's seat and smiled. He still couldn't believe that Steve had a kid but was happy Sarah existed. It meant he and Steve had a life in the modern world, that they could have a life. Sarah meant that the two super-soldiers weren't completely out of time, even if it felt like it occasionally. He shook her awake before reaching the border, knowing that seeing the entrance into Wakanda was one of her favorite things.

T'Challa and his entire family greeted the two of them as the jet landed. Sarah yawned as she tried to greet them much to Ramonda and T'Chaka's amusement.

"She insisted on sleeping over at a friend's house before coming," Bucky said.

"Well, you can continue sleeping in the chamber and then we get dinner."

Shuri dragged Sarah along. She linked arms with the other girl and the two skipped to the lab not bothering to wait for the adults. Sarah smiled at all the scientists who waved back and settled into the cryo chamber for a strange death-like sleep while they worked on her brain. She opened her eyes again before they closed the lid.

"Wait. General Okoye, can I train with you and the Dora Milaje?"

She and everyone else laughed.

"When you get better little doll, we will gladly train you whenever you want to come to Wakanda."

Sarah smiled and closed her eyes as the cold settled in so they could get started. The one part Sarah and Bucky weren't excited for was when all the memories came flooding in. The scientists assured them that the nightmares themselves wouldn't result in them screaming like Sarah tended to do now but they would be there and would probably last for a longer time.

They could've gotten rid of it completely but that would involve risking brain damage to both because of how HYDRA wiped them— which was done on purpose to make it near impossible to fix them. Both Sarah and Bucky thought it wasn't worth it, they already had nightmares now it wouldn't matter if they still had them.

Monday rolled around and Sarah was excited to present the mini war rhino statues to Michelle, Ned, and Peter. They no longer minded her spending on them after realizing it was just something she liked to do. If she saw something that reminded her of someone, Sarah would get it. No questions asked, nothing expected in return. Ned and Michelle would find the statues cute, only Peter would know about the fact that the war rhinos were true— he was let in on the secret of Wakanda not being a third world country like everyone thought.

Ned jumped as Sarah slammed his locker door shut making her chuckle. She presented Ned the figurine and leaned against the locker as he talked about his weekend and how cool the field trip was to Columbia University's science lab, until a meltdown happened and the students had to be evacuated. Both of them looked over when they spotted Peter. The pair waved but he didn't wave back. In fact, his eyes were focused firmly on the floor and he looked rather jumpy. Peter walked right past the two of them and into his homeroom. Sarah and Ned looked at each other.