The Encyclopedia Of Bucky Barnes' New Beginnings | Stucky

Two ∆ Without A Dad

Stepping into a hospital was a surreal experience. He hadn't ever liked hospitals - who did? But the feeling they gave him was much more than what most others felt. He hadn't been in one since his father had passed away two years before, having a heart attack and then another one on the table.

Only, this time, he was met by a woman sitting at a little folding table, that had multiple boxes of disposable face masks. He quickly took his own off and replaced it with the bright blue gauze-like one and leaned forward so she could take his temperature with the white and purple no-contact wand, pinching the thin metal strip at the bridge of his nose as he continued on his way after his temperature was approved. He figured that the main desk wouldn't be too bad of a starting point.

He stopped in front of the plastic boundary, and the woman at the computer looked up at him. Her bronze bangs hung down, creating a curtain that were pulled to the sides to reveal her eyes, the rest of her hair in a ponytail behind her head. Her voice was sweet, a smile in her eyes, as she asked, "How can I help you, sir?"

"I'm looking for Dolores Eynon. She's in the ER." With the bottle on the desk in front of the screen of plastic, he pumped some hand sanitizer into his hands, and began to scrub it into his skin.

She nodded, and clacked at her keyboard. After a moment, she informed, "She's in room twenty six. She has two other people with her. Just through those doors." She pointed to the left, where two heavy wooden doors closed off the rooms.

He inclined his head, and walked in that direction. He pulled the sleeves of his sweatshirt over his hands to push the metal bar, opening one of the double doors. He didn't let it slam shut behind him, and walked down the clean white hall as he scanned the plates besides each room for the number twenty six. He turned a corner, and just a few rooms away, there it was. The curtain pulled shut, but the sliding glass door left open. A sudden, unexplainable desperation ran through him, and he started toward the room, pushing the curtain out the way as he ducked in.

The sight that met him certainly wasn't one he had prepared for.

Dot had always been the stereotypical definition of beautiful - at least, what Bucky could relate to it. A perfect hourglass frame, smooth skin, red waves of hair that bounced and curled in a way that Bucky would've loved to draw if he had the ability. She was covered in freckles, that Bucky'd trace invisible lines into with his fingertips.

And there she was - a bandana tied around loosely around her head, a tiredness hanging to her frail frame. Each breath she took caused her body to tremble and shake, like each one was a separate earthquake. She turned her green eyes on him, and he found that his own were pricking with tears. He blinked a few times, to will them away.

The two people she had with her were still by her side. A young woman sitting in a chair close to the bed, someone he knew. Julia, Dot's best friend, sat with a toddler half on the bed and half in her lap.

As if the past had never happened, as if she wasn't obviously on her deathbed, Dot smiled at him - but she still looked so unbelievably tired. She gently exclaimed, sounding so glad that he was there, "Bucky!"

He sighed softly, his shoulders drooping. He started forward, grabbing the doctor's stool and pulling it up beside the bed. Careful of the thin tubes and whatever else, he rested his elbow on the bed and folded her small hand in both of his.

When he didn't say anything, Julia stood up, picking up the toddler for just a moment to set her on her feet. She then took the little girl's hand, leading her out of the room.

Now that they were alone, it became even more awkward. The ice was thick - five years thick. And they both knew it.

"How have you been?" she asked, her voice soft. She tilted her head, looking at his hands. "Is that a ring I see?"