A/N: Running with the idea that, since Jenna Coleman plays both Clara Oswald in Doctor Who and Bucky's date in Captain America: the First Avenger, Bucky's date must be either Clara, or one of Clara's echoes. I recently found out that the Bucky's date character became an Army nurse and was present when they were in Europe… I'm having feelings. So I wrote a story. Please excuse the soppiness.
Disclaimer: I own neither Marvel nor Doctor Who or any of their characters.
He had only ever meant it to be a fling, one or two dates at the absolute most, something Bucky could easily forget about after his unit shipped out for Germany. But, somehow, the brunette girl had managed to worm her way into his heart.
She didn't look like much, really. She was quite pretty, yes, but he hadn't expected much from a person who looked like a china doll. (And, sweet Jesus, she was tiny). But Clara Oswald had more layers than Bucky expected, and he liked her more than he cared to admit.
He liked the way she still found wonder in the world, and things to laugh at, despite the things she had seen. He liked her smile. He liked the way she stubbornly affected an American accent, so no one would know she was British and pity her for it. He liked her smirk and the way her eyes sparkled when she teased.
He liked the determined set of her jaw, and the defiant lift of her chin she gave as she followed him straight back into the war zone she had only so recently left. He liked the confidence the nurse's uniform gave her. (Other soldiers would call it bossiness, but it became her perfectly). He liked the way she managed to both calm and encourage the wounded soldiers she tended, regardless of how dire their situation was.
The fact that she worried about him gave him courage. He had someone to come back for. He liked the way she would personally pull him aside whenever he returned to check him for injuries, and he loved the way she would sigh into his chest as he held her when she was absolutely certain he was all right.
It was her picture that Hydra stole from him when he was captured. It was her face that he saw behind his eyes as he repeated his name, rank and serial number as a mantra under his breath. It was her that he prayed to in the darkness when it hurt and he was oh so very alone.
And, as his grip on the moving train was slowly lost, Steve was not the only person Bucky thought of with love.
Sometimes, every once in a great while, the Winter Soldier dreamed of a girl with doe-like eyes and a bright smile and long brown curls. It left him feeling strange and detached, yet somehow complete in a way that 60 years of following orders had not.
