Okay, I should just say that yes, this is the same Alex as my OC in 'The Osborn Incident'. Since I began RPing with Alex on Tumblr, I no longer ship Alex and Harry Osborn, but Alex and Bucky Barnes are my OTP, so I thought I'd post the drabble I wrote about them - based on 'The Trial of Captain America' comic book arc - on here :) There'll be some more info about my future plans for fics at the bottom. Enjoy :) xxx
"James, I'm stealing your jacket again."
"Again?" James called from the living room, an amused smile on his face. "You seem to be doing that a lot recently."
"I like your jacket," Alex replied, walking into the room with James's army jacket draped over her shoulders. "It's warm, and it smells like you."
James laughed, moving over to Alex and pulling the jacket closer around her, before pecking her lips gently. "You know what? You keep it."
"What, really?" she asked, looking up at him. "But it's your army jacket."
"Now, it's your army jacket," he winked. "It looks way better on you anyway."
Alex gave him a soft smile, before pressing her lips to his in a deep kiss. "I love you," she whispered."
"I love you too, doll. And, as much as I'd love you to stay, aren't you going to be late for work?"
Alex glance at the clock, and cursed. "Shit, yeah, I am." She gave him another quick kiss, and grabbed her bag from the kitchen counter.
"I thought we could go out for dinner tonight," James suggested as he picked up Alex's phone and put it in her bag for her. "We haven't gone out for a while, and I thought it might be nice."
As she put her jacket on properly and buttoned it up, Alex looked over at James and smiled. "Yeah, that sounds nice." She stepped over to him and gave him one last, long kiss. "Okay, I really have to go. But I'll see you later. Don't do anything stupid while I'm gone."
"I never do." James grinned cheekily as he kissed her back, lightly tapping her rear. "Have a good day, doll. I love you."
"I love you too," Alex called as she disappeared out of the door, smiling happily.
Thanks to the speedy running of the New York subway, Alex managed to get to the offices of The Daily Bugle on time. Only just on time, but on time nevertheless.
She waved a 'good morning' to Betty, before sitting down at her desk, and groaning at the large stack of proof-reading and paperwork that had been placed on her desk. It seemed to grow bigger every day.
Sighing softly in resentment, she got cracking on it.
Four hours (and half a stack of proof-reading) later, Alex was chatting with Robbie, Betty, and Ben during their lunch break. As they always were, the television screens were playing various news channels on silent, so that The Bugle's staff could be aware of any breaking news.
The four staff members were paying absolutely no attention whatsoever to any of the screens. Until, that is, another reporter called out, "Hey, look! They're arresting Captain America!"
All the colour drained out of Alex's face. "Turn the sound on," she said, her voice quiet and flat.
Someone flicked the volume up, and everyone in the office turned their attention to one of the televisions, all of which were now playing the same channel.
"… shocking turn of events, the identity of the mysterious replacement for Steve Rogers as Captain America has been revealed. An anonymous source has disclosed to the press and police that the new Captain America is, in fact, James Buchanan Barnes. Also known as Bucky, Barnes was Steve Rogers' partner during the Second World War, and he was presumed killed on the same day Rogers originally disappeared."
Alex could feel tears in her eyes as she listened to the reporter. How had they found out? And why was James in custody? Surely, surely they couldn't know about…
"It has also been revealed that Barnes, during the years he was presumed deceased, was an operative of the terrorist group known as Hydra, for which he performed numerous assassinations, among other crimes. Barnes has therefore been arrested for his transgressions. This is Marci Gonzalez, for ABC News, reporting live from the New York City Police Department: Midtown North Precinct."
Before anyone had spoken, Alex had gone back to her desk, trying not to let the panic she felt show on her face. She quickly shoved her phone and wallet into her pockets, not caring about anything else she left on her desk.
She was halfway to the door when she heard J Jonah Jameson's voice shout her name. "Anderson! Where the hell do you think you're going?"
"To the story, sir," she said quickly, desperate to get to James as quickly as possible.
"Like hell you are!" Jonah barked, and Alex had to bite her tongue not to shout back at him. "Urich and Brant are going, and they've got Parker to get pictures."
"Mr Jameson, I would really appreciate it if you would let me go too," Alex said slowly, forcing her voice to stay calm. "This story is very personal to me, and I- "
"I don't care how personal it is to you, you're not going! Get back to your desk, or you can kiss your job goodbye."
Sometimes, decisions were very easy to make. "Okay. Fine. I'm fired. Whatever." Ignoring the murmurs from some of the employees, the look of shock and outrage on Jonah's face, and his shouts that she was fired, Alex half ran out of the office and down the stairs. She needed to get to the Midtown North Precinct as soon as possible, she had to get to James as soon as possible.
When she got outside, Alex ran straight to the curb and hailed a cab. Though, in reality, it only took about ten seconds for one to pull up, it felt like minutes. As soon as she got in, she almost yelled the address at the cab driver.
Alex was tapping her foot anxiously during the entire cab ride, looking out of the window in worry.
The cab driver clearly noticed this, but he didn't say anything about it. What he did say, however, was, "You wanna be careful around here, sweetheart, there's some sort of media event happening outside the police station."
"Yes, thank you, that's what I'm here for," Alex replied, though, of course, that wasn't exactly true. When they got nearer to the precinct, the taxi was forced to stop; the road was blocked by news vans, cars, police, and people trying to get a glimpse of Captain America in handcuffs.
"You're gonna have to get out here, sweetheart," the driver called to Alex. "I can't get any further. That'll be thirteen dollars." He raised his eyes in surprise as his passenger handed him a crumpled mess of bills that came to almost forty dollars. But, before he could give her any of it back, she had already gotten out of the cab. Quite happy with his hefty tip, he turned the cab around and drove off.
Getting through the crowd proved more difficult than Alex had expected. She pushed against the people around her, not caring when some of them objected to her doing so. Sometimes, she had to shout at people to move out of the way, not that she could be easily heard over all the noise. But, through a combination of darting through small gaps between people, and using her elbows to create such gaps, Alex eventually managed to get to the front of the crowd.
And there was James. Being walked out of the precinct, his hands cuffed behind his back, an armed police officer on either side of him, holding his arms. Alex felt tears well in her eyes at his expression. He looked so crushed, so defeated. Before she was even aware of opening her mouth, Alex was shouting his name.
Though there were several people in the mob calling his name, wanting him to turn their way so they could get a picture, James heard Alex's voice as if she were the only one speaking. "Alex? Alex!" He looked around for her, desperate to see her face one more time before they took him to the prison.
When his eyes fell on her, when he saw her tears, James felt like his heart was breaking. He wished he could break away from the police officers and run to her, that he could break the handcuffs and put his arms around her. But an attempt to do any of that would not only get him into even hotter water, but could potentially get Alex into trouble too.
When James's eyes met hers, the tears spilled over and dripped down her cheeks. Her mouth was still slightly open, but no words came out. She didn't know what to say, especially not in front of all these people.
James stopped walking when he was as close to Alex as he could get, and he kept looking at her. "Alex, doll… I'm so sorry," he said, his voice breaking slightly. The police officers pushed at his arms, and he reluctantly began to walk again.
Crying properly now, Alex ran after him. Luckily, people moved out of her way this time, and she stood a few feet behind James as the police led him to a car. Not caring who heard, Alex finally found her voice again.
"I love you!" she cried, desperate for him to hear her. "James, I love you! It's gonna be okay, we'll get you out of this… It's gonna be okay. I- I love you."
Alex couldn't hear what James said, his voice was muffled as he got into the car. But he looked at her out of the widow, and she could make out what he was saying from the shape of his mouth.
"I love you too. I'm sorry."
As the car drove off, Alex suddenly found herself the centre of attention. Reporters were suddenly crowded around her, asking who was she? What was her relationship with James Barnes? Was she his girlfriend? Wife? Relative? How long had she known him? Had she known he was Captain America? That he was the Winter Soldier?
The onslaught of questions, reporters, microphones, cameras, and more made Alex feel trapped, assaulted. She didn't want to tell these people anything! She didn't want to be here - she wanted to be with James. And she could feel herself panicking, getting more and more upset.
Suddenly, Alex felt someone's hand on her arm. She yelped and turned, thinking it was one of the reporters trying to manhandle her. But it was Peter. He, Betty, and Ben were all standing to her right, and they led her out of the mess of people, taking her over to The Bugle's van.
Betty and Peter sat either side of Alex, each of them with an arm around her. They stayed silent, just letting Alex cry as Ben drove them back to the offices of The Daily Bugle.
"Jonah called," Ben told Alex as the four of them stood in the elevator. "He wants to talk to you."
Alex groaned softly, looking in the mirror on the back wall of the elevator in order to wipe the smudged make-up off of her face.
"It'll be alright," Betty said comfortingly, thought Alex didn't know whether she was talking about Jonah, James, or both.
When the elevator arrived, Alex took a deep breath, and walked to Jonah's office.
When she walked in Jonah turned to face her. His usual expression - a mixture of stress, anger, frustration, and irritation - had been replaced by one of sympathy, and something that looked a little like humility.
"Miss Anderson," he started, coughing awkwardly, "About earlier, I didn't… I didn't realise your relationship to James Barnes. And, providing you still wish to work here, you are not fired. Also, while all this business is going on, you'll be on paid leave."
Alex couldn't quite believe it. She knew Jonah had his moments, but this was extraordinarily nice of him. Feeling tears in her eyes again, she managed to choke out a, "Thank you, sir," before turning to leave the office. She managed a weak smile at Betty and Peter, before picking up her backpack again, and leaving the office for the second time that day.
When Alex got back to her and James' apartment, she went straight into their bedroom, kicked off her shoes, climbed into bed, and pulled the blankets over her head. She had already begun to weep again.
The bed felt big, empty, lonely. And Alex realised she was still wearing James' army jacket. She buried her face against the collar.
It still smelt like him.
Right, so, I know I said there'd be a sequel to 'The Osborn Incident', but, as I said at the top, I find it difficult to write Alex/Harry as a pairing anymore, but Alex/Bucky comes to me very easily. Therefore, I am going to write more stories with Alex, but they will not be Alex/Harry stories anymore. So, yeah, watch this space for my next fic, which I'm going to start really soon, and check me out on Tumblr (my RP blog links are on my author page) :) xxx