I love Mondays! Yes I truly do, means I get a couple of hours to myself after a weekend of people hahaha.
So, there are plans in the works, but I will explain them at the end of this chapter...
xo
Chapter 10
They sat talking about the comparisons of their times for so long, that they were both surprised when the ward staff came to do observations on Vielka and give her dinner.
"Oh," Bucky said in mild surprise, as they both looked over as the nurses and doctor entered.
"Sorry to disturb," the doctor said smiling. Both the doctor and nurse glanced between them and Bucky felt his cheeks flush slightly when he saw them smirk.
"No problem, I should probably be going," he said, moving from the bed. He looked to Vielka and thought he saw a fleeting look of disappointment, but then her face was emotionless and he thought perhaps he had imagined it.
The nurse glanced from Vielka to Bucky before speaking quickly. "You can come back after dinner, if you like," she said with a smile. The doctor looked up at her with a puzzled expression but then quickly agreed.
"Yes, absolutely. Can't hurt."
Vielka looked amused but looked to Bucky expectantly. He gave a small smile. "Sure, if you want me to."
She shrugged. "I've got nothing better to do." He laughed and left.
He had barely reached the end of the corridor when he heard someone call him. "Sgt Barnes!" He turned in surprise at hearing himself addressed so formally, to see the nurse hurrying towards him.
He immediately looked at her gravely, fearing the worst. "What is it?"
"Relax, nothing's wrong," she answered breathlessly. "I wanted to make sure you would come back."
Bucky looked at her in bewilderment at her straightforward question. "Uhh..."
"Look, she's been awake a while, the whole time she was just depressed and she hadn't eaten all day." Bucky raised his eyebrows, considering having words with her about that, he was well aware of her normally considerable appetite. "She just devoured her dinner, and actually asked for dessert."
Bucky was confused. "Then why do you want me to come back after?"
The nurse stared at him incredulously for a moment. "It's because of you! Everyone else came and visited her and she just seemed to get more and more depressed. Since you've visited her, she's actually talking to us and responding to our questions."
Bucky felt his chest constrict slightly and suddenly felt a little self conscious at the fact the nurses and doctors had been watching them. "Oh, well, I'll be sure to come back in a little while then."
With that, he turned on his heel and returned to the living area, lost in his own thoughts now, where he found the others eating dinner.
"Well, look who emerges," Steve said with a sly grin, spotting him first. Bucky rolled his eyes in response and took the plate offered to him by Sam, beginning to devour it quickly.
"Gees, I knew I was a good cook, but ddaamnnn..." Sam said, impressed by how quick Bucky was eating.
"I don't think that even touched the sides," Steve joked.
"How is she?" Natasha asked, making everyone at the table quiet. Bucky swallowed and looked around the table to find everyone looking expectant and serious.
"She's good, she's talking, she's eating. She just needs to work her legs to get their strength back," he replied, and smiled when everyone around the table seemed relieved. It was clear how important she was to the people around him.
"Well, that's good, she seemed so gloomy and depressed when I visited her this morning," Wanda said quietly, as she pushed her plate away.
"The nurses want me to go back to see her again tonight, I'm going to take her some dessert," he said, polishing off the last little bit of food on his plate.
"Wait, the nurses asked for you, specifically?" Clint asked, a small grin starting to grace his face. Bucky nodded, leaning back in his seat. "Really?" Clint raised his eyebrows and glanced at Natasha, who glared at him pointedly.
"Oh, can you give her something from me?" Wanda asked, ignoring Clint's teasing. Bucky nodded and she quickly ran out of the living area.
"We've got some chocolate in the fridge, if you want to take that to her," Natasha offered, to which Bucky nodded and she began collecting plates as she headed back to the kitchen.
Steve looked sideways at him, before leaning forward, catching Bucky's attention. "So what happened?" he murmured quietly.
"We just talked," Bucky answered truthfully, although he didn't elaborate. He wasn't sure she would want anyone knowing what she had told him. Steve peered at Bucky curiously for a moment, as if he was sceptical. Finally, he smiled, patting Bucky on the shoulder. "Keep an eye on her, yeah?"
Bucky nodded as Natasha and Wanda both returned, Natasha toting a few chocolate bars and Wanda, a teddy.
Bucky eyed the teddy for a moment, glancing sideways at Steve who pressed his lips together in an effort not to laugh. "What?" Wanda demanded.
"Uh...Vielka doesn't exactly come across as a teddy kind of person, that's all," Sam explained, glancing around the table at the others as if to see if they were all thinking along the same lines, they all nodded.
"So?" Natasha said defensively, tapping Clint on the back of the head as he sniggered. "It's the thought that counts, and I'm going to laugh so hard at you guys if she is a teddy person." Wanda rolled her eyes at the boys and handed the bear over while Natasha handed the chocolate bars to Bucky. "Those ones are her favourites." He nodded gratefully, before leaving for the hospital ward.
oOOo
Vielka lay on her side in the bed, facing the door. It was an old habit, always sleeping facing an entry or exit point. She'd maintained it since recruit training back home, where the corporals used to enter in the early hours and drag them out for a 3am session of battle PT.
As she thought of those battle PT sessions, she began to recall other memories of her time at recruits, like the horrible food, and the fact that she and her room mates, for quite some time, lived on starburst lollies and coke to give them the energy they needed to get through the day.
Or that time they were made to stand in the middle of a field for a whole minute, holding two fully loaded rifles out straight at shoulder height, because one of her course mates had left the rifle further than arm's distance away from them. The 'corrective training' drill had popped her shoulder, and even now she could still pop it out.
She then recalled the day she left for recruits, her mother and stepfather had been there to see her off. She remembered her stepfather beaming at her, the only time she recalled seeing him look at her like that. Her mother had cried, claiming that because her biggest baby was leaving it was something special and she was allowed to cry when had Vielka teased her. She swore she would make Vielka pay when she got home, and she had, with a huge party and a slide show of embarrassing baby photos.
Home. The place she once called home, wasn't anymore. She had never been game enough to return home to Australia. She was listed as MIA - believed dead. She didn't want to give her family the heartache of knowing the truth.
She had done some research one day, after a few years of being her own person again.
Her mother had been diagnosed with breast cancer, but fought and won.
Her sister joined the navy, of all things, but her brother had joined the Air Force, which was far worse. She could just imagine the family dinners, jabs left, right and centre about who the superior service was. Add to the mix their stepdad who was old school navy, it would have been non-stop fun.
Her stepfather was still in the navy, it seemed, although from what she could tell, her disappearance hit him the hardest. He had never been keen on her joining the army, let alone hearing she had received a recommendation to try out for Special Forces when women were allowed combat roles.
She sighed and rolled onto her back out of habit, but winced, instantly regretting it as pain shot up through her neck. She rolled back to her side to see Bucky leaning against the doorway.
She instantly smiled, but was quick to subdue it, instead busying herself to try and sit herself up.
Bucky hurried to help her, putting what he carried on the chair positioned by her bed. He went to grab her closest arm, lifting her easily.
"Thank you," she said with a sigh, once she was up, moving her legs to a comfortable position.
"The girls gave me some presents for you," he said, grabbing the things from the chair. He held them out to her and she instantly grinned, taking the teddy first.
It was soft and fluffy in her hands, with a bright yellow ribbon around its neck. "It's so cute." She looked back to Bucky to see a shocked look on his face. "What?"
He pressed his lips together with a pained expression on his face. "Nothing." She furrowed her brow in confusion and he burst out laughing. "We just never thought you'd be a teddy person."
She looked dully at him for a moment before rolling her eyes and placing the bear in the bed next to her, looking at him pointedly.
He finally stopped laughing before handing her something else. She looked down and grinned. Good old Nat. She nestled back into her pillows and ripped open one of the chocolate bars as Bucky settled himself carefully on the side of the bed, a smile on his face. "How are you feeling?"
She shrugged. "The same as two hours ago, I guess," she replied, licking her fingers before offering a piece of chocolate to Bucky. He shook his head but she looked at him pointedly. "Chocolate gives you pimples, Bucky, help a girl out."
He gave a little laugh before sighing and taking the piece she held out to him. "You seem to be feeling better," he said and popped the piece into his mouth.
She shrugged again, she felt the same as she had before he left, so she wasn't sure exactly what he meant. "How's everyone else?"
"Shit stirring," he murmured, rolling his eyes. She looked at him in amusement, but he shook his head and she didn't press the question. She knew what they were like anyway, and that's why she liked them. That's why she was glad that she didn't kill any of them.
She went quiet, thinking about it, wondering what might have happened if she had.
"Hey," Bucky's rough voice cut through her thoughts and she looked up expectantly. "You're doing it again."
"Doing what?" she asked in confusion.
"Dwelling on it." She bit her lip and looked at her hands. "You've got to stop doing that to yourself. It's just going to make you miserable."
"Wouldn't be any less than I deserve," she muttered sullenly. She felt her eyes starting to heat at the corners, it was an odd sensation and not one that she was used to, as the many faces of her torment flashed through her memory, once again.
She closed her eyes for a moment, sighing heavily, feeling extremely overcome by emotion suddenly. She put a hand to her face, feeling moisture there and she was confused for a moment.
It was then that she felt Bucky shift on the bed, and felt him pull her hands away from her face, he pulled her forward carefully before wrapping his arms around her.
She was stunned for a moment, opening her eyes only to be met with his wide chest, but as his familiar, musky scent washed over her and his strong arms enveloped her, she felt herself lose all control of her emotions and began to sob.
While all her pent up distress and torment flowed freely from her now, she could not help but feel strangely safe in Bucky's arms, as one of his hands began to stroke her back softly. And that just made her sob harder, for so long had it been that she had experienced such a feeling. She gripped at Bucky's shirt, crying like she hadn't in a very long time.
oOOo
Bucky woke with a start, confused by his surroundings initially. He looked around to see a nurse peering down at him, but she motioned for him to be quiet before pointing down at his arm.
He looked down to see Vielka, fast asleep in the crook of his right shoulder, her hand resting on his chest. He looked up at the nurse expectantly and she motioned with silent hand gestures that she just wanted to take Vielka's observations, to which he nodded and laid still, glancing to the window and noting the first signs of sunrise were beginning to show.
Once she was finished, she nodded to him and gave him a warm smile, before leaving.
Bucky looked down at the woman that laid beside him, recalling how they had ended up in this position. She had finally broken under the weight of her tormented past, and he had immediately comforted her. He hadn't hesitated at all, it had been an automatic reaction to seeing her crumble under the weight of her emotions.
She had cried for so long, and all he could do was hold her, unsure of what to say, but felt that holding her was right and noted it hadn't felt uncomfortable in anyway.
She stirred slightly, causing a lock of her hair to fall across her face, and she snuggled closer into his chest. He felt his cheeks heat slightly, as her body pressed closer into his own. He reached across with his left hand, carefully pushing her stray hairs from her face, making sure not to touch her skin with his titanium fingers.
She looked so peaceful as she slept, there was no pain on her face, none of the serious expression she usually held throughout the day. Her skin looked smooth without so much as a scar, even though he knew she often took a serious beating in a fight.
He found it odd, they had known each other for barely 6 months, 5 of those months they had barely shared a conversation but he found he was most comfortable with her. He could relate to her and, he guessed, she felt the same. He also felt incredibly protective of her, and he found that the oddest of all, especially considering how hostile she acted towards him in the beginning.
The only other person in his life that he had ever felt protective of was Steve, and that was long before Steve had undergone enhancement.
He smirked, thinking of Steve's jabs at him in the kitchen the previous day. As he became contemplative, remembering all the girls he wooed in his younger days, and without realising, he moved his arm to hold her closer to him.
He felt her tense in his arm and jump slightly, looking around in bewilderment. She gaped when she realised where she was. "Oh..."
"Morning," he murmured, smiling apologetically.
Her cheeks began to redden and she looked away bashfully. "Hi." She sat up carefully, allowing him to move his arm, sitting sideways so she faced him. "Sorry about that."
"It's fine," he replied, watching as she pushed all her hair to rest on one shoulder. "I'm just glad you got some sleep."
She bit her lip and looked embarrassed. "Did you?"
He smiled at her. "Yeah, I did actually." And it was surprisingly restful. He hadn't a night terror or dream at all, which was unusual, to say the least, for him.
"That's good." She sounded relieved and sighed, she looked out the window and frowned. "How long were we asleep?"
"A good 10 hours," the doctor said as he and the nurses came in, one of the nurses carrying a tray of food. Bucky sat up and stood from the bed, moving to help Vielka sit back, although she protested. "And today the physio will be visiting you, so it's a good thing you got some good rest."
"Heh, you'd think I got more than enough while I was unconscious," she muttered and Bucky couldn't help but grin.
"I better be going," he said, as the doctor checked her stitches before he would let her eat.
"Hey, could you possibly ask Nat to get me some real clothes from my room, please?" Vielka asked, her voice slightly muffled from the angle of her head.
"Sure, just take it easy today," he said, before smiling warmly at her and leaving.
He found Natasha talking to T'Challa outside the living area.
"Hey, where have you been?" Natasha asked seeing him enter the corridor they were standing in. She cocked her head to the side. "You haven't been with Vielka this whole time, have you?"
"She was wondering if you could bring her some normal clothes, she's seeing the physio today," he said, ignoring her question, but noting the sly expression on her face.
"Yeah, of course, T'Challa and I were just discussing her," she replied, motioning to the Wakandan king.
Bucky looked to T'Challa expectantly. "More so the device than her, exactly. We believe we can reverse engineer the device to track the other soldiers," he explained. Bucky frowned, unsure what he was getting at.
"If we track the soldiers, we find Red and if we find Red..." Natasha explained more plainly.
"We find Crossbones," Bucky finished. He clenched his fists, just the name of the fiend angering him. "How long will it take?"
"It may take some time," T'Challa admitted bitterly. "However, the scientists believe the device may hold information about what it is Crossbones plans on doing too, we already know it involves a weaponized suit of some sort."
"So they want to extract the information before they start destroying it to reverse engineer it," Natasha finished explaining for him.
"Besides," T'Challa said, a slight grin appearing on his face. "I don't think Vielka would want to miss it."
Bucky grinned too, he was inclined to agree with the Wakandan. As he thought of Vielka and how certain he was that she would want to take vengeance on Crossbones and Red, he had an idea. "Wait, I think I might know someone who could help."
oOOo
Vielka let the physiotherapist wheel her to the gym, although she spent most of the ride with her face covered. It was bad enough not to be able to walk, but to be forced into a wheel chair and pushed through the facility just made her want to murder.
She curbed that thought quickly and sighed in relief when she found the gym was empty.
"Ok, Vielka, we are going to go over here and see if we can get you to start getting your body used to bearing your weight," she said, lining the wheel chair up with a set of horizontal rails that were at waist height.
She reached forward and worked to lift herself up, but struggled. Even her arms were needing to get used to taking her weight again.
The physio, a small woman by the name of Elise, moved forward to help her, putting her arms beneath Vielka's arms and hoisted her upwards. Vielka grabbed the rails and locked her elbows, not giving her arms the opportunity to buckle under the weight of her body.
It was hard work, holding her weight up, the whole measly 80 odd kilos of her, but she was hell bent on getting back to independence quickly.
"Okay, put your feet flat to the floor, and straighten your legs, but make sure you hold on."
Vielka slowly did as she was instructed, concentrating hard on moving her feet into position, before beginning to try and straighten her legs.
"Tuck that butt," Elise said with a bit of a grin, as she watched on carefully, slipping between Vielka and the wheelchair.
Vielka bit her lip, concentrating on trying to get her legs to straighten properly, until she finally felt her knees lock out.
She sighed in relief as she held herself there, her arms beginning to shake from holding all her weight for the first time in a long two and a bit weeks and she was already to break out in a sweat from the effort, but she was happy that she could at least achieve this much.
"Alright, let's get you down to rest, before we try again." Elise moved her wheelchair behind her again and helped Vielka ease herself back down. "How did that feel?"
"So good," Vielka answered breathlessly, taking the bottle of water Elise offered her.
"That's great, I think you're going to make this really easy on both of us because you seem to have a really good mindset, but it's not going to be fast, it's going to be slow."
"We'll see," Vielka murmured, before taking a mouthful of water. She wasn't sure Elise knew the full story on her.
oOOo
After three sessions with Elise over the last three days, Vielka was starting to get frustrated. She felt she was ready to progress, but Elise was insistent on taking it slow.
As she sat in her room, listening to the mindless drone of the television she made up her mind to take herself to the gym. She needed to do something. She buzzed for a nurse, who hurried in.
"What's up, Vielka?" she asked pleasantly.
"Could I get a wheelchair? I'd like to get out for a roll," she said, grinning at her own joke.
The nurse laughed lightly. "I don't see why not. Would be good for you," she said and disappeared out the door, returning with the chair for her.
Vielka slid from the bed with a little help from the nurse, although she took most of her own weight on her legs, which she felt pretty chuffed about.
"All set?" the nurse asked, handing her a water bottle from her bed side. Vielka nodded once. "Alright, off you go! Be back before dinner though, or I'll have his majesty send the Dora after you."
Vielka scoffed at the nurse's empty threat. Most of the Dora Milaje were no fans of Vielka. Most of the wives-in-training and personal bodyguard unit of the Wakandan Royal, thought of her as a threat to their positions, each vying for the affections of T'Challa, although he had already disclosed to Vielka that he had no intention of marrying any of them.
While they clearly had no understanding of the relationship between T'Challa and her, she recognised that at least one of them, Okoye, did not feel as strongly against her as the others, and Vielka had always suspected it was because she didn't join the Dora for the same reason as the others. For this reason, Vielka had far more respect for her than any of the others, and Okoye had proven on more than one occasion that she felt the same towards Vielka.
She also knew that they knew, they would never stand a chance against her in a fight, this proven when she first arrived in Wakanda to take her place beside the Black Panther. There was a reason she was chosen to stand by his side when he went into battle as the Black Panther and not them.
She wheeled herself towards the gym, her arms had definitely regained some of their strength and she appreciated the feeling of exercising them currently. So much so, she pushed herself to go faster, seeing how fast she could actually go.
As she rolled into the gym, she was glad to see she was on her own. The good thing about being here in the middle of the day was that most of the personnel within the facility were busy working, so she could work out in privacy.
She wheeled herself over to the rails and set the brakes on her wheel chair before hoisting herself up by her arms, carefully manoeuvring herself to the edge of her wheelchair before putting her feet to the ground and carefully starting to bear weight on them.
She managed to stand for long enough to reach out and grab a rail with one hand, but when she moved to place her other hand, her arm gave way slightly and she fell, her legs unable to maintain the balance and weight. She caught herself by way of the rail under her right arm, hissing with pain as the metal bar bit into the tender skin under her arm.
She shuffled herself back up to be holding the bars by her hands again, ignoring the pain. She placed her feet under her again, beginning to take the weight. She straightened her legs, being sure to tuck with her glutes to ensure her balance.
As her knees straightened and locked out, she took a deep breath, preparing herself for what she wanted to try next. Elise had not been willing to let her try and stand unsupported yet, citing that she was not strong enough to catch all of Vielka's weight on her own and she wasn't confident Vielka would be able to hold all her own weight on her legs yet.
Vielka's opinion was she wouldn't know unless she tried.
She began to put all her weight to her legs, releasing the rails from her hands. Her legs protested somewhat, to suddenly bearing so much weight, but she grit her teeth and continued to stand, lifting her hands away from the rails completely.
She felt her stomach leap, as her body stayed upright, unable to stop herself from smiling.
She placed her hands back on the rail, easing her weight off her legs and stretching them out without the weight for a moment. She thought to perhaps put herself back to her chair to rest properly, but then, taking it easy was never in her nature.
She placed her feet underneath her again, beginning to take the weight from her arms. Once she had removed her hands from the rails, her legs taking all the weight and maintaining her balance, she took a deep breath and mentally prepared herself for what she wanted to try next. She concentrated solely on her balance, ignoring anything and everything else, gritting her teeth as she tried to lift one foot, willing herself to place it in front of the other.
She shifted her right foot slightly, the heel beginning to rise from the ground, but the extra weight on her left leg was too much.
Her leg buckled and she began to fall to the ground, throwing her arms out in a bid to catch herself on a rail.
Before she could hit the ground, or even catch herself on a rail as she had before, strong arms captured her from behind, a familiar, musky scent washing over her as she closed her eyes in relief.
oOOo
"Bucky," she said without even looking back. He smiled slightly, carefully moving backwards to put her back into the wheel chair that was positioned next to the rails.
"What are you doing?" he demanded, looking around to see if he could see her physio anywhere.
"What did it look like? I'm trying to get walking again," she replied, sounding slightly annoyed at his question.
"Looked more like you were falling to me," he said smugly, earning him a glare as he knelt down beside the chair. "But what I meant was why are you doing that without your physio or doctor nearby?"
She rolled her eyes. "It's taking too long," she murmured, looking away from him. He was slightly confused and his face must have shown that, because when she glanced back at him, she rolled her eyes. "They're trying to take it too slow. I'm not just your average human anymore, you know. I can move faster than this."
He could tell by the way she spoke, she was growing frustrated. He could understand why too, to suddenly go from finding everything easy, to finding almost everything difficult.
She scratched the side of her face and sighed. "I suppose you're going to make me go back to the ward?"
He was thoughtful for a moment. "Well, I suppose I could interrupt my own work out to help you," he said slowly. Her brow furrowed as she looked up at him before her face broke into a grin, her pretty Asian features accentuating. "Come on." He held out his hands to her, which she was quick to take, shuffling herself forward in the wheel chair slightly.
When she was ready he hoisted her to her feet, she was wobbly but quickly took her balance with his help.
"Alright, what now?" he asked, still holding her hands in front of her.
"I'm going to try and take a step," she said. He admired her confidence, but prepared himself to catch her again.
He held her hands up in front of him, so that if her legs buckled, she would have further to fall and more time for him to catch her. He watched as she concentrated and strained to lift her right foot. Her heel lifted, and he felt her squeeze the fingers of his right hand, as she clenched her jaw and her whole foot raised from the ground. She moved it forward a couple of millimetres before trying to place it down, but her left leg gave out as it had the first time.
She began to fall forward, but he was quick to catch her, his arms slipping around her mid section and holding her up. He heard her groan and glanced down to find her grimacing.
He lowered her the rest of the way to the floor. "You okay?" he asked, as she pulled herself away from his chest. He began looking her over quickly. He noticed a bruise was forming under her right arm, he hadn't noticed it before.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she muttered sullenly, frowning slightly. "I was so close."
He gave her a sympathetic smile, before sitting on the floor in front of her. "You'll get there."
"Oh, I know I will, I'm just impatient, I guess," she replied with a sigh. "I suppose I should go back to the hospital ward. I've got nothing else I can do."
He raised an eyebrow and was thoughtful as she glanced back hesitantly at the wheel chair. "Well, that's not entirely true," he replied, calling her attention back to him. Her golden-brown coloured eyes looked at him with mild confusion. "I mean, you'd have to be careful, but I'm sure there's still a way you can work out the rest of your body."
She sat up a bit straighter, looking thoughtful. "That is true."
"And, I'll be here to make sure you don't get carried away," he said pointedly, making her purse her lips before she grinned.
"Not even a little?"
He rolled his eyes before standing up. "Come on, up you get."
Ok,
So here's the deal...
Because I've become inspired once again, I've decided to do a prequel for this, and I've already started on it. However, the way my brain works, things are changing what I've already written, so, you'll probably find me updating chapters of this story as I upload chapters of the prequel.
I'm going to apologise for that now.
So, if you're interested in reading a prequel, you'll have to follow me as an author to be notified when the prequel is added in the coming days/weeks.
xo
Krayzee