She was able to walk freely again. After Peggy had spun a story about how she was one of an ex British military agent who had come over to help them. If it wasn't for the respect that everyone had for Peggy, it might have been questioned further but with just the simple words that Beatrice wasn't a threat, no one bothered to check. Then again, she didn't seem like a threat, still dressed in a tight Captain America skirt. No more clothes had been offered to her and she felt like they were laughing at her at this point to see how long they could keep her in it.
Peggy guided her to a spare room in the tin base, consisting off a squeaky bed, rusted walls and a single desk tucked away in the corner. She could barely do a star jump in there without hitting the opposite wall. It was cold and stunk of sour cheese, but she wasn't really in a position to complain.
"I hope you know what position I've put myself in, trusting you."
"I know," Bea said sheepishly, "I owe you so much."
Peggy sighed as if she was testing the air, "Yes…. Yes you do. Anyway, I hope you'll be comfortable here. Sorry it's nothing grander, but it's all we have at the moment."
"No, it's perfect."
"I don't need to remind you about the curfew times and rules surrounding living within the base. Please try and not turn any more attention to yourself," she nodded down at what she was wearing and handed her a satchel behind her back, "Perhaps you should finally get out of that ghastly uniform. Though you do seem quite attached to it. In any case, these are a few of my bits that I don't wear too often. I shouldn't miss them."
She took them, the fabric soft between her fingers, "Thank you so much, Peggy… or Agent Carter. Sorry."
"May I ask what your intentions are now? What's the next part of your mission."
Unable to continue standing, she collapsed down on the bed. Her skirt flipping up as she sat down, showing the leotard underneath, but she hardly cared. The tin walls in this room looked hard enough – maybe if she banged her head against it, she'd wake up and be back in the 21st century.
"No clue," She finally breathed out, "As I said, I wasn't meant to be here on my own. I'm useless… All I know is Red Skull has the tesseract in a brief case right beside him. I'm never going to get my hands on it. Any ideas?"
She turned to Peggy, finding it weird to look upon her young face. She still saw the elderly woman struggling to breathe in bed, blinking back memories as they disappeared right before her eyes and a washed over, faded look would replace it. Here, her eyes were alert and alive.
"Do you recall the tesseract in any other point in history?"
"Steve comes across it later…" she coughed, "I mean Captain Rogers that is."
"Well if you'd like to take my advice, I suggest sticking by Captain Rogers. If he is to encounter it later, then you best be there when he does."
They were Peggy's parting words before she left her in the room on her own. The room seemed to shrink upon her exit as if the tin walls would clank together at any moment and her dress suddenly shrunk on her. There was relief in the fact that she had Peggy on her side, but her help could only go so far and she could hardly clue her in on Steve's fate.
She had no plan.
No idea what she was doing.
In all honesty, if Peggy hadn't taken the chance and believed her, she might have cowardly dipped out and gone back home.
With nothing else to do, she quickly got changed out of her clothes. Peggy hadn't provided her with new underwear so she had to make do with what she had, but she was itching for a fresh clean bra. Not that she had any idea what bras were like in this day of age – god… how long was she going to be here? Who knew when Steve was to next encounter the tesseract. It could be months!
She had to quickly remind herself that it didn't matter how long she was stuck back in time, as she would still dip back at the same time and place from where she left in 2023. Brooke wouldn't be without her for months on end, even if Beatrice had to be without her.
Flipping on the bed. The mattress crunched uncomfortably on her back.
She was stuck in time but not truly. The time GPS was still on her arm and working by the red flicking light that beeped on and off. All it would take was her had clumsily slipping on the button and she could go home-
Bucky.
She couldn't. Though the temptation still rested in the tip of her index finger, she slapped it shut and curled her palm into a fist. She couldn't. She had to save him.
Unconsciously, her body airily moved towards the door. Now fully dressed in a skirt that had buttons done up from top to bottom, and the Captain America dress left abandoned on her bed. Maybe she'd burn it later. That would be satisfying.
She walked the halls aimlessly. Some doors were locked and she didn't pry further, not wanting to look suspicious pulling on locked doors and next be accused of being a German spy. That was the last thing she wanted.
Eventually she made her way to fresh day light where a blast of noise met her.
Soldiers were being yelled at to do workouts and military cars gushed past her. Bea had to jump out of the way to avoid mud being spat up from their wheels. Routine safety checks were being done beside her, as men with clipboards paced up and down. She was glad to finally see a few female nurses hopping from one place to the next and stepped out of the way as a man on a stretcher was carried past her. With a cry of pain, his groans reminded her of Bucky's whimpers of agony when she first found him at the Hydra base.
Perhaps Bucky was getting checked over.
Following the stretcher at a respectful distance, it was taken to a far off building where beds were having to be lined up outside for overcrowding. Not that Bea would ever complain about overcrowding again, after five years of barely seeing crowded streets and a queue was a foreign concept to her.
She saw who she was looking for, sitting on one of the beds outside. He fussed over a blanket wrapped around him and tried to take it off, but one of the nurses came back over, smiled sweetly at him and put it back on his shoulder.
She really shouldn't be here.
"You're a doll but I'm absolutely fine. Focus on those who really need you."
His voice – God she missed his voice.
"Captain Rogers instructed me very clearly to put all my attention onto you," The nurse clicked her tongue disapprovingly.
"Captain Rogers," Bucky puffed in disbelief, "You do know he's not a real Captain right? No, you didn't? Don't listen to a word the punk has to say. I'm fine."
"Whatever you say, Sergeant," the nurse said, walking and brushed past Bea.
Bea had been so focused on Bucky she hadn't taken note of the nurse until she was right in front of her. She was rather pretty. long eyes lashes and a stunning smile, her brunette hair pulled back tightly but it suited her. Bucky seemed to notice too as he watched her go.
She'd caught him looking at her like that a few times in the mirror when she walked away from him. Never in her wildest dreams would she believe she would catch him doing it to another girl. A green snake of jealousy wrapped around her throat, making her want to burst out into a screaming rant at her Bucky for daring to look at another girl that way but with one look down at her 1940s clothes, she remembered that he wasn't hers. Not here.
She was midway between the thought of leaving and actually going when she noticed Bucky staring at her. He smiled when she saw him, "if it isn't my angel."
Walking a tightrope, she fidgeted closer. Her heart and her head tussling inside of her, telling her to go in different directions.
"Your angel?" She questioned when she was close enough.
"Well I figured since you saved me and I didn't see you afterwards, that I'd imagined you. And maybe you were either an angel or a ghost."
"And you went with Angel?"
"It suited best."
"If you say so," She fidgeted with the ends of her sleeve, consciously looking away from him but the familiarity in his face she was drawn too like a warm fire after a blizzard of snow.
A large cut sunk in his skin, slicing down from his cheek to his lip. Bea was sure her Bucky had a scar there. She'd ran her hands down it enough to know, maybe this was how he got it. She'd always assumed all of his injuries had been from being the Winter Soldier.
"How are you feeling?"
"People keep asking me that," Bucky narrowed his eyes, "Has Steve told you to come ask me that?"
Biting back a smile, she replied, "No, but if he does what should I say?"
"That I'm fine," he said, rolling his eyes but his eyes turned soft looking at her once more. She blushed away from the piercing stare, "How are you holding up?
"Me? I'm completely fine."
"I just saw them take you away earlier and you know… you did also storm a Hydra base wearing a mini-skirt."
She glared, "I thought we said never to mention the skirt again."
He held his hands up in surrender, "My bad."
"And I was all a misunderstanding before. Nothing to worry about, I just had to explain why I was there."
"Why were you there?"
She smiled down the pain clawing into her heart as if someone was fisting it in their palm tightly. How she wished she could tell him all the trouble she was going to. Just to save him, "it's a long story. Wouldn't want to bore you."
"Bore me? A beautiful dame in a hidden facility is there at the right moment to rescue me. I'd just love more details."
How did she never notice the way the right side of his lips moved up just the slightest bit more when he spoke? Her feet tipped closer.
She was staring right at the sunset,
and was being willingly blinded by it.
"How about you guess?" She finally settled with.
Bucky puffed out a laugh. To most, they would take no notice but she recognised it as a laugh only reserved for when he was nervous, "Well, let me think. You gotta English Accent with a twang of an American one… maybe the English is fake? Maybe… maybe you're a spy?"
Was she giving off he vibe as spy today or something? Maybe the Avengers had rubbed off on her. But he was smiling, and she knew he was only joking and decided to play along, "I've got an American Accent?" She judged her own voice, but had only ever heard the Englishness, "I'd never noticed that before."
"So, are you staying?"
"Staying?"
"Here."
She looked around.
Peggy had advised she stay wherever Steve goes, and whilst that was an attractive option as wherever Steve was, so was Bucky. She also knew it wasn't Steve that had the tesseract. It was Red Skull. Being here wasn't completing her mission – she should be out there looking for the next Hydra base –
she should be.
"I-I… I don't know yet."
Bucky stood up and took the unravelled the blanket from his shoulders, "Well if you are staying, me and some of the men are going to the local bar for a drink or two tonight. You should join us."
"Really?" No- No, Bea… you absolutely shouldn't! "Yeah – Yeah, I can do that."
"Great. Meet you there. Oh-" he held a hand out in front of her to shake, "I'm James, but most people call me Bucky."
The simple gesture of shaking hands with him, seemed impossible for her to do. He held out the hand that she was so used to being metallically detailed and stared at it a moment. Here was a part of Bucky she'd never seen before – she wondered if he was just as strong as he was with his metal one.
Her hands shook as she reached to meet his, "I'm Beatrice, but people call me Bea."
After a hand shake that felt like it lasted an eternity, the nurse came trotting back over and with an incredible sharp words, made Bucky lay back down and began to patter a blanket back over him. Sensing her time with Bucky was over, she began to edge away.
This time… his eyes never strayed from her.
A/N
These last few chapters are so hard to write because I'm struggling to pin-point exacly how Beatrice is feeling at the minute; Guilt, lonliness, love, heartbreak, anger, fustration, panicked. It's just too much. but I hope I've done alright.
LunaEvanna Longbottom: She's going to be there for... quite some time... when I started writing this part of the fic, I never intended her to be here as long as she is but I think I missed Bucky and Bea so much that I started writing wayy too much. Also my plan is to fix certain 'issues' I've found in Endgame concerning Steve's arc. Thank you for reading and reviewing! I always look forward to your thoughts
NeoMulder: Ah thanks so much for the review! I love Peggy so much and the first series of Agent Carter was absolutely perfect to her character. Glad you like her so much, she won't be showing up THAT much but I think it's nice for Bea to know that she has some sort of person that believes her.
