Chapter 27

Ruby hurried out of the dormitory to the car she had requested. Izzy had given up on convincing her not to do this quicker than she had anticipated, which gave her cause for concern. Her friend had seemed slightly off lately and she felt crappy for not taking the time to find out why, but she had her hands full right now. Whatever was wrong with Izzy would just have to wait until she got back. She just hoped it wouldn't be too late.

Immersed in her own thoughts, she didn't see Fury standing by the car until she almost ran into him.

"Going somewhere, Ms. Beaumont?" he asked with a look of bemusement.

Taking a fortifying breath, she squared her shoulders and met his eyes defiantly, "yes, and you're not going to stop me unless you lock me up."

That bit of bravado earned her an amused snort, "you don't think I would lock you up if I wanted to?"

"No, I don't," she lied. She wouldn't put it past him. "I haven't done anything wrong and you can't go around locking up people just because they do things you don't approve of."

His lips twitched as if he was suppressing a smile. Something about his attitude grated on her. It was as if he didn't take her seriously, like she was a misbehaving child.

"Listen here, Mr. Director," she took a step forward to invade his personal space, even though she had to look up to glare at him. "I will not stand here and be bullied by you. I'm going to Bruce and I don't care what you think. So, step aside."

"Oh, I'm not here to stop you, Ms. Beaumont," he smiled. "In fact, I'm here to help. Bucky has volunteered to drive you and escort you most of the way to your destination, to ensure your safety." He nodded to his left and Ruby turned to see him leaning against the car studiously not paying attention to the two of them. "If that meets your approval, that is."

"Well," Ruby fought to maintain her composure, "I guess that will be okay."

"Good," Fury said smugly and stepped to the side. "I'll leave you two to it, then."

Feeling like a heel, Ruby watched him walk away. A few steps away, he paused and turned back towards her.

"Oh, and I wouldn't recommend kicking him in the balls this time," he grinned at her before turning to continue walking.

Ruby's face burned.

"Shall we go?" Bucky asked.

"Yeah, sure," she mumbled and slipped into the passenger seat.

Both were quiet as he started the car and drove off the campus. As they merged onto the highway, his eyes flickered to her.

"You actually kicked him in the balls?"

Ruby sank down into her seat, "I don't want to talk about it."

He grinned, "okay. But remind me to stay on your good side."


The drive took nearly four hours. It didn't take Ruby long to get over her discomfort and try to make conversation with her companion. At first, their conversation was stilted but soon, they started discussing the differences between the 1940's and now.

"What was your favorite song?" she asked him when he said he still preferred the music from them.

"In the Blue of the Evening," he answered.

"Do you have it on your phone?" she wondered if he used modern technology.

"Yes."

"Can I hear it? Can you Bluetooth it to the car?"

He pointed to his phone sitting in one of the cupholders, "go ahead."

Ruby opened the app and paired the phone with the car. Soon the smooth jazz of Tommy Dorsey and the silky voice of Frank Sinatra filled the car.

"That's nice," she told him.

"You don't have to humor me, you know."

"No, really. It is nice. I like a lot of different music. You'd probably hate most of it, though."

He glanced at her, "try me."

"Let's trade back and forth. We'll play a song I like, then one you like."

Bucky nodded. While his song played, Ruby searched for a song she wanted to share with him. She decided to go with a classic, at least as far as she was concerned, and played The Road by Portishead.

"Not bad," he nodded. "But there's not a lot of lyrics. They just keep repeating the same lines over and over."

His next song was When the Swallows Come Back to Capistrano by the Ink Spots. She followed it with Hotel California to prove that not all modern songs were thin on lyrics. Back and forth they went while they talked about favorite movies, actors, foods and so on. The time passed quickly and soon, they were pulling off the side of the road at a scenic overlook.

"We're on foot from here," he told her, turning the car off.

Getting out of the car, she looped the straps of her backpack over her shoulders, struggling a bit with her cast and sling, while Bucky opened the trunk and got out a larger backpack and shouldered it. Wandering to the rail, she looked out at the view. The Adirondack mountains spread out in front of her, their blue and purple peaks reaching up into the clear, blue late afternoon sky. It was breathtaking.

"Ready?"

She turned away from the view, "sorry, just enjoying the view without having to dodge missiles."

He nodded, "yeah, that does take away from the effect."

Together, they crossed the road and climbed into the trees.

"How far is it?" she asked.

"Two miles, as the crow flies."

"How far for two-legged mammals?"

"More like five."

"Oh, joy."

"Hey, you're the one that wanted to come."

"I know, but that doesn't mean I can't whine a bit about the trip."

"I could always throw you over my shoulder and go at my pace," he offered.

"And I could always throw up on your back," she threatened.

"Okay, so your pace it is," he sighed. "It will probably be dark by the time we get there."


Two hours later, clambering over boulders on the edge of a mountain stream, she was almost regretting turning him down. They had circled the mountain that they had parked on, hiked down to where it joined another, and circled it also. Then down into a small valley, followed a bubbling mountain brook, and up and around a third mountain. By then the sun was low in the sky, its light blocked by the peaks surrounding them and the temperature had dropped several degrees. Ruby's broken arm was throbbing and despite the drop in temperature, she was sweating profusely.

Her grip on the rough stone surface slipped and without another free hand to grab onto something, Ruby slid back down the boulder towards the creek they had just crossed. Bracing herself for the shock of ice-cold water as she landed on her butt in the water, she was surprised to find it was warm.

Bucky was by her side in an instant.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I just slipped."

He helped her stand and looked her over quickly for injuries.

"I said I was fine, Bucky."

"Just want to make sure. I wouldn't want to make you know who angry by breaking you."

"Oh, shush," she shoved him playfully. "It's weird, though. I expected the water to be cold, but it's actually quite warm."

"There's a hot spring not too far up the mountain. It probably feeds into this runoff."

That explained it.

"How are you holding up?"

"I'll make it," she assured him.

"That offer to carry you still stands," he smiled slightly, the only hint that he was joking.

"And I'm still passing, but I promise, if you make me circle one more mountain, I'm throwing a rock at your head."

"Nah, we're almost there." He pointed up the mountain, "just about 400 yards from here. We'd be there by now if you hadn't tried to go swimming."

She squinted upwards, frowning, "that's above the tree line, isn't it?"

"Not quite. The cabin is on kind of a plateau on the mountainside."

She moaned, "okay, let's get going before it gets dark."

Head down to watch where she was putting her feet, she trudged behind Bucky quietly. It was hard going, and she was huffing and puffing before they had gone fifty yards. After a few minutes of climbing, the terrain leveled off. The forest had thinned out a bit, with sparse undergrowth between the spruce and aspens.

"The cabin is just up ahead," Bucky told her.

As they drew near, Ruby caught glimpses of the cabin through the trees and heard wood being split. Emerging from the trees into the small clearing, she stopped at the sight of Bruce, shirtless, swinging an axe. The blade struck the chunk of wood and cleaved it cleaning into two pieces, which fell to either side of the stump he had them set on. Turning towards Bucky and Ruby to grab another chunk, Bruce froze when he saw them.

Ruby had been rehearsing what she would say to him while she was hiking up and down the mountains, but everything evaporated as she met his eyes.

"Hey," she said weakly and tried to smile.

Bruce dropped the axe with a thud, "Ruby, what are you doing here?"

She took a step towards him, "I was worried. The last time you were in the mountains was pretty much a disaster."

He held up his hand to keep her from coming any closer, "don't. I'm a danger to you."

She shook her head, "no, you're not."

"How can you stand there with that cast on your arm and say that?" his face was full of pain as he said it.

"Something was wrong," she said, trying to get him to understand that she didn't blame him. "I don't know what it was, but it was affecting you. I've been having headaches for days. A bunch of people have."

"You don't know that."

"Oh, come on!" she suppressed the urge to stomp her foot. "Use that brilliant brain of yours instead of beating yourself up over this. Think! Were you having headaches? Were you feeling uncharacteristically irritable?"

"Yes, but…,"

She cut him off, "have you had a headache since you've been up here doing your Grizzly Adams impersonation?"

"No, I haven't had a headache but…,"

Again, she spoke over him, "and have you been irritable?"

"I'm going to be if you don't let me get a word in," he huffed.

She put her hands on her hips, giving a satisfied nod, "well, then, you're not a danger to me."

Ignoring his further protests, she walked past him and into the cabin. As she carefully slid out of the backpack, she heard him talking to Bucky.

"What the hell were you thinking, bringing her up here?"

"Don't yell at me. Fury is the one that okayed it. I'm just the driver and guide."

"Well, you need to get her off this mountain."

"Only if she agrees to go. I'm not carrying a screaming girl five miles back to the car."

"Why does everyone have to talk about me as if I'm not right here!" Ruby demanded from the doorway of the cabin. "I am perfectly capable of talking for myself."

"Good, then you can tell Bucky you're going back to the campus with him," Bruce told her.

Ruby looked past him to Bucky, who was obviously ill at ease being trapped in the middle of their argument, "Bucky, thanks for getting me here. Are you planning to stay the night or go on back? It's getting dark quickly."

"I'll be okay in the dark. Are you sure you want to stay?"

"She's not staying," Bruce told him, then looked at her. "You're not staying."

"I'm good Bucky," she ignored him. "Be safe going back."

Bucky took off his heavy backpack and tossed it at Bruce, who clumsily caught it and staggered under its weight.

"There's some more MREs and a sleeping bag for Ruby."

"No, no, no," Bruce was shaking his head. "Why is nobody listening to me?"

"Have fun," Bucky waved at both of them, then disappeared quickly into the trees.

Bruce stared after him in astonishment, then turned to look at Ruby, "does what I want matter at all?"

"What you want is based on faulty logic, so until you pull your head out of your nether regions, nope," she looked at him smugly. "And now, Bucky's gone. So, unless you plan to escort me down and help me flag down a ride back, I'm staying right here. Face it, Bruce, you're stuck with me."

"I bet he's still within earshot. I could yell for him to come back."

"And he'd ignore you. Come on, I'm starving. Let's see what gourmet treats await us in that bag."

With one last longing look at the forest, Bruce hefted the backpack and followed her into the cabin.

Inside the cabin, Ruby stood in the middle of the single room, looking around. There wasn't much to see besides the woodstove. Bruce had hauled the rickety cot out after the first night when it had almost collapsed under his weight. Instead, he had made a bed of pine boughs on the floor, close enough to the stove to feel its warmth at night, but far enough away that an errant spark didn't set the pile on fire. He had spread out the old blanket from the cot over it, then his sleeping bag on top of that. After the first night, it had proven to be much more comfortable than the cot, and far less likely to break on him.

"I'd say it's cozy, but then I'd be lying," she said turning to smile at him.

Her smile still lit up the room, even now. It had been over a week since he had last seen it, and he realized how much he had missed it.

"This is the economy cabin. Fury wouldn't approve business class."

She giggled at his lame joke, then sat awkwardly down on his makeshift bed.

"How's your arm?"

She shrugged, "not too bad. It's more of an inconvenience than anything."

He grabbed a tee shirt and pulled it over his head before crossing over to sit beside her, putting the backpack on the floor between them, "I'm sorry."

"I know," she said softly. "I'm glad you're back to yourself."

"So am I." He heaved a sigh, "do they know the cause yet?"

"Not that I heard before I left. I just know that my headache is finally gone for the first time in days. Oh, my gosh!" she gasped and covered her face with her good hand, "I puked on Captain America!"

"You didn't!"

"I did! I was so embarrassed!" she cringed. "But he was so sweet about it. He practically carried me to the infirmary. You know, he may not be Steve Rogers, but he seems like a really nice guy."

"I wouldn't know," he admitted. "I haven't had a chance to talk to him."

"That's probably a good thing. You were in a pretty crummy mood."

"Yeah, I was."

They chatted about small things going on around the campus as they selected their meal from the MRE's Bucky had delivered and ate them by the light of the fire from the woodstove. All the initial awkwardness Bruce had felt melted away and they laughed and talked.

"I missed you," she told him, scooting closer to lay her head on his shoulder.

He wrapped his arm around her, pulling her close and kissed the top of her head, "I missed you too."

She was quiet for a moment, then, "Bruce?"

"Hum?"

"No offense, but you stink." She pulled away slightly to look at him. "When's the last time you bathed?"

"Wow, that was blunt," he smiled sheepishly at her. "And in case you haven't noticed, there's no plumbing in this cabin."

"Bucky says there's a hot spring nearby. Have you seen it?"

He remembered seeing it on his second day exploring the area, but he had forgot about it.

"Yeah, I have."

"I think we need to pay it a visit, don't you?"

"It's dark outside."

"You aren't afraid of the dark, are you?"

He laughed, "not really."

Ruby pushed herself up from the bed, "then let's go."

He still hesitated.

"I'm not sleeping there with you the way you smell right now, Mister."

Oh, hell, he hadn't even thought about the sleeping arrangements until now.

"You can take this spot and I'll make another one for me," he offered even though he really wanted to share this one with her.

"Bruce," she huffed, "why are you being so difficult?"

Standing over him, illuminated with only the light coming from the wood stove, with her blond hair escaping her ponytail and curling wildly around her face, she had to be the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

Giving up the argument, he stood, "okay. But if you get eaten by a hungry bear, don't blame me."

She patted him on the arm before turning away to dig through the backpack for a flashlight, "don't worry, I know someone who will protect me when the going gets rough."

"That's what I'm afraid of," he muttered to her back.