December 6, 1942 – Steve's Apartment: Steve's POV
Steve was sitting at the dining room table, his sketch pencil lightly drifting across the old blank sheet of paper. Right now, the drawing before him was only a rough image Bucky's dog, an old Labrador retriever named Thunder. The picture wasn't exactly Steve's best work, and he frowned, his pencil hovering above Thunder's half-drawn ear. He left the pencil to fall onto the paper and sat back, the gears in his head grinding.
Bucky had taken off earlier that morning, saying he'd be back in an hour or so. It was going on dinner time now and Steve was getting worried. He knew Bucky could handle himself with no problem, but his best friend was all he really had right then. Steve didn't necessarily mind being alone, but he certainly didn't like it either, and he'd always prefer Bucky's company.
With a sigh, Steve stood up and stretched his skinny arms over his head, hearing a few pops and joints shifting and cracking. He wandered into the living room, where some of Bucky's things were still laid out from the night before. His suitcase was half open, bunched up clothes spilling over onto the stained carpet. The radio was still on, playing so softly that Steve hadn't even heard the music in the dining room. Peeking out from under the dirty clothes in Bucky's suitcase was a piece of paper, messily folded up.
Leaning down, Steve grasped the paper and unfolded it, gazing at the sketch of the army nurse that he had drawn for his best friend months ago. It'd be a year in a week or so. Steve could hardly believe that Buck still had the drawing. He was certain that Bucky had gotten over the dark haired spitfire from the Recruitment Center. Bucky hadn't exactly been as brooding as he had been that first month or so after seeing her. In fact, the two of them had gone out on a bunch of double dates since then. One of them had been just last week.
Of course, it ended up like every double date Bucky set them up on. Steve ended up sitting at the bar in the Stork Club while Buck took turns dancing with both girls. By the end of the night, Steve had been so drunk that Bucky had to half-drag him home and stay the rest of the evening with him just in case. A small grin broke across Steve's features as he thought back on the next morning fondly, waking up to his best friend at the stove, trying to imitate his chocolate chip pancakes. They hadn't been as good as Steve's, but they were sufficient, even though Steve threw them up after he was finished eating, a massive hangover settling in for the day.
With a set jaw, Steve marched back to the dining room table and plunked down in his seat. He picked up his sketch pencil and began drawing furiously on a fresh piece of paper. The pencil danced on the page like a puppet directed by Steve himself and after around thirty minutes or so, the image of Bucky formed on the paper, his expression of disbelief imprinted in graphite. Beside his best friend, Steve drew himself, laughing, barely containing his loud guffaws of amusement. With that drawing complete, Steve studied it, smiling a bit before setting it aside and tearing off a new piece of paper. This time, Steve drew the army nurse once more, but he drew her looking over her shoulder, a snarky expression on her feather light features, just the one she'd given Bucky when she had turned him down. With satisfaction as he finished the two drawings, he glanced over at the clock when he saw that almost two hours had passed since he'd sat down to draw the three of them at the Recruitment Center an entire year ago. The two newest drawings had no colors in them, just sketched in pencil, but Steve thought it was fitting to some degree on an artistic level. Something about there not being a happy ending yet, and colors went with happy endings.
Shaking his head on the intense thinking he was doing, Steve folded up the two new drawings inside of the older one and went back to the living room, returning the folded up images to where he'd found them. He had a feeling Bucky would be mildly amused when he found the new sketches and smiled to himself when he pictured Bucky's eye roll upon seeing them.
He walked back to the kitchen and went to the fridge, where he pulled a fresh apple out of the fruit drawer. As he rinsed it off, he glanced up to the door where the handle jiggled, betraying someone trying to get into the house. The front door opened a moment later, Bucky entering, a look of frozen shock etched on his sharp features.
Steve took a hand towel and dried off the apple as he spoke, "Bucky? Buck, what's wrong?"
His best friend said something inaudible as he closed the door to the apartment and began to shed off his winter coat.
"What? Buck, I can't hear you," said Steve, taking a bite of the apple.
As Bucky said his next words, the apple bite that Steve swallowed turned to molten lead in his throat, his windpipe constricting considerably.
"I got drafted," Bucky whispered and Steve's heart dropped to his feet.
_
December 7, 1942 – US Recruiting and Induction Center, New York City, New York: AJ's POV
"One more," said Lydia, coming into the changing room, where I was currently taking off my hat and shoving it in my locker.
"What?" I asked sharply, spinning around. "I thought we were done for the night."
Lydia shrugged as she began to slip out of her uniform. "Two guys just came in. One's here for 'moral support' he claims and the other got drafted yesterday. He needs his check-up. Doctor Paris said he was all yours."
I groaned. "Couldn't he have given him to Harriet or someone else?"
Lydia giggled a little bit. "You are Paris's favorite. I guess it's not all perks."
"Guess not," I grunted and pulled out my clipboard and pen. "But I'm not putting back on the hat." Lydia smirked while she handed me the soldier's form and I clipped it to the board without looking at the name. I was definitely not in the mood to deal with another cocksure soon-to-be soldier with a devil may care attitude, which had been what I was getting all day. I sent up a silent prayer in hopes that whoever I was seeing would have manners akin to Frank's, if even only somewhat.
I stepped out of the dressing room and made my way down the hall into the waiting area for the soldiers. Keeping my eyes firmly on my clipboard, I traversed up to the name scribbled across the top and I swear my day got ten times worse. I swallowed and my eyes flickered in the waiting area where I saw them sitting, the skinny blond facing his companion. The tall, dark haired one looked nervous, his knee bouncing up and down at breakneck speed. They hadn't seen me yet and I wasn't particularly keen on them doing so.
The last time I'd talked to James Barnes, I'd had a headache for the rest of the night.
I sighed and stepped into the room. James's head snapped up, his unbelievably blue eyes locking on mine and widening a bit in recognition. Steve's gaze followed his friend's a moment later and he smiled at me, lifting a hand in a slight wave.
"James Barnes," I said, his name sliding off my tongue and leaving a slightly bitter taste in its wake. The lazy grin that haunted my nightmares danced across his mouth as he stood up and stretched, his white shirt riding up on his waistline. Clenching my jaw, I kept my gaze firmly planted on Steve and raised a hand in greeting. "Hey, Steve."
James's hands resided idly in his pockets as he moseyed on over to where I was standing. "Well, well, well, darlin'. Looks like your name is going to be my business after all." His tone dripped with arrogance and sarcasm that made me want to smack that lopsided grin off of his extremely handsome face. He looked a tad different than when I'd seen him a year ago. His hair was shorter and there was no gel holding it back, so it flopped down on his forehead. A bit of stubble grew on his face and neck, like he hadn't shaved in the past day or so. He was so frustratingly attractive that I had a sinking feeling this was going to be extremely difficult. I tried to think about Frank, but as attractive as Frank was, he was mildly average compared to James.
"Right this way, Mr. Barnes, if you'd please." I turned on one heel and began walking back to my examination room before James could respond.
Behind us, I heard Steve yell, "I'll be out here waiting! Go easy on him!"
I couldn't help the small grin that spread across my lips and I was thankful that James was a few strides behind me so he couldn't see it. I didn't need to give him the satisfaction or the ammunition. The smile was instantly wiped off my face as James fell into step with me.
"I still never got that name, darlin'," he said easily.
"First of all, don't call me 'darling'," I said, my tone all business, not even the slightest bit of amusement creeping into it, which I was quite proud of. I had to admit, the guy was nothing if not persistent. Annoying, yes, but persistent. "And you can call me Nurse Frost."
"Nurse Frost," said James, drawing out every syllable carefully.
I stopped at my exam room and drew back the curtain for James, who stopped in the entrance and looked at me, his head tilted slightly and his expression reminding me of a puppy. "Does Nurse Frost have a first name?"
I raised an eyebrow and jerked my chin into the room to the exam table without a word. Raising his hands in defense, James ducked inside and had a seat, the paper crinkling as he sat down. I let the curtain fall as I answered, setting my clipboard aside and opening the cupboard above the sink to dig around for a thermometer. "I do have a first name," I said.
"Well, are you gonna tell me it?"
I glanced over my shoulder at James's overeager tone. His legs kicked like a little kid on a sugar rush as he looked at me. His lopsided grin seemed permanently etched into his features, at least to me. Seriously, smiling that much seemed downright uncomfortable.
"No, I'm not," I replied with a smirk of my own at James's whine. Finally, my fingers closed around a thermometer and I turned back to the cocky man, and raised an eyebrow. "Open your mouth."
James obliged and waggled his eyebrows suggestively as he did so. I rolled my eyes so hard, I thought they'd fall out of my head as I stuck the thermometer under his tongue. The last time I'd rolled my eyes like that had been the first time I'd met Howard. The two men were remarkably similar, I noted, except Howard was more tolerable. James shut his mouth, still grinning through the object between his teeth.
"Can you not smile for like three seconds?" I demanded. James opened his mouth to respond and held up a hand. "Don't answer that. Keep your trap shut so I can get an accurate reading."
James did as I instructed. I waited around fifteen seconds or so before grasping the edge of the thermometer an pulling it out when the James opened his mouth.
"How am I lookin', Frosty? Bet I have a fever 'cause I'm just too hot," he said, giving me an over exaggerated wink.
"Don't call me 'Frosty'," I said sharply. "And actually, you're at about ninety-six and a half." I leaned over conspiratorially and whispered in his ear, "I hate to break it to you, Barnes, but that's average."
I pulled back quickly, not liking the close proximity between us. I retrieved the blood pressure arm cuff from the cupboard and turned around. James's face was screwed up in a pout, his eyes narrowed at me, presumably from me calling him 'average'.
"Okay, I'll bite," he said as he rolled up his sleeve for me. His right arm clenched under his movements as he spoke, the lithe, corded muscle mesmerizing me for a moment before I wrapped the cuff around it, cutting off my view.
"You don't like me," he mused idly. "Why?"
I mockingly gasped. "Whatever gave you that impression?" I drawled, a smirk threatening to break out across my face. I refused to let it. There was no way I was going to let James get to me.
"Well, I dunno. You have an attitude, for one. You don't even give me the light of day. It's kind of disheartening, really."
"I'm sure if you left this building and went to the nearest dance hall you won't have an issue finding a woman to pay you the attention you need. I'm sure that won't be all that 'disheartening'," I said using air quotes.
"Yeah, but what's the fun in that? You're a challenge. I like challenges."
"Well, this challenge," I said as I pulled the arm cuff off his arm, jotting down his numbers, "doesn't like you that way. Or at all, in fact. We're both here on business, Mr. Barnes."
Before James could respond, I looked back at the clipboard. "It seems you've had all of your vaccinations, which makes my job easier. You're free to go, Mr. Barnes."
I strode over to the curtain and held it open for James, who still hadn't moved from his seat on the examination table. His legs were still kicking, but not as furiously as before. His head was tilted at an angle and his baby blues were roving over me, inspecting me thoroughly. The lopsided grin that usually covered his features was gone for the first time ever. He actually looked mildly serious, which was kind of odd.
"I like you," he decided as he hopped off the table, his hands returning to his pockets as he sidled on up to me.
"Yes, we went over this," I said, somewhat annoyed.
"No, no, not like that," said James with a bit of a chuckle. "But just as a person. I like you. You have more of a personality than any woman I've ever met. It's entrancing. You're like a breath of fresh air compared to all the mindless dames that I come across in the Stork Club everyday with Steve. If I hadn't started out treating you like every other girl I come across, and I wasn't going off to basic in a few days, I have a feeling we could have become the best of friends."
I felt my eyebrows raising in shock. I was used to the catcalls and compliments from men on my figure and looks, but that was a compliment in itself. As I recalled the only times I'd come across James, he'd never actually complimented me, only flirted. But the first real compliment he gave me was on my personality and not my looks.
Even Frank had complimented my looks first.
I opened and closed my mouth, trying to find a good response, but nothing came to find. "Thanks," I finally said stupidly, feeling entirely inadequate compared to James's assessment of me.
He smirked a bit. "You're welcome, Nurse Frost. How about that name, now then, huh?"
I rolled my eyes as we started to walk down the hallway. "I'm afraid not, Mr. Barnes."
James gave me an incredulous look. "After all that, I still don't get your name?"
I merely shrugged. "You said it yourself, you're going off to basic. Probably won't see me again."
James groaned, "Fine, but uh..." His hand shot out and wrapped around my forearm as I was about to step into the waiting area. My skin tingled at the contact and I raised an eyebrow at the fingers on my arm. He jerked his hand back. "Sorry," he apologized. "It's just...look." James peeked his head out into the waiting room and pulled back quickly as he began speaking. "Both of Steve's parents are gone and he really doesn't have that many friends. I don't want to leave him alone for four whole months. Here, may I?" He held his hand out.
I'm not sure why I did it, but I handed James the clipboard and the pen.
He scrawled something down in messy handwriting and handed it back to me. "That's Steve's address. The guy took a real shine to you when you turned me down that first time, didn't quit talkin' about it for a week's time. Pay him a visit every now and then, will ya? For me?"
"For you?" I scoffed.
James rolled his eyes. "Fine, just as a personal favor, whatever. I worry about the little guy."
I surveyed the address critically, my gaze flitting from the paper to James's pleading blue eyes every few seconds. "Fine," I finally gave in.
Relief flooded James's expression. "Thank you so much, Nurse Frost. I owe you one."
I waved him off. "It's for a friend."
James raised an eyebrow. "So we're friends now?"
"Steve," I clarified. "This is for Steve, not you."
"Whatever floats your boat, darlin'. You're doing me a hell of a favor here," said James easily. His lazy grin had returned and I saw James in a new light.
The lazy grin was still annoying, but it had an endearing edge to it of a man who cared for his friend. My mind was still buzzing from the compliment he'd given me earlier and I realized that James was right.
Perhaps if he wasn't going off to basic training, we could have been friends, given the opportunity.
Before I could think too much into it, I shook my head. "C'mon, then."
James and I entered the waiting area and Steve shot up to greet us. "He's in one piece," said the little man with a sly grin. "I'm shocked."
"Well, I didn't want the United States Army to be down one healthy recruit. We need all the able-bodied men we can," I said. Steve's face fell a bit and I rested a hand on his shoulder. "And we need all the able-bodied men we can back here at home, too. Who's gonna swoop in for all the girls out there in their time of need?" I added, wiggling my eyebrows.
Steve grinned and shook his head. "You're sweet, Nurse...?" He dropped off, looking a tad embarrassed.
"Frost," I said with a smile. "AJ Frost."
I didn't miss the quirk of his eyebrow or the genuine smile that lit up James's face when I told Steve my name.
"Well, uh, AJ, you're a real nice dame—er, woman. I mean, you're a real nice woman."
James rolled his eyes and clapped Steve on the shoulder as he slipped by to shrug on his winter coat.
"C'mon, Stevie. Let's go get some pie or somethin'. A little last hurrah."
Steve nodded, looking at James. "Yeah, sure, Buck." Steve looked back at me and smiled a bit. "I'll see you around then, AJ?" he said, a hint of a question in his voice.
"Yeah," I said easily. "Stop by any time. Perhaps we could grab some lunch sometime? I could introduce you to my friends."
Steve's face lit up. "Yeah, that sounds great! I'll stop by after Buck leaves for basic, then?"
"It's a date," I said with a wink and Steve flushed.
"Y-Yeah, it's a date."
"Ay, Steve!" said James, a bit louder than necessary. "Quit flirtin' with my woman!"
"Your woman?" I inquired, hands on my hips.
Steve laughed and jogged over to where James was waiting by the door. James smiled at me, mouthing the words Thank you as Steve was more focused on wrenching the door open.
I couldn't help but smile back as those two little words melted my hard exterior.
"Bye, AJ!" called Steve, waving over his shoulder. James lifted his hand as well, his smile a tad more nervous than I was used to.
I waved to the two men and watched them as they entered the cold, December night. I sighed as I ran a hand through my dark curls, wondering just how in the world I'd agreed to keep an eye on a little blond man as a favor to James Barnes of all people.
