Alright, here is chapter 2. I'm a going to explain something real fast to anyone reading this, just in case anyone wants to complain or something. This will be a romantic story with fluff and not much action. I really would love to see these characters be happy and find love. All the Marvel characters. I'm not following the comics, but I do use bits a pieces for inspiration. I'm going more off the MCU, but still with my own ideas. There may be things I do incorrectly, but this isn't about that. It is about love for those who felt like they were never meant to find that. These are also not my characters, except Serenity, they belong to Marvel. I do not take credit for these characters.
Bruce held the door to the infirmary open for Serenity as she stumbled in, Bucky still close behind. A woman with short grey hair in a white coat noticed the group enter. Her eyes widened when she saw the bloody sight that was Serenity. Rushing over, she took Serenity's hand and led her to a table.
"What in heavens name happened to you child?!" The woman exclaimed.
Serenity turned her gaze over to Bucky with a pained look, but simply stated, "I wasn't paying attention to where I was going. Ran into a wall." Turning her gaze back, she sat as still as she could as the doctor began examining the wound.
Bucky stood back with Steve by his side and watched her get cleaned and fixed up. Crossing his arms, he furrowed his brow in disappointment. "I seem to hurt everybody, don't I?" He asked Steve, glancing over to make eye contact.
Steve's lips formed a slight smile, but couldn't hide the slight pain in his eyes after hearing his friend say such a thing, "No. This was simply an accident. She'll be fine."
Bucky looked down at his feet, but did not reply to Steve. His mind was thinking about ways to make it up to the poor woman. It wasn't her fault she had a broken nose, but his. Nothing Steve said could change his mind. Steve placed a hand on Bucky's shoulder and gave him his best reassuring look. At that moment, Bruce walked over to the two men and adjusted his glasses before stating,
"She should be fine, her bleeding stopped. The doctor says it isn't as bad as it looks."
Bucky sighed in relief, "Good to hear."
"Good. Then there isn't anything more we can do here, let's get back to work." Explained Steve.
Bruce agreed, "Probably best. The Doctor is gonna patch her up and knowing Serenity we will be heading back to the lab after this. Plenty of projects on our list."
Bucky sighed heavily and uncrossed his arms while nodding in agreement. The two men turned and left the infirmary, but Bucky took one last look at Serenity. She was wincing in pain as the doctor cleaned her wound. He followed Steve out into the hall and the two walked side by side. Steve could still see the look of gloom on Bucky's face. This was really getting to him.
"So you broke a woman's nose? It's nothing to cry over. She will be just fine." Steve did his best to sound as reassuring as possible.
Bucky scoffed, "I'm not crying. But that incident just reinforces the fact I shouldn't be here. I'm a danger to everyone. Just my presence gets people hurt."
Steve replied with a more stern tone, "You aren't a danger to anyone. That was a simple accident, nothing more. She didn't even seem upset about it."
Bucky let out a soft sigh, "Maybe."
"I'm right and you know it, now let's get back to business." Said Steve as the two men continued on their way.
Serenity looked at her reflection on one of the glass windows in the laboratory. She pursed her lips, seeing the state of her injury again. A bandage and splint was placed on her nose to help with the healing process. There was some slight bruising under her eyes and the pain would come with every expression she made. She refused to take any of the pain medications, as there was much work to do. She didn't want her mind to be compromised. She turned around and saw Bruce yawning, stretching out his arms. Looking at the clock on the wall and she saw that it was now midnight. They had gotten a lot done, even with the hiccup of her injury. The defense system they were ticketing with seemed that much closer to completion. Watching Bruce yawn was infectious, as she felt one coming on.
"Come on Bruce. Let's call it a night." She said holding back the yawn, to avoid any pain.
Bruce nodded, "Sounds good to me."
Bruce grabbed his jacket and the two of them walked out the doors. Just outside stood a blonde woman they both knew well. Bruce smiled at the sight of her and she smiled right back. The two embraced each other and shared a small kiss. Serenity smiled at the two, feeling a bit jealous of their love. The two were such a cute couple, almost polar opposites, but it worked so well.
"Sorry we are out late Natasha, it was my fault. I wanted to get as much done as we could and there was a small accident that set us back." Serenity stated.
Natasha smiled, "I heard Bucky was the reason for your delay. And that he was the reason for your nose too."
"It was an accident. No one is at fault. I'm not the most graceful person, you know." Serenity said with a playful tone.
The group began walking down the hall, when Natasha replied, "Bucky doesn't see it that way. He is surprisingly upset about it. Thinks it was his fault."
Serenity looked over at Natasha in shock, "Really? Didn't think something so innocent would do that to a man like that."
"A man like that?" Natasha quoted in a disapproving tone.
"All I meant was, he is a hardened individual, I didn't think he would care about the feelings of someone like me. Much less be upset over it." Said Serenity as she pondered what was just relayed to her.
"He did look pretty upset when we took you to the infirmary." Added Bruce.
"Hmm…I didn't realize." Serenity said in a whisper of a tone.
"Well, maybe you can let him know. It might take some of the guilt off of him." Natasha replied and Bruce nodded in agreement.
The group was now at the entrance of the building that held their living quarters. Natasha and Bruce separated from Serenity and wished her good night as they departed to their room. Serenity looked down at the floor in deep thought as she made her way to her room. Wondering if what Natasha said was really true. However, Natasha would have no reason to lie about something like this. So that meant Bucky really was upset about hurting her. That was the first time she ever saw the man and supposed she did jump to a rather harsh conclusion about his personality. She only knew bits and pieces about him, mostly things that Bruce had told her.
Arriving at the door to her room, she placed her right hand on the center of the door. A blue light scanned her hand and the door slide open. She walked in and stumbled over to her bed, which was only about ten feet or so across from the door. She crawled onto the bed and laid down on her back. Using her feet, she individually kicked off her black, flat, ankle boots and let them fall to the floor. She removed the phone from the pocket of her skirt and sat it down on the nightstand. Then, slipped her skirt and black opaque stockings off. She crumpled them up into a ball and tried throwing them into the hamper across the room. They landed at the base and she sighed in defeat. She proceeded to remove her grey t-shirt and simply dropped it on the floor. Lastly, she unhooked her bra and slipped it out from under her camisole.
"Finally." She sighed in relief as she let the bra drop to the floor with her other clothes.
Staring up at the ceiling of her room she couldn't help but think about what Natasha said about Bucky. She contemplated finding him and letting him know that things were fine. That she wasn't mad or upset about what happened. As she continued her train of thought, she grabbed the comforter that was crumpled up next to her and curled up underneath it. She laid awake for the next half hour, thinking about anything and everything, before she finally dozed off.
The morning sun peaked through the window in Serenity's room. A soft and gradually rising melody came from her phone. She slowly opened her eyes and without changing her position, she extended her left arm and grabbed the phone. Her eyes squinted a bit as looked at the screen and she hit the stop button.
"Ugh…is it 8 o'clock already?" Mumbling to herself as she rose up in bed, placing the phone back down on the nightstand.
She let out an exhausted sigh and lazily swing one leg over the edge of the bed, then the other. She stretched out her arms and let out a yawn. Although, a split second later she winced in pain, having forgotten about her nose. Standing up she staggered over to the door across from her and walked into the bathroom. She went about her business of relieving herself, brushing her teeth, and washing her face. She walked over to a door within her bathroom and slid it open. Beyond it was a closet containing clothes in a very small color spectrum. Consisting of various shades of black, grey, cream or white, and a couple pieces of red. She opened a drawer of a small dresser and grabbed a fresh pair of underwear, socks, a bra, and camisole. She then grabbed a black pair of jeans, a grey v-neck shirt, and a black slouchy knit cardigan. She was about to close the door when she saw her necklace laying across the top of the table. The chain was made of silver and attached was a gold heart shaped locket. She grabbed it and ran her thumb across the smooth face. Smiling at it she opened up the locket with her thumb nail and looked at the engraving for the thousandth time. 'May our love be the key to unlocking your future. XOXO Mom and Dad'.
She draped the necklace over her head and began replacing her undergarments and assembling her outfit. Walking back over to the mirror, she looked at herself. She frowned at the bandage on her nose and the state of her hair. She grabbed a hair tie off the sink and pulled back the top half of her hair into a loose ponytail. She took a final look at herself while making sure the locket was tucked under her shirt.
'This will have to do, I don't feel like taking a shower right now.' She thought.
Walking out into her bedroom, she grabbed the ankle boots she wore the day before and slipped them on. She then grabbed her phone and placed it in the right pocket of her cardigan. After all that, she was ready to go about her day when a knock hit her door. Standing only a few feet from it, she stared at with a mildly confused expression. Nobody usually came by her quarters. Slowly she crept over to the door and pressed a panel on the right hand side. An image popped up revealing Bucky as her surprise guest. She pressed the panel again, allowing the door to slide open. His right arm was up in the air, preparing to knock again. His eyes widened a little when the door opened to reveal her.
"Uh…Good morning." He stated in an almost hushed tone as he lowered his arm.
Serenity arched an eyebrow at him, but replied, "Good morning. May I help you?"
"Well…uh…I just wanted to…apologize. For yesterday. With the arm and the nose." He said as he gestured to his arm then her face.
With her brow still raised she let a slight smile slip from the corner of her mouth, " Thank you. However, there really isn't too much to apologize for." She stated as she slipped past the space between the door and Bucky. "I wasn't paying attention to where I was going. It's not like you intentionally punched me or something."
The door closed behind her and she began walking down the hall. Bucky was slightly surprised at her words and actions. He turned and began walking beside her, matching her stride.
"But I broke your nose." He said in a confused, but matter of fact tone.
"And it will heal, just like every other injury. I appreciate the apology. I'm just saying that I'm not worried about it." Serenity stated while shrugging her shoulders.
Bucky scratched the back of his head, "So, you aren't upset?"
She looked up at him with a confused look, "No, why? Did you expect me to be?"
"Well, maybe a little…" He said in a confused way, "Usually people aren't to keen on having a broken nose, much less a woman like yourself."
"A woman like myself?" She quoted him in a tone of disapproving similar to Natasha's.
"All I meant was, no one wants a beautiful face to be messed up like that." Bucky blurted out defensively, trying to explain himself, but his eyes widened a bit after saying it.
Serenity's cheeks and forehead turned a light shade of pink when she heard his explanation. She chose to ignore the words and quickly looked away as she began walking faster. Bucky followed after her and she tried walking just a few steps ahead of him, as to not reveal her embarrassment. However, his gate was much longer than hers and he caught up within seconds.
"I'm sorry, that was uncalled for…I mean not that it isn't true, I mean-" His words were interrupted by a familiar male voice, making them both come to a stop.
"Bucky!" Shouted Steve, who was walking towards them, "There you are. Where have you been?"
Steve looked over and saw Serenity standing next to him, with a rather sheepish look on her face. Bucky had a similar look, which confused Steve, but he brushed it off for now. He stopped in front of them and smiled at Serenity while extending his hand.
"You know, we never got introduced yesterday. I'm Steve Rogers. You are?"
She stared at his hand for a split second and then extended hers, "Doctor Serenity Sinclair and I'm aware of who you are."
They grasped each other's hands and shook a couple of times, his grip was firm. It was apparent he was holding back on the shake, but maybe not enough. Serenity didn't let the pain from the handshake show and just smiled slightly.
"Nice to meet you Dr. Sinclair." Steve said with a smile.
"Serenity is preferred to Doctor." She stated.
"Well, Serenity, how's the nose?" He gave her a concerned but heartfelt look.
"Fine. It should heal nicely. No cause for concern." She said as she raised her hand to gently touch her bandage.
Bucky was quiet during the conversation, still looking guilty when Steve brought up the incident. Serenity noticed this and decided to change the topic.
"Well, you two will have to excuse me. I need to get to my lab."
"Of course." Steve said with a smile.
She lightly nodded her head and continued down the hall. Before leaving their presence she turned around, turned her gaze to Bucky and stated with a smile, "Thank you for your apology...and concern." And continued to the laboratory.
Bucky let a smile slip as he watched her walk away. Steve noticed this and gave him a sly smile. Bucky almost seemed to blush when he saw Steve was looking at him and removed the smile from his lips. He turned to his left, down a different hall and Steve followed. Catching up to Bucky, Steve couldn't help but inquire about what Serenity said.
"So, you apologized? How did that go?" He asked.
"She said not to worry about it." Bucky replied with a blasé demeanor, so Steve wouldn't think to ask more questions about what happened.
Steve gave him a slap on the back, "See! I told you there was nothing to worry about."
Bucky nodded and changed the subject with a question, "Now weren't we going to go train?"