Drinks
I nearly ran headlong into someone as I entered the lab. I recoiled, but the person in front of me jerked in surprise, sending two files skidding off the pile in their hands and onto the floor with a plop.
"Damn it," cursed Dr. Worth. He looked up and narrowed his eyes at me. "Oh. It's you."
"It is," I replied icily, blinking dispassionately. "May I help you with that, Dr. Worth?" I asked politely.
"No, I don't want you messing it up!" he snapped, and knelt down to begin gathering up the papers. I saw no way I could possibly mess up a file by helping him gather it up, but I decided not to inflict my presence on Worth any longer. I stepped over a couple of his papers and headed for my desk. My lab coat was waiting for me, thrown over the desk chair, and I tugged it back on, feeling my mind flick into science mode as I did.
I sat down, staring at my chalkboard. The main problem that I was finding in the serum was that it should do what it was supposed to, which was increase the strength and resilience of a human body. Unfortunately, the human body wasn't ready for that kind of thing. The serum would force the body to replicate bone and muscle and flesh, but the body couldn't keep up with the demands. Essentially, the person would burn through the energy in their body and die before completing the transformation.
I bit my lip, observing the percentages and formulae scrawled across my chalkboard, waiting for something to leap out at me, something I could sink my teeth into.
"Josie."
I looked up and saw Erskine standing by my desk. He was looking tired. His face seemed more lined than usual, and the frames of his glasses didn't quite hide the dark circles under his eyes.
"Abraham," I greeted, frowning slightly. "Are you alright? You look like you didn't have a very good night's sleep last night," I said pointedly.
"It is hard to have a good night's sleep when one does not sleep," Erskine replied drily, but even his wit was lacking its usual punch.
"Is something wrong?" I asked him worriedly. I liked Erskine, I didn't like to think about him getting sick. On top of that, if he was ill, the project would grind to a halt. He was the lynchpin that kept the whole thing going. "Should you see Doc?"
Doctor Williams limped past, cane clicking, his nose buried in a chart as he did so. "Already tried, he won't let me look at him," he muttered as he passed, shooting Erskine a less-than-pleased look.
Erskine waved off our concerns. "Just a lot on my mind. It seems the moment I lay down is the moment it decides it's a good time to solve the world's problems."
I nodded sympathetically. "Well, if you need anything, let me know," I offered.
"I will," Erskine assured me before moving off to confer with one of the chemists who was currently looking like he would very much like to set his own chalkboard on fire. I smiled slightly as I turned back to my chalkboard. I hadn't quite reached that level of frustration yet.
Like the day before, I took my lunch out to that tree by the trail and settled myself in. Instead of bringing papers with me, I had a thick German dictionary with me to refresh my memory. It had been a while since I'd spoken German regularly. Erskine seemed content to hold conversations with me in the language. I couldn't blame him – I imagined if I went somewhere else I'd start to miss English after a while.
I was absently knotting and unknotting my fingers around clumps of grass when I heard the sound of footsteps. I inhaled and recognized the scent - Bucky was back. I smiled slightly as his shadow fell over me like it had the day before.
"Come here often?" he asked cheesily as he sat down. I nodded and looked around. We were a decent-enough distance away from the camp that you couldn't hear the bustle. The trail was lined with trees, brush, and small plants. It was familiar and comforting to me.
"I like looking at the trees," I explained somewhat sheepishly. Bucky looked over his shoulder.
"See, they put me off a little," he admitted. "I'm used to being surrounded by buildings, not trees. I keep feeling like something's going to jump out of there and come after me."
I laughed at the idea. "I could see that. I grew up around trees though. The house was in the middle of a meadow and there were trees all around. It was great." I sighed dreamily. I missed home sometimes, and I felt bad for leaving Nevade alone in the house with my step-mother. But at the same time I was enjoying my work here in an entirely different way.
"And what did you do for fun?" Bucky asked, leaning on his right arm and stretching out his legs so that he was lying on his side.
I shrugged. He was probably used to things like walking through Central Park or meeting friends at a diner for burgers. All of the things I used to do for fun sounded so… simple and provincial.
"I played in the meadows," I explained shyly. "I climbed trees and swam in the creek. I rode horses on the trails around the house. Sometimes I'd ride into town to the general store and buy myself candy or a soda. Then I'd come home and lay in the hay loft and eat whatever I'd gotten and read."
Bucky was staring at me like he'd never seen anything like me before. I wasn't quite sure how to take that. I flushed, pushing a stray strand of brown hair behind my ears. I shook my head. "It's stupid…"
"No, no!" Bucky said hastily, leaning forward to assure me. "It sounds… sounds like a lot of fun actually," he admitted. I raised an eyebrow.
"Really?" I asked skeptically. Bucky nodded.
"I've never ridden a horse. Always thought it might be fun though. And as far as playing in meadows… we don't really have those," he chuckled.
I nodded in understanding and reached into the pocket of my skirt. I pulled my mother's pocket watch out and clicked it, flipping open the lid and checking the time. I sighed when I saw how late it was getting in the day.
"I have to go," I said regretfully. Surprisingly, I actually was disappointed. Bucky was easy to talk to, and he gave off this feeling that he was paying attention to you, hanging on your every word. He always looked me in the eye when we spoke and he always leaned towards me. He made me feel like he was actually listening to what I was saying, and that was a new feeling for me.
My step-mother had no time for me if I wasn't going to be doing something ladylike, like needlepoint or cooking. Granny Nevade was always up for anything, she'd sit and listen to me talk for hours and hours about whatever I wanted, but I could see the glazed looking her eyes that said she wasn't paying attention. Even my dad, who would at least try to understand what I was talking about, never paid attention long before he started to lose interest.
"That's alright," Bucky assured me. "I've got laps to run anyway," he added as he stood up. He reached down, offering me his hand. Smiling slightly and trying my hardest not to blush, I took his hand, clutching the dictionary to my chest with the other. He yanked me up and I found myself nearly chest-to-chest with him. Hastily, I took a step back and dropped his hand.
"Ah, sorry," I said, shifting uncomfortably. Bucky's grin-smirk leaned more towards a smirk as his eyes glittered in amusement. It made my stomach do flips. I wasn't sure if I liked the sensation or not.
"So, any chance you'll be having lunch here again tomorrow?" he asked pointedly. I crossed my arms over my stomach, pressing my dictionary to me harder as I nodded.
"Probably."
"Any chance, if I dropped by, you'd have a seat open for me?"
This time there was no stopping the blush. I was starting to wonder if hanging around Bucky Barnes was bad for my health – I always ended up looking like a tomato and that couldn't be good. But I wanted to talk to him again. I liked talking to him. Maybe it was because he was the only man I could have a conversation with outside of the lab. Maybe it was because he was the only one who'd made an effort to talk to me.
Whatever it was, I nodded shyly before hustling back to the lab.
I walked through the camp, three large tin cups of tea in my hands. I entered the bunkhouse I shared with Peggy and sat one down on her desk.
"I made a drink run," I announced as I set the other two mugs down on my desk.
"Thanks," Peggy said gratefully, picking up her mug and taking a sip. She nodded at me approvingly. "You remembered." Peggy took just a little bit of milk in her tea and that was all.
I nodded as I moved to my trunk and dragged it out from under my bed. Peggy watched me, a confused look on her face as her eyes darted between me and the second cup on my desk.
"Are we expecting guests?" she asked, surprised. I shook my head.
"No, but Dr. Erskine's rarely out of the lab these days and I thought he might like something warm," I explained as I flipped open my trunk and dug a around inside. "Also… aha!"
Triumphantly I held up the bottle of bourbon that was stored in the bottom. Peggy raised an eyebrow at me reproachfully. I winced.
"That's not allowed on base," she said sternly. I bit my lip.
"Ah… about that…"
She thrust out her tin cup, smirking slightly. "Share and I won't tell Phillips."
I laughed as I stood up and moved over to her desk, opening up the bottle as I went. I poured a generous splash into Peggy's tea. She took an experimental sip and nodded in approval.
"That's the best bourbon I've had in a while."
"Thanks, it's from my personal reserve," I said as I added a splash to my own cup and the one I planned to take to Erskine.
'You have a personal reserve?" Peggy asked in surprise. I chuckled.
"Well, it's easy to when your family owns the company."
"I didn't realize your family was in liquor," Peggy said, taking another sip. I nodded.
"Most people don't. They think we're just in coal and oil, but this is also our label."
I looked up and could see Peggy's eyes had gone wide. I bit my lip, hoping I hadn't just made some kind of mistake telling Peggy that I was an heiress. My uncle ran the company, but my father was the oldest. He'd decided to make the military his life though, and left his business-minded little brother to handle the family business. My uncle's children were to be given generous shares of stock in the company upon his death, with the caveat that they only got those if the company was turned over to me.
"You don't need to work a day in your life, do you?" Peggy asked me bluntly. I shook my head and smiled sheepishly.
"Not at all."
"But you do anyway?"
I shrugged. "I'm not good at just sitting around looking pretty and doing embroidery."
"So I'm noticing," Peggy agreed, taking a sip of her tea.
I replaced the bottle in my trunk and left my tea on my desk, grabbing the cup for Erskine and heading into the lab. There were only a couple of people still there – namely, the group of chemistry grad students who were forever looking stressed and arguing with each other.
I slipped past them and knocked on Erskine's door.
"Hereinkommen!" he called. I opened the door and stepped inside. He was at his desk, a mountain of paperwork spread around him. He looked even more exhausted than he had when I spoke to him earlier.
"Josie," he greeted me. "This is a surprise."
"I thought you might like something to drink," I said, placing the cup of tea down next to his hand. He gripped the handle and smiled up at me fondly.
"Danke, that's very kind of you," he said, lifting the cup and taking a sip. I saw his eyes widen at the taste of alcohol. He lowered the cup and looked at it incredulously, then up at me. My mischievous smirk told him everything he needed to know. "Josie," he chided. "Zur schämen…"
I shrugged, unrepentant. "I can always take it back," I said, stretching out my hand to take the cup from him. Erskine yanked it back towards himself protectively.
"No no!" he said hastily. I smiled.
"Thought so," I said knowingly, before giving my goodbyes and heading back to my own tea.
Hereinkommen – Come in
Danke - Thanks
Zur schämen – for shame
