Hey everyone! I haven't made an authors note in a whole so I thought I'd say hi, and wish you all a wonderful thanksgiving if you're celebrating today:) please leave a review if you've got the time, I love to hear what you guys think! Also, on a somewhat unrelated note, i watched the civil war trailer last night and can I just say I am most definitely not ready...auuuughhhhhh
Jane grimaced as Simmons wiped the disinfectant where the pavement had scraped up her arm. Bucky sat a few chairs over, still coming out of the effects of the I.C.E.R. "Do you have any idea what you've done, what this has cost us?" Coulson asked, not bothering to conceal his anger or frustration.
Simmons handed Jane an icepack, which she gratefully accepted. "Does all the work you and Skye did have no meaning to you?" He asked, crossing his arms. "This was our chance to get the upper hand on HYDRA, but now we can't because it's sitting locked up in a cell on our plane."
"I'm sorry, honestly—" Jane said, gingerly adjusting the ice pack on her face. She decided she wouldn't be surprised if she had a black eye the next day.
"No, see a sorry doesn't cut it." Coulson interrupted. "You put everyone in danger by having him there, and nearly alerted the several other HYDRA agents inside. Now I know I said you're job included the freedom to do things your own way, but this is a bit ridiculous."
Jane flinched as Simmons applied an ointment to her wound, making the area numb. "I'm sorry, I thought it would be good for him to get out; I thought he was ready." Jane said, trying to explain herself.
"No, see you disobeyed a direct order. I told you that under no circumstances were you to interfere with the mission, and you went ahead and did it anyway!" Coulson said, his voice rising.
"Don't get mad at her, it wasn't her fault." Bucky said, rising from his seat, the drug's effects having since worn off. "If you're going to be mad at someone be mad at me." He pleaded. "She had no idea I was going to react the way I did and the blame is only on me."
"This discussion doesn't apply to you Barnes." Coulson said sternly.
Bucky moved a few steps closer. "Okay, but it does, and I won't sit here while you tear into Jay for something that was beyond her control."
"Bobbi, get him out of here, he's clearly recovered from the I.C.E.R." Coulson said, rubbing his forehead.
She moved from where she had been standing, to Bucky's side. "Where do you want me to put him?" She asked simply.
"I don't know." He said, frustrated. "Put him in one of the cells where he can't hurt anybody for now, we'll decide what to do with him later."
Jane saw Bucky's countenance drop at Coulson's words and it hurt her to see him like that. She wanted to protest to Coulson, but ultimately knew that doing so was only going to make things worse. Gently she nodded to Bucky, who then agreed to follow Bobbi out the door.
"By the way, I'm really sorry about shooting you." Bobbi said quietly as they were exiting.
"Twice." Bucky corrected.
"Yes, twice." She reiterated with a faint smile.
When the two had left the room, Jane broke the silence. "He really does mean well. He just gets carried away sometimes."
"But that's just it!" Coulson exclaimed. "Don't you get it? That's what you're here for is to make sure he doesn't, to keep what happened tonight from happening. If I can't depend on you to do even that, how am I supposed to justify keeping the two of you on the team?"
Jane lowered the icepack to her lap. She felt miserable and it wasn't just because of her physical ailments. She didn't know what she could say that would satisfy Coulson, so she opted for silence instead.
Coulson paced the room, calming himself down. After a minute of silence he finally spoke, "I don't want to have to take any drastic measures, and I'd rather not have to remove you from the team. But you're on a very short rope now, and if the time comes, I won't hesitate to call Rogers in and leave you back in New York." Knowing any further discussion was out of the question, she simply nodded. Feeling satisfied that he had finished everything he had to say, Coulson left the room, leaving only Jane and Simmons.
"He'll come around eventually." Simmons said as she pulled off the latex gloves.
Jane looked down to see a clean bandage where the scrape had been. "You sure about that?" She asked. "I've seen him angry before, but that was something entirely new. I'm not so sure this one's going to blow over so easily."
Simmons shrugged as she cleaned up the used materials. "I've seen worse, and he'll get over it. Take it from someone who once jumped out of a plane without a parachute only to find out the lethal toxin wasn't as deadly as she had believed."
Jane looked at Simmons incredulously. "Woah, woah, hang on a second what?" She said disbelievingly.
Simmons laughed, "Yeah, I guess it wasn't one of my proudest moments, and Coulson was pretty unhappy with me. And while he hasn't forgotten about it, he doesn't hold it against me anymore. On the other hand I don't know if Fitz—" Simmons's voice trailed off when she looked up to see a figure in the doorway. Jane turned to see that it was Fitz himself.
"Hi Jemma." He said, nodding to her as he shuffled across the room. "Skye told me to ask you if you would um—uh—hmm—" He paused to search for the word. "Analyze, yes that's it. Skye wants you to analyze these." He said finally, handing her a small clear box with an unidentifiable object inside.
"Did she say what it was?" Simmons asked, accepting the object in her hand.
"Yes, but I don't really remember." He stammered back.
Simmons smiled, even though they could all feel the awkward tension in the air building. "Thank you Fitz, I'll get right on it. You can join me if you want." Fitz thought about it a moment, but finally agreed, albeit a bit reluctantly. As they left the room, Jane pondered how Simmons really wasn't kidding when she said things were uncomfortable between the two of them.
Jane exhaled slowly before softly opening the door to Bucky's cell and stepping inside. The room was empty aside from a bench built into the wall in one corner, with Bucky sitting on it. Hearing her enter he looked up, but his usual smile was missing.
"I was beginning to think you were never coming." He said as she latched the door behind her.
"I just needed to take some time to sort some things out." She replied before taking a seat next to him. "But I wouldn't have forgotten you."
Bucky nodded but didn't say anything. After a bit of silence he asked, "So where are we?"
"Just passed over California, we should be back to base in a few hours." Jane said, checking her watch.
"When we get there," He said, pausing. "I want you to lock me in the holding cell. Like the ones where they had Ward in vault D."
Jane let out a long sigh. "Bucky I'm not going to do that."
"No, I mean it." He said earnestly, and she knew that he did. "I hate myself for what I did to you, and I couldn't live with myself if I did it to anyone again."
Jane looked at her hands, trying to find the words to say. "I don't blame you for what happened back there." She said.
"But I do." He interjected.
Jane continued, ignoring his statement. "And I'm not going to lock you up, that's not going to solve anything. Coulson has agreed to let us stay with the team, so when we get back we just continue what we were doing. Work on getting the last of your memories back, and continue training like we have been."
"What for?" Bucky scoffed. "Because you think after what happened, that Coulson is ever going to let us near a mission again?"
"Well maybe not initially, but he can't ignore the fact forever that you have the skills to be the best agent he's ever had." Jane said. "And it's not just that, it's important for you to have something to take your mind off things, something that's tangible, and real and can get you out of your head."
Bucky wasn't sure he was convinced, but he didn't feel like arguing with her. As much uneasiness as he had about the situation, he decided to just let her have this one. "Fine, whatever, we can do it your way. We'll keep doing what we've been doing. But," He said pausing. "I'm not going to train unless it's in a controlled environment. I'm not risking the possibility that the same thing happen as did tonight."
Jane thought a minute before accepting his compromise. "I suppose we could make it work." She said with a smile.