Arabella
"You are going to do what we tell you, or were going to find that brother of yours and end him. You understand me girl?"
A man in a white coat stood above me, looking down at me with menacing eyes. The room was all black except for him. I couldn't speak, my mouth was covered by a cloth. My body was strapped down to a hospital bed.
"Nod!" I did as he told me. Tears gathered in my eyes, I didn't want them to hurt him. He wouldn't be able to fight them, even if he was at war, I'm sure they didn't put him on the front lines. These men would hunt him down, and kill him. Wherever he is, no matter what. They made it very clear to me.
"Don't cry. You are not allowed to show weakness." I couldn't stop the tears. "You don't want to listen? Maybe we should show you what happens to weak people."
He moved to the side, I tried to follow him with my eyes, but my head couldn't turn that far. My nerves were high, my whole body shaking. He entered my vision again this time a drill in his hands and a smile on his face. He gave it a whirl, and brought it down to my arm.
My eyes shot open. I quickly brought my arms up out from under the covers, I examined them. No blood or gaping holes, just five small hole shaped scars on my arms. I sighed in relief; it was only the memory. Kind of sad to say, but I was just glad it wasn't really happening. I looked over at the clock.
8:30 AM
Lucky for me it was time to get up. I dragged myself up and out of the bed, heading to the bathroom to brush my teeth. Steve and I did everything together for the past two weeks, we were trying to make up for lost time. I was happy we did, even if I didn't tell him so. I didn't talk much about my time spent with Hydra and Steve didn't push me too either. He continued to look for Bucky and I never commented on it, opting to listen him rant about the search. Steve was supposed to meet me later to spar, we both thought it would be good for me to keep up my fighting skills.
"Good morning ma'am this is your wakeup call as you requested, also Mr. Rogers is here to see you. He tells me he's in a rush."
Toothbrush still in my mouth I yell a thank you.
'That's weird he's here really early.'
I spit out the paste quickly and head out to the living room, I find Steve pacing back and forth in his Captain America suit.
"Hey Steve." He snaps his head to me and walks my way.
"Hey Arie, I just came to tell you I found Bucky and that I'm going to be away for a while."
I thought about finally seeing Bucky, it scared and excited me at the same time. I wouldn't know what to expect. I was scared to even tell Steve that we got married. I should, he has to know before he goes. This could be my last opportunity to say it.
"Okay, let me know once everything is settled." I kept a blank look on my face while replying. Steve looked like he wanted to say something else, but instead he nodded once and turned to walk out.
'Say it!'
"I married Bucky." Steve stopped in his tracks and whipped around to face me, an incredulous look on his face.
"Excuse me?"
"Yeah we got married after you left, it was a quick decision." His eyes were wide in surprise and then he seemed a little angry.
"You guys didn't wait for me to get back?" I rolled my eyes.
"We didn't even know when you were coming back, and I didn't want to wait that long. Besides it's not like any of us came back anyways." I crossed my arms. He opened his mouth to speak, shut it, then opened it again before turning back to leave. He pushed the button to call the elevator.
"Steve?"
"Yeah?" he replied with a sigh.
"Don't tell him." He looked at my face, trying to find the reason behind my request.
"I won't, but you have to explain later." I agreed to his terms and he left my floor. I took a moment to breath and decided to make today a lazy day. This morning was enough drama for me. I headed back into my room, shut the door and turned the T.V on to a crime show.
Four hour later I was eating chips on my bed while watching T.V and playing games on my phone during commercials. Suddenly my game paused and my phone started ringing
Pepper
I slid the phone to answer, putting it to my ear.
"Hello?"
"Hey Arabella, what are you doing right now?"
"Just watching a show, what's up?"
"So I have a lunch to go to and Tony bailed on me, again, I really need a person to go with for some support. Can you please come?" I chuckled at her ramblings.
"Of course I'll go, when should I be ready?"
"Great! Be ready in thirty minutes, I'll be up to get you then."
"Okay see you then." I hung up the phone and reached for the remote to turn off the T.V. I ran my hand through my hair, then jumped up to find clothes to wear. It took me a few minutes to pick out jeans and a long sleeved blouse, not wanting to show my scars; I wore my hair down too. I chose black flats from the closet and headed out to wait for Pepper in the living room.
I only waited another ten minutes until I heard a ding, and heeled footsteps. Pepper stepped in front of me, looking at her phone typing a text message. She had a large purse on her arm, and she was dressed semi-casual.
'Perfect I won't have to change.'
I stood waiting for her to finish, she pressed one last key, and moved her head up. Seeing me, she went straight for a hug.
"Thank you so much, I don't know if I could deal with business talk all by myself for an hour." I hugged her back gently.
"No problem, I like spending time with you anyways." She gave me a smile and spoke,
"Let's head out then we have," she looked at her watch "to be at the place in fifteen minutes."
"Okay let's go."
Once we got to the restaurant Pepper told the hostess what group she was with, and they lead us down to the table where all the business people were. It was nice to get out, even if it was to be around people who wouldn't glance my way a second time. Pepper said hi to all of the people and we took our seats in the middle. She pulled some folders from her bag and gave them to the person sitting at the head of the table.
The waitress came around asking what we would like to eat and drink, I ordered a coke and shrimp linguine. I tuned out the conversation by playing on my phone. I got my food and ate, Pepper turned to me once in a while to ask me a question or comment about the people, making me laugh a little. It seemed to al go on forever when I felt a pull on my shirt.
"Hey you want to go and get a drink at the bar with me?" I pulled myself up from my seat.
"Yep."
We made our way to the bar and sat at the end. After ordering two martinis, and Pepper turned to me.
"So I heard Steve left today."
"Oh yeah he did." The bartender set down our drinks, I said a quite thank you.
"You know why he left?" The way she asked made it seem like she already knew, and she was checking to see if I did too.
"Yep. Went to bring Bucky back."
"Isn't that exciting?"
"Mmhmm" I took a small sip from my drink. She raised an eyebrow at me.
"Well it would be if I hadn't blurted out that I married Bucky." Her eyes went wide and her mouth fell open.
"You did?! To both of those things?" she gaped.
"Sure did" I held a hand to my mouth as I laughed "then I told Steve not to tell Bucky too."
"Wouldn't you want him to know your married?" I shrugged my shoulders, not offering a clear explanation. It wasn't that I didn't want him to know, I didn't know what state he was in at the moment. I'd have to really make sure he was ready for that kind of news, similar to what S.H.I.E.L.D. and Tony did to me. I really understand why they did it now, it is dangerous ground to tread.
We left after a couple more drinks, biding fare well to the small amount of people at the business table. As much as I enjoyed my time with pepper I was ready to crawl into bed and hide in my room, I definitely had my fill of human contact for the night. I did just that, as soon as we made it home I went straight to my floor and all the way down the hall to my room. Changing to pajamas I flopped down on the mattress and my thoughts drifted to Steve.
'I wonder if he's ok. I wonder if he found Bucky yet. I really hope he forgets about asking me why I don't want him to tell Bucky I'm his wife.' I groaned at the anticipation of that conversation. I know I really threw that fact on Steve out of nowhere, to him at least, but I wish he just let it go. I close my eyes tight, trying to make my body fall asleep.
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- Hannahg