Hey all!
I hope you enjoy this chapter. Sorry it took so long. It just takes me forever to get down and type.
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I do not own anything Marvel. So sad.
Chapter 8:
Mystery Memories.
"I don't know what the big deal is," Steve said. They were in his bedroom, which had seen better days. Unlike most of the apartment, it was neat and clean, while the furniture in the room was old and mismatched like the rest of the apartment.
Bucky look a deep long breath, unsure of what to say. "You don't bring girls home," he replied from the corner of the room, while staring at the wall.
"So? Are you the only one who can?" he asked annoyed. Bucky, who wasn't sly at all, was a ladies' man and could get any woman that he wanted, which had annoyed Steve. There were times, though he tried to be sneaky about it, that Steve had seen women leave his room, which was awkward to say the least.
"Is this jealously?" Barnes asked.
Steve took a deep breath. "No, this isn't."
"Then what is this?" Bucky asked, eyeing his roommate. "Why bring her home? Is there something going on with you?"
"Why must there be something wrong with me? Why can't I just do the right thing?"
Bucky didn't speak right away as he thought about what he was going to say. "I've been worried about you for a while now, because you haven't been thinking. Also, you never brought a woman home before," he said as he took a seat on the bed. "Plus, why would she come home with you?"
"Really?" Steve snapped. "Am I really that pathetic to you?"
There was a glare in Steve's eyes that Bucky had never seen before. Steve had been pissed at him many times for some reason or another, but he had never seen him this mad before and Bucky really didn't understand why. He didn't say anything that was untrue or wrong. It was no secret that Steve had no luck or game with the ladies. "I didn't mean it like that," he stated, thinking he might have crossed the line. "You and ladies just don't mix, but I'm sorry if I insulted you."
Steve took a deep breath. "I know." Even if he was be able to work up the nerve to speak with a beautiful dame, he didn't know what to say or how to act. He was also wasn't the type of man that attracted woman. "But you make it sound like she's using me." He knew it was possible but he didn't want to think about it.
"You don't even know who she is?... She doesn't know who she is," Bucky commented. "She could be some murderer or at least dangerous. I know she's gorgeous, but that doesn't mean this is smart."
Steve laughed. "Someone like her isn't capable of murder. When is the last time you heard of a dame killing someone? They don't have a mean bone in their body." He turned his attention to a photo of his mother on his nightstand.
"There are a few dames, who I think of, that are," Bucky countered, with a chuckle. "But, what do you expect to do with that girl? If I remember correctly, she was looking for a homeless shelter."
Blowing out in a big huff, Steve crossed to the only window in his room, which's view was of a brick wall. "She was, but she's injured and has memory lost. I don't want her in a homeless shelter or anything like that. Those places would eat her alive"
"You are always the gentleman."
"I know."
"So how long do you expect to her to stay here?" Bucky asked with a weak smile on his face. "I do have to say: she's quite the looker."
Steve narrowed his eyes. "You would say that. Stay away from her; there're other dames out there if you need a fix," he stated, annoyed. "And I don't know. We can decide tomorrow." He took a deep breath.
"I have a feeling you won't let her go," Bucky said, knowingly.
"I can't just let her go if she has no place to go. Look it's snowing out there," Steve said, pointing out the window. It was coming down in big flakes and it was hard to see the ugly brick wall.
"Your heart is too big at times."
"So you would be able to kick her out on the streets?"
Barnes gave him a smile. "No, I would just invite her to my bed. She's easy on the eyes." He was smirked with a chuckle.
"No!" Steve yelled. "Just stay away from her." He didn't know why, but he didn't like Barnes saying that.
"Whoa, it was a joke. Geez," Barnes muttered as he put his hands up in defense. "If I didn't know better, I would think you liked her."
Steve huffed. "I don't like her. I don't know her, though I'm interested to find out why she was in that empty lot. Don't you think?" He watched his roommate. "What's on your mind?"
Bucky crossed to the door, as he wanted to check on the girl. She had been making weird sounds in there, which didn't sit well with him. "Many things, but you might not like the answer." Again there was a chuckle in his voice.
Steve glared. "Either you're negative or perverted. I don't know which is worse." He walked pass his best friend and out into the living room. It took a few seconds for Steve to realize that Toni was missing. "Where did she go?" he asked shocked and worried. "She had nowhere to go." His heart started to beat fast at the thought of her alone in the snow. "She could die out there." When he had found her the first time, she was almost frozen to death. Her lips had been blue.
"Steve."
"I have to find her," he spoke quickly as he crossed to his coat that she left on the couch. "What was she thinking?" He paused as he felt himself get angry. "She wasn't." He was getting angrier at her with each passing second. "Didn't she think we would worry about her?"
"Steve."
After zipping up his coat, he crossed to the closet for a better pair of shoes. The ones he was wearing now were falling apart. "Is she stupid? Why couldn't she just wait?"
"Steve."
"What?" Steve snapped.
Bucky walked to Steven and put his hand on best friend's shoulder. "Calm down and take a deep breath. You're getting worked up over a total stranger."
"You just want me to let her freeze?" He was glaring again.
"I didn't say that," Bucky stated defending himself. He reached into the closet grabbing his coat. "You're getting worked and it's not helping you. Plus, it must be hard for her to be in a stranger's house with no memory of who she is."
"You're going to come out with me?"
"I'm not going to let my best friend look for a pretty dame by himself," Barnes smiled as he zipped up his coat. "Let's go."
"Thanks," Steve muttered as they both left the apartment, which was near the top of the old building. "I don't know where she would go. It might be worthless to go look for her and that worries me." New York was a big city and there were so many places that Toni could've gone. At this time of the night, there was no where she could go to get out of the cold. What was he going to do if he couldn't find her? Could he just leave her out in the cold, where she could die?
"We'll find Toni," Bucky spoke. He took the lead as Steve was filled with worry. He could see the doubt and worry in Steve's eyes, which was strange. Steve had never been the guy to run in fear, when he should have. There had been times that Steven should've run. He had gotten his ass kicked at many times because he wouldn't back down from a fight. He was an idiot at times.
"I know."
Bucky glanced behind him at Steve, who was staring hard in front of him. "Then believe it."
"Wait," Steve said suddenly as he stopped
"…What?"
"Let me go back and get a coat for her. She doesn't have one and she could be freezing."
"Okay," Bucky replied as he watched his roommate turn and run back to their apartment. After he was out of sight, he spoke, "Of course, he would think of a coat when we're almost at the lobby."
Not wanting to wait on the stairwell, Bucky continued down to the lobby. The building was quiet for the most part except for a few wild men, who were drinking far too much. "They must be going off to the war," he muttered as he walked pass the open door. They were wearing military uniforms, which was what attracted the women (who were losing article of clothes with each passing moment) to them. He had the desired to close the door but he fought it as he didn't want to be noticed by them. That was a fight he didn't want.
"Finally," he muttered as he entered the dark lobby, freeing himself from the noise of the party upstairs (if he could call it a party). "I wonder how long Steve's going to be." He crossed to one of the navy blue chairs to sit, when he noticed Toni sitting on the dirty white floor in the corner of the room. She was staring out the window at the heavy snow. "Toni," he called as he walked to her.
Toni glanced at him before turning back to the window. "I was going to leave but I had nowhere to go, and it was cold. I was too chicken to face the snow." Her voice was quiet and it was hard to hear her.
She was still wearing the white dress and sweater but she had added jeans and some kind of black shirt to her outfit. The jeans were an interesting touch as Barnes hadn't seen a woman wear jeans before, granted he hadn't seen many dames wear pants either. "So you decided to sleep here?" he asked as he took a seat next to her on the cold ground.
"Better here than a park bench."
"True," he replied, eyeing her from the corner of his eye. "Do you work out?" he asked, noting her well-fit body.
"I don't know," she stated as she leaned back slowly and stared up at the ceiling.
He watched her body language as she moved. "Why don't you come back up to the apartment? It's chilly down here." Though the door was close, there was a cold draft.
"Not that cold," she stated, closing her eyes. After a few seconds, she opened her eyes, but they didn't stay opened for long. "And I don't want to burden you. I hate to be a burden." She was fighting to stay awake. "That's the last thing I want to be."
"A pretty thing like you wouldn't ever be a burden," Bucky said. "And before you ask, I won't let you go to a homeless shelter." At hearing the weakness in her voice, he decided he didn't want her anywhere near one of those death shelters.
"I had always been burden," Toni stated, opening her eyes again slowly. "I promised myself that I wouldn't be."
"Who said you were?" he asked, looking her over. Her eyes were closed again and her chest was moving up and down ever so slowly. She didn't respond. "Toni," he called. Toni didn't respond again. "Toni?" He reached out to her and placed his hand on her shoulder, but she didn't stir.
"She must be sleeping."
Bucky almost jumped at the voice. He turned to see Steve leaning against the wall with a jacket in his arms. He looked a little ruffed up. "What happened to you?" he asked, keeping his voice down. "You didn't try to tell the idiots in apartment 205 to shut it, did you?"
Steve stared at Bucky. "They were disturbing the other residents. What was I supposed to do?"
"Let it go," he stated, getting to his knees next to the sleeping Toni. He picked her up and held her close to his body. There was a chill in her body, which he didn't like. "One of these days, you're going to get yourself killed by taking on someone too big."
Steve let Bucky walk pass him before he said anything. "This is about me wanting to join the army, isn't it?"
"If you want to fight, Steve, we can do that, but let's get Toni in bed," he stated walking up the steps. Her head was rested against his shoulder and he could feel her breath on his neck.
"I don't want to fight with you."
"It seems like you do."
"Because, you think you're right, and you're not."
Barnes took a deep breath instead of speaking back because there was nothing he could say to Steve. It was no secret that Steve and he disagreed about things.
*O*O*
It was silent between the two as they didn't know what to say to each other without starting a fight. Both of them knew if they spoke, they would regret it. Steve couldn't just stand by and let things happen even if he knew he was going to lose the fight. Barnes, on the other hand, over thought things at times, which made him slow to action, and he had often given up on things that he thought was impossible.
Steve opened the door to the apartment for Bucky as he carried Toni in. During the walk up, she hadn't stirred which shocked both of them as they expected her to make some noise or something. "You can take her to my room and I can take the couch," Steve offered, as he opened the door to his room.
Steve folded down the blankets so Barnes could set her down on the twin size bed gently. Before stepping away, Bucky slid her boots off gently so Steve could pull the old blankets over her. They both turned away and started to step out of the bedroom.
"No," Toni muttered.
"Toni, are you okay?" Steve asked, going back to her. Was she talking to them? Calling him back?
"I won't do it," she protested, kicking the blankets off of her. She was tossing and turning wildly. "Stop it. Just stop it, please." Her voice was weak. "…Please."
"Toni," Steve called and reaching out to her. "It's okay. It's okay." He was almost singing to her.
Bucky crossed to him. "She's having a nightmare." He wasn't sure what to do to help with nightmares, but he was sure that they couldn't just leave her.
"We should wake her," he stated, eyeing the pained expression on her face.
"No, I was told that that was one of the worse things you can do," Barnes stated. "We have just to comfort her through it."
For the next few minutes, Steve remained beside her until she was quiet. Bucky was the first one to leave, as this was not his area and he felt uncomfortable. After leaving her side, Steve lingered in the doorway watching her. He wanted to make sure she was okay, before he left her. After a few silent minutes, Steve exited the room even if he was still worried.
Steve found his roommate siting at the small table with a deep worried expression on his face. "What do you think she had been through to have dreams like that?" Steve asked as he took a set across from Bucky.
"I don't know but it couldn't have been good." Bucky blew out in a large puff before standing. "It's late. Let's get some sleep."
Steve looked at him. "You're probably right." He glanced back to his bedroom before turning to the couch.
*O*O*
Having woken up early to do something, Steve returned a couple of hours later to find Bucky once again sitting at the table staring at him. In front of him was today's newspaper, which was opened to some war article. Steve stared at the picture with the same old desire of joining the army and helping his country but no one wanted him.
"Where have you been?" Bucky asked, noticing a bag Steve's hand. "Shopping?"
Steve put the bag down and placed his coat in the closet. "Yes."
Bucky eyed his roommate as he knew something was up. "Is that it? Or did you try and enlist again?" He stood up annoyed. "Why do you keep doing that?" he asked, trying to keep his voice down as not to wake the girl. "You're just going to hurt yourself."
Though he wanted to say some smart back, Steve couldn't as Bucky did have a point. "There's always something I can do. I can't sit and do nothing."
Bucky sighed. "I understand." He glanced back to the newspaper, which was laying overtop of something. Only a corner of a white envelope was visible. "But you need to think this through."
"So is Toni still sleeping?" Steve asked, changing the subject.
"Yes, soundly, I might add." Bucky hadn't heard anything from her, which didn't mean she wasn't having nightmare. He really couldn't tell unless she made a noise or something. He had checked on her randomly to see how she was doing, and everything seemed okay.
"Geez, it's like 10 am."
"Want your bed back?" Bucky chuckled. During one of those checkups in the middle of the night, he had seen how uncomfortable his best friend was on the couch. At one point, Steve had taken to the floor, and Bucky didn't blame him. He had napped on that couch one time and he would never do it again.
"I would never turn down a bed," he smiled.
"So what are we going to do with her?" Bucky asked as he would never be able to throw her out on the street.
Under the window stood an old oak writing desk, which had belonged to Steve's father. There were many scratches and dents in the old faded wood, but Steve would never do away with it. When he was younger, Steve would watch his father work at the desk with the thought that he would do the same one day. It brought a smile to his face whenever he used it. It was where he worked, and at times, where he thought. It was where Steve was headed now. "I want to help her get back to her feet."
"That might take a while," Bucky stated, as he eyed Steve.
With his back to his friend, he took a seat and stared out the window. He had gotten lucky. He had made it back to the apartment before it started to rain down ice. "So be it."
"Are you sure?" There it was again: worry. Bucky was very easy to read at times.
Steve leaned back in his old pine chair that didn't match the desk, which wasn't surprising. Nothing really matched in the apartment besides the ugly kitchen chairs. "Yes."
Bucky turned to the bag that Steve had set down. "What's in the bag?"
"I thought Toni needed something else to wear. Did you see those clothes she had been wearing?" Steve asked.
"I have."
"Anyway, I have to work," he stated, picking up his work bag from the side of the desk. Like the rest of the apartment it was old and ugly, but again, it was special. It was his father's.
"Be careful and stop trying to enlist," he stated as he watched Steve put his old faithful coat back on.
"I can't make any promises," Steve smiled as he exited, leaving Bucky alone with the still sleeping Toni.
I hoped you enjoy this.
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