DISCLAIMER:This fanfiction will follow its own timeline, however, I've tried to stick to the movie timeline as much as possible. It must be noted that this story is rated M as there will be some explicit content mentioned later in the story (depictions of sexual intimacy, and also mentions of rape and abuse) but forewarnings will be provided at the beginning of the respective chapter.

It must be noted that I don't own any of the Marvel characters or anything affiliated with the Marvel Universe. However, all OC and original content have been created by me.

CHAPTER NINE

"The One with The First Meeting"

Sitting in the lobby of the main Avengers compound building, Lilah began to take in the details of her surroundings. Even though it was positioned on the outskirts of the city, it was the hub of the latest modern military technology with architecture so clean-cut that even the elevator doors across from her looked like they could chop her arm off if it got caught in the middle. Lilah gulped deeply at the thought. Just before she could begin to rethink her decision about being there, a soft voice from the direction of the reception desk called her name. Lilah turned to look across from her, to find a short, stout, elderly man walking toward her. She stood as he reached out his hand, "Good day dear, I'm Doctor Liebermann," in complete contrast to his surname, which was steeped in the dark history of Germany, Dr Liebermann's voice and persona was soft and gentle, with his German accent almost cuddling each word as he pronounced it. Lilah smiled as she shook his hand and introduced herself, "I have to say, Doctor Liebermann, I am a huge admirer of your work. Your paper on the distinctive biology of cancer in adolescents and young adults that you released last year was a real eye-opener," His eyes lit up at her words, "Well thank you so much, I really appreciate that. It was a long and dreary process to publish that specific paper and I was so relieved once it was done," he sighed with a smile. "Mr Rogers gave me a brief run-down of your work – very impressive but I would love to have a moment to sit with you and chat about a possible collaboration…? He let the question hang there for a moment. If Lilah's jaw could have dropped to the ground, it would have done so at this precise moment. Dr Liebermann – one of her academic heroes was asking to partner on a research opportunity with her! "I would be honoured, Dr Liebermann, to work with you in any way, shape or form would be nothing short of a dream," Lilah could feel herself blushing so hard that she was beginning to sweat a little. Dr Liebermann chuckled in a way that reminded Lilah of Santa Claus, "Very well, we'll chat more about that later," he continued turning toward the elevator, "Now, we should get you kitted up, follow me," Lilah's stomach lurched. She had almost forgotten about this …

After being given a white lab coat, a clipboard and signing a confidentiality agreement, Doctor Liebermann explained to Lilah that over the course of the month, they would be conducting medicals for each member of the Avengers team; not just James. His clarification of the situation gave Lilah some comfort. At least she'd be able to meet James in the company of others and stop sitting on the edge of her nerves. Dr Liebermann escorted Lilah to the on-site gym and introduced her to the rest of the medical team.

With most of the equipment clearly having been moved and replaced with partitions for consultations, Lilah quickly made note of the only other door out of the gym as an alternative escape route should anything go wrong; a force of habit. Now more at ease with her surroundings, a new stress arose when it became clear that Lilah didn't know any of the other doctors and physicians in the room. She thought that she would recognise at least one of them, but she didn't. So she pushed herself to make small talk with the rest of the group in the hope of also distracting her nerves. Sports science doctors, physiotherapists, chiropractors - they had assembled quite an array of specialists from across the globe, the best of the best, to run the necessary medicals on the team and here she was in the middle of it all ... a pediatrician. Lilah, you fool! She chided herself at every introduction she made. What the hell was Steve thinking?

It was exactly 15h00 when the gym doors across from the medical team swung open and Tony Stark entered with the rest of the Avengers team following close behind. The medical team turned to face their patients, and Lilah sheepishly moved to the back of the group. "Avengers, this is your star-studded medical team. Medical team, welcome to Hell," Tony grinned, receiving a chuckle from his small audience. Lilah's stomach twisted like a pretzel as she kept her gaze at eye level and locked on Tony; avoiding the desperate need to immediately look for James.

Should I look for him? Stop it, Lilah! Concentrate on the job!

With a slight shake of her head, Lilah kept all of her focus on Tony's introduction.

"Let's get this party going shall we," Tony said with a clap of his hands, "I'll leave you all to it then; Cap you're up..." Lilah's heart jumped into her throat as Tony stepped aside. Her eyes caught Steve's gaze. He smiled at her gently as he moved to the center of the group and continued the breakdown of the day's program.

If Steve is here, then James has to be here…

This is actually happening.

"Okay everyone," Steve's voice reverberated off the back gym wall, "I think each of us will start off with Dr. Liebermann in order to get the basic primary healthcare medical out of the way. Thereafter we'll each proceed to the next partition for the more detailed stuff..."

Shit! We're first!?

"... and I think we'll go in alphabetical order, so Barnes," Steve turned to look behind him, "you're up".

Panic and anxiety immediately flooded Lilah's body and in an alarmed effort to not follow Steve's gaze, Lilah looked down to the ground.

No… I'm not ready for thi- her thoughts were cut off by Dr. Liebermann, who gently placed a hand on her arm, "Let's make our way to our station, Ms. Novak" he instructed, leaving Lilah to follow behind him as he continued to walk toward their curtained workspace.

Lilah felt like she was having an out-of-body experience as she trailed after Dr. Liebermann. Numb. Her body was completely numb and a headache started to hammer against the back of her head. Now standing in the middle of their small cubical, Lilah tried to force herself to help Dr. Liebermann with the setting up of the room, but her hands began to tremble. Slowly making her way to the counter on the other side of the room, Lilah lifted the small tray with all the necessary instruments from the counter and had to quickly set it back down as the equipment began to rattle with her nervous shiver. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, Lilah realised that she needed to gather her thoughts and regain her frame of mind.
This is a job, Lilah! A simple fucking job. James is one small part of it! A part that will be over in less than 5 minutes – so just pull yourself together, girl!

But nothing could have prepared Lilah for the moment he stepped into the room.

"Mr. Barnes, it is an honour to meet you," Dr. Liebermann said as he walked over and shook James' hand. Their voices from behind her made Lilah's body seize, causing her breath to trap itself in her throat. Her heartbeat was the only thing she could hear echoing throughout her mind as she turned to face James and Dr. Liebermann in what seemed to be slow motion.

Her eyes glazed a bit and slowly began to focus on James from his waist upwards. He was surprisingly taller than she remembered him to be and more muscular. His skin-hugging training shirt left little to the imagination as to his build underneath. Lilah could only think of a term Sophia used to describe Channing Tatum in the movie Magic Mike – 'ripped'. As her gaze travelled she took in the other little details of his appearance while he continued to listen to Dr. Liebermann.

That was until James turned and looked directly at her.

His eyes.

His eyes hadn't changed one bit. They were still the same piercing orbs of ocean blue.

That was James. Her James.

"… and this is Ms. Lilah Novak, she'll be assisting me with the medicals today," Dr. Liebermann explained.

[Bucky POV]

[LAST NIGHT]

I can't believe I agreed to do this, Bucky chastised himself. Why would I need a medical check? When you have a serum that grants you superhuman enhanced strength, speed, reflexes, healing, stamina, and agility and it's pumping through your veins, do you actually need a basic medical check? He had tried to reason with Steve right up until last night, begging him not to be poked and prodded by doctors, but his friend had refused to budge. "Look at it as a team exercise, Buck," Steve tried to take a different approach in his explanation as to why Bucky needed to be here, "we need to build team morale before we take on any missions and this is just one way of doing that," Steve continued. Bucky rolled his eyes as he tossed the Rubik's Cube he was failing with onto Steve's bed. "I'm not even cleared to go on any missions yet, Steve – everyone knows that – and yet you want me to what, make sure I don't have a heart attack while cleaning my gun?" the sarcasm in Bucky's voice was biting. He was frustrated and Steve knew that. But they, the committee, couldn't clear Bucky for field duty just yet, not until he completed his required therapy hours. Steve let out a breath and turned to Bucky who was seated at the edge of his neatly dressed bed. "You know that your sessions have been going really well and you're close to fulfilling all the hours that you need to before your clearance is granted," Steve reasoned, "So just … hang in there … and make sure you come tomorrow," he said, giving a Bucky a reassuring slap on the shoulder as he walked out the room. Bucky shook his head and was left in the empty room pinching the bridge of his nose, realising that there was just no way out of this.

[NOW]

Pushing the conversation he had with Steve last night to the back of his mind, Bucky tried to prepare himself for the upcoming onslaught of dreaded testing. Now, introducing himself to Dr Liebermann he was determined to be a motivated and willing patient – for Steve's sake. He even convinced himself to speak up and make small talk. An activity he considered as good as putting his head in a grinder. Letting Dr Liebermann's hand go from their handshake, he turned to the woman on his right to try and make some pleasant conversation as Dr Liebermann introduced her, but for some reason, looking at her suddenly made everything slow down.

Slightly shorter than him, with thick black hair in a plait that cascaded down her shoulder, Bucky was quickly distracted by the way she was using her thumb to massage her palm and caught that she was clearly nervous. She was staring intently at him; too intently. As he shifted his body to face her, taking her in for a moment, he got the uncomfortable sense that just maybe she might know him. Her light caramel skin was unlike anything he'd seen. She's stunning, he thought to himself. Assessing her for what seemed like forever, he finally found her eyes. Hazel brown eyes. Hauntingly rare and striking, but at the same time; Bucky couldn't help feeling that her eyes seemed vaguely familiar to him. The feeling of familiarity was like a string suddenly knotting itself over and over in his stomach. An odd sensation building in him…

The moment they locked eyes with each other, it was as if, just for a brief second, the world paused and someone had muted the murmurs from outside their cubical, and even the voice of Dr Liebermann went quiet. It was only the two of them in the room and time just hung heavy in the air.

However, just as quickly, the moment slipped passed causing James to blink back to reality. He reached his hand out to greet her, "It's nice to meet you," he managed to say, but all she did was stare down at his outstretched hand and then look back up at his eyes.

[Lilah's POV]

That's when she heard it.

The gunshot.

Her screams.

It was a memory and but it was as if it was happening all over again. The memory's sound was so loud it was as if it was being played over the gym's loudspeakers… But it was in her mind and it was happening because she was looking at him. At James…

Confused by her state, James' arm dropped back down to his side when she didn't reciprocate. "Are you okay?" he asked gently. Lilah's eyes blinked slowly, refocusing on him, but she tried to say something this time. The words were right there but Lilah's brain refused to function. Right now she imagined, that to James and Dr Liebermann, she looked like a malfunctioning fish, with her mouth opening and closing and no words coming out. With a jolt of rushing air filling her lungs and the start of tears blurring her vision, she finally found her shaking voice, "I...I... I'm sorry, but I can't do this," Lilah saw James' face change, completely taken off guard by her statement. She took the opportunity to then turn to Dr. Liebermann, apologise, and leave the room, speeding passed Steve outside the doorway.

Slamming down on the handle of the gym exit, Lilah shoved the heavy door out of her way. She needed to get out. Breaking into a light run, Lilah was so focused on just getting to the elevator at the end of the corridor, that she jumped a little when the other door to her left swung open to reveal Steve stepping out. She didn't even realise that he had been following her. "Lilah, are you okay?", the concern in Steve's voice was evident but Lilah couldn't care less. Having dodged his entrance, she finally made it to the elevator and slammed the button, and then turned back to Steve. When she turned around, she saw Steve starting to slowly walk toward her. Quickly, she held her hand out stopping Steve from coming any closer to her. She knew what he was going to say. He was going to tell her that 'everything was going to be okay, and to 'just give it another try', 'not give up so easily' or some Captain America-ish line like that. Trying to catch her breath between her breaking sob, she managed to get out what she needed to say "I'm sorry Mr Rogers, I thought I was gonna be fine with this … that I would be okay seeing him again," she looked down to the ground and shook her head, hoping that her sad excuse of an explanation would be enough. The elevator bell rang as the doors opened and Lilah stepped in, "Please Lilah, don't leave like this," Steve begged, taking a step closer, "let's go downstairs and talk about this." She sniffed shaking her head, and looked up at him, "I'm sorry, but I was wrong, this was a huge mistake," she said as the elevator doors closed on her last word.

Author's Note:

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