(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)
Chapter 4 - 14th January 2012
"You know that's a little creepy, right?"
Steve tried to sound disapproving, but it was tough to keep the smile off his lips as he watched Bucky sneaking a peek out of the apartment door, via the spyhole. Across the way, there had been nobody in Natalie's apartment for weeks now. When she disappeared last November, they assumed she had gone away for the holidays, maybe to see family or friends. When she hadn't come back by Christmas, it started to seem like a strangely long vacation, but Steve supposed people did do that kind of thing. Then New Year's came and went and still she didn't return. Now, it seemed as if maybe she was gone for good, and yet, nobody else ever moved in.
"You don't think it's strange?" Bucky checked, turning around and leaning his back against the door. "How she just disappeared like that?"
"Maybe she got tired of the neighbours making passes at her and decided to find a new place." Steve shrugged, smiling and shaking his head when he realised his buddy was not finding his joke amusing. "Seriously, Buck, she probably has a family or a boyfriend or someone that she's staying with. Either that or she won the lottery and she's sunning herself on her own private island."
"Maybe," Bucky agreed, though he didn't look convinced. "Is it just me or is this apartment suddenly feeling too small? I swear, when we went to see Fury yesterday, I would've been happier if he actually put us to work. Not that I want another war to fight, no way," he confirmed, hands raised in mock surrender as soon as Steve shot him an incredulous look. "I just want to be doing... something, you know?"
"Yeah, I do know."
Spending a lot of time inside the apartment never really did either one of them any good. Of course, there was the gym down the street when they wanted to work out, but that was something the two friends mostly did in the evenings. Better to tire themselves out as much as possible before heading to bed. It made it that much easier to sleep at night. Easier to stop the memories that tumbled end over and end, louder and louder all the time.
Not that downtime was so bad. There were plenty of good movies and television shows to catch up on, not to mention books and music. Still, there was only so much sitting and looking that guys like them could do before they started to get stir crazy. Going out was always an option, and there were certainly plenty of sites around town that Steve and Bucky had managed to see so far, from the aging versions of things they knew well from their younger days, to new landmarks and such that they never could have imagined. Still, those things tended to cost money, and even though Fury had managed to get Steve and Bucky access to a certain amount of funds, both were wary of overspending, especially in a world where everything seemed so expensive, compared to what they knew.
"You know you're going to make someone a great wife someday," said Bucky, leaned against the refrigerator, a smirk on his face as he watched Steve finish up cleaning in the kitchen.
"I'm trying not to be as bored as you are," he said smartly. "Besides, I don't want this place turning into a pig pen, do you?"
"I guess not." Bucky sighed, running a hand over his face. "That whole speech the doc gave us about germs and viruses was a little more than I needed to know."
"Me too," Steve agreed, leaning back against the counter. "It never really occurred to me to worry about that kind of thing, not since the serum, but I figure things have changed a lot since we went under. There's no telling if even our super-charged immune systems could handle some of the new, evolved diseases."
That was what the experts at SHIELD had told them, to take care about where they ate, how close they got to strangers, anything that could lead to them catching something that might prove dangerous. It was just one more thing to think about, worry about. As if they didn't have enough already.
Pushing off the fridge, Bucky started pacing around again, making Steve feel equally as cagey as his friend looked. If the weather had been better, they could have gone out, even if only to run around the block a few times, but the rain had been coming down like rods for hours and the temperature was close to freezing. Even for guys like them, it probably wasn't the best weather to go out in, especially given what they just discussed about their future health.
"I guess we should count ourselves lucky that they're going to stop putting needles in us for a while," Bucky called from further into the living room.
Steve moved to follow him in there, finding his buddy searching the bookshelves for something.
"I was beginning to feel like a pin cushion."
"They were just doing their job, Buck."
"Yeah, well, must be nice to have a job," he grumbled, finally selecting a book and throwing himself down on the couch to read it.
It was something Steve considered doing himself, before deciding he felt brave enough to take on the internet again. He almost always wound up lost or confused, calling up SHEILD's tech wizards to figure things out for him, but he had to admit there was a lot of useful information contained in these laptop things.
That was how they passed the afternoon, in comfortable silence, just reading and learning. Honestly, once he went down the rabbit hole via Google and Wikipedia, Steve barely noticed how many hours he had been staring at the screen. It was only when he started to get a little eye strain that he finally checked the clock.
Glancing over at Bucky, it was obvious the book hadn't held his interest for long and he had drifted off to sleep. In fact, the book was about to fall from his hand and hit the floor, so Steve moved quickly to grab it before that happened. He was about to put it back on the shelf when a clattering sound from outside the apartment caught his attention instead.
Turning around, he listened and was sure he heard the door to the apartment across the way open and then slam shut.
"What?" Bucky woke with a start, sitting up straight on the couch. "What happened?" he asked Steve, bleary eyed as his friend had ever seen him.
If he had to guess, he would say his buddy had been dreaming, and probably not of pleasant memories. He knew because it happened to him too, more often than it didn't.
"I don't know. I thought I heard somebody at Natalie's apartment. That'd be quite the coincidence though."
Bucky looked thoughtful a moment, then got to his feet and crossed to the door.
"Buck, come on. What are you doing?" Steve asked, giving chase.
"I'm... being neighbourly," he said, pulling open the door. "For all we know, somebody just broke into her place while she's gone."
"For all we know, she just got home from a long vacation."
"Then we'll say welcome home," Bucky insisted, moving past his friend before he had a chance to stop him.
Steve rolled his eyes and followed along into the hallway. It all felt strangely familiar, just following along behind his buddy while he was in the pursuit of a girl. Like they hadn't been in this position a hundred times before. Not that Steve minded all that much. Honestly, Bucky did have a point when he said they could potentially prevent a break-in or at least welcome home a friend and neighbour. Not that he believed for a second that Bucky's intentions were a hundred percent pure when it came to Natalie, but that was okay too. He didn't mean any harm at all and she really didn't seem like the type of woman to be fast-talked into anything anyway.
Standing by as his friend knocked on the door, Steve was prepared for absolutely anything, just to be on the safe side. It was quite a relief when the door opened to reveal only Natalie, smiling out of them like she always would if they ever dropped by.
"Hey, boys," she greeted them. "What's this, the welcome home committee?"
"Something like that," said Bucky, wearing his most charming smile. "We were actually starting to wonder if you were ever coming back."
"Well, here I am." Natalie shrugged, her smile starting to look a little forced. "Now, if you don't mind, it's been a long day of travelling and I'd like to get some sleep before work wants me back on shift. Goodnight, James, Mr Rogers."
She nodded once to each of them, then quickly closed the door.
Immediately she was gone, Steve looked to Bucky and saw the serious expression on his face, knowing he had seen the same thing as his friend and was just as worried about it, if not more so.
Tilting his head towards their own place, Steve led the way back inside. The moment they were in, with the door closed, Bucky spoke.
"Something's wrong with her. I've seen smiles like that before and I know what they mean. Come on, Steve, you know it too."
"I do." He nodded his agreement, though he hated what that meant.
It was usually women who wore those brave smiles, covering for pain and heartache that they wouldn't allow to show on the surface. Of course, it wasn't just that which he saw on Natalie's face.
"I never saw her wear so much powder and paint either." Steve sighed, knowing what that meant too. "But this is none of our business," he noted, running a hand over his face, glancing back towards the door as he thought more about Natalie and what they just saw.
"Somebody has to look out for her," Bucky insisted. "Isn't this exactly the kind of thing Captain America is all about?" he said, almost sounding a little scornful.
Steve might have been hurt if he didn't understand that Bucky's anger and frustration actually came from a good place. He cared about people, about Natalie, as Steve did himself. Long before either of them were filled up with super soldier serum, they were raised to be upstanding citizens, decent Catholic boys, helpful neighbours, nice guys who were too good to finish last.
"I understand what you're feeling, Buck, you know I do, but unless Natalie asks for our help, I don't really see what we can do." He shook his head regretfully. "It's not as if we even know what the problem is, who might be..." he trailed off, unable to even say the words.
Somebody hit her. Steve was not a betting man, but he would lay money on the fact that Natalie was hiding a split lip and black eye as a minimum under her make-up. The very thought of it made him feel sick to his stomach. Even if he couldn't see the grimacing look on his best friend's face, he would know that Bucky felt exactly the same.
"I know you care about her, Buck," he said, putting a hand on his buddy's shoulder, "but it's like I said before, if she doesn't ask for help, what can we do?"
"I don't think she has a boyfriend," he said thoughtfully, gaze fixed on the door, as if he could almost see through it to where Natalie was. "All the times I offered to take her out, if she was saying no because there was somebody else, she would've told me that. You think she really went to see her family for the Holidays?"
Steve shook his head, unsure what he did think, to be honest. If Natalie didn't have a boyfriend and had been staying with her family these past few weeks, the problem could be there. Of course, it could just as easily be something else or someone else entirely. He wished he knew what they were going to do about that, if anything, but one thing was for certain, Bucky was not going to let this go.
To Be Continued...