A Game Of Hide and Seek - A Bucky Barnes Short story

Chapter 16

Cassidy curled up on her side as soon as Bucky left and started to cry. She almost killed the love of her life! She could not be around him at the moment, all she could see was her killing him. She was a monster, she didn't deserve him.

Soon she heard the clicking of Natasha's boots coming quickly toward her.

"Nat," Was all Cassidy managed to get out.

Natasha wrapped her arms around her friend and held her as Cassidy sobbed in her lap.

"Why can't you see him?" Natasha softly spoke as she held Cassidy tight at having her back.

"Because I almost killed him Nat!" Cassidy wailed, "And every male in this place scares me! You don't know what they did to me."

"I do know," Natasha stroked Cassidy's hair like a child, "When Wanda knocked you out, she had to see inside your mind. She saw everything, and we all found out what she saw this morning."

"They tried to break me," Cassidy's crying had subsided as she sniffled, "And they won."

"No, they didn't," Natasha had Cassidy sit up so she could grasp her shoulders to look her in the eye, "You are so strong. You made it out of that hell hole! We are all here to help you get through this. You can get through this."

"I don't know if I can touch Bucky, Nat," Cassidy whispered, "I can't look at him without thinking of what I did."

"I think you can," Natasha urged before picking up her comm, "Steve, come to Cassidy's room please."

"But-" Cassidy tried.

"We can start with Steve," Natasha comforted, "Touch Steve, then you can touch Bucky. Let's try that. Steve needs to see you too, we all missed you."

Steve soon came into the room and approached with caution. Cassidy, with the help of Natasha, slowly stood up on shaking legs. Due to her weakened state, she was mostly leaning on Natasha. However, the tubes and machines had been disconnected.

"Stevie," Cassidy began hoarsely, her voice still raw from all the screaming, "I'm so sorry."

"Don't apologize Cassie," Steve slowly came in front of her, "Don't apologize to anyone, it was not you."

"Okay," Cassidy took a deep breath.

"Steve," Natasha motioned to him, "Come up to her slowly to not scare her."

Steve obliged and walked towards Cassidy slowly. Cassidy trembled but held her ground, Steve would not hurt her. Steve stood close to Cassidy now, and she looked up at him.

Slowly, Cassidy held out her shaking arms, gaunt and covered in bruises, and tried to step forward to wrap her arms around Steve's torso. She practically fell against him, but that did not matter.

She jumped slightly when he wrapped his arms around her, but she soon felt the familiar warmth and melted into his arms. She started crying as she felt Steve shake with sobs as well.

"I can touch you," Cassidy choked out, "I missed y-you."

"Yeah, sweetheart," Steve looked down at her, "We missed you too."

Steve held her up and she looked at Natasha with new confidence.

"Can I...Can I go see Bucky?"

"Of course you can!" Steve offered her his arm to hold onto, "And we will help you there."

"You need to start walking anyway," Natasha cheerfully wrapped an arm around Cassidy's waist.

Slowly the trio walked down the halls to get to Bucky's room, it was mostly them carrying her since her legs were weak. Steve had left him there when Natasha called him, and luckily Bucky had been put in a room the closest to the labs. Cassidy became excited to see him, but also nervous since she pushed him away. In a matter of minutes Natasha had turned her thinking around, and Natasha was usually right.