Retnikopf: Widow Of Siberia (old Version)

Chapter 3 - Listening

Vienna sat with her leg pulled up onto the chair the other outstretched to not cause herself anymore pain by compressing her injury. Her hair was down, hanging limp around her face. She was wrapped in one of Bucky's jackets.

Sam was stood, leaning on the table with his hands.

"We can't let Walker get away," he told them, his tone very authoritative, "he's dangerous, and-- and we-- do you blink? Ever. Do you blink?"

Vienna frowned. She looked over at Bucky who had glanced over at her and then turned back to Sam.

"She's just listening to you," Bucky told him, knowing that he did the same thing but it had lessened as he grew away from what has happened to him in Siberia.

Vienna forced herself to blink, though regulating it at normal intervals consciously was proving to be difficult. She didn't want to make Sam uncomfortable but now she was far too focused on how many seconds there should be between blinks. Was she blinking too fast now?

"Okay stop," Sam said, waving a hand at her which made her flinch back against her chair, "you're making it worse."

"Hey," Bucky said, reaching up to grab Sam's hand to stop him gesturing at, "quit waving your hands around, your scaring her."

"She's not a child Bucky," Sharon cut in, having not taken her eyes off of Vienna since Bucky had brought her back with them.

"She's been through a lot," Bucky protested, standing up from his chair, making a loud scraping sound as the legs dragged across the floor.

The noise overwhelmed Vienna's ears making her stand up with him, ready to defend herself. Sam noticed the scared look in Vienna's eyes, as they flicked around every corner of the room.

"It's okay, it's alright," Sam said, holding his hands loosely in front of him, "no ones going to hurt you."

Vienna frowned at him, as she watched him give her a gentle smile.

"It's the movement right," Sam continued, "when you're in the field you need to react really fast, so when you're in a room full of people you don't know very well, who are moving really quickly, you think you need to be fast too. You don't want to be caught off guard."

Vienna's breathing began to calm down as she looked into his eyes.

"I know words don't help much but, if Bucky trusts you, I'm willing to give you a chance," Sam told her, sitting down to try and make the energy of the room relax.

"You are like... Uh... Rogers," Vienna told him, holding up her arm to mimic the shield as she tried to remember the name of the man she had met all those years ago, "you are kind."

"You met Captain America?" Sam asked, trying to hold his smile from the compliment.

Vienna nodded, "he broke my leg, and several ribs."

"Oh, cool, nice, um," Sam stuttered through as he tried not to ruin the moment as tried to wrap his head around how she connected those two sentences, "well, thank you. I appreciate that."

Vienna gave him a soft smile as she held her side to sit down. Knowing the full story, the comment made complete sense to her. In her meeting with Steve, he had clearly won their fight and when she saw him last she was hiding. He had simply elected to help her hide instead of killing or arresting her. It was kindness that she had clung to since the event, it had helped her to question the absolute ideals of her commanders. Not all Americans were cruel killers.