True North [Stucky Fanfiction - IN PROGRESS]

40 - One Step Forward, Two Steps Back...

It's been a long day.

Natasha brings him bandages and a clean shirt at some point. Steve isn't sure if he remembered to thank her. He has one thick bandage plastered across a spot on his palm that was bothering him, but he couldn't bring himself to do any more than that and the box sits at his feet.

Bucky is still propped up in the corner, breathing thinly and looking terribly stiff. It might be okay if he were unconscious and Steve were waiting for him to wake up, but he's not; he's staring straight ahead with his hands positioned in his lap, watching.

Steve can't describe his uneasiness. It's a combination of a lot of things, really. Uneasiness, guilt, loneliness. But he can't leave Bucky now.

He sighs and settles further into his seat. What a nightmare this day is turning out to be.

He's about to close his eyes, just to try to convince his body to try and sleep in the middle of all this, when he thinks maybe he sees movement.

Unconsciously, he glances at Bucky. The spark of hope comes after.

He stares for what's probably considered too long, hoping his eyes weren't deceiving him. He's too damn hopeful, watches for too long, and only when he's convinced it must have just been a floating speck of dust or a flickering of the light does he look away again, focusing on a tile as far away from the brunet as he dares.

He takes a few deep breaths, stretching out the inhale, hold, exhale, hold until he's satisfied and there. He's sure he saw it again. A finger twitch, maybe, something small. Maybe it wasn't even that, maybe he just sensed it in the way he could after he got the serum, a change in the way Bucky was breathing, perhaps, but it was something, and Steve knows.

But what are you supposed to do with intuition, really? He just stares as he's been doing, if a little more squinty-eyed than normal.

And maybe it's his imagination, but this time, it does really feel like Bucky is staring back.

Nothing changed in the hour or so since Sasha said the code word and he switched into this. It has to be from the inside.

The way he sees it, patience is something that can be taught, and Steve is a patient man. Some people just are, and some people just aren't. Some things never change; you see people waiting in line for things, all quiet 'please's and delicate 'have a nice afternoon's, and then you've got your group of folks with their 'can't you go any faster's and crude 'this isn't good enough's. Steve's seen plenty of the second group, but also his share of the first; a lot of the first became the second and stuck that way, but he's found time and time again, it always pays to mind your surroundings and have an ounce of patience.

So that's what he does. It doesn't necessarily help the nerves melt away in the way he hopes, but it does help him avoid feeling quite so helpless as he did before.

It's another short while before he notices anything. This time it's just a small bending of the knees. Steve is half tempted to fetch Natasha, but he doesn't want to leave, either.

__

It's been a long day.

Natasha brings him bandages and a clean shirt at some point. Steve isn't sure if he remembered to thank her. He has one thick bandage plastered across a spot on his palm that was bothering him, but he couldn't bring himself to do any more and the box sits at his feet.

Bucky is still propped up in the corner, breathing thinly and looking terribly stiff. It might be okay if he were unconscious and Steve were waiting for him to wake up, but he's not; he's staring straight ahead with his hands positioned in his lap, watching.