Trying Your Luck - Bucky BarnesxOC

Part 15: Savior

How's work?

Ding! He grins.

Horrible.

How come?

Don't want to talk about it right now.

Bucky frowns. This is definitely not normal for her. She usually can't stop talking.

Are you on your break?

Yeah. I have 45 minutes left.

Be there in 10.

Bucky, no.

Shannon. Yes.

Lol. How are you going to get here in time?

Super soldier, remember?

Bucky darts into a back alley and looks around for anyone before leaping up, grabbing the fire escape, and swinging himself up to the roof. He proceeds to jump from building to building before getting to a street near Shannon's work. It takes all of five minutes. He's faster than he thought. Nobody seems to notice or care what he's doing, if they can see him at all, that is. He hears chatter from the street below, horns honking, and people swearing at each other in traffic. Bucky leaps down and sprints toward the restaurant. This is when people actually take notice. He skids to a halt in front of the building and takes a deep breath, pushing his hair back and heading inside. It's been a while since he's run like that.

The hostess is standing at the front looking bored and peeling red nail polish off of her nails. Bucky recognizes her from last week. He approaches and smiles.

"Hi. Carrie, right?"

Her eyes go wide and she immediately tries to hide her hands. Bucky chuckles.

"Yeah! Hi, James."

"Hi. Is Shannon around?"

"Yeah, she's on her break out back."

"Thanks." He begins to head toward the back of the restaurant, but Carrie grabs his arm and stops him.

"You might want to come back. She's not doing well."

"She asked me to come over."

"Oh!" Carrie suddenly looks embarrassed. "Oh, okay. Sorry. We're just... protective of her. She's family, you know?"

Bucky nods.

"I get that."

"I'll take you through the back," Carrie offers.

"Thanks."

He follows her into the restaurant and into the kitchen. He has to stop himself from lingering because it smells so good. Bucky reminds himself that he just ate. Carrie leads him to a large metal door and gestures toward it.

"She's just outside."

He nods and pushes it open. Shannon is sitting on a crate in her back t-shirt and black pants. She has tears running down her face and she's smoking a joint. She glances up at him and smiles sadly.

"Hi."

"Hey." Bucky gestures to the joint balanced precariously between her fingers. "I thought those were for headaches."

"I have an emotional headache," Shannon grumbles.

She seems distant, aloof, definitely not her usual self. Her eyes look different - sad, with a kind of emptiness in them that alarms him. Bucky is instantly on edge, not sure if he should be here. Maybe he overstepped his boundaries, got too comfortable. She's still talking to him, though, so that's a plus. For a second, he wonders if it's something he's done, but what could it be? Everything has been perfect for the past week. More than perfect. Bucky walks over and pulls up another crate, sitting next to her.