THE FADING FALLEN ● Bucky Barnes X OC ● 18+ ● ENGLISH [COMPLETE]

Chapter 26

"If you make me jump, I can't help it either", she replied with a wry smile.

"How long have I been away?"

"Almost two whole days."

Emilia's eyes fell on the jacket and the small table. Only now did she identify the title of the book. It was "Utopia."

She had just dropped it in Bucky's bathroom back then and never given it another thought.

The idea that he had it since then and was rummaging through it instead of returning it to her or taking it to the library gave her a comforting feeling and drowned out her injury for a few moments.

Natasha noticed where she was staring and couldn't help but grin.

"Barnes didn't leave your side until a few hours ago. Steve had to literally beat him into eating something and getting a shower. It was his counter-condition that we take turns staying with you. That would have been my shift now, but I guess that became unnecessary."

In disbelief, Emilia looked at her.

"Come on, Carson. The others will be happy to see you. Especially one of them."

∼⋄∼ ○❖○ ∽⋄∽

After Emilia treated herself to a cat wash and put on something else, she and Natasha walked to the dining room.

She didn't really care about how hungry she actually was. Somehow, after everything she had heard in the last half hour, she felt nervous about meeting Bucky.

As they entered the small hall, the sun shone through the floor-to-ceiling windows, bathing it in a pleasantly warm color. It was early afternoon, and at the smell of the delicacies on the buffet, her stomach made itself growl so loudly that all of Wakanda might have heard it.

Vision was the first to spot her as she turned the corner.

"Now, if someone hasn't risen from the dead."

At his words, the conversations around the table fell silent. Everyone stared at him, startled, to which he just looked around questioningly in his innocent way: "Did I say something wrong?"

After a few seconds of silence, Emilia laughed out loud. The slight pain restrained her and she held her hand on the place where the wound was.

"No, no. You didn't. In fact, I haven't written my will yet."

She enjoyed Vision's ways very much. He had been trying to understand and learn the characteristics of humans since his 'birth' about three years ago, and usually did better than those in the flesh.

When the others became aware that Vision was trying to expound his still somewhat ill-timed sarcasm, they were all too familiar with Emilia's cynical response to it. They joined in her laughter after a moment's hesitation.

Only one sat sullenly at the end of the table, poking at his food. His eyes seemed to literally scan her, so intently did he follow her every move.

She had made her way to the buffet after Shuri and Wanda's embrace and was shoveling all sorts of delicacies onto her plate.

It wasn't until she sat down at the empty seat across from Bucky that she caught the angry glint that made the blue of his eyes even more intense.

Throughout the meal, he said not a word. Emilia didn't understand how she was supposed to reconcile that with the man who, according to Natasha, was so worried a few hours ago.

Even Steve, sitting next to him, couldn't get a word out of him except for a listless "Mmmh... " or an uninterested "If you say so".

It annoyed her that he had lapsed back into his old familiar grim silence and she didn't even know why. Emilia therefore concentrated on the conversation, which was very serious because of the imminent danger in two days.