A Birdie Lost in Time | Bucky Barnes

|23|

Even with the check in with Doctor Green, Marlow had gotten a good portion into Bucky's book by noon. She was somewhat surprised that she was able to keep her mind on the book, but somewhere along the way she'd gained the skill to hyperfocus on a task.

That meant she could immerse herself in the story about a princess who fled her kingdom to avoid marriage to a rival prince. The young woman was now on the other side of the kingdom's territory, disguised as a peasant as she ate in some small cafe.

"Hey Marlow?"

"Hmm?" She pulled her eyes away from the page to where Bucky had just come into the room.

"I was talking to Sam and he was hoping you would have lunch with him... I know yesterday you didn't want him or Steve around, but I think it would be good," he suggested hesitantly.

"I... yah. Yah, it would be nice to have lunch with him again," she said quietly, realizing she missed him. Now that she remembered him, she felt the void that was left without him. It was the same as with Steve, Natasha, and Wanda.

They'd become her family, but then they were gone—no, she was gone.

She left them.

She looked back to her book, hoping it would suck her in again, but instead her mind wanted to remember Sam. All of the jokes they shared, the missions they went on together. She remembered bickering often, but what they were bickering about wasn't clear.

She knew that wasn't because of the things Hydra did—it was because time makes you forget. And although their missions and antics were only weeks ago in his memory, they were nine years ago for her.

That was a long time to not see someone.

Suddenly, she felt anxious, not from the things she'd been agonizing over all morning, but from the thought that because she'd changed so much, her friendship with Sam would also be changed.

How could it not?

She couldn't even remember what they would talk about, or what their jokes were about. She didn't remember how they were friends. She didn't remember how to be a friend.

She hadn't had one in so long.

She wasn't even sure if Bucky was her friend... He'd stayed with her because he was the only one she trusted and took orders from; it was a safety thing. If anything, she was more his babysitting job...

And even though she considered him a friend before she left, now... it felt wrong to just assume. Especially when she'd offered nothing to the friendship in return. At first, she was a shell of a person, then changed into a mess of fear and guilt. Not exactly a fun person to be around.

Although he'd shared details of his life that she doubted he would share with someone who wasn't his friend.

On the other side of the room, her door opened, but rather than seeing the man her thoughts were occupied by, it was Sam, carrying a brown paper bag in his arms.

"Stop squirming," she bit, grabbing hold of his bare shoulders to keep him still.

"That stuff burns," he countered, leaning away from her.

Sam had been knocked off a platform a few hours earlier, but not without catching the edge and scraping his shoulder to hell. According to him he didn't need stitches, but it had to be bandaged.

"You're the one who told me to put it on."

"Yah, well I was hoping you'd be a little gentler."