How do you heal?

Chapter 6: A Rough Day

Bucky, Steve and Sam stood in the elevator heading up to the living quarters, all three of them breathing heavily and covered in sweat.

"I have no clue...why I agreed...to jog...with two super soldiers!" Sam said breathlessly. "Do y'all do anything without trying to show off?"

Bucky grinned. "Showing off? That was minimal effort, bird boy." It really wasn't, he had been going all out but no one needed to know that, least of all Sam.

"Yeah, whatever Cyborg." Sam rolled his eyes and looked toward Steve. "Hey, Cap, do you know what Banannie is making for dinner tonight? All that 'minimal effort' worked up an appetite."

Bucky bristled slightly at the nickname.

"Annie actually has the night off so we are on our own." Steve said as the elevator doors opened.

Sam groaned, "It's a Tuesday and she knew I was coming into town, why the hell did she take the night off?"

"Well, Sam, she hasn't taken a day off in the six months she has been here so I think it's overdue and Tony just said she would be off campus after lunch, I didn't ask questions. Nat and I were going to head into the city and grab dinner, do you guys want to join?" Steve asked as he stepped out.

"Hell yeah, I don't plan on cooking for myself." Replied Sam a step behind him.

While Bucky had had a very good day, he didn't think he was ready to go into the city. "No thanks pal, I think I'm just going to hang here."

Steve looked at his friend clearly a little sad he wouldn't be joining them. "I'm not sure when we will be back but do you want us to bring you something?"

"Nah, I'll figure something out." Bucky said as he split from Sam and Steve and headed towards his room.

Later, after Bucky had raided the fridge for leftovers and wasted time flipping endlessly through channels he laid awake in his bed. He had long since heard the laughter of the others as they returned from dinner and went to their respective rooms. When what felt like hours had passed Bucky sat up and looked at the clock 11:43PM. Really? It had only been an hour since he last looked? He sighed and stood deciding to see if he could figure out Annie's tea herbs. As he left his room and looked across the hall at her door he considered knocking but decided against it. If it was her night off he would respect it. She didn't need him bothering her.

Bucky entered the kitchen and flipped on the lights. He walked to the counter and filled the kettle with water, pushing the button to start heating it and then he turned to the island and bent down to rummage through where he had seen Annie pull the herbs from the night before. After a few moments of reading labels and opening tins and jars he heard the elevator ding. He paused for a moment and peaked his head over the counter. I thought everyone was asleep, who the hell is that?

Bucky watched as Annie walked down the dark hall toward the kitchen. His breath caught in his throat. With the exception of last night Bucky had never seen her in anything but jeans and a sweater with her hair pulled back. Now her curls cascaded over her shoulders neatly arranged, she wore a dark green dress that hugged at her curves and showed off her full, shapely legs and tattoos, black strappy heels clutched in one hand. Whoa. Bucky stood up "You're out late, you have a hot date tonight?"

Annie jumped, dropping her shoes as her hands shot up to her mouth to stop her scream. She turned away from him and wiped at her face as she exclaimed quietly. "Jesus Bucky! You scared the shit out of me." She took a deep breath and turned back around. He had to resist the urge to admire the cleavage her dress revealed as she bent to pick her shoes back up. Okay, he may have looked a little. As she finally stood to face him he saw that her eyes were red rimmed.

Was she crying? He stepped around the island and put his hands on her shoulder. "Hey are you okay? Did something happen?"

Annie shrugged out of his grip and moved around him, turning off the kettle which had begun to bubble. "I'm fine." She said grabbing a mug and turning to gather supplies from the cabinet Bucky had just stepped away from. "I take it you couldn't sleep?" She asked as she placed a few tins on the counter.

"Annie." Bucky said softly, placing an arm out to stop her from reaching back for the kettle. "Are you sure you're okay? Because honestly I've been itching to blow off a little steam and I would be glad to kick some jerks ass if they made you cry."

She let out a small laugh as tears began to fall down her face. After a minute she looked up at him. "I'm not okay...but nothing happened. Thank you for the weirdly chivalrous gesture, but today...today was just a hard day for me."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really."

Bucky dropped his arm and took a step back. "Do..Do you want to be left alone?"

Annie stood for a moment, biting her lip in contemplation, before reaching over and grabbing a second mug. "Not really."