Untangling a Memory

What keeps you warm

As the hours continued to pass, Natasha remained stationed at Bucky's side.

Shuri had gone over the procedure in depth with Natasha. The lilac-color liquid was dual purpose: first, it served as the cryogenic stasis activator, flowing directly into his veins and keeping him at a reduced and consistent temperature; second, it had the reactive agents that were needed for the procedure. The large metal halo that surrounded his head was there to interact with the reactive agents at different frequencies to trigger the memory recovery.

Throughout the procedure, when Shuri looked at the monitors, she could not only check the levels of the lilac-liquid and workings of the cold, metal halo, but she was also able to see some of the processing that was happening for Bucky. It was beyond Natasha's understanding, but somehow, Shuri could see wavelength measurements, as well as some visuals of what was transpiring in Bucky's brain, allowing her to adjust the procedure throughout.

Natasha was still trying to fully grasp the details of the procedure, but she imagined some of it must have been related to the testing Shuri performed on her. Shuri had mentioned during their previous conversation that she was able to see bits of Natasha's memories, or potentially distorted memories, so this was clearly within the realm of her technological abilities. Of all the people who Natasha would require to be conducting this work, Shuri was at the top of her list, both in intelligence and trustworthiness.

Once Shuri had reviewed everything with Natasha, she had checked all his levels one more time before exiting the room again. Shuri texted Steve to give him a brief update, knowing that he would want to visit at some point later that day. She also had the awareness that Natasha was likely too preoccupied to think about texting him.

Steve came down around dinnertime with another serving of food for Natasha. He briefly spoke with Shuri in her lab, getting the full overview of the procedure as Natasha had earlier, before finally poking his head inside Bucky's medical suite.

"Hey there, pretty lady. Mind if I join you?"

Natasha had been so hyper-focused on Bucky that she hadn't even realized Steve and Shuri had been speaking just outside the room. She looked up at Steve now and gave him a light smile. He was immediately happy to see the difference in her disposition from earlier that morning in the gym.

Natasha nodded her head and Steve grabbed a chair to sit next to her. She looked around and went to shift her seat, only now realizing that Steve might want to sit closer to his friend, but he gestured for Natasha to remain where she was at Bucky's side. Steve was perfectly content to just sit with both of them as they were.

"I brought you some food. Chicken parm, and a couple different drink options." Steve placed the bag of dinner on the rolling table behind her as he brought his seat over. "How is he?"

Natasha looked from Steve back to Bucky, a soft smile pulling at the corner of her mouth as she studied his relaxed, chilly features. She instinctively began to pet his hand, her fingers that were already wrapped around his now tracing tiny lines up and down his cool skin.

"He's good, I think. You know, he looks good." Natasha turned back to Steve, never letting go of Bucky's hand. "Did Shuri tell you about everything?"

Steve nodded. "Yeah, sounds like it's all going along as she'd like. So, that's positive." Steve wrapped his arm around the back of Natasha's chair, placing his hand comfortingly on her shoulder. "Are you feeling a bit better about everything than you were this morning?"

"Ummm, a bit better. It helped having Shuri explain everything to me. I think this was all a bit triggering. You know, with some of the procedures I had..." Natasha trailed off, as she got lost in thought. She had told Steve about her appointment with Shuri and the discoveries about her memories, but she'd never disclosed the content of them. Natasha swallowed hard, thinking about it, knowing that she'd have no way to explain how she had memories of the metal chair they'd used to wipe Bucky, whether they were implanted memories or not. She was thankful that Steve seemed not to notice or question her further about what she meant.