Depth: Sixty-three feet above sea level.
Location: Avenger's Tower, Steve's Floor.
Pain. Overwhelming, hot, blinding pain.
She feels pain, but cannot move. She feels herself being transported, jostled around, but cannot move. Her body feels like it's on fire, as she is about to burn, layer-by-layer, until she is nothing but a pile of ashes. She wants to cry out, to figure out what is happening, but nothing will move the way she wants it to.
The last thing she remembers is the bomb. She should be dead, though she is not.
Finally, she musters a soft whimper, then another, slightly louder.
Frantic Russian consumes her. "She's waking up, she's waking up!" "Keep her calm!" "She's not supposed to wake yet!" "Sedate her!"
Tania feels a sharp pinching in her shoulder, which solicits another whimper from her. A few moments pass before everything fades to darkness.
Although, her pain remains.
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"Tania... Tania, can you-...? Are you-...? Tania!"
The voice fades in and out, muffled and distant. Tania tries to focus on it, to bring herself back into reality, but she feels herself slipping back, inch-by-inch, back into the memory.
In a last ditch effort to stop herself from going back under, she inhales sharply, rocketing up into a seated position. She forces her eyes open, and finds herself relieved to see the surroundings of Steve's floor. It takes her another moment to notice Bucky is beside her, visibly worried.
"Hey, hey, it's alright, you're safe," he says, unsure of how to help. "What happened, do you remember?"
Tania looks around uncertainly, her breath coming out in smothered gasps. After a moment, she gently feels a hand rest on top of hers. Although she is wearing her suit, she can still faintly feel the warmth in Bucky's touch.
"Just... A memory, it came from nowhere," she says timidly. "My head, it was splitting. Then I suppose I went unconscious."
Bucky gazes at her for a moment before nodding. "Yeah, that happens to me, too... It sneaks up on you, just out of the blue... I've had that happen lots of times."
Tania looks over at him, intrigued. Bucky notices the cloudiness in her eyes, the leftover uncertainty from the memory. Gently, he squeezes her hand.
"How are you feeling now?" he asks.
Tania inhales slowly, an attempt to calm herself. "Okay," she tells him. "I feel just tired... My head still hurts."
Bucky nods in understanding. "Yeah, I know those headaches are pretty stubborn." Then, after a moment, an idea crosses him. The smallest of smiles begins to form on his face.
"Do you like tea?"
Tania looks at him, taken by surprise at the questions seeming irrelevancy. "I-I don't remember tea," she admits softly.
"Well, how about I make you some?" he suggests, standing up slowly. "There's a specific kind of tea that always helps with my headaches. I'd like to make it for you... if you'd let me."
Bucky extends his hand to help Tania up, to which, after a small smile, she accepts. He gently brings her into a standing position, where his hand continues to linger in hers.
"... That sounds nice," Tania says after a moment. She is the one to break the grasp of hands between the two, but Bucky doesn't mind - it took him a long time to get used to any contact after his time with HYDRA, and he still doesn't like it very much. He knows he should be careful with giving Tania space, but at the same time, all he wants to do is hold her hand, rub her back, and tell her that it's okay to feel everything she is feeling, and that Bucky knows how it feels and still feels it to this day. But, he knows he can't do this.
Instead, Bucky makes her tea. Ginger tea, to be exact.
Tania watches from the barstool as Bucky begins making the tea. Heating the water on the stove, searching for the packets of tea, then finally depositing it in and waiting for it to finish. No one has ever made Tania tea before, so she can't help but feel slightly shy at the attention. When Bucky places the steaming cup in front of her, she looks down and mutters a soft, "thank you."
Bucky smiles at her. "No problem... I hope you'll like it. It always seems to help me."
Tania gives a gentle smile as she encircles the mug with her hands, feeling the warmth begin to calm her. She carefully brings the mug to her lips, taking a small sip with her lips parted. The warm tea feels wonderful as it cascades down her throat, and she smiles.
"I like tea," she says, looking at Bucky and smiling.
Bucky smiles happily, then looks away, as if feeling shy all of a sudden. Slowly, the smile fades, and his expression grows almost solemn.
"Is everything alright?" Tania questions, then takes another sip of tea.
Bucky looks back up, clears his throat quietly. "Yeah... yeah, it is, I just, uh..." He sighs, and Tania sees him loosen a bit. "Basically all my life has been the past seventy years is hurting people, so... it feels odd to see someone smiling at me, I guess... Like, really, happy smiling."
Tania looks down shyly, the hints of a smile still toying at her lips. "... I suppose it will surprise you when I say you have been the first person to make me smile like that in a very long time."
Bucky looks up sharply, taken aback by Tania's words. He gapes at her for a moment before smiling gently, exhaling through his nose, almost as if laughing. A rosy color comes to his cheeks, and he hopes that Tania can't see it.
"That surprises me a lot," he admits. "I'm... just really glad I can make you smile. You deserve to smile after, you know... everything."
"... You deserve to smile, too," Tania tells him. "I like when you smile, it's very sweet."
Bucky doesn't know how to respond, so he simply looks down to the ground, his blush making his entire face feel warm. "Thank you," he mutters shyly, after a moment. He isn't sure what's making him so shy with being complimented - Steve told him he used to be such a flirt. Now, it's as if he doesn't know what to say if someone compliments him, and certainly doesn't know how to compliment someone else. And apparently, to Tania, all this is very noticeable.
"You get shy, you blush, when I say your smile is sweet," she blatantly points out, smirking.
Of course, this only makes Bucky blush even more and get even shier. "Thanks for pointing it out," he says softly, looking down.
Tania lets out a slight laugh, taking another sip of the warm tea. She smiles at Bucky. Bucky smiles at her. All is well...
For now.
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