Author's Note: Shannon's POV
She wakes up as the plane lands. Her shoulder aches and her brain is foggy, but her body is alert. It's a strange place to be in. She groans and stretches as Bucky's eyes flutter open.
"You okay?"
She nods.
"How's the shoulder?"
"Not great, but not as bad as it was earlier."
"Can you walk?"
"Yeah. I'm good."
Bucky Barnes, ever the gentleman, helps her up and walks her out of the plane. He gives her his jacket. Her good arm is slung around his shoulder, and he cradles her like she's a child. He doesn't have to be so gentle with her, but she appreciates it all the same. She's still a little dizzy from the Percocet. Bucky pocketed the bottle from Oeznik. She can hear it rattling in her jacket. Zemo talks about Sokovia, but Shannon's attention span isn't quite up to speed. She's more focused on the pain shooting down her arm.
"I don't suppose any of you bothered visiting the memorial?" He asks.
The three of them are silent. She looks up at Bucky, who is focused on the ground. His eyes comb cars and people with suspicion.
"Of course not," Zemo scoffs. "Why would you? We're here."
"Sam, can you take Shannon? I'm gonna go on a walk."
"Sure, man. You good?"
"Yeah."
"Buck?" She asks.
He smiles, leaning over to grasp her face and kiss her just before Sam reaches for her to pull her toward him.
"I'm okay. I'll see you guys in a bit."
"Come on, Rambo," Sam teases as they turn toward the door.
She frowns at him.
"Rambo?"
"You were going hog wild with that gun in Madripoor," he laughs. "Did you even hit anything?"
"I doubt it," she chuckles. "And, in my defense, I had no idea what the hell was going on."
Sam gives her a gentle pat on the back as they step inside another massive mansion. At this point, she should expect nothing less from Zemo. It's elegant, beautiful and intricately designed floors and ornate decorations – statues, carvings, gorgeous paintings. The man has taste. It's not hers, necessarily, but it's definitely taste. Zemo leads them to a large room with a few large sofas and a bar. Sam eases her onto a couch and she lies back.
"We're going to have to change that bandage. You want a drink?"
"God yes," she murmurs.
Sam chuckles and pours her a glass of whiskey, gently putting it in her hand.
"Thanks."
She takes off her jacket and Sam slowly begins to unwrap the bandages while Zemo hands him a medium-sized red box with a white cross on it.
"There should be enough bandages in here for today and tomorrow," he tells him.
"Bucky and I can grab more if she needs them."
Zemo gives him a small nod and disappears into the bathroom. Shannon hears the shower start and Sam shrugs. He's barely said a word to Zemo since Madripoor. She can tell he's pissed at Zemo for killing Nagel. As she was drifting in and out of consciousness on the plane, she could hear them bickering about it. Shannon looks down at her now bare arm. Her skin is still stained red with blood. Sam cleans up the rest of it and checks her stitches. She looks over her shoulder at him. His brow is knit together as he inspects the wound. None of them are doctors, but they've been beaten up, cut, and bruised enough to know how to treat this kind of thing. Zemo has already told her that they can't risk going to a hospital.
"Bucky said Oeznik did some of this?"
"Yeah," Sam replies. "He dug the slug out of your shoulder. It wasn't in that deep."
"Thank God."
"Bucky stitched you up. He did a hell of a job, too."
She smiles softly. Sam is gentle as he cleans up the wound. He makes sure that she still has mobility, asking her to lift it as high as she can. It hurts, but it's not the worst thing in the world. Sam applies antibiotic ointment to the area in lieu of being able to go to the hospital. He tells her it doesn't look nearly as bad as it feels and this should fight off any kind of infection so long as they keep it clean. The bullet managed to miss bone, which apparently is a good thing. Shannon sips at her whiskey. It's not as painful as she originally anticipated. He rebandages the wound, wrapping it the same way that Oeznik did, with a little bit of extra gauze to avoid irritation.
The front door opens, and Bucky walks through. He smiles at her as Sam eases her back on the couch and goes to sit at the bar.
"Well," he announces as Zemo opens the bathroom door. "The Wakandans are here. They want Zemo. I bought us some more time."
"The Wakandans?" She asks.
"King T'Chaka," Sam reminds her.
"Right. Sorry. Lotta information to process in the past week."
"Were you followed?" Sam asks Bucky.
"No."
"How can you be so sure?" Zemo asks, looking out the window.
Bucky huffs and rolls his eyes.
"Because I know when I'm being followed."
Zemo turns around, his drink clutched nervously in his hands.
"It was sweet of you to defend me, at least."
"Hey. You shut it," Sam spits. "No one's defending you. You killed Nagel."
"Do we really have to litigate what may or may not have happened?"
"There's nothing to litigate!" Sam exclaims. "You straight shot the man!"
Zemo glances down at Shannon and she puts her hands in the air as she pulls out her phone to scroll through Instagram.
"I'm not getting involved in this. I already got shot."
Her friends are all doing normal things. Drinks on patios, wine dinners. Her inbox is full of messages of people checking in on her. The last photo she posted was one of her and Bucky in Kansas, lounging in her parents' backyard. Their heads are pressed together and Sam is in the background giving Bucky the finger. It's probably her most-liked photo. It makes her laugh every single time she sees it. She misses them like this. Happy, at ease, and carefree – or, as carefree as you can get.
"Sam," Bucky says softly, glancing down at his Tinder phone, which has quickly become his main source of communication. He still has his flip phone. Nobody would be able to pry that away from him without getting their arm broken. "Karli bombed a GRC supply depot."
Sam's body goes rigid.
"What? What's the damage?"
"Eleven injured, three dead. They have a list of demands and are promising more attacks if those demands aren't met in full."
Shannon's phone rings and she grimaces, excusing herself and walking into the bathroom.
"Hello?"
"Shan?" Janice asks. Her voice is tense, worried. Shannon's heart begins to race. She can hear Sam, Bucky, and Zemo arguing in the other room, but their voices are quickly drowned out by her own tension.
"Mama?"
"Shan, I have some bad news about your dad... He's in the hospital. He's had a fall and it's... well, it's bad."
"How bad?"
"He's in a coma. The doctors don't know if he's going to wake up."
She crumples to the floor like a ragdoll, tears spilling down her cheeks. The whole world stops spinning for a few minutes. Her first thought is this can't be happening. It can't possibly be happening. She's dreaming... or it's the shock of getting shot. Maybe she never woke up. Maybe she's still on the plane.
She and her dad were just starting to work on their relationship. Maybe, they could heal things before his dementia took him completely. They were so close... and now... God, what if he doesn't make it out of this?
Somehow, she manages to pull herself together to speak the next sentence.
"I'm coming home."
"Are you sure that's safe?"
"Mama, I'm not going to stay here – I can't."
"What about Bucky?"
"He'll understand."
"It's the hospital in Topeka."
"Got it. I'll be there as soon as I can."
"Sweetheart, it's going to take you at least a day and a half if not more with stopovers," Janice replies. She sounds exhausted.
"I've got a friend to help me out," Shannon replies. "I'll see you soon."
Shannon hangs up the phone and puts her hands over her face, sobbing silently into her palms.
You can't do this right now. You can't break down. You have a whole plane ride to do that in private.
She stands up and shakes herself off, stepping out of the bathroom. Sam, Bucky, and Zemo appear to be finished their conversation. Zemo throws a tiny candy at her, and she catches it.
"What's this?"
"Turkish Delight," he purrs with a smile.
As Shannon unwraps it, she tries to figure out how to say what she needs to say. Bucky looks over his shoulder at her. They haven't been together long, but he knows when something is wrong.
"Who was on the phone?" He asks.
"My mom. I, uh... I have to go back to Kansas."
"What?" Bucky asks. "Why?"
"My dad's in a coma."
"Shit," Sam whispers. "How?"
"Mom said he fell. I... I have to go. I have to be there for him." She looks at Zemo. "I need your help getting there."
"I have another private plane at an airfield in Riga," he tells her. "I'll have Oeznik accompany you. He can have you there in less than a day."
Bucky stands and wraps his arms around her, brushing her cheek with his fingertips.
"I can come with you," he says.
Shannon shakes her head.
"The world needs you, Buck." His mouth opens and she interrupts him. "And if you say that I'm your world, I'm going to smack you in the face with your own metal hand because that's cheesy and lame."
He laughs softly and pulls her into a hug. Shannon lets a few tears leak from her eyes and spill onto his t-shirt. She pulls back, cupping his face with her hands.
"Just promise me one thing?" She asks.
"Anything," Bucky breathes.
"Come back to me after all of this is over."
Without hesitation, he says, "I promise."
Sam has vacated his place at the bar, walking over to give her a hug. Zemo is already on the phone, speaking to Oeznik in a language she doesn't understand.
"That goes for you too, Wilson. No heroics – well, you can do heroics, but don't be an idiot."
"Weird, that's the same thing my sister says to me," he laughs before pulling her into a tight hug. "Give your mama my love, Shan."
"I will."
"Shannon?" Zemo calls. "There's a car outside for you. Oeznik will drive you to the airfield."
"Thank you," she replies.
"I'll drive her," Bucky replies. "I'll take the car, though."
"Are you sure that's wise, James?" Zemo asks.
"Yes."
"How far is it?"
"An hour outside of the city."
Bucky turns to her.
"Then we'll have time to say goodbye." He tosses Zemo his phone. "Plug the directions into that map thingie for me." Surprisingly, Zemo does as instructed.
Bucky turns to Sam.
"Can you hold down the fort and keep this guy under control for a couple of hours?"
"Not a problem," Sam replies.
Shannon grabs her bag and they say their goodbyes. Sam hugs her tightly.
"If you need anything at all, call me, okay?"
"I will."
She walks over to Zemo as Bucky lingers by the door. He extends a hand and Shannon smiles.
"It has been a pleasure to meet you, Shannon."
"You too, Zemo. I'd say I'll see you around, but..."
"I understand," he replies. Quickly, he raises her knuckles to his lips and presses a soft kiss against her skin. "Until we meet again."
"Fat chance," Bucky mumbles as he wraps and arm around her and leads her to a small blue car waiting outside. He puts her bag in the backseat and opens the door for her. She looks up at him.
"You didn't have to do this."
He steals a kiss.
"Yes, I did."
The drive seems to take forever, and yet there's not enough time with Bucky. Anxiety pools in her belly, making her limbs tingle. She wonders if he's going to get out of this alive if he will, in fact, come home to her like he promised. Shannon looks over at him as he fiddles with the radio. The feeling rising in her chest feels like puzzle pieces sliding into place to form a whole picture. For her, that looks like the two of them together forever. She wants it. She could just ask him. Here, now, in Zemo's car as he drives her to the airport. She could be the one to ask him. Hell, it's 2023. Women do this all the time.
Slow down, girl, her brain reminds her. You've got enough shit on your plate right now.
His eyes find hers as they stop at a red light.
"Are you okay?"
She nods.
"Thank you for coming with me," she whispers.
He leans over and kisses her softly.
"I'm not going to let you do all of this by yourself, Shan."
When they reach the airfield, Oeznik is waiting for them. Bucky helps her out of the car and she whirls around, wrapping one arm tightly around his neck, kissing him deeply. He kisses back. It's passionate and longing. Desperate, even. Shannon begins to cry – truly beginning to let go for the first time since the phone call. She knows what he has to do. The Flag Smashers, the serum, Walker, Sam, and the shield... it's bigger than her. Bigger than both of them.
But it's not her fight. It's Sam's. And his.
"I love you, Shannon."
"I love you too," she whimpers. "Why does this feel like goodbye?"
"It's not. Not now, not ever."
"Promise me you'll come back to me," she sobs.
"I swear. I'll text you every five minutes."
She laughs.
"That might be a little much."
Bucky chuckles.
"I'll call you halfway through your flight, and when you land, and Facetime you in the hospital."
"You can't work Facetime. Remember we tried and you couldn't figure out which was the answer button?"
"I'll make Sam teach me."
"Oh, he'll love that."
Bucky gives her one last kiss. Shannon feels like she can't hold on to him tight enough. She never wants to let him go.
"It's going to be okay."
Neither of them knows if they believe those words, but she'll take any amount of comfort that she can get.