As the weeks went by, Beverly stays in the infirmary healing. Bucky would visit her every day telling her all the events from that day and get her her dinner. After a full month, she was ready for the field again and couldn't wait. The nurse said she was able to sleep in her cot again. On the way there, a couple of guys high-five her making her laugh. 'Good to be back' she thought. She makes it there, saying hello to the other girls, and makes herself comfortable for bed. She drifts to sleep pretty fast from the pain meds.
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Beverly and Bucky sit on down against a tree trunk, doing their usual routine of sharing an apple, having small talk, and cracking stupid jokes with one another.
"You know when this was is over, we gotta go to Coney Island together. I think it would fun," he beams at her.
"What I think we should do is help Steve get a girlfriend. He deserves to be happy. It seems like he's gone through so much from what you've told me." She implies. Bucky lifts up his arm to put it over her shoulder and she leans against him. 'Smooth move,' Bucky thought.
Suddenly shots were fired and they take position in the fox hole. Beverly goes off to another area but Bucky makes sure to keep a look out for her.
She eventually comes crawling back looking for a gun. Eventually, Bucky has to reload so Beverly snatches the gun Bucky has on his belt and gets out of the hole. She shoots the Nazi coming after them but she also went down, getting shot in chest. Bucky runs up to her and drops to his knees, lifting Beverly up to his lap.
"Stay with me, Bev. Don't go anywhere! He shouts cradling her. They rush her to base and place her on the table, trying to work fast. The other soldiers hold Bucky back as he tries to get closer to her. Peggy turns around to Bucky shaking her head.
"I'm sorry, Sergeant Barnes. It's too late. She's gone." She apologizes.
Bucky screams in anguish and the guys let go of him as he drops to his knees. Everyone leaves Bucky by Beverly's side so he can grieve by himself as he holds her tight.
"I love you, Beverly." He sobs. After hours of sitting there with her, they had to take her away. Bucky goes back to his tent to see something on his pillow. As he gets closer he sees what it was: her dog tags. He puts them on and holds them tight with his hand as he lays down quietly on his cot.
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Bucky sits up quickly looking at his surroundings, seeing everyone asleep. "Just a night nightmare." He whispers and put on his boots before he walks as softly as he could to the infirmary. When he peeks in he has a moment of panic when he doesn't see Beverly. He hurries to her designated tent and sighs in relief when he sees her peacefully sleeping in her own cot. He walks up to her and takes his boots off noticing her shivering a bit underneath the blanket. It was one of those odd cold nights that night. He climbs in the cot next to her as much as he could. Beverly feels some movement and wakes up seeing Bucky real close to her face.
"What are you doing?" She ask.
"Couldn't sleep. Wanted to check up on you." He whispers. She scoots so he could have more space and wraps herself around him so her head was on the crook of his neck and her left leg was tangled around his. He places the blanket over them to warm them up much faster.
"Much better." She whispers with a smile. Bucky kisses her head before they fell asleep in no time.
It was bright and early when Beverly wakes up first. Her eyes were closed still but she could feel Bucky's arms wrapped around her from behind. She turns around so she could face him. He was snoring very lightly but Beverly thought it was cute. Their faces were so close to each other in the small cot that was really only meant for one person. Beverly stares at Bucky for a while as he sleeps and starts to play with his hair. He mumbles something incoherent in his sleep that she couldn't understand and pulls her closer to him so their foreheads were now touching. She couldn't help herself but to give him a kiss on cheek.
"Wakey, wakey, Sarge." She whispers. He doesn't open his eyes but he does smile. When he finally opens his eyes, he doesn't say anything at first. They just have a moment of silence.
"Good morning," he says in a raspy voice.
"Morning," She whispers back. "Did you sleep well?" He nods, closing his eyes again.
"Thanks to you," he adds. Beverly was about to respond when someone shouts.
"SERGEANT BARNES!" They both jump apart, falling off the cot on opposite sides in the process and looking up, seeing Colonel Phillips. Bucky immediately stands up and salutes him.
"Sergeant Barnes, may I ask why you were in bed here with Sergeant Banks?" He ask. Bucky suddenly forgets how to speak English and just babbles.
"I...I...uh.." Was all he could spit out.
"I asked for an answer, Sergeant. Not stuttering." Colonel Phillips raises his voice.
Agent Carter stands behind him giving Beverly a knowing smile and shakes her head which makes Beverly snort immediately regretting that when Colonel Phillips scolded her. "Something funny Banks?"
"No sir!" She squeals. He looks between Bucky and Beverly not saying a word.
"Sergeants, this isn't a playground. This is war so I suggest you keep your little play dates somewhere else. Got it?!" He snaps making their shoulders jump.
"YES, SIR!" They yell simultaneously. Colonel Phillips then walks out of the tent, Peggy opting to stay behind for a bit. Bucky and Beverly look at each other and laugh.
"That was embarrassing," he says as they both put on their boots and jacket. "Ladies." He gives a small bow before walking out of the tent, not forgetting to sneak a little wink at Beverly's direction. Peggy turns to Beverly with a smirk.
"What?" Beverly questions.
"You like him. No. I think you love him." She gasp.
"What? No, no, no. I don't love Bucky." She denies.
"You totally do." One of the nurses Shelly chimes in. Beverly looks around to the other nurses nodding their heads.
"Is it that obvious?" Beverly grimaces slightly.
"Yes." They yell in unison.
"You two are always together 24/7, you guys look out for each other, and he's very protective of you. And I think that's so sweet. You guys are totally in love with each other." Shelly says.
"I wish I had a boyfriend here." Elaine, another nurse, pouts.
"And don't think we didn't see him sneaking in here last night." Peggy adds
"Did you guys do it?" Shelly gasps dramatically.
"What? No! There was none of that. He just came in to check up on me." Beverly explains.
"So, he checked up on you all night?" Peggy raises an eyebrow suspiciously.
'You know what I can't deal with this right now. Girls, I got a war to fight." Beverly says not wanting this conversation to continue any more.
"We knew it. She does love him!" They squeal as Beverly walks out shaking her head.
"What is that all about?" Bucky asks laughing as he hears squealing and giggling coming from the tent as he passes Beverly a gun.
"Oh, nothing just girl stuff." She chuckles nervously as she swings the gun over her shoulder.
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While on the field, Beverly thought Bucky was strangely more clingy and protective towards her and it was getting on her nerves. She would stand guard but Bucky would be right in front of her. If there was any shooting, Bucky would either get in front of her or shoot her target before she could. When they catch a break, Bucky would linger around as she talks with the other soldiers, keeping an eye out.
"What's with your boyfriend today, Banks? Being all over protective." Dum Dum ask.
"He's not my boyfriend!" She protests.
"We'll see about that." He jokes making the others laugh. After three hours of silence and not much going on, Bucky and Beverly sat down and chatted.
"I'm hungry." Beverly whines.
"I'll get you something. Hold on." Bucky say reaching for a bag. He then hands her a green apple.
"Thank you." She takes the apple with a small smile. "You know, when this is all over, we should help Steve get a girlfriend." Beverly says with her mouth full. Bucky's eyes open wide remembering the nightmare going the same way. Once the action starts happening, it was the same thing. Beverly tries to get some shooting in but Bucky would just intervene.
She eventually crawls away from him but soon comes back empty handed. A Nazi comes right towards them and she went to go for him until Bucky suddenly pulls her down causing her to fall back into the fox hole, and shoots the soldier himself.
"Bucky, what the hell?! I had him!" she yells. "You know you've been acting weird and really over protective today. What is your problem?" She lashes out before walking off to join the other soldiers.
Back at camp, Beverly couldn't help but think about what the girls were talking about earlier that morning. She walks into the tent, frustratingly pulling off her jacket and throwing herself onto the cot.
"What's the matter?" Shelly ask.
"Bucky's the matter, that's what. He was acting so weird today and I don't know why?" Beverly sighs.
"Well you can't lay here all night. Come on, it's movie night. Join me and the rest of the girls." Shelly says grabbing Beverly's hand and drags her back out of the tent.
All of the soldiers sit in front the stage watching the movie. Bucky sits on the right side while Beverly and the rest of the girls sit on the left. He would sneak a look at her every so often throughout the whole film. It was the first night they didn't eat dinner together.
"You and Bucky didn't fight did you?" Elaine wonders noticing how Beverly didn't really touch her food.
"Uh, no. Not really. Just needed some space." She sighs.
After the awkward silence, Beverly gets u throwing away her leftovers and she starts going back to her tent but Bucky stops her halfway.
"Bev, can we talk?" he ask grabbing her arm.
"Not now, Buck. I just wanna get some sleep." She says taking her arm out of his gentle grip and attempts to continue walking away. "No, Beverly, wait. Don't go to sleep yet." He begs after her. She stops walking crossing her arms, turning to look at him. "Bucky, what is it with you today? Honestly." She raises her voice a bit. He hesitates and apparently did not answer fast enough as Beverly turns back away. "You died!" he shouts. Beverly stops in her tracks and turns around slowly.
"What?"
"I, uh, had a dream that you died." He admits softy. Beverly could tell this really bothered him. He wasn't looking at her, instead to the side with a pouted face. She walks closer to him to give him a hug.
"That's why you've been so clingy today?" she ask and he nods as best as he could in her arms.
"Last night, when I woke up from the dream, I went to the infirmary and didn't see you there and kinda panicked. I found you sleeping in your tent and I was still kinda worried so I wanted to sleep with you; make sure you were safe." Beverly tiptoes to give him a kiss on the cheek.
"You don't have to worry about me, Buck. I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself. I mean, let's be real. If I wasn't, I wouldn't be here fighting beside you." She smiles.
"I know, I just..." He was hesitant to say what he wanted.
"How about you tell me tomorrow after you're rested, okay?" She pats him on his chest and gives him one more comforting smile before she walking back to her tent. Bucky wasn't able to sleep at all. He was too afraid of having another nightmare. He lays there with his arms under his head, his mind keeping him awake with how much thinking he was doing. There was a sudden thud that brings him out of his thoughts. He looks to the side to see Beverly holding her foot.
"Ouch son of a bitch." She whines lowly.
"What are you doing here?" He chuckles.
"I didn't want you having another nightmare." She climbs in next to him and wraps herself around him. He kisses her head and wraps himself around her as well.
"Good night, Bucky."
"Good night, Beverly."