"Tonight
You just close your eyes
And I just watch you
Slip away
How close am I
To losing you"
"About Today" -The National
There was so much left to be said, but no words came out. Half an hour later, T'Challa, M'Baku, Wanda, Sam and Shuri came in, quietly, all together. Shuri was holding them back, having seen that Ophelia and Bucky were talking and not wanting to disrupt them. After an acceptable amount of time, Shuri decided she had to run some tests and take a look at some things, and the suspense was killing her, she needed to know how things went with the stone.
M'Baku was the one who barrelled through the room, passing Shuri quickly. His massive frame took up so much space by the bedframe, and made Ophelia look even smaller than she already was. Both her and Bucky looked up at M'Baku, his face contorted in something between anger and despair.
"Little Wolf," he said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "You must fight."
"I've been fighting my whole life, M'Baku," she said to him. "I can't do it any longer."
"Tsk," he grunted. "Life is a battle; one we fight every day."
"You're a good father, and a good friend." Ophelia sighed, sitting up even more, the pain ebbed for a moment and she was able to breathe without feeling sick to her stomach. The pain had been so unbearable that nausea was coming in short burst waves.
"T'Challa," M'Baku said, turning towards the King. "Can you wed them?"
Bucky and Ophelia looked at one another, a moment forgetting what was going on, a moment of gentle laughter. This union meant more to M'Baku than anyone else, and Ophelia would go through with it, she decided. The stone told her she was Ophelia Ivanova, but she did not accept that. The name meant nothing, the name was associated with those who did not care about her, a name associated with HYDRA.
She would be Ophelia Barnes when she died.
There was a sick feeling when she realized she was going to make Bucky a widow.
"As King, it would be my honour," T'Challa said, walking towards the end of the bed. "If you two want this."
Ophelia cocked her head to the side as she looked at Bucky. "Yes."
"Yes," Bucky echoed.
"I'm not quite marriage ready, my hair's a mess and I know I have dark circles under my eyes," Ophelia offered a sad attempt at a joke. Her words were hoarse, too soft to offer real humour.
But Bucky understood.
"Just like Romania," Bucky joked. "Just how I will always remember you. Beautiful."
Ophelia flushed, a flip flop sensation in her stomach. Surrounding them now were the rest of them. Sam stood with his hands folded in front of him, the occasional flicker of his eyes glancing at her; she could see the sadness in them.
It was Wanda who looked serene; she couldn't stop what the stone was doing to Ophelia but knew she had helped Ophelia to the best of her ability. After suffering so many brutal losses, Wanda was hard as a rock. Ophelia envied her, but for once, was not in someone else's head. Had she been, she would have known that this moment would be the final straw that broke her. Had Ophelia glimpsed inside Wanda's mind, she would have seen just how fragmented she was. How close to desolation.
"We have no rings," Bucky noted.
"Material goods, they make no difference in the ways of marriage," M'Baku told him. "What we feel in our hearts, that is what makes the difference. I presume you will love Ophelia until the end of time."
"To the end of the line," Bucky replied, looking at Ophelia as she beamed at him. She held his hand and squeezed it.
"Ophelia," T'Challa began, "normally our weddings would be far more exciting and festive, they would last days, but given the circumstances I will take a page from the American's books."
She nodded.
"Do you, Ophelia, take James Buchanan Barnes as yours?" T'Challa summarized. The North American traditional weddings were so boring, and they had no time to waste.
"Yes, I do, yes," she said, looking at Bucky.
"And Bucky, do you take Ophelia as yours?"
"Absolutely," he rose to his feet, "I do."
He kissed her before T'Challa could say more. Officially wedded or not, Bucky wasn't going to waste a moment, for he knew not how many they had. Those that were present clapped, but it all disappeared as though a bubble wrapped around Bucky and Ophelia. She kissed him back with as much force as she could muster, hand snaking around the back of his head, fingers tangling in his hair. He had his arm behind her shoulder blades, lifting her from the hospital bed. She could feel his heartbeat as she pressed her palm against his chest, and she wished she could feel it forever.
When they parted, Ophelia looked at everyone briefly, but honed in on Bucky.
"I'd like some time alone with him," she said. "There's something I need to talk about."
Sam approached the side of the bed. "Hey, Mrs. Barnes, I'm gonna miss you, Kid."
"You take care of him," she commanded.
"You have my word." He briefly squeezed her shoulder, then followed behind the rest of those leaving the room.
Alone again, Ophelia looked at Bucky. She was seated upright, and pulled her legs crossed. She patted the bed, and Bucky clambered up, sliding in behind her, just as they used to in Romania. She leaned her head against his body and felt his heartbeat through his chest. Grabbing his hands, Ophelia placed them upon her chest, so he could feel hers.
"Bucky?" she asked.
"Yes?" His words vibrated through her, his body against hers. She loved how this could make her feel, just being in contact with the man she loved. It was so much better than her powers ever were. All they did was cause her pain, and now she was dying because of it.
"Do you think I've used you?"
"Of course not," he replied. "Why would you ask that?"
"Do you think..." she bit back tears, the lump of a sob stuck in her chest, right where Bucky's hand was. As though he was holding it back for her. "Do you think I fell in love with you because... because of convenience?"
"Maybe at first," he replied. "You had nothing, Ophelia, and when you saw a handsome, charming outsider, you were bound to fall in love."
Ophelia laughed, the lump in her chest dwindling. "The stone said I am addicted to suffering, that I chose you because you'd suffered..."
"Don't listen to anything that monster says," Bucky told her. "Ophelia, despite everything you've been through, you are still the kindest person I've ever met. Every single person you meet loves you, look at all the people you barely knew here today, rooting for you. You make an impact on individuals like no one else, and that alone is admirable. The fact that you can love the way you do, without any conditions... O, you've suffered because you feel so much, because you process things differently than the rest of us, but it has made you stand out as the most loving person I've ever known."
"I knew going into my mind would... fasten the process... I did it without telling you..." she whimpered, starting to cry now.
Bucky pulled her closer, which was scarcely possible. "You didn't want me to suffer, that's why you did it. Telling me would have put me in a panic, and you knew that, so you decided to hide it to try and make it easier for me. It hurts that you didn't let me know, but I understand why you did it. Last time..."
There was a break, neither of them could speak for a moment.
"Last time was so much worse. Seventy years of us being side by side, not knowing who the other was... Seventy years of suffering. Then we had two good ones, two great ones. Then I lost you and I didn't understand how it was possible that one person could suffer so much. It should have been me who died that day, not you. I still stand by that. But O, this time, as much as I don't want to accept it, as much as I'm not ready to let you go... I understand you're not doing this so either of us suffer, you're doing it because you don't want us to."
She nodded.
He placed his lips to the back of her head, kissing her for a few seconds, breathing in her scent.
"I love you more than you can ever know," he told her then. "But I can't watch you suffer, not again."
"The stone said I had days, or... hours," she told Bucky with a rasp to her voice.
"And I'm not leaving your side."
She leaned her head back and shut her eyes. "Remember, in Romania, when you came to my work at the diner?"
"Yeah."
"My co-worker Diana told me that we needed to 'get hitched', that I couldn't let a man that handsome slip through my fingers," Ophelia told him for the first time.
"Why didn't you say anything?" Bucky asked, and Ophelia could hear the smile in his voice.
"I knew we couldn't get married on the run, in hiding, with me not even existing in any records, but it was more than that. I knew I'd never lose you. I've never once had a worry you'd slip through my fingers."
"You have a pretty solid grip on me," he told her.
"And Bucky?"
"Yes, O?"
"I want you to live your best life. Go with Sam, change the world like you were always supposed to, find someone else who makes you smile, who makes you feel human. Because you deserve every last bit of happiness in this world, and I will give that to you as long as I can... But once I'm... gone... promise me you won't do anything..."
"O, stop." There was a moment of silence. "I'll be okay."
She could hear his voice broke when he said it.
But she believed him.
"I love you more than you could ever know," she said his words, and they felt so right.
Because she knew exactly how much he loved her, and he knew exactly how much she loved him.
"I don't want to say goodbye," Ophelia whispered.
"Then don't."
"Okay," she replied, closing her eyes, leaning her body against him.
The throbbing pulse of his heart, the calmness of his methodical breathing.
It was the last thing she heard.