Chapter Text
He knew who the woman was.
She’d come bounding up to Sam once, lips cherry red from a popsicle that she had been sucking on. Her lips were swollen from the cold and he wondered if that was how they looked when she had been thoroughly kissed. The smell of vanilla wafted in her wake.
He’d fled, of course. But that didn’t stop those lips from creeping into his thoughts from time to time.
He’d seen her around several times. But never this late.
It was just after three am. Bucky had tried and failed to fall asleep, so he started wandering and ended up in a little kitchenette by the situation room. Legend had it that it housed the best coffee maker in the compound.
She was standing at the machine, poking at it. And she turned and said, “Don’t look at me like you can have me.”
“What?”
She started punching at the buttons and muttered, “I’m fucking thirsty,” she turned to him with wide, glassy eyes and said, “and you are a foul creature.”
Bucky felt physically sick. Was he dreaming this? Did she really…?
A tiny woman in stockinged feet came skidding in, “Oh my God, I’m so sorry. It’s my fault.” She tugged on the other woman’s sleeve and gently turned her towards the door. “We haven’t met yet. I’m Dr. Foster. This is Darcy.”
Darcy tried to turn back to the machine. “I want to push all the buttons. All the buttons!”
Bucky was genuinely concerned, “What is wrong with her?”
“She’s asleep,” Dr. Foster laughed. “She does this when our schedule gets all messed up. Which is totally my fault. So, so sorry.”
“She’s sleepwalking?”
“Yeah. She’s being really good tonight. Usually she’s calling people names.”
At this Darcy pointed at Bucky and hissed, “Ghouls. I see ghouls.”
“Shit. Sorry. Its totally my fault. She’s a nice person when she’s awake.” Dr. Foster was out the door when she called back to Bucky, “Nice to meet you!”
She was awake the next time she spoke to him.
“Out! Get out!” She screamed.
The lab was soaking wet. The sprinklers were still going. There was still a piece of equipment on fire. And Dr. Foster was hysterically spraying everything in sight with the fire extinguisher.
“Came to help…” Bucky started.
“Out!” Darcy screamed again. So, he fled.
She was awake, and not screaming, the third time she spoke to him. But she wasn’t happy. She was armed with a pile of handwritten notes and a mug full of coffee from the kitchenette. She had her hair in a bun with three different pencils stuck in it. She was clearly frazzled.
He’d wished he’d noticed her before he’d accidently plowed into her and knocked everything out of her hands.
“What the fuck, dude?!”
“Sorry,” Bucky bent to retrieve the papers that had flown out of her hands.
“You should be,” she scolded. “Do you know how long it took me to organize all these notes? Jesus.”
“Sorry,” he muttered again. He dropped a piece of paper into spilled coffee. It was an accident. But she snatched it out of his hands.
“Just… let me… “
Sam yelled at him, “Barnes, let’s go…”
They had a mission. That was the reason for his rush. But still, he offered one more, “Sorry…”
“Just go…save the world. Let us peons do our jobs in peace.”
The smell of vanilla lingered on his clothes.
Bucky almost didn’t ask. But he was understandably intrigued.
“Do you know Darcy Lewis?”
Sam wasn’t really paying attention.
“Yeah. Banner brought her in with Dr. Foster. She’s nice. Why?”
Bucky shrugged, “No reason.”
Sam suddenly was paying attention. A knowing smile crept across his face, “Mmm hmm. You’re a breast man.”
“What? No. I mean…no.”
“Sorry, I can’t help it. Irritating you is fun. Really, why’d you ask?”
Bucky let out a little exhale of frustration, “She keeps yelling at me.”
“You probably deserved it.”
“Sam…”
“Barnes!”
Bucky jumped at her voice.
“Just the man I wanted to see!”
She was coming towards him. He braced himself for the onslaught.
But she was smiling…
And she reached for his hand…
His left hand…
Without flinching at all, she pulled him towards the largest kitchenette in the compound.
“I need your super taste buds. I added a few special ingredients to an otherwise very boring cookie recipe. And I asked Banner and Scott and they both insisted they were good cookies. But who doesn’t like cookies, right? I need a more discerning palate.”
He wasn’t entirely sure what was happening. But she was holding a cookie in front of his nose and looking at him expectantly.
He took a bite and tried not to grimace.
Raisins.
He HATED raisins.
He faked a smile and promised, “S’good.”
At least she wasn’t yelling at him.