[WWII AU] a brand new day

[nerves_of_ice]

Bucky wakes in the predawn darkness, long before reveille would normally be called. He spends a few minutes reviewing the mission in his head before he rolls from his cot; there's no room to think about anything else. He meets Steve and the rest of the Howling Commandos at five-fifteen. As planned, they're on the move before the hour has passed.

It's a long day, a hard day, but in the end a successful day, for the most part. The hidden facility carved into the hillside is no more when they leave, HYDRA's agents defeated, their stockpiles destroyed. But there's still no sign of Schmidt, nor of Zola, and that remains incredibly frustrating.

Still, there's reason to celebrate today's win, and the squad's more or less exuberant on their return, some fourteen or so hours later. Steve disappears into the command tent to debrief with Colonel Phillips; Bucky'll catch up with him afterward, as usual. He spends a few minutes trading quips with the others before disappearing to weapons storage to see to his own rifle - also as usual. Something about taking care of it helps him feel like he's cleaning the blood off his own hands.

After that, he finds he's too restless to settle yet, and figures it's not the best idea for him to be around others until he sorts himself out. Bucky wanders along the edge of camp in the dark, then veers from the path and off into the field where he'd spent some time watching the stars only a couple of days ago.

It should be peaceful there, more or less.

Comments

[nerves_of_ice]

Bucky starts to clear her empty tray with his, only to have Gabe beat him to it. "I'll take care of this for you, Agent Carter," he says, almost shyly.

Somehow, Bucky manages to keep his lips from twitching in a smile.

[from_the_outside]

"Thank you, Private," Sharon says, a little surprised but pleased. "Maybe I'll run into you again later."

"I hope so," Gabe tells her, then nods to Bucky. "Sarge," he says, then starts making his way toward the bus area and the exit.

[nerves_of_ice]

Bucky smiles. "Gabe's a nice guy," he observes, and tips back the rest of his coffee. "Are you ready for round two?"

[from_the_outside]

"He's a sweetheart," Sharon agrees, then nods at him.

"Ready. You?"

[nerves_of_ice]

"Close enough. Let me just clear this," he says, lifting his own tray.

It doesn't take more than a moment before he's back at the table, ready to escort her.

[from_the_outside]

She ignores any glances or murmured comments as they head out of the mess tent and turn their steps back toward the lab, her thoughts occupied.

"I'm glad Captain Rogers could help out with Stark," she says, after a few moments. "I don't think Aunt Peggy would be so willing."

[nerves_of_ice]

Bucky glances over at her, startled. "What do you mean?"

[from_the_outside]

"To give Stark any leeway, I mean," she points out, and quirks a smile at him.

"Can you imagine him going to her and telling her what he wanted for his experiment?"

[nerves_of_ice]

Bucky laughs. "Not a chance. I figure that's why he went looking for Cap. Oh, hey--"

It strikes him, and there's real concern in the quick look he gives her. "She's not going to be upset with him for that? Steve, I mean."

[from_the_outside]

"She won't be," Sharon promises. "I'll make sure of it, in case there's any doubt."

[nerves_of_ice]

"Good," he says, a little ruefully. "I don't want her to shoot him again."

[from_the_outside]

"He should be fine," Sharon tells him.

After a beat: "Still, always a good idea to keep the shield around."

[nerves_of_ice]

Bucky gives her a wry look. "That's pretty much always true when it comes to Steve and that shield."

[from_the_outside]

"Then he shouldn't have any problems," Sharon tells him, breezily, as they come up to the lab tent.

[nerves_of_ice]

"Glad to hear it," Bucky says, and holds the flap for her before following her into the tent.

Nurse Hart's back, he notices, although she doesn't look particularly pleased about it. She's staring at Howard as though imagining heaps of coals falling on his head. Bucky's not sure Howard's even noticed.

"Glad you're back," Howard says. He visibly checks himself, nods to Bucky, then says, "Do you want to go over plans before or after you get into the sensor rig?"

[from_the_outside]

"Before."

Sharon comes in and nods to Nurse Hart, then takes a seat on the stool she'd been on earlier before giving Howard Stark her full attention. "What's the plan, Mr. Stark?"

[nerves_of_ice]

"Right now I'm trying to figure out two things. Three things. Well, maybe four things," Howard starts. "For one, how fast the effect wears off. For two, if increased contact increases the resonance effect. Or prolongs it. Or how exactly the resonance works in the first place, for that matter."

He draws a quick breath and runs his hand absently through his hair, causing it to stand up. "So to do that I need readings from you and Barnes, together and separately, with different levels of contact between you from 'none' to 'as close as it's possible for two people to get.' Understand?"

Bucky's pretty sure he followed all that, but he's not sure what he thinks of it. He gives Sharon a sideways look.

[from_the_outside]

Sharon listens closely, then nods – it's a little like trying to follow Dr. Selvig as he starts waxing rhapsodic about wormholes.

"You know there's a limit to the end of that spectrum, right?" she asks him. "Morally, if not physically."

Nurse Hart's jaw sets, but she says nothing; somehow Sharon thinks she's already made that connection. One of the lab assistants is blushing. Sharon ignores him to keep her eyes on Howard.

[nerves_of_ice]

"I'm not fond of artificial limits, but I'll take what I can get," Howard tells her, while Bucky tries not to wince or react or anything at all, including sawing his tongue off with his teeth. "Any more questions? Can we get started?"

[from_the_outside]

Sharon shakes her head. "No more questions," she says.

"But if one of us says to stop, we stop. No arguing."

[nerves_of_ice]

"Fine," Howard says. Bucky's pretty sure that if either of them does call a halt the other man's planning on dealing with it then and avoiding an argument now, but there's no point worrying about it.

He goes to his accustomed stool as the lab assistants gather around and starts to take off his shirt.

[from_the_outside]

"Agent," Nurse Hart says, and Sharon goes to join her back behind the sheet.

Shirt off, harness on, shirt on again; all of it feeling like deja vu as she comes back out and stands by the stool again. "Okay," she tells Howard. "Where do want to start?"

[nerves_of_ice]

"Where we left off," Howard says, then, "No, wait. Full second set. We can see if a few hours made any difference in the first readings. Separate first. Have a seat, Agent."

Bucky nods to the group he's started thinking of as 'his' lab team, and they start the countdown for his individual reading.

[from_the_outside]

She sits for the individual reading, then reaches out to lace her fingers with Bucky's for the first of the linked readings, trying not to think about the way he'd looked at his hands as they sat on the log.

If the readings are all that different from before, Howard doesn't tell them. "Okay," he says, once the second one is logged. "Back to back, let's go."

[nerves_of_ice]

Bucky squeezes her fingers, trying to reassure her - or himself, or both maybe, he's not sure - then lets go and gets to his feet, turning his back to her and standing still so the lab techs can guide them together.

Once again monitors howl, and Howard looks down at the resulting readings with fierce focus before turning back to them.

"Okay. Side by side first," he orders. "Arms around waists. Barnes, I know you know how this goes."

The look Bucky gives him's a lot closer to a glare than before. He doesn't dare look at Sharon.