[Virginia AU] we rose up from the falling waters

[nerves_of_ice]

A little over a week goes by, and as it does Bucky falls into a pattern, slow but sure. He wakes with Sharon in the mornings, shares coffee and something that suffices for breakfast, then works a little on searches and checking contacts and sources from other time zones and locations. Mid-morning finds him at the Task Force offices with Riley and his team. Early afternoon finds him meeting with Ross, if there's any reason to; mid-afternoon he checks in with Steve, with Tony, or with Natasha before he goes back to tracing rumors and hints.

Today's different, though. Today is Sharon's first day back at work after her suspension, and Bucky's determined not to do a single damn thing that might possibly make it difficult for her.

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[nerves_of_ice]

"In the meantime, I will show her around," Shuri says, cheerfully. Ross gives her bright smile a wary look. "You're not going to shock her right back into a sickbed, are you?"

Bucky pays no attention to this. Instead, he focuses on the feel of Sharon's hands on his, and makes his breathing careful and steady.

[from_the_outside]

"Give me a little credit," she tells her boss, as Shuri banishes the laughing hologram of Nakia.

Ross is less amused. "You almost died," he gripes at her. "I'm telling you to take it easy. That's an order, Carter. One you'd better follow."

She feels a rush of affection for her grumpy boss, and a smile flickers at the corner of her mouth. "Copy that," she says, her hands still warm and firm around Bucky's.

[nerves_of_ice]

Bucky squeezes her fingers as Shuri says, "This will be easy enough. Come, come and see!"

[from_the_outside]

She gets up off the bed and shivers slightly once more as her bare feet come into contact with the cool floor. Sharon keeps her hand in Bucky's – Ross can just deal – assuming he's unlikely to let her far out of reach, anyway.

"Okay, princess," she says. "Lead on."

[nerves_of_ice]

"This way," Shuri chirps, bright and visibly amused. Bucky can guess what she's anticipating.

With Ross on her other side, he walks with Sharon out into the main lab, where displays of inventions and experiments in various stages are arranged in illuminated glass cases.

Outside the floor-to-ceiling glass windows that show the heart of Mount Bashenga, a mag-lev train races by in elegant silence on its stabilized track.

[from_the_outside]

It's not that she's completely unflappable, but she does, generally, feel like it takes a lot to flap her.

This is no a lot. This is a full on shift in reality. She stares out the window at the – are they in a mountain? – and has no idea what to say. Which is fine, because Shuri is explaining about the mine and the meteor and she's just trying to absorb it before it runs off her like so much water.

"This is all vibranium?" she manages, finally, astonished. "The whole mountain?"

[nerves_of_ice]

"The whole mountain," Shuri confirms. Bucky thinks she sounds proud and smug and highly, highly entertained, and he can't blame her for an instant.

"You're taking it better than I did," Ross observes.

[from_the_outside]

"I'm still a little out of it," she tells him. She gently unlaces her fingers from Bucky's and moves to stare out the window, lifting her hand to the glass as her brain tries to come to terms with what she's seeing and hearing.

"This is crazy. I thought it was impossible."

[nerves_of_ice]

“It is, outside Wakanda,” Shuri informs her. “That is one of our maglev trains. Tell me, are your metros and subways and trains truly as messy and noisy as I have heard?”

Ross sounds rueful. “Probably. Or worse.”

“Give it time,” Bucky says, dryly. “It’s only been almost a hundred years.”

[from_the_outside]

"I'm sure we could do more with access to this tech and a mountain of vibranium," Sharon points out. She gives the mine a last disbelieving glance and comes back to the others, pulled, as always, to Bucky's side. "Tony Stark would swallow his tongue."

[nerves_of_ice]

Bucky trades a look with Ross. “He may yet,” he murmurs.

“You will have to take that up with my brother,” Shuri informs them. “So many people would rather cling to tradition, hah!”

[from_the_outside]

"What tradition?" Sharon glances between them all. "I mean, I get why Wakanda would want to keep this to itself..."

"It is not only that," Shuri tells her, looking slightly exasperated – though not, Sharon thinks, at her. "The secret is kept in part by never allowing outsiders to come here. The three of you are the first who have been brought, on purpose, in generations."

[nerves_of_ice]

“We came in hooded and cloaked,” Ross informs her. “Not sure how many people know we’re even here besides the king, the princess, your friend and the general.”

“She leads the Dora Milaje,” Shuri puts in. Bucky’s sure he hears admiration in her tone. “She is the best fighter, except of course for T’Challa, but do not tell him that.”

[from_the_outside]

"But they brought us." She says it slowly, horrified by the implications. She casts a glance around the lab. Sharon's no scientist, but even she can tell the tech here is so far beyond theirs it may as well be magic.

They brought her here. All the way to Wakanda, instead of to a normal hospital, and she doesn't think it was just for the speed of her recovery. She finds herself looking at Bucky as she says: "It was that bad?"

[nerves_of_ice]

“You were dying.” Try though he might, each word is stark and raw. “If T’Challa hadn’t used one of those beads to stabilize you…”

He shakes his head. “Another minute, maybe two, and it would have been too late. Anywhere else…”

He trails off there.

[from_the_outside]

She remembers again the desperation in his voice, the flutter of his touch that she'd barely felt, the gruff orders from Ross she was sorry to disobey, and she can't keep herself apart anymore. Stepping close, she puts her arms around Bucky and presses herself to him. Over her shoulder, Ross clears his throat awkwardly and turns to peer with studied interest out the window.

"I'm sorry," she murmurs, low, for Bucky's ears only. "I'm sorry I scared you, baby."

[nerves_of_ice]

Shuri moves to stand with Ross, diplomatically pointing out sights to him. Bucky lowers his face to Sharon’s hair as he wraps his arms around her and holds on - carefully.

“Don’t do it again.” It’s a low, harsh whisper. “I can’t lose you. Please.”

[from_the_outside]

It wasn't a walk in the park for me, either, she almost says, but his voice is so ragged and he's holding her so carefully, like he's afraid to break her, and she can't joke about it. Not yet; maybe not ever.

"Okay," she murmurs, even though it's not a promise she can make. She doesn't have supersoldier serum running through her veins, healing up every last injury. Bucky could have taken that hit and been up again a few minutes later, probably.

For the first time in a very long time, she feels terribly fragile, like the glass that was shattered to make the art she'd bought for him. "I can't lose you, either."

[nerves_of_ice]

“I’m sorry I wasn’t faster.” He presses a gentle kiss to her hair and lifts his head. Bucky shifts to slide his right arm around her waist, drawing her to his side, close against him.

[from_the_outside]

"You got me here, didn't you?"

She closes her eyes at the feel of his mouth against her hair, then sticks close to his side as he draws her in. "You did good, Barnes. Really good."

[nerves_of_ice]

He shakes his head, eyes dark, but doesn’t argue with her.

Ross casts a wary glance over his shoulder, then clears his throat again. “So. What happens next?”

Shuri rolls her eyes. “Nakia comes to get you, and I call my brother. What did you think?”

[from_the_outside]

"Can food happen at some point?" Sharon asks, her arm around the small of Bucky's back. He's tucked her close and she's grateful for it; she doesn't want to be any further away from him. "And some water, maybe?"

Also clothes, but apparently Nakia is bringing those. Still, it's been at least a day since she's eaten anything, and her stomach is starting to talk to her recently repaired spine.

[nerves_of_ice]

"Come this way," Shuri declares. "Something small, until a full meal later." She starts off down the corridor, back in the direction of the room where he and Ross had waited for Sharon to wake up. Ross gives them a look, then follows after her.

Bucky tightens his arm around Sharon's waist and guides her along.

[from_the_outside]

Aside from the floor-to-ceiling windows looking out onto the impossible mine, the design of the lounge Shuri leads them to looks blessedly familiar: couches and armchairs and a small kitchenette.

She wonders if there are cheeseburgers in Wakanda. She could murder a cheeseburger. "Sit, sit," Shuri tells them, before going to the fridge to look inside, humming to herself.

[nerves_of_ice]

Bucky leads her to one of the larger couches and helps her down to it, while Ross takes the armchair at the side. "You're really feeling okay, Carter?" he asks.