Bring Me Home // Bucky Barnes

Chapter LII - Separated

Day One

"What are you talking about?"

Elizabeth couldn't wrap her head around what Sam was saying as he stood in the doorway, his eyes not meeting hers and his arms folded across his chest. She stared at him as he shrugged cooly and her shoulders went slack.

"Sam." Her voice was no more than a whisper. "Please?"

"What do you want me to say Elizabeth?" He tried not to pay attention to the way her body tensed as he used her full name for the first time in their friendship. "He doesn't want to see you."

She shook her head, ignoring the way it felt like bricks were crashing inside her skull, as her tears began to fall again.

"You're lying." Her face screwed up in undeniable pain as she dropped to the floor, unable to hold herself up anymore. "You're lying Sam." Her cries clung to the walls and clawed at Sam as blue wisps crept forward from where she lay in a ball beneath him.

It took every ounce of strength he had, but he stepped away. He stepped out of the room and closed the door, hatred threatening to spill out as he let himself walk away and leave her in pain. He had promised.

He would keep her away.

*

Wanda stared at him with thinly veiled fury as he sat guard outside Elizabeth's door. Her eyes would flicker with embers of scarlet flames as she watched and waited, but he never left his post.

Sam stared at the wall with blank eyes; listening in to her conversations, drowning in the pain of her cries, challenging anyone who tried to suggest he let her see Bucky. He was drained, he was exhausted, and after hours of hearing her world shatter over and over, he was broken.

"Take a break, pigeon boy."

Sam's eyes snapped open at the instruction and his frown set immediately.

"Why should I trust that you won't give in to her?" He raised an eyebrow as he crossed his arms.

"Because my bruises match hers, remember." Pietro snarled. "Besides, I'm the last person she wants in there. I'll just sit here while you shower and eat something."

Sam stared, unmoving.

"Don't worry. I won't let her break out."

Sam got to his feet slowly, staring down at the boy who stood a few inches shorter than him.

"You go near her and you won't just have Barnes to deal with." He took a step closer. "You've done enough damage. You hear me?"

Pietro sighed. His chest ached all the time now and he could pinpoint the very moment it had started to hurt. He had hurt her with his words and he knew she wouldn't forgive him for what had happened after.

"I hear you."

Sam stalked down the corridor and into one of the rooms nearby.

"I need half an hour." He shouted over his shoulder. "After that you can clear off."

*

At some point between Vision's visit with a tray of food and now, Elizabeth must have fallen asleep.

She woke in a groggy state of numbness and disinterest. Beside her her food remained untouched and she couldn't bring herself to move enough to even push the tray away. Instead she remained where she was; curled in a ball on the floor in the middle of the room.

If anyone asked how long she had been like that she couldn't tell them. The pain of stillness had crept in hours ago and now she felt like her entire body was burning, pushing for her to move. She danced in the pain of it all.