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꧁꧂
BUCKY HAD BEEN getting better. His shoulder was fully healed. New memories flowed through every day, and every day he'd pull out his journal to write in it.
Charlie had a different experience.
She would gain memories every other day, the memories just being bits and pieces, nothing too huge. It had put her down. What if she never remembered?
But she didn't let that affect her... that badly.
"Char! Come here real quick!" Bucky demanded, not taking the time to say please.
She jumped up from her pallet on the ground. She was sharpening her knives.
"Yeah?" She walks through the doors that lead to the back, where Bucky currently was.
"Can you fix my arm? It's being really twitchy." Bucky motions to his left arm, that rests on the counter. Tools lay beside his arm.
Charlie could tell he had already tried to do something about it, but overall failed.
She nods, picking up a tool and immediately getting to work. Charlie had become skilled in fixing his metal arm. On missions, he somehow always messed it up in some way.
"Hey. So, I was thinking today, maybe we could take a look at my wings? Something happened to them at the Triskelion and I haven't looked at them since then." Charlie suggested quietly.
Bucky eyes her, looking for some sort of emotion to shine through her face.
He found none.
She was hiding her emotions from him. That meant either two things: she was sad or afraid.
Bucky couldn't tell which.
"Yeah, sure. Are you worried about them?"
"I mean, sort of. The last time I retracted them, it hurt. I think maybe they got cut or something on them broke. I don't really know, that's why I want to take a look." Charlie begins to ramble.
"Hey, hey. Alright. We'll look at them." Bucky took his arm back after she's done.
He grabs Charlie by the arm gently, pulling her to an open area in the kitchen. The room had to be big enough to fit her and her wings.
"Okay." Bucky stands there, not knowing what to do.
"Okay, I'm going to shift." She closes her eyes, letting the wings form from her back.
It's painful, unlike the other times she sprouts her wings.
Something's definitely wrong.
She can't fully extend her wings, having to scrunch them just a bit. Charlie winces as her wings crack open.
The feathers on her wings are ruffled, not the usual smooth and soft.
There's scars underneath the feathers, given to Charlie over the years under HYDRA. They're not visible unless you lift up the feathers.
But one thing was very noticeable.
The form of her wing wasn't matching the other. Her left one was broken, it sitting more down than the right.
Charlie looked behind her, her face contorting with emotion as she saw the broken wing.
"Bucky! James, fix it!" Charlie starts to hyperventilate, her breathing too fast for her mouth.
"Okay! Okay! What do I do?" This has never happened before. They both had no idea what to do.
"I don't know. Just please, Buck, fix it." Charlie pants, leaning against the ground.
She squeezes her eyes shut, feeling Bucky's hands on her wings. "I'm not going to pop it in place, there's nothing to pop in place. I'll adjust the bone to sit right and tie it there." Bucky thinks out loud.
Charlie muffles her screams behind her lips.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Bucky moves her wing to sit in the right position. He can feel the broken bone move in his hands. If he didn't have such a strong stomach, his lunch would be all over the floor.
After Bucky successfully moved the bone and tied it still, he checked on the past out Charlie.
She was unconscious, her breathing finally even and calm.
Bucky smiles before standing and leaving her alone to rest.
———————————————
Charlie woke up an hour and a half later.
Her eyes opened as she scanned her surroundings. "Buck?"
"Yeah, hey. I'm here. How are you feeling?" He checks her over, moving to sit beside her.
"Do you remember Steve?" Charlie ignores his previous questions, asking her own.
"Only a little bit. I know he was our best friend and we left him to go to the military. He saved us the first time from HYDRA." Bucky explains.
"I don't remember much about him," Charlie finally tells her brother.
"Well, it'll come up eventually. You and him were really close. He still feels that way. I saw it on the Helicarrier."
Charlie tilts her head. "What do you mean?"
"You two must have dated or something. I mean, did you hear what Wilson was saying? He called you Steve's girlfriend."
"That can't be. I don't even remember the man," Charlie denies. "All I know is he's under our protection. We're on his side."
Bucky nods in agreement, and the conversation ends.
"So, what are we going to do about your wings?"
"I'll give them a rest for a few weeks, maybe months. I'll let them heal, and I'll stay in my regular form for the time being."
"Okay."
"So, what's for dinner?"
"How about some plums?"
"For dinner?"
"Yep."
• • • - J.S. 6. 22. 2021 Published: July 16, 2021 881 words
