Atlas | Avatar!OC x Bucky Barnes

Epilogue

Tuesday, September 22nd, 8:45 am

Atlas waited in anticipation in the bathroom just beside her lecture hall. She took a moment to review the scars that littered her body. Healing herself with water did a great deal for her recovery, but even Atlas's extensive healing abilities couldn't quite tackle the nerve damage that she had sustained from the gunshot wound in her forearm. But it did help Atlas make a full recovery. A long surgery scar ran up from the middle of her outer forearm to just past her elbow. Another one was located along the base of her thumb to her wrist, and the last one was from the knuckle of her index finger to the base of her wrist. Not to mention the small scar that rested on the side of her temple, and at least half a dozen more that her hair covered. She was left with a concussion that she was still nursing, but she wasn't about to defer her schooling for another year. Her healing abilities helped make the head injury more tolerable.

Atlas never blamed Bucky for any of it. Over two months later, and she still loved him. She didn't think it was possible to stop loving him. And she missed him every day. At one point, she had been helping Steve look for him as a small side project for the Avengers, but nothing ever came up. Bucky had learned from his mistakes, and never left any sort of trail for her and Steve to try and follow. She eventually realized that Bucky was gone, and he wasn't coming back. She was reluctant to give up on him, but she was just being realistic.

Knowing Bucky, Atlas knew that he probably blamed himself for what happened in Laos. But she blamed herself as well. If she hadn't been so impulsive and taken more time to think things through, Bucky might still be here. But he wasn't. Atlas had a feeling that she knew where he was, but she would respect Bucky's wishes and would let him stay hidden for as long as he needed.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a ring from her phone. The ringtone wasn't the one she was hoping for. She was waiting for her timer to go off, but instead, she was getting a call from Tony.

"Hello?" she said softly through the phone.

"Check out the Journal of the American Medical Association!" Tony said excitedly.

"Right now?" Atlas asked tiredly.

"Yes, right now," Tony demanded.

Atlas pulled the phone away from her ear and phone it on speaker. She then went on the internet and searched for the medical journal Tony had mentioned. When she clicked on their website, the most recent article that was published was the report that she and Tony had written together about their cancer research. After coming back from Laos, Atlas devoted much of her time to helping Tony with his research because there was nothing else to do during her recovery. She and Tony had made some interesting observations and discoveries that they both wanted to share with the world, so they typed up a report and submitted it to the Journal of the American Medical Association. "Oh my god. You're shitting me!" Atlas said excitedly.

"Look at the authors."

Atlas scrolled down to the bottom of the long article. Three names were credited with the creation of the article: Jack Yunshui, Atlas Yunshui and Tony Stark.

"Are you serious?" Tony asked. "Why'd you change the order?"

"Because this was all you, Atty. You deserve it. But I know you have a class right now, so we'll talk when you get back to the compound this weekend," Tony said, hanging up right after.

Tony had made the executive decision to move the Avengers facility up north. Atlas knew she'd be living there, and she wanted to live there, It was a gorgeous facility, but she didn't want to fly to Manhattan and back every single day. So, to compromise, Tony had a few changes made to the small house of hers on Bear Mountain and even brought the land (without her knowledge - she still doesn't know). Atlas lived on Bear Mountain during the week and would fly back to the Avengers compound and stay there for the weekend. This way, during the week, Atlas wasn't too far from school, and she was close enough to the Avengers compound so that she could get there within half an hour at most if there was an emergency.

Just moments later, the timer that Atlas was waiting for finally went off. Butterflies filled her stomach, making her want to throw up for the second time that morning. Atlas walked back into the stall that she had gone to the bathroom in and took the cup out and set it on the sink. She didn't want to look, because she already knew the answer, but she didn't want it to be real. Atlas took the pregnancy test out of the cup and forced herself to look at the two stripes that revealed themselves.

Tears started to flood her eyes. Not happy tears. This was the last thing she needed just as she was beginning college. She already knew what she was going to do, but if she terminated the pregnancy, it's like Bucky would be completely gone.

It almost made Atlas feel a bit better to know that she had been carrying a small piece of Bucky with her this whole time, but she knew she had to let it go. It wasn't what she wanted, and it was definitely not what she needed at the moment.

It was only her third week at Columbia, and this was one hell of a way to kick off the start of a new year, but Atlas knew what she had to do. She needed to power through. The only thing Atlas wanted to focus on right now was school and the Avengers. If she couldn't have Bucky, then she wanted to have the things that Bucky wanted for her. The things that she wanted for herself.

It was a mishap in her plan. But once Bucky was officially gone, she could get back on track.