Trying Your Luck - Bucky BarnesxOC

Part 4: Blip and Snap

As Bucky dries his face with a hand towel and tries to shake off Sam's intrusion, he glances down. There's a medication bottle sitting on the sink. Gingerly, he picks it up, feeling a pang of guilt. He shouldn't be doing this. He should mind his business. There are some things from his past that he just can't shake. He's used to gathering intel and acting on it. Old habits die very hard.

Then again, if she didn't want him to find it, she would have put it away.

Right?

He turns the bottle over in his hand.

SHANNON MEYERS

ZOLOFT (sertraline hydrochloride)
tablets
25MG
TAKE TWO TABLETS ONCE A DAY WITH FOOD AS DIRECTED

Maybe he found someone just as damaged as him. Bucky puts the bottle down. There's a set of wedding rings sitting beside it. Panic sets in. Is she married? Was she? It occurs to him that he doesn't know a lot about her. She asks a lot of questions about him, but there are times when he's too scared or stuck on what to say that he just lets her talk. Without thinking, he pulls out his phone and dials Sam's number. Sam answers after one ring, laughing. Bucky breathes through his irritation. As he goes to speak, Sam cuts him off.

"What's going on, Buck?"

"I told you not to call me that!" Bucky hisses.

"All right, all right," Sam laughs. "What's happening? You want me to come back and rescue you? Take Shannon out for dinner?"

"Will you shut up?!" He looks around and corners himself deep in the bathroom so that she can't hear him. "Can you get intel on her?"

Sam's voice suddenly becomes serious, the way it does when they're preparing for a mission or a fight. Bucky's adrenaline spikes.

"What do you mean?"

"There are wedding rings on her sink."

"And?"

"What if she's married?"

Sam sighs with relief and chuckles.

"I highly doubt it, man. Why would she keep that shit out in the open?"

"I don't know!"

"Barnes... you have to learn to trust people. Not everyone's out to get you."

The sentence stings more than Bucky would like it to. It's not that he doesn't trust people, it's that... well, he doesn't trust people. His entire life has been brainwashing, lies, and facing uncomfortable truths about himself.

"Sam, please! I hate to ask this, but can't you use Redwing or something —"

"Oh, now you want Redwing! Redwing is a drone, Barnes. He doesn't gather intel that way. Look, if you want to know about this woman, you know what you could try?"

"What?"

"TALK. TO. HER."

The line goes dead and Bucky sighs. There's a soft knock at the door.

"James?"

"Yeah."

"You good in there?" Shannon asks.

He takes a deep breath and opens it, covering his anxiety with a small smile.

"Yeah. Sorry."

She glances over his shoulder at the sink.

"You found the wedding rings."

"I..."

"It's okay." She gestures for him to join her in the dining room. "Come and sit. Dinner's ready. I'll explain everything."