Timeless

Chapter 7

A/N: The absolute chaos of this chapter just somehow feels fitting for International Women's Day + the new episode! Have some chaotic Bucky, angry Kat, and peak Egan sibling behavior haha. And YES, Kat would absolutely be reading feminist pamphlets back in the day. We STAN.

July 1943

While Kathryn Egan was accustomed to seeing men pulled from the wreckage and hollow shells of planes, she wasn't used to seeing total crashes. And it just so happened that one particular day in July, there was a plane crash. It was something that would be seared into the recesses of her mind for the rest of her life.

She had been in the middle of doing a physical with Doctor Adler, taking a look at one of the younger boys who had contracted the flu and was in the recovery stages. When the sirens began bellowing, she wasn't totally prepared for it. And she wasn't really prepared to be shoved inside a jeep with Doctor Adler and rushed out to the site of the crash.

Truth be told, Kathryn wasn't sure what to expect. It seemed rather odd, bringing a doctor to the site of a crash. But if anyone was going to be able to identify the remains of a body, it would be a doctor that had done physicals on the man.

It was still in the early hours of the morning when the plane had gone down—and everyone on the base had heard the explosion. The ride to the site of the explosion was the fastest car-ride she had ever experienced, though Doctor Adler kept a tight and tense expression on his face the entire way there.

The plane had crashed just beyond the treeline of the base and already, there were nearly 30 men putting out the fire, removing the debris, and trying to assess what exactly had happened. Kathryn supposed that in the back of her mind, she should have thought about the fact that her brother was there and was likely, as a Major, to be one of the men present. It just hadn't occurred to her until she was following Doctor Adler straight to the crash.

As they approached the plane, her gaze fell upon her brother. He had a particularly grim scowl on his face, which only deepened when his eyes landed on her. "Oh you've gotta be kidding me," Bucky placed his hands on his hips. "You brought a nurse?"

"We have to identify the remains." Doctor Adler stated evenly.

Kathryn didn't move from his side, just kept a calm expression on her face. "He blew up!" Bucky exclaimed. "There's no remains to even find!"

Doctor Adler had no more than taken a few steps forward before several of the men with stretchers were returning from the crash site, empty-handed. But that wasn't what haunted Kathryn Egan. No, what haunted Kathryn Egan was the smell.

The scent of blood and something burnt mixed with oil was something that would be permanently seared into her mind for the rest of her life. Was something that on the worst days of her life, she would never be able to forget.

Colonel Harding looked less than pleased to find Doctor Adler sitting with his head in his hands on a log, Kathryn Egan standing there blankly, and a bunch of Majors who were just staring at the smoke billowing up from the trees.

"What happened?" Colonel Harding demanded.

"Practice mission—he went into his turn too early and too slow. Engine stalled out," Veale answered.

"Who was it?" Harding pressed.

"One of the 349th. A new crew."

"Barnhill," Buck answered grimly.

"Someone get Doctor Adler on his feet and outta here! He's got physicals to complete!" Harding barked.

"Yes, sir." Kathryn guided Doctor Adler back to the jeep, only briefly locking eyes with her brother. And she knew, in that moment, that they were thinking the exact same thing. If this was just one practice mission gone wrong and Doctor Adler found himself sick to his stomach, how the hell was he going to react when he had to treat the guys that burned up?