My Fathers Best Friend

Floor Plans

Tessa's POV

We'd landed in a large forest, dark green trees and brightly colored flowers. A small path was already worn out from frequent use and as Steve walked in front of us to keep watch in case anything jumped out, I helped Bucky walk through the path without falling. 

His hair was damp from me washing it. There had been dried blood in his strangely gorgeous hair, so I'd washed it out for him, after asking first of course. He'd been very still under my fingers, the only sound he had made was a small grunt when I massaged the shampoo into his scalp. I hand't been able to find a blow dryer on the quinjet, so I'd used another towel to get it as dry as I possibly could. 

He had his arm around my shoulders, leaning against me as we had to step over a log. His foot caught on a root and he fell forward, pulling me with him. He used his arm around me to pull himself to land on his back, my body landing on top of his. We were breaths away from each others faces as I stared down at him. He didn't make a single noise when we'd hit the ground, not a grunt or a whimper or even a hitch in breath. He was already in pain, and yet falling on his back with my weight landing on top of him seemed like nothing. 

I bit my lip softly, trying to will my body to move but something in me told me to stay. I felt like I wasn't in control of my own body and I hated that feeling. Had I actually noticed the fact that his remaining arm stayed around my body sooner, I probably would have made a noise when we hit the ground instead of staring down at him like an idiot. 

"I-I'm sorry." I mumbled out before standing quickly, his arm falling from my waist, gently hitting a leaf as he regained his composure. I bit my lip softly, rubbing my arms feeling suddenly cold. I decided to tell myself it was because I wasn't carrying a man twice my size and weight anymore, but a part of me knew I missed his arm around my shoulders. Why was I so obsessed with where his arm had been and why I was missing his heat surrounding me?

He held out his arm slowly and I snapped back into the real world, helping him to his feet. He slid his arm back around my shoulders, my arm going around his waist. My other hand held his arm, keeping his grip on me steady. 

We continued down the pathway, his steps a lot more careful now than they had been before. He wouldn't meet my eyes, he would look everywhere except my eyes. He seemed to love looking at my hair, because I found him staring at my hair more than anything else. I could feel his fingers twitching on my shoulder, then clenched into a fist.

"It's just up here." T'Challa said, pausing by an open clearing. I got Bucky past the tree line, my gaze going from the brooding brunette to a large building that gleamed in the sunlight. It looked like mostly glass windows, allowing light to stream in from every side of the gorgeous home. A large, rock carved panther facing into one of the windows. 

"This is beautiful, T'Challa." I heard the words leave me like a gasp more than a sentence. I felt another gaze slide to me and when I turned my head, I saw a small smile begin to tug at the lips of the Wankandan king. 

"Thank you, Ms. Carter. I have a medical team here that can check out Barnes while you and Rogers settle into your rooms. Mr. Rogers, your room is on the second floor. Barnes and Ms. Carter, your rooms are on the third floor." T'Challa said, walking towards the massive building. 

Steve had a slight frown on his face, but didn't object when T'Challa said that him and Bucky were on separate floors. I suppose it would be easier for Steve to go to Bucky's room than ask to be moved to the same floor as him. 

T'Challa lead us inside, a team taking Bucky from me, leading him downstairs. That must have been the medical team T'Challa had told me about. I was lead to a room one floor up while T'Challa took Steve to his room. 

My room was modest, but huge. Then again, I'd spent the last unknown length of time inside an over exaggerated fridge. The walls were white, and while I was used to cold, hard cement, the floor had a soft white rug to meet my feet. I saw a queen sized bed, the comforter was white, the pillows were black. Two white nightstands were on either side of the bed. A lamp was connected to the wall above the bed. The entire wall behind the bed was glass, which made me a bit nervous, but it was facing pure forest. Who would be out there to see me?

I moved to the closet and already saw clothes of varying color, texture, material and style. I picked a black tank top and a pair of black shorts. An inspection of the small dresser in the corner of the room showed different types of panties and bras. I ended up with black boy short style panties and a simple black cotton bra. 

I took a quick shower in the nicest bathroom I'd ever seen. A shower that sprayed water from every side of the walls and one shower head above me. There was a separate bath that was huge and had holes in the sides that pushed air against my hand when I turned them on. I guessed that when I had it filled with water, it would be like a massage. 

I was using a towel to dry my hair the best I could when three letters in jet black ink stood out against my pale skin. J.B.B. I had no idea what it meant or why it had been on me for as long as I could remember. I had asked a couple guards before they figured out that I didn't want to kill, but nobody ever answered me. What did J.B.B. mean to me? Why have it on my wrist?

My thoughts were interrupted by Steve knocking on my open door. At that moment, I was overjoyed that I had chosen to get dressed in the bathroom. I wasn't used to doors, so I decided then that I would be using the attached bathroom to get dressed from now on.

"Uh, come on in Spandex. What's up?" I asked, tossing the towel on my bed as I turned to look at him. He wasn't wearing the uniform anymore. He wore a pair of grey sweats and a white sweatshirt. 

"Can we talk for a second Tessa?" He asked softly, either not hearing me call him Spandex or it was a nickname he was used to at this point. I mean, he walked around in an American flag costume, what nickname hadn't he heard before?

I moved aside so he could enter the room. "Sure, what about?"

Steve walked in, sitting on the foot of my bed, looking at his hands. "You're family history, Tessa Carter."