stamina (bucky barnes)

12

"What are you doing?" Tony asked. 

Natasha was sitting against Bri's door, almost passed out. Bri had turned her phone off and told FRIDAY to restrict contact from anyone in the building. Nat was worried after she ran from the lab. 

It had always been like this. Bri would take care of everyone before taking time for herself. Nat didn't want her to resort to her old habit of bottling things up until someone poked the bear a little too hard.

Nat wiped her face and blinked a few times to adjust her eyes to the daylight. "She fled up here and locked her room down."

Thank god Pepper and Happy were able to complete the tasks at the tower. Tony had raced back to the compound as soon as the construction crew arrived. The call from Sam and Nat nearly made him shit his pants. Since Bri hadn't been taking her medicine, she was just as susceptible to being manipulated just like she was when Tony and Fury found her. Her emotions often went haywire and her overthinking brain would force her into a panic attack. He hated seeing her like that. 

"Why don't you go get something to eat? I can stay for a while." Tony weakly smiled at Nat. "Also, what happened to the elevator?"

Natasha sighed and pulled Tony away from Bri's door, just incase she was awake. "You know how Bucky didn't come down for dinner?" She asked in a hushed voice, waiting for his nod, "He saw the scar on Bri's leg and freaked. Then Steve started pushing her to tell him what happened and he smashed the coffee table, started shouting- Tony I've never seen her that scared before."

Tony almost gulped. "Did Steve break my elevator as well?"

Natasha nodded, sadly. "I wasn't up here to see what exactly happened but Steve said something about Bucky attacking them, in Winter Soldier mode, when he forced Bri to come up here to make amends. Sam and I heard a crash and Steve had fallen through the doors. When we got up here, Bri had Bucky in a chokehold."

"Great." Tony grinned sarcastically. "She had to fight him on her own for a second time because she was trying to protect another person."

"I think Steve started it." Nat offered him a more hopeful explanation. "Bri knows how his mind works. She would've been able to calm Bucky down if he wasn't agitated." She held her hand out to Tony before tugging herself up. 

"Where is he now?" 

"I ended up having to drag him down to the lab and Bri sedated him. She took care of everything and ran up here." Nat was now walking backwards towards the stairs. "Text me if she comes out. I think it's different this time, Tony."

He waited until the echoing of footsteps ceased before he tried knocking. Tony heard FRIDAY disclose who was at the door before it surprisingly clicked open.

She was curled underneath at least five blankets. Bri had burrowed herself into a cocoon as soon as Natasha started calling for her last night.

"Bri, please talk to me."

"This was not your fault."

"Steve will get a good ass kicking later."

"I'll be out here when you're ready."

There was nothing Natasha could have said to coax Bri out of her room. She didn't want company. She wanted to be alone with her thoughts so she could go over every detail of the disaster. It was her fault. It started with her. That is why she needed a way out.

"Honey..." Bri felt the bed shift as Tony scooted up against the headboard. 

He saw the bundle of blankets shift as she tried to suppress a sob. Tony's chest tightened at the sight of his little girl in such distress. Bri turned over and crawled up to Tony. He and Nat were the only people she ever let see her cry. Tears streamed down her face as Tony pulled her into a hug.