We got you

Chapter 9

The next week is an up and down for all of them. Tony and Bruce managed to get someone for Y/N so that she can start therapy for her back. More often than not she comes back up from the gym in a foul mood and Steve has his dear trouble to get along with her when she constantly snaps at him.

Bucky comes away with more luck. He gets all the snuggles and forehead kisses that Steve wishes he would get. Still, it's not the right time to tell her. On the third day of her therapy class, just after she comes back up something happens. She fills a glass with cool water to drink and just as she gets it hot her lips, she burns them. She lets out a loud screech and the glass clashes down. She holds a hand to her lips. Loud and silent naked feet come running over to her. "Y/N?"

"Mommy?"

"Don't come in! There is glass everywhere." She motions the two soldiers to stop and looks at them before she carefully steps around the bigger part of glass to come over to them. "What happened?"

"I just wanted to drink a glass of water. I was pretty sure I turned it on cold but I must have mixed it up and turned it on hut. Burned my lips."

"Let me see." Steve reaches up to look at her but Y/N slaps his hand away carefully, her face bright red. "N-no. It's okay." Steve's face turns red as well, and they look at each other a bit awkward until Bucky claps his hands together. "I'm hungry." Both adults smile down at him, and they walk back to the common room. The mess in their kitchen can get cleaned up later.

It happens a few times more that water suddenly is hot when she was sure she had turned it on cold or the other way around. It's just as she sits in the tub one day and soaks in the warm water to get her aching back to stop. It feels better and if she's honest she's glad for the therapy sessions, even if she promised Tony to kill the poor woman if she continues to order her around like a soldier. Y/N feels the water get cold by the passing time. She thinks about getting new hot water in and just reaches for the handle to do so as she feels how the water gets hot around her. At first, she thinks she had lost control over her bladder but then the water gets warmer all around her not only in one section. Carefully she stands up and reaches for the glass on her sink. She throws her toothbrush into the sink and fills the glass with water from the tub and looks at it. Its normal water from the water pipes, mixed with a bit of soap. She looks at it and thinks about a cool glass and soon the steam from the glass vanishes and her fingers turns cold around the now cool glass. She thinks about heating it up again and the steam slowly comes back, her fingers heating together with the glass until it starts to cook. She drops the glass into the tub and stares for a second at the wall. What happens here?

It's only a little past one pm, and she knows Bucky is still taking the nap she forces him to take for this week, just to make sure everything is alright, and he has all the energy he needs. She slips out of the tub and quickly puts on a change of clothes. Her hair is still wet as she walks past the living room. Steve catches her eyes and stands up as he sees her hurrying steps. "Y/N? Where are you going?"

"I, eh... To Bruce."

"Is something wrong?" He comes up to her and looks her up and down to see if he can catch any indication that somethings not right. Y/N quickly shakes her head. "No. I'm alright. But Bruce asked me to tell him if my back gets better. So, I just wanted to tell him that I think it's really getting better." She gives him a smile and curses herself inside her head. She hates it to lie to Steve or Bucky... or to both. Technically it isn't a lie. Bruce really asked her to tell him if she gets better or worse and her back really feels better than on the day she woke up. At least she manages to get up from the couch on her own. She still can't really carry Bucky around or lift heavy things but up until now she knows it's just a matter of time. Still, she's not telling Steve that something is wrong and that gives her a guilty conscience. She claps him on the shoulder. "See you." Then she rushes out and curses herself out loud. "What the hell was that? A clap on the shoulder, really? Totally normal for you, dumb ass."