[ WWII AU ] what a night to go dreaming

[from_the_outside]

There's no doubt that things have shifted, a little, since the day they spent tangled up together in that sun-dappled cottage, tucked away in the trees behind the nearby town. The other Howling Commandos have, seemingly by silent agreement, stopped flirting so outrageously with her, though she's caught Jim and Gabe giving Bucky more than one fondly exasperated glance. She still dances with all of them, and enjoys their company, but they yield the floor to Bucky at the end of the night, and he's the one who, as she said she wanted, walks her back to her tent. 

And then there are their rendezvous' out in the field, where she still checks, each night, for a portal opening in the air. It never comes, but she spends hours there with him, walking and laughing and dancing under the starlight, stealing every moment they can together.

Aunt Peggy says nothing, but Sharon knows she can tell things have changed. There's a worried frown that lives between her brows, but she doesn't forbid her niece to see Steve's best friend, knowing it would only backfire.

Other things change not at all... like the morning tests Howard still makes them do. They're nearing the end of the sequence today, and she lets go of Bucky when Howard tells her to, careful not to linger. It's difficult to say what Stark thinks of his findings; he mutters to himself and snaps at his assistants, but all she can glean from it is that the resonance is still fading at a regular rate from her cells.

But none of them know why.

Comments

[nerves_of_ice]

Bucky laughs. “If it’s not, the future must be a heck of a place. That’s amazing, baby.”

[from_the_outside]

“I never thought of it as being a mansion,” she says, but his good humor keeps her from being too embarrassed.

There are so many other photos she wants to show him, but for now she just scrolls back to that first one, of her in her deb dress, and lets him look as long as he wants. “I wish I could show it to you in person.”

[nerves_of_ice]

"Well, you have to realize I'm used to a different style of house," he teases. Bucky reaches to brush his finger lightly over the hair of the Sharon in the picture as he says, softly, "I'd like that, too."

[from_the_outside]

She sets her head against his shoulder and looks at the little screen of her phone, then reaches to take it from his fingers, gently.

“Smile,” she tells him, and curls against his side as she holds the phone out and snaps a photo of the two of them, sitting here together in the sun.

[nerves_of_ice]

He does, unable not to as she curls against him, then gasps as he sees the image coalesce.

“Will you look at that.”

[from_the_outside]

“Like magic, isn’t it?”

She turns the phone so he can see the photo better, and grins at his delight. Maybe she shouldn’t have given in, but she wants to have a visual memory of him. “I guess it might be harder to get a photo you could keep, though.”

[nerves_of_ice]

“Since I don’t have a magic camera, yeah,” he agrees. Is there even a camera in camp he could use? The journalists aren’t here right now, and there aren’t any newsreels planned until they get back to London. Ignoring the ache at the thought of an opportunity missed, he looks up at her and smiles.

“I’m glad you have it, though.”

[from_the_outside]

"Me too."

It's a bare murmur as she studies him. "Is there anything we could use? Does anyone have a camera?"

She hates the idea that she'll be gone and he won't have anything to remember her by – aside from the little starry night lamp, which she can't bring with her.

[nerves_of_ice]

He shakes his head. “The newsies aren’t at this camp, and I don’t know if anyone else has one.”

He tucks a lock of hair behind her ear and smiles at her. “But I’ve got a good memory.”

[from_the_outside]

A smile flickers over her lips and she tips her head into his touch, but she can't hold herself back. She leans in, swift, to press her mouth to his in a sweet, slightly desperate kiss, the ache in her chest spiking at the thought of losing him to time and to the written destiny she knows awaits him.

[nerves_of_ice]

He makes a low sound deep in his chest and slides his hand back around the nape of her neck, kissing her again.

Hours might be all they have left, and he can’t bring himself to let her go. Not yet.

[from_the_outside]

That sound he makes hits her bloodstream like lightning, and she whimpers, low, against his mouth before she kisses him again. "Bucky," she murmurs. "My sweetheart. My soldier boy."

[nerves_of_ice]

He strokes his thumb along the side of her throat, up and down, and kisses her again.

“And you’re my angel,” he murmurs. “Darling Sharon.”

[from_the_outside]

“Yes,” she promises. “No matter where or when I am. Yours, baby.”

All she wants is to keep him. But she can’t, and still go home.

[nerves_of_ice]

He kisses her again and tips his forehead against hers.

“Just remember me fondly, sometimes,” he whispers. “That’s all I can ask.”

[from_the_outside]

“Bucky.”

Her voice is breathless, a little helpless in a way it never is. “I’ll think of you all the time. Like you’re just out of sight, and about to come smiling around the next corner.”

[nerves_of_ice]

“I like the sound of that.” He keeps tracing his thumb over the side of her neck. “And hey, you never know, right? Stranger things have happened.”

[from_the_outside]

"They certainly have."

She runs her hand up along the side of his neck, her fingers toying with his hair. "If I could bring you with me," she murmurs. "If it wouldn't mean leaving everything you have here behind, I would. In a heartbeat."

[nerves_of_ice]

“I’d go, just like that, if I could come back. Travel back and forth somehow.” He tilts his head a little, into her touch. “I couldn’t abandon Steve. Or the girls.”

[from_the_outside]

"I know you wouldn't," she murmurs, and a terrible sadness sweeps over her.

If she told him, maybe he'd have a chance to escape his fate. If she could bring him back with her, he wouldn't be on that train in the Alps.

And maybe then Steve wouldn't be so reckless, wouldn't crash into the sea. Maybe he'd have a life without being trapped in ice. And they'd be reunited in the future.

But she can't say any of that. As terrible as it all is, she apparently has to let it happen.

[nerves_of_ice]

Something changes in her expression, and he cradles her cheek with his hand, trying to soothe. “Don’t be sad, baby,” he whispers.

[from_the_outside]

Her smile flickers, wry. "Too late," she murmurs, and turns her head to press a kiss into his palm, sweet and almost reverent.

"You're not a little sad?"

[nerves_of_ice]

“I am,” he admits. “I’m going to miss you, angel.”

[from_the_outside]

"I'm going to miss you, too."

She has to believe the experiment will work, will send her home, because it's the best shot at it by far. But that also means she has to believe these are the last few hours she has with him.

A small smile flicker over her lips. "And here I thought you weren't going to break my heart, Bucky Barnes."

[nerves_of_ice]

“Well, I sure didn’t mean to.”

He leans close and gives her a sweet, gentle kiss. “But if it’s any consolation, you knocked me for a loop.”