[oom] something in my mind freezes up from time to time

[from_the_outside]

She hardly has any time to protest when Nakia appears like a vengeful storm sweeping into Shuri's lab and hauls Sharon away like a child who has snuck out of bed.

"Nakia –!"

"I will return her once she is ready," Nakia tells Shuri, who looks like she's barely holding back laughter, and then drags Sharon down the short corridor to the train platform, tapping out an order on her Kimoyo beads as she does.

"Do I get to know what's going on?" Sharon complains, and Nakia gives her a flat look.

"Stretch your arms up as high as you can," she commands, and when Sharon hesitates snaps: "Well?"

Annoyed, Sharon does as requested, but can only get her left arm about halfway up before wincing and letting it drop again. "As I thought," Nakia says, patronizing, and ushers her onto the train.

What follows is a series of tests and scans Sharon submits to with poor grace. "I'm fine!" she protests. "It's been six weeks!" But the Wakandan doctors either don't believe her or are too scared of Nakia to ignore her orders, and Sharon finds herself on the business end of a needle or two and several strangely warm lights that do something uncomfortable to the ribs she'd broken and then re-broken.

"Why does it hurt more now?" she complains, and Nakia smiles peaceably. "Because you did not take care of them before and now they must heal properly. You will be fine tomorrow or the day after."

And whatever arguments Sharon makes, she refuses to hear.

---

Nakia keeps her resting for the remainder of the day, feigning deafness when Sharon asks about going either to the lab or to see Bucky, and the evening and night pass without incident. She does manage to see him the next day, but it's brief: Nakia had swept in shortly after sun-up with coffee and breakfast and informed Sharon she would be taking her to meet several of the different tribes. And that it would likely take all day.

So Sharon contents herself with waving to Bucky from a distance as she and Nakia pass by: the children must have been freed from their lessons because they're clamoring around him. She meets a slew of people whose names she tries her best to remember and returns to the Citadel that evening with a few colorful braided and beaded bracelets around her wrist and several yards of beautiful cloth one of the village women had pressed on her. She doesn't know what to do with it; Nakia takes it with a secretive smile and promises to find a purpose.

But the next morning, she's up and out before Nakia can show up with plans again: the doctors had said she would be fine today, and she has somewhere she needs to be. After she's made use of the coffee maker she'd wheedled out of the kitchen staff, showered, and changed, she's heading down the halls of the Citadel to the station.

Shuri had said first thing. They may already be there.

Comments

[nerves_of_ice]

He'll never be fond of being in a lab of any sort, not even Shuri's lab, but he can endure it, for the sake of everything she's trying to do for him.

Bucky tries not to think about it the day prior. He's been trying not to think about a lot of things, with mixed success. For all that Nakia had suggested she wouldn't be able to keep Sharon from visiting, she seems very determined to try. He wishes her luck, sincerely and truly; her warning had just reinforced his own determination.

He lets himself be distracted by the children and the goats, as much as he can, and maintains his singular focus on each element of the daily routine. The less he thinks at all right now, the better.

Unfortunately, his mind decides to work on its own, during the night. After the third time he wakes from nightmares, he gets up and goes outside to stare at the sky and wait for the sun to rise.

An hour after sunrise, he's waiting at the train station for it to be time to go to the lab.

[from_the_outside]

"We've got to stop meeting like this."

It comes amused from the direction of the Citadel walkway, where Sharon is smiling cheerfully at him. She's still a little sleepy around the eyes, but even a casual observer would be able to tell she's feeling much better than she did two days previously. She's even moving a little better; some stiffness she hadn't even realized was there is gone.

She's smiling because it's nice to see him, all long-legged and stretched out, even if he looks less than enthused to be here. "Mind some company?"

[nerves_of_ice]

"No. I don't mind."

His own answering smile is much smaller, a brief wisp, but it's there - at least for an instant.

"Where are you off to?"

[from_the_outside]

"To the lab."

She comes to the bench and takes a seat next to, but not too near, him, watching him over her shoulder. "You're working with Shuri this morning, right? I thought I'd come offer some moral support."

Also, Shuri has the good coffee.

[nerves_of_ice]

It's on the tip of his tongue to ask if Nakia knows, but he's pretty sure he already knows the answer.

"I am, yeah."

He glances sideways at her.

"You sure?"

[from_the_outside]

Her smile quirks, turning slightly quizzical. "Of course I'm sure."

Well. Unless – "Unless you don't want me there, in which case I'll drink too much of Shuri's coffee and see what I can play with in the lab, now that I'm allowed back in."

[nerves_of_ice]

"No, it's fine," he says.

A beat, in which faint confusion appears in his expression.

"Allowed back in?"

[from_the_outside]

"Nakia grounded me," she complains. "She showed up at the lab right after I got there with Shuri the other day and dragged me off to get checked out by some doctors."

Her tone makes it clear she thinks this was an overreaction. "So they told me no strenuous activity until whatever they did fixed me up. And you saw Shuri's experiments...they're all strenuous activity."

She shrugs, flips a hand. "But they said it would only take a day. And now it's Day Two."

[nerves_of_ice]

Apparently Nakia had left him and gone straight to the lab, he realizes. She must have taken it seriously. Good.

"If they told you that," he observes, "sounds to me like they found something that needed to be fixed."

[from_the_outside]

"Nothing that wasn't already healing," she says, but she has to admit it's nice to not be sore or stiff for the first time in the last two months.

"I guess I should be happy she gave me a day first before hauling me over for a check-up. Maybe she's getting soft, being home with T'Challa."

[nerves_of_ice]

"She seems pretty sharp to me."

In more ways than one.

"I guess you two are good friends."

[from_the_outside]

"Yeah. Surprising, isn't it?"

She leans back and crosses one leg over the other. "Being in the field – when you find allies, real allies you can trust, not just the ones your boss tells you to have, you tend to hold onto them pretty carefully. It's not unusual to form friendships when you're after the same things and you've been assigned the same case or the same city. After a while it's just nice to have a familiar face around."

She grins at some memory and shakes her head. "And Nakia is one in a million. You should see her in action."

[nerves_of_ice]

"Not really," he murmurs. "I can see it."

Real allies you can trust. With a pang, he wonders what Natasha is up to. At least she's with Steve (and Wilson too, he guesses). She's not working alone.

"But I think I'll use my imagination. Although you could always ask her to show off her ring blades if she hasn't yet."

The clock at the end of the platform chimes and he gives it a disgusted look, then gets to his feet.

[from_the_outside]

She gets up, too, looking interested. "Those I haven't seen yet. I'll be sure to ask for a demonstration."

The train slides gracefully into the platform, and once the doors open she follows Bucky aboard. "Anything exciting happen with you yesterday?"

[nerves_of_ice]

"Nothing out of the ordinary," Bucky tells her, and as he hears the words he marvels at the fact that he can even say that in the first place, much less mean it.

He leans against the far wall rather than taking a seat, glancing absently out the window from time to time.

"I saw you heading by on your way somewhere?"

[from_the_outside]

"Mm. Nakia decided I needed to meet some people. She brought me around to a couple villages to meet some River and Border tribe members. Some of the kids gave me these."

She lifts her right hand; her wrist is still bedecked with the bracelets they'd given her. Honestly, she's not sure if there's a way to remove them without cutting them off, so she'll probably be wearing them for a while. "They were nice. But it took most of the day."

[nerves_of_ice]

He smiles at that, a little.

"Sounds like fun."

[from_the_outside]

"It was."

But she's looking at him a little more closely now. "Everything okay? You seem a little down."

Understandable, considering what he's here for, and why.

[nerves_of_ice]

"Everything's fine."

It's not a lie, he reasons. He just doesn't know how to explain. Maybe once the scans are done he can figure something out.

[from_the_outside]

"Why don't I believe you?"

She watches him, a tiny line drawing between her brows, before deciding to throw him a life line. "Coming in for these scans probably isn't your favorite thing, huh?"

[nerves_of_ice]

"Not really, no."

He slants a look at her as the train slows to a stop.

"I'm not ungrateful. Just the opposite. It's just... well, you'll see, I guess."

Bucky stops speaking as the door opens and walks out onto the platform. Shuri's waiting at the other end, looking unusually serious, although she brightens visibly when she spots Sharon.

[from_the_outside]

She follows him out onto the platform, nodding. The last thing she'd think is that he'd be ungrateful for the help, but, well –

He's had enough people playing in his head for one lifetime, she's sure.

"Good morning, Princess," Sharon says, and if it's not quite bright, it's still warm and pleased. "I hope you don't mind if I tag along."

[nerves_of_ice]

"Oh, really?" Shuri says, with eyebrows raised high. Bucky does his level best to ignore the speculative look she gives Sharon, as well as the one she turns on him.

"I do not mind if he doesn't," she adds. "Bucky?"

He shakes his head. "It's fine."

"It will be," Shuri promises. "Today may be harder, but we will make it as easy as we can."

[from_the_outside]

"Really," she says, amused. Whatever Shuri sees when she gives Sharon that peering look seems to satisfy her and amuse her both in equal measure, and she turns with her usual quick motions. "Come, then."

Harder seems like maybe this wasn't a bad idea after all. She knows he's not good at accepting help or support, but that doesn't mean she can't try.

She may not be a naturally comforting person, but...he soothes her. She can only hope she can do the same for him.

[nerves_of_ice]

Shuri leads them through the main lab, past the room where they'd called Steve a few nights ago, and down a hallway into a receiving room. This one's designed with more subtle art and a soothing color scheme.

Bucky appreciates it, even as he fails to be soothed. Shuri waves them to seats and takes one of her own across from them. She sets her tablet on a low table to the side and links her fingers together as she looks at Bucky.

"Coffee after," she promises him, and glances at Sharon with a bright grin. "You, though, can have coffee before and during."

Her attention turns back to Bucky as her serious expression returns. "I want to do more sets today. Updates on the previous ones, as we have done before... and a few with you concentrating on specific memories from the notebooks. It will let me map connections between them and what HYDRA has compromised."

Gently, she adds, "It will be difficult for you. I am sorry."