CALL HER | Bucky Barnes

15

GRACE

He didn't call.

My calls to Bucky went straight to voicemail every time, so either his phone was off or he actually figured out how to block a number. I called three times over the next three days, and then I gave up and waited.

Then, after everything at the GRC meeting hall a week or so later, I told myself I gave up on waiting too. He was busy now, I thought. Whatever reflecting Bucky had done in the eye of the Flag Smashers storm was probably over now.

I had to block his number after two weeks, though, so the little nagging maybe in the back of my mind would go away. Rationally, I knew he wouldn't call me, so it didn't matter if he was blocked or not. But it helped emotionally to know he couldn't, so I'd finally stop staring at my phone.

The next time I heard his voice after that morning, then, was over three months later.

I knew I had to be careful around this Air Force base. I knew he and Sam were around here somewhere. But all I had to do was one little meeting with an engineering team here. That was it. Get in, stay for an hour, get out.

It didn't work out that way. I got in fine and had the meeting. But I was supposed to walk through an aircraft hangar before I left to see some of the tech the others had been talking about.

I heard his voice while I was trying to make a quick exit out of the hangar. He was about to enter the same way I was about to leave, and he was getting closer. I could just barely hear some military jargon I didn't understand.

I glanced around. My heart was hammering. I yanked open the door of a two seater plane and climbed into the cockpit, keeping myself low. I ducked under the instrument panel, curled into myself next to the bottom of the pilot's seat, as out of sight as I could get. I left the door just barely cracked so no one would hear it shut.

I just barely got in on time. I heard him more clearly now, talking about a mission. Sam's voice, too. I could hear their footsteps coming closer.

God, I would've been better off just dealing with seeing him. I'd never emotionally recover if he found me like this.

"Hang on—stop for a second," I heard him say, footsteps stopping by the plane I was crouched in. "There's no way Grace would be around here, right?"

My heart sank.

"No, she wouldn't be. Why do you ask?" Sam said.

"I could've sworn I smelled her for a second just now. The way it would smell if she'd just been here."

"Smelled her? What, like a dog?"

"Well, the serum helps my senses."

"You saw her, what, twice?"

"Look, I would recognize it anywhere. I swear that was her."

"Somebody might have the same perfume."

"No, it's perfume and her. It's different. I can't describe it."

Ew. What else did I smell like? I dipped my head a little more to sniff myself, but I still wasn't sure what the hell he was talking about.

"There's no way she's here," Sam said. "She doesn't wanna see you."

"I know. That's why I was confused."

"Maybe she's here to kill you?" Sam suggested. "I could see that."

"I'd still be happy she came here for me," Bucky said, laughing derisively.

"That's not healthy, Buck. I can't tell if you're kidding right now."