Bound To You (Bucky Barnes X OC)

Control

Warning: Mention of sexual assault.

Jade had been back at the compound for two weeks. She had completely healed physically, but her mental state was a much different story. When she woke up, she had forgotten for a moment that she had powers. She flew into Bucky's arms and took in the feeling of him against her. It was everything she had wanted since her father had taken her. But, as soon as she remembered her newfound powers, she recoiled from his touch and refused to let anyone too close to her. She could see the hurt in Bucky's eyes as he reached out to hold her, but she was doing it for his own good. She'd never forgive herself if he was hurt because of her.

Bruce had allowed her to leave the medical wing after a week. Her injuries had fully healed and he didn't see a reason for her to be contained anymore. She had isolated herself in the room next to the one she had shared with Bucky, refusing to allow him to stay with her. She only slept for a few hours at a time and when she did, her dreams were plagued by the raven-haired agent she killed and the doctors that had cursed her with her powers. There were more than a few nights where she had woken up encased in blue light, but she had been training herself to keep calm. Once she realized the powers were driven by her emotions, she began working to control them as best she could. It was the only hope she had of returning to a somewhat normal life.

Everyone on the team took turns taking her meals. Jade wouldn't allow them into the room, instead having them sit it outside the door and wait until they were gone to grab the food...not that she ate much anyway. Each of them had been disappointed when they would return a few hours later to more than half the food sat back outside the door.

Bucky didn't know what to do to help her. She was so close to him, yet so far away. He had spent three weeks fighting off the thought that she was dead, spending every moment searching for her. His body hummed back to life as soon as he found her and saw that she was still breathing. Now she was in the room next to him, but she was still out of his grasp. He could hear her screaming at night when she woke up from a nightmare. Each time he'd beg her to let him in, but she refused. He'd spend the rest of the night sitting outside her door talking to her, and each time he heard the carpet shift and her body rest against the door as he spoke. He had thought about breaking the door down, pulling her into his arms, and holding her against him until she realized that he wasn't going anywhere. But he wanted to give her the time she needed to work through everything she had been through.

Hydra had injected Jade with some type of hybrid serum that contained not only the serum Steve and Bucky were given, but also included something to manipulate her DNA sequence. It was what Bruce had named the super soldier 2.0 experiment. They were trying to improve on their first design and alter Jade to not only be stronger, but also take down an enemy with more efficiency. Bucky tried every day to make her see that she could control her powers. He would sit outside her room during the day, sometimes for hours on end, trying to talk to her through the door. He could hear her shuffling around on the other side of the door, so he took it as a good sign that she was at least listening to him. He was going to try every day to get into that room until she accepted the fact that he wasn't going to leave her alone.

Tonight he leaned up against her door talking about the time they had marathoned The Lord of the Rings trilogy. She had ended up falling asleep on his shoulder half-way through The Two Towers. At first he thought it would only be him and Steve, but then he found out that Jade would be joining them and he reminisced on how happy he was that she was there.

"You know, doll. I wasn't really excited about that movie marathon until I found out you were going to be there. Once Steve told me you would be joining us, I felt this jolt of excitement run through my body and I couldn't wait to get to Steve's apartment. Even though I saw you every day, I couldn't wait to spend more time with you outside of the compound." Bucky chuckled at himself. "God, I was so in love with you then and I didn't even know it."