The D in Apartment 23

“Dr Fitzpatrick is at reception should I send her up?” The receptionist spoke out to Steve who nodded his head to the little camera whilst pouring a fresh mug of coffee. He quickly grabbed another mug pouring her a steaming saver as well holding it out to her just as she walked through the door.
“Steve hi, thank you very much.” She smiled at him taking the offering from his hand and nodding her head slightly. “I trust Peter got Wanda home safely?” She enquired, she knew that when Wanda had said he were showing her work that she wasn’t lying.
“Bright and early, Sam was up waiting.” He laughed as the door opened causing her to spin around and see the man who cooked her pancakes this morning in the buff.
“Doll, hey what a surprise.” The shock on his face evident to Steve and Tony, who had followed him in. He strode over to plant a kiss on her lips, not caring that his teammates were in the room as she blushed.
“Actually, I’m not here to see you.” She bit her lip trying to hold in her laugh as his face drop.
“Oh, it’s okay frosty we all get stood up now and again.” Tony laughed, gripping the edge of the table for support.
“I’m sorry. I’m here for a meeting.” She let out her nervous laugh as she stood on her tiptoes to peck his lips apologetically.
“With who? I thought I were the only Avenger of interest to you?” He laughed nudging her.
“Dr Fitzpatrick ready?” Bruce spoke out from the door, looking clueless at why the room had fallen silent.
“Dr Banner, of course thanks for taking the time to do this for me.” She smiled politely, giving Bucky a final glance and smile as she followed Bruce out of the door.
“Wait why she speaking to Banner and not me?” Tony asked as they left.
“Because not everything requires your input Tony.” Steve shook his head picking the pop tart from the toaster.

“Do you think it could work?” She asked him excitedly, leaning over the microscope, not taking her eyes off the singular cell of proof underneath it.
“This isn’t really my field, but, from what I can understand it’d work.” He looked over at her with a smile as she pushed back on the office chair with a little ‘woo’. “If you’d like I have a friend in the field of biology who could examine it in better detail for you. She owes me a favour.” He shrugged with a smile, her excitement contagious.
“You’d do that?” She smiled as he nodded. “Thank you so much. It’s been a bit of a passion project for me, I want to make a lasting difference in this world.” She blushed as she closed her files and handed them over to him, before closing the lid on the petri dish looking at it for a moment longer before handing him that too.
“You’re a surgery doctor you make a difference. I’ll go see her with them now, hopefully you’ll have your answer soon.” He spoke as he texted his friend to ask if she were free.
“Thanks.” She blushed slightly not used to compliments about her field of work, it’s just what is expected.
“I don’t think I ever told you properly, but, the work you did on Bucky’s arm and on Clint’s bullet wound was really impressive. I’m sure my friend would love to get to meet you sometime to discuss possibilities of the future. I know I speak on behalf of us all when I say we would love to have you on our team.” He smiled over at her as they both made their way over to the door walking back upstairs towards the exit.
“One step at a time Doctor Banner.” She laughed as he shrugged saying it were worth a try.

Harry smiled to herself as she made her way to her car, something about having Bruce’s approval of her research gave her hope that it would be a success, her smile only grew when she saw Bucky leaning on her car waiting for her.
“Hey handsome.” She laughed at the corniness of her sentence as he smiled leaning down to kiss her.
“We still on for tonight?” He asked once they had parted, her messy bun bouncing on the top of her head as she nodded yes. “Good I’ve got a surprise for you.” He winked at her knowing she hated surprises. “Be ready for 7.” He told her, giving her a deep kiss before pushing off her car and walking back into the headquarters before she had chance to question him about his plans.

Harry felt like her kitchen clock had been stuck on 18:45 for hours, her legs were jumping up and down in impatience, her long nails tapping on the breakfast bar as she glared at the time. There was a sturdy knock on the door as she practically ran over to it swinging it open quickly to reveal Bucky stood there in a pair of black slacks, a button down grey shirt and his Navy military jacket over the top. He had slicked his hair back similarly to the pictures of him in the museum pre-serum. “Oh, my god.” Harry sucked in her breath as she closed her eyes to steady her speeding heart rate.
“Do you like?” He laughed leaning forward to kiss her whilst her eyes were still closed.
“You know I do.” She whispered, biting his lip gently as she opened the door wider for him to come in. They quickly made themselves comfortable at the breakfast bar where the candles were lit and food set out. Harry had made her grandma’s pie that she had told Bucky about when they were reminiscing. Harry had told him about her meeting with Bruce and how excited she was if there were a chance her research could go further in the medical field. He listened intently, smiling at how excited she were talking about it; he didn’t understand a word of it, but, he didn’t care he could listen to her talk him through a dictionary and still not get bored. “Anyway, how was team talk?” She asked with a smile, taking a big swig of her apple juice.
“It was good. We have another mission.” He paused judging her response. “I asked Bruce not to mention it because I wanted to be the one to tell you.” He smiled nervously, his hands going to the label on his bottle of beer. “Well ask you really.” He paused again trying to think of the best way to bring up the subject.
“Ask me what?” She smiled, her hands taking his off the bottle and holding them.
“We have a new facility that they wanted us to go check out. You know check the security, do a bit of tactical training and so forth. I wanted to know if you would come to check out the medical facilities. The whole team is going, so you’ll have Wanda and Natasha. I think Sharon might also be joining us. We leave in two days for a week.” He told her watching their hands as he messed with her fingers gently.
“Why was asking me that making you so nervous?” She laughed with a shake of her head, confusion filling her face. Bucky looked up at her slowly and the look on his face made Harry feel instantly uneasy.
“The new facility, well it’s in England.”

Notes