The D in Apartment 23

"Dr Fitzpatrick, you have a visitor waiting for you in your office. I told him you was in emergency surgery and you could be in there for a while but he said he'd wait." Harry's receptionist breathed out once she'd caught up to the exhausted doctor. "He was pretty insistent. I've never seen him before though. Would you like me to call security?" She asked nervously.
"No it's okay. Thanks Julie." She smiled at the middle aged brown haired lady. Julie nodded hesitating before turning on her heels and walking away to her desk at the front of the wing. Taking a deep breath Harry swung the door open and was completely thrown off by seeing Bucky sat there. "Bucky. Hey. Hi." She stumbled over her words a smile spreading along her face. It had been three weeks since the Avengers left after their surprise visit. Nick Fury had found them the perfect lay low location and that was all she knew.
"Hey." He smiled standing up quickly when he regained his composure. He couldn't lie; he had missed her. Taking in her appearance to make up for what he missed he noticed the dark circles under her eyes and the pale of her skin. She looked exhausted. "The lady at the front said you was in emergency surgery, are you ok?" He asked concern flooding his voice.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Bad accident but the patient is stable now." She smiled closing the door to the office once she'd walked closer in. "How are you? How's Clint?"
"We're ok. He's healed great. Which reminds me" He jumped remembering the gift he'd brought. "These are for you. To say thank you." He picked up the bunch of flowers that were resting on her desk that she had been trying to ignore.
"You really didn't have too. I'm just happy you're all ok." She laughed carefully taking them out of his grip.
"I" He started realising his mistake and quickly correcting it hoping she hadn't noticed. "We wanted to." He smiled as she blushed placing them back down on the desk carefully.
"Well thank you very much." She smiled looking at the floor to hide her blush, noticing the spurts of blood that had fond their way on to her scrub top. "Let me just change my top?" She told him walking over to the other side of her office where there was a changing screen. Bucky could see her figure changing and quickly diverted his gaze with a tight bite on his lip. "How long are you back for?" She asked from behind the screen, returning shortly after changed into a white vest top.
"No mission as of yet." He smiled at her and he could swear he saw relief on her face. "I was wondering if you would like to get food sometime? Together?" He paused, instantly regretting the words that fell out of his mouth.
"I'd like that." She smiled once she'd gotten over the surprise. He was so nervous she could feel it.
"When are you free?" He asked, his smile growing knowing that he hadn't been rejected.
"I finish at 5, say about 7?" She asked, her smile matching his when he nodded.
"I'll see you at 7 then." He walked over to the door with a nod before leaving.


Seven couldn't come quick enough for the both of them. Bucky had gone through his option of clothing with Steve who was thrilled he'd finally asked her on a date. He was the first one to notice during their time at the safe house that Bucky was off. It didn't take him long to figure out why that was and soon Natasha and Clint were joining in trying to offer him advice on what he should do. As for Harry she opted for a floral print tea dress and some T-bar flat shoes. Her make up was minimum just hiding the telltale signs of late nights and early mornings and she'd braided her hair to the side. She quickly spurted the perfume she always wore when she went out when she heard the knock on her door, grabbing her handbag and rushing over to the door she swung it open expecting to see her handsome neighbour standing there, instead she saw an old familiar face. "Kit what are you doing here?" She couldn't contain the annoyed groan that escaped.
"I came round to apologise for what happened last time I was here." He bit his lip nervously, looking around.
"Ok. You need to leave." She told him quickly, she knew Bucky was due over at any minute and she did not want an awkward encounter to start the night off with.
"Can I come in so we can talk properly? Wait are you going somewhere?" He asked finally noticing her outfit choice.
"Yeah I'm going out, so you need to leave they'll be here any minute." She looked over at him with wide eyes, hearing the lock on the door opposite slide across.
"Is it a date?" He asked again, his voice raising a little. Her hesitation told him the answer was yes. "Who with?" His voice louder now. Again she didn't answer. "Is it with him? The whack job from the other week?" He asked, full blown shouting at this point and as if by movie magic Bucky walked out just as Kit spoke them words. Glancing between Harry and her ex, Bucky was unsure what to do, he quickly stopped turning on his heels when he heard the smack.
"You have no right to be here. No right to talk about anybody in that way. Now I suggest you leave before I ring the police and see you in court." Her strong voice came out as Bucky noticed the nasty looking handprint on Kit's cheek. Quickly moving to her side for back up he noticed the other male flinch and take off down the corridor. Waiting until he was out of earshot Harry let out a huge breath of relief looking over at her neighbour. "I'm so sorry about that." She smiled nervously at him, taking in his appearance; he was wearing a pair of black slacks and a button up navy shirt which fitted him perfectly. His hair was slicked back like she'd seen in the old photographs of him.
"Just remind me never to piss you off. You have a mean swing." He laughed as she blushed closing her door and looping her arm through his when he offered.
"So where are we going?" She asked as he lead the way down the corridor.
"That my lady is a surprise." He told her looking down at her with a smile.


"We're here." Bucky's voice came from behind her as he gently removed the blindfold from over her eyes, the dim lighting not burning her eyes like she thought it would. Looking round she knew where she was instantly, the museum about the famous duo. She looked over at him slightly confused "I can't remember a lot of my past and that's normally what people talk about on dates, I thought maybe we could try to get me to remember by looking round. I come here when I can to try and patch my memories so they started giving me unrestricted access. I'm kind of like a VIP." He laughed as she looked round smiling.
"This is already turning out to be the best date I've ever been on." She smiled over at him putting him at ease instantly.
"I brought food as well, as promised." He laughed noticing her smile grow. "So would you like to follow me for your guided tour Miss Fitzpatrick." He smiled as she blushed taking his outstretched hand following him to the front of the building. They reached the beginning of the exhibition where old school books from his past were on display. "I was in Art class when we found out the war had broke out." He told her as she carefully turned the pages on the old sketchbook. "I remember thinking I was going to fight as soon as I could." He smiled as she turned to look at him with a soft smile.
"Did you always want to be a soldier?" She asked.
"No." He laughed. "I wanted to be a boxer. I was pretty good when I was a kid." He watched her eyes crinkle at the smile. "I used to try and train Steve so that he wouldn't get bullied but he was so bad. Now look at him. I believe the term is beef cake." He shook his head at the slang on the world today. They reached the enlisting part of the tour and she saw his enlistment record, it was held behind the glass box. She couldn't help but feel a tinge of sadness, this is where it all went wrong for him. "When I signed that I never expected to be here trying to remember what happened after it. I saw it as a way out. I always had something to prove and a need to protect people." She saw his reflection in the polished glass at the side of hers. The sadness in his eyes caused her to put her hand on top of his for comfort.
"You did protect people. Still doing it James." She whispered turning to look up at him with a smile. "You became Sergeant Barnes pretty quick." She smiled noticing his medal.
"Again something to prove." He laughed grabbing the hat off the mannequin and placing it on her head carefully, laughing when it dropped down slightly covering her eyes."I had to ask to have it made slightly bigger. I had to protect the hair otherwise how would I impress the ladies." He ran his hand through his hair to emphasise his point with a chuckle as she let out a hearty laugh.
"No you didn't!" She shook her head causing the hat to fall down further.
"I honestly did." He laughed pushing it up carefully to see her eyes looking up at him.
"See I thought Steve would be the babe magnet, what with the blond hair." She laughed putting the hat on his head and biting her lip, could he get any hotter she thought to herself.
"Ha no. It was all me." He smirked, the infamous Bucky smirk that Steve saw come out so much in his younger days.


They made their way through the rest of it, Bucky stopping to tell her stories from the Howling Commandos and embarrassing stories about what Steve and him would get up to as kids. They got to part where Bucky was no longer part of the exhibition, his transformation into the Winter Soldier had stopped being documented at this point. This was where the soldier had decided to setup the panic area he'd got the security guy to order pizza for them and had all sorts of food stored in the cute little picnic basket. "You set up a picnic?" She smiled as he nodded shyly. "I love picnics." She laughed rushing over to the blanket already set out and sitting down quickly making sure to leave room for him.
"And Natasha showed me this neat thing the other day, hang on." He told her sitting down quickly and grabbing the laptop and typing away quickly to make sure he didn't forget how to play the movie through the projector. She quickly recognised the film, it was her favourite 10 Things I Hate About You. She looked over at him surprised causing him to shrug. "I saw it on your recently watched when we stayed." He smiled uncovering all the food. They both quickly dived in, the hall being filled with the film and soft 'mmmms' from them both at how good the pizza was. "So tell me about your life?" He smiled between mouthfuls. She wiped her mouth softly thinking about what there was to tell.
"There's not much to tell. I became a surgeon in England and moved over here about two years ago." She shrugged.
"What about family? What made you move?" He asked and noticed her bite her lip.
"My parents were murdered." She whispered looking up at him slowly. "I was staying over at a friends house, a burglary gone wrong is what the police said." She smiled sadly at him, "I didn't really have any other family and I wanted a fresh start you know?" She asked rhetorically.
"I'm sorry." He whispered as she shook her head.
"It was about 3 years ago now, I'm learning to cope." She smiled taking a mouthful of her pizza slice.
"What about the guy who keeps coming round?" He asked surprising her.
"Kit? He's my ex boyfriend. He hated how much I had to work, said it wasn't important. He cheated on me with his intern and now doesn't leave me alone." She laughed. "Think I see more of him than his intern now." She shook her head.
"Did he ever raise his hand to you before that night?" Bucky asked carefully, not wanting to force her into answering but there was something niggling away at him, if he had he was sure he would find him and kill him.
"No. God no. He's been drinking a lot since we broke up so I think it was that. I don't think he'll be doing it again." She smiled placing her hand on top of his and stroking softly. "Thank you for saving me that day." She told him truthfully. "Can I ask you something now?" She surprised him with the question, he nodded watching her carefully. "Is this your first date since the before you left for war?"
"Is it that bad?" He asked, laughing nervously and running his hand over his face.
"Not at all. In fact best date I've ever been on." She smiled leaning over to kiss his cheek. "Thank you Bucky."

Notes