(Untitled)

[with_diamonds]

Most days, Lucy tried not to think about how much she missed her brother. It crossed her mind, of course, on a regular basis - living with Mathias, she had a near-constant reminder of it, which helped in that she'd gotten used to it, let it become normal - but it no longer held the enormity it once did. A year and a half down the line, and it was

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[onlyapassenger]

Though Bucky doesn't frequent the kitchen as often as he once did, having enough of a social circle that he rarely finds himself without some kind of dinner plans, he still pops in now and then, mostly when he has other business to attend to in the Compound. Today, for example, it's laundry; an empty canvas bag slung over his shoulder, he's intent on getting something to drink while he waits for his clothes to dry, but gets distracted right away by a familiar head of blonde hair -- Lucy. Changing course, he walks over to say hello, only to catch a glimpse of her expression. Instinct forces his gaze to the folder in her hands, skimming through just enough of the information inside to realize he shouldn't be reading this. It's not the first time he's caught her with a folder -- she seems to come across a lot of them -- but medical records aren't much of his business.

"Your brother?"

[with_diamonds]

Lucy nodded even before looking up, a grim, halfhearted little smile on her face when she did. All things considered, this could have been a hell of a lot worse and she knew it. At least she knew the outcome of all of this; at least it wasn't like the first thing that had shown up for her, her brother's dog tags, the ones she still always kept under her shirt, making her think Max was dead. In a way, unsettling as this was, she was almost grateful for it, for reminding her of what she'd apparently lost sight of. There was no reason to be misleading and pretend otherwise.

"Yeah," she said quietly, fingertips tracing gently over the tea-stained page. "I never really heard much about this part of it; I'm from before and he was from after, when he was here."

[onlyapassenger]

"Does it help?"

Were he a smarter man, Bucky might live in trepidation of the next reminder the Island's forces will send to him, but while he can work up frustration and anger for his invisible captors, he refuses to give them the satisfaction of fear. Considering Lucy for a moment longer, he steps back, and goes to pull out a chair for her to sit on.

"Knowing?"

[with_diamonds]

"Yeah," Lucy said again, easy, instinctive, as she took the chair he'd pulled out for her, holding on to the folder all the while. After a moment's silence, though, she shook her head, the movement slow, more thoughtful than her initial response had been. If she had to guess, she'd say that this wasn't about his having gotten hurt at all. It ran a whole lot deeper than that, and for that reason, she wasn't sure it helped at all. "No. Not really. He's still... not here. I'll still probably never see him again."

[onlyapassenger]

Optimism doesn't come as easily to Bucky as it once did, even if his arrogance has more or less remained intact over the years. Where Steve might offer some words of hope and have the ability to sell them as genuine, Bucky lacks the talent to do so. He's both seen and done too much for that to still to be an option. But the Island's unpredictable, the warden mercurial. There's comfort to be found in the chaos.

He sits across from her, and plants his elbow on the table, leaning forward to palm his chin, tips of his fingers pressing into his mouth.

"Never say never."

[with_diamonds]

"I'm not just going to sit around waiting for him to show up again," Lucy said, mouth puling into what wasn't quite a smile, unmistakably rueful. There was something to be said for hope, of course, and she'd never been the sort to just give it up, but she'd been through a lot on the island, too. If there was one thing that had taught her, it was that sheer force of will wasn't enough to accomplish anything, not where whatever mysterious forces controlled this place were concerned. "You know, I haven't seen him in over a year and a half. It's longer than we've ever been apart in my entire life. Literally."

[onlyapassenger]

"How long was he deployed?" Bucky asks, though it doesn't really matter, here, given the nature of time and the Island's particular idiosyncrasies. He might have been deployed for years back in the real world, but arrived on the Island the day after he was shipped off from Lucy's perspective.

[with_diamonds]

"About a year, I think," Lucy answered, glancing back at the paper for a date, though that didn't make much difference either way. "He shipped out in summer, and it was the April after that when I showed up here, and he was still there." Then he'd turned up weeks later, and no matter how much of a shock it had been at the time, it was also so natural, the way things were supposed to be. Not like this. She didn't have the first idea how she'd ever thought otherwise.

[onlyapassenger]

Bucky nods, once. He's never shown much aptitude for comforting people, not in these kinds of situations, but staying silent doesn't strike him as the greatest of options.

"I'm sorry," he offers, because it's the only thing he can say. "Especially with your wedding coming up, it... Can't be easy."

[with_diamonds]

"It's hard to imagine it without him," Lucy admitted, growing a little quieter. Briefly, she wondered if that had anything to do with how little she'd been thinking of him, but she dismissed that thought easily enough. Whether it was true or not, that was no excuse, and she wasn't going to pretend otherwise. "No matter how long it's been, it... still feels like he should be there."

[onlyapassenger]

"It's an important day," Bucky agrees, mouth drawn in a thoughtful frown. He's never considered marriage, not with any seriousness. He loves Natalia as fiercely and as passionately as he has ever loved anyone, but marriage seems too foreign a concept to the lives they used to lead, and though the island boasts a peacefulness that home could never claim, it suffers from the same lack of permanency. Maybe that will change in time, but for now, he sees no point in jinxing it.

"When is it, the wedding?"

[with_diamonds]

"We haven't set a date yet," Lucy answered, trying not to feel guilty for the surge of relief that came with saying so. This didn't have to affect any of that, not really, but in the moment, the thought of something so concrete seemed too daunting. If there was nothing determined, there was nothing for her to impulsively change. Everything could stay just as it was. "There's... not really anything set in stone."

[onlyapassenger]

The nature of this island doesn't lend itself well to concrete plans, but there are simpler reasons to wait for a wedding than the impetuousness of their wardens. He's looked into her fiancé, of course, especially given what had happened with her last boyfriend, and though he hasn't found anything particularly troubling about the man, that doesn't mean there's nothing to be found.

"No?"

[with_diamonds]

"Nope." Lucy shook her head, absently fiddling with the ring on her finger, thumb smoothing over its band. While there would be an easy argument in response to saying that there wasn't any rush - one she'd considered herself, the threat of disappearances, making her half-tempted to just get the paperwork from the Council office and sign it and be done with it - she wasn't bothered by that, not really in a hurry. Maybe it was because of this that that had been the case. "We're taking it easy."

[onlyapassenger]

He's not entirely sure about the reasoning, but he knows, too, that it's not his place to judge, that the only reason he finds himself getting the slightest bit suspicious and worried is due to how her last relationship ended. Lucy's real brother might be nowhere to be found, but Bucky feels a brotherly responsibility for her, regardless (and perhaps because) of the misadventures they shared.

"That's all?" he asks in spite of himself.

[with_diamonds]

"That's all," Lucy confirmed with a short nod, eyes narrowing just slightly, though she didn't see the need to comment on his questioning. Somewhere, deep down, she knew it was well-intentioned, especially considering the way things had gone for her in the past. She loved Pete and she had every reason to trust him, but between her own romantic history, which would have been every reason to hold her back, and the way she'd been deceived before, any reservations were understandable. At least he wasn't going overboard, or acting like she couldn't take care of herself.

She paused, bit her lip, looked away. "It has been, anyway. Until... this."