dollymixtures | It's all coming back to me now (Spot and Bucky)

When the Hydra facility had been raided, the last thing anybody expected to find was a 16 year old kid on ice, and yet there he'd been. Steve had been the one to stop the Hydra scientist from shutting down the life support, but they hadn't got there in time to prevent the destruction of a good half the facility's records - including the ones about who the kid was or why he was there.

So what choice did they have but to wake him up and find out?

He was uncooperative at first, refused to give them any details other than the name 'Spot' and kept threatening to fight anybody that came close, though they managed to work out pretty easily that he was from Brooklyn and he'd been on the ice almost as long as Steve had. It's when he overhears a comment about Bucky that he seems to change his tune.

"Bucky Barnes?" he asks, and while he still seems wary, for the first time since he woke up he says something actually helpful "I'll talk to him. Tell him the name's Sean Conlon."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

brooklynishere

"'ve had bruises before," Spot mutters, though he was pretty sure probably not as bad as the ones that were already beginning to flourish across his face, and the rest of him. He wonders if he could convince Bucky to buy him a new cane...probably not. Definitely not.

And then to add insult to injury they apparently wanted to poke him full of needles as well.

"Come on," he protests "Haven't I been beaten up enough for one day?"

Besides, now he really wants to know what this talk is going to be about, he'd rather not wait around getting his shots.

From:

not_a_commie

“It’s important stuff, don’t want to get sick.” He says sitting on a stool, “had to give steve a bunch of stuff when they pulled him out.”

Stephen gives Spot two shots, “You can come back in three months for the next batch.” He says to Spot, “I’m going to take some blood too.” He’s using his magic to do the whole thing.

“I’ll call you in couple days when Bruce and I check things out.” Stephen says.

He leaves Spot and Bucky alone.

“Let’s get some lunch and talk.” Bucky says easily.

From:

brooklynishere

Spot shoves his hands in his pockets, trailing after Bucky with a scowl on his face.

"Why did he take blood as well?" he asks after a few minutes, he's been puzzling over that one and he can't figure out what they might be testing for, but now he's wondering if it has something to do with what they're about to have a conversation about.

From:

not_a_commie

Bucky waits until they are in the car, “about what happened when they kidnapped you.” He says honestly, “to see if they tried to make you like me.” He says letting out a slow breath.

“I’m not mad at you, but you can’t fight kids... well maybe Peter... he’d probably win.” Bucky says trying to lighten the mood. “What do you want for lunch? We’ll head home get you cleaned up, and talk.”

From:

brooklynishere

"If they made me like you, wouldn't I have done a lot better in that fight?" Spot pointed out, but at the same time the thought lingers, and he wonders at how well he was holding his own. He lost, sure, but he should have been pummelled into the ground by that many guys...

He shrugs at the question, mind wandering to Peter since Bucky brought him up. He hated that Peter saw him getting his ass kicked, but he had looked kind of impressed when Spot punched the guy to begin with, and he could work with that...

"Burritos?" he suggests absently

From:

not_a_commie

“Not if they didn’t finish, but until we figure it out you can’t go getting fights, you could really hurt someone.” He says with a sigh. Bucky picks them up burritos and heads back to the house. He settles then at the table it’s still pretty early in the day,

“So you remember anything from when they took you?” He asks setting their lunch out.

From:

brooklynishere

Spot takes a bite of his burrito before he answers, chewing thoughtfully (and trying not to think about how eating was actually kind of painful with his face all battered).

"They knocked me out pretty quick. Two guys grabbed me from behind while I was walkin' home one evening. I remember... I smacked one of 'em with my cane but then they shoved a cloth in my face so I guess it was like chloroform or something, 'cos I got real dizzy and passed out."

From:

not_a_commie

Bucky nods listening as they eat, he thinks for the best way to have this conversation, because it could go wrong very quickly. "Do you remember anything after that?" He asks, "Like them waking you up, or something?" He goes on. "If you can't that's normal." Bucky says, "Can take a while for memories to come back." He takes a bite chewing for a minute.

"You can't get into fights until we know, if they tried anything on you, you could kill someone, if you don't know how to control yourself, and you're anything like me or Steve." He says matter of factly. "No more fights until Bruce and Stephen are done with your blood, we'll actually no more fights, at all." He says lips twitching a little.

From:

brooklynishere

"No..." Spot says slowly, frowning. Even though Bucky says not remembering is normal, it kind of scares him. He doesn't remember anything else until he woke up again this time, and up until now he'd just assumed that was because there was nothing to remember. He didn't know why they'd taken him, though from hearing Bucky's story he figured it had something to do with him. Now, he wonders if there was anything else to it...

"I remember passing out there and then... then I remember the Avengers waking me up." only there's a hesitation there, like he isn't so sure.

He can't hide the fear in his eyes, then, at the warning.

From:

not_a_commie

Bucky reaches out and puts his hand on Spot's shoulder and squeezes it, "Stephen and Bruce will work quick... given the fight wasn't that bad, you're probably fine." He says giving Spot a soft look, "We just have to be careful, okay?" He lets out a slow breath, "Don't be scared, don't worry, you have people who are here for you, your Pop and I are here for you." He says. "It'll come back if there's anything."

"Go get cleaned up be careful with your nose, I'll get the blood out of your shirt."

From:

brooklynishere

"Yea... yea..." Spot says quietly, looking down. He seems like he's about to get up and go clean up like Bucky says, but then he stops.

"Dad... what if they did do something... what if I did something..." he's heard enough of Bucky's story to know that it's a possibility, that they used him the same way they used Bucky, or Nat, and the idea of doing something, anything, without having had control over it is kind of terrifying.

From:

not_a_commie

"We would have found mission files, you didn't have any, so like I said, they probably didn't finish whatever it is they wanted or didn't even start." He pushes his fingers through Spot's hair. "Don't worry about it, Nat, Clint, and I couldn't find any mission files for you at the base, or in the old databases." He says.

"You still grounded, but not gonna control what you do here, as long as you're still doing your homework, but don't worry about that today." He says, "Go get cleaned up and relax."

From:

brooklynishere

He wants to protest, ask what if the files were just destroyed or kept someplace else, but he also knows that Bucky and Nat and Clint probably thought of that possibility, they probably thought of possibilities Spot couldn't even contemplate, this kind of thing was their job, so if he can trust anybody to have been thorough about it, it's them.

He's still a little scared, and worried, but it's softened a little now, at least enough that he can go and get cleaned up like he's been told.

From:

not_a_commie

Bucky talks to Steve while he works on getting the blood out of Spot's shirt, he gets 90% of the blood out, the rest should come out in the wash after letting it soak for a bit.

He cleans up the lunch packing away what wasn't eaten into the fridge. Before heading up to Spot's room. "You okay?" He asks leaning in the boy's door frame. "Gotta get some ice on that face." He adds looking over Spot. "Too much like Steve."

From:

brooklynishere

"You love him, dad, that's a compliment." Spot points out, though he's glad Bucky showed up because after getting clean he was just kind of sitting on his bed staring at nothing, trying desperately to wrack his brains for any kind of hint of a memory he might have forgotten. He can't shake the feeling there is something, but he doesn't know if that's because the conversation has just made him paranoid or because there actually is.

He follows Bucky back downstairs to get some ice for his face and spends the rest of the evening sticking close to him and Steve. He feels guilty for getting in a fight and getting grounded - even if still doesn't regret the fight itself - but he still doesn't want to be on his own right now.

He goes to bed early, asleep almost as soon as his head hits the pillow after the day he's had, but after a couple of hours he starts mumbling in his sleep, shifting around in his bed until he's tangled up in his sheets. The mumbling gets louder as he struggles to get free, the incoherent noises forming words - mostly distressed pleas to stop and let him go, but in between them there are a few shouted words of desperate, badly accented Russian.

From:

not_a_commie

Bucky looks at Steve and the share a look like this was bound to happen, after the fight, the talk, and months of pretending to be okay.

He slips out of bed, pulls on a shirt heading to Sean's bedroom, he cracks the door and sees that the kids in a full-blown night terror.

Buck moves over and sits on the edge of the bed "Pyatno, Shon, prosnis', eto prosto plokhoy son." Bucky says pushing his hand down on Sean's shoulder. "Vse khorosho, ya zdes', u menya yest' ty." Bucky lets out a slow breath.

(Spot, Sean, wake up it's just a dream, it's fine, I'm here, I've got you.)

From:

brooklynishere

"Nyet," Spot snarls on instinct, shoving against the hand on his shoulder - the thrashing movement bringing his head round until he put a little too much pressure on his injured face and the pain snaps him awake with a jolt.

He can feel his heart still racing wildly and it takes a second for the panic to subside, his breathing slowly steadying. Wide, worried eyes seek out Bucky.

"Dad...?"

From:

not_a_commie

"Yeah." He nods smoothing the kid's hair away from his forehead. "Just a nightmare." He says voice low, "Talk about where you are, it'll help." He says like he's been just where the kid is. "When you're settled enough we'll go downstairs for a bit."

From:

brooklynishere

"I'm-" the concrete floor is cold against bare feet, there's someone barking orders at him in Russian but he doesn't know what they're saying. "-in bed. I'm in bed, at home."

he's fighting against an opponent much bigger and older than he is. In the corner a man in uniform watches impassively, making notes in a book.

"I'm in Brooklyn." he says firmly, forcing the uncertainty from his voice and shaking away the lingering images of the nightmare.

From:

not_a_commie

“Good.” Bucky nods squeezing spots shoulder, “come on, shouldn’t go right back to sleep.” He says standing, “give your brain a hot minute, to relax.” He leads Spot down to the living room and goes to get him a glass of water.

He hands the glass to Sean and sits on the couch turning on the TV and lowering the volume, finding something soothing landing on the Ken Burns documentary about the circus because the voice is low and. Relaxed.

He doesn’t press Spot to talk he just sits there with him.

From:

brooklynishere

Spot follows him downstairs, settling on the couch and taking the water with a vague nod, sipping at it. Once Bucky sits down he hesitates for a moment, before giving in to the urge and leaning slighty against him, needing the solid reassurance of his presence at the moment.

For a little while, he's silent, until finally he starts talking, voice low, not looking up at Bucky.

"I dreamed I was... training. Well, fightin' really, but they was watchin' and takin' notes. There was a lot of shouting..." he trails off, adding a muttered "I don' even speak Russian.."

But he'd known what they were saying. He'd been able to reply to some of it, in the dream. He was dimly aware of his father's voice breaking into the dream and he knew what Bucky had been saying.

He just doesn't want to believe it. He wants to pretend it was all just a bad dream, brought on by their conversation, not a memory.

From:

not_a_commie

Bucky puts an arm around the kid when he leans against Bucky.

He listens to Sean talk not interrupting him letting him quietly spill the beans.

“We’ll it was either a dream or a memory.” Bucky says after a long but peaceful silence. “Either on is okay, you’re not alone in the nightmare department in this house.” He’s honest about it. “You were with them for awhile makes sense that you would understand some Russian.” He adds. “Might have been seeing if they wanted to train you.”

From:

brooklynishere

"They had me a long time but they didn't do anything, I was under-"

polozhit' mal'chika obratno, my vozobnovim pozzhe

The words echo in his mind and he repeats them, slowly. His Russian isn't great but it's close enough that Bucky should be able to understand it.

Put the boy back under, we'll resume later.

"How do I know that?" he asks nervously "It... it's gotta be a memory, ain't it?"

From:

not_a_commie

Bucky thinks for a minute, “Might be a memory, if it is it’s okay.” He squeezes Sean’s shoulder. “It’s what they do train people, or test them to see if they want them.” His voice is calm and kind, “We’ll get the blood work from earlier back, the scans from before they pulled you.” He lets out a slow breath. “You’re going to be ok.” His voice has that kind seriousness to it.

From:

brooklynishere

For a moment, Spot doesn't say anything, digesting the information. Then he looks up at Bucky and for a moment he lets all his vulnerability and fear show in his face, he trusts Bucky enough to be open about it.

"You promise?" he asks quietly.