Getting in Touch
Darcy had been spending the day with Bucky again. They seemed happy to exist in their little bubble until around noon they both noticed they had missed messages. Darcy had gone to grab something from her apartment and checked her phone along the way.
“Hey, James?” When she returned to his apartment, he seemed to be checking his own phone. When he looked up she continued. “I have a couple work messages I should probably deal with, do you mind if we pause the movie marathon for maybe an hour-ish?”
“Oh, yeah, sure. I should probably do a few things myself so I don't get behind.” Bucky had gotten so pulled into her orbit that he had almost forgotten about pretending to have a job. But he figured he should at least seem to work sometimes for a little while. He figured he could shoot Steve a text and do some internet reading or something like that.
“Okay, cool. Yeah, I don't want you to get behind either. How long do you need?” Darcy figured if he needed more work time then she could busy herself at home for a bit and then come back before dinner time.
“An hour or two is plenty. I don't have a lot, but since you have a few things to do, I can definitely make some good use of that time. That way when you are free, I can be too.” They had already made plans to make a small Thanksgiving dinner the next day and just lounge around together and Bucky was really looking forward to that. He hadn't looked forward to anything in so long that just looking forward each day to seeing Darcy felt incredible. It had Bucky's body humming in ways he had completely forgotten about in all those years.
Darcy nodded and smiled with a wave before she headed back to her apartment.
She settled in on her couch before really reading the message Steve had sent her. “Darcy, I'm sorry I've been so out of touch lately. There has been so much going on with the Avengers. And after Halloween, I still don't really recall what happened that night, but I feel pretty certain something out of the ordinary happened, and maybe you were part of it too. If you feel like you aren't remembering or aren't sure of what you recall, I think some kind of force was at work that night. But I would like to know what you remember. I keep having a sensation of forgetting something especially in my room and in the lounge in the area where I think we talked that night. Sam and I looked over some of the footage from Halloween, we think it, or Jarvis, may have been tampered with. Maybe if you have some free time in the next few days, and I don't get called out again, we could sit down together and talk? Maybe you can help me make some sense of what has been going on. I've missed you.”
She read the message three times trying to process its intent and just what might be going on. Darcy wasn't sure about telling him everything she thought she remembered, but there were at least some things she could say and if she could gauge his feelings from there, she might be able to share more. Of course, there was also James now. She wasn't completely sure where that was headed, but it felt like something, something she liked, something she wanted. But that was also still true of what she felt about Steve, she just wasn't sure he wanted what she wanted. It took her a little while to figure out what to say. “I've missed you too. If you have some time I would like to come talk with you about Halloween and all the ensuing strangeness that seems to be going on. You really think Jarvis was somehow tampered with?”
After hitting send Darcy got up with the intent to clean up her kitchen a bit. Jarvis was technically still a computer system, tampering was theoretically possible, but Stark had so many safeties in place and Jarvis really was next level, it seemed slightly shocking. It made her nervous that someone was capable of doing that. She only managed standing up before her phone buzzed though. It wasn't just a message, but a call, from Steve. She sat down on her bed as she answered, her voice soft with only a hint of a question. “Hello?”
“Hi, Darcy. It's nice just to hear your voice. Things have been so crazy around here.” It made her smile more than she had expected.
“Hi, Steve. It does seem like it's been a little weird, especially since Halloween.” Her free hand had begun absently playing with her hair.
“It has. We think whatever happened that night it might be related to what Jane has been studying. And we do think Jarvis' records of that night have been somehow messed with, but Tony hasn't been able to figure out how. He says everything looks like it's in order, but there's clearly some things that don't line up.”
“Really? Like what?” Jane had been nearly radio silence for days. Darcy had sent a few messages and only gotten back ‘lots to do’ and ‘research is crazy’, she hadn't heard there was any suspected connection.
“Yeah. There was an energy surge around Manhattan during the time frame of the party. And Thor thinks he has a shortlist of Asgardians who might be involved. Though we still don't know why or for what purpose. But maybe that's why everything appears okay to Tony and Jarvis, but something is clearly off with the system. Like that Jarvis has no record of you after we spoke until you were sitting down to work the next morning in Jane's lab.” Darcy was trying to listen but her mind was also wondering how Jarvis seemed to think she was missing all night. It didn't make her feel any more certain about everything she'd been experiencing since that night.
“Whoa! There are Asgardians who can do all that?” Thor had mentioned his brother, Loki, was capable of some kind of magic and manipulations, but it somehow seemed different with such a high tech computer intelligence involved, but maybe to an Asgardian a human mind and a computer weren't so different. Darcy was trying to come up with her own explanations in her mind.
“I guess so.” His voice sounded soft and she wished she could actually look at him, but she didn't dare suggest a video call. He’d chosen a voice call, and she was glad just to hear his voice.
“Are things such that making a time to meet would work?” Maybe she could slip out for a few hours and head into Manhattan and talk to him.
“I just got back from some recon in Eastern Europe. I'm hoping we have a few days, but it could depend. If you're in the building now though…” His voice trailed off and she wanted desperately to be sitting next to him.
“I'm not.” She wished she was. If she lived anywhere close to the Tower she'd have chanced it. But it was sometimes an hour each way.
“Okay, well, maybe message me when you are and we can meet for a bit?” Steve's voice sounded cautious and somehow uncertain. She wondered again if his expression could have told her more about what he was really thinking and feeling.
“I can do that.” Though she wondered a moment if he knew she didn't live there, it had never come up before. She heard some muffled voices before she could say more.
“Oh? ... Shit. Really? ... Okay.” She could hear Steve's voice, but he was speaking to someone there. “Looks like it might be a few more days. Natasha just said something new is happening so we're heading back to Eastern Europe in less than an hour."
“Okay, be careful.” She wasn't sure if she was crazy to think she could feel him smile when she said that.
There was a slight pause and some muffled sounds again before he spoke. “I will. I'll message you when I'm back. Take care.”
“See you soon, hopefully.” The mix of worry and hope had her insides feeling a little tangled.
“See you soon.” When he hung up she smiled for a minute to herself before shifting to messages again and sending a message to Jane asking about what was going on. Maybe direct questions would get some kind of actual answer.