Lack of Sleep

Rhyleigh sighed as she paced the floor, staring out of the windows of the Avengers tower. She was waiting for her fiancé to call, as she had yet to hear from him today.

‘I’ll call you at least once a day, Sweetheart.’ He smiled, eyes softening as he tucked a piece of her auburn hair behind her ear, then ghosting his finger over her freckle speckled cheek. ‘I can’t tell you what time, but I’ll call you. I promise.’

He’d kissed her softly before he’d walked out of the door, throwing a wink over his shoulder at her as he went. Rhyleigh shook her head at the memory, typical Bucky, she thought to herself, and vaulted over the couch and towards the kitchen table as her phone began to ring. Pushing her hair back and away from her face, she answered on the second ring,

“Hello?!”

“Hey Doll,” She sighed in relief at the sound of his raspy voice, “How ar—.”

“Are you okay? What about Steve? Are the both of you okay?” Rhyleigh didn’t know how she felt about Bucky being back in the field, although knowing that he never went on a mission without Steve made her feel a little better. But, it also made her worry twice as much because Steve had become like a brother to her over the past four years.

“We’re fine, both of us.” Bucky chuckled, “We took care of business and made it to the extraction point, we’re on our way home now. But, don’t wait up…it’s a long flight.”

“You sound tired,” She murmured, sinking into the couch and kicking her feet up onto the coffee table, “Try to get some sleep on the plane, okay?”

“Okay,” The former assassin agreed, but they both knew he wouldn’t be able too, he was always so wound up after a mission that sometimes it took him days to finally be able to catch some sleep. “How’s everything been?”

“Good,” Rhyleigh murmured, lips pulling up into a smile, “They’ll be better when you get your ass home to me, though.”

“We’re moving as fast as we can doll, I swear.”

The auburn haired woman could hear the smile in his voice, and when she pictured him smiling, she couldn’t help but grin too, “Yeah, I know you are…but it’s not fast enough. It never is when you’re coming home.”

Bucky whispered, “Don’t I know it.” She heard some rustling on the other side and figured he was running his fingers through his now short hair, as when he’d been approached by Fury to join SHIELD; his hair had still been long and a violation of the ‘dress code’. “Well Sweetheart, I better get off of here, let Steve get ahold of Noelle…I just wanted to let you know that all was well, okay?”

“Okay, I’ll see you when you get home. I love you.”

He sucked in a breath, seeming to never get use to her saying those words to him, “I love you, too, Doll.” He whispered, “I’ll be home before you know it. Sweet Dreams.”

Rhyleigh whispered her good bye, and waited until the line went dead to hang up her phone. Sighing, she clutched her phone against her chest and let her head drop back against the couch. Throwing her phone to the side, she stood and wandered out of the apartment that she and Bucky shared in the tower, intent on finding someone else to hang out with, until Steve and Bucky returned from their mission.

She stepped into the elevator and called JARVIS,

“Yes Ms. Ellis, how may I be of assistance?”

“Is there anyone else in the tower at the moment?”

“Mr. Stark is in his lab, allowing visitors, shall I direct you there?”

“Yes, please, thank you JARVIS.”

“My pleasure, Ms. Ellis.”

She smiled, feeling the elevator jump as it started down, humming to herself she as the doors slid open to reveal Tony’s lab, the man himself standing in the middle of a hologram, studying it. Brown eyes lifting when he heard her enter, he grinned,

“Well, well, well, Red! Fancy seeing you here, it’s a much welcomed surprise!”

“Hey Tony,” Rhyleigh giggled, grabbing an apple out of the fruit bowl that always seemed to be full, she took a bite and hopped up onto one of his work benches.

“Heard from Robocop and Capsicle at all?” He asked, his dark eyes back in front of the hologram surrounding him, he looked over to her for a moment and smiled when he saw her grin,

“Yeah, actually I just got off of the phone with Buck; they’ll be home sometime late tonight, or tomorrow morning from the sounds of it.”

Tony nodded, fingers flying over the keyboard that hovered in front of him, “Good—JARVIS please make note of what I just found—means that they got their shit done quick, any injuries? Broken hips? Did Capsicle throw his back out? You know, with them being senior citizens and all.” Tony quipped quicker than lightening, grinning again with Rhyleigh laughed so hard she snorted, feeling quite pleased with himself and glad to finally have someone in the tower other than Clint that understood his humor.

“Jesus Tony, give me a warning if you intend on making me snort like that, that’s so unladylike.”

“Now, where’s the fun in that?” He winked, pulling his hand in and drawing all of the holograms around him down and back into his tablet; he turned to Rhyleigh and asked if she was up for a midnight snack. Rhyleigh of course, agreed.

Rhyleigh had spent a good few hours with Tony, happy to have the company. She’d made her way back to her and Bucky’s floor around two in the morning. Falling into their bed, Rhyleigh was asleep nearly as soon as her head hit the pillow.

Rhyleigh jerked awake sometime later, gasping as a figure loomed over her; she reached wildly to try to grab the gun that Bucky kept in his nightstand.

“Hey, Doll, calm down…it’s just me.” Bucky murmured, instantly settling Rhyleigh with his voice,

“Jesus,” She whispered, voice rough from sleep, “Why didn’t you say something when you were standing there, you creep.” She giggled, flipping on the lamp on her nightstand and watching as Bucky lowered himself onto the bed, still in his full tactical gear.

“I wasn’t trying to wake you,” Bucky admitted, “I was just passing to get into the shower, and couldn’t stop myself from coming over and checking on you.” Bending at the waist, Bucky shucked his combat boots from his feet, wincing slightly.

“Is everything okay?” Rhyleigh asked, dark eyes dancing over Bucky’s frame looking for any signs of injury.

“Nothing serious, just sore is all.” Bucky whispered, starting for the straps and buckles of his gear as his weapons had already been returned to the arsenal, sighing when his woman pushed his hands out of the way and did it herself, easing the leather from his shoulders and pushing it down his arms.

“Lift your arms,” She murmured, pulling the long sleeved black underarmor shirt with only the right sleeve, which Bucky wore underneath of his leather, up and off of his body. “Thanks.” Rhyleigh whispered hands running back up both of his arms when she dropped it to the floor. “You need a shower, you smell like smoke. Plus, I think it’ll help some of that stiffness ease out of your muscles.”

“Doubt it,” Bucky murmured, pulling his socks from his feet before standing up once more, leaning down and catching Rhyleigh’s lips in a kiss, “Go back to sleep, doll. It’s too early for you to be awake.”

“What time is it?”

“Four thirty-seven.” He sighed, unbuckling his belt and pushing his black cargo pants from his hips and stepping out of them, Bucky moved towards the bathroom and flipped on the light, “I’ll come to bed after my shower.”

Rhyleigh nodded, settling back down onto her side of the bed and pulling the comforter up to her chin. Letting her eyes flutter closed, she listened to the sound of the shower until she dozed back off into sleep. The auburn haired girl was pulled out of her sleep by Bucky climbing into bed, the heat from his body seeping into the mattress and warming the blanket as well. She sighed, nuzzling her nose into the comforter. She was just starting to fall into a deeper sleep when Bucky flopped onto his back.

Opening one eye, she looked at him and waited a moment. Letting her eye close, she tucked her hand against her cheek and relaxed once more. Again, just as she was going to fall back asleep, Bucky shifted, startling her awake when his bionic hand brushed her side. Sighing, she relaxed and squeezed her eyes shut.

She allowed this to go on for another ten minutes before she couldn’t take it any longer.

“Alright, I can’t take this.” She growled, sitting up hastily as she looked down at Bucky, who had his flesh arm thrown over his eyes. Pushing her blankets back, she padded into the bathroom, grabbing her lavender oil. “Turn over.” She muttered, watching as Bucky lifted his arm and gave her a look, the look that she had lovingly nicknamed ‘grumpy cat’. “On your belly, just do it and stop giving me that look. You’ve been tossing and turning for twenty minutes and I can’t handle it, and I don’t want to even think about sending you on the couch for the night s—.” She didn’t even have to finish her sentence, for at the mention of sleeping on the couch, Bucky was rolling over onto his tummy, tucking his arms under his head, his cheek resting on his flesh arm, “Thank you, very much.” She muttered rather smugly before she was climbing over him, settling on her knees, straddling his hips.

Bucky hissed at her when she poured some of the lavender oil onto his back, muttering about it being cold and how he’s going to ‘smell like a girl’. She laughed quietly but immediately began kneading the muscles, lightly at first, letting the warmth of her hands seep into Bucky’s skin. A few moments later, she grasped the muscle, her thumbs digging into where his traps were tender, with just the right amount of pressure, being very cautious around the left arm, where skin met metal. Bucky can’t stop the groan that slips from between his plump lips.

“Christ,” He muttered, his whole body seeming to sink deeper into the mattress. Rhyleigh laughed quietly, pressing into the muscles of Bucky’s flesh shoulder while working around his left gently. Bucky wanted to squirm; it hurt, but hurt in a good way. ‘If that’s even possible’ he thought to himself as Rhyleigh’s hands moved lower, rolling and moving to his middle back. Rhyleigh’s thumbs worked on either side of his spine, finding all of the knots and working them out one by one.

“There,” The auburn haired woman whispered about twenty minutes later, dipping down to press a kiss between Bucky’s shoulders. “You were all knotted up; no wonder you couldn’t get comfortable.” She peeked over him and noticed that his eyes were closed and his breathing had evened out.

“Exactly what I was hoping for…” She whispered, giggling lightly to herself before climbing off of him and tucking herself onto her side of the bed once more.

She let her eyes drift closed once more, the lavender scent drifting around the room relaxing her as well as it had Bucky. Yawning, Rhyleigh stuffed her face into her blanket, squeaking when an arm shot out and wrapped around her. Bucky had pulled his flesh arm out from under his head and wrapped it around her waist. Rhyleigh laughed softly, scooting over to her fiancé more and rolling onto her side so that she would tuck on of her legs between both of his.

Finally comfortable, she felt herself dozing off for what she hoped was the final time. Jumping out of her sleep when Bucky’s voice rumbled next to her ear, she peeled her eyes open to see that he was looking at her with sleep filled eyes,

“I love you, Doll. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.” His lips brushed her temple as he spoke; soon they met the tip of her nose, both of her cheeks, her forehead and finally her own lips.

And to hear that, Rhyleigh couldn’t even bring herself to be irritated about being woken up, once again…she’d never grow tired of hearing those words come from him. Lack of sleep be damned.