When the Lights Go on Again by @spacecasewriter13
It is May of 1946, over a year after his fall from the Hydra train and losing his left arm, and James "Bucky" Barnes is struggling to adjust. Working as an analyst at the New York City SSR branch, Bucky tries to put the war and all of its sorted memories behind him. However, try as he might he is plagued by thoughts of Magdalene "Maggie" Ramirez, a Women's Army Corps (WAC) Corporal he met in London and hasn't spoken to since before his fall in January of 1945. Little does he know that Maggie, in her struggle to put the war behind her, has moved to the city and looking for a job with the New York Bell Telephone Company as a switchboard operator. Now, by sheer dumb luck, they are reunited as they both fight come to terms with what they were to one another during the war, and work to figure out how to move forward in a world that was unprepared to deal with the consequences of war in the unsteady peace.
Chapter summary: Maggie and Bucky grapple with the SSR’s control over their lives and what that could mean for their future.
Maggie moved quickly through the club, carrying Sarah's dancing shoes, cheeks hot, her heart pounding in her throat.
Well, of course, she had. She'd known she was going to see him today. Only she hadn't expected to nearly run headlong into him, let alone in one of the back alcoves of the club.
He'd looked so fine in his tuxedo, every inch the man she knew he was. The cut and style of the jacket were exquisite, making his broad shoulders and strong chest more pronounced. She wanted him to pull her to him and allow her hands to wander—explore the cut of the coat and all that was underneath.
For half a second, as she'd rounded the corner, Maggie thought her fantasies had somehow manifested—until she'd seen the frantic look upon his face.
She'd seen him fussing with his wooden hand, all through dinner and dessert. So, it was no surprise that he'd excused himself to swap out the hand for his hook. However, the panic in his eyes wasn't what she had expected.
There was so much she'd wanted to say and do but had refrained. Still, the brief second of contact between them, as she'd slipped her key to the Wilsons' apartment to him, felt like such a risk. Thus was the way of it, she supposed—the danger of their situation, underscored by the mundanity of life.
Life, since her second interrogation by Agent Carter, had proceeded as normally as it could in the circumstances. She wasn't allowed topside at the station or in the restricted files, so she remained at her spot at the switchboard or, during breaks, under the watchful supervision of Rose and Millie.
She'd spent her evenings knitting or playing cards with Daniel, or reading the newspaper, or working a calculus problem or two. The weekends she'd whiled away on wedding business or making quick trips to the library with Daniel or Annie in tow. Aside from sleep and the daily necessities of life, she made damn sure she was in the presence of someone who could testify that she had not seen and had not interacted with James Barnes. All of it felt like it was a show, an act, a pantomime, an exaggeration, a way to show that she was a good little girl. It was a way to prove she was minding her Ps and Qs and doing as she was told.
This was the way it needed to be. This was how it had to be for now, if she was going to see this through to the other side. It wasn't intolerable. She enjoyed Daniel and Annie's company, and it had been a dizzying whirlwind to see Sarah's wedding plan come to fruition.
Still, it was hard to ignore how he'd watched her during Gabe and Sarah's vows and even harder to forget how warm his hand had been, his fingers shaking as he'd taken the key. It was hard to deny what she wanted, and how that want could undo her.
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