Green Eyes

Ch. 39 - Pickles

Eva woke up with her head pounding and her stomach churning. This was the hangover from hell. The minute her feet hit the floor she realized she was no longer in Wade and Vanessa’s loft. She was back at Stark Tower. No longer having a second to spare she ran to the bathroom and began purging the contents of her stomach. The violent process had her face down in the toilet bowl when she felt the all too familiar touch of Bucky pulling the hair out of her face and rubbing her back as she heaved. He said nothing but she was grateful he was there his touch soothing her like nothing else could. When she finally felt relief from the agitation in her stomach, she sat back on her feet catching her breath.  Bucky had a damp washcloth in his hand and began to wipe her face. She didn’t want to look at him. Anger simmered beneath her skin for things he said and him just walking out last night without saying a word.  

“Eva, I am so very sorry for last night.” Bucky said getting on her knees beside her.  

“Yeah? Good, you should be.”  

“I never should have left; I should have listened to you.”  

“Yeah, you should have. The kiss was nothing to me, and I sure as hell didn’t fuck him.”  

“I know you wouldn’t have. I was mad and it just came out.” Bucky said as Eva stood up and brushed her teeth. By the time she rinsed out her mouth for the third time Bucky was behind her looking at her through the mirror. He looked utterly destroyed and sighed in frustration.  

“Eva I’m so sorry. Please forgive me doll.” She said nothing just turned around and sank into his open arms. Bucky breathed a sigh of relief as he squeezed her tight feeling like a fool for thinking she had betrayed him in any way.  

“I forgive you Buck; you know I always will. I’m sorry too, I shouldn’t have kept that from you.”  

“Hey,” he said taking her face in his hands. “You did absolutely nothing wrong you protected your friend from me and in hind sight, that was the right call. I probably would have killed Zemo at the memorial in Sokovia if I had known. I just love you so much that sometimes you only feel instead of think.”  

“I love you too. So uh, how did I end up back here?”  

Bucky told her the story of the early morning visit to Wade and Vanessa’s and Eva was laughing her ass off.  

“So Vanessa slapped the shit out of you and Wade gave you one of his ‘Uncle Wade’ Speeches?”  

“Yep.” Bucky confirmed. “I get him now. I get both of them, they’re good people and they’re your family.”  

Eva smiled. Bucky finally understood, Wade and Vanessa adopted her as their little sister and helped her when she had no one and nothing. She cuddled against Bucky feeling relief and secure that her world would be just fine.  

A month passed and Eva was ready to pull her hair out staring at the screen of her computer for the fifth hour straight. Eva trudged out of the computer room they set up for her in the Louisiana house. The house was coming along slowly but surely, she thought as she made her way to the kitchen. They had finished it first giving it vintage diner vibes painting the walls with a vibrant seafoam green with a black and white check backsplash. All of the appliances were new and gleaming stainless steel and they stained the hardwood floors in the room a dark gray. The countertops were a brilliant white iridescent quartz that stood in stark contrast of the black stained wooden cabinets with stainless steel handles. She truly loved the kitchen, especially in the morning when the sun came in and made the counters glitter. She often stood there with her morning coffee and tracked the swirls and patterns of the stone with her eyes as if it were a maze. She opened the fridge rutting around for something to eat settling on a jar of pickles. She pulled the jar out and leaned against the counter munching on the crunchy dills spacing out. Bucky came in the room as she took a sip of her drink giving her a puzzled look.