Moral of the Story

Chapter Eighteen

"Y/N!" a voice shouted. It shocked her and she turned so quickly that she would have stumbled if Bucky didn't have a grip on her. "Oh, my baby!"

Running toward her was none other than her mother with her arms wide open and a worried face marking her aged features.

"Marlene."

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"Careful with her, Marlene. She's bruised up from the accident," Thomas shouted behind her, raising a hand in nerves, but she didn't listen and wrapped Y/N in her arms harshly.

"Oh, my baby! I heard about the accident. What happened? Are you ok?" she rushed out, squeezing her and leaving little room for being able to escape.

Y/N groaned and leaned toward Bucky who still had a hand on her back helping her keep her balance. In an attempt to get out of her mother's grasp, she began to nuzzle herself into Bucky's shoulder and fit herself under his arm for shelter, and Y/N's mother gave up on trying to smother her. Though she didn't let go of her fully as she still had her hands gripped tightly around Y/N's non-injured wrist and other arm.

"She has a bruised rib and a sprained wrist," Bucky warned, trying to not sound rude, even though he had the same reaction to the woman as Y/N did.

"Oh, sweet girl. I'm so happy you're ok. Oh, and look at your head," she raised a hand over the butterfly bandage on her forehead, but before she could make the mistake of touching it, Bucky pulled her closer to him.

Marlene noticed the gesture, and as if for the first time, she noticed it was Bucky doing the talking.

"Mom, what are you doing here?" Y/N spoke up, not trying even a little to get out of Bucky's hold.

For a split second, a moment of judgment flittered across her features at the two intertwined in each other. She cleared her throat and backed away finally.

"What am I doing here-? Ha!" she laughed sarcastically. "You fly into town for a week and don't even bother to call and tell me? Then I end up hearing from a friend of a friend that my daughter is in the city."

"Mom-" she groaned, feeling the fight coming on.

"Then to top it all off, when I called your dad, he told me you 'need rest' cause you got into a wreck," she waved him off behind her.

"Surprised you still have his number," Y/N mumbled, quiet enough that only Bucky heard the snarky comment. On hearing it, a smirk appeared but quickly was pushed away.

"Why didn't you call me and tell me you were here?" Marlene asked with her hands on her hips.

Y/N let out a short laugh and Bucky and Thomas shared a look knowing exactly where this was going to go.

"What's the point? When I did live here, you didn't even bother to see me then? No point in wasting the gas," she shrugged, turning slightly to see her better in Bucky's arms.

"Girls," Thomas started, Sherri coming up behind him with Chloe behind her.

"Oh, stop it, Y/N! Don't make our reunion after all these years a bad one," Marlene chided.

"What made you think it would be a good one with our relationship?" Y/N laughed.

"Don't talk to me like that, young lady," Marlene warned, raising a scolding finger.

"What? You can dish it, but can't take it yourself?" Y/N sassed with an eye roll.

"Girls, stop it!" Thomas shouted, moving to break them apart.