The White Queen (S.Rogers)

Chapter 57

 The power had been restored to the building by that same night, but it had been so late, the decision to stay the night had been made. Juliana had been tucked into bed, laying between them, while Brooklyn had kept her arms around her sister. He had slept with an arm over the both of them, keeping them as close as he could.

In the morning he had awoken alone, the sounds of Juliana's giggles coming to him. He had smiled, rolled over, and gotten up, yawning as he went into the sitting area attached to the small kitchen. Brooklyn had been cooking breakfast, drinking coffee while her sister chatted with JARVIS. The UI had been giving literal answers to fantastical questions the little girl was coming up with. As he walked in, pausing at the doorway, she had been in the process of asking questions about unicorns.

Brooklyn had sensed him first, that uncanny ability she had to just KNOW when he was in the room making him smile. She had turned, a spatula in one hand, giving him a soft smile, before returning to the frying pan. He came over, pressing a kiss to her shoulder, bared by her top, murmuring a good morning, before going to make his first cup of coffee of the day. He propped his hip against the counter, watching her as he sipped his coffee. She looked at him, giving him another smile. He leaned over, looking into the pan, seeing she was cooking toast with an egg in the hole.

"Eggs in basket." He grinned. "Did you do bacon, as well?"

"In the oven." She nodded, flipping the toast. "I woke up, and couldn't go back to sleep. Then this one," she jerked her head towards the little girl sipping orange juice, "woke up and had to go to the bathroom. Seeing as you were out like a light, snoring your head off, we decided to leave you to it, while we made breakfast."

He hummed, happy that she was at least seeming better. Yesterday, finding her on the bed crying with the letter from Bucky laying next to her, he had climbed behind her, pulling her into his arms, holding her. While he soothed her, he had felt utterly useless. He knew he shouldn't have left her to read the letter alone, but the need to prove to her that she could trust him to listen to her when she said she could handle things on her own had been stronger.

Once she had gotten herself under control, she had wiped at her face, almost angrily, before handing him the letter and excusing herself to the bathroom to freshen up.

The letter had been very unsettling. At first glance, it read like a caring letter from a father to his daughter. But then it descended into a madman's rantings, with parts that were almost obscene, considering the writer and the recipient. At points it read like a letter to a lover. At others it read like an accusation. But anyway you looked at it, it was clear that Bucky's mind was still shattered.

What was worse, was the reading of the letter had seemed to push Brooklyn back in her recovery. After they had returned to the apartment, she had gone on a cleaning spree, even pulling everything out of the cupboards to reorganize everything, while washing every shelf down with bleach water. Every thing she was able to, was washed. He had spent hours going up and down the stairs, attending to the washers and dryers. She had washed the windows, the baseboards, moved almost all the furniture to clean behind and under it, and rearranged the linen closet. She went through Juliana's clothing, finding out what the little girl had out grown, setting the too small clothes aside to be donated. Then she did the same to her own clothing, deciding what to keep and what to donate. He had been leaning against the doorway of the bedroom, keeping an ear out for Juliana while watching Brooklyn pull everything out of the drawers of the dresser.

"You wanna talk about it?" He finally asked her, after feeling like he had allowed her enough time to emote.

"Its as good a time as any to make more room for your clothes in the dresser. I can't keep expecting you to live out of a duffle bag." She responded, instead.