Those Ocean Eyes and That Charming Smile

134

"Come on, child." Mary calls from the bathroom. "You need to take a shower."

"Coming." I mutter while getting up from the bed that I have been calling my own for about... a week?

I've lost track.

I have lost track of time altogether.

I walk into the bathroom with my feet dragging over to where Mary has the bottom of the tub filled about an inch as I strip down and step in then immediately decide on sitting on the floor with my ankles crossed and my knees pulled up to my chest. My arms loosely wrap around my legs and my head drops down to rest my cheek on my knees while Mary kneels down and washes my hair since I refuse to do so. She has done this for me so many times before I even met The Avengers, I am surprised she isn't sick of me yet but then again, she is my mother.

"I called Barron." Mary happily mentions while using the showerhead to drench my hair before lathering shampoo in it. "He's making you some mac and cheese right now and he's going to drop it off when he's done."

"Hmm." I hum, not really interested. "How long has it been?" I hesitantly ask and she sighs lightly

"Almost two weeks since you came over, darling." She answers

I was wrong.

Meaning, it's been three and a half weeks since Bucky left for his mission and all I can do is nod at Mary's words and watch the white bubbles of the soap swirl before falling down the drain as Mary's nails lightly scratch at my scalp that has her almost putting me to sleep when the warm water returns and cascades down my back to keep me warm while my mind is only focused on one thing: I couldn't do it. I couldn't stay in the tower by myself because all I did was lay in bed and sleep except for when Bucky would call me.

Those times, I would force myself to get up and tried to look like I was alive but he saw how bad I was getting when I stopped brushing my hair and when I would fall asleep on the phone in the middle of his sentence because of the food I wasn't eating was making me have no energy to even keep my eyelids open despite how hard I fought against my weighted lashes. He was worried, of course and I felt bad for distracting him on his mission so he did what he had to and called Mary, explaining everything.

Within thirty minutes, she was in my room with Natasha and Tony packing my things to stay at her house and before you ask, no, Tony and Mary still don't get along but, this is where I have been since Bucky made the call. I have been in Mary's spare bedroom that used to be mine when I moved here and I reclaimed it where she has been helping me with everything because I simply don't have the energy to do so and she doesn't mind. She absolutely loves cooking, cleaning, feeding, brushing my hair, and everything in between that deals with me.

She missed being a mom despite how much of a burden I feel.

"Has he called?" I ask almost sourly

"You already know the answer to that question." Mary replies calmly

"I wish I didn't." I admit

"You know deep down, you miss him and your friendship." She calls me out and I sigh

Steve.

Steve returned home a few days ago with Sam and they both have tried coming over to Mary's house, asking if they can talk to me. They were smart and came over when Mary was home because they knew she would let them in unlike Barron who didn't care and respected that I just wanted to be left alone so he never answered and when Mary would open the door, I would lock myself in my room and ignore them until they left but it never stopped the phone calls. To the point Bucky only calls me and texts me on my laptop because I powered my phone off so they would stop.