How do you heal?

Chapter 14: What A Nice Surprise

Early November 2014

The next afternoon Annie was in the bathroom trying to tame her mess of curls but the soreness in her shoulder was making it difficult. She had completely given up on trying to cover the bruising on her face, which was now a deep purple, and was trying to think up some lie to tell her sibling to explain it when she heard a knock at the door. She checked her phone, her parents weren't supposed to be there for another hour and Alex hadn't told her anyone would be stopping over. As she walked to the living room she saw Bubba fast asleep on the couch. "Some guard dog you are." She said as she opened the door. "Sam, what are you doing here? How did you know I was here? Wait, how do you even know where this is?" Annie asked flustered as Sam stepped forward pulling her into a hug. "Ow, oh, careful careful!"

"Oh, my bad, my bad." Sam said as he let go and stepped around her into the house. "I had some meetings with Cap in New York yesterday and I heard what happened. I don't have to be back in D.C. until Monday so I thought I would stop in and see how you are doing."

"But, how did you know where I live? Did Tony tell you?" She asked as she gestured for him to have a seat.

"Nah, Nat gave me the address." Annie furrowed her brow in confusion. "Banannie, not only is she a spy but she's incredibly charming. It took her a call to Happy to find out where you were and she also found that today," he reached into his jacket pulling out a card. "Is your birthday. Just so you know this is from me and ONLY me and I had to work very hard to get it!"

She took the card and opened it. "Sam as much as I appreciate it you didn't..." She paused as she read the card and her eyes went wide. "Oh my god, is this Sarah's seafood mac & cheese recipe?"

"Sure is, and I just want to say I tried everything in the book to get that from her including threats and bribery. The only reason she gave in is I told her you got your ass kicked and she felt bad. So next time you talk to her you really gotta play up the sob story." He answered as he leaned back onto the couch.

"I feel like I should be mad at you for that but honestly I would let Bucky break my nose again if it meant another card like this." She replied, a huge smile on her face.

"Speaking of, how are you feeling? Looks like he got you pretty good." Sam reached over and grabbed Annie's chin gently moving her face side to side to inspect her bruises.

"I'm okay. Sore mostly. The worst part is trying to sleep, although right this minute I am struggling with not being able to lift my arm above my head. My parents are on their way to pick me up for my birthday dinner and as you can see I look like I stuck my tongue in an electrical socket." She said, pointing to the frizzy mess on her head. "I was going to straighten it just so it would look presentable but I can't reach the back of my head and there won't be time for my mom to help me once she gets here. Which, I hope you didn't come here just to drop off a card, do you want to come to dinner? Oh please say yes! If you came, my nieces and nephews, and honestly probably my brothers too, would be so excited." She folded her hands in front of her. "I'm trying to give you puppy dog eyes right now but I'm not sure if you can tell through all the swelling."

Sam threw his head back laughing. "Okay, yes yes. I planned on staying in town tonight so yes, Banannie I will come to your birthday dinner. Now come on." He said standing up and holding out his hand. "I can help you with your hair while you give me the rundown of your family."

"Wait seriously, you would help me with this?" She asked, taking his hand.

"Why wouldn't I? I have a sister, I have seen her use a straightener. You need help and it doesn't look that hard, just tell me if you see me do something wrong."

About thirty minutes later Sam was almost finished with the pieces Annie couldn't reach when she asked, "So how is the compound holding up? I know it's only been 4 days but I like to think the place would fall apart without me and please feel free to lie to boost my ego."

Sam laughed as he looked at her through the mirror before returning to his work. "From what I could tell, no one even knows where the laundry room is and they are heavily dependent on take out. Tony is going to have to get a temporary solution in there or that place will start smelling foul."

She smiled. "I can tell at least part of that is a lie so thank you but seriously, how is everyone?"

He finished the last piece and put down her straightener. Leaning on the counter he asked, "Are you really asking about everyone or are you trying to subtly fish for information about a certain someone?"

"Maybe both." She said, sheepishly

"Aha! I knew it! I called it last time I was up there!"

"It's not that Sam. I am asking because he had a PTSD flashback that ended in all of this." She said, gesturing at herself. "And before that he was really only just settling in. I am a caring, concerned person and I just want to make sure he's okay." The squeaks in her voice giving away her lies.

"Yeah, okay." He said sarcastically, then looked at her more seriously. "Honestly I don't know. The whole time I was there I didn't see him. Cap says he has barely left his room. I guess after you were out of the building Tony went off on him yelling about all your injuries and said Bucky needed to start therapy if he was going to stay at the compound. Seemed like hearing the gorey details hit him pretty hard." She was going to murder Stark. "And unfortunately for Barnes the person who does all the scheduling is on medical leave so he can't get started on that therapy and talking about his damn feelings until she gets back."

Annie nodded her head before standing up and taking his arm. "Well, that's a problem I can't fix right now. Come on, my parents should be here any minute."