How do you heal?

Chapter 59: Fight Or Flight

"I just want to be over it already. Like, I'm an adult, why can't I move past it, it was over a year ago! Also, he dumped me and has a girlfriend. I don't think I'm incorrect in feeling like the whole interaction was incredibly weird and inappropriate. I mean, who asks their ex to be the one to make medical decisions for them." Annie rambled around the bite from her take out container as she sat next to Pietro on his bed, laptop set up in front of them with Alex on a video call. She'd left his room earlier to pop one of the casseroles she kept on hand in the oven for dinner but she understandably hadn't wanted to eat with the others.

"A narcissist." Alex said before taking a bite of her own dinner. "Barnes clearly has no boundaries and is willing to take advantage of your good nature. Maybe you need to put up a wall. You can do your job and remain professional without being personable."

"You're probably right. Shit like this just pisses me off though and the fact that I cry so easily just makes it worse. Like I just embarrassed myself by running away in tears."

"There's nothing wrong with having emotions, Солнышко." Pietro said as he put his phone down. "And you shouldn't feel embarrassed for walking away from a situation that was hurting you."

Pietro lost focus on Annie's continued ramblings as he watched Alex pick up her phone and read the message he'd just sent.

Pietro: This is good for her, right? She said she wanted closure, I feel like this could be a slamming door.

Alex: I understand why you think that but I gotta be honest with you, she most likely still has one more stupid fucking thing in her.

Pietro: What do you mean?

Alex: Barnes coming back but not acknowledging what happened has her brain in limbo. From the tale she just told us his actions didn't help that what if feeling. I see one of two things happening. She puts up the wall and gets past it or she gives him a second chance if he asks for it, gets hurt again and cuts him off. She forgives a lot but this is a fool me once fool me twice situation.

Pietro: 😑🙄😡

"Hey, Iris. Are you heading into work?" Annie said as she leaned closer to the screen and the movement brought Pietro's focus to her, although he wasn't listening to the conversation. He watched as she smiled and chatted with Loki, her tears long gone, but he could still see the stress in the way she sat with her legs pulled tight to her body and arms crossed over her chest.

When she had shown up in his room earlier the reaction that tore through his chest was a physical pain he had only felt a few times in his life and when she finally calmed down enough to tell him what happened that pain had turned to anger. Wanda had told him about the interaction with Kat yesterday and he'd known Annie would be giving Barnes the paperwork today. If he thought for one second Barnes would have pulled something like that Pietro would have offered to drop the papers off himself. Had Barnes been trying to flirt with her? He hadn't shown any real effort since his return, especially since he'd been bringing Kat around but...

Pietro picked up his phone again.

Pietro: Are you busy?

Wanda: Just finished cleaning up from dinner. What do you need?

Pietro: Will you take a walk to the pond with me?

Wanda: Yes.

He sat up and started gathering empty take out containers. "Where are you going?" Annie asked.

"Just cleaning up, I might go out for a quick walk since I skipped my run. Work off some energy."

"Oh," Annie said and her face fell a little. "Do you want me to come with you?"

"Nah, stay and talk to Alex. We can watch a movie or something when I get back." With that he waved goodbye to Alex and Loki on the laptop and made his way to the kitchen to meet his sister.

"You could just ask her out." Wanda said as they sat on one of the benches by the waters edge. "If she says yes, you won't have to worry about Bucky trying to get back with her."

"And if she says no?" Pietro asked with a sad smile.

"I don't think she will."

He sat back and stared out over the water for a moment. If it were six or eight weeks ago Wanda would probably have been right. Annie would likely have said yes if he'd asked her out but he hadn't been in any rush because he'd liked the way things were and he had plenty of time. Then out of nowhere Barnes decided to come back and he hadn't wanted it to look like he was only asking because of that and now...now it just didn't feel right. Especially considering what Alex had said earlier. She gives him a second chance if he asks for it. Why did Barnes even have to come back? "I think I need to wait and see what happens next."