How do you heal?

Chapter 91: Bring It On Home To Me

Late December 2016

Annie sat in the living room of the compound around two in the morning. A hot mug of tea next to her, elbow propped on the arm of the couch head leaned into her hand. She only half read the subtitles on the silent television as she watched the holiday scenes play out. Her restless nights were few and far between nowadays but in the last month with the loss of her ring she had noticed an uptick. While Pietro frequently told her that she could wake him on nights like this so she didn't have to be alone, tonight she wanted to be. It was a few days after Christmas and she was feeling very melancholy. She missed her dad, she was upset about not being able to find her ring and she missed Alex, who had taken the last few weeks to help Sam's sister Sarah in Louisiana and spend Christmas there. Sarah having recently lost her own husband and being a newly widowed mother of two.

As Annie continued her silent vigil unsure if she would get any sleep tonight based on her current mood she heard the elevator ding and shot up. Everyone who lived in the compound was here right now. The only person she could even think of coming in at this hour would be Tony but if he was here now it would most likely be to work in the labs and he'd have no reason to be coming to the living quarters. She turned and stared down the hall at the sound of boots walking across the floor.

"Bucky?" Annie was surprised but relieved. For a moment she thought someone had broken past all Tony's security and she was going to have to sprint for a knife.

Bucky walked down the hall to the compound living quarters, duffle bag slung over his shoulder, glad that his clearance still worked and he was able to get in. He didn't want to have to wake Nat or Steve at this hour. He had thought he would just slip in and catch a few hours of sleep after driving for ten hours straight but as he stepped from the hall he heard Annie call his name and he looked up to see her on the couch. "Hey."

"What are you doing here?"

Annie hadn't spoken directly to him since her dad's funeral and he couldn't help but laugh a little at her question. "As far as I'm aware Stark hasn't kicked me out yet so, going to bed?"

She shook her head as she stood and walked toward the kitchen island. "No I..I didn't mean like that it's just, you've been gone for months and only Nat and Steve seemed to have any clue where you were and you suddenly show up in the middle of the night with no notice..."

Bucky walked toward her and stopped on the other side of the island. "I know. Just a..uh, bad attempt at humor." They stood there in silence for a moment, both unsure what to say or do. When Annie nodded and seemed like she was going to walk back to the couch Bucky spoke again, he was here for her after all, might as well get it out now while they had some privacy. "I was in Indiana."

Annie lifted her head and had a tentative look of excitement on her face. "With your family?"

Bucky nodded and dropped his duffle, taking a seat on one of the stools. "Yeah, thanks to you."

"Bucky, that's awesome. Have you been there the whole time? Has it been okay? I mean If you were there the whole time I would assume-" She started to ramble questions as her face truly lit up with joy and he laughed.

"I was there most of the time and yes, it has been better than okay. Winnie is in her eighties but still has her mind and has been filling me in on a lot of the things I missed." Annie opened her mouth to speak but he held up a hand. "But I wasn't there the whole time."

"Oh." Is all she replied.

"About a month ago I got a phone call that sent me a few hours east into Ohio on and off." Annie's brow furrowed but she didn't ask any questions and Bucky reached into his pocket. "I heard that someone who had done a whole lot for me lost something really important to them and since I had been unappreciative and a pretty shitty person I figured I would try and find it. See if maybe I could use it as a peace offering, get them to forgive me."