Ice Princess

13

"Just stay, ok." He told her.

"You're lucky you had that suit, if you weren't wearing it, you would have died."

"Well, if it gets you to take care of me, I might forego wearing it as often as I can."

"You shouldn't say things like that."

"Look, it's late. I'll get a room somewhere, but you need to rest. Just take ...."

"Mina..."

"Melinoe."

"What?"

"Mel - lin - o - ee. That's my real name."

"I will call you that if you stay. The bed is big enough for the two of us and it's not like I'm going to be moving very much."

"Fine. You should really take off for the next couple days, too." She handed him the antibiotics and a glass of water helping him lift it to his mouth. "Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why do all this?"

"The justice system is flawed. I'm trying to balance the scales." He continued explaining it to her. She understood why Sam, Bucky, and Thor all did it. Melinoe was trying to wrap her head around why Matt was doing it. She was struggling to stay awake and Matt could sense it. "I'm boring you..."

"No, while my day hasn't been as rough as yours, I'm just running out of gas."

"Then go to sleep, I won't try anything. I promise." When she put her head down on the opposite pillow and yawned. Closing her eyes, she was just about asleep when he felt him brush his hand over her face, then started petting her hair, slowly, softly.

"That feels good." She said sleepily. Melinoe slept for a couple hours, then checked on Matt. He was asleep, but he needed the rest. Finding cleaning items, she started cleaning the floor where she treated him. Rinsing off his armor as best she could, she saw that she had gotten blood on her clothing. Seeing Matt was still asleep, she rotted around for a t-shirt or sweatshirt or something she could wear. Finally finding one, she put her clothes in the wash and headed for the shower. At least if they dried in time, she'd have clean clothes to wear home before going to work. "Shh, shh, shh.... Go back to sleep." She told Matt, as he started to wake up. "This is why I wanted you to have some pain meds. To at least reduce the swelling. How about you take some ibuprofen or Tylenol? It will bring the swelling down."

"Why are you so good to me?"

"Hypocritical oath." She said as she looked over his vitals. "Plus, you asked for it."

"But you never asked for it yourself."

"Do you?"

"That's not what I meant. And it's not the same."

"My clothes will be done shortly. I have to go back to my apartment, feed the cat, and go to work."

"So why don't you?"

"Why don't you?"

"I did."

"If you're taught from birth that no one is there to help you and the help you do give costs others, you tend not to ask. It took me a really long time to unlearn not giving help to others. Asking for help is still really hard. I want to trust people, I do." When he raked his thumb over her knuckles, she took her hand back.

"It's not safe for you to go home."

"I'll only be there for a bit. Work has several layers of security. I'm probably safer there than anywhere else in the world, at least for me." He heard her pad off to the dryer and get her clothes out. Heading for the bathroom, she went to change.

"I don't know why you're doing that, it's not like I can see anything."

"It's the principle of the matter." Melinoe quickly dressed and ran her fingers through her hair as best she could. "Do you need me to come back after work today?" She went to the kitchen, made coffee, breakfast, and a bag lunch for him sitting them within reach of his good arm.

"It would be nice."

"Ok, let's go over this. I etched an X on the top and bottom of the pill bottle that has the antibiotic. Take two when you eat and tonight before going to bed. This other bottle, take an hour after eating, again two. You really should take the anti-inflammatories for at least three days. The antibiotics until you run out."

"Why are you telling me all this?"

"In case I have to stay late or .... But everything should be fine."

"Melinoe, call if you are. Even if you can't come, call."

"Fine."

"Promise me."

"I promise."

___________

Why was he paranoid was beyond her. Apparently, the man he fought was stealthy and strong but without more than that to go on Melinoe didn't not who to look out for. Apologizing profusely to her cat for not being the warmth Everest was looking for last night continued as she hurried about getting the cat its food and taking care of other things. Melinoe also changed and packed a light bag of essentials just in case she had to spend another night at Matt's. Why was she even humoring him? As she sat down at her desk, a shadow hid the morning sun that usually warmed her back.

"I need to talk to you." Bucky said.

"In a minute, just let me put my things down and get settled."

"Now." He said in a whispered growl as he grabbed her upper arm, her eyes going wide. As she spun around and was taken to a dark corner, she saw his face and his hand. There was real concern on his face as well as bruises, his hand had cuts across the knuckles and was red.

"What happened to you?"

"To me? No, this discussion is about you."

"What are you talking about?" She said loudly.

"Keep your voice down. Someone is trying to kill you."

"Kill me? What are you going on about?"

"Last night there was someone on the roof of your building. He was strong and fast, an expert in martial arts and talked a lot. I was able to run him off but not without us having an encounter coming to blows. He had on some sort of red body armor with horns. Do you know who I'm talking about?"

"No. Why were you watching my apartment?"

"Because I was worried about you, then I saw him. He said he was there for your protection, so if you didn't know about it. Who was it then?"

"You do realize how stalker-esque this sounds don't you?"

"Well, yeah stalkers end up hurting those who they stalk."

"No, Bucky, you're the one doing the stalking as well." She backed away from him. "You were there that night I was at the pool, weren't you? And then you 'found' me in the gym." She walked away from him, still facing him. "Then you found this guy on my apartment roof..."

"Melinoe, what's wrong?" She left him standing there as she made it to find Bruce, Sam, Thor, anyone else but Bucky.