Ice Princess

41

"Are you sure, you're fine?" Bucky asked her as he lead her to the restaurant.

"I'm fine, why? Those beers were pretty watered down." Melinoe removed the jersey and cap she had on and handed them to Bucky who put them into a saddle bag of his bike.

"Do you even know how many you had?"

"Yes, eight. Like I said, I feel fine. Which is something you would expect someone who was drunk to say. Here." She preformed a sobriety walking test, touched her nose with her eyes closed, and said the alphabet backwards, then did a listing of prime numbers until she got up to the lower hundreds."

"Ok, I guess you're sober."

"Don't worry, I won't fall off the bike." She playfully pushed him.

"Ok, but don't puke on me. Just tap twice if you need me to pull over."

"Promise."

"And remember, you need to look surprised."

"Got it." She plopped on the helmet then climbed on behind him.

Apparently, they had rented the back of a pub. Melinoe followed Bucky down a set of stairs into the pub, there were a few people here and there all having their drinks, dinner perhaps and conversations. They didn't acknowledge them as they came in and Bucky made his way to the back room. As soon as Melinoe was through the archway, everyone yelled surprised.

"Oh, my." She was surprised. Matt, Foggy and Karen were there. By the end of the evening even Fury had shown up, which was a true surprise for her.

There were hugs and food and drink. Some dancing. Eventually, her two groups of friends divided and she made her way to the very human side of the room.

"So you left to find yourself in the Himalayas?" Matt joked.

"Who told you?" Melinoe asked. Most of her story she had to skirt around, but kept it vague enough to satisfy them. They continued having their conversation for a while but then Matt and the others excused themselves due to having court tomorrow and it was getting late. She said their goodbyes and walked them out. As she was walking back in, she noticed a man sitting alone in the corner, talking to himself. But other things as well caught her attention. She started to walk over to him.

"Careful, miss." The bartender yelled, but she paid him no head. After talking with him for a bit, she diagnosed him with schizophrenia and he was having an episode. By this time Bucky was worried and came out looking for her.

"Meli, are you alright?"

"Yes." Then turning to the stranger. "Do you mind if I hold your hands for a minute? I'm a doctor and I want to try something. Ok?" The man agreed and she took his hands. In her mind's eye she could see how his mental illness came about and the mechanisms which caused it to play out in his life. Like a tangled ball of yarn, mentally she untwisted and tied it gently. The man became more and more calm and a feeling of awareness came over him.

"It's gone. It's finally gone." He looked at her in disbelief. "Thank you. I don't know what you did...". He left a changed man saying 'it' was gone and was confused.

"You cured him?" Bucky asked.

"I think so. I'm supposed to be able to cause madness, I thought maybe I could undo it as well. I don't know if it was a permanent fix or temporary." She got up from the seat she was sitting in, wiped away a tear that had fallen from her eyes.

"You're a good woman." Bucky told her. "Even if it is temporary, he will have peace of mind for a bit." He gave her a side hug and led her back to the party where everyone was finishing off the food and the cake. Thor was passing around the Asgaardian ales and gave Bucky a shot of something from a small bottle.