EVERMORE ─ marvel

II. Moving Day

One week later...

Chapter Two
Jade

It's empty. The whole house. I didn't think it would be this difficult to say goodbye to it, to the house I thought I'd spend the rest of my life in, the house I thought I'd grow old in. Alex and Jo have been here since yesterday helping up pack everything onto a Wakandan ship, to bring to our new house, our new life in Wakanda.

A large part of me is happy about this move. We're moving closer to our friends, to a country that's so beautiful and vibrant, so full of life. The new Avengers base is being built in Wakanda, where Sam and Soroya will act as directors, working together to shape a future for the enhanced, for the world. Nothing is more exciting than that. I'm trying to focus on the happy aspects of this move, but a heavy weight still sits on my heart, even heavier now that the house is empty.

Arms wrap around my waist from behind me, a pair of lips pressing on my cheek, my neck. Sam rests his head on my shoulder and lets out a sigh, his voice a mere murmur as he says:

"We'll come back. One day we'll retire, we'll move back here, I'll buy us an even nicer house, and we'll use that money to start franchising the bakery."

The bakery, the thing I'll miss even more than the house. We already went there this morning and worked out the details of how it will be run for the near future. We hired a manager to run it full time, but we still own it, we will always own it. Sam and I ate some orange scones while we worked out the contract, then I had to say goodbye to it, to the last piece of my parents I have left. Leaving it feels like ripping a part of my heart out. In many ways I am. Part of me will always belong here, in that bakery, in this house, in Denmark.

I turn my head and kiss Sam's cheek, laying my hands on top of his. "Promise?"

He nods against my shoulder. "I promise."

This whole time I have been standing in our living room, which is right next to the door. I eye that door now, knowing that there's no point in delaying the inevitable. Sam acknowledges it too, taking one last look around the empty house before asking me: "You ready?"

I'm not, but I nod, placing a soft kiss on his lips, a smile growing despite my sorrow. "For anything, as long as I'm with you."

-

Soroya

It was always our plan to move back to Wakanda once Livy and Stevie got out of school, we knew we would only be here a few years. But despite that, I feel a little sad leaving this place. We have so many memories in this house, so many study sessions, take out dinners, movie nights. So many memories, so many years. I'll miss it, I'll miss this house, this neighborhood, this little pocket of security we made.

We're nearly done packing up the house. Bucky and I are taping up the last of the boxes while the kids start loading them onto the ship. Zy had to stay in Wakanda and Jo is helping Jade and Sam with their move, so only Livy, Stevie, and Liam are here to help. I feel a small smile creep onto my lips as the three of them joke around and talk as they work. Liam is arguing with Stevie about Beetlejuice being a horror movie while Livy gives her thoughts on how stupid the argument is. It makes my heart sing to see them so happy, see them welcome Liam with open arms. When Stevie came to me and told me about Liam's parents, how he had no place to go, I immediately offered for him to come live with us. He's a quiet, distant young man, but a large heart lies underneath. He reminds me of Alex before he met Khari, before he made a family for himself. I want to be that for Liam, I want to give him a family, make him feel loved and wanted. It's what he deserves.

I haven't had much interaction with him the last week or so he's been apart of our family. None of my kids have interacted with me much really. I think they're trying to give me space, trying to let me heal and not bother me. Part of me is sad they are distancing themselves from me, the other part of me is glad. I don't want them to see me like this, see me so beaten down, so broken. I don't want Liam's first memories of me to be stained with my misery and guilt, nor Livy or Stevie's. I've always been their beacon of hope and optimism, and I can't be that right now. I try to, I try to put on a mask and be that same old ray of sunshine I used to be, but it's just a mask. I don't feel like my old self, that optimistic, joyful person who always saw the good in others and worked hard to help people be their best selves. I don't know where that woman has gone, if she'll ever come back.

I finish up the last box and set the tape down, looking around at the now nearly empty house. Bucky does the same, silently slipping his hand into mine.

"We have a lot of memories in this house." He murmurs.

I nod. "Six years of our lives have been lived here. It will be hard to say goodbye."

"It will. But I'm glad we're going back to our old house. You'll get your old dance studio back, the one in our basement. Maybe you could pick up dancing again." He says, his suggestive tone not going unnoticed.

Bucky hasn't pushed me to talk. Not once. After everything came to an end, this conflict, this near war, I've finally begun to feel the weight of what happened with Hale, with the Savage, with John. The anger, the sorrow, the hatred, the guilt, its all crushing me at once, making me feel like I'm trapped in this box I can't get out of, just like I was when the Savage was in control. If I'm being honest I haven't really escaped that prison, the dark corner of my mind I was trapped in. Bucky knows that. He was trapped by his brainwashing long after Shuri cured him. Things like that can't just heal like a gash on your arm. These kind of wounds take time, a lot of time.

I was by his side when he was trying to heal from his mind control, and now he's by me while I try to deal with my own mine control. I don't deserve him, I really don't. I squeeze his hand, my throat growing a little tight as I whisper: "I love you."

He leans forward and kisses my cheek. "I love you, too, Lena. So, so much."

I gesture towards the door. "We should get going, the kids are waiting."

He nods, taking one last look at the barren house, at the life we are leaving behind here. "I'm ready if you are."

I'm not, I'm not ready for this change, for all of my life to change, but I don't have a choice. I can't control anything, can't stop anything, even though I wish i could, wish time could stop for one moment so I can catch my breath. But I can't, so I lie: "I'm ready."