"Did you do all this doll?"
"Mmhmm." Darcy hummed patting the dirt in around the new herbs she had just laid to rest.
"Smells good." He mumbled to himself taking a big whiff of the air feeling a relaxing calm wash over him.
"Thank you." She replied as she picked up another baby sprout. She began humming a pretty little tune as she set the plant to rest in the dirt and filled in around the roots. Bucky watched her do this for nearly thirty minutes all the while her tune stayed strong and melodious.
When the final sprout was in the window box she brushed off her hands and moved to the sink washing them off. "Want to help me hang it?" She asked over her shoulder with a little smile.
Bucky smiled back feeling joy in the fact that someone was asking him for help. It had become apparent in the last six months that Darcy didn't always need to use magic to make someone feel good.
"Sure doll, just tell me where."
She grinned drying off her hands and motioning for him to follow her. "Right this way Sarge."
Bucky picked up the little red and gold window box and led Bucky all the way up to Tony's lab where said man was hammering away at a piece of his suit. He looked up at them as they entered.
"Lewis, Barnes." His greeting seemed to lack the usual finesse.
"Stark." Bucky replied following Darcy over to the floor to ceiling window beside Tony's desk.
"What are you doing?" Tony's voice cut through the silence that followed as Darcy pointed out the exact spot she wanted Bucky to hang the window box, which point of fact was not actually feasible in the normal means which left Bucky to string up the box with chains hanging from the ceiling. Darcy was smiling as he finished so he assumed it was alright.
"Perfect." She muttered turning to face Tony. "You haven't been sleeping very well, these will help. Jarvis, please have Dum-E water these with one cup of water every two days."
"Of course Miss Lewis."
"Thank you." She smiled and walked out leaving Tony and Bucky behind.
Tony looked over to Bucky. "What just happened?" Bucky shrugged.
"Don't question a witch Stark."
Tony snorted. "Your one to talk."
Bucky chuckled as he headed for the door. "I plead temporary insanity."
When Bucky was gone Tony cautiously approached the hanging window box mentally approving of the color choices. He took a deep breath, breathing in the plants' natural aroma. Instantly he felt the tension he'd been carrying leave him, relaxing his muscles and ebbing away the headache that had been sitting in the back of his head for two days.
He yawned and stretched and without much thought made the trek up to his penthouse apartment where he finally drifted off to sleep.
xXx
"Who's this one for?" Bucky questioned taking a seat across from Darcy at the breakfast bar. The plants she was working with this time were colorfully exotic flowers.
"Natasha." She replied. "She had an interview with some asshole reporter who asked her all these sexist questions this morning and she came back angry."
"So a little color therapy then?" He asked and he absolutely refused to acknowledge the little flip his stomach did when she turned a proud grin on him.
"Very good Barnes."
He wasn't too proud to admit he preened a little with her words though.
"Need help hanging this one?"
She shook her head. "No, this one will sit on Nat's coffee table. You can help me with the next one though."
'What's the next one?" he asked.
"Steve has been stressed out with all the new recruits, so I'm building him an aroma garden." she fiddled with some of the flowers before; "Oh and then I'm putting together a tea garden for Bruce and a self contained terrarium for Jane."
"Sounds like you've got your work cut out for you." he told her. She shrugged.
"I don't really consider it work to be honest. I enjoy it far too much to call it work."
Bucky smiled to himself, watching Darcy work away at the soil and relaxing at the mesmerizing movements of her hands and the steady hum of the tune she carried.
xXx
"What the hell is that?" Clint exclaimed stopping short through the common room door only to be plowed into from behind by Steve.
"Whoa." was Steve's only contribution as he stepped around Clint and slowly walked toward the center of the room where Darcy was petting a sleek looking blue plant that was strangely enough, purring under her attention much the same way a cat would.
"I can't pronounce the real name but I think I'm going to call it Elsa." Darcy replied as if that answered everything.
"Okay, but what is it?" Clint repeated noting the sulking former assassin in the far corner.
"It's an Asgardian Plant. Thor says their sentient and act like first pets for small children. He says it's from my secret admirer."
Steve spared a look at Bucky before walking up behind Darcy where she sat on the floor against the sofa.
"It's very beautiful." he told her, and only his super soldier hearing could pick up the disgruntled way Bucky shifted in his seat. "You have a secret admirer?"
"Yep, I wouldn't really call him a secret though, he's not as sneaky as he likes to think he is." She laughed scritching the little flower under what Steve assumed was the chin.
"Oh yeah, anyone we know?" Clint asked from the kitchen where he was slurping coffee directly from the pot.
"Thor's shield brother Fandral." she explained. "I guess he remembers me from New Mexico."
Steve hummed, leaving Darcy to her new friend and joining Clint in the kitchen. He fixed himself something to eat before making his way over to Bucky in the corner. "You alright jerk?" Steve asked as he took a seat beside him.
"Peachy." Bucky grumbled.
"You sure?" Steve continued taking a big bite of his sandwich.
"Yep." he popped the "p" in a way that was so reminiscent of Darcy it took every ounce of Steve's willpower not to laugh.
"If you say so." he mumbled around a mouthful of food.
The two soldiers watched the young woman, "play" with her new friend. Every so often the plant with nip at her and she would laugh and give it a scritch. Eventually Steve finished his lunch and turned to Bucky.
"Want to go for a walk?"
Bucky hesitated to answer but eventually nodded.
xXx
Bucky had to admit little Elsa was pretty cute. When he sat down on the chair in Darcy's apartment beside the window where Elsa called home, she chirped at him. It only took him a moment to realize she wanted a scritch. She loved the attention he gave her and purred as he rubbed at her petals. Darcy came over from the kitchen and handed him a small dish of what he assumed was food for her and he fed her a piece at a time laughing as she begged for the food like a puppy.
"She's just the sweetest isn't she?" Darcy called from where she'd made herself comfortable on the sofa.
"Yeah, she is." Bucky replied feeding her another pellet. Darcy smiled softly as she watched him.