CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
BANGED UP AND BRUISED BUT TOTALLY FINE

As he sees Pearl standing at the doorway, Bucky stands up immediately

"Pearl."

He clearly wasn't expecting to see her, it's evident in his voice. He begins to take a step forward towards her, like it's a reflex, but stops quickly. His face is completely devoid of color and his human hand is shaking, so lightly it's barely noticeable. His eyes are bloodshot, wider than she's ever seen them, and still fixated on her neck. She places her hand on her neck, jolting him out of thought. He quickly looks down.

"Are you-" Steve begins, but pauses, as if asking her if she's alright would be inappropriate or insensitive and since Steve is neither, he just clears his throat. "How are you?"

"I've been better," Pearl says quietly, dropping her hand back.

Her voice is still raspy, and the fact that she was thrown onto the floor is beginning to fully realize in the form of a literal pain in her ass — or hip, to be exact. Her throat feels like somebody ran over it with a truck and then beat the remains with a sledgehammer. She crosses her arms, just to have something to do with them, and bites on her lip, watching as Bucky stares at the floor.

"I don't-"

Bucky's voice trembles, matching the movement of his hand. His jaw is clenched and he's shaking his head. Pearl sees his focus darting from left to right.

"I don't know what happened. I'm so sorry, I can't believe I-"

He runs his hands through his hair, grabbing and pulling at it. His whole body twitches and trembles like jello being poked with a fork.

"I almost-"

He squeezes his eyes shut tight, burying his face in his hands.

"You could've-"

Pearl stares at the man before her — or what's left of him, anyway — and she knows what she should be feeling. He hurt her, badly, and even though he didn't mean to, it still happened. She's supposed to be scared of him, to feel wary around him. She's not supposed to want to run to him and hug him and tell him everything will be okay.

Then again, she's never been one to do what's expected.

"Bucky, calm down," she says.

Pearl takes a few steps forward, prompting Steve to put his hand up and signal for her to stay back. He looks tense from head to toe. Pearl ignore him and keeps walking.

"Calm down? How can I calm down?" His tone is agitated, angry, rushed. He runs his hands to the sides of his face, looking like he's about to dig into his skull. As he opens his eyes, his arms drop to his side. He looks surprised to see her standing so close. "I tried to kill you."

The last words are barely audible and they leave his bottom lip quivering. He stares straight at her. His eyes are puffy and red, yet so clear and glossy at the same time.

"I know. Just-"

Pearl decides mid-sentence that actions speak louder than words, especially in a situation like this. Bucky shudders as she tries to grab his hand, pulling it out of her reach, but she's not about to give up. She takes another step forward, staring defiantly into his eyes, and wraps her arms around him, as tightly as she possibly can. Bucky tries to step back, but she won't let him, so he lowers his head so it rests on top of hers. His body is still shaking and his breathing is short and quick. He seems to hesitate before reciprocating her hug.

From the corner of her eye, Pearl sees Steve exit the room.

They hold onto one another for a while, minutes maybe. Bucky's body seems to calm down and relax, but his breathing remains uneven. Pearl loosens her grip a little and looks up, her jaw resting on his chest, his mouth now grazing her forehead. His eyes are closed.

"I'm fine, Bucky," she says.

He lightly shakes his head, biting on his bottom lip. "You're not. You shouldn't be."

There it is again, what she should be feeling.

"You had a nightmare?" Pearl asks.

Bucky nods. She doesn't press him for more information, since she knows he will tell her when he's ready. Right now, she just wants to be there, offering him comfort. Maybe it's wrong and maybe it's fucked up, she doesn't care. She takes his hand and guides him to sit on the couch. He leans forward, burying his face in his hands again. He seems smaller, somehow. It's weird.

Pearl doesn't really know what to say. Telling him she's fine seems redundant, not to mention useless, since he won't believe her anyway, because he's not in the right state of mind to be assessing the situation objectively. He tried to kill her, sure, but he should know her well enough by now to know she doesn't scare easily. Not by stuff like this. She's scared of love, commitment and real feelings, yes, but not murder attempts and bad dreams. By all accounts, she is fine. A little banged up, but fine.

"So, what was that about going somewhere?" Pearl asks, remembering the conversation she walked in on.

"Huh?"

Bucky looks up at her, seemingly caught off guard. He seems to be processing the question — or maybe he's just processing the fact that she asked the question, the totally possibly irrelevant question that has nothing to do with what just happened as far as she knows — and he struggles to find the words.

"Oh, I-" He hesitates. "I planned a trip for us."

"A trip? Where?"

"Ohio."

Visions of white sandy beaches and maitais by the sea disappear from Pearl's mind as quickly as they appeared, but she doesn't mind. Ohio isn't a glamorous place. It's not a place she visits often, and when she does, it usually ends up being a short visit. Growing up, she spent a lot of time dreaming about leaving it behind.

But it's home, and he promised to take her there and he didn't forget. She can't help but smile. His expression goes from worried to surprised to something resembling relief.

"And Steve agreed to it?" she asks. He opens his mouth to speak, but gets cut short by the sound of Steve's voice.

"He didn't really give me a choice." He's standing in the doorway, leaning against it with his arms crossed. "But it's not a good idea right now."

He's definitely got that whole worried, caring yet strict parent thing going on and impeccable timing to boot.

Bucky sighs. "I know, Steve, I wasn't suggesting it. I was just sad that we can't go."

"Why can't we go?" Pearl asks.

Her question is met with total silence. The look on Steve's face is a familiar one, as in he thinks she's crazy, and the look on Bucky's face seems to be worry, again. The two men look at each other. Steve's firm, arms crossed and clenched jaw type of thing is met by Bucky's wide-eyed confusion. Steve turns to Pearl again, clearly about to say something.

She cuts him off before the first syllable leaves his lips. "What? This? This was a fluke. It's not going to happen again."

"It might."

Steve doesn't look too happy, but that's nothing new. She stares at him until she feels Bucky's hand on hers.

"Pearl, I don't think it's-" he says.

Pearl shakes her head, not willing to hear it. "It'll be good for you. Being locked up here... It's not healthy."

She wraps her hand over his. Something resembling a smile creeps up onto his lips, barely visible through the conflict of emotions on his face.

Steve interrupts the moment. Again. "You should get some sleep. I'll get a doctor to look at you in the morning."

The tone of his voice makes a seemingly sweet and caring gesture into one of those end of discussion type statements. Pearl complies, because she doesn't want to begin an argument, not in front of Bucky, but as Steve walks her back to her room, she can't just stay quiet.

They reach her door. Sam's not there anymore.

"This discussion concerns me too, Steve," Pearl says.

"It really doesn't."

There's that tone again. Pearl studies his face, trying to think of something to say, something to change his mind. He's got bags under his eyes and definite worry lines forming onto his forehead. His whole body seems tense.

He's obviously tired, and maybe that's what's making him act like a jerk. She's tired, too, and decides to return to this discussion another day, because the things she wants to say right now are the kinds of things she'd probably regret in the morning. So, she says nothing and takes a step inside her room.

"You're not doing him any favors by acting like you're fine," he says, making her turn back again.

"I am fine."

Steve doesn't get it. Pearl is fine, because she needs to be fine. She will make herself be fine. Bucky doesn't need to have another bad thing weighing on his conscience, and if he knew how much pain she's actually in, he would lock himself in a room and never see her again. It's not like it'll happen again, Pearl is sure of it. He's been fine for weeks.

"The HYDRA agents were captured two days ago. The ones who shot you," he says suddenly. "In total, there was twelve of them. They're all in custody now."

"What?" Pearl asks. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because it changes nothing."

With that, he leaves. Pearl watches him walk away, dying to yell something out after him, but she suppresses the urge.

Waking up the next day is painful, not just because she's bruised all over, but also because she'd gotten so used to having someone to wake up next to. Out of habit, Pearl reaches over to Bucky's side of the bed, still half asleep, but the only thing her fingers find is a crumpled up bed sheet. It's not made any less painful by the fact that Steve decides to wake her up at the crack of dawn by knocking on her door, loudly. She rolls out of bed and drags herself to open the door.

"Didn't I just see you two hours ago?" she asks, not even trying to hide her less than joyful mood. She's bruised, hungover, unbelievably tired and totally not in the mood to deal with Steve right now.

He smirks. "What can I say, I just couldn't wait."

"I bet."

His smirk disappears as he briefly glances at her neck. Trying to avert his eyes, he grabs the door handle, ready to close it again. "Get dressed. We're going to the hospital."

"I thought you were bringing the doctors to me," Pearl says, wondering if she has any scarves at the compound or if they're all at home. Judging by Steve's reaction, her neck probably looks like it might scare off small children, should they run into any.

He shrugs. "They want to run tests and scans. Can't do that here."

"Who's going to watch Bucky?"

"Sam's here."

Sam's here. Of course he's here. He was here last night, all through the night and all through Bucky's episode or whatever. Pearl already knows Sam's here, but now, thanks to the calm and collected tone of Steve's voice and the completely tense-free expression on his face, she also knows Sam's off the bench and back to being Bucky's babysitter.

She feels the corners of her mouth tugging up towards her ears. "Oh. So, you guys are, like, fine now?"

Steve shrugs. "Stop smiling."

Pearl tries to do as he says, but she can't help it. Her smile has evolved into a full on, all teeth showing, gums out, sides of her mouth hurting kind of smile. She knows Steve will never tell her the details of what exactly happened, but Sam might.

The trip to the hospital is boring and long, since the doctors can't really find anything wrong with her and make her wait ages for the actual results to confirm that nothing is wrong with her, and they aren't even handsome doctors this time around. No, this time they're a bunch of wrinkly old men, one of whom smells like the disgusting cabbage rolls Pearl's nana used to make. Steve barely says a word to her and the nurses won't change the channel on the TV in the waiting room, forcing Pearl to sit there and watch FOX News, since she didn't even remember to bring her phone.

"You're unusually quiet," he says after a long while.

Pearl, who has been mentally cataloging all her shoes and wondering if she should start replacing them with more expensive versions now that she's got money, turns to face him. "I didn't think you wanted to talk to me."

"Why's that?"

She gives him a look, as in the 'are you kidding me' kind of look.

He smiles. "I know we have our differences, but we have the same goal, right? I just want Bucky to be safe."

"Me, too."

His smile falters, but the tone of his voice remains calm. "The last time Bucky left the compound, you were shot."

"You think HYDRA is still out there?" Pearl asks.

He shrugs. "I know we don't have all of them, but I'm not concerned about the rest. They're in hiding and they will stay that way, if they know their own good."

"But?"

"But there will always be something. Bucky's a well known assassin, probably wanted by most governments on this planet," Steve says.

"He's a ghost story," Pearl replies.

Steve shakes his head. "He used to be, but after last year... It's only a matter of time before someone connects the dots or an agent of HYDRA sells the information of Bucky's whereabouts to the highest bidder." He pauses and sighs. "I told him all of this, and he said he's taking you to Ohio, whether I like it or not. I told him he's free to make his own decisions, no matter how stupid they may be. But that was before last night."

He looks straight into her eyes. "Me and Sam were still up talking last night, when we heard noises coming from your room. If we'd been asleep, we might not be having this conversation right now."

Though he tries to be strict, genuine concern is all over his face, and she can't argue with his words, so she sits still and doesn't say a peep.

When Pearl finally gets back from the hospital, she leaves Steve to park the car and finds Bucky waiting for her at the door. He looks scared, almost. "What did they say?"

"They wondered how I didn't pass out, and there are some hairline fractures on my sternum and bruises all over," she says. "But I'm fine."

She yanks off her shoes, throwing them in the corner. The motion hurts her shoulder, making her grind her teeth a little.

Bucky notices her pained expression. "You're in pain."

"A little. They gave me good pills, though," she says with a shrug, trying to neutralize her expression.

It does, in all honesty, hurt more than a little, but thank God for modern medicine, though the doctors only gave her the good pills after she lied about not having a history of substance abuse in her family.

Pearl walks over to slump down onto the couch. Bucky sits down on the edge of it.

"I remembered something about it. The dream. The nightmare," he says, looking down at his hands. "I, uh, I saw your face and then there was HYDRA. I was in my chamber. I remember someone saying all these words, but I can't remember what they were."

"Words?"

"They might've been code or they could mean nothing. I don't know." He shakes his head before raising it to meet her eyes. "Steve said I have to start seeing a psychotherapist."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. I think it's a good idea," he says. "But only after we get back."

"We're going?" Pearl asks, genuinely surprised. She was sure Steve had talked Bucky out of it, especially after what he said at the hospital.

"Unless you're having second thoughts?" Bucky asks, raising an eyebrow. "I promised Steve I'd wait a little, so I pushed our flights to Thursday, but I can cancel them."

"No, don't," Pearl says, sitting up on the couch and inching her way closer to him. "It has been over a month since your last nightmare."

He looks down at his hands again. "It has, but I understand if you're scared of me."

"I've never been scared of you," she says and grabs his hand to give it a squeeze.

After that, everything returns to normal, almost. Steve doesn't want Bucky and Pearl sleeping in the same room, not to mention the same bed, so Bucky reluctantly agrees to sleep in the room next to Steve's, while Pearl promises to obey Steve's wishes.

"What are you doing here?" Bucky asks on the first night as Pearl tiptoes her way into his new room and slips under the covers, nuzzling herself right into the nook of his arm. "You promised Steve."

"I've never been great at keeping my promises," she mumbles in response.

Sam comes back to the compound and acts incredibly weird and tense around the two of them, as in so tense it seems as if he's about to claw his way through his palms any minute, but he doesn't say anything. Based on the range of topics he chooses to discuss, he has developed an avid interest in weather and sports. Pearl doesn't ask him about it, because she knows what he'd say. Whenever Steve brings up the subject of Ohio, Sam nods silently in agreement.

On Tuesday, just as Steve talks to Bucky about the phone he has to take with him and the GPS tracker that will be attached to his body, Pearl catches Sam staring at her neck. He looks away, quickly, but it makes her feel uneasy. For a brief moment, she imagines the worst case scenario. For a brief moment, she's scared. With one look in Bucky's direction, the feeling passes.

When Thursday finally rolls around, the number of nightmares matches the number of nights Pearl's spent in her own bed, both totaling at an even zero. Steve doesn't attempt to change their mind, probably because he's been wildly unsuccessful so far.

"Have a good trip," he simply says, his words loaded with hidden meaning. Try not to get kidnapped. Try not to kill your girlfriend. Come back alive. Come back, period. Those kinds of things.

Bucky hugs him. "We'll be fine, Steve. I swear."

As Pearl finishes packing up her suitcase, throwing in all the last minute essentials like her toothbrush, deodorant and another pair of shoes, she sees Bucky standing at her doorway, leaning on the frame. In his hand, hangs a backpack. She's never seen it before, but considering its worn-out fabric, it's not new. "What's that?"

He shrugs. "Just my stuff."

"I can clear out some space in my luggage for you, if you want. Or we can find another bag somewhere," she says.

"No, it's fine," he says, shaking his head lightly, and appears to grasp onto the handle tightly.

"Alright. Keep your ugly backpack."

Pearl wears a turtle-neck sweater to hide the bruises on her neck and chest. Thankfully, they're making a comeback, so it's not a super weird choice for a nice spring day. She's also packed a bunch of scarves. To balance out hiding her top half, she wears a mini skirt and sheer pantyhose. After all, if she was completely covered up, her family might get suspicious. Penelope would probably assume she'd found God.

After one last look in the mirror, she grabs the handle of her suitcase and rolls it out into the hallway.

"You ready?" she asks, trying to smile but it comes out forced.

"Are you alright?" he asks. He places his hand on her shoulder.

"I'm a little nervous. I've never officially introduced anyone to my parents before."

Officially, she never has. There was Andy, who had been in the same class with her since kindergarten, so her parents knew him already when they started dating, and he used to sneak in through her bedroom window so they barely interacted. Then there was Jake, aka Security Guard guy, who met her father briefly at the police station. And lastly, there was the naked guy in bed with her back in law school when her father decided to pay a surprise visit a month after Philip's funeral. His name escapes her right now, but he did have a black American Express card.

"Oh."

She takes a deep breath and smiles, this time for real. "I guess there was never anyone worth bringing home."

He responds with a kiss on her forehead.

Sam pokes his head around the corner. "Your ride is here."

"That was fast, I literally just called for a cab," Pearl says, making her way towards the door with Bucky in tow.

Sam follows them. "A cab?"

Opening the front door, she turns back to see a really weird expression on Sam's face, and just when she's about to ask, she sees a look of confusion appearing on Bucky's face. He points outside. Pearl looks to where he's pointing and suddenly the confused faces make sense.

Right outside, stands an older dark-haired man, dressed in a snazzy black suit that looks to be custom-tailored for his wide shoulders, but the man isn't really the shocking part, even if he is way too well dressed to just be your average everyday cab driver. The shocking part is the freaking limousine behind him.

"Miss Palmer, I presume?" he asks as Pearl stares at him, her mouth probably agape.

"Uh, yeah? And you-"

Sam interrupts her. "Happy Hogan, right?"

The man, apparently named Happy, nods. He walks over to Pearl. "Mister Stark thought you might need a ride."

Happy picks up Pearl's suitcase and carries it to the trunk of the limo before opening the door for her and Bucky to get in. Before Pearl takes a step forward, Sam leans in, whispering in her ear. "He's Stark's Head of Security."

As the limo leaves the compound, Pearl types up a quick text to Tony, summarizing her feelings of the weird situation.

(01:13pm) ?

He replies quickly, in his typically infuriating manner.

(01:13pm) :D