Hello dear readers!

As always, thank you all so much for the support!

Just before we start, I should inform you that I edited the previous chapter and some things have been added to it, so perhaps you'd like to read it again.

Also, I would like to thank artemis7448 for informing me about the existence of compression gloves! It is amazing to have such helpful readers!

Speaking of, hkhorch asked a valid question, and one I should perhaps answer for all readers: neither HYDRA nor any other organizations play an active part in the plot. The "villains" in this story are internal, and in that essence HYDRA is a villain, through the shadow of fear and doubt it casts on Bucky. The idea behind this story is to highlight how the simple, uncomplicated relationships that form in everyday life, those seemingly small moments shape us. Having HYDRA appear would be beside the point. This kind of story of course isn't everyone's cup of tea, so I would hate to lead any of you on.

Anyway, about this chapter: This one and the next one would originally be a single chapter, but as I was writing I realized the chapter would be huge, so I decided to split them.

So now that I have talked enough to bore the living shit out of you, please enjoy the chapter!

XoXo,

Lady Turwaithiel

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OCs.


Of flowers, coffee and plum tarts

Chapter 6: The horrors of nature, part 1

Night had fallen, and Bucky was frantically writing down on his notebook. Hazy memories, a day he and Steve went to the beach, his brother asking him for help with his homework, and death, so much death. Sometimes it was the war; sometimes it was just people fleeing from him.

So at first, he though the screaming was in his head.

But as the second, distant sound echoed, Bucky was up and rushing out the door, his heart beating fast.

Please no.

But it was indeed Mrs. Konstantinidou's voice that had echoed throughout the building.

Rushing down the steps, he located his knife within his pocket.

What had happened? Robbery? Had anyone noticed his visits for tea?

Was it them?

He didn't know a thing in the world that could have made the old woman scream like that.

If they've touched her, I'll kill them.

He reached her floor. The door was closed, but from inside he could still hear sobbing and panicked little shrieks.

They are not silencing her.

Where they trying to lure him?

Where they torturing the old woman just to make him break?

His eyes darkened.

He would kill them.

He grabbed the handle and twisted, not that he was expecting to find the door unlocked. He was right.

Bucky knew he had just warned them he was going in, but it didn't matter. They were dead already, they just didn't know it.

He took a step back, ready to kick the door down.

That's when the door was swung wide open. Bucky froze.

Mrs. Adriana was standing in front of him, hair disheveled, skin as white as snow, her eyes wild with panic. But clearly unharmed.

"Sergiu!" she exclaimed, her voice between relief and hysterics.

"Mrs. Konstantinidou, what is going on?" he asked her, approaching and grabbing her from the shoulder.

She just shook her head, pointing in her house with a trembling finger.

"Please…Inside!"

Confused but alert, he pushed past her and entered the house. He scanned the apartment; ready confront whatever had caused the woman to crumble in fear.

He saw nothing.

"There!" Mrs. Adriana sobbed right behind him, pointing at the piano on the far end of the room.

Bucky frowned, still not seeing anything.

And then something caught his eyes.

He froze.

You've got to be joking.

That's when Chloe rushed in the house, dressed in pajama pants and a torn hoodie; wielding a pruning shear and panting. She looked around the apartment in panic.

"What happened?!" she asked, both Bucky and the old lady "I heard a scream and I though…!"

"Oh Chloe!" Mrs. Konstantinidou whined and hugged the girl, who looked at Bucky in complete shock "It's awful!"

Chloe hugged the tiny old woman back, and helped her down the couch.

"It's all right now, Mrs. Adriana." she told her softly "We're here now, okay?"

The old woman, still white as a sheet, nodded.

Chloe turned and looked at Bucky in worry.

"What happened?" she asked in a low voice, still trying to find the source of the pandemonium, and carefully placing her shear on the coffee table.

Bucky just pointed at the culprit.

It took Chloe a few moments to notice the tiny pink tail sticking out from beneath the piano.

Blinking slowly, Chloe looked away from the musical instrument, to Mrs. Konstantinidou, then back at Bucky; violently confused.

"Is that…a mouse?"

He just nodded.

She turned and regarded Mrs. Konstantinidou.

And then Chloe broke down in hysteric laughter.

Bucky just stood as his neighbor folded in two, clutching her belly and laughing hysterically with tears streaming down her face. For a second he though she was about to stop, but just as she took a deep calming breath, she looked at Mrs. Adriana, and broke down again, falling down on the couch next to the old lady.

Now, Mrs. Adriana was a cranky woman to begin with, and Chloe laughing at the face of her horror did nothing to help.

"What exactly is so funny?!" she snapped, her eyes still darting towards the piano, expecting the mouse to attack her any minute.

"I just…you're…you… afraid of….a…a mouse!" she finally managed to say between ragged breaths and fits of giggling.

Mrs. Adriana pursed her lips, and was about to give Chloe a scold to be remembered, when the probably equally terrified rodent stirred under the piano, making the old woman yelp and jerk on her feet, hiding behind the couch.

Chloe left a last fit of giggles escape her lips and got up.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Adriana, I'm not making fun of you!" she smiled, her eyes still glimmering in amusement "But you're the kind of woman who give a lecture to a serial killer, so a tiny little fluff-ball making you scream is just…surprising."

"Tiny little fluff-ball?!" she shrieked "Disease-bringing, ear-eating monster is what it is!"

"Now that's a bit excessive."

"Sergiu!" the old lay snapped "Whose side are you on?!"

Bucky shrugged.

"Always yours, ma'am."

Chloe looked at him, insulted.

"I won't comment on that…" she mumbled "Anyway, I suppose we'll have to take care of that."

"Do you have any ratsbane, ma'am?"

"Wait what?!" Chloe turned towards him in shock "We're not killing it!"

Bucky frowned at her.

"And what do you propose?"

"I don't care what you do; just get the monster out of my house now!" Mrs. Adriana growled "You-"

And that's when the mouse made a run for it.

Mrs. Adriana screamed and Bucky prepared to take it down.

Instead, a heavy towel landed on the little white rodent, and fast as that, Chloe bagged it inside.

"See Mrs. Adriana?" she smiled walking towards her, holding the towel with the squeaking mouse "Nothing to fear!"

"Keep it away from me Chloe! I mean it!" the woman backtracked.

"Okay, okay!" she said, smiling brightly.

"What are you going to do with it?"

Chloe turned over her shoulder to look at him.

"Set it free, of course…Not here, Mrs. Adriana, calm down!" she rolled her eyes as the old woman gasped "At the closest park I suppose."

She sighed as the mouse started wiggling violently inside the towel.

"Though I could use something to put it in. This lil' rascal will try to chew his way out if we wait much longer."

Hearing that, Mrs. Konstantinidou frantically shoved her way past Bucky, rushed into the kitchen and after a few moment of violent clattering, she immerged again with a colander which shoved it in Bucky's hands, who then handed it to Chloe.

"Oh so sweet!" Chloe fawned "You made sure it could breathe!"

"Chloe just put the damned mouse in there!"

Still smiling, Chloe rested the towel on the bottom of the colander gingerly, and as soon as she released its captive, stretched the fabric over the top of it.

"Elastic please?"

Calmer, Mrs. Adriana scrambled around her drawers, finally finding one and giving it to Chloe.

Securing the towel as a lid, Chloe laid back and smiled.

"You're alright little buddy." she mumbled to the mouse tenderly.

All this time, Bucky had been observing. Chloe's movement had been sure, practiced and very careful.

She has done this before, I would guess.

Holding the colander carefully in her hands, Chloe met his gaze and smiled.

"See? No need for violence! Little guy was just as afraid as Mrs. Adriana was."

The old woman scoffed.

"What now?" she asked Chloe with a scowl.

"Well, I need to take it at least one mile away from here, or it might find its way back." Chloe sighed "So suppose I'll just take it to Morarilor Park."

"How?" Bucky spoke up.

Chloe looked at him as if he was an alien.

"Eh…with my legs?"

"Chloe."

Mrs. Adriana's voice was finally back to its usual chilling severity and as the girl turned to look at the old lady, Bucky saw her swallowing.

"Yes?"

"You are not walking, on your own, in the middle of the night, to the goddamn park. Have you lost whatever little mind that empty little head of yours ever had?!"

Chloe raised a hand in defense.

"Oh come on, Mrs. Adriana, it's not that late and the park is not that far! Nothing is going to happen!"

"I forbid it."

"Oh for heaven's sake!" Chloe rolled her eyes in exasperation and turned to look at him "Serge, please help a bit?"

He blinked slowly.

"Did you just call me…Serge?"

Chloe waved her hand around, as if to shoo a fly away.

"That's beyond the point!" she huffed "Can we please focus on this paranoia?!"

He regarded her for a moment, still and silent.

"Mrs. Adriana is right." he finally said flatly "Last time I saw you walking on your own, you were being followed by someone."

Chloe's eyes widened and she jerked her head negatively in horror.

"What was that now?!" Mrs. Konstantinidou's voice came like thunder landing on Chloe's head.

"Nothing Mrs. Adriana! Nothing at all!" Chloe chirped, then turned to look at Bucky with wide eyes and clenched jaw, signaling him to cut it out.

"Chloe was followed by stranger the other day. She hid in the mini-market around the corner. I happened to be there, so we walked out together."

Chloe's moth dropped and she stared at him like a fish out of water; until she finally pursed her lips.

"Traitor…" she mouthed to him, with hellfire in her eyes.

"Chloe! How many timed have I told you to not walk alone after dark?! But of course, no one ever listens to me, nooo you just do whatever comes in your empty head, because Mrs. Adriana is a paranoid silly old woman, right? Do tell me what you would have done if Sergiu hadn't been there, huh?" Mrs. Konstantinidou rambled, and as Chloe opened her mouth to answer, the old woman smacked her head "I'm not done, don't interrupt me! The nerve!"

Chloe shut her mouth and waited.

Mrs. Adriana just glared at her with flared nostrils.

"So?! Do you have nothing to say to defend yourself?!" the old woman said.

"But you just said-" Chloe gave up mid-sentence, and gave up on trying "No. I'm very sorry, and I promise I will be more careful from now on."

Mrs. Adriana's face softened as she sighed.

"Absolutely careless."

Chloe glared at Bucky.

"See what you did?" she asked him.

He just looked at her.

"I just think it's a bad idea to walk there at this time."

"Okay!" Chloe addressed both of them, exasperated "My friend Annika who lives just a few blocks from here has a motorcycle. If she takes me there, will you both calm down?"

Bucky exchanged a look with Mrs. Adriana, who nodded and said "I'll let it pass."

Rolling her eyes, Chloe pulled her cellphone from the pocket of her hoodie. Tapping on the screen a few times, she held the phone to her ear, all the while glaring at Bucky and tapping her foot.

"Hey Annie!" she finally said with a smile, taking her gaze away from him "What's up?"

Incomprehensible talking echoed from the other line and Chloe rolled her eyes.

"You're hilarious. Listen can I ask you a favor?" she said, leaning on the sofa "There was a mouse in Mrs. Adriana's house, and I just captured it and I want to release it in the park, and I could walk there but someone…" she stopped and glared "…won't let me go because apparently it's too dangerous and- Holy shit Annika, no, I'm not killing the mouse! What's wrong with you people?! Anyway, could you perhaps, maybe, take me there with your bike? And I'll buy you coffee tomorrow as payback!"

As more mumbling echoed from the phone, Chloe's smile dropped and she shifted her weight.

"Oh no, what happened?"

Her voice was suddenly low and worried, and Bucky noticed that she was biting the inside of her cheek.

"Is he alright now?"

The other girl was saying something and Chloe was nodding.

"Yeah absolutely. No, don't be silly."

She looked at the other two with a defeated gleam in her eyes.

"That would be great, but I don't know how to drive one, remember?...Yeah…Okay, yeah. Take care, and I'll see you tomorrow, okay? Bye."

She hung up and looked at them.

"Her grandpa slipped and broke his leg, she needs to stay home and take care of him. She's the only one he's got."

Mrs. Konstantinidou frowned.

"Constantin broke his leg?"

"Yes. Do you know him?" Chloe asked in shock.

"I've lived in this neighborhood for the past forty years, what do you think?" the old woman asked with raised eyebrows "And I suppose that deadbeat son of his isn't planning to help? What to expect. Boys. His daughter was such a nice girl, God rest her soul. Good thing she at least had a girl, if Constantin was left only with his son in this world, he'd be doomed! If you ask me-"

The sound of the mouse scratching at the walls of its prison made her jump back and stare at the colander with horror; apparently having forgotten the reason behind all this fuss for a moment.

"Alright, doesn't matter, what do we do with the beast?" she asked, glaring at Chloe's hands.

The girl sighed and looked down at the "beast" with pity.

"Well, I don't know. Annie said she could lend me her bike, but I don't know how drive one. We wouldn't happen to know anyone who owns a car, do we?"

"No, but I know how to drive a motorcycle."

Chloe turned and looked at him with an expression he couldn't decipher.

Bucky remained still as she stared at him for a few seconds.

"Of course you do…" she said under her breath.

He raised an eyebrow.

What does that mean?

"Okay, so we're doing this?" she snapped him out of his thoughts, looking cheerful once more "Get the bike, free the mouse?"

Slowly, he nodded.

"Woohooooo!" Chloe yelled and practically shoved the colander in his hands "Okay, I'm going to put some normal clothes on and off we go!"

She was about to run out, when Bucky spoke up.

"Chloe. Shear."

"Oh yes right!" she smiled, grabbed the pruning shears and out the door she was, humming happily as she climbed the stairs.

Silence fell in the apartment as Bucky slowly turned his startled gaze from the open door to the utensil in his hands.

He felt Mrs. Adriana's eyes on him, and looking at her, saw a smile he did not like one bit rising on her lips.

"So…Serge…"

Bucky sighed in defeat, ready to accept his fate.

"You have been listening to me, apparently. I'm impressed."

He didn't answer. She didn't expect him to, anyway.

"Was it really that hard, talking to her? You barely needed to, I would guess, she starts blabbering away first chance she gets! And from what I gather you have been very helpful, and really this is for once a smart move for you; I mean I think she likes you a bit, poor girl, she could really do better, but I might be wrong, she's extremely friendly to everyone. But really that makes talking to her that much easier, but you had to be stubborn, but thankfully for once you heard me, apparently."

He still knew better than to speak.

"Nothing to say?"

He just sighed.

She opened her mouth, ready to continue her probing, when Chloe's footsteps echoed almost tumbling down the stairs.

"I'm back!" she informed them, tucking her hair out of her clean sweatshirt. It was the first time Bucky ever saw her with her hair down, he realized. It was a thick unruly maze of orange waves reaching just below her shoulder blades.

Chloe turned to Mrs. Konstantinidou.

"Mrs. Adriana, I brought this for you." Chloe smiled, and handed a tin can to the old lady "It's passionflower tea, from my own garden back home. It will help you calm you down; you've had quite a night…"

The old woman took the tin in her hands gingerly.

"Careful, it's quite potent. A teaspoon is more than enough to calm you down and help you sleep without any trouble." Chloe warned and Mrs. Konstantinidou nodded.

"Thank you dear…" Mrs. Konstantinidou said softly and patted Chloe's cheek "You're such a sweet girl."

Chloe smiled and turned towards Bucky, who was fast to avert his gaze from her.

"Ready?" she asked him with a smile, and he was glad she hadn't noticed him staring. He wished he could say the same about Mrs. Konstantinidou, who looked at him with raised eyebrows and a mischievous smirk.

He ignored her.

"Yes."

"Great! Let's go!" she said, taking the colander form his hands and heading towards the opened door "I called Annie; she's waiting for us to give us the keys. Goodnight Mrs. Adriana!"

"Goodnight ma'am." Bucky said, following Chloe out.

"Goodnight kids." Mrs. Konstantinidou said, escorting them to the door and looking at them with a pleased expression, as if her favorite show was on. "Be careful!"

Bucky nodded and Chloe mumbled "yes, yes…" as the old woman shut the door behind them with a definitive click.


Song of the chapter:

The lady is a tramp Tony Bennet and Lady Gaga