Warning for kinda major spoilers for AOU ahead, mostly regarding Vision & Scarlet Witch, but also some plot points. Most of us have probably seen it by now but if not... you have been warned :)
When she finally got the okay to go home - for real this time - Summer refused to believe it until she had the discharge papers in her hands. But a rogue fever or untimely infection didn't delay her return home this time, and when her nurse cheerfully rolled in a wheelchair to take her down to the main exit, only then did she finally let herself believe that she was going home.
A quick glance to her left showed that Bucky and David were even happier than she was with the homecoming, if it was possible.
Wearing real clothes for the first time in forever - one of her looser, more casual dresses, since it was the most practical option considering her rather bulky brace - she happily let Bucky come around the bed and lift her up into his arms, then carefully sit her down in the wheelchair.
"Hey now, don't let him carry you around too much once you get home," the nurse half-joked. "You don't want your good leg losing all its muscle too. Gotta get your exercise still."
"She'll get her exercise," Bucky said, and when Summer looked up at him as he walked at her side, she couldn't tell if he was being suggestive or not.
The nurse gave him a look like he certainly was. "Mmhmm. So how long have you two been married?"
Getting closer to the elevator, Summer somewhat guilty replied, "We actually aren't married. But he had to tell the ICU we were so they'd let him see me when I first got hurt."
"Oh, I gotcha," she replied, hitting the elevator button on the wall. "Our rules are kinda outdated like that, so I don't blame you. Could have fooled me, though. I don't see half my patients' spouses hanging around like this one has."
Summer glanced up at Bucky and smiled. "Yeah, I'm lucky."
The ride down to the main entrance was short from there, and while it wasn't her first time seeing daylight, it was a relief to see the car that Natasha had loaned to Bucky for the last few weeks waiting there to take her home. She thanked the nurse sincerely, then faced the ordeal of comfortably getting into the car with a leg that still needed to stay elevated when possible and couldn't bend even slightly.
With the front seat pushed all the way back and headrest slightly leaned back, she managed to get into the car and get her seatbelt on and leg mildly comfortable while Bucky dealt with getting David in the backseat and loading her things - including the crutches she despised - into the trunk.
Once he was done and had gotten into the driver's seat, he shut his door and turned to her, looked her over, and asked, "You okay?"
She was sort of starving and already exhausted just from the act of getting dressed in real clothes and brushing her hair that morning, and she wasn't entirely happy with how her dress was considerably tighter on her now than it used to be, but overall...
"Yeah, I'm fine." She smiled. "Take me home before they suddenly come banging on the window telling me I actually need to go back and stay another week."
He chuckled and flipped on the ignition. "At this point, I'd tell them to go f-"
"David!" she chirped, pointing back to the boy in question.
"... Forget... it," he amended awkwardly, driving forward and out of the parking lot.
She smiled at his censorship. "I hope you've kept your mouth clean while you've had him."
"Not that he would repeat it anyway, but yes, I have," he said, giving her a side look as he waited for a break in traffic to turn on the highway. "No vulgar hand gestures, either."
"Good," she chuckled. "Definitely don't want him learning that one. So is everybody home yet?"
"Most of them," he replied. "Steve's getting in later. There's gonna be some new people moving in."
"Really?" she asked. "Who?"
"A girl from Sokovia."
"The place that was flying?" she asked, the news footage of that incident forever seared on her brain. She had no idea an evil robot could cause anything remotely like that.
"Yeah. And someone else but I'm not sure who they are. I think it's a guy."
"Oh. Okay. Fun. I hope they're nice," she said, not really thinking much of it. The more the merrier, and besides, over half the rooms on the floor were still unoccupied.
"Oh, and don't tell her I told you this," Bucky said, "but Darcy's trying to do this welcome home thing for you. She was trying to make a cake this morning. I'm telling you so that you'll be ready to act like it's good even if it isn't."
"She's doing a welcome home thing for me?" She asked with a smile, genuinely surprised.
"Yeah. But I've tasted her cooking a couple times now and it's..." he made a face rather than describe the food with words.
"Well, baking is different from cooking," she shrugged. "I just can't believe she'd do that."
He gave her a look and pointed out, "She's visited you twice a week since the accident."
Technically, so had everyone, at least until the super ones had to go off and save the world. There had even been the odd coworker who had dropped in from time to time, and with Bucky and David's constant presence, she had barely ever been alone in the hospital. She knew that made her extraordinarily lucky.
"I know. It's just... wow. I don't think I'll ever get used to all of this."
And neither would be, she knew, and that was all right. They could be perpetually bewildered by the caring actions of others together.
The drive to the tower was short, delayed only slightly by traffic, and when it was time to figure out how to hobble out of the car and get into the elevator from the underground entrance, she insisted on using her crutches rather than let Bucky carry her like a baby the whole way. He wasn't happy about it, but he let her have her way.
The first sign of life being different at the tower came when she got to the elevator and wasn't greeted by a disembodied British voice coming from the walls. She really hoped JARVIS would be back eventually, because she had grown oddly attached to the guy. Thing. Robot. Whatever he was.
Then, once the elevator reached their floor and they went through the security I.D. thing on the other side of the door, it opened and Summer's jaw dropped.
There were balloons - balloons - hanging from the ceiling, over the table that she had greatly missed eating at, and a cake sitting in the middle of the table that looked suspiciously too well-crafted to be one of Darcy's creations.
Speaking of the girl, her head popped up around the corner and she exclaimed, "Ah, dammit, I wasn't ready! Oh well. Welcome home, and - tada!"
As Darcy gestured to the whole setup, Summer broke into a huge smile and moved slowly into the room, saying, "Seriously, you did not have to do this, but I love you for doing it."
"Well, I figured it could double as a welcome home for everyone else, too. The cake, though - I tried to make one myself but, let's just say I misread the instructions and leave it at that. So I bought one instead."
"It's perfect," Summer assured the girl as she smiled and walked closer to meet her. "Thank you."
"No problem. Hey, you look good!" Darcy said, looking her over. "Totally rocking that horribly uncomfortable looking brace thing."
"Thanks," Summer chuckled. "I think I've gained like fifteen pounds though. This dress used to be loose. It's supposed to be loose. And it's not."
"The boobs do look a little more gigantic," Darcy agreed. Then she poked her head around Summer's body to check out the back as well, and she said, "Oh, look who's finally got an ass!"
"I've always had one," Summer replied, turning to Bucky for backup. "Right? Haven't I?"
"Unless the thing I've been grabbing this whole time has been a hologram, yeah," he shrugged in reply.
Darcy side-eyed him and said, "You're getting sassy in your old age. Anyway," she gestured to Summer, "come over here and sit down because those crutches don't look fun."
"They're not," she replied, making her way to the table, "but I'm getting used to them. It's killing my arms. And my leg. My back hurts too. Everything kinda hurts."
Bucky helped her into a chair at the table, and David quickly claimed the one to her left while Darcy asked, "Aren't they giving you pain meds, like the good stuff?"
"Yeah, but I'm trying not to take too much of it," she said. Bucky sat to her right and made her smile by pulling her bad leg into his lap, and it was actually fairly comfortable. The she turned back to Darcy and said, "You should hear the dreams I've had because of them."
"I totally want to, but first, let me grab a knife so I can give you a piece of this cake and make you gain five more pounds."
She laughed, honestly not caring about the extra five pounds or the ones she already had on her, especially not once Sam and Natasha appeared from the hallway.
Natasha looked distinctly exhausted but Sam seemed peppy as ever, probably because she had heard that he hadn't seen much of the fight. They both smiled and made their way to the table, Natasha hugging her first, and Summer asked when she pulled away, "Are you okay? I was watching stuff on the news and Bucky told me some things but holy crap."
"I'm fine," Nat assured her. "For the most part it all went... better than I thought it would. Could have been a lot worse." Then she paused and smiled a little. "How are you?"
"Could be worse," Summer smiled back. "Happy to be home."
"You should be," Sam said, sitting down across from them. "Tonight you get to experience my famous lasagna. If that's not the best welcome home gift ever, then..."
"Hey!" Darcy playfully snapped at him, shoving a plate with a gigantic slice of cake towards Summer. "Mine's the best, so don't even. I blew up balloons and baked a cake. Which I then had to throw away, but still."
"Mine's better than both of those," Natasha said, and Summer looked up at her with wide eyes.
"You got me something? But... how? You just got home from saving the world."
"It's something I ordered a month ago," she replied. "Something you'll need but probably wouldn't have thought of until you were already home."
"Really? What is it?" Summer asked curiously.
"Nothing too exciting. Just something that'll make your life a little easier. I'll show you later."
She would have kept pestering the woman into telling her what it was, but then she started eating the cake, which was delicious, and then Thor came strolling in from the elevator with Tony, and she was distracted rather easily.
"Ah, look who has returned!" Thor smiled brightly. "Just in time to help us celebrate our victory!"
"She probably can't do a lot of celebrating," Tony pointed out, making a beeline towards the table, or more specifically, the cake. "Can't mix alcohol with the happy pills she's on."
"Oh," Thor frowned. "Well, nonetheless, welcome home, my lady."
She giggled like a twelve year old and regretted nothing. "Thank you."
Tony then did indeed make a move for the cake, though not before he passed Summer and gave her shoulder a light and friendly pat with the question of "How are you, kid?". All of the well wishes and words from these people were getting to her, in a good way, and she felt full and warm and barely in pain by the time she'd finished the cake and let Bucky help her to the couch.
Bucky helped get her leg in a decent position and sat next to her, giving her a small smile that she returned before the moment was interrupted by David dropping a Wii controller into her lap with an excited smile. Then he crawled up on her unoccupied side and snuggled just about as close to her as he could manage, and she smiled and looked to the TV as she picked up the controller. She was home, indeed.
No more than half an hour had passed when she heard the sound of the elevator doors opening, and when she glanced over out of reflex, she did a slight double take at the sight of Steve stepping off with a girl she'd never seen before. Figuring this was one of the new people Bucky had mentioned, she tried to watch without overtly staring, and the first thing she noticed was that the girl had the distinct look of someone who had been crying for a very long time.
The room quieted a little with the new arrival, and Steve took the initiative to introduce the girl to those who didn't know her yet, while she stood wearily and quietly at his side. She looked uneasy, and while Summer didn't know her situation yet, she couldn't blame her.
Looking from Sam and Darcy at the table and Summer and Bucky in the living room, Steve said, "Everybody, this is Wanda Maximoff. She's gonna be staying here with us for as long as she wants to. She's also one of the key reasons why Ultron didn't win."
Summer stopped paying attention to the game on the TV as Steve then went about introducing the people Wanda didn't know yet. "This is Sam, he's on the team as well. That's Darcy, who helps with..."
At Steve's blankness, Darcy supplied, "Nothing at the moment, really. But I handle alien invasions pretty well and I help where I can."
Steve smiled at her explanation and then moved on to the living room, gesturing to Bucky. "This is Bucky. He's with us but not as visible, because he technically isn't supposed to exist. He's also my best friend." Then he nodded to Summer and said, "This is Summer. She lives with us and works here. That's her son, David."
Though Wanda looked carefully at everybody she was introduced to, she didn't say anything at first, and nobody said a word to her. There was something about her Summer couldn't put her finger on - she looked normal enough, but very young, and if she had played a "key role" in defeating Ultron, then there had to be something incredibly remarkable about her.
"Hello," she finally said, softly and with a clear accent from Eastern Europe. She then glanced at the balloons hanging from the ceiling, and if Summer had to guess, she had probably not expected "Avengers Tower" to look like this, or house so many non-heroes.
"All right. Nat, is there a room ready for her?"
Natasha nodded, then stood up from the table and headed for the hallway. Steve and Wanda followed, and then all three of them disappeared, leaving Summer to wonder what the story behind this girl was.
She got her answer a little while later, when Steve came back from the hallway and sat down on the couch across from the one she and Bucky were still occupying. He smiled as he sat and said, "Welcome home. Sorry I missed the party."
She smiled and shook her head. "Oh no, you didn't miss much. There's cake if you want some."
He nodded. "Thanks. How are you feeling?"
"Well, this place is already doing a great job of distracting me from my leg," she replied. "So, pretty good."
"I'm glad to hear it," he said sincerely. "Seemed like you were stuck in that hospital for a lot longer than six weeks."
She nodded, the six weeks having felt like six months instead. But before she could express this, next to her, Bucky cut to the real thing that she was wondering and asked, "What's the girl's story?"
Steve glanced between the two of them before leaning forward a bit more and replying quietly, "She didn't start out on our side. She and her brother were orphaned in an attack on their country when they were kids. Sokovia's been torn apart by war for years. They volunteered for HYDRA to experiment on them and -"
Bucky's reaction was instant and almost made Summer flinch. "She volunteered for HYDRA?"
"Yes, but -"
"And you're letting her stay here?" Bucky asked in disbelief.
"Let me finish." Steve said this in such an unexpectedly fierce tone that it even caught Summer by surprise. "They were the only two survivors of HYDRA's experiments. They were there on the Strucker mission, but they got away, and went to work for Ultron. They thought they were going to get revenge on us - they blamed Stark for what happened to their parents because it was his weapons that killed them. But they turned when they found out Ultron was going to wipe out the entire human race."
Summer wanted to exclaim that her comparison to Skynet had been incredibly accurate, but she kept her mouth shut for the moment.
"They both fought on our side, but her brother died taking fire to save Clint and a civilian," Steve went on. "She needs help. She's not a threat to us."
Unconvinced, Bucky replied, "Anyone who would volunteer for HYDRA shouldn't be here, Steve. What the hell are you thinking? She -"
"You know their methods better than anyone," Steve interrupted. "You told me how they told you that you were saving the world and making it a better place. You think they told two angry orphans any different? Or that they told them what they really stand for?"
"I think you're a sucker for anyone with a sad story," Bucky replied.
Summer looked back and forth between the two men, having never seen them actually argue about anything before.
Steve's jaw clenched slightly and he said, "I'm not asking you to trust her. I'm asking you to trust me."
Bucky paused for a moment, then said quietly, "Innocent people live here. You're putting them in danger."
"If I thought she was a danger to anyone here, Bucky, you know I wouldn't have let her even step foot in here."
Then neither man said anything for a moment, and Summer took the opportunity to ask a question that she kind of really needed an answer to. "Okay, so... what does she actually do? Like... you said they experimented on her, but what did it actually do to her?"
"It's hard to explain," Steve replied. "She can do a lot. I watched her stop a train from crashing and killing everybody on board. She can move things with her mind, attack with this red... energy." Then he paused and added, "And she can get in your head and make you see things that aren't there."
Summer could feel the simmering anger just about burst from Bucky as he all but seethed, "She was HYDRA, and she has mind control powers, and you let her get back on this continent, let alone in this building."
Steve's face flickered with a weary sort of horror. "Bucky -"
"No," Bucky shook his head, standing up from the couch and briefly turning to Summer. "Text me if you need me."
She nodded, then watched him stomp off, across the room towards an outside terrace, presumably to "get some air" as if that ever really helped anybody. But Summer had to admit - and this was coming from a girl who had let a then-suicidal and violent HYDRA experiment live with her and her kid - she wasn't sure that Bucky wasn't totally justified in his anger.
When Steve sighed and rubbed his hand over his face following the departure, Summer said quietly, "He's got a point, you know."
"I know he does," Steve replied. "But he wasn't there. He hears the word 'HYDRA' and that's it, he won't hear anything else. But I'm not the only one vouching for her. We all are. She just lost the only family she had left because they were fighting to fix what they helped start. And if I thought there was even the slightest chance that she might still be a threat, I wouldn't have brought her here."
Summer nodded, mulling this over. Steve spoke with such conviction regarding the woman, and she knew that he didn't defend just anyone like this. He defended those whom he knew deserved it, and when it came down to it, his judgment was one that she would likely always trust.
"Well," she said, "I'm sure that he'll come around. If she's the way you say she is, he'll understand once he gets over being pissed."
Steve nodded, then sighed, "I knew he'd take it like that. I knew how it would sound, especially to him."
Summer nodded, still unable to blame Bucky for his reaction. "Yeah... but he trusts you. I'm sure this won't change that. And for what it's worth, she didn't look like an evil witch person or anything."
"She's not. But she could be if she went the wrong way. That's one of the reasons why I'm helping her."
And if there was anything Steve had experience with, Summer knew, it was helping people who had the potential to be a hero but all the reasons to be a villain. Bucky had turned out pretty good so far. Hopefully this girl would too.
Outside on the terrace, fuming silently and glaring out into the city, Bucky didn't budge when he heard footsteps behind him. At first he was sure that it was Steve, coming out there to convince him that this Wanda girl was harmless and that her willingly becoming a HYDRA puppet didn't automatically make her insane at best and a danger at worst. But then as the footsteps grew closer, he knew they weren't Steve's, because he recognized his steps from a mile away and these were different.
"Hey man," Sam said, and Bucky glanced behind him in mild surprise. He wasn't sure that he had ever spoken to the man one on one before. Usually there was a buffer of at least Steve if not other people. "I overheard you and Steve talking."
Bucky turned back to staring into the distance and said, "You're not gonna change my mind, either."
"Wasn't gonna try to," Sam replied, now next to Bucky and leaning on the railing. He looked out at the skyline as well as he went on, "Actually, I just wanted to mention a conversation me and him had awhile back. Right before you guys fought on that helicarrier."
Bucky briefly glanced at Sam, wondering what he could be getting at. He stayed silent and listened as Sam said, "You know how he is, how he has more faith in you than most Catholics have in the Pope these days. And he was like that even when you were trying to kill us. I told him before that last fight that you might be too far gone to be saved, but he didn't even blink. He said you would remember him, and that was that. I thought he was nuts, but I followed him anyway and I didn't say another word. And the reason why is because even though he can be the world's most well-meaning dumbass and doesn't know a damn thing about self-preservation, I trust him."
Bucky was now watching him, still utterly silent as Sam made his point. "And then when we started looking for you - even though you almost killed us both and I was still pretty mad about that - I still went along with him. I didn't think we'd ever find you, and if we did, I thought you'd just finish the job. So then you can imagine how surprised I was when everything he said about you ended up being true. And now here you are. This Wanda girl's different because he didn't know her before, but... I gotta say, if he says she's okay, then she's probably okay. He's got a good track record with helping people that everyone else thinks is a lost cause."
"I didn't volunteer," Bucky muttered. "She did."
"Yeah she did. But Steve volunteered for something like that too, right? Maybe it wasn't all that different."
Bucky half-glared at him, and Sam replied by putting his hands up in surrender and saying, "Look, all I'm saying is, he took a chance on you and it paid off. Maybe it will with this girl too. And if not, there's way more of us than there is of her. And by the way," he added, "the innocent people you're worried about are important to more people than just you. Nobody here is gonna let your girl or her kid get hurt. Including me."
Sam lingered long enough to make sure that the message had sunk in, and then he turned and headed back into the tower. Bucky let him go, not saying a word and wishing that the other man's words hadn't made as much sense to him as they had.
He just couldn't get past the word volunteer. Of course, he knew HYDRA's methods, how they lured people in and filled their minds with nonsense that made mass murder seem like something worthy of a Nobel Peace Prize. He knew that their true ideals weren't something they displayed on a building or even a poster in their deeply buried bases. They were all shadows and deceit and parasitic decay after their more overt methods under Scmidt had backfired.
He also knew that even today's supposed heroes had histories darker than anyone would have liked. Tony with his war profiteering, inadvertently placing weapons into the hands of terrorists who used them to kill civilians. Natasha with her years of emotionless, remorseless killing of both the guilty and the innocent. He'd even heard stories of Thor being a reckless warmongering idiot in years past, before he had matured following banishment to Earth.
In short, nobody in the tower was perfect, least of all himself. Maybe this girl would fit right in, if Steve was right about her not being a threat.
He just didn't know. Until he knew more and until he was satisfied that she wasn't a danger, he'd be keeping an extra vigilant eye on Summer and David.
His phone buzzed in his pocket, and he pulled it out to find the cause to be a text from Summer asking for his help. Reminding himself that this was a happy day and his first day home with Summer since the accident that had nearly taken a limb from her, he pushed down his anger at Steve and tried to put it out of his mind as he walked back into the tower.
Some of the crowd had disbursed while he had been out, so when he walked back in, Steve and Tony were gone and Sam was playing the Wii with Summer and David. Darcy was hovering near the kitchen peppering Thor with questions about the evil robots he'd battled, and there was no sign of the new resident as Bucky headed for the couch.
When Summer saw him coming, she smiled and asked, "Better?"
He nodded, sitting down next to her. "Yeah. What do you need?"
She set down the controller in her hand and said, "Well, I kinda can't get the smell of the hospital out of my nose and I think it's me, so... if you want to help me take a shower, David would be okay out here for awhile."
He nodded so fast that she blushed a little and laughed slightly nervously. He smiled back and thought that it was the perfect idea to get the day back on track, and not only that, she was right - she did smell like the hospital, and he was more than willing to help her wash it away.
"Do you want me to carry you?" he asked, knowing she wore out easily these days and using the crutches to get into the tower might have already done it.
"Um... yeah, probably," she nodded. Then she glanced at Sam and asked, "Do you mind watching him?"
"Yeah, no problem. I assume you'll be about what, two hours?"
Bucky watched Summer chuckle with the same nervous tone and reply, "Well, not that long, but..."
"Uh huh, whatever. Go on, have fun."
Summer gave her thanks, and when she turned back to Bucky, he wasted no time in standing up and, with the carefulness that he had mastered over the last month, picked her up and began to carry her towards his room.
When they passed her door, she said, "Your room, then?"
He nodded. "Natasha's present's in there, too."
"It is? What the heck is it?" she asked as he got to his door and gently kicked it open with his foot.
"Something that's about to come in handy," he said, carrying her inside of his room for the first time in what felt like forever.
"But what could it... whoa. What is that?"
He paused and looked where she was looking, at the corner across from his bed. Where before there had been empty space, now there was a small, antique piano that he had taken off of Clint's hands a few weeks ago, before the Strucker mission took everyone overseas. He hadn't had much of a chance yet to tinker with it.
"That's Clint's piano," he explained. "Or it was. It's mine now."
She then looked at him in slight disbelief and said, "Is this like the million languages thing? Did you wake up one day and suddenly remember that you play piano? Or are you learning now?"
"Not exactly... I read about it in some of my mother's letters, how she taught me to play. Then Clint mentioned he was trying to get rid of a piano, and I figured I'd need a new hobby until you're able to dance again."
Her expression softened then, and he watched several emotions flicker across her face - surprise, sadness, but ultimately, love. "Sorry about that. And I wouldn't hold it against you if you wanted to dance still while I'm getting better, but..."
"Who would I dance with?" he asked softly. "I won't dance until you can dance with me again."
She sighed a little, almost too quietly to hear, and then slid her hand behind his neck to pull him down for a kiss. It was like all their other recent kisses, small but sweet, and he drew away to smile gently at her and jerk his head towards the bathroom. "Ready?"
She nodded, anxiety creeping back into her expression as he then turned them and began walking them to the bathroom door. "The thing Natasha got you is in here, too."
"... In the bathroom?"
He nodded. "Yup."
"What the heck?"
She found out what it was when he took her into the bathroom and she glanced at the shower. She took one look at it and laughed.
OOO
Natasha had gotten her a shower chair. Of all the things that had gone through Summer's mind as a possibility, it definitely wasn't that.
"Oh my gosh. I have a shower chair. Like an old person." She paused, and then laughed again. "This is great!"
Bucky grinned at her silly reaction before setting her down on top of the closed toilet, replying, "It'll definitely help."
"Yeah, it will. And I didn't even think about it. Thank God for Natasha."
She was so distracted by the fact that Nat had thought about her quality of life enough to foresee her problems with something as routine and mundane as taking a shower that she barely noticed when Bucky reached behind her head and took her hair down out of its ponytail. She did notice, however, when his hands reached behind her back to untie her dress, and her anxiety bloomed anew when he reached for the hem.
At first, she didn't know why she was nervous, but it didn't take a lot of brain power to figure out what it was. He had been helping her for six weeks but he had not helped with a shower yet - she had left that to nurses thus far - and it had been so long since they had been in any kind of situation like this that now she wondered what the protocol would be. She was deprived, he was deprived, and now they were going to be naked together for the first time in forever, but under decidedly less sexy than usual circumstances. Not to mention their usual strenuous activities weren't possible yet.
He carefully pulled her dress up and over her head, and his eyes met hers as he went to work next on the clasp of her bra. She wanted to say something, but then when he pulled the thing off of her, she took a relieved breath and muttered as she closed her eyes, "Oh, thank God. That thing is too tight now and I could barely breathe."
She heard him chuckle and opened her eyes, finding his gaze down exactly where she expected it to be, but he kept his hands to himself for now. Instead, he very carefully and with some maneuvering got her underwear off, and then he stood up, picked her back up, and moved her into the shower, on top of her nifty new chair. It was long enough to keep her bad leg propped up and straight while her other dangled off the edge, toes touching the floor.
But he wasn't done getting her ready yet, and she wasn't looking forward to this part. He began working on getting her brace off, and it always made her nervous to have it off, only because she was paranoid about accidentally bending it and also because of how jarring it was to see the scarred and still-healing flesh. The leg would never look the same, and while she accepted that, it was a reminder of that night out gone horribly wrong every time she saw it.
She tried not to look at it too much once the brace was off, and after he set it down outside of the shower, he turned around and turned the water on. The spray didn't touch her as it heated up, and she was quickly distracted by him making brief eye contact before stepping out to shed his own clothes.
She held the little rails on the chair and stared at his back as he quickly took his shirt off and tossed it near her dress on the floor. She didn't even need to see anything else - just the shifting and casual flexing of muscles on his back and on his arms was enough to make her have to hold on tighter to her chair to keep from falling off.
When she had first been injured, she hadn't had thoughts or urges even vaguely up to normal standards for weeks. Everything had simply hurt too much and the drugs had been insane. But now she felt more like a human being again, and the pills she took when needed weren't nearly potent enough to make her any less suddenly starving at that moment.
When he was back inside the shower with the door closed behind him, she had no shame in ogling him as he checked the stream of water and adjusted the temperature by the dial on the wall. The nervousness was mostly gone, or maybe not, but either way, she couldn't pay it any mind, especially not when he had turned back around to face her with the detachable shower head in hand.
"Where should I start?" he asked, kneeling in front of her.
She blinked and tried to focus on actually getting clean instead of other things. "Oh, um... well, you can hand that to me if you want, and then grab my soap and stuff."
He nodded, passed the shower head to her, and then turned to grab her stuff that sat in a basket on the wall, exactly where she had left it all six months ago. She continued to stare at him and absent mindedly sprayed herself off, unconsciously avoiding her leg, though there was no danger in it being wet.
When he came back, he kneeled down again and, rather than ask her what to do next, picked up her bottle of soap and squeezed probably a little too much into his right hand. She then ended up letting the shower head spray uselessly on the floor beside her as he started with the foot of her good leg and slowly worked his way up. When he reached the top of her thigh, he glanced up at her and made her heart skip before then going to her other leg, working his way down with that one. He was more than gentle with that leg, barely even touching it but still getting the job done. She was chewing on her lip by the time he was done and looking at her again as he worked on getting the rest of her body covered, and some part of her brain kicked in enough to stop wasting water and turn the shower head on him while he did his work. Because watching water drip from his shoulders to his chest and arms as his hands lathered her stomach and lower back wasn't distracting at all.
When his hands continued their path and reached her breasts, she expected some lingering and extra attention but ended up with plenty more than she had bargained for. His eyes darted back and forth from hers to where his hands were as they caressed, gently squeezed, and spent way more time there than was necessary. Her eyes rolled shut and it was hard to keep from letting her head fall back when she felt like she hadn't been touched in forever and his thumbs were flicking and rolling and making an embarrassing squeak of a moan escape her lips. She dropped the shower head in the same breath, which clanked very noisily to the ground, and he chuckled and pulled his hands away when she jumped in surprise at the loud sound.
"My fault," he grinned, reaching down to pick up the shower head for her.
She just took the thing from him silently, the most coherent thought currently rattling around her distracted mind eventually making its way out when he ran a hand through his hair, away from his face. "I need to cut your hair."
"That's what you're thinking about?" he teased, running his still-soapy hands over safer areas like her shoulders and arms, but no place on her body was safe at the moment.
"No," she admitted. "But I do. It's been like three months. You're getting close to farmboy again."
"You liked that," he pointed out, pulling away and rinsing his hands under the water that she was still holding. After, she regained enough sense to start rinsing off the soap from herself, but halfway through, he reached for something and was then holding her razor in his right hand, saying quietly, "I can help with this too, if you want."
He said it almost timidly, like he was nervous to ask or wasn't sure how she'd react, maybe because he hadn't done it before and might think that she'd prefer to do it herself. "Oh, uh... well, since I can't bend my leg, yeah... that would help a lot, probably."
He didn't need to hear another word. She watched him take to her good leg first, sitting back on his knees and staring at her leg with a look of utmost seriousness as he pressed the blade to her skin the first time. She wasn't embarrassed by any of it, which surprised her a little, but it was impossible to feel anything but loved and cared for at that moment.
He paid her leg the same careful, close attention that he gave to his face on an almost-daily basis, even going above and beyond that, and she took the opportunity to grab her shampoo and lean forward enough to reach her hands to his hair. She still had perfectly functioning hands and arms, after all, and if he was going to shave her legs for her, then she would at least wash his hair for him. She knew how it made him purr and relax against her, and this time was no exception, except it was mostly the chair that he had to relax against. Stupid bad leg.
She rinsed his hair when he was done with the first leg, and she thought that he was unfairly beautiful with his head leaned back and eyes closed as the water flowed through his hair and down his back. Her patience for actually showering was wearing thin, but then his eyes were open again and he was shifting, turning to her bad leg and getting that concentrated look back on his face, nearly tenfold.
But any reservations she might have had about putting a sharp razor anywhere near that leg were laid to rest in how carefully and meticulously he handled it. She never once felt in danger of even the smallest accidental cut, and when he would finish a part of it, he would run his hand over the skin feather-lightly and she would try to just focus on getting her hair wet enough to wash, but it was difficult, and not because her arms were already worn out (though, sadly, they almost were).
When he was finally done with the leg, he set the razor down and looked up just time to see her getting shampoo into her hands, at which point his eyes widened and he said, "I wanted to do that."
"Oh. I just thought... okay," she conceded, not about to argue. She handed the shampoo to him, and he got back on his knees, his face level with hers as he reached behind her head and gathered up her wet hair in his hands, lathering it as she had done with his.
And it was torture, because she was still needy from his previous touches and he knew just how to massage her hair and scalp to make her eyes roll in the back of her head, and to make matters worse, he was so close in that position and yet not nearly close enough. All of this and they hadn't even kissed yet since they'd been in the shower, and she was starting to crave it more than anything else, especially since they hadn't had a truly good kiss in ages.
But she survived having her hair rinsed, even made it through him conditioning it and rinsing it again, but that was when she reached the end of her rope. The shower head in his grip at that point, he pulled it away from her hair and she opened her eyes, realizing that that some point she had stopped gripping the chair and had gripped his shoulders instead. He was, in fact, holding on to the chair rail with his free hand, and their chests were very nearly but not quite touching. His eyes searched hers, heavy with things she hadn't seen there since before the accident thanks to his impeccable self control, but that control was slipping now, she could see it on his face, and she was more than happy to see it gone.
"Please kiss me," she begged before she could think the words through. "Really kiss me."
He threw the shower head down and it clattered to the shower floor, both of his hands going to her face as his lips suddenly crashed down to hers. It was desperate and hungry and perfect and everything she wanted, and a blessedly welcomed confirmation that the last six weeks had indeed not killed the spark between them. She'd had worries in some of her less secure moments, but the groan that came out of his throat as his tongue dominated her mouth laid all of those thoughts to rest.
His hands wandering along her body, he broke the kiss to take a breath, and she opened her eyes and smiled at the hungry way that he was looking down at her. He grinned back for just a beat before he was kissing her again, one of his hands cupping her breast and the other gripping the thigh of her good leg. She kissed him back feverishly, wishing her leg wasn't preventing him from just shoving her against the wall and taking her, but at the same time, she couldn't complain. Just this was enough, just to know that nothing had changed and that she could still make him groan and grind into her hip with almost instant need with just this.
But she knew he wouldn't stop there. He kissed down her neck, and at every short breath of air she took or airy moan that left her mouth, he would groan more and kiss harder, deeper, hold her closer while still managing to never move or disturb her leg. She was overwhelmed from the start, the steam filling the air around them not helping at all, and the lower his mouth crept, the more she started to worry that she might not be able to keep her leg straight through whatever was coming.
He was back fully on his knees by the time his kisses had travelled to her stomach and her fingers had tangled in his wet mess of hair. His intentions were clear in how he pushed at her good leg, then kissed down over her hip and spent a few moments teasing her inner thigh before pulling back and looking up at her. She could have moaned just from how he looked, heavy-lidded and dazed with apparently pent-up desire, that indescribably filthy look that she had so missed overcoming his face before he went back to her thigh. He started closer to her knee and worked his way up, face turned to the side so that she could see every kiss, and yet something else caught her eye in the midst of the sweet sensations and the anticipation of where he was going. It was the slight rocking motion of his right shoulder and arm, but her attention was quickly stolen by his mouth suckling gently but firmly and close but not close enough to where she needed him.
But then he faltered, mouth dropping open against her skin in a shaky moan, and her eyes popped open because usually he only moaned like that when...
Oh hell. "Holy crap, are you - "
Before she could blurt out the full question in her head, his mouth finally reaching her robbed her of all coherent thought. She was grateful for the rails on the chair to hold on to, because between finally having this after a long, painful dry spell and watching his right arm work at something she couldn't see and hearing and feeling him moan at what he was doing to himself, she could hardly keep from slipping off the thing and ending up a heap on the floor.
But by some miracle, she didn't fall, and she kept her leg straight throughout the whole experience. It all happened very quickly, possibly a new record set between the two of them, but it was no less intense or satisfying for how fast it was. It only showed how very long six weeks could be.
He stayed on his knees long after she had fallen apart, his face resting on top of her thigh as he quietly panted his way back down to reality. Her fingers, having never left his hair, soothed along the soaked locks as she looked down at him and the look of contentment on his face. She couldn't even be mad at not having been given a chance to be the cause of that look.
When he finally gained the will to move, he lifted his face from her leg and peeked up at her. She had no idea what kind of expression was on her face, but he grinned at her as if she were blushing and also dumbfounded looking. Which she probably was.
Then he grabbed the shower head, rinsed himself and her without a fuss, and then he stood up, kissed her, and turned to flip off the water. She sat there, still quite dazed and half-slumped in the chair, and she watched sleepily as he left the shower for a moment and then came back with a towel around his hips and one in his hand. He dried her injured leg thoroughly and gently, then stepped out again, returning with her brace, which he replaced with the same careful, gentle caution that he had shown all along.
Then, with the brace secure, he wrapped her towel around her body and scooped her up into his arms, asking quietly as he moved them out of the shower, "You okay?"
"I am so okay," she sighed happily, leaning her head against his shoulder. "But I think I need a nap now."
"Okay," he smiled, kissing her forehead. He took her straight to his bed, knowing that she hadn't been kidding about the nap thing, and as soon as he had laid her down in the bed, she let out a moan of pure bliss.
"Oh my God, I love your bed," she said, stretching out and feeling like she was laying in the most luxurious bed in the world. It may as well have been, compared to the hospital bed she'd been in.
"I love that you're in it," he replied, stacking pillows under her bad leg to keep it elevated. Once that was done, he laid down next to her and cradled her to himself as much as he could without bothering the leg. He was still wearing just a towel, as was she, and she smiled sleepily up at him as he pressed a soft kiss to her lips. "And I love that you're home."
"Me too," she replied, placing her hand on his chest and letting it wander as it would. She wished that she wasn't so tired, so that she could stay awake and just touch him, kiss him, revel in being at home, in his bed, alone and intimate and perfect despite everything else. But as it was, her eyes were already trying to close, and there was no stopping it, especially with how safe and warm she felt in his arms.
But before she drifted off, she remarked after a yawn, "Next time, feel free to use my hand. Not complaining or anything, but I could have helped you, you know..."
His gentle chuckle was lulling, the faint rumble under her ear pulling her even deeper towards sleep. "You could barely hold up the shower head to rinse my hair."
"... It's the stupid crutches, and six weeks of doing nothing," she weakly protested. "My arms get tired brushing my hair. It's stupid."
"It's fine," he assured her. "You'll get your strength back. I can wait."
"No," she groaned, eyes shut and now half-asleep. "I don't want you to."
"Shh," he said gently, lips brushing her forehead. "Sleep, sweetheart."
Sleep she did, the moment the words left his mouth. And it was the single best nap she had ever had in her life.
When Summer emerged from the hallway on her crutches exactly two hours after she had left, Sam gave her a look from the kitchen that he was starting dinner in and said, "What did I say? Two hours exactly."
David, who had been standing behind Sam and helping, looked up and immediately ran to Summer, making her nervous that was going to run into her and knock her over but he slowed down and carefully avoided her bad leg as he hugged her. She smiled and hugged him back and answered Sam, "I'm sorry. I ended up taking a nap and... yeah. Has David been good?"
"Oh yeah," Sam replied, looking away from the ingredients in front of him as she started hobbling towards the sink. "Hey, you need some help?"
"Maybe," she said, leaning one crutch against the counter and reaching into the cabinet for a cup. "I'm trying to see if I can actually grab a cup of water without dropping it or killing myself."
It wasn't as hard as she had initially thought it might be. Her first problem came, though, when she realized that she would need someone to carry the cup into the other room for her, unless she decided to just put it in her mouth like a dog and take it in that way. And that wasn't that attractive of an option.
Just as she was about to ask David to be her little human cup holder, Natasha walked into the kitchen, and Summer brightened a little and said, "Hey, thanks for the chair! I can't believe you thought of that."
"Oh, no problem. I'm glad it came in handy," Nat replied, grabbing an apple from the counter.
"It did, it helped a lot. I don't know how much it was but I'll totally pay you back -"
Natasha made a face and shook her head. "That's not necessary. And anyway, I got it at a discount. Favor someone owed me."
Natasha had favors in some odd places, but hey, it worked out. Summer nodded, glancing at David as he walked off behind Natasha to grab a rogue toy that he had spotted near the refrigerator. "Okay, well, if you're sure..."
"I am," Natasha reassured her. "How are you feeling?"
"Okay," Summer shrugged, still holding the cup and leaning against the counter on one crutch. "Trying to lay off the meds now but this leg still hurts like a motherfricker."
"Motherfricker," Natasha repeated with amusement.
"Better watch out, motherfrickers," Sam teased. "Only people who mean business use such strong language."
"You know I'm so used to using made up words now I'm not even sure I remember how to actually properly curse," Summer shrugged, taking a sip of her water.
Then, in her peripheral vision, she saw what looked like a man with a vibrant red-colored face and flowing cape literally float by the kitchen, and she promptly dropped her cup to the floor and proved her last statement very wrong by screeching "Holy shit!"
Before anyone could explain to her who the floating man-thing was, he stopped in mid air and nodded casually to her. "Hello, Miss McAdams. I hope you are healing well."
She blinked her now-comically wide eyes and looked at Sam and Nat before asking frantically, "What is that? Why does he sound exactly like JARVIS? Am I hallucinating?"
"No," Sam shook his head. "He's a... well, everybody's calling him Vision. He's an android... guy. Tony could explain it better than I can."
She turned back to "Vision" and gulped as he said, "I apologize for startling you."
She blinked again, looking at the sparkly jewel-thing on his forehead, and she replied, "Uh... it's... okay?"
"Guys," Natasha said. "I almost don't want to say anything, but... look."
Summer reluctantly tore her eyes away from Vision and then saw something possibly even more shocking - David clinging to Natasha, the boogey-woman herself, for safety.
"Whoa," Summer marveled while Natasha smiled and appeared to thoroughly enjoy having finally earned the little boy's trust.
But then Summer began to panic slightly, because Vision noticed David's cowering and big, frightened eyes and was floating his way now. If she'd had use of both of her legs, she would have grabbed David and whisked him away for fear of him having a terror-fueled meltdown, but it all happened too fast and Natasha encouraged David to not be afraid with her hand on his back.
Vision stopped floating, touching his feet to the floor and kneeling down to appear as least threatening as possible. David peeked around Natasha's leg as he said in his calm, smooth voice, "Hello, David. I think I have wanted to meet you for some time now."
Summer's eyes widened again and she looked at Sam, whispering, "Is he actually JARVIS?"
"Tony said he is and isn't," Sam whispered back. "He's got his programming and I guess... memories?" Sam shrugged and added, "He's cool as hell, though, isn't he?"
"You don't need to fear me," Vision said, holding out his hand towards David, who looked at the hand before looking back up into almost-human eyes. "I am like you."
Summer held on to her crutches, expecting the screaming to start any minute, but instead, she was left to admire David's bravery as he reached out and, with the hand not holding on to Nat with a death grip, tentatively touched the hand being offered to him.
A year ago, David would have ran and hidden himself under a couch. But he had grown so much over the last year, and suddenly Summer felt like crying, because despite her guilt over what he had gone through and the loss of his home and much more... he had come out of it all okay, for the most part, and so incredibly brave.
Satisfied with the introduction, Vision drew his hand back and then slowly rose back up, nodding to Natasha. "Miss Romanoff."
She smiled. "If you were looking for Tony, you just missed him. He's in his lab."
"Thank you," he replied, turning towards the elevator but looking back to Summer. "I hope you get well soon, Miss."
"... Thank you?" she said, not meaning for it to sound like a question but seriously, she had not been expecting... this. But he seemed nice. JARVIS-level nice. She wondered if he also had the AI's sass.
As he walked away, maybe deciding to leave the floating for later in case he inadvertently terrified someone else, Bucky emerged from the hallway just in time to see Vision leaving.
"... The hell is that?" he asked, standing next to Summer and staring at the cape trailing behind the being.
"He's basically what Ultron was meant to be," Natasha explained as David left her side to go back to Summer, now that danger wasn't imminent.
"... Is that the 'guy' that Steve said was gonna be moving in?" Bucky asked. Natasha nodded, and he glanced at Summer, who was still gaping like a fish.
"He's like... like... Super-JARVIS. Can I call him that? Would he mind?" she asked nobody in particular.
"I'm not sure he's programmed to mind," Natasha replied.
After a moment of collective silence, Sam glanced down at the sauce that he had simmering on the stove, and then wondered aloud, "Think androids like lasagna? Does the dude even eat?"
"... Does he pee?" Summer asked, continuing the line of questions. "Does he have anything to pee with?"
"That would be the first thing you ask," Bucky muttered, amused.
"Well," she shrugged. "Sorry, but I'm just saying." Then she blinked and said, "You know, every day, life gets closer and closer to turning into actual Star Trek. I'm not even kidding."
Bucky took care of the water she had spilled on the floor while she rambled about joining Starfleet, and after the unexpected introduction of Vision into her life, the rest of the day fell into more familiar territory. The shared living space filled with only familiar faces for dinner, and she reveled in being home and back among friends, and also the joy that was Sam's cooking.
Bucky and Steve seemed to have gotten past their spat, or at least were ignoring it for the time being. Thor was there and took on the unofficial role of group storyteller over dinner, regaling Summer and the others who hadn't fought Ultron with tales of battle that made her jaw drop. But when he reached the story of the final battle in Sokovia, everyone had eaten their fill, and the story reminded Summer that there was one person who hadn't left her new room all day.
She waited until Bucky had wandered off with Steve and Thor to the living room to get up, because she didn't want to hear him griping at her for not letting him do what she was about to do. She got on her crutches and told David to follow her, and she made her way into the kitchen.
With David's help, she got a plate and loaded it up with food, then handed it to him and grabbed another plate when she noticed that there was one piece of cake left from earlier. She grabbed utensils and then handed the second plate to David, making sure that he had a good hold on the dishes before she remembered to grab a bottle of water from the fridge. She tucked it under her arm and then impressed herself by making out of the kitchen and down the hallway without dropping the bottle once. Maybe she could do this crutches thing and still multitask after all.
Once they made their way to the right room, she came to a stop and checked to make sure that David still had a good grip on the food before she looked at the door and then knocked gently upon it. She didn't expect a response, so when there wasn't one, she cleared her throat and said, "Um... sorry to bother you, but... I'm Summer, you met me earlier, and... I brought you food. And water."
When there was still no answer, she gestured to David to place the plates on the floor, and then she turned back to the door and said, "I'll just leave it outside your door. I know you're going through a really hard time and probably want to be left alone, so... I'll leave you alone. Oh, and there's cake too. You're probably not in the mood for cake, but it's pretty good and it was the last piece, so..." She shook herself to stop rambling already and then said, "Okay. I'll go now."
Turning around on her crutches, she motioned for David to follow her, and he fell into step at her side as they made their way back down the hall. David looked back as they reached the hallway, just in time to see the door open and the new girl look down at the food before looking their way. She looked at him with curious, though puffy and sad, eyes, and even at six years old, he could tell that she was incredibly surprised by the gesture.
Summer didn't see any of it, being too focused on the fact that she was already exhausted and ready to call it a night. Luckily, David didn't have an objection to this, nodding when she asked him if he wanted to go to bed a little earlier tonight. But when she started heading for her room, David shook his head and pointed to the living room, and more specifically, Bucky.
"... You want him to come, too?" she asked, and he nodded. She didn't know why she was surprised. After all, Bucky had been putting him to bed for six weeks now, and it only made sense that he would want to continue that routine.
"Okay," she smiled. "Go get him."
David then ran off, fully prepared to drag Bucky to their room, and she smiled to herself and made her way to her room.
God, it was good to be home.
For some reason, Bucky had expected David to throw him into the metaphorical trash can now that his mother was home. But he had been very wrong.
Rather than being forgotten about, Bucky had been physically dragged into Summer's room and then, once both mother and child were comfortable in bed, found a storybook shoved into his hands.
Then, as if his heart hadn't already been warmed enough, David scooted over to make room for Bucky to sit at his side, with Summer on the other. Book in hand, he sat down in the offered spot, then looked at Summer, whose eyes were suddenly noticeably watery.
He knew why. He had grown closer to David over the last six weeks, closer than he had ever expected to be, but he had thought that things would mostly go back to the way they had been before. He didn't expect David to be so visibly excited at having the two of them put him to bed and read him to sleep, but when he thought about it, it made perfect sense. Every kid wanted two parents, and this one had never had that before.
He still wasn't sure that he was parent material, and the word still made him want to panic inside, but it was hard to panic when the kid was smiling up at him and Summer looked like she was melting into a puddle of happy goo.
It was early in the night, so he ended up having to read through about five different books before David started looking sleepy. Once his eyes started getting heavy, though, he snuggled next to Summer and was out just before Bucky reached the last page. Mission accomplished, Bucky set the book aside and then looked at Summer, who was grinning at him like she knew something he didn't.
"What?"
She shrugged, still smiling as she replied, "Nothing. Nothing at all."
He gave her a look. "Summer."
Her smile widened. "I've never seen you read to him before. I mean, I know you've been doing it for awhile now, but just seeing it and seeing how close you two have gotten... you do realize what all of this does to me, right?"
He shook his head. "Not really."
She paused only for a moment. "It makes me love you even more."
He smiled and looked away, but then she spoke again and her words pulled his gaze back to hers. "No, you don't understand. I didn't think I'd ever have this with anyone. I never thought I'd find a guy who could deal with me having an autistic kid, especially since David wouldn't be their kid. Because when it's your own kid that you made, you love them automatically, you know. Or at least you should. But when it's not, you have to choose to love them, and that's... that's pretty rare, especially with kids like him." She paused and added, "I always wanted this for him but I never thought he'd have it."
Bucky glanced at the sleeping boy, then said quietly, "I didn't think I could have this either."
And maybe that was why it had worked out the way that it did. Bucky wasn't normal either, and likely never would be. It wasn't something he reached for or cared about. David's eccentricities and quirks and occasional meltdowns didn't scare him away. If anything, it did the opposite. From the beginning, there had always been quiet acceptance between the two of them, and never pressure to be anything other than what they were.
And what Summer didn't know was that long ago, back when he had taken refuge in her home in Virginia, even before she had sparked new life within him with a kiss, it had been the sight of David with aluminum foil wrapped all around his left arm to imitate Bucky's that had first made his heart stir. He hadn't known it then, hadn't been able to recognize it for what it was. Now he could.
He quietly got off the bed, then looped his way over to Summer's side and climbed in next to her. She turned towards him as much as she could with her leg limiting her mobility, and when he drew her into his arms, he saw a tear escape her eye and trail her cheek. "Summer, why -"
"Happy tears," she quickly reassured him with a smile, her fingers sliding to his hair. "Actually, no. Happy Mommy tears."
He chuckled at her correction, then kissed her softly. She held him close and let the kiss linger, letting it turn into several more before she pulled away a little and asked, "Will you stay in here with us tonight? I know you've been sleeping on the floor because you still don't trust your arm, but..."
"I'll stay," he assured her, kissing her again. Regardless of if he would manage any sleep himself, he didn't plan on going anywhere, not now that she was home and back with him, where she belonged.
"Thank you," she smiled, laying her head on his shoulder. "You can read me a story too, if you want. You've got a good voice for it. Almost put me to sleep right with him."
He chuckled, fingers running through her hair. She smelled like herself now, not the hospital, and he could be happy doing nothing but burying his nose in her hair and inhaling the familiar scent. "I could do that."
"Go ahead," she smiled, closing her eyes. "Pick a story. Any story."
He thought for a moment, and maybe if David wasn't asleep next to them, he would have gone a different route, but instead he took a breath and began quietly, "Once upon a time, an idiot with long greasy hair passed out on the front yard of a beautiful, strong, smart, sexy woman's house..."
"Oh my God," she giggled into his shoulder, craning her neck to look up at him. "You mean a sexy but troubled and mysterious man with long badass hair passed out on the front yard of an awkward idiot who hadn't brushed her hair in like two days and literally fell out of her chair the first time she saw you half naked."
He paused. "You did?"
"Yes. You were walking from the bathroom to my bedroom in just a towel and I hit the floor."
He grinned, quite liking this new information. "I didn't know that."
"Well, now you do," she smiled. "My hormones were a mess and I was very deprived, so yeah..."
He nodded, thinking back to that time. While they were on the subject, and while the scent of her hair was still flooding his senses, he figured it was as good a time as any to also tell her something he never had before. "The first time I slept in your bed, in that house... your sheets and your pillow smelled like flowers. I figured out later that it was your hair I was smelling. It helped me fall sleep. That's why I liked smelling your hair so much." He paused. "It's still why."
Surprise etched across her features, she smiled slowly and said, "Why didn't you ever tell me that?"
He shrugged. "I don't know. Probably the same reason why you didn't tell me about your chair."
Her smile lingered and she shook her head. "We've come a long way since then."
He nodded, trying not to think how not too long ago, he had thought a car slamming into her had taken all of that away. But here she was, and they were all back under the same roof, and he wouldn't think about the various ways in which that could change. For then, now was all that mattered.
She laid her head back down on his shoulder, and it wasn't long then until she fell asleep. He held her close, listening to the steady sound of her breathing and letting the comforting scent of her hair eventually lull him into his own slumber.
She was finally home. And now he felt like he was too.
A/N: another slightly filler chapter but less filler than the last one, I hope :) Not much to say today, aside from how excited I am to get my grubby hands on these new (well, new to the MCU) characters and shove them into the already giant "cast" of this story lol. I have my complaints about AOU but Vision & Wanda are definitely not one of them. GAH. Anyway, thank you all for reading & reviewing and sticking with me through these last few slightly slower chapters lol. I've got the second part to the Fire & Whiskey story almost done, so look for that in the next couple of days if you liked that story :) Oh and thank you to midnightwings96 for being her usual fabulous, incredibly helpful self and helping to keep me (and the story) going :D I love you all and will see you next week! :D