Moral of the Story

Chapter Sixteen

"I take care of recovering patients for a living, Tom. I'll be good," Bucky laughed, turning and putting the flowers and plastic bag he brought on the island.

"You may need to dig out your Sergeant's voice with that one if you want to get her to do something," Y/N's dad warned as he moved to the garage. "Text me if you need anything. I'll be back within an hour or so."

"Take your time. Nothing exciting is happening here," Bucky waved bye.

Thomas finally left, and Bucky looked back at Y/N on the couch as she shifted in her position and let out a huff of annoyance at something. Most likely her comfort level. He chuckled at the pout on her lips even as she slept. Turning to the plastic bag he brought, he grabbed it and made his way into the living room.

"Hey, Everest," he gently grasped her folded knees and gave a soft squeeze to wake her. She let out a soft grumble before fluttering her eyes. "Morning, doll."

She saw a soft smile from the scruffy face that was Bucky's. Her eyes adjusted to opening as she tried to sit up.

"What are you doing here?" she asked in a tired tone, bringing her hand up to rub her eyes.

"I'm your new nurse for the next hour or so. That and I wanted to check and see how you were doing since last night," he answered, opening the plastic bag and taking out the contents.

"What's that?" she mumbled, slowly sitting up. The pain pills helped in making the action less irritable.

"Your dad said he can't get you to keep the brace on. So I came with reinforcements," he noted before pulling out athletic tape and pre-wrap.

She cocked her head at the items before looking up at him with tired eyes.

"This is a lot more comfortable than that clunky brace you have on. I figured I'd wrap it up for you so you can sleep with it better. This way, you won't have metal parts of the brace poking you in the face when you try to get comfortable."

"I feel like I'm at the athletic trainer's room again," she chuckled, putting her wrist out for him. "Hey, that's kinda what you are now. Mr. Doctor," she giggled.

"Those pain meds kicking in some now, huh?" he chuckled as he took her extended hand and carefully began wrapping it for her. "Tell me if it's too tight, ok? You should be able to move some with it on."

He took a second to concentrate on the bandaging and didn't realize that she was watching him intently. Not just the movement but his face, too.

"There. That should feel a lot more comfortable and keep you from injuring it anymore," he smiled, rotating her arm to make sure it was all in place.

"You're really pretty. You know that?"

Bucky's eyebrows shot up at the comment, and he could feel the surface of his cheeks start to heat up.

"Thanks, Y/N," he chuckled in a bashful tone as he started busying himself with picking up the trash and tape from the new brace.

"I like your hair like this," she gestured to his head before plopping down to her side in a more relaxed position. The conversation was continuing casually to her as if she wasn't hitting on her ex-husband. "I remember you let it grow out that one baseball season, but it looks different."

"My barber actually knows how to maintain it," Bucky laughed. He had pushed the bag to the side and interlaced his fingers before leaning forward on his knees as he watched Y/N from the coffee table he sat on.

"Well, it's nice. But from what I recall," she pointed before moving to a more comfortable position to look at him. "You hated having it long."

"I hated how it got in the way during games. I don't play baseball anymore," Bucky winked. He probably shouldn't be flirting back, but he couldn't help that for the first time in a really long time; it felt like old times.