The One That Got Away

Chapter 5: Conditional Love

 Charlie was running and crying. The conversation she just had with her parents played over and over again in her mind. She didn't know where she was running to, she just needed to be anywhere but her home. When she finally stopped running, she was completely exhausted. Looking up, she realized that she had run to Steve's apartment. With the little strength she had left, Charlie ran up the stairs and knocked on her friend's door, praying to whatever God that was listening that he was home.

A few frantic knocks later, Steve opened the door. He smiled when he saw who it was until he noticed the tears that were still falling on her cheeks and how her body spasmed with every hiccup caused by the lack of oxygen in her lungs from both the running and the crying.

Steve stepped aside, telling Charlie to come in. His front door opened right into his living room and when he moved she could see into the room. That's when she noticed the coffee table covered in a deck of cards and the man sitting on the floor, cards in hand from the game she had clearly disturbed. Bucky. When she looked at him, he had already been looking at her. It was the first time she saw him in almost a week and it wasn't because he wanted to see her. After making eye contact with Bucky, Charlie started to panic a little bit.

Breaking eye contact to look at Steve, she slowly started to walk backwards.

''I'm.. sorry.. I.. didn't.. know.. Bucky.. was.. here..'' She apologized, each word followed by a hiccup.

Charlie turned around to walk over to the stairs, her heart beating so fast that the only sound she could hear was the blood rushing to her head. It's probably why she didn't hear the footsteps that followed rapidly behind her and before she knew it, hands were gently grabbing her and she was pulled back into a man's chest, one arm wrapping around her shoulders and the other one wrapping around her middle, holding her. She let herself relax into his arms and her hands reached up to the arm around her shoulders. Being taller than Steve, Charlie didn't need to turn around to know it was Bucky who was hugging her. She only started crying harder, overwhelmed with emotions from everything that happened in the past week.

Feeling that she was only getting worst, Bucky turned Charlie around in his arms. One hand cradled the back of her head, making her hide her face into the crook of his neck while the other, rested on her back, gently pushing her against his chest. She instinctively wrapped her arms around his waist and held on tightly like she was scared he might let go. He moved his fingers on her scalp in a reassuring movement and whispered in her ears to try and calm her down It's okay. You're okay. I got you. You're safe. After a few minutes her breathing finally slowed down, her hiccups were gone and instead of sobbing, only a few tears kept falling on her cheeks at a much slower pace.

Steve was standing on his doorstep, looking at the scene in front of him. Seeing Charlie in so much pain was truly heartbreaking.

When she moved to leave, he hadn't had time to try and stop her before Bucky was on his feet and chasing after her. As his best friend passed him, he caught a glimpse of his face and how worried he looked. Steve was relieved to see that Bucky still cared about her. He wasn't the kind to hold a grudge and the fact that he hadn't reached out to her at all since the incident had worried Steve.

Bucky moved to delicately cup her cheeks in his hands, his thumbs brushing away her tears as they kept falling while he leaned back to look at her. She kept her eyes to the floor, embarrassed and scared to look at him. He let one of his hands fall from her cheek to her chin, using his index finger to gently tilt her head up so he could finally meet her eyes. He felt a lump form in his throat when her blue eyes met his. There was so much pain in them, he had never seen her this way and he felt the need to protect her, the need to hurt whoever had hurt his Lily so badly. With his finger still tilting her head up towards him, he moved his hand to bring her face closer to his and kissed her forehead, lingering for a few moments.