The Earth's Child 2

Peace

TW: Self-harm.

Bucky's PoV:

Bucky thought he heard a door creak in the night and opened his eyes. One of the few advantages of being a trained super-soldier/assassin was that he didn't have to wait a whole minute for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. In a few seconds, he could see that Bella was not on the couch.

Fearing the worst that she had run away in the middle of the night, he ran to the front door only to find that it was locked from the inside. So, Bella hadn't left the apartment.

Bucky looked around to see a small slit of light peeking from under the bathroom door. He turned the knob to see that it wasn't locked.

"Doll?" asked Bucky tentatively. He waited a few moments but there was no answer. "Doll, I am getting a little worried, say something." There still wasn't an answer. "Alright, I am coming in."

Bucky opened the door and saw Bella sitting in the bath tub, staring downwards. Bucky moved towards her to see what she was looking at only to be shocked and hurt to the very core.

Bella was sitting in the tub, her hands bloody with horizontal and vertical scars. There was a knife lying on the floor of the tub with blood on the sharp end.

"Bella, what the hell?" asked Bucky, his voice cracking. He could feel the horror emanating from his eyes.

Bella didn't even look up. Bucky just saw tears streaming down her face.

"Doll, please talk to me," requested Bucky and this time Bella looked up.

"I am sorry," she whispered.

"Hey, its okay," said Bucky, calmly stepping into the tub. When he saw that Bella wasn't protesting, he sat down in front of her.

"Doll, can you give me the knife?" asked Bucky calmly and held his hand out to her.

Bella took the knife and handed it to him, her hands shaking. Bucky used this opportunity to grab her hands and pull her closer to himself. He felt Bella stiffen slightly and he loosened his hold on her arm, realising his fingers were applying direct pressure to one of the cuts.

"Why?" asked Bucky quietly, trying to look into her eyes. She turned her head slightly so that he couldn't.

After getting no reply from her, Bucky got up from the tub and soaked a towel in water. Then he brought the damp towel and gently pressed it against the cuts on Bella's arms, cleaning the blood. Bella jumped up at the contact but Bucky shushed her, tenderly wiping her arms. As he looked at her arms again, now with all the blood wiped off, he noticed older scars beneath the newer ones. The realisation made his eyes sting and he used his wrist to wipe away his tears.

He lifted Bella's arms to notice identical bloody scars on her thighs too. When Bucky tried to dab them with the towel, she pulled her nightdress down and hid them.

"You don't have to do this," said Bella, still not looking at him.

"I know," said Bucky, carefully grabbing her hands and prying them away from her thighs. "But I want to. I wasn't there for you for five years. Let me be here for you now."

Bella didn't argue again as Bucky cleaned the scars, noticing older scars on her thighs as well.

After it was done, Bucky offered Bella a towel, pointing at the blood stains on her dress. She nodded in understanding and changed out of it, wrapping the towel around herself. Bucky's shorts were also wet from sitting on the floor of the tub and he changed too, wearing a pair of dry ones.

Bucky let Bella walk to the bedroom by herself while he fumbled around the first-aid box in the bathroom, looking for the suturing needle and bandages. Two cuts had gone a bit deep and he could already see the blood staining her towel. Bella wasn't going to like it at all.