The Hurt And The Healing: Bucky X OC

Chapter One: Ted Bundy Was Charming Too, But I Wouldn't Have Dinner With Him

Mara didn't put faith in many things. Whenever she had tried to believe in others something went wrong and she was forced to question why everyone acted like trust issues were a bad thing. Sure, when taken to their extreme, trust issues could cause problems, especially if you had to rely on others to survive. But fortunately, Mara had learned a long time ago how to survive on her own, so she could get by relying on as few things as possible.

As she stood on the bus, feeling the dull ache radiate up her shins, Mara tried to think of what things that she could put her faith in. In her experience everything changed and always at the worst time, making trust difficult to maintain. So she put faith in the fact that she could put faith in almost nothing. And that her feet would always be sore. Long hours in the ER more than ensured that. Taxes. That was another thing. Even when half the universe vanished in an instant the IRS hounded her. That she would be called in on full moons because the ER was swamped. Which meant that Mara had faith in the fact that people would always be stupid. Aching feet, inconvenient changes, stupid people, and taxes. Mara could set her watch by those things. Her feet hurt every day, something would change inconveniently every week, people were unusually stupid every month, and taxes came every year.

It was nice to be able to rely on things.

As the bus lurched to a halt that would have knocked all but the most native of New Yorkers to the ground, Mara thought of one more thing that would never fail to be true: the MTA was awful.

Mara ambled her way to the front of the bus, smiling at the driver before walking out into the muggy night. She could hear children playing in the street and the gush of a fire hydrant that someone had opened. Mothers called for them to stay out of the road, fathers called for them to stop yelling over the Yankees game, and aunts and uncles laughed at the knowledge that it wasn't their damn kids in the street on a school night.

"Mara! Mara!" The children called as they ran towards her, dripping wet hands stretched out in an embrace. Mara resigned herself to the fact that she was going to get wet and beamed at the small hoard surrounding her.

"And what have you little gremlins been up to today?" she asked as they planted their wet faces into her stomach and wrapped their arms tightly around her waist. "Did you rip open this fire hydrant just so you could give me wet hugs?"

"Nonna's friend opened the fire hydrant!" One of the older children explained.

"Nonna's friend Mr. Rossi?" Mara asked.

"No, Nonna's new friend!" another child answered. "He helped her carry her groceries up but he stopped and opened it for us!"

Mara tensed up and looked for light coming from her apartment window. There was light, but it was too high up to see if anyone was moving inside. She looked back down at the grinning children and forced a smile on her face. "Well, I need to go and meet this new friend!" she said with strained cheeriness. She ruffled the wet hair of a few of the boys and gave a reassuring shoulder squeeze to some of the girls before booking it into the building and up the stairs.

As she drew closer and closer to their floor Mara's mind raced with thoughts as to what this strange man was going with her Nonna. Maybe he was scamming her out of what little money they had, telling her some sob story about how some Jezabel had stolen his money leaving him desolate and dependent on the charity of kind old women. Maybe he was robbing her, ransacking their apartment as Nonna lay passed out in the broom closet. Or maybe he was some sick pervert, taking advantage of an old woman's arthritis and weak voice. Whatever it was that he was doing, Mara knew where she hid the baseball bats around the apartment.

Drawing closer to the door Mara heard Frank Sinatra and smelled the familiar scents of balsamic vinegar, garlic, and olive oil. She unlocked and opened the door to see Nonna dancing around her kitchen waving a saucy spoon with far too much exuberance as a man stood at the kitchen table carefully dicing tomatoes.

"Mara! Mia cara!" Nonna yelled as she ran over to the baffled woman in the doorway. She grabbed Mara's face in her soft hands and kissed her on both cheeks. "You are just in time to help me make the sauce!"

Mara peered over her Nonna's shoulder to see the strange man looking up at her from his work. He had deep, sunken eyes that almost looked through her and dark hair that caught the reflected light from the dripping red chef's knife in his hand. She stared him down, her jaw locking with tension. He looked away and resumed chopping the tomato, the knife a blur.

"Nonna," Mara whispered, "who the hell is this?" She glanced towards the couch where one of her bats was leaning against the threadbare sofa. The man looked up before following her gaze and smiled.

"This is James!" Nonna said cheerily. "I met him on the bus and he helped me carry all of these groceries up so I invited him for dinner!"

"Are you- " Mara paused and took a deep breath before continuing in a quiet hiss, "are you serious? You think every strange man is an escaped convict except for the one you invite into our home?" There was another thing that Mara had faith in: Nonna would change her own rules whenever it suited her.

"Bah! James here wouldn't hurt a fly!" Nonna said, waving the spoon dismissively. She turned and walked towards the kitchen. "James, this is my granddaughter, Mara! Mara, this charming young man is James."

"Ted Bundy was charming too," Mara muttered, dropping her duffle bag and walking into the kitchen. She stood in the doorway, her arms crossed over her damp scrubs, and watched as James finished dicing a tomato with expert precision before he looked up and smiled at her.

"So sorry to intrude, but your Nonna is impossible to say no to," he said kindly.

"She's impossible when it comes to a lot of things," Mara replied, rubbing her forehead. Nonna laughed and walked back to Mara before pinching her cheek.

"My little aceto," she said sweetly. Mara laughed despite herself.

"My dear salata," she retorted. James looked at the two women and chuckled. Mara chose to ignore him. "I'm going to take a shower," she said, turning away. "Try not to invite every stranger on the street in for dinner while I'm gone."

"The more the merrier!" Nonna said cheerily.

Mara sighed and walked towards the bathroom, snatching the bat from beside the couch as she left the room. One more thing that she had faith in was strangers in her home were never a good thing.