The Hurt And The Healing: Bucky X OC

Chapter Nineteen: The Healing

The last thing that Bucky expected to see when he woke up was Nonna on his caller ID. But there her name was, and he answered it before she changed her mind and hung up on him.

"Nonna?" he asked, heart in his throat.

"No, it's Mara," a measured voice answered. Bucky took as deep of a breath as he could, but he felt as if he were being strangled.

"Mara, hello," he replied. "I- I wasn't expecting to hear from you." Shit. Stupid. That was a really stupid thing to say, Barnes. Couldn't come up with anything better than that?

"I need to see you," Mara said quietly. So quietly that he thought he had misheard her.

"What?" he replied dumbly.

"I just- listen I just want to talk," she continued. "I've been thinking and," he heard her sigh. "Bucky, I really need to see you."

"Okay," he said. "Ah, where do you want to meet?"

"Anywhere but my place," she answered too quickly for Bucky to not feel a stab of guilt. "How about the Bronx Park? Can you meet today?"

"Sure," Bucky replied, "I can meet whenever. The park is fine."

"Can you meet in an hour?" Mara asked. He checked the time on the microwave. It wasn't even six in the morning.

"Sure. Meet you at Rockefeller Fountain at seven?" he offered.

"Perfect. See you then, Bucky."

She hung up before he could respond. He remained frozen on his cot, phone still held to his ear. She wanted to see him. She had called him Bucky. She didn't sound filled with a murderous rage, and she wanted to meet in public which meant that she wasn't planning to bludgeon him to death. This was good. This was very good.

As Bucky drove his motorcycle to the park the only thought in his mind was that this was bad. This was very, very bad. It hadn't even been two days since he told her the truth. Why did she want to see him? Maybe she was going to ask him questions about Alex's death. Not that Bucky wouldn't be able to answer those questions. For the past two nights Alex's murder had been playing on a loop in his mind. But answering those questions meant nothing but pain for Mara.

And if she didn't have questions then why would she want to see him? She had been crystal clear when she threw him out and yelled at him to never come back. He had been prepared to respect that, respect her. Did she want to meet in public because she was afraid of him? Maybe she would try to kill him, avenge her dead fiance. If she tried to kill him should he try to stop her? Should he let her do what he had always been too scared to do? No, she'd go to prison. Or would she? Maybe her killing him would be considered a public service killing. She could get a medal from the Mayor's office for taking out the garbage.

No, that was too much of a risk for her. If she slapped him, punched him, hit him with her bat, fine, he'd take it. But if she tried to shoot him- he couldn't let her throw her life away like that. He'd have to stop her, but how? Typically when people were shooting at him he hadn't had much concern for their safety, but this time was different. This time he couldn't break her hand.

He had been tempted to call Sam, ask him for advice. But it was far too early, even for a morning lark like Sam. Bucky was on his own for this one.

Before Bucky could fully think through how to disarm Mara without hurting her, he was at the park. As he walked towards the fountain he saw Mara sitting at one of the benches. They were both early.

She turned towards him when she heard him approaching and- was that a smile? No, that was a wince. She was not smiling at him.

"Hi," she said quietly.