Brooklyn Hearts

Hard Love

With the coming of the winter holidays and finals for her GED and culinary class, Blaire was under a lot of pressure. Not only was she working part time, studying, part time, but she was also trying to develop her powers a few hours a week. She knew she needed to hone them to actually be useful should she ever find herself in a situation that called for them. The stress was causing her to not sleep and when she did she would dream of her parents. Dreaming of her parents made her sad and moody which made all her other tasks difficult to complete. Every day that Blaire dragged herself out of bed she felt like another load of stones were piled on her back. It was just a matter of time before her stresses crushed her. Blaire still had nervous ticks, obsessive tendencies to hoard food or check who was in the room with her. She was so thankful she didn't have to look for food or shelter for herself and Lily during the cold New York winter. The one downside to living with trained spies and ex-assassins was they were in tune to human behavior. They noticed any little thing that was outside the pattern of what was considered normal. Everyone noticed Blaire being on edge, sad, or just exhausted. She skipped out on a training session with Clint, claiming she had headache. Clint told Natasha, who told Steve, who told Bucky. Which is why he was standing in her room with his arms crossed in front his massive chest.

"Blaire, what's going on? I know you've been stressed out lately and you just canceled on Clint. You know you can talk to me about anything."

Blaire sighed and as she leaned back against the couch cushions in an exaggerated manner. "I'm just stressed out because of my GED and work. I have a lot of things to study for and training is not at the top of my priority list."

Bucky strode across the room and sat next to her on the couch. "Is that all that's going on? You're not having boy troubles are you? Anyone harassing you? Because I'll t-"

"What?! No! No, I don't have any 'boy' troubles." Exasperated she stood from the couch and paced in front of the window facing the city.

"You know I can tell when you're lying, right?"

"Ugh! Bucky! I'm fine! I'm just stressed out from work and school and I worry about Lily, and the placement hearing-"

Bucky stood and walked towards her and put his hands on her shoulders. "I know, I know. It's a lot to take on right now." He paused for a moment and then let out a heavy sigh. "You know I care about you a lot, right?"

Blaire looked up at him a little puzzled, but nodded her head. "Yeah, I know."

"Then you know I have to ask and look at your arm."

Blaire flinched when he finished his sentence. Angrily, she straightened her left arm and forcefully rolled up her sleeve. "I don't do that anymore," she said in a whisper as a tear fell from her eye. She pushed her sleeve up past her elbow so he could see all of her forearm that had been scarred from self-abuse.

"Thank you," he whispered. He wrapped his arms around Blaire and tucked her head against his chest as he kissed the top of her head. "I stress out too, and I worry about you. You take on too much. You don't need to."

Blaire let out a sigh and let Bucky comfort her for a few more minutes before she broke their embrace.