[AU] there's grief of Want and grief of Cold

[from_the_outside]

She sleeps later than she had the day before – a combination of not having to get up and go to the doctor and exhaustion – and when she comes downstairs, the house is quiet but coffee is already made. After making herself a cup, she pads barefoot to the door and steps out into the crisp mountain morning.

She's unsurprised to see that Bucky is up, and to find Steve's motorcycle gone from the driveway. "Steve head out already?"

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[nerves_of_ice]

It hadn't even occurred to him that the doctor he was demanding that she see might be a family doctor and a family friend. If he'd been asked, he'd have thought she would stop by an urgent care or something of the sort.

He can't blame this Dr. Hammond, though. Any of Steve's docs in Brooklyn would have called Sarah Rogers in an instant in a similar situation.

Anyway, it's a lesson learned for them both, he figures. Bucky takes another sip of coffee, and offers a cheerful smile when Amanda glances in his direction.

[from_the_outside]

She looks an apology at him – honestly, she never would have brought him here if she'd thought her parents would show up – and glances at her father. "How's everything in Richmond?"

"Oh, fine, fine," he says, pleasant. "Everyone asks about you, of course." He casts a warm smile Bucky's way. "The neighbors love to try and guess what she does for a living." Glancing back at Sharon, he adds: "I think the Ellises are convinced you work for a mafioso."

"Really?" She blinks at him, surprised. "Well, that sounds very exciting for me."

"I thought so, too," he assures her. "We always knew you could do whatever you put your mind to, pumpkin."

[nerves_of_ice]

Laughter dances in his eyes, at that. "Sounds like quite the guessing game. And I'm sure you don't egg them on at all," he tells Harrison.

[marvel_npc]

"Of course not," he agrees, sipping at his coffee. His own glance is amused when it flits between Sharon and James. "Teasing those nice people for my own amusement would hardly be a neighborly thing to do."

Sharon outright laughs at him at that, which is good. She'd been a little out of sorts earlier. "You are the worst offender," she accuses. "I spent over an hour last time I was home convincing Mrs. Stevens that, no, I was not an entertainer on a cruise ship."

[nerves_of_ice]

He nearly chokes on his coffee at the mental image and hastily lowers his cup.

"Has anyone guessed airline pilot yet? Due to travel?" he offers.

[marvel_npc]

"That is a very popular guess," Harrison assures him, pleased that James has caught on so well. "Although less pilot and more flight attendant, sad to say."

"Richmond," mutters Sharon, and well – she isn't wrong. "Let's see," he continues, thoughtful. "My favorite was the one who thought she was crewing on a research ship and hadn't set foot on land in eight months."

[nerves_of_ice]

"Pretty clever," he has to admit. "So I guess after that they ran through things like 'scientist at the Antarctic station' and 'astronaut', too." He glances at Amanda. "And lawyer."

Meanwhile, Sharon's phone chirps with a text message. Talked with T. He's walking it off now. Will resume shortly. Tell him I said it'll be okay.

[from_the_outside]

She glances at her phone, over on the kitchen island, and gets up a little awkwardly to check it.

"Something important?" asks Amanda, watching the expression on her daughter's face. Sharon shakes her head and walks over to show the text to Bucky. "Just a work thing," she says, lightly.

"A colleague checking in."

[nerves_of_ice]

He glances at the phone, absorbing it in an instant, and smiles up at Sharon, although there's a flicker of something shadowed in his glance-- which he's careful to keep turned away from her parents. "Always nice to see a good update," he says, lightly, and looks back at them.

"Since we're a little out of pocket while Sharon heals up, they're keeping us informed."

He spares a moment to hope that 'walking it off' doesn't mean 'in flight with full armament and homing in on their position.' Surely Natasha had managed to clear the trail in time.

[from_the_outside]

"Sweetheart," says Amanda, frowning at her daughter, "you look pale. Is your side hurting?"

"Oh –" She sees a chance to escape and jumps on it. "It's a little past when I was supposed to take the next dose, I guess. But they really knock me out, and you guys just got here..."

"Nonsense," says her father, firmly. "We didn't come to be in the way. Go rest, pumpkin. Mom and I will go set ourselves up; you won't even know we're here."

He looks at Bucky, genial. "And I'm sure James here has better things to do with his time than entertain us," he adds, and Sharon really kind of wants to hug her dad.

"Oh," Amanda says, "but let us take you out for dinner tonight. Our treat. What do you say?"

[nerves_of_ice]

"If you're sure," he tells Harrison. "I do have a couple of things that I'm handling remotely, but --"

He knows it'll look suspicious for him to leap on the other man's offer, no matter how much he may want to.

It's just as well he'd paused there to let Sharon's father confirm or deny, as Amanda's suggestion freezes him in his tracks. He glances at Sharon.

[from_the_outside]

"No, that's okay," she says, smoothly. "I don't think I'll be up for going out and we have plenty of food here. But you guys should – maybe call up the Harrisons, you're always saying how you don't see them enough."

Before they can protest, she glances over at Bucky. "Walk me up?"

[nerves_of_ice]

"Of course," he says, and gets immediately to his feet.

He looks at Sharon's parents. "Thanks for the offer, though. Please don't worry about the coffee stuff - I'll take care of it when I come back down."

[from_the_outside]

She can hear her parents talking quietly to each other as she and Bucky head towards the kitchen and then into the hall that leads to the stairs. "I'm so sorry," she says, when they're far enough she's pretty sure they won't be overheard.

"I guess that's why they called earlier – I should have picked up the phone. Never in a million years did I think they would just randomly show up out of the blue."

[nerves_of_ice]

"Not your fault," he reassures her, in the same low tones. "Don't worry about it."

He hesitates for a second, then offers, "If you want, I can claim a work emergency and get out of the way until they're gone."

[from_the_outside]

She really hopes Steve's day has gone better than hers has. "No," she says, instantly, climbing the stairs. "I mean, don't get me wrong. They would love nothing more than to entertain you all afternoon and evening, but they'll be happy to leave us to our own devices, too."

Now that they know she's okay, anyway. The spike of guilt she feels at that thought is at least familiar. "There's a whole other wing to this house, that's where their room is. My guess is we might see them at dinner but probably not too much before."

[nerves_of_ice]

He stops in the middle of the stairs for a moment before scrambling to catch up.

“A whole other wing?”

[from_the_outside]

She shrugs, a little self-consciously. "Yeah. I mean, it's a... it's a big house."

And money is one of those awkward things she was always taught not to discuss, but –

Honestly, no wonder he asked about them owning the mountain.

[nerves_of_ice]

He shakes his head.

“Well, you can take my surprise as proof that I haven’t gone snooping around.”

[from_the_outside]

She laughs a little at that. It feels like the first time she's laughed all day.

"You can if you want," she says, amused. "The worst thing you'll find here is embarrassing photos of baby Sharon."

[nerves_of_ice]

Dryly: “You’re not a target. I didn’t want to be rude.”

[from_the_outside]

"I know, I just –"

She shakes her head. "I know it's not ideal. But I don't want you to feel trapped."

Sharon glances at him as they head into the upstairs hall. "You have my permission to look around if you want," she adds, a little archly. "But it's really mostly more of the same."

[nerves_of_ice]

“I don’t. I won’t,” he assures her, quietly. “Feel trapped, I mean.”

He walks beside her to her door and halts there.

[from_the_outside]

She opens the door and leans for a moment on the jamb. "What a week, huh?"

...Wait. What day even is it? Tuesday? Wednesday? "If anyone else shows up, I'm jumping out a window."

[nerves_of_ice]

He smiles a little at that.

“Get some rest, Sharon. I’ll come wake you for dinner.”