ONE WEEK LATER

★ ★ ★

Marlena, Pietro, and Wanda stood at Greyson's front door just waiting on someone to answer. The three scanned the area as a precaution, considering the fact they thought they were supposed to be in a prison rather than a suburban Washington D.C. neighborhood. After being released by the Wakandan doctors, Steve and Marlena took a trip to The Raft to free the remaining Avengers. It had been a difficult endeavor given Marlena's injuries and her lack of powers, but it was well worth it now that she had Wanda and Pietro back. The only one missing from the picture was Bucky.

Greyson's front door flew open, revealing the older man who had become a father figure to Marlena in the two years that she'd known him. His eyes widened in slight surprise as he took in the sight of the three young people adorned in baseball caps and shaggy clothing. He had been anticipating a box full of new bath bombs and loofas, but never this.

"What the shit?" he exclaimed as he glanced between Wanda and Marlena (sometimes Pietro). "You're not my Guardian of the Forest or my Sex Bomb."

Wanda raised a brow as she took in his words. "I would certainly hope not."

"They're bath bombs, you sassy little shit," he retorted with a roll of his eyes, leaning against the doorframe and crossing his arms over his chest. "What the hell are you guys doing here, though? Not that I'm not happy to see you or anything, but still. And who's this guy?" Greyson asked, gesturing over to Pietro.

Marlena let out a sigh and pushed him into the house, leaving Pietro and Wanda to follow after shutting the door behind them. Marlena pulled Greyson over to the couch and sat down, removing her hood and her hat from her head before placing them down onto the coffee table in front of her, while Pietro and Wanda sat down together on the love seat.

"Can you listen to me, Greyson?" Marlena spoke, her voice hoarse and dry.

"Can you tell me what the hell is going on?" Greyson inquired. "The last time I saw you your face was on my television screen, Marlena. Now you're here inside my house, and you look like you just died and resurrected all in the same day, and then you bring back a guy who isn't Bucky. I'm just—you're killin' me, Smalls."

Marlena ran a hand through her hair, trying her best not to breakdown at the sound of Bucky's name. "The guy is Pietro—Wanda's dead brother we always used to talk about. And about everything that's happened during the past month or so. . .to make a long story short, I got arrested, I escaped, and then I got into a fight with the Avengers and Tony. Now I'm here because I have nowhere else to go."

"I knew you were a savage, kid, but I didn't know you were this savage," he turned to look at Pietro, "By the way, it's nice to meet you Pietro. I'm Greyson; I'm Marlena's stepdad."

Marlena gave a small smile at the sound of his words. He and her mom had never married, but it still made her feel good to know that he claimed her as his stepdaughter.

"It's good to meet you, Greyson."

"Of course it is," Greyson snorted, turning his attention back to Marlena. "Can I ask you a very critically important question?"

"Sure you can."

Greyson let out a sigh and ran a hand over his face. "Where the hell is Bucky?"

Marlena's face fell, and she took a deep breath, averting her attention to the floor.

"He's. . .um. . .he won't be c-coming home."

"What? Why? Is he dead or something? Please don't tell me he got himself killed," Greyson said with wide—but sad—eyes.

"No," Marlena shook her head. "He decided to go back into cryo; he said he couldn't trust his own mind and that going back under would be best for everyone."

Greyson groaned. "And he didn't even say goodbye? Asshole."

"Where's Mason?" Marlena asked, her voice slightly strained. She didn't want to talk about Bucky at all. Just knowing that he was gone was hard enough on her, but talking about it was much worse. She didn't know when or if she'd ever see him again, and talking about his absence was only a reminder of that.

"He's upstairs playing Xbox or something," Greyson answered her.

Marlena simply nodded and headed towards the stairs, leaving Greyson alone to talk with the twins. She hurried up the stairs and down the hallway towards Mason's room. A small smile fell onto her face as she listened to him play his video games inside. She had missed her brother more than anything, and now, being back with him, made her feel a little bit better about everything else that was going on.

She pushed the door to his room open, moving as slowly as she could in order to prevent from being detected by the young boy. He was so into his game, though, that she didn't worry too much about it. Instead, she tiptoed over to him as quietly as she could and placed her hands on his shoulder, startling him. He jumped and dropped his remote to the floor before standing up to figure out who had scared him in the first place.

Mason's green eyes brightened as they fell upon his older sister, who stood laughing to herself a few feet away from him. Without a word, he ran to her and wrapped his arms tightly around her, unaware of the abdominal injuries she was still recovering from.

"Whoa there, Mase," Marlena grunted as she loosened his grip around her. "I'm happy to see you, and I'd squeeze the hell out of you if I could, but I've got a couple broken ribs, pal."

Mason pulled away and looked at her. "What the—how the hell did you get broken ribs, sis?"

"Got into a fight," Marlena shrugged and pulled him back in. "I've missed you, Mason. I've missed you so much."

"I've missed you, too." He pulled away, grabbing her hand and pulling her over to sit on his bed. "What's been goin' on with you, Mar? Last I saw you were running away from government officials in some country, and now you're here."

Marlena ran a hand through her hair. "Well, you see the thing is," she paused as she tried to come up with some way to answer her brother without it sounding too extreme, but she couldn't. "Okay, so, I got arrested, right? Then I got into this huge fight at some airport in Germany, and then I got into this fight with Tony, and then I went to Africa, and now I'm here. I tried to find some way to make that sound a little less bad than it is, but I don't think I did a good job."

"No, you didn't," Mason chuckled. "But it's okay. Are they looking for you?"

"I have no clue," Marlena shrugged. "I don't want to worry about that right now. The only thing I want to focus on is being back home with you, Wanda, Greyson, and Pietro."

Mason's brows furrowed at the absence of Bucky's name. "What about Bucky?"

"He's not coming home, Mason," Marlena said quietly, looking down at her hands.

"Wha—why?"

"He's in cryo for the time being," Marlena answered. "I don't know when he'll get out, but it won't be for a while."

Mason frowned. "Well that sucks."

"Tell me about it," she sighed and stood up, "I think I'm gonna go lay down for a bit, though. I'm exhausted, but I promise tomorrow we'll find something to do to catch up for lost time, okay?"

Mason smiled and nodded before hugging her again. "I think you owe me a dinner, big sister."

"We'll see what happens," Marlena chuckled before heading out of his room.

Marlena walked down the hall to her room and pushed the door open, her breath hitching in her throat as she took in the contents of her room. She hadn't been inside the room in over a month. Some of her clothes and shoes were still strewn across the floor (Tony provided her with clothes at the compound so she never had a reason to go home) as well as a few pairs of Bucky's sweatpants and a couple of his hoodies. She sauntered across the room where one of his many grey hoodies lay and picked it up, hugging it close to her. After sitting for so long without being washed or touch, she found that his smell still lingered slightly, and that made her feel worse than she already did about him being gone.

A few tears found their way out of her hazel eyes, and she stepped over to her bed. She plopped down onto her side, ignoring the pain in her ribs that struck her as she did so. Compared to the pain she felt regarding Bucky's absence, her broken ribs were the equivalent to a papercut. She wanted Bucky back more than she'd ever wanted anything in her life, it seemed. She didn't know how to live her life without him and she didn't think she wanted to try. Her life meant nothing if she didn't have Bucky.

"I wish you would come back to me," she cried as she squeezed his hoodie tighter in her grasp.

She laid crying silently on her bed for about ten minutes before something on her bedside table caught her eye. She sniffed and sat up, wiping her face before plucking the worn notebook from its spot on top of another notebook. It was one of Bucky's, which confused her slightly; she was sure Bucky had taken all of his notebooks with him when he left for the first time back in April.

She looked at the cover for a second, contemplating whether or not she should open it up to see what was inside of it. She had never read anything in one of Bucky's notebooks out of respect for his privacy, but as she sat there staring at the worn cover she couldn't help but want to see his uniquely familiar handwriting.

She flipped the book open to a random page towards the middle, her eyes falling upon what appeared to be a journal entry rather than a memory. She decided to read anyway, as she had spotted her name on the page.

April 2, 2016

I haven't written in this thing in so long, probably because I'd rather talk to Marlena about everything that happens to me instead of some stupid notebook. But this is something I just can't tell her, considering it has to do with almost killing her while she slept. Winter is only getting stronger inside me and it's beginning to effect my actions towards Marlena. Hurting her is something I can't allow, but the only thing I could do that would prevent me from hurting her would be to leave her. I don't want to leave Marlena. Marlena is the greatest thing to ever happen to me, and without her I would just be lost. If it gets to the point where I have to leave her, I wouldn't know what to do with myself. I'd miss so much. I'd miss watching her grow into an even more amazing woman than she already is; I'd miss our random talks during ridiculous hours of the night in which she's too stubborn to go to sleep; I'd miss listening to her act like she can sing. I'd just miss everything about that annoyingly beautiful girl. I just don't know what to do, but I'm sure I can talk to Wanda about it sooner or later. She's always been a good listener when it comes to issues regarding mine and Marlena's relationship. Anyway, I just needed to get that out. Thank you for listening, you useless piece of stationary.

Yours,

A problematic Bucky Barnes

Marlena closed the notebook and took a deep breath as she thought over the words she had just read. Although Bucky claimed he hadn't wanted to leave Marlena, he did anyway, and in doing so he was missing everything, not only with Marlena, but with everyone else he cared about. Marlena didn't want that to happen, though, and she knew she couldn't tell him everything he had missed, but she knew she could write down as much as she could for him. It definitely wouldn't be the same, but it would be enough.

Marlena wiped the tears from her face before placing his journal down and picking up the other. She flipped through it, nothing but empty pages meeting her eyes. A sigh escaped her lips and she sat it back down, hugging Bucky's hoodie to her chest again and laying down. Bucky might have been gone, but Marlena was going to make sure he felt like he had never left.