THIRTEEN—AN UNWELCOME SURPRISE
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BUCKY FROZE. SLOWLY flicking his eyes to mine, he brought a finger to his lips, making sure to keep me quiet. His lips moved, but I couldn't decipher his silent message, so I just stared at him with my eyebrows knitted in confusion. "What?" I whispered, so quiet I could barely hear it myself.

He shook his head, giving up on trying to communicate with me and instead leaned in, his dark hair swinging in front of his face. His movement was quick, nothing but pure business; simply an attempt to relay a message, nothing more. But I couldn't help the jittery flip of my stomach as his blue eyes came closer to my brown ones, blinking in practiced steadiness. He'd obviously been forced into a situation much like this one, knowing exactly what to do when unwanted guests knocked on your front door.

When Bucky's eyes met mine, he looked at me pointedly. "Don't move," he whispered, his hot breath fanning over my face from one side to the next; his lips hovered above my ear. The mere sensation was almost enough to make me want to close my eyes and just revel in the deep, rumbling tones of a—

Dammit. Not again, I groaned inwardly at my instinctive responses. Just because it's been awhile since anyone's been so close like this doesn't give you the right to start acting up, I scolded my hormones. Swallowing roughly, I met Bucky's eyes and nodded slowly.

Rising silently from the couch, he stalked through the kitchen and towards the guest bedroom—which I guess I could have started calling it Bucky's bedroom, since there was no end in sight to his visit. I hovered on the couch, hardly breathing as the world fell silent around me. It was earsplitting, the silence; it tore into my eardrums and ruptured every nerve in my body, prohibiting the rest of myself to process time passing. Time was at a stand still, the fog of nothingness settling over my seated position for what felt like three hours but was probably only three seconds.

When Bucky returned, I almost broke my promise of not moving. My shoulders jerked in response to seeing him hefting a handgun in his right hand. As he glided swiftly across the wood floor, all the while staying out of sight of the front door, I caught a shining glimpse of metal in the belt loop of his jeans.

A knife. Smaller than the ones I had in the kitchen, but probably large enough—and sharp enough—to carve an eyeball out of someone's skull. If needed.

"Wh—where did you get those?" I hissed as quietly as I could. He only flicked his eyes to me for a moment before moving them back to the task at hand, sliding into place behind the front door's hinges, effectively invisible when the door would open.

He dipped his chin towards me, then tilted his head to the door. Now that I didn't have to read anyone's lips, I understood the message clearly: get up and answer the door.

I rolled my eyes. Of course I would act as bait. What other purpose did I serve otherwise?

Steeling myself, I gave Bucky one last glare and stood up. Another knock came on the door, this time longer and louder. But for some reason, no one on the outside was saying anything. For the CIA, I have to say that I was expecting something a little more Law and Order-ish. But then again, I only had limited experience with federal law. More than enough to last a lifetime in my opinion, but still limited to a gray-walled room, sitting across from a coffee-drinking agent who would rather buy hair product than actually save lives.

My footsteps were loud against the wooden planks of the floor, seeming to echo throughout the front room. My hands were clammy as they reached out to grab the doorknob, trying to open it swiftly, as if I weren't hiding an assassin in my house, as if nothing were out of the normal.

The door swung open to reveal two figures. Luckily for me, the bright sunlight of midday didn't obscure their faces from view, like the night Bucky had arrived. With a surprised cross between a choking sound and a gasp, my heart skipped a beat and my jaw went slack as I found myself staring at two people who I thought I'd never see near this house again.

"Mom?" I asked incredulously. "Dad?"

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Even looking back on this moment, I still struggle to find words to describe the complete and utter shock that struck my body as I recognized my parents in the doorway, holding bags and bearing wide smiles on their weathered cheeks.

"Surprise!" My mother announced in her trademark sing-song voice that used to lull me to sleep. She stepped into the house, forcing me back to let her in.

Scanning the open expanse of my yard, I looked for any sign of the CIA, but my eyes met nothing but open air. Confused, I nearly forgot about the assassin standing behind the front door, prompt and ready to open fire on anyone who threatened his safety.

But a middle-aged married couple was anything but. I just hoped he'd been listening.

As I uncomfortably kept my parents in my sight, I glanced at Bucky, a frozen figure standing five feet behind them, still cornered up against the wall. His look of shock and confusion would have made me laugh in another circumstance, but I had to get him out of the room, keep my parents oblivious to the fact of a highly dangerous, one-armed soldier in my house.

"What are you...what are you doing here?" I asked, stumbling on my words as my primary focus was signaling for Bucky to leave. He was so shocked, it seemed he was glued to the spot.

My dad sported his mischievous grin, the one that my brother Cade grew famous for during his teen years. The reminder of him tugged at my gut. "Your mother wanted to call, but I thought a surprise would be more fun."

Preoccupied with watching Bucky exit the room undetected, my words sounded distant as I replied, "Well, consider me surprised." After he was officially out of view, I could only hope he would stay that way until I could meet him and we could figure this out. Whatever this situation would be. "Surprise me for...what, exactly?" I slid my eyes to meet Dad's again.

My mother raised her eyebrows. "I'm not going to lie, Elda, I'm a little disappointed you didn't remember your parents' wedding anniversary."

I gulped. "Oh!" I tried to cover with an apologetic laugh, but my mind couldn't stop replaying questions about Bucky. "How many years has it been? Twenty? Twenty-five?"

Dad blinked, giving me his best I'm going to pretend you didn't just say that look. "Thirty," he answered.

"So we decided we'd surprise you and stay here for a few days!" Mom chimed in, unable to hide her excitement.

My heart drooped. A few days? I didn't know how I would be able to hide Bucky from my over-observant parents for a few hours, much less a few days.

"Of...of course," I smiled, trying to ignore the warning burn in my stomach that told me this was not going to work out. "I'm surprised you wanted to come back to the house," I commented as I took some of their luggage and began hauling it upstairs to their old room. "Was Arizona getting too warm for you?" The sneer in my voice was unintentional. I think.

"We just wanted to see you, Elda," Dad replied, following behind me. "Even if you haven't decided to grow up." The familiar digging words were no surprise, but still made my shoulders hunch in recoil.

Closing my eyes as a wave of annoyance rushed over me, I fought to keep my boiling emotions in check. I shook my head, putting their bags in the old master bedroom and turning around to flash a sickly sweet smile at him. "Well, no one's keeping you here," I said.

My mom tried to stop me from leaving, an awkward laugh tinkling into the dead air, but I shrugged off her hand and went downstairs to look for Bucky.

Perhaps Sam was right. Maybe there would be agents of the CIA on my doorstep soon. But all I knew for sure was that the next few days were going to be long as hell.

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so i changed elda's brother's name from jack to cade bc the oc in my tony stark fic is gonna have the nickname jack(short for jacqueline) and yeah

henlo so can i ask you guys to do me a favor?

great, thanks. so next friday (on may 18th), i'm gonna post an 'admin friday' part because i've seen them on instagram and they look fun so yeah. plus, it's been almost four years since i came to wattpad!

now, here's what i need you to do: comment on this post and ask me questions about anything(just not weird, creepy personal things like where i live or my school)! anything regarding marvel, harry potter, books in general, pretty much anything about my life, i'll answer! and then on that friday, i'll post that part and we'll all get to know each other better. thank you for four years, wattpad. you basically saved my life.

plus, there may or may not be a face reveal! stay tuned!

thanks for reading this chapter, see you next time!

it's really late, i can't believe i wrote this whole chapter on my phone, my thumbs hurt.

xoxo laura

published on: may 12, 2018