Falling (Bucky Barnes)

12 - Explaination and Date-Prep

Natasha dashes into Elissa's room, dropping the jewelry on her dresser. She knocks on the door, "Elissavet?" Clint stands behind Natasha, worry creasing his face as he impatiently waits for a response. Anything that tells him that she's still with them. The room is silent.

"Is he gone?" a tiny voice asks after a few minutes, barely audible through the door. Clint lets out a sigh of relief when he hears her voice. Although it's incredibly difficult to hear, his hearing aid picks up on her voice, but he is unable to make out what she says, the words are just a hum for him. He looks at Natasha who is nudging her head towards the door and he takes that as a sign to leave. He slips out of the room and closes the door gently. He doesn't move from standing beside her door. He wants to be there if Natasha needs help or if Elissa wants him.

"Yes he is gone, it's only me," she confirms. Popping her head out the doorway she cautiously exits. Natasha's eyes immediately flick to her neck.

"Is he mad?" she utters, not breaking her gaze from the ground. Natasha is taken aback by her question, but doesn't let it show.

"No, he isn't mad," she assures her.

Looking up she hesitates, "why did he rush up to me?"

Although she doesn't know what happened she already knows the answer, "he was worried when he saw your neck."

She slowly nods before asking, "why was he even coming in my room in the first place?"

"I don't know, you'll have to ask him about that. He didn't really tell me much because he was to focused on making sure that you were okay," she explains, choosing her words carefully.

"Why?"

Natasha pauses, not understanding the question. When it catches up to her she frowns, "because he cares about you. He doesn't want you to get hurt."

"Why me?"

"To sum it up I think I'd call it something like a fatherly feeling -one of like protection and stuff. Like a good dad," she tries to explain. Elissa nods her head, still not understanding why he feels that way about someone like her. She decides to let it go because she has a date and she needs time to make sure her makeup is good. Doesn't want to walk around showing off the bruise and scrapes to everyone.

"Do you want me to go ask Clint why he was coming in your room while you get dressed?" Nat offers. Elissa nods, making her way to the walk-in closet.

When Natasha returns, Elissa is already dressed and getting ready in the bathroom. Applying makeup to her neck gently she hisses as every touch pains her. It is still very tender.

Natasha frowns, she wishes that Elissavet would just tell her who did that so she can at least kick him in the nuts a few times. Seeing Nat return Elissa pauses and looks expectantly to her waiting for her to explain. Natasha walks over and sits on top of the long counter as she begins to explain why he was going in her room.

Elissa continues her painful application only to pause when she is informed that he was going to check up on her because he had to leave her when she needed him. Her breath is caught in her throat and her eyes sting a little bit. She didn't expect him to remember that, much less care about it. Yet there he was at like six in the morning going to check on her. She knows that he isn't really a morning person which makes it all the more incredible to her that he would wake up early and take time out of his day just to make sure that she is doing alright because she was crying when he had to leave.

When Natasha finishes explaining Clint's point of view, Elissavet is finished with her neck. She puts away the various concealers and scar cover-up materials into the top drawer. Natasha notices the skill she had when applying it as if she'd been doing it her entire life, making her frown.

"Might I ask why you have a lot of," Natasha pauses contemplating her choice of words, "tools to cover up marks and scars?"

Elissa quickly closes the drawer as if that would make Nat forget about what she saw. A frown sprawls across Elissa's face because she knows that there is no way she is getting out of this one. "I don't know, my ex bought me a ton of them because he wanted to make sure that no one could see anything he did to me," she shrugs, trying to play it off like it isn't a big deal. Natasha's brows turn down as she mentions her ex. Unfortunately Elissavet had forbid her from killing him, so she is stuck just killing him mentally over and over again.

Elissa moves onto her face, only applying a light amount like usual (of course she also adds her signature sparkles). This time she adds a strawberry gloss to make it a little more special. Hopefully he doesn't mind that she didn't go all out for him. She can't help but feel like she needs something more.

As Elissa is frowning at herself in the mirror, Natasha goes to get the jewelry she brought. When Nat enters with it Elissa's face immediately lights up, remembering that she was offered some of Natasha's jewelry. She picks out a little gold necklace and small circular diamond earrings. Nat nods her head in approval as she shuts the black music box, placing it on the bathroom counter.

"You look hot," Natasha compliments, giving her a playful wink.

Elissa shakes her head as she secures the necklace, "yeah right."

As if on cue, the girls hear a knock on the door. They both turn to face the sound of the noise and Elissa lets panic seep in, he's here.