Recollection ★ Bucky Barnes

It's A Family Reunion

FIVE DAYS LATER

★ ★ ★

"How does it look?" Marlena asked as she was spun around in her chair.

Natasha studied her for several seconds before finally answering. "It looks. . .short."

Marlena laughed at her friend and turned around to look at herself in the mirror, feeling slightly shocked—yet exceedingly happy—with what she saw. Her once-long brown hair was no more. Instead, her hair was now of medium length, sitting roughly an inch below her shoulders. It had been far too long since her hair had been cut. She had never really had the time to get a decent haircut with everything going on in her life, so she was ecstatic that she had finally found the time to get one. She felt much better now that she had shorter hair; it would be much easier for her to take care of than her long hair had been, so for that she was grateful.

"I hope I've succeeded," Marlena's hairdresser, Jessica, chuckled. "It was so hard for me to cut."

Marlena glanced at her. "Long hair is a bitch."

Jessica shook her head. "That's not what I meant. I meant that your long hair was so beautiful—I felt as if I were committing a crime by cutting it."

"Bucky's gonna think the same thing, too," Natasha chimed in.

Marlena made a face and began playing with her hair. Just as Marlena was a fan of Bucky's long hair, Bucky was an even bigger fan of hers. He adored playing with her hair, as well as attempting to braid the long locks. He was unaware that Marlena had been planning on cutting her hair, so he was in for a big surprise when she and Natasha returned back to the tower.

"Is Bucky your boyfriend?" Jessica asked sweetly.

"Yes," Marlena answered, turning around to face the two of them. "And he's going to hate me for this."

Natasha shrugged and pulled Tony's credit card from her wallet before handing it to Jessica. "There's a possibility he might."

Jessica chuckled as she ran the card through the machine and handed it back to Natasha seconds later.

"Thank you so much, Jessica," Marlena said as she gathered up hers and Natasha's gift bags, as well as her purse and Natasha's.

"You're welcome! I hope you have a nice day."

Natasha and Marlena waved at her and left the hair salon. Marlena handed Natasha her purse, as well as the numerous bags holding the countless amount of items she had purchased. The two had spent the entire day Christmas shopping, and because of the amount of people they needed to buy for it proved to be a rather prolonged endeavor, not to mention a very heavy one. Originally, it had taken a lot of convincing on Marlena's part for Tony to actually allow her out of the tower, considering she had yet to begin working on controlling her abilities, but after being promised Shawarma he agreed to let her go just as long as Natasha kept a close eye on her.

Marlena would not be getting Tony Shawarma though, at least not today she wouldn't be. She was already tired of carrying around so many shopping bags, and she didn't necessarily feel like carrying around one with food inside it.

"Tell me again why we're carrying so many damn bags," Marlena grunted, pulling her arm up to prevent a bag from slipping from her grasp.