Retribution ★ Avengers

I'm A Sucker For Blue Eyes

It was about six in the morning. The apartment was quiet just as Marlena expected it to be. The twins were still asleep and so was Steve, though she expected him to be up with the next hour or so, if not sooner. She'd been up for about an hour. She couldn't sleep. Not only did the thoughts of her children keep her from falling back to sleep, but her changing body only helped the process along. Her back ached, her head ached, and her need to use the restroom was becoming more and more incessant as her belly grew. It was a beautiful nightmare.

The sound of Marlena's phone vibrating on the kitchen countertop grabbed her attention. She pushed away the half-eaten bowl of cereal she'd fixed for herself and picked up the phone to see her mom's contact photo, and she wondered why exactly she was calling so early in the morning.

"Hello?"

"Someone sounds tired," Miranda's laughed on the other end of the line. She seemed to be in a pleasant mood, which Marlena envied in that particular moment.

"Kind of am," Marlena breathed out. "Why are you up so early?"

"I'm worried about my daughter," Miranda answered. "I just had a feeling she needed her mom."

Marlena smiled softly at the sound of her words. She couldn't even deny it was true and always would be true. Her mom had always been her go-to when she needed guidance or advice. She'd lost that connection once before, so to have it back was an absolute gift, and she planned on cherishing every moment she had. "I'll always need you, Mom."

"Tell me what's on your mind then, sweetheart," Miranda urged her. "You seemed pretty out-of-sorts when I called yesterday."

"It's Charlie."

"What happened? Is she okay?"

"She's fine, physically at least," Marlena assured her, though her words were only a mild relief for Miranda.

"What do you mean by that?"

"She accidentally killed six people yesterday," Marlena said. She spoke the words so quietly she was almost sure Miranda didn't hear her, but the silence on the other end was that of shock. Miranda wasn't prepared for the information. "She felt it all, Mom. I can see the pain and the guilt in her eyes. It's too much for her."

"Marlena, I'm so sorry," Miranda apologized, though she knew she didn't have anything to apologize for. She was more or less apologizing for Charlie's sake. She couldn't imagine what she was feeling. In fact, she didn't want to imagine it, but she'd take that pain if it meant her granddaughter would be free of it. "What are you gonna do?"

Marlena shrugged her shoulders, though she knew Miranda could not see her. "She asked me to take it away. She asked me to get rid of the pain for her, and to do that I'd have to take her memory away."

"So why don't you? If that's what Charlie wants..."

"Because Bucky doesn't want me to do it," Marlena answered, a frown falling on her face when she thought of Bucky. "He's afraid of what will happen if I manipulate her memories and emotions. He's afraid of what she'll become."

"I can see where he's coming from." Miranda sighed sadly. "He was manipulated, he had his memories taken along with his ability to feel human emotion. I know this life isn't what you had planned for Charlie, but she was born with this power and she can't exactly get rid of it. She's gotta learn to control it and utilize it the right way and live with the consequences if she can't. She can't do that if you manipulate the pain away. You know better than anyone. The pain will help her grow. It will help her learn."