Untangling a Memory

Allowing feeling

"Hey! My eyes are up here."

"Sorry, what?" Natasha shook her head, realizing she had been starring into space. But not really space, so much as at Bucky.

"How do you get anything done after giving Steve a haircut? Sheesh!" Bucky smirked at her ogling. He had been giving her a hard time since the previous afternoon, as Natasha had repeatedly looked him over without thinking. He could feel her eyes on him and, while he definitely enjoyed it, he was absolutely going to tease her about it as well.

"Clearly, I don't. I just give the boys haircuts so I have an excuse to sit around all day being distracted and not working." Two could play this game, she thought. But he wasn't wrong. She was struggling to keep her focus on other things as his renewed look and confidence kept distracting her.

Bucky started to walk with their plates out to the veranda and Natasha followed close behind with coffee. Don't look at him. Don't look at him. Don't look at him. He'll feel your gaze. She repeated these words in her head, making a point of starring over the city instead.

"So, you see Shuri this morning?"

"Yup, my ankle is feeling good, so she wants to check on the progress. Might be able to upgrade to a better walking cast. We'll see."

"Exciting stuff!" Bucky smiled at Natasha. She was making quick progress and it had a significantly positive impact on her mood. The first days of her laying on the couch were dark times compared to recently.

"Sounds good. Well, I'll probably go to the gym, but text me if you want me to swing by after to pick you up or anything. I've got no plans."

Natasha smiled at the way he doted on her. He was incredibly protective. "Barnes, I'm walking around by myself now. Unless Shuri clubs me in the leg during the appointment, I think I'll be alright."

Bucky nodded his head and they continued the rest of the morning aimlessly chatting while they finished their breakfast.

"How does this feel?"

Shuri rotated Natasha's ankle to one side, then the other, asking for her pain levels on a scale of 1 to 10. She had Natasha point her toes and flex her foot. Finally, Shuri pressed gently all over the area of the achilles repair and surgery scars with her finger tips. Natasha's answers were consistently between a 7-9, even after Shuri had reminded her to be honest and not over-sell her own assessment.

Shuri was still astonished. She had spoken with the doctors and having an achilles repair heal this quickly was unheard of. While she'd seen Natasha's other wounds heal quickly and Shuri's surgery had been specialized to include the vibranium, a full tendon repair rehabilitation was taking half the time it should have normally.

"Well, great news." Natasha's face perked up as she looked at Shuri hopefully. "I think you can try to start moving around without the walking cast. You seem like you are feeling well enough. If anything, I think you probably could have gone without the cast sooner..." Natasha started to look annoyed, "...but I'm glad we waited until we were confident about your progress. No sense in delaying your recovery by pushing things to quickly."

Natasha wanted to be skeptical that Shuri was holding her back, but the news that she could start walking around normally was truly better than expected. No reason to be mad at Shuri.

"So, I can start wearing normal shoes again?"

"Yes, though let's have you stick with sneakers and I'm making you some custom insoles. Don't tie them too tight, because you'll likely have some swelling as you start to use it as normal. Ice each day for the first week and anti-inflammatory meds as needed." Shuri looked at Natasha's blasé expression and repeated the last sentence, emphasizing that care was still required.