A large bench of American pitcher plants (Sarracenia sp.) growing at Cal State Univ. Fullerton. Leo Song and Ed Read maintain a world class collection!
A/N:I hope y’all enjoy this one! Another chapter of me correcting mistakes. lol I’m so sorry. I really really hope y’all like it. xoxo
Please DO NOT copy, translate, or repost my stories on any other blogs or sites!!
Don’t be an asshat!
Bucky grips the phone closer, staring at the screen in the semi-darkness of his hidey hole.
There’s a rustle and he shifts quickly, handgun pulled as he aims at the opening that is quickly obscured by a large body.
“Just me,” Steve assures him.
Bucky sighs, leaning back into the hard rock of his mini trench and slowly pulls his phone off of his chest. The brightness is set all the way down but it still shines like the sun in the small dark place.
As Steve’s soft grunts slow and his breathing evens out as he settles into his own small corner of their hole, Bucky forgets he’s there. Just for a moment as he stares at the last message you sent him.
The Kid: I hate it here.
Bucky had replied but you haven’t responded since. This was two days ago. He reads his message over again, wondering if maybe he’d said too much? Or…overstepped? Why else would you be ignoring him?
Bucky: I wish I could be there with you.
At times like this, he really hates being an Avenger.
“She still hasn’t replied?” Steve asks, obsessed with you and Bucky’s burgeoning relationship.
Not that there is a relationship yet.
“No. She’s probably busy finishing up with all the business stuff. Apparently her cousin had a lot of money he didn’t tell her about. And I think his new wife’s family are wanting a payout.”
“Why?” Steve wonders, checking his shield straps for weaknesses.
Bucky looks at his friend, noticing the nerves of being back on mission after having retired and he can tell he’s a little on edge.
“It’s just a recon, Steve.”
“For two weeks? Don’t you miss your girlfriend?”
Bucky sighs, “She’s not my girlfriend. Not yet…”
“And why is that? Oh yeah, because you choked.” Steve’s teasing is only half light hearted.
He’s frustrated with him, Bucky knows it.
“It’s not the right time. She just found out her cousin’s been dead for months. She also just inherited a life of security. Like, the amount of money is ridiculous.”
“Tony rich?” Steve wonders.
“Not even close,” Bucky shakes his head and clicks the phone off before slipping it back into his pocket. “But maybe a little more than halfway to Tony?”
“Buck,” Steve scoffs, “Do you know how much money Tony has? How would her cousin make that kind of money?”
“I don’t know,” Bucky admits. “But she said she didn’t know he even knew how to work a computer, much less the stock exchange. He got rich fast. I mean, fast for that kind of money.”
“Are you worried she’ll think you want her for her money now?” Steve asks.
Bucky looks slowly to Steve and his eyes widen with irritation, “Well, I didn’t until now!”
Steve laughs, throwing his head back and trying not to be loud.
“She knows I love her,” Bucky whispers, pulling his phone back out to look at your messages. “She just doesn’t remember I told her. Or that she told me.”
“So why did you do it when she was drunk?” Steve chastises.
“It kinda just happened. I wish I could be there with her. She’s so unhappy, Steve,” Bucky worries, his finger dangling over the call button.
“Buck, don’t.” Steve reaches over and takes the phone.
“Hey!”
He shuts it off and sticks it into his own pocket where Bucky can’t reach it easily..
“Like you said, it’s a recon mission. We’ll be back home soon. Maybe even before she reopens the shop. Just be patient. Focus. I need your mind here,” Steve reminds him.
“Why?” Bucky asks, irritated with his best friend again.
“Perhaps it’s because you’ve been spotted?” Says a strange accented voice from just outside of their cover. “Come up with your hands in the air and we won’t open fire into your pathetic little hole in the wall. And don’t try anything funny.”
“Shit,” Steve sighs, leaning back fully again as he stares at their makeshift wall of shrub that obviously didn’t work.
“Oh good, we can get out of here sooner.” Bucky posits. “What do you think? Just like France?”
“You didn’t have the metal arm in France.”
“That just means I won’t have to hide behind you,” Bucky tells him.
Steve picks his head up and after a moment adjusts his shield.
“France it is.”
At the same time, they both spring forward, shield and metal arm first.
~~~~~~~~~~
You’re not sure how many documents you’ve signed over the past two weeks. Too many.
You’re still wearing black. A little odd considering the practice of wearing black for weeks or months at a time when you lose someone to death has long since gone out of fashion but you can’t help but mourn Greg in at least this way.
You weren’t able to visit his grave or attend his funeral. He was buried in his wife’s family plot, halfway around the world on some country estate in England.
Considering he’s your only family, kind of a fucked up thing for them to do. But…he was their son-in-law. Even if it was only for a short time. And he did love Anita. It makes sense that he be buried with her.
The click of your keys in your lock and the quiet that greets you is slightly suffocating. You’re glad for the peace of silence and solitude, but you’d also love to have someone…anyone.
Well…maybe not just anyone.
As you meander into your apartment, not bothering to turn on a single light, you kick off your shoes, drop off your purse and keys on the kitchen island, and slump your way into your bedroom only to drop onto your bed in a heap of sadness and loneliness.
Weird that you’re a billionaire now and yet, you feel worse than ever. All the money in the world couldn’t bring back the belonging that Greg had given you.
You shut your eyes, almost willing yourself to cut the world out for a while when your phone dings.
Reaching for it blindly you click the screen on and swipe at the text preview without looking.
Bucky: You home?
You: Just.
Bucky: Alone?
There’s a loud knock on your window that makes you jump and through it you can see Paul. Drunk and waving. Luckily your window is locked.
After staring at Paul for a little bit and watching him sit down to try and pry your window open but because he’s too drunk to figure out to push it up from the middle if it weren’t locked, he grows more frustrated, you pull your phone back up and quickly type away.
You: Well, Paul’s drunk and trying to open my window so, kinda?
You watch your neighbor try and break in, unphased by his sloppy attempts and the subtle anger that grows in him. He won’t be able to get in and he can’t break the window. While he’s creepy and gross, he’s not violent in that way.
Besides, after the two weeks you’ve just had, how can Paul be any worse?
You aren’t aware of falling asleep.
Just as you’d wanted, the world falls away and there’s only darkness.
Your mind isn’t exactly asleep with you. Instead, thoughts about death swirl around your head. You wonder if Greg also is just seeing endless darkness pressing down on his eyes. Is he panicking because he can’t find his way out?
Or is it different? Did he never see darkness? Is he with his parents and yours now?
A weight on your bed makes it dip low and you open your eyes slowly.
Instead of Paul, you find steel blue eyes staring at you, so close you can feel the warmth of his breath on you.
“Hey,” he whispers, so soft.
Bucky’s face is exquisite, as always. Except it’s also bruised.
You frown then reach out to touch the swelling and dark spots around his eye.
“Your eye,” you worry.
He reaches up and catches your hand with his, bringing them both down to rest between the two of you.
“I’m okay. Just a scuffle before we finished the last mission. Good news is I won’t have to go out again for a while, unless some fresh new disaster shows up suddenly.” He smiles.
“Good,” you nod, happy that he’ll be around now. “I missed you.”
Bucky’s face does some weird little flutter thing with his eyes and his lips curl up but not all the way. His eyebrows also shoot up into his hairline a little and you’re not sure exactly what this face means but he looks so sweet.
He takes his hand, releasing yours and places it on your cheek. His hand is so big it cups the entire side of your face.
“You okay?” He checks, and you can feel your face crumple. “Shh, I’ve got you.”
And he does.
He scoots closer and you lean towards him, gripping the front of his black t-shirt with both hands as he pulls you in against his chest. You hide your face into his neck and he holds you tight.
His embrace is everything and you finally let yourself fall to pieces there where you know he’ll hold you together.
~~~~~~~~~~
Despite his word about sticking around, Bucky leaves again. This time you know where he is and he texts you every day.
He even calls a few times.
He’s on the West Coast, traveling up and down with Captain America. With Sam, attending a series of conferences at newly opened S.W.O.R.D. facilities.
The two of them, mostly Sam to be honest, are the face of the new Avengers. With Steve mostly retired and keeping to a desk job, and all the others doing their own thing for now, the number of heroes available at the moment is small.
His absence is nothing new however, so for you the lack of physical contact doesn’t feel too out of place. What startles you more is his constant contact over the phone.
The small café Mr. Liu had chosen is very quiet and it almost feels rude to leave your phone sound up. You quickly switch it to vibrate.
You watch the older man putter towards you, his once dark hair now graying heavily. Even though it’s been only about a year since he made you the offer to buy out his place beside yours, he’s aged severely.
As he sits with the two cups of coffee, you take yours as he places it before you, he groans slightly.
“How is your wife, Mr. Liu?” you wonder, cupping the steaming cup closer but waiting for him to drink before you do.
Mr. Liu smiles at you, sadness radiating from his deep black eyes, “She’s in her final days. Spending as much of them with her family back home. Being back in China has been good for her. She missed her mother’s cooking I think.”
He chuckles and despite the pain of what will be losing his wife, he does sound happy that his wife has been happy.
“I’m so sorry, Mr. Liu,” you offer, feeling Greg’s loss.
“We must all return to where we came from,” Mr. Liu nods. “But thank you for your kind words. You have always been so nice to us.”
He finally drinks and you follow suit.
“Tell me, have you decided to buy my shop?” He probes.
“I thought someone was renting it?”
“Their lease is up at the end of the month and I would like to tie up all our loose ends and settle in China.”
You hadn’t thought he’d renew the offer but your mind is already made up despite no advanced notice.
“I’ve actually already put in an offer to buy the entire building,” you tell him and his face goes slightly slack. “Do you remember my old partner?”
“The handsome boy? The one that got married?” he thinks.
“Yes,” you smile. Appreciating Greg’s identifier from Mr. Liu. “Well, he got very sick on his honeymoon and he and his wife passed away.”
“Oh,” Mr. Liu gasps, reaching over to take your hand as shock and grief play across his sweet face. “I am so sorry for your loss.”
“Thank you,” you smile at him, the tear in your chest aching just a bit. “It turns out my partner, my cousin, he made a lot of money and he left it to me, so I can finally afford to purchase your shop. At triple the price, Mr. Liu.”
Mr. Liu’s face once again flies into shock but a different kind this time and his hand goes a little loose around your own. You take his hand and squeeze it, reassuring him as best you can.
“I know what a struggle your medical bills here have been and I’m sure the money would help back home too. I made a large bid so that the owners of the apartments above your shop would sell without a fight. So, please accept the offer, Mr. Liu. It’s all I can do for you and Mrs. Liu. Please?”
Mr. Liu hesitates. You can see the struggle he’s having, the argument in his head as he considers the hefty amount of money that you’re willing to pay him and how much of that is charity or what his shop is actually worth.
“Mr. Liu, please?” you whisper, squeezing his hand again.
You almost think he might say no the way he’s shaking his head, hesitating. Then he takes your hand with his other one and gives it a small shake.
“The shop is yours,” he agrees and you smile, so happy to be able to help him with this money you never asked for.
“I’ll have my accountant draw you a check,” you assure him and then shake your head, laughing lightly as you take your hands back to take a sip of your drink.
“What?” Mr. Liu wonders, observing the way you scoff in disbelief.
“My accountant? I just…it’s a different world than the one I walked a few weeks ago. That’s all.”
“I know exactly how you feel,” Mr. Liu agrees, probably thinking about how he’ll lose his wife soon.
“Will you keep me up to date, Mr. Liu? If it’s not too…if I’m not prying? I’d love to know how you and your wife are.”
He nods, reaching for his own cup to take a sip.
“And if I can offer any help, please don’t hesitate. I don’t have any family and I have even fewer people that I care for. Helping you would mean so much to me.”
After a moment of staring at you, he nods and puts his cup down.
“Now, tell me about this new boyfriend of yours,” he teases.
Your phone has been vibrating non-stop since you sat down and you sigh, laugh, and turn it over.
Bucky: What are you doing?
Bucky: Did you meet with Mr. Liu?
Bucky: Is he selling?
Bucky: These meetings are boring.
Bucky: Sam keeps talking. He could have finished like an hour ago if he’d just shut up.
Bucky: I wanna come home.
Bucky: I miss you.
Your stomach erupts into flutters. He’s been so different lately…well, the same but different.
Bucky: lol I just hit him with a spitball in the ear.
Bucky: Call me when you’re not busy?
“He’s not my boyfriend,” you tell Mr. Liu.
“Not yet, maybe.” Mr. Liu teases.
Your stomach flutters again and your heart fills with heat.
“I know that look,” he tells you. “It’s only a matter of time.”
The tall, blue flower stalks of the bulbous perennials Camassia leichtlinii ‘Caerulea’ are forming vertical features in this small meadow surrounded by a lower layer of yellow flowered Primula veris (cowslip). They combine to provide a rich source of pollen and nectar for early pollinators.
Under a Carpinus betulus (hornbeam) hedge the Viola riviniana (dog-violet, wood violet) is thriving. This mat-forming rhizomatous perennial grows in moist but well–drained soil but will tolerate drought once established.
These are a few of my Sempervivum tectorum (hen and chicks). They make me happy because they have so many unique details in their individual plant clusters. They are extremely hardy and have a strong drought resistance. The container that they are in was made from old heat treated pallet wood from one of my decommissioned compost bins (non treated wood). And because my focus is on compost and food, the plump leaves of this succulent are edible raw. Go easy at first to avoid a upset stomach.
Beautiful purple flowers of Anchusa undulate (Boraginaceae) photographed at Givat Olga, Hadera, Haifa, Israel.
The flowers of this Mediterranean and rather common perennial are quite small (less than 10 mm in diameter), but they appear in large numbers on their stalks of the plant, and their color is very attractive.
Anchusa undulata was described by Carl Linnaeus and published in Species Plantarum 1: 131. 1753 [source].
The elusive monotropa uniflora, also known as the ghost plant, ghost pipe plant, Indian pipe plant, or the corpse plant. It is an uncommon type of parasitic plant that hosts a fungi which takes energy from photosynthetic trees.
