Unravel

It had taken her several weeks, but finally - after it had been crushed by an alarmingly strong prosthetic limb - she had bought a new phone. It wasn't much, just enough to keep her connected with those that she wanted to stay in contact with but a phone nevertheless. Thankfully, the only thing worth keeping on her now dead phone had been an abundance of pictures of Vito. The rest had all been dispensable to her.

Trying to sit down on the well worn sofa in her living room (Vito was lying on the other end of it, not bothering to move) she started the already charged phone up again. She had been lucky enough that the SIM card hadn't been crushed, too, but nothing could have prepared her for the abundance of missed calls that flooded her phone as soon as it was good to go.

Her eyes widened and a heavy feeling settled in her chest. Had something important happened? Had someone died? But before she could make herself even more anxious with possible scenarios, she decided to just call her brother to see what had happened. All but two of the missed calls seemed to be from him anyway.

He picked up on the third ring. "Hello? Liz?" she heard him huff into the phone, his children yelling in the back. The thought of them made her smile. It had been too long since she had last seen them.

"Yeah, it's me. Hey," she started but her brother cut her off almost immediately.

"Don't you dare 'Hey' me, Liz! What's been going on? I've been trying to call you for two weeks!" The anger and hurt in his voice made her wince. "Liz, everyone's been worried sick!"

"I know, I know and I'm sorry," she quickly answered and hung her head in shame. Being alone most of the time had never been very beneficial to her people skills but she knew he had a right to be upset. "I'm alright, though. My phone took a hit and I just now got a new one. I'm sorry."

She heard her brother sigh on the other end of the line, as well as a door closing and the yelling of her niece and nephew becoming fainter.

"How is everyone?" she tried. A fight wasn't really her favourite way to start or end a conversation and she knew her brother felt the same way. Through all of the years they had never been particularly prone to fighting with each other, only with their parents. He hadn't ever been like the big brothers in the movies but he had gotten pretty close.

"They're fine. Loud and just as lovable as always." She had to smile at that. "They really miss you, you know?"

"I miss them, too," she answered truthfully. "Being alone over here sucks. But Vito is good company," she told him and absentmindedly scratched Vito's head.

"I bet he is," she heard him laugh. "Listen, I'm sorry but I need to get going. Victoria's got her school recital tonight but please, for the love of god, let us know that you haven't died from time to time."

"I will, I promise." She just hoped she could keep that promise; she would at least try.

But before she even got another word out, the full force of the kids yelling and her sister-in-law's voice came through again. "Sorry, gotta run! Love you."

"Love you, too." She told him but the sound of excited kids had already been replaced by silence.

"Well, that was quick," she sighed. Her day had been boring. She didn't know whether she still wanted to find where Barnes was staying at. If he was right (and that was one big if) with all major agencies being infiltrated, she didn't know if she minded him killing them all that much. And therefore she wasn't all too sure that she still wanted to find him and turn him in. It made her head hurt. All she knew was that she had some leftover pizza in her fridge that was waiting to be eaten.

She slowly stood up from her sofa, trying not to disturb Vito, and trudged towards her kitchen. However, when she opened the fridge, all she saw were eggs and produce. No pizza.

Elizabeth's eyebrows furrowed. She knew for a fact that the pizza had been in there, since she had only put it there yesterday after a gluttonous movie night.

After a few seconds of looking at her empty fridge in confusion and disappointment, she closed it with a sigh. All she had wanted was that stupid, cold pizza. But to be honest, she wasn't even surprised anymore when things in her apartment disappeared. It had become kind of normal. Even though her rumbling stomach disagreed.

Grabbing a pen, she figured her best bet would be to write on the notepad on her fridge.

Stop breaking into my apartment and quit stealing my food, you ass.

She didn't even know how to react in this situation. It was just too absurd. He probably wouldn't even answer or stop doing it.

/

When she came home the next day, she had all but forgotten about the stolen pizza and the measly dinner she had eaten instead.

But when she stepped into her kitchen, the purple notepad on her fridge stuck out.

She had written with a black felt pen on it but now there was red on there, too.

Looking at the purple note more closely, she sighed. She didn't know what she had expected.

There, written all over her request, in big, bold and declaring letters was his one-word-answer. "No."