Red Lips & Rosy Cheeks
When Darcy Lewis was 12 years old, she met the Winter Solider. Granted, at the time she didn't know who he was or what he was going to do with the weapon on his back. She had escaped her mother's lecture about playing in the mud and "how it wasn't very lady-like to be covered in dirt." Darcy had promptly ignored her; her father had always said it was a life skill to get dirty.
Elizabeth Lewis wasn't always a strict, straight laced woman. Before Darcy's father was killed in action, "Lizzy," had been the stereotypical mom. Sundays were baking days and messes covering the kitchen counters, and Mondays was fairytale day, where Lizzy and Henry would perform live action fairy tales for Darcy's entertainment before bedtime, to get the week started right.
Darcy Marie Lewis had enjoyed a typical childhood…
Until the morning of her 10th birthday; she'd been swinging in the front yard and a man dressed in a uniform, just like her dad's, came to door. He looked at her, the regret and sorrow in his eyes said it all even at that age Darcy had come to understand how to look into people's eyes and see the truth. Grandma Lewis said it was gift. Darcy thought it a curse after the screams that pierced her ears when the man handed a letter to her mother. She would never forget her mother's cries or the fact that her father would never come home.
Those screams stayed with Darcy every year on her birthday. She'd sat on the swing at the city park, her 12th birthday just about over. As the sun began to set against the distant sky a gleam caught her eye. Just a glint but it was enough to draw her to the edge of the park, just before the tree line began.
A tiny peak around a tree and she saw him.
A man in dark clothes and a gun at his side. He glanced up at her and she saw his eyes. Blue, like hers, no, more like a smoky grey, like the sky just before a storm.
"Hello," Her mother had always told her, her sense of preservation was sorely lacking. Just like your father. She'd say.
"Hello," He responded, his voice gruff, but not uninviting. She tucked her knees and sat on her legs across from him. His eye tracked her while she nearly drowned in his. She began to babble about her life, how much she missed her dad and wondering off handily when her mother would like her again.
He listened, all the while he absent mindedly unassembled the rifle and packed it away. The girl-child was amusing? He wasn't really sure what he felt. He'd completed his mission, he was heading back to base when he stumbled upon the girl alone in the park. He'd normally dismiss her. He'd watched emotionless as terrible things happened and he didn't blink an eye. But lately…his higher ups hadn't been forcing him back into cryo. Memories would surface, but he hid them extremely well. His days were good and bad. Nothing concrete. Nothing that told him who or what he was. Just fleeting emotions or thoughts. Someone speaking but it was never clear.
Her eyes.
She reached out and touched his arm. The silver one that had a red star painted on. The silence between was peaceful. She just studied it while he studied her.
"You should get back. I have to go, Doll." His voice was soft, quiet and Darcy nodded without thinking.
"Yea, my mom and all." What else could she say? She talked and he listened. Didn't really matter to Darcy if her mom would rage at her. That was all her mother seemed to do since the death of her father, Darcy was just too much like him, and her mother couldn't stand it.
"Let's go." He stood up and began heading in the general direction of her house. Darcy stared at his back for a moment before catching up to him. Her first friend.
After that, James, began appearing on her birthday, not every year, and sometimes when it wasn't her birthday. But Darcy was content in knowing that someone cared? No. He was tolerant? She wasn't sure what he thought of her, at least he'd given her a name. "Hey" and "Hello," only go so far as a greeting and attention getter.
He didn't display emotions much and his answers were vague when she questioned him. Darcy chose to ignore it all. He was there and he was her basis for the other men in her life. He had manners and respect, he looked out for her, she expected the same treatment from others. Which most of the time it wasn't the case. James set the bar extremely high.
On her 13th birthday it seemed overnight she'd grown a rack, and he once tomboyish body, had developed curves and the baby fat she'd carried seem to melt away. It was hard. Her mother constantly berating her about her body and the other kids at her school staring and gossiping. Just an early bloomer love, nothing to worry about Grandma Lewis doted on her but it didn't make her life any easier.
Darcy was crying when James showed up a few weeks after the torment began. She'd taken over the spot where she first met him when she was down or needed to clear her head. Her quiet place where she could escape from all the noise.
"What's the matter Doll?" He sat next to her, tugging her into his side, like a big brother would. Well at least she thought, she didn't have any brothers or sister, and besides James the only families she really knew were the ones from TV.
"Look at me! Everyone calls me names because of my body." Darcy tugged on the sleeve of her sweater, wiping her face to hide the tears. She'd started wearing bigger t-shirts and loose fitting jeans, just to avoid the names. It didn't help. Now her teachers disapproved of her clothing because they weren't the dress code accepted. She didn't fit in.
"They just don't understand and are jealous because you've started to become a lady, not some little girl like they are." Darcy sniffled against his shoulder and nodded.
"A lady?"
"Yea, I always see woman and girls trying to damn hard to show off their bodies to get a man. Which is fine if that's what they want. But I know personally, I'd want a lady. Someone who knows how to act in public and when they're alone. Someone confident in themselves."
He ruffled her hair before moving to sit directly across from her. He'd started to care for Darcy, a bad thing in his line of work. If his higher ups found out about her. He shook the thought from his mind. Right now he need to reassure Darcy she was just fine.
"Be confident in yourself, forget what everyone else says. Just be you. People will love you for it."
It was Darcy's 17th birthday when James returned. She would admit she'd been concerned when her friend had disappeared without a trace after that day in the woods. Four years was a long time. Darcy had started to make her college prep plans, leaving behind everything and everyone who doubted her. James's words her to that day had shaped her personality.
She stood up for herself, wore what she wanted and ignored everything else. Her mother despised it, while Darcy had taken the "Lady" comments seriously, she wasn't the lady her mother expected. She wanted Darcy to be calm, demure, someone who would attract the right people. Darcy wanted otherwise. She dressed sensibly, doing her best to reign in the twins, but she was outspoken and gave her opinion very decisively.
She'd been fascinated with the 1940's after they studied it briefly in history, and channeled that her into her looks and outfits. Nothing totally from the era but little bits here and there.
She was wearing a polka dotted sundress when James showed up. She was swinging absent-mindedly at the park. The same park when she was just a kid. Now almost grown.
"You look the same. Y'know?" He pulled the swing back and began to push her. She tucked her feet under to keep them from dragging. Her question hung in the air.
"I know. You look like quite a Doll. All grown up." His fingers brushed her hair. Something changed. She wasn't just little kid Darcy anymore. Now she was a proper lady. He would ruin her.
"It's my birthday." She said quietly. With her back to him he pushed her again. Waiting for the swing to slow on its own. He'd ruin her but he was too selfish to stay away.
"C'mon." He slowed the swing and held his hand out for her. She looked up at him with her big doe eyes. He knew she'd changed to, he saw it. Her eyes gave her away. She placed her delicate hand in his rough one. The touch electrifying.
He said let's get out of this town
Drive out of the city
Away from the crowds
On the back of his bike Darcy knew she shouldn't want this, want him, but James was her best friend, been her constant her whole life. She looked at him differently now, she noticed he looked at her differently too. Wanting. Waiting. She'd be lying if she said she didn't want to experience everything with James. A tiny part, a secret part of her often wondered what it would be like, if she just ran away with him. He probably wouldn't let her. His job and all. But secretly Darcy kept her wish tucked in her heart.
I thought heaven can't help me now
Nothing lasts forever
But this is gonna take me down
He's so tall, and handsome as hell
He's so bad but he does it so well
I can see the end as it begins, my one condition is
It was different, a big open field, full of flowers, the sun still high but sinking down against the little pond. James slowed the bike and helped her down. Pulling out his jacket to her to sit on. They kept the silence, nothing really needed to be spoken, but the tension hung in the air.
"Why do you leave?" She questioned as they laid on the ground, cloud searching.
"It's my mission. I do what they tell me." She wondered who they were. "I forget…a lot. I don't know who I am, I know my name…or part of it. I don't know who I was before the cold."
Darcy nodded, she didn't pry just let him tell her what he could. She reached for his hand, the metal one, interlocking her fingers with his. She bit her lip, she didn't know how the night would end, where they would leave things, but in that moment she didn't care.
Say you'll remember me
Standing in a nice dress, staring at the sunset, babe
Red lips and rosy cheeks
Say you'll see me again even if it's just in your wildest dreams
"But you remember me?"
"Always."
Darcy let out the breath she was holding. She didn't know anything about relationships. Her only picture was of her parents before her father's death. James would always be gone. He might not even remember. But she would. She could hold this night in her heart, forever remembering him. She took a breath and leaned up towards him. Her lips inches from his own.
I said "No one has to know what we do,"
His hands are in my hair, his clothes are in my room
And his voice is a familiar sound, nothing lasts forever
But this is getting good now
As the moon rose Darcy experienced what love was for the first time. James taking every measure to keep her from harm, his touch gentle and soft. Darcy was lost to the pleasure, of their bodies intertwined. In the empty field they didn't have to be quiet, James's moans only spurred Darcy on, and her cries of "more" only increased the intensity.
He's so tall, and handsome as hell
He's so bad but he does it so well
And when we've had our very last kiss
My last request is
The next morning she woke up in her bed, sore but content. She knew he would leave. He had to. Her last memory was falling asleep in his arms after he'd taken the time to clean her up, wiping away the evidence of her innocence. She didn't question how he got her back home and in her room without her mother finding them. She didn't really care to know. Only that she'd made him promise not to forget her.
Say you'll remember me.
I will. Always.
It would years before Darcy would see James again. It would quite be quite a different scenario.