Becca Barnes
AU; Bucky stays with Steve after CA: TWS and tries to find his family
Becca popped in her head-phones and turned on The Greatest Showman soundtrack, switching it to her favorite song, "Tightrope." She rested her head on the car door and looked at the bleak graveyard. There she saw her mother in mourning for her beloved aunt, the other Rebecca Barnes-Proctor. It was only a week ago when she was pronounced dead in her apartment, a heart attack the medic said. Becca remembered that last day before she left, she remembered it perfectly.
"Auntie, what's wrong?" Becca has asked her that day.
"Oh, my dear, it's him," she said, pointing to the photo of her brother, standing proud on the nightstand. Becca stood and grabbed the photo, bringing it to her aunt's side.
"Tell me his story again," Becca asked. Her aunt smiled, and put the photo in her lap, face down. She started to un-do the back of the frame.
"Your uncle Bucky was a Sergeant in the war, friends with some important people too," she told Becca. She pulled the photo out of the frame and held it up.
"Died in action... no one in our family has ever gotten over that," she said.
A tear slid down Becca's cheek as she came back to reality. She heard a knock outside the car and turned towards the window. Becca sniffled and wiped her tear before scooting over and rolling down the window. Outside was a man with dark hair, tucked into a baseball cap and collar turned up. Becca stared at him for a moment and shook her head. She sniffled one more time and wiped a tear before speaking.
"Can I help you?" She asked him.
"This might be a bad time," he said, "but I was wondering if you know where Rebecca Barnes is..." he asked. Becca sighed and wiped another tear off her face.
"I'll take you there," she finally answered. Becca opened the car door and stepped out, clad in a black dress with pockets. She removed her headphones and threw them in the car before closing the door.
"Come on," she said, motioning for the man to follow. The two walk through the maze of tombstones, Becca read each one. Soon, they stopped at a cluster of them and she pointed at one in the cluster.
"Do your morning," she told the man.
"Thank you..." He started. "Hey what's your name?" He asked finally.
"Did you know Rebecca Barnes-Proctor?" She said coldly to him. Startled by her question, he stepped back, then nodded.
"I'm Becca Barnes, great niece," Becca said. The man smiled and shook his head.
"Thank you, Becca, I'm James by the way," he said to her. James turned to the cluster on tombstones, each belonged to someone in the Barnes family. He knelt by one and examined in carefully before turning to another and doing the same. He did the same thing for Rebecca's, except he stared at the stone for longer than the rest. Finally, he turned towards one and stopped, his face lost all color and he shook his head.
"That's my Uncle, Bucky. He died in action over seventy years ago," Becca told him. He shook his head again and stood up.
"I have a photo of him if you want to see," Becca said, digging through her pockets. She pulled out a black and white photo and held it out to James. He grabbed it and scrutinized the old paper for something.
"Heh, ya know, you kind of look like..." Becca stopped. She grabbed the photos out of his hand and held it up to compare Bucky Barnes with the stranger who introduced himself as James. Her eyes widened with realization who she was talking to.
"No. No, there's no way," she said to herself. James tried to grab the photo again, but Becca pulled it out of his reach.
"I- I can't... There's no... you're..." Becca couldn't form a single sentence without second guessing herself. It's impossible for him to be alive, there's no way. Even the name was the same, how could she have missed that? It has to be him, but there's no way he survived!
"I have a lot of explaining to do, don't I," James said. Becca snapped at him, she couldn't believe her great-uncle was alive.
"You have five minutes," she said to him, more coldly than ever. His story came pouring out, raining over Becca, changing her ideas of her family history.
"You know the story, I fell off the train. Except I didn't die, I- I was found by the enemy, and they did so many experiments. They turned me into something I'm not, made me afraid of my own shadow, and they could control me with only a few little words. I've been through a lot- I've seen too much. And from the back of my head, EVERY SINGLE VICTIM I KILLED STILL HAUNTS ME. I was a soldier. I followed orders fine and didn't mention any of my feelings because of the consequences I would receive. I came here to find my family, hope that maybe- maybe they would still respect me. Wish I could say that I found what I was hoping for, but I didn't," he yelled.
Becca stepped back and started to cry, tears were streaming down her face as she violently sobbed. Auntie Rebecca said he was the gentlest person on Earth, would never yell at anyone and never wanted trouble. He was not the same, this man who Becca saw before her was broken, fragments still held together with nothing but the hope for freedom. He was not the same as Auntie Rebecca said, because the man she had described wasn't broken, he wasn't missing any pieces, the man Auntie Rebecca described was gone, and no one knew if he would come back again.
"Mom!" Becca was trying not to cry harder, she needed her mom. Inside, Becca knew that both she and Bucky needed her mom. Becca's Mom was soon there by her side, holding Becca close and staring down Bucky.
"Who the hell are you," Becca's Mom said. Bucky opened his mouth to speak, but Becca screamed.
"It's him! He's been alive!" She sobbed, holding out the picture of her Uncle to her mom. Becca's Mom took the picture from her daughter and shook her head, staring at Bucky, then at the picture, and then back again.
"Why are you here," Becca's Mom asked him.
"I just wanted to see my family," Bucky responded. Becca's Mom shook her head.
"Let's go honey, it's been a long day for all of us," Becca's Mom whispered into her daughter's ear. The two walk off to their car. It starts and drives off, leaving Bucky Barnes in the dust of his family's rejection.
At the Barnes-Proctor residence, someone knocks on the door. Becca turns her head away from the black TV screen and stares at the red door.
"Who is it?" She calls out. The person knocks again, more forcefully this time. Becca sighs and gets off the couch. She reaches the door and looks through the peephole. There she sees an empty porch, nothing there. Confused, she walks back to the couch, and another knock rings through the house. Becca turns on her heels and grabs the lock, unlocking it. Then she opens the door.
"I was hoping we could talk," Bucky says. Becca starts to close the door, Bucky puts his foot in the frame and it the door stops.
"Please," He says. Becca sighs and knocks her head against the door.
"Don't touch anything," she says, opening the door a little wider. Bucky smiles, he removes his shoes and steps inside.