Silently, Ashley Rogers was laid to sleep in the bed Steve Rogers bought her. He was a father, he was still adjusting to it. The rest day had been spent with laughter and ice cream at The Avengers Tower. That Thunder storm had turned out to be Thor arriving on Midgard for a total of six days to check on things and help out on missions. Though Ashley had a great time listening to stories from Thor (of course, Steve made sure nothing graphic came up). Ashley seemed to love the story Thor told her about the time they battled a heard of Bildshnipe with Lady Sif and the Warriors Three (He mentioned Loki, though no one was too pleased the first time so he wasn't mentioned again). Ashley had been reluctant to go to sleep, so he had to put the TV on for her before she went to sleep. She wanted to watch a hero movie, she cried when he had turned over to a princess film. The Adventure of Captain America; The Animated Movie. Steve voiced it himself, oh how fun it had been. Especially when he had met the voices of Bucky (Brian Adams), Peggy (Neeta Knight) and the notorious villain; The Red King (Voiced by Hugo Weaving). Steve only did it on certain parts, technology these days... Managed to imitate his voice to say whatever they pleased. Though they made it very slightly different on request of Steve. It was a surprise to Steve that Ashley wanted to watch it; Maybe that was the Phil Coulson in her. Tonight there would be more Thunder (Thor said it wasn't him, so Steve didn't argue), he hoped it wouldn't cause any problems with Ashley, he's only just managed to get her into a normal sleeping routine. Settling down in his own bed, exhausted from his first day of being a real father, Steve thought about her first day of school tomorrow. Would the other kids like her? Well, it's only kindergarten, right? He was fine until people realised just how weak and frail he was. Back then, his bones were almost like glass. Broke a lot.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Steve jolted into Captain mode, running from his room, picking his shield up on the way before he burst into Ashley's room. Ashley was sat up in bed, screaming. She scrambled towards Steve and hid behind him, hugging his legs. Steve's eyes were drawn to the dark figure by the now open window, the star shapes coming from her lamp finally laid onto the intruders face. A tall man, a familiar bearded face... The face of Bucky Barnes.
"Bucky?" he took a step forwards, the curious Ashley staying close to her dad. The man stepped forwards, the strong smell invaded Steve's nose. The smell of a wet dog. When was the last time he showered? Steve hadn't seen him in almost a year, not since Washington happened.
"Steve..." the soaked man walked forwards even further, Steve let the shield drop with a thud that made Ashley squeak, reminding the two men of her presence in the room. "Who's the kid?" Steve took notice of his Russian accent, the husky tenor clearly not used to English despite a year in America.
"Her name is Ashley, my daughter..." Steve picked the little girl up, her blue eyes watching Bucky. Her expression held curiosity - no more fear - It was a pleasant surprise to see someone unafraid for once.
"I didn't know you had a kid..." Bucky watched as Steve sat at the edge of Ashley's bed, setting the girl on the sheets.
"Ashley, Bucky's a friend. Why don't I put Iron Man on for you?" he asked softly, kissing her forehead softly as she got comfortable beneath the sheets. Ashley nodded and looked up at her father, blue eyes occasionally flicking over to Bucky curiously. Steve changed the DVD and said goodnight to Ashley, Bucky mumbled a goodnight and was the first to leave the room.
"Steve?" Bucky asked quietly from his seat on the couch, a mug of steaming hot coffee in his hand. He didn't trust his left hand, he didn't want to break Steve's mug. Steve sat down across from Bucky, placing a steaming cup on the table and looking at the brunet.
"Yes?" he asked simply, no 'Yes Bucky?' or 'Yes, pal?' like he would have answered with back when things weren't so complicated.
"How long have you had a daughter?" HYDRA had no information on a little girl, even if they did, would they have told him?
"Only a few months, she's really my goddaughter, her father wasn't lucky enough to meet her." Steve let out a sigh "How did you know where I live?" Bucky suddenly looked embarrassed, staring down into the cup with felt like it was burning his palms.
"I-I followed you home, I saw you and your girl - Ashley, right?" Steve nodded in confirmation. "I saw you both, I knew you straight away, I... I'm ready, Steve." A small smile grew on both Steve's clean shaven face and Bucky's stubble covered one. "I want to come home now."
"You're always welcome, Buck." Problem was, the only bedroom Steve had left in this apartment was tiny and full of things Steve really needed to dispose of.
"I have nowhere to go tonight, mind if I crash on the couch?" Steve would never turn Bucky away
"No, I don't mind at all." Steve picked up his mug. "In fact, I have a spare room. It's a little small but you and I had to share smaller space back in the days." Steve reminisced, leaning back at all the distant memories of Steve's and Bucky's time together back in Brooklyn, the great 30s and 40s, until the war happened. He snapped back to the present when Bucky set down his mug, the porcelain making a soft 'clink' against the blue-tinted glass of the coffee table. Steve remembered he needed to buy wood one tomorrow to avoid Ashley getting hurt if the table was the ever break - Though apparently this was 'child-friendly'.
"We shared an apartment?" Bucky questioned, tilting his head slightly.
"Well, we had our own apartments but with the cold weather and the faulty heater at my place, you stayed over a lot, brought blankets and stayed in bed with me to make sure I wouldn't freeze." Steve remembered the endless conversations, how Bucky would sneak in through the window after climbing the fire escape. Suddenly the lights flickered on and off, sound disappearing before CRACK! Thunder had hit, making both Steve and Bucky jump in surprise. Then, screams and cries from Ashley's room and Steve sighed, getting to his feet.
"I'll be right back, help yourself to anything in the kitchen." Steve left to Ashely's room and Bucky leaned back, eyes lit up in amusement as the memory of him and Dum Dum Dugan surfaced, everyone thought Bucky would be the first to have children out of the 'Brooklyn Boys', as Jim Morita had dubbed them.
