Disclaimer: I obviously own nothing of the MCU's. Kitty is mine, the plot is mine (at least most of it, but not after the eventual tie-in with TFA).
So, as excuses come I haven't any, not really. My father passed away on the twenty-third, and I simply haven't been in a writing mood. So as updates go, it's safe to say they probably won't be near as frequent, and this chapter is terribly short. For that I apologize.
As I stated last chapter, It's wartime, kids!
Come the following day President Roosevelt makes the Pearl Harbor Address to the Nation about the occurrences of December 7th, 1941— 'a date which will live in infamy'. Across the country citizens, soldier and civilian alike, tune in to the broadcast to listen as the nation's leader makes a decree.
"Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory, and our interests are in grave danger. With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph— so help us God. I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December 7th, 1941, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese empire."
Following this address New York City is abuzz with the news of it. Men and women alike, ready and willing to serve their country in any way they possibly can. It's inspiring in the same way that it's terrifying.
Katherine isn't sure how she feels about it, but she knows how she feels about war. Kitty looks at her two best friends and knows that she dreads it, the inevitable parting. The only two men she truly cares for in this world going off to fight and die for their country, she couldn't bear it.
The month becomes a blur with the realization of the entire nation pulling on it's big-girl-panties and throwing itself into the war effort. New York's street crowd with growing recruit lines, the Red Cross has it's volunteer booths at every grocery store, at every picture house a commercial for support our troops plays before the film.
Bucky wins his third YMCA welterweight boxing championship belt and spends two weeks training Steve down at Goldie's Boxing Gym. Steve never takes to it quite as well as his best friend. Kitty leaves her job at the diner, takes a wartime office job as a government girl, the very same week that the boys visit NYC's US Recruiting and Induction Center.
Both boys do well on their ASVAB, but Steve Rogers gets classified as an 4F and rejected from service. Bucky Barnes passes his physical with flying colors, is marked down Direct. Katherine, Winnie, and his sisters mourn. Steve is pretty upset to not be joining his best friend on the battlefield, he attempts to enlist several more times. And, though each failed attempt only concretes Steven's determination, Kitty is silently grateful to have him out of harm's way.
Bucky receives his Basic Training date and location by the end of the month and within two days he ships off for Camp Bruce E. McCoy, Wisconsin. He spends his winter in Basic Training crawling under barbed wire lines and toting heavy rifles. Bucky gets good with one, good enough to rise in rank. He spends all of January and February in the frigid Wisconsin cold and graduates from Basic in the first week of March.
Leaving Basic in the coming-spring weather, Bucky is happy to be outside of Camp McCoy, where he'd been trapped for ten weeks. He's happy to stretch his legs and slouch in his stance. No one calls him to attention, no one barks orders at him. He hops a bus, headed for the nearest train depot in Tomah. On the ride to Chicago he sleeps sounder than he has in two months, but once he switches lines for New York City, he can barely contain his impatience to be home. Bucky thinks maybe it's the promise of returning to the familiar before he goes off to join the war, but he knows the real reason is because of Kitty and Steve.
By the time the train arrives to Pennsylvania Station twenty-eight hours later Bucky is filled with coffee and anxious to go home. He wants see Steve, and hold Katherine, eat his mother's home-cooking, laugh with his sisters, and lie in his bed.
Penn Station is filled to the brim with commuters despite the ridiculous hour, and that annoys Bucky beyond all compare. There are too many people, even on the street as he makes the 10 minute walk to 34th street. He longs to hop on the F-line and go home to Red Hook. Instead he gets on the N-line, rides it to 53rd street and then takes the R-line to Bay Ridge where he gets off and reports to Fort Hamilton as ordered, like a good little soldier.
As he listens to his superiors drone on, Bucky longs for Red Hook. Her docks, and bays, and warehouses, and shipyards. For King street, Verona, and Sullivan, for Coffey Park. For Bay street, Columbia, and Lorraine. For the Henry Street Basin and the Rec center. But, most of all for home. He's given a week of leave before he's to report in again for his official drafting.
On the bus ride from Bay Ridge to Red Hook, exhaustion hits Bucky Barnes like a ton of bricks. He wants to go home, but realizes that Steve is probably at work, just like Kitty, and his mother and sisters. He arrives at his family home, which is the closer of the two from the bus stop, and as expected no one is home.
Bucky removes his shoes and leaves his military-issue duffle bag by the door, before trudging up the stairs toward his childhood bedroom. A part of his mind sees the change in decor and recalls that Katherine resides there now, but can't bring himself to care. Fatigued and weary, he strips out of his uniform and drapes it over her vanity chair. Leaving on his muscle shirt and boxer shorts, Bucky promptly gets under the covers and goes straight to sleep.
When he wakes up it's five in the afternoon and he can hear excited bustling from downstairs. No doubt his sisters know he's returned, but his mother likely forced them to allot him some much needed sleep. He sits up in bed, suddenly becoming aware of the sound of pages turning, and spots Kitty sitting at his old desk reading a book. Bucky smiles, she seems even more beautiful than when last he'd seen her. He reaches out for his uniform slacks, dressing in a hurried manner and tucking in his muscle shirt.
Katherine waits until she hears his zipper sounding before rising from her seat and standing in front of him. Bucky's grin grows, smiling ear to ear, as he takes in her rosy cheeks and her pretty polka dot dress. Before he knows it, she's reaching out, winding her arms around his shoulders and molding into him. He gathers her up in his arms, heart practically bursting with the bliss of it all. God, is he glad to be home. But, he's still a little disappointed when the bedroom door opens and his mother pokes her head in, effectively cutting short their little moment.
He quickly gets over it, though when they join his family downstairs for dinner. Steve, of course, is there, along Rebecca and her husband, as well as his other two sisters. The home-cooked corned beef, cabbage, red potatoes, and carrots that his mother presents feels like the first proper meal he's eaten in ages, and he nearly kisses Kitty when she brings him a plate of the apple crumble she'd baked.
Bucky lounges in the living room with his family afterwards, completely stuffed full of delicious food. Their positions mirror the night they'd listened to the First Lady making her radio address, but this time they're far happier, laughing and smiling. He can barely believe that in just six days he'll be shipping off for war.
Kitty seems to sense that, holds his hand, even in front of his mother and sisters. None of them say anything about it. And, Bucky Barnes realizes that he wants this. He longs for this to be his future. With his family, and Kitty, and Steve by his side. This is what he wants of the rest of his life.
God, when he comes back from war he'll be a better man, he promises himself, looking down at Katherine like she's his entire world. He'll come back from war a decorated veteran and he'll do right by her, he thinks. He'll make her proud.
*"a date which will live in infamy": is another direct quote from Roosevelt's Pearl Harbor Address
*government girl: "All around the country women stepped into government jobs vacated by men. As more men were deployed overseas, women— both military and civilian— were admitted into professional classifications previously reserved exclusively for men. By 1944, women accounted for more than a third of civil service jobs."
*ASVAB: Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery
*4-F: the classification of 4F originated during the Civil War. Recruit that did not have their four front teeth would be unable to tear the paper cartridges in use during that time, thus the classification of "four front"(4F). By the 40's it became a go-to classification for recruits with one or more medical conditions which would disqualify them from serving in uniform.
*Direct: after being inducted recruits are given the options of Direct Shipping, who ship off for Basic Training between 10-30 days, vs. DEP (Delayed Entry Program or Delayed Enlistment Program), who often ship off at a later time (within a year).
*Basic Training is often 10-12 weeks long
This was a short one, but I honestly just haven't been motivated as of late.
Pretty soon (probably the next chapter) this story is going to meet up with TFA.
Did you spot my easter eggs? No? Well, the bit about Bucky being a boxing champ and teaching Stevie is part of the canon MCU-wikia, as well as the tidbit about Camp Mccoy.
Hopefully I get my mojo back soon and finish up this story, we're only a few chapters from completion. As always thank you for reading, let me know what you think, and sorry for taking so long.
