Notes-All French was done through Google-Translate. Because like Joey from Friends I do not speak French. I'm very sorry for any mistakes if you do know French and see them.
January 1944-Border between Germany and France
Bucky's hands were shaking as he tried to light the cigarette. He dropped the match and swore. He went to fish another one out when Morita came over with his own match.
"Thanks," said Bucky lighting the cigarette off it and taking a heavy drag off it.
"Not a problem," said Morita taking a drag off his. "Where's Cap?"
"Radioing Phillips. Trying to explain what we found," said Bucky. It was a task that he did not envy. How do you even begin to describe that? wondered Bucky. "How's everyone else holding up?"
"Dugan is drinking. Falsworth is really keeping the stiff upper lip. Dernier is taking what we saw really hard. The kids," said Morita and he took a drag off his cigarette. "Gabe is trying to keep him together."
They had just finished a raid on Hydra base just inside the German border. Bucky was a bit surprised that Hitler hadn't tore it down yet considering Schmidt had gunned down Nazi troops in Italy. They were getting ready to head back when they came across another squad and they seemed frantic. They said they found something and they weren't sure what to make of it. That they could really use the backup. Steve agreed to assist them and they followed the squad about two miles before they came across a locked gate with a wire fence and men were leaning on it. They were dressed in what looked like prison clothes, but the clothes just hung off them. They looked hollowed eyed, in a state of shock and didn't say anything as they approached.
"What in the hell is this. Another POW camp?" asked Dugan.
There was a horrible burning smell and Bucky covered his mouth with his sleeve just as a young private nearby threw up. Steve broke the lock on the gate and ordered those close by to step back. They stepped back slowly and they started speaking in German.
"Gabe," called Steve and the young man stepped forward and started talking to the group. Bucky and the others walked further into the camp and found the bodies. Piles upon piles of the dead. So skinny and broken Bucky couldn't believe that they were people. They were all wearing the same clothes, but a few had gold stars sewn to their clothes and others had triangles on them. Other started coming towards them looking almost like the dead. Carrying each other and looking at them with stunned shock. An old man came up and hugged Bucky sobbing.
"Jesus Christ what is this place?" asked Falsworth as a man fell at his feet unable to stand anymore. Falsworth helped the man up and Bucky pulled his canteen out to give to the old man who had been hugging him.
"Camp," said the old man and his voice was barely a rasp. Bucky had him sit down and take the water. The man chugged it in mere seconds.
"You speak English?" asked Bucky and the old man nodded. "Who are you with?" asked Bucky and the man looked confused. "Your unit?"
"I was a teacher," he said. Dugan handed Bucky his water to give to the old man. The old man drank until he started to cough.
"Take it slow. Can you tell me what this place is?" asked Bucky. The old man explained that it was a work camp, but the work wasn't very clear. He had been a teacher at a college who had not gone along with some of Hitler's ideas. He had been sent here along with some of teachers and students who protested the party line."
"They also sent the Jews and the homosexuals here," coughed the old man. "The guards heard that there might be an American force moving in. So they lined whoever they could find up and just started shooting. They ran out of ammo I think. So they just locked the doors," said the man.
"Sarge," called a private. "Cap wants you." Bucky pressed his water bottle onto the old man. He could get a new one. He pulled out a thing of rations and gave them to the old man.
"Watch him," said Bucky to the private. The old man was weeping and sharing crackers with the man Falsworth was helping. Steve had taken his helmet off and was looking around the place in horror.
"We found bodies and more living civilians. They all need immediate first aid," said Bucky.
"I sent two men back to town to try and get some supplies. We need to go five miles to the south. This was just a camp for men. They kept women and children at another location," said Steve and Bucky felt his heart sink.
"You don't think," started Bucky.
"I don't want to think. Let's just hope that they're alright," said Steve. He left Dugan and Falsworth behind and took Morita, Dernier and Gabe with them. They walked quickly and soon saw another wire fence and a locked gate. Steve broke it open and they heard the pitiful cries. They were coming from a locked building with boarded up windows. Steve broke the door down and the smell of death was overwhelming and it nearly knocked Bucky off his feet.
"I'm going to be sick," said Gabe and he leaned against the building wall. The eyes looking back at them were haunted and hollowed.
"It's alright we're here to help you," said Steve. The women started crawling out and they were even worse than the men. Heads shaved faces and bodies so thin it was like watching bones walk. One woman was carrying a child and the child wasn't breathing and the woman was crying and babbling in French. Dernier reached out to her and spoke a few words while trying not to cry himself. One woman collapsed in Bucky's arms and she was so light it was unreal
"We're going to help you," said Steve to a woman who was sobbing into his chest.
They found more dead in the other buildings and in train cars, It was mostly children and Bucky could barely keep himself in line. What the hell is this and why? They're civilians. They were children. The answer didn't make sense to him. They were Jewish. Most of the woman and children here were Jewish.
It took hours to get the help needed and even then it might not be enough they were all in such bad shape. Graves were found where the dead had been tossed away like trash. They all had numbers tattooed on their arms like animals. Dernier started crying and had to excuse himself for several minutes.
Now a day later and closer to France for pickup they all had time to think about what they saw even if they didn't want too. Bucky found out the old man who had given the crackers too had died on the way to Red Cross. His heart just gave out.
"You know I thought the camp in California was bad, but the Germans don't play around," said Morita bitterly. Bucky had read about how people from Japan or had Japanese parents had been rounded up after Pearl Harbor. Bucky didn't agree with it hundred percent, but he didn't think it would be that bad. Morita had sort of talked about it. This parents, his two younger sisters and himself had been crammed into a one room shack with a leaking roof. They really hadn't been allowed to grab anything other than some clothes. His mother had somehow managed to grab a photo album to bring. Morita had enlisted to get out of the camp much to his parent's disappointment. Morita wanted to prove he was an American and if fighting Germans would prove that case he was going to do it. Gabe joined them and shook his head at the offer of a cigarette.
"Listen I know this might be asking a lot, but do you think we could delay going back a day?" asked Gabe.
"Why?" asked Bucky.
"Dernier's hometown is thirty miles from here and he really needs to see his daughter or he might go AWOL and start a solo Nazi hunt for those guards in charge of those camps," said Gabe.
"Can he go AWOL? He's not a soldier," said Morita. Dernier had been a French Freedom Fighter before he had been caught by Hydra. The guy was almost a genius at blowing stuff up. Before the war he had been a demolitions expert, he would blow up old bridges so new ones could be built.
"He's part of the team and the last thing we need is one of our own going off on a revenge mission and getting themselves killed. I'll go talk to Steve," said Bucky stomping out his cigarette.
It actually wasn't that hard to talk Steve into the side trip. He agreed they all needed a little R&R after the other day. So they contacted Howard and told him to have the plane land near Mulhouse tomorrow afternoon and they 'borrowed' a car to drive the thirty miles. Dernier seemed more twitchy than normal. He hadn't seen his daughter in over a year and she was all the family he had left. Her mother had been killed during a German raid and the girl had been spared by not being home at the time. She was as safe as she could be, but Bucky imagined that seeing her again would be a morale booster for him. Seeing Steve again really improved my morale, thought Bucky.
The orphanage was just a large farm house and about twenty children were running around outside in the snow and chatting away in rapid French. When they saw the car approach almost all the children got wide eyed and a lot of them ran to house and were calling out to what Bucky assumed was the house mother since a large woman with black hair pulled into a braided bun came out and eyed the car nervously.
Dernier hoped out the car before it had come to a full stop and the woman looked relaxed and called out to him in French. They kept talking in French and she went into the house and he heard her bellow out for Cecilia. After a few moments a little girl with long blonde hair and a blue coat came out and her eyes got wide at the sight of Dernier.
"Papa?" she asked and before he could say anything she was running across the yard and she nearly knocked him over to jump in his arms. He picked her up and she hugged him as she went on in rapid French.
"Well if this doesn't melt your heart," said Dugan and Falsworth gave him a quick elbow in the side. The kids started to come out and looked at them in shock before clamoring around them and Bucky looked at Steve as the kids started pulling him towards the house.
"This could be fun," said Morita has the kids started pulling him towards the house too.
…
They had dinner with the house mother, her assistant and all the kids in a large dining room. Dinner was a chicken stew and bread. They tried to refuse the food and the woman insisted they eat and she didn't seem the type to fight with. Cecilia sat next to her father and they both were chatting rapidly with each other. Bucky could sort of see the family resemblance between father and daughter. He was small and dark haired while his daughter was very fair and blonde, but they did have the same dark brown eyes and they didn't seem to breathe while talking.
The house mother spoke a little English and she apologized for not having enough room for them, but she promised them the barn was dry and warm enough. Steve assured her it was fine and thanked her again for taking them in on such short notice.
"It's alright. She needed to see him," said the woman nodding at Cecilia and Dernier. He couldn't stop looking at her and he had the biggest smile on his face. They finished dinner and Falsworth and Gabe helped with the clean-up while the kids started trying to get Steve and the rest of them outside to play with them. They taught the kids to play baseball with a stick and a bean bag until it was time for them to go to bed. It's almost like being home, thought Bucky. Cecilia ended up sleeping in the barn with them and Bucky could hear her and Dernier whispering back and forth. Bucky could make out a bit of it since Gabe had been teaching him French since Italy. Dernier told her she was good girl and he was very proud of her. That when this was all over they would go home and maybe they could get a cat. Maybe I'll get a dog after this. I always wanted a dog, thought Bucky.
The next morning they had their own rations for breakfast. Bucky dug into his bag and pulled out the thing of the cookies Becca had made him and even though they were rock hard he ate one. He had managed to hold on to a few after New Year's and had been trying to make them last. Cecilia looked at him and when he took a bite of the cookie her eyes got huge at the sight of it. When was the last time she had a cookie? thought Bucky. It has always been hard for him and Steve growing up, but at least they had their moms and each other.
"Do you want a cookie?" asked Bucky in his very bad French and he held out one of the cookies. She turned pink and looked at her father and asked if she could have it. He told her she could and she went over to him and her face was beet red. Bucky handed her the cookie and gave her a huge smile. She thanked him and shared the cookie with her father. Bucky had three cookies left and he handed them too her. Kid probably hasn't had sweets in ages, thought Bucky. Her eyes got wide and she thanked him profusely before tearing into them.
"Couldn't share those with me," joked Steve.
"Oh stop being such a baby," said Bucky. They packed up their gear and Bucky could see that Dernier was trying to keep his face neutral so it didn't upset her. Cecilia already looked near tears seeing them pack up. Dernier kissed her forehead and told her she had to be brave and she quickly wiped her eyes. Steve was watching them and Bucky could see he was torn. He knew Dernier wouldn't leave the unit no matter what Steve said, but Steve had lost his own father to a war and had never known him. Steve would never forgive himself if anything happened to the old man now.
"What if she came with us?" asked Steve. Everyone looked at Steve confused.
"She is tiny. She could sneak into bases and be a distraction," said Dugan.
"She could stay on the base in London," said Steve. Dernier looked at him puzzled and spoke to Gabe. Gabe turned to Steve.
"He's worried about what Phillips is going to say. He doesn't want her to be trouble to anyone," said Gabe.
"I'll handle Phillips. Just get her things," said Steve. Dernier smiled and told her to get her things. She smiled and ran back to the house singing happily that she was leaving with her father and the Americans.
"This is going to go over like a lead balloon," said Falsworth.
….
"This is a military base for military operations! Not a home for wayward kids! I should make you fly her back to France or drive her to the English countryside with all the other kids in the city," snapped Phillips. Bucky looked at Peggy and she was trying not to smile.
"I might have a solution," said Peggy. Steve and Phillips looked at her.
"I have a friend who was a French teacher and could take care of girl when the team is out on assignment," said Peggy. Phillips closed his eyes and rubbed his temples.
"This whole war has turned into a three ringed circus why not toss a six year old girl in the mix. Fine. She can stay. She causes any trouble Rogers I will find a way to put a boot in your ass," said Phillips.
"Thank you sir," said Steve and they left the room. Bucky shook his head.
"Well that was fun," said Bucky and Steve looked at Peggy.
"Thank you," said Steve and Peggy grinned.
"Well it would be nice to see another female around here," said Peggy. She took her leave of them and Bucky looked at Steve.
"Wow she has it bad," said Bucky and Steve gave him a look. "Oh please it's simply her rank that stops her from throwing herself at you. You know Howard did say the nurses had a free night this weekend."
"I already had Peggy shoot at me for a misunderstanding with Phillips's assistant. I don't want her coming at me with the head nurse in tow," said Steve. They headed back the barracks and Dernier was telling Cecilia a story while the others were relaxing. They all looked up at Steve and Bucky.
"So can we keep her?" asked Morita.
"She can stay," said Steve. They already broke into grins and Dernier started thanking Steve.
"She's a good girl," said Dernier in his broken English. Steve had Gabe explain what was going to happen when they were away and that she could stay with them in the barracks and have meals with them in the chow hall. Bucky felt a tug on his jacket. He looked down and saw Cecilia.
"Hi," said Bucky and she held up the last cookie.
"Voulez-vous partager?" she asked. Bucky understood the word share. He knelt down and helped her break in it in half.
"Oui," said Bucky. She gave him a huge smile and let him have the bigger half.
…
Bucky was sitting in the chow hall with Falsworth and Dugan when Dernier and Cecilia came in. Dernier sat opposite of Bucky when Cecilia sat next to Bucky. Dernier shook his head and was trying not to laugh.
"Voulez-vous ne pas vous asseoir avec moi?"
"Je veux asseoir à côté de lui," she said and Dernier sighed. Steve came up with his tray and sat on Bucky's other side since Cecilia had taken his normal seat.
"So you have a new friend," said Steve trying not grin. Bucky looked over and Cecilia was looking at him with those big brown eyes and shy smile. He smiled back and went to talk to Falsworth when she tugged on his jacket.
"Avez-vous une petite amie?" asked Cecilia and Dernier started laughing. Bucky understood 'Do you' and the rest was lost to him.
"I don't understand," said Bucky. Gabe sat down and Cecilia repeated her question to Bucky and Gabe started laughing.
"What is saying?" asked Steve.
"She wants to know if he has a sweetheart." Steve got the biggest smile on his face and Dugan eyed him.
"Oh you slick son of a bitch," said Dugan.
"Well he could do worse. I heard the French are wonderful cooks," said Falsworth. He and Dugan started laughing and Cecilia got red in the face
"Arrêtez de rire de moi!" she said trying very hard to sound serious. It reminded Bucky so much of Becca he had to work really hard on not laughing.
"No I do not have a sweetheart at home," said Bucky and Gabe repeated in French back to her. Cecilia's whole face lit up and she gave Bucky the biggest smile. She probably hasn't smiled this much in ages, thought Bucky. He really hadn't seen that many kids since coming overseas, but the ones he had seen were small and far too serious looking. They had grown up with not enough fun in their young lives. What was harm in letting the little girl have her crush?
"Puis-je être votre amoureux?" she asked.
"Oui," said Bucky and she put her head on Bucky's arm and Dernier sighed.
"Bien sûr, ma fille tombe en amour avec le bourreau des coeurs américain. Soyez bon pour elle ou je vais avoir Cap botter le cul," said Dernier. Bucky understood something about having Steve kick his ass and that was about it.
"I promise to treat her like a lady," said Bucky.
"That should worry you," said Steve.
…...
Whenever he wasn't on assignment or in training Cecilia became his shadow. She had to sit next him during all meals and she tended to linger around his bunk when they were all hanging out in the barracks. When they came back from assignment Peggy and Cecilia would be waiting for them. Cecilia would hug her father first and then come up him and give him a hug and she started talking a mile a minute about what had happened when they were away.
Everyone started teasing him about the 'romance' and they started calling Cecilia 'Sergeant Barnes's Sweetheart'. Bucky didn't care and was more than happy to spend his down time with the little girl. She reminded him a lot of Becca. His sister and the little girl would never take no for answer and had no issues telling people what was on their minds. Peggy made the mistake one night of sitting in Cecilia's spot so she could talk to Steve and Cecilia gave her the dirtiest look possible. She marched up to Peggy after dinner and gave her an earful in French. Peggy bent down so she was face to face with her and Bucky could tell she wasn't going to scold her. She talked calmly to her and when Peggy was done she held out her hand and they shook hands like they were equals. The next morning at the briefing Bucky asked her what they talked about and Peggy raised an eyebrow.
"Why I was informed that I could have any boy I wanted, but not you since you were her sweetheart. She asked very kindly for me to not take you away since I was much prettier and boys liked me more. I think that is the nicest thing anyone has said to me in years," said Peggy with a huge smile.
"What did you tell her?" asked Bucky.
"I told her that we are both ladies and that real ladies don't steal from each other. I also told her she was very pretty and that she was also very smart and any boy who doesn't notice that is a bloody idiot," said Peggy picking up her files. "You are very sweet with her. I didn't think that…" she cut herself off and Bucky shrugged.
"You have to be a real jerk to be mean to a little kid who seems to think you hung the moon. Besides it's nice to have a girl look my way since Steve became the poster boy," said Bucky.
"You have your good points too. Hopefully someone other than a six year old will see them someday," said Peggy. She left and Bucky headed off to collect his mail and found his sister had written him and included the recipe for the cookies. He gave copy to Cecilia and the woman who took care of her when they were away.
….
They were coming back from a mission and he could hear the little voice singing
Des yeux qui font baisser les miens,
Un rire qui se perd sur sa bouche,
Voilà le portrait sans retouche
De l'homme auquel j'appartiens
Quand il me prend dans ses bras
Il me parle tout bas,
Je vois la vie en rose.
She came running down the hall and gave her father a hug before launching herself at Bucky.
"It's almost like home. Girls throwing themselves at you," said Steve.
"Don't be jealous," said Bucky and started giving Cecilia a piggy back ride down the hall. They weren't going to have a lot of down time between this mission and the one coming up. They had heard Zola was on the move and the next mission was to bring him in. I never thought I would hate one person so much, thought Bucky. She kept singing her little song in his ear. Someday you are going to make someone very happy, thought Bucky.
Before he left he hugged her goodbye and she shyly handed him a bag of cookies. He promised they would share them when he came back. She gave him a little kiss on the cheek before leaving her caretaker.
…
It was hard to tell who was taking the death of Sergeant Barnes harder-his best friend from childhood or the little girl who had lost her first love. Peggy had sat her down before the team came back and told her that Bucky wouldn't be coming back and was in heaven now. She cried herself to sleep that night in Peggy's apartment.
Dernier picked her up the next morning and she begged him to make it not true. He told her that Bucky had been brave and would want her to brave too. He was with her mother now and that it was going to okay. She went with her father a much older and sadder soul.
Peggy found Steve sitting in the burnt out remains of the old bar drinking. He wanted to go on the next mission and finish the Red Skull and he got his wish. Zola gave up the location of the final Hydra base and they planned a raid for the following day. They went to get some rest when Steve found the young girl sitting on Bucky's bed and looking heartbroken. Steve came over and got into Bucky's locker. He pulled out his dress hat and gave it too Cecilia.
"He would want you to have this. He really liked you too," said Steve in the best French he could manage. She looked up at him through red eyes and hugged it.
"Thank you," she said in a very small and heavily accented voice. Steve hugged her and her tears soaked his jacket.
When the team came back without Steve it was Cecilia who approached Peggy with a jacket that belonged to Steve. Peggy bent down and hugged the little girl.
"I'm sorry you lost your sweetheart too," said Cecilia in French and Peggy wondered when children became wiser than all the adults around them.
…..
Last year
"Are you Captain Rogers?" asked the woman. He was finishing up his run and had sat down to stretch. Steve looked at her and she was a tall blonde going a bit gray, brown eyes and looked to be in her early fifties.
"I might be depending on what you want," said Steve and she smiled.
"My name is Elise Tomlin and well you knew my mother back in the day. She was hoping to see you at the exhibit opening last night. She would have invited you personally, but no one would give us your mailing address. Thankfully Twitter keeps track of where you run. It's rather adorable the hash tag of run America run," she said. Steve looked at her and couldn't place her mother in his mind.
"I'm sorry. Who is your mother?" asked Steve and something about her smile tugged at something in his head.
"Cecilia Dernier was her maiden name. She married one Richard Tomlin in 1963 and had me a few scandalous months later," said Elise with the same smile. It was the smile that firmly placed her in Steve's head. She had the same smile that little girl had when he saw her all those years ago. He stood up quickly and shook her hand.
"I wasn't aware your mother was looking for me," said Steve. He knew all the others had passed away. Dernier had passed away in the 90's at the age of eighty six. He went in peace sitting in his garden at home in France. He had been next to last to go; Gabe had been the last to go a year later from liver cancer.
"Oh we've been looking since they story broke you were still alive, but SHIELD wouldn't give us anything really. I guess they thought we could be crazies or something worse," said Elise.
"I heard about the exhibit, but I wasn't in town when it opened," said Steve. Honestly he wasn't sure how to feel about a whole museum display devoted to him and the other Howling Commandos now that he was back and they were gone. We weren't trying to be heroes. we just wanted to do the right thing, thought Steve.
"My mother used to run a war memorial museum in Paris and the museum here flew her out as a consultant of sorts. Actually some of the items on display are loans from the museum she used to work with. The Smithsonian asked her for an oral history of what it was like to be child during the war and the daughter of a Howling Commando. If you have the time she would really like to see you again," said Elise.
"I can make the time this evening," said Steve. She gave him her address, a number where they could be reached and wished him a good day. Steve watched her go and felt something in his heart twist. The little girl got over you Bucky.
That evening Steve steeled himself and knocked on the door of a brownstone with a small thing of roses. Elise opened the door and smiled.
'Thank you so much for going," said Elise. She took the roses from him and she showed him to the living room. The woman in the wheelchair was in her seventies with gray hair pulled back into a low bun. Her brown eyes smiled at him and she looked so happy to see him.
"Hello Captain," said Cecilia. "I've been working on my English for some time now." The accent was still there, but her English had come a long way since 1944.
"Hello Cecilia," Steve hugged her and she hugged him back. "It's good to see you. How's your life been?"
She still had that quick way of talking and Steve could still see the little girl who followed Bucky around. After she had finished college she found a job restoring art that had been damaged during the war. Soon she found herself trying to piece together other old things from that time. Clothes, toys and stories from people who had seen the war first hand. She ended up helping to create a museum of a time and place few could ever really understand and she hoped no one ever had to go through.
She had met her husband though her work. He had been trying to get a museum for Pearl Harbor going and wanted her advice on how to do it. He had been a child on the island the day it happened. Together they created that too, went on speaking trips about being children of war and somehow raised four children together. Her husband passed on last year from a heart attack and she was retired now and trying to enjoy her grandchildren.
"You did have a ride didn't you," teased Steve and she laughed a little.
"I have you to thank for that. You didn't have to take me to England to be with my father. I might not have the love for what I do if not for you. I owe you for that," said Cecilia.
"Your father loved you and would talk about you nonstop when Gabe felt like translating. He needed you to keep going. You made it a little better for all us back then," said Steve. Cecilia laughed and called her daughter over.
"Can you bring me that box please?" asked Cecilia and her daughter went into the next room and brought out a small round box. Cecilia took a deep breath before going on.
"I've devoted my life to trying to keep a part of the past alive. I was very flattered when they asked me for my advice. I helped organize the loans, gave input on how the displays should look and even gave them some things of my father's. But there was one thing I simply could not give them and you should have it," she pushed the box towards him. Inside Steve found the dress hat of James Barnes. She had treated it well and it hardly showed any signs of wear or age. Steve couldn't believe she still had it and was giving it to him.
"It was very sweet of you to let me have that. I know it hurt you too to lose him and to let me have that was one of the kindest things anyone has ever done for me," said Cecilia. Steve felt tears stinging his eyes and he blinked them away.
"Well you were his sweetheart and he would have come back to haunt me if I had disrespected you," said Steve.
"He would have made a wonderful father," said Cecilia looking out the window and Steve could see she was trying to keep it together too. You never get over your first love no matter how old you are, thought Steve.
…..
Present day
Alison watched Bucky's reaction to the story and a few times he looked uncertain or would interrupt Steve to correct a point, but for the most part he looked happy to be hearing this story. You were a sweet guy under that swagger, thought Alison. She wondered how good he would have been with children of his own and felt another flare of hate for the people who had hurt him and taken his life away.
"I have the hat if you want it back," said Steve.
"I would like to see it," said Bucky and he looked at the floor. "Is she still alive?"
"Living in D.C with her daughter. She goes once a month to the Smithsonian and gives a talk about the war," said Steve.
"I must have missed her. Then again if she had seen me I might have given her a heart attack. I was supposed to be dead after all," said Bucky. He looked at Alison and the guitar she had sat down. "Do you know how to play that song?"
"No, I'm sorry I don't. I know the English lyrics though," said Alison.
"Can I hear it?" asked Bucky. Alison took a sip of cold tea to clear her throat before singing.
"Hold me close and hold me fast. The magic spell you cast. This is la vie en rose
When you kiss me, heaven sighs. And though I close my eyes. I see la vie en rose. When you press me to your heart. I'm in a world apart. A world where roses bloom. And when you speak, angels sing from above. Everyday words seem to turn into love songs. Give your heart and soul to me and life will always be...La vie en rose."
"The song still has French in it?" asked Bucky.
"Life through rose colored glasses is the meaning if I remember it right," said Alison. Bucky gave a sad little smile.
"I imagine life was rose colored for her before the war," said Bucky.
"I don't think it lost all its rose color for her," said Steve. Bucky got up and looked out the window.
"She was a sweet kid. I'm glad she had nice life," said Bucky. Alison put the guitar away and Steve put a hand on his friend's shoulder.
"She put together your display at the museum no one else was allowed to touch it," said Steve. Bucky's shoulders sagged and she could tell he was trying to keep it together.
"It was the cookies you know. She fell for me because I gave her sweets," said Bucky. Alison had to disagree, but she kept it to herself for now. She fell for you because you were nice to her. You were a good man and she knew it. Hopefully someday you'll remember him clearly.
Notes-Unlike Marvel I will acknowledge a small time-line error. I knew La Vie En Rose came out in the 40's, but I thought it was 44. Turns out Edith Piaf did not write the song until 45 and it became popular in 46-47. However it just seemed fitting and I blame How I Met Your Mother for getting it stuck in my head.
