Chapter 1
Kelsey sat in the front pew of the small church, only half listening as the minister spoke. The last several weeks had been a roller coaster of emotions leaving her feeling numb as she sat with her extended family. They had all arrived earlier in the week from California and she had spent most of her time trying to stop her Aunt June from completely ignoring her grandfather's wishes for a small memorial service.
Her grandfather had been quite clear when he spoke of what arrangements should be made when death finally claimed him. He wanted them to keep his passing quiet to protect all of their identities, yet her aunt had flown in from the other side of the country and immediately started issuing orders to try to turn the funeral into a national day of mourning. In the end Kelsey had won the argument, but she could feel her aunt's disdain from the opposite end of the pew.
The sound of her name drew her attention back to the present as she was called to give the eulogy. Taking a steadying breath, she rose from her seat and made her way up to the pulpit with her notes in her hand. Placing the papers in front of her, she tucked her auburn hair behind her ear as she looked out over those who had gathered in the church. Most of the faces she knew, along with a few strangers scattered among the family and long time friends.
"Good morning," she said, adjusting the microphone. "Let me start by thanking all of you on behalf of my family for being here today to pay your final respects to my grandfather.
"He was an extraordinary man and he held so many titles throughout his lifetime. Most of the world knew him as a soldier and a hero who was willing to make any sacrifice to protect others. To his family though he was a devoted husband and father, grandfather and friend. His family meant the world to him, and he lived each moment with us to the fullest.
"When I was just two years old my grandparents took me in and gave me a home when my parents passed away. My grandfather taught me the importance of compassion and taking a stand for what one believes is right, no matter the cost. He was someone I spent my whole life looking up to and he was truly my hero. He was the only father figure I ever really knew, and I couldn't have asked for anyone better to step in when my father died."
She glanced towards the casket, taking a slightly shaky breath. It had been just the two of them for the last several years after her grandmother's passing, and the reality that she would soon be completely alone finally washed over her as she stood there looking at the flag draped casket.
"He had the most incredible stories," she continued after a moment, drawing her eyes away from the casket and back to the people in the pews. "Stories of wars and battles, of finding his way back to the woman he loved, and of the importance of friendship. I could listen to him talk for hours about all the things he had seen in his life. He was my confidant, my protector, and my rock. He taught me how to love unconditionally.
"Grandpa, you'll always have my heart," she said, her voice cracking, as she looked back at the casket once more, blinking back tears. "I hope you're at peace with Grandma...I know you've been waiting to dance with your best girl again again. I'll love you forever."
She could hear the soft cries and sniffles throughout the church, as she descended from the pulpit. Pausing in front of the casket, she rested a hand on the top, feeling the fabric of the flag touching her skin. She wiped the tears with her other hand, taking one more shaky breath before whispering, "Goodbye, Grandpa."
The rest of the service and the burial were a blur. Eventually she had found herself back home, the small house seemingly packed with those who had attended the funeral. Her aunt had quickly taken charge of the social aspect of the funeral, and Kelsey had been more than willing to let her hold court while she stole a few moments to catch her breath in the garden. The sun was high overhead and she could feel its heat sinking into the black fabric of her dress, but she didn't care as she leaned back against the small tool shed closing her eyes and trying to clear her mind.
The week had been exhausting both emotionally and physically and she could feel the tell tale throbbing behind in her temples that signaled a massive stress headache. She kept reminding herself that her extended family, including her aunt, would be gone in the morning and she could then go about picking up the pieces of her life.
The sound of footsteps on the garden's gravel path caused her eyes to snap open, and she turned her gaze towards the main part of the garden. From where she stood she was completely hidden from view from the house, but if one ventured far enough into the garden they would certainly notice her standing behind the tool shed. She noted that the footsteps were slow and causal, the complete opposite of her meddling aunt, and she let out a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding. Whoever was in the garden was clearly not looking for her.
Eventually a man came into her view, stopping in front of the fountain that served as the centerpiece for the garden. His face was hidden from Kelsey's view, but she could see he was tall with dark hair. His broad shoulders sagged a bit as he stood there, and Kelsey, shifted her feet in the gravel to try to let him know he was not alone in the garden without startling him. He turned towards her, his steely blue eyes finding hers, and she found herself staring at a face she had seen so many times in old photographs.
"Sorry, I didn't realize anyone was out here," he said, giving her a slightly sheepish smile.
"As long as you don't blow my cover it's fine," she said with a slight smirk. "I'm Kelsey, by the way."
"Bucky," he said in return, confirming what she already knew. She watched as he made his way towards her, and she took a step to her right making room against the wall behind her. "So, who are you hiding from?"
"Anyone my aunt sends looking for me," she responded as mimicked her posture as he stood next to her, leaning his back against the wall of the shed, hands in his pockets. "I'm surprised she hasn't tried to monopolize your time."
"I may have sacrificed Sam to her," he said, causing a chuckle to escape her lips.
"That poor man," she told him, tucking her hair behind her ear.
She saw him smirk before he responded, "Eh, he's good at that whole knowing what to say to people thing. He'll be fine."
She nodded, looking back out over the garden as they fell into silence for a moment. The windchimes in the trees made a soft twinkling sound in the breeze that mixed with the fountain's gentle splashing to create a sense of peace and isolation. It had been her grandmother's retirement project, and after she passed she would often find her grandfather spending his afternoons sitting on the bench in the far corner.
"I'm glad you two could come," she said, glancing over at him again. "You both meant a lot to him...I'm sure this is all a little surreal though."
"A bit," he admitted, turning his gaze to her again. "It's nice to see he got some of that normalcy he was looking for."
"Kelsey?" a woman's voice called, ripping through the peace of the garden and causing a sigh to escape Kelsey's lips. "I know you're out here."
"I should probably go," Kelsey said softly. "Hopefully we can chat a bit more later."
"Yeah, sounds good," he responded, his face softening a bit as he gave her a small, slightly lopsided smile.
For a brief second she saw a flash of the man from her grandfather's stories of life before the war. His charming smile was slightly disarming, and she couldn't help returning it with one of her own.
"Kelsey!" the voice called again, bringing Kelsey back to the present.
"Yeah, I'm coming!" she called back, shaking her head. Pushing off the wall she told Bucky, "I swear, she forgets I'm thirty-three years old and not a child any more."
She saw him smirk as she walked past and he said, "See you later, Kelsey."
"People are asking for you," her aunt said as she emerged from her hiding spot. "Were you planning to just hide out here all day?"
"I was just getting a bit of fresh air," Kelsey said. "I'm sure they'll all understand."
She saw her aunt huff as she turned and went back into the house as Kelsey made her way up the gravel path. The last several days she had tried to focus on the good memories from her childhood of visiting her aunt and cousins in California. Those were times she thought of fondly. Somewhere along the way though her aunt had lost sight of how her grandfather had tried to live his life and what he wanted for his family, and it had caused a great deal of tension between them.
She paused for a moment at the door, turning back to look out over the garden. Bucky, it seemed, was still behind the shed and hidden from her view. Part of her wished she could go back down the path and just remain hidden talking to him...to coax out of him some of the stories she knew so well from a different perspective. The desire to find some connection to the real Steve Rogers, the man who had raised her, instead of going into the house and watching her aunt put him on a pedestal was overwhelmingly strong.
Yet, she knew she had to push that aside for the time being. Turning, she took a final breath to prepare herself for the crowd of people waiting inside and pulled open the back door.
It was early evening when the last of the guests left and Kelsey's aunt began rounding up the stragglers from her branch of the family tree. They had opted to stay at a hotel near the airport so they could catch an early flight back to California, much to Kelsey's relief. Standing on the front porch, she watched as they all started to climb into their rental car.
During the course of the day she had managed to spend a few minutes talking to Sam, but, to her disappointment, she had not been able to talk to either him or Bucky for as long as she would have liked. She had lost track of them as the afternoon went on, figuring they had likely gone back to wherever they were staying for the night.
"Are you sure you don't want us to stay and help you clean up?" her aunt asked as she exited the house to join the rest of the family, and Kelsey knew it was a bit of a peace offering for the way the last few days had gone.
"No," she said, giving her a genuine smile. "I can handle it. I'll probably just stack the dishes and leave them for morning anyway. It'll give me something to focus on."
"And you're sure you don't want one of us to stay tonight?" was the next question, which Kelsey had expected.
"No, I'll be fine," she told her. "I'm actually looking forward to the quiet after talking to so many people today."
The older woman pulled Kelsey into an embrace, which she willingly accepted and she heard her say, "If you need anything at all, call me. I can be back here anytime you need me."
"Thanks, Aunt June," she said. "Have a safe flight home."
She stayed on the porch until they had pulled out of sight. When she was finally alone she took a cleansing breath, feeling a wave of exhaustion wash over her as she turned back to the front door. Once inside, she began gathering the few dishes that had been left behind by various guests. It took a moment for her mind to register the fact that the house was not silent, the sound of dishes clinking in the kitchen causing her brow to forrow in confusion.
Making her way through the dining area, she pushed open the kitchen door, her jaw dropping slightly in surprise. Sam was at the sink working on the pile of dishes that had been left throughout the day and Bucky was drying and stacking them on the counter. Both had discarded their jackets over one of the kitchen chairs, sleeves rolled up.
"You two don't have to do that," she said, setting the dishes she had been carrying on the kitchen table. "It'll hold till morning."
"It's fine," Sam said, glancing at her over his shoulder. "One less thing for you to have to do tomorrow and we're almost done anyway."
"As sweet as this is, you two are here as guests," she began, looking between them.
"Kelsey, we got this," Bucky told her, looking at her with a smirk. "Besides, you've got to be exhausted. Have you sat down even once since this morning?"
"Or eaten?" Sam asked, causing her to blink at the two of them for a moment slightly dumbfounded.
"I…" she began, shaking her head to try to clear her thoughts. With a slightly embarrassed laugh she finally said, "You two know you don't need to mother me, right?"
"You're avoiding answering the questions," Bucky responded, still smirking as she narrowed her eyes at him.
"Fine," she said. "Since I'm clearly outnumbered, you two win."
She saw them exchange victorious grins as she slid into one of the chairs at the table. The moment her body relaxed against the familiar wooden back of the chair she became acutely aware of how sore her muscles were, however the thought of food was not an appealing one. She slowly kicked off her high heeled shoes, tucking them out of the way under her chair. Sitting back up, she noticed Bucky watching her, a smug smirk playing at the corners of his lips.
"If you're waiting for me to admit you were right you're going to be standing there a while, Barnes," she said, causing Sam to laugh at the sink.
"Looks like she's got your number already," Sam quipped through his laughter, earning a glare from Bucky.
She could have sworn she saw the slightest hint of a blush on his cheeks as he turned back towards the counter and continued drying the dishes Sam had put in the drying rack.
"So, Kelsey," Sam said, drawing her from her musings, "what do you do for work?"
"I work for a private intelligence firm in the city," she told him. "I handle a lot of cyber threat analysis. Sadly it's not as interesting as it sounds."
"Not your dream job then?" Sam asked, grabbing the last stack of dirty dishes from the table before returning to the sink.
"Not exactly," she answered. "I had wanted to go more of the government route as opposed to private sector work, but my grandparents thought it might raise suspicions. It worked out for the best though...I mean, when my grandmother got sick I was able to move back home to help out."
"This morning at the service you had said something about how they raised you," Sam said, glancing over at her.
Kelsey gave him a small smile as she said, "Yeah...my parents died in a plane crash when I was a baby. It made for an interesting childhood though. I mean...most kids spend their days baking with their grandmothers. Mine made sure I knew how to throw a punch and get myself out of just about any situation."
"She was a force of nature," Bucky said, setting down a plate. "Did Steve ever tell you about the day he got the shield?"
"No," Kelsey responded, her curiosity peaked.
"The way Steve told it was that he has been called in for a meeting and some blonde came onto him and your grandmother caught them kissing behind a bookshelf," he told her, causing Kelsey to raise an eyebrow in disbelief. "He claimed he was completely innocent, but of course that's not how it looked to Peggy. So, he's looking at the various shields they had come up with and he picks up this one that was tucked under the table. He turns around and asks what she thinks, and apparently her response was to pick up a gun and fire three rounds at him. I'm pretty sure he avoided her for at least a week out of fear."
"I could see it," she said with a laugh. "There wasn't much that scared him, but pissing her off was definitely something he actively tried to avoid."
For the first time that week she felt at ease. For most of the week she had been desperately seeking any sort of real connection to her grandparents, and the story provided just that. She was secretly grateful for the two men in front of her for staying and lifting her spirits a bit when everyone else had left her to her solitude.
"How long are you two in town?" she asked, curious if she would be able to see either of them again before they left to head back to Louisiana.
"I'm heading out first thing in the morning," Sam told her, setting the final dish in the drying rack. "My sister needs some help back home...of course she's too stubborn to ever admit that."
"I'm going to tell her you said that," Bucky said, causing Sam to splash a little of the dishwater in his direction before pulling the drain to empty the sink.
Kelsey laughed in spite of herself as Bucky yelled in surprise, thoroughly enjoying the dynamic between the two of them. It was clear they had developed a close friendship, and she couldn't help thinking how happy that fact would have made her grandfather.
Pulling herself out of her seat, she made her way over to the refrigerator, pulling it open and pulling out two beers from within. She held them up, looking at the two men standing in her kitchen and asked, "Can I offer either of a reward for rescuing me from the dishes?"
"I should probably head back to the hotel, but thank you," Sam said, a pang of disappointment washing over her.
"Bucky?" she asked, turning her gaze towards the other man.
"Uh, sure," he said, reaching out and taking one of the bottles from her before turning to Sam. "I'll try to catch you in the morning before you head out."
Sam's expression was unreadable to Kelsey as he looked over at Bucky. It looked almost like disapproval, but she couldn't be sure and decided it was better left an unknown. The truth was that regardless of what she had said to her aunt a short time ago, she was dreading the silence of being in an empty house and she didn't want to jeopardize having company for a little while longer. As she closed the door to the refrigerator and set her beer on the counter she could have sworn she heard a soft "mm-hmm" from Sam.
"Kelsey," he said opening his arms and pulling her into a hug, "it was a pleasure to get to meet you."
"You too, Sam," she said, returning the hug.
She moved to let him out the back door while Sam grabbed his jacket, and followed him out onto the back porch, Bucky behind her still in the doorway. Sam descended the stairs, stopping at the bottom to turn back for a moment.
"If you need anything, even just someone to talk to you, you have my number," he told her, and she gave him a grateful smile.
"Thank you," she said, softly. "If you find yourself back up this way, don't be a stranger. And have a safe flight home tomorrow."
"Thanks, Kelsey," he said before looking over at Bucky and giving him another unreadable look before bidding them both good night and heading down the driveway towards his rental car.
Turning back towards Bucky, she took one of the beers from him, noticing he had opened the bottles while she was saying goodbye to Sam. She gave him a small smile of thanks before motioning with her chin for him to follow her as she turned and sat on the porch steps. She saw him settle next to her on her left out of the corner of her eye as she looked out over the garden. The fireflies were just starting their nightly show and she smiled as she took a sip of her beer.
"Thanks for staying a bit longer," she said, glancing over at him.
"You did bribe me with beer," he responded, causing her to laugh.
"So, you live in Louisiana near Sam?" she asked, taking another sip of her drip.
"Yeah," he said, "down in Delacroix outside of New Orleans."
"When are you heading back?"
"Not for a couple days, I have to head into the city on Monday to take care of a few things before I fly back."
"Gotcha," she said, leaning her head against the stairs railing. "So, tell me about Delacroix. What's it like down there?"
"It's peaceful," he told her. "It's this little fishing town...everyone knows each other and most of the families have been there for generations. I found a place not far from Sam and his sister on the water."
"Sounds nice," she said. "I'm sure it makes for a nice change of pace when you two aren't doing the whole saving the world thing."
"Sam and Sarah and her boys are practically family at this point," he said after taking a sip of his beer. "It's sort of nice to have that again."
"My grandfather would have been happy to hear you say that," she told him, glancing over in his direction.
"So, how old were you when he told you the whole truth?" he asked, causing Kelsey to smile for a moment as she thought of the memory.
"Eighteen...it was about 2 years before they pulled him out of the ice," she told him.
"That must have been weird for you."
"Weird is probably a good word for it," she admitted. "I had just worked my last shift at my summer job and I was supposed to leave for college the following week. I came home and he and my grandmother were both waiting for me at the dining room table. I'm pretty sure the color drained from my face as I stood there trying to figure out what I had done wrong since they only did that when I was in trouble."
She heard him chuckle next to her as she paused for a sip of her beer before continuing, "At first I didn't believe them, I thought it was sort of a twisted joke. I still promised them I wouldn't say a word to anyone even though I was convinced they had lost their minds. Then one day I turned on the news and it all happened like they said….and the things they told me about kept happening."
"That sounds...anxiety inducing," Bucky said, and it was her turn to chuckle.
"At times," she told him, "but I also knew that eventually it would be okay. In some ways it was easier than now...now I just have to run on blind faith that things will work out. I guess the bright side is literally nothing surprises me anymore."
"Yeah, see I thought nothing surprised me any more, and yet here I am, sitting on a porch talking to my best friend's adult granddaughter," he responded, and she noticed a slight grimace cross his face as he took a large swig of his beer.
"Really?" she asked with a smirk. "With everything you've seen, you're saying, sitting here, having a beer with me is up there on your list of strange things that have happened?"
"Well, I'll admit it's not as strange as the talking racoon," he countered, causing her to raise an eyebrow at him.
"Thanks...I think," Kelsey responded, laughing a bit.
"You asked."
She shook her head, before finishing her beer. Looking over at him as she stood up she said, "Do you want another?"
"Sure," he said, standing up.
Together they made their way back into the house, and she gave him a small smile as he held the door open for her. As she made her way into the silent house she was grateful once again to have company for even a little longer. He grabbed two more beers from the refrigerator while she rinsed the two empty bottles and then they made their way into the living room, making small talk while they drank.
The time passed quickly, and suddenly Kelsey found herself unable to suppress a yawn. Looking at her watch she was shocked to see it was nearing eleven.
"I should probably head out and let you get some sleep," he said, getting up from the sofa to retrieve his jacket from the kitchen.
"Do you want me to call a cab to take you back to the hotel?" she asked, slowly pushing herself up from the sofa and straightening the skirt of her dress.
"No, it's not far," he called from the kitchen, reemerging a moment later wearing the black jacket. "Are you going to be alright by yourself?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine," she said, tucking her hair behind her ear as she walked with him to the front door. "I wouldn't mind some company tomorrow though if you're free...I'll just be here figuring out what to keep and what to donate."
"Sure...I don't have anything planned," he told her. "I'll give you a call in the morning."
"Sounds good," she said.
"Goodnight, Kelsey."
"Goodnight, Bucky," she responded, giving him a small smile. "See you tomorrow."
She watched make his way from the porch towards the sidewalk. When he reached the end of the walkway that led to the house he paused and turned back to give her a wave, which she returned. When he started to walk away once more, she closed the door slowly, securing the locks. With a slight sigh she turned off the lights and headed to her bedroom, the exhaustion of the day finally catching up with her as she undressed and got ready for bed.
It wasn't long before she drifted off to sleep, her body too tired to even notice the unusually silent house.