Bucky was putting in longer hours at the hardware store he'd just purchased off his boss a few months ago. Though the foundations were good, he was trying to make some long-needed repairs on the old building.

It was an interesting time in their lives. Bucky had found some of his family, leading Eliot to ask that dreaded question- what happened to his mother, and what about the rest of their family? Bucky couldn't give him straight answers, and was constantly figuring out how to dodge questions about his past.

Then, few weeks ago, a man had come through town and found Bucky. A man who was very much a young boy the last time the two had met. Bucky remembered the Howling Commandos' mission that got postponed in favour of helping to liberate one of the camps close to their location. The camps that smelled of death and fear and still haunted Bucky when his own crimes weren't horrific enough for his subconscious.

And, he remembered the boy. Little Max Eisenhardt had lost everything in the camps, including pieces of his humanity as they were slowly taken from him to unlock his potential. Bucky wasn't sure how he'd tracked him down- all Max, Erik, now, would tell him was that he had… help. But, he assured Bucky, no one else would track them down. He wouldn't tell him what, but he'd assured Bucky there were safeguards in place to ensure no one would find James while he was raising his family.

Erik stayed a few months, bonding with Eliot, pushing him to work harder than he'd ever seen his boy push himself. He told him fantastical stories Bucky feared were true, including one in which he'd failed to save the President a couple of decades ago.

Bucky, listening to the story, clenched his jaw as a slew of memories threatened to overwhelm him- memories of a gun, a car, screams. Shot. Shot. Short. A needle. Embolism. "Mission accomplished, Soldat." Ice.

When he opened his eyes, Erik was staring at him, meeting his own searching eyes, before giving a satisfied nod.

Answering Eliot's curiosity, Erik crouched next to him, planting a flowerbed in front of the store, and explained all the ways a professional assassin would kill someone and make it look like an accident.

Though his son was excited by the concept, Bucky realised it was a topic in which he never wanted his child to become an expert. He cut Erik off harshly, turning to sit on the rocking chair that sat facing the sidewalk. He got a look in his eyes so heart breaking that Eliot, though he was getting too old for it now, sat in his father's lap with his head on his shoulder, arms squeezed tight around him as he tried to use his little body to protect his father from his own past.

Erik left a few weeks later, offering Bucky a sincere handshake, his thanks, and a rebuilt, sturdier store. Then, Eliot grabbed Bucky's hand and took him out to see the flowerbed they'd meticulously planted.

He explained to him all the different flowers and why they'd chosen each one, finally coming to a beautiful blue flower.

"What about these?" Bucky asked his son.

Eliot looked up at him, smiling and gesturing to his father.

"Well… I picked these out because they reminded me of you. They're shaped like stars, like the painting on your arm, they're blue and white, two of your favourite colours, they can thrive in a lot of places, like you used can, and they bloom, even if it's winter and everything else around them is dead."

Bucky looked at his son, his brilliant, kind-hearted, empathetic and strong son, and huffed out a small chuckle, the corner of his mouth lifting slowly.

"And what are these winter flowers called?" he asked.

Eliot picked one and held it out to his dad with a smile.

"They're called chionodoxa luciliae. Glory of the Snow."

A/N: I'd written a different story completely until I looked up flowers and found this one which sounded perfect and which meant I needed to write something else. Also, I'm rubbish with flowers, I literally quote everything in this from the internet.

Headcanon Max met the Howling Commandos and feels he owes them a debt. Alternate headcanon, he meets Captain America and asks why he never came for him... this one broke in favour of a happier moment.