More Bucky and Lance, father son, fluff. Bringing back characters from earlier chapters. Thank you to all of you that read and review or message me with feedback. It makes me excited to know that you all are enjoying this as much as I enjoy writing it.
Hope you all have an amazing week!
"My lands!" An older woman exclaimed from behind the counter as Dad and I walked into the restaurant. "I never thought I'd ever see both my boys come in here again!" Stealing a quick glance at Dad, I noted his big grin at the welcome and managed to slap a hint of a smile on my own face.
"Arlene!" He took a couple steps to meet her as she came around the counter. "Missed you doll." He gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. She swatted at him and glanced over his shoulder at me and I saw the hint of sadness in her eyes before she tilted her head closer to dad.
"You Barnes' boys have been through the ringer the last few months, sweetie. How's Lance doing?" Her voice was hushed but I could still hear her words clearly. Dad cleared his throat before turning to look at me.
"Lance, go grab us a booth and I'll be over there after I talk to Arlene." I nodded, walking past the pair towards the furthest booth from the door. Taking a seat with my back to the far wall and my line of sight to the door, I continued to watch the interaction between the two of them. Arlene's presence was comforting, familial almost. She was probably a few inches over five foot and was a plump lady with a smile that creased the corners of her eyes and dimpled her cheeks as well. Her eyes shined with…kindness and concern. From the way her and Dad spoke, we must have known her a long time. Arlene gave dad another hug before shooing him off in my direction. The restaurant was fairly empty, a couple sitting at a booth two away from me and two men were sitting at the counter drinking coffee. It smelled amazing and I felt my stomach growling. "You good?" Dad slid in across from me, eyeing me warily. I shrugged and reached for a menu, focusing on the words in front of me. "Arlene is an amazing lady. She kind of adopted us as her extended family. Her and her husband own this diner."
"Harold…" I muttered the name as I read the menu, hardly even aware of what I said as I tried to make a decision on foods I couldn't even remember if I liked or not.
"Yea…" Dad spoke slowly. "Harold is her husband…" I felt his eyes on me, so I looked up.
"Did I say that?" I narrowed my eyes as I replayed it in my head. Dad nodded.
"Progress can be slow." He smiled and I shrugged.
"The little things I guess." Turning my attention back to the menu, I sighed. "Now if I could remember what the hell I like to eat I'd be golden…" Dad chuckled and swatted the menu in my hands. Looking up with a glare, I saw Arlene making her way to the table with a tray in her hands.
"You don't have to think about that here. She already knows." Dad smirked as Arlene balanced the tray with ease that came with decades of experience. First she sat down mugs in front of both of us and filled them to the brim with steaming hot coffee.
"Usually this comes after your meal, but my baby deserves it right now." I realized as she spoke and sat a plate down in front of me that I was the "baby" she was referring to and claiming as hers.
"Thank you." I said as I looked at the food in front of me.
"Lemon pie is one of your favorites, sug." Arlene said softly as she handed me a fork before giving my back a soothing pat. "Harold is back there prepping you two's food. Ya'll could eat us out of house and home. You enjoy that pie, baby and I'll be back shortly with breakfast and to top off your coffee." She nodded at Dad before walking away.
"Nice lady." I said looking from Dad to the two large pieces of pie in front of me. "I can eat this?" Some reason I remembered pie being a treat or a reward and I hadn't done anything that warranted it, regardless of what Arlene had said. A smirk stretched across his face.
"Yes, you can it eat. That's why she brought it out. Not for you to stare at it." I hesitated for a second at the sarcasm in his voice, momentarily scared I had made him mad. His face softened and he gave me a slight smile. "Lance…kid…you can eat whatever you want, whenever you want. You don't have to 'earn' it or be given 'orders'. Like everything else, you make the decision and if there's something you don't like, don't want or feel uncomfortable about, you don't have to do it." I nodded and stuck the fork into the first piece of pie.
"Do you want some?" I offered before taking a bite. Dad shook his head and raised his mug to his lips.
"That's all yours." Sipping his coffee he watched as I took the first bite. The tartness and sweetness of the lemon, mixed with the super sweet meringue was amazing, topped off with a super flaky crust that mellowed it out slightly. Glancing at Dad, he had a smile on his face. "You still want to share?" I shook my head as I quickly took another bite. "Didn't think so…" I heard the bell on the door chime and looked up to see a woman walk in that looked familiar. The empty rolodex in my brain was flipping, but each card was blank. Dad noticed me staring and turned to look over his shoulder as the woman started to talk with Arlene. Their interaction was just as friendly as ours had been and soon Arlene was nodding in our direction and the woman looked over.
"We know that woman right?" I said quietly, as if my question was a secret. Dad nodded. "Who is she?" I watched her take a bag of food from Arlene and start to walk towards us.
"Your Aunt Sarah, Sam's sister." Suddenly I was scared those two bites of pie would resurface as nausea settled over me. Looking around I tried to locate another exit, but all ways out required walking right past her.
"Hey Bucky!" Her voice was cheerful and her smile genuine as she looked at Dad. I took the mug of coffee in my hand and took a long pull hoping it would shove the pie back down where it belonged.
"Morning Sarah." He returned the smile. "Lance, this is your Aunt Sarah." He introduced me to her as if we had never met before, not like I had attempted to kill her brother in cold blood. I felt analyzed as her eyes glanced over at me and I saw the tears forming in them.
"How are you holding up, Junior?" True concern in her voice and in the wrinkles in the corners of her eyes. She looked exhausted.
"I…I'm sorry…I…I didn't…I wouldn't…" Struggling to swallow back the bile that was rising in the back of my throat, I felt tears prick my eyes as well. Closing my eyes briefly, I felt as she slid into the booth beside me. My breathing increased as she sat so close to me. Opening my eyes I saw her looking at me, no anger or hostility present in her expression.
"Breathe Junior, just breathe kid." She rubbed my back, in an attempt to help me calm down a bit. Sarah was comforting me, the person that caused a lot of pain and suffering to someone she loved. "That wasn't you that did that. You, Bucky Jr, are a caring man that has been dealt a crappy hand." Sarah gave Dad a small smile, her hand still rubbing circles on my back.
"My name is Lance." I stated, my gaze fixed ahead of me, looking past Dad's shoulder. Both of them chuckled.
"I know, I know. But you're more like your Dad than you ever wanted to admit when you were younger. So I decided to call you Junior." I nodded as she explained the name. "I see Arlene is treating you right." Sarah nodded at the pie in front of me.
"It's really good." I added, my voice still sounding off, but I was trying to deal with the discomfort. I would have felt more comfortable if she was mad, angry, and lashing out. But she was calm and comforted me. I was everyone's focus it seemed and that was awkward.
"I'll have to have Arlene make you a few pies and we can keep them at home for you if you'd like." Sarah's hand moved up to ruffle my hair before pulling away. She got to her feet and picked up the bag of food. "I need to get back to the hospital. Someone's going to be grumpy waiting for his breakfast." It took a moment for my brain to realize she was talking about Sam.
"How's he doing?" My voice was soft as I stared down at my hands.
"He's being a pain in everyone's butts, which means he's doing well." Sarah chuckled. "Bucky, you two should come by and visit. Sam has wanted constant updates since he found out you and Joaquin went after Junior here. I think it would do him and Junior both good to see each other." Dad nodded.
"I was going to talk to you about doing that. Maybe if the kid's up to it we'll come by after we finish eating." I felt myself start to sweat at the thought of seeing Sam after what I very clearly remembered doing to him.
"Sounds good. Well let me get going and I'll see you two soon?" I gave her a nod, as Dad had his eyes set on me. "And anything you need Buck, just let me know. I can cook some meals, come over and hang out if you need to run errands. Just let me know." Dad nodded.
"Thank you." He replied as she gave us a little wave and headed to the door. "How are you feeling?" I groaned at the question and shoved a heaping bite of pie into my mouth to allow me a moment to attempt to think.
"I fucking hate that question." I finally said upon finishing the bite. "How are you, how is he, how ya feeling, how you doing, you alright…" I rattled off the ones I had heard recently, eyeing the last piece of pie on the plate. "I don't know Dad…I don't fucking know." Sighing I rested my head back against the worn vinyl. "I'm confused. And I'm supposed to be this guy that everyone knows and loves, but I don't know that guy." I looked up and saw Arlene moving our way, this time with a tray in each hand. "I just don't know…a damn thing." Muttering the last bit, I managed to slap a smile on my face before Arlene was next to us, offloading plates piled high of food.
"Told ya'll Harold was putting in work." She chuckled as one tray was emptied and plates of biscuits, gravy, sausage and bacon, and eggs were placed in front of us. Then she put down plates of potatoes and pancakes. I recognized all the foods, though couldn't remember the taste. But if the smells were any indication, it was all going to be amazing. Arlene topped off our coffees. "Want me to box up that piece of pie for ya, hun?" She motioned to the remaining piece. I shook my head.
"No ma'am, I'm going to finish that." I felt a genuine smile stretch across my face.
"There's that Lance smile, baby. Just took some of my lemon pie to bring it out." She gave me a big smile of her own. "You're gonna be okay. You're strong sug. I'm so proud of you."
"Thank you…" My voice wavered as I responded, unsure what to say to her statement. It was unnerving that everyone knew Lance. They knew what he liked to eat, how he drank his coffee, what his real smile looked like, what his nicknames were. They knew it all, and I knew absolutely nothing.