Chapter 18- Interrogation and Staying
Bucky carefully brushed his daughter's hair into two thin pigtails. "There you go. You look beautiful, baby," Bucky said, pressing his lips to her forehead. All these years with Anna and she still stood still when he did her hair.
"Papa, who is this man who wants to question me?" Anna asked as he scooped her up in his arms and carried her to the common room. Anna dug one hand into his hair and played with the scruff on his face with the other hand.
"His name is Nick Fury. He was my mission once when I was the Winter Soldier after I left you last time, doll," Bucky said.
"I don't know anything, Papa," Anna said as she buried her lips to his throat and burrowed into his chest as her hands left his hair and scruff to wrap tightly around his torso.
"Maybe. But he thinks you might know something that I haven't told them," Bucky said, kissing the top of her head gently. Fury stood up when they entered the room. Anna still didn't like meeting new people as she burrowed her face into Bucky's chest and grabbing huge handfuls of his shirt in her small hands. But then, again, Nick Fury could be rather intimidating with his eyepatch and the dark clothes.
"Barnes, is this your little girl?" Fury asked, indicating Anna.
"Yes. Steve said you wanted to ask her some questions," Bucky said, stroking her hair gently. It was something he had always done when they were HYDRA's prisoners and it always seemed to calm her down.
"Yes. Hello, Anna. My name is-" Fury started.
"Nick Fury. Papa told me," Anna's small voice interrupted as she fixed her blue eyes on Fury. Fury smiled gently. Steve said that Fury acted gruff, but he wouldn't be that way with a small girl. Bucky hoped so. He didn't want Anna scared if Fury shouted or acted as if he was going to spank her. Ahe had enough of that when he was the Winter Soldier with HYDRA giving the orders.
"Did your father tell you I wanted to talk to you?" Fury asked as they sat down, and Bucky settled her beside him. Anna nodded her head.
"He said that I might be able to tell you something he didn't," Anna said.
"Then let's get started then. Do you remember the day HYDRA had your daddy take you?" Fury asked.
"Not really," Anna said.
"What was your earliest memory?" Fury asked.
"I went on a mission with Papa to a place with canals. I got in trouble for trying to run away," Anna said, pressing the back of her head against Bucky's chest.
"That would be Amsterdam, Holland. There were security cameras that showed that she tried," Bucky said in clarification.
"What was the punishment they gave her?" Fury asked.
"They wiped her like they did me and gave her drugs to make her submissive. It was the same drugs they used on me when I first was captured. Also they had me spank her when she was disobedient," Bucky said, twisting his flesh fingers into her dark hair.
"Really? I don't remember that," Anna said, scrunching up her nose like an adorable rabbit.
"I remember every time they wiped you, drugged you and forced me to spank you," Bucky said, tickling her face gently with his flesh fingers.
"Did she behave after that?" Steve asked from the chair he was sitting in.
"For the most part. She obeyed pretty much after that," Bucky said.
"So, you never tried again to escape?" Fury asked Anna.
Anna wrinkled her forehead in concentration. "I don't remember. Did I, Papa?" Anna asked, looking up at him with her wide blue eyes.
"No. You accepted that I was your father and you were never leaving," Bucky confirmed.
"After you took her for your daughter, how long did it take her to accept it?" Fury asked.
"I took her and it took over a day to arrive back at the HYDRA base in Siberia. I was ordered to blindfold her and put a gag in her mouth. I came back to the base and took her to my quarters. I took the blindfold and gag off and she was awake. I forced her to say her name was Anna and I was her Papa. She resisted it, but she said it and said she loved me very quickly. I thought no one must have cared about her before for her to love me that much, that soon," Bucky said as Anna raised up and kissed his cheek and pressed her face into his throat as she crawled into his arms. Bucky held her tightly, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.
"But was it the same day, months, or years before she accepted it?" Fury asked.
"Four or five months, I think. She hesitated on saying the name I gave her. It took me forcing her to say it and spanking her along with the wipes and drugs to make her say her name and who I was to her," Bucky said, digging his flesh fingers into her hair and rubbing the strands absently.
' I guess the next question is what she wants. Anna, do you want us to find your family, if you have any, or do you want to stay with your daddy?" Fury asked. Anna pulled her face away from Bucky's throat and leveled a glare on the S.H.I.E.L.D. director.
"I wanna stay with Papa. I'm Papa's baby," Anna said stonily as an adorable stubborn look crossed her face.
"All right then. Then we won't force it. You did say it was an orphanage that you took her from?" Fury asked Bucky.
"Yes. Most orphans either don't have families or their families don't care what happens to them," Bucky said as Anna pressed her face into his chest and he stroked her head tenderly with his flesh hand.
"You also said the place doesn't exist anymore?" Fury asked.
"No. When I did the mission to Holland, where I grabbed her, the place had been torn down," Bucky said.
"Well, I guess that's that. Barnes, she's your daughter. We can get a birth certificate made for her that says her name is Anna Barnes," Fury said with finality as he stood up.
"That can be done?" Bucky asked, standing as well and Anna pressing her head against his throat and wrapping her small arms around his neck as far as they would go.
"Banner's cousin is a lawyer. She can arrange it," Fury said. (A/N: I guess I had to throw in "She-Hulk" even though I haven't seen it yet.)
"Thank you," Bucky said as Fury left.
"What did he mean, Papa, by having Dr. Banner's cousin arrange it?" Anna asked raising her head to look into Bucky's eyes. Bucky smiled and pressed a kiss to her forehead.
"It means we'll have a paper saying that you are my little girl forever and you don't have to ever leave me if you don't want to," Bucky said.
"But I don't," Anna said.
"I know, but this will confirm it that you are mine by your own free will and my free will," Bucky said.
"I love you, Papa," Anna said, kissing his cheek.
"I love you too, doll. You ready for lunch?" Bucky asked, jerking one of her pigtails gently.
"Yes, Papa," Anna said as Papa carried her to the kitchen and prepared her some chicken noodle soup.
Anna felt drowsy as Papa held her on his lap and fed her the soup a spoonful at a time. She had never thought that Papa had stolen her. Papa had told her that stealing was wrong, but it never felt as if he had done what he had told her never to do. She didn't have another Mama or Papa looking for her and she didn't want one when she had Papa.
Anna yawned largely and rested her head against Papa's chest. Papa stood up and carried her to the room they slept in and he tucked her into the bed that Tony Stark had ordered for her. Granted, she often would sleep on Papa's chest, but she always took afternoon naps in this bed. Papa sat on the chair across from her and gently pulled the ponytail holders from her hair.
"Papa?" Anna asked, feeling like a sleepy, contented cat as Papa brushed her face and hair gently with his warm, large hand.
"Yes, baby?" Papa asked.
"Isn't taking me from that place stealing?" Anna asked. Papa gently rubbed the length of her small nose with his thumb.
"It is. But You didn't have anyone in that place, Anna. You are my baby now," Papa said.
"I guess no one looked for me either?" Anna asked.
"No. Karpov looked over all the news reports to see if you were missing. No one ever said," Papa said, picking her up, blanket and all, and settling her on his chest. Usually this meant Papa was going to take a nap with her. His flesh hand went into her hair and Anna was soon sound asleep.