Chapter 2
"I'm glad he has you. You're good for him. I've never seen him this happy before."
"I find that hard to believe, Steve," I countered, "You've known him your entire life. Surely you've seen him happy before."
"No, really. Before the war, we were different, we were care-free. But I've never seen him in love. I've honestly never seen him like this. And look at him."
We both looked at James sparring with Natasha and Clint at the same time.
"When he first got here and started training with us, he would hold back. He held back on his punches and he would be tense throughout the entire sparring session."
"You're saying him not holding back anymore is a good thing?"
I guessed that could be true, sparring at full capacity would be beneficial for both parties. But since no one was a match for James yet, I wasn't sure if his full capacity was something we wanted unleashed here.
"I'm saying he's even relaxed about sparring, he's letting down his guard a bit more. Really, Cassie, you're good for him."
"Well, I hope you will still feel that way after tonight."
"Why? What's happening tonight?"
"My parents are coming to meet him."
Steve's laugh was so loud that the three people sparring stopped for a moment to look our way. Natasha was the first to recover and tried to get to James from behind, but he stopped her with a quick jab of his leg, then taking out Clint within the same fluid move.
Steve got up and looked down at me.
"Bucky's never met any girlfriend's parents before. That could become interesting. Hey! Bucky! My turn!" Steve ran to the middle of the room, giving James a smack on the shoulder as they passed each other.
"Have fun!"
"You told him," James accused me as he gave me a small peck on the cheek.
"Where is this boyfriend of yours?"
I hugged both of my parents as I shushed my dad.
"He's making himself presentable, he had a training session. James will join us soon. Let's go inside."
I guided my parents inside and to the kitchen where James and I had had our first date.
"Do you want something to drink? Coffee? Tea?"
"We came all this way," my father grumbled, "And he doesn't even meet us at the door."
"Sweetheart," my mother scolded him softly, "I think we would both like some tea, dear," she smiled at me.
As I handed them both a cup of tea, I saw James walking down the hall.
"Mom, dad, I think I should warn you, there's something I haven't told you about James yet."
They both paid attention, noting my serious tone.
"He lost one of his arms and it's replaced by a metal one."
"What?" my father got up from his chair. "You're telling us you're dating the Winter Soldier?!"
I hadn't told them anything about James, except for his name and that he was living and training at the facility. My parents had insisted they met him as soon as possible, which seemed weird, but I just assumed that as former S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, they had wanted to make sure that I was with a good person. Now I realized that as former S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, they of course would know all about the Winter Soldier. Had they realized just from hearing his name? I didn't think so, my father only seemed to connect James to the Winter Soldier now that he heard about the arm.
James came in, holding flowers, a big smile on his face. Metal arm or not, my father didn't hesitate for a second and lunged for James.
James' reflexes were too fast, he dropped the flowers and blocked my fathers hand with his metal arm, producing a sound that I was sure meant my father had broken his hand.
My mother got up and went for my father – or for James, I couldn't tell. I didn't know what was going on or why my parents were trying to attack my boyfriend, but I panicked. Seriously panicked. Being in situations where people were fighting was not a situation I found myself in regularly. So I pressed the panic button on the counter, grateful that Mr. Stark had installed a panic button in every single room.
It took less than a minute for people to show up. Steve ran in first, quickly assessed the situation and pulled my father away from James. James immediately stepped back, his hands not completely up, but held out visibly, to show that he was no threat. Natasha and Clint ran in, Natasha holding out an arm to keep my mother from moving, as she was about to lunge forward again.
And then Mr. Stark came in. He wasn't in his full Iron Man armor, but still geared up enough to be dangerous.
Mainly my parents were shouting. My father was trying to shake Steve off, my mother was trying to get to my father. Mr. Stark shot an energy blast to the floor and my parents both fell quiet at once.
Mr. Stark looked around to get an idea of what was going on.
"Get him out of here," he looked at Natasha and Clint as he gestured with his head towards James.
James didn't complain but looked at me as he left the room. My knees started to shake and I had to sit down. Steve saw and wanted to help, but as soon as he let go of my father, my father leaped towards the door.
"Nope," Mr. Stark quipped and with a snap of his finger, the door closed.
"What the hell is going on?!" I burst out, having struggled through the shock of what just happened.
My mother was shaking as well, she sat down and I rushed over to her to support her. My father was still throwing angry glances at the door, Mr. Stark and Steve.
"Mom?"
My mother looked at me and took a deep breath.
"That's the Winter Soldier."
"No," I countered, "He used to be the Winter Soldier, he isn't anymore."
"Well, he's the one who killed your sister," my father spat out before slumping down to the floor.
"What?"
Neither of my parents replied.
"Mom. Dad. Explain please."
It took some time, but then my mother started talking.
"You know that Laura worked for S.H.I.E.L.D. She was an agent, just like we were. She was sent into the field regularly. You know that we stopped doing that because we had you two kids to take care off, but we were still active within S.H.I.E.L.D. S.H.I.E.L.D. wouldn't let us work with Laura though. We never knew what kind of missions Laura was sent out too. And then she didn't return from her mission. And we weren't given any explanation. They wouldn't tell us what happened, or even where. They just returned her body."
My mother couldn't speak anymore, so my father took over. His way of communicating the events was way more to the point and without emotion.
"Your mother and I stayed with S.H.I.E.L.D., hoping to find out what had happened to Laura. We went looking into files, but we didn't have access to all of them. One evening they found us out and they told us we had to leave. So they made us retire. But by that time we had already found out something about your sister's death. We had found out the name of the person who had killed her. His name was Bucky Barnes, the Winter Soldier. I saw his name and a picture, but that's all I saw before S.H.I.E.L.D. agents snatched the file from my hand and made us leave."
My father had gotten all worked up again, so my mother finished.
"When you told us your boyfriend's name was James Barnes, we hoped, but didn't believe that it'd be a coincidence. It wouldn't be the first time that more members of one family is connected to S.H.I.E.L.D. or the Avengers. So we wanted to get here as soon as possible to meet him."
And since my father had already seen his picture, when I told them about the metal arm, he knew all he needed to know.
This was too much to take in. My boyfriend, responsible for my sister's death. I didn't know what to do with this information, how to respond.
"If you were with S.H.I.E.L.D., then you know about Hydra too."
After a nod from my parents, Steve continued, "Bucky was brainwashed by Hydra back then, he was literally taken over by them. He didn't know what he was doing. He didn't want to do those things."
"But he did it." I heard myself saying.
I didn't know what to do yet, but I did know that I needed time to process. So I stood up and walked over to Mr. Stark.
"I'd like to resign from my job," I formally told him.
"I don't accept that," his response was immediate, "Take a paid leave. Stay away for a month. Or two. And then let me know."
"I'd rather just quit."
"Take the paid leave, Ms. Rawlin. Even if you never return, you can have it until you find a new job."
I had not had a lot of personal interaction with Mr. Stark but I knew instinctively that I was not going to win this fight. All I wanted right now was to leave, so I could sort my thoughts.
"Mom, dad, let's go."
They followed me to the door but Steve stopped me.
"You can't just leave like this. You know it wasn't him," he pleaded with me, "You can't just leave him behind like this."
"I need to think and I can't do that here. I can't do that with him around."
"But you have to talk to him, if you wait, it'll only become more difficult."
I wasn't up for his reasoning right now.
"Please let me pass, Steve."
"Cassie, please."
"Let her go, Cap," Mr. Stark snapped his finger again and the door opened.
"Tony. . ." Steve started arguing with Mr. Stark as my parents and I left the room.
I didn't even want to get anything from my office, I just wanted to get out of here.
Before we reached the exit, James had caught up with us though.
"Cass!. . ."
Hearing his voice, I couldn't keep on walking, I had to turn around and face him.
"Dad, it's okay," I said as I saw my father taking a step back.
Natasha and Clint were still with James, so I asked Natasha to take my parents to our car.
As they left, James came over to me, Clint stayed in the shadows, waiting to see what would happen. I didn't care if I had an audience or not.
"Did you know?" I demanded.
"No," he wasn't confused at all. Someone had already filled him in, "I told you I remember all of their faces," I winced at this, imagining him seeing my sister's face as he killed her. "But I don't know most of the names, I wasn't always told names, that wasn't information I needed. I had no idea. I never would have approached you if I had known."
He didn't apologize for what had happened, for what he had done.
"I need time away from here." From him.
"Please let me go. Give me time," I begged, as he didn't move.
His eyes went dark as he looked at me and took a small step back. He opened his mouth a bit, but seemed to change his mind, cause he didn't say anything. I walked out without looking back.