Request where Ella ended up pregnant after Buck died.
…
Ella knew the days following Bucky's death would be trying.
Her heart already hurt, like a cruel hand was squeezing and twisting it, causing a fire to spread through her whole chest. It couldn't even be described as a heartbreak. At least, if a man broke a heart, there was always the knowledge that he was alive and maybe things could work out, but losing the man you loved was another story. Her heat wasn't broken, it was ripped through her ribcage and thrown in the dirt.
She wasn't the only one upset. Steve was distraught over it, shedding tears of his own, the first time she had seen him cry since their mother died. She understood why he felt the need to go and fight, so, with reluctance, she waved him off.
Little didn't she know that those fleeting glimpses of her brother climbing into a unmarked car would be the last she would see of him.
When she was told the news, her legs gave out. Peggy tried to catch her, but it didn't help much. Ella was screaming, not just sobs, but screams from down in her gut, her chest, her heart. Her fingers curled into her hair and tugged painfully, not that she really noticed. Her face turned red, cheeks stained with tears, huge and bulbous, that leaked in a never ending stream. She wondered how god could be so cruel, taking her love and her brother within the same week. She had no one, she was alone.
Peggy held her until she had exhausted herself and used up all her tears until she was only sniffling, staring blankly at the ground before her.
"What am I going to do?" she asked in a broken whisper.
"We'll take care of you, Ella." Peggy assured her, knowing it was what Steve would've wanted. His little sister was in her hands now.
So, she did. Peggy treated Ella as though she were family. She took her into her flat, giving her a room, a place to stay while she mourned. It was tough, to say the least. She had to burry an empty casket for her last family.
Ella felt terrible for the next few weeks following, feeling like a part of her was missing, which it was. She found herself feeling sick almost every day, often losing the contents of her stomach. She figured it was just a side effect of how she was feeling, how miserable she was, but when that time of the month came around… well, it just didn't.
Ella feared the worst.
She snuck out of her apartment one day, not wanting to worry Peggy if nothing happened, and went to the doctors, knowing they would be able to give her the answer she was looking for.
Ella clutched her locket tightly as she waited in the small, overly white room that smelled too clean. Her heart was racing wildly as the doctor tested her, performing a few standard operations. The doctor had a huge smile on his face when he gave her the news.
"Congratulations. You're pregnant!"
Ella couldn't believe what she was hearing. She had only been with Bucky one night! The chances were so small, but still, it happened. Now, she was unmarried, pregnant, and the father was dead.
The doctor saw her face fall instead of brighten like expecting mothers usually did. He looked down at her hand, finding it bare with no ring donning her finger. Now he knew why she reacted like this.
"Do you know who the father is?" the doctor asked gently.
Ella nodded wordlessly.
"Will you tell him?"
"I can't."
Ella left the office with her life shattered into a million pieces. She was being hit with one ordeal after another, life not allowing her a break. Her eyes began to well up as she walked down the street, looking up to the sky as a lone tear rolled down her cheek. What was she going to do? A single, unmarried mother. It would be seen as a scandal!
When she walked through the door of the apartment, Peggy was already home, the worry melting off her face and being replaced with relief.
"Oh, there you are," she said. "I didn't know where you went. Why didn't you tell me you were leaving? Where'd you go?"
Ella bit her lip and looked down, feeling embarrassment and shame flood her being. "Peggy… I'm pregnant."
Peggy blinked once in surprise, not at all what she was expecting to hear. "You're… you're pregnant? Who… who's the father?"
Ella looked up slowly, brows furrowed and bottom lip trembling like an earthquake. "Bucky."
Peggy had known there was an attraction between the pair, but never knew they followed through on it. Now, she had to find out in the worst possible way. "Oh, Ella."
She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around the crying girl, surprised she still had tears left to shed after these last few days. She had been through hell, and it wasn't over. This trial was just beginning.
The next day was the service for Steve and his sacrifice. Ella would be there to speak, she hoped she would be able to get through it all.
That morning, Peggy held her hair back as Ella shivered and was sick, crumped on the bathroom floor, face hot and limbs weak. She helped the girl look presentable, doing her hair and makeup as if nothing had happened.
That was the day everyone learned her name and story. Captain America's sister became the most talked about person in both the united states and England. Her face was printed on every paper, quotes about her ordeal with HYDRA. She was dragged in for interviews, asked about what he brother was like, how she felt about him getting the procedure and so on. She was a celebrity.
But that wasn't always a good thing.
When the baby bump began to grow, so did the whispers. She was unmarried, and not seen to be in a committed relationship. People threw the words whore and harlot at her on the streets, Ella tried not to let their words hurt her, knowing that Bucky would have been thrilled if he were still there.
That's what kept her going.
…
In the next century, the man Ella had thought dead would come back. Steve told her everything, always visiting her in her retirement complex. This was news that shocked her.
It took time for him to get his memories back, and to help, he looked up everything he could about the girl he had loved. There were many interviews to watch and read, some even mentioning him. There were plenty of photographs of her through the years, but there were many malicious things as well, specifically about her pregnancy.
Ella would never give a name to any of the reporters about who the father was, which lead to gossip magazines to concoct their own theories. They knew that Ella had been captured by HYDRA, some saying she slept with officials for her life, others suggesting other, more terrible causes of her pregnancy there as well. They believed it was the shame that caused her to with hold the name.
Bucky hated reading those things about her, because, well, he knew who the father was. With his memories back, he knew the timing matched up… he just couldn't believe it.
He resented himself for it. That he wasn't there to help Ella through those tough times, that he didn't get to watch his son grow up and now most likely looked physically older than him. It was all so messed up… but he went to see Ella anyways.
"Why didn't you ever get married?" he asked, sitting by her bedside.
Her wrinkled faced turned into a frown. "No one would have wanted to marry me. I had a child without a husband and people always thought the worst…"
"Then why didn't you ever tell them? Why didn't you tell the world I was the father?"
Ella sighed and looked down. "Your memory to the world was too pure. You were a hero. I didn't want anything, like knocking up an unmarried girl, to ruin that. It all was quite scandalous back them, you know."
"I know…" Bucky mumbled. "Does he know…?"
"His name is James and yes, I told him when he was old enough to understand the significance." Ella explained. "He was always teased about it, not knowing who his father was. The children weren't to blame, they were just repeating what they heard back at home…" her head turned to him, lips pointing upwards. "He looks just like you."
"Is he here?"
Ella pursed her lips. "It was a shock finding out that his father is still alive, looking younger than him. He's married with kids now too, I think he just needed time to process this."
Bucky nodded in understanding.
Ella reached out and grabbed his hand, holding it weakly. "Bucky, I won't be around much longer… when I'm gone, take care of them. Promise me you'll do that."
"I promise."
…
It was under a month later when she passed.
Bucky stood beside Steve at the funeral, placing flowers at the gravestone with a pained expression. He didn't have enough time with her, it wasn't fair.
The pair stood in silence until someone tapped Bucky's shoulder. He turned around, seeing a man with dark hair and a square jaw standing behind him. He evenly examined Bucky from behind a pair of thin glasses, in his arms, a young blonde girl with clear blue eyes.
This was James.
Bucky swallowed thickly, nervous at meeting him. However, James stuck out a hand, Bucky glancing down at it for a second before shaking it firmly. Both knew who the other was, not introductions were necessary.
Those around them looked upon the two men, seeing the uncanny resemblance between them, and then the question of who the father was faded away.