"Memories, even your most precious ones, fade surprisingly quickly. But I don't go along with that. The memories I value most, I don't ever see them fading."
-Kazuo Ishiguro

That's the quote that inspired this entire story. I figured I probably should have put that somewhere in here earlier so the title would make sense to someone other than myself, but hey, better late than never I guess.

Okay, so this is the last "deleted scenes" thing I have, hopefully you guys will enjoy it. I decided to end it with this one cause I figured you guys would mutiny if I ended it with either of the other two, and I didn't particularly want to wake up dead one day.

I also wanted to thank everyone who reviewed, alerted and favorited this story cause it made me smile every time I saw that. This was the biggest response I've gotten to a story in a while and I'm glad you guys liked it enough to deal with my cruelty!

Amelia curled her knees in tighter to her chest, trying to make herself as small as possible. She could hear Molly in the next room over, rifling through the closet and checking the chest at the foot of her bed. She had to clap a hand over her mouth to stifle her giggles. Her sister always looked for her in the obvious places, she thought Molly would have learned by now. She heard her drop to the ground- she was probably looking under her bed.

"Mama!" Molly hollered suddenly. "Amelia's disappeared!"

Amelia scrambled to open the linen closet door, still tucked under the lowest shelf. "No fair! That's cheating!"

"Well what are you going to do about it?" Molly challenged, planting her hands on her hips.

"I want a rematch," she said, crawling out of her hiding place. Molly helped her beat the dust off the skirt of her dress, knowing their mother would yell if she saw it so dirty.

"I'm bored of playing hide and seek," Molly announced, standing back and examining her sister's dress.

"Well what else can we do?" Amelia sighed. Molly simply shrugged.

That was the problem with moving to a completely new place, Amelia thought. She didn't know what there was to do in this new town, and she hadn't really made any friends yet so that left her with only Molly as a playmate. The other girls at school were nice enough, but she hadn't met anyone she really clicked with yet. For now she mostly kept to herself.

The two of them trudged down the stairs, looking for something to do. Their mother was doing the laundry, but neither of them were interested in joining her.

"Well why don't you go down to the park?" She suggested when both of her daughters wrinkled their noses. She dug in the kitchen drawer for a second then pressed a few coins into both of their hands. She shooed them out the door and told them to have fun. They trudged over to Molly's bike, and Amelia climbed onto the handlebars as her sister held them steady. Bracing herself, Amelia held on tight as Molly began to pedal. They began to pick up speed and she closed her eyes as they began to pick up speed and she closed her eyes as the wind ruffled her hair. She felt like she was flying and she loved the sensation.

She and Molly ran around the park for a bit; it had rained the night before so they took extra care to avoid the mud. After a while, though, Molly saw some girls she was apparently friendly with and ran to the nearby corner store with them, telling Amelia she would be right back. Amelia nodded, unsure what else she could do. She kicked at a few rocks, already bored, and suddenly spotted two boys squatting next to a pit of mud and poking at it with sticks. She quickly picked up her own stick and skipped over to them.

"Hi, my name's Amelia Fowler," she said when she reached them. "Can I play with you?"

The two boys squinted up at her, staring at her with semi-confused expressions. The boy on the left had brown hair that was kind of sticking up in the back and had a smear of mud across his cheek, and she thought it made him look ridiculous. The other boy was much smaller and skinnier; his wrists looked so thin and weak they might break if he fell on them wrong. His eyes were the prettiest shade of blue she'd ever seen and looked kind.

"Who're you?" The brown haired boy asked, still staring at her.

"Amelia Fowler," she repeated. "My family just moved here- we live over on Elm Street- and I don't really know anyone. So can I play with you?"

"You're awfully little."

"I am not!" She frowned, crossing her arms. "I'm turning 11 soon. I'm not little."

"You're ten?" The boy laughed. "But that's so young!"

"It is not! How old are you?"

The boy stood and drew himself up to his full height, puffing out his chest slightly. "I'm 13," he boasted proudly. "I'm in seventh grade, and in two years I'll be in high school!" The smaller blond boy stood as well, though he was closer to Amelia's height.

"You're in seventh grade? Do you know my sister? Her name's Molly," she said. The boy scrunched up his nose and rubbed at his cheek, smearing the mud around more.

"You're Molly Fowler's sister?" the blond boy asked, raising his eyebrows. Amelia nodded.

"I think Molly's really nice," the blond boy said with a small smile.

"She's okay," the other boy said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "She doesn't talk to us much."

"I don't blame her," she said, putting her hands on her hips like she saw her sister do. "You're kind of mean."

"Am not!" The boy exclaimed, throwing his muddy stick down. "I'm a real swell guy! I'm nice to everyone as long as they're not being jerks. Right, Steve?" The smaller boy's eyes widened as he was put on the spot.

"Well then can I please, pretty please, play with you guys?" She begged. "I don't want to play by myself. I get lonely."

"Come on, Bucky," the blond boy said, tugging at his friend's sleeve. "She doesn't seem so bad."

"Look, kid," the boy said, making Amelia scrunch up her face in annoyance. "You seem really nice and all, but you don't want to play with us. Trust me. We like to go on adventures and you'll probably get hurt, and I don't want to take care of a crybaby."

Amelia felt her cheeks and the tips of her ears burn as she stared at the boy angrily. She couldn't believe the gall of this boy, who judged her when he had barely met her. Before she could stop herself Amelia lunged forward and placed her hands on the boy's shoulders, shoving him as hard as she could. The boy stumbled backward and tripped over his own feet. Arms windmilling wildly, he fell backwards into the mud as the blond boy hid his laughter behind his hand.

"Hey!" He yelled furiously.

"Amelia!" Molly charged over and grabbed her sister by the hand.

"Your sister's crazy!" The boy yelled, standing and attempting to wipe the mud from his clothes.

"Come on, Amelia, let's go home," Molly said. "You don't want to hang out with these hooligans anyway." The brown haired boy kicked mud at them, making Molly and Amelia shriek and recoil. Molly tugged Amelia back over to the bike and helped her back onto the handlebars. Their mother threw a fit when she saw their muddy dresses and made them go change so she could wash them.

As soon as she was in her play clothes Amelia grabbed the sidewalk chalk and say on the steps, drawing simple designs on the pavement. After a few minutes she transferred the chalk to her left hand out of curiosity and tried to draw like that. It felt strange and wrong, and she was about to go back to drawing with her right hand when two worn shoes stopped in front of her. She slowly looked up and scowled darkly when she realized it was the blond boy from the park.

"What do you want?" she said crossly.

"I wanted to apologize for Bucky," the boy said. "He's not normally like that, honest. His family's just going through a rough time and he's grumpy about it."

"Well he didn't have to be so mean about it," she grumbled. Amelia lowered her gaze and scribbled a few lines next to her shoe. The boy sat next to her on the stoop.

"I'm Steve Rogers, by the way," he said. "I actually live in that building right there." He pointed at an apartment building two down from her house.

"I'm Amelia, but you already know that."

Steve smiled and brushed his hair away from his face, the sunlight glinting off of his hair. "There aren't a lot of kids on this street," he said, picking up a spare piece of chalk and doodling. "It'll be nice having someone so close to play with. Maybe we could walk to school together in the mornings?"

Amelia positively beamed at him. "Sure, why not?"

"Mia, come on, this isn't funny anymore!" Bucky called.

"Don't call me that!" She called back from where she was perched high in the pine tree. "My name isn't Mia, it's Amelia. And I'm fine!"

"Are you sure it's safe?" Steve asked. He too was sitting on a branch, but much closer to the ground. Bucky had already tried grabbing his ankles and dragging him out of the tree, the the blond boy had yanked his legs out of Bucky's reach.

"Guys, come on!" Bucky said, pacing at the base of the tree. " If one of you gets hurt, I'm not helping you."

"Who says we're gonna get hurt?" Amelia retorted. She leaned forward and gripped another branch firmly before scooting off the branch she had been sitting on. She swung freely as Steve laughed and Bucky's pacing increased in speed.

"Amelia Fowler, you stop that right now!" he yelled. "Don't make me come up there and get you!"

"Oh please," she snorted.

"You could've climbed up there a long time ago and stopped her," Steve pointed out, straddling his branch and trying to kick Bucky in the head.

"Stop that!" he barked at Steve, pushing his foot away. "And I'm being serious, Mia! Come down!"

"You're not the boss of me!" she said. All the same, she began her descent. She didn't see what the problem was, she hadn't even gone that high. Maybe twenty feet at the most. She picked her way down carefully, testing each branch before putting her weight on it. She was almost to where Steve was sitting when her foot slipped and suddenly she was falling.

It was a short drop, only about seven feet. She didn't even have time to cry out in surprise before she hit the ground, landing flat on her back. The wind was knocked out of her instantly and for a second she could only hear the ringing in her ears as the seconds stretched on forever she struggled to catch her breath.

Time sped up again as Bucky and Steve's panicked faced appeared in front of her, eyes wide and mouths open.

"Amelia! Are you okay?!"

"Please don't be dead, Mia!"

They pulled her into a sitting position and Bucky propped her against his shoulder as she coughed and gasped for air. After a few minutes breathing became a little easier and she realized how much her arm was hurting. She glanced at it and her head spun when she saw the jagged, torn flesh. She bit her lip in am attempt to keep from crying and she realized she'd bled all over herself and Steve, who had been examining the cut.

"Don't you ever scare us like that again," Buck said fiercely, hugging her tightly.

"I'm fine," she said weakly, knowing she wasn't convincing anyone, herself included.

"You weren't moving. I thought you were dead." Bucky sounded like he was on the verge of tears, something that baffled Amelia.

"Bucky, we gotta take we to her to my mom," Steve said. "She can help with her arm."

With Steve's help, Bucky hoisted Amelia onto his back and carried her all the way to Steve's apartment. She kept her arms locked around Bucky's shoulders, and she felt guilty about bleeding all over his shirt too. When they arrived, Mrs. Rogers fussed over her and scolded all three of them for playing in a tree. Amelia squeezed Steve's hand tightly as his mother dabbed at the wound with rubbing alcohol and bandaged it.

"Try not to overdo it for the next few days," Mrs. Rogers said kindly, smiling a bit. "The last thing you want is to make that cut worse." Amelia nodded and hopped off the table as Mrs. Rogers began cleaning up the first aid supplies.

"You know, it's stupid how adventurous you are," Bucky said, sidling up beside her.

"Says the boy who was too afraid to climb the tree," Amelia teased him back. "Even Steve got five feet up."

"Says the girl who fell out!"

"Wow, she looks really pretty today," Bucky breathed. Steve looked in the direction his friend was looking.

"Who? Dolly?"

"No!" Bucky rolled his eyes "I mean Dolly does look rather nice, but I wasn't talking about her."

"Then who?" Steve asked, elbowing his friend in the ribs.

"Amelia, Steve," Bucky said, exasperated. "Honestly, you know I've had a crush on her for forever."

"I thought you said you were over that?"

"I lied," Bucky shrugged. "Geez, I mean just look at her."

Steve did have to admit that their friend did look pretty today, though he wasn't sure what was different. Her hair looked the same as always, the sunlight making it look a little lighter than normal. She was wearing one of her favorite dresses and a pair of small heels. he couldn't quite put his finger on it, but she definitely didn't look the same as she did any other day.

"Man, she's beautiful," Bucky continued. "She's got to be the prettiest girl in her grade. Maybe the prettiest in the whole school."

"You should take a picture," Steve teased him, clapping him on the back.

"Shut up," Bucky laughed, shoving Steve a bit.

"If you like her so much, why don't you tell her or ask her to dinner or something!" Steve asked, straightening his jacket. Before Bucky could answer, Amelia caught sight of them and ran over.

"You'll never guess what happened!" She squealed when she reached them.

"What's got you all excited?" Steve laughed, watching his friend bounce in place.

"Jimmy Muller asked me to go dancing tonight!" Amelia practically screamed. "Can you believe it? He asked me!"

"That's pretty great, Amelia," Steve said, smiling even though he felt his heart sink for Bucky.

"Yeah, great," Bucky said, rubbing the back of his neck. Amelia noticed it and stopped bouncing, staring at him seriously.

"Bucky, please don't tell me you're plotting ways to scare Jimmy off," she said.

"What? I'm not!"

"Okay, good. You better not," she said, looking relieved. "I know you like to go all big brother and try and protect me, but Jimmy seems like a great guy and I really like him. And I do want you guys to approve because you're my best friends, practically family, and I care about what you think."

"Jimmy is a great guy," Bucky agreed. "I hope you have a good time tonight, Mia." Amelia smiled widely at the two of them.

"Is it true?" Molly asked, running up to her sister. When Amelia nodded both girls dissolved into fits of squeals and giggles.

"Can you imagine?" Amelia said. "Jimmy Muller likes me!"

"We have to get you ready for tonight!" Molly gasped. "Can I do you hair and makeup?" Amelia laughed and nodded enthusiastically, then grabbed Molly's hand.

"Come one!" She smiled. "I'll see you guys tomorrow!"

"See you then," Steve answered with a small wave. Amelia and Molly ran off toward their house, and as soon as they were out of sight Bucky turned and kicked the flagpole in the schoolyard forcefully.

"Dammit," he swore loudly. He kicked the flagpole a few more time until the principal yelled at him.

"Maybe it won't go so well," Steve offered. "Maybe Amelia will have an awful time and decide she doesn't like him."

"Yeah, but look how happy she was," Bucky sighed, running a hand through his hair and messing it up. "She was so excited and confidant and who am I to hope she gets that taken away from her? I would be a horrible person to be happy about her misery."

"Well it's only one date," Steve tried again. "It might not mean anything. It's not like they're going steady."

"Yeah, but you heard what she said. We're like her brothers, and she'll probably never see me as anything else," Bucky said miserably. "I just wish she'd look that happy and excited when she thought about me."

She found Steve on the swings in the park they used to frequent as children. Even from a distance she could see his body shaking and hear his teeth chattering. She sat down on the swing next to his and took his hand. They sat in silence for a few minutes, Steve's body seizing up with violent shivers every so often.

"She's gone," he said, his voice hollow.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, squeezing his hand.

"I just thought she'd be there forever, you know?" He said, not looking at her. "I never imagined I'd have to get along without her. How am I supposed to do this?"

"We'll figure it out," Amelia said. "We always do."

"I'm all alone." Steve let go of her hand and buried his face in his hands as he began to cry. Amelia slid off her swing and knelt next to him, hugging him tightly.

"You still have me and Bucky," she reminded him. "You're not alone."

She looked up as she heard someone approach them. Bucky draped his coat over Steve's shoulders and knelt on his other side. Steve didn't look up.

"You're going to get sick again if you stay out here any longer," he said. "Come on, we'll take you home and you can continue this there."

Steve mumbled something into his hands.

"What did you say?"

He lifted his head. "I said I don't want to go home and see all her pictures and things and know she's gone."

"So we'll go to my place," Amelia offered. "My parents would always love to have you. My mom is making her special soup, we can warm you up with that."

"Come on," Bucky said, pulling Steve to his feet. "At the very least we need to get you inside and out of the cold. You'll catch your death out here."

"Great choice of words," Steve mumbled, dragging his feet.

"He didn't mean it that way," Amelia soothed him, shooting Bucky a look. "We just don't want you to get sick on top if everything else."

"Does it ever stop hurting so much?" Steve asked, looking up at Bucky. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"It's going to hurt for a while," he answered honestly. "But it'll get easier with time, I promise. No matter how much it hurts now, you'll heal from this too."

They made it to Amelia's house, but Steve hung back when they started to club the front steps. Amelia turned back and tried tugging on his arm, but he resisted.

"Steve, please come inside," she pleaded. "You can't stay outside in the cold forever."

"You guys don't have to do this," he said glumly, shoving his hands in his pockets. "It's okay. I can get by on my own."

"But that's what we're trying to tell you, Steve," Bucky said, descending the steps. "You don't have to."

"You're out best friend-"

"Our brother," Bucky corrected.

"-and even if you wanted to, we wouldn't let you do this alone. You're stuck with us." Amelia pulled Steve close in a tight hug as his tears spilled over again and Bucky squeezed his shoulder.

"We're with you to the end of the line."