Chapter 34. Home
While Bucky and Sam waited, Merton and Peri stood with their daughter, hugging her with affection, as the technicians were setting up the portal. Peri stroked Ariel's red hair, whispering into her ear.
"There's so much I will miss about you. You are an incredible woman and I'm so proud of you. This was an impossible assignment, but you accepted it readily. I'm sorry at how much it affected you ..."
"Don't be," said Ariel. "I know you love me and that's really all that matters." She looked at Merton. "You started out as my surrogate father and now you're my real one. I just wish we had more time together."
"I might make a visit every so often," he said. "Especially if I hear about any grandchildren. I do have this for you."
He gave Ariel a photo album that included a photo from the day she was born, pictures of her and her adoptive mother, then her with Peri, and finally a couple of photos of him and her from the 1940s. With emotion he hugged her and kissed her on the forehead before looking at Sam and shaking his hand. Then he looked at Bucky.
"Officially, you will still be an enigma but there will be no more observation assignments of you," he said. "That's been decided by the current chair and her eventual successor. You take care of our daughter, do right by her, or I'll come back and kick your ass. I still know a few things."
"I'm sure you do, Merton," said Bucky, smiling. "I promise to love her, honour her, and protect her for as long as we both live. Thank you for being friends with Steve and me from the beginning. You were a good person to us during a difficult time."
Bucky hugged him while Merton patted him on the back. Peri and Merton left the transport room before appearing in the observation window above. Ariel's possessions were pushed into the portal, then the technician counted down Sam's departure, with him carrying Rosie in the cat carrier. Bucky took Ariel's hand, while she held the photo album close to her chest. They stepped in together and watched as the portal walls changed from white and blue, to orange and red, then to black before a hand reached in and tugged on Bucky's vibranium hand. When they got out, they were shocked to see Will Greening in Bucky's living room.
"Surprised?" he said. "I'm a resident historian in New Orleans. Hold on a moment while I signal that everyone arrived safely and close the portal."
He pressed a combination of buttons on the virtual display in front of him then closed the portal. The projection shut down into a small cube which he put into a briefcase. With the briefcase and the clothes he was wearing he looked like a salesman. Noticing how they checked out his clothes he grinned.
"I'm an entrepreneur," he said, "specializing in virtual technology systems. It's very up and coming and I make a pretty good living at it. I'm called Will Greene, with an e at the end, have two historians that I supervise, neither of them on any of you but I'm not at liberty to say who they are observing. If you ever want to go for beers or come over for a barbecue, then we could stay in touch, but I will leave that to you. Now, I will need to drive you two over to Sam's house as your motorcycle is still there, Bucky." He handed Ariel a large envelope. "These are your official identification documents for you to live legally in this time. Don't lose them."
"Will, how long have you been here?" asked Ariel, realizing the acquisition of those documents would have taken time. "We just saw you last night. You were too hungover to show up for our departure, apparently."
"About six weeks," he said. "I actually left a couple of hours before you did but I arrived here sooner obviously. I've already made some friends in this timeline, including a rather nice widow with two boys."
Sam looked at him with some alarm. "Sarah? You know my sister?"
"We had an information evening at the school, showing the PTA how they could hold a fundraiser for the latest virtual reality systems," smiled Will. "Your sister is quite knowledgeable and enthusiastic about technology in the classroom. We talked for some time, over coffee afterwards."
"No," said Sam, vigorously shaking his head. "Nope, not happening."
Will winked at Bucky and Ariel. "I'm gainfully employed, Sam," he said, as the two men went out to Will's car. "I'm also a gentleman."
Bucky smiled at Sam's protestations. "This should be fun," he said. "I'm okay about staying in touch with Will although I assume neither he nor you can tell us anything of the future that we don't know already."
"You're right there," replied Ariel, then she smiled. "Not much anyways. While you're gone, I'm going to unpack. How will we explain me to Sam's family?"
"I'll pick Will's brain on the way," he said, then he kissed her goodbye.
When Bucky got out to Will's car Sam was in the front seat, still insisting there was no way Will was going to be anywhere near Sarah.
"That's too bad," said the historian. "She already invited me to a shrimp boil fundraiser at the dock. I was going to offer a virtual reality headset as a prize in a draw. There's going to be a lot of disappointed kids."
Bucky grinned from the back seat. "That's not going to look good for Captain America, Sam," he pointed out. "Not to mention Sarah won't be happy with you interfering in her private life."
"You stay out of it," said Sam, looking back at him. "Besides, you're supposed to be on my side."
Will grinned at Bucky through the rearview mirror, knowing he was enjoying Sam's discomfort.
"How are we going to explain Ariel to Sarah?" Bucky asked, changing the subject.
"Honestly? I think you should tell her the truth but don't let on that I'm in on it. Sarah is no fool. I already told her Sam and I met briefly when we were both in the service. The truth is always easier to tell, or something close to it. Whether she believes you is another matter."
Sam looked sideways at Will. They had fought side by side together during Ariel's rescue. Before that Will intervened when the thugs attacked him and Bucky on the streets of Brooklyn. He sighed and looked out the window. Would it be so bad to allow him to see Sarah? They pulled up to the Wilson house and sat there for a moment. Leaning across the front of the vehicle, Will opened the glove box and pulled an envelope out, handing it backwards to Bucky.
"This is for you. It has an address and a name inside. I would suggest that you and Ariel go for a visit very soon. Take the cat with you when you go but don't open the envelope until you get back to your place." Then he focused his blue-green eyes on Sam. "I am messing with you, but I did enjoy your sister's company. Remember the talk we had in 1940 about historians falling in love with their subject? Sarah's not my subject, but that doesn't mean she's not worth loving. I would like to see her, preferably with your blessing, and I will be very respectful because I am that kind of man, but I think you already knew that."
He offered his hand to Sam, receiving a hesitant fist bump in return, which he smiled at. Sam and Bucky got out and watched as Will pulled away, waving his hand out the window as he did. Grinning, the super soldier turned to his friend.
"Well, I better get back home," he said, nonchalantly. "Looks like you have some thinking to do."
"Shut the hell up," muttered Sam, turning to go up the stairs into the house. Starting his motorcycle up Bucky roared out of the yard as Sam watched him. "Damn them both."
Before Ariel unpacked, she walked through Bucky's place, looking at everything, especially his books and LP collection. She smiled when she saw the Benny Goodman ones. When he returned, she was in the bedroom hanging some clothes up in the closet. Although she heard the door to the house open and called out to him there was no response. Walking out to the living room she saw Bucky reading the letter that was in the envelope. When he looked up at Ariel, his eyes were bright.
"She's alive," he said, holding the letter out to Ariel. "Rebecca is still alive. She's 94 years old, lives in a senior's home in Tampa, Florida, has four children, 17 grandchildren, and 4 great grandchildren. The oldest great grandchild is pregnant with her first baby."
"You didn't know?"
"I assumed she was dead," he replied. "Steve never said anything about her, and I figured he was sparing my feelings."
He sat down, running his hands through his hair. Ariel sat with him and rubbed his shoulder.
"How long does it take to drive to Tampa?" she asked.
"To where she is, about 10 hours nonstop," he said.
"Do you have a vehicle other than your motorcycle?" she asked.
He looked up at her surprised. "You want to go see Rebecca?" he asked. Ariel nodded. "Yeah, I have a truck. If we leave now, we won't get there until after midnight. There's something you have to know before we go."
"What's that?"
"She knew who I was," he said. "Not at first, on July 4, but at the World's Fair she began figuring out who I was. After the attack on Will and Sam, I went to see my parents, watched them from across the street. For a moment, I thought Rebecca might have seen me, but she never gave any indication. Just before I returned to your time, she spoke to me."
"You're telling me that Rebecca, in 1940, identified you," stated Ariel, not quite believing it. "Where did she see you again?"
Bucky sighed. "I was working at a grocers. It was the week after the attack. They received too many apples and put them on sale. People came from all over to take advantage of the sale. Rebecca was there with Ma, standing in the lineup to get into the store. She spoke to me, making me turn around, said flat out that she knew I was Bucky but not the Bucky who belonged in that time. I tried to bluff my way out of it, but she wouldn't have it. Told me she read my time travel books and that she thought I was from the future. She figured out that future me was there to protect her and you from the evil people at the fireworks and World's Fair. Ma interrupted us then, asked me to bring her two cases of apples out. She said I looked familiar and tried to engage with me so I went back inside the store. Merton was there and told me to quit my job that day. They sent me to 1943 the day after."
"Did they adjust her memory?" she asked. Bucky shook his head no, then repeated what Merton told him. "We have to go see her. We have to show her that we're together and that I will be her sister for real this time. We should take Rosie with us. We should take Sam as well as she had an interaction with him."
Bucky studied her face to make sure Ariel was on the level.
"Okay," he said. "I'll phone Sam and we'll drive out first thing tomorrow." He looked at his hands again. "There's something else you need to know. She made me promise not to say anything except to you once I brought you back."
"Who and what are you talking about?" she asked.
"Paulina, the woman who was deep undercover, that found you," he said. "She came to 1943, after Steve was changed, to stop May from seducing him. I was to stop Lowell Mason, but he got to Paulina first and stabbed her. Paulina was Peri, from 2173. Her final assignment, she said. I guess it took years to identify all the players."
"I already know," whispered Ariel. "She told me about being my birth mother and I ran somewhere to think. Will found me and told me Paulina was Peri. I was so angry at her for lying to me all those years and he helped me understand that historians have to lie to do their jobs, even if it affects their personal life. It kind of made me realize that a historian at her level had more to think about than just one person."
Bucky nodded. "She gave her life to stop Lowell Mason from changing HYDRA's timeline. Part of me wonders if that was always the main assignment, stopping him, not learning about me."
"Did you know Will was in love with one of my co-workers in 1940? He almost stayed to be with Miss Warren, then he got hurt and was sent back. In that timeline there was no choice but to declare him dead."
"No, I didn't know," replied Bucky. "He was a gentleman about respecting her privacy." He chuckled. "He would be good for Sarah and the boys."
"Did you get back through Hal?" She sat with him, holding his hand. "I mean Paulina died in 1943, didn't she? Did Hal know about her?"
Bucky shook his head. "Only Merton, Victoria Houseman and I, although Will arrived to make the arrests. We had special comms that allowed us to connect with Will in 2142. It was all future security that came to arrest Mason's people."
"I suspected she was a historian while you were in basic training," said Ariel, "but Merton wouldn't confirm or deny it. At first, I thought she was gay because Merton said she helped him through an indiscreet moment in his life. Then I thought she was one of the historians who fell in love with her assignment and chose to stay with him. Peri must have kept tabs on her, kept her as an emergency backup."
"She had one of the newer virtual consoles," said Bucky. "As they were heading to the capture point for Mason, Peri and Victoria talked. They must have been close because they were reminiscing about how Victoria met my high school physics teacher. Before I went through the portal that Will opened for me to go back, she told me to tell you that she was sorry she left you alone at sixteen."
Ariel didn't cry but she still felt the loss of her adoptive mother. That it took years to finally expose all the shadows that threatened the integrity of the timeline was overwhelming still. Bucky held her while she dealt with all the conflicting emotions she was feeling. Finally, she pulled back and looked at him, his dark hair, bright blue eyes, strong jaw and those lips that still gave the softest kisses.
"Paulina told me when she found me that I could have an incredible life with you," she said. "I didn't believe her at first, but I was being kept prisoner at the time and everything seemed so bleak."
He smiled softly and nodded. "It's what I always wanted, and dreamed of, you and a bunch of our kids. There'll be none of that 1940s man who lets you do all the work either. I'm in for all of it, diaper duty, feeding, laundry ... full partner. You need to have a career that you're happy in as well." They kissed, lightly at first, then more passionately and he helped her up. "You're the only woman I ever loved enough to commit to."
"You were the first man I ever fell in love with," she said quietly as they went up the stairs with her by his side. "I had lots of sexual experiences but never felt for them what I felt for you. There were times I wanted to tell you everything."
"I know that now," he replied. "It must have been distressing the further involved you became."
"It messed me up as much as you being with the other women. The guilt I felt for not warning you."
She looked down at the floor as they stood by the bed. "I'll never be with another woman, ever again," he whispered, raising her chin so he could see her eyes. "Don't feel guilty. That was out of your control. What matters is what you and I have right here, right now, and what we do with it."
Reaching up to his neck Ariel pulled Bucky's face down to her and they kissed fiercely. Bucky ran his hands over the soft skin under her top, remembering the curves of her body that he became reacquainted with the night before after 80 years apart.
"Play Ariel make out songs," she said out loud then she giggled. "I forgot, I'm not in 2142. It was a good playlist too, all my favourite 20th and 21st century music. Might not be yours but you never know. There's some Marvin Gaye, Coltrane, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, rock, and other assorted songs that I find sexy on there."
"I like Marvin Gaye," he said, playing with her hair, and smiling that soft smile that she loved.
He pulled his phone out of his jeans pocket and linked it to his Bluetooth speaker. When the music began with Marvin Gaye, singing Let's Get It On, they both laughed. Ariel took her top off and peeled her leggings down while Bucky kicked his boots and his socks off before unzipping his jeans and removing his shirt. Now that they were alone, in Bucky's house, they didn't have to worry about anyone coming home unexpectedly. They had all the time in the world to enjoy each other's body. They had all the time in this world to fulfill what they both wanted in the 1940s. The journey they would take the next day would be another step in reconciling unfinished business from the past.