"Are you sure you wanna do this alone?" asked Sam and Alison nods. She was getting ready to head over to Mercy General to claim Robert's body and have him sent to the funeral home.
"I know its him and we had a talk last year about what he wanted done with his body. He made it very clear that I was not to take his ashes to Niagara. He wanted to be with my mom...now I just have to decide if I want to bring her up here or take him down to Texas," said Alison. Sam handed her a cup of coffee and Alison held it close. Bucky was still sleeping and Steve was talking with Bruce about rebuilding the Tunnel. Steve had told Sam which apartment was hers and Sam was on her doorstep ten minutes ago with bagels.
"You haven't been to Texas since college have you?" asked Sam.
"I went with dad before Rebecca was born and again when she was two. The perks of having a Quinn Jet, We had talked about bring her up here and we just never got around to it," said Alison and Sam nodded.
"I still need to call everyone...I don't know which thing is going to freak them out more. The fact that we're all back from the dead or the fact that you have been a single mom all this time," said Sam looking over to the pictures on the fridge.
"I mean your mom and aunt Sarah made it look so easy. To be fair I missed out on seeing them deal with labor, and teething and potty training and a lot of other stuff that I was not prepared for. They made it look like a walk in the park," said Alison and Sam smiled and took her hand.
"I'm really happy for you. I wish I could have been there," said Sam.
"Me too. I am a little worried about how Renee is going to react. The last time I spoke with her wasn't the greatest," said Alison. You took off after him like a stupid bitch...that was one of the last things she said to me five years ago.
"I was suppose to keep you out the superhero business and I know she's going to kick my ass when I see her...well I'm not sure who is going to kick my ass first. Her or my mom," said Sam.
"Your mom is going to be beyond happy to see you. Trust me," said Alison. Sam nods for her to look behind her and Alison turns to see Bucky coming down the hallway. Alison wonders when it won't be jarring for her to see them both. Bucky comes over and kisses the top of her head. That is going to take a bit to get used too.
"You didn't wake me up," muttered Bucky before going to pour himself a cup of coffee.
"I thought I would let you get a good sleep in," said Alison before taking a bite of her bagel. Bucky nodded and started toasting his own bagel. Sam finished his own coffee and grabbed two of the bagels.
"I'll take one of these for Steve. I'll let you know how that call goes," said Sam. Alison gave him a hug and he left. Bucky sat down with his breakfast and Alison poured herself another cup of coffee.
"Who is he calling?" asked Sam.
"His mom, Mariah. You never got to meet her did you?" asked Alison and Bucky shook his head.
"I really didn't even get a chance to get to know Sophia, Renee or Sarah before everything happened," said Bucky and he stared at his coffee. "I know Renee didn't think too highly of me...I know they had to miss you," said Bucky.
"I missed them too. It's going to be strange for awhile on several fronts for everyone," said Alison.
"That might be the understatement of a lifetime," said Bucky and Alison took his hand.
"Are you going to be ok staying with Steve tonight?" asked Alison.
They had talked until almost sunrise and there was still a lot about the last five years that Alison knew Bucky would have questions about. Alison knew it was going to be a massive adjustment for all them on several levels. He's been around kids in small doses and has always been really sweet with them, but this is totally different. Rebecca knew that she had to be good when Steve and Robert watched her, but there were times she acted up and that is totally normal. She was testing boundaries with them. She felt safe doing that because they have been here the whole time and she trusted them. It's going to take time for her to trust Bucky that way and I hope he understands that.
"To be honest I'm a little overwhelmed myself. I wanna see her and I'm terrified to see her," said Bucky and he studied his Vibranium hand. "I don't wanna scare her."
"She might be a little scared for a bit for a lot of reasons...but we're going to get through it," said Alison. She went over to him and hugged him. Alison felt the metal fingers dig into her back as he stood up to hug her.
"I'll be fine with Steve tonight. I love you and I'll see you tomorrow," said Bucky and he kissed her forehead. It took everything in Alison not to crawl back in bed and take him with her. Not for sex, she just wanted to be held and maybe pretend that everything was fine. Natasha isn't dead, my dad isn't dead and Tony isn't dead...we're just two parents having a lay in before the kid wakes us up.
…...
Bucky poured himself another cup of coffee and sat in the quiet apartment and thought about everything he and Alison had talked about last night. Alison was in labor for over 15 hours. Steve., Natasha and Robert were with her. Rebecca likes the colors blue and yellow. She likes mixed berry jelly and crunchy peanut butter sandwiches. She hates mustard and baked beans. Alison doesn't spank or hit Rebecca. They do time out. Toys or treats get taken away for punishment. She's excited about going to real kindergarten next year. Alison works with kids who lost their families during the Snap. She met Bria at a support group for moms who made it though the Snap while pregnant. She had Chloe two weeks after Alison had Rebecca. Her, Natasha and Steve had weekly dinners at Headquarters because Alison worried about Natasha being alone. She's smart...she's a little strong for her age. Alison said she has to remind her to be gentle with everything.
It was only touching the surface of what the last five years had been like. There was still so much he wanted ask her and yet he didn't know where to start. Bucky got up and cleaned up the kitchen so Alison wouldn't have to when she and Rebecca got home. He went upstairs to Steve's apartment where Sam was sitting on the sofa while holograms of Rhodey, Bruce, Scott and Rocket were talking.
"It might take a week or so to get everything together, but this Tunnel is much smaller. We only need one or two of us to go through," said Bruce. "I couldn't sleep so I started working on it last night." Steve nodded and looked at Scott.
"Tony and I..." and Steve had to mentally regroup after saying Tony's name. "We managed to grab some extra Pym Particles, but we might need an extra set just in case" said Steve.
"I can ask Hank once we get off the call" said Scott.
"Go spend time with Cassie and than ask Hank. We'll see you at the funeral," said Steve. Scott nodded and signed off. Rocket looked at Bruce.
"I have time before we head out to help with anything since...well...since Bobby...Ally probably wants time with her kid and well you," said Rocket pointing at Bucky.
"Thanks Rocket," said Bruce.
"SWORD is trying to clean up what is left behind at HQ. It's probably going to take a bit. Pepper told me to tell them that Stark Industries would be willing to help with clean up costs...she...she's on her way to claim Tony. She wants to have a small service next week at the cabin. Do we have anything planned for Robert or Natasha?" asked Rhodey.
"Clint said he would take care of Natasha's. Alison is on her way to claim Robert. She told Sam that Robert wanted to be with Alison's mother and they laid her mother to rest in Texas," said Steve and Rhodey nodded sadly.
"Take care guys," said Rhodey and he and Rocket signed off.
"Where is Clint? Hell where is everyone?" asked Bucky and Steve leaned back in his chair.
"Clint took the one Quinn Jet that made it through and flew home this morning. Scott and Hope headed back to San Francisco last night via portal. Thor is back in New Asgard with his people. Rocket and his people are also in New Asgard. T'Challa and Shuri and the rest are back in Wakanda. Rhodey is with Pepper and Wanda is still sleeping," said Steve.
"I'm up," said Wanda coming out of a bedroom at the end of the hall. Sam got up and started making Wanda some tea. Wanda sat down and looked at Steve.
"I know things are very messy right now and a lot happened over the last five years...but...where is Vision...his body. It didn't turn to dust the way we did," said Wanda gesturing at rest of them.
"We...had brought him back to HQ. Bruce wanted to see if maybe there was a way to bring him back...but... he got sidetracked with other projects...I think it was too painful for him if we're being honest, but he couldn't let him go. I'm sorry, but he's under the rubble," said Steve. Wanda let out a little gasp and Bucky went over to her.
"They'll find him," said Bucky. It might take god knows how long, but they find him and you can bring him home. I know I wouldn't want to leave Alison under there.
"I just want to put him to rest properly," whispered Wanda.
"We know," said Sam handing her the mug. Wanda wrapped her hands around it and sighed.
"I was hoping to see Alison before she left. She...I knew...in Wakanda...she fell out of the habit of keeping her thoughts quiet. I wanted to talk to her about what happened in the lab," said Wanda. Alison's thoughts were probably screaming that day, thought Bucky.
"They'll be time for all of that. Alison took some of your things from the Compound five years ago and put them in the storage space downstairs," said Steve looking at him and Wanda before he looked at Sam. "I know she took a lot of Sophia, Renee and Sarah's stuff too and put it in storage. Your mom had some stuff in Sarah's apartment that she also put in storage. She also checked your grandparent house in when she had time and tried saving what she could," said Steve and Sam shook his head.
"Of course she didn't mention that on her way out this morning," said Sam getting up and heading downstairs mocking a conversation between him and Alison about saving Wilson family pictures. Wanda shook her head and followed after Sam.
"I didn't have a lot to put in storage," said Bucky and Steve nodded,
"Anything of yours she wanted to keep is upstairs. She did pass on one thing though even though I tried refusing,"said Steve pointing at a display case. Bucky noticed his dress uniform hat was in the case and gave a small smile.
"I did look pretty good in that hat," said Bucky and Steve laughed.
"She kept your books, the record player and the guitar she had given you. I passed on a few pictures to Alison so she could have them for Rebecca. She kept your Howling Commandos jacket...she found someone who was able to repair the sleeve and she had it preserved. She wanted Rebecca to have it someday," said Steve. Bucky sat down and looked over at picture Steve had to them together from before the war. It was hard to believe there was a time when they were really that young.
"If you had told me back in 1940 what was going to happen to us I would have laughed until I threw up," said Bucky. The silence went on for what felt like forever until Bucky spoke up again.
"I'm glad you and Tony were able to patch things up somewhat. I'm sorry that...clearly the Stark Stubbornness only went so far," said Bucky sadly. "Did he and Pepper...they finally settle down?" asked Bucky. Tony dancing with Pepper at Steve's birthday party. Pepper giving Alison that set of drums from Tony's collection after he went to find Bruce. Alison talking with Pepper about Bailey over Zoom and Pepper muttering about Tony being the sweetest idiot she had ever met.
"They did. They got married after Tony was recused from space," said Steve and he shook his at the sentence. Not the weirdest thing we've said to each other, thought Bucky. "Pepper...she was only a few months behind Alison," said Steve. It took Bucky a moment to understand what Steve was saying. He had a kid too. Oh god.
"What did he have?" asked Bucky.
"A girl. Pepper and Alison...they managed to patch things up faster than Tony and I did. The girls get along. They aren't best friends...that's Chloe, but they get along just fine," said Steve.
Bucky had to sit there and let it sink in that his daughter and Tony's daughter were playmates. That was something he hadn't seen happening ever. It than hit Bucky that he might have missed out on Rebecca's early years, but Tony was going to miss the rest of his daughter's life. It just didn't seem fair somehow after everything.
"He would have done it even if it wasn't for Morgan. He would have done it for Pepper...for us...for everyone," said Steve.
"Still...it doesn't seem right," said Bucky and Steve sighed.
"I know...just...please don't let the guilt get to you. Tony and I felt a lot of things about what happened...guilt was one of the biggest feelings and it was one of the reasons it took so long for us to patch things up. There were times I would look at Rebecca and feel so much guilt about everything that had happened. Pepper will make sure Morgan knows who Tony was. Just like Alison would have made sure Rebecca knew who you were," said Steve.
Guilt had been following Bucky around ever since he had gotten out of Hydra. Some days were better than others. The year he and Alison had spent in Wakanda had been the most peaceful he had in over 80 years. I just wanted to come home. We had started trying to make a home together and she had to build it without me.
"Come on...we got get going," said Steve.
"Where?" asked Bucky.
"Alison did not keep your clothes and you can't live in my sweats. Besides...you can't meet your daughter empty handed,"said Steve. At least he isn't trying to talk me into a haircut.
…...
Alison had asked to see Robert's body alone. She knew the Stones had to go back to when they had been taken and she knew the ring would have to go back too. Still she wanted a chance to say good bye one last time if she could. She took the pearl out and recited the chant. She waited a few seconds and she felt that shock of cold run through her and when she opened her eyes and saw her parents it nearly took her breath away.
"We thought you use that," said Robert and Alison shook her head.
"I just had to see you both...one last time," said Alison. She swallowed hard and felt the tears filling her eyes.She felt like a child all over again. I just wanted my mom and dad. Deep down it was all I ever wanted. Jillian sighed before wrapping her arms around Alison.
"We want you to go and see your daughter. Be the parents we never got to be to you," said Jillian. Alison looked at Robert and he nodded.
"Your mother was always the smartest person I knew...next to you. Go home Ally-cat...we're going to be fine," said Robert.
"I'll miss you so much," said Alison. There was never enough time. Robert kissed her forehead.
"We know and we will miss you too. We love you so much sweetheart," said Robert. Alison looked at her mother and she nodded.
"Good bye," said Alison and she put the ring back together. She couldn't see them anymore and she started crying. She felt something cold touch her back and than nothing. Someday...for now...I just want to see my girl. Alison wiped her eyes and left the room. On her way out she crossed paths with Pepper.
"Hey," said Alison and Pepper pulled her into a hug.
"How are you seems like a really stupid question," said Pepper wiping her eyes.
"I mean...do you want me to go in ABC order or like a rating system?' asked Alison. They sat down on a bench in the hallway and Pepper sighed.
"There was a part of me that always knew Tony wasn't going to go peacefully in bed at the age of 90. I made peace with that years ago...how...how were you going to tell Rebecca who James was?" asked Pepper. Alison took Pepper's hand and squeezed it. It was odd to think about the first time she had met Pepper at Stark Tower and she was questioning how anyone could wear heels so early on a Saturday morning. We joked about our anxiety meds and she asked if I could take Tony as a patient too. God we have changed so much.
"It was little things. That he loved dancing. That they had the same blue eyes. That deep down he was a good person with a good heart," said Alison. Pepper gave her a tired smiled and pulled her in for a hug. Alison hugged her back just as hard.
"Thank you...I'm just going to have a private service for Tony at the cabin. If you, James and Rebecca would like to come...if not...I understand," said Pepper.
"I'm about to go pick up Rebecca...James...I asked for a day to let her settle into...well everything," said Alison and Pepper nodded.
"I know...I couldn't tell Morgan last night and I still haven't told her. All she knows is that Uncle Rhodey is coming to visit and that Uncle Happy is going to watch her while I run some errands. How...how are you going to tell her?" asked Pepper.
"With ice cream...at the park. I want her to be in the sunshine," said Alison. "We'll go home and go from there," said Alison. They stood up and Alison pulled Pepper into a hug.
"You're a good mom and you're a hell of woman too," said Alison.
"You also," said Pepper. She took a deep breath and continued her way down the hall. Alison watched her go into the room at the end of the hall before she left. You can do it Pepper. I know how hard it is, but if anyone can be on this path it's you.
…...
Alison had asked Foggy to keep Rebecca out of school today when she called this morning. She told him about Robert and that she would take care of telling Rebecca when she picked her and Bailey up. The drive to Midtown felt stupidly long, the ride in the elevator up to Foggy and Marci's place felt like it took hours and waiting for Foggy to open the door felt like years. He opened the door and pulled Alison into a hug.
"I'm really sorry," whispered Foggy and Alison nodded. Foggy let her in and before she could say anything there was a scream of delight and Alison barely had time to brace herself before Rebecca nearly knocked her over.
"Mommy. I missed you," cried Rebecca. Alison bent down, picked up Rebecca and hugged her hard. "Oh you are crushing me," protested Rebecca.
"Too bad...crushing hugs are in order. I missed you too," said Alison kissing Rebecca on the top of her head. Bailey decided to join the fun and started licking Alison's hands. She sat Rebecca down and gave Bailey head pets. "I also missed you sweetheart."
"Yesterday while I was at daycare we were doing story time in the circle and all these new kids just came out of nowhere and another teacher showed up in Ms. Marsha's chair and Ms. Marsha started crying and the other teacher started crying and Chloe and I played with a boy called Miles until his mommy and daddy showed up and they also crying and Chloe's mom came for pick up and she was crying. We tried to call you and you wouldn't pick up your phone and...where were you?" asked Rebecca when she finally decided to take a breath.
"I was still helping Uncle Steve with the Avenger stuff. I would have called sooner and I'm sorry I didn't. But, that's done for now and we can go home in a little bit. Do you have all your stuff?" asked Alison and Rebecca nodded.
"Go get your stuff alright," said Alison and Rebecca ran down the hall. Alison looked at Foggy and sighed. "We could have done a little better on where people ended up."
"You all did an amazing thing...it was jarring...not going to lie, but I got to see Matt and Karen. We got to hug and..." Foggy hugged her again. "Thank you so much."
"Thank you for keeping my babies," said Alison. Foggy helped carry Bailey's things down while Alison handled Rebecca, Bailey and Rebecca's things. She got them in the car and turned to Foggy.
"Maybe a nice dinner together before we hit the town," said Alison and Foggy nodded.
"We can do that...take care," said Foggy.
"You too," said Alison. She got in the car and listened as Rebecca told her what she had done that week at school, about how Bailey started licking the water out of the dishwasher when Marci was loading it and all the other little things she had missed while trying to fix the world. She can do this with Bucky and Sam and all the people love...that's why I did what I did...
"Is Grandpa at home? I want to tell him about Miles and the new kids," said Rebecca and Alison took a deep breath.
"Actually we're going to get some ice cream and take Bailey to the park before we go home," said Alison.
"Yeah," cried Rebecca and she started singing to herself and Alison felt her heart start to twist. There was an ice cream place near the dog park that also sold pup cups. Alison got Rebecca a chocolate swirl, she got herself a strawberry and Bailey a pup cup special-extra Milkbones on vanilla ice cream. She handed Rebecca her ice cream and sat the small bowl down in front of Bailey before starting on her own ice cream. All around the park were people gathering and the all looked to be trying to process everything that happened. Alison let Bailey off the leash and she started running around the enclosure while she and Rebecca sat at near by table.
"Why is everyone crying?" asked Rebecca and Alison looked over to see a group of ten to fifteen people just hugging and crying. They had passed several groups of people doing this or just being in stunned shock looking around.
"Well it's happy crying sweetie. They're just so happy that they're crying," said Alison and Rebecca looked at her like that was a crazy thing to happen to a person. "Hey...we need to have a big girl talk," said Alison and looked Rebecca in her eyes. It took Alison a bit to explain in four year logic that she and the others had gone back and got the Stones and brought people back which is why so many people were happy crying.
"Oh...does that mean you brought back...you brought back daddy?" asked Rebecca. She looked confused and curious. She doesn't know him, she never met him.She doesn't know how she's supposed to feel.
"Yes...yes we did. He's with Uncle Steve right and Uncle Sam and our friend Wanda," said Alison. We still have to find everyone else.
"Is Grandpa still going to live with us if Daddy lives with us too?" asked Rebecca and Alison took a deep breath.
"No sweetie and it's not because he wouldn't want to stay with us. While we were trying to get the Stones...there were some accidents and Aunt Natasha...Grandpa and Tony...they died while we were trying to get them so we could save everybody else. We can't use the Stone to bring them back like we did with the others. They were very brave and they would be ok if we were both happy and sad about all of this," said Alison and she wiped her eyes.
"Are you happy and sad?" asked Rebecca looking at her now more confused.
"Yeah. I'm sad because I'm going to miss them all very much, but I'm also happy that we got your daddy and a lot of our other friends back. I'm happy that all those kids came back to your school and that their mommies and daddies got to see them again. It's a lot of big feelings and its ok to have them all and to not understand all of them," said Alison.
"Oh," said Rebecca and she pulled herself into Alison's lap. Alison put her head on top of Rebecca's and kissed it. Rebecca was getting the ice cream on her shirt, but who cared. My sweet girl. It's going to be alright...someday.
"I know that in a few days Pepper...Morgan's mommy is going to have a funeral for Tony. A funeral is one of the ways we remember the people we lost. I know I wanna have a dinner to celebrate Grandpa after we find more of our friends and get settled in more. I don't know what they're going to do for Aunt Natasha, but we can remember her in our own way. We could plant a tree and watch it grow. Or remember when your class bought a star, we can do that and name it after her or..."
"Dance party," said Rebecca looking up at her.
"Dance party?" asked Alison and Rebecca nodded.
"She showed us all the dances she knew. She made Uncle Steve shake his butt," said Rebecca.
Natasha turned her playlist on and Bills, Bills, Bills started playing. Alison had never figured Natasha for a Destiny Child's fan. Natasha picked Rebecca off the floor and swung her around before putting her on hip and singing along to the song.
"Rodgers stop being a stick in the mud and dance with us," ordered Natasha. Steve eyed them with a small grin. Natasha handed Rebecca over to Alison and went over to Steve and pulled him out of his chair.
"If you don't dance with us I swear I will fight you," said Natasha. He swayed in his spot and Natasha rolled her eyes. "Come on...shake your butt...I've been bored all week here. Shake it," teased Natasha. With that Steve proceed to shake his backside and Alison nearly doubled over with laughter.
"Yeah. We can have a dance party," said Alison. Rebecca snugged closer to her and Alison rubbed her back.
"I'm going to miss Grandpa. I feel sad for Morgan," said Rebecca softly.
"Me too love," said Alison. The ice cream was going through her shirt now and also Rebecca's tears. Alison pulled her close and let herself cry as well. At least they weren't alone with their tears.
…...
Bucky stared at the bears and frowned. The kid had so many toys it seem unreal to buy her another toy. Steve eyed him, looked at bears and looked back at him.
"She's not picky. Trust me. I watched her play with a box for two hours one Christmas," said Steve.
"I was not aware that the Great Depression mindset would be passed on genetically," said Bucky.
"She said it was her boat house," said Steve and Bucky sighed.
"I want it...I want it to be special. I'm seeing her for the first time ever and I want something that stands out," said Bucky. She's worth more than a three dollar bear. Steve nodded and they left the toy store. Bucky shoved his hands in his coat pockets and walked next to Steve. She turns five next month. I was a little older than her when my dad walked out. Its weird to be walking back in for the first time.
"Maybe you and Alison can go with Rebecca and pick something out together," suggested Steve and Bucky shook his head. He wanted to do this and some part of him needed to this. I'm supposed to be her father. My dad never got me anything unless it was a smack upside the head.
"Alison said they read a lot," said Bucky recalling what Alison had told him and Steve nodded.
"There's a bookstore down the street," said Steve.
"We used to go to the library all the time when we were kids," said Bucky and Steve smiled a little bit.
"It was one of the few times I remember you and Rebecca being quiet as kids," said Steve.
Bucky snorted and remembered how his mother would sit with him and read after she had put Rebecca to sleep and later she would curl up with both him and Rebecca and read to them until they were too big. She could be flat out exhausted and would still read to him curled up in the tiny bed. I want that with my kid.
They entered the bookshop and an old woman with pink and gold hair came up to them and introduced herself as Lis. When Bucky explained he was looking for books for his daughter and Steve added that he was just coming home after the Snap the woman's whole face lit up and ushered them over to the children's section. She pointed out several books that she had gotten for her children and grandchildren.
"If you have any questions please let me know," said Lis before going back to the front.
"She had a book about dragons and tacos," said Bucky looking through the books and Steve started pulling books off the shelf and looking through them.
"You could have gotten her a stuffed dragon," said Steve and Bucky rolled his eyes and kept looking through the books.
"I think I saw one in her room already," said Bucky. He pulled one off the shelf called Do Not Bring Your Dragon to the Library and set it aside as a possibility. Bucky kept looking and found one called Willow and Bunny. Bucky liked the artwork and started flipping through the book. It was simple-it was about a rabbit just trying to find a home and how after the home was damaged trying to rebuild the home after a storm. I know all too well what's it's like to rebuild after a storm.
"Buck?" asked Steve and Bucky pulled himself back.
"This one," said Bucky putting the other book back and heading for checkout and Steve paid for the book since well any money had gotten during his time before was now frozen by the government and well he hadn't needed money in Wakanda.
"I owe you," said Bucky and Steve shrugged and put a stuffed bunny on the counter.
"It will match the nightlight Alison got her and the book," said Steve. The lady smiled and bagged the items.
"You can never have to many stuffed animals," said Lis handing them the bag. They thanked her and headed out.
"Do you think it went alright with Alison and Rebecca?" asked Bucky.
"I hope so. She's a smart kid and well she has a good mom," said Steve. Hopefully I'm just as good as she in the parent department.
…...
Alison tossed the ice cream stained shirt in the wash and pulled on her favorite hoodie. Rebecca was curled up on the sofa sipping an apple juice and sharing a bowl of popcorn with Bailey. They were watching the first season finale of Sailor Moon and she and the Scouts were fighting Queen Beryl. Why couldn't it have just been one Stone. Life would have been easier if it has just been the Silver Crystal.
Alison went and curled up on the sofa next to Rebecca. So far Rebecca seemed to be doing alright. Alison knew that when her own mother died she had been too in shock to cry at first and than really the only time she had been allowed to cry openly was at her mother's funeral. Her grandfather had always told her she needed to be tough. When it had come time for father's 'funeral' at ten she had been too worried about causing a scene and upsetting her grandfather. He wasn't a bad person, he just wasn't ready to a five year old girl in his life full time. He didn't know how to deal with feelings because he never had his own...well unless you count mad...annoyed...proud. Maybe hungover is a feeling.
"They don't remember each other," cried Rebecca and she seem really distressed by this. At least this has an easy fix.
"Hey...small spoiler...it's not forever," said Alison and Rebecca smiled at her and went back to enjoying the popcorn. Bailey put her head on Alison and she gave the dog another piece of popcorn.
She had asked a few questions after they had gotten home. Where do dead people go? Depends. Some are buried. Some are cremated. Some people donate their bodies to science. What about Grandpa's room? We can keep as it is for a bit. We can pick some things to give to his friends like Rocket to remember him by-like I had for my friends. Can we keep his blanket. I liked it. Yes we can keep that. They had never really gotten into religion so at least she was going to be able to skip over the afterlife questions for now. Alison had been brought up Catholic and like most Catholics she was out of the habit. Well so is her father so at least we might be on the same page for that.
"Mommy...when are we going to see daddy?" asked Rebecca.
"Oh. I thought you would like to see him tomorrow," said Alison.
"Why?" asked Rebecca. I thought you would be overwhelmed by everything.
"I really don't know. If you want I can call Uncle Steve and see if we can go see them," said Alison and Rebecca nodded. Alison picked up her cell and went into the kitchen to call Steve.
"Hey," said Steve picking up the phone.
"Hey. So...she wants to see him. Would he...would he like to see her?" asked Alison.
"I'm sure he would, but let me ask," said Steve. He put the phone down and she heard Steve talking in the distance. He picked the phone up a few moments later. "Yeah. Come on up." The ended the call and Alison went back to Rebecca.
"Hey. You wanna come upstairs with me? Someone wants to see you," said Alison with a small smile. Alison took Rebecca by the hand and they took the elevator upstairs. It was only than Alison noticed that Rebecca had ice cream on her shirt and that her hair was a little messy. Shit. Well...he is her father and she's not a doll...she's going to be messy...in a lot of ways.
Alison felt Rebecca's grip tighten on hers and she squeezed her hand reassuringly. She knocked on Steve's door and he opened the door.
"Come in," said Steve. They walked in and Alison saw Bucky was standing by the window. He was dressed in jeans and a long gray shirt. His metal hand caught the light for a moment and he quickly put his hand in his pocket. Rebecca looked at him and the grip on her hand got even tighter. Alison knelt down and put her hand on Rebecca's back.
"Sweetie. There is someone I want you to meet," said Alison.
…...
Bucky felt frozen to the spot when Alison walked in with Rebecca. It was like seeing his sister again as a little girl, but different. Rebecca's eyes caught on his metal hand and he quickly put his hand in his pocket. She looked up at him wide eyed and Bucky didn't know what to do. He saw her hand grip Alison's hand and he swallowed hard. She wasn't scared of him, but she wasn't sure what to do. Alison knelt down and put a hand on her back.
"Sweetie. There is someone I want you to meet," said Alison. Rebecca looked at her and Alison gave her a nod. Rebecca let go of her hand and went over to him slowly. He locked eyes with Alison and she gave him the same nod. He took a deep breath and bent down so he was at her eye level.
"Hi," said Rebecca softly.
"Hey," said Bucky and he reached out with his right hand. She looked back at Alison and she nodded again. Rebecca reached out and took his hand. There was so much he wanted to say and it was just stuck.
"I um...I got you a gift," said Bucky and he reached over to the table and held out the bag. Rebecca looked again towards Alison.
"It's alright," said Alison softly. Rebecca took the bag carefully and opened it. Bucky watched her eyes light up and she took the book out and the bunny out.
"Thank you," said Rebecca. "Can I give you a hug? We're supposed to ask first," said Rebecca looking over at Alison. Bucky over Rebecca's head at Alison and made a face. Why is this a thing?
"Yes. We ask first when we're meeting someone new because they might not wanna hug," said Alison and she gave him a look back that she would explain this later. Rebecca carefully hugged him and he could tell she was still a little unsure about it. Bucky also took a beat before taking his hand out of his pocket and hugging her back carefully. She was so damn tiny and he was responsible for her. I don't think my dad ever hugged me. I didn't think I would ever have you. Tears burned in his eyes and Rebecca looked at him confused.
"Are you happy crying?" asked Rebecca.
"Yeah...yeah I'm happy crying. It's very nice to meet you," said Bucky. I wish it had been sooner.
"So did you really like goats?" asked Rebecca.
The book Willow and Bunny is by Anitra Rowe Schulte
Thoughts are always welcome