Bound By Purpose

Not Afraid

August 12th, 1935

"Make sure you bring your arm up further to block that hit, you get hit there you go down and it's very unlikely you could recover." My dad says drawing back before delivering the blow. I take the second to catch my breath and then get back to work ducking and weaving in between his half heartened kicks and punches. Training has been the highlight of the summer. This is the last one before I have to start being a little girl again and go back to school. I'd been encouraged by some of father's coworkers to get involved in the SSR. My father had been making his way in unit and now he works near the top. My father took the idea of me joining in stride and has started to prepare me for some of the work they do there, including some self defense and strategy analyzation. 

Summer has been rather boring. I haven't seen Bucky or Steve near as much as I wanted to. We moved as soon as school let out and were gone upstate until yesterday. I missed spending time with the boys on Steve's birthday and missed being home on my own. Being on vacation gave me the opportunity to train harder though. Whenever mom was away I learned how to handle a gun and trained like a soldier. Now I'm touching up on hand to hand combat trying to be quiet enough to not gain the attention of my mother who has been less than thrilled with the idea of following in father's footsteps.

"You can never go into a fight afraid. The fear will over take you and you'll be even more vulnerable." Dad finishes stepping off of our makeshift mat in our basement.

"Who says I'm already vulnerable"

"The world." He says letting his hands drop. 

I roll my eyes. "Again with that dad. I don't care what the world believes or thinks about a woman fighting. I'm good enough to do anything I want." My dad chuckles as I wave him back on the mat.

"I know you are. But If you want to beat this world you'll have to work three times as hard to get anywhere." 

"Stop talking old man, and let's get this show on the road." I take a step back raising my fists to to taunt him forward.

The training session goes on for a few more minutes until my mom calls us for dinner. I sneak up the backstairs and to my room. I slide off my pants and t shirt, and throw on a nicer blouse and skirt. I brush my hair back into a bun and then wipe off the sweat from my face. I check the mirror one last time, presentable. I slip into my flats by the door and then run into the hallway hopping on the banister and sliding down the stairs into the entryway. I hear voices coming from the dining room as I come around the corner. I run right into Bucky's back, crunching my nose against a shoulder blade. 

I immediately move my hand to my nose to see if it cracks and luckily it doesn't. "Woah guys. I didn't know you were coming." I wrap one arm around Bucky as he apologizes, and the other around Steve. I kiss them both on the cheeks and then finally release them. I know that their respective summers have probably been tough. They both had to get jobs to try and help their families. I can tell they are tired by the way their eyes don't shine. They try their best to hide it by smiling but I can see through them. "I just missed you guys so much." I say with a huge grin, hugging them again. I'm so lucky to these two in my life, I don't know how I'd survive without them.