Captain America Bucky Barnes Winter Soldier Steve Rogers Fan Fic - The Constant

Chapter Ninety-Three: Burden of Proof

How tired they both are.

"Did we get a letter this morning?" she asks. Arthur is used to how Anna's mind flits around from one moment to the next, from the present to the past. He snuggles her up against him some more and she puts her hand in his. He looks at the wedding ring on her finger, remembers the day he placed it there. There is also a silver chain wrapped around her hand attached to her locket, she has taken it off and is holding it close.

"Yes we did," he lies so smoothly, not to hurt but to please. "She said she was happy and that they are visiting new places every day." He has never told Anna that Freya had been a nurse at the front; Anna believed Freya had been away in England visiting friends of Arthur's. Anna didn't even know there was a war on. Did not know that the only thing keeping them alive with a roof over their heads had been the money Freya sent them each month during that time. "She said she had visited London and seen the palace but said it is not as beautiful as ours in St Petersburg. She said they were parading the horses and the soldiers, that there are so many handsome young men!" And he kisses Anna's forehead.

"And did she say she was coming home soon?" Anna asks, and Arthur's eyes fill with tears.

"Yes she did my love. In a few weeks."

But Arthur doesn't even know if his daughter is alive. The night they took her is embedded in his memory; the sound of the soldiers feet on the stairs, Freya's face as she was taken and pushed into the truck. The choice he had made, to stay with her mother and not try and stop them. He knows he would have been no match for them, knows he needed to safeguard Anna, knows Freya understood, but it didn't stop him from believing that he had somehow betrayed Freya. It did not stop him for crying and praying for her every night.

"I'm so tired Arthur, I miss our beautiful daughter so much, I miss our Freya," Anna says and he looks down at her. Her eyes are closed and he can feel how relaxed her body is. Tears roll down his cheeks and his voice is choked. His tears fall onto her hair.

"Sleep now Anna, don't worry. I won't leave you. I'll wake you when Freya gets home," and he feels her nod. He tightens his hold.

"Tell me again..." her voice is so quiet he barely hears it but he knows what she is asking. It is a story he tells her, one she loves, about a prince who meets his princess and of the beautiful child that they have.

"Once upon a time..."

It is not until the next day that they are found. The scene is a peaceful one. Anna and Arthur snuggled up against the tree, her hand in his. Both so pale, and so at peace. Frozen teardrops on his face and snow in her hair. They agree that Arthur could not have lived without Anna; theirs was a story known to everyone in the town. Before it had been sad; a tale about a man losing his wife to madness... but now? Now the story becomes one of romance. A prince who found his princess, and who chose to die by her side.

*

Pepper Potts: Present Day

Pepper finishes reading the report sent to her by the private investigator whom she had hired to find out about Freya's parents. It had taken him a while but eventually he had found the details buried in the records at the town's local records office, and a newspaper report from the time. He then followed the trail back to the Coroners Office.

It was thought that Anna Bowman, who was slipping into insanity, had wandered outside and become lost to the snow. Her husband had found her but it would have been too late by then. Reading between the lines, it had been felt he had chosen to die by her side. The local Coroner returned a verdict of death by misadventure – not suicide. It is not mentioned where they are buried. He will await further instructions if she wishes for that information to be found. Pepper picks up the small packet that accompanied the report. It contains a locket held by the Coroners Office, found with the deceased couple. The Coroner is happy to now return it to the family.