Bucky Barnes' Daughter

Chapter Twenty-Five

Someone knocked on my door and my head snaps up to meet Nat's concerned expression.  "I was knocking for a few minutes, but you seemed to be elsewhere.  Is everything okay?" 

I couldn't breath as I watched her.  I looked a lot like Bucky but there were some things that I shared with Natasha such as the expression I get when I'm studying someone or the way I smile.  Tears welled up in my eyes.

"Mom."  I whisper as I start crying.  She looks taken back but then she just seems shocked.  "You're my mom." 

"That's impossible."  Nat argues but I shake my head.  "How can you be sure?"

"Do a blood test."  I argue but I was already sure she was my mother.  Bucky appears next to Nat and he seems to have figured out what I told her.  "Bucky always told me I looked like you when you were my age."

Banner takes this moment to appear behind the assassins.  "What's going on here?"  He asks concerned and my parents move so he can come in to see me. 

"We need to do a maternity test."  Bucky informs Banner.  "We're pretty sure Natasha's Serenity's mother."  The room is so silent, you could hear a pin drop.  No one says anything as we all soak in the news.  "Banner, say something."

"Let's get Serenity back to the infirmary, and we can figure out what's going on."  Bucky picks me up in his arms and I lean my head against his chest.  I wanted to fall asleep again but I wanted to be the first to know what Nat was my mom.

Banner drew a few vials of blood and set up an IV because I was dehydrated and in a lot of pain.  I managed to fall asleep again while we were waiting for the results.

"Winter, why don't my parents come looking for me?  Shouldn't they miss me?"  I ask him as he braids my hair.  It was getting long and he insisted that my hair was pulled back before we trained.  

"Maybe your parents can't come looking for you."  He replies and I look towards the ground sadly.  He was trying to tell me that my parents were dead and wouldn't be able to come looking for me.  "They could be looking for you but maybe they just don't know where to look.  Maybe one of these days, they'll find you.  Anything is possible." 

"They aren't alive.  I know that's what you are trying to tell me." 

"I should have thought about what I was trying to say before I said it.  I wanted to say that your parents could be alive but having a hard time tracking you down.  HYDRA and the Red Room try to keep their soldiers under a lock and key."  Winter touches my shoulder gently so I'll turn to face him.

"If I ever have kids, I won't let anyone take them away from me."  

"You would make a great mother someday."  Winter stands up and offers me a hand.  We walk towards the mat room.

"Did Natalia ever have kids?"  I ask without realizing it was insensitive to ask someone if their dead love had kids.

"She couldn't." 

I woke up with a start and I realize I've been asleep for several hours now.  Bucky was sleeping in the chair next to my bed and Nat was standing in the doorway holding an envelope.  I guessed what was in it but I knew all of us needed to find out the information together.

"Daddy,"  I reach towards Bucky and I realize a little too late that I called him that.  Bucky wakes up quickly upon hearing the word and glances my way worriedly.  "We have the results."  

Nat takes a seat on my bed and I move over so they both would be sitting near me.  Nat hands me the envelope to open even though she should be the one opening it.

"I shouldn't."  I hand it back to her. "You're the one who needs to."  She slowly opens the envelope and removes the paperwork.

She starts crying upon reading and I remove the papers from her hands.  It was written clearly in the top:  Serenity Barnes daughter of Natasha Romanova.

"You're my mom!"  I throw my arms around her and she hugs me tightly.

The streets were filled with protesters as they protest a new bill Putin passed not too long ago.  I didn't even understand what was being said, but I knew they weren't happy and our team was sent in to calm the crowds, or put a stop to them.  Whichever was the better option.

I notice the mother and her daughter several minutes after arriving in the square.  The daughter was five years old and looked like a carbon copy of her mother.  The mother held her daughter's hand as they pushed through the crowd.

"Why can't I have parents?"  I ask Winter and he shakes his head before focusing on our mission.  

I thought it was a justified question but I guess I should be focusing on the mission and not my own personal problems.  I catch Lev setting off a bomb.

It would make it seem like a terrorist attacked and give us the opportunity to handle the crowd.  I heard the child's scream seconds after the explosion.  I knew it was the little girl and judging by her fear, her mother was dead.

I push my way through the panicking crowds and towards the noise.

The little girl stood next to the mutilated corpse of her mother.  I wanted to comfort the child but I didn't get the chance.

Lev put a bullet between the eyes of the small child and she falls to the ground.  I step back horrified by my brother's actions.

"Focus on the mission."