Faultless {Short Stories}

Father's Day

Father's Day in the Rogers household was never celebrated. Steve barely remembers his father, Mary has hardly any memory of Joseph Rogers. The memories she does have of her father, are not pleasant. Alcohol infused memories riddle her mind whenever she thinks of her father. Steve was the only male influence she had growing up. Until they met the Barnes family. Up until 1938, Mary and Steve had their first father figure, George Barnes. He was a lively man that loved deeply. He cared for the Rogers siblings when no one else would, and his son took it upon himself to befriend and protect the frail siblings.

But when George died, they stopped celebrating Father's Day once more. The siblings had been through the loss of their parents, and losing their first father figure was devastating to them. So they pushed it aside. Father's Day for them was just another Sunday where they sat in the back pew of a small church they could attend. That was their tradition. But Bucky wanted to prove it could be something better.

It had gotten slightly better when Steve and Mary joined the Army. The sister had been taken under the wing of Doctor Abraham Erskine, a mentor and father figure for the new nurse. She felt deeply connected to her precious mentor and he saw her as the daughter he had lost. Both of them seeking comfort and a sense of family within the other. Steve had also taken to having a close bond with the Doctor who would change his life. He saw a father in the man, something he had never had before other than George Barnes. But Abraham also left them much too quickly. And the siblings went back to what they had known all their lives. That they were simply not going to have a father in their lives.

So when Mary and Bucky were married during World War II, the wife had become hopeful, that she could finally celebrate Father's Day. The day for her husband to be loved by his children, and when she realized she was pregnant, she was ecstatic. But all of that changed when Bucky fell off the train, leaving Mary alone with their unborn child.

Mary had birthed Rebecca Sofia Rogers, the beautiful brunette spitfire with her father's crystal blue eyes on November twenty-second, 1945. Father's Day took on a new meaning for the new mother the first year it came around. Her daughter, not even a year old, had six father figures in her life. The Howling Commandos, the day Becca Barnes was born, they decided they would fill the roll of father for their precious Baby Barnes. To hopefully make their Sergeant and Captain proud.

But it wasn't just the Commandos that wanted to fill the empty roll of father for their special doll, but Howard Stark as well. He vowed that his goddaughter would know who her father was, but also not lack a father in her life for as long as he lived. He spoiled his princess until he couldn't. Anyone who knew Howard Stark, knew that he was a packaged deal when Becca came to visit the labs of Stark Industries. The two, even as a baby, were joined at the hip whenever possible. He thrived in being a father figure to Becca. And it made Mary see Father's Day in a new light.

But it only lasted five years.

When Becca was taken, Mary's world shattered. She was broken beyond repair, and no one knew how to help her. It took two decades for her to come to terms that her daughter was gone. She was a shell of the person she was during those decades, going through the motions of her new life without her husband, brother or daughter by her side. And the worst of it all? She was forced to watch her precious friends, her created family age while she stayed frozen in her twenty-three year old body. She had to bury each Commando. She buried Howard and Maria with her godson by her side.