Little Miss America

Chapter One

"Proof that Tony Stark has a heart."
You were stood almost at the front, standing next to Steve, watching the bouquet drift away on the water.
Tony was your godfather and you were reasonably close with him, as you were with all the avengers.
When the funeral ended, Steve put his arm around you and walked away from the lake.
People instantly started saying goodbye as most of them had places to be. You wiped a tear that had fallen down your face and smiled softly.
You made your way through the group and they slowly started leaving.
Your dad shortly walked off with Bruce, Sam and Bucky, so you quickly went to talk to Peter before joining them.
"Hi" you spoke softly as you approached him.
"Hi y/n" Peter returned, wrapping his arms around you the second you were close enough.
You hugged him back and stood in his arms for a minute.
"I'm really gonna miss him" he whispered into your hair.
You took a deep breath and agreed "me too."
You stepped back from your embrace and smiled briefly at May, waving goodbye.
"I'll see you at school" you nodded when facing Peter again.
"I'll see you at school" he repeated back to you.
Then, you walked off to find your dad.
He was round the other side of the cabin, and you saw him stepping up onto the Time Machine.
"Dad! Wait!" you cried, beginning to run so you could catch him before he went.
He paused and watched you head towards him.
You managed to trip over your own feet, and Bucky laughed at you.
"Ugh. Shut up Bucket" you groaned as you got to your feet.
You had grazed your knee slightly, and a drop of blood trickled down your leg, but you ignored it as you went to stand next to Bucky.
He put his arm around you and pulled you close so your head was leaning on his chest.
You smiled up at your dad standing on the portal.
Steve's eyes met Bucky's.
"Gonna miss you buddy" Bucky sighed.
"It's gonna be okay, Buck" Steve assured him.
Bucky had a feeling that he knew what Steve was going to do, and he pulled you closer to him in pity.
"Buck! You're suffocating me!" you giggled, pushing him back slightly.
Bucky smiled at you, but it quickly faded when you turned away. He looked back at Steve, but Steve was avoiding eye contact.
"Hey Bruce, how long is this going to take?" you wondered.
"For him as long as he needs" Bruce explained. "For us, five seconds."
You turned back to Steve with a small grin on your face.
"As long as you need, dad. But I'll see you in a minute."
"Goodbye y/n" Steve replied as he bent down to pick up the hammer.
"You ready, Cap?" Bruce asked.
"You bet" Steve confirmed.
"Going Quantum... 3,2,1..."
He shrunk suddenly, disappearing from sight.
"And returning... 5,4,3,2,1..."
Bruce pressed some buttons on the machine, but nothing happened.
You glanced at Bruce worriedly.
"Where is he?" Sam asked what everyone was thinking.
"I don't know. He flew right by his time stamp, he should be here" Bruce said, studying the portal controls closely.
"Bring him back" you demanded. "Bring him back!"
"I'm trying..."
"Bruce! I want my dad! Get him back!"
"Y/n..." Bucky frowned and your eyes met his as you were holding back tears. He was looking over your shoulder and you spun round to see what he was focused on.
On a bench not far away, looking out at the lake, an old man was sitting quite peacefully.
"That's not..." you whispered, denying what you knew was the truth. "It can't... he wouldn't..."
You couldn't find the right words to finish the sentence.
You didn't want to believe it.
You had zoned out, staring at the back of this man's head, but the sound of Bucky's voice brought you back to reality. "I'm sorry y/n."
He stepped forward to hold your hand, but you walked forward before he could.
You took a slow deep breath as you approached the man.
When you were just a couple paces behind him, you called out. "Dad?"
"Hi honey" the old Steve patted the space on the bench next to him without taking his eyes off the water.
You slowly took a seat, a puzzled expression wiped across your face.
"What did you do, dad?"
"I returned the stones. Then I thought, maybe I'll try some of that life that your uncle Tony was telling me to get" Steve smiled softly.
"But..." you tried to object.
"I took as long as I needed y/n" Steve reached out for your hand with both of his. They were old and frail, but somehow didn't feel unfamiliar. "You know I loved you. But I was never cut out to be a father, so I couldn't give you what you needed."
"Dad..."
"I'm sorry honey. It was for the best."
You couldn't think why he would do this to you, you couldn't understand why he would just leave his daughter like that, but mostly, you just couldn't figure out why you weren't surprised.
"But y/n..." Steve added. "It wasn't an easy decision, I did miss you."
"Just not enough to actually come home."
"I'm sorry-"
"You're sorry" you nodded at the same time as he apologised again. "Yeah, you said."
You were going to ask what he'd done, but as you were looking down at your hand still in his, you realised you didn't need to.
The ring on his finger that had never been there before, it explained it all.
You looked up to meet his gaze and smiled softly.
"Bye dad" you whispered.
You stood up and turned instantly back to the Stark cabin.
Steve didn't even watch you leave; his eyes stayed fixated on the view.
When you saw no one in front of you, you let the tears fall for a second.
You heard footsteps following you, and you quickly wiped your eye.
"Y/n?" Bucky called.
"Mhm?" you sniffed without turning to face him.
"Hey y/n" he grabbed your hand. "Come here."
He stopped you walking away from him and pulled you into a hug.
You let his arms hold you and you buried your face into his chest, but you didn't let yourself cry. Crying wouldn't change anything.
Bucky placed a gentle comforting kiss on your forehead, then rested his chin on the top of your head.
"It's gonna be okay" he promised.
"Yeah I know" you mumbled, even though you didn't believe it.