"God I need to get my hair cut and dyed again" Alice sighed as she looked in the mirror, lifting her hair up to see her dark brown roots fading it her light purple hair
"I can help if you like" Freddie looked up at her from his phone
"Really?" she looked at him
"Of course, and while we wait for the hair dye to sit we can open some of the gifts that in your dads room, yea?" he walked over to her
"Yea" she smiled
Freddie had gotten back from the store with hair dye while Alice was looking for an old shirt, once she found one she put it on then walked to the bathroom "You ready?" he asked, walking in
"Yea" she smiled, watching as he prepared the dye and got gloves on
"And we're keeping some of the roots brown so it doesn't look weird right?" he grabbed the bottle of dye
"Mhm" she sat on a chair
He nodded and started putting the dye in her hair "Freddie?" she looked at him through the mirror
"Yea?" his accent somewhat showing due to concentration
"If you don't mind me asking, how did you know?" she furrowed her brows "That you were trans"
"Oh, I don't know, being a woman just never felt right" he tilted her head gently to reach a section of her hair "But I think what really tipped it off was me constantly saying 'If I were someone's dad', why?"
"Because I think I wanna start going by she/they pronouns" she spoke nervously"Or they/them"
"Well, we could do that" he smiled at her
"Ok" she smiled back through the mirror
Alice was sitting on the couch, looking at the presents sat beside her, "Well they're not gonna open themselves" Freddie sat down
"I know, just wanted to wait for you incase I started crying" she smiled weakly
"Ok" he sat down grabbing a gift and gently tearing the paper before just ripping it off in one fell swoop
Alice opened one of her gifts and saw a bunch of notes with the first being a small index card saying something along the lines of how Bucky wrote letters everyday she was in HYDRA, grabbing one to read it as tears welled up in her eyes
"Alice?" he looked at her, his eyes furrowed
"I'm fine" she wiped her tears quickly
"Are you?" he got up from the chair to sit beside her
"No" she let out a stifled sob and leaned her head on his shoulder "Hey, it's ok" he looked at the notes she was holding
"Well, can't be sad forever, I mean it's been four months and I'm turning 17 in a month" she sniffled and grabbed another present then started unwrapping it as Freddie looked at her sadly and kissed her forehead then went back to opening presents
"I'll be right back, I have to go to my room real quick, forgot something" He looked at her while standing up then walking to his room with an envelope in his pocket
"Ok" she threw some wrapping paper in the trash
Freddie sat on his bed and opened the envelope to see a note written in quickhand
Dear Frederick,
Please don't show Alice this, I know that I'm gonna die one day, me and your dad, I'm sorry about him, and I hope you find this letter cause, well this message is important, I want you to take care of her, of my Alice, and be there for her, because you and I both know what she's capable of and who knows what she'll do if she loses me and her mother, and even if she won't see any proof about it I know what your dad would want her to take care of you too, so, please do that for me son,
Sincerely, Bucky
Freddie stared at the wall for a moment then started to rummage through a drawer and found a small box and opened making sure Alice's gift was in it then put the note in his pocket before running down the steps
"I got you something" he sat down beside her and handed her the box
"Oh, Freddie you didn't have to-" she started
"Lax, it was Christmas, yes I did" he smiled with a small joke
"Oh whatever, why did we wait so long to open the gifts?" she looked at him while opening the gift
"Our parents died" he spoke quickly
"Right" she nodded then pulled out a necklace that had a moon on it "I love it" she smiled
"Want me to help you put it on?" he asked
"Please" she handed it to him and felt as she put it on
"Thank you" she hugged him with a big smile
"You're very welcome" he smiled and hugged her back and felt as she pulled away to open her last gift
It was a small box that has a small design on it, slight floral design engraved into it, dragging her fingers across the design she opened the lid of the box and saw an index card that said just one sentence
"For the one person I would never want to lose again"
She smiled softly and moved the card to see a pocket watch with a floral design then smiled a bit more while picking it up and feeling the pattern, she opened it saw the roman numerals and their unigue design, the way the didn't look printed, or traced but hand written, she admired the texture that was seen if you looked close enough, hearing each tick
Alice had just got out from washing her dye out then got dressed and walked to the kitchen to where Freddie was "Ready?" he asked
"Yea" she smiled
"Well, welcome to Frederick's quick cuts how may I help you?" he asked jokingly as she sat down
"Short wolf cut with bangs please" she smiled as he put the towel around her shoulders
"You got it"
"Wait- can you even cut hair?" she looked up at him
"Thanks to YouTube, yes" he smiled "I'm sure you'll look nice"
"Ok" she chuckled and felt as he dragged the comb through her hair while grabbing clip so he could section it
"How have your dreams been?" he asked, dragging the comb through her hair once more and starting to cut it
"Not the best, still have some nightmares here and there" she had disappointment dripping in her tone "Oh, I'm sorry" he looked at her sadly
"It's fine, not your fault" she smiled sadly
"I should get a job, maybe work at Lisa's cafe, Lisa's nice" she looked at him, watching as he cut the bangs
"Why would you want a job?" he asked, his accent somewhat present due to concentration
"Because, I hate just sitting around all day everyday, it gets boring" she sighed "And I have to work on my social skills"
"Makes sense, I can't blame you either, my social skills suck" he chuckled softly
"Yea, and Lisa's a nice lady, reminds me of Mama" she smiled
"Yea, I like Lisa, she always knows how I like my tea, and which type of donut I want each day" he smiled back, moving to the back of her head to cut another layer, tilting her down a little
"That's cause you go in everyday asking for the same thing on your way to the store" she remarked
"Ok and? It's a cute, quiet, small family owned business" he started "Why does America have to say store? It sounds so unnatural, 'I'm going to the store, I'm on my way to the store'"
"Oh I'm sorry Mr. 'I was born and raised in Scotland for 8 years and I'm still used to using the British version of American words' that America is full of a bunch of thick twats who want to be different" sarcasm dripped in her voice
"Ah, I'm getting to you" he smiled as she spoke
"Oh piss off" she chuckled
"Never" he joked
About 30 minutes later Alice had got out of the shower after washing her hair out then blow dried it and gave a little nod of approval then walked out to see Freddie at the top of the stairs "Like it?" he asked
"I love it" she smiled
"Good" he smiled back
They were in the kitchen, cooking burgers and fries when they heard a whooshing sound "Did you leave the tv on?" she looked at him
"Girl- no, I wouldn't leave the tv on if my life depended on it" he remarked
"Ok, well-" she started
"You're not going to investigate it" he interrupted "That's stupid white American stuff"
"I wasn't going to say that" she groaned before hearing a knock at the door "You are so Scottish"
"Who the hell is visiting at this hour" he looked at her
"Who knows we're here besides Yelena? And she's in Moscow, she just got there" she raised an eyebrow, grabbing a knife from the drawer and walked to the door
"Really?" he spoke with a hushed town
"Yes really!" she yelled in a whisper "You never know who could be at that door" she opened the door holding the knife against the wall out of sight "Hello?"
"Hi, I need a little help, me and my friend" a man said, a nervous smile forming
"Hold on" she said shutting the door and running back to the kitchen and putting the knife down
"Who is it?" he asked following her to the door as she opened it again
"Who are you exactly?" she asked, a raised eyebrow directed towards the man who looked exactly like the one behind him just a few years older
"Oh right, sorry" the man spoke "I'm the doctor" he smiled softly