Battle Scars (A Bucky Barnes Fanfic)

Forty-Seven

I find Dad in the kitchen washing dishes after dinner. As he finishes the last of them, the hose sprays wildly on accident. And as he's wiping down what got wet, he sees the photo of both him and Peter, with Peter holding his Stark Internship certificate. Dad wipes it off and looks at it for a moment. I knock on the wall, alerting him to my presence. He looks over at me.

"How long have you been standing there?" he asks.

"Not that long, you ok?" I ask walking towards him before leaning against the counter.

He gives me a puzzled look "I thought you said you were going to go to bed"

"We both know I would either not be able to sleep or have nightmares, plus I'm not even that tired right now"

Dad nods, "What's on your mind?"

I sigh, "I wanted to apologize for earlier, for making it seem like I was trying to convince you to do the whole time travel thing. I get it, it's risky and you don't want to take those risks and I shouldn't try to push you. I just let the emotions win sometimes, all the things I've been feeling for the last five years, and I just can't control it."

Dad sighs and hugs me, "It's ok. I get it, It's been a lot for you the last five years, and living half alive like you have been probably doesn't help. It's been stressful for you, so I get it. If there was a way to figure it out to make it work, I'd do it."

I look at him puzzled, "What?"

He smiles sadly, "I'd do it for you and that little boy of yours. You both lost someone very important and Caleb never got to meet him."

"Yeah"

"You know he picked up your band habit, right?" Dad says, trying to lighten the mood a bit.

I look at him confused, "What habit?"

"Talking to inanimate objects. I saw him talking to a picture of the Ma-" He stops, correcting himself "Barnes last night"

I sigh through my nose, looking down, "I didn't even realize he'd ever seen me do it. I try not to do it unless he's in bed." I look at Dad again "It's how I cope, not the best way to try to do that but it's better than some of my old methods"

Dad nods, "I like this one better than your other ones. And I get it, it's comforting to you"

I nod and hug him again before sitting down in a chair. Dad eventually sits at his computer and I watch him out of curiosity.

Dad soon has up a holographic model of something he's working on.

"Look at a mod inspiration, let me see what check out." Dad says to FRIDAY "So, recommend one last sim before we pack it in for the night. This time, in the shape of a Mobius strip, inverted, please."

Dad messes with the holographic model as he talks to FRIDAY.

"Processing..." FRIDAY says.

" Give me that eigenvalue. That, particle factoring, and a spectral decomp. That will take a second."

"Just a moment."

"And don't worry if it doesn't pan out." Dad says and I watch the screen, "I'm just kinda -"

"Model rendered," FRIDAY replies.

In a complete shock of amazement, the render comes back as 99.987% successful. Dad falls back into a chair, bewildered by this discovery. I look at it wide-eyed.