Resilient

Chapter 18

Evelyn looked at the dance floor below and was thankful that her little incident didn't seem to affect anyone. She saw Tony and Pepper on the dance floor smiling and laughing and internally did a fist pump when she saw Natasha's hair in the crowd and noticed Bruce was twirling her.

"Hey Rocky!" Sam said coming up the stairs and Evelyn laughed at her new nickname.

"Hey Sam. Is everything okay?" Evelyn asked, noticing that Steve and Bucky weren't with him.

"Yeah we got that ass hat taken care of. How are you?" Sam said looking her over to make sure there weren't any serious injuries.

"I'm okay Sam. He only grabbed my arm. But I need to know if I can ask you a favor?" Evelyn said turning to him and continued when he nodded, "please go check on Ken. That guy called him some names and even though he told me he's used to it I want to make sure he's okay. He's more likely to open up to a fellow serviceman than me."

"Of course, I'll go right now. Make sure you get some ice for that hand Rocky," he said getting up.

"I'll take care of it Apollo," Evelyn said and winked at him before he walked away.

Evelyn sat there and flexed her fist. She knew tomorrow she would be healed but she knew right now she had a broken knuckle that was killing her. She leaned forward and grabbed a napkin to rub the blood off her hand.

"I leave you alone for 5 minutes and you're punching people in the face," Bucky said leaning to her ear and laughed when she jumped.

"Hey you're the one that didn't want to cash in your dance, " Evelyn laughed and moved over so he could join her on the couch.

"There's no way I could've broken that kid's heart by not letting him dance with you," Bucky said looking over at Ken who was sitting at the bar getting praised for defending Evelyn, "how's your arm?"

She moved her arm to show him and there were red marks from his fingers on her skin. "I'll live."

Bucky sighed, "guy deserved more than a broken nose for putting his hand on you."

"I didn't punch him because he grabbed me. Nat's been teaching me some stuff, I could've gotten out of his grasp easily," Evelyn said looking at him

"And you didn't because?" Bucky asked eyebrow raised

"I was about to and then he insulted Ken. He said that he was a cripple and to be a good soldier and get him a drink. The way he said made it sound like he was using slur words. I didn't like it - so I hit him," Evelyn said, raising her knuckles to show Bucky who grabbed her hand out of shock.

"Shit, Evelyn you broke at least two knuckles!" Bucky said looking at her hand

"Ken lost both his legs in service to his country. I could see the scars on his face; I can't imagine the ones he hides underneath," Evelyn was looking down at her hands but could feel Bucky's eyes looking at her. "No one who has given so much, especially at his young age deserves to be treated like garbage."

"Who did you know that served?" Bucky asked elevating her hand

"My Great Uncle served in the Vietnam War. My Grandma always talked about how he was before the war and how much he changed afterwards. Not only did he see and do horrible things but when he came home there weren't parades for him and the other men. They were treated like garbage and thrown aside," Evelyn said wiping a tear from her eye. "When my Dad was growing up he didn't really know him because he spent most of his time in and out of jail because he was broken and couldn't fit himself together again. My Grandma was a super stubborn woman who was tired of losing him so she forced him to get help; after that he got better but he never talked to anyone about the War and at times you could almost see the demons he faced. He was such an incredible man and growing up he spoiled me and my sister rotten."