Gail Barnes, pregnant wife of James Buchanan Barnes was thrown back into 1944, pre-D Day England after being too close to a mysterious portal. Finding herself in the same camp as the Howling Commandos she had no choice but to adapt until she could...
On the way to the medical unit Bucky still found it hard to believe what he had learned about Kate. He understood why she had kept things from him. The burden must have been crushing but she had him now to share that burden. He planned to spend the rest of his life taking care of her and making her happy. The next day he was on his way to England, wearing a cast and using crutches. Two days later the hospital ship was on its way across the Atlantic. It was a bit of a rough voyage but he didn't mind as the sea air was bracing and the rolling of the ship didn't bother him like those men who were retching all over the place. He wondered if the super soldier serum had made him immune to the effects of sea sickness. He noticed there was a dog on board that reminded him of Goldy and he asked a porter when they started allowing dogs on the ships.
"Last June, I believe," said the porter. "We had a passenger, a widow. What was her name, Horn. She had a yellow lab named Goldy. She calmed the patients just by being there so the head doctor asked to have a dog on all the voyages, said it helped in the injured soldier's recovery."
Bucky smiled that it was Kate and that beautiful dog Goldy who was behind it. He sent a telegram to his father just before the ship left Southampton, asking him to pick him up at the pier but not to tell Kate. He wanted to see her face when he walked, okay hopped, into the new house. Then when they were alone.... The day after he returned they would apply for a marriage license and the day after that they would be married. He had it all figured out. Then he would go about getting into college to become a lawyer. He could get his degree in three years and make sure Kate had everything she ever wanted.
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Three days later when they steamed past the Statue of Liberty everyone who could walk was lined up on an open part of the ship for their first views of home. He felt a great surge of pride when he saw the Brooklyn Navy Yard where his Dad worked and where he had worked as a dock hand for a time. After the hospital ship arrived at its berth and he was cleared to disembark a porter carried his bag for him while he walked forward on his crutches looking for his dad. Suddenly he saw the grey hair and bright blue eyes of his father, and hurried his pace, hopping the last 5 feet to give his father a big bear hug. The older man had tears in his eyes as he embraced his son in return.
"Bucky, you've come home," he said finally.
His father took his bag from the porter, leading him to the car where his mother and Rebecca waited. His mother cried when she came out of the car and wouldn't let him go for several minutes. His sister stayed in the back and Bucky got in the back seat with her.
"Hi Becca," he said. "I'm home."
"Hi Bucky," she replied as she played with her stuffed rabbit. "Where have you been?"
"I was fighting in the war, Becca," he replied.
She nodded and looked out the window. He touched her hand and she held it for a moment before resuming petting her toy rabbit. His dad placed the bag in the trunk, started the car and began driving.
