With a list of names written in his little brown book, Bucky Barnes is determined to make amends for all he has done. But when he can't make amends with the man that saved the world, he has no other option but to turn to his daughter - Estella Stark.
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Warm hands gripped the cold cutlery as exhausted eyes stared out at the window, essentially losing herself in her thoughts for the millionth time that day. The rain quietly pattered down on the rooftop and against the once crystal clear windows of the little Italian restaurant she found herself sitting in. The sun was setting, though the ever-growing darkness and the rain had not stopped New York City from celebrating the beginning of a weekend. Umbrellas were up, coats and hoodies thrown over the heads of freshly turned 21-year-olds as they danced and laughed along the wet pavement with their friends. Their night was only just beginning; while Estella was wishing for hers to end.
She wished she could live her life so carelessly as she had when she was 21; even if that was a mere year ago. She missed the nights where she and her college friends all planned a night full of booze and partying until the sun rose the next morning, dancing along the streets just like the people outside of the restaurant. She could remember those nights as if it were yesterday, though now, she did not drink booze just because her friends did and have fun. She drank it to drown her sorrows and ignore them continuously, to live a life full of numbness and memory loss, so she never had to be reminded of all the things that made her sad.
"Do you remember when you and your dad would always go dance in the rain when you were little?" Pepper smiled softly as she twirled fettucine pasta onto her fork, eyes snapping away from the window and all the distractions it provided her with. "I swear you would always get sick from it, both of you."
With a frown forming upon her face, Estella lowered her gaze to the untouched food that sat in front of her, still warm, but it was on the verge of growing cold. It felt like her heart had sunk so far into her chest that it had pained her, at only the sound of Pepper's memory that she really did not need to tell. The chill of the champagne sliding down her throat had made the heartache slightly not-so-achy, but it still hurt. She loved her family, but she did not agree to a graduation dinner to be reminded of the painful memories she shared with her father. Again, it was only another reminder that he was not actually here.
"Daddy used to play in the rain with me too." Morgan chimed in with a small smile as her chubby fingers played with the barbie in her lap. The young girl had finished her pizza and free desert, all within the timeframe of her older sister staring out the window blankly. "I bet he would be playing in the rain right now, wouldn't he, Mommy?"
"Of course he is, darling." Estella forced herself into disassociating, desperate to mentally leave the awkward attempt at a conversation starter as Pepper reassured her daughter. Of course, the pair were missing the reality they were in, where in fact, Morgan was completely false. And with Estella having contributing to determined drunkenness further by the minute, her head could not stop her from using her words.
"He wouldn't be playing in the rain right now, because he's dead."
Quiet gasps and the click of metal knives and forks clinking against the ruby red plates echoed her ears, and it was only when her eyes refocused on her own reality that she realised that she had truly made a mistake. Happy and Rhodey looked uncomfortable as ever with the way their hands clung onto the napkins and the cutlery on their plates, eyes flickering between Estella and her shocked step-mother. But it was not their eyes that pained her heart further; it was little Morgan, and the way her big and wide walnut eyes stared up at her with the same pain glinting in her eyes the same day she had to tell the little girl that her daddy was gone.
