Love at First Grade

14

Your throat tightened at Winnie's words. You tried your best to talk calmly to the clearly overwhelmed and scared mother. Your heart beating in your ears as you asked her what hospital she was at. After she told you, you hung up the phone and dashed to put on shoes as quick as you could. On your way to the hospital you called Steve. You could barely get your question out, your eyes burning with tears, so Steve just told you that he and Becca were on the way and they'd meet you there, you needed to focus on driving and getting there safely. After throwing your car into park at the hospital you shot a text yo your parents, letting them know that Avery would be spending the night with them because something came up. The automatic doors to the emergency room opened as you practically ran to the desk, probably scaring the poor receptionist.

"James Barnes. I need to know where he is?" It took all your energy to just speak his name.

"Ma'am are you family? We're only allowed to give patient information to their emergency contacts..." the receptionist trailed off as you interrupted.

"I don't care about emergency contacts! My partner was in an accident and his mother told me to come here, now tell me where he is!" You were running the gambit of all the emotions you'd withheld in the last week and we're currently settling on anger. When all of a sudden you heard a young voice cry from the other side of the waiting room.

"MAMA!" Your head whipped around at the voice as you saw Becca struggling to get out of Steve's arms, eventually succeeding, and running full speed to vault into your arms. Cue the waterworks yet again. You squeezed Becca into a big hug and willed the tears not to come but then you looked at her face. Her face that Bucky's gene had essentially said "copy and paste" of his own. She looked tired and sad, but not sad in the way that she knew what was going on. No, Becca seemed more sad that her favorite adults were sad.

"Oh Becca-bug, I missed you so much," you spoke softly as you held the six year old close to your chest. She wrapped her legs around you and held tight.

"I missed you and Avery so much, mama," her voice smaller than it had been when she barreled down the hallway after catching a mere glimpse at you. The softness in her voice seemed to make you realize that she'd stopped calling you Y/N... and she'd graduated to mama instead. Your heart swelled and happy tears came to your eyes. The fact that Becca looked at you like a maternal figure meant more to you than you could unpack in that moment. You walked up to Steve, a sad smile on his lips at the sight in front of him, and he gestured to a room tucked into the hallway. The door opened to reveal a distraught Winnie being tended to by Bex, she'd been in town for Bucky's birthday tomorrow. The second Winnie saw you she bounded out of her chair and pulled you in for a hug with Becca right in the middle.

"Thank you so much for coming, sweet girl," she whispered in your ear as she picked up Becca to hold her close. The fact that the six year old looked a lot like Bucky probably gave the older woman some comfort. Steve cleared his throat from the back of the room and gave a nod of his head to you, gesturing for you to meet him in the hall. As you shut the door behind you, you were almost immediately enveloped in a bear hug by Steve Rogers himself. When you looked up, you could see the tears starting to form in his eyes and your bottom lip wobbled in response, visible proof that you were seconds from having your foundation crumble.

"He was so excited to see you. Called me all out of the blue to watch Becca and I immediately said yes. I've been on the jerk's ass all week to call you and when he finally grew the balls to do it this happened. Hit by a drunk driver the cops said," Steve spoke quietly, not making eye contact with you. You could tell he felt guilty for something that wasn't his fault.

"Oh Stevie, you know this isn't your fault. Not in any way, shape or form did you cause this to happen. It's the drunk driver's fault and believe me, if they're alive we'll be taking them to court," you spoke soothingly, trying to keep Steve calm. He opened his mouth to speak when the doors to the emergency room waiting area were opened. A doctor with dark hair and a serious expression was walking to the room with Winnie and the girls, the two of you eyed each other and hurried back to the room as fast as possible. You opened the door to Winnie telling her to wait while you came back. When you were all settled, with Becca in your lap of course, the doctor started.