Marvel What If?- An Autism Story

Figuring things out

Back at the tower, everyone except Bucky was sat in the living room watching Mary trace her finger over the grooves in the wooden tv unit.
She sat in her own world, not even noticing the others in the room.

"How old is she?" Said Nat, asking the first of many questions the team had.

Instead of answering Steve fumbled through his pockets and pulled out an old, crumpled looking, yellow piece of paper.

Nat looked at it before reading aloud to everyone. "Mary Ophelia Barnes, born May 1st 1946".

"That makes her 76 right? She's older than all of us!" Exclaimed Clint, looking quite pleased at the fact.

Steve shook his head and let out a chuckle. "Technically yes, but her mum said she was 6".

"That still seems too old", said Bruce, who was quickly interrupted by Tony.

"There's no way she's 6, she's tiny!"

Mary still either hadn't noticed everyone looking or was just ignoring them.

"They didn't have much food", Steve said again. "But yes, even then she's small. And if it's June now she only turned 6 last month so she's a young 6".

"Are you sure?" Asked Sam. "You didn't miss-hear her or something? Hey Mary, how old are you?" He shouted across the room but got nothing in response. Mary didn't look up from what she was doing, as if she hadn't even heard.
"Can she speak?" He asked Steve.

"Apparently she can, but she doesn't".

"Helpful", Tony muttered under his breath.

"I need to say it just incase", said Wanda, "but is she definitely Buckys? Didn't he fall off the train around then?"

Clint laughed and pointed to the small blonde girl, "really? Did you see her eyes? She may be the exact opposite of him in every other way but they are definitely related".

Everyone agreed but still turned to Steve for more details.

"Well, we were at the camp with Maggie at some point in August and she said she found out around a month later. And Bucky fell off the train just before September 2nd so everything does add up".

Even though he was now safe it still hurt Steve to think about. He could still feel the bitter air on his cheeks, and the cold metal on the palm of his hand as he held on to reach towards his best friend.

And he could still feel the thing that woke him sometimes, covered in sweat and shaking. The feel of the others warm hand as it slowly slipped from his grasp and grazed past his fingertips, sending him hurling down the mountain and into the snow.

If he were alone Steve would probably be wiping tears from his cheeks right now, or going to find Bucky so that, selfishly, he could make himself feel better.
But he was surrounded by the whole team and right now neither of those were options.

He was startled out of his trance by vision who he'd just noticed hadn't been in the room yet.

"Hey vis, where have you been?" Asked Wanda as he sat in the space next to her.

"I've just been processing some information on little Mary and her differences so I may be of use", he replied casually.

Wanda looked up at him adoringly and placed her hand over his.

"Should we not do a DNA test regardless", suggested vision. "We should know for definite and I'm sure it would help some come to terms with the situation".

Steve thought about it and he was right. They should check just incase something came up in the future but it would also really help Bucky.
He's going to take some time to deal with the change and come to terms with everything so knowing Mary is definitely Buckys daughter should help help him do that.
But he wasn't sure if it was possible to get close enough to her.

"Bruce, how intrusive would a DNA test be?"

The doctor scrunched his face and tilted his head slightly as he thought about the question.
"All we need really is a cheek swab from both of them. But at the moment I don't think we'll get it from either. We can work towards getting one from Mary but I think it'll take a while, if we even can at all".

Everyone nodded before Clint asked what would happen next.

"If we need I could always find a suitable place for her to stay", said Tony solemnly. "Someone who knows her needs and who would help her. I'd make sure they got all the checks necessary of course".

Everyone looked around at each other before facing the small girl and every single one of them didn't want to let her go.

"Why don't we wait until Bucky can make a decision, we can't make this one for him", suggested Nat and got a chorus of agreement.

"And if she stays, he'll need all our help, he won't be able to do this on his own", Sam reminded the group.

"All those who want to be part of this young child's life please raise your hand and say aye", joked Tony, lifting his hand.

The room filled with laughter but everyone raised their arms and repeated, "aye".

Sam shuffled off the sofa and walked over to the small bag that sat behind Mary and opened it up. He shuffled the contents about before lifting anything made of fabric out and starting to walk away to the laundry room.

A loud cry made everyone turn to Mary to see her fling herself to the floor and start screaming with tears running down her face.

"What's wrong, is she hurt?" Gasped Wanda with a hand over her mouth

Steve ran over and knelt next to her but avoided touching her, not wanting to make it worse.

"Mary what's wrong little one?"

After a few moments of nothing changing, Bruce got up and started looking through Sam's arms and found a dirty old blanket.
He walked over and silently held it to the red faced child who snatched it and held it close.

She almost immediately stopped screaming and sat back up, never letting go of the piece of fabric. Going back to tracing the patterns in the tv unit whilst chewing on the blanket and sniffling.

Everyone looked slightly confused until Tony smiled and over excitedly shouted, "we are going to be so good at this!"

He got a few eye rolls and a couple of sniggers from the group, making him grin.

"Don't you have a family to see?" Said nat as she threw a pillow at his face.

Steve ignored them and quietly asked Bruce if he could watch Mary for a second. She probably wouldn't be any trouble as long as no one touched her blanket.. or her.

As he was walking down the hall he overheard Tony say, "pepper and Morgan will be here by the end of the week".
That will be interesting with Mary, she's two years older than Morgan yet it probably wont seem that way.
He'll figure that out when it comes to it.

For now, he got in the elevator and went up three floors to get to his and Buckys bedrooms.
No one else had their own floor and two empty rooms sat exactly opposite theirs.
Tony thought it would be best if Bucky had a quieter environment when he first moved in so he could stay calm and also not wake anyone up with his nightmares.
And Steve moved into the room next to his, not wanting his friend to be alone.. or not wanting to be without his friend, he wasn't exactly sure.

But it had been a while since then and the nightmares had got a lot better, he couldn't suddenly switch into the winter soldier anymore and he hadn't had a dissociative episode in a long time.

Steve walked past his door and stopped at the one right next to it, unsure if Bucky was even in there.
He'd get an alert on his phone if he wasn't home by 11pm anyway so he wasn't too worried yet.

He held his fist up to the wood and faltered slightly before knocking quietly. Nothing happened so he knocked louder. "Buck? Are you in there? Can we talk?"

He wasn't surprised at the lack of reply so did what he usually does. "Can I come in?" He asked before trying to open the door.

He sighed, realising it was locked. He couldn't be away from Bucky for this long knowing he probably hated him right now. At least he was safe and at home, that was the thing Steve focused on as he walked back down to the living room.