Love at First Grade

Deleted Scene: Avery Calls Bucky Papa

Life after Bucky got out of the hospital took on a sort of monotonous routine. Bucky had physical therapy in the morning, you dropped the kids off at school, you went to work, you picked the kids up. Dropped Becca off at Bucky's. Hang out for a little bit. Go home. Repeat.

It started out like a regular Friday, well as regular as your life had been in the last couple weeks. You had picked Avery and Becca up from school and were planning on meeting Bucky at the penthouse to pick up some pizza and watch a movie while the girls played together. Becca and Avery were excited about a new game they had started playing at recess that they'd get to play even more at home, they called it Unicorn-Mermaid-Princesses. You got the gist of what that meant. When the three of you got out of the elevator at your place the girls were taking off around the corner to Avery's playroom almost immediately, leaving you to have a few moments of quiet by yourself as you prepared the girls their after school snacks.

You'd been taking the girls to school and picking them up the last couple weeks. Bucky's physical therapy took a lot out of him so you did what you could to make sure he wasn't completely overwhelmed by the energy levels of a six and seven year old. He always seemed especially thankful for your help on the days when his appointments lasted longer than usual. Bucky was still getting used to his arm, he preferred to take it off after a long day of working with it, your assumption was that it had something to do with the fear you knew he harbored about hurting you or the girls.

"Mama, what kind of pizza are we getting tonight?" Becca's voice pulled you from your thoughts as she and Avery entered the kitchen. The girls pulled themselves into the chairs at the counter, taking a brief moment from playing to eat the snacks that you had made for them, already curious about what they were going to have for supper.

"Well Miss Becca, I was thinking we could get anchovies and mushrooms and hot peppers and spinach on all our pizza. What do you think about that?" You questioned teasingly as the blue eyes in front of you widened in both fear and disgust.

"Ewwwwwww mama! No! That's disgusting!"

"You're a monster, mommy! That's nasty"

Twin shrieks of disgust were thrown at you from the kitchen counter causing you to practically double over in laughter. "Well if I'm such a monster...I guess my job...is...to...CHASE LITTLE UNICORN-MERMAID-PRINCESSES!"

The girls screamed and scrambled off their chairs as fast as they could, taking off as fast as their little legs could take them around the penthouse, with you chasing them at an exasperatedly slow pace. Monsters can't run too fast obviously.

When you finally caught up with them, you snagged Becca first. Pulling her towards you and tickling her sides while making chomping noises as if you were eating her. Her squeal in your ear almost made you deaf but you continued playing anyways. Then it was Avery's turn. You picked her up and twisted her upside down, offering a quick tickle to her tummy that had her twisting in your arms and yelling for Becca's help to fight off the mommy monster. You let her down again and they took off once more back in the direction of the kitchen when you heard the sound of the front door closing. Bucky was home.

You picked up your slow paced running again to find the girls once more and you found them alright. Hiding behind their stools as if that would protect them from the dreaded mommy monster. You faked a roar and dove towards them, their shrieks blending together as they ran towards Bucky, who'd just appeared in the kitchen doorway. He'd yet to take off the prosthetic, preferring to do so when he was at his place, when Becca jumped in his arms first followed by Avery. Bucky held a girl on each hip as he looked at them questioningly with an eyebrow quirked.

"The mommy monster is going to get you! Bucky cannot save you now!" You roared.

Avery and Becca clung tight to Bucky but the next words out of Avery's mouth surprised you both.

"Help us fight the mommy monster, Papa! CHARGE!"

You froze in your tracks. Bucky's whole body stilled. You'd both grown used to Becca calling you mama the last few weeks but neither of you were prepared for Avery to call Bucky papa. Avery and Becca sensed something off in the way their guardians were acting and they both scrambled to try and get out of Bucky's arms.

"What did you call me, Avery?" Bucky asked quietly, trying not to scare her, but also wanting to make sure she had said what he thought she said.

Avery's face twisted into one of confusion as she responded, "I called you papa. Cause you're Becca's daddy. And you're my papa. Cause mommy is Becca's mama and that's how that works."

The matter-of-fact tone she used seemed to have broken the spell on you and Bucky. You closed your mouth that you didn't realize had been hanging open and teased, "well, papa? You gonna help the Unicorn-Mermaid-Princesses escape the mommy monster or are you going to fall to my evil clutches as well?"

Bucky reacted with the quickness that only a father and a first grade teacher could and he scooped the girls back into his arms and took off down the hall tossing a yell of, "you'll never catch us, mommy monster! Daddy to the rescue!"