The Brother, the Boy, and the Shoe || B. Barnes

Letters and Nurses

As the new year began, the Commandos had found themselves in their remaining days in the safe house. The Christmas tree Allie and Bucky had brought into the house had begun to die, needles falling onto the floor. It had been disposed of when Allie had complained to Dugan that she was sick of being the only one that cleaned up the needles.

One morning, Allie took to cooking breakfast as she did each day, happily bringing out the food as she heard footsteps entering the room and a chair sliding out from the table. She turned around to see Bucky sitting down and placing paper and a pen on the table.

"What are you doing?" Allie looked over at Bucky as she began to cook breakfast.

"Well, I was thinking about what you had said. You know, about writing back home," he sighed. "Figured I should send them a letter before we leave here."

"They'll like hearing from you," she nodded.

The kitchen was filled with the sounds of sizzling food on the stove and the scratching of a pen against paper. Parting from the food for a moment, Allie started a pot of coffee, turning to grab the plates for breakfast from a cabinet. Small clinks of the utensils against the plates added to the ambience of the room, something that seemed to bring both Allie and Bucky a sense of comfort in the morning. Upstairs, doors began to open and close, thunderous sounds of men walking around sounding through the house.

"Allison?" he listened to the footsteps that threatened to pound down the stairs as he looked at her. At the hum from her lips, acknowledging him, Bucky swallowed harshly and looked to the paper he had. "Would you want to write something as well? I'd send it with mine."

"What?" she looked at him with widened eyes, placing a full plate of food in front of him.

"Well, they're your friends. And it would make sense to send them anything we wanted to at the same time," he shrugged. "I have extra paper if you want to. Just let me know."

Allie found a small smile tugging at her lips as Bucky pushed the paper and his pen to the side. She continued to fill up the plates full of food for the men as they all began to flood into the kitchen. Good mornings were exchanged, Steve jumping to help Allie as she finished setting food on the table. When she believed that no one was watching, Allie would glance at Bucky and watch him as he thought of what else he could write.

The room was warm and filled with life as the Commandos began to laugh and make jokes. Steve looked to his men and his sister throughout breakfast, happy to see that tensions had lessened over the few weeks that they had been in the location they still sat in. After breakfast, the men had all separated to go back to their rooms, some readying themselves for the day. Allie and Bucky again became the only two that remained in the kitchen.

"James?" Allie's voice was soft as she walked up to him.

"Yes?" he looked up at her glancing to the blank paper beside him. "Would you want to write home to them?"

"Yes," she nodded, I would.

"Alright," he nodded, pulling the chair out beside him for her to sit in. "Here."

Allie took the seat, thanking Bucky as he handed her a pen and placed blank pieces of paper in front of her. Grinning at her, he asked her what she would write, only receiving a small shrug of her shoulders in return. She set off to writing, Bucky glancing over her shoulder to see if he could read what she had written. Looking over at him and laughing, she told him to look at his own letter.

From the other room, Steve was preparing to leave to meet with Howard Stark and the S.S.R. regarding the current plans for where the team would be going. He heard the laughter in the kitchen, glancing in when the two weren't paying attention. It was odd, but comforting, to know that the two had found moments that they were friendly to one another. He had just wished that it had been like this back home in Brooklyn.