Coming Home | Bucky Barnes

During

Lillian Kinney, a young nurse of 21, knew it wasn't the ship that was making her stomach queasy or even the horrors that awaited her to a battle wrecked foreign land.

She wasn't delusional. She knew the cost of war. There were going to be a lot of brave men who she would get to know that wouldn't make it back to their homeland. She wasn't naïve when she assisted Doctor Jones in examinations granting young men - boys - she knew around her low income neighborhood in their wish in fighting for their country. Yet as she prayed clutching her battered rosary, despite the fact she long abandoned her parish, she slept a little better knowing that not one of her childhood friends, neighbors, or friends' boyfriends or husbands were assigned to the 107th infantry regiment where she was working as an army nurse... except one.

James Barnes, better known as Bucky, or now Sergeant Barnes, was standing in front of her in his olive brown military pants, brown boots, and white t-shirt. She could see the outline of his silver dog tags underneath his damp shirt soiled by sweat. Gone were his ironed brown slacks and suspenders with a white dress shirt underneath and penny loafers. Lillian Kinney knew the young Sergeant as her family used to live across the street from the Barnes family before her family eventually moved to a more upscale neighborhood due to her father's promotion. However, she had still seen the oldest Barnes boy out during social events as her sister was the same age as him and Lillian was acquainted with his younger sister Rebecca.

She watched as Bucky pushed a sweaty piece hair out of his face giving her a sheepish smile. She knew that the soldiers' quarters of the ship were much more cramped compared to the space of the nurses. She had seen glimpses of the hammocks that men were living on while the nurses actually got beds. Bucky even seemed uncomfortable of his sweaty and grimy skin with his five o'clock shadow covering his jawline. He also kept a notable distance most likely so she wouldn't smell him.

Other than his unkempt appearance, he seemed the same man she knew around the neighborhood growing up, from his dark chocolate hair to the amused smirk that seemed to always be in place that complimented his sparkling cerulean eyes. She wasn't surprised that he would be in the army. Bucky was the epitome of health, one sought after for the army, and she was sure his training as a boxer made him more desirable to recruitment agencies.

"Steve mentioned you were a nurse." He said with a wide smile showcasing his white teeth and his untainted youth.

"I patched him up a few times," The brunette nurse replied with a small smile at the thought of Steven Rogers. He frequently came through St. Mary's for frequent check-ups due to numerous ailments that affected his small frame with the occasional busted lip. She also remembered his eagerness to join the war the last time he came through the hospital, despite both of them knowing on his asthma alone they wouldn't accept him. However, she had her suspicions that he was capable of lying on enlisting cards, in spite of how much of a proper gentleman Steve Rogers was raised as. "Is he here with you?"

"No," Bucky said shaking his head. A rueful smile came across his face before it flickered away, "he is 4F."

"Well, there are other ways to support the war effort." She supplied although a part of her was glad Steve wouldn't face the horrors that await all of the brave men on the ship.

"I said the same thing, but he is too stubborn to listen." Bucky muttered darkly. "How's your sister?" He asked as he stuffed his hands in his pockets. Lillian knew Bucky and Alma ran in the same crowd back in Brooklyn both notorious for their ways at the dance halls.

Now she was frowning and she swiped a piece of her brown hair out of her face and behind her ears. Her family did not support her at all signing up to tend to men overseas and Alma, her oldest and only sister, took it the hardest given her current predicament. "Alma...she got in a bit of trouble."