Bucky Barnes' Daughter

Chapter Eleven

Nat brushed my hair as I sat on the floor in front of her chair.   I closed my eyes wanting to feel normal for a moment even if it never lasted.

"Are you nervous?"  She asks me as she finished pulling my hair into a pony tail.  I don't respond so she turns me towards her.  "Fury and Coulson won't hurt you."  She promises.

"I know."  I tell her because I wasn't really afraid of them.

"We should probably get going."  Clint stands in the doorway smiling at us.  "If I didn't know better, I would have assumed you were Bucky's daughter."  I tilt my head to the side confused.  "You look a lot like him."

"She could be."  Bucky appears next to Clint.

"I'm not though."  I assure him.

"Banner could do a blood test and see."  Nat offers and I shake my head.  I didn't want to know if he was my father or not.  I wanted to move away from my past and honestly my father could be any number of HYDRA operatives.

"I'm curious."  Bucky studies me for several moments.

"Can we please stop talking about this?"  I beg as I look between all of the assassins.  No one argues with me and quickly the subject was dropped.  "Didn't you say we were supposed to be going?"  I ask Clint.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Nat's POV:

"Can we please stop talking about this?"  Serenity begs as she attempts to change the subject. It was strange how uncomfortable it made her when we talked about Bucky possibly being her father.  I wanted to ask why she was so worried but then again, I feel like Bucky would feel extremely guilty if he was her father and he caused her so much pain.

"Did you say we were supposed to be going?"  Her voice pleads and Clint smiles at her sympathetically.  Serenity shoulders her backpack and heads towards the living room where Captain wanted to say goodbye.

"Do you have any memories of sleeping with a HYDRA operative?"  I ask Bucky before he can leave the room.

"No but that doesn't mean I didn't.  HYDRA talked about wanting to create a perfect mutant but then Serenity and Lev came around.  I don't think it was a coincidence."  Bucky glances down the hallway.

"We could ask Banner to test your DNA."  Clint tells Bucky.  "He wanted to study Serenity's genetic makeup anyways so he wouldn't have to lie to her."

"But I would be lying to her."  Bucky takes a deep breath.  "Our relationship is already rocky.  I don't want to betray her trust when I just earned it back."

"We need to know though."  I tell him.  "SHIELD is concerned that her father might come looking for her.  If you're Serenity's father, then we won't have any problems."

"What about her mother?"  Bucky seems more worried about a mother showing up than the father.

"We're 99% sure that she's dead."  I reply.  SHIELD has a feeling one of their agents was the mother.  HYDRA captured her fourteen years ago.  The timeline was right and her body was never recovered.

We make our way down the hallway and to the living room.  Serenity's laugh echoes down the hallway.  Captain was teasing the small girl and for the first time since she arrived, it seemed like Serenity was getting a chance to be a child.

Bucky smiled when he heard her laugh and I couldn't help but feel my heart going out for the two.  Serenity was worried about hurting Bucky and she did everything in her power to protect him.  Bucky wanted to make up for all the pain he caused her.  They both were trying to make up for their pasts in different ways.

My mind flashes back to when I was in the Red Room.  Bucky tried to protect me back then also. Now, I was watching him do the same thing but with a girl that was probably his daughter.

"Can we get going?"  Serenity asks as she smiles warmly at me.  I nod knowing she was ready to go talk to Fury and Coulson.

Coulson took over SHIELD a while ago but Fury still approved certain agents and he personally wanted to meet Serenity.  I guess the idea that HYDRA created a perfect mutant was an intriguing one for the man.  Coulson was indifferent to the girls past but wanted to keep her safe from herself and others.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Still Nat's POV

"SHIELD has a file on me, don't they?"  Serenity asks as we exit the jet.  We were on the helicarrier which seemed to make the girl more nervous.

"SHIELD has a file on everyone."  Clint puts a hand gently on her shoulder.  "They know what you did wasn't necessarily by choice."  Her eyes reflect the fear she was experiencing.  I wanted to assure her that there wasn't anything to fear but with SHIELD there was always something to be afraid of.

"This must be Serenity."  Maria Hill appears.  She smiles warmly at the kid who seems to relax ever so slightly.  "I'm Agent Hill."

"Pleased to meet you." I could hear a small Russian accent come through when she spoke.  I hadn't noticed it before now. It made sense considering her first language is Russian. 

"You speak Russian correct?"  Maria asks and Serenity nods.  The agent switches to Russian to make it easier on Serenity.  "Follow me and we'll take you to the director."

"Yes, ma'am."  Serenity replies.  The girl slipped back into the agent HYDRA created.  My heart ached realizing she reminded me of myself when I was her age.  The girl had no chance to make decisions for herself and is now paying for the choices people made for her.

"You're thinking about the Red Room?" Clint touches my shoulder snapping me out of my memories.

"Of course."  I reply forcing myself to move away from the memories.

"When we met her, I thought of the first time we met."  Clint studies Serenity as she talks to Maria. "We're lucky we got to her in time."

"We were lucky she didn't lash out."  I reply.  "But yes, we're lucky we got to her before it was too late.  I hate to think of what could have happened if we didn't find her before Lev did."

"We'll protect her now."  Clint follows the pair as they head towards the main conference room.

"Let's hope it doesn't' come to that."