Anamnesis [Lacuna #2] {Completed}

Chapter Thirty One

"Alew (n.) a cry of despair"

~Erin~

Erin had never been inside her father's D.C. apartment before. Her father and grandfather had never kept their work a secret from Erin, but whatever they had researched together here... it felt different. Erin felt for a moment as if she had stepped back in time. Erin wondered if Cara ever came here. She was the one that kept the lease on the apartment in the family name, but everything looked untouched. The space must be just as her father had left it the last time he was here. It made Erin feel like his death was suddenly closer for some reason.

Erin pushed the thought away as her and Bucky rummaged through the one room studio apartment. There were two large desks in the living room piled with books and papers everywhere. After their conversation with Steve, Erin knew what she needed to do if she was going to go back to New York to see if she could help Tony.

She knew her father had been doing some kind of research outside of S.H.I.E.L.D. knowledge, but she didn't know what kind of work he had been doing and nothing in Erin's silverware box had indicated anything. It was time to find out just what her family was hiding from S.H.I.E.L.D.

"You never came here?" Bucky asked her as he leafed through a folder from a filing cabinet to the left of one of the desks.

Erin shook her head as she looked around the room. Family pictures lined the walls and there were various frames on the two desks. "They were both so open about their work, I never really thought of whatever they were researching here as secret. I just thought maybe it was overtime for side projects that S.H.I.E.L.D. didn't necessarily want."

Bucky picked up a frame from the desk opposite her. A small smile played on his lips, "You look like Ester, you know." He turned the picture for Erin to see. It was a photo of her and her grandfather from when Erin was 15. It was just a simple picture of the two of them smiling, probably from some kind of family barbeque, but in the picture Erin looked happy and so did her grandfather.

Erin smiled at the picture softly, "I think you're exaggerating. I don't remember her much, but I've seen pictures."

Bucky smiled and set the picture down, "Trust me, pictures did not do her justice. Looking at you now..." Erin looked up from the desk to find Bucky looking her up and down, a smirk playing on his face.

Erin's face suddenly heated up. "James Barnes, are you trying to tell me you had a creepy crush on my grandma?"

Bucky let out a laugh, "No, I just like to admire beautiful things." He shot her another award winning smile.

"You..." Erin had to bite her cheek to keep from smiling, "You are such a smooth talker, you know that?"

Bucky just winked at her and continued to search through the desk. "So, what are you hoping to find here?" Bucky asked her.

Erin turned her attention to the computer on her father's desk. "Anything really. If we're lucky," Erin sat down in the desk chair, "We'll find out whatever my grandpa knew about the Infinity Stones. I think both him and my dad knew more about the stones than they led on. Maybe they were trying to figure out which stone gave him his abilities and... I think they knew I had it too. Maybe he was studying how and why it might be hereditary. Any information we can get on them would be helpful."

Erin turned on the computer. It was an older model, but it lit up just the same. It prompted her for a password, Erin's mind went blank. Of course, there would have been a password.

"You don't know what it is?" Bucky asked walking towards the desk and standing behind her.

Erin stared hard at the computer screen for a moment. The password could have been anything. Erin wondered... She punched in the same combination that opened her silverware box and waited. After a few moments, she was looking at her father's desktop screen.