Flesh and Bone ◇ Bucky Barnes ◇

XXLI: Jimmy Leon

Joana

"Jo, are you okay?" Sam asked.

Joana watched herself in the window. Her reflection was almost someone she recognized. She had stared at her reflection long enough that she knew the gauntness of her cheeks and the hollow of her eyes. She knew the way her braided black hair sat against her shoulders. She knew how the gun on her thigh felt and how hidden it was beneath her clothes.

"Jo?"

She shook her head, turning her attention back to Sam.

"You good?" He asked her again. "We don't have to do this today."

"No, Sam, I'm okay. Let's go."

She stepped back from the window and walked away from her reflection waiting inside. She stood in front of the door, almost unable to step inside, almost stuck once again. However, standing there in the doorway, just like she had 70 years ago, grabbing the door handle and walking through was almost muscle memory.

A bell chimed when she stepped through. That bell hadn't been there before. As soon as she and Sam stepped inside, they were greeted by a young woman.

"Hello!" Her smile was bright. "Welcome. Can I help you with anything?"

Joana's voice froze. She looked around the store. Everything was almost exactly the same. Sure, the clothes were different, but the stairs in the back leading to the rooms and the kitchen were still there. Some of the tables were even the same. Tears filled Joana's eyes. She tried to blink them away, but she couldn't. It still smelled the same.

When it was clear that Joana couldn't say anything, Sam spoke for her.

"My name is Sam and this is Joana. We're looking for Jimmy Leon?"

The woman nodded, her smile never falling.

"Sure. He's in the back mending something. He'll be right up." The woman disappeared behind a rack of clothes and she was gone. Joana turned toward a long dress hanging on a mannequin to her right. She ran her fingers over the fabric first, before reaching up and touching the wood of the mannequin.

A memory of her and Winnie hanging dresses and shirts from these same mannequins crossed her mind. It wasn't a specific memory. She couldn't place the exact time or day, but she knew it happened. An overwhelming sense of home flooded her system.

She walked through the aisles of tables and mannequins and racks. She could see herself, a ghost of a memory, racing through the racks while playing tag with Steve. Joana spun in a circle, watching young Winnie evade Grams with a spool of thread in her hands. Tiny tears dropped from Joana's lashes as she saw herself hiding behind a bunch of clothes, Bucky talking to Piper Johnson just a few feet away from her.

She stopped suddenly at one very specific table. She wasn't sure what was so unique about it until the memory washed over her. A woman with brown hair and a red hat was talking to her. They were both crying. Clothes were strewn across the floor. Steve and Bucky were dead.

Joana squeezed her eyes shut, blocking out the memory.

"Jo-"

"How can I help you?"

Joana turned away from Sam, opening her eyes at the sound of the voice. She wasn't sure what she was expecting to see when she met Jimmy, but she was still taken aback at the sight of him. He had her brother's lips and her father's hair. The nose she recognized, but she wasn't sure if it was Grams' or her mothers.