The Earth's Child: A Bucky Barnes fanfiction

The Rose

"So, you didn't want your boyfriend to chase you, you didn't think your sister would care. Fair enough. But your father? You thought he would forget you too, didn't you?"

Everyone literally jumped when Nick Fury appeared in front of the elevator.

"Director," said Bella, smiling politely at him.

"Daughter," said Fury, asking Bucky to shift with his eyes.

Bucky arrogantly stayed glued in place beside Bella, so Fury sat on the other side of her.

"Finally," said Steve, "you finally made the time to visit her."

Fury glared at Steve, and unbelievably, Captain America raised his eyebrows and looked down, making a mental note to learn that glare to use in front of enemies.

The awkward silence was broken by Sam when he asked Fury if he wanted any breakfast. He nodded so Sam started cooking and T'Challa went to the counter to help him.

"I thought I had lost you," said Fury, shifting slightly so he could look straight at her.

"You trained me, Director," said Bella, "it was obvious I would live through that."

"I have something of you. Something I regretted taking from you the day I heard you were missing. Here."

Fury reached into his pockets and brought up something small. Bella opened her hand and Fury placed it lightly on her palm.

A red paper rose.

"You kept it? After all this time?" asked Bella, looking at the rose like she was staring at a holy deity.

"Of course, I did. I wanted to punish you by letting you know what it felt like to lose something you loved. Now, after I thought you were dead, I realised that that is not something I want you to go through."

"This rose," started Bucky, trying to take it from Bella but she closed her fingers, "was from Jonathan, wasn't it?" The fact that Bella closed her fingers and didn't let him have the rose didn't go unnoticed by him, and he stared at the floor, slight sadness gripping his insides.

"Yes," said Bella, "he had left it on Nina's grave along with a bunch of real ones. He said he would love me till the last one withered. And it's still as good as new."

"Why would you take this from her?" asked Bucky, scowling at Fury unflinchingly. "Haven't you hurt her enough? With all the goodbyes?"

"I am sorry" said Fury and Bella's jaw dropped.

This wasn't a sarcastic tone. Fury's voice was dripping with regret, every word coated with a thin layer of apology. The entire room became uncomfortably quiet as Natasha finally spoke up.

"What did you just say?" asked Natasha, her voice slightly shrill from surprise.

"You will not catch me dead repeating it," said Fury, staring daggers at the red-haired Russian assassin.

"What are you sorry for?" asked Bella as she handed the rose to a very surprised Bucky. Steve looked at his best friend as Bucky's face lit up like a Christmas tree and for a second, he saw the 40's Bucky smiling the sweetest smile that Steve could think of. It only lasted a moment but Bucky knew that Bella handing him the rose meant a lot to her.

"For everything," said Fury.

"Why didn't you tell me about him?"

"I didn't want you to lose faith in humanity. If, at that tender age, I had told you that Jonathan and Diana were not even real and that they were spies, would you have ever been able to trust anyone? Would you have fought for humanity the way you do today? Would you have risked your life to save Bucky's even though he too was a member of Hydra?"