Better Love || A Bucky Barnes Fanfiction

- Dancers -

Tony Stark's funeral was one that was watched by millions. Pepper had chosen a church near the city to hold it, allowing cameras and strangers who adored the superhero to watch as his closed casket was carried in by several friends and Avengers. Pepper spoke, Rhodey spoke, a few others did too. Elena noticed that Steve, who was sitting at the front with Bruce, did not stand when the room was opened for others to speak about the hero. Elena understood why. While Steve and Tony had healed their friendship in private, the outside world may have spoken badly about the supersoldier who had betrayed his country for a brainwashed best friend had Steve gone up to talk. 

Elena wished that she was sitting next to him. Her mind was still spinning from the conversation that she, Steve, and Bucky had had the night before at Delilah's flat. That night she had stayed up with her two boys, talking in hushed whispers on the sofa. It felt too familiar, that conversation. It reminded Elena of the day that Bucky had told her and Steve that he wanted to go back into cryosleep, only this time it was Steve dropping such a bombshell. Instead, though, she was sitting towards the back of the church with Sam, who was unaware of what was to come. This conversation wasn't hers to talk about, though. Just as she had believed in Bucky's decision, she would also believe in Steve's. 

So the funeral passed by in a slow sadness, one marred with the facts of what would be occurring later on in the week. It seemed that life was not quite done with taking away two Avengers. Soon, it would take another. Elena looked at Sam who was sitting next to her, stone-faced and grim, until she took his hand and squeezed it gently. He looked at her and smiled, taking her hand with both of his. Funny thing about death, Elena thought as she looked at Sam. Life still promises to come after it, time and time again. 

When it came to burying Tony, only the Avengers and their friends and family remained. Away from the rest of the world, from the cameras and reporters, they had followed the hearse back to the Stark-Potts family home where Tony was to be buried. She had stood once again at the back, this time joined by her lover and their child. While Bucky had declined coming to the public service, Pepper had convinced him to attend the burial and reception. Still, he had looked uncomfortable when he had first arrived with Corrie, letting Elena and Sam pull him into their small group as Tony's coffin was lowered into the ground.

After a solemn moment spent by the lakeside, a wreath of flowers with Tony's 'heart' being pushed out across its glistening surface, Pepper, her daughter, and a few of the others stepped back inside to listen to the last will and final words Tony had saved for those he loved most. Somewhere around the grounds Corrie had sped off with one of Clint's kids, their giggles fading as they disappeared amongst the trees. Elena had watched them go in silence before turning to look back out across the lake. Beside her, Sam spoke.

"Is it strange that I still feel her here?" He asked. Elena shook her head, Bucky silent and still beside her.

"I feel her here too," Elena replied softly. She thought about Natasha, imagined the woman standing with their small trio, either quipping a little comment that would make them smile or just holding their hands comfortingly. Elena felt her chest grow heavy thinking on that last part, knowing for sure that Tasha would've done more than just hold their hands. She would have hugged them tightly, kept them safe in her arms, and promised that things would be okay. Elena so wished that she was here to do that now. Bucky must've sensed this too, because silently he wrapped an arm around Elena's shoulders, hand reaching out and pulling at Sam's jacket. Without the need for words, the group closed in on themselves, arms wrapped around waists and shoulders as they hugged each other tightly. A soft tear fell down Elena's face, one that was not seen by her boys.

Eventually, the small group that had gone inside emerged from the house. The environment around them still felt heavy, but that layer of sadness was beginning to rise. Now people were talking fondly about those they had lost, those that had been lost but had then come back, and those that had always been there. In the distance Elena heard Shuri speaking with a young man around her age, the man she was sure Tony had told her about that day they had spoken about the children they had lost. She heard Shuri laugh, the other man join her softly. They faded from her mind, though, when she saw her daughter run past her, stopping by the deck that wrapped around the house. She was speaking - or babbling - to someone that stood on the deck. At first, Elena had thought that she was trying to talk to Pepper, who only smiled gently at the young girl. It took Elena a moment to realize that it was actually Tony and Pepper's daughter, Morgan, that Corrie was talking to. She and Bucky walked over to them, just in time for Morgan to step down off the deck. While Corrie was technically older than Morgan, she was still stuck in time, still looking like the two year old who had left the world five years earlier. Despite this, though, her two year old self stood at almost the same height as Morgan's four. Elena watched as Morgan spoke, as Corrie nodded, and then as the pair walked off together towards the playhouse that sat by the trees.