The Soldier of Summer: Book 1

Chapter 17

   Bucky's P.O.V. While Auriana was in the hospital

   When I dropped Auri off in the hospital, they made us leave the room. But luckily, they had a window into the room on the other side.
   They were removing to bullet from her arm when Steve walked up behind me.
   "How you doing, Buck?"
   I looked at him in bewilderment. "Gee Steve, I don't know. I have a daughter. A daughter that I had no idea that I would ever be able to have. And now, she's dying right in front of me. So yeah, I'm doing great Steve."
   Natasha came up to my right side and stared into the window.
   "She's not going to die," she smirked. "She's going to be fine."
   "How do you know, Nat? She lost so much blood on the van, she could already be gone," I said to her.
   She rolled her eyes. "Oh come on, you know she's not going to die. The bullet's gone and now they're stitching it up. Her heart rate is normal."
   "How are you not worried?" I yelled, but then I remembered there were people in the next room who could hear me. "She's your daughter too," I whispered.
   "I know. That's why I'm not worried."
   "Huh?"
   "She's my daughter. But she's your daughter too. She'll be fine."
   Steve gestured to Auriana through the glass. "Look Buck, she's fine. Like Natasha said, her heart rate is normal, and they stitched up the wound. Tomorrow they're going to start the process of skin regeneration."
   I nodded and turned back to Natasha. "How are you suddenly all confident, huh? You've been acting all weird since the beginning of the mission, why aren't you worried about her now?"
   She shrugged and turned away from the window. "I don't need to explain myself to you or anyone else." And with that, she smiled and left towards the elevator.
   "Steve, I know she's only been my daughter for a few days, but when you told me, something happened. When we were on the highway, something in me clicked. I suddenly got so worried about her, like she would get hurt or something.
   "I know this sounds crazy Steve, but is it possible that I already love her?"
   Steve shook his head. "Bucky, you're not crazy. If she's your kid, then it's okay to love her right away." His phone buzzed with a message. "Oh, I have to go. Are you okay with being alone?"
   I nodded, and he ran to the elevator. I turned back towards the glass. The doctor and nurses were leaving the room, and I rushed over to the door. I stopped her as she was leaving.
   "Hey Dr. Cho. Could I go in for a bit?" I asked. Thankfully she nodded and let me go inside.
   I brought a chair from across the room next to her bed. She was pretty much out for the next few hours, or maybe days.
   "Hey, I know you can't hear me right now. And I know that you don't know everything that's going on around you, even though you think that you do. But just know, even if you never find out about this, you can always come talk to me or your m-... Natasha."
   I stopped talking to her and just sat there. I didn't look at her, but at my hands. I wanted to tell her, but I couldn't. I knew that Fury or Steve would tell her eventually, but it wouldn't be me or Natasha.
That girl is my daughter.

   "All right wimp, let's see what you got," Sam said while we circled each other. I had pretty much gotten used to Sam trying to get a rise out of me, so I could easily block him out.
   "Yeah, whatever." Sam jumped at me. I moved out of the way to grab his arm and pull him back. I threw him to the ground and before I could sit on him, he kicked me in the face.
   I grunted and fell over. Sam pulled my foot so that we were foot to face. I kicked him in the face and sat up.
   Sam kneed me in the groin and sat up as well. He punched me in the face, and I grabbed his head and gave him a head but. He jumped on me and I kicked him off.
   I was just about to win when Auriana came in the room with Peter Parker. I was watching her look around when Sam caught me in a headlock.
"Ow! Come on man, let me go!"
"Haha! I win Weiner Soldier!" Sam projected his voice so everyone in the room would know he beat me. I rolled my eyes and jogged over to Auri and Peter.
   "Hey Auriana, you're awake. That's great! How are you doing?"
   She answered with a head bob. "Yeah, I'm alright. Have I really been out for a week?" She looked around again, probably at the storm rolling in.
   "Yeah, but the good news is that we haven't heard anything from HYDRA, so your plan worked!" I held my hands out trying to look animated and cheer her up. When her expression didn't change, I rubbed the back of my neck.
   "Hey Steve! Auriana's awake!" I yelled over my shoulder to where Steve was at the punching bag. But I didn't mean for the whole room to stop what they were doing.
   Steve walked up and asked, "Are you alright?"
   Auriana scrunched up her nose. "Can people please stop asking me that? It's getting uncomfortable," She yelled, probably louder than she wanted to.
   After an awkward silence, Wanda and Vision introduced themselves. Vision kissed her metal hand which really seemed to freak her out.
   "We were just walking so I could stretch my legs, but you know I can go back now," Auriana said, trying to turn away. But I didn't want her to go.
   "No no, you can stay here if you want. You can spar with one of us, if you want to."
   She shifted on her feet. "Really? I don't want to intrude or-"
   "No, you can stay." Came Steve's voice from behind me.
   "Okay, I'll stay," Auriana clapped her hands.
   Then everyone spread out again to do their own thing. Sam and I went back to the ring, Steve went back to the punching bag, Natasha went back to the obstacle course, and Wanda and Vision went back to doing whatever they were doing.
   Sam and I had starting fighting again for a bit until we noticed the kids sparring as well.
   "Hey, look at them," Sam gasped. We stood up and walked over to their ring.
   It was really cool seeing her fight, and when she threw Parker into Sam, it was hilarious. And it was obvious that she threw him at Sam on purpose, which made it even better.
   They were still in a tangled heap of limbs when Auri pulled Peter into a headlock. I bet she thought it was all over until he flung the webs out of his bracelet thingy. She yelped and let go of him as he shot forward and landed on the window with ease.
   He taunted her a bit until she finally pinned him down and screamed at him to give up.
   "NO!"
   "Give UP!"
   But eventually they stopped yelling at each other and she just let him tire himself out.
   "Haha! I win the bet!" She helped him up.
   "No you didn't. The bet was that I could block your punch, and I'm pretty sure that I did."
   So Parker blocked her punch too. I'm glad I'm not the only one that got blocked by a kid. But then again she was a kid too.
   Vision hovered over to them and complimented Auriana on her combat skills.
   "Thanks, I've been fighting for a long time."
   "How long?" Wanda asked.
   "About my whole life."
   Peter seemed to sense that everyone was about to start being all sappy and sympathetic, so he asked he if she wanted to go back to her hospital room. So they left.
   "Wow, did you see them fighting?" I asked Sam. He looked at me, serious.
   "Yeah, I was caught in the middle of it!"He rolled his eyes and ran over to the dumbbell rack.
   "So," Natasha's voice made me jump. "Are you still worried about her?"
   I narrowed my eyes. "Yes, I don't care how well she can fight. HYDRA will always be one step ahead."
   She crossed her arms. "Well she beat my little spider. I've been training him in some combat skills, and she beat him in her weakened state. Imagine what she can do when she's at %100." She started walking back over to her obstacle course. "Just something to think about."
That girl is my daughter.