WHO Bucky & Molly Barnes WHAT Someone's back WHEN Sunday afternoon WHERE The park WARNINGS Spoilers for Endgame, maybe some feels STATUS Closed | Incomplete gdoc
After the funeral, Bucky had moved over towards the water. He felt out of place mourning the loss of a man who had hated him, and for good reason. Still, he could recognize how great of a sacrifice Stark had made and was selfishly grateful that Steve hadn't had to make it himself. That didn't mean he was comfortable standing near Parker or Mrs Stark, especially when they'd lost Natasha, too. Better to mourn privately, so he found a spot away from the others and just reflected on the life he had in front of him.
Without realizing it, memories of Madison Valley filtered through his mind. The landscape had changed in front of him from the lake near the Stark family home to the river in his second home. His thoughts went from trying to figure out if he was alright with the idea of sharing Steve with Sam and questioning just how deep those feelings ran to thinking about how much he'd been affecting his family without intending to. About how his depression had just spiraled down so hard and fast that he'd pushed everyone away. He wondered about how he could ever be good enough for Kara when this was going to be his life. There was going to be some danger, some threat, and then it would be a problem. It was that thought that had him realizing he wasn't in upstate New York anymore and he blinked before he looked around at his surroundings.
"Huh."
Molly had not handled Bucky's disappearance well at all. It wasn't fair, him disappearing right after they'd talked about the eventuality of him doing just that. The only kindness in it was that he didn't have to see how much it had hurt her, hadn't had to see her cry over it for days because no one could reassure her that everything was going to be alright, that he'd come back. He was dead, last he or Steve had been home, and there was no coming back from dead. If he was gone, he was gone. And her family was broken all over again.
She'd started to get herself back together, stubbornly get on with her life, had made Kim meet her for coffee that she definitely wasn't showing up to the second the little bit of her senses that belonged to her dad lit up again. And if Molly was a little more sensible, she'd have realized she shouldn't just go racing toward him like she did, that he wasn't going to be hers, wasn't going to remember her, could probably seriously hurt her if she wasn't more careful. She didn't think of any of it, just turned and ran toward the river as fast as she could.
Her lungs protested and her legs burned but Molly ran straight to him, skidding to a stop before throwing herself directly into his arms.
"Remember me," she demanded, pleaded, wished for more than she'd wished for anything in a long time.
It was a testament to how lost in thought he'd been that he turned towards the sound of someone running towards him and he hadn't recognized it as Molly until he caught sight of her. Time was something that didn't always make sense these days. He'd been gone from his world for five years and yet it had literally only been a few days since he was brought back from the dead. The massive battle, literally for the fate of the world, right after losing that very same battle? It had been a lot to go right back into and there had definitely been a part of him that assumed he wouldn't make it through again, so he fought for all he was worth. Cleaning himself up after that had been hard and he still hadn't really processed that he'd died in his world, but that was something he'd processed pretty thoroughly in Madison.
He wrapped his arms around Molly instinctively and buried his face in her hair. "I remember," he said, nearly choking on the words. "I remember you, Molls. I love you so much." Tears pricked at the corners of his eyes and he shut them tight to stop from making a scene. At least for now, since it was possible he'd just end up crying anyway. Coming back from the dead had seemed like such an impossibility, and certainly not anything as simply as he reappeared in Wakanda, but that had been exactly what had happened. He owed his life to the Avengers, to Nat and Tony especially for giving up theirs in the process of it all. He was really going to have to find a good way to apologize to Nat, along with likely a laundry list of other people.
His trip home had at least done the good of giving him some perspective, and a fresh chance at not being so deep in his depression, but it was still there as he reconciled how he'd left Madison Valley with how he'd returned. Hugging his daughter tightly helped. He wasn't interested in letting go just yet.
Molly didn't have the same qualms about making a scene, she was pretty well known for making scenes actually, and it didn't matter to her. What mattered was that he was there, that he was alive and better he remembered her. It wasn't supposed to have been this way but she wasn't about to complain that for once ever things hadn't turned out horribly. For one time ever, the dome gave her what she wanted.
She punched him in the side weakly, holding on as tightly as she could, her tears of relief, of happiness, hidden against him. "You're supposed to be dead," she reminded him. He was supposed to be dead and so he wasn't supposed to have left. Leaving was supposed to have meant forever. "I couldn't...I don't get why you're still you but I'm glad you are."
It would have hurt so much more for him to come back someone else. It would have been fine for the people he knew from home, but it wouldn't ever be fine for her to have to start over again. She'd already done it once and it was her greatest fear that if he didn't remember her, he wouldn't want to know her. The way it had happened with her first adoptive parent. Molly understood that no one could help what this place did but it broke her heart to have someone she knew and loved not want to know her back. She didn't know if she could take going through that with Bucky.
"Your dad's a little more stubborn than I thought," Bucky replied with a chuckle that showed just how affected he was by his reappearance in Madison Valley with his memories. This hadn't even been a possibility in his mind so he'd prepared for the worst and maybe that had been an overreaction but he'd truly thought he'd done what was best. To some extent, he still did. There would always be something. That was just the nature of his life, of the world he came from. He never wanted her to experience it but it was clear that there was no going back from the bond that they had built. Maybe it wasn't too late for Kara.
He'd cross that bridge when he got there, hopefully many days from now at the very least.
"Your dad and I, we survived Thanos, Molls. We made it through." There was still the matter of what all else they'd ahve to go up against, but at least they survived this one. She wouldn't have to worry if Steve got sent home, either. With her crying, it was hard to not cry himself so he just held onto her tightly and let his own tears fall a little bit. He was grateful, at least, that she was willing to hold onto him while they just got through this part.
"I have no idea what that means but good. I don't want either of you to be dead." Her birth parents already were, she had no idea what happened to Matt and Mohinder in the end but the last she knew of them they were alive, for now. The evil they faced, though? Who knew for how long. She hoped forever; one set of dead parents was more than anyone should have to have. Molly pushed back a little, after wiping her eyes on his shirt. "You still suck for making my make up smudge even though I'm so happy you're back," she informed him, absolutely no heat and the make up was doing no such thing.
She didn't imagine she'd really care if it was, either. There were some things worth looking like an idiot in public for, messy and crying and a little sweaty from running, and her dad being back when she'd been so sure he never would be was definitely one of them. There were still things, a lot of things with the way he'd been a few days ago when he'd left, but he seemed better now. A little bit more himself. She couldn't stop a smile from bubbling up. It wasn't perfect, couldn't be if he'd been fighting for the world again and she got that, she'd fought for the world too and it had been awful, but it was something
"You're lucky you were only gone a couple of days and I don't have crazy news like surprise I'm pregnant or whatever." As funny as that would be she didn't ever want to have to that kind of reunion. She didn't want them still going home all the time when she was old enough to be saying that.
For the first time in a long time, Bucky chuckled. He wiped his own eyes a bit. "I think mine is smudging more than yours," he replied, definitely teasing a bit there. He knew she didn't mean it in the slightest and even if she had, he knew that being back and remembering her outweighed making her cry. "I'm sorry I left after our talk. It did help though, as much as anything could have." He was still uneasy about coming back and what he had left behind, unsure of whether or not it was fair for him to even have more than just Steve and Molly in this place. That was for later, though. Once he was ready to face Kara again.
He groaned at the mere suggestion of her being pregnant. "Please, no joking about that. I don't want to have to kill your boyfriend right when I come home," Bucky said as he put his arm around her shoulders. "Are you still dating Lance? What happened in the...how long was it? A week?" He felt terrible that he'd left her like that, and then to cut it so close to the point where people generally gave up hope? It was a lot to put on her. He hated that she'd had to deal with that. At least it wasn't longer.