arm's length away ━ bucky barnes

chapter five: sister, sister!

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"Holy heck, this was not a good idea at all."

Aurora had been running.

It had been about two days since she revealed her powers, panicked and left.

And maybe she was being over-dramatic and maybe she was overreacting a bit, but in her defence, she was so used to being stared at like a freak, like she was an animal in a zoo. And she was over it.

She decided to visit her brother, Emilio. He lived in D.C and was one of the top general surgeons in the country.

Aurora and Emilio were very close growing up despite being born six years apart in a large Italian family. They grew up in Italy and moved to the States when Aurora turned seven. Leo (Emilio) was a single dad of a little boy named Luca, who was four years old. Leo and his ex-fiancée, Ariele, had Luca when they were only twenty-eight but Ariele had tragically passed away due to complications during the birth. Since then, Emilio dedicated his whole life's work to his only child.

A surprise visit from his little sister who he hadn't seen in two years would be fun, right?

Aurora had stayed the night in a hotel, showered and changed into clean clothes that she had just bought when she finally set off for Leo's.

Once she reached the door to a fair-sized house built of red Lyons Sandstone with the most god-awful-looking picket fence she had ever seen, she mustered up the courage to knock. There was no sound.

So she waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Until, after what felt like hours but was probably only a few minutes, the door handle turned and the door flew open.

And there stood Emilio Andrew Amedeo, who seemed to be a bit taller and grown a little more stubble than the last time she saw him.

"Leo! Finally, I was wondering if I'd got the wrong house." Aurora breathed out, masking her anxiety by 'playing it cool'.

"Emilia! Finally decided to visit us, huh?" Emilio replied, bringing his little sister into a bear hug.

"Emilio! I told you already, it's Aurora now!" She scolded the older man with a playful smile on her face, though her smile didn't quite reach her eyes.

"Ah yes, too good for my name are you now, Rory?" He joked.

When Leo was five and his parents told him he was going to be a big brother, he was elated. He was so excited to finally have a little sibling to play with. Though, when it was revealed the baby was girl, he was not happy one bit. So, to cheer their son up, Mr and Mrs Amedeo told him he could pick the name for his baby sister. Of course, his five year old mind wanted to name her the weirdest of things, until he finally decided upon a name. He wanted to name his little sister Emilio.

Which, for obvious reasons, would not work out. So, his parents came up with a comprise, they would name her Emilia. And he loved it. So, Emilio and and Emilia grew up as 'Leo' and 'Lia' and both enjoyed having the 'same name'. When Lia was 12, however, she decided she wanted to change her name to Aurora, which was her middle name. Emilio, of course, continued to call her Emilia no matter how much she protested.

Some things never change.

"Now, are you going to let me in so I can see my favourite nephew?" Rory joked, trying to peek her head around the door to see inside the house.

"He's your only nephew, Lia," Emilio sighed, but opened the door anyway and shouted into the hall "Luca! come down stairs and say hello to your aunt!"