Butterflies (Bucky Barnes Daughter)

FIFTEEN

"Mila get off the counter!" James shouted. A hearty laugh echoed throughout the room. Mila twirled around on the counter tops, on her tiptoes showcasing some ballet moves. Yana laughed from her spot on the small couch.

He had one hand behind his back, the other reaching out for Mila to take. She jumped off the counter into his arm. He kept his metal hand behind his back all the way to the couch, placing Mila next to Yana. James stood in front of his girls, a small smile on his face.

Mila looked at Yana then back to her papa, confusion written on her face. They were hiding something from her, they never hid things from her. "What's going on?" she asked. Yana giggled at Mila's quick outburst of worry.

"Nothing sweetie, we have a surprise for you" Yana brushed a stray strand of red hair out of the girl's face.

James pulled his hand out from behind his back, revealing a small brown box. Her face twisted into a wide grin. "Happy birthday miere" he grinned. Honey

It had been two years since that horrifying night. Yana, Mila and James had become their own little family.

The Old Man had only been back here two or three times since that night. It worried James but he never showed it. He knew the Old Man still ran the operations, he found that out the hard way.

Mila was turning 10 years old and they wanted to do something special for her. Nothing happened on her last birthday, just an extra slice of bread, but this year was different. She honestly didn't mind not getting anything special on her birthday, it just felt like a regular day to her.

James handed her the box and sat on the arm rest of the chair, Mila in between his legs. "Thank you papa" she whispered, trying to keep her level of excitement down. Her pale fingers ran over the top of the brown box, pulling the lid up and gently tossing it in front of her. A small gasp escaped her lips.

She picked up the gift in the box, lifting up into the light. It was a necklace, made of wire and a small stone in the middle. Mila thought it was beautiful but she didn't know what it was. She held the stone closer to her face. "What is it?" she asked innocently.

Yana laughed. "It's a necklace, you wear it around your neck. Like this" she pointed to the one around her neck. "I made it for you, like my mother used to do for me" a sad smile pulled at her lips. James looked at her sadly.

"Your mama-" she pointed to the blue stone on Yana's neck "-made that for you". Yana nodded, her eyes catching James' sad ones. "That's so cool" she grinned.

Mila wrapped her arms around Yana "Thank you. It's the best gift I have ever gotten". There wasn't much competition when it came to sentiments but Yana was thankful all the same. James stuck his hand out and Mila placed the necklace in his palm.

He gently moved her long red locks off her neck, clasping the wire together and pulling the stone down to land on her chest. "Thanks papa" she mumbled, staring down at the purple stone on her chest. He kissed her hair and kept his hand on her shoulder.

When Yana looked up at him, he was already looking at her. A habit he had taken up over the last two years. James and Yana were something special, they knew that. They were different then what people thought normal couples would be like. That made sense, given that they were both prisoners of a secret organization, but they didn't mind. As long as they had each other and Mila they were okay with wherever they might be.

After a few hours had passed and Yana had gone to bed, Mila decided to ask her papa a question that had been itching at her for a while now. "Papa?"

"Yeah Mila" he whispered, careful not to wake Yana.

"Who's my mama?" she asked, twirling the necklace around her finger. He froze, not expecting that to come out of her mouth.

"Uh, um well, uh" he stammered.

"I know it's not Yana but I want to know who she is. Yana knows who her mama is" she looked him in the eyes. He blinked hard, swallowing a lump in his throat. His flesh hand wrapped around her waist pulling her into his lap on the couch. How was he supposed to answer this?

"Well Mila, I'm not really sure who she is, I don't remember her". He didn't want to tell her the truth, he couldn't. Mila probably thought she was born from a woman, like Yana and himself and every other person in this building. How was he supposed to tell his daughter that she was a science experiment? He couldn't, so he wasn't going to. Not yet anyway.

"Oh" he could hear the disappointment in her voice. It hurt him to lie to her but he had to.

"I'm sorry miere" he kissed the top of her head. Honey

"That's okay papa, I know you forget things sometimes" she replied, kissing his cheek. Mila laughed as she felt the scratchiness of his beard on her face. He was frozen, shocked by her words. She knew about his struggles. He constantly felt like he was living two lives and it was ripping his brain apart. Some days he forgot simple things like how the shower worked other days he forgot where he was. Some nights he would even wake up screaming one name over and over again. He always sounded in pain and that scared her.

A soft yawn interrupted his thoughts. "I'm tired papa. I'm going to bed now" she wrapped her arms around his neck. "Thank you for the best birthday ever. Goodnight" she giggled. He reluctantly let her go to change into pyjamas. Which was really just an old t-shirt that didn't  fit him anymore. 

Mila crawled into the bed and snuggled up under the covers. Her red hair standing out from the white pillow in circular patterns. He slowly walked over to the bed. James leaned over placing a kiss to her temple. "Goodnight Mila, te iubesc". I love you

James stayed awake all night long, for the fifth night in a row. Neither girl knew he wasn't sleeping. He just didn't want to let his nightmare come true, and if that meant not sleeping so be it. James would do everything in his power to keep his nightmares from becoming a reality.

Hello! I'm sorry I know it's a short chapter but I really wanted to get something out today and I thought I would give you something nice before some things start going down. Thank you so much for reading, voting and commentingit means the world, truly. I hope you are enjoying it so far and there is so much more to come!

-Emma:)