GROW (BUCKY BARNES x OC)

3

Aurora sat down in a chair inside the room and looked up at Steve. She tried maintaining eye contact for a while, but found she could only maintain it for a few seconds at a time.

"Alright, so I just need to ask you a few questions, okay?" Steve asked.

"Okay." She echoed.

"So, what is your full name?"

"Aurora Danielle Stone."

"Alright, and birthday?"

"January, uh, 9th, 1993."

Steve looked up from his clipboard in interest. Aurora wondered if she had already said something incriminating.

"1993?" He asked, surprised.

"Uh, yeah."

"Wow, I feel old. I was born in 1920! Spent seventy years in the ice, but still!"

"How old are you now then?"  She asked, before suddenly realizing she might be overstepping, "Oh, uh, sorry, you don't have to-"

"Twenty four in terms of being conscious." Steve answered, "But technically, I'm like ninety four now. Tony likes to joke that I'm an old man. So you're only, what, twenty one?"

She nodded her head.

"And Olivia's five?" He prompted, curiosity getting the best of him.

"Yes, I, uh, had her when I was sixteen." Aurora said, nervously.

"That must've been challenging." He sympathized.

"It was. I had to drop out of high school." She nodded.

"Oh? Did your parents help support you? Or Olivia's dad?"

"Um, my parents kicked me out when I was fourteen. Said I was a troubled teenager. And, Olivia doesn't really have a dad. Her... birth father took me in when I got kicked out, and we started dating a year later. Then I had Olivia."

Aurora fidgeted with her t shirt. She was nervous, she absolutely hated talking about her past.

"I'm so sorry." Steve said, and she glanced up in surprise because he sounded genuine.

There was a pause as Steve tried to put his next question into words. Aurora felt the familiar feeling of dread creeping up on her. He was going to ask about him.

"If you don't mind me asking, um, Olivia mentioned a man named Chris was living with you? That he was the one who owned the shirt she's wearing, with the skull? Is he Olivia's birth father?"

Aurora squeezed her eyes shut as she was overcome with tears. Her heart felt heavy in her chest. Chris was going to kill Olivia. If he found them... Aurora couldn't make it without Olivia. Olivia gave her a reason to get out of bed every morning, to put on a brave face, to make the best of the worst. If anything happened to her, if anything happened to her baby girl...

She couldn't breathe. It was like she forgot how to. She was gasping for breath and shaking uncontrollably. Aurora stood up but she barely registered stumbling out of her chair and onto the ground. She just curled up into a ball, trying to make herself small, trying to seem like less of a target. She awaited the pain, the kicking, yelling, dragging... but it never came.

Muffled voices talked over her, but her eyes were closed, and even if they weren't, her vision would've been too blurry to make anyone out. A hand touched her, but it wasn't the rough and harsh grip she expected. She flinched all the same, but the cool hand's grip remained gentle. Someone was talking to her. She could hear them, but couldn't make out what they were saying, her mind still swirling. Someone gently sat her up, and allowed her to lean against them instead of the floor. Aurora heard a sound- something beating steadily. A heartbeat. She opened her eyes that were still leaking rivers and tried to blink away her tears.