RESURRECTION OVERTURE ▹ barnes-romanoff

шесть.

Ta-Da! A lovely fluffy chapter for all my beautiful readers out there! This is, after all, a certain one you asked for in the very beginning of this book so I do hope it satisfies you! And I had to use today's date for the chapter title, okay? I just had to. Comment throughout, it seriously encourages me so much when you do! :)

"Petal by petal, leaf by leaf, I will keep growing until I am complete and you will have to watch me."

Christmas passes, as does New Year's.

It's soon discovered that Bucky Barnes does not at all like fireworks. Perhaps the young man from the forties once did, but not now; too much has happened for him to like such a thing. The father and his daughter spent the entire night holed up in one of their disastrous apartments in Austria. Doing her best to comfort him, Svetlana was silent when she only took Bucky's hand and rested her head to his chest while he stiffened and cringed with each firework that exploded in the sky. But they made through it, as the young girl knew they would.

As the weather lightens up just in the smallest amount, they move countries once more.

They spend the entirety of January in Slovakia, watching as the cool white month comes and goes.

And it's in Hungary that February awakens on the horizon and, before Svet even knows about it, the day comes along as quietly and softly as the blossoming girl herself.

"Hey? Svet?"

A hand gently shakes her sweater-covered shoulder and Svetlana peeks a single eye open to see her father's face hovering about a foot above hers. Bucky offers her a small smile and she barely manages to get one back through her sleepiness. His hair has grown longer to about an inch above his neck now and they've given up at even attempting to cut it in the wake of the latest hair-clipping disaster. He's wearing his only jacket and his metal hand still is covered in the black glove which means he must have left the apartment before waking her this morning.

Which is strange, to say the least.

Bucky never leaves Svetlana on her own, even for the smallest of times. When he goes to the market to buy food or finds a small job nearby, he always has her follow along and she's vowed to never leave his line of sight for fear of worrying him again. Even the time that she was sick a few months ago, he had insisted on taking her with him. He had held her shivering and feverish form to his chest as he moved through the ghettos, attempting to find someone who could sell them any kind of medicine. It's not that anyone could or should blame him, but he is definitely stubborn in his ways.

So, for him to have left her alone for no apparent reason this morning is certainly something that demands some explanation of some sort.

And, besides all that, for the first time in a long time, Bucky's ocean eyes look neither dangerous nor tormented, but... perhaps... excited? He can look relieved, amused, and even very rarely happy, but excited has not yet been one of the emotions she's seen from him. With such an expression as that in his gaze, Svet has to open both eyes to get a better look.

"What's happening?" She still can't resist a yawn as she asks though.

"Come," is all he says before he starts to move from her side.

She groans, grabbing his hand and tugging on it, "Papa."

"Vstavay. Wake up, Sveta." He stands up, moving back into the small kitchen they have in the small apartment they're currently squatting in. Wake up.

"But I like sleeping." Svet protests, burying half of her face in the backpack while making sure to keep one eye on her father.

"That I know, but I have a surprise for you."