The other Barnes

reminicsing in grief.

Bucky tripped over a medical cart as he entered the room.

    "Ow! Fuck." He whispered

Emily suppressed a giggle. Bucky spotted Peter in the corner.

  "Spidey beat me here?" He asked

"He never left." Steve said quietly

He smiled at Peter.

  "I didn't want him to be alone." Peter whispered as he inched closer to Bucky "In case something happened...no one was there when uncle Ben died. I watched aunt may go through that alone. Steve doesn't deserve that pain. No one does."

Bucky cocked his head to the side a little.

  "Could have said something. Someone would've stayed with you, kid."

Peter shrugged.

  "I'm the youngest." He said "Chairs are less likely to kill my back."

  "Calling me old?" Bucky teased.

"I mean you are around 100 years old." Emily stated.

Bucky smiled at her.

  "Fight me." He joked

"Give me a few weeks." She replied.

Steve smiled at the siblings.

His phone rang.

"Hello?" He asked as he answered it.

"Steven!" May Parker's panicked voice came through the phone. "Have you seen Peter? He's not answering his phone. He's not with MJ or Ned. I can't find him anywhere."

She was scared. As she should be.

  "May. Breathe." Steven said "He's here in Brooklyn with me. We're at the hospital."

"He's hurt?!"

"No. Peter's perfectly fine. Something happened to my wife and he didn't want to leave me alone."

"Oh god. Is she okay?" May asked, her voice softening

"She will be." Steve said. "I'll talk to Peter. Let him know you're worried."

"Okay. Thank you." May said "Tell Emily I said hello."

  "I will, bye May."

Steven hung up and sighed. He looked to Peter.

  "Call your aunt." He said, his Brooklyn accent thickening how it did when he was tired "Don't let me hear about you scaring her like that again. Understand?"

"Yes sir." Peter nodded, reaching into his bag and pulling out his phone.

His eyes widened.

"36 missed calls." He whispered "I have to call MJ too."

He seemed more scared of his girlfriend than his aunt. He left the room.

 
  "Good kid." Steve said "Stubborn. Reckless. Thinks his job to save everyone. But a good kid."

Bucky smiled.

"He reminds me of this scrawny kid I used to hang out with." He teased "Would fight with guys twice his size. Always lost but that didn't stop him."

Steve laughed slightly, his smile not quite reaching his eyes.

  "Yeah I remember him." He laughed "Heard he ran head first into a hydra base to save his idiot best friend."

  "Did he?" Bucky laughed.

Emily's eyes widened.

"You did what now?' She asked

Steve froze. Emily didn't know anything about what happened in Germany.

  "Ran into a hydra base to save Bucky." He said cautiously "the army wasn't gonna do anything and there was a whole unit being held there."

He was trying to justify it. Emily sighed.

"If your stupidity doesn't kill you. I will." She laughed tiredly, wincing in pain.

   Steve grabbed the button that released her pain medication. Her body relaxed as warmth spread through it.

  "Better?" He asked, brushing her hair back out of her face.

She nodded as she started to dose off. He smiled weakly at her, all of his worry and grief returning. Bucky had seen that face before. It was the one he made when they learned T'challa was gone.

  "Hey." Bucky said, putting a hand on Steve's shoulder. "She's okay. She's not going to die. She's okay. Breathe."

Steve shook his head.

  "It's not her that I'm mourning." He whispered, not wanting to wake her.

   "Then who?"

Steve grabbed a packet of papers from the far end of the room. It was copies of her lab results.

  "Schmidt killed our baby." He whispered. 

Tears filled his eyes again and Bucky's big brother act melted away. He wasn't Sergeant Barnes or Emily's older brother in that moment. He was Bucky. Steve's best friend. Because that's who Steve needed. He needed his best friend, not his brother in law. Bucky pulled Steve to him, holding him tight.

There were no words, just silent pain.