Chapter Text
“Jamie, you’re home!” Becca shouted as about as soon as he opened the door. The little girl, with two long braids down her back and wearing a loose fitting night gown came barreling towards him before he even set foot through the threshold. James quickly stepped through, shut the door behind him and spread his arms out wide for his little sister to run in to. “
You gotta be quiet now, Little One, or you’ll wake up Ma,” James whispered in their embrace, hoping it will encourage Becca to use her inside voice.
Becca dropped her arms out of his and slapped her hands to her mouth. “Oops!” she whispered loudly. James just shook his head and laughed. She retreated back to the couch while he shrugged his jacket off and hung it on the coat rack at the entrance of the room. “
So, what are ya doing up so late anyway, Little One?” he asked his sister, who was sitting on the couch, swinging her little legs while watching him move around the room. James toed off his shoes, situated them by the front door and joined Becca on the couch.
“Because you promised,” she replied simply, a whistle escaping from her mouth, due to her two front teeth missing. He looked down at her, a smile tugging across his lips. James had indeed promised. Before he went out to see a film with his best friend Steve, he had hugged his ma and sister goodbye and reassured a concerned Becca that he’d be home in time to read her a bed time story, the way he did every single night since she was old enough to ask. He was running somewhat behind in getting home on time because Steve had gotten into trouble again but she didn’t need to know that.
“You’re right,” he said. “I did.” With that, he lifted his tiny sister into his arms and carried her towards her bedroom. She hooked her legs around his waist, wrapped a skinny arm around his chest and buried her face in his neck and was carried safely in her big brothers arms to her bed, which was just a mattress and blankets on the floor. James laid her down. As he put her down, he planted a kiss on her forehead. He gently pulled the covers around her body and made a show of fluffing her pillow. She giggled in response. When she was good and comfortable, he rummaged through her pile of books to find one they haven’t read yet.
When James finally found a book, he sat Indian style at the side of her bed and....
“Sir?” The voice brought Bucky back to the 21st century. The memories swirled in his mind, black and grey images with fuzzy sides. His head had started to ache.
“Sir, we need to give Mrs. Proctor her medication.” The nurse motioned in the direction of the frail, elderly woman lying in the bed, wearing a night gown reminiscent of the one she had worn on that evening a lifetime ago. Bucky nodded grimly and moved closer to the bed containing his sister. She reached for his flesh hand, her withered fingers enclosing around his. Her hand felt unusually warm.
“Thank you for visiting me, Scotty. You always were such a dear,” she said, before accepting the pill and cup of water the nurse had presented to her and swallowed them both down. Bucky didn’t react to being mistaken for his sister’s son. When he first started visiting, the nurse had informed him she suffered from Alzheimer’s disease, which affects memory. As Bucky looked down at his younger sister’s frail form, he thought it ironic that as he was regaining his memories of her, Rebecca was losing her memories of him.
Bucky was still holding Rebecca’s hand while the nurse was checking her vitals, when she drifted softly asleep, her hand now slack in his grip. The nurse smiled sympathetically at him from across the bed.
“Sir, Mrs. Proctor needs her rest. Will you be visiting the same time next week?” she asked. “I will,” Bucky responded. He kissed Rebecca gently on the forehead and murmured, “I promise.” quietly so as not to wake her. He gathered his jacket from the chair behind him and waved a quick good bye to the nurse, who was gathering up the last of her equipment. He had never broken a promise to her sister in all their lives and now that he had found her again, he swore to himself he never would.