father daughter dance by kesha

"I really just don't know how to love, how to trust
I try but when I talk about him
I should probably cry but
He's nothing, he's no one, a stranger
Oh I wish my heart wasn't broken
from the start
I never stood a fighting chance
In all my days, from my
cradle to my grave
I'll never have a father-daughter dance"

40.0312° N, 81.5885° W

          "Just the water for today?" The cashier asked after I set the plastic bottle of water on the counter. I gripped onto the bottom of one of the shoulder straps from the black backpack I wore.

          "Yeah." I replied in my fake American accent as she scanned the bar code. I pulled out a couple dollar bills from the pocket of my blue denim jacket that I wore over a grey hoodie, along with some leggings and sneakers. A black cap crowned my head just above my ponytail.

          "A dollar fifty." She said before I handed her two-one dollar bills. The cashier placed the bills in the cash register and handed me two quarters along with the water.

          "Thanks." I took the water and money before walking out of the convenience store. I waited until I was a couple blocks away to walk into an alleyway. I looked around to make sure no one was close-by before twisting the cap of the bottle open and taking a few sips of the water. After finally hydrating myself, I zipped open my backpack to drop the water bottle inside, along with three other plastic water bottles, two sandwiches and a box of Pop-tarts that I managed to steal.

          Yes, I did have money. But why waste it on things I could easily slip into my jacket. And the money itself? I guess you'll have to ask the person when they realize their wallet is missing.

          I pulled out the cash I already had to take a look. Seventy-five dollars, a bus to get me out of Ohio would cost at least a hundred and fifty.

          A few days after HYDRA fell, I managed to steal just enough money for a bus ticket. The farthest it could take me was Cambridge, Ohio. But I've already been here for more than a week, staying too long wouldn't be smart. Especially because I was using someone's credit card to pay for a motel room. It won't be long until they track their payments to here.

          I could technically find a homeless shelter, but considering the state laws on housing unaccompanied minors, the most likely outcome would involve social services. If I tell them I'm an orphan and my parents are dead, then I'll probably end up in the foster care system. And the whole point is to not be in the system. If I tell them my parents are alive but I don't know who they are, they'll probably do DNA testing, and who do you think the results will match up with? And if I straight up tell them who my parents are, they'll still do DNA testing, but it won't make a difference whether I was lying or not. There are zero good outcomes from me going to a shelter, so I have to work with what I got.

          I walked out of the alleyway and down the sidewalks of the town. It wasn't as busy as the city, so I had to be smart about my next target. In the distance, I could see a man heading towards my direction, wearing a black jacket and cap. As we came closer to each other, I took a step to the side and looked to the ground, as if I wasn't paying attention to where I was going. We suddenly clashed into each other, which is when I took the chance to slip my hand into his jacket pocket, trying to grab his wallet.

"Hey!" He grabbed onto my wrist with his gloved hand, stopping me from pulling out his wallet. This was the first time I've ever been caught, how could he have noticed? But, my widened eyes slightly squinted as my eyebrows furrowed.

"Sergeant Barnes?" I asked, seeing his face through the brim of his cap. I haven't seen this man ever since HYDRA fell, I guess great minds think alike, especially when one taught the other everything about survival skills.

"Agent Carter?" His grip on my wrist loosened. "What the hell are you doing here?" Barnes questioned. His voice wasn't entirely in a monotone manner, just very quiet and hard to hear emotion in.

"What do you think I'm doing? I'm on the run." I answered. Barnes finally let go of my wrist completely before placing both his hands in his jacket pockets and letting out a sigh.

"You're pickpocketing." He commented.

"Come off as clumsy and vulnerable to your target while remaining stealthy and graceful to avoid suspicion." I remarked with a subtle tone.

"Good strategy. Who taught you that?" Barnes asked with a subtle sense of sarcasm, which I raised my eyebrow at and formed a small smirk. "Come on, you look like hell."

• • •

          "So this is where you've been staying?" I looked around the small motel room as I sat on the side of the bed. The room had light orange walls and a single bed with a wooden brown nightstand next to it.

          "Never in the same place for more than a few days at a time." Barnes answered as he handed me a paper cup with hot tea.

          "Thank you." I softly said before I took a sip of the tea. Of course, being the complimentary tea packets from a two star motel, it wasn't the best. But I haven't had a cup of tea in sixty years, and considering the situation I was in, I'd say it wasn't so bad.

          As I drank the warm beverage, I felt a sudden sharp pain in my rib cage. I winced from the discomfort and gently held onto my side. It's been like this for the past two weeks, it's not like I can go to a hospital or anything.

          "What happened?" Barnes asked, with a bit of concern in his voice.

          "Broke a few ribs two weeks ago." I sighed as the pain wouldn't stop.

          "Doesn't the serum speed up healing?" He questioned.

          "Well, you have to consider how much I've moved since then and that I've never gotten it properly treated."

          "What'd you do?" Barnes grabbed a white hand towel from the sink before walking over to the mini fridge. He placed a handful of ice cubes onto the towel, which was wrapped around the ice.

          "Jump out of a twenty story window." I casually replied as I set down the cup of tea on the nightstand.

          "What part of stealthy did you not understand?" Barnes questioned as he handed me the cloth of ice.

          "Stealthy stopped being an option after I killed Alexander Pierce." I answered while slipping the ice under my shirt and pressing it to my side. Barnes paused for a moment at the mentioning of Pierce.

          "So, you're the one who killed him?" He seemed surprised, but also not. As if he always knew that I would eventually turn against Pierce.

          "Yeah." I breathed out, looking off to the side.

          "You've been taking anything for your ribs?" Barnes pulled out a first-aid kit from the cupboard below the sink.

          "Just some painkillers that I managed to steal from drugstores." I responded, still holding the towel of ice against my skin.

          "If you're already stealing money, then why do you need to steal those?" He sat down across from me and opened the first-aid kit to pulled out a roll of bandage wrap. Barnes gave a look to my stomach and tilted his head, signaling me. I lifted the bottom half of my shirt up, just right under my chest.

          "The money is for transportation. Bus fare, train tickets..." I explained as Barnes began to wrap the bandages around my rib cage.

"You're staying in this country?" He slightly raised an eyebrow.

"You're not?" I tilted my head to side.

"No." Barnes softly shook his head. "You have the benefit of the world not knowing who the Phantom Nightingale was. After HYDRA's files were leaked, everyone knows who the Winter Soldier is. I'll probably be heading to Europe next week. Don't tell anyone."

"Like I have anyone to tell." I snickered. Barnes wrapped the final layer of bandages before snipping off the end with a pair of scissors,

"There." He said in a gentle tone before he began putting away the supplies.

"Thank you." I pulled my shirt back down.

"So where you staying." Barnes inquired, sitting on the chair across from me.

"I've also been at a motel a couple miles away. There's a bus leaving for Chicago tomorrow morning." I answered as I grabbed my tea off the nightstand.

"What about Captain Rogers?"

I looked off to the side and gently shook my head. "What about him?" I responded as I lifted the paper cup to my mouth to take a sip of the tea.

"He's your father, Carter." Barnes reasoned.

          "And he was your best friend." I quickly reminded. "He doesn't even know I exist, and frankly, I don't want him to."

         "That's fair." Barnes empathized as I finished the last of my tea.

          "What about you?" I asked, fidgeting with the paper cup in my hands.

          Barnes shook his head and let out a sigh. "I just need some time to figure things out. I'm not planning on seeing him for a while." I nodded my head in understanding. Even though we were both free, it wasn't like we could just resume back to whatever life we had before. We both came from decades ago, for Christ's sake, there really was no way back.

          I let out a breath before turning my gaze to the clock. It was already 6:30 PM, and I would much prefer to walk to the motel while it's still light out.

          "Well, I should probably go now. We can't risk being found in the same place at once." I sighed as I stood up from the bed and dropped my cup into the trash can.

          "You're right." Barnes nodded as he stood up from his chair. "You sure you'll be okay?" He asked with a concerned tone.

          "Yeah, I'll manage." I softly smiled as I slipped my backpack onto my shoulders. Barnes pulled something out of his jacket pocket and gestured it to me.

           "Here, take this." I looked at what Barnes was holding in his hands and saw two one-hundred dollar bills. My mouth slightly dropped as I gave him a reluctant look.

          "Barnes, I can't." I objected as I shook my head. Both of us were trying to survive off of nothing, yet he was so willing to give so much to me.

            "Yes, you can. Don't just use it for transportation. Get some clothes and food." He insisted. I let out a sigh before hesitantly taking the cash and slipping it into my backpack. I gave Barnes another look and formed thankful smile on my face.

"Thanks, Bucky."

He gave me a gentle smile back and nodded his head. "Don't worry about it, Sarah." I returned a nod to Bucky before walking out the motel room door. I gripped onto the straps of my backpack as I began walking to my own room.

The first time in a long time that someone has done something to help me. Bucky and I have never shared any good experiences with each other, both of us being assassins and all. But I knew that as I walked farther away from his room, I wouldn't be seeing Bucky again for a while, maybe even never again.

But who knows? The universe has it's ways.

THIRD PERSON POINT OF VIEW

          Steve sat at a metal table in the lab, back at the Avengers Tower. He stared down at the old video camera that he got two weeks ago, beyond confused. Steve tried to figure out what Peggy meant when she told him to find someone. Of course, he could look into the camera anytime and get his answer. But Peggy explicitly asked him not to look, and Steve wanted to respect that.

          "Hey, where'd you get that?" Tony asked in curiosity when he noticed the camera in Steve's hands.

           "From Peggy." He answered as he continued to examine it.

          "Makes sense, considering how my father made it." Tony immediately recognized the "Stark Industries" metal placard on the side of the camera. "What's inside it?" He asked, leaning against the table.

          "I haven't looked yet. Peggy asked me not to, not until I find someone."

           "Who?" Tony furrowed his eyebrows a bit.

           "That's the thing, I don't know." Steve turned his gaze towards Tony, who nodded his head.

          "Well, when you do, use this." Tony grabbed a black disc, about half a centimeter thick, and set it down in front of Steve. "Just place that camera on the platform and you'll be able to see the videos better." He explained, knowing the one hundred year old man's lack of knowledge in technology.

           "Thanks, Tony." Steve gently nodded before Natasha walked in. "Do we have anything on him?" He questioned, referring to Bucky, as Natasha stepped closer to the two male Avengers.

          "No, not a single thing." She answered and shook her head with a bit of disappointment.

          "What about the kid?" Steve asked, with just as much concern as he did for his best friend.

          "Dead end."

          "Do you think they would be running together?" Tony inquired as he crossed his arms.

          "That wouldn't be smart, and these two are highly trained assassins so I'm pretty sure they know that." Natasha explained. She offered to help Steve find the two assassins since she already knew how one thought, it takes one to know one.

          Steve let out a disappointed sigh through his nose, before switching to a more assertive tone. "We gotta keep looking. They're out there."

an // two updates in two days what the fawk? is this author okay? like is she genuinely okay?

no.

but anyways, finally an actual sarah and uncle bucky moment :D

now i hope y'all enjoyed it cuz it ain't happening for like another two books

well if there's one thing sarah and i have in common, it's being a disappointment 🥰

and yes, i know... this was a very dialogue-heavy chapter, but i felt like the conversation really showed sarah and bucky's current relationship pretty well.

also, some of you might be thinking "oh why doesn't steve just connect the dots that peggy is looking for someone but there also happens to be a twelve year old girl from the 50's?" cuz if the child peggy was looking for happened to be born in 1946, months after the... fondue, then there's only one possible father for that child. and i'm pretty sure steve wouldn't even think about the possibility of having a long lost daughter, so that's why he's never connected the two.

and for those of you asking... sarah stole the brown sugar cinnamon poptarts.

okay that's all, bye lovelies !!

KILLERKÖNIGIN | CAPTAIN AMERICA'S DAUGHTER
BY QUEENWANDAMAXIMOFF