Roxanne woke up early the next morning and went to the Garcias' kitchen to start making breakfast for her family and their guest. On her way, she passed the living room where Bucky was sleeping on their couch, or at least, he seemed to be sleeping. Bucky had actually woken up about half an hour ago and was only pretending to be sleeping to avoid disturbing his hosts. After spending so much time alone with only his anxious thoughts, Bucky found the sound of Ro rummaging through the kitchen oddly comforting.

Bucky contemplated "waking up" and helping her. On one hand, helping with breakfast would be more useful than lying around pretending to be asleep, and he and Roxanne could spend that time getting to know each other better like they had yesterday. On the other, Bucky had no idea how to cook or help out in the kitchen, and he'd hate to be an inconvenience to her or her family.

However, before Bucky could make up his mind, a certain younger brother had snuck over to the couch and whispered, "Psst. Hey, James, are you up?"

Still keeping his eyes closed, Bucky nodded.

"Look, I know Ro told me not to bother you, but can you just tell me if you're her boyfriend or not?"

Bucky cracked one eye open and turned towards the boy. "I'm not, and between you and me, your sister deserves better. She's much too good for me."

"Oh, sorry to hear that," Manuel replied. "If it makes you feel any better, you'd be a step up from the last guy she dated. If I ever see that cabrón again, I'm going to kick his @$$."

Bucky had no idea what the kid had just called his sister's ex-boyfriend, but he could tell by the boy's tone that it was probably not very nice and that it might even be a curse word in whatever language the Garcias often spoke.

"If you'd like, I could hold him down for you while you do that," Bucky remarked with a smirk, making the young teen laugh.

"Manuel!" Roxanne scolded, causing Bucky and Manu to turn towards her in surprise. "I thought I told you not to bother him."

"He wasn't bothering me," Bucky explained, fully sitting up. "We were just talking. Besides, it can't be easy for a boy his age to have no one at home but two older sisters for company."

"Finally, someone who gets it," Manu exclaimed.

Ro could have sworn that Bucky broke out into a genuine smile at her little brother's antics, but the smile disappeared as soon as it appeared. A pained grimace took its place as Bucky clutched at his left shoulder. She wasn't the only one who noticed this.

"Hey, man, are you okay?" Manuel asked Bucky.

"Yeah, I'm alright. My left arm just starts hurting every now and then. It'll pass eventually," Bucky assured him. He turned to Roxanne and forced a half-smile, trying to reassure her as well.

"Hold on. I'll get something that'll help." Manu got up and ran to the bathroom, returning with a tub of VapoRub. "Pa says that this can fix anything. It even helps Ro with her woman problems, and nothing works on her."

"Manuel!" Ro cried, turning red with embarrassment.

"Woman problems?" Bucky repeated in confusion.

"You do know what that is right?" Manu asked.

Those two words and Roxanne's flustered reaction to them triggered another Steve-less memory from Bucky's pre-Winter Soldier past. In it, a 23-year-old him had run into a 13-year-old Becky sitting in the middle of a rather homey-feeling hallway, sulking.

"Hey, Becky, is everything alright?" he had asked.

"It's Rebecca now," she had spat bitterly, not even looking up at him.

"Since when?" he had scoffed.

"Since I became a woman this morning," she had replied, her tone unchanging.

"What do you mean by 'became a woman'? How do you become a woman?"

"Well," Rebecca had begun before suddenly backtracking, "Mother says I'm not supposed to talk about it in front of polite company, especially men."

"Well, I'm not polite company," he had refuted as he sat next to her. "I'm your big brother, and you can talk to me about anything that's bothering you. As for me being a man, well, what Mother doesn't know won't hurt her. Come on. Just tell me."

Back in the present, Bucky turned towards Manu and answered, "Actually, I know exactly what you're talking about, and I still can't decide if that's a good thing or a bad thing."

"Ugh, just say 'period', okay? It's no big deal," Camila suddenly exclaimed in annoyance from the door frame, startling everyone else in the room. "This isn't the 40s."

Taking notice of how her sister's cranky attitude from last night hadn't improved with her sleep, Ro shot her a look and crossed her arms. "Good morning to you, Cami."

"Yeah, whatever," the younger woman snapped in response as she began to walk towards the kitchen. "Your eggs are burning; I'll take care of them."

Suddenly sniffing the air and catching a mildly burnt smell, Ro lowered her gaze and scratched her cheek in embarrassment.

"Hey, while you're at it, can mine be rancheros?" Manuel enthusiastically asked as he followed behind his sister. "I'm starving."

Ro and Bucky then turned to look at each other, noticing how they were left alone in the room. The girl let out an awkward chuckle as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Sorry about that. They'll get used to you. So, uhm, did you manage to get some sleep?"

"Uhm, yeah. A little bit," he answered hesitantly, though this time, he wasn't lying. He then turned to look at Ro and showed her as much of a smile as he managed to muster. "Thanks."

Though he didn't specify what he was thanking her for, Ro noticed something particular about him at this moment. The morning sunbeams sneaking through the half-open blinds of the living room illuminated the man's blue eyes, and they currently looked the calmest that Ro had ever seen them so far. She also hadn't noticed just how deep and bright his eyes actually were until now, like a calm sea after a storm.

Before too long though, she tore her gaze from the man's eyes and towards his still gloved hands, which were fiddling with the VapoRub container. The young woman looked back at the kitchen to make sure her siblings were occupied before sitting next to Bucky on the couch, picking up the ointment as she did so.

"Okay, they're a little too busy with breakfast to be watching right now," Ro whispered, "so if your arm is still bothering you, I can help rub this on your shoulder if you'd like."

"No," Bucky refused, sliding away from her fast enough to make a cheetah envious. In a much calmer tone, he amended, "No, that's fine. I'll just wait for it to pass. Although it might hurt less if I calibrated it."

Both he and Roxanne took a quick glance towards the kitchen to make sure Cami and Manu were still occupied. Once they were both sure that Ro's siblings weren't looking, Bucky removed his jacket and gloves and forcefully swung his left arm around, producing an unexpectedly loud whirring sound, which made the pair wince simultaneously. Bucky hurried to put his jacket and gloves back on, but before he could, Camila stormed into the living room to investigate the sound.

All three of them froze like deers in headlights the moment that the younger sister caught sight of the man's metallic, silver forearm, which glistened in the dim sunlight that was coming into the room as he reached to pick up his jacket from the couch. The three pairs of eyes were wide with shock, and the two women's mouths were agape. As what was building up to be a loud, horrified scream began to slowly form in Camila's throat, Ro reacted and hurried to cover her sister's mouth just in time to muffle it as it escaped her lips. The older sister began repeatedly shushing the younger one as she tightened her grip around her.

"What's going on?" asked Manuel as he rushed back to the living room.

Hearing the youngster's voice made Bucky react and start to put on the jacket, but it was too late, for Manu arrived just in time to catch a glimpse of the metal limb as well.

"Woah...!" he began, his face lighting up in awe, before his oldest sister clapped her other hand over his mouth as well, pulling him closer to her.

"Shhh! Will you two please calm down?" Ro spoke in a loud and desperate whisper. Even though their mother was currently out buying bread and tortillas for breakfast, Ro didn't want to risk it in case she came back right in the middle of this chaotic scene. "Yes, James has a metal arm! Let's not freak out about this or tell mamá and papá, please!?"

"But why not?" Manu asked, still muffled as he couldn't quite get his significantly stronger sister to loosen her grip over his mouth. It didn't hurt, but it was certainly an uncomfortable position to be in.

"Because I told you, James is trying to hide, so the less our parents know, the better!"

Hearing this, Camila managed to wriggle free of Ro's grasp and turned around to face her, scowling furiously at her. "Are you KIDDING ME!?" she shouted.

Roxanne gasped and stared at her sister in shock, taken aback by the anger in her voice and face. She had never seen Cami so angry at her, not even when she and her siblings had that fight over Ro telling Alejandro her secret a couple of years ago. The disturbance made her grip over Manu's face loosen, and he took advantage of this and broke free.

"May I speak with you in private?" Cami asked the older girl, her tone calmer but the rage in her face unchanged.

Ro simply nodded in response and followed her sister to their shared bedroom. Bucky, who had put his jacket on but not his gloves, watched in worry as the sisters left, and once they were no longer in sight, he let out a groan and dropped back onto the couch, burying his face in his hands. He felt nothing but guilt and self-loathing seeing how his presence at Roxanne's home was affecting her negatively. He hadn't been there for even half a day, and already he was causing her trouble with her family and stress over having to keep his secret safe. What a way to repay her for her kindness.

He also couldn't help but feel immensely relieved about the fact that he had put his pistol away and that it was currently buried at the bottom of his rucksack. As the Soldier, Bucky had been trained to dispose of any witnesses that caught sight of him or saw his metal arm whenever he carried out a mission. If he had had his gun at hand when Ro's siblings walked in and that reflex had kicked in... he didn't even want to think about that scenario. Just knowing that it could've been a possibility, and thinking about Camila's horrified expression when she saw his arm, it was a sudden, cold reminder of the monster he truly was. For a moment, he had nearly been able to forget about it.

Manuel, who had stood awkwardly as his sisters departed, turned to look at the guilt-ridden Bucky, and couldn't help but stare at his still exposed metal hand for a few more seconds.

"Uhm, if it makes you feel any better," the teen broke the silence, "Your metal arm? I think it's pretty damn awesome."

_______________________________________________________

Once the two girls arrived at their bedroom, Roxanne closed the door behind her.

"I just have one question for you. Do you have any respect for our parents? Like, at all?" Camila demanded the second the door was closed.

Ro blinked, taken aback by this question. "What? What are you talking about? Of course I do!"

"Oh, really? Because for the last two years, you've been acting as if they're either too emotional or too stupid to handle the knowledge of what you actually do whenever you're not home. And lately, it's honestly felt as if you don't give a damn about how helping you keep that from them affects Manuel and I!"

Ro let out a gasp as she stared at her sister in shock, watching her face tremble with anger. After several seconds where neither of them said anything, the younger woman took a shuddering breath and continued speaking in a slightly calmer, yet still accusatory tone.

"I am glad that you're back home and that you're alright, sis. Really, I am. But you have no idea what the last two months have been like here. You have no idea how stressful it's been to try and keep Ma and Pa in the dark while simultaneously being worried sick about you."

"But, that never seemed to be a problem with you guys before," Ro hesitantly countered.

"It wasn't at first," Cami continued with a mixture of resentment and sadness in her voice. "It wasn't so bad when all you did was patrol the city a few days a week in your free time. But the more often you did so, the harder it became to answer our parent's questions and make up excuses for you."

"Hey, I've had to make up excuses for you before, remember?" Ro suddenly snapped defensively, and gasped as soon as the words left her mouth. She had no idea where that came up.

Camila frowned again, visibly offended. "Sure, when I was a stupid teen doing stupid teen $#!+! But guess what? At some point, I realized that I was growing up and had responsibilities to tend to, and I needed to start acting accordingly! And knowing you, I honestly thought you had made the same realization long before I did."

"But helping others who can't do the same things I can is part of my responsibilities too, remember?" Ro defended herself again, her voice trembling slightly in frustration.

"Oh, I see! So walking out on Manuel and making him look like a fool in front of his entire class and his teachers is your responsibility? Leaving me to take care of calming down our parents every single day while knowing basically nothing about what you were up to is your responsibility? How about showing up out of nowhere when we were beginning to think you might be dead with a random strange man with a metal arm, who may or may not get you and us into even more trouble!? All of that sounds SUPER responsible, doesn't it!?"

Roxanne was left speechless as she heard her younger sister's rant. She hadn't realized how much pressure she had unintentionally put her siblings under, especially Camila. After all the times she had had to cover for the younger girl while she went to parties and friends' houses until unreasonable hours of the night during her late teens and early young adult years, she was sure Cami wouldn't mind and that she was simply repaying her favors. But what Ro had asked of her, in reality, far outweighed the trouble of covering for a reckless teenager, and as Ro realized that, she slowly became overridden with guilt.

"I'm," Ro weakly stammered, her voice shaking even more and her eyes beginning to glisten, "I'm just trying to help out James..."

"And while I'm sure you have the best intentions in doing so," Cami responded impassively, tears beginning to form in her own eyes, "it's yet one more thing that's come to complicate everything. One more thing to lie to mamá and papá about. And I'm tired of it. It's become too much, Ro. I'm done."

"Cami, please..."

"Do whatever you want," the younger woman blinked the tears away as she walked past her sister and towards the door. "Keep all the secrets you want from the people who love you, for all I care. Just leave me out of it. Because believe it or not, I have my own problems to take care of."

Without looking back at her sister, Camila exited and slammed the door behind her, leaving Ro standing alone in the middle of the room, staring blankly at the door as the tears finally escaped her eyes.

_______________________________________________________

While the two sisters were arguing, Manuel was doing his best to cheer Bucky up. To Bucky's surprise, it seemed to be working.

"If your left arm is made out of metal, how can it hurt?" the teen boy asked.

"I don't know. It just does," Bucky replied. "It's like my body thinks my actual arm is still there."

"Is your left arm stronger than your right, or are they about the same?"

"No idea."

"Are you stronger than my sister?"

"I am. Please don't ask me how I know that."

"Whoa! Then, you're probably as strong as Captain America," Manu chattered excitedly, "because Ro is ridiculously strong. Before we found out she had superpowers, there was this guy who sells popsicles in our old neighborhood who's a retired luchador, and he had this promo where he'd give a free popsicle to anyone who could beat him arm-wrestling, and Ro always won. She won so many times that he would give her a free popsicle just for walking into his shop. He hasn't done that promo for years though, so don't go over there to try and arm-wrestle him for a free popsicle."

"I'll keep that in mind." Bucky couldn't help but crack a smile at the boy's talkativeness and sense of humor. He especially appreciated that Manuel didn't seem even the least bit afraid of him.

Then again, maybe the boy was just too young and naive to realize how dangerous Bucky actually was. However, before Bucky could further dwell on that sobering thought, he noticed that Manuel seemed to be studying his face.

"Is there something wrong with my face, kid?" Bucky asked.

"Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to be rude," Manu replied, quickly backing away. "I just have this weird feeling that I've seen you before."

But just before the boy could start asking any questions that would make Bucky internally panic, the sound of the front door opening was heard, followed by Andrea's voice calling.

"Niños, I'm back! Manu, come eat something before the bus gets here, mijito!"

"¡Ya voy, mamá!" he shouted as he got up. As he started back towards the dining table, he addressed Bucky once again. "See ya later, man."

Shortly after Manuel exited, Camila appeared from the direction where the sisters had previously left and stormed to the kitchen without giving the guest so much as a passing glance. Without even looking at her face, it was easy to tell that she was currently boiling mad, and it was wisest not to disturb her.

Moments later, Bucky heard sniffling coming from the same hallway. He stood up to investigate the source of the sound and found Roxanne at the end of it leaning against her bedroom doorway, her eyes closed and a hand over her mouth. Trails of tears were fresh and visible on her cheeks.

Bucky was startled at this sight. He had never seen Ro crying before. He glanced around uncomfortably and found that no one else was around. Even though he had absolutely no idea what to possibly do or say to her at that moment, he felt compelled to at least check on her.

He took some careful steps towards the girl but stopped halfway through the hall.

"Uh, are, are you okay?" he asked awkwardly.

Hearing the man's voice, Ro opened her eyes and wiped away the tears she had, attempting to regain composure as she lightly fanned herself with one hand.

"Oh, yeah, don't worry about it," she forced a smile, "I'm fine. Camila and I just had a stupid fight."

"Are you sure?" Bucky arched an eyebrow, completely unconvinced. This girl truly was awful at hiding her true feelings.

"Yeah, it's no big deal," she lied, maintaining her fake smile. "Think nothing of it. Hey, are you hungry? I was just about to make breakfast. How do you like your eggs?"

She took quick steps towards the kitchen, walking past Bucky without even waiting for him to answer her question. When the man heard her sniffling once more and saw her wiping her face as she walked away, any sense of levity Manuel had been able to make him feel was gone, and his shoulders drooped as he let out a heavy sigh and closed his eyes, mentally kicking himself.

"You really do bring nothing but pain into people's lives," Bucky thought to himself.

_______________________________________________________

The next few days were full of either tension at worst or awkwardness at best for everyone at the Garcia residence.

The heated scolding she had gotten from her sister made Roxanne feel almost obligated to come clean to her parents. However, her current situation, having James there with her and the fact that Don Jorge wasn't going to return home from work for a few more days, complicated things more than usual, so she decided against it, at least until she could face both of her parents at the same time. Thus, Camila kept giving Roxanne, as well as her companion, the cold shoulder, much to the older sister's dismay.

Doña Andrea, of course, told her husband the good news and the not-so-great news over the phone, and Jorge's reaction was not too dissimilar from his wife's. He was glad to hear that Ro had returned home alright but appalled at the fact that she had brought a stranger into the house without consulting with them, and a man at that. He ended the conversation with the acknowledgement that he did not have much choice but to allow for Bucky to stay at least until he returned and met this man in person, but Ro was already dreading the long lecture that most definitely awaited her at her father's return.

Despite the overall discord his presence had stirred, three of the five (currently four) members of the García family were trying their best to make Bucky feel comfortable. Roxanne, of course, was one of them. The other two were Manuel, who continued to act friendly towards him, and Doña Andrea, who despite her initial and continued discomfort, still tried her best to be hospitable. Bucky felt guilty about how disruptive his presence was for the family, but he couldn't help but appreciate Andrea's warmth and kindness and how similar she was to her adoptive daughter in that regard.

Roxanne and Bucky had arrived there on an early Friday morning, and since Ro wished to return to work right away in order to start earning her paycheck as well as help out her adoptive mother and boss, it wasn't going to be possible for her to accompany Bucky to Brooklyn until Monday, one of the two weekdays in which the diner was closed and she therefore had the day off.

She had encouraged Bucky to head to the borough on his own if he wished. After all, he had spent almost two months moving around cities on his own before Ro encountered him, so he wasn't unfamiliar with such travels. He considered doing so but ultimately insisted to Ro that he would rather wait until she had her day off, considering how she was a lot more familiar with present day Brooklyn and how to navigate it. He didn't admit it aloud, but he also preferred to go with Ro in case any other highly unpleasant memory presented itself while he was there. In the event that should occur, he could at least draw some sense of safety from her presence.

This, however, meant that he was going to be left with almost nothing to do for three full days. Bucky wished to make himself useful somehow and offered to help at the diner in any way, such as washing dishes or taking out the trash. But considering how there were other employees at El Rinconcito besides the Garcías, Roxanne thought it best not to bring any more attention than needed towards their guest. Granted, it was only a matter of time before word got out that the Garcias had a houseguest, and she would have no way of stopping rumors from spreading when that happened. However, for the time being, the less exposed Bucky was, the better. Besides, he was going to struggle doing most of the jobs he was offering to do with a jacket and gloves on.

At first, Roxanne told Bucky to take it easy and make himself at home, offering him books, the TV remote, and a radio to pass the time. She also suggested he take this time to keep writing down any memories he got and to maybe even organize them, going as far as giving him colored highlights and sticky tabs to make the task easier.

Bucky initially did as Ro suggested and began organizing the memories he had already written down in his notebook into a few categories, some of which included: Possible family, Possible friends, Good Steve memories, Bad Steve memories, War, and Winter Soldier. Although this was indeed helpful and certainly made organizing the memories chronologically easier, he soon found that getting absorbed in the task for too long left him overwhelmed.

He tried to distract himself with the other hobbies that Ro had left for him, though the results were not great. When he tried listening to the radio, he didn't like the sound of the music that any of the stations were playing, so he soon turned it off. Once he figured out how to turn the TV on, he found himself just as confused and uninterested with the contents he saw, consisting of mostly overly bright imagery compared to the monochrome and Technicolor films he was used to, which meant that this option didn't last long, either.

Books seemed like a much safer option, and while reading did manage to distract him for about an hour or so, he couldn't help continuing to feel uneasy. He hated just sitting there doing nothing while all of his hosts were doing something productive. He wanted to do at least something that was a little more useful than this, anything. Luckily for him, Manuel Garcia returned home from school that afternoon dramatically complaining about losing his weekend to a book report on The Hobbit that he needed to finish by Monday.

_______________________________________________________

As thanks for helping him with his book report, Manu spent Sunday afternoon showing Bucky his admittedly meager Avengers action figure collection. Of course, Manuel had more figures of the star-spangled man who had saved his sister than he did of any other Avenger. Just like with the museum posters, the sight of his childhood friend in toy form made Bucky want to roll his eyes and laugh. He also felt rather validated, but why?

He got his answer when he and Roxanne finally left for their outing on Monday morning. After having breakfast with the family, with Camila still giving them both the cold shoulder, Ro and Bucky got on a bus heading towards Brooklyn. Two hours and one bus change later, they arrived at the borough and continued the excursion on foot.

Even though Bucky couldn't recall any specific memories about Brooklyn, the place felt both familiar and foreign at the same time. The buildings felt taller and newer than they should have been, and the streets felt noisier and more crowded. As he and Roxanne walked past the buildings, Bucky happened to turn towards a random alley. There was nothing special about this alley. It was dark, narrow, secluded, and lined with trash cans, like every other alley in the city, but Bucky found himself being drawn to it as a memory began to resurface in his mind.

"Sometimes I think you like getting punched," Bucky had said to a smaller, less impressive-looking Steve.

"I had him on the ropes," Steve had replied.

That memory was followed by more memories of him rescuing Steve from fights in other dark, secluded areas all over Brooklyn. The fights were usually preceded by Steve mouthing off to some guy who was much bigger and more brutish than him. His more merciful opponents would take one look at him, laugh, and give him one chance to back off, but Steve never did. Despite the number of headaches Steve's inability to back down had given Bucky, Bucky couldn't help but admire him for his bravery and refusal to let his size define his capabilities.

"James?" Roxanne called, returning him to the present. "Did you just remember something?"

"Yeah, a lot of things, actually," Bucky replied, walking away from the alley towards Ro. "I remembered all the times Steve got into a fight with a bully in a back alley, and guess who rescued him every time?"

Wow, sharing his memories with her unprompted AND making jokes about them? Ro had no idea what she did that made Bucky feel so safe around her, but she was glad that Bucky saw her as a trustworthy person, which made her smile at him.

"Sounds like you and Steve were close," she remarked.

"A lot of people looked down on him back in the day for being small," Bucky recounted.

"But not you."

"No. I knew he was stronger than he looked, maybe not physically, but he made up for it with guts and heart."

"You know, Camila had gotten in trouble in a back alley once," Ro remembered. "I was still living out on the streets, and she had followed me to where I had been living and almost got attacked by some drunk thugs. If I hadn't heard her screaming, who knows what would have happened to her?"

"Did she get you and herself into trouble often, too?" Bucky asked in amusement.

"Kind of, yeah. Mostly just with our parents," Ro chuckled to herself. "I'm not sure when it was, but at one point, I stopped keeping track of all the favors she owed me from helping her hide the fact that she snuck out at night or trying to help her sneak back in in the early mornings. I got SO many of her last slices of pizza or cake thanks to that," she giggled, and Bucky couldn't help but let out a light chuckle as well, although it was too brief for the girl to take notice.

Roxanne's smile faded when she remembered the current state of her relationship with her sister.

"Even before her family adopted me, she and I were the best of friends," she noted. "How did we go from that to whatever mess our relationship is now?"

The look on Ro's face and her statement about her current conflict with Camila reminded Bucky about his situation with Steve, specifically about how he had come so close to killing him. Furthermore, everything he did as the Winter Soldier was fundamentally opposed to everything Steve stood for, bled for, and broke bones for, even before he became Captain America. If almost killing him didn't irreparably damage his friendship with Steve, surely all the pain and suffering he wrought in the name of those, those bullies did. Sure, there was a small chance that their friendship was salvageable, but could Bucky really take that chance?

"Do you, uhm..." Bucky hesitated before finishing his question, "do you think you two will be able to work things out?"

Ro blinked as she gave her answer some thought. "Well, I seriously hope so. We've had fights before, and we're usually able to make up relatively soon. But I, I don't remember any of them being this serious or lasting this long before."

"I thought you said it had been just a stupid little fight and not a big deal," he pointed out, raising an eyebrow.

Confronted by her own white lie, and unable to deny the reality of her situation anymore after Bucky had been witnessing it for several days now, Ro simply looked away and shrunk slightly in embarrassment.

"Roxanne, look, I know that what happens between you and your family is none of my business," Bucky acknowledged. "But we made a deal about being transparent with each other, remember? Don't feel like you have to lie to me just to protect my feelings. You hadn't done it until now, and I wouldn't want you to start doing so."

The firm yet calm and gentle manner in which Bucky spoke took Roxanne by surprise. She hadn't been aware of this sympathetic and sincere side of him up until now. Finally turning to look at the man with a somewhat saddened expression in her eyes, she gave him a small nod.

"So, is it my fault that you and Camila are fighting?" he asked with an already guilty expression on his face.

"No, no, it's not..." Ro began before pausing and sighing. "Well, not completely. I mean, you being here did add on to it, but this was my idea, not yours, remember? And even if you weren't here, it probably would've just been a matter of time until this fight eventually broke out. It mostly boils down to me being an awful, inconsiderate sister as of late."

"In what way?"

"Well," Roxanne explained, "for starters, my parents don't know about my powers or that I've been secretly going out and helping people with them. That's how I ended up on SHIELD's radar."

"So, how did you end up on HYDRA's?"

Through clenched teeth, Ro growled, "The less said about that the better. Let's just say I trusted someone I shouldn't have and paid the price for it."

"Anyway," she continued, "Camila and Manuel found out my secret, and I made them swear not to tell our parents. They kept my secret, our parents still don't know anything, and up until recently, none of that has been a problem."

"So, how did it become a problem?" Bucky prompted.

"SHIELD recruited me, and I stopped seeing my family for two months. In all that time, Camila had to keep lying to our parents on top of worrying if I had gotten myself killed doing Avengers level heroics and helping run the diner and taking college classes and doing all her other part-time jobs to pay for her college classes."

"In other words, her life's been hard because of all the responsibilities she took on, and being involved with your secret has only been making her life even harder."

"Exactly."

"So, what are you going to do?"

Roxanne looked away from Bucky and sighed, "There's only one thing I can do. I'm going to have to tell my parents about everything as soon as my dad gets back."

"Uh, everything, everything?" Bucky exclaimed, gesturing at his left arm.

Ro gave him a sideways glance and conceded, "Well, I suppose I can't tell them anything about you that you don't want them to know."

The man bit his lip as he took a moment to contemplate Ro's current situation, as well as his own circumstances. He was more than aware that the truth about what had happened to him would seem incredibly hard to process to most people who hadn't witnessed it, or at least been shown direct evidence of it. Hell, even he himself had a hard time believing it most days. However, if there was one thing Bucky did not wish to do was complicate Roxanne's life further. And the cleaner she was able to come to her family, the better, it seemed like.

"Okay," he spoke at last, "you can tell them about how I'm running from HYDRA and why, just don't tell them who I really am."

"Oh, alright," Ro replied, genuinely surprised at actually having received permission from Bucky at all. "I mean, that part would have been particularly hard to explain to begin with," she admitted with an awkward smile. "So I guess it's fine if they don't get that specific info for now."

"And if they really must know who I am, just tell them I was a random soldier they kidnapped from Romania or something," Bucky quipped with a shrug, once again smirking.

This made Ro let out a genuine laugh, the sound of which Bucky found oddly pleasant, especially considering that he had been the one to cause it. It lasted only a second or two, but it made him feel good.

"Why should we tell them you're Romanian?" the girl asked, genuinely amused at seeing more of Bucky's dry sense of humor.

"To raise less suspicion, I guess," his smirk softened a little. "You can tell them any other place, if you want. It's fine by me."

"It probably wouldn't be too smart to make up a story that could snowball into another, different mess," Ro reasoned, her tone becoming more serious but a small smile remaining. "We'll just tell them you still don't remember much about your earlier life, and that I'm trying to help you recover your memories. It's not technically a lie."

"You're right, it isn't."

Ro turned her head towards Bucky and found him looking at her with a soft, earnest expression in his face. There was a gentle glimmer in his blue eyes, an incredible warmth that, a week ago, she would've never expected to find in those eyes. Without him having to utter a single word, Ro could clearly tell there was gratitude in Bucky at this moment. And seeing it made her smile widen.

"Thank you, James," she told him, her voice just as warm as the man's eyes. "For understanding."

Bucky said nothing at first, getting caught up in the young woman's soft smile and in the gentle look in her green eyes, which appeared to glisten as she looked at him. There was something about this particular look that she would sometimes give him, a look filled with tenderness, that had the power to make him feel as if the world momentarily stopped. It made him feel confused, and yet, unexpectedly peaceful for a couple of seconds.

Suddenly becoming self-conscious, Bucky forced himself to look away from Roxanne's face and elsewhere, tightening his lips into a thin line as he simply nodded in response to the girl's thanks.

The pair continued walking side by side, and although neither of them were talking, this silence somehow felt less uncomfortable than it usually had been on previous similar occasions. Before too long though, an idea came to Bucky's head, making his face light up slightly. He turned towards his companion once again.

"Hey, if you don't mind, why don't you show me the neighborhood where you guys used to live?" He tried his best to suppress another smirk. "I believe your brother told me something about a guy who sold popsicles there?"

Ro stopped walking, and her head turned towards Bucky with a surprised look on her face. She held eye contact with him for a while, her face slowly changing from shocked to knowing, and as he saw this, Bucky couldn't hold himself anymore and his neutral expression turned into a smile, letting out a snicker through his teeth.

The girl let out a delighted laugh as she realized exactly what Bucky had been told and was now referring to. "Come on, I'll show you," she kept chuckling as she turned and signaled for Bucky to follow her. "I could really use a paleta right now, actually."

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When Roxanne and Bucky returned to the Garcias' residence, Camila and Manuel were seated at the dining table. Cami was attending one of her online classes while snacking on a bag of chips, and Manu was supposed to be doing homework but seemed far more focused on stealing his older sister's snack. Judging from what happened next, the teen boy must have been bothering Cami for a while.

"Quit stealing my chips, you little pest!" Camila yelled, roughly shoving her younger brother's face away.

Suddenly, the back of Roxanne's neck tingled, prompting her to turn towards the source of the danger. To her horror, Ro saw Bucky striding towards Camila with his fists clenched and his eyes burning with anger. Thinking quickly, she grabbed onto his left arm with both hands and pulled him back.

"James!" she cried. At the sound of her voice, Ro's siblings turned towards them with confused expressions.

Feeling Roxanne pull at his arm and hearing the fear in her voice as she called his name broke Bucky out of the rage-fueled trance he had been in. The first thing he saw was Cami and Manu's perplexed faces and the complete lack of malice in Cami's expression. He turned towards Ro, and the sight of her clutching at his arm with terror in her eyes made him realize just what he had been about to do.

Bucky pulled away from her, trembling with shame. He tried to apologize, but he was too flustered to even think, let alone speak. He rushed away towards the living room, and Ro's astonished gaze remained fixed on the direction where he disappeared.

"What's their problem?" Camila scoffed.

Manuel shrugged in response. As Cami returned her attention towards her class, the boy walked to his oldest sister, gazing in the same direction as her.

"Hey, is James alright?"

Ro's brow furrowed with worry, not turning to look at her brother as she answered. "I'm not sure if he is."

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Judging by how Bucky had refused to join the family at the dining table during dinner that night, the earlier incident with Cami and Manu must have still been bothering him. If Doña Andrea hadn't insisted on feeding him, Bucky likely would have gone without eating. Just when he was starting to eat like a person instead of an abused pet, too.

Just thinking about the whole event was keeping Roxanne awake. It was always hard to see Bucky suddenly become troubled over a sudden nasty memory or a reaction he regretted, but after the relatively pleasant time they had spent in Brooklyn, it felt even more painful this time. And if she was this stressed about it, she couldn't even imagine how he must be feeling. Thankfully, Camila didn't seem to have noticed Bucky approaching her menacingly. The last thing anyone needed was validation that Bucky was trouble for the family. Maybe she should go check how he's doing.

Ro sat up and looked over at Camila's bed. Once she was sure that her younger sister was asleep, she stealthily crept out of their room towards the living room. As she got nearer, the sound of rapid, shallow breathing reached her ears. She hurried to turn on a foot lamp next to one of the couches and saw Bucky lying on the floor, tossing and turning in his sleep.

Roxanne rushed over to him intending to gently wake him, but before she could, Bucky woke up gasping. Bucky sat up, looking around the room frantically. When he saw Roxanne kneeling close by, staring at him worriedly, he turned away from her.

"I didn't wake you, did I?" he asked without turning, his breath still unsteady and his throat dry, which prompted him to take a gulp.

"No," she replied, still looking at him worriedly. "I couldn't sleep. I, I was actually coming to check in on you."

"Don't worry about me, I'm fine," Bucky said as he wiped away the sweat from his forehead with his right wrist.

Ro's temples tingled, and she furrowed her brow slightly. "James, that's not true."

Bucky exhaled in frustration, turning sideways while still avoiding eye contact. "Sorry, for a moment, I forgot you could tell."

"I didn't exactly need my powers to tell, you know," she recognized. "Uhm, you want me to stay for a bit?"

Bucky didn't say anything, and simply scooched to the side, leaving just enough room for Ro to sit next to him on the floor, which she instantly took as confirmation and did so. They both sat side by side in silence, their backs pressed against the couch, as Bucky continued to take deep breaths, attempting to calm himself, which he was finding slightly easier with Ro by his side. After enough time had passed, Ro considered addressing the elephant in the room, the reason why she had come here in the first place.

"What happened with Camila and Manuel earlier, do you want to talk about it?" she finally asked cautiously as she slid closer to him.

Bucky shut his eyes in shame. "I wasn't trying to hurt them, I swear," he replied, struggling to keep his voice steady. "I just saw your sister push your brother, and I thought that she had hurt him or was trying to hurt him, and I just got angry, and before I knew it, I was on my way to murder your sister, and you were trying to stop me."

"What made you think Camila wanted to hurt Manuel?"

"Because," he let out a long, pain-filled sigh, "my handlers used to hit me across the face whenever I malfunctioned."

"Malfunctioned?" Roxanne thought to herself. "What did HYDRA think this man was? A TV? Or a dishwasher?"

"It happened less and less the better I got at being the Winter Soldier," Bucky elaborated, "but I guess I remember enough to know that I hated how it made me feel, so when I thought your brother was going through the same thing..."

"You wanted to protect him," Ro finished.

He exhaled hard through his nostrils, looking away once again. He set his hands on the floor to his sides and tightened his fingers anxiously, very briefly but enough for Ro to take notice of it in the dim, orange light.

"I know things almost got really ugly there, but, you trying to keep my brother safe," she said with a moved tone in her voice, "that's actually really sweet of you. Look, you don't have to worry about something like that happening with them, okay? We squabble over petty, dumb things often, like all siblings do. But neither of us would ever do anything to actually hurt each other."

Bucky nodded in understanding, though his gaze remained down, pensive. Ro studied him for a moment, glancing between his face and his hands with a concerned expression. Her mind drifted back to the last time she had tried reaching for one of his hands to comfort him, only for him to have a not too dissimilar, knee-jerk reaction and immediately attempt to protect himself. It made so much more sense now, and thinking of how many times this poor man must've gotten, not just mentally but also physically, abused, attacked, and punished broke her heart. It was no wonder he would constantly avoid physical touch after having nothing but such negative associations with it for so many decades.

"And James," she began solemnly, slowly turning her body towards him, leaning ever so slightly closer, "I would never do anything to hurt you. Not again. And neither would anyone in this family. Do you believe me?"

Hearing the calm yet determined sincerity Roxanne put into every word that she spoke, Bucky finally lifted his gaze towards her. There it was again. That captivating look that tore Bucky's defenses apart in the gentlest way imaginable, that made all of his doubts feel as if they melted away, like a block of ice being exposed to the warm rays of summer sunshine. He couldn't help but trust her no matter how hard he tried not to. And this time, he didn't even try.

"Yes," he confirmed. A trace of fear was still heard in his voice, but he didn't lie.

Despite the honesty in his answer, Ro still felt the desire to do something more. Something that would further reassure him, that could once and for all make Bucky feel certain that he was safe around her and that she would not do to him anything that his cruel, heartless handlers had done. But what?

The girl once again examined Bucky's face, intently looking over his features and his serene yet tired expression as she thought hard. A strand of his long, dark hair was dangling over his face, slightly obscuring one of his eyes from her view.

Ro's instinct when she noticed this was to reach over and brush it away, but she stopped herself, lightly rubbing her hands together as she built up the courage to ask, "May I?"

Bucky's brow faintly furrowed in confusion, and he saw Ro looking from her hands to his strand of hair and his face, her eyes somewhat pleading. He of course could've just fixed his hair himself, but he became suddenly somewhat paralyzed when he realized what the young heroine was implying.

"Why?" he asked, his eyes briefly narrowing as he pulled away from her.

"It's just..." Ro shook her head as she struggled to find the right words. "When was the last time someone touched you without wanting to hurt you?" she wondered aloud.

Bucky said nothing, though his expression slowly fell, as well as his gaze.

Ro's face grew sadder as she realized what his silence meant. "You can't even remember, can you?"

Bucky turned his head away with a somewhat hurt demeanor, and quickly realizing what she had just said, Ro cringed.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have said that, I, I..." she stammered, once again failing to figure out the right thing to say. She heaved a defeated sigh. "Could I please just try?"

He remained still, but glanced at her sideways once again, looking unsure and surprisingly vulnerable, something which Roxanne did not take for granted.

"It's gonna be okay," she softly reassured him. "You can trust me."

He did. He still didn't know how or why, but he did.

Bucky turned his head back towards the girl, who was now sitting right in front of him, and gave her a little nod, granting her his permission.

Returning the nod and further reassuring him with a tiny smile, Ro stretched her arm towards the man's face, perhaps a bit more eagerly than intended, for the proximity of her hand to his face made Bucky involuntarily flinch away the moment it got a bit too close.

The girl retracted her hand and gave him an apologetic look. "It's okay," she whispered.

The tenderness in her voice and the compassion emanating from her countenance helped Bucky slowly allow himself to relax again. He slightly leaned forward and tried to remain still as she reached for him once more, this time more slowly and carefully.

Bucky felt every inch of his body shake as he resisted the urge to retreat from Roxanne's approaching hand. The shaking only worsened as her hand drew closer and closer to his face. In a desperate attempt to dispel his growing anxiety, Bucky honed in on Ro's eyes, her kind, warm, beautiful green eyes.

She finally reached the rogue strand of hair and delicately took it between her fingers, gingerly moving it to the side and tucking it behind Bucky's left ear. As she did so, the palm of her hand barely brushed against the man's cheek when it trembled slightly. Noticing how Bucky remained tense but did not wince away from her this time, Ro made a perhaps bold decision.

Still moving slowly and gently, she pressed her palm against his cheek. Bucky was clearly taken aback by this, tensing up even more and gasping through his teeth. Ro kept her lovely eyes on him, once again wordlessly giving him reassurance. Her smile denoted a bit of nervousness but also, more than anything, a heartwarming empathy.

Bucky felt his heart beating faster inside his chest but forced himself to not move away. Attempting to make her touch feel as comforting as her expression, Ro tenderly rubbed her thumb against Bucky's cheekbone, molding the rest of her hand against his jaw, slowly but surely making her grasp more firm but still delicate. Despite the bristled texture of Bucky's stubble against her skin, his face felt surprisingly warm and softer than she had expected.

Feeling the girl's gentle, velvety hand touch him, not to berate him but to soothe him, Bucky suddenly found a delight that he had long forgotten, and likely never really appreciated all that much before, but right now found just heavenly. He closed his eyes and let out a long sigh, as if he was letting all his fear and tension escape his body. He leaned his face against her palm, allowing himself to be present, to be calm, to be vulnerable. While his heartbeat was still strong and loud, it began to steady, as did his mind. For just this moment, he felt peace inside.

The sight of Bucky's tranquil expression made Ro feel a sense of accomplishment, and her smile widened as the warmth that he felt permeated through her. She felt fuzzy inside, basking in the contentment that this man was finally feeling. She gently moved her thumb upward towards the corner of his eye and caught a small tear that was escaping from it.

As Roxanne continued to caress his face, Bucky opened his eyes and made a startling realization. Roxanne Brooks was a very beautiful young woman, and it wasn't just her eyes that made her so. She had a smile that made Bucky forget that they were in a dark room in the middle of the night, and the soft, brown waves of her hair complemented the rosy pink of her cheeks. This girl had the face of an angel, and Bucky had somehow stumbled into the good fortune of beholding it.

Getting lost in that beautiful face as well as in that soothing touch, Bucky couldn't help but grin dumbly at her. Unthinkingly, he slowly reached his right hand forward and placed it on top of Ro's left one, which the girl didn't expect but gladly welcomed, intertwining her index finger around his thumb as Bucky timidly rubbed his fingertips against her knuckles.

"Thank you," he whispered to the young woman, looking at her as if he was staring right into heaven. He felt as if he was in a dream, one completely opposite to the one he had just woken up from. One which he never wanted to end.

The sight of Bucky's genuine smile and the sincerity in his bright, pure blue eyes shimmering in the dim light made Roxanne's heart flutter. She hadn't stopped beaming at him this entire time, and she continued doing so as she gave him another nod.

"It was nothing," she said, looking down with slightly reddened cheeks.

Reluctantly, she slowly moved her hands away from beneath Bucky's grasp as well as from his face, which made him feel an unexpected disappointment, but he did not protest.

"Try to get some sleep, James," Ro suggested, still speaking in a whisper, as she began to get up.

"Actually," the man began, hesitating for a moment before finishing with more certainty, "it's Bucky."

Roxanne stopped in her tracks, looking back at him and finding that he was still smiling contentedly. Her surprised look became warm once again, and the two exchanged a knowing glance.

"Okay," Ro accepted with a calm joy, "good night, Bucky."

Hearing that nickname, the name he finally was beginning to feel ready to accept, coming from her lips and in her sweet voice, felt like music to Bucky's ears.

"Good night... Ro," Bucky replied.

This was the first time he called her by the shortened form of her name, no doubt having heard her family call her that countless times over the last couple of days. And of course, she had no objections to him calling her that as well. Giving him one last, full-faced smile, she walked out of the living room and back towards her bedroom, turning off the light on her way out.

Being left alone once again, a wave of sadness crossed through Bucky but was quickly replaced by the lingering sense of peace and safety this girl's act of humanity had made him feel. Even now that she was no longer next to him, that sensation remained. The dark room he was in somehow felt brighter, cozier. His face felt warm still, and although he couldn't see it, a blush colored his cheeks. In this moment, he felt more human than he had felt in a very long time.

Lying on his back on the floor, Bucky pulled the blanket back over himself and closed his eyes, breathing deeply and evenly as he continued to think about Roxanne, everything she had done for him, the light sound of her voice, and her angelic face.

Steadily, he began falling asleep.

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AUTHOR'S NOTES: This final scene is another one of those early ideas I had when I first started developing this story. I was defintely SUPER excited to get to it ever since I decided to write this fanfic. A few small changes were made since, but I'm really happy with how the final scene turned out. It's gotta be one of the sweetest scenes I've written so far :') (And as always, Julienne helped a lot and made some awesome additions, so thank you for that, friend!)

So, what just happened to Bucky at the end there, and how will it change the way he and Roxanne interact? Will Ro and Camila reconcile? Will Don Jorge allow Bucky to stay with them longer? Find out in 2025 ;)

Haha but in all seriousness, this will be the last update of the year! My co-author and I will need a bit more time to work on part 16, not to mention the Holidays are coming up, so expect the next part on late January or early February. We made SO much progress on the story this year, and I'm immensely proud of it, and greatly enjoying working on it along with Julienne! I'm certainly looking forward to see how much more progress we make in 2025 and to see if more people will join us for our journey. Even if you haven't commented but have come this far, I'd like to thank you! (And also thank you to a particular critique I received recently, those are welcome as well as long as they're constructive) I hope you'll spend a nice Holiday season and that you can look forward to what's coming next!

I for one think this is quite an appropiate place to leave you guys until next year ;)