Authors (((   (((<,^,>)))   ))) Note
   Really quick...I saw the picture above and had to share it because Steve and Sarah look exactly like I picture them.  Bucky's hair is a little different than what I was thinking but Steve just cut it so it fits perfectly!!  Warning: this one's emotional.

   Steve walked into his house. It was one of the first times in a while he hadn't gone home with Bucky. Recently, his mother hadn't been able to go to work.  She was trying to combat the spread of the consumption...and ended up getting it herself.
When Steve entered his home, Sarah Rogers' frail voice called him "Steven, come here," she beckoned weakly. She was a gaunt sight. A once beautiful, rosy cheeked face framed with delicate blonde curls was now a gastly white, and bony, sweat drenched hair clinging to it.

Steve walked over and gently crouched down near her bed, "You need something mama?"

"I'm fine Stevie. I just wanted you over here," she offered Steve her hand, and he took it confused. This was out of the ordinary. "No matter what happens, always remember to always stand up for what's right. Can you promise me that?" she asked.

Steve was crushed in that second. He had hoped for a while that in the last second a doctor would come in with a magic cure for her. His mother was dying, quickly...he called him over to...no he couldn't accept it, "You gotta stay around to tell me that mama," he pushed, smiling weakly.

"Oh how I wish I could Steven," she said and then started coughing. Red stains scattered across her sheets. "I need you to promise me...you will always stand up for what's right,"

Steve uttered between an escaping cry "I promise." he paused "please please don't leave me mama,"

"I'm," she coughed again "so sorry Steven." 

 Steve didn't respond. He couldn't say it was okay. His mother was dying! That was not okay. "Please don't leave me mama," he repeated between sobs.

"I'm going to see him," Sarah Rogers stated.

"See who?!" Steve asked. He knew what she was talking about but he couldn't accept it. She'd started talking happily about being able to see her husband again since she found out she had tuberculosis. It was her little bit of hope in a hopeless situation. Steve was about to ask her not to leave him again but she looked calm and happy for the first time in weeks and he couldn't ruin that. He just held her hand as tears poured down his face.

"I love you," he told her as he gingerly wiped the blood from around her mouth.

"I love...you more than...you'll ever know...my little miracle," Sarah said slowly and feebly. Steve smiled weakly again through tears. She hadn't called him that since he was little.

"Good morning Steven! How's my little miracle?"

Giggles escaped Steve "I'm playing toy soldiers!"

Sarah came in and lifted him up twirling him around "It's time for your first day of school!"

Steve's face lit up. He had never been to school before, but his mama said that it was a present everyday! If he went to school he could do anything! Sarah pulled him into a hug "Steven...you are my little miracle. Don't let any of the other boys tell you any different."

"Okay mama!" Steve responded, still smiling from ear to ear.

Sarah pulled some of his platinum, baby hair from his face and helped him put on a new brown cap. "Have fun!" she told him, "Love you!"

"I love you too!" Steve yelled back as he started his long walk to school.
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"Mama!" Steve came home in tears. "Th-this boy in my class...h-he called me a g-good for nothin I-Irish boy 'n he s-stepped on my cap!"

Sarah hugged him rubbing his back. "Don't you listen to those boys. You'll be okay."

Steve's lip wobbled as he asked, "Is it bad to be Irish?"

Sarah chuckled to herself and smiled at him, wiping his tears away with her thumb "No it isn't Stevey. Let's talk about your first day. I'll getcha a snack." she coaxed, taking him in her arms to the kitchen.

"Okay!" Steve said smiling, laying his head on her shoulder.

Steve was pulled out of his memory by another coughing fit from his mother. He grabbed a rag by the bed and wiped her face. "Thank you," she mouthed with a smile on her face.
   "My pl..." Steve started. Sarah closed her eyes, not wanting her son to watch someone else close them for her. "No please...mama please...don't..." his sentence was stopped by a sudden outburst of tears. After all that she'd sacrificed for him, taking on three jobs at a time to pay for his medicine, all the times she saved his life, he could do nothing. She was gone. His mother was such a righteous, kind lady. Why did this happen to her? "T-tell me everything i-is okay again m-mama p-please," he begged. He would do anything to hear her say that right now. His response was silence...
  "I promise mama, I-I'll stand up for what's right. I'll stand up for what's right," he repeated. He kissed his mother's hand, setting it gently on the bed, and hugged her close to him for a while.

He walked over to Bucky's using only his muscle memory. He couldn't see or think. Bucky opened the door, full enthusiasm, "Hey pa..." he noticed Steve's bloodshot eyes, and his broken face, "you okay?"

Steve tried to not sound like he'd been crying and uttered the words "My ma just passed away..."

Bucky's face dropped. "She......c-cm'on in Steve," he paused "I'll be right back." This time he was the one choking back tears.  He went over to tell his parents. "My folks called the ambulance," he stated.

"Alright," Steve said, feeling as though he was the one dead.

Bucky hugged him. "I'm so sorry this happened Steve," he said. Steve tried his best not to, but he was struggling with the effort and started sobbing again. Bucky felt awful. He'd never seen Steve like this. He was filled with grief himself, but he tried to stay strong for Steve.

"I'm sorry," Steve managed to say between his tears.

"Nothin to apologize for pal," Bucky responded.

"She's gone..." Steve said after he stopped crying again "My mama...she's...dead..."

Bucky didn't respond right away. "Yeah..." he said sorrowfully, unable to say anything else.
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   There were a whole bunch of people that came to Steve's house to take his mother away. They found Mrs. Rogers in her bed, but didn't see her son. Steve did not want to be around to see his mother taken away, so he hid out in Bucky's old treehouse. Bucky didn't know he was there either...he wouldn't mind.
   The officers ended up finding him anyways because Steve's neighbor had seen him leave the house. Because he was a minor and had no parents they had to send him to relatives or an orphanage. "Ya have any family members who could take ya?" a man asked.

"No sir," Steve answered.

"Please tell us the truth son, even if ya don't like 'em," the man pushed further.

"My brother died of tuberculosis when he was young, my pa died in the war, my ma she's," he felt like he was stabbed as he had to correct himself "...she was all that I had. All of my other family lives in Ireland."

   Many orphanages had shut down due to the poverty that had overtaken the city, but they were going to send him to a functioning one in Queens...Queens!!! That was too far away from his life...but they took him there anyway, and took his house away.

Authors ((( (((<,^,>))) ))) Note
I sincerely apologize if I made you cry. I kind of tried to do that, because all good authors can, right? That's why I warned you in the beginning...it had to be done. Some good news? With this chapter I have officially hit 10,000 words, which is the needed length for a book to be considered a novel! *FYI* I'm aware Steve was a lot older in the MCU when Sarah Rogers died. I'm following more of the comics here, because that works better with my story. Hope you...enjoyed? Rogersbarnes22 out *salute*