The Price We Pay for Family - 17

By -

 

Cont...

(May the 4th be with you!)


Figuring out how to tell Cass was the hardest thing Sam had ever tried to do. He hadn't been old enough to understand when his father had died all those years ago. All he'd ever known was Sarah and Uncle Sam. And Bucky. 

But at the end of the day, Sarah had done the hard thing and told him. Sam would forever feel shame and regret for that. His sister was one of the strongest people in the world. But she shouldn't have to do this. 

Cass had woken up bleary-eyed and sleepy so he missed the red eyes or his brother and mom. But he didn't miss the fact Sam was here.

 "Uncle Sam!" Cass threw himself at Sam for a hug. Sam wrapped him in his arms and braces for the next question. 

"Where's Uncle Bucky?" Cass asked, pulling away and looking around eager. The words stabbed at Sam's heart worse than he thought they would.

 "He's not here, baby," Sarah said gently coming over to them. 

"Is he in the hospital again? Did he get hurt?" Cass asked, concerned face falling.

 "No baby." Sarah said carefully, "He's not coming home." 

Cass's eyes said he understood immediately, but his face twisted in confusion, "Is he still taking care of other things?"

 "No baby." Sarah crouched down to Cass's level and gripped his arms gently, "He's gone baby. He died."

 Cass's face fell into shock, "No, no, you're messing with me please tell me you're messing with me." He looked desperately at his mom and then to AJ. His face slowly crumbled as he saw the red eyes and crestfallen faces. "Uncle Sam?" Cass turned to him, begging him to tell them that it was all wrong. 

Sam wished he could. He really did. But he just shook his head and pulled Cass into his arms, "I'm sorry." 

Cass started crying, "No..."

 Sarah knelt and wrapped her arms around them too, "I know, baby I know. It's okay. You cry." 

Cass was shaking as he sobbed, "It should have been me!" 

Sam felt like someone had poured ice-cold water down his back, "What?"

 Sarah was having a similar reaction, "Baby, what do you mean by that?"

 "I was the reason we were out there! If we hadn't none of this would have happened!" Cass wailed.

 "Oh honey, that's not true." Sarah soothed, "They would have found another way baby it didn't matter. This isn't your fault, it's theirs." 

Cass just sobbed harder, "It is though!" 

Sarah shot Sam a panicked look that said she had no clue what to do. Sam didn't either. AJ apparently did. 

"Cass." AJ said firmly, "Look at me." 

Cass did so. 

"Did Dad love us?" AJ asked point-blank.

 "Yes." Cass sniffled.

 "Even though we were tiny terrors and puked all over him?" AJ asked. 

"Yes." Cass looked at his brother like he'd lost his mind. San could share the sentiment.

 "Why did he do that Cass? Cause he wanted to get puked on?" AJ challenged. 

"No. He did it cause he's Dad. It's what he does." Cass stared at AJ in confusion, "Why?"

 "Cause that's how Bucky loved us. Because he just did." AJ crouched down next to Cass, "He made a choice to save us cause he loved us so much. He knew what he was getting into. He wouldn't blame you which means I can't let you blame yourself. Stuff just happens, Cass. It just does." 

Cass's eyes welled up again, "Like a stand-in, dad?" 

"Yeah, like a stand-in dad." AJ agreed. 

"He said he could do that. I told him I'd have to think about it. Do you think he'd be mad if I let him take it now?" Cass asked, voice wavering.

 "Oh, Baby. He told you that?" Sarah said softly. 

"There were these kids at school that were picking on me cause it was a Father's day project and I didn't have a person to do it on. Bucky picked me up from school and saw something was wrong so he took me out to ice cream and made me tell him what was up. He told me that his dad had done something for his best friend when his best friend's dad died. A stand-in dad. To go to athletic meets or be the subject of school papers and stuff. He offered to do that for me, so it wasn't awkward with my classmates. Not a replacement, just a stand-in since Dad wasn't here." Cass explained, "I told him I would have to think about it. I kinda forgot about that till now." 

"I think he would like that, Cass, if you're okay with that," Sam said, trying not to choke on his words. His partner was one in a million. 

"Okay." Cass nodded before breaking down again, "Not that would help since he's dead too now." 

"Oh, baby." Sarah wrapped Cass into a hug, "It'll be alright."

 "It doesn't feel alright." Cass sobbed, "It does feel alright at all."


Tell me what you think in the comments!

Follow if you like it!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Price We Pay for Family - 39

By -
  Cont... Cass didn't think he'd ever get over how small adults looked when they thought he wasn't looking. How their shoulders sometimes curled in and true emotions came out and how they seemed to dim when no one was looking.  Mama and Uncle Sam were like that. They were faking normality for him and AJ. Smiling with smiles that didn't quite reach their eyes. Went and did things with them as their faces were not quite there. Said they were fine and cried behind closed doors.  Cass wasn't a fool. He knew it was bad. But what frustrated him most was that they wouldn't tell him anything straight. It was white lies and half-truths. Not the cold hard truth, plain and simple. They were dancing around everything like he was glass. He wanted to scream. He wanted the truth.  That's why he ended up creeping silently down the black stone halls deep in the palace to try and find the medical wing. He wanted to know the truth. Wanted to see just what Mama and Uncle Sam, a
Read more

The Price We Pay for Family - 38

By -
  Cont... Sam had never felt so helpless than when he'd handed Bucky's much too light body to the doctors and had only been left to pray he'd be okay. He'd see Bucky had so pretty huge highs and some pretty deep lows, but Sam had never seen him that still, that dead. Even out of surgery and hooked up to all sorts of machines, he still looked dead. His skin was shallow, his breathing forced by a tube down his throat.  The only way Sam could have told he was alive was the wheeze of the air machine and the steady slow beep of the heart monitor. The doctors had done four surgeries to repair the damage they could. They'd had to infuse most of his skeleton with vibranium to help it regrow. At least now, his arms and hands didn't look deformed.  They'd told him they were keeping him under until they could get his breathing to go on its own. But Sam still stayed with him.  He remembered Bucky had mentioned once a long time ago that he could faintly remember his time
Read more

The Price We Pay for Family- 35

By -
  Cont... Yelena Belova was a force of nature. Sam had only made her acquaintances 6 hours ago, but Bast if she didn't make an impression.  They'd found her at Natasha's grave in Ohio, and she'd almost shot John on sight for 'being such a belligerent idiot' and sullying her sister's reputation with charity groups. After they'd ironed that out, she'd had some choice Russian curses to spit about the 'Countessa El moron.' Apparently, Yelena had been working for her in a freelance way and had been manipulated into almost killing Clint Barton under the assumption he'd killed Natasha. Sam could see where the dislike came from.  Between Yelena's and John's freelance records, Shuri had been able to narrow down the locations the phone the two had communicated with had pinged from. It left them with a short list of places that Nakia cross-referenced with chatter in the area to get it down to one, an old drug factory deep in the Venezuelan j
Read more