Rain drugged wearily on, steadily zig zagging between specks of dirt on the soiled window pane. The view from Alice’s vantage point was bleak indeed, but the quiet outside of the pitter patter of water was calming to the girl as she washed their few meager dishes.
They’d been on the run for six months now, after she managed to convince James that she was a friend, not foe. It killed her to see him like this… Not quite the man she’d come to love so fervently. A love she didn’t think was ever possible after losing her husband and child. That is, assuming they’re actually gone… She’d been running for what felt like a millennia and was still no closer to finding them, or knowing if they still lived than the day she lost them. Meeting James was the first time she ever thought to close the door on her beloved family and accept what fate seemed to be telling her: it’s OK to move on now. But then Bucky, as his friends and loved ones called him, had been taken from her and the Darkness was soon on her heels. It seemed Alice wasn’t allowed second chances at happiness.
The door creaked open and Alice’s reflexes were quicker than ever. Before the intruder could have seen, she’d grabbed the rusted cutting knife and jettisoned beneath the kitchen table - her closest cover. However, it was the sight of familiar boots that caused her pulse to slow and allowed the girl to rise with a sheepish smile dancing on her lips.
“You know, in our current situation, announcing yourself might leave you to a better end…” She smirked, brandishing the knife casually.
She was a mess. Her hair was haphazardly bundled atop her head in a lopsided bun; her apron was stained with grime and dishwater and there was dirt on her nose from gardening before the downpour began. Alice Liddell, the girl who once dressed to the nines in the 1940’s now looked like a 21st century bum.
She wondered if she dressed again as she had, if it’d bring back his memories. If perhaps she could recreate where they had began, he might remember - remember their quiet stolen moments together during the war. The fledgling love they’d started that had been so quickly stolen from them. In the past few months, she’d seen snippets of memory return, at least what he allowed her to see. Some days she felt as though he knew more than he let on, but his demeanor now suggested that prying wasn’t an option she’d be allowed. Needless to say, his next words took her quite by surprise.
Every muscle in her body tensed. It couldn’t be this easy. And she’d known him for at least a year before he’d said those words the first time round. A handful of months? Now? Alice wondered what level of cruel hell Fate was going to place her in now. Her head fell, though her shoulders remained taught, arms: tense limbs plastered to her sides.
“Who loves me…?” She questioned, allowing her head to slowly rise, her gaze falling to meet his eyes.
“The Winter Soldier? Bucky…?” She paused a moment as years of emotions surged within her, tears beginning to form at the corners of her blue orbs. After the depth of heartbreak she’d already been through, did she want to risk it again?
