Chapter Text
“Earl, Earl, Earl,” Harry chanted as he ran towards his friend who was already at the portkey pick-up point.
The stern admonishment from behind him not to run off was ignored in favour of his eagerness to get to share the great news with his best magical friend.
Earl turned towards the mouth of the alley from where his friend was calling his name. “Harry!” He called happily in return, with a wide grin spread across his face, quickly raising a hand to wave with abandon at Harry as the other ran closer.
Harry gave Earl a quick tight hug as his only greeting before he continued speaking, not giving his friend a chance to say anything in response. Earl hugged back with a laugh at Harry’s enthusiasm.
“You’re never gonna guess what,” Harry practically squealed it was almost possible to see how close he was to bursting with his excitement, “Sasha’s alive!”
The visible joy and loud voice had pulled the attention of the other kids and adults waiting for the portkey departure time. There were varying levels of confused, amused, and intrigued looks shot towards the oblivious younger boys.
Earl’s eyes widened so much it didn’t seem impossible that they would pop out of his head at that announcement, “no way,” he breathed out, his whole body shaking at the news as he instantly reacted to and matched Harry’s joy. Earl, as one of the few friends Harry had who knew about magic, had quickly been entrusted with Harry’s thoughts on the magic flag. Earl agreed that it made sense… why else would the flag be so important?
“He’s alive and at my house, but that’s not the best thing-“
“Sasha’s at your house,” Earl repeated his tone bright but volume still quiet almost like he couldn’t believe something so miraculous was happening.
“Uhuh, I know, but, but, it’s better Sasha’s friends with my Uncle Bucky,” Harry continued, unable to stop himself from bouncing up and down. He had been bursting to telling Earl the great news for ages. He wasn’t able to tell his friends at school because they didn’t know about magic. So he had had to wait till this lesson with the Sioux so he could see Earl again.
Earl’s eyes achieved the impossible task of getting even wider. He reached out to grab Harry’s arms and began jumping up and down with him. “That’s so cool! Can I meet him?” Earl asked, sounding a little breathless at the end.
“Yeah, Sasha’s really nice…” Harry informed his friend. “But Sasha says his name’s Steve,” he continued finally stopping jumping as he revealed one of the things that continued to confuse him about the magic flag.
“Really?” Earl questioned, stepping back as his whole face scrunched up at that revelation. “Steve,” he repeated the name slowly sounding it out as if it was a completely foreign word to him.
“Uhuh,” Harry hummed shrugging a single shoulder, in a gesture saying he didn’t understand it either. Everyone, well both of them, knew the magic flag was called Sasha!
“Doesn’t sound right,” Earl stated confidently, shaking his head lightly.
“I know, ’s why I call him Sasha,” Harry agreed, his tone expressing how right he thought Earl was, his right arm waving to help emphasise this point.
Earl nodded sagely, “he’s prolly just confused, being stuck as a flag for too long.”
Harry’s own eyes widened a little at those words, his head tilted to the side as he thought it over, “yeah…” he breathed, “that’s smart.”
“Thanks,” Earl happily accepted the compliment, “so how’d Sasha stop being a flag?”
“I dunno, Sasha hasn’t said, I’ll ask him later,” Harry concluded.
Neither boy noticed the fondly amused looks their parents were shooting their way from where they stood nearby able to overheard the conversation clearly. The rest of their observers had gradually grown bored of their odd conversation.
***
Nick Fury emphatically did not need another thing to be concerned about. He had more than enough on his plate as it was; dealing with the mess that had arisen from Loki’s invasion and attack on New York. He had lost an excellent agent and a close friend on the helicarrier. He had also wilfully, though it would be incredibly difficult to prove, circumvented the World Safety Council’s orders.
The Avengers initiative had been a success, but the city of New York was still a mess. Clean up would not be finished any time soon. He needed to be ready for the next threat, who could say if Loki was an unpleasant anomaly that they’d dealt with, or he could have been but the first wave of a war they weren’t aware was being waged.
Now he had been delivered the news that his organisation was overrun and intertwined with HYDRA. A terrorist cell deeply rooted within the heart of his organisation. To make an already atrocious situation that much worse he had been told by Clint that the ex-Winter Soldier himself had personally identified Alexander Pierce as being a member. This was just what he needed to find out, because his year apparently wasn’t going well enough.
He had to move carefully and investigate how deep the rot had penetrate to establish the extent on the corruption. Whether the organisation could even be saved was yet to be seen.
If he were an optimistic man, which no one had ever accused him of being, he would hope that Pierce has the only high ranking HYDRA official, the lynchpin which if removed would bring the rest tumbling down. But he wasn’t.
And HYDRA was evidently a lot harder to kill and get to stay down than anyone had thought. The axiom surrounding the ancient beast, the hydra, was turning out to be a lot more applicable in his real life than he would have liked.
***
Rain was pouring down outside, too hard for the kids to be allowed outside as they’d be soaked before they even got three foot from the front door. The downside was that they had been getting increasingly restless throughout the day, two physical fights had already been averted and it was only three o’clock.
“Rain, rain, go away, come again another day,” Harry sang quietly, his forehead was pressed up against the window in the living room. He was staring out at the yard as the rain came down in sheets, it was hard to even make out the shape of the car and the barn because of how miserable the outside world was.
“Why’s it raining?” Harry asked distractedly of no one in particular. Pulling back from where he had had his forehead resting on the glass to watch the raindrops race each other down the opposite side of the pane.
Steve was the only other person in the room, he had a sketch pad balanced on the arm of the chair, a pencil in his hand. He had slowly been getting some more practice at the hobby he had once been so proud of his skill at, a skill that had offered him an escape from his struggles. Since he had awoken in the twenty-first century he hadn’t dedicated as much time as he would have liked to sketching. It had made him think too much about everybody and everything he had lost, everything that had changed, everything that he would never be able to catch on paper again. His days at the farmhouse with Bucky, finding new joy and positives in this different time had encouraged him to pick up a pencil again.
Harry’s question pulled his attention away from the outline of the sketch he had gradually been expanding the details on and making the main lines more defined.
Steve started to answer, “well-“ before pausing to think as he realised he did not in fact have the answer, “actually, I don’t know, Harry,” he finished honestly.
“What?” Harry asked, his focus had turned to a raindrop race, his raindrop was about to overtake the other one but those words had him spinning around in surprise. He spun too quickly for him to control and ended up toppling off the windowsill he had been kneeling on. “Oof,” he groaned as he slammed into the ground, rubbing his right forearm that took the brunt of his impact.
Steve had made to get up from his seat as the young boy tumbled to the floor, but Harry just brushed himself off and turned to Steve with a look of scared bewilderment which froze the man in place.
“Are you okay, pal?” He checked when Harry didn’t say anything. The nickname for Harry was one he wasn’t even aware had become integrated into his speech, having picked it up from Bucky over the past few weeks he had spent as a guest in the Barton’s home.
“Huh?” Harry asked looking more confused for a moment, before glancing down at his arm, “oh, yeah, I’m okay. But, Sasha what do you mean you don’t know?” Harry continued determined to get an answer to his question.
Steve first response was a slow blink, he still wasn’t used to the nickname, Harry could not be persuaded despite Steve's best efforts to stop using, since he had had it bestowed upon him from that first night.
“Adults know everything,” Harry continued earnestly, stating it like a fact as he came to stand in front of Steve, grabbing a hold of his shirt sleeve in his right fist, and for no reason that Steve could figure out, giving it a small shake with his concern.
“Ahh,” Steve murmured finally understanding the young boy’s almost horrified shock, “well, Harry, adults sure know a lot of things, but no one knows everything,” he explained, trying to break it to the five-year-old kindly.
“’S not true, Mommy knows everything,” Harry was quick to refute, his expression turning from one of expressing a lack of understanding to defensive in a heartbeat. He moved his arm unthinkingly which pulled on Steve’s sleeve again as it was still tightly held in his small fist.
“Yes, your mom is a very smart woman, but not even she knows everything,” Steve corrected, attempting to find the right wording whilst also fighting off the smile that wanted to grow on his lips at the steely unimpressed look on Harry’s face.
“Nuh uh,” Harry refuted again, a determined glint had entered his green eyes as he stared down the man in front of him. Laura knew everything, she just did, he thought to himself with a nod.
“There’s just too much stuff to know, it’d be impossible for anyone to know everything,” Steve tried to use logic to explain, not yet used to the sometimes deep illogical convictions and certainties that children could hold on to.
“But- but- she does,” Harry refuted, not sure what else he could say to make clear, something he knew to be true, to Sasha who was very wrong but not accepting it.
“Who does what?” Bucky questioned loudly, curiosity alight in his words, from where he was leaning in the doorway near the front door. Causing Harry to jump in shock at the sudden new voice, which tugged sharply on Steve’s sleeve again, pulling the sleeve down over his hand. Steve shifted his shoulders gently trying to subtly readjust his jumper.
“Wha?” Harry asked, head tilted to the side as he shifted around slightly so he didn’t have to look over his shoulder at Uncle Bucky.
“Harry’s trying- he wants to- umm,” Steve stopped and started trying to find a nice way to phrase Harry’s conviction.
“Why’s it raining, Uncle Bucky?” Harry asked, taking another shot with one of his favourite, most trusted adults.
After a moment’s consideration Bucky answered, “it could be because it’s only been warm and sunny for too long.” He shrugged one shoulder after this statement not really sure of the reason why.
“Ah hah, seeeee,” Harry cheered brightly turning back to Steve with a bright grin on his face, “Uncle Bucky knows, he knows a lotta stuff,” shaking Steve’s sleeve more rapidly in his excitement.
This reaction brought a wide if slightly bemused smile to Bucky’s lips, he quirked an eyebrow at Steve in question, receiving a light head shake in response.
“He does too,” Harry randomly and fiercely retorted, with a strong glare shot Steve's way, much to his incomprehension. Harry had misinterpreted the head shake sent in answer to Bucky as a denial of said man’s intelligence.
“Uncle Bucky’s smarter than you. He knows why it’s rainin’,” Harry continued firmly before Steve could regain his footing in their odd conversation.
“Yeah, Stevie, I’m smart,” Bucky added teasingly, bright grin firmly in place as he enjoyed the predicament Steve had gotten himself into.
“‘xactly,” Harry agreed quickly, nodding powerfully once, finally releasing the grasp he had on Steve’s jumper sleeve to head across and hug Uncle Bucky.
“Thanks for defending me, pal,” Bucky said sincerely, though an undertone of amusement still laced his voice, as he returned the hug and gave Harry’s hair a light ruffle.
Harry tightened his grip for a moment while shooting a quick glare at Steve for the perceived affront.
Once he was sure Harry’s eyes were off him, Steve rolled his eyes at Bucky who had a smug smirk firmly set on his lips.
“You ain’t actually got a clue why it’s raining,” Steve said a few minutes later once Harry had gone off to do something in his room and Bucky had taken a seat beside him.
“Nah, could be a thunderbird for all I know,” Bucky easily agreed, “but I couldn’t let you get away without being reminded I’m smarter than you,” he tacked on seriously though the teasing light in his eyes undermined his words.
“Jerk,” Steve retorted with an eyeball and hardish shove to his friend's shoulder.
Bucky’s only response was to laugh and shove him back. They had a small shoving match on the sofa that ended with Steve in a headlock.
“What’s a thunderbird?” Steve asked a few minutes later once he had been released and they had both settled comfortably.
“Huh, you really don’t know everything, do you?” Bucky teased brightly again, jumping up from the couch to dodge the shove aimed his way.
***
The darkness had eased off a little. But shapes were not possible to be truly distinguished from the shades of black surrounding them.
The next moment of awareness came with a wave of cold. Icy coldness.
The only kernel of warmth coming from their core, the small warmth had grown, forming a core. It wasn't enough to combat the blackness or the icy cold. But it was a comfort it the great unknown.
A world outside of clearly defined shapes and beings. A place of nothing and everything. A cold solitude that had taken over, consuming everything, but for the small occasionally pulsing warmth of something. The warmth that offered protection from another unknown. It was slowly working its magic, a ever-moving trudge towards something, through this unknown place and time.
***
The rain had eased off the next day for a while, long enough for the kids to be ushered outside to play and burn off some of their almost wild energy in the safety of the garden.
They would be wet and filthy by the time they returned inside; the mess, the extra laundry, and the likelihood of struggling to get the kids showered or bathed was a sacrifice Laura was willing to make.
Harry, clad in his waterproof and wellington boots, hurried across the backyard to the chicken coop. Despite their best efforts to reassure him that the birds would be fine, her youngest had been afraid that the chickens would suffer because like him they didn’t know how to swim.
Laura followed along at a more sedate pace, also enjoying the opportunity to get back outside and to spend time appreciating the space they had for the kids to roam free. The house had felt a lot fuller over the past few days with the addition of Steve and Bucky, not that she would change anything about it. It just meant she appreciated the chance to get outdoors even more.
“Hello, Chickies,” Harry greeted cheerily as he opened the door to the coop slowly, demonstrating a surprising amount of awareness that it would startle the chickens had he thrown the door open. Harry then stood in the doorway and appeared to count the chickens. “They’re all here,” he called excitedly with a bright grin on his face as he looked over to Laura.
“That’s great, love. Why don’t you let them out so they can roam free for a while,” she suggested, tipping some of the extra water out, righting a couple of blown over tubs, and doing a bit of a clean up of the enclosed area that belonged to the chickens.
“Okie dokie,” Harry agreed happily, securing the door to the main coop back against the wall with the hook. Harry remained close by for a short while watching the chickens just to make sure they were alright, once he got whatever it had been he was waiting for, he ran off to go have fun.
The sounds of giggles, splashes, and mud hitting clothing followed in his wake as he tore across the garden heading towards the front of the house in search of his siblings. He stopped at every big puddle to jump into it happily.
“Mommy! Mommy! Did you see that?” He shouted back in obvious excitement after having created a huge splash. There were even a few droplets dripping off the hood of his coat.
“Yes, I saw, it was lovely splash,” she called back, smiling in return when Harry’s own grin brightened at her words.
"It was huge!" Harry agreed holding his hands out wide to show how big the splash had been.
It struck her at that moment how much Harry had grown and changed over the last nine or so months, he had become an integral part of their family. She couldn't- didn't want to imagine a life without him in it. Their youngest was incredibly loveable, he had a heart of gold, she had no idea how anyone could treat him like he deserved anything less than the unconditional love she felt for him. She mentally shook away the depressing thoughts, Harry had ended up with them, or in other words exactly where he needed to be.
Harry brought such joy to their family, he had also extended their family even further when he befriended Bucky. Having three adults a lot of the time, or at least one other adult in the house had certainly helped her in the past few months. She loved her kids but they could be a handful, Cooper was getting to an age where he could help out more but having Bucky with them had been invaluable. She saw the other man as family, a brother just like Phil. That simple thought brought a twinge of sadness as the reality of his death struck home again.
A somber mood fell over her thoughts as she followed in Harry’s footsteps and headed around the front to see what the others had been up to. As had come to be expected there was a flurry of movement and laughter, the kids appeared to have roped Steve and Bucky into a game of tag. Their happiness helped to full her away from the grief, Phil wasn't here but the people he loved were. She could enjoy and savour this time, as she knew Phil would have if he could have been there.
“We’re going to have to speak with Hope again,” Laura said in lieu of greeting when she came up beside her husband who had a small smile on his face watching the shrieking fun taking place in front of them.
“Yeah, we do,” he agreed with a contented tone, placing a quick kiss on her lips before pulling her into his arms and to rest back against his chest.
“I tagged you, Lila, you’re it,” Harry yelled in annoyance.
“No you didn’t,” Lila denied not letting her younger brother get close enough to tag her again.
“I did too,” he complained, not giving up on chasing her down.
“Did not,” Lila retorted, almost slipping in a patch of mud.
Harry took advantage of her slight slowing down and firmly snaked a hand into her arm, “you’re it,” he cried, causing her to slide some more as he took off in the other direction with no regret.
"She reminds me of Lottie," Steve said to Bucky as he watched the interaction, his tone tinged with a little sadness.
"Yeah, really firecrackers, the pair of them," Bucky agreed, a number of emotions flickered across his face.
“That’s not fair,” Lila shouted after him, face red from her exertion and with her annoyance, her eyes squinted after him. She glanced around spotting Steve and Bucky stood still before her gaze bounced back across to Harry who has running towards the adults himself.
“Life’s not fair,” Cooper shouted in response, bringing their sister’s attention to him instead. She huffed once before giving chase. She shook off the irritation, with a her new target in her sights she took off.
"Tun, Uncle Bucky, Sasha she's coming in!" Harry squealed happily as he tore across the yard towards them.
~ ~ ~
It was later that evening when all the occupants of the house were gathered around the coffee table in the living room for a games evening. It was a screen-free night and the kids had managed to entice everyone into playing games with them.
After she squabbling they had settled on Uno as a card game everyone could play. It was simple to teach to new players and the colours meant that Harry didn’t find it too difficult to play on his own.
The had played a couple of rounds so far and everyone was having a good time.
Harry was excited about his cards, he had some really good ones, he couldn’t wait to play them. The cards were currently on yellow, which was just what he wanted. He had a lot of yellow cards.
Ready… steady…
"Mommy," Harry moaned as Laura put down a red six, he turned to face her his mouth slightly parted in shock, one hand still raised with his card at the ready, but his turn was now ruined, "I can't go now," he pouted. He looked down in horror at the red card in the middle taunting him, he huffed as Cooper shoved the card from the top of the spare pile at him.
The extra card got added to his collection, it was also yellow.
Bucky was sat next to him, he was able to put a card down and so the game continued on going around the others smoothly in the circle. Sasha had turned it back to yellow which had Harry begin to wiggle in his seat in excitement. It was almost his turn and he could go, it was going to be brilliant.
Then Laura had her turn again.
"Mommy! No," Harry squealed in annoyance, almost dropping his cards as Laura put down another red card. How could she! Harry looked down at his cards in shocked horror. His plans ruined.
“I can see your cards, Harry,” Cooper pointed out.
This statement had Harry pulling his hands closer to his chest, shooting an annoyed look at his older brother. He looked back at his cards, not sure what he could do. He didn’t have any red cards.
“Can you go, pal?” Bucky asked kindly, leaning closer to him.
“I dunno,” Harry murmured quietly. Before shooting a sad look at Laura because she had destroyed his go again.
“Do you want some help?” Bucky offered.
“You can’t help him, that’s cheating,” Lila complained quickly and firmly.
“No. I can do it,” Harry murmured, looking back down at his cards. He had a lot of them but none of them were red.
Cooper slid another card off of the top of the spare pile towards Harry who looked forlornly at the face down card moving ever closer. He wanted to play a card not just pick them up.
“Remember, pal, you can put down cards of the same number that are a different colour,” Bucky reminded Harry as he picked up the new card.
“Ohhh,” he murmured quietly looking back at his cards, he’d forgotten that rule, “I can go!” He cheered happily, he had a blue two to match the red two that had blocked his plan.
“You can’t, you picked up,” Cooper interrupted Harry’s excitement.
“I can too, I have a two,” Harry retorted waving the blue two in front of him.
“But you picked up, that new card was your turn,” Cooper argued back.
“I’ll just put it back,” Harry said sliding the card out of his deck and dropping the blue two onto the playing pile.
“You can’t do that, Harry,” Lila complained.
“Can too,” Harry muttered mutinously, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Can not,” Lila responded reaching to remove the blue card from the pile.
“You’re showing your cards, love,” Laura quietly informed him. These words caused Harry to jerk and drop a few of his cards on the floor.
“Don’t look!” He exclaimed urgently reaching down to pick up the drop cards.
“Give him a free pass this time, Lila, he’s the youngest and still learning the rules,” Clint was quietly trying to reason with Lila, “he’s just trying to join in.”
“Fine!” Lila responded, returning the blue two to the top of the pile.
“Your turn, Uncle Bucky,” Harry happily remarked as he turned all his cards the right way round and held them carefully in his hands.
Harry did not win that round or the next, but he was able to join in more when he remembered you could play the same numbers even when it was a different colour.
“All right, final round before bed,” Clint declared as he shuffled the cards after winning the last round.
“But-“ Harry and Lila began to whine in sync.
“Nope, no arguments, last round take it or leave it,” Clint warned, pointing a finger at the both of them as he set the cards in front of Cooper to be dealt.
“Okay,” Harry agreed, then had to try and stifle a yawn.
Lila opened her mouth to continue arguing but backed down when Clint turned to make direct eye contact with her his face serious.
“Oh-kay,” she reluctantly relinquished.
“Seven… eight,” Cooper counted out the last of the cards, before setting the remainders in the middle of the table. “Left of the dealer so… Mom you start,” he added.
“Thanks, Coop,” she said, pulling a card from her carefully arranged hand.
“Yes!” Harry grined with a little wiggle, sitting forward on his knees to place his card on the pile.
Most people only had three or four cards left when Cooper put down a plus four.
"Ohhh," Lila breathed out in shock and in excitement. The drama, this was going to be good.
Cooper tried to tamp down his smile, but couldn't quite manage it. Laura looked at her eldest, one eyebrow raised teasingly, she took a slow steady breath. She could play but could she risk Harry being unable to play on that. A couple of seconds that felt a lot longer passed. She decided to take the risk, Harry would be stuck facing a plus four from her a some point anyway might as well ripe off the bandaid now.
The card was down.
"Nooo," Lila breathed again in disbelief, eyes switching from their mom to Harry whose face had slackened, looking back between the pile and Laura in shock.
"But-" he began to question.
"Do you have a plus four, Harry?" Bucky asked knowing the answer having unwittingly been shown Harry's card throughout the game, as Cooper began counting out the eight cards Harry would have to pick up.
"Uhhh," Harry scanned his cards carefully, looking between the one of the pile and his hand before pulling one out, "you mean like this?" he questioned showing the man a card.
"Yes, just like that," Bucky agreed easily.
Harry added the card to the pile with a pleased smile. Plus twelve.
"Sorry, Stevie," Bucky said not sounding anywhere close to repentant as he added his own card to the pile.
Plus sixteen.
"That hurts, Buck. That really really hurts, but..." he slowly reached out to place a plus two on the pile.
"You can't do that," Lila exclaimed in horror, she couldn't play on that and she would have to pick up four, eight, twelve... a lot of cards.
"Yes he can," Cooper rebutted, "we agreed at the start you could put twos and fours on the pile."
"No, we didn't," Lila argued back unwilling to back down. It was too many cards.
"Yuh huh," Cooper replied. Harry nodding though he didn't truly understand the disagreement. He was just glad he had had the right card because Lila did not look happy.
"I can pick it back up," Steve tried to offer trying to quell the rising storm.
"No!"
"Yes!"
"Mom?" both elder Barton children turned to Laura for the answer. Catching Clint's relieved look out of the corner of her eye, she calmly turned to Lila.
"Honey, unfortunately we did say-"
"Nooooo," Lila complained loudly, a tear slipping down her cheek, "I'm never gonna win now. Look at all those cards. I don't wanna play anymore," Lila exclaimed throwing her cards down on the table in frustration.
"Lila, honey," Laura tried to start again.
"It's all your fault, Cooper," Lila shouted in annoyance, turning tearful eyes on her older brother.
"No, it isn't," Cooper retorted angrily.
Harry leaned into Bucky's side not liking the shouting as his siblings got louder arguing back and forth about whose fault it was. Their parents trying to cut them off as the argument quickly devolved into insults being flung left and right.
"Enough!" Laura stated firmly, her tone hard and displeased, finally cutting over the squabbling siblings. "Either you pick up your cards, or you stop playing, Lila. We are not going to fight and shout about this any more, you will apologise to one another then make your choice, do I make myself clear?" she asked, her voice firm and unimpressed.
"Yes, Mom," Cooper agreed quickly glancing up before looking away and anywhere but in their mother's eyes. "Sorry, Lila," he said barely above a whisper.
"Lila?" Laura questioned, eyebrow raised at her headstrong middle child.
"Fine, I'll take the cards," Lila murmured mutinously.
"Excuse me?" Laura asked, her face set and tone dangerous.
"Um, sorry, Mommy. I'd like yo keep playing please," Lila was fast to apologise at the deadly tone and look being shot her way. "Sorry, Cooper," she added as Laura tilted her head meaningfully.
"Alright then, apology accepted," Laura allowed, her stern demeanour relaxing, allowing everyone in the room to relax a little more, "I believe it's your turn, Clint."
"Right you are, my love," he agreed, placing a card on the pile as Lila tried to arrange her frankly ridiculous amount of cards into some kind of order.