News of deployment
Growing up, Riley Barnes was always known to be extraordinary - for being a girl anyway. She excelled at most of the things she tried and always had something to say back.
She had access to education, but due to her worrying brother and the conflict in her country, she did most of her studies in her brother’s apartment, where he acted as the teacher and taught her all she needed to know (for her age, at least).
And she was a good student. Before the age of five, she could already read simple children's books, and it quickly developed in her favour as her skill only improved over the years. At the current age of nine (and seven days!), Riley was reading the newest released fantasy novels in her free time and was writing a journal of her days with near-perfect grammar.
She couldn’t remember much of the days when her father was working and her mother breathing. She couldn’t remember their faces except the one she saw in photographs. There were faint memories of a time when her hair was short and braided for some event, but other than that there was nothing left of her mother to her memory.
She wasn´t very popular in the neighbourhood, not a very known child in any sense. Her list of friends was a long list of one name repeated: Sienna Jones, the niece of the librarian who lived a short distance from Riley’s apartment.
Well, she also had her brother´s best friend, Steven Rogers, but he was more of a second brother than a friend. He also helped her with school, but he was far too busy doing different things (recently, he’d been trying to sign up for the army, but she couldn’t understand why).
Steve had been the first with the nickname Bucky. As far back as Riley could think, Steve Rogers had been there, whether she wanted him to or not. He often hung out with James and Riley, even though the latter was a good deal younger (it was more of a constant babysitting duty). She was living with the hope that he would not be accepted to help the war. Badly hoping.
Especially, considering James had already been through training, getting a uniform and soon to be sent away.
Riley had been left mostly in the care of Steve during his training, but most of her days were spent with her best friend at the library anyway. Sienna was a bright red-headed girl who was the same age as Riley. She enjoyed reading and had dreams that seemed almost impossible in comparison to the world that they lived in. Her father and brother had already been sent to war, and Sienna’s mother had left them many years ago for a new life outside of America.
Riley had learned that Sienna also had a brother and father in the army, therefore she had moved in with her aunt, Sandra Jones, who also happened to be the librarian. The woman was in her early fifties and had no children of her own, but she always made sure Riley felt as welcome as Sienna did.
The woman had even arranged a small birthday party for her when her ninth birthday came along, the 23rd of November. At first, it was just Sandra, Riley, and Sienna, but Bucky returned from training that day and showed up together with Steve, just as a cake was brought out.
It also snowed, but it disappeared the day after when some warmth overtook the negative degrees. Winter weather, at least near the winter season, tended to be a little indecisive sometimes, but Riley knew the frost would return soon.
Only a week had passed since Riley’s birthday, and she wasn’t sure what to expect anymore. It was a lovely day, that day. But now, a week later, her brother wasn’t sure where he was to be sent, and Steve had dropped her off with Sienna and Sandra once more.
But she was joyful anyway. She and Sienna had found their way to the fairytale section and were trying to figure out which one they had the most likeness to.
“But none of them have red hair,” Sienna complained, a frown on her freckled face as she skimmed through the pages of yet another book.
Riley’s icy blue eyes looked up from her fairytale, one of a girl wandering through the woods to see her grandma, and smiled at her best friend. “My fairytale has a girl with a red cap,” she said. “That’s pretty close.”
Sienna’sfrown turned to a small smile at the blonde’s words. “I guess that’s a win,” the green-eyed girl said. “But I believe I would be a witch or a mermaid if I was a fairytale person.”
“You would be a lovely mermaid or witch,” Riley agreed, nodding with a thoughtful expression on her face.
“And you would be a princess,” Sienna said then. “Like Cinderella, maybe.”
“Maybe I can marry a prince one day,” Riley wondered out loud. “Then they can write fairytales about me.”
“And I can be your best friend in court.” Sienna’s frown was long gone, which made the whole thing a lot more fun. Riley didn’t want her to be sad.
“Who’s going to court?”
Riley turned around so quickly that she almost fell out of the chair she was occupying. James smiled at her antics, nodding at Sandra who was standing just behind him. He seemed concerned, and Riley didn’t want him to worry over something so silly.
“I am,” she said lightly. “When I marry a prince and become his princess.” The crease between his brow seemed to disappear at her words, and she took that as a win.
“With a brain like yours I don’t doubt it,” he said. “Now come on, we need to find Steve.”
Riley gave her redheaded best friend a quick hug and waved goodbye to Sandra as she left out the door, hand in hand with her brother who was… wearing his military uniform. Why was he still wearing that? He usually took it off before picking her up. Was it that late already? Had he just not had time for it or was he being-
“Don’t think too much, Stasia,” James said, holding her close as they walked the streets. “I can almost hear the gears turning.”
“Why are you still wearing your uniform?” She asked, holding back a yawn. She hadn’t realised she was tired before the library disappeared around the corner.
“You tired?” He asked, ignoring the question she asked. Riley frowned, but nodded silently, not bothering to protest against it. She knew that as soon as they got back home she would crawl under the covers and get some sleep. She loved sleep.
“I was a little late today,” James said. “I just recie-”
A small crash could be heard from the alley they were about to pass. "You just don't know when to give up, do you?" James’ grip on her shoulder was firm, stopping her from going any further.
"I can do this all day." And the grip loosened. She wasn’t even surprised that Steve was fighting someone. It wouldn’t be the first time that month; that week. It was as if he was looking for trouble.
“Stay here, will you?” James said, looking around to see that nobody else was walking close by. He wasn’t going far, just a couple of metres into an alley, but Riley tended to wander, distracted by her surroundings.
“Just call if you need backup,” Riley said, making herself as invisible as she could the second her brother left her side. She wanted to see, but at the same time, she was afraid there would be blood. Steve had come home bloody more than once. She hated blood.
"Hey! Pick on someone your own size,” she heard her brother say, likely shoving the unfamiliar man away. There was a small crash, and the man, the unfamiliar one who Steve was challenging, ran past her, not giving her a sliver of attention. Riley let out a breath of relief and moved towards her brother and Steve.
"Sometimes I think you like getting punched," said James to the smaller blond. Steve was by no means someone one would expect to end up in constant alley fights, slim and lanky, not a muscle to be seen. But man did he see everyone and everything as a way to prove himself.
"I had him on the ropes," Steve replied, not sounding as if he believed his own words.
“Right, and I’m a witch,” Riley said, back at her brother’s side.
Steve gave her a false smile, “It’s about time you admitted it to yourself, I’m proud of you,” he said, patting her shoulder as he moved past the sibling pair.
"How many times is this?" James questioned, holding yet another army application paper. "Oh, you're from Paramus now? You know it's illegal to lie on the enlistment form. And seriously, Jersey?"
Steve just looked at him, no emotion clear on his face. Then his brows furrowed.
"You got your orders?" He looked between the siblings, one whose mind was finishing the last pieces of a puzzle.
"The 107th. Sergeant James Barnes, shipping out for England first thing tomorrow," James said, his arm around Riley’s shoulder as he awaited her reaction. The younger blonde had been distracting herself for weeks, each day fearing he would be leaving. But she still wasn’t prepared.
“No,” she said simply. She could hear James’ sigh, but she refused to look up and meet his eyes. She avoided Steve’s as well.
“I’m sorry, Stasia,” The eldest Barnes said, holding her impossibly close to his side. “If there was a choice I wouldn’t-”
“I know,” she said. “You would stay here, but the country needs to be protected, blah, blah, blah.” She cleared her mind as well as she could. “But what about me?”
“You’ll stay with me,” Steve said, giving her a small “reassuring” smile that brought her nothing but an empty feeling. Oh boy.
“How long will you be gone?” She asked her brother. “Long? Will you come back at all?”
“I will be back as soon as I can,” James promised. “But tonight I have plans for us.”
“I have plans too,” Riley said. “And you’re not ruining them, so we gotta go home.”
“You would rather sleep than see the future?” James asked, a small smirk on his face, expecting to catch her attention. But Riley scowled at him and uttered a simple “yes”.
Both he and Steve looked caught off guard by her answer, but the blond nodded slowly, locking eyes with the eldest. “That I can respect.”
He grabbed her hand and pulled her away from James. The soldier shook his head but quickly took her other hand and explained how her days would go amazingly with Steve. Though Riley doubted it, she didn’t let the many thoughts take over her mind. James was going away, but he would be back as quickly as he could.