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The first thing he saw was warm, brown eyes. A face smiling down at him as she tucked him under her arm. She walked him to a set of machines and the yank on his ear was quick.
“Look hun, we’ll match!” A figure walked up to the side of the woman holding him. He was holding something in his hands.
“Oh good, I’ll get him dressed while you pay.” The woman proceeded to take the items from the man and quickly dressed him into a green pair of pants and matching jacket, he realized that the man had on similar clothes.
He watched from inside the box the placed him, as the scenery changed and before he knew it he was being placed on top of a high shelf, overlooking a room.
“You’ll be perfect for our little one.” The woman said, with a smile as she rubbed her hand over her belly.
The woman came in almost daily, adding things to the walls or clothes to the closet, he quickly learned his duties would to be the very best friend and protector of the future occupancy of this room.
One night the man came in. He was dressed in the green clothes again and he looked sad. He pulled him off his perch and held him in his hands as he looked down at what he now knew was a crib.
“Listen up JB, I have to go away, and I’m not sure if I’ll be here when the baby comes.” Well he’d knew his name was JB now. He remembered the woman had called him something else but then she got a big smile on her face and laughed. “Connie’s worried because it’s my first deployment. But I’ll be fine. Gotta come back to my family. I need you to take care of my kid while I’m gone okay? Maybe you can cuddle with Connie for me, huh?” The man slipped a note into JB’s pocket. “She’ll find that when she has some lonely days. You’ll be charge Private JB. Don’t let me down.” He kissed his forehead and set him back on the shelf.
He’d been preparing for this moment for whole life. Well at least for since Consuelo, or Connie as Sgt. Leo called her, placed his heart in his chest and brought him to his new home.
She’d been pregnant at the time and the man, whom he now knows as Sgt. Leo, named him. James Buchanan Barnes. JB for short. They fitted with clothes that he now knew were camo’s and a dog tags engraved with his charge’s birthday.
His orders were clear. Love and care for his charge, protect them at all cost. His charge was named Esperanza, and he was glad Connie had taken him with her so he could keep an eye on things. Espi, he soon realized, was an easy charge to care for. For the first year he sat on the shelf watching everything, occasionally getting pulled down for hugs and kisses. Espi had taken to biting his ears, but he didn’t mind. Her gummy teeth didn’t hurt. Over time as she grew, she took him everywhere with her. Pointing things out, and making sure he was just as informed as she was. It made his mission much easier.
Imagine his surprise when he went to his first doctor visit. Granted he should have expected it. When Espi sprained her wrist, Major Mom was there to fix her up. So, when his left arm was torn in a battle with a particularly stubborn closet monster, he knew Espi would make sure he was fit for combat.
He hated seeing her tears when she was shown the tear at his shoulder. The other man, the man who’d helped Espi start the process when she’d been scared, had quickly redirected her and JB couldn’t have been more grateful. He was usually prepared to be Espi’s comfort but right now the strange woman was holding him, checking for other tears. Lady that is not ripped seam! How dare she! She’d made a face at his faded coloring and internally JB wondered if Espi would notice. Sure, he wasn’t quite as new looking, after all it had been years, but he got a weekly scrub down from Espi and Major Mom, once a month even a bath!
“Hi I’m Mia.” The lady in the blue scrubs was nice. She was gently as she spoke with Espi and the man he knew as James. He hardly felt her stitching up his arm and double checking for any other loose seams.
The rest of the afternoon JB took very seriously. Espi always seemed to know what he was thinking and he was so happy when she asked James to give him some pointers for his aim.
James, for being a grown up, was a great teacher, and JB even saw Espi taking notes on her tiny notepad.
He held JB and helped position his arms for the best way to aim, while also going over what to do if he should find himself without his gun. JB didn’t even realized what could happen if he wasn’t on Espi bed with easy access to his shelf. He was glad to have James as a teacher.
That night when the closet monster tried to sneak into scare Espi, JB already has his scope set over on his chest.
“Try me.”
The monsters made notes to avoid the entire city of New York for the next few years. Apparently JB was giving notes to the other animals when Espi would take him on playdates.