AU Anna and Bucky at the end of Civil War

IMPORTANT! This is a one shot that came to me AFTER watching CIVIL WAR. IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN CIVIL WAR DO NOT READ. SPOILERS FOR FIRST AFTER CREDIT SCENE.

"You don't have to do this," Anna insisted, her voice cracking at the end.

"Until someone can undo what Hydra programmed, it's safer for everyone. It's safer for you." James was confident in his decision, even now. It just hurt a lot more with Anya looking at him like he was breaking her, like he was tearing her apart inside. But he couldn't risk anyone else using the words to reset his brain. Not after hurting innocent people because of it. Not after having it used to have him hurt Anya.

"Then I'll wait for you," Anna smiled through the few tears that had already fallen, moving her hand to cup James' cheek.

"Anya, it could take years. Decades." It wasn't right for him to ask her to wait for him, to put her life on pause. But damn if he didn't want to be selfish and ask her to. Her 'I don't care, I love you' response had him reaching out with the hand he had left to wipe the tears from her cheeks. "You will always be my heart and my home. I will always love you."

James' repeating what he'd told her on the balcony what seemed like lifetimes ago had the tears spilling freely. Setting her left hand on his shoulder, Anna pulled James closer, crushing his lips with hers. She poured her soul into that last kiss. It needed to last them both as long as it took to come up with a solution. Not caring how many people were watching, not caring that Steve stood three feet away, Anna let go of her inhibitions as she pulled James even closer, weaving her hands in his hair.

Until his goodbye with Anya, James hadn't really cared about losing his left arm. Now he wished he could wrap both his arms around her and hold her. Instead he had to settle with cupping his right hand around her neck as their lips said their goodbye. It was increasingly difficult to pull away from her that time, but he managed to untangle himself from her and make his way to the chamber. The last thing he remembered was Anna biting her lip, before calling out one final thing in broken Russian that had his heart swelling and him pulling her to him one last time.

"All the more reason to do this," he murmured once Anya stepped back, his heart going with her. "All the more reason to keep you safe."

Anna forced herself to keep her eyes on James as the glass doors closed and ice fogged up the windows. She only looked away when Steve's hand grasped her shoulder gently, telling her it was time to go.

"I'm staying here." She'd only just made the decision, and hoped T'challa would let her. All she knew was she couldn't leave him like that. "I need to work to make this right. I need to fix this, and save him." After all the times he'd saved her, it was her turn to return the favor. She needed him back, and she'd do whatever that entailed.

"They have doctors here who will work on a solution," Steve countered, knowing that every day Anna stayed, her heart would continue to break. "You heard him. He wants you to live your life, to have a future."

"He is my future Steve. Come hell or high water I will make sure he gets out of that thing, ideally in eight months," Anna insisted, standing her ground. If the roles were reversed, James would stay for her.

"Eight months?" Steve asked, his eyebrows rising in confusion, not understanding the timeline.

"I think we'd both prefer he be here to see our child born," Anna commented with a small smile, a blush creeping up her cheeks. She'd only confirmed it a few days ago. As her luck would have it, she'd also only just been able to let James know. A part of her wished it'd been enough to make him change his mind about gong under cyrofreeze. Instead it'd strengthened his resolve. Only he would see a baby as another person he could hurt.

"You're pregnant?" Steve murmured before a wide smile spread across his face. "You're pregnant!" he repeated, pulling Anna into a hug and swinging her around before abruptly apologizing and setting her down gently.

"I'm going to be an uncle! You need the best prenatal care ever. She needs the best prenatal care," Steve repeated to one of the doctors that passed by, earning him a confused look.

"You do know I'm a doctor, right," Anna chuckled at Steve's reactions.

"I know, but I can't let anybody screw this up. I mean, its Bucky's child we're talking about. He deserves to wake up to a perfectly healthy, no problems with delivery, both of you make it through it, baby," Steve insisted, his wide smile fading after a few moments when he mumbled something uncoherent under his breath. When Anna asked him to repeat it he simply frowned.

"Somebody's going to have to tell Tony," Steve murmured a little louder.

A/N I know that the timeline for my story is currently before Age of Ultron, and therefore Civil War, but this little one shot came to me and I had to write it. It's written as though Anna was there during that last scene. I may or may not continue writing little one shots with Anna in Civil War depending on the response. However, at the moment, I am unsure how to continue my plot to align with Civil War at any part. (I do have a one shot idea about Rumlow or someone using the words in the movie to rewire James' brain so that he reverts to a compliant soldier and attacks Anna as alluded to in this one shot. Let me know if you're interested in that or other one shots!)

Rach

xoxo