Sorry it took me so long to get this to you guys, but here you go! Hopefully you enjoy!


Chapter 9: A Gift for Beth

The moment they stepped off of the elevator, Darcy and Beth hurried into Steve and Darcy's apartment, effectively shutting the door in Bucky's face, though he didn't know that either of them had even noticed. Standing to his right, Steve snorted when he saw the sulky expression that slipped onto Bucky's face at his unintended exclusion.

"Darcy's just excited at finding her other soulmate," Steve easily explained away.

"Well, so am I," Bucky muttered, though what he really wanted to do was whine – or break the door in and at least sit in on whatever shopping the girls were so intent on doing.

He wrinkled his nose at himself, half horrified to realize that he really was considering willingly putting up with shopping – online or not – and Steve cracked up at him all over again. "I know you're excited at finding your soulmate, Buck."

"Shut up, jerk," Bucky protested, launching an elbow at Steve, who dodged the blow only to sling an arm amicably around Bucky's shoulders with a chuckle. Now he really did whine when he pitifully said for the second time that morning, "She's mine…"

"So you've said," Steve nodded. "Darcy knows that, and so does Beth. Beth is your soulmate, Darcy is Beth's soulmate, I'm Darcy's soulmate, and you're my soulmate. It all goes around in a nice little square," Steve said cheerfully. "So the good news is that while Darcy and Beth are having their girl time, you get to spend time with me!" Now it was Bucky's turn to roll his eyes at Steve's dramatics, but Steve wasn't done just yet, demanding instead, "So, come on, think of something we can do together until Darcy gives you your Beth back."

Bucky still wasn't entirely satisfied with the arrangement, but he knew it would have to suffice until Beth and Darcy were ready to emerge back into civilization – which Steve didn't appear to think was going to be the case for quite a while. So he set his mind to coming up with something that he and Steve could do together, taking into account the unspoken fact that Steve wouldn't allow it to have anything to do with hunting for Rumlow. So if not Rumlow, he was back to Beth.

She'd said that she'd like to get settled into their suite, to start making it feel like their home, but Bucky had gone without a real home for so long that he wasn't sure how to start the task of carving one out. It wasn't like he would be any good at shopping for décor like Beth…

Then the idea hit him… because maybe there was something else he could find that would help this strange place feel more like a home for the both of them.

He turned to Steve, asking curiously, "How would you feel about going shopping, Stevie?"


Bucky wandered down the aisle behind Steve, looking at every option as he passed by it but discarding each one just as quickly. A couple yards ahead of him, Steve asked, "Hey, Buck, how about this one?"

Bucky stepped up to his friend's side, frowning a little as he shook his head. "No, that one's too big. I'm looking for a smaller one, I think," he hesitated before giving the example, "I want one that's small enough to be put in a purse or something."

Steve snorted, incredulously repeating, "A purse?"

"Yeah. Dames do that nowadays, don't they? Carry 'em around in purses?"

"Maybe some girls do," Steve allowed, still smiling at the admittedly ridiculous idea. "But I cannot for the life of me see Beth being one of those girls – and isn't this supposed to be a gift for Beth? Just a normal, everyday thing that normal people have to make her feel better about this whole mess?"

Bucky nodded his agreement. "And it's not like I think she's actually going to put it in her purse –" he shuddered suddenly as his imagination conjured up the idea of his being soulmate to a woman who might – "I just meant it as a sort of size comparison."

"I figured," Steve grinned, moving down to the next block in the animal shelter and pointing at the animal inside. "So not this one?"

Bucky glanced at the monstrous black Newfoundland inside and then scowled at Steve. "No way."

Steve kept right on grinning as Bucky moved past him and went on looking for a dog that was better suited to what he was looking for. He had moved into an entirely different row, leaving Steve lagging behind somewhere out of sight, when he found a dog whose name he couldn't help but do a double take over. Yes, he'd read that right. The information on the slip of paper pinned to the cage read:

Toto

Male Scottish Terrier

3 years old

Bucky looked down at the dog, only to find bright black eyes gazing adorably back up at him from underneath equally dark fur. "You, my friend, are not in Kansas anymore," he muttered. The dog's stub of a tail wagged as well as it could, and Bucky could've sworn Toto actually smiled at him as his ears cocked towards the sound of the super soldier's voice. "You know exactly what you're doing, don't you?" Bucky crouched down in front of the cage as he called, "Hey, Stevie, c'mere; I think I found the dog I want."

He poked his fingers through the wires of the cage to pet Toto and waited to hear Steve's approaching footsteps. Except… he didn't. After a couple minutes of growing increasingly anxious, Bucky stood up and moved on silent feet towards the aisle where he'd last seen Steve, mentally preparing himself for whatever worst case scenario he might find. What if HYDRA or Rumlow had gotten in here somehow, followed them from the Tower or something, and managed to take Steve down before Bucky had even known they were in the building? A well-aimed tranq dart or two would be all it could take to get Steve immobile, then a gun with a silencer on it that Bucky's own enhanced hearing might've missed since he was distracted. What if Steve's cooling body was right around the next cor-

He fought the urge to collapse with relief when Steve came into sight – perfectly fine, unaware of the way Bucky had worked himself into a frenzy, and talking quietly with a shelter worker in front of another dog cage.

Bucky walked up behind Steve and punched him on the arm – probably a little harder than was strictly necessary, but it made him feel better, anyway. "Hey, punk, I called for you. I think I found the right dog for Beth."

"Ah, sorry, Buck," Steve muttered, rubbing his shoulder. "I didn't hear you. We got distracted talking about this dog. Her name's Hannah. What do you think?"

Bucky glanced obligingly at the dog, registering only that she was a German shepherd – therefore much bigger than what he was looking for – before he declared, "Pretty dog, but too small for mine and Beth's apartment, I think. Now come look at Toto."

Steve put a hand on his shoulder before he could turn away and demanded softly, "Look closer."

So Bucky did, sighing as he gave his full attention to looking at Hannah. His first glance had been correct; she was a very pretty German shepherd with too much black fur for her markings to be considered traditional – but, upon taking this closer look, he got the feeling that her physique wasn't what had drawn Steve's attention. She was curled up in the farthest corner of her pen, having wedged herself between the wall and her doghouse to get as far away from them as possible, with her ears lowered in fear as she growled lowly at the three people watching her. He couldn't get a great look at her because of how she'd positioned herself, but he was pretty sure that he glimpsed only a stump where one of her back legs should have been.

"Steve," he said warningly. "You can't save everybody – or every animal."

"What about every veteran?" the blond man asked.

"What?"

"She was a war dog," the shelter worker explained. "She was shot, her leg couldn't be saved, so she was sent home an amputee and ended up here. She's really sweet once she gets comfortable, but no home has kept her long enough for that to happen, so she always ends up back here."

"Isn't it great how people treat veterans?" Steve muttered.

"Stevie…"

"It's okay, guys," the worker spoke up. "Toto's a great dog; you'll be lucky to have him."

Steve glanced back at Hannah and Bucky rubbed a hand over his eyes. "Listen, Steve, I know what you're thinking and – you know what? – I understand it, but we can't right now. We just can't. I refuse to spring two dogs on Beth, and you already mentioned on the way here that Darcy isn't fond of big breeds. It's not practical. Toto's an interesting character, and he's exactly what I'm looking for; Hannah will be fine."

Steve gave him a side-eye before silently relenting and letting Bucky lead the way back to Toto.