After their little explore in the woods Candy kept finding it harder and harder to rationalize Bucky's behaviour as just that of a friend. No matter how hard she tried to convince herself that he was just doing the sweet things, like breakfast most mornings, and outings, and she was pretty sure, letting her win at Monopoly, just out of gratitude for her finding him help and being a friend. And to be fair, the hope that his concern was more than friendly, was getting harder to keep pinned down. Those mornings he'd be standing in the kitchen, usually shirtless, because he seemed to be more comfortable only half clothed, making breakfast made her dream of waking up to a life like that with him everyday for the rest of her life. She could see settling down with her old fashioned, broken Romeo. She had always hoped for a guy who still understood how to treat a lady. A talent that had seemed to die out about the same time Cap went under. The last great generation had been the last to keep traditional dating behaviours alive.

Everything was confusing about dating now. She had had guys in her church take her out and try to get her to bed and think there was nothing hypocritical about that in the slightest. There had been boys she knew at work who didn't even think to ask her to dinner before they asked her for sexual favours. And even the guys whose top priority wasn't getting in her pants seemed so painfully shy about even talking to her that most of the time she had no idea whether they were just friends or something more. Though that same dilemma existed with Bucky, in his case though there were some special circumstances, he had had his brain taken out, thrown around, and twisted a few times.

Bucky, in an effort to understand Candy's background, and his own from before going under, spent Sunday afternoons listening to Candace talk about what had been discussed in church. If he hadn't been a wanted man he would have went with her, but hearing second hand was good enough. He slowly began to remember what his faith had once meant to him, back when he had had one. He got Dr. Ross to find him a Bible so he could refresh his mind on the things he had learned as a child and had erased by Hydra and the Russians. He also liked how it gave him one more thing to talk with Candace about. He loved watching her face light up as she talked about the things God had done in her life. He finally began to understand where that radiance she had came from. It was like the mosaics of the saints in the cathedrals, just like he had compared her to when they had first met in Bucharest and she had been unafraid of him.

Dr. Ross had been there for a little over a month when he began to talk of his need to return to the states. He had other patients, and he felt with Candace there and Steve returning soon Bucky could be fairly stable. He had progressed a long way in that little time, and processed through enough things where he could sleep five or six nights out of the week. Candace felt a little sad at the idea of her dad leaving her, even if he promised he's make his stay two full months at least before going back to Dallas.

The evening after Dr. Ross first mentioned his need to return relatively soon, Bucky went and knocked on Candy's door.

"Come in" she said, he opened the door, only moving just inside the doorway. She smiled when she saw him and set the Bible she had been reading in to the side, taking off her reading glasses. "What's up Buck?" she asked, he seemed weirdly silent.

"Want to go for a walk?" he asked.

"It's a little late" she said looking out her window at the sun that was sinking towards the hills in the west, she saw his face drop a little. "Oh well, why not" she said swinging her feet off of the bed and standing up and going to his side. His face brightened at seeing her agree to his idea.

He walked her out of the garden door like he had before on what was becoming a routine Saturday event. But instead of sticking to the trail, he lead her through the jungle thickets, to the side of a lake at the bottom of the incline that lead up to the secluded hospital. He moved the last branches aside, ushering her forwards to the lake shore. Her breath caught as she looked at the soft mists gathering over the blue water while the sun sank in fire on the horizon.

"This is beautiful" she said looking up at him, her eyes wide with wonder and appreciation.

"It is" he said looking at her with the glow of the dying sun reflecting off her rosy cheeks and golden curls. She turned and caught his gaze. He blushed a little and taking her arm, started silently walking the shore of the lake with her by his side. Candace wanted to say something, and so did Bucky. But both feared the other one wasn't at all interested in them the way they were in the other.

After having circled most of the lake, and nearing their starting point Bucky stopped and standing in front of Candy he took a deep breath. "I'm going to say this, and I know I shouldn't, and have no business saying anything like this to you" he said his breath falling short, he felt his stomach balling up and tightening inside of him with a sort of tense sick feeling. She just looked at him, a little surprised, but very attentive to what he was saying. "Candy" he began, picking up her two hands in his right hand as he looked to the sky for help. His eyes returned to her face and looked straight into her curious grey eyes "I love you" he said, finally breathing again, though it was a rasp and he stood in dread of how she might react. He knew she wouldn't be cruel, but he felt that would be preferable to the polite answer he was likely to receive from her lips. He looked down to see those very lips tilted upwards and not daring to think he pressed his to hers, feeling her kiss him back. He wrapped his arms around her waist, bending so she didn't have to strain as he hugged her close. He couldn't believe it, she wasn't pushing him away. Her arms encircled his neck as he broke away from the kiss, looking down to see what emotions were on her face.

"Oh Bucky" she said smiling warmly at him and then hugging him tight, clearly telling him his feelings were returned. She didn't want to let go of him, ever again. She had no idea anything on earth could have felt half so nice as having a sweetheart to wrap your arms around. But it would seem she had at long last found someone she could care for who cared for her too. He smiled and looked to the sky, giving a quiet prayer of thanks to God in heaven for somehow blessing him way more than he deserved.

He smiled a whole and warm smile, his blue eyes full of love instead of pain. He gently put his hands on her face, tilting her head back up as he kissed her once more. His hesitation gone. This time he knew she felt the same for him as he did for her. He had wanted to kiss her for so long that he could hardly believe it felt even more amazing than he had wished or imagined it could. They spent hours by the waterfront, walking around it holding hands or sharing fond embraces and long sweet kisses, lost in love.

"You know" he confessed "after I came out of being the Winter Soldier" he said sitting down on the sandy shore and helping her down beside him. "I didn't think I could find a nice old fashioned girl. I thought they were all dead, with everything else from my generation. Then I met you, and to my surprise unicorns lived and sweet upstanding women still existed" he said smiling and pressing a kiss to her hair. "Of course I knew I had absolutely no chance of winning a girl like yours' heart. I mean have you seen you" he said looking at her from under his messy bangs and thick lashes.

"I don't know" she said looking up at him "have you seen you" she leaned over and pressed her lips to his for another soft kiss. He chuckled as they seperated.

"I have, and I honestly don't see how this happened" he said gesturing between himself and her.

"Well" she said "my true confession time then I guess" she began. "I always thought all the good men were gone. Anyone who might know how to treat a girl right, like a lady, was dead or way too old" she looked over at him and giggled "you're an exception to that statement. You look like a twentysomething rock band lead singer" she announced to him. "Anyways" she said, blushing a little, which just made Bucky smile's last even longer and grow a little wider, "I didn't think that chivalry was still alive or that anyone wanted a girl whose life goals were housewifery and being the best cook since Betty Crocker. Too old fashioned for the guys I knew. And certainly my morals were regarded as archaic" she said shaking her head and then laying back and looking up at the stars thoughtfully.

"It must have been tough growing up with standards that fit the era I grew up in more than your own" he said laying back, his arms behind his head, following her example.

"You've no idea" she said dramatically, and then laughed "actually you probably do" she added, nuzzling her head onto his shoulder as he put his around hers.

"I have a unique perspective, we'll just call it that" he said chuckling. He didn't even know he could feel this happy any more.

"Oh sweet lord" she said hiding her face against his chest and giggling "I'm dating someone older than my father" she groaned, still chuckling.

"Probably older than your grandad even" he said "you sure you're alright with this?" he asked, she was laughing, but he had to be sure.

"Well, you're a special case. I mean, subtract all the time you were frozen from your age and you're probably like twenty-seven or something" she conceded.

He shrugged, it was true.

"Oh dear" she had a thought, sitting up suddenly. He bolted up, putting his hand on her shoulder and looking at her concerned.

"What is it?"

"I just realized we're going to have to tell my dad about us at some point" she said looking mortified.

"I am pretty sure he already knows. He is a psychologist. I think he knew before either of us did honestly" he confessed.

"I don't know" she said uncertainly.

"Well I do" he said with a smile "because I asked him for his blessing to ask you out before I came and asked you for this little moonlight walk." He felt a pair of arms be thrown around him and her lips crash onto his in impulsive adoration, knocking him over onto his back. He was surprised but he wasn't about to complain any time soon. He curled his hand in her hair, kissing her back before pulling away after a minute or so, feeling breathless and like his stomach had become the new winter refuge of a migration of butterflies. "What was that for?" he asked a little dazed, pushing the stray curls that were falling in her face behind her ear.

"You, for being so perfectly a gentleman" she said looking at him with an astonishing amount of love shining in her eyes as she gazed at his face. A face that had become unbelievably dear to her. "I've always hoped, but never thought it possible, that I would find someone traditional enough to ask my dad for his permission to date me. But given the current era I had taken that standard off the list, though it was still in my heart a secret wish that I never hoped to see fulfilled" she said looking at him dreamily.

"Well I'm glad I'm so ridiculously old fashioned then" he said "though you could have went for Steve. He's even more old fashioned and a little more sane to boot" he said. She frowned at him "Though I'm sure as hell glad you didn't" he said giving her an emotional kiss. It still felt unreal that she loved him back. He sighed into their lip lock, relaxing at last, believing that this was real and the past few hours hadn't been some dream of his to help him sleep through the night.

After laying there on their backs staring at the moon and stars overhead Bucky sat up and pulled a folded sheet of paper out of his back pocket. It was, in his messy handwriting, a poem. He read it to her as she lay there flicking her gaze between the sky and his face, a smile of delight on her face as she listened.

"That was beautiful, I've never heard it before" she said sitting up and looking over at him.

"You're the first person to ever hear it" he said leaning over and pressing a soft kiss to her cheek "and the only one who has any business ever hearing it" he added in a whisper.

"You wrote it?" she asked, a little surprised. She knew he used writing as a coping mechanism, but having never been allowed to read any of his journal entries she had been completely unprepared for how good of a poet he was. He smiled at her astonished face and then stood up.

"It's time I had you back before your dad takes back his permission" he said giving her a hand up.

From his window Richard Ross watched his little girl progress up the pathway to the hospital with her arms around his patient. He shook his head. This was never quite how he had imagined his daugther to find love. He turned his light off a little sneakily, he hoped to overhear a little of their conversation unsuspected. Also he didn't want Bucky to feel he had to explain himself, not just yet, he'd be keeping an eye on how handsy the Winter Soldier tried to get with his little spring flower.

He heard them come down the hall. There was some silence, a strangely suspicious silence in which Richard had an overwhelming desire to fly out of his room and pull Bucky away from kissing his little girl, he refrained. After the silence he heard a dreamy girlish voice whisper "goodnight" and a door open.

"Goodnight Candy" he heard Bucky say, a boosted confidence in the broken man's voice. There was another silence. "Right" he overheard said so softly he nearly didn't hear it "I should let you go" he said with reluctance.

"Goodnight again" Candace said her joy apparent in her voice, and then her door clicked close. A little while longer in which he heard a couple giddy sighs of happiness and he heard Bucky's door open and close.

Richard lay there in silence, suddenly wanting all those years of Candace's childhood back. He wanted to push her on the swings in the backyard and take her on carousel rides and to feed the geese forever. He was happy that she had found love and happiness, but he still wanted his little girl to stay little. It was his own fault he thought, he'd practically encouraged the haunted soldier to take his only daughter out under the moonlight and woo her. He thought about it, maybe it had been the right thing then, not that even Steve Rogers was worthy of his little girl. Though she seemed to think Bucky was, and that was all that mattered. That and that he treated her right. He'd recruit Cap to put him in line if he didn't. He fell asleep feeling happy for his daughter, but also a little bittersweet at her taking her first step away from him and out of her father's arms and into those of a lover.