Be honest, be brutally honest. That's what's going to maintain a relationship
-Lauryn Hill
"Nuh uh. I am not eating that." Rue pushed away the bowl and turned her nose up.
"Oh come on it's like the newest trend" Pietro replied pushing the bowl back towards her.
Rue looked him in the eyes and took a deep breath.
"Listen Piet. I love you like a little brother but I am a southern girl. We eat our grits with butter and salt a little bit of black pepper or a lot. This shit here…"
Rue glanced down at the bowl and gagged for affect.
"...is not natural. We don't eat sugar in our grits. That's straight up some evil shit and I will not be a part of the Pietro train to hell."
Rue got up taking the bowl with her and threw it completely in the garbage. Grits, spoon, bowl and all.
"Oh come on Rue you try everything that I make. You're being a baby." His accent thick his tone whiney.
"Whatever Pietro I'm not eating that bullshit. You want to make some Sokovian food fine. But you will not disrespect grits like that again."
Clint who was sitting at the bar reading the paper started laughing.
"You know, you two could pass for brother and sister the way you argue."
"That may be true but this is not an argument. Pietro knows what time it is. Besides I don't have time to be his guinea pig today. Steve and I are meeting the realtor in an hour to pick up our keys."
Rue headed out of the kitchen then stopped and turned around.
"Oh and FYI you guys suck at planning parties I know the housewarming party is also a baby shower. Do better with your secrecy I mean some of you are spies for goodness sake."
Rue smirked and winked at Natasha who was sitting next to Clint.
"You really should become a Shield Agent Rue."
Natasha called out to her as she disappeared down the hall. Rue called for the elevator that would take her down to where Steve was training new recruits. Stepping inside she pushed the button for the basement and waited for the doors to close. Only a metal hand shot out stopping them. Rue inwardly cringed. She was not ready to be alone with Bucky yet here he was stepping inside looking as fuckable as ever. It had been a few days since her return from Romania. Not to mention her and Steve's quick wedding on the way out of the hospital. There was a lot she wanted to say to him she was just afraid. Afraid she would act on her desires but mostly afraid he would act on his and she wouldn't be able to say no. Steve had been pestering her for days to talk to him but she had a very naughty way of getting him to shut the hell up that involved her lips and tongue.
"Good morning Baby Doll." Bucky said with a smile. Bringing Rue out of her silent musings.
"Good morning Bucky." Rue said as she pressed her back into the corner of the elevator to put as much distance as she could between them. Her face aimed at the ground praying that her curls were hiding the deep blush on her face. The doors closed and an awkward silence hung in the air until Rue's stomach growled. She looked down and rubbed her belly absolutely mortified.
Bucky started laughing.
"I take it you didn't eat Pietro's sugar grits?"
Rue let out a small laugh.
"Hell no. I was not trying to die."
Bucky laughed a little harder.
"Yea I told him women from the south are set in their ways and to not even attempt to get you to eat them."
Rue rolled her eyes and loosened up a bit.
"What do you know about women from the south?" Rue totally forgot that she was trying to keep her distance and put her hand on her hip all sassy like. Bucky couldn't help but admire her hips and how once upon time he had been able to grip them and make her scream out his name while his face was buried between her legs. The shorts she was wearing was doing little to hide what God had given her. They weren't short in length they reached right above her knees but they were hugging her assets was absolutely perfect.
Bucky flashed her a smile.
"Well I know plenty. I lived with you for a while."
Rue smiled back at him. Bucky was flirting with her and dammit if she didn't like it.
"What did you learn about southern women's eating habits?" She replied in an equally flirty voice.
She folded her arms and waited for him to respond.
Just then the elevator dinged and the doors opened before he could. Steve was stepping into the elevator. He glanced between the two of them and opened his arms to hug Rue.
"Hey baby girl. I was just coming to find you."
"That's funny because I was just coming to get you."
Rue pressed a quick kiss to his lips.
Bucky stepped off the elevator but not before turning around and winking at Rue, which caused her to giggle.
Fuck fuck fuck. You will not fall for his charms you're mad at him remember? Rue inwardly thought.
Steve pulled away not thinking anything of it and pushed the button to take them back upstairs.
Meanwhile Bucky wore a self-satisfied smirk on his face. She laughed at him. If he knew Rue, which he did pretty well she wasn't that angry with him anymore. Which was a good thing because pretty much everyone else was pissed as shit with him. Except Stark. Stark hadn't said one word to him since he had been back. The fuck was his problem.
Paperwork signed Rue was currently in the Kitchen with Nat and Wanda making dinner when Pietro zoomed in and told them to get to the training room fast.
"What now?" Nat asked as she turned off the burner to the stove and headed towards the elevator.
"Probably some dumb prank he is setting us up for." Rue chimed in taking off her apron and following Wanda, Pietro and Nat towards the elevator. Stepping off Rue could hear her brother shouting.
"Why the fuck are you here huh? To break my sisters heart again? Why now? Did you come back to torment her? To promise to stay and then leave when she needed you the most?"
Sam was yelling at the top of his lungs. He was angry. His sister had fallen into a dark place when Bucky left. He had never saw her like that. She was usually the strong one. Now he was back strutting around the compound without a care in the world. He had tried to keep his mouth closed. He had tried to stay out of it, but the final straw is when he heard Bucky talking to Pietro about the baby. How he couldn't wait to hold his daughter in his arms. He wasn't even aware that he had sat down with Steve and Rue yet. But here he was making claims on something that didn't have shit to do with him.
Rue's feet were moving even though her brain was saying no. Tony saw her first and cleared his throat but no one paid him any attention.
"You think just because you got her pregnant you can come back and have a ready-made family? Well it doesn't work like that-"
Bucky cut Sam off.
"The fuck is your problem Sam. It's my baby and I'll be damned if anyone one of you try to keep me away from her. I haven't pushed myself on your sister. I've barely even talked to her. I've been respecting her and Steve's space. You are way out of line. Besides if I remember correctly each and every one of you has fucked up before. So don't come here judging me. It's not your place. I left because I felt guilty. Not because I intentionally wanted to hurt her. Hurting her on purpose is something I could never do. Even If I was the soldier again."
Bucky spat back standing in Sam's face. The rest of the team just looking at them unsure of what to do. Bucky had a point. No one could judge him. They had all done fucked up things in the past. Each and every last one of them.
"You need to leave. Just go back to wherever the fuck you've been and let my sister be happy with Steve. You are a fuck up. I'll be damned if I let you fuck of my niece's life too! I saw what you're leaving did to her. I was there the day she found out she was pregnant. When she was shaking, worried about if it was yours or the men who raped her. It should've been you not me. I will-"
"SAM WILSON!" Rue screamed at the top of her lungs. Everyone's head whipped around to see Rue standing there. Eyes blazing with anger.
Rue walked closer and looked at Bucky then her brother.
"What the fuck is going on in here?"
Sam rubbed the back of his neck nervously.
"Look Rue I was just trying to-"
"To what Sam. Please tell me what you were doing. Because it looked like you were shunning Bucky. For nothing he could control. It's not your place to blame him."
Sam backed up his expression as equally pissed as Rue's.
"Don't sit here and defend him. After everything he's put you through."
Rue waved her hand to stop him.
"I'm not defending. Hell I'm not exactly thrilled to see him. But he's back. For whatever reason he came back. He is Steve's friend who you helped to find. You begged me once to help him and I did. He was a part of your team. You should not be yelling at him for me. For shit you don't even understand. You should be welcoming him with open fucking arms. All of us…" Rue motioned to everyone in the room.
"... we're supposed to be a god damn family. We all fuck up. Families forgive. Mom would be so disappointed if she was here right now listening to you be an asshole."
Sam turned to leave.
"You know what Rue fuck this you want to act like everything's all good fine. But I won't watch him hurt you and I won't watch you hurt Steve. Grow up. When are you going to address the elephant in the room? When are you going to sit down and tell Bucky he has no business being here? You are too fucking nice. Too fucking soft. You walk through the world with rose colored glasses on and it irks the living shit out of me."
"Sam I don't think that's fair." Steve chimed in.
Rue was fuming.
"Me grow up? How about you grow up and stop trying to be my fucking father!"
"Well maybe if yours hadn't had killed our mom I wouldn't have to be the stand in."
Sam instantly realized how hurtful his words were as soon as he said them. The look on Rue's face was absolutely heartbreaking. Rue slapped her brother so hard the trainees on the other side of the building heard it.
"You're a fucking asshole. I always knew you blamed me but I never thought you would try and humiliate me. I hate you."
Rue turned around and stormed out of the training room. She didn't even bother turning around when Steve called her name. She headed towards the one place that would release her frustrations. She was fuming. Her own brother. How could he blame her for their mom's death?
"Rue I'm sorry." Sam called behind her and moved to chase her but Thor's strong hands stopped him.
"Let her go brother Wilson."
Sam hung his head low and slumped his shoulders. He turned and looked at Bucky.
"This is all your fucking fault. You should've never came back. I hate you. Even if she forgives you I never will." Sam stormed off in the other direction.
Tony broke the silence.
"Well that went better than expected. I almost thought birdman and Frosty would duke it out."
"Enough Stark." Steve ran a hand through his blond locks in frustration. He needed to go after Rue but he also needed to speak with Bucky. He looked at Natasha and nodded her head and she went after her.
"Hey Bucky lets go grab a beer and talk." Steve didn't give him a chance to respond. He walked out certain that Bucky would follow. Which he did.
Steve was on the roof with Bucky beers in hand. There were so many things he wanted to say to his friend about Rue. So many questions he wanted to ask.
"When you left she was hurt ya know." Steve glanced over at Bucky who sadly stared back at him. Steve continued talking.
"I thought she was going to die from starvation. She lost so much weight Bucky. She looked like she weighed 100lbs. She was so skinny. She wasn't eating. When she did eat it wasn't much. She never came out of her room. Do you know what we did? We had to threaten her with legally taking action to have a psychiatric evaluation. It snapped her out of it kind of. It wasn't until I came to her one day and I showed her all these pictures of you and I growing up. I even took her to Brooklyn and showed her some of our old haunts. She broke down when I took her to Coney Island. We were at the top of the Ferris wheel and she started sobbing. I mean even my heart hurt for her. She just kept repeating that she would never be good enough for any man. They all leave her. You fucked her up Buck. I mean even to this day I know there is a lot Rue holds back when it comes to loving me. I don't push though because I know in time we will get there. If we never do that's fine because I love her that much that I will let her keep that part of herself. Because sometimes people don't heal completely. That doesn't mean they don't deserve love. Sometimes they've been through something so traumatic and won't ever be the same but they still deserve love. I'm not just talking about Rue. I'm talking about you too."
Steve took a sip of his beer and kept talking.
"You were a deadly brainwashed assassin. We all took you in and gave you a family. Rue took you in knowing about your past and despite all that, she still saw fit to love you. She let you into her home around her son. She looked after you like you were her brother. She trusted you. So when Sam sees you here back after all of that he's angry. He has every right to be. That's his sister. His little sister. Who was knocked up and alone after just losing her son."
Steve took another sip of his beer and let his words sink in. Bucky needed to know what he was dealing with. Steve thought back to how much weight Rue lost. He was sure the only reason she had gained it back was because of the baby. So he was not going to let Bucky just waltz in here and disappoint Rue again. He was her husband now and it was his job to protect her. He understood there was a lot of unresolved issues between them and that was fine. He would definitely allow the two of them to talk. He and Rue had already discussed it. The three of them were going to have to work together for the baby.
"I know I fucked up Steve. I know I was wrong. I don't deny that. I don't ever deserve her forgiveness. But that is my baby. I deserve to be a part of her life. I'm not a bad guy. I know my track record shows otherwise but to not want me to be a dad, I can't take that sitting down. I won't let him try to bully me into leaving. I can't. I would go to the ends of the earth for Rue and my baby."
Steve propped his leg up over the edge.
"Rue wants you to be a part of the baby's life. Sam doesn't speak for Rue. She is just really nervous about how this will all play out because of me. She loves me. I know she does. I can tell by the way she says my name and by the way she kisses me. But I also know she loves you too. I also know that I've been there. Every doctor's appointment. I've been there holding her hair while she was puking up her brains. So you have to understand that I'm going to continue to be there too."
"I just really would like to talk to her. Not running off emotions of not seeing her. I've had a few days to think about how I was wrong kissing her and fighting you. I just want her to know that I'm here now and I'm ready to step up and be a dad. That I won't disappoint her in that aspect."
Steve finished his beer and pulled out his phone and texted Nat. He pocketed his phone and turned to face Bucky.
"She's in her studio. If I were you I would go in there now and talk to her."
Bucky got up to leave but Steve placed a hand on his shoulder stopping him.
"I love you Bucky. You're my best friend, my brother. But if you touch my wife again I will be done with you."
Steve's eyes were not playing. Bucky headed downstairs and navigated his way through the maze of hallways fairly quickly. Slipping inside and shutting the door behind him Rue was sitting hunched over the soundboard with a notepad and pen scribbling away.
She looked up from her writing and smiled. She offered the seat next to her, to Bucky.
"Why is it always the drama in your life that makes for good music?" She asked with a sad smile.
"Not sure?" Bucky responded.
"Another one of life's great mysteries." Rue said as she closed her notepad and put it away.
"Anything good you record yet?" Bucky asked motioning around the room. Rue smiled.
"I know it's weird having a studio here at the compound but, I tell anyone who actually wants to sing feel free to use it. But to answer your question I have recorded a lot of good shit."
Rue opened another drawer and pulled out a c.d and handed it to him.
"Listen to it when you get a chance. Number 4 is especially for you."
Bucky nodded and watched as Rue watched him.
"So you want to talk?" Rue asked leaning back in her chair.
"Yea, it would be nice to talk without the yelling and me being pushy. Which I'm sorry for."
Rue narrowed her eyes and then smiled.
"All is forgiven." She said really dramatically which caused Bucky to laugh.
"I miss this. You making me laugh. Me making you laugh."
"I missed it too. No worries now that you're back. So I'm sure there are many more laughs to be had."
"Also about Sam-"
Rue held up her hand.
"No, don't worry about Sam. He's mad at the situation more than with you. I'm mad at him. That's my brother we will forgive each other and eventually, he will forgive you. I wanted to talk to you about the baby though."
"Yea so did I." Bucky got more comfortable in his seat.
"Steve and I have been talking and we would like for you to start coming to the Dr.'s appointments. Also it wouldn't be fair to not have you in the delivery room when I give birth. So we were thinking that both of you can be there and you can cut the cord and all that good stuff. We don't want to keep you away from her. I know that we can all co-parent together and whoever you end up with can be a part of her life too. I don't see why we can't be civil."
"I would like that a lot Rue. I also wanted to ask you about her last name. I know I don't have a right but I would really like for her to take my last name. She is my daughter and I know you don't believe me but she was created out of love."
The familiar feeling in the pit of Rue's stomach began to bubble. Was it desire? No longing. She knew Bucky was absolutely right. That night had been one of the greatest love makings she had ever experienced and there was nothing but love in that moment. She had missed his little kisses he peppered on her shoulders. She missed the way his hands felt on her legs. She even missed the way his eyes turned dark when he was inside of her. She even missed being in her old house the way he would touch her gently. Or the way his scent would linger on her throw pillows after he had been sitting on the couch.
"Steve and I already talked about that. We both agree that she should have you last name. But I want you to know when it comes time to making decisions for her we all make them. The three of us. His opinion matters too."
"Yea I know I get it."
Rue stood up and rubbed her belly.
"I'm fucking starving. What about you?"
"I could eat." Bucky said joining her.
"You can always eat."
"Is Steve joining us?" Bucky asked as he opened the door for her.
"No he and my brother, Thor and Pietro are doing an overnight drill with the recruits."
"Sounds like fun."
"Oh yea I'm sure it will be tons of fun." Rue rolled her eyes.
"So you're going to cook for me right?"
Bucky looked at Rue and smiled. He had only cooked for her once and that was chicken parmesan.
"Sure thing Baby Doll, what would you like?"
"I would like a steak cooked medium rare and mashed potatoes and some green beans. Fresh green beans not canned or frozen and I want them to still have a lot of crunch."
"Are you going to eat all of that?"
Rue narrowed her eyes at him.
"I mean you have seen my condition right? I'm growing another person. I'm hungry and FYI you can't question a pregnant woman's cravings. That is a sure way to die. You've lived this long. Do you really want to be bludgeoned to death by a girl half your size?"
Rue had stopped walking and was smiling sweetly at him.
"Okay Jeez do we have any of those thing here to cook?"
"Duh, It's like a fully stocked grocery store. I mean where have you been. You act like this is all new to you."
"It feels like it."
"Nobody's fault but your own. Now enough of all that. I do believe you have a shit ton of Game of Thrones to catch up on."
Bucky started laughing as he set up for all the things Rue requested that he make. Maybe he could learn to bury his feelings and not covet after her anymore. Maybe he could learn to love her from a distance.
A/N: I know I said I would have this up a few days ago. My bad ya'll I have been super busy. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Let me know what you think. Also I'm sure I did tell you guys that Brock and Sharon would be showing their faces again right? Well I've already started writing that chapter. I was having all these good ideas. No worries though it will not be the next chapter which I have also started writing. Enjoy!