Notes:

On time! Success!

I need to teach Bucky and Darcy's kids English, STAT, cause this translation thing is a bitch and a half.

Enjoy!

Kitten

Chapter 21: Meeting the Family

Sasha fell instantly in love with Clint, not that Darcy could complain, he was pretty great, there were much worse people that her little girl could get attached to. She watched her middle child curl up in the co-pilots seat as the jet landed at the Avenger's Facility, her small hand clutching the archers.

"Chto zh, eto domoy, malyshka," (Well, this is home, little one,) Clint smiled at the girl, squeezing her hand gently. Sasha gave him a small smile and looked over her shoulder to Darcy.

"Vy khotite, chtoby pomoch' Clint sdelat' okonchatel'nyye proverk bezopasnosti, Sasha?" (You want to help Clint do the final safety checks, Sasha?) She asked her daughter, running her fingers though the little girl's hair. Sasha nodded her head, sitting forward as the archer explained exactly what he was doing.

"He's good with her," Yasha curled his arms around her waist, his hands spaying along her stomach.

"Yeah," they watched as the archer showed the girl which buttons to push, letting her do it herself when he could. "I think we're going to be okay."

"Of course we are," he kissed her cheek and pulled her back to where Thor was gently rocking Sofia, and Nikolai was scowling at Natasha and Tony.

"Papa, pochemu my zdes' s etimi lyud'mi?" (Papa, why are we here with these people?) Nikolai stood with his hands behind his back at attention, breaking Darcy's heart just a little bit. He was young, there was time. She reminded herself like a mantra. "My dolzhny vernut'sya v Rossiyu, eto doma, a ne zdes'." (We should be going back to Russia, that's home, not here.)

"Nikolai, ya znayu, shto eto trudno dlyavas, no eto domoy," (Nikolai, I know this is hard for you, but this is home now.) Bucky told the boy hefting his go bag over his shoulder and handing Darcy hers. "Vash mama i ya oba iz Ameriki, a takzhe nashikh druzey i sem'i zdes." (Your momma and I are both from America, and our friends and families are here.)

"Oni ne moi druz'ya," (They are not my friends) the boy growled, his eyes boring into the back of Natasha's head. "Oni yavlyayutsya vragami Hydra," (They are the ememies of Hydra.)

"Ya znayu, chto yego tridno'dlya vas, chtoby ponyat'," (I know it's hard for you to understand,) he knelt in front of his son, his hands on the boy's shoulders. "No Hydra, oni ne yavlyayutsya khoroshimi lyud'mi." (But Hydra, they aren't good people.) The boy scowled, but Bucky just tipped his head to look into his eyes. "Natalia, i Steve, eto te lyudi, kotoryye pomogu mne nayti vas, kto pomog nam vernut'sya domoy kak sem'ya," (Natalia and Steve, they are the people who helped me find you, who helped us come home as a family.) Nikolai frowned, fidgeting under his father's intense gaze. "Ya nadeyus, chto vy mozete doveryat' svoyemu mamchki, i ya, chtoby skazat'vam, chto khoroshu, i pover'te nam, shto Hydra net." (I hope you can trust your momma and I to tell you what's good, and believe us that Hydra is not.) The boy frowned, but nodded.

"We're all set," Clint hitched Sasha up higher on his hip.

"How come every time I step off this stupid jet, I feel like I'm going into battle?" Darcy took Sofia back from Thor, who left a final kiss on the baby's soft head.

"You got an over developed sense of fight or flight," the archer hip checked her with the hip her daughter wasn't on.

"I don't know if that's a good thing or not," she said, watching the ramp lower entirely too slowly.

"It's what keeps you alive, kitty cat," Natasha kissed her cheek, cognizant of Nikolai's stiffening spine.

Steve stood in jeans and a dark blue Henley, eyes on them, looking both excited and apprehensive. Bucky took his son's hand and lead their group down the ramp, his best friend watching them the entire way.

"Hey punk," Bucky grinned at his friend, happy to see that he'd come out to meet them, despite the fact that it was well into the middle of the night. "We're home."

"I can see," the Captain's eyes traveled over the group, Bucky held the hand of a boy that couldn't be mistaken for anyone by Bucky's son, he was nearly the spitting image of his best friend when he was a boy, but the sea blue eyes were all Darcy's. Clint's little friend had her face pressed into his chest, her hands clutching at him like he was the only thing in the world keeping her safe, and finally, in Darcy's arms was a baby, her chubby little hands holding one of Darcy's fingers, her eyes deeply closed. "Would you introduce me?" Steve asked hopefully.

"Nikolai," Bucky looked down at his son, pulling the boy forward just a little. "Eto vash dyadya Steve, Steve eto Nikolai Stepan Yakovitch Barnes, Darcy i moy starshiy i yedinstvennyy syn," (This is your Uncle Steve, Steve this is Nikolai Stepan Yakovitch Barnes, Darcy and my oldest, and only son.)

Steve leaned down to shake the boy's hand, but Nikolai just looked at him wearily. "Kaptain Amerika," the boy said, looking down at the older man's hand.

"Moi druz'ya prosto zovut menya Steve," (My friends just call me Steve) he smiled shyly at the boy, still holding his hand out waiting for Nikolai to take it.

"Moy otets skazal, chto ty moy dyadya," (My father said you are my uncle,) Nikolai took Steve's hand and shook it briefly.

"Eto verno, priyatel'," (That's right, buddy,) Steve said, ruffling the boys hair. Nikolai looked scandalized and danced back a few paces, ducking back around his father's legs, situating himself in front of Clint and Sasha, making sure that Darcy and Sofia where behind his father.

"Maybe not a good idea," Bucky mumbled, shaking his head at his friend. "Nikolai's been in training under Hydra, punk," he sighed and reached back for his son. "And you are not on the Hydra approved sitter list."

"I suppose not," he scratched the back of his head. "Izvinite, Nikolai." (Sorry, Nikolai.)

"Ya ne doveryayu tebe, kapitan amerika," (I don't trust you, Captain America,) the boy said, watching Steve again. "I vy delaytet momochka neudobno." (And you make momma uncomfortable.)

"Nikolai," Darcy scolded.

"Ya mogu skazat', vy derzhite yego v vizual'nom diapazone, i derzhat' ruku mezhdu nim i Sofia. Vy ne doveryayete yemu tozhe," (I can tell, you keep him in visual range, and keep your arm between him and Sofia. You don't trust him either.)

"On drug vashego ottsa, a vash dyadya, vy dolzhny otnosit'sya k nemu s uvazheniyem," (He's your father's friend, and your uncle, you need to treat him with respect,) Darcy told the boy, who snapped to attention, nodding his head slightly.

"Kak vy govorite sudarynya," Nikolai snapped, waiting for Darcy to give him his next instruction. She sighed and rubbed her fingers down the boys head.

"Steve," Bucky pulled him around where Darcy and Nikolai where having a small moment, and over to Clint, still holding Sasha. "Sasha pochti chetyre goda, ona nemnogo stesnyayetsya," (Sasha is almost four, she's a bit shy,) his friend told him, gently taking his daughter out of Clint's arms. The girl immediately curled around her father. "Eto Sasha Rebekah Yakova Barnes. Sasha, eto vash dyadya Steve, vy govorili s nim po telefonu ren'she, vy pomnite?" (This is Sasha Rebekah Yakova Barnes. Sasha, this is your Uncle Steve, you talked to him on the phone earlier, do you remember?) Bucky asked his daughter, ducking his head to look at her the best he could. She nodded and smiled shyly at Steve, waving at him.

"Eto khorosho, chtoby vstretit'sya s vami, Sasha," (It's good to meet you, Sasha,) Steve smiled at her, she tucked her head back down against her father's chest.

"And last but not least," Bucky took him back over to where Darcy was standing, Nikolai looked less at attention, but still uncomfortable with all the people around. "This is Sofia Sarah Yakova Barnes." Bucky kissed the sleeping baby's head. "She's the one we expected to find."

"They're beautiful, Buck," Steve told him sincerely.

"Thanks," he pulled Darcy under his arm nuzzling against the side of her head. "Wouldn't have been possible without my best girl."

"Speaking of," Steve scratched the back of his head. "Think I can borrow you for a bit, Darcy?"

"Sure," she kissed Bucky and handed Sofia off to Natasha. "She's gonna need to be changed soon."

"I think I can handle a smelly baby, kitty," Natasha smirked. "Or just make her father take care of it."

"That's my girl," Darcy smiled at the assassin and nodded to Steve. "We doing this in private, Captain?"

"I think that might be best," he showed her into the building, pulling her into an empty meeting room. "This is everything I dug up," he handed her a thick file folder. "I shouldn't have, but I needed to know who my best friend was pining over."

Darcy flipped through the first few pages and groaned. "I get it," she sighed. "Steve, like I said before, we all make mistakes in life." She waved the folder at him. "Some of us make more mistakes then others, but you gotta know, this." Darcy handed the folder back to him. "This isn't me. This is a desperate young girl, who wanted something better in life then a dead end job at a diner," she ran her hands over her face and down over the buckles of her suit, her nerves making her twitchy. "I did what I had to for money, and while I'm not proud of all of it, it was my choice and my body."

"And now it's Bucky's life, too," he dropped the folder on the table, the glossy surveillance photos spilling out across the table, the grainy pictures staring up at her from the past. "Share it with him, or don't, but I think he needs to know."

"Who else knows about these?" Darcy pushed the photos around, looking at them, not one painted her in a particularly good light.

"Jarvis helped," Steve admitted, watching her finger though the glossies. "So I'm guessing Tony knows."

"Right, well, thanks for unearthing all my skeletons," she growled. There wasn't supposed to be any photography in the club, but here it was, picture after picture of her in various states of undress, a few even from the private booths in the back.

"These are all Hydra surveillance pictures, Darcy," Steve flicked a couple pictures.

Darcy looked at him for a moment, searching his face for what he wasn't saying. When she figured it out she sucked in a breath, shoving photos back into the folder. "You think I let them take me?"

"From what I've found," he shrugged, not bothering to hide his disgust. "Looks like you'd do just about anything for money."

"Legally," she growled. "Steve, I may have sold the fantasy, but I never sold the reality."

"Is that so?" he watched her intently, her cheeks flushed, heart rate increasing, she was angry, but he couldn't tell if she was lying or not. "A stripper who was low on cash, and you were, you didn't have enough to pay the semesters tuition, I think they bought you off."

"Find any money trail, Captain?" Darcy hugged the folder to her chest, narrowing her eyes at the man in front of her.

"Only reason I didn't go right to Bucky," Steve shrugged, not worried that this little girl was angry at him.

"You won't," she spat. "I was kidnapped and thrown into that cell. There's no deal with Hydra, no hidden plot here. And you're a dick for even suggesting that I let this happen to myself. You know, the one and only time I fought the Soldier when he raped me? He broke my collar bone with his left hand. Hydra did nothing." She shuddered at the memory, it had hurt so much she thought she would pass out, she hoped that she would pass out, but she hadn't. She could still feel the broken ends of her collar bone rubbing together as the Soldier held her down, impaling her over and over again until he was satisfied. "Yasha set it when he came down, but it was pretty bad, and it hurt like a fucking bitch. He was inconsolable for days, hiding in the back of the cell from me. He vomited so hard, I thought he was going to do real damage to himself." Darcy put the folder down and grabbed Steve's hand, pushing it into the skin of her shoulder so he could feel the knot of bone where her collar had broken. "A month later, before it completely healed, the Soldier broke it all over again, holding me down while he fucked me." She dropped Steve's hand like it had burned her. "You don't believe me, ask Bucky."

"You gonna tell Bucky?" he asked, rubbing his hands together, feeling more than a little ashamed at the accusations he'd leveled upon her.

"That you're a giant asshole, or that you thought I was in bed with Hydra before we met?" Darcy snarled. "I should, but I think he knows you're a jerk, he calls you one often enough. As for the other. Yeah, I'm going to tell him. I'm going to show him this whole folder, and then I'm going to tell him about everything you didn't find."

"I'm sorry," Steve told her, hanging his head.

"You fucking well should be," she said, sighing. "I love Bucky, I know you don't understand or believe that, but I do, more than anything. I won't hurt him if I can help it."

"I think you're just going to have to prove that to me," he told her.

"I got nothing to prove to you, Steven Grant Rogers," Darcy tucked the folder under her arm and left the room.

Steve pulled his hands down over his face and shook his head. He was a giant asshole, just like Darcy had said.

Notes:

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