Notes: Oh my Odin I can't thank you all enough for all of the amazing reviews! They make my day, and I am so happy you love the story. The Christmas chapter (since I finished writing this story on the last day of Winter Break) will be not the next chapter, but the one after it. There's also a prank chapter right around the corner so be prepared to fall out of your seat laughing (at least I hope...). Have a nice day ^-^
~SoN~
P.S. I opened a poll on my profile since I suck at choosing stories. So go vote! But it also might be a little while before anything is published because of school and stuff. But we have plenty of time because there's still, like, eleven more chapters left. Enjoy!
Chapter 33-The Play
Third Person:
Bucky and Beni had left at around eight or nine in the morning, and now it was almost eight at night. They were tired from just the long car ride, but neither of them said anything as they climbed out of the car and into the snow. Beni was cursing internally at the cold. Bucky offered her his jacket, but she declined. He put it around her shoulders anyway.
"Aren't you going to get cold?" She asked. his only defense against the harsh winds was his black, long sleeved shirt that complimented his muscles well. But Bucky just shook his head
"No, not really. I'm used to it. It's...Almost nice."
That was a big fat lie. He wasn't cold, he had told the truth about that. And it was welcoming to him, but that's what set him off edge the most, and it sent really bad memories into his head, making him subconsciously make a face. The cold, despite the fact that it was snowing, didn't bother him at all. He was used to it, being in cryo for so long for an unimaginable number of times in between missions. It would be comforting if it weren't so unnerving.
It only took a short walk from the middle of the parking lot to get inside, where there were a lot of people waiting. Beni handed Bucky his jacket back with a quick thanks before craning her neck in every which direction looking for her cousin. It might have been ten years, but Reagan wasn't really known for changing.
"Beni!"
Beni and Bucky whirled around in just enough time that Beni was nearly tackled to the ground by someone. Beni had her arms pinned to her sides by Reagan's grip, so she couldn't hug her back very well. Even if she could she probably wouldn't considering the lack of oxygen getting to her brain.
"Reagan..." Beni gasped. "Oxygen...Is essential...T...To living..."
Reagan laughed and let go, and Beni put her hands on her knees so she could catch her breath a little better. That's when Bucky got to get a better look at Reagan.
She had the same blonde hair as Beni, but she had brown eyes and freckles. She wore black dress pants and a pair of black flats, along with a bright green dress shirt with intricate brown swirls all over it.
"Oh my god! You've changed so much!" Reagan said with complete shock. Beni stood up straight and gave her cousin a wry smile.
"And you haven't changed a bit," Beni shot back.
"Ten years is nine and a half years to long."
"Yeah, well, the army doesn't exactly let us have vacation whenever we want."
Bucky could almost hear the slight edge in Beni's voice, and felt kind of sorry for her. It was obvious she didn't like Reagan as much as she was letting on, and now she had to smile and nod her way through the whole night.
"Let me introduce you to my friend, Bucky," Beni said, gesturing to Bucky. He didn't really feel sorry for Beni after that.
"Ooh, you're kind of cute. Has she made a move yet? Have you made a move yet? How did you two meet? Are you-"
"-Okay, that's enough," Beni interrupted. "We're just friends, Rea. And we met when my friend hit him with his car."
"Wait, I though you could drive," Reagan spun back around to Beni with a confused look.
"Lost my leg. Got a prosthetic last month."
"That would explain the mismatched feet. Come on, let's go!"
She gripped Beni's wrist and dragged her through the crowd, and Beni gave Bucky a look of desperation, but he just smirked and followed right behind them. He was planning on sitting in between them to save Beni, so she could sufer for about a minute longer.
Bucky leaned quickly after they sat down that she liked to ramble. And it never held any consistency. Reagan could be talking about her son one minute and what kind of color she would be painting her garage door in the next breath. If she breathed. She was talking so fast he was kind of unsure. Beni and Bucky were both thankful when the play finally started.
Both veterans should have expected that the play was going to be long and agonizingly boring and cheery from the moment it started. And they were both now yawning and trying to stay awake, while Reagan on the other hand, was on the edge of he seat. Especially when the gumdrop fairies or whatever came out and did their little dance number with the Nutcracker singing in his very tone deaf way.
Overall it was just really bad, but Beni and Bucky clapped anyway.
Reagan wasted no time grabbing their wrists and dragging them into the lobby where they waited for her son, Kurt. When he did finally show up, Reagan practically killed him with a hug like she bad with Beni, and then they moved onto the introductions.
"Who are you?" he asked, tilting his head to the side. He had brown eyes and freckles like Reagan, but had black hair.
"I'm your cousin, Beni. This is my best friend, Bucky. You're Kurt, right?"
She already knew his name through Reagan, but it was polite to ask anyway. The boy just nodded and looked at Beni's feet.
"It that a metal foot?" he asked.
"Even better," Beni grinned.
"What's better than a metal foot?"
"The whole leg."
Kurt's eyes went wide as he to grinned. But then Reagan cut in and put a hand on Kurt's shoulder.
"Well, it's ten thirty. We should probably get going now."
Beni internally sighed but smiled and waved as they left anyway. Reagan was possessive, and didn't like when other people took an interest in something she liked. In this case it was someone.
"I feel so sorry for that kid," Bucky said.
"As do I," Beni nodded in agreement.
"So... What now?"
"It's late and we're both tired, and I'm not going to make you drive, so we find a motel or a hotel, or just something."
"Sounds like a plan."
It surprisingly didn't take very long for the two to find a decent motel just outside of town. It was probably a twenty minute drive at the most. And it only took a few more for Beni to check in and pay. Then they headed to their room, which unfortunately required Beni to go outside. She was thankful that she packed a pair of extra shoes in her duffel so that she didn't have to trudge through the snow in flats.
"You go ahead and take the bathroom," she said with a small yawn. Bucky raised an eyebrow.
"You sure?"
"Yeah, just go, Princess."
Bucky smirked before taking his duffel and going into the bathroom, while Beni quickly got changed outside. She didn't bother taking her hair down. She just face planted into the bed closest to the window.
By the time Bucky got out, which was about a minute later, Beni was face down in her pillow, already passed out. He rolled his eyes and pulled the covers up, and then climbed in bed himself.
When Beni woke up, she was curled into a ball with something draped over her. Her eyes snapped open and she tensed up, looked at the thing on top of her.
It was Bucky's arm.
Metal, of course. She knew he bad trouble sleeping on his left side, just like she bad trouble sleeping on her right side. He was fast asleep, and he was extremely warm, making Beni not want to get up. So she didn't, despite the fact that she doesn't even remember what happened. She was still in the bed close to the window, so that meant Bucky had come in her bed. But why?
Well, she wasn't complaining.
"Before you freak out," Bucky mumbled as he started waking up. He must have done so when she tensed up. "You were having a nightmare. It stopped when I climbed in bed..."
He sort of drifted off back to sleep, and Beni was thankful that she was able to have a good friend like Bucky. So instead of getting up she snuggled in closer and fell back asleep.