CHAPTER FOURTY – Family Tradition

T'Challa's palace commanded immense views of Wakanda where impressive yet natural touches of modern architecture mixed with traditional African styles. I couldn't have dreamed such a place existed. It's beauty and strangeness distracted my thoughts, giving me a moment of peace.

Footsteps behind drew my focus, Bucky's arm snaking around me. The stubble of his unshaved jaw rasped against my shoulder, heated breath relaxing me enough to lean comfortably against him.

"You've been standing here for over an hour."

"Really?"

"Really."

His warm human fingers slipped beneath my t-shirt, discovering the healing mark that threatened to part us forever. Unknown to any of us at the time, T'Challa tracked us to the Siberian base, learning the bitter truth about his father's death. Foe turned ally; he'd used Wakandan tech to stabilize me long enough to transport to his home country where I was blessed with another chance at life.

Bitter were my thoughts in the aftermath of my waking. I'd found peace on my deathbed, finally satisfied my cursed life was ending as it should've done so many years before. Fate it seemed interfered, never content to allow me peace.

"You still thinking about Tony?"

"Not today. Maybe one day he'll forgive me, or at least not hate me for hiding the truth from him."

"Your heart was in the right place."

"No, it wasn't," I pulled away from his inviting grasp, running my hands through my hair. "My motives were selfish; I was protecting you–"

"Do you think knowing the truth would've been any easier for him?"

"We'll never know." I gave him a resigned shrug.

"Have you thought 'bout the other stuff?"

I scanned his face and curtly nodded. "Do you honestly want me to have an opinion?"

"Yeah, we're in this together, remember?"

My gaze dropped to the sleeve of his t-shirt, empty where his bionic arm once was until Tony's blasters destroyed it. The obvious mark of HYDRA was long gone, but the mental and emotional scars lingered at the forefront of both our minds. The switch had flicked effortlessly in Berlin, ten words bringing back a terrible force we barely survived.

"If anyone can fix you, it would be T'Challa's people."

"Can you wait a little while longer?"

I went to him, curling my arms around his neck as I pressed myself against him. "I'll wait another seventy years if I have too."

He smiled into my neck. "I'll be there tomorrow, that's all that matters."

"Tomorrow," I sighed. "Our family will finally be together." I planted a kiss to his cheek and hugged him tightly for as long I could.

-x-

"You don't have to rush into this, Michael."

My son pulled on a black suit jacket, shooting me a smile as afternoon sunlight streamed through the window behind him, warming the apartment. "Bit late to back out now, mom. Besides, this was Mariko's idea to get married here. She knew I couldn't go through it without you."

"How did you find such an amazing woman?"

"I don't know, but I can't imagine my life without her," he laughed, bursting with contagious happiness. "Y'know, till I met her, I never got why you hung onto Bucky. I always thought you were just holding onto a ghost, but now I know that feeling… that love, consumes every part of you till it's like you're one person. You can't see any part of your life without them in it."

"That sounds a lot like how it feels." I clutched a handful of the soft, light pink chiffon dress, drawing the hem off the ground as I walked over to my son. "You look so handsome," I fixed his tie and adjusted the flower on his lapel, sniffing softly.

"Don't start crying, mom."

"I can't help it," I murmured throwing my arms around him, squeezing him tightly until he gasped for breath. "I'm so proud of you."

"You're always on my side, no matter what."

"Always, and forever." I promised cupping his face in my hands, thumbs wiping away the stray tear rolling down his cheek.

"Shit," he blushed. "Now look what you did."

"Just wait until you see Mariko." I laughed. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah, you?"

I nodded, taking his arm as we left the room. We ran into T'Challa down the corridor, who gave us a curt nod before stepping through a curtained doorway onto a balcony. Michael reached for my hand, holding it tightly as we stepped out into the warm Wakanda sunlight. Native flowers filled the space, and a small talented Wakanda choir sung as guests from our family and Mariko's waited for the long-awaited arrival.

We stopped before the officiant and hugged again. My little boy saying goodbye before he welcomed the new path set out before him. Steve came up beside us as we parted, taking the place as Michael's best man as I went to sit beside Bucky, his hand automatically reaching for mine, tangling our fingers.

"You look stunning," Bucky murmured against my lips.

"T'Challa has some great connections."

"Yeah? Does he know how I get you out of it later?"

I choked on a laugh, "Bucky!"

He smirked placing a kiss to my cheek before settling in.

I lightly shook my head, focusing on Michael talking quietly to Steve. Nothing mattered at this point but embracing a sense of happiness I'd assumed we'd lost so long ago. Everything I wanted was within reach. Bucky was at my side, as was Steve, and my son found his own happiness away from a life I never wanted for him.

Life had a funny way of working itself out.

-x-

"You sure about this?" Steve crossed the lab as Bucky quietly sat on an examination table, Wakanda's best minds working around him and the stasis capsule he would be returning too.

"I can't trust my own mind," he managed a genuine smile, at peace with the decision to return to the one place he'd feared. "So, until they figure out how to get this stuff outta my head, I think going back under is the best thing, for everybody."

Steve stepped aside, allowing me to stand before Bucky. He took my hand and raised it to his lips, sweetly kissing my knuckles.

"Don't go worrying 'bout me."

I forced a small smile, the action painful as I'd return to our new apartment alone for the foreseeable future. I wouldn't be able to wake up to his face or bury myself in his embrace. I would only have the memory of him again.

"You'll be here when I get out?"

"Of course, unless I meet a guy who can stick around."

He laughed, "Never gonna happen, sweetheart, you know you can't resist me."

"So, you keep telling me." I wrapped my arms around his neck, resting my forehead against his. "I love you James Barnes."

"Love you too, sweetheart." He planted a lingering kiss on my lips, the urgency in our embrace unlike any of our last partings. Something about this time felt different – hopeful.

I reluctantly moved to Steve's side, vainly keeping a small smile on my face as Bucky slipped off the table and approached the stasis capsule. He stepped inside and laid back, exhaling a long breath as the door closed.

My hand caught Steve's, clinging to it as the glass froze over, sealing my love in time.


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