Rose woke up to the smell of bacon and the warm press of lips trailing down her spine. Deeply pleased with her wake up call, the blonde gently arched her back into the sensation, a smile curling her lips as she pressed her face into her pillow. She felt the lips pressed against her back spread into an amused smile, a baritone chuckle escaping them, the vibrations spreading goosebumps up her spine.

"You awake, baby doll?" Rose grunted at Steve's question, doing her best to burrow back under the covers.

"Nope. I'm dead. Deceased. Leave me here to rot." The super soldier snorted, poking her teasingly in the side. Rose squeaked at the prod, lackadaisically flapping her arm at him in a halfhearted attempt to ward off the ticklish sensation. Rather than be put off, Steve took her defense as an invitation, poking her again.

"You're pretty wriggly for a corpse. Ticklish too…" He trailed off, the threat dangling in the air between them.

He wouldn't dare

I swear to god if he tickles us- no sex. For a week.

.We're supposed to be punishing him, not us.

.Good point. A day?

Still too long. Have you seen him? Not climbing him like a tree is, like, a crime against humanity.

At the very least it's treason.

That's right. Having sex with him is a service for my country- I'm a fucking patriot.

I'm pretty sure you're fucking a patriot.

Damn right. God bless America.

God bless dat' ass.

There's another tentative prod against her side, like the super soldier was deliberately baiting her. Unamused, Rose whipped around to scowl at him, pointedly ignoring the way that his eyes shot down to her breasts with an appreciative hum.

"Don't even think about it, Steven." The blond blinked "innocently", the effect somewhat ruined by the smirk tugging at the edges of his lips.

"Think about what? How beautiful you are? How smart? How much I love you?" Rose reluctantly blushed, pink spreading across her cheeks and down her chest, the beginnings of a smile curling the corners of her mouth at her lover's effusive compliments. Unwilling to be fooled, the blonde crossed her arms over her chest (covering her breasts- much to Steve's internal disappointment), squinting her eyes in what she thought to be a disapproving manner.

"You know what, you big-little shit." A mischievous grin spread across the much larger man's face, sky colored eyes shining merrily down at her. Steve hummed contemplatively, idly scanning her sprawled form while his hands flexed teasingly at his sides.

"Oh? Do I now?" He popped his lips, eyebrows waggling ridiculously down at her. "Did you mean….this?!" He lunged forward at the last word, hands brushing down her sides and the crook of her neck as he began to tickle her mercilessly. Rose shrieked in response, wiggling like a beached fish as she struggled to escape the playful onslaught. Breathless laughter and the occasional snort escaped her lips, the sounds echoed closely by Steve's own laughter as he continued to maul her. Desperate to escape before she accidentally pissed herself, Rose did her best to scuttle away from him, nearly smacking her boyfriend in the face in her mad dash for freedom. Undeterred by her flailing, Steve doggedly crawled after her, savoring the sound of her laughter and the levity that the morning had brought.

Rose is only spared from wetting herself when she goes tumbling off the side of the bed, dragging her sheets and pillow with her.

She's saved from any embarrassment when Steve promptly follows her off the edge, turning at the last second so he didn't accidentally crush the much smaller woman. There's a small, breathless moment where they just stare at one another, shocked by the sudden dive off of the mattress. The moment is broken when Rose lets out a loud snort, Steve's flabbergasted expression and the absolute mess of his hair sending her into a giggle fit. The blond quickly joins her, eyes shut and faced pressed into the crook of her neck. The feel of his warm breath on her skin sends an unintentional shiver down her spine, gooseflesh appearing in its wake. Distracted by the sensation, Rose manages to stop laughing first, the noise gradually petering out as she leans back, eager to take in her love's face.

The sight leaves her breathless again, heart thudding erratically as it struggled under the sheer weight of her emotions.

He just looked so happy.

Morning light, soft and golden, shone brightly behind his back, casting him in sort of halo as he bent over her. His hair was an untamed mass, some of it standing at attention while others fell messily around his face. The beginnings of a beard framed the massive grin on his face, sky colored eyes crinkling as he regarded her with an almost aching tenderness. The urge to touch him overcomes her, one of her hands unconsciously coming up to cup his stubbled cheek, fingers idly scratching at the short hairs as she does her best to absorb the expression on his face. Steve relaxes into the gentle touch, eyes going impossibly softer as he observed her enraptured expression.

"You okay, angel?" Rose hummed, periwinkle blue eyes sparkling as she gave him a sappy grin.

"You're beautiful- you know that, right?" The grin on his face widened, the beginnings of a blush appearing at his love's rhetorical question.

"I'm pretty sure that's my line, Rosie." He pressed a kiss into the palm of her hand, smile taking on a heated age as he leered down at her. "You tryin' to get me into bed, sweetheart? We won't have to go very far." As tempted as she was, the blonde had to firmly remind herself that he was being a troll and trolls didn't get rewarded with "snu-snu".

So she wacked him in the face with her pillow.

If asked, Steve would deny the yelp that came out of his mouth till his dying day. Did he sound like someone had accidentally kicked a Chihuahua? No sir. Not him. It was a grunt.

Rose is only saved from her own pillow to the face by Bucky appearing in the bedroom doorway. The brunet leaned up against the doorframe, arms crossed over his chest as he eyed the pile of blondes sprawled out on the floor. Bucky attempted to set his face into a stern expression, but found his attempts at intimidation ruined by a couple of things. The first was the smile unwillingly tugging at the edges of his lips, silver eyes crinkling as he took in the joy on his love's faces.

The second issue was what he was wearing.

Rose wasn't sure if he'd just been too lazy to find his own hair tie, or if he couldn't find one in the mess of his hair care products, but he had managed to unearth the ugliest scrunchie that Rose owned. The thing had been a gag gift from Darcy when she was helping her to figure out her hair. It was a truly atrocious neon pink with rainbow colored stars sprinkled all over it, all on a god-awful corduroy fabric. The blonde was pretty sure that it was one of the evils unleashed from Pandora's Box or at the very least a crime against nature. When she'd asked the social media expert why she'd gotten her it, Darcy had just made an odd clicking noise and told her to get her "VSCO" on.

Rose wasn't sure what a "VSCO girl" was and she was a little too terrified to find out.

Bucky had used her sin bin scrunchie and placed his hair in a messy bun on the very top of his head. It was like he had a hairy cupcake perched on his scalp.

It was made even more monstrous by his apron and slippers. The apron was just as pink as the scrunchie on his head, proudly proclaiming "kiss the cook" in sparkly golden letters. It was contrasted by his signature old man slippers, a muted dark blue that looked like it had probably been knitted by hand. It was so jarringly different that Rose had a moment where she could have sworn she was still dreaming- only she couldn't recall her dreams ever being quite this ridiculous.

The third, and most pressing issue, was what he wasn't wearing.

More specifically, the former assassin was fucking naked.

Rose was pretty sure that her libido had never been more confused than it was right now. One the one hand, he was naked. Naked Bucky was a good thing. No- it was a fantastic thing. Naked Bucky was one of the Seven Wonders of the World, closely tied with Naked Steve. Naked Bucky usually meant that Rose was about to be at least partially naked and probably completely incoherent. Naked Bucky was a good thing.

On the other hand he kind of looked like a Ken doll that had been dressed up by a particularly distracted toddler.

Rose could honestly say that she'd never been more in love with him.

Steve hadn't stopped laughing long enough to form an opinion- at least not one beyond his thought that the man hadn't looked this ridiculous since he'd been forced to wear his mother's dressing gown in 38'. He hadn't had an eidetic memory then, but he was pretty positive that God himself could not pry that particular memory from his head. His only regret is that he was color blind at the time.

The idle image of the dressing gown being as pink as the scrunchie reduces him to laugh-filled tears.

Bucky pouts down at the two crying blondes, doing his best to puff up intimidatingly- which, for anyone else, would have probably made them wet themselves. As it is, his loves just laugh even harder, both inwardly comparing him to a very offended cat. The brunet sniffed down at them, absently reaching up to tighten the pink monstrosity holding his hair up.

"I see how it is. I make you ungrateful brats breakfast and you repay me by laughing at me." He put on his best "wounded" expression, batting his eyes coquettishly. "I even made you bacon." Steve, forever ruled by his metabolism, perked up immediately, falling all over himself to "apologize" to the other man.

Rose had other concerns.

The blonde frowned, eyes shooting between the apron and the large expanses of bare skin as she processed what her dark haired boyfriend had said.

He can't be that stupid, can he?

Of course not. He's a master marksman and assassin. We've watched him solve complex mathematical equations in half a second.

"Did you fry bacon…while naked?" Bucky blinked down at her, scrunching his nose at her perplexed tone.

"Yes?" He frowned, even more confused by the growing shock on her face. "What's wrong? You love bacon."

Apparently he is that stupid.

I thought life threatening idiocy was my job?

"Are you trying to burn your nipples? Because that's how you burn your nipples." Rather than look chastened, Bucky just winked at her, waggling his eyebrows "enticingly".

"You gonna kiss em' better, baby doll?" He winced theatrically, cupping his nearly bare chest and backpedaling out of the door. Reluctantly amused, Rose draped her blanket over herself like an aged queen, following her two laughing idiots out into the kitchen.

He's lucky that apron covered his balls, or his nipples would have been the least of his worries.

She must have said that last bit aloud because Steve (who'd managed to find a pair of boxers) promptly fell off of the stool he was perched on, laughing so hard that sound ceased to escape his mouth. Bucky gave her a fake shocked look, dramatically swooning as he made her a plate.

"Well, I never. That was downright crude, sweetheart." Rose blew a raspberry at him in response, nudging the slowly recovering Steve with her toes as she sat on one of the kitchen stools. The brunet plopped a massive plate down in front of her with a wink, a dimple appearing in his cheeks as he smirked down at her, silver eyes sparkling playfully. Feeling uncharacteristically bold, Rose winked back at him, taking a teasing bite out of one of the dangerous slices of bacon as she replied.

"I definitely would not have kissed those better." Steve, who'd only just managed to stand, promptly tipped over again, this time taking the stool out with him. Bucky nearly joined him, metal hand clamping onto the countertop as he bent over, pink scrunchie shaking in time with his loud laughter. Terribly pleased with herself, Rose sat back on her stool and took a satisfied bite out of her bacon.

I'm hilarious.

Looks don't count.

.Am I going to have to fight you?

I'm you, you fucking walnut.

Much later, after her boys had managed to compose themselves, Rose posed a question that had been bothering her.

"So, what's with the big breakfast?" She hummed, taking a greedy bite of yet another pancake. It was like the man had raided an IHOP. "Not that I'm complaining- I just thought for sure that you'd want to sleep in." Bucky huffed, taking a bit of his own breakfast before waving his fork in her direction.

"First of all, baby doll, this isn't a big breakfast- it's just actual breakfast." Both blondes opened their mouths to argue, but were promptly cut off by the brunet's irritated glower. "Protein shakes and Banner's meal bars don't count." He shifted his glower to the petite woman, eyes scanning her sheet clad form with barely concealed aggravation. "That goes especially for you, baby doll. A little iron-clad birdie told me that you haven't been eating well while we were gone." Rose shifted guiltily, shoveling more food into her face in an attempt to appease "Mama Barnes". If Tony had noticed that she wasn't eating enough, she definitely needed to get her shit together.

She wouldn't put it past Bucky to sit on her and force food down her throat.

Satisfied that the petite woman was eating, Bucky continued his explanation.

"Secondly, you and Stevie have a busy day planned." He winked, the scowl disappearing as he gave her a teasing smirk, dimples out in full. "Figured I should feed you properly so you have your strength." Rose frowned, glancing between her boyfriends in confusion.

"Planned? What did you have planned?" Her frowned deepened, the rest of his sentence finally computing with her. "And, more importantly, you aren't coming too?" She could feel herself pouting, periwinkle blue eyes widening as she shot her dark haired lover a wounded look. "You just got back." Saving his boyfriend from the full weight of her puppy dog eyes, Steve tilted her chin back to face him, pressing a gentle kiss on the tip of her nose before he attempted to smooth the frown from her brow.

"I am going to take you on a date, angel. You haven't been out of the Compound in weeks." When it looked like the blonde was gearing up to argue with him, Steve kissed her again, this time pressing something teasing against the seam of her lips. "Bucky has some errands he has to do." He shifted, running his nose along her jaw until he reached the crease of her neck, setting another teasing kiss just behind her ear. She shuddered at the sensation, a jolt shooting from the warm press of his lips and passing along her nerve endings in a buzzing rush, leaving goose bumps in its wake. She could feel herself unconsciously leaning into him, distantly aware of Bucky using her distraction to make his getaway as Steve nuzzled into her neck.

"He has to go and get ready for tonight." He pressed another kiss into the soft skin of her neck, savoring the little noise she made before he reluctantly pulled back, silently willing his dick to calm the fuck down as he whispered his next words teasingly into her mouth. "I get you all to myself, baby doll." He finally pulled all the way back, a small smirk teasing the edge of his lips at the bright pink flush spread over Rose's cheeks and chest. "Better get ready to go, Rosie. We've got a long day ahead of us."

-_-_-_-Page-Break-_-_-_-

1 Hour Later

Rose glanced between Steve and the glass doors of the hospital, anxiety forming a cold ball in the pit of her stomach. When he'd said that she had a "long day" ahead of them, she'd kind of thought that it would be the "sweaty, sexy, fun" kind.

Visiting the Children's Hospital was not "sweaty, sexy, fun"- in fact, Rose could honestly say that she was terrified. She hadn't been to the hospital in weeks- not since she'd been chewed on by the ocean. Being terrified of small, sick children was not one of her Top Ten Best Moments, but she found herself scared nonetheless. She wasn't scared of physical harm or catching something- no, her terror was based in something even more heart wrenching.

What if they didn't recognize her?

It was stupid of her, of course. It was entirely likely that the children would have zero idea who she was. She did look like almost a completely different person. However, she found herself dreading the thought regardless.

She loved those kids.

They had never cared about her looks- never so much as gave her a second glance. To them, she had just been fun. They'd flocked to her stories and laughed at her jokes and just accepted her. They'd only ever judged her on the content of her character and, as immature as it was, they were her friends. Even when she'd had nothing and no one, she'd had story time with her kids. Their smiling faces had been a raft she'd clung to when the loneliness of her existence threatened to drown her, something for her to look forward to in a life that was defined by the days she was sick and the days she could function.

She didn't want to lose the old magic of her life to the new.

Sensing her dread, Steve gave her a soft look, gently nudging the blonde towards the play room doors.

"You gotta' go in at some point, Rosie. Your audience is waiting." When she just shot him a wide eyed glance, Steve frowned, reaching forward to grasp her trembling hand before giving it a tender squeeze. "You can do this, baby doll. You just gotta' make the leap." Rose let out a shaky sigh, desperately blinking back anxious tears as she squeezed his hand in return.

"What if they don't recognize me, Steve? I love these kids, Stevie- they never judged me, never looked at me and saw everything wrong with me. They just- they just saw me. My looks were never an issue for them and I just-just can't stand the thought that now they might be." She slumped into his shoulder, angrily wiping at her eyes. "They were the best part of my life….I don't want to start over- not with them." Steve hummed, reaching up with his free hand to wipe the tears from her cheeks.

He knew that, while she was worried that the kid's wouldn't recognize her, that wasn't the real issue.

The real issue was, if they did recognize her, would their feelings about her change?

His girl had spent the last week losing relationships over her changed appearance. Admittedly, they weren't particularly strong relationships (mostly work friends), but they were still relationships. She'd built up a world in her head and watched it come crumbling down as people revealed who they really were to her- both to her face and behind her back. Each had left a tiny wound in their wake, little paper cuts that were nearly invisible but for the sting they left behind.

He knew because he'd been there. He'd watched the people around him change, falling all over themselves to either find fault or favor with him, never realizing or caring that the only thing that had changed about him was his meat. It had taken time, but he'd managed to heal the wounds they'd left with the love of the people who mattered.

She had support from her friends and her loves, but these kids were her foundation- and she was scared of losing them.

Steve wasn't though.

"Did you know that this is where I first realized I loved you?" Rose shot him a shocked look, anxiety lessening as something soft appeared on her face. Steve gave her an equally soft look, sky colored eyes slightly glazed as he recalled the moment, heart throbbing in that beautiful, terrible way. "It was the first time we came here. You were telling the kids your story- acting out the action bits- and you just tipped over." He snorted, lips curling with remembered amusement. "The kids lost it. I don't think I've ever heard kids laugh so hard, baby doll. And you…" He trailed off, awe tinging his voice as he made eye contact with Rose. The blonde inhaled, the intensity of his gaze stealing her breath as he continued. "You just lit up. It was like lookin' into the sun. I've never seen anyone look as beautiful as you did then, Rosie. You know what's really amazin', sweet heart?" Rose shook her head, enraptured by his story and the gentle wonder on his face. "What's really amazing is that I wasn't the only one. Those kids might not love you exactly like I do, but they do love you. It doesn't matter what you look like." He sighed, pressing a soft kiss into the crown of her head before gently nudging her back towards the door. "You are good enough- magic or no magic. They might not recognize you at first, but, Rosie? You never forget the sun."

She finally forces herself through the door.

Turns out? She didn't have to worry at all.

Annie, her nosiest and most attentive "knight", perked up immediately, scanning Rose from head to toe with an inscrutable look. She ignored the buzzing of the other kids, focusing on the blonde with a disconcerting amount of intensity for a nearly bald six year old. She only stops her thorough assessment when she finally makes eye contact with Rose, dark eyes widening with shock and delight as she did her best to scramble away from the coloring table.

"Princess Rose! Is that you?" She tugged at her jeans, eyes wide and inquisitive as she took in the changes Rose had gone through. "What happened? Was it magic?" She gasped, eyes shooting wide, her tugging becoming more insistent as her excitement built. "Did you do it? Did you beat Can'Seer?"

It took everything she had to swallow the lump in her throat.

She'd been so caught up in all of the jarring changes to her body, that she'd forgotten the most breathtaking part of it.

She'd won.

She'd finally beaten her demon.

There would be no more fear of relapse or resurgence, no more chemo or radiation, no more pain.

Her gratitude and her agony meshed in a terrible symphony, heart throbbing at the crescendo as she took in the fragile hope on Annie's face. She had beaten her demon- magic had set her free.

She only wished that she could do the same for her.

Swallowing down her grief, Rose gave her a beaming smile, trying to infuse the love she felt into the curve of her lips and the soft tilt of her eyes.

"It's me." There was an excited gasp at the sound of her voice, more children honing in on her at the familiar tone. Rose knelt until she was eye level with Annie, tenderly squeezing her hand as the smile on her face widened. "And I did do it. I finally beat him." The forced smile on her face became a little more real at the girl's excited squeal, periwinkle blue eyes sparkling as she turned to face Steve, mouthing a small "thank you" to the beaming man. Heart heavy and golden, she turned back to Annie's ecstatic face and said the words that the pale girl had been waiting for.

"It's Storytime."

-_-_-_-Page-Break-_-_-_-

Rose fully expected to go home back to Steve and Bucky's apartment after they went to the Children's Hospital. Truthfully, she probably would have been perfectly content to spend the rest of the day cocooned in the large blonde man's arms.

Steve, it seemed, had other ideas.

Namely, he decided to take her to a cat café.

Rose learned a number of things in the café. The first, is that she still couldn't stand tea. No matter the flavor or the amount of sugar, she just couldn't do it. The second was that she equally had zero tolerance for coffee- a fact that would more than likely result in Darcy disowning her, or at the very least enacting her very own Telenovela about Rose's perceived betrayal.

The final, and most important fact, was that cats really liked Rose- which wasn't too surprising when she thought about it, given her "divine" nature. She was supposed to be the embodiment of love and beauty, something that cats also believed themselves to be the embodiment of (and rightfully so). She'd barely sat down when she was positively swarmed by the fluffy bastards, all of them meowing plaintively while trying to find real-estate somewhere on her body, some even going so far as to attempt to nest on the top of her head. She'd struggled for all of ten seconds under the furry onslaught, attempting to move cats and shoo the hoard to other parts of the shop, but found her attempts to be in vain. She eventually gave up sitting altogether, slumping onto the floor and just letting the cats spread out over her defeated form.

Steve had been supremely unhelpful.

He'd just watched her succumb to her fluffy tomb with a shit-eating grin on his face, a very fat, six-toed cat sprawled across his lap as he did his best to video tape the cat avalanche.

Her flipping him off while an entire litter of kittens spread out over her face very quickly became his new wallpaper.

-_-_-_-Page-Break-_-_-_-

When they did finally make it back home to the apartment, Rose's only thought had been to get in the shower and attempt to wash some of the cat hair out of her hair.

Steve and Bucky, again, had other plans.

She'd barely got through the door when Bucky was on her, pressing a searing kiss against her lips as he pushed her back into Steve's chest, effectively trapping her between the two men. Light and electricity filled up her veins, sizzling under her skin and setting her nerves on fire in the most decadent way. She melted in between them, hands flailing as she struggled with who she wanted to grab at more, finally settling on weakly grasping at the both of them.

After a long moment, Bucky finally pulled back, silver eyes nearly black as he took in the flush on her cheeks and the heaving of her breasts as she struggled for air. A small, please smile curled the edge of his lips, the dimple in his cheeks and chin deepening as he inhaled the faint, peachy smell of her, the faintest flash of his tongue appearing as he savored the taste she'd left on his lips.

"Baby doll…" He purred, hand running the length of her waist, fingers gently teasing her as he continued. "I think it's about time that we finally knocked something off of that list a yours." Smile taking on a wicked edge, he gave Steve a dirty wink, pressing forward so that the petite woman was more firmly wedged between them. "What do you think, sweetheart? You ready to get 25 off of that list?" Rose shuddered, eyes widening as she nodded enthusiastically. The brunet grinned at her enthusiasm, teeth tugging at his lower lip as he absorbed the hungry expression on the petite woman's face.

"It's gonna be a long, long night, baby doll…."

-_-_-_-Page-Break-_-_-_-

It was, in fact, a long, long, night- and Rose was supremely happy about it. She's pretty sure she saw God at one point and the bitch gave her a high five.

Darcy always joked about her being the filling to a "Super Soldier sandwich".

The reality was so much better….