We stayed in Delacroix for about a week.

A week of Bucky and Sam working together on the boat, and learning to coexist as a team. A week of Bucky tormenting Sam by flirting with Sarah while I wandered the town, finding inspiration in the least likely places and surprising all three of them when I would meet back up with them at the end of the day on the docks, cutting off Sam's tattling with at least one shot on my viewer.

And a week of nights where we barely made it inside the hotel, the door closing behind us, but barely clicking shut before we were reaching for one another, hungry for the taste of touch of one another. Bucky learned how fast I could rid him of his clothing and he found out that he didn't have to be so careful with me, that I wasn't made of glass and that I wasn't nearly as worried about the state of my clothing as I was about the wait keeping us apart. Once he was confident that I wouldn't be upset by a missing button, or a minor bruise or bite, not much held us back.

Suddenly the door was just as perfect to press me against as the mattress, once we were completely bare, and as long as he braced himself with his RIGHT arm and not his left we wouldn't end up having to buy the hotel a new door or wall.

I wasn't surprised, after all the work that Sam and Bucky put into the Wilson family boat, that Sarah wasn't as hyped up to sell it. But I was happy to hear that we were ready to head back home to Brooklyn - even if Sam tried to talk us into relocating.

"The people in this town are the most welcoming people in the world. They don't care if you wear small T-shirts or if you have six toes, or if your mom's your aunt." I was staring at Sam like 'one of those things is not like the others', but he was looking at Bucky.

"Yeah, I think we'll be fine in New York," Bucky promised, shaking his head. I left them to have a few guy moments, taking my camera off to snap a few more shots before we headed to the airport. Sarah walked along with me.

"I'll send you a copy of that print," I promised, sure that she wanted to remind me, but she just shook her head with a smile.

"I know you will," she glanced over her shoulder at her brother and Bucky. "He loves you, you know that, right?"

I bit my lip, we hadn't actually SAID the words, yet. "I - we haven't -" I was stumbling and I knew it. "It's still early."

"He's old-fashioned, no matter how he plays with Sam," Sarah shook her head as they were awkwardly hugging or shaking hands? "He's completely in love with you, Brooke. I think you feel the same way about him -"

I nodded, I did. Bucky Barnes had blindsided me, but he did me in. "Yeah, I do." And I had a couple surprises in Brooklyn waiting for him. One just for him, and a car that I really hoped he could get me used to, and a house that I hoped he could help me make more homey now that Mom and Dad were gone.

"You ready?" Bucky asked when I came back to say goodbye to Sam. I smiled and nodded. "Let's go home."

"Can I say goodbye first?" Sam sighed and rolled his eyes. "Come here," he pulled me into a hug and I laughed. "Just remember, if you ever get tired of his old, tired ass -"

"You'll be the FIRST guy I call," I promised, pulling back, and grinning as Bucky's arms wrapped around my waist from behind to pull me into his chest. "I have to say, Sam, it's a LONG shot."

"Really long," Bucky added, propping his chin on my head. "Like so long you can't see it from here." I shook my head. "Bye, Sam."

"Bye, Sam." I echoed, and let him lead me to the rental car. He held the door for me and I was still smiling when he joined me inside. "You're incorrigible, James Buchanan Barnes."

He was grinning as he pulled down the driveway and toward the airport. "Yeah, but we're going home, Brooke, so pretty soon I'll just be yours."

"I like the sound of that." I settled back in my seat and bit my lip, thinking that we couldn't get back to New York fast enough.

By some miracle, and yes I'll call it a fucking miracle, our flight wasn't delayed and didn't run into any disruptions. Bucky didn't set off any of the metal detectors either, which he rolled his eyes at me over - reminding me that vibranium was a metal above all metals - before yanking me closer and nuzzling my neck.

"Keep that up and I'll be tempted to join the Mile High Club," he raised his eyebrow and I laughed. "Don't you dare pretend you don't know what that is."

"I was under ice and had my brain blended half the time, Brooke," he reminded me as we were boarding our plane. "I didn't get Winter Soldier Fleet Week so I could be as innocent as a lamb, for all you know." I stared at him as we settled into our seats, waiting for the punchline, but he stayed as meek as a babe.

"Uh huh." I wasn't buying it anymore than I'd buy the Brooklyn Bridge from a nice man with a deed. "I'm sure you don't know anything about the Mile High Club or threesomes or -" I racked my brain for something else that might have passed him by, but he'd twitched at the mention of threesomes. "Bucky Barnes, have you had a threesome?"

He was reaching into the pocket in front of his seat and pulling the in flight magazine free to study it as if it held all the secrets to the universe. Oh my God. My mouth dropped open. Well, so much for no Winter Soldier Fleet Weeks. I sat back, wondering when and with who -

I was quiet through the safety instructions. I barely noticed when they came by with drink service. Finally Bucky broke the silence, "Before I shipped out, in 1943." I turned to stare at him. Wondering if he was reminiscing or if he was answering the threesome question? "Steve - I thought we could do a double date, but he ran off to try to enlist, again." I nodded, that was something that was mentioned in the museum. Steve Rogers wanted to go to war, so he tried to enlist at like every damn site he came across. "I ended up with both of our dates, and they wanted to see me off -" he bit his lip and looked into my face, and I wasn't sure what expression it was making, but he kept going. "It was an experience."

I considered what he was saying. A double date with his best friend who ended up going to an enlistment place instead, and the two girls looked at Bucky and went "we gotta send him off with a BANG". OK. Hm.

"Brooke?" I looked up to see him still studying me and I nodded. "You ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." He smiled, clearly happy that I wasn't going to lose my mind or something. "I'm REALLY glad you got that out of your system back in the 40s though." His brow furrowed, confused. "I DON'T share, Bucky Barnes, so don't think of bringing along someone for a send off and think that I'll just go along for the ride."

His eyes went wide and the flight attendant came by at that moment. I told her I'd love a bottle of water, but Bucky seemed to have lost his ability to speak, so I asked for one for him as well. She handed both to me, and after she moved to the next row, Bucky finally seemed to find his tongue. "I wouldn't -" he shook his head. "No, Brooke, just -" I touched his face and he focused on me.

"I just wanted to make sure you understood, Bucky." His eyes cleared and he nodded. "We're good." My thumbs were tracing his lower lip and I REALLY wanted to take him into the far too small airplane bathroom and have my way with him, but that was a very bad idea. "I love you." Shit, that wasn't supposed to happen here.

His lips started to curl up. "I love you, too." I shook my head, but he was already leaning over to kiss me, a light one because even we knew it wasn't a good idea to get started in the middle of an airplane.