"Are you SURE I don't look fu-" my eyes went wide and I shot Bryn a look of utter horror, but she was happily playing on my bed and ignoring her mother and me at my vanity. "Ridiculous?" I finished with a hushed murmur as Connie held in a laugh that I hoped would crack her damn rib. How dare she saddle me with a goddaughter who not only parroted my potty mouth, but would shake down my ass for cash to fund her fucking swear jar? Little mafia princess to be, I'm telling you.

Connie was still working on my first layer, the makeup I'd managed on my own, thank you very much - but she was handling the hair. And my hair was giving her enough of a battle that she was utilizing every damn trick she'd learned in cosmetology school. "Hedy Lamarr," she muttered, eyes on my laptop where the dark haired woman's photo was blown up to show the curls that she was trying to imitate with my own lighter strands. "She wasn't ONLY a bombshell, she was a genius."

I smirked, "I know." I'd picked her from a few of the famous faces we'd set aside after Bucky and I'd spent more time together, the longer we'd talked and the more I learned about him - his hint of geekiness hidden under a huge layer of sexiness - had made Miss Lamarr the obvious choice in the end. That and her style seemed simpler. I had doubts now, as Connie was forcing my non-parted hair into a middle part and then worked my natural waves into actual curls. "Bucky," I held back a groan as she tugged at my head, "he's fascinated with -"

"You," Connie murmured, her own smirk creeping onto her face. "And he's a geek, isn't he?" She shook her head when I glanced up. "What? Hot guys are into the weirdest stuff, Brooke, they always have been." She shrugged. "Joey likes period dramas more than me and he gets more invested in them," I raised an eyebrow and she snorted. "I swear he threw popcorn at the screen and hissed during 'Pride and Prejudice' when Elizabeth was acting like she was falling for Wickham." I giggled. "He's a mess, but he's MY mess, so I put up with it."

"Back to my issue," I tried to shove the image of Joey Amoruso hissing and spitting at a movie screen with Victorian characters dancing and falling in love far out of my head so I could focus on the problem at hand. "Am I couldn't to look stupid?"

Connie stood back, taking in my hair and makeup, I was wearing my robe over the matching underwear set that I'd ordered to go under the dress that I would put on after I made sure that dinner was ready and waiting for Bucky. The nylons, with their razor sharp lines were on and perfectly straight, thanks to my best friend, hooked into a garter belt that I wasn't any more certain of than the rest of the get up that had sounded much better when I first considered the idea.

"You are going to look so many things, Brookie, but stupid is NOT one of them."

Connie and Bryn were long gone by the time Bucky called to tell me he was on his way. He'd texted during the day, while he was waiting for his appointment with Raynor, when he went in search of boxes for the move, while he contemplated if he wanted to move everything in one go or take trips - not that there was all that much, but he worried about overwhelming any driver.

By the time I knew he was on his way, I'd ordered our dinner from Romeo's. The same thing we'd had our first dinner together. I set the scene the best I could, with candles around the living room and I had my phone set up to start playing a playlist of the greatest and most romantic songs from when he left in 1943 and when he would have come back in 1945, had everything gone the way they should have.

I had a decision to make - should I wait downstairs, in the living room or should I wait out of sight upstairs and come down once he was inside? I wasn't planning on screaming "surprise" or "boo", but I did want to have the greatest impact with the least amount of damage - it took me longer than I care to admit to decide.

His knock, which I answered with a loud "come in" from upstairs, was followed by him opening the door. I listened as he had help from his driver with his boxes and bags, then once I heard him thank the man and say goodnight, I finally stepped onto the top step.

"Brooke?" He turned away from the door that he had just closed and locked and looked up, his eyes finding the toes of my heels first, then as if his gaze could scald its way up my body I felt every inch as it rose higher.

I'd contemplated, when I first thought of this asinine idea, getting a dress like what I imagined Dot had worn to Coney Island. Something simple and casual. Then, when I sat with Connie and Mertle I realized that - if I'd been with Bucky when he'd gone off to the unknowns of war and he came home to me safe and sound, I'd want his welcome to be something MORE. Which is why I chose something less casual, less simple. A little MORE than what Dot had worn to Coney when he spent all his and Steve's money trying to win her that bear.

With that in mind, I'd found a dress that was a bit more form fitting than most - black with a lacy bodice and cap sleeves. The heels were surprisingly easy to find to match the dress, rounded toes, stacked heel, lacy looking leather. Bucky's visual tour was taking forever, and I was feeling more and more self conscious the longer it took. My makeup, once he made it to my face, was the red lip that was so fashionable then and now, the dramatic eye and of course the soft curls framing it all courtesy of the great Hedy Lamarr. I swallowed as his eyes finally met mine.

"Welcome home, Bucky." If I doubted how he'd receive my gift, how he'd take seeing me cosplay his past, I soon learned that it was all for naught. He took the stairs two at a time to reach me, then his arms were wrapped around me, careful of the dress as he stared down at me. "You approve?" It came out in a rush of breath, but I wanted to be sure.

"You did all this for me?" He was staring at me like he'd never seen me before and I nodded, biting my lip without care for the crimson stain. "Why?" It wasn't a question of how dare I, but why would I think to?

"Because, Bucky Barnes, I wanted to welcome you home, finally." And that seemed to unlock something in him, his smile grew and his lips met mine and I knew that he DEFINITELY approved.

I managed to get him down to the living room, where we lit all those candles and I started the playlist and found out that James Buchanan Barnes LOVES to dance. He held me and gave me a masterclass in just how little my dad and all the boys I ever had the misfortune to take a turn around a dance floor with over the years knew about the study. And he looked at peace. He looked even happier when our food arrived from Romeo's, shaking his head when I tried to convince him that we could eat it in the living room.

"In that dress?" He pulled me into the dining room, where I'd placed more candles and after depositing the boxes with our food, he lit them and held out my chair. "You look too beautiful to sit on the floor, Brooke."

"I could always just take it off," I offered, as he shot me a look over the open box. "We don't have plates, Buck." I laughed, getting up to grab some, but he pulled me back down.

"Brooklyn born and raised," he was smirking, using my own words against me. "Did you forget how to eat a slice, already?"

I shook my head, but sat back and realized that this was our life now. Playful and silly, but also sexy and hot - wow. Watching him take a slice, folding it properly, but wait for me to take my own before he took the first bite I thought that we'd made a good choice rushing headfirst into everything.

Eating Romeo's pizza over the box by candlelight in our dining room, with the sounds of my 1940s playlist softly playing from the living room Bucky told me about his visit with Raynor.

"I told her about us," I bit my lip and his smile grew. "About moving in with you, well about our plans -" my eyebrow arched and he licked some errant grease and sauce off his lip. "What? I had to pack first, so it was still a plan - technically."

I shook my head and leaned forward. "Did you get a gold star?" This was the most important part, wasn't it? My eyes were narrowed, waiting for confirmation. "Well, Sergeant Barnes?"

"Raynor is very pleased with my progress, Miss Ashley," he told me in the most professional voice I'd ever heard him use. "She thinks that the interpersonal relationship I'm developing with you - the ease in which we seem to be able to communicate with one another and the way we both seem to fit into one another's life makes her feel that I'm making a real effort to grow as a person." His brow had grown furrowed as he continued his speech while my teeth were digging so deeply into my lip that I wondered when I'd taste blood. "The fact that you and I are even discussion cohabitation is leaps and bounds beyond what she imaged for my progress - especially since I'm not finished -"

I had to stop him, because I was going to crack a rib from the urge to laugh at his tone, or throw something from irritation at his 'doctor's'. "I think I get the gist, Buck." His eyes seemed to flash when they zeroed in on mine. "Let's put away the leftovers and -"

"And finish welcoming me home?" He bit his lip and from flashing eyes to darkening, my stomach clenched. "I think I like that plan, Brooke." And I preferred the way his voice had returned to normal, deep and - Bucky.