Bucky and I didn't have to mingle - Joey and Mike had gotten the food prepared and brought out before Kelly was shown the door - so after our plates were filled, we all gathered around the table. As a part of a HUGE Italian family, Joey and Connie's dining room table had two extra leafs that were added, they also had a couple card tables just in case our group wanted more elbow room, but we went with cozy over roomy - getting the chairs situated perfectly around the table with JUST enough room to be able to eat and chat without it getting TOO close for comfort.

"Now that we're settled -" Joey offered, looking around to make sure the plates were full enough to meet his strict standards and smiling softly when he noticed that Bryn had found a spot between Bucky and me. "Let me introduce you to this crazy crowd, Sergeant Barnes."

I smiled at the far kinder way that Joey addressed Bucky, and the more appropriate tone he used. I listened as the people who I'd known from basically birth piped in before Joey could show off what he'd learned from his rampant viewing of period dramas, and shook my head as they also offered snippets of the quiet, yet tough little girl I'd always been - something Mertle took great pride in telling him about - since Mom and Dad weren't around to do the honors.

"That sounds like Brooke alright," Bucky murmured, giving me a soft smile over Bryn's tiny head. "I've told her she reminds me a little of -"

"He tells me I remind him of his best friend," I winked at him and heard a snort come out of Mike's nose at the comparison. "My thoughts exactly."

"Our Brookie reminds you of Captain America?" Chris' grin was so wide I was hoping that he'd swallowed anything he'd taken a bite out of before Bucky offered the suggestion. I'd hate for us to have to SEE anything he missed.

"Pre-serum," Bucky clarified and that got nods and murmured agreements. My mouth dropped open and I started thanking God I'd swallowed my last bite. "Proved she's as spunky as he was too," he leaned over Bryn's tiny form to kiss my neck and I felt some of the heat go out of me over the Steve Rogers comparisons. "I love you," he wasn't loud, but the room was damn near silent so the gasp that went out when he said it made me blush and bite my lip.

"That progressed quickly," Mertle offered, and I nearly burst out laughing, but Connie shushed her and the rest of our peanut gallery.

"I guess you guys missed a few announcements," Connie picked up her glass and shook her head as her eyes met mine across the table. "Bucky and Brookie are living together."

If the room was silent before, well - it almost felt like the air got sucked out of the room with her announcement. Shit.

A "tiny get together" with my old gang had gone from strained with a chance of bloodshed to sort of pleasant getting to know one another with Bucky Barnes - one time assassin and current sort of Avenger - to THIS. Awkward family dinner where everyone was trying to figure out what to say and where to look.

And I understood, TRULY I did. I mean, for six months, after five fucking years of my being GONE, I was incommunicado. Now here I was, sort of normal and kind of sociable. I was even dating, so that's great and something to celebrate, right? But I'd gone and done a complete 180 or was it a 360? I hate math and I'm terrible at it, but whatever I'd just dropped on my nearest and dearest it was a LOT. Like more than what Bucky was willing to drop on his court ordered psychologist, so awkward was understandable and worked.

I just wished that it hadn't happened so fast. For a couple beats, Bucky was getting to know everyone as just Bucky - I mean sure, he mentioned Steve "Captain America" Rogers - but they weren't seeing the Winter Soldier. They were seeing HIM. And I thought they were seeing a guy that was sweet and fun. Joey wasn't freaking out that Bryn was sitting between him and me. Mertle wasn't losing her mind that Bryn was fascinated by his vibranium arm or that she wanted to know if he'd have a tea party with her at my house when she visited. Chris and Mike were asking him if he played softball and the girls were asking fun shit too. They were treating him like they would have treated any guy I dated ever - but then, the "I love you" with a "living together" chaser - and now we were freaks.

Or so I thought.

"Brooke!" I blinked and saw Connie glaring at me across the table. "Where did you disappear to?"

The table was empty. Bucky was being pulled into Bryn's play room as she told him that she wanted to show him her dolls so he could tell her which ones to bring to the tea party. Mertle was commandeering the troops to pack up the leftovers while Joey and the boys were doing cleanup. Had I honestly flaked and fucking imagined the entire thing?

"Did I -"

"Just zone out after everyone congratulated the two of you?" Connie was smirking at me like a cat who ate the canary, got a bowl of cream as a treat, and then shat in a new litter box in under twelve hours. "Yes, yes you did." She nodded and shook her head. "Get up and help me pull this tablecloth off so I can toss it in the washer." I sighed and stood up, helping her while I tried like hell to figure out what would possess me to completely freak out like that. "What's up?" She was carrying the lacy fabric, since I was useless and confused. "He loves you, you love him - you're both under the same roof now -"

"I have no fu-" I bit my lip and looked around for the tiny terror who I already paid, but who I knew had a short memory for pre-payment. "No clue. I swear I felt like everyone got super awkward after you told them - I FELT it."

She shook her head as she dumped the tablecloth into the washer and added the appropriate cleansers. "No one was weirded out," she shut the door and flipped the switches to get it going. "Except you, at least that's how it looked to ME." Crossing her arms over her chest she studied me. "You are ok with everything aren't you?"

"Yes," I shook my head at the very idea that I wasn't great with Bucky and me. "It's just -" It was like the nightmares. Shit. "It's hard to explain."

"Well start prepping," she warned me, "because I think Bucky is gonna want one."