Savage

by awalkerlifeforme

She was everything people feared. She wanted to defend the world but also wanted revenge on those who wrecked hers. The ones who forced her to leave Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes. Now she's back and while Steve attempts to get back the woman he's always considered his sister, Bucky hopes to thaw the ice that has formed around her heart. A heart that he had always believed was his.

44. Chapter 42

It was slightly difficult to find a reason to keep working for the S.S.R. in the months that followed my birthday and my visit to the site of my future home with Bucky. The good news was that I had enjoyed a somewhat quiet life since. Although that did mean that I had gotten stuck spending a lot of time working the wedding around our jobs and setting things for it up. It was difficult to do when I was technically a criminal and we were thousands of miles away from where the wedding would be taking place.

Much to the amusement of my friends, I had been almost solely relying on Peggy and Bucky to tell me what was going on with the wedding planning. Peggy spent a lot of her time teasing me over my complete lack of knowledge as to how to plan a wedding. Because I knew almost nothing. I didn't even know what time of day it would be or what we would all be eating. I had been forced to ask Peggy to promise that she would help keep Bucky's siblings in the loop as to how things would be happening in the days leading up to the wedding.

It certainly wasn't an easy one. This wasn't really like we could just show up and throw some huge extravagant party. We couldn't let anyone even know that we would be back in New York. That would send Roosevelt and his cronies down on Chester's farm within the hour. The last thing we needed was to have our long-delayed wedding interrupted. Plus, there was the fact that I was trying to keep Bucky's family as far separated from the true reality of our lives as I possibly could. We both wanted them to think that this was a fairy tale.

Besides that, Peggy and I had gotten into a rather comical argument the other day over the realization that I didn't know any of the little details over or wedding. Not that I knew any of the bigger details either. I didn't know what time of day the wedding was taking place, where we would be staying afterward and for how long, and how I was planning on getting us all safely to New York. Those would all be problems for another day. Right now my only concern was reassuring Peggy and the others that I was the only one they wanted to hurt.

Things at the base had been in full swing as the wedding fast approached. It certainly wasn't easy to try and figure out all of the little details while we were also trying to figure out the attack on Zola's train - for which we still didn't have a date. I had spent the prior week hiding out in New York with Bucky as we prepared the farmhouse for the wedding. We had strung up lights and set out the tables and prepared the house for guests. As Bucky had hidden things from any potentially prying eyes, I'd made him close his as I'd brought up the suits and wedding dress.

In the meantime, we had continued to try and hunt for Zola. We were hoping that there was a slight chance we could manage to catch him before he made it onto the train, which would be our last chance to try and catch him. But that was a very slight chance. Our better lead was the location we could intercept him on the train. We were going to just have to grow up and get over it and do it the old-fashioned way. Once we had captured him, it would only be so long before we could finally get our hands on the Red Skull.

I had been working the hardest to find them, desperately trying to penetrate Zola's adamantium plate and read his mind. But I couldn't. I had even asked Logan for his opinion on it. He admitted that the metal would likely be impossible to break through. I had also debated on just prowling the earth to find him and rip it out myself. But I knew that I would kill him if I did that and then there would be no chance to access the Red Skull's location. If I wanted to get to him, I would have to do it by hand and without mutations.

That didn't mean that I wasn't still thinking about it. "But what if I burned it while I pulled it off? Do you think it could stop the internal bleeding before he dies?" I asked Bucky.

We had been silent for so long that I had a feeling that Bucky might have thought that I was asleep. He slowly leaned up off of the pillows to stare down at me. I turned my head back to meet his eyes. We were laying in bed together as we so regularly did. The only difference now was that it was the middle of the night. His fingers traced slowly over my bare thighs but they had stilled the moment that I'd mentioned melting off Zola's adamantium plate. He looked shocked at my statement. I shrugged gently as I leaned back against him.

"Are you kidding?" Bucky asked.

"No?" I said dumbly.

The tiniest grin turned up on Bucky's mouth. "Is there perhaps a better time to talk about that?"

He never had liked my gruesome or cruel comments. "What?" I asked playfully, rolling onto my stomach and resting on his knees. He watched as I ran my index finger slowly up his thigh. "You don't like my kind of pillow talk?"

He trembled gently under my touch as he laughed at me. "I've gotten used to it," he admitted. I smiled as I leaned back down and rested against his body. His hand rested on the shallow of my back. "Is something wrong?"

"Why would you think something's wrong?" I asked curiously.

I'd thought that I'd been doing better with not looking so depressed all the time. "Not wrong, necessarily. You just look happy," Bucky said. I raised a brow. What was that supposed to mean? "It's a good look, just not one that I'm used to seeing."

"Get used to it, soldier," I told him.

Bucky smiled gently as he pressed a kiss into my hair. "Jess called me yesterday."

"Yeah? What'd she say?"

They had been talking a lot since she had called to apologize. I knew that he was happy to have his brother and sisters back in his life. "She wanted to know if we would stay for a few days after the wedding. Get a chance to talk to each other," Bucky explained.

"That sounds nice. Is that what you want?" I asked.

Bucky nodded slowly. "I wouldn't mind getting to see my siblings for more than a few hours. I could finally get to see my niece."

My heart sank into my stomach. He had tried to disguise it but I'd heard that brief longing in his voice. "You really want one," I commented, rolling away from him.

"It's all I've grown up knowing," Bucky said. I felt him shrug underneath me. "Get a job, support my wife, and have a family that she'll mostly raise." I scowled at the thought. "My parents worked that way. So do my siblings."

"And you?"

Bucky hummed quietly. "I think you'd sooner chuck me through a brick wall than let me support you," Bucky said. I barked out a slight laugh as I rolled over to face him again. His face fell slightly. "I don't know how much I want one. Some days I do and other days I could go either way. What I do know is that I don't want to have one unless I know that I could be completely involved. I want to know for sure that I want one."

Very slowly I started nodding at him. "Yeah. I get that."

"We're young, Vika," Bucky said, taking my hand. "We've got time."

"We have time," I repeated. Speaking of time, it was only so long that we got to act like children. And right now I had a perfect idea to reflect on those childish nights we'd had together all those years ago. "Hey. Come with me."

"Where?" Bucky asked.

"Don't ask questions. Get your ass up," I snapped.

He watched and laughed at me like I had lost my mind. I sprang up from the bed, catapulting myself to the stone floor, ignoring the fact that I was flaunting basically everything. Bucky started laughing madly as I raised a hand and brought up a gust of wind to bring me my silk robe. I slipped it over my shoulder without anything else. In the meantime, I tossed Bucky his velour robe. He looked shocked at my actions as I turned to the door. Bucky finally moved to catch my arm and tug me back against him. But I wrapped a hand around his wrist and pulled him with me.

Even with minimal effort, it was easy to pull him toward the door. He laughed as he slipped on his robe and I popped the door open. "What are you doing?" Bucky asked, trying to pull me back into the room.

I finally released his arm and turned back to smile at him. "Come on, you big baby. Where's your sense of adventure?" I whispered, backing out into the hall.

"Vika!" Bucky hissed after me. "Get changed, at least."

"Fine. Stay here," I said.

"Vika!"

"Bye, Buck," I teased.

One way or another, I knew that he was going to come running after me. He wouldn't dare let me go waltzing throughout the base without knowing what I was planning. Bucky eventually gave in and ran after me, grabbing me around the waist and swinging us into the wall. We both giggled madly as I took his hand and dragged him through the halls, hoping we wouldn't wake anyone up. The two of us wandered through the halls to the other side of the base until I finally found where I was looking for. A massive set of metal double-doors that I pushed open.

On the other side of those double doors was exactly what I had been looking for. It was the kitchen. I had never been in the kitchen before but Howard had mentioned it to me on more than one occasion. He had told me that he sometimes wandered in during the middle of the night when he was up late working in the labs. Evidentially they had the best food right in the middle of the night when we could get first dibs on whatever they had stocked up. I figured if Howard had broken in here a few times it could now be our turn.

Bucky blew out a puff of breath as he followed me into the kitchen. "We've lived here for over a year and I never had any idea that this was where the kitchen was," he commented.

"I didn't either. Howard told me."

"Now that we're here… what was it that you wanted?"

Most of my life, I hadn't been much of an eater. But there was one thing that I had a weakness for. "Howard mentioned that this is the only place they have ice cream on the base," I told him.

Bucky's head snapped around. "We have ice cream here?"

"Exactly!" I chirped.

We both laughed again as I wandered through the tables and prep areas, most of which had all sorts of machines and foods that I would have never been able to name. Eventually, at the back of the kitchen, was a human-sized walk-in refrigerator. I smiled back at Bucky. That had to be where they kept it. I wandered into the refrigerator and looked around. There were lots of meats and frozen fruits and vegetables but not what I was looking for. Then I found it. Tubs of massive ice cream in the back of the refrigerator.

Bucky's laughter echoed through the kitchen as I reached over and stole two giant tubs of the ice cream from the back. Chocolate and rocky road. Two of the best flavors out there. Bucky grabbed the rocky road from me as we walked back toward the tables at the corner. We both plopped into the stools and opened the ice cream containers, instantly diving into the desert, laughing like idiots the entire time we ate - which likely could have been hours but Bucky wouldn't let me take the vanilla and strawberry containers out too.

We ended up mixing the flavors and making quite the mess as we did. Neither one of us had ever been known for exactly being very neat. Since the two of us had gotten engaged, our room had looked like a tornado had stormed through it. It didn't take me long to gather a spoonful of ice cream and smash it into Bucky's face. We both laughed again as he grabbed my chin and pulled me into a kiss, getting it onto my face too. His hands came up into my hair, probably mixing some ice cream into the white strands.

"Not bad," I said as we pulled apart and I wiped the ice cream off of the corner of my mouth.

Bucky huffed. "I think I'm a little better than -"

"The ice cream, dummy," I interrupted. Bucky flushed slightly and laughed as I leaned toward him on my elbows. "As for the other part -"

"Don't finish that sentence, please," Chester's voice interrupted.

So, we weren't the only ones who wanted a midnight snack. Bucky jumped away from me and about a foot into the air. I turned back and smiled at Chester. "Hey, old man," I greeted.

"It's the middle of the night," Chester snapped.

"That's not how you respond to a greeting," I answered, taking another mouthful.

Chester scowled at me for a moment before his head finally turned down to rest on what we were wearing. Bucky's face had now turned beet red. "I warned you that I'd kill you if I ever caught you," Chester told him.

His face drained of color. "You didn't catch anything. Relax. We're just having some dessert," I told Chester.

Chester turned a heated glare on Bucky. "I'm sorry," Bucky whispered.

I rolled my eyes at them, swiveling around in the chair to face Chester. "What are you doing up?" I asked.

"Working."

"This late?"

"We've got a war to win," Chester pointed out.

"How about some coffee, then?" I offered.

"Thank you," Chester said. "One -"

"I know how you like it," I interrupted. "Buck?"

"Please," Bucky said. "Two -"

"I know how you like it too," I interrupted again.

We all laughed as I slipped off of the stool and headed off to the side of the kitchen. I reached up into one of the cabinets and stole three mugs for us to drink from before turning and walking back to the industrial-sized coffee machine. It was placed just behind a wall out of view of Chester and Bucky but I could still easily hear them talking if I was quiet. Right now, it was awkwardly silent. So, I reached over and started up the machine, curious if they would start talking once they thought that I couldn't hear them.

It was a few seconds before Bucky became the first one to speak. "I really am sorry."

Chester huffed. "Oh, I know you are. She's the one who's not sorry."

And he was completely correct. "You must be used to it by now."

"I am. I like that about her. She doesn't apologize for what she does. She won't ever change herself to fit society's standards," Chester said.

He was right about that too. I was who I was and I didn't plan on changing. "She never has. Not even when we were kids. I remember this one time when she was twelve," Bucky said, smiling fondly. I tilted my head to the side, wondering what he was talking about. "This boy in our class told her to smile for him because women looked so unattractive when they didn't smile. He told her that she would never attract a man like that."

"What did she do?" Chester asked curiously.

"She smiled," Bucky answered. "As she punched him hard enough to break his nose."

That was a good memory and not one I'd thought about in a long time. I smiled at the memory that I couldn't believe Bucky had remembered. It was one of those dumb things that he had always been so good for. I wondered if he remembered how much trouble I'd gotten in for punching the boy? He was in Bucky's year and had been one of those who had frequently liked to make fun of me for my eyes, my attitude, and my reputation. Both Bucky and Chester laughed at the memory.

"That sounds like something she'd do," Chester said, once he'd stopped laughing.

Bucky was still smiling fondly. "No one believed that she'd been the one to break his nose. He told people he got in a fight," Bucky said. I remembered that too. They hadn't thought that I was strong enough to do such damage to someone. "She got a long lecture about how proper ladies were supposed to act."

If it made him feel any better, I'd been mostly asleep when Principal Sanders had yelled at me for it. "She's not a young lady. I've always loved that about her," Chester told Bucky.

"So have I."

They were silent for a while before Chester spoke again. "It's been a long time since I've heard her laugh like that."

There had been a long time that I hadn't expected to ever laugh again. "I hope I can always make her laugh like that," Bucky said.

"You ready to be a married man?" Chester asked him.

Bucky smiled broadly. "Yeah. Absolutely."

I smiled at them. I was ready too. "I think fathers normally dread the day they have to walk their daughters down the aisle," Chester said.

"Do you?" Bucky asked curiously.

We had both been expecting Chester to say yes. But, instead, he said, "No. There's nothing better for her than this. You help keep her mellowed." I couldn't help but huff slightly. I didn't need to be mellowed. "You're the thing that she loves most in the world."

That much was true. There were plenty of things that I loved, but Bucky was the one thing I loved most in the entire world. "When she vanished all those years ago I thought that I would never see her again," Bucky said. I let out a breath. I hadn't thought that I would ever see them again too. "When I saw her again at basic training… I just knew it. I'd lost her once. I wasn't going to lose her again."

Much to my surprise, a slight smile turned up on Chester's face. "Thank you for being there for her."

"I'll be here for her as long as I can."

"I believe you."

If there was ever a promise that Bucky would keep, it was that one. I knew that he would always be there. The coffee machine beeped as Chester and Bucky smiled at each other. I turned away from them, giving them a few moments of privacy as I poured the coffee into the cups and started making it the way they liked. It took me a few moments to gather everything before turning and walking back into the main room. Chester and Bucky were chatting softly as I walked in. It looked to me like there might have been some underlying warmth in their conversation.

"Three coffees," I said, walking up to the table and placing one down in front of Chester. "For you: one sugar and no cream." I turned to Bucky and placed his down. "For you: two sugars and way too much cream." He cracked a smile. "Black for me."

"Thank you," Bucky said.

He moved off to the side slightly as I tucked my feet under myself and took a spot in my chair. We sat quietly for a while, chatting back and forth about anything. I mostly talked with Chester about the upcoming attack and whether or not there had been any forward motion. For most of the conversation, it was just Chester and me talking as Bucky sat back and watched us. He looked perfectly content to watch us yammer away. It wasn't too long before Chester stood from his seat, holding his still-piping coffee in his hands.

"I think I'll take this in my office," Chester said.

"Dad -"

"You two enjoy your night together," Chester interrupted.

Something was wrong. That was way too sudden. "Are things okay?" I asked suspiciously.

Chester smiled tensely. "Things are fine. Enjoy yourselves."

Without another word, Chester briefly rested a hand on my knee and gave Bucky a slight nod before taking off, closing the door gently behind him. We both stared after him. "That seemed oddly… understanding," Bucky said dumbly.

"Something's wrong," I said.

"What do you think?" Bucky asked curiously.

"I don't know," I admitted irritably.

But I didn't like the idea that Chester was upset by something. Bucky noticed my sudden change in demeanor and reached over, taking my hand. "Hey," he whispered, taking my chin in his hands. "You worry enough. Come on. No more worrying."

"Okay," I muttered.

"You're still worrying," Bucky said.

"It's what I do," I said.

Bucky nodded slowly. "Okay."

If I knew anything, I knew that Bucky wasn't going to let me be upset. He never did. Not surprising me in the slightest, Bucky leaned back and jumped off of his barstool, quickly darting over to mine. I didn't get a chance to ask him what he was doing as he leaned down and grabbed me around the legs. I started laughing madly as he threw me back over his shoulders. He kept his grip tight as he darted over to the doors, kicking them open and walking back down the hallway. I couldn't see a thing except for Bucky's legs and the floor.

I just had to trust that he would take me back to our bedroom. We had left everything back in the kitchen and I had to admit that I was a little upset that he hadn't even thought to bring the ice cream with him. I hadn't been done with that... I bit my lip gently as Bucky walked down the hall to keep from laughing and waking everyone on the base up. We would have given them quite the show. It was just a few seconds before I felt Bucky kick open the door to our bedroom. He walked in as I slammed it behind us, giggling stupidly and getting tossed to the bed a moment later.

Bucky was still standing above me as his hands dropped to the knot on his robe, undid it, and tossed the offending garment to the floor. I threw my head back in laughter as Bucky jumped forward and climbed on top of me. His hands came up to thread into my hair as his spare hand undid the knot at my stomach. Our legs locked together as I leaned forward and shrugged the robe off of my shoulders. His mouth came down to press a small kiss against my bare shoulder as my hands worked up into his hair, tugging at the strands gently as I tossed him underneath me.

We both flopped back onto the bed a little while later, beads of sweat running down Bucky's back as I panted slightly. At this point, I knew perfectly well that neither one of us were going to get to sleep tonight. Bucky pushed himself back against the headrest as he pulled me into his lap. I smiled and leaned back against his thighs. Maybe we weren't getting any sleep tonight but I didn't mind. These were the kind of nights that I lived for. I blew out a puff of air as Bucky wrapped a strand of my hair around his fingers and I started to doze gently against his thighs.

"So, how are you going to outdo last Christmas?" I eventually asked, shattering the silence.

We were mere weeks out from Christmas and I still hadn't figured out presents for anyone. "What?" Bucky asked, leaning up on his elbows to look down at me. "I'm not doing anything for you this Christmas." I laughed loudly as I leaned back and whacked Bucky on the shoulder. He laughed with me. "What are you doing for me this Christmas?"

"Hmm... What do you want?" I asked.

"You."

"You already have me. I don't count as a present."

"Yes, you do."

But that wasn't something I could buy for him and I wanted, for once, to get him a present that he would love and use. "Come on. Give me something materialistic that I can get you!" I barked.

"That's not the point of Christmas," Bucky pointed out.

"I know that," I huffed, leaning back on his thighs again. "But my present sucked last year and yours was fantastic. I'd like that to not happen again."

"I loved your present last year," Bucky said.

"My present last year was pathetic compared to yours," I told him.

Of course, he had proposed to me and there wasn't much of a way for me to one-up that. "Well, I liked it," Bucky said.

How had he liked it? "You hate flying," I said.

"But I love that smile you get on your face when you fly," Bucky said, smiling at me. I supposed that was fair enough. But we all knew just how much Bucky hated being in the air. "What do you want for Christmas?"

"Nothing. I've already got everything I want," I answered.

Bucky leaned up again to whack me in the arm. I giggled quietly. "Oh, come on. You were just complaining that I wouldn't tell you what I wanted," he said. I smiled at him. I never wanted anything. There was almost always something silly that he wanted. "Tell me what you want."

As hard as I tried to think, I couldn't come up with an answer. There was nothing that I didn't have. "I know that it sounds stupid but there's nothing I want, Buck. Look around. I've got everything I ever wanted - save that Harvard degree," I told him gently. Bucky frowned at me slightly. He knew how devastated I had been over the loss of the degree I'd worked so hard for. "But at this point, I'm not sure how much that even means to me."

I'd always thought that the Harvard degree would be the answer to everything. It turned out that it wasn't worth nearly what I'd thought it was. "That used to mean the most in the world to you," Bucky pointed out.

"No, it never did," I answered.

"Yeah?"

Bucky released his arm from my back so that I could roll over and face him. "What always meant the most to me, whether or not I ever said it, was having a family. People who didn't look at me the way my parents had. You and Steve. You two always meant the most in the world to me," I told him. Bucky smiled, taking my hand. "When I didn't lose either one of you after revealing that I was a mutant... you'll never genuinely know what that meant to me."

Bucky shook his head. "Trust me, we know."

I glanced up and smiled at Bucky, who smiled back down at me. He brushed the hair back off of my forehead slowly, gently running his fingers against my temple. I had known for a long time that this was my real family. Bucky and Steve and everyone else here on the base. I didn't need silly Christmas presents from people who would sooner never see each other again. We all desperately loved each other and that was enough. What I needed tonight was just to be with the people who loved me the most in the world.

Bucky laughed gently as I pushed myself up on my elbows to press a long kiss against Bucky's mouth. His fingertips worked their way from the root of my hair to the tops of my shoulders, and down my back. After a moment he ran his hand back down my body to come to rest at my hip, giving it a gentle squeeze. I laughed into his mouth as he wrapped a hand underneath my thigh and flipped me over. We both started laughing again as he laid himself over me and I reached up, running a hand down his bare spine.

We exchanged a brief look, smiling at each other, as Bucky pressed me down into the bed. We didn't stay together for that long before we broke apart from the kiss. I smiled up at Bucky as I twisted slightly to lay in the crook of his arm. His hands wound upward to trace through the strands of my hair, running his fingers down the strands. After a few minutes, he pressed a kiss against my temple and I looked down at his fingers as he appeared to be writing something. It was the cracks of radiation that sat at the top of my arms. As per usual, he was tracing them.

The two of us spent much of the night chatting softly as it became very obvious that neither one of us were going to be getting to sleep anytime soon. We chatted about anything and everything well through the night and into the morning. The conversation was lighthearted and silly for a while before quickly turning to our future home and the plans we had for it. A small kitchen - as neither one of us could cook - but a huge living room so that we could have everyone over at once. We were in the midst of discussing an indoor gym when I briefly dozed off.

For a moment, I thought what I was seeing was real, until I remembered that I had just fallen asleep with Bucky. This was a dream. And I had somehow found myself in an otherworldly realm. There was a slight orange glow around me and a vague chill in the air. And a massive shadow that had just passed over me. A figure that I couldn't quite make out, no matter how hard I tried. My vision was slightly blurry - something that never happened. The figure strode up to me but maintained a decent distance. I raised my flames to the edge of my skin for protection.

"My child," the deep voice rumbled.

"You're not my father," I said, stepping back from his extended hand.

"No," he agreed.

"Who are you?" I asked.

The man extended his hand to me again. "Come, little one," he said gently.

A tiny smile turned up on the man's face. His body was huge as the outline of it began to take form. Why was he saying that I was his child? Was there a good reason? "Where?" I asked cautiously.

"To see who you are," the man explained.

Was he going to help me? Was he going to tell me how I became what I was? I very slowly and cautiously walked toward him, wading through ankle-deep water. As I got closer and closer to him, his true form began to take shape. Whoever he was, he was massive. Something was foreboding about him but underneath there seemed to be something else. Something that I understood. I extended my hand to reach out for his but there was a sudden shout that echoed from behind me. I turned back and was met with reality.

A very panicked-looking Bucky. "Vika!" he shouted.

I jolted fully awake. "What?" I gasped, sitting up.

"The bed!"

My gaze shot down and I realized that the bed was beginning to melt underneath me. Flames were licking the edge of the bed. Bucky was pressed into the wall and he was sweating desperately with a slightly red tinge to his skin - he was burned. "Shit!" I yelped.

Without thinking I leaped up from the bed, pulling Bucky with me and shoving him back into the corner of the room, before turning back to it. I raised a hand and began conjuring some of the condensations from the window, saturating the bed with it. The flames were quickly put out but the room still smelled like smoke. I stepped back toward the bed and ripped the now-useless sheets from it, tossing them onto the floor and stepping on them to extinguish any of the remaining flames. I breathed heavily as I turned back to Bucky, who looked quite surprised at the change of events.

Bucky waited a few moments as he watched me. But, eventually, he spoke. "What was that?"

"I don't know," I muttered stupidly.

"Are you okay?" Bucky asked, laying a hand on my shoulder.

"Yeah, I was just - I was just having a weird dream," I said quickly.

The dream had been strange but I didn't understand why I had lit the bed on fire because of it. Bucky smiled at me. "Were you dreaming that you were a firefighter?" he asked teasingly.

"I - I don't know what that was about," I muttered awkwardly. "I'm sorry about the fire. And the bed."

Bucky shook his head, brushing the hair back off my forehead. "It's fine, Vika. I just want to make sure you're okay," he said quietly.

"I'm fine. Weird dream, I guess," I said, waving him off.

There was no need to go into that conversation with Bucky. He would just spend hours questioning me on it, concerned for my well-being. "Well... I'm leaving it up to you to explain to Chester why we need a new bed," Bucky said, laughing quietly.

Absolutely not. I already got in trouble for the constantly broken alarm clocks and electrocuted light circuits. I wasn't getting in trouble for needing a new bed now. I huffed quietly. "I'm blaming you," I told him. Bucky scowled disbelievingly at me. "I'm his daughter, I'll get the sharp glare and maybe a brief scolding. He'll come after you with a twenty-two."

Bucky laughed disbelievingly at me as he darted forward and tackled me back onto the burnt bed. But it couldn't take our weight. It had already been almost melted completely through in the middle and our weight only helped the two of us go crashing to the stone floor. I rested my head back against the floor as I began laughing madly. Bucky dry-heaved along with me, resting his forehead down against my shoulder. That was just our luck. Once I had calmed down enough, I reached up to the burnt bed and pulled down a hole-ridden blanket for us to lay on.

The two of us stayed there for a little while, trying not to laugh loudly enough to wake our neighbors, when I finally heard the trumpets echoing throughout the base, warning us that it was time to get up and get to work. It still took us another few minutes before we finally decided that we had hidden long enough and needed to get up and move about our business. Bucky got himself changed into some casual clothes. I wasn't quite sure what I would be doing for the day but I ultimately decided to change into my uniform. Just in case.

Once we had both gotten ourselves completely ready for the day we walked out of the bedroom and headed out to get working. We walked hand-in-hand to the mess hall to grab ourselves a brief breakfast - both of us only taking small apples - before moving on. After a brief discussion, we decided to head to the war room to see if there had been any forward movement on the eventual attack on the train that would be attempting to relocate Zola to Switzerland.

We were almost there when I heard a call. "Victoria. Barnes."

We stopped walking and glanced back to see Chester standing not far behind us. Bucky gave a respectful incline of the head. "What's up, old man?" I asked, going over to him.

"I need to speak with you," Chester said.

"Okay," I agreed.

"Both of you," Chester said, looking to Bucky.

Bucky looked quite surprised that Chester also wanted to speak to him. "Of course," Bucky said.

The three of us nodded at each other and walked off toward Chester's office. Bucky took me by the hand and I smiled up at him gently. In the back of my mind, I wondered if Chester was finally going to tell us what was so clearly bothering him last night. I so desperately wanted to know. I had never really seen Chester upset or distracted by something unless it had something to do with me. And I had been perfectly wonderful lately. We walked into Chester's office and Bucky and I took a seat in the open chairs as Chester took a seat behind his desk.

Chester folded his hands on the desk and said, "We know when the train carrying Zola will be moving through."

Bucky and I leaned forward, our interest piqued. "When?" I asked, knowing Bucky wouldn't.

It was a little odd that Chester was hesitating so much. Normally, he would have just spit it out. And told us all together... "They're moving him on the last day of January. The train will be moving through an access point that I can get you all to on February 1st," Chester finally explained, seemingly all in one breath.

It could have been hours that the three of us were staring at each other. But I knew that it had only been a brief moment. I stared Chester dead in the eyes as Bucky's hands tightened almost painfully over mine. We both knew what it meant. It meant that we would have to choose. Our wedding or capturing a man we had spent over a year looking for. There would be no way that we could have the wedding on the last day of January and be back in time for the mission the next day. I knew what the next step would be, but I couldn't bear saying it out loud.

Instead of saying what I knew had to be said, I spit out the obvious truth. "Our wedding day."

Bucky twitched slightly next to me. He hadn't said anything yet. He was just staring down at the ground. "I'm sorry," Chester said guilty, obviously meaning it.

Was there any way that he was wrong? "They're absolutely positive that -?"

"We'll move it," Bucky said quickly, interrupting me.

"What?" I asked, whipping over to him.

If anything, I thought he would have been the one to fight against it. Bucky met my eyes and took my hands in his. "There's no question, Vika. I love you," he said gently, pushing the hair back over my shoulders. Chester looked away to give us a moment of privacy. "But pushing the wedding back a few days won't kill us. You said it yourself. The wedding's easy enough to be reworked. But if we miss Zola we might not ever get another chance at him. We could end up getting a lot of people killed if we choose to have the wedding that day anyway."

We stared at each other for a long moment. "You said once that you wished you'd married me years ago," I whispered.

"And I still do," Bucky said. "But it didn't happen that way. It happened this way."

"Bucky..." I muttered quietly.

"I love you more than anything. I want to marry you on the day we agreed on. But... I don't think we can do it. We agreed to do a job and we agreed to do it no matter the cost," Bucky argued.

Any argument died on my tongue. "You both have to agree," Chester said, looking between us.

Some selfish part of me didn't care. I didn't care that Zola was coming through somewhere we could catch him. I didn't give a damn. I wanted to have the wedding when we had planned it. I never seemed to get the things that I wanted. How was it fair that I had to sacrifice the one thing that I wanted more than anything else? I was halfway ready to tell Chester that I didn't care, that I was still going to have the wedding when we had agreed. But I knew that Bucky wouldn't - he had said as much. He would wait to save the lives that were at stake.

In the back of my mind, I knew that holding off the wedding was the right thing to do. It was the thing that a hero would have done. Sacrifice what they genuinely wanted for whatever the right thing for the rest of the world was. Holding off on the wedding and capturing Zola would end up saving lives. We would be able to catch the Red Skull because of it. Plus, it would only be a few days. What did it really matter in the grand scheme of things, after all? We essentially already acted like a married couple. I had to be fine with it. Not fine, actually. But I had to know that this was right.

Bucky wouldn't meet my eyes but I could hear his thoughts. He was furious - his thoughts were far more profane than I'd heard before - but he, just like me, knew that this was the right thing to do. "He's right," I said. Both men looked at me in surprise. "We'll push the wedding back a few days."

Chester didn't look like he believed us. "Are you two sure about this?" he asked carefully.

Not looking at each other, Bucky and I nodded. "We can have a wedding any day," I pointed out. Bucky released my hand and rested his on my knee, wrapping his fingers around it. "We might only get one shot at Zola in a lifetime."

But Chester didn't believe me. "Victoria -"

"I meant what I told Roosevelt," I interrupted him. He raised a brow curiously. "There are times when I can be surprisingly selfless. This is one of them."

Chester nodded slowly. "You two are sure?"

"Are you?" I asked Bucky.

His gaze finally turned up to meet mine. It had been a long time since I'd seen him look as defeated as he did right now. "No," Bucky said. I knew how he felt. "But we're not going to get another clear shot like this. We have to take it."

"You're both -?"

"Let it be," I interrupted. We had already given our answer and it wasn't one we wanted to give. I didn't want to talk about it anymore. "We all know that this is the right thing to do. We have to do this. Pushing the wedding back a few days is... awful. It's not what I wanted to do. But it's like you said. This could be a once-in-a-lifetime shot at Zola. We can't pass it up. No matter what."

There was a long period of silence in which we all stared at each other. No one knew what to say. There was no precedent for this. "I'm sorry. To both of you," Chester said quietly.

There was no point in being sorry. We all knew that this was a terrible situation. But it was one that we had to deal with. "All that matters is that we're together," Bucky said, running his hand up my knee and over my thigh, eventually reaching over to grab my hand again. He turned into me slightly. "Does it matter if the actual wedding gets pushed back a few days?"

In the end, it only mattered because I was angry that I never seemed to get the things I wanted. "No. I suppose not," I muttered, looking up to meet Chester's eyes. "This is what was bothering you last night?"

"Yes," Chester said bashfully.

Of course. He had always tried to hide the worst truths from me. Not that it ever worked for long. "So, I can assume that you've known for a few days and have been looking for the way to tell us?" I asked, trying not to sound too accusatory.

"Yes," Chester said guiltily.

As angry as I was about the situation, I knew that it wasn't Chester's fault. It was no one's fault. It was just circumstance. "I know why you hid it. It's a terrible thing to have to tell someone," I said quietly.

"You two deserve to have this wedding," Chester said.

If anyone deserved to finally have their wedding, it was us. "We're still going to have it," Bucky said determinedly. He took my hand again and leaned over to press a kiss against my temple. I smiled, tucking my head into his. Chester gave us another guilty smile. Bucky put a teasing look on his face. "Who knows? Maybe the day we were going to have the wedding would have been rainy and windy. Maybe now it'll be beautiful and sunny."

I glanced over at Bucky and risked the tiniest smile. Eventually, I turned back to look at Chester again. "We're okay, old man. We'll do whatever it takes," I told him.

Chester nodded. "Okay."

"Does everyone know?" Bucky asked Chester curiously.

God... I almost forgot that we would have to tell everyone at the base (at least, those who cared enough to know) and someone would have to tell Bucky's siblings. "No. I planned on telling you two first and going from there," Chester explained.

"You can tell them," I told Bucky. He arched a brow at me. "I don't want to see the looks of pity."

Chester nodded understandingly. "I'll call a meeting and tell them the plan," he said, rising from his chair. Bucky and I stayed seated. Chester must have realized that neither one of us were able to move right now. "You two take however long you need."

That was likely exactly what we needed. A moment for it to just be the two of us where we could process what had just happened. Chester gave us both a respectful nod as he walked to stand in front of us. He and Bucky exchanged a brief nod. He then leaned down to press a kiss into my hair. I stared after him for a long moment as he turned and walked out of the office, closing the door gently behind himself. Neither Bucky nor I spoke for a long time. We didn't even meet eyes. We just stared down at the floor. Eventually, I felt his hand find its place back on my knee.

Finally, I was the first one to break the silence. "What are you thinking?" I asked him quietly.

A small smile turned up on his face. "You tell me."

This wasn't something I wanted to read his mind to find out. We needed to have a serious talk about this. "I'm serious. Buck, I've got forever," I growled. Bucky stared at me. He only had so much time before nature took its course. "What do you think?"

Bucky was quiet for a few moments before coming to his conclusion. "I think that the wedding is just a formality. As far as I'm concerned, you're already my wife," Bucky said, leaning forward and pressing a kiss behind my ear. I gave a slight smile. I guessed that was a fair argument. "I don't like pushing the wedding back. It feels like we've pushed it back far enough. But this might be the only chance we get to catch Zola. We have to do it. We have to stop the Red Skull before things get even worse."

But I wanted to be selfish. I wanted to have the wedding. I didn't care about doing the right thing. But he did... Somewhere deep down, I supposed I did too. "You're right. I know that you're right," I conceded. Bucky didn't look particularly happy and me telling him that he was right. "But it doesn't change the fact that I want to be selfish. I want to say that I don't care and just go ahead and have the wedding anyway."

"Yeah," Bucky said, nodding. "I did, too."

"We did the right thing, didn't we?" I asked him.

It seemed like the right thing, but it felt so awful. "Unfortunately, we did," Bucky said sadly. I frowned slightly. It felt so wrong... Bucky leaned forward and took my chin in his hand. "Hey, it's all going to be okay. We're still getting married. You're not going to get cold feet and call it off, right?"

I barely managed a small smile. "Of course not," I told him seriously.

This was the day I'd been waiting for since I was a child. Finally, I would be with someone I knew loved me unconditionally. "Vika, I want to be selfish too. I want to have the wedding," Bucky said, that familiar tinge of desperation in his voice plain and clear. "But would either one of us be able to forgive ourselves if we let Zola slip through our fingers? If innocent people died because of our selfishness?"

"Maybe," I grumbled.

Bucky's head snapped over to mine. "You don't mean that," he said quietly.

"No," I admitted quietly.

Would the guilt kill me? No. But I would always know that I had made the wrong choice. It was him that I was concerned about. "I couldn't live with myself," Bucky said, swallowing thickly.

Of course not. That was the kind of man he was. "Because you're a good person," I said.

"So are you," Bucky said seriously.

The two of us stared at each other for a while before Bucky reached over and pulled me into a small kiss. I was annoyed and disappointed at what had just happened, but I had never been one to have the best luck in the world. So, I chose to just let it go as I responded to the small kiss. His hands moved up to my hair as the smallest smile tilted up on my mouth. It was just a few days... a few days was nothing... nothing in comparison to the rest of his life. And he was right. The two of us did already kind of act like we were married. The actual wedding was just a formality.

When we finally pulled away from each other, Bucky moved his hand down to rest it against my hip. "I'm going to go give Jess a call and tell her what's going on," he said quietly.

"Okay," I said.

"Do you want to come?" Bucky offered.

I'd never been good with having to deal with someone's pity. And I knew that Jess would pity us. "No," I said. Bucky nodded understandingly. I knew that he wouldn't fight me on this one. He probably didn't even want to do it. But she was his sister and he needed to make sure she wouldn't be at the farm on the original wedding day. "I think... I think I'm going to go down to the training room for a while. Be alone for a little bit. I don't want to hear the pity in her voice and I don't want to see it in their faces."

Bucky nodded again. "Well, I don't blame you. But I think Jess would be a little upset with me if she showed up to Chester's farm and no one was there," he teased.

I let out a bark of laughter. "Best not to piss your sister off again," I said, patting his shoulder.

We had just gotten Jess and the rest of Bucky's siblings to like me again. The last thing we needed was for them to go right back to hating me. "See you later, then?" Bucky asked, grinning slightly.

"Yeah. I'll be down in the training room if you feel the need to come and join me," I told him.

"And get kicked around by you? I'm good," Bucky teased.

We both laughed as I leaned up and pressed a small kiss against Bucky's mouth. His hands tightened over my waist for a moment before I pulled away and walked off. Bucky followed at my heels for a moment before diverting toward the telephone booth to call his sister. I headed straight for the training room, walked inside, and immediately kicked off my boots. For a moment I just strolled around the room, unsure of exactly what I wanted to do. Eventually, I settled on the punching bags. But for a long time, I merely stood in front of it making no moves.

Suddenly, I pulled my arm back and hit the bag at full force. Maybe I was just overwhelmed with emotion from what had just happened. Another way I never got what I wanted. I groaned as the hard punch sent the bag snapping off the chain and flying through the solid metal wall behind it. The bag split into pieces and went flying everywhere in the hallway. Damn it... I turned a slight pink as people stopped walking and instead stared at me from the other side of the wall. At least none of my friends were there to see.

"Sorry," I called to them awkwardly. "I'll fix that."

A few people - mostly the younger male soldiers - cracked smiles. Others - the female receptionists and nurses - paled as they walked off. I raised a hand and levitated the metal panel, pushing it back into place. I would have to come back later and maybe melt it back into place, permanently fixing the hole in the building. Another one I made... In the meantime, I walked back to the center of the room and headed over to another one of the punching bags. This time I would have to be a little more careful. They would start billing me for the damage if I kept damaging their building.

It was a long time that passed where I punched and kicked at the remaining bags, occasionally accidentally snapping one of the bags off the chains but not throwing any more of the bags through the walls. That wasn't to say that I didn't cause any more damage to the training room. There were now scorch marks all over the wall from the flames shooting out of my hands. There were also sear marks in the panels from the lightning that shot off my hands a few more times than I cared to admit. My anger was getting the better of me.

Whoever came in here next wasn't going to be happy with me. Not that they ever were. I had tended to damage things at the base. And right now I couldn't help but cause a lot of damage. I took out my frustration from everything on the bags (and the walls) - the constant fighting at the Hydra bases, my lack of being able to be a normal person, and the fact that I now had to push back my wedding. It was just one thing piling on top of each other, as it seemed to always be. Why the hell couldn't I ever get what I wanted?

Nearly four hours had passed that I had been wreaking complete havoc on the training room. Eventually, I took a few steps backward from the bag and went running full speed toward it. I flipped sideways into an aerial and kicked downward at the bag. It snapped off the chain easily and hit the ground with a deafening thud, cracks forming in the concrete underneath me. I turned back with my hands buzzing with electricity from the sense that someone was standing behind me. I quickly realized that it was Steve and let the electricity fade out from my arms.

Steve looked around bemusedly. "Redecorating?" he asked playfully.

"It was an accident," I muttered dumbly.

"Nice to see you kick things other than me through walls," Steve teased.

I had to force a smile on my face. "If you miss it, I'd be happy to kick you through the wall this time."

Steve shook his head and held up his hands defensively. "No, thank you. I think I'll pass," he said. We both laughed as Steve took a few steps closer to me and took my hands in his. I instantly saw the pity in his stance. He knew. Bucky must have already told everyone what was going on. "I heard about the wedding getting delayed. I'm sorry."

Bucky must have sent Steve here to try and get me to talk about it. I shrugged my shoulders. "My priority can't be the rest of the worlds. It's only a few days after all," I said carelessly, even though I cared a lot.

"Still. I know you were set on that day and ready for it," Steve said. That was fair. "How are you handling it?"

"Surprisingly decently," I answered.

Which wasn't true, considering I had destroyed the training room. "You sure?" Steve asked, looking around the room.

"Why?" I snapped.

Steve ignored my snap. "Vic, I know you better than almost anyone else on this planet," Steve said quietly. I smiled dumbly. That was another fair statement. "You're not okay with this."

When would anyone be okay with something like this? "No, I'm not. I hate what's just happened," I answered. Steve nodded understandingly. "I love Bucky and it feels like I've been waiting forever for that day. But I also know that, if we go on with things as planned, there's a lot of other people who will never get to have their weddings."

Steve nodded understandingly. "You're stronger than most people," he said. I laughed humorlessly. Of course, I was. "In this situation."

This was one of the rare times I wanted to be weak. "It's a situation I hope no one ever finds themselves in," I said honestly. The two of us stared at each other for a long time as I forced a smile on my face. I didn't want any pity right now. Not about something this awkward. "It gives you a few more days to figure out how to ask Peggy to be your date to the wedding."

Steve rolled his eyes. "Still not giving up?"

"It's the hill I'll die on," I told him.

"You can't die," Steve pointed out.

"Exactly," I teased.

We laughed again as Steve wrapped an arm around me and tucked me underneath his arm. I giggled softly as I shoved him off me. We ended up sitting together for a few minutes chatting about anything other than the wedding. I didn't want to talk about it. All it would do would get me upset all over again. So, we instead talked about everything else. Steve's never-ending crush on Peggy, our upcoming Christmas celebration, and the possibility that one day we might really be able to retire to our peaceful lives.

About half an hour passed before the rest of the team began appearing. I assumed that Steve had told them to show up after he got a chance to talk to me. Bucky was the first of them to arrive. Howard and Peggy were barely a minute behind him. As usual, the pair seemed to be arguing among themselves. Not long after them, the rest of the men came. Even more surprising was that Chester showed up. He usually avoided our hang-outs. But I knew he felt terribly guilty for what he'd asked us to do. He didn't have to feel bad, though. It was just going to be a brief delay.

It wasn't long before we all decided to go to dinner at Criterion. Howard's treat, as usual, seeing as none of the rest of us could afford it. The dinner was slightly subdued from what it normally was, no matter how many times Bucky and I insisted that we were okay or that things would be fine. I could tell they didn't believe us. But it was the truth. As long as the two of us were in love with each other, that was all that mattered. Though I did notice that Bucky kept his hand on my knee throughout the dinner. His grip was much tighter than normal.

We sat in the restaurant for a long time. The only time I mentioned the wedding was to ask them not to bring it up. They looked surprised, but I had a perfectly good reason. The more they talked about it, the more upset I was bound to get. Thankfully, they steered clear of the topic. It was just past midnight when we finally made our way back to our bedrooms. I told everyone a brief goodnight before slipping into my bedroom with Bucky. No one said anything about it. They knew we needed some time to ourselves to talk about what had happened today.

As the door closed behind us, we both laughed at the sight of the melted bed. I'd almost forgotten about my nightmare this morning. "Sorry about the bed," I muttered stupidly.

Bucky laughed. "It's alright. Come on," he said, gently pulling me with him. "I've got an idea."

An idea? We were going to have to sleep on the floor. I giggled again as Bucky pulled off the blankets and sheets that were burned and tossed them onto the floor with the pillows. Those were still intact. It wasn't much but it was better than sleeping on the half-melted bed. Bucky leaned back slowly and dropped onto the floor. We smiled at each other as Bucky reached up and wrapped a hand around my thigh, tugging me down into his lap. I lost my balance and fell into him. We giggled for a moment as I rolled over myself to lay in the crux of his arm.

"What did Jess say?" I asked curiously.

I'd wanted to ask him about their conversation earlier but not in front of everyone else. "That she's sorry to hear that we have to push the wedding back but she'll be ready to head to Chester's farm when we can reschedule," Bucky said.

I had a feeling that the conversation went a little deeper than that, but he didn't want to upset me. It was a little too late for that. "It's not fair that we had to do this," I growled.

Bucky reached down and ran his hand over my leg, moving its way up to rest against my hip. "No. But it is something we needed to do," Bucky said sadly. We might have needed to do it, but that didn't change the fact that I didn't want to do it. I opened my mouth to say something about how we hadn't genuinely needed to do it before Bucky cut me off. "Vika - we're still getting married. Let's not talk about it."

"Okay. Fair enough," I said.

"Plus it gives me more time to write my vows," Bucky said, grinning.

Damn me! I'd almost forgotten that we were supposed to write our vows. We only had a little over a month until the wedding and I hadn't even thought about writing them. I'd almost forgotten that we weren't going to be reading the traditional vows. I knew that Bucky had once wanted to recite them but had conceded on that point considering I wasn't religious. He had promised that he would have rather recited his vows anyway. Apparently, there were things he wanted to tell me. I hadn't even thought about writing mine...

But it was surprising that Bucky hadn't written his. He always seemed to know what he wanted to say. "You haven't written your vows yet?" I asked curiously.

"I've got some ideas. I know what I want to say. Just haven't written them down," Bucky explained. I nodded. "Have you?"

"Of course not," I said truthfully. Bucky laughed. I knew vaguely what I wanted to say, but I would likely stammer my way through the vows. I wasn't big on being openly emotional in front of people. "But you're supposed to be the emotional one. In touch with your feelings and whatnot."

Bucky rolled his eyes at me. "You make me sound like a girl," he barked. I leaned up on my arms and arched a brow at him. Unsurprisingly, he quickly realized what his mistake was. "Not that there's anything wrong with that - there's not. And you're the perfect example of how girls can be - and usually are - stronger than men. I mean -"

"Buck," I interrupted tonelessly. He immediately stopped his yammering. "Are you going to ramble like a moron every time you say something stupid?"

"Probably," Bucky said honestly.

"I'll just get used to it then," I said, laughing gently. Bucky's face turned bright red as I took his arm in my hand, pressing a kiss against his bare shoulder. "Hey. It's cute."

Bucky started laughing along with me as he whacked me on the shoulder. I supposed that I deserved that for being rude, which was abnormally frequently. I giggled madly as my arms traveled up his stomach to wrap around his shoulders and pull him on top of myself. He easily shifted over me and pressed a long kiss against my mouth. It didn't take long for him to release my back and instead begin tugging at the top of my uniform. It wasn't long before we were wearing nothing and firmly wrapped around each other.

We had barely moved from our bedroom over the next day. No one knocked on it to wake us up the next morning as I figured they felt bad for what had happened with the wedding. They were likely planning on just letting us have the day to enjoy ourselves. We spent much of it wrapped up in the sheets, laughing at our stupidity over the burnt bed, and ordering enough food from the Chinese food place down the street to make us sick. We'd wasted an entire day that could have been used to hunt down Zola earlier, and I couldn't have been happier about it.

In the weeks following the announcement that we would have to move back the wedding, we did manage to get ourselves a new bed. This time, it was queen-sized! A present from Chester, no doubt, since I knew he'd heard me complain about the size of our old one. And he still felt guilty. No one had questioned us about the need for a new bed. It wasn't because they weren't curious as to what had happened - I knew they were - but it was more because they didn't want to overstep their bounds. No one wanted to upset us after we'd had to push the wedding back.

There was some debate about possibly moving the wedding forward instead of having to push it back a few days. While I liked the idea of getting married even earlier, we all knew that it wasn't a viable solution, no matter how much we wanted it to be. It hadn't taken any of us long to realize that it didn't make any sense to push the wedding forward. There would be too much intensive planning between our small group - it would be sure to draw attention to us. Then there would be the questions erupting around the base as to why we had moved the wedding up.

Everyone knew that we were planning on getting married on the last day of January. They might not have been invited, but our wedding day was definitely no secret among those on the base. We couldn't risk alerting anyone as to what we were planning on doing with the train and Zola. We would handle their anger over our lies later. No, there was no way we could move the wedding forward without ruining the plan to catch Zola. In the end, we just had to remember that it would only be a few days off from the original wedding.

In the meantime, planning the attack on the train with Zola was in full swing. It had ultimately been decided that we would send our best fighters on board the train to catch Zola and defeat any of the Hydra soldiers who would be protecting him. The rest of the men would be defending us from other attacks from afar. I already knew that Steve and I would be sent on board the train. If I knew Bucky at all, I knew that he would demand to do with us. After all, he was one of our best shots along with Gabe. It would more than likely be the four of us going after Zola.

The only reason we weren't working today was that it was Christmas. Officially one year since Bucky had proposed to me. I was still in bed as it was the first real time in weeks that I hadn't had to wake up at six or seven in the morning. This was the only day that no one on the base was required to work. It was the one day that we got to goof around and do absolutely nothing. It was just past nine in the morning as I laid in bed, reading the local newspaper. Nothing fascinating was going on in the world other than the war, much as usual.

Oddly enough, though, Bucky wasn't in bed with me. I had heard him get up early in the morning. I'd heard the door click open and then closed a moment later. When I'd first heard him get up I had almost asked what he was doing but I'd ultimately decided against it. I was too tired to say anything and he was likely doing something. If I knew him at all, it was some grand gesture that I would never be able to live up to. More than likely he was working on getting my Christmas present ready - as he didn't seem to know how to do anything small.

Just a few minutes later the door to our bedroom opened and I glanced up. There was an icy chill in the air coming in from the hallway. I took the spare blanket - another one I'd had to buy after destroying our old blankets - on the bed and wrapped it around my bare back, crossing it underneath my arms as I smiled at him. Bucky was carrying two cups of coffee and a bowl of fruit. Unlike me, he was fully dressed. He seated himself on the edge of the bed and handed me a cup. I took it as he leaned forward and pressed a long kiss against my mouth.

"Merry Christmas," Bucky muttered against my jaw.

"Merry Christmas. Thank you," I said, taking a sip of the scalding drink.

He laughed at the sight. "My pleasure."

"What are everyone's plans today?" I asked curiously, folding my legs underneath me.

"Steve mentioned that they're all going to go out and have a picnic at lunchtime. Get dinner and go dancing with drinks tonight so we can exchange presents," he explained. I smiled at the plans. They sounded fun to me. Especially the present part. I had spent one afternoon with Peggy last week going shopping for everyone's presents. "I think we're all supposed to be getting things ready this morning."

"Just like last year," I said.

"A little different," Bucky teased.

He couldn't propose to me twice, I supposed. "A little bit," I giggled.

The two of us sat together in bed for a while as we drank our coffee and had our breakfasts. For a while, we laughed over the upcoming wedding - how it was sure to be a complete mess as no one knew what was going on. We didn't know what time it would happen, what day we would be able to go, or how it would work. But we would be together and finally married. That was what mattered. Bucky and I remained tangled in the blankets as the minutes ticked by. We were quickly getting closer and closer to when we would need to start getting ready for our lunch.

Bucky was still dressed, as much as I genuinely wished he wasn't. But there would be time for that later. Right now, we needed to start getting ready for the day. "Do you want your present?" Bucky asked, holding onto my upper thigh.

"Shouldn't we do that with everyone else around?" I asked, arching my brow.

"It's a little too big to bring to the tavern," Bucky laughed.

"Another year of outdoing me, huh?" I asked.

Bucky smiled at me. "Not necessarily. Remember where the house is going?"

"Yes."

"Will you bring us back there?"

That sounded interesting. "Sure."

It was enough to get me out of the blankets and moving for the day. I quickly darted around the room, much to Bucky's amusement, getting changed, brushing my teeth, and making the bed. I forced myself to get ready for the Christmas party rather than just a regular day. I put on a bright red dress that Peggy had convinced me to buy while we were out shopping for presents. Bucky changed into his uniform. Once we were done we turned to each other and smiled. Bucky wrapped an arm around my back, pressing a kiss against my mouth.

His eyes dropped to the dress. It came up to just above the knees and had lace cap-sleeves. It helped that there was a slightly low sweetheart neckline. "Aren't I lucky?" Bucky asked, giving me a good once-over.

"Yes, you are," I teased.

We smiled at each other as we headed out toward the roof. No one appeared to be in the hallway this early. I assumed that they were either still sleeping or maybe downstairs in the mess hall. We linked hands as we got upstairs and hung over the edge of the gravel-covered roof. Bucky's hands were pressed firmly against my body as I prepared to launch us up into the sky. I gave Bucky a quick glance to make sure he was okay. He had never liked flying. At least, he didn't like my kind of flying.

Much to my amusement, Bucky let out the tiniest of whines as I laughed at him. It was always fun to terrify him after all the years he had spent messing with me. After a few seconds, I launched us shooting up into the sky. He let out a pathetic scream as I began hysterically laughing. As we shot through the air I flipped us over and over again, shooting up toward the clouds before letting up on the air columns and going collapsing back to the ground. Bucky would likely be dead before we made it to the site of our future home.

We flew for a few minutes before I dropped down over the plot of land. Bucky immediately collapsed to the ground, dry-heaving, as I stared around the land. For a moment I wasn't sure that I was in the right place. The plot of land was no longer empty like it had been the last time I'd seen it. Now on one section of the plot - where Bucky had told me last time, we would be able to build a school for mutants - I noticed that there was land being cleared. Where the house was to be built, I noticed there was some framing going up. A small smile tilted up on my face.

This was my Christmas present. Bucky had been working with Howard to start building our home. He was still slightly green but smiling at the look on my face. "When will it be ready?" I asked breathlessly.

"Your birthday," Bucky answered. That soon? I clasped a hand over my mouth, trying so hard not to let out a maddening laugh. "Do you like it?" I couldn't bring myself to answer him. All I could do was nod. "Good. Do you want to see it?"

"Yes," I whispered.

Bucky took me by the hand and pulled me toward the house. It was only framed right now. The drywall hadn't even been hung. But I had a good imagination. I could figure out what it looked like. I would be able to figure out what it was all going to look like when it was done. Bucky pressed a kiss against the back of my hand as he pulled me up the stairs, which were still being framed, and up to what looked to be the beginnings of a wrap-around porch. He had done it. He had really built one. I smiled at the sight.

"A wrap-around porch," I commented.

"It'll have a swing too," Bucky said, pointing to two hooks that were coming out of the ceiling.

"I - I like it. I love it," I corrected myself.

Bucky smiled. "Good. Want a tour?" he offered.

As hard as I tried to force the words out, I couldn't speak. I just nodded. Bucky showed me a large portion of the building that appeared to be almost ready for metal framing. Bucky told me that it would be a three-car garage. I didn't immediately understand why we needed one until Bucky explained that Howard had demanded we have one - likely for his use. I laughed at the sight of it. It shouldn't have come as a surprise to me that Howard would also be designing the house for his use.

There was a massive foyer that we first walked into. Neither one of us were sure what we were supposed to use it for. Evidently, Howard had also demanded we have one. To our right was a formal dining room. Another room we would likely never use. Behind the garage was a laundry room that I teased Bucky he would be spending time in. He laughed. There was a kitchen behind that and it was massive. I was sure a chef would love it. There were bay windows that wrapped around the kitchen that looked out to the open field behind the house.

To the left of the kitchen was the family room. I figured we would be spending much of our time there. It was large enough to hold everyone from the base. There was a door that opened at the rear of the family room that wasn't framed yet, but Bucky pulled me through anyway. It looked out onto a huge patio which was part of the wrap-around porch. A small smile tilted up on my face. This would be the perfect area to have coffee with Bucky in the morning. Or maybe even watch mutants I taught train...

Back inside the house was a grand room that served as the center. I teased Bucky that all I would be using it for would be to practice my flips and round-offs. He laughed and seemed rather fond of the idea. Taking up most of the left side of the house was the master bedroom. In the front was the bedroom, his and hers closets behind that, and the master bathroom behind those. At the front left of the house was what would eventually be the library. I smiled broadly at the sight of the library. It had a small wet bar attached. It was the kind of house I had always dreamed of.

"No basement?" I asked, turning to Bucky.

"No basement," Bucky confirmed.

"Only one bedroom?" I asked curiously.

The master bedroom was the only one we'd walked through. "No. Howard insisted that we have multiple," Bucky said. I raised a brow. We'd walked through every room and none of them were a spare bedroom. Bucky pointed upward. "There's going to be a second floor. Three spare bedrooms, each with their own bathroom. Howard offered to make a study up there too. It'll look over the foyer."

Wow... A house like this wasn't something I'd ever thought I would have been able to afford. "It'll be beautiful when it's done," I said quietly.

Bucky smiled. "It'll be a long project. Howard said that we could start on all the guest houses after the main house is done. Steve can stay there while we build them," Bucky said. I imagined that Steve would be more than happy to take us up on that offer. "The school will take the longest. You'll have to have a big say in that. I'm not sure what goes into building a school for mutants."

Even I wasn't sure what went into building a school for mutants. I supposed that I would just figure it out as we went along. "It's perfect," I told him, smiling broadly.

"Glad you like it," Bucky said.

"That's a big master bedroom," I commented, looking back toward the bedroom.

Maybe it was time for me to give him the one present he so desperately wanted... "Howard mentioned that since we don't have anyone else living here, we might as well make certain rooms that we'll be spending a lot of time in bigger," Bucky said, completely missing my hint.

"There's room for something else in there," I said.

"Like?" Bucky asked.

A long few moments passed where I was silent. The word was formed on my tongue but I couldn't spit it out. I walked forward and pressed a hand against his heart. "A nursery," I whispered so quietly that I didn't think he'd heard me.

Had he heard me? I wasn't quite sure at first. But I quickly realized that he did hear me. He just didn't know how to respond. He stood in stunned silence for a long time. So long that it felt like all day had passed. The only noise was the echoing sound of his heart skipping a beat. The confusion was written plainly across his face. He seemed to go through a long process of emotions. Confusion, realization, denial, and excitement.

His eyes dropped to my completely flat stomach. "Are - Are you -?"

"What? No!" I gasped, realizing far too late that he naturally would have thought I meant I was pregnant. Bucky let out a breath. "No. No. I meant in the future." I dropped my hand to my stomach. Had I been a little too lazy lately? "I'll be a little offended if you thought I was pregnant."

Bucky laughed. "I didn't. That's why I was so surprised."

He laughed throughout each word. The was a brief moment of something that looked like relief on his face. "Were you relieved to hear that?" I asked curiously.

Had he changed his stance on children? "Only because I didn't want to have to explain to Chester why we were having a kid only six months after our wedding," Bucky said. I laughed. He wasn't wrong. Whether or not Chester knew we were sleeping together, he would be furious if he got actual proof. The smile on Bucky's face eventually faded. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah," I told him. For once, I thought our lives could have involved kids. He would have made a great father and maybe, just maybe, I could be a good mother. "I know you want one. And... I've done a lot of thinking about it. I can imagine us out here with one. Or two."

Bucky's face drained of color. "Really?"

"Yeah."

"That's..."

He never finished his thought but he didn't have to. I already knew what he wanted to tell me. I knew how happy he was to hear me tell him that I wanted to have a kid. Bucky jumped forward and wrapped his arms around my waist. I laughed loudly as he wound his arms around my back and lifted me into a crushing hug. I giggled stupidly as he shook me side-to-side in excitement. Thrilled wouldn't have been a good enough word for how he was feeling. It was a long time before he rested me back on the ground and pressed a long kiss against my mouth.

When he pulled back he was still grinning dumbly. "This is... great news, Vika," he breathed.

He'd been trying so hard to pretend he didn't want them. But I knew the truth. "Good," I said, smiling slightly. I was afraid of having a family, but it was a good kind of fear. "I just want to make you happy."

Bucky smiled. "You have. More than I ever could have been with anyone else."

Bucky reached back again and wrapped his hand into my hair as he pulled me into him. I stumbled into his chest, giggling at the look on his face. The smile that reminded me that he was thrilled to be with me, no matter what it took. Bucky leaned down to press a long kiss against my mouth and I laughed, wishing so desperately that we could stay here and never have to leave. We had to eventually return to the base. But that wouldn't be for a while. We did happen to stay together for so long that I thought we might end up spending the rest of the night there.

But we had other things we needed to be doing. And, if I was being completely honest, I wanted my Christmas presents. We slowly pulled apart from the kiss and I smiled up at him. Bucky's blue eyes were shining slightly as he looked down at me and around us. This place… it felt like home. This was the place that we were supposed to be. Right here. We would finish the missions we had started against Hydra and then... we would get that peaceful retirement we had talked about for so long.

"Should we go back?" I asked, resting my hand against Bucky's stomach.

Bucky shook his head, throwing it back in mock annoyance. I laughed. "No. Let's just hide out here forever," he said, grabbing my hips and pulling me into him. "Forget everything we're supposed to be doing."

"They'd come to find us," I pointed out. Bucky groaned as I reached out and grabbed his hand, tugging him along. "Come on. I want my presents."

Perhaps I was being a little childish about the whole thing. I knew I was being childish. But I had never gotten the chance to have presents when I was growing up. Even with Steve and Bucky's parents, we still hadn't gotten many presents. Mostly because there were so many children and their parents didn't have great jobs. Naturally, I'd never gotten anything from Stryker other than pain and misery. Even Chester had only gotten me a tiny gift during our first year together. Now I had a real family to trade gifts and laugh with. This was a real Christmas.

And Bucky knew that which was exactly why he wasn't going to push me to stay out at the house a little while longer. Besides, we would have the rest of our lives to hang out in solitude. Sort of. I had a feeling we wouldn't get much time alone between Howard, Peggy, Chester, Steve, and the guys. I wrapped an arm protectively around Bucky's back as we stared up at the house for a moment. It wasn't much right now, but it was a wonderful present. The knowledge that I would finally be able to have the retirement I had always wanted and never thought I would be able to have.

It was a little hard to look away from the house and return to our active life on the base, but eventually, we had to take off. I built up the pressure behind us and shot into the air. As per usual, Bucky was screaming his head off. He would never like flying - as much as he tried to pretend he didn't mind it - which meant I enjoyed scaring him. We made our ascent into the air at near supersonic speed. If it weren't for the air bubble I had created around his head he wouldn't have been able to breathe. I figured I would at least save him that concern.

We made our way through midair watching the traffic rush below us. People trying to get to and from relative's houses I assumed. It wouldn't take long to get there at the rate we were going. Bucky probably wanted us to get there faster as he was now turning slightly greenish tinge. This wasn't something he would ever like. But he tolerated it for me. We flew together for a few moments before landing back in London on the cobblestone streets outside the base. The street was crowded with people who were going about their own Christmas plans.

Many of them had to flee when they saw us hit the ground to avoid being trampled as Bucky stumbled forward. My balance was near-perfect but he was about to hit the ground. I smiled and reached over to him, linking our hands to try and help keep Bucky steady. Before heading to the bar we did have to make a quick pit stop at our bedroom. We needed a moment to gather our things before making our way out to the gardens to have lunch with everyone and exchange presents. Having a while alone was great considering we would be spending the rest of the day surrounded by the others.

As we wandered back into our bedroom we began gathering everything. We both had our presents for the men, Howard, Peggy, Chester, and Steve. Making sure he couldn't see me, I also gathered my present for Bucky. It was rather comical watching the other try to balance their presents as we made our way out to the garden and the fountains. The very place where Bucky had proposed to me exactly one year ago. Unsurprisingly, we were the last ones to arrive. Everyone else was already sitting on the blankets and chatting away happily.

I darted forward and did a dive roll forward onto the blanket next to Peggy, who jumped and scowled at my sudden appearance. Everyone else laughed. "Merry Christmas, everyone!" I cheered.

"Merry Christmas!" everyone cheered together.

Bucky walked up and took his spot on the blankets in a much less interesting way. I smiled as he took a seat next to Steve. "Where were you two all morning?" Chester asked from my other side.

Had someone come looking for us? Were we about to start another argument over how we spent our nights - and sometimes days - together. To my surprise, Howard grinned. "Showing off the Christmas present, I hope?" he asked Bucky.

"He was," I answered for him.

"What was that?" Dum Dum asked curiously.

"Oh, don't worry," I said, waving him off carelessly. "I'm sure you'll all see it soon enough."

They all laughed, knowing I wasn't going to go into detail. That would be a story for another time. In the meantime, we started chowing down on our lunches. We had all brought sandwiches and sides (mashed potatoes for me) to have as we enjoyed our time together, chatting and laughing as we harassed each other. Thankfully, Peggy had brought Bucky and I some sandwiches as she had apparently known that we wouldn't be around to make ourselves lunch in the morning as everyone else had.

This was one of the rare moments of happiness we could have. Especially seeing as we were all going to be having a tough next month or so. After the holidays we were going to be stuck planning the attack on Zola's train almost twenty-four seven. We had one shot to get it right and couldn't screw it up. So, it was good to have this brief moment of happiness before we had to focus all of our efforts elsewhere. We would have the week to ourselves and a brief break again on New Year's where we would be able to enjoy ourselves again.

It wasn't long before we started trading our presents. We were all excited to see what the others had bought and get to exchange our presents. I looked around at the others with a smile. I had wanted everyone else to go first. Perhaps it was because I liked just watching the others get a moment to open their presents. I liked the smiles on their faces as they laughed and exchanged hugs with the present-giver, especially considering I had gone through most of my life without getting to see a real Christmas like this one.

Everyone looked so happy as they exchanged the silly things they had all been getting each other. No one had spent too much money this year as we were all a little too busy to get a chance to look around. Plus, no one had been paid that well while we were here. It wouldn't take us long to run out of money if we were going all-out for each other. In Peggy and I's case, we weren't being paid at all. Chester was the one funding our lives. It was almost twenty minutes before I finally got my chance to give my gifts and get them in return.

I started by exchanging my presents with Dum Dum. He had bought me a pair of fingerless leather gloves that would go perfectly with my uniform. They would be a welcome addition to the uniform. I just had to be careful to not accidentally burn through them. I'd gotten him some suede fabric cleaner for his hat collection. It drove me nuts how often they would fall apart because he didn't know how to care for them properly. Not to mention I would kill him if he ruined the gloves I'd gotten for him last Christmas.

Gabe's present had come as a bit of a surprise. He had bought me a black silk scarf that I had once absentmindedly commented I liked as we had been walking through the streets one night. I hadn't even thought he'd heard me. I had bought him a pair of leather boots he had mentioned he'd wanted a few weeks ago. I had bought Jim the top-shelf bottle of liquor he was always talking about with Howard's assistance. Jim had bought me a new crystal decanter after he'd accidentally and drunkenly shattered my old one a few weeks ago.

Jacques had gotten me some more new theology books after I had complained that I'd had nothing to read. The two of us frequently visited a used bookshop on the corner and pointed out books we wanted to one day read. I had bought him a first edition French book he'd once mentioned he loved as a child. James had bought him a cookbook as a joke. I laughed and chucked the leather-bound book back at him. I'd bought him a gold pendant with the British flag on it that he could rest on his lapel to remember where he was from.

Howard had bought me a small diamond bracelet. It was beautiful. The diamonds sparkled with every turn I made of the wrist. It was the nicest present someone had bought me - save the engagement ring from Bucky, though that hadn't technically been a present. I had a feeling even Howard's present had been more expensive. I rolled my eyes at the sight of the bracelet, knowing that it was extremely expensive. I'd asked Howard had much it cost but he'd merely snapped at me to thank him, which I did begrudgingly.

I'd bought Howard a pair of cuff links that were engraved with my triple claw marks. They were gold and had been funded by Chester, as usual. Howard grinned, immediately going to change them out. Chester had given me a framed picture of our entire group at the bar last Christmas. I realized in the picture that Bucky must have just proposed to me. I hadn't even noticed the picture being taken. I smiled at him and handed over his present - a gold band engraved with the words 'Condemnant quo non intellegunt.'

Chester smiled, placing the band on his wrist. "What does it mean?" he asked me.

"They condemn that which they do not understand," I told him.

He laughed gently. "Perfect."

Peggy gifted me a beautiful necklace that she explained had once been a gift from her brother - the very one she'd lost. It had blue gems that lined the throat. I instantly knew what it was. It was my something borrowed and something blue. I was nearly in tears as I gave Peggy my gift. An engraved necklace with a hollow channel through it. To the naked eye, it looked like a simple light glowing through it. But we both knew what it was. My flames protected in the crystal casing. They glittered a reddish-gold in the dim light of the gardens.

Then I moved on to Steve. He handed me a picture frame. The picture inside was from the day he was turned into Captain America. The date was engraved in the bottom of the frame. Much of the background of the image was blurry. All I could make out was Steve sitting in the chamber and myself standing over him, my hand laid firmly on his shoulder. I smiled as I handed him my present. It was a holster that could be added onto his utility belt that had my three claw marks engraved on it. Steve smiled at the present.

"Well, I'd count that mostly as a success," I said happily, leaning back against the grass.

"Because you got the most expensive presents," Jim pointed out.

I laughed quietly. "How many times have I saved your life?" I snapped.

"And I'll be forever grateful for it, love," Jim told me.

He leaned down and pressed a small kiss against my cheek. I smiled at him as I turned toward Bucky and pulled something out of my pocket. "How about your present?" I asked him.

Bucky raised a brow curiously. "You got something?"

"I did. Do you want to see it?"

A smile turned up on his mouth. "Do you even have to ask?"

No. Of course, he didn't have to ask. I knew he wanted to see it. I smiled at Bucky again as I handed him over the small box that had been in my pocket. Bucky laughed quietly as he took the box and popped it open. It was very ordinary-looking at first. Just a small stone. He lifted it from the box and put it up to the light. He stared at it for a long time as he noticed the golden waves moving through it. There was no doubt that the stone was beautiful and it was very clear that he loved it judging by the smile on his face.

"What is it?" Bucky asked curiously, resting a hand on my knee.

"It's the radiation," I answered. Bucky glanced over and smiled, rolling the crystal in his hand. "Howard helped me figure out how to crystallize it in a protective casing. The radiation inside is still alive though. I just... I figured that there might come a time that I can't be near you for your own protection. At least now you'll always have me. In some way."

"It's beautiful," Bucky said.

"I'm glad you like it," I told him.

My presents weren't always the best but I was glad to give him this one. Bucky pressed a small kiss against my mouth as the others laughed. But we didn't care. We both waved them off as we exchanged an even longer kiss. I could tell that Chester wasn't thrilled but I also knew that he wasn't going to tell us to stop. More than anything, he was just happy to see how happy I was. The happiest I'd ever been. Here in London with my family enjoying a holiday that I'd never really gotten to enjoy before.

A little while later, after we had all put our presents away in our rooms and gotten back to the bar, we were now all ready to go dancing for the night. Well, I didn't exactly want to go dancing, but I had a feeling I would get dragged into it. The bar was more crowded tonight than it had been for the rest of the year. This was one of the rare moments where everyone got to step back from their work and enjoy themselves. For now, we got to pretend there was no war. I watched the guys play darts from my spot at the bar with a smile on my face.

It was about an hour after we had arrived at the base when Chester walked up to my side, resting a hand against my forearm. "How about a dance?" he offered, pointing out to the dance floor.

"I've never seen you dance," I told him, laughing quietly.

"Figured I should at least practice before your wedding where I'm sure you'll be making me do the father-daughter dance," Chester teased.

We both chuckled quietly. "You don't have to if you really don't want to."

"I do," Chester said, shaking his head. "You deserve to finally have one."

The two of us exchanged a happy smile. It felt like he was really my father at moments like these. Chester took one of my hands and rested the other at my waist. Neither one of us were particularly fantastic dancers but I supposed that was what made this sweet. The simple fact that we were together. I smiled up at Chester as I rested a hand on his shoulder, gently shifting back and forth with him in the middle of the dance floor. We danced in circles around the floor for a while as I caught sight of Bucky and Peggy chatting animatedly with Steve.

"I'm sorry, kid," Chester said guiltily, meeting my eyes.

"About the wedding?" I asked.

"Yes," Chester said.

I'd known he felt guilty about the entire thing but I didn't want him to. I'd agreed to it. "It's alright. It's not, I mean," I said quickly. Chester nodded understandingly. "But it's only a few days. What are a few days compared to the rest of his life? Nothing. As important as the wedding is to me, some things are more important in the grand scheme of things. This is one of those things."

"That's a mature stance to take," Chester said.

That was what I aimed for, though it rarely worked. "Trust me, I had some very immature thoughts when you first told us," I said. Chester laughed at me. "I'm not happy about this but I'm okay with it."

"Once we catch Zola it won't take long for the rest of the plan to fall into place," Chester said.

"Hey," I interrupted, knowing he was about to go off on a tangent.

"What?"

"It's Christmas. Can we not talk about this today?"

A small smile turned up on Chester's face. "Of course."

So, we tilted back and forth for a while. I looked up at him and smiled. Even as I had to watch the floor to ensure I didn't stumble over my own feet, Chester was easily able to keep his balance. "You never told me that you were a good dancer," I told him.

"My mother made me take lessons when I was a kid," Chester explained.

"Back when the dinosaurs roamed the earth?" I teased.

Chester scowled down at me. "You're hilarious," he snapped. I giggled softly. We spun together for a few more moments as Chester's gaze tracked back to Bucky. "That was a nice present you gave him."

I shrugged. "Just like last year, his was better. He brought me to the house."

Chester smiled. "I've seen pictures. It looks like it's coming along."

"Yeah. It's going to be so beautiful when it's done," I said.

"May I cut in?"

Both Chester and I glanced up to see Bucky standing at our side. I glanced back at Chester, who had already released my back. "Of course," Chester told Bucky, smiling back at me. "Merry Christmas, brat."

"Merry Christmas, old man," I replied. We both smiled at each other as Chester leaned down and pressed a kiss against my temple. He walked off a moment later, jovially patting Bucky on the back as he passed. Bucky smiled as he took my hand and stepped into Chester's place. I smiled up at him. "You know that this will probably be the last time we dance until we're married?"

"Good," Bucky said, grinning down at me.

We both smiled as I glanced up, noticing that Steve and Peggy's conversation seemed to have dissipated. Now they were just sitting together awkwardly. "What's going on over there?" I asked curiously.

Bucky snorted in amusement. "Oh, I've been trying to get Steve to go talk to Peggy tonight. They're talking but there still doesn't seem to be any forward movement on getting them to dance together," he explained.

"We'll see," I said deviously.

As Steve went to walk past us, I rolled my eyes. I wasn't having any more of the two of them dancing around their feelings for each other. They were going to have to do something about themselves. I raised my hand and brought up a gust of wind, throwing a wooden chair out in front of him. Steve collapsed into it, grunting slightly in surprise. Peggy looked up from her glass of wine in surprise. Steve looked shocked at the turn of events but I knew he wouldn't get up and leave. That would have been rude and he had never been one to be rude.

"Say something!" I hissed into his mind.

"Hi," Steve told Peggy dumbly.

"Not that..." I groaned.

"Get out of my head!" Steve's voice barked back into my mind.

"Hello," Peggy replied to Steve, placing her glass of wine back on the bar. "Are you alright?"

"What?" Steve asked, looking up at her. She looked baffled at what had happened. "Yes, uh, yeah, I'm fine. How are you?"

Both Bucky and I laughed as I tucked my head into his shoulder. Maybe this would finally get them to have their dance. "You know that he's going to yell at you for that later," Bucky told me.

"Good thing I know how to shut him up," I said, my eyes sparkling slightly. We both laughed again as I scanned through the bar, spotting the small window at the back. "Look! It's snowing."

Bucky smiled. "Come on."

The snow was always so lovely. I didn't love the icy weather but I did love snow. It was beautiful. Bucky wrapped a hand around my own and pulled me out toward the street. We both giggled quietly as we stumbled out onto the empty street. There were some lights in the distance that glittered off the snow, making everything ten times more beautiful. I reached my arms out to the sky as the flakes fell against my skin. I let the flames rise to just underneath my skin and watched the snowflakes sizzle against my arms and shoulders.

Bucky's voice echoed just over the music drifting out from the bar. "You look beautiful."

My eyes sprang open as I looked back at him. "Come dance with me," I said, holding my hand out to him.

"Okay," Bucky said.

A wide smile formed on his lips as he ran up to me and gently nudged me back a few steps through the snow. I laughed excitedly as I nearly lost my balance. Bucky pressed a hand behind my back and shifted us around in massive circles through the thin layer of snow. We were dancing like morons as I threw my head back, laughing madly. Bucky took my hand and spun me around underneath his arm as he wrapped it back around my own back, keeping us practically glued together. He leaned down to press another gentle kiss against my mouth.

"They're going to come looking for us," Bucky commented, looking into my eyes.

I laughed. "I don't care."

And I truly didn't. As long as we were together, I couldn't have cared less. Bucky and I spent a long time together, dancing through the snow and chuckling at our stupidity. It was a while later that we meandered back into the bar for their annual toast. We got to watch as Howard made a toast for our group and Dum Dum drunkenly started a sing-along. It didn't take long for us to slip out of the bar - thankfully unnoticed - and back to our room. That night would officially be the last Christmas we would spend together as a non-married couple.

A week later we were back with the rest of the team celebrating New Year's together. We were back at the bar and laughing madly as we waited for the countdown to the New Year. It was a holiday that I had never thought much of before. It had always seemed so pointless during my years with Stryker. It wasn't a time to start over. It was just the continuation of some horrible life I had been doomed to. It had never felt like a rebirth until I had managed to find my way back to Steve and Bucky.

Things felt different now. Now when the New Year came, we would have something new to celebrate. We would officially be enjoying a new life together. This was the year that we would finally end the fight against Hydra. This was the year Bucky and I would finally get married. This was the year I would permanently move to England. This was the year that my life would finally begin. With those thoughts in mind, I was suddenly overcome with emotion. For the first time in a long time, everything felt right.

Bucky startled me slightly as he walked up to my side, handing me a glass of red wine. "For you," he said.

"Thank you," I said, grabbing the glass and taking a small sip. My eyes slowly traced up to the massive clock on the wall. "Well, we have sixty seconds left in nineteen forty-four. What should we do with them?"

Bucky glanced down at me and smiled. "How about we make a promise?"

"Oh, yeah? What promise would that be?" I asked curiously.

"This year was the first year in almost a decade that we were together for the entire thing," Bucky said. We both nodded sadly. It had been far too long since we'd gotten to be together. "And I forgot how fantastic that felt. I forgot how much I hated being away from you. I don't want that feeling to ever go away. Today, I promise you that I will never let that happen again."

"You won't ever leave me again?" I asked him quietly.

Bucky shook his head, pressing a kiss against the back of my hand. "Never. Even when I'm gone, I'll always be here."

He reached up to press his open palm over my heart. I smiled at him as I took a hand and placed it over his, holding his palm up against my heart. "And I'll always hold you here," I whispered.

Bucky smiled, pressing a kiss against my temple. "This is the year that I've been waiting for since I was eleven-years-old."

"I've been waiting for this year since I was born," I breathed.

"Then I'm glad you have it," Bucky said.

In the meantime, the countdown had begun. "Three! Two! One!"

As the cheers erupted around us, I smiled up at Bucky. "Happy New Year," I said quietly.

"Best year of our lives," Bucky said.

"Yeah," I agreed.

It certainly would be. There wasn't a doubt in my mind. We looped our arms through each other's as we tilted our glasses back and exchanged a drink. I took a small sip of my wine as Bucky drained a bit of his whiskey. Once we had dropped our arms from each other we turned and briefly raised our glasses to the others. They responded to the gesture as I turned back to Bucky. We both smiled at each other as he rested a hand underneath my chin and tilted my mouth up to meet his in a long kiss. Yes, I was positive that this was going to be the best year of our lives.

A/N: Just so you're all aware, I am fudging the timeline very slightly here - just by a couple of days. It'll make more sense in the next few chapters. I appreciate the patience on the update considering I was having some health problems. Thankfully, they've been taken care of and now it's just about the healing process. As always, thank you for the follows and favorites! Please review! Until next time -A

Guest: Thank you! I know, I'm missing Cato and Aspen too! I promise I'll get back to them soon!

.witch: I'm so glad you loved the last chapter! I'm glad that you can see them helping other mutants since that's such a big part of who Victoria is. Sorry about the delay on this chapter but I hope you liked it!

Go2 Tamaka: I'm so happy that you were excited when you saw the last update! I really do love writing this story and I try so hard to keep updates here regular. I'm so glad you loved the last chapter! Yeah, the feels certainly are going to be coming into play over the next few chapters. I can't promise mercy but I do promise the next chapter won't take as long as this one did!

SomebodyWhoCares: Isn't Bucky just adorable?

.2019: Thank you!

LoveBuckyAndHawkeye: I'm not a native French speaker but I'll do my best to translate that to English! Thank you for the well-wishes! Hope you enjoyed this one!

kuppcake: Thank you! I'm feeling a bit better, just getting through the healing process now.