They barely slept that first night, making love for hours. In the morning Julia got up early to see to Rebecca, content to let Bucky sleep but when he awoke shortly after and she wasn't in bed he got up as well. He came downstairs to find Julia inserting photographs into the photo album, "assisted" by Rebecca, who sat on top of the kitchen counter.
"My two favourite girls," he announced as he stepped off the last stair. "My baby girl, Rebecca and my best girl, Julia."
He kissed both of them. Rebecca gave him a sloppy kiss back which he and Julia beamed at.
"Dada, look," she said, waving a photograph around. "Pitchers."
"It's been a while since I updated this so I thought I could get it done before you got up," said Julia, also giving him a return kiss. "You weren't supposed to get up right away."
"And how much sleep did you get?" he asked, rubbing her back. "We kind of made up for lost time last night. You must be exhausted."
She shook her head. "You're home," she replied. "That energizes me. How did it go, or are you allowed to tell me?"
"Well, technically no, I'm not supposed to tell you anything," he stated, "especially that the first person we arrested was the man who ordered the kidnapping. Nor am I supposed to tell you the last man we arrested led us to a HYDRA training and serum making facility which we destroyed so I think we did really well. If there are any sizeable HYDRA cells left they're deep underground. We'll get them all someday. Anything from Rick Garcia?"
"Mason is pleading guilty," she said with a gleam in her eye. "Since the arrest was announced there have been quite a few women that reported similar assaults. About half of them reported it to the police at the time and they have even more evidence against him. He'll never get out of prison."
Bucky hugged Julia and kissed the top of her head. "Good riddance to bad rubbish," he said. "You know, after we met, and you told me about him accusing you of fraud I just had a feeling that there was something driving him to be so cruel to you. Really, he was afraid you would out him. He knew that your abilities would reveal his crimes. I think he married you to keep his enemy close. You know that saying?"
"Keep your friends close and your enemies closer?" she replied. "You're likely right. That's the last I'm going to say about him. He's not part of my life anymore."
"That's my girl," said Bucky with a smile. "Have either of you eaten yet? What do you say we go out for breakfast? Let someone else cook and clean up."
While Julia got herself and Rebecca ready Bucky stepped over to the Devin's house to see where they were on it. Jason was in the kitchen and unlocked the deck door when he saw Bucky through the window.
"You're back!" he said. "Long mission. You accomplished your objectives?"
"We did, thanks," replied Bucky, looking around. "You're almost done and it looks great. What's left?"
"Appliance installation, some finishing carpentry, and some painting," replied Jason. "Come on up to see the bathrooms."
Both men went upstairs to the master ensuite and main bathroom. Bucky nodded his approval of them. The powder room on the main floor was also finished as was a laundry room that hadn't been on the original plans. Jason explained that Lydia asked if it was possible to relocate the laundry from the lower floor to the main, just so she wasn't using as many stairs once they retired. They took some space from the garage to do it.
"Julia said her grandpa built that garage as it was originally the cabin he and his wife lived in," said Jason. "I have to say the man did a great job. That structure was solid."
"I wish I had known him," said Bucky. "By all accounts he was a remarkable man."
"We found this in the wall," said Jason, coming out to the kitchen and opening a cupboard pulling something out of it. It was a framed picture of a young man and woman with their arms around each other. "I think they put it in there as a talisman. You know, that they would always be there. We were going to give it to Lydia and Bill. It was her dad. She was the baby of the family."
Bucky gave out a short breath. He did recognize the man. Clarence Wallis. Tall, skinny, and looking like he was too young to be anywhere near a war, which he was as he had lied about his age. Bucky looked at Jason.
"Can I take this for a short time?" he asked. "I'll give it back. Just a memory I have about a guy who looked just like this."
"Yeah, sure," said Jason, looking slightly puzzled. "Let me know what you find out."
Bucky took it with him and seeing that Julia wasn't downstairs yet he put it in the bookcase behind some of his books. He would do some careful questioning of her before showing her the picture. She came down the stairs and they headed out to the breakfast place. Several people hailed him, knowing he had been away on a mission. He waved back, opened his menu and picked out the biggest breakfast they had, with a couple of extra sides. Julia smiled at him and chose Eggs Benedict for herself. She chose the children's scrambled egg and pancakes for Rebecca. Smiling at each other they both had a drink of coffee.
"You were a long time over at my parent's place," she said. "I saw you come back through the window. You were carrying something."
Bucky shook his head with a smile. "You're so observant," he said. "It's a picture of your grandparents when they were young. Jason found it inside the wall of the garage when they installed the laundry room there for your Mom. I always thought it was your Dad's dad that built it but Jason said it was your Mom's dad."
"Yeah, it was," said Julia. "I'm sorry if I misled you. He left it to my mom and her brothers but Dad actually bought them out when the brothers wanted to sell it. There's something else that you're not saying."
"Bear with me," said Bucky. "Your Grandpa, he was from San Francisco but he was deployed in Europe? San Francisco army units tended to be deployed in the Pacific, except for the Nissei, the second generation Japanese Americans who enlisted."
"I didn't know that," said Julia. "Grandpa always talked about being in Europe during the war. It was a German sniper that took out his leg."
Bucky suddenly had a flashback and remembered the day Clarence Wallis lost his leg. He shook his head to clear the memory and Julia looked at him strangely. He looked at her and took a deep breath.
"I wasn't always a Howling Commando," he began. "When I enlisted I was assigned to the 107th Infantry Regiment. We were part of the New York Army National Guard. I showed an aptitude for marksmanship so I got additional training to be a sniper and was made a Sergeant. It meant I had responsibilities for the welfare of the men in our unit. I came out of the mess hall one day. We were still in Italy at that time, the fall of 1943. Saw two big guys beating up a tall, skinny kid. I intervened since I didn't like bullies. They accused him of cowardice. I sent them on their way and kneeled down to this kid, with a bloody nose, asking his name. Clarence Wallis, he said." Julia gave out a gasp and Bucky looked sideways at her. "Yeah, I had the same reaction when I saw him in that picture. I asked him if he was a coward, not because I thought he was, but honestly, he looked way too young to be in an army uniform. He said no, that he wanted to fight but that the last battle they were in was so overwhelming that he got scared, hid in a barn and cried. Then I asked him how old he was ... the truth. He told me he was just turned 17. I wanted to turn him in right then and there but he begged me to give him a chance to show he was up to the task. So, I spoke to the Sergeant of his unit, a Philadelphia unit, meaning your Grandpa travelled across the country, lied about his age and signed up with a unit on the other side of the country. We filled out the paper work to transfer him to my unit, where I figured I could at least keep an eye on him."
"So you knew my Grandpa," she said, with wonder. "That's so incredible."
"I made him my spotter," said Bucky. "He would search out my target and tell me where they were then I'd line them up in my scope and take them out. I figured if he stuck close to me he'd be away from most of the artillery and heavy shooting that likely rattled him. We were in a small town in northern Italy, in the bell tower of a church. Our unit had half the village and the Germans had the other half. Both sides were playing this cat and mouse game."
He was interrupted by the arrival of their food and they both started eating their meals. After a time Julia asked Bucky to resume.
"I'm in this bell tower with Clarence and we're trying to take out any German that moves," continued Bucky. "We must have been doing a good job because suddenly we're being targeted with a lot of rifle fire. German snipers used a Karabiner 98k, a very good design. In 1942 they came out with a grenade launcher attachment for it. It's range was limited meaning the sniper had to be a lot closer for it to be effective. While we were pinned down the sniper got closer and fired. Clarence saw the flash and pushed me out of the way. He wasn't so lucky and his left shin was shattered. Even injured as badly as he was he told me where the sniper was and I took him out."
Bucky stopped, took a breath, then had some more food and a drink.
"He saved your life," stated Julia. "He never said anything about that."
"I'm not surprised," said Bucky. "Before he got injured he just wanted to do his duty and get through the war unscathed. I applied a tourniquet and gave him some morphine then I carried him on my back to the aid station. They transferred him to an army hospital where they amputated the rest of his leg below the knee and prepared to send him home. I went to see him before he shipped out and he looked like the scared 17 year old he was instead of the 19 year old he claimed to be. He was upset, obviously, having lost his leg and despaired of ever making something of himself."
"What did you tell him?" asked Julia.
"I told him to go back home, find a nice girl, a good quiet job, and get busy living," said Bucky. "He still didn't believe he had it in him. So I leaned in close and I told him that I was terrified of dying all the time. He was going home and I had a fear I would never get home. I told him to grab life by the balls and hold on. A month later I was captured by HYDRA and they performed the first part of the treatment to turn me into a winter soldier. A year and a few months later I fell and HYDRA had me for the next 70 years. I never made it home."
"If he hadn't lost his leg he might have been captured by HYDRA as well," noted Julia. "Instead, he met Grandma, found his dream job and built a house here."
"And his daughter married your dad, they had you, and we met in that very house," said Bucky. "Maybe that was karma, rewarding me for intervening so long ago when two bullies were beating up a scared kid. The weirdest thing is that I remember all of it. So many of my memories during the war are fragmented by the memory treatment HYDRA subjected me to but I remember everything about your Grandpa."
He looked at Julia and even though she was smiling he could see the beginning of tears in her eyes. Putting his hand on hers he squeezed it. Then he went back to finishing his meal. When they arrived back home he pulled the picture out from the book case and they looked at it together. Julia took a picture of it on her cell phone. Then he went back to Jason and told him the story. He asked Jason to let him tell Lydia.
The following weekend when Jason did the walk through with Bill and Lydia he showed them the picture of her parents. Then he told them to talk to Bucky about it, refusing to say anymore about it. They returned to the house where Bucky was helping Julia get lunch ready.
"Jason said you have a story to tell about this picture of my parents," said Lydia, puzzled. "What's going on?"
"The story goes better with food, Mom," said Julia. "Wait until we start lunch then Bucky will tell you."
Lydia was almost beside herself when they finally sat down and Bucky started to tell the story. Both she and Bill listened spell bound as he described meeting her father, feeling responsible for him and then treating him when he was injured. He repeated his advice to Clarence and then he sat back, continuing to eat his lunch.
"That is just too much to be a coincidence," said Bill. "I mean, what are the chances that you would end up marrying Clarence's granddaughter and living next door to the house he built?"
Lydia was quiet for a moment then she looked at Bucky with emotion. "You're Sarge. He talked about you and you're the reason all of my siblings and my kids had names starting with J," she said. "I know I'm Lydia but that's only because in school there was another Jennifer and the teacher asked me to go by Lydia, my middle name. My oldest brother was named James, after you, followed by Jasper, and Joseph."
"You named your cat after your uncle?" Bucky asked Julia, trying not to laugh.
"Both redheads," replied Julia. "Plus the mineral Jasper is orangey red so I kind of named him after that as well."
"He looked for you, you know," said Lydia. "He knew you were from Brooklyn and he tried to find you there after the war. I guess he thought you would always be with the 107th. I don't think he thought the Bucky Barnes with the Howling Commandos was you. It would have devastated him to find out you died."
"He was a good kid," said Bucky. "He was just too young to handle war. I'm not surprised he became a park ranger. This area is still fairly quiet and laid back."
"Well, to me that just proves you were meant to come here, meant to meet Julia, and meant to live here," said Bill. "Speaking of which, I've set the date of my retirement. January 1st. We'll move here over the Christmas holidays as I'll be taking that time off. We're selling the house in San Francisco."
"Mom, does that mean you're retiring as well?" asked Julia.
"Yes, I'm retiring as well," she repeated, smiling. "We'll give you two your space, except if you want a baby sitter, then we'll be over here as much as you want us."
"Well, congratulations," said Bucky. "Now that you've fixed up the house the time to enjoy it is sooner rather than later. I can take some things back into the house today if you don't want to wait for the family to come and do it."
Bucky's offer was accepted and he began emptying the garage by himself putting furniture where Lydia directed him. They decided to sell some things and replace them with furniture they would bring from their house once it sold. Those items were left in the garage in anticipation of a garage sale later in the fall. By noon Sunday everything Bill and Lydia wanted back in the house was in place. After lunch they packed their bags for the return drive to San Francisco and stood outside the house saying goodbye to Julia, Bucky and Rebecca.
"We'll be back in three weeks for the birthday party," said Lydia. "Do you need anything brought from the city?"
"Just yourselves," replied Julia.
"Bucky, thank you for sharing that story about my Dad," commented Lydia as she hugged him. "I still can't believe the connection."
"I'm just glad Clarence ended up doing something he loved," answered Bucky. "He was so young but a lesser man wouldn't have married your Mom, and wouldn't have built something that has lasted as well as that cabin."
As her parents pulled out of the driveway Julia put her arm around Bucky's waist and squeezed him. He was holding Rebecca and put her down on the ground. Offering her his hand she grasped it tightly and began to walk with him. Then she put her hand out to Julia and walked back towards the house between her parents. Suddenly she pulled away from both of them and walked the final five feet of the walkway by herself. As she fell forward Bucky's reflexes kicked in and he scooped her up into his arms before she fell onto the concrete surface.
"Look who's becoming a big girl," he laughed. "It's too bad your parents weren't here to see it."
"I'm sure she'll be walking circles around everyone on her birthday," exclaimed Julia. "She's growing up so fast. Which leads to a question. When do you want to start trying for the next one?"
She was walking into the kitchen when that question came out and turned around leaning on the kitchen island gazing at Bucky. He looked back at her, expecting an indicator that she was joking but she was serious.
"You're serious?" he asked. "If this were the 1940s you would probably already be pregnant. With birth control we can space them out a bit which suits me fine."
"But when?" asked Julia again. "I'm not trying to back you into a corner, Bucky. I just want to know how close together you want our kids."
He took a big breath and let it out then focussed on Rebecca. "Two years apart? Three years?" he offered. "I'm good with whatever works for you. Are you happy being a stay at home mom? You haven't done any police consulting for a while. Do you want to get back into it? Really, Julia, whatever you want is fine with me."
She came up to him and put her arms around him. "And I'm fine with whatever you want," she smiled. "As for consulting, I'm not ready to get back into it. I do like being at home with Rebecca but I'm finding that I need more to fill my days. I thought maybe another baby would fit the bill."
Bucky licked his lips and studied Julia's face. This was unexpected but also somewhat gratifying to his ego. "You're appealing to the part of me that would like a houseful of kids," he said truthfully. "But I think of you as more than a baby maker." He turned away for a moment then turned back to her. "Can we wait and space the next one out a little longer? Say two years? As for something to fill your days have you thought of getting involved in a mother / baby program? I've been asked a few times if you're involved in one and I can't answer because I don't know."
"I've thought of that as well," she admitted. "I guess part of it is getting past my own discomfort with new experiences. If we're going to time the next one to be born in another year that means I should get my IUD out in about 3 months, give or take a couple of weeks. I'm okay with that."
"So am I," replied Bucky gratefully, then he kissed her. "You're not disappointed?"
"No, I'm not," she insisted. "I really did just want an idea of when you wanted to start trying."
Rebecca started squirming and asked to be let down. She went to her toy box in the corner of the living room and they both relocated there so they could watch her. Bucky's phone rang at that moment and he saw it was Sam, who asked him to put it on speaker.
"Are you both there?" he asked.
"We're both here," said Bucky. "What's going on?"
"Do you think you could make a visit to Alabama in April?" he asked. "Anna said yes. We're thinking April for the wedding in Mobile. I want you to be my best man."
"Sam, that's fantastic!" exclaimed Julia. "When did you ask her?"
"About an hour ago, on the boat," he replied. "She was helping me with the catch and I just asked her straight up if she would marry me. Good thing I've been carrying the ring around since I got back."
"Congratulations Sam," said Bucky, genuinely happy for him. "Is Anna there now?"
"She's on the phone with her Mama," he answered. "There's some tears involved. You're still having a birthday party for Rebecca?"
"Three weeks from today," replied Bucky. "You're still coming? Anna is welcome as well."
"That was the idea," said Sam. "I'll get a rental car so you don't have to come to the airport. I have to make a couple of more calls. See you soon, okay?"
They ended the call and Bucky looked happily at Julia.
"Well, that worked out well," said Bucky. "I'm so happy for him. How did you know Anna was the right one for him?"
"I didn't," replied Julia. "When I first told her about him she was intrigued but then he didn't come back until that Christmas. This is entirely on them for keeping it going since then. You're not expecting me to find someone for Yelena when she and Thor visit next week are you?"
"No," said Bucky, giving her a look. "She's too intense. I just wanted her to come stay with us so she could learn how to relax. You could do girl's night with her at the bar. I'm good to stay home and babysit."
"Actually, I have a babysitter lined up for a couple of nights already," said Julia. "Jed Andrews and his wife are thinking of trying for a baby. They said they would babysit Rebecca if we wanted to get out."
Rebecca brought a book over to Bucky and he picked her up, put her on his lap and began reading to her. Julia snapped a picture of them on her cell phone and watched the two together. He really was a good dad. If he said he wanted to start trying right away for the next baby she would have had the IUD removed the following day. Part of her was surprised he wanted to wait, even if it was just a few more months. She thought of her own concerns about having a baby especially when she was still married to Mason. Until she had Rebecca she didn't know whether she had what it took to be a good mother considering her Asperger's diagnosis. The voice of the paediatrician was still in Julia's memories as she remembered him telling her mother that she would never be able to hold down a job, never get married, and never have children because she couldn't form emotional bonds. Thank goodness her parents didn't listen to him. They showered her with attention and affection as did her sister, brothers, and grandparents. Bucky made her feel like no one else did and she began wanting a child with him even before they got engaged. A smile must have crossed her face at that moment because he looked up from reading to Rebecca and he smiled his full smile at her. He motioned with his head to come and sit with them and she snuggled up to both of them as Rebecca asked him to read the book again. His normal life was also her normal life and in her heart Julia knew that no other man could have given her such a gift.