Warning: Sexual content
It had taken two days to finally get back to Lake Tahoe and when he arrived the house was dark. The delays in loading the Hercules aircraft had pushed their takeoff back for more than ten hours. Bucky had phoned Julia while he was waiting and told her not to wait up for him, insisting that he would be fine. When he opened the door Jasper was waiting in the dark for him and he bent down to scratch the big cat behind his ears.
"Hey there trouble," he said in a low voice. "Did you take care of Mom while I was gone?"
Jasper trilled an answer and Bucky smiled. Pulling his shoes off he silently went up the stairs and carefully opened the bedroom door, depositing his go bag on the chair, followed by his clothes. Seeing that Julia had a nightgown on he kept his T-shirt and briefs on then carefully got into bed next to her. She sighed in her sleep and reached out for him, pulling herself closer.
"You're finally back," she said in a whisper. "I missed you."
"I missed you too, baby," he whispered back, kissing her forehead.
The scent of her hair reached his nostrils and he could feel a small surge in his groin. She must have sensed it because her hand reached up under his shirt and caressed his chest. He gave out a light groan and he could see her smile in the dark. Sleepily sitting up she pulled her nightgown off, while he pulled his shirt off. Laying on top of him she kissed him sensuously and he knew he wasn't going to be able to resist her. Wrapping his arms around her he caressed her back as he kissed her in return, then mouthed the soft parts of her neck just under her ear. Reaching down to her panties he slipped his flesh hand under and squeezed one of her cheeks, pressing himself upwards into her as he did so.
"Oh Bucky," she whispered, more awake now. "I missed your touch."
Rolling so she was under him he pulled her panties off. They both kissed and caressed each other, making soft moaning noises as they became more and more aroused. Slowly he entered her, pressing himself deeply into her as he kissed and mouthed her neck and upper body. The touch of her hands on his skin had been sorely missed when they were apart and he placed his hand on hers when she was touching him in a way he liked. More than once he looked intently at Julia, at the way her mouth opened slightly when she gasped with arousal. As they both approached their climax her cries became more desperate until she raised her hips into his, signalling her bliss. When she pulled his face to hers he knew she was done and he slowed down, drawing out the sensation for both of them until he came down from his high. Laying on top of her, supported by his elbows he kissed her neck and mouth softly, receiving the same in return before he rolled onto his side and placed his hand on her breasts. She turned to look at him.
"What a wonderful way to welcome you home," she said softly, while stroking his face.
"What a wonderful way to wake you up," he replied, placing his hand on hers then kissing her palm.
"I want to sleep now," she said, slightly slurring her words. "Can we just lay in each other's arms and talk in the morning?"
"Sure, sweetheart," he replied with fondness. "Let me go to the bathroom first and I'll be right back."
Even though he was only gone a couple of minutes she was fast asleep when he returned. Smiling he got back in and slid his arm under her head so it was on his shoulder. He placed her hand on his chest with his hand over it then kissed her on her forehead and closed his eyes. He truly was home.
Jasper woke him up. The large orange cat was sitting on Julia's pillow watching, then gently, tentatively, reached out with his paw and touched his cheek. Smiling, he found the spot behind the cat's ear and scratched bringing a little trill from deep in Jasper's throat. Opening his eyes he saw it was well into the morning and stretched, noticing for the first time that the bedding was different from the usual. It was soft, smelled great and matched the duvet. He pulled his underwear on, then his jeans and grabbed a clean shirt from a drawer. After washing his face and running some water through his hair he stepped out into the hallway and could hear singing sounds coming from the kitchen. Quietly he padded barefoot down the stairs, watching from the doorway as Julia danced with her headphones on and eyes closed. Every so often she sang along with the music while continuing to make breakfast. Then she would stop and dance vigorously to a part of the song that only she heard. She put something in the oven, turned towards the doorway and saw him watching her. Pulling off her headphones she stood sheepishly.
"You were watching," she said almost accusingly.
"I was enjoying," he replied as he approached her, bending over to kiss her good morning. "You're so beautiful when you dance."
She smiled and this time she threw her arms around his neck and lifted herself so she could wrap her legs around his waist. He supported her as they kissed sensuously then gently placed her on the counter so he could gaze at her in the morning sunlight. Dressed in shorts and a tank top he could see she got some sun as there was the light line of a tan across the top of her breasts. She gazed back at him, lightly running her fingers over his bare chest, before resting her cool hands on his shoulders.
"I'm sorry it took so long to get back," he said. "They had trouble loading some cargo. It wouldn't lock into place. It was after 1am when I got in."
"As long as you come home to me I don't mind," she replied. "I wasn't sure I could handle you being away but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I did something for you."
Jumping off the counter she went to the living room and came back with a photo album, handing it to him. He opened it, laying it on the counter, and saw a couple of dozen cell phone pictures of them as a couple printed off and mounted in the album. She looked up at him expectantly.
"I thought you would like a photo album of us together," she said. "The cell phone is handy and everything but if it ever gets lost or damaged you could lose the pictures. I know they're in the cloud but I don't trust that you can always get it back."
"I like it," he smiled. "You're right about the cloud. I don't really trust it either."
He pulled her close with his arm and kissed the top of her head. "Keep doing it," he said. "I see us looking through this often."
Her radiant smile proved that his response had been correct and his emotions swelled at the thought of pleasing her. Turning away from him she began cleaning up the mess she made. He poured a cup of coffee and sat at the kitchen island watching her.
"How was San Francisco?" he asked.
"Good," she replied. "I was offered my consultant job back. Mason's old partner Rick Garcia came to see me and told me. I turned it down." Bucky looked concerned. "I turned it down unless they're willing to ship the cold cases to me or give me digital access to current investigations. Rick said he would talk to the Captain and let me know. Did you know that police friend of the Avenger Scott?"
"No, he's married to Scott's ex-wife," replied Bucky. "Jim Paxton is his name, I think."
"Apparently he's the one who brought up my cancelled contracts with everyone," she said. "Rick said a lot of officers were not happy about it. Internal Affairs got wind and they began investigating Mason. He did plant evidence at some crime scenes. The convictions for those were overturned just for that. I told Rick what happened here. He says you're a lucky guy."
"I already know that," said Bucky, sipping his coffee. "Your condo?"
"The realtor is staging it this week and it will be officially listed by the weekend," she replied, smiling. "We can buy a place here once it sells. It won't be on the shore but it will be ours."
"How much is real estate here?" he asked.
"Expensive," she said. "Ours and the Johnson's place would like likely sell for over $1,000,000 and even then they would be torn down for one of those concrete and glass monstrosities they're building as infill. I'd hate to see that happen but it's almost inevitable."
"What if we buy the Johnson's place?" asked Bucky. "I had a chance to talk to Bob. He's not sure he's going to be able to use it and was thinking of putting it on the vacation rental market."
Julia made a face. "That's almost worse," she said. "Those weekend people come up to get drunk, party, and they race around on their speed boats as if the lake is there just for them. Would he sell?"
"I didn't really ask," said Bucky. "I have a claim in for back pay for my POW years and my lawyer said it could be quite big, because of interest and everything. If it comes in sooner rather than later we could pool our money and make an offer."
She looked thoughtfully at him. "It would be great to raise a family here," she said, almost hesitantly. "If you're thinking along those lines."
He looked fondly at her. "Are you saying you've thought of marriage?" he asked. She blushed and began to turn away, concerned she may have said too much. "Julia ... do you see us having a future together?"
After some hesitation she answered. "Yeah, I do. I had a little epiphany just after you left." She took a deep breath and faced him hopefully. "You said I make you feel normal. If we got married, lived here, raised a family ... well, that would be pretty normal, wouldn't it? The thought of a lifetime with you pleased me."
Bucky got off the chair and came up to her, placing his hands at her waist. He still had no shirt on and Julia could feel the heat radiating off of him as he raised her chin with his flesh hand.
"It pleases me, too," he said. "The thought of coming home to you and a family in a home we own ... it's very appealing. It doesn't mean I'm going to propose to you right away but I won't deny that I've thought of it."
She looked up at him and saw the sincerity in his eyes, realizing they had reached a very important understanding. This time the kiss was a long, sweet one, broken only by the oven timer signalling the breakfast dish was ready. With a final stroke of her hand on his chest she pulled away and took breakfast out of the oven. Bucky finally put his shirt on and took a couple of plates out of the cupboard. Taking their full plates and mugs of coffee out onto the deck they ate in the sun and Bucky felt her bare foot on his. Normal, this was his normal now.
As they each talked about their time apart Julia casually mentioned that it looked like there was a damaged cedar shake on the roof of the garage. Bucky promised to have a look at it then told her about the newest member of the Avengers.
"He's based out of San Francisco but would like to meet up for some sparring in Sacramento," he said. "Would you mind if I took a trip there every couple of weeks? I have to pull my punches with most people but I'm pretty sure we're at least equal. He's probably a lot better than me, in fact."
"No, I don't mind," she replied. "In fact I wouldn't mind seeing you spar. If I get bored I can always go to the markets."
While Bucky cleared the dishes Julia made the bed and came downstairs with some socks for Bucky so he could put his workboots on. She followed him out to the garage while he pulled the ladder out and stepped up to the roof. She pointed him to the damaged shake and he nodded then checked the rest of the garage roof. He found several in need of repairing.
"I'm going to jump up to the roof of the house," he said. "Don't be afraid. I can fall from a couple of hundred feet and not be hurt. I'll be careful." He took a couple of steps back then leapt up to the roof of the house, walking around and checking several other shakes. "There are several up here as well. Do you think your parents would mind if I repaired them?"
"I don't think they would mind at all," she said. "They probably don't have any in the garage though. We would have to go and buy some." Bucky stepped to the edge and jumped off, landing cleanly on his feet. She smiled. "Well that was cool. It doesn't hurt?"
He shrugged then went into the garage and turned on the light. They looked everywhere but couldn't find any extra shakes. She phoned her dad, put him on speaker and told him they found some damaged shakes. Bucky offered to fix them but needed to know what type of wood they were before he bought some. Bill told him they were heavy cedar and if he bought 2 bundles of 20 square feet that should be enough. He was effusive in his thanks to Bucky for taking care of the matter and mentioned several times he would reimburse them for the cost of the bundles. Both Bucky and Julia were smiling at how happy her dad sounded. When he finally hung up they looked at each other and started laughing. Before they left Bucky checked the garage for a safety harness and found one. He locked up the garage and got into the passenger seat of the car while Julia drove. After plugging his phone in he brought up his blues playlist. As she drove they listened to the blues and enjoyed the drive. They returned just over an hour later and Bucky began setting up to replace the shingles. Julia kissed him and said she had things to do in the house. By the time he was actually up on the roof and started replacing the damaged shingles it was warm and he took his long sleeve Henley off. About an hour into the work a truck drove by, stopped, backed up and turned into the driveway. Bucky looked down from the roof at the man who got out.
"Hi, can I help you?" he asked.
"You live here?" asked the man.
"Who's asking?" replied Bucky, instantly suspicious.
"Sorry," said the man. "I'm Terry Edwards. I'm a contractor and I know every handyman here at the lake but I've never seen you before. You an independent or do you work for someone?"
Bucky smirked, undid his harness and jumped down, scaring the life out of the guy.
"I'm Bucky Barnes," he replied, extending his hand. "I live here with my girlfriend. We noticed some shakes needed replacement and I've done it before so I offered and her dad accepted. I'm a super soldier so the jump is no big deal for me."
"You're that guy," said Terry, excitedly. "I heard about you. You worked on the Johnson's house as well right? What did you do for them?"
"Replaced roof shakes, some side shingles, deck boards, rebuilt the deck stairs handrail, front door trim and replaced a bunch of outdoor lighting," said Bucky. "Why?"
"You want a job?" asked Terry.
"I have a job. I'm an Avenger and I'm on call 24/7 for that," replied Bucky. "I have to drop whatever I'm doing for that."
"I get that but you must have downtime," said Terry. "What you did for the Johnsons is 75% of what my handyman did and I can teach you the rest. He just quit on me, said he has to pursue his passion as a professional bowler."
"I don't know," hesitated Bucky. "I don't have a truck and my girlfriend needs her car. You sure your customers won't be bothered by my arm?"
"Nearly everyone at this lake knows you're living in the area," said Terry. "I have an old truck you can use. You can even keep it here at the house. I'll reimburse you for gas, tools and supplies. If you get called out you call me and I'll take over. What do you say?"
"Let's see what Julia says before I decide," said Bucky. "Come on in."
Julia was on the phone when they walked in and jumped up and down with happiness when she hung up. "I got the Oakland PD contract back," she said excitedly, then she noticed Terry. "Hi, who are you?"
"Terry Edwards," he said, extending his hand. "I'm a contractor and I just offered Bucky a job as a handyman."
"I wanted to talk to you first," said Bucky.
"I'm not sure you can afford him," said Julia, deliberately not taking Edwards' hand. "He also won't work weekends, statutory holidays and he does having training obligations."
Edwards looked at Julia then at Bucky. "What are you, his lawyer?" he asked with just a hint of annoyance.
"No, but I heard about Jed Andrews quitting the handyman job," said Julia. "What did you tell Bucky about him quitting?"
"He said the guy wanted to be a professional bowler," said Bucky, looking slightly bewildered.
Julia smirked. "So he didn't tell you that Jed worked 23 straight days in the past month," she replied. "Nor that he hadn't had a raise in 2 years even though Mr. Edwards increased how much he charged the customer for Jed's services."
It was Edwards turn to look bewildered. "How did you know all that?" he asked.
"Because I've known Jed since I was 10," replied Julia. "You've lived in the area for about two years and are responsible for some of those infill glass and concrete monstrosities. I don't want Bucky working for someone like you who doesn't respect his workers and doesn't respect the unique character of Lake Tahoe."
Bucky smiled at the strength of Julia's argument. Seeing her with her temper up impressed him and he turned to Edwards. "Sorry, but I won't do it unless she supports it," he said. "Thanks for the offer, though. It was flattering."
Edwards stood up and started walking to the door. He turned to say something but when he saw Julia's face he changed his mind and left, muttering under his breath. Bucky and Julia watched him leave from the doorway.
"You were impressive," said Bucky. "I was ready to say yes."
"I think he was counting on that," replied Julia. "When I got back from San Francisco I met Jed and his wife at the grocery store. He told me all about Terry Edwards. He charges the customer $48/hr for Jed's services but Jed only got half of it. Plus he buys his building supplies at the expensive place and passes on the cost to the customer with an additional premium. Jed was working 10-12 hours a day with no benefits. Then he had the nerve to ask Jed to work Independence Day weekend. That was it, Jed quit."
Bucky shook his head. "Well, he did bring something up that I should consider," he said. "I do have downtime and it would be nice to do something to keep busy while you're going over cold cases. Are there any other contractors that might hire me on a casual basis?"
Julia looked at him. "Well Greg is a contractor," she said. "I'm surprised he didn't say anything when you went fishing."
"Maybe I'll give him a call," he replied. "Meanwhile, I'm going to get back up on the roof. I want to get it done before the end of the day. Congratulations on getting the Oakland contract. I take it they accepted your terms?"
She nodded and he bent over Julia, kissed her then headed back outside. A couple of hours later another truck pulled up and Greg got out of the driver's side. He waved up at Bucky and asked if he could come up. He pulled a safety harness out of his truck, put it on and climbed up the ladder. Hooking himself up onto the safety ring he sat at the apex of the roof and patted the roof next to him.
"I just had an interesting encounter at the lumber yard," he said. "Another contractor was bitching about you being pussy whipped. Said he offered you a job in good faith and you let Julia decide for you."
Bucky sat next to Greg and took a long drink from the bottle of water he had up on the roof. "Terry Edwards?" he replied. "Yeah, he was here. Julia told him off. Told him she didn't want me working for a guy who didn't respect his workers or the unique character of Lake Tahoe."
Greg laughed. "I thought as much," he said. "Jed quit because he was tired of being Terry's slave. I offered him a permanent job on my framing crew. I didn't know you were interested in working outside of the Avengers. If you want a part time job with my company I'll fit you in where I can. It might not be with the same group of guys but you already know how to work with a team and I'm sure you'll fit in. Weekends off, no stat holidays and whatever Avengers obligations you have obviously take priority. We can work around it."
"I don't want charity," stated Bucky emphatically.
"I'm not offering charity," he said. "I like you. You're a good guy and you're good to Julia. After the last guy turned out to be such an asshole I'm glad to see someone treat her the way she should be treated. I always need help, always. Plus I liked the quality of your work at the Johnson's house. I had a look while you were on your last mission. You're meticulous and obviously take pride in your work. Think about it. Talk to Julia."
"We already did," smirked Bucky. "She wanted me to call you."
Greg smirked in turn. "So, do you accept?" he said, offering his hand. "You start at $25 / hour then after 3 months probation you get a raise. I'm guessing you get medical benefits with the Avengers so we can work out something in lieu if you wish."
Bucky shook it. "I accept," he replied. "I don't have a truck. Just my motorbike."
"I might be able to help with that," replied Greg. "Start Monday?" Bucky nodded. "Okay, I'll be in touch before then. I'm going down to say hi to Julia before I leave."
Greg unhooked his harness and carefully climbed down the ladder. After removing his safety harness he knocked on the door and called in to speak to Julia. They both came back out about ten minutes later and Greg left. Julia looked up at Bucky and smiled then returned to the house. After finishing all the shake repairs Bucky came back down, put everything away and went into the house where Julia had dinner on the go. Coming up behind her Bucky wrapped his arms around her and kissed her neck.
"Let's go dancing tonight," he whispered. "I feel like celebrating."
Covering his hands with her own she snuggled into him. "Okay," she replied, then she turned around, putting her arms around his neck. "I like how things come together sometimes."
"So do I," he said kissing her sweetly. "I'm going to shower then I'll help with supper."
She kissed him back and watched him go up the stairs, pulling his shirt off as he went. For a moment she contemplated following but now that they were going dancing she considered other options. Perhaps the best thing about talking to Greg was learning how highly he thought of Bucky. Like several others he initially had concerns about her being involved with an Avenger but spending a morning fishing with him had changed his mind. His support of Bucky meant he was supporting them and for that she was appreciative.
The sexual content in this chapter has been edited to comply with 's terms and conditions. To read it in its original form you may search for the story First We Were Friends by SJSmith56 on either Wattpad or AO3.