(for disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Epilogue

Bucky woke to what he thought was the alarm clock sound, but it stopped before his hand ever made it to the nightstand to shut it off. He realised fast that what he could then hear instead was the familiar melody of the voice he loved most, though he couldn't say he was a fan of the words he was catching.

"Text me the co-ordinates, we'll be on our way in five."

Bucky groaned and threw his real arm over his face. "Not now. No more missions, not today," he complained.

It was childish and he knew it, definitely not befitting a man of his years, but honestly, it would be so easy not to care. After all, it was a Sunday morning, traditionally a time to relax and recuperate. With all the heroic hours they had been putting in lately, Bucky had kind of assumed they might be due some time for rest. Of course, that would mean the world was a fair place. Everyone knew better than to believe that!

"Come on, zvezda moya. The world needs its mightiest heroes," Natasha urged him then, pulling at his arm to uncover his face and planting a kiss on his lips before he could argue anymore. "That was Sam. Code red on the Morgan case."

"Code red?" Bucky made a face.

"His words, not mine."

An eyeroll seemed appropriate at that point. "Yeah, I guessed."

Natasha smiled as she leaned over him. "Come on, he's Captain America. Let him have his over-dramatic code words if he wants to."

"Steve never needed them."

The jokey nature went out of the conversation in an instant and Bucky wished he had just kept his mouth shut. Getting Natasha back, it had been nothing short of a miracle, but it didn't set the balance straight. It didn't make Bucky feel any better about the loss of Steve. He wasn't sure anything was ever going to.

"Don't go down that rabbit hole, James," said Natasha with a look. "I mean, the past can be a nice place to visit, but it's no use trying to live there."

As if they didn't both know that was the truth. Not that Bucky would change their history for the world. Without all the crap he had been through, the hell that had been Nat's formative years too, they never would have met each other. God only knew if Bucky would even have survived his time as the Winter Soldier without her. He certainly couldn't go back to a life without her now, not after everything.

"The present doesn't seem so bad from where I'm sitting," he admitted, finding her a half smile as he ran a hand through her hair. "Code red, notwithstanding," he added, resisting the urge to roll his eyes one more time.

At that, she chuckled. "Come on, play nice. You know, I told Sam we'd leave in five minutes."

"Yes, and last night, you told me we could actually spend a lazy Sunday together, remember?" Bucky reminded her, pulling her down on top of him and holding her tight.

"Oh, I remember perfectly," she assured him, kissing his lips, once, twice, "but that was before the world needed saving... again. It is kind of our job these days, Soldier."

He wasn't sure which part struck him more, the way she talked about remembering perfectly or the way she called him Soldier.

The former made him more than happy, to be reminded of just how sharp her mind was these days, how completely unclouded or unencumbered by false memories or missing pieces. A little more than six months since the day everything came flooding back into her mind, she had never faltered once. It was reaching the point where Bucky was actually starting to trust that she was really cured, that there was never going to be a day when she suddenly woke up not knowing him again. He lived in dread of that for weeks on end, but finally, he had started to let go of that particular fear.

The latter remark, her using 'Soldier' like a pet name, it ought to remind him too much of the past, of the darkest days of his life, but it didn't. As bad as things were back then, all the horrors he had both caused and endured, there was forever a bright spot in it all. A source of warmth and sunlight and hope. His Natalia. Though she preferred Natasha these days, and he never minded calling her by that name, it was who she would always be in his heart. Natalia Romanova, the woman who had saved him. The only woman in the world who ever truly understood him, even when he struggled to know himself.

"James?" The frown on her face made him realise he zoned right out of the conversation. "Not to sound like Sam right now, but is your cyborg brain malfunctioning?" she teased, hardly able to keep her smirk in check.

"Get dressed. We have to go save the world," he told her, faking annoyance as he all but threw her off the bed, knowing she would land on her feet, just like always, expecting the laughter that came freely from her lips.

They dressed quickly, suiting up for battle, as they so often had to do. Bucky accessed the compartment in the back of the closet, pulling out the weaponry they would also need. Natasha was at his side in time to take the guns and knives she always carried from his hands, expertly strapping them to her body. Two minutes later, they were ready to go and she turned towards the door.

Lightning fast, Bucky grabbed her hand, pulled her back towards him, practically spinning her into his arms. She didn't exactly try to resist at all. Not that he expected her to.

"What?" she asked, looking up into his eyes.

"Nothing," he assured her with a smile, raising her left hand to his lips and kissing the back of her ring finger, where the tattoo sat.

She smiled at the action too, placing a kiss on the fingers of her right hand and pressing it to his chest, directly over his heart. There was a tattoo there too, a perfect match for the one on her hand. Jewellery was dangerous in a fight, rings could catch on things and tear off fingers, chains around the neck could be used to the enemy's advantage. Besides, Bucky's left hand wasn't exactly his own these days. Instead, they had something more permanent and more personal. Russian letters spelling out each other's real names, deep under their skin where it could never be taken away.

"You ready to go now, Soldier?" Natasha asked him.

"Right behind you, Mrs Barnes," he told her with a smile that only grew when she stole one last kiss from his lips, before leading the way into battle one more time.

The End


(Translation: zvezda moya - my star; something that I understand Nat used to call Bucky in the comics)