Chapter Two:

"That stings."

"I know, I know." Bucky inwardly cringed, being as gentle as possible in cleaning his daughter's wounds. In all honesty, he seemed to be more troubled by her injuries than she did.

The bruises were one thing, all she had to do was take it easy and ice those, but that cut on her leg needed disinfecting.

He couldn't believe he had let that happen to her and it tore him up inside.

"Are you okay?" Wanda smiled tentatively, resting a gentle hand on the child's head. "That looks like it hurts."

"Only a little." Alya shrugged, taking a bite out of a Rice Krispy Treat that Pepper had given her earlier. The woman had tears in her eyes when they finally got a moment alone and wrapped her arms around her, squeezing her as tightly as she could. It was hard to remember that even though it had been five hours for her, it had been five years to almost everybody else.

They all kept looking at her funny. Especially her mother. The redhead never let her leave her sight. Actually, she wouldn't even let her out of her grip.

Not that she really minded, even if it hadn't felt like five years, Alya missed Natasha all the same.

"I'm okay." She didn't even flinch when the needle Bucky was using to stitch her up pierced her skin. Her mother held her steady in her arms, but she didn't really need to restrain her. She was fine. "I've had worse."

Bucky momentarily closed his eyes to keep himself calm. Alya had a way of making light of the most horrific things as if they were normal parts of life.

Wanda's jaw dropped as she gaped like a fish. That had certainly caught her off guard.

Natasha just tensed up and tightened her grip. They would have to have a conversation about the things she said, but now wasn't the time.

"Papa, are you done yet?"

"Almost." He snapped out of his shock to continue closing her wound. "How'd you get this anyhow?"

"A dagger."

"After I specifically told you to stay behind?" His gaze hardened, using a pair of scissors to cut the extra string.

"James…."

He looked up to see Natasha shaking her head. She didn't want to get into that right now. It was too soon and it didn't matter. She spent five years missing Alya, all she wanted to do was hold her. She didn't want to fight.

Bucky took a deep breath and nodded, dropping the subject. He didn't want to get into an argument either. He just didn't like to see Alya get hurt.

And she really needed to learn how to follow simple instructions.

But Natasha was right.

It could wait.


"Everything is in the same place it was before." Pepper told Steve and Natasha as they walked through the Tower.

It turned out that Tony didn't actually sell the Avenger's Tower. He had changed his mind at the very last minute a few years ago and never touched any of the belongings they had left on their respective floors.

Of course, Alya would need new clothes considering that she more than likely grew out of the ones she still had there. Wanda would need to be taken shopping as well, she had never lived in the Tower at all and neither had Bucky.

"No, Mischief, come back!" Alya gasped when the cat jumped right out of her arms and hopped up onto the kitchen counter. "You're not supposed to be there." She put her hands on her hips, much like her mother had done to her.

She would've been intimidating had she not been so small.

Mischief just licked at her paw and yawned. There was no way Alya thought that after years of letting her do whatever she wanted, she was going to get her to follow orders now.

Silly girl.

"You can go out for whatever you need. It's on us." The CEO smiled. She was in high spirits considering everything that had just happened. The time stone was used to reverse Tony's severe injuries before all the infinity stones were sent back to their respective times. He was still on plenty of bedrest, but he was going to be alright. "The Compound is being rebuilt for work purposes and business meetings, but you're all welcome to stay here for as long as you'd like."

"Thank you, Pepper." Steve shook her hand. "We really appreciate it."

Alya looked around at everything and smiled wider than she had in a long time.

They were finally home.


"Mama, you're holding my hand too tight." Alya dragged her feet.

"You have a bad habit of running when something catches your eye." Natasha told her, not bothering to loosen her grip.

It wasn't tight anyway. Alya was just trying to find something she could complain about while shopping. Either she was tired, or she was trying to push some boundaries.

Or maybe it was both.

"I'm not gonna run." She tried to pull away to no avail. "I wanna walk by myself."

"No."

Wanda, who had been staying silent, watching from the sidelines, looked between the two with hope that this wouldn't turn into some all out argument.

She'd never heard Natasha deny Alya something outright like that. Her little sister was just as shocked as she was.

She wasn't really sure why Natasha wouldn't just let her go and have her hold the shopping cart. It wasn't that big of a deal. If she did try to wander off, she could always catch up with her to give Natasha a reprieve.

As a matter of fact, for the past few days, Natasha hadn't let Alya out of her sight at all. Wanda noticed the redhead was even keeping an eye on her, but she was more subtle in doing so.

But then it hit her.

Natasha was afraid and she was letting that cloud her judgment a little. Wanda was sure that things would get better once she realized that it was all over.

"Mama, I wanna walk by myself!" Alya stopped short and looked at her mother.

But all Natasha did, was yank her forward before hissing in her ear. "Cut it out. I said no."

"Mamaaaa…."

"Why don't I take her?" Wanda cut in before things could get ugly. She could see Natasha's nostrils flaring and she didn't want this to escalate in public. Alya had a way of unintentionally making scenes. "We can go look for Bucky and Steve."

Natasha considered the idea for a while before she nodded. She knew that she was being overprotective and Alya was probably annoyed with her. She also wasn't a big fan of shopping for hours on end and was growing restless.

Maybe walking around with Wanda would do her some good.

"Hold each other's hands."

Alya smiled when the woman let go of her hand and grabbed Wanda, pulling her passed several aisles.

Of course, Wanda indulged her and allowed herself to be dragged, ignoring the looks she got from other adults.

"Look!" The little girl stopped so suddenly that she almost tripped over her.

"Alya, don't do that." She scolded lightly.

"But look!" Alya pointed at what had caught her eye.

It was a book. The complete collection of 'Curious George'. Wanda knew that Alya had most of the books and she liked it when Natasha or Steve read them to her before bed, but they were all gone now.

"Bring it and show it to Mama." She told her.

"It's a lot of money." Alya chewed on her bottom lip, not very certain that she should pick it up.

It wasn't really something she needed. She could definitely do without it.

"Bring it anyway. I think she'd like to see it."

"Girls?"

Wanda and Alya's heads turned to see Steve and Bucky making their way down the aisle they were in. They were pushing a shopping cart full of home essentials like towels, blankets, throw pillows, and bedding.

"You guys got a lot done." Wanda smirked.

"Why don't you look in the cart and see if we got something you like?" Steve teased.

And while Wanda did so, Bucky watched as Alya stared at the book as if it would fly away if she stopped looking. "My sister— your aunt loved this little guy." He stood up behind her, taking the book off of the shelf to flip through it. "Only one of them was out back then, though."

The more time he spent with Alya, the more he learned how similar she was to Rebecca. Her smile, the color of her hair, her knack for getting herself into trouble. It was all inherited from her aunt.

"Go put it in the cart." He handed it to her.

"But it's—"

"—Go put it in the cart."

Alya smiled and ran over to the cart before she carefully placed the book inside of the basket and ducked under Steve's arms so that she could push it right along with him.

Once she was settled, the two made a move to leave the aisle and find Natasha, but Wanda hung back with Bucky.

"Are you okay?" He asked her.

He'd been watching her out of the corner of his eye and noticed how she was fiddling with the sleeves of the jacket she was wearing. It looked like she wanted to say something to him, but was too nervous and couldn't work up the courage to do it.

So he broke the ice.

"Y-Yeah." She stammered a bit. "I'm fine…..I just….I don't know."

"What's on your mind?"

"Do you think it's weird?" She asked timidly.

"What's weird?"

"Me living with you and Nat." Her hands pulled more aggressively at her sleeves. "I mean, you don't even know me. It's okay if you think it is, I can move onto my own floor like before."

"It's not weird." Bucky wondered how long Wanda had been worrying herself with this and took a mental note to speak to Natasha about it. "We'll get to know each other, Doll. All it takes is a little time. You don't have to go anywhere."

"I just thought that maybe you'd want to be by yourselves to figure things out." The teen shrugged.

"There's a lot of things we need to figure out, you're right." He nodded. "But you're just as much a part of this family as any of the rest of us. We'll all figure it out together, okay?"

"Okay." Wanda seemed to relax after his reassurance.

"Good, now let's go before Natasha comes looking for us." He smiled. "I don't know about you, but I definitely don't feel like getting yelled at today."


"All settled in?"

After a long day of shopping, Alya could hardly keep her eyes open once she finished her dinner. Natasha could see her struggling and suggested that she change into her pajamas and go to bed. To her utter surprise, Alya just nodded and took her advice, though she couldn't be bothered in changing at all.

Natasha gave her about fifteen minutes before she came in to check on her and found her lying on her bed, still in her clothes with her shoes on her feet.

It looked like she had tried to untie one, the right one, before she gave up and fell asleep.

A soft chuckle escaped her as she walked further into the room to help her out. Sleeping in jeans wasn't very comfortable and it would give her peace of mind if she actually saw Alya sleeping comfortably underneath her covers.

"Is she asleep?" Bucky poked his head through the crack in the doorway. He had just bid Wanda goodnight and was coming over to do the same with Alya.

It looked like everyone was turning in early tonight.

"She's out." Natasha waved him over. "I was just about to tuck her in. Will you get her out of these while I find her pajamas?"

This really wasn't a two person job, but she wanted him to be as involved as possible, not sitting on the sidelines because he was too uncomfortable to join in. Alya was his daughter, too. He had every right to be involved.

"Sure." He nodded, taking Alya's ankles to slip the shoes off of her feet. The child stirred a bit, but quieted down when he shushed her softly.

Natasha smiled at how natural he was being with this, quietly rummaging through the drawers before she found a pair of pajamas with sock monkeys on them. They were perfect for this kind of cold weather, so she brought them over to Bucky, who had, by now, finished getting Alya out of her outside wear and handed her pajamas to him.

"Is she gonna sleep through this?" He gave her a skeptical look.

"She can sleep through almost anything when she's tired." She assured, pulling the covers on the bed back. "Even if she doesn't, she'll be alright."

Bucky cringed when his metal arm touched Alya's skin, making her shiver from how cold it felt. He whispered a quick apology to her and did his best to make the wardrobe change as quick as he possibly could, finishing up with pulling her arms through the sleeves of her shirt before depositing her underneath her sheets.

Natasha watched her for a moment before an overwhelming feeling of needing to be close overtook her and she crawled in right next to the child.

She'd only stay for a few minutes, but she just needed to hold her for now.

Mischief, who had been curled up in her cat tower in the corner of the room, hopped down and jumped onto the bed, making herself comfortable at the foot of it.

She wanted to be close, too.

"Goodnight, Babydoll." Bucky just smiled and pressed a kiss to Alya's forehead before turning to head to the door.

But Alya's small hand stopped him.

"Stay, Papa." She blinked, trying to keep her eyes open. It was proving to be difficult with her mother running her hands through her hair like that. "Please?"

With a request like that, how could he say no?

Alya smiled as he turned back around and scooted over to make room for him on the queen-sized bed, her eyelids fluttering closed when he reached a hand out to brush his thumb along her cheek.

It only took a minute of soothing movements from both her parents, before Alya fell fast asleep right between them.

They both continued, somehow lulling themselves to sleep as well.

And they didn't notice when their hands intertwined.


A/N: Apologies for the delay! I've been trying to balance out posting on two sites at the same time. I'll post as much as I can here, but I may end up primarily posting on ao3 :)