Bucky walked outside to the track that fell at the center of the massive training arena Stark had built for the Avengers workouts at the compound. He sat and watched as Peter was showing Madison moves to get through and around complicated terrain. Peter had told him what all of the leaping and rolling and such was called once but right now he couldn't put his finger on the name. It looked complicated and required quick reflexes.
He watched as Madison moved back to make a running leap from one location to another only to stop before actually attempting it. Bucky figured she was probably still in doubt about the reliability of her new powers. Maddie didn't know if she could trust all of these new abilities she was learning, that they weren't going to fail her in her time of need. Jumping that distance he knew had her questioning herself.
Tony walked over to the group and seemed to be instructing them on something, something that had Peter and Maddie both looking a little upset.
Getting up from his spot on the ground, Bucky wanted to go over and rescue Maddie from whatever was upsetting her but it was the solid hand on his shoulder that stopped him. Steve held him in place as they both looked on, "Tony is going to try to get her to selectively absorb power."
Bucky was shocked at Steve's revelation. He didn't understand, how Maddie could selectively do anything? So far her powers had been an all or nothing kind of thing. "Tony thinks that if she concentrates that she can absorb his 'Peter-tingle' as Parker calls it, without absorbing his ability to crawl on walls." Both Bucky and Steve shared a look of skepticism.
"I know, I know," Steve said as he looked at the shocked face of his friend. "But Peter is the least dangerous of the rest of us, so Tony believed that it would be a good test for her. Trust me, I was just as shocked as you until he explained his thought process to me."
Crossing his arms over his chest, Bucky turned to Steve, "I bet this story is a doozy".
Rolling his eyes at his friend's smartass statement, Steve continued to watch Madison and Peter as he explained what Stark had told him. "Right now Madison could possibly absorb any power from anyone that she touches. That could be very dangerous for her, especially if she doesn't know that she's done it and doesn't know how to control it."
Bucky sighed deeply, he hated admitting when Tony had a point. "So he wants her to try choosing powers rather than just absorbing powers blindly."
"I know it sounds crazy, but if it works this could be a game changer for us whenever this Thanos does make his play."
"She's not a weapon we can just load up and aim at this new threat," Bucky turned to face Steve, his hands gripped tightly at his sides.
"I agree," Steve looked at his daughter across the quad as she, Peter and Tony continued to talk. "But she's determined to be a fixture in making sure the same thing doesn't happen here as happened in her world."
Both men looked on as Natasha joined the trio, standing just to the side of Maddie. "Have you had a moment yet since this all started to really grasp the fact that she's your daughter," Bucky asked his friend.
Steve watched as Maddie finally smiled at something Nat had said to her. Her laughter made her look so much more like Natasha, especially seeing them standing side-by-side. "I guess since taking the serum the idea of having children one day was kinda lost on me," he said, turning slightly to Bucky. "But truth be told," he said, as Bucky nodded for him to continue, "I love the fact that she's mine. I couldn't be more proud to call her my kid." The smile that covered Steve's face reached all the way to his eyes as he looked back at his daughter.
"Now, if only her choice of boyfriends was better," Steve teased Bucky, punching him lightly on the shoulder. Bucky couldn't help the blush that covered his cheeks as he dipped his head in embarrassment at Steve's good-natured ribbing.
Steve's laughter softened as he settled his hand once again on Bucky's shoulder, "Seriously though, if I had to pick anyone for her to fall in love with, you would have been first on my list man." Steve watched as Bucky's huge smile impossibly got bigger at his praise. Pulling his friend into a hug, Steve patted his back before stepping away. "But just remember, you hurt her, no one here will be able to save you."
Laughing together, Steve and Bucky went to join the small group that had formed around Maddie.
"So you just want me to put my hand on his arm and then do what?" Madison was frustrated because she didn't understand how to 'select' powers. She didn't truly understand how she had collected the ones that she had so far.
"Try just thinking of Peter's ability to sense things. Focus your energy on only that and when you feel like you've got that locked in, then take his arm. Continue to focus on that one thing, hold for a few seconds and then let him go. We'll see what you come up with." Tony shrugged as both Madison and Natasha gave Tony perplexed looks, raising their eyebrows at him as though he were some mad scientist with a new experiment. "What? It's not like there is some owner's manual to this, kid, I'm winging it here."
Taking a deep breath, Madison stepped forward to Peter, "You don't have to do this if you don't want to you know?" Madison didn't like the idea of taking from someone, or rather making a copy of something from someone that which made them special. She wouldn't have made a copy of Wanda's powers if she had known what she was doing at the time.
"No, it's cool. Mr. Stark explained it all to me. I don't mind, really." Peter's sweet smile almost made Madison feel badly inside. He was always looking to please people in any way he could. Peter just wanted to be part of the team.
Madison's gaze fell just over Peter's shoulder to Bucky's face. He stood next to her dad, arms folded across his chest, looking intently back at her. His nod of reassurance was what she needed before giving this hare-brained scheme a try.
Closing her eyes, Madison focused on creating a mental image of Peter in her head. Slowly his face came to her mind and almost like a drawing being sketched by an artist he became clearer to her. Arms, legs, torso, suit, smile, eyes, she was able to picture him almost perfectly in her mind's eye. Then she focused on his abilities, those she knew about anyway. Probably something she should have thought to ask before she started all of this, but instead she filed that thought away for later. She focused on how Peter always seemed to know when something bad was going to happen. How his reflexes were so fast because he could sense shifts in the air patterns before they reached him. Little by little Madison built in her mind what she imagined the 'Peter-tingle' must look like if you had to give it shape.
Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, Madison reached her hand forward and touched the skin of Peter's forearm. She could feel the hairs on his arm bristle slightly as though a small shock ran through her touch into him. Maddie had to admit, she felt something, like something transferred into her which caused her to gasp and step away quickly, dropping Peter's arm.
Bucky took a small step forward, ready to come to Madison's aid should she need him, but tried to stay silent and continue to watch. No one else seemed to notice that Madison's eyes had turned a vibrant shade of green when she stepped back. Bucky probably wouldn't have noticed it either if he hadn't of been staring so intently at his girl. After she blinked a couple times the color settled back to her normal hazel. He definitely needed to mention that later.
"Madison," Tony said, trying to bring her focus back to the group.
"So how do we test this out," Madison asked, looking down at her hands. They didn't feel different, but something had happened.
"Well," Tony hedged….. "that's the thing."
A Few Minutes Later
"I cannot believe I agreed to this," Madison muttered as she slid the blindfold down over her eyes.
"Me neither babe and I'm normally up for trying crazy shit," Bucky laughed to himself as he and Steve lined up on either side of Madison.
"Seriously…don't make me say it," Steve looked at his friend, casting a smirk his way.
Both men chuckled at the unspoken joke. "Okay sweetheart, you focus, breath and if anything comes close that you can't pick up, these two will stop it before it touches you." Madison could feel Natasha's fingers tuck a lose strand of hair behind her ear before stepping away.
Taking a deep breath, Madison tried to focus on everything around her. It took only a few seconds, but she could feel her senses picking up. The gentle breeze that was blowing was bringing in the smell of the water off of the pond nearby. She could also feel the heat generating off of her dad and Bucky that stood several feet away from her. There was also something else, something… 'oh shit' she thought as she ducked down as something breezed past her head. Something large.
"What the hell," Madison yelled as she yanked the blindfold off to see what had been thrown at her. A few feet away stood a bench from across the yard. "You threw a bench at me," Madison turned and yelled at Tony who attempted to look innocent as he quickly pointed instead to Peter who had actually thrown the bench.
"But the good thing is you knew it was coming and you dodged it." Tony tried to get Madison to see the good side of it all. The first test had been successful.
"Come on kid, you knew it had to be something we'd throw at you." Tony reasoned.
"Yeah, a basketball or something. Not a freaking bench," reaching down, Madison frustration got the best of her as she picked up the bench one handed and aggressively threw it back at Tony, causing him to step to the side as it landed in the grass with a hard thud.
Steve, Bucky and Natasha all turned astonished gazes on Madison. "Can you all stop staring?"
Sliding the blindfold back down over her face, Madison turned back around and waited for the next item to be thrown that could potentially maim her. One by one she successfully dodged each item hurled her way. It became almost second nature for Madison to be able to sense where everyone was around her and to also tell when something was about to happen.
Waiting for the next item, Madison surprised herself when she was able to dodge Thor's grasp who had attempted to sneak up on her from behind, offering him a leg sweep to knock him down as a reward.
"Well, I'd say the transfer of Peter's tingle was pretty successful," Tony said, clapping Peter on the shoulder as he made to walk towards Madison.
"Can we stop calling it that," Madison said, removing the blindfold, "it's starting to sound a little dirty sounding."
"Now let's see about the other abilities that he has and if you were able to not copy those," Tony added as he led Madison over to a rock climbing wall.
Peter demonstrated how he would scale the wall for Madison before flipping down to wait for her to try. Placing her hands against the wall just as Peter had shown her, Madison felt nothing. No adhesion, no electro-magnetic field adherence or anything. Looking over her shoulder at Tony, Madison just shook her head that she couldn't do what Peter had just done.
This seemed to make Tony very happy as he turned to hurry back to the lab to fill in Bruce. "I'm not turning green no matter what you say," Madison yelled after a retreating Tony that just waved his hand in the air in goodbye as he scurried away.
"Captain Rogers," came the voice of FRIDAY over the facilities PA system. "There is an urgent incoming call from Director Fury on the line. Should I patch it through to the conference room?"
Looked like training for the day was going to be cut short as one by one each Avenger began heading inside. "Yes, please do, and let Tony know as well for him and Banner to meet us there."
"Right away," FRIDAY replied.
Entering the conference room, one by one the Avengers filled the seats surrounding the table. Bucky entered the room holding Maddie's hand and pulled her along to sit in a seat against the back wall away from the table. He always liked being away from the action so he could see the whole playing field. Typically, Sam would join him and today was no different, only Madison sat between them.
"These things can be a bit tedious in details," Sam offered Madison a smile.
Director Fury's face already filled the screen, but he was waiting until all of the members were present and accounted for. Madison noticed when Loki and Thor entered the room. Thor took a seat at the table while Loki filled a seat like her own that was against a far wall. From her seat she could clearly see his face. She watched as his eyes slowly found hers. Instead of the previous feeling of discomfort, Madison felt at ease and offered him a small smile. Surprisingly, Loki returned the same before lowering his eyes to his hands.
Madison was unaware that Bucky had been watching the whole exchange. Someone else might have been jealous that his girlfriend's smiles were being offered up to another man, but Bucky knew how important Loki's friendship had been to Madison in her universe. So, if she could find some semblance of comfort from this Loki, well then her happiness is really all that mattered to Bucky.
After all the Avengers were finally assembled, Director Fury spoke. "I've finally received a communique from the Guardians." The frown on the director's face didn't leave those in the room with a hopeful feeling.
"Unfortunately, they were too late to retrieve the power stone." The screen suddenly flashed with images of Xandar, or what was left of it. "Apparently, Thanos invaded just a few days before their arrival and took the stone. He then proceeded to obliterate virtually all life on the planet. The Guardians were only able to find a few remaining survivors that they've taken to a neighboring planet. They will be arriving on Earth within the week. You'll need to coordinate with them your plans and fill them in on more of the details of what we know so far."
"So Thanos has the power stone, we have the mind stone, space stone and time stone. Where is the reality stone again?" Tony looked at Thor as he asked his question.
"The Aether. First, it's not a stone; someone called it a stone before. It's more of a... an angry sludge sort of thing, so someone's gonna need to amend that, has been given to the Collector for safe keeping." Thor looked around the room at each of his comrades as he spoke. "It will only solidify in the presence of the other infinity stones into the reality stone."
"And just where can we find this Collector," Natasha turned to Thor as she asked of the stones location.
"Knowhere," Loki spoke up from his seat in the far corner.
"I'm assuming Knowhere is a location of some sort," Steve looked to Thor to answer.
"We took it there for safe keeping," Thor said, rising to his feet, "Loki and I are able to handle Taneleer Tivan fairly well, we will leave immediately and retrieve the stone."
Director Fury took this opportunity to speak up having sat listening on the other side of the call, "the Guardians are closer, why don't we just send them to retrieve the stone instead?"
Fury's plan had reason and merit to it, but Thor didn't like the idea of sitting ideally by as everyone else did the work.
"Besides," Fury continued, "I have a feeling you are going to become part of an ongoing experiment that Stark has going on and you won't want to miss out on that now would you." Fury's smile was not a settling thing to see. That typically meant something ominous was about to happen.
Thor turned to Tony to see him smiling mischievously as well. "I promise you won't feel a thing."
The meeting lasted only a few minutes longer with Tony giving an update on Madison's progress and the training of the rest of the Avengers. Fury had been in contact with a Dr. Pym about an interesting project he was working on dealing with something called the quantum realm, but aside from Banner and Stark, no one else really was able to follow along.
Madison, Sam and Bucky all continued to sit in their respective seats watching as one-by-one each team member began to trickle off to their place of rest and relaxation. It was getting late and everyone was planning to take an early night in order to have a fresh start in the morning.
Tony walked out alongside Thor explaining the details of what he had planned for the morning, "I have a feeling we are going to find out exactly how 'worthy' Madison is in the morning," Sam smirked.
"I'm beginning to feel like a human guinea pig with all of these experiments." Madison sat forward and rested her forehead in her hands. Reaching over, Bucky gently began to rub her shoulder trying to ease some of the stress from the day from her back.
"Babe, how about we go for that swim you promised me earlier," Bucky said, smiling at Madison when her face lit up at the idea.
"Okay, okay, I can tell when I'm not needed anymore," Sam made a big show getting up and ushering himself toward the door.
"Thanks Sam," Bucky smiled Sam's way as he gently stroked Maddie's hair.
Bucky and Madison got up and walked slowly down the hall to their rooms. Leaning down, Bucky kissed Maddie's cheek before reminding her he would meet her in ten minutes at the pool.
Rushing off, both Maddie and Bucky made quick work of changing into their respective bathing suits and grabbing towels from their bathrooms. Maddie was first to reach the pool. Walking down the stairs in the shallow end, the cool water felt amazing on her hot skin as it slowly traveled up her body.
She finally dipped further down into the water and swam forward allowing her whole body to be covered in the water. Dunking her head under water, Maddie swam forward touching the further side of the pool away from the patio doors. The lights of the deck were just beginning to flicker on as the sky slowly began to darken, welcoming the night.
Madison rested her arms against the side of the pool, lost in thought.
"Stop being so pervy and staring," Sam whispered from behind Bucky who had been caught staring at Maddie from just inside the patio doors.
"Shit man, you're gonna give an old man a heart attack one day you know that right?" Bucky laughed as he readjusted his towel that hung over his shoulder.
Sam and Buck continued to watch as Madison swam along the length of the pool and eventually rested against the side.
"What's going on in that brain of yours right now," Sam asked, not looking at his friend but knowing if he gave him time he would answer.
"Is it too soon to be in love with her, Sam," Bucky finally asked. The question burning inside of him to get out now scared him, afraid that the answer he might get from Sam would be something he didn't want to hear.
The deep breath released from Sam almost made Bucky wish he hadn't asked the question at all, but he was surprised with Sam's answer.
"Love is a strange thing. It doesn't have timetables or perfect scenarios and equations that work for everyone. It finds us often when we least expect it, sometimes when we least want it." Sam patted Bucky on the shoulder, "only you can know in your heart and in your head when the time is right."
With that, Sam turned and walked towards his room leaving Bucky with his thoughts.
The splash behind Maddie startled her but as she saw a drenched Bucky coming up for air, pushing his wet hair away from his face she couldn't help but laugh. How this amazing man had gotten into her heart so quickly she would never know, but she wasn't complaining. Both swimming to meet the other, they reached for each other, wrapping their arms around the other.
Bucky let his hands settle low on Madison's hips as her legs wrapped loosely around Bucky's waist, bringing him closer. Holding her tight, Bucky dipped backward enough to dunk his head to get the rest of his hair out of his face, but still holding on to Maddie.
"I should probably look into getting it cut sometime, don't ya think?" Bucky asked, looking into Madison's eyes as she slowly slipped her fingers through his long hair. Bucky could feel his heart begin to beat faster as he secretly analyzed every feature of the beautiful creature in front of him. The small freckles that scattered across the bridge of her nose, the way her hazel eyes had little flecks of brown in them along the iris. How her left ear had a small freckle on the lobe that made him want so badly to reach up and kiss it. The slender curve of her neck that led to shoulders that seemed to be carrying the weight of the world on them right now.
Bucky couldn't help himself as he buried his face in Madison's neck, kissing it gently as he wrapped his arms around her body.
"I'd miss your hair if it were gone," Madison whispered, "but I'd love you no matter what your hair looked like."
There it was. She'd said it. Madison waited, barely breathing as she allowed her words to sink in. Part of her was afraid to pull away to be able to see Bucky's reaction to her words, but the other part of her needed to know if she had just scared him away. What she wasn't ready for was the soft sob that she heard come from Bucky as he squeezed her tighter to his chest.
"I love you too," came his soft reply. Finally looking Madison in the face, Bucky's eyes were filled with tears as he looked at the woman before him. "I love you," he said again before kissing Madison passionately.
Taking a gasping breath, Bucky repeated it again and again until they both laughed.
"I've been so scared to tell you, thinking there was no way that I could love you so soon after meeting you. We don't know one another very well. I'm much older than you, you don't know my back story. What if you end up hating me in the end? I'm not sure I'd be able to handle that," Bucky was rambling in all different direction now. Madison did the only thing she could think of to shut him up and refocus his attention. She kissed him.
Holding his face gently in her hands, Madison deepened the kiss allowing the tip of her tongue to tease the top of Bucky's lip asking for entrance. Spinning their combined bodies in the water, Bucky loved Maddie taking more control into their kisses. He desperately wanted to grind his body against her soft core but in the back of his mind he kept trying to remind himself that she wasn't ready for that just yet. But he was more than happy with what he was getting right now as she gripped his hair in her hands, her short nails scratching his scalp. No he definitely wouldn't be cutting his hair any time soon if this was the sensation he would be enjoying with it long.
The kisses slowly became soft, subtle pecks as the two loves enjoyed this new feeling together.
Madison made sure Bucky's attention was completely on her before she made her declaration again, this time more confident than before. "I love you James Buchanan Barnes and nothing you tell me is going to change that." Madison allowed her finger tips to trail down the few water droplets that trickled down Bucky's cheeks as she spoke. "I know you've done things in your past that you aren't proud of, but nothing," she leaned in for another kiss this time looking him dead in the eye, "nothing will make me change my mind about you."
Somewhere in Bucky's heart he knew Madison's declaration was sincere. But the other part of him, his head that never seemed to shut up and allow him to be happy, still had that nagging thought preventing him from being completely, blissfully happy.
"I want to tell you everything," Bucky said, his arms holding Madison against his chest. "I don't want you to be in the dark about anything about me."
Leaning back, Madison enjoyed the view. The small lines that creased the edges of Bucky's eye, the dimple in his chin that she was itching to touch, even his eyebrows that seemed to fit the perfect contour of his face…how could someone not love this man physically. Thinking about that, Madison realized the physical wasn't what Bucky was worried about. He was never vane about it, but he knew he was good looking, no, what Bucky was afraid of was that his soul was too black and marred for someone to love him.
The two enjoyed their late night swim, eventually realizing that the majority of the house had gone to sleep already which meant that they probably should be heading that way soon as well.
Once out of the pool, Maddie and Bucky walked carefully so as not to slip down to their rooms. This would be the first night in a while that Bucky would be attempting to sleep on his own since Maddie had come into his life. Truth be told he didn't really want to.
Sensing he didn't want to be alone tonight, especially after all of the turmoil this morning with the doctor, Madison asked instead if he would mind letting her sleep in his room tonight. She brushed it off instead saying that she didn't want to be alone, because her new 'Spidey senses' were making her a little jumpy feeling.
Bucky didn't care what the excuse was. Leaning down he told her to join him whenever she was ready. He'd turn the bed down for her. With a huge smile on his face, Bucky turned the corner and nearly ran to his room to shower and change.
Madison slipped into her bedroom, leaning on the door after closing it behind her. She couldn't stop the goofy smile that covered her face. Bucky Barnes loved her back.
Skipping to her dresser, Madison grabbed a sleep set and headed into her bathroom to get ready for the night's rest. Bucky was a cuddler and she couldn't wait to be wrapped up in those strong arms again.