"So you're not Ellie, you're Elizabeth?" Bucky asked the daughter he was truly seeing for the first time.
"Congrats, it's a girl." Betsy shrugged.
"Would it be alright if I hugged you?" Bucky asked, opening up his arms. Betsy nodded. She gripped her dad tightly and for the first time she got to hug him as herself.
"I'm sorry it's taken us so long to meet, Kiddo." He apologized, squeezing her tight. "Not a day went by that I didn't think about you, Elizabeth."
"Betsy." She mumbled into his chest. "Everyone's always called me Betsy."
"Like Betsy Ross." Bucky laughed. "Yeah, that was your Dad's idea. If it had been left up to me you probably would have been named something like Axel or Rebel, but Steve wanted you two to have historical names. I can't believe after all this time I'm finally holding you in my arms." He gave her another loving squeeze. "Last time I held you like this you were just a baby. You fit in the palm of my hand. I'm not ready to send you back."
"I have to go back." Betsy frowned, taking a step back. "You heard my call with Ellie, Dad wants to marry some woman he just met. He's losing his mind."
"I'm sure he's not losing his mind. Steve's always been very…sensible. He's going to have a cow when he finds out what you girls did." Bucky shook his head. "I'm sure he'll find a way to blame me for it somehow." He rolled his eyes with exasperation.
"I wouldn't be too sure. I have a bit of a reputation as a schemer with the other Avengers. Uncle Tony and I are usually the first to get blamed when something goes wrong." Betsy admitted.
"Uncle Tony as in Tony Stark?" Bucky guessed. "I'm sure he deserves most of the blame that he gets. I guess we should go tell Sam and the others that I need to leave for California."
"You're coming with me?" Betsy asked him excitedly.
"Well, yeah. I'm not sending you back to face him alone. I know how Steve can be when he's upset. Plus, it will give us a little more time together." He explained.
"You know, there's one thing I've always wanted to do that Dad never let me. Do you think before you send me back you could take me on a ride on your motorcycle? Please?" Betsy begged.
"How could I say no to the only thing you've ever asked from me?" He smiled. "Let's go see if we have helmets in your size."
Ellie was anxiously pacing the outside of Tony Stark's lab. If there ever was a time to bring in the big guns now was it. She and Betsy were swimming against the current now that Steve was planning on marring Sharon. Should they even go through with their plan to get the Dads back together? How could they do that without hurting Sharon? How did they know for sure that Steve would be happier with Bucky than with Sharon? They needed help. Adult help.
"Uncle Tony?" She shouted loudly as she entered the lab. Loudly because Tony was playing his heavy metal music on blast.
"Hmm?" Tony turned to see who could be looking to bother him at this time of night. He smirked when he realized it was Ellie. He turned the music down and greeted her. "How's operation Double Dad going there Betsy?" He asked putting air quotes around her sister's name.
"Not great." Ellie huffed. She leaned back against a nearby work surface and crossed her arms over her chest. "I didn't know things with Steve and Sharon were so serious. He's ready to marry her! I told Betsy she had to come home. I'm giving up."
"Giving up?" Tony shook his head. "That's too bad. "I didn't take you for a quitter Ellie Barnes."
"I'm not a quitter!" She snapped back. "I just don't think it would be fair for us to hurt someone else just so that we could get what we wanted."
"Well, what if there was a way for you to get what you wanted without Sharon getting hurt?" Tony questioned.
"What did you have in mind?" Ellie asked.
"Okay, you're going to have to hold on tight, alright?" Bucky called over the loud purr of his motorcycle.
"I've got it, Pop." Betsy promised. She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around her father's waist. The bike lurched forward taking her by surprise, but Betsy didn't let go. She only held onto Bucky tighter.
As the cool wind swirled around her Betsy, closed her eyes and imagining she was driving the motorcycle. She pictured a warm California afternoon with an open road lined only with palm trees. Fresh air, wind in her hair and a fast bike. It was everything she'd dreamed her first ride would be.
"Okay, that was awesome!" Betsy exclaimed once Bucky stopped the motorcycle outside of his house. "Thanks so much for letting me do that! It was one of the coolest moments of my life." She tossed her armed around Bucky's neck and kissed him on the cheek.
"I'm glad you enjoyed it." Bucky smiled. He loved seeing how happy he'd made his daughter. "I'm only sorry that we won't be able to do it more often."
"Well, maybe you and Dad could come to some kind of arrangement like Ellie and I could do Thanksgiving in New York and Christmas here?" Betsy suggested.
"We can talk it over with him, but maybe let's not mention the motorcycle thing right off the bat?" He suggested. Bucky put one arm around his daughter's shoulders. "Let's head inside and Pack, we're going to New York."
"Shouldn't we at least tell Dad that Betsy and Pop are coming?" Ellie asked Tony the next morning. The two of them were at the JFK Airport waiting for Betsy and Bucky's plane to arrive. They'd made arrangements the night before to meet at the airport so that Tony could drive everyone to the Compound.
"You want your Dads to get together right?" Tony asked. "You don't know Steve like I do. If he finds out Bucky is coming here, he'll get big speech prepared and you'll be on a plane home before you can say Star Spangled Man. This way we catch him off guard. He'll want to know how something like this could happen and why was he the last to know. This way is better. Trust me."
"I hope your right." Ellie sighed. She looked up at the flight board, triple checking that the flight from California was on time.
"Remind me again why I'm here?" Sam complained as he trailed behind Bucky and Betsy. The trio was navigating their way from their airport terminal to the baggage claim area of JFK airport.
"You know how I get when I'm around him." Bucky replied. "I need you here to make sure I don't do or say something stupid. I just want to switch the girls back and be on our way. So It's your job to keep me on task Can you do that?"
"There they are!" Betsy exclaimed when she spotted Tony and Ellie standing just off to the side of a baggage carousel. She ran over to her sister we hugged her tight.
"It's been a long week without you." Ellie whispered holding her close.
"Please tell me you're the real Betsy, because I don't think I can handle a secret triplet." Tony smirked.
"I've missed you too, Uncle Tony!" Betsy promised hugging him next. "I heard you have a plan?"
"We'll talk about it later." He whispered back as Sam and Bucky approached them. "Well if it isn't Robocop and the Wingman." Tony greeted them. Sam rolled his eye, but Bucky laughed. He'd forgotten how much of a joker Tony Stark could be.
"Good to see you again, Stark." Bucky nodded. "And good to see you again, Eleanor." He looked at his daughter, who took a half step behind Betsy.
"Hi Dad." She responded quietly.
"No more stunts like this okay, El?" Bucky begged her. "Your old man can't take it." He clutched at his heart dramatically.
"Sorry, Dad." Ellie apologized before stepping forward to finally hug her father. "But it was for a really good reason."
"Where's Steve?" Bucky asked finally. He'd expected Captain America to make himself known by now. He looked around the airport like he thought his ex would jump out from behind a stack of suitcases and shout 'Gotcha' at any second.
"Well," Ellie, the real Ellie, bit her lip. "We didn't exactly tell him about the switch yet."
"He doesn't know I'm coming yet?" Bucky looked at Betsy. "You didn't tell your dad that you were coming home?"
"You know how Dad is," Betsy tried to explain. "He wouldn't want to find something like this out from a text or a phone call. And then he'd worry the whole time about whether we'd get here safely it. It was better for everyone to surprise him."
"Alight, Sharon and Steve will have noticed us missing by now, so let's get to the car." Tony announced looking at his watch. "Barnes you can ride shotgun, I want to hear all about that motorcycle company of yours."