Steve realized two things when he woke up the next morning. First, he'd overslept. It was well past eight in the morning and he didn't think he'd moved once. Second, he was tangled up in the two other people in his bed and well, that wasn't a bad thing at all. Steve didn't often indulge himself in sleeping in but at the moment, he wondered why that was.

Bucky was awake and grinning at him. Stretching up to kiss Steve's mouth, Bucky then reached over the table on his side and grabbed his phone.

"When did you get in? We must have fallen asleep," Bucky scrolled through his phone, much more comfortable with modern technology than he was.

"Late," Steve told him in a rough voice. "You two were out cold when I finally made it up here. How's the leg?"

Bucky pulled the covers away from his knee to reveal yet another scar but otherwise, a healed wound.

"Good," Steve whispered, pressing a kiss to the top of Chris's head. She was sprawled out across him, her head on his shoulder, slender limbs thrown over him. She looked completely comfortable.

"Oh, wow," Bucky drew his attention away from their girl. "Nat needs to go meet someone from the old days and she's asked me to go with her."

Steve didn't approve, and Bucky knew that. "Why?"

Bucky shrugged a shoulder. "Something she's trying to score for Wanda. I'll be with her to keep her safe."

"Something better be worth putting your lives at risk," Steve warned.

Bucky sighed. "I'm going because if I don't, she'll go alone. You know that."

Steve did. He still didn't like it, but he knew Bucky was right.

"When?"

"Leaving here in a few minutes," Bucky said with a wink as he climbed out of bed.

Steve stared up at him, realizing that left him with Chris. Alone.

"You said you wanted to convince her to give you a chance," Bucky reminded him. "Here's your chance. You'll have our girl all to yourself. You can be charming when you want to, Stevie."

Bucky laughed when Steve flipped him off.

Chris still hadn't stirred when Bucky came out of the bathroom from his shower, pulling his robe out of the floor and hanging it up before he got dressed.

"I'll be back later today." Bucky pressed a kiss to Chris's cheek, one to Steve's lips. "Be good to her."

Steve nodded, watched Bucky leave.

Just him and Chris. Okay. Steve hadn't been prepared for that.

Now he was too nervous to just stay in bed, so he threw on his robe, curiously it smelled like Chris, and situated her in bed with his pillow at her back. Then he headed for the kitchen to make breakfast.

Steve had just finished pancakes with scrambled eggs and sausage links when she quietly walked into the kitchen, smiling at the table he'd set with a tablecloth and nice linen placemats and napkins. Her pretty face colored slightly as she took in that there were just two places set.

"Where's Bucky?" Chris asked, nervously pulling at the edge of Steve's t-shirt that she'd slipped on.

"Out on an errand with Natasha," Steve admitted. "Something for Wanda."

Chris nodded, swiping at her eyes as she moved closer, looking unsure of what to do.

"I thought maybe since it was just us you would like to have breakfast with me?" Steve flashed her with what he hoped was a charming smile.

"Oh wow." Her blush deepened, making him wonder just how far it extended. "Thank you, Steve. This is wonderful."

He motioned for her to sit and she did, pulling the napkin from her setting and placing it on her lap. Steve poured them each a glass of orange juice and joined her at the table, feeling pretty proud of the way she dug right in to her breakfast.

"You're a really good cook," she said after a moment. "First the lasagna and now this. Do you bake too?"

It was Steve's turn to blush now, grinning as he said, "a little."

"What else can you make?" Chris wanted to know.

"I can make a lot of things," Steve wasn't bragging. "When we were younger, Bucky was the breadwinner, I made what I could, but I was usually the one home to do the cooking. You try really hard not to mess up when you don't have anything else to make if you burn dinner."

"Ah," Chris said in response.

"Do you cook?" Steve asked her.

Chris shook her head. "Not really. I can open cans and microwave. That's about it."

"Who did the cooking when you were younger?" Steve realized he knew next to nothing about Chris's back story.

"My Aunt Jenny," she admitted after a minute. "She felt so bad about never really being home with me that she did everything. The cooking, the cleaning. Laundry. It was a rude awakening when I started UVA because I had absolutely no survival skills when I started out."

Steve didn't like the sad note her voice took on as she explained that.

"What happened to your parents?" he had to ask.

Chris's gaze met his and he started to tell her that it was okay if she didn't feel comfortable telling him but then she answered him.

"They were killed in a car accident when I was a baby," Chris explained. "Jenny's an ER nurse and she was at the hospital when they arrived. Dad was dead on arrival and Mom, she made it a few days."

"I'm so sorry, sweetheart," he said gently. "Which was her sibling?"

"My Mom."

"Your aunt stayed single?"

Chris nodded. "There's a reason I'm bad at relationships. I had a very good role model." She laughed, thoughtful eating a forkful of pancakes. "Jenny has terrible taste in men. She's never had a relationship that I've known of that lasted longer than a few months."

"Wait, so if she was your role model," Steve pointed out, "and she has terrible taste in men, what are you trying to say?"

Chris laughed, turning red. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean that. Any woman would be very lucky to have either one of you."

"Yeah?" Steve held her gaze, loving having the advantage of her discomfort for the moment. "What about both of us?"

Chris shrugged. "It's different… but in a good way. You're both alike in some ways and very different in others."

"How are we alike?"

Her expression sobered at that. "You've both been through so much, Steve. I remember when we had to read about you guys in history class and just what you experienced in the war was unbelievable to me. I don't know much about your lives before you became Captain America, but I'm guessing it wasn't an easy time of it. The museum mentioned you were ill most of your life up to that point. Then you lost Bucky and… "

Steve didn't know what to say to that.

"I know you've both experienced a lot, but I have to admire you. Despite it all, you're here still trying to make our world a better place. Trying to live a somewhat normal life. You're broken, you have nightmares, but you don't let it defeat you. There are days I want to bitch about things or complain but when I think of you two, I realize I have no reason to. You inspire me, I guess."

Now knowing how she saw things helped him. At least she didn't feel sorry for them. Considering her own upbringing, it sounded like she could relate.

"You're different too," Chris went on. "Bucky is tenacious, and charming. He never forgets a damn thing when I screw up but he's the first to defend me if I need him. He's too hard on himself about his past, doesn't think he deserves a damn thing in life, but he does enjoy what he has. I love that smile he gets when he's really happy. I mean really happy like after sex or ice cream. His eyes sparkle and he does that little thing with his nose."

Steve burst out laughing, thinking he was the only one who noticed that Bucky scrunched his nose like a content bunny sometimes.

"You know I'm right," Chris told him.

"You really are," Steve told her, laughing. "What about me?"

Chris just studied him for a moment, propping her chin on her hand.

"Steve, you just really are that American hero we all believe you to be," Chris told him. "You always do the right thing, think of others before yourself. You always put me on Bucky's right because you're so worried my hair will get caught in his arm again."

He laughed. She had him there.

"When I had that panic attack after meeting with Tony, you just marched down there to my apartment," Chris told him. "You look after me – and him – even if we don't want you to. But yeah, we usually want you to. I do, anyway."

Steve's heart fluttered in his chest.

"You came to me with just the craziest proposal ever after I'd hooked up with Bucky and now that I know you better, I'm a little shocked because you don't seem like the sort of guy who does threesomes," she explained. "Once someone realizes how big your heart is though, well, then it kind of makes sense. You'd really need two people when it comes to a heart like yours."

Tears stung the backs of his eyes at her words.

"Gorgeous as you are, though, I gave this a chance because I knew we couldn't make Bucky choose between us," Chris admitted. "I wanted you to be back together. God, the way you look at him with your heart in your eyes. Always wanted someone to look at me like that. Before this I thought that if I held him off long enough, I'd give you time to get in and he'd forget me. But you wouldn't let me off the hook. And now? Well, it sucks keeping it all a secret but I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy it."

Steve reached across the table to take her hand in his. "We want you to be happy with us, Chris. It's not just me and Bucky. Not anymore."

The smile faded from her eyes and lips. "I'm scared though."

"Sweetheart, why?" Steve gently pulled her up and around the table to sit in his lap. It felt so good to hold her there. "What are you scared of?"

"Are you two even going to age?" she asked, trying to sound like she was joking but not quite hitting that note.

"We are," he told her honestly. "The serum enhanced us both, but it didn't grant us immortality or eternal youth. It might be slowed down, but we'll get there."

"What if something happens to you? Either of you?"

"That could happen with anyone you love," Steve reminded her. "We all face that risk."

"You two face way more danger than the average person, Steve."

"We're also way more equipped to deal with it."

"What happens when one or both of you get tired of me?"

He hated how small her voice sounded when she asked that question.

"Don't."

"Why? It's possible, Steve."

"We're not like anyone you've dated before," Steve said, pressing a soft kiss to the side of her neck. "We're actually pretty set in our ways. We don't like change."

"I'm not like you," Chris pointed out. "I'm a loner who gets depressed and insecure. There's going to be times I won't want to talk to you and you might forgive me, but will he?"

"He will," Steve said quietly. "He has his moments too. We all do."

Turning on his lap, Chris pressed her palms to his chest, sliding them inside his robe to touch his skin.

"There are going to be times when it's just me and you," Chris told him.

Steve nodded, wrapping his arms gently around her.

"I think this is going to be okay," she said. "There's bound to be stuff we have in common or can do."

"We can cook, you could teach me how to use a computer or a phone because I struggle," he replied. "We can train or watch a movie."

Nodding, she slid her hands up around his neck, stretching up to kiss him slowly.

"So many places we can go," she said thinking out loud.

Just the flash of something crossed his beautiful eyes but it was gone just as fast.

"Is it selfish of me to have both of you?" she blushed as she asked. "Seems any number of women would cheerfully kill me for being with either one of you, much less both."

Steve shook his head. "Is it wrong of us to be together and both get to have you too?"

"Well, if you save the world regularly, maybe you deserve a bonus?" Chris laughed, shrugged.

"Maybe," he told her. "You're quite a bit more than a bonus though."

Winking at him, she said, "we'll see."

They made out like teenagers for a few moments before clearing the dishes. Chris stretched before heading into the bathroom, searching through his cabinets.

"What are you looking for?" he called.

"You don't happen to have any bath oils or bombs?" she asked.

Steve grinned. "A bath? That sound pretty good. Hang on."

She watched him pull on a shirt and shorts and head out of the apartment. He was back in ten minutes with a bottle of lavender-scented bubble bath and she made a happy sound as he poured a generous amount into the water she'd gotten just right.

Stripping off, he placed a hand in the large tub and frowned. Chris liked her showers scalding like Bucky. The water was warm but not too bad. Climbing in the tub, he got comfortable, watching as she pulled off his shirt and climbed in with him, her back to his front and they talked about everything until the water cooled.

It was then as they climbed out to dry off that she thought to ask. "Where you'd get the bubbles?"

Steve grinned. "Nat."

"She's going to get you back for that," Chris warned him playfully.

"Maybe." Steve was determined to dry her off with one of his huge, fluffy towels. Once he was done, Chris made her way back into the bedroom, looking indecisive.

"What?" he wanted to know.

"Just trying to decide if I should go back to mine to get dressed and get a few things done or…"

"You could bring some stuff to keep here," he was barely keeping the hope out of his tone. "I have several drawers I'm not using so there's plenty of room."

"Wow," Chris teased him with a blinding smile. "I already get a drawer?"

Steve was a little confused and she seemed to realize it.

"Nowadays, someone giving you a drawer in their place is a huge relationship milestone," Chris explained.

"It is, huh?" He sat on the edge of the bed with a towel wrapped around his waist. "What else?"

"What do you mean what else?"

"What other milestones do you do nowadays?"

"Why?"

I'm hoping in time you'll see me as more than what you got in a package deal with Bucky.

"Because offering a drawer isn't enough for one day?" Her smile hadn't faded.

"Can't blame a guy for trying."

Chris swallowed hard, sitting next to him on the bed and adorably naked. "Well, there's giving someone a key but here we don't use those, so…"

"I could still give you access to come and go as you like," Steve said nodded. "Bucky has access."

"There's having someone move in with you," Chris went on, glancing up at him. "I think those are the only ones we've added, and you know the rest, getting engaged, married and such."

Gently he picked her, situating her on his lap. She smelled so good from the bath and he couldn't resist running his lips over the soft, moist skin along her throat and shoulder. He made a circuit, down and up, several times until he just kept going up to claim her lips. When she slid her arms around his neck and began to return that kiss with everything she had, Steve lowered them back onto the bed. His heart raced in his chest. Maybe it was just that Chris accepted him to avoid making Bucky choose between them. Maybe, just maybe, she wanted Steve too.

When she indicated she wanted to turn, Steve let her maneuver him onto his back with her above him. Chris dazzled him with kisses, working her way down his body until she situated herself between his thighs and began to work him with her mouth and hands.

"Chris?" Steve panted. "Sweetheart? You don't have –"

She cut him off by taking him into her throat and Steve clutched at the sheets, trying not to lose his mind. Her small hands worked his sack, what she couldn't get into her mouth. Constantly changing tactics, Chris kept him on edge for long minutes while he clutched at her hair and fought to keep himself from snatching her up, pressing her into the bed, and fucking her like there was no tomorrow.

When he finally couldn't hang on any longer, Steve let go with a shout, still amazed at how good Chris was at that. Steve drifted off into a nap shortly after and woke up to find that Chris had covered them up, her head was back on his chest and she was sprawled across him, just as they were when they woke up.

Now it was dark outside, his stomach was growling, and someone had just walked into the living room.

Bucky looked surprised when he strolled back into the bedroom. Tilting his head in surprise, he just stared.

"You never left the bed?" Bucky said with a teasing tone.

"We did," Steve sounded unconvincing to his own ears. "We just ended up back here."

"Okay," Bucky didn't sound like he believed them. "You've fed our girl, right?"

Steve tightened his arm around her while she slept. "We had breakfast."

"Want me to order Chinese for dinner?" Bucky offered, hanging up his jacket.

Chris hummed contentedly on Steve's chest. Bucky climbed up on the bed to spoon up behind her.

"Chris, how are you feeling?" he whispered in her ear.

Steve watched her shiver.

"I've had a really good day," she told him, snuggling closer to Steve.

"Did Stevie treat you right?"

"Mmmm-hmmm," Chris murmured.

"How did it go?" Steve asked quietly.

"Everything was fine," Bucky told him. "Except I missed my best guy and my best girl."

Bucky got up, stretched. "I'll go order dinner. You two could at least get on your pajamas," he said then winked. "If not, I'll enjoy the view."

Chris lifted her sleepy head off his chest to smile up at him and Steve's heart just melted.

This might work out after all.