This is a fan made story. I don't own the rights to Captain America, any of its characters or any characters within the MCU… Much to my disappointment. This will have some violent content and possible triggers. Steve/Bucky Established Relationship. Constructive criticism is welcome but if you don't like it simply because you don't like the line of thinking, please don't attack me for it.
Chapter 6: Slow Going
The girls finished eating shortly after Steve and Bucky did. Steve immediately ordered Rebecca to wash her hands and face while eyeing both girls' hair. He decided that they would need haircuts as well. He pulled out his phone and texted Natasha to make appointments for them and Bucky as their first stop. By the time he finished putting the dishes in the dish washer, Nat had responded that it was done.
A few minutes later, Helen Cho came out of the elevator with Bruce, "Natasha said you would let us do a more intensive exam of the boys? Bruce will be helping if that makes you more comfortable."
Steve nodded and pointed to the play yard where the boys were both yanking at the dangling toys while sitting up, "Yeah, it does a little. No offense. Just know we are going to get stuff for the girls and Bucky while you are doing that. I hope you don't mind."
"No problem. I'm sure we can handle them. The examinations and testing will take a while anyways," Dr. Cho smiled as she and Bruce picked up a baby each. "Well, look at you. You're just all smiles aren't you."
Bruce shook his head at the Korean doctor talking to Joseph who was happily waving his arms about at the woman. George was much calmer as Bruce placed him against his shoulder and both exited via the elevator. Bucky came out of the bedroom in the same jeans he had been wearing when he had showed up in Steve's apartment and another of Steve's shirts. Rebecca came out of the girls' room with Sarah. The older of the two had dressed them both in blue jeans and Captain America T-shirts that Steve had no doubt were bought under Tony's specific instructions, mostly because all the shirts and night gear that had been in their room was Captain America themed, as was the room.
Bucky smirked at the girls and then turned to Steve, "Hey, got a permanent marker?"
"Probably, why?" Steve asked.
"Just go get it. I have an idea," Bucky's smirk grew.
"I don't even know how you know what a permanent marker is. Or a blender now that I think about it," Steve commented as he went to a drawer in the kitchen and riffled through it for a moment before pulling out a black marker and tossing it over to his lover.
"One of my handlers made me make my own food with the blender. As for the marker, it was used a lot around me, normally to black something out," Bucky responded distractedly as he crouched in front of his daughter and carefully wrote in block letters.
As he pulled away from Rebecca to repeat the process on Sarah, Steve approached to read what he wrote on the shirt, "If lost please return to Steve Rogers. Really, Buck? How many people are going to take this seriously if they did get lost."
"Well, since we are likely going to be in the store and you are a very recognizable face and name, hopefully a lot. Not that I think they will get lost, just a precaution. Besides, you must admit it's funny," Bucky's smirk was in full play as he backed up and handed the marker to Steve. "I kind of half want you to write it on me too, or maybe 'Property of Steve Rogers'. I could write, 'I am Steven Rogers' on you so that they can connect the dots if you like."
"I would rather keep it low profile if you don't mind," Steve stated, rolling his eyes at the ridiculousness of the situation. "They can keep the shirts though. Just in case."
Bucky sighed before got to put the marker on the counter as the elevator opened, "Steve, why aren't you dressed yet?" Natasha asked as she walked out, her daughter in an Iron Man t-shirt and jeans.
"Because I was cleaning up while waiting for the shower to be free. Give me five minutes and I will be out," Steve responded, heading to his room and its adjacent bathroom.
Natasha looked at the two girls who stood nearby and smirked, "Good idea. I'll do that with Natalia as well." She put her daughter down and snatched up the marker that was in plain sight. Crouching down she wrote 'If lost please return to Steve Rogers or Natasha Romanoff' on Natalia's shirt in block letters. It covered half the Iron Man mask emblazoned on the shirt.
When Steve came out a few minutes later, he noticed the change immediately, "Really? You too? Though, I am surprised that you have Natalia in an Iron Man shirt."
"Yes, well, apparently, Tony thought it would be funny to have his people get her only Iron Man paraphilia. I suspect you have a similar issue since both of yours are wearing Captain America shirts," Natasha responded as Steve picked up Sarah and they all got into the elevator.
"Yeah. He probably thought he was being funny too," Steve sighed and pressed the button for the garage.
"Just so you know, Tony told me to tell you that there should be a couple of mini-vans for us to use in the garage. Complete with car seats and everything," Natasha stated, shifting Natalia on her hip.
"That is good to know. I was thinking we would need to take two cars," Steve shrugged. He knew that car seats were bought but not more appropriate vehicles as well. "Where're we going for the haircuts, by the way?"
"Some retired SHIELD agents set up a place near here. Don't worry, they are all clean and not Hydra. After everything went down, they decided a hair salon would be a nice change of pace. They're good too. All of them got training as parts of different covers and maintained the skill since it was useful," Natasha responded. "The place is called Agent Style. It's a stupid pun but they're popular. I called the owner and she said she and a few of her people would be there early so we can get in before they open."
Steve nodded his approval. When they reached the mini-vans, two front facing harness car seats were between them as well as two rear facing ones. The two front facing were obviously for Natalia and Sarah as they were too big for the rear facing. The three of them looked at each other uncertainly.
"FRIDAY, can you please ask Dr. Cho if any of her people know how to install a car seat into a car?" Natasha asked the AI that she knew was always listening.
"Of course, Miss Romanoff," FRIDAY responded. There was a moment's pause before the AI spoke again. "Dr. Cho said that someone will be down momentarily."
Natasha and Steve relaxed instantly. A couple of minutes later, one of the techs who looked like he was probably old enough to be a dad came out and jogged over to them, "Don't worry. It is a common issue. A lot of first time parents have no idea how to install them. Do you want all of them in or just the front facing?"
"Just the front facing in this van," Natasha responded. "But you could probably demonstrate how to install the other ones in the other van so we know how to do it in the future."
The man nodded his understanding before opening the side door, grabbing the first seat and told them exactly what he was doing as he secured the seat in place. He had Steve do the second one so that at least one of them knew how to do it. He then picked up Natalia and showed them how to properly secure her in the seat. Once he finished, the tech let Natasha put Sarah in the other seat while talking Steve and Bucky each through putting the rear facing car seat bases in and then how to attach and detach the actual seats for easier convenience.
Once all the car seats were installed and the children secured, Steve silently thanked god that Rebecca was old enough not to need one. Bucky sat in back row with Rebecca while Steve sat in the front and Natasha drove. A half hour of heavy traffic later, Natasha pulled into a parking space for the Manhattan Mall. It took Steve a few moments to figure out how to undo the straps for the car seats and then Natalia and Sarah were free.
"It is pretty empty here. Are any of the shops open?" Steve asked as it wasn't quite 9 am at this point. Much earlier than most malls were open.
"Agent Style is going to be opened a bit earlier than usual for us. Typically, they don't open until 10:30 but they're making an exception for people who saved the world multiple times," Natasha smirked as they made their way through to the doors of the mall where a mall cop stood.
The man nodded at her and opened the door for them. Steve sighed as the man locked the doors behind them, "Why do I get the feeling they aren't the only ones making exceptions?"
"Tony put in a call ahead to the shops we're visiting. It is simpler if we don't have to fight the crowds. As it is, we probably won't finish the haircuts until the mall actually opens. The owner of Agent Style is only having one person come in to do them so that we don't get bombarded with probing questions. Her name is Bobbi Morse," Natasha stated blandly.
"Right. This the place?" Steve nodded to the sign about an open shop saying Agent Style in a fancy cursive.
"You would be correct. Come on," Natasha nodded as she walked into the hair salon and they were immediately greeted by a blonde with her hair back in a ponytail.
"Natasha, how are you? Ida already told me who was going to be getting the haircuts. Who is first and what are you looking for? I have books of different options if you aren't sure yet," Bobbi Morse was to the point and gestured towards a stack of books and magazines to look through.
"Barnes, do you know what you want or do you want a chance to go through the fashion magazines?" Natasha smirked at the frozen man.
"Um… Can I just get what my hair was before… well when I was…? You know…" Bucky looked uncomfortable as he spoke.
Morse nodded and pulled her phone out before typing something in and showing him a picture of himself in uniform just after one of their missions, "You want this?" Bucky nodded immediately.
"Ok, while Bobbi deals with Barnes, Steve you want to go through the books with me to help Rebecca pick what she wants and find something for Natalia and Sarah?" Natasha sat in one of the chairs and picked out a book with children's styles.
"I guess," Steve responded distractedly as Bobbi led Bucky over to a chair in front of a mirror. He absently flipped through a book while listening to the agent turned hair stylist explain what clippers were and how they would speed up the process of cutting Bucky's hair.
"What about this?" Natasha asked the eight-year-old, showing her a bob haircut parted to the side. Her response was a head shake and the search continued.
By the time that Bucky was finished getting his hair cut and styled, Steve had picked out a simple middle part bob hair cut for Sarah since her curls already gave a certain level of style. Bucky traded spots with Steve as he took Sarah to be sat on a booster in the chair Bucky had been sitting in. A quick explanation later and Bobbi was wetting Sarah's hair. The little girl sat still until she saw the scissors and then she panicked.
It took Steve five minutes to calm the two-year-old and a suggestion from Natasha about having Sarah facing him in his lap while Bobbi cut and styled her hair. Steve decided to tell Sarah about her name sake to keep her distracted while Bobbi cut her hair and when she finished, washed and styled it since Sarah hadn't really had a bath since they had found the children.
Steve felt a pang of guilt on the thought but pushed it aside as he stood with his daughter and carried her to sit next to Bucky. Bucky was still going through the books with Rebecca while Natasha took Natalia to get her hair done. Finally, something caught Rebecca's interest though, "I like this one."
The picture she was pointing to was a pixie cut style that had both men raise an eyebrow. Steve hesitated before sighing and looking at Bucky, "It's just hair. If she doesn't like it in the end she can always just grow it back out."
"It's a little… I don't know… Masculine though, isn't it?" Bucky looked worried as he looked at the extremely short hairstyle.
"Not really. Plenty of women wear their hair that short these days. I see it all the time. Heck, by the time we are finished shopping, this will probably seem pretty tame to you," Steve shrugged. He had long since adapted to the present day but Bucky hadn't had a chance to really adjust yet.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Bucky asked confused and a little annoyed.
"Hold on," Steve stated while he flipped through one of the books before stopping on a page and showing Bucky a bunch of outlandish and colorful styles. "This isn't an uncommon sight in New York now, whether you are in Brooklyn or Manhattan."
"I… your joking, right?" Bucky looked at Steve like he was a little crazy.
"Nope. You'll see soon enough. I've had to even use some of those a few times for covers. They were the fun ones," Natasha had returned with Natalia, whose mass of curls had been tamed into pig tails after being shortened a little. "Just let her get what she wants. Like Steve said, it is far from permanent. Hair grows back."
Bucky looked at his daughter who hadn't moved a muscle while waiting for his response and then Steve and Natasha before sighing, "Ok, fine. But if you don't like it, don't complain to me."
Rebecca smiled and hugged him before going over to the chair to have her hair cut. Natasha followed and showed Bobbi what the eight-year-old wanted. By the time that Rebecca's hair was finished, Steve glared at his phone that showed they had spent an hour and half on the haircuts alone.
"I hope it doesn't all take this long. I don't want to leave Helen and Bruce with the boys all day," Steve sighed as they left the salon.
"It is more going to be picking out clothing and having them try it on. I think we can safely rely on the basic sizing for Natalia and Sarah but Rebecca is going to need to see what actually fits her and what doesn't," Natasha responded immediately.