Amnesia arrived back at the farm to see James standing at the door to the hut. She gets off the bike and smiles, walking over to her man.
"They took it rather well," she states with a soft grin.
"What?" He asks meeting her smile with a smirk that always manages to make her weak.
"I'm taking some time off," she explains and he straightens up, not expecting that answer. "I brought a project with me to work on, but I'm taking a step back. We just... we aren't running right now. It's peace time, it's just taken me until now to realize I haven't been a civilian in a long long time. I've been so afraid that someone will come along and take you from me. It is peace time," Amnesia states her confusion evident on her face.
James pulls her closer to him and sets his forehead against her own. He closes his eyes and relishes in the moment. He never wants to let her go again. He hasn't gotten around to yelling at her for the events that recently transpired. Whenever he's tried she's managed to distract him or change the subject, or leave to visit the palace and take a leave of absence from her unofficial job. How could he yell at her now when she did exactly what he had wanted her to?
Amnesia just thinks about why he's not kissing her. She thinks about stepping on his toe so he'll bend lower and connect their lips. Then she gets distracted when she hears Wilson bleating. Her attention recaptured a millisecond later by James releasing the breath he's been holding. His arms tighten around her and she finally just pushes down on his shoulders and meets his lips with her own in a sweet kiss to seal the moment.
"I don't ever want to see you in the line of fire again," he states when they pull apart.
"I can't make that promise and neither can you. We both have our duties."
"Screw that, doll. My only duty is to you."
"I know," she states, whispering their own version of "I love you."
"I know," he returns.
"Let's feed Wilson then, yeah?" Amnesia murmurs when the goat yells again.
"Did you know that goats were one of the first animals that humans tamed and herded? But since they're herd animals, they get lonely." Amnesia says beginning to ramble.
"We're not getting another goat."
"I ordered one already," Amnesia says waving him off. "Besides, I let you name this one. I get to name the next one. We should get a dog too. Maybe a collie? They're good herding dogs. We can teach the goats their names. They're very smart animals actually, they're just hard to train. Dogs are easier to train. Maybe we should get a pit bull. Everyone hates pit bulls but everyone is stupid. Pit bulls are so sweet. There aren't bad dogs just bad owners. Please James can we get a dog?"
"Or maybe a Dalmatian." She mumbles when he doesn't respond, too busy switching out the hay. She goes over and grabs a bucket of the chicken feed and the chickens instantly flock to her as she starts tossing it about for them.
"You just want a Dalmatian because of "101 Dalmatians"," James calls out pausing as he switches out the hay.
"Dalmatians used to run beside fire trucks and act as sirens. They're not just from "101 Dalmatians" James."
"Alright, then what were you gonna name it?"
"Horace if it's a boy, Hepburn if it's a girl."
"After that actress? Why?"
"Because I really like Audrey Hepburn and I'm sure our dog will be just as beautiful."
"Next thing I know, we'll have a horse I don't know about," he says rejoining his girl and wrapping an arm around her as they meander back to the house.
"A mule. Mules are more practical."
"No llamas or alpacas though. Our farm isn't that big."
"That's why we will have the dog. A collie would be best though. They're better at herding. Grooming her might suck but she'll be worth it."
"We will just have to wait and see, won't we?" He says and she pouts. "Hey, you already got your goats."
"Well you wanted them too," Amnesia counters.
"What project did you bring home?" James asks changing the subject and starting dinner.
"That energy dead zone I told you about."
"Are you sure that you shouldn't be working on that in the lab?" He asks.
"If it does work how I expect it, it might shut down the whole palace, it'd be better if I worked on it elsewhere. And I brought all the equipment I'll need. You won't be able to get rid of me that easy."
"I just know how bored you get," James assures her.
"Well, this project is one that will probably take me a long while to figure out. I've also got to monitor the whereabouts of one Steve Rogers because he often does stupid things that alerts the government to his and the other's location, and I've decided to put more research into farm life and I want to know if there's a better way to stimulate plant growth in common farm plants. I will be very busy."
"If you say so, Doll. By the way, I'm going to start training you again."
"Okay. That's probably a good idea. I'm out of practice," Amnesia says absently, mixing stuff in a bowl to add to the mix of stuff James has sautéing. He looks over at her and smirks remembering a very similar situation from back in Bucharest.
"Good. Now drop and give me ten push ups."
"What? Really James," Amnesia whines, pouting before doing so.
"Yes," he says taking her bowl of stuff and slowly adding it to everything else. "And-"
"And you'll do ten more if you don't get lower," she mutters before she starts knowing what he's going to say before he says it.
"You know me too well."
"Just make dinner," she commands, panting when she's done a minute or so later.
"You're the better cook," he says causing her to laugh.
"No I'm not. You just like to watch me," she corrects as she sits at their small dining table.
"And that's not what you're doing now?"
"I'm actually researching dog care and collie breeders in the area," Amnesia replies holding up her kimoyo beads as she sets the table.
"I stand corrected," he says with a chuckle, knowing she had also been watching him. "We could name the dog Ellie," he offers a few minutes later.
"Why Ellie?" Amnesia asks with a frown.
"That kids movie we watched two weeks ago with the house and the balloons?"
Amnesia's eyes mist over the first five minutes playing in her head again. Then she goes and tries to order the soundtrack on vinyl and doesn't find it so she orders a custom one. In a perfect world, that would be them. Well, Amnesia would be able to have kids, because in this perfect world, they hadn't been captured by Hydra. Then again, if it hadn't been for Hydra, they probably wouldn't have ever met.
Amnesia realizes she would go through all of that pain again if it meant she would end up here with James. But with another glance at her beloved, she also realizes that she would never subject him to the horrors he had gone through to get here. If she had her way, he and Steve would never have even thought about joining in the war.
"Nes, Nes," James calls and Amnesia blinks realizing she tuned too far out. "What's wrong? We can name the dog something else."
"Don't, don't ever leave me. James, our lives, our lives should have been so different but-but you're you-you are all I have and everyone is they-they don't get it and," Amnesia stutters out and James pulls her to him then over to the stove so he can continue to make dinner without burning it. He frowns missing his arm so he could make dinner with one hand and still hold his girl.
"What brought this on? Because I know it wasn't some stupid movie reference."
"It's," she starts but stops and frowns not having the words.
"Come on 'Nesia, whatever it is, it's obviously bothering you. Talk to me."
Instead she just wraps her arms around him and hides her face in his shoulder, conveying her thought process to him silently.
"'Nes there is nothing you could have done to keep Hydra from happening to me. Nothing to keep Steve from wanting to enlist, and nothing to stop me from getting drafted and joining the commandos just to keep an eye on him. And if it came down to it, I would do all of it again, just to have you next to me. I'd make myself stronger though so you're safer. Maybe try to keep my arm so I can actually hold you while I cook. 'Nesia, I love you and we are on a nice farm, in a safe country, I get to wake up next to you everyday and we don't have to look over our shoulders. Nothing can take this from us okay?"
"I love you too you know," Amnesia mumbles.
"I know," he confirms turning off the heat and finally wrapping his arm around her.
"I know you know."
"And I know you know I love you," he replies proud of himself for following her wordplay.
"I know," Amnesia says with a small smile, her eyes much more dry.
"I know," he says and then he leans down and quickly kisses her before dishing out dinner.
They finish eating and Amnesia cleans up as Bucky herds the animals back into their fenced off areas. Then they dance until the sun sets and fall asleep in their in each other's arms, hiding the nightmares that keep them awake from their partners.
As James Buchanan Barnes lies awake in the middle of the night, holding onto his girl he recalls what he told her earlier, and he agrees with her. If there was a way to go back and spare his girl the pain, he would take it. He'd find her some way under whatever her real name is. He's always been one of those people that believe that if two people are meant to be together, no amount of distance or extreme circumstances will keep them apart. For quite some time, he's been worried more about his own mental stability. He always figured Amnesia was on more solid ground than him but he's starting to see that might not be the case. So he holds her a little tighter, but he's too distracted to notice Amnesia staring at the wall in front of her fed up with thoughts of aliens and foreign gods.
In the morning they'll get up, pretend they're rested. James will feed the animals, Amnesia will make breakfast. Afterwards, she will start to tinker with her project then get distracted by her man working outside. They'll both get distracted even more. Amnesia will create some new invention to make farming easier that she will abandon momentarily after thinking of something to aid in her other project. She'll feed the chickens later before she and James, make dinner together. He'll round up the sheep and goats as she does dishes and then they'll dance around the small hut to the vinyl of the day before going to sleep after getting distracted. Then they spend the night attempting to hide their restlessness from the other only to repeat everything the next day, the day after that and so on.