Emily
Emily found herself wrapped around the two super soldiers in the morning in Bucky's room. She was lying on her stomach in the middle of the bed, her leg wrapped over Bucky and her arm over his chest, while her other arm was lying around Steve. Steve had his wrapped around Emily and his hands were resting on Bucky. Emily smiled, now positioning herself so she was on her side, Steve pressed against her back while her arm was over Bucky holding him close by.
Emily was relieved it was Saturday, she had spent all of yesterday helping Pepper sort out the plans for tonight. Emily was a bit bummed about that, just because when Steve came back Thursday night she though she would be able to spend a bit of time with him but they had finished planning at 6pm and then she had her performance at the speakeasy that night. Bucky and Steve were going to come originally, but then Tony called some meeting. Though, they did meet her at the end of the night and all three of them crashed here.
Emily was refusing to be the first one to break this up, she closed her eyes and drifted back to sleep.
She was running through the neighborhood trying to get home. She needed to get home, she needed to be with them. When Aunt Faye had picked her up, along with her brother and sisters she knew something was wrong. She pleaded for her to tell her but she just told her everything was fine and her parents were just having a break. That's when she broke for it, she ran and ran. Ignoring the shouting from aunt Faye, ignoring the crying from her brothers and sisters.
"Mum?" Emily called out, panic oozing out from her calls, "dad?" There was police and ambulance all around the house. She darted between them, trying to get into her home. Then someone grabbed her hand, she screamed at them "get off me!" She struggled still screaming, "help!" She shouted once more.
"Emily," Steve's and Bucky's voice came through, waking her up from her sleep. She was covered in sweat, Steve was holding her close while Bucky was holding onto her wrists gently.
"You were lashing out in your sleep" Bucky told her, now releasing her wrists. "You were shouting for someone to help you."
Emily nodded, taking deep breaths. It had been a while since she had this dream. She closed her eyes, trying to calm her mind. Emily squeezed Steve's hand with one of hers and with her other hand she took hold of Bucky's squeezing his.
"It was just a nightmare" she told them, now opening her eyes. She looked at Bucky, she could tell he didn't believe her but she was relieved when he dropped it.
Bucky
Bucky watched as Emily got herself up out of his bed and made her way back to her room to shower. He knew she had been lying when she said it was just a dream. He found it amusing that out of everyone she tried to hide it from him, he knew better than anyone what a night terror was and he could tell she was reliving a memory. He realized he must be frowning because Steve finally spoke up, "Bucky I know what you're planning and it's probably best we drop it for now, it's clear Emily doesn't want to talk about it." Bucky listened to his best friend, he was right about Emily not wanting to talk about it, but he couldn't help himself. He got himself up out of bed and made his way to go to Emily's room. "Bucky" he could hear Steve warning him, Steve now starting to get himself out of bed.
Bucky turned around to look at Steve, "don't you start punk" he warned him, now turning back towards Emily's room. He could hear the shower running as he approached her room. He made his way towards her bed, siting on the end of it waiting for Emily to finish her shower.
He could hear the water turn off in the bathroom and he continued to sit there waiting for Emily, the door opened and he looked up and she came out with a towel wrapped around her. She seemed shocked to see him sat there, he gave her a small smile.
"What are you doing in here Bucky?" She asked, walking towards him.
"Look doll," he started, taking hold of her hips and pulling her towards him and placing her on his lap, "I don't know who you're trying to kid about pretending that was a normal nightmare, and Steve's already told me to drop it." He paused, looking up at her, "but you aren't alone. When you're ready to talk I'm here. Trust me, I know better than anyone."
He watched as Emily looked at him, her hands were now running through his hair. She gave him a small smile, "it's complicated," she said, taking a breath and sighing. He could tell she was struggling for words. Bucky did the only thing he could think of and was gently kiss her, at first she seemed shocked but she soon returned it.
"Doll, we understand complicated," he smirked at her laughing, he noticed Emily crack a smile at his comment.
"Soon" Emily told him, leaning down and kissing him again before standing up.
Steve
Steve watched as Bucky left Emily's room and made his way to him, Steve looked at him expectantly, "don't look at me like that Stevie," Bucky told him walking over to the fridge, "I took your advice and didn't push her. I just told her when she's ready to talk we are here."
Steve nodded, "that's probably the best call." He paused for a moment, "do you think it's anything to do with going back home?"
Bucky shrugged, "if it is, we will find out soon enough," Steve nodded, taking the bottle of water Bucky had passed over to him.
Steve looked over towards Emily's bedroom door and saw that she was dressed in her work stuff, she smiled at both him and Bucky. "Tony asked me if I could help Pepper out this morning. I should only be a couple of hours." She moved towards Steve, giving him a kiss on the cheek, "plus he's now giving me Wednesday to Friday off work for doing this." Emily moved towards Bucky giving him a kiss on his cheek.
"When is it you want to go back home?" Steve asked,
"Thursday if you guys can do it? Wednesday there's a big event at the bar that I can't get out of."
"That should be fine," Steve smiled at Emily, "we will see you later this afternoon"
Bucky looked over at Steve, "you know this must be a good thing, especially if she's introducing us to her parents and family."
Steve knew it was a step in the right direction, he was also aware of how unconventional this all was. Unlike Emily, he and Bucky had spent years being able to come to terms with the idea of the three of them. Though, if he was being completely honest after he came out of the ice he had always believed he had missed his chance of this. But when Bucky had come back into his life, it made it a lot easier for him. He had something familiar, something he loved.
Bucky snapped Steve out of his thoughts, "come on punk, we need to meet Sam for this run. We're gonna be late at this rate." Bucky's hand squeezed Steve's shoulder and he gave him a quick smile. Steve put his hand on Bucky's squeezing it back.
Emily
Emily was relieved to get back into the apartment that afternoon. Steve and Bucky weren't in so she took herself straight to the bathroom to have a long relaxing bath. She sat there letting the hot water warm her body. Her thoughts drifting off to her dream.
There was blood everywhere, she could tell it had been a struggle.
Emily shut her ties tightly, trying to push the memory to the back of her mind, trying to think of anything else.
She was running around the house, dodging the police men that were trying to stop her. She made it to the dining room where she finally saw them. Her mum was sat there with paramedics around her, she was covered in blood. She turned to another set of paramedics who were wheeling out a body bag. "Emily?" Her mum said, now looking at her, "what are you doing here?" She could see the tears falling down her face.
Emily opened her eyes, she realized her breathing had quickened. "Miss Chambers, is everything okay?" FRIDAY's voice came through the system,
"Yes fine," she tried to recompose herself.
"It appears you were having a panic attack, shall I alert Captain Rogers and Sargent Barnes?" FRIDAY's voice came through again.
"No it's okay FRIDAY, thank you." Emily said, "could you play some Frank Sinatra please."
The music started playing in the bathroom, Emily sighed. Dunking her head into the bath, after a few seconds she emerged, brushing her hair back and lying her head back in the tub. Her mind drifting back to normality, she hated this. It happened every time she planned to go home, this would happen. She would be filled with panic attacks and nightmares of the past. It had been over ten years ago and it was still affecting her today.
Bucky
Bucky and Steve arrived back at the apartment, they could hear frank Sinatra playing from Emily's room and her singing along to Frank Sinatra.
"Is she singing -?" Bucky started to ask but Steve finished his sentence for him,
"My way," Steve replied, moving towards her door.
Bucky could tell she was in the bathroom and he could hear water splashing as she moved, he loved hearing her sing. Emily had an amazing voice, but this was different. She was singing with her heart, she was singing with a lot more passion. Bucky looked over at Steve who had noticed this too.
Bucky could hear Emily take the plug out of the bath and he could hear her now moving around the bathroom. Both the guys backed away from the door, "we should probably get ready" Steve said now looking at the clock.
Bucky nodded, he hated these things. He felt uncomfortable at these things, he couldn't say he enjoyed dressing up in a suit and making small talk with people. Especially since drinking alcohol didn't have an effect on him anymore. He missed that feeling, being able to let loose and relax completely.
Bucky made his way to his room, he stepped into the shower and got ready for tonight.
When Bucky had finally finished getting ready, he stepped out his room to Steve sat on the sofa. Bucky couldn't help but smile, his best friend looked incredible. He thought back to when they were kids, the little scrawny guy who could hardly fill a suit. He remembered how his jacket would hang off him. Those were the memories Bucky thought of the most, how he missed those days with Steve. The carefree days before the war, before hydra, before the avengers. He snapped out of his memories, his best friend was now looking at him.
"You know Emily won't be able to take her eyes of you," Bucky told him now, placing his hand on his shoulder as he walked past him to sit down on the sofa.
Steve smiled at him, "us" he told Bucky correcting him.
After several more minutes of chatting, Bucky heard Emily's door open. She stepped out in a long red dress, it came right up to her neck. She turned her back to them, showing off a backless dress, her skin was flawless. Bucky could feel himself grinning, how he wanted to touch her. He looked over at Steve who was looking pretty bashful, causing him to laugh.
"You know Em, you're going to give Steve a heart attack at this rate wearing that dress." Bucky told her, causing Emily to laugh as she turned around to face them.
"Well looking at my two favorite men, I had to step up my game." She winked at them. Bucky could feel his stomach flip, Emily was a complicated girl. She was so confident in one way and the next so timid and shy.
Bucky found himself standing up and walking towards Emily, he wasn't sure what had come over him. He grabbed her by the waist, pulling her close to him. "You look amazing" he told her leaning down and kissing her passionately. "Don't you think so Steve?" He said now looking at his best friend, he could see a glint in Steve's eyes as he now stood up and walked towards them.
"Your right Bucky, she does look amazing" he replied, looking at Emily and kissing her. Bucky could hear her moan as he dug his hands into her hips a bit harder. Bucky turned her body around so she was now facing Steve, they were still kissing. Bucky smirked at his friend who had now opened his eyes to see what he was up to, very softly he started kissing down Emily's neck. He could feel her body stiffen as she let out a moan, now pushing the back of body into him as her hands now went up to Steve's collar pulling him closer. Bucky could feel his heated desire rushing through his body, he could tell she had enjoyed them kissing her at the same time.
Bucky stopped kissing her, "come on doll, we better get go. Otherwise stark will send out a search party." Bucky smirked at Steve, who had now pulled away. He could tell Emily was trying to catch her breath as they now made their way out of the apartment.
They had made it to the party, Stark was doing his usual party goer routine, showing off to people. He was truly Howard's son, he was always putting on shows trying to impress people. Bucky always felt uncomfortable at these things, he looked around at his surroundings, Steve was off playing pool with Sam. Thor was chatting to Tony and Rhodey, Clint was chatting to Bruce and Natasha and Emily were finishing off a conversation with Pepper. He watched as Emily stood there, smiling at the other two as Natasha now turned herself walking towards Bruce and Clint and Pepper made her way towards Tony.
He continued watching Emily as she made her way to the bar and ordered a glass of wine. Bucky noticed how the bartender was looking at her, in fact he had noticed that she caught quite a few eyes this evening. Bucky made his way toward Emily at the bar, he placed his hand on the bottom of her back and she looked over at him, when she realized it was him her face lit up with a smile. Bucky loved it when she smiled at him, it always gave him a sense of warmth.
Emily took hold of her wine and faced Bucky, "you look how I feel." Emily told him as she took a sip of wine. This caused Bucky to chuckle at her comment and she gave him a playful grin, "don't worry I hate these things to." Emily took hold of his arm as they started walking around the room. Bucky noticed that a couple of women were talking to Steve, he chuckled at how uncomfortable his friend was now looking as they tried to squeeze his arm. They were obviously trying to flirt with him, and by the looks of his face he was trying to let them down gently. Bucky noticed that Emily was looking in that direction, and when she realized Bucky had noticed she gave him a small smile and looked elsewhere. Bucky found it quite amusing, was Emily getting jealous?
Emily
Emily found these events rather overwhelming, she was used to performing for these types of people, not associating with them. Bucky and Steve belonged here, that was obvious. For crying out loud they were superheroes, but for her, she was a nobody. She hadn't yet really spoken to Bucky and Steve about her past, and a small part of her regretted inviting them to come with her to meet her family, but she supposed it was better to do it now than later in the relationship. She wasn't ashamed of her past, she just hated the guilt people seemed to carry for her when they found out.
Emily looked over at Steve, she found it pretty amusing watching him try and paw off the two older women. She decided it was more fun to watch him struggle than to intervene, though if it had been someone a lot younger she would have marched over there and claimed her man.
"So, why do you are hating this?" Bucky asked, gesturing with his head the room.
Emily smiled at him, "being surrounded by fake arrogant people who are willing to stab you in the back just make a quick buck isn't the type of company I like to keep."
She noticed Bucky frown slightly, "but yet I'm the company you like to keep?" Emily knew where he was going with this, she knew that even with his mind being clear he still blamed himself for everything. She knew it didn't matter to Bucky that he wasn't aware he had done it, it was just the fact that he knew he had done it.
"You're a good man Bucky," Emily said looking at him, "you can't blame yourself for things that you were forced to do." Emily could tell that her answer hadn't made a difference to how she felt, she sighed and stopped walking. She now pulled him close to her, taking hold of his hand with hers, "you know we all do things that we regret in our past, but it's in our past for a reason. The whole point of now and the future is to do better,"
Bucky looked at Emily, his face softened, "and do you regret anything?"
"I don't regret a thing, I just wish there were things I could change." Emily looked at Bucky, she hoped that she was finally breaking through to him. "Though, right now. The only thing I'm regretting is we didn't stay in the apartment." She winked at him, giving him a quick kiss.
"Don't think I didn't see you guys looking over" Steve said as he approached them, Emily laughed at him and noticed Bucky was hiding a smirk.
"Didn't fancy trading us in?" Emily joked with Steve,
"I could never replace you both" Steve told her, Emily looked at him. He was being 100% genuine.
After too many hours for Emily wanting to even count, they had left the party and were now in the apartment. She was relieved that she was out of the environment. Emily flopped herself down on the chair, whilst the guys sat on the sofa. Normally she would have sat down in between them on the sofa, but she needed to be able to look at them both. She needed to get everything off her chest and after the amount of wine she had this evening she was suddenly feeling brave enough.
Emily took hold of the bottom of dress, and started twisting it in her hands. "So, being that you guys are coming with me back home, I think there's some stuff I should earn you about" she said now looking up at the guys.
Emily watched as Steve now positioned himself so he was sitting forward and Bucky sat there, she could tell both their attention were on her. "So this morning, it was to do with my dad. He ended up being killed in a burglary gone wrong at our house," Emily paused looking back down at her hands, "when my aunt came to collect me and my brothers and sisters, I knew something was wrong so I ran home and I saw the aftermath."
She could tell that Steve and Bucky were going to say something, she looked up at them and continued, "my mum was pregnant at the time with twins and I was already the oldest of four kids with a ten year age gap. I was sixteen when it happened. We weren't the most well off family, and when dad was gone I ended up dropping out of school and taking care of the family."
Emily looked up at the guys, who now seemed pretty shocked. "I'm only telling you guys because it's not going to be some sort of luxury visit. It's nothing like this, and my mum may end up bringing it up about how I should stop sending her money because I need it living in New York."
"That sounds like it was a tough childhood" Steve said after a while, Emily nodded at him.
"Someone had to step up, I was the oldest. If I didn't, we would have been split up."
Emily looked at Bucky, who still hadn't said anything. But he was now standing up and making his way toward Emily. He cupped her face and leant down and kissed her.
"You have got to be the most amazing person I have ever met," he said once he had broken apart from their kiss.