Emily
Emily woke up tangled in between Steve and Bucky, her naked body against theirs. Her mind flashed back to the events of last night and she could feel her cheeks flush. Judging by the breathing of the boys she knew they were both still fast asleep, she closed her eyes enjoying the moment of being close to them. But it soon disturbed by the vibrations coming from her purse in the living room, Emily managed to pry herself out of their hold just in time to answer her phone.
"Hi mum" Emily said quietly as she answered the phone, now taking herself into her bedroom trying not to disturb Steve and Bucky, "how are you?"
"What time do you think you will be arriving today, Emily? The family is really excited about seeing you" her mum replied on the other end of the phone, Emily rolled her eyes, of course she was just going to get to the point instantly. Her mum was never one for small talk before she would come home, as her mum would put it what's the point in talking now when you're gonna be here soon - if you tell me everything now we won't have anything to talk about.
"Probably after lunch" Emily told her, "but before I come up, I wanted to make sure it's still okay if Bucky and Steve come up still with me?" There was a pause at the other end of the phone, Emily sighed, "mum you know they're my soulmates, can you at least give them a chance?"
"Of course they can, I just hope we have enough room for everyone" Emily's mum laughed, "see you later today"
Emily sighed as she hung up the phone, she loved her mum but she knew she was apprehensive of her bringing her two soulmates. This isn't what her mum would call a traditional relationship, in fact it's not even what Emily would call traditional.
Emily took herself to the bathroom and showered, she wrapped her silk robe around herself and started packing for the trip. She left her door open so she could see when Steve and Bucky eventually wake up. She packed her brothers birthday presents, she was slightly relieved that she had sent off the majority of his presents to her mum to wrap otherwise she would have needed to bring another bag.
Once Emily had finished packing she got dressed, slipping on some yoga pants and a vest. She could already feel her stress levels going through the roof with this visit, going back home was always stressful for her, she would always end up reliving the memory of her dad, but also she was surrounded by the busyness of her family. She would always end up being the one trying to give her mum a break so she would be up getting the kids to bed, tidying the house and making any repairs that needed to be done. Not only did she have all that to worry about, she now needed to worry about how everyone was going to react to her two soulmates. Everyone in the family always figured that she was bound to have to great loves but one would always end up passing away and she would meet someone else. Not the situation of her being in a sandwich between two super soldiers. With all the worries and concerns raising through her head, right on cue she was now having a panic attack.
Emily sat there on the floor, leaning against the wall with her eyes closed trying to recompose herself and get her breathing back to normal. After a few moments she felt a two hands on her, she opened her eyes to come face to face with Bucky and Steve. She was hoping to have calmed herself down before they woke up, she didn't want to have a conversation about this. "Emily, I want you to focus on me right now" Steve told her, "take a deep breath in" Emily looked at Steve and followed his instructions and took a deep breath in, "now out" she followed his instructions for a few minutes before finally calming down. Throughout that time Bucky had been stroking her arm with his hand reassuringly.
"I didn't know you suffered from panic attacks" Bucky said after a while.
"I don't" Emily said, only after saying it realizing how silly she sounded, "I only tend to get them when I go home." She tried to dismiss the conversation by trying to get up. Bucky and Steve supported her up back onto her feet. She looked at their faces and realized that this was something they definitely were not gonna drop, "I just get anxious sometimes about going home, after with what happened with dad and how busy it all is. It's no biggie"
Bucky
They had been on the road for a couple of hours now, Emily refused to let him or Steve drive her car. Bucky didn't even know Emily had a car, but then again living in New York and now being in the tower she probably just didn't need it.
Bucky found Emily's driving music quite interesting, it was like listening to the music that stark would play. He could tell Steve was trying to act like he didn't hate the music, Bucky on the other hand didn't mind.
Emily was driving, tapping the steering wheel to the beat and singing along to the music. He could tell Steve didn't like the music but he loved listening to Emily singing. Bucky closed his eyes now going deep into thought about this morning. He wanted to speak to Emily at some point about her panic attacks, he had suffered from them badly since after hydra and he knew Steve had suffered from when he woke up.
He opened his eyes and looked at Emily while she was driving, she was chatting to Steve laughing and joking. He knew her family would love Steve, but he wasn't too sure about him. What if they knew about his past, he knew if he had a daughter he would not let him near anyone like him. But then again, he wouldn't want her dating a superhero. Is this really what it was meant to be like? Would it always be this way? He caught Emily's eye in the mirror, she looked concerned. He knew then he was showing his inner thoughts, he closed his eyes and leant back in the seat. Of course it was meant to be like this, images flooded back to the events last night. They had always been destined to be together.
Emily
They had finally made it back to Emily's childhood home, she looked in the mirror to see Bucky asleep and Steve asleep in the passenger seat next to her, his head leant against the window.
Emily looked up at the house to see the living room curtains twitching, she smiled to herself knowing that it was her mum trying to be discreet, she counted down from three knowing that her mum would soon open the door to greet her outside.
"One, two" Emily paused, "three" and hey presto, there the front door started opening. Emily could hear the boys starting to stir as she undone her seatbelt and opened her car door stepping out. Emily left the door open as she made her way towards the house, her mum now walking towards her.
"Mum" Emily greeted, embracing her mother into a hug, "it's good to see you" the other doors on the car opened and closed and Emily could hear footsteps making there way towards them, Emily and her mum pulled away and Emily could see her mum looking over her shoulder to check the two men out.
"Mum, I would like you to meet Steve" Emily nodded towards Steve who now stepped forward,
"It's a pleasure to meet you ma'am" Steve told her, giving her a nod.
"And this is James"
"Nice to meet you Mrs Chapman" Bucky said, giving her a smile as well. Emily could sense the nervousness surrounding the super soldiers and she found it quite sweet that they were nervous about meeting her mum.
"No need for formalities, call me Doris" she said smiling up at the boys, "now let's get you all in and make some tea."
Steve
Steve and Bucky had finished getting everything from the car inside, he had told Emily not to worry about helping and to get settled inside. By the time they had sat down in the front room with Emily and Doris a tray of tea had been placed on the coffee table with biscuits.
"Would you boys like some tea?" Doris said, leaning forward to pick up the teapot.
"Allow me ma'am" Steve told her, giving her a smile and making his way towards the teapot, pouring out tea for everyone while Bucky sat down on one of the sofas. Steve wondered where Emily was as she was nowhere to be seen in the room.
"You have a lovely home" Bucky said, looking around the room. Steve passed Doris her tea and sat down on the same sofa as Bucky, Steve placed his cup down on the table next to the end of the sofa, clocking a photo on the table. He picked it up and looked at it closely, it was Emily. She was wearing pigtails and looked about 5, she had her face painted like a tiger, Steve smiled at it and he could feel Bucky leaning it to look at it.
"It's a great photo isn't it" Doris chuckled, "remind me later to get her baby albums down, we have some right embarrassing photos of her"
Steve and Bucky grinned as the door opened and Emily came in holding a baby, "yeah maybe we should hold off on the embarrassing photos" she smiled at them, she was wearing a pink flowery apron around her waist now, something he had never seen her do since she had been staying with them. "So guys, this little guy is Johnny"
Steve, Bucky, Emily and her mum all chatted about general chit chat, Doris would occasionally throw in a embarrassing story of Emily. Steve watched in awe as Emily sat with her baby brother, he couldn't help but wonder if this is what it would feel like if they were to have their own kids. Seeing Emily, it was so natural, he glanced over towards Bucky who was also fixated on Emily and she was playing with him and contributing to the conversation between everyone.
Emily
All her brother and sisters were now home and it was an absolute mad house, Steve and Bucky had been roped in with trying to build some sort of fort in the back garden. Emily looked out from the kitchen window, smiling at the sight. She soon turned her attention back to preparing dinner for everyone, while her mum sat down on a stool opposite where she was cooking,
"I really wish you would let me help" her mum told her, Emily chuckled and shook her head,
"Mother, you spend all day every day cooking for everyone. It's about time you took a break"
"So how are things going with the two of them?" Her mum asked very awkwardly after a few minutes silence,
"I know it's not conventional mum, but this is the happiest I've been" Emily told her, turning around and looking at her.
Emily continued preparing dinner, trying to avoid the topic of her relationship with her mother. She knew her mum was supportive with it all, but she was nosey and anything she didn't understand she would become more and more inquisitive.
Emily called in her siblings along with Steve and Bucky when dinner was ready, conversation was pretty normal where they spoke about school and general things. Once dinner was finished, her brothers and sisters started clearing the table to wash up leaving Emily, her mum and the super soldiers.
"So Steve, James do you want a family one day?" Her mum asked across the table, causing Emily to almost choke on her drink.
"I think so ma'am, it would be nice to have the family life. You know white picket fence and all that," Steve told her.
"And what about you James?" Her mother asked again,
"I always wanted kids, I grew up where there was four of us all together, me being the eldest."
Emily's mum nodded, "so how will you guys work around that im the future if you continue your relationship like how it is?"
Emily turned to her mum, scowling, "you can't just ask people stuff like this" Emily knew she was coming off abruptly but she knew this would happen. She knew bringing the boys here would causing her mum to ask these questions, before anyone could answer the kids had made their way back to the table.
Steve
Emily had gone upstairs later that evening to get her brothers and sisters settled for bed, he had promised them once they are ready he would go up and tell them a story. Steve had so far really enjoyed his visit back to Emily childhood home, even if her mum was asking some quite touchy questions. Bucky had also given him a look which confirmed he had thought the same thing.
Currently both the boys were sat at the kitchen table with Doris drinking tea, minus Bucky who was sat there drinking coffee.
"Mrs chapman" Steve started but was interrupted by her asking her to call her Doris, "sorry Doris, I would like to just say to you both me and Bucky care for your daughter. I know this isn't a typical scenario"
"Yeah I agree with Steve, we only want the best for Emily." Bucky told her.
Steve watched as Doris sat there, listening to the boys. "I hope you boys show me how much you care about her when you are here, so far the way you look at her has shown me. It's just I want you three to think hard about this. What happens if you want kids? One of you will be left out and then what?" Doris explained, "I just want the best for Emily. One of you will always be left out, marriage, kids etc"