Bucky was the only one to recognise the moment it happened. He was the only one who had felt that particular feeling before. It had been such a long time since he felt it, he was half-surprised he was able to remember it, could still feel it at all. None of the others so much as blinked when they crossed that invisible line.

And there was one. He knew there was one, because he – and he alone – felt when they had crossed it. It's a bit odd, to be the only one to feel that moment when something is suddenly different in the air around them. The Howling Commandos had been through so many scrapes, seen so much of the war, that their instincts were all well-honed and razor sharp. There wasn't a single one of them that hadn't felt a moment of being watched, a moment when they crossed an unmarked line from relative-safety into definite-danger, or the other way around.

Sure, it was usually him or Steve that pinpointed the watcher first (Super Soldiers and all), but not always. The reaction was pretty much always terminal to the one doing the watching though, unless it was a friendly.

Sometimes Dum Dum fired his rifle into the face of someone who'd hidden in a well-disguised fox-hole. Sometimes Monty (and wow, but there were three of them who had been called James by their parents, thankfully all of three of them had a preferred nickname, so there wasn't every any confusion) quietly cocked the hammer back on his revolver, which he'd fixed a silencer to, and proceeded to shoot a guy through the eye at a distance of fifty feet. Sometimes Jaques dropped a bomb on the guy with a satisfied little smile, proud of his work with explosives. Sometimes Jim, who had yet to kill a man in exactly the same way twice. Even Gabe, who was all over the languages bit, knew how to really use the standard ordinance he'd gotten into the habit of picking up from every corpse (enemy and ally alike) along the way.

A lot of times it was Steve, who threw his shield at a guy who was hidden (almost) beyond seeing, and the guy's skull or ribcage was caved in in with the edge before it bounced back to him... and Bucky finished the guy off, because the shield didn't actually kill so much as severely incapacitate people. Sometimes the injuries it caused would eventually be fatal, but it would be a slow, painful death.

Bucky protected Steve from knowing that.

There were also times when it's been Bucky, knife in his hand as he slit a throat, or a neck broken with a strong twist of his bare hands, or a neat little hole sniped in the middle of a forehead, or neck, or chest, from eight-hundred yards while the others were combing an area and hadn't yet spotted the enemy soldier that was creeping up on them with a gun.

None of that was going to happen right now though. Bucky knew it like he knew Steve's name, and he relaxed where he stood – because he knew this feeling, even if it's been almost a year since he'd felt it.

"Buck?" Steve called softly, concerned. If any of them stopped moving, then it had proved to be because they'd noticed something. Something that the others hadn't yet, as was the case here.

Bucky blinked, and realised that he'd stopped moving as he just basked in the feeling and everything that it meant to him. Everything that it meant... A grin bloomed on his face and he gave a loud, joyful whoop as he charged onwards.

"Bucky?!" Steve near-yelled. Not quite, because as far as he knew, there was still the risk of the enemy finding their position and attacking.

Bucky knew for a fact that there was no risk at all, and his blue eyes practically glowed in his face as he raced onward.

The Howling Commandos had little choice but to chase after him.

Soon, they all ground to a shocked stop, as they finally found out what Bucky had known from the moment he crossed that invisible line only he'd noticed: Evangeline was waiting for them. Granted, he hadn't quite expected the set-up waiting with her, but Bucky hardly had eyes for that. His girl was there, and she was racing towards him with her arms spread wide.

He swept her up in his own embrace eagerly. His arms slid into their right place around her waist, and he easily hauled his girl up against his chest. It felt so, so good to hold her again.

"Hey Doll," he greeted happily, a boyish smile stretching his lips and bringing a light to his eyes that had been absent from them from so many months marching at war.

"Hello, my doll-faced bloke," Evangeline replied, a giddy grin on her face as she gladly wrapped her arms around and over his shoulders.

Bucky laughed at that, and revelled in the sound of her answering giggle. He gloried in her weight in his arms and against his chest – he was holding her off the ground, after all – and he wasn't at all sure he was ever going to be ready to let go. To that end...

"Do I have to put you down any time soon?" he asked softly into her ear.

"I suppose I can finish all the cooking with magic," Evangeline answered, laughter burbling through her equally softly-spoken words. "It's mostly getting things out to the table at this point, really, and levitation charms are great for that. Watching platters floating through the air might be a little bit disturbing for your squad-mates though."

Bucky sighed, and loosed his arms enough around Evangeline's waist so that she slid (slowly, since she was still holding onto him as well) down his body until her feet touched the ground again.

"What are you doing here, Doll?" Bucky asked, more audibly. "We were told we would be meeting a company here."

"And you will be," Evangeline agreed easily. "I just move a bit faster than Colonel Philips and his men."

"We're back with the SSR?" Steve asked, eager for confirmation that he'd see his own dame again soon.

"Mhm," Evangeline hummed. "That's right."

"With all respect, Doctor Potter, but... why are you here on your own?" Monty asked, and it was genuine curiosity with only a hint of concern at the edge of his tone. The Brit was nothing if not completely respectful to Evangeline.

"Because I move faster on my own," Evangeline explained with an easy shrug, not the least bit interested in removing herself from Bucky's arms, though she did twist around to face the guys, so she was leaning her back against Bucky's chest.

"Is that really safe, Ma'am?" Jim queried. Even the coarse man from Fresno found a few of his manners for the lady doctor.

"I'm not the least bit worried about my safety," Evangeline waved off with an easy smile. "I do have defences in place, and I knew the instant each one of you stepped across my perimeter."

"So the area's secure?" Dum Dum checked. His hands were still in their places on his rifle.

"Perfectly. Not even shrapnel could get within twenty metres of us right now," Evangeline confirmed brightly.

She only had the one special anchor for the wards of her tent, but for temporary wards, the handily convenient chunk of onyx she'd found poking out of the earth – unrefined though it was – had been just fine. Or would be, for about a week.

Dum Dum grinned, which made his big, bushy moustache stretch and twitch.

"So... are we eating, then?" he suggested hopefully, his eyes on something just passed the reunited couple.

Bucky turned to see what the man was grinning at, and blinked.

"Doll, that's a whole cow you've got on rotisserie," he informed the woman in his arms.

"Yes it is," Evangeline agreed, "and no, I'm not telling where it came from, but there's also soup before we get to the beef, which will have roast vegetables to join, and there's even dessert to look forward to after."

"Soup?" Jaques repeated. Of all the things for a guy to focus on, but that was Jaques.

"Bouillabaisse and ratatouille," Evangeline supplied, and her French accent on the names of the dishes was perfect.

"Mademoiselle Docteur, vous êtes une déesse," the French man declared passionately in his native tongue.

"She is that, but she's my goddess, Jaques," Bucky claimed firmly, and tugged a laughing Evangeline firmly back into his chest again.

Gabe had been teaching Jaques how to speak English, so he could more easily keep up with (and participate in) all conversations. The lessons had caused most of the team to, by proxy, pick up a fair bit of French. Of course, given the circumstances (that is to say: war with Nazi Germany and the Axis powers), Gabe had also been teaching the whole team German. It was unsurprisingly useful sometimes.

"Oui, mon ami, she is your goddess," Jaques laughed, hands up and palm outward facing, a clear show he didn't intend to fight on that score. "But you can share with us the... les résultats de efforts qu'elle a déployés?"

"I dunno," Bucky mused, a smirk on his face. "I think I could eat most of that cow myself."

"I cooked for all of the Howling Commandos," Evangeline said firmly, and rolled her eyes at the teasing going on as she did so. She was friends with Fleur and Hermione. She understood every word. "Go on, all of you sit," she instructed, and waved them off towards a wooden structure that held a long table and a bunch of chairs. "I'll get the food out to you."

"I'll help," Bucky insisted at once, and dipped his head down so that his face was pressed into her shoulder.

"You would distract me," Evangeline informed him fondly. "I've missed you. You go sit with the others, and I'll come sit next to you once I've got the first course out."

Bucky sighed, but relented, and finally released his hold on her. He watched her go, watched her hips sway and her curls bounce, watched her vanish into the tent.

"Come on, Buck," Steve urged with a soft chuckle, and guided Bucky over to the table with a hand on his shoulder.

~oOo~

With the prospect of rotisserie'd beef – to say nothing of desserts – the soup, while a hit, didn't inspire a longing for seconds in any of the men currently sitting around the table she'd transfigured from some of the local flora. Evangeline knew that she could set out the massive pots for the rest of the men that would arrive with Colonel Philips, but these days, she was a bit more selfish than she was back before she gave her life to see the end of Voldemort.

She died for them, and then they kept asking for more from her. Evangeline felt that a little bit selective selfishness was really quite a reasonable response. She'd cooked for her man, and for the men that had helped to keep him alive while she couldn't be with him. She'd added in Colonel Philips when he arrived as an apology for ripping through his brain in search of the information she wanted from him.

She hadn't incapacitated him, she wasn't even as bad to the Colonel as Snape had been to her, but he'd still have a killer of a headache for most of the journey up.

Evangeline had also added Peggy, because the other woman had taken care of her (and because Rogers). In absence of their respective men, the two women had become much closer, and there had been moments when Peggy had been all that preserved Evangeline's sanity. She honestly wasn't sure how the other woman had managed before, with no other women about to have a little girl-talk with when the war got to be too much.

No one else was getting the food she'd made for these few people. The men would have to satisfy themselves with their regular food from the mess, and with the cookies she'd baked for them.

"Potter, you are, without question, the most frustrating civilian I have ever had the misfortune to deal with," Colonel Philips declared when he arrived with his men. "Your impulsiveness, lack of self-preservation instincts, and inability to follow orders would see you court-marshalled if you were actually in the army."

"But I'm not in the army," Evangeline reminded him promptly with a smile. "Here, have a seat and some dinner," she placated as she guided him towards a chair.

The man grumbled, but he sat, and then he stared at the plate of roast beef with roast potatoes, parsnips and pumpkin, with steamed peas and broccoli (all of it still piping hot) that was set before him. There was also a glass of red wine and a small gravy boat within reach.

"Where the hell did you get all this?" Colonel Philips demanded softly. He did pick up his knife and fork, but he didn't immediately dig in. "I know exactly how hard it is to get so much as a single cut of steak out here. Where the hell did you get a whole damn cow?"

"A lady needs a few secrets, Colonel Philips," Evangeline evaded with a smile. "Nothing illegal was perpetrated to get the meat, or any of the rest of it, I promise. Peggy! There's a plate for you here next to Rogers!"

"You're incorrigible," Peggy scolded, but there was a smile on her face as she more than willingly sat down next to Rogers and took up the laid out eating irons. "I'll have you know, I was worried almost sick about you from the moment you took off like that."

"No faith," Evangeline sniffed, and moved off to carve a bit more meat off the (still slowly turning) carcass. There were two Super Soldiers at the table, after all. Their metabolism was four times faster than the average man.

Not to say that the rest of the Howling Commandos weren't doing their part to make sure there would be no left-overs, because they were. Dugan was keeping up with Bucky and Rogers most impressively, almost plate-for-plate. Not quite, but nearly.

Evangeline pulled her wand on the beef to slice off more meat. It was easier and cleaner than trying to attack it with a knife. The carving jinx was very similar to the slicing hex in wand movement and incantation, but it made different sort of cut. It was generally forgotten, but Evangeline had found it in one of the many books in the Black library. The chief difference between the slicing hex and the carving jinx was that, while the slicing hex cut whatever it was aimed at, it cut into the target. The carving jinx cut – carved – bits off.

"Hey," Bucky called softly when she came back to the table carrying the platter freshly loaded up with finely cut meat. He relieved her of the platter, set it on the table, and pulled her gently down next to him. "Did you once hear me asking if it was safe?" he whispered into her ear.

"No," Evangeline allowed.

"I recognised the feel of your magic as soon as I crossed into the wards," he told her, his voice low and in her ear only while his arm went around her waist. "Knew straight away I could relax and forget about all the dangers of the war for a while."

Evangeline hummed in contentment and snuggled into his side.

"You could feel it?" she asked, voice small and just a tiny bit surprised. She had heard his cheer before she'd seen him, after all.

"Yep," Bucky confirmed. "I know war isn't your business any more, but you're still good enough that I know I don't have to worry about you when you're anywhere near where the fighting's happening. I'd rather you weren't anywhere near the fighting, but that's just because I think you shouldn't have to be there, rather than because I don't think you can handle it."

Evangeline sighed a happy little sigh. It was nice to be believed in.

Bucky smiled down at her, and started piling up the clean plate that was next to his. The one in front of her.

"Come on," he urged. "I know you probably tasted as you cooked, but you haven't actually had a sit-down eat yet, I'll bet."

"I haven't," Evangeline agreed, and reluctantly pulled herself away from where she'd been plastered to Bucky's side, head tucked under his chin. As comfortable as it was, it wasn't the best position for eating in, for either of them.

In the end, only half the cow got eaten. There were enquiries about the dessert that Evangeline had mentioned, which put a stop to main course as soon as every plate was cleared of food. That was fine. Evangeline could – and would – carve up the rest of the beef and pack it away in individual-meal-sized containers to be eaten later.

But that was for later.

For now, Evangeline brought out the chocolate cake, the treacle tart, the apple crumble, the blueberry pie, and vanilla ice cream, and set them all on the table in front of the Howling Commandos. Each with a sharp serving blade sticking out from underneath (or a scoop sitting on top, in the case of the ice cream) so that everybody could serve themselves.

"Wow," Rogers commented, eyebrows high and eyes wide.

"It is certainly a very impressive spread," Falsworth agreed. Considering the way things are being so strictly rationed went unsaid.

"Can I have a small slice of everything?" Jones asked hopefully. "I don't know how much more I can actually eat, but I want to try all of it."

"Seconded," Morita agreed.

Dernier was already up from his chair, and was beginning to cut into the chocolate cake. It was a big cake, but he still only took a small slice.

"The cake is divine, and its maker a goddess," he declared, deifying Evangeline for the second time that day, when he'd swallowed down that first mouthful.

"My goddess," Bucky reminded everybody at the table firmly, and wrapped his arm possessively around Evangeline's waist again.