Chapter Eleven
The next day, Bucky puts in extra hours at work, but he knows he's walking a thin line. Fury is glaring and his coworkers shuffle around him like they know something he doesn't and Bucky gets the sinking feeling that he's just one mistake away from being unemployed.
He works as fast as he can and tries to prove to Fury that he's getting a lot done, and when Fury stops by his cubicle, he apologizes for missing again profusely.
"My son was throwing up," Bucky says. "We had him in the hospital again, he's really miserable. And my babysitter is still sort of sick and I couldn't risk exposing him to even more illness-" Bucky would continue, but Fury's shaking his head and he trails off.
"No more excuses, Barnes," he says. "Just get your job done."
"Yes, sir," Bucky replies quietly and ducks his head under his cubicle again until Fury passes.
He receives a text later in the day.
"I'm at the grocery store," Natalia says. "Do you need anything?"
Actually, he needs a lot of things. He and Stevie are out of bread again and he's running low on laundry detergent and he's starting to think the removable water filter in his fridge has seen better days, but he's not sure if he can say this.
"Don't worry about me," he texts back.
"I'm getting Stevie some macaroni," Natalia replies. "Does he like the ones with the noodles or the ones with the shapes?"
"Nat, you really don't have to," Bucky says and he realizes after he sends it that it's the first time he's nicknamed her.
"Too late, Buck," Natalia replies and he smiles a little at the response. "Already in the cart. I hope he likes shapes."
"If the wheat bread is on sale," Bucky types and hesitates, then finishes with, "I'll pay you back for a loaf or two."
"You got it," she says.
Fury passes his cubicle. He hides his phone between his knees and pretends to be typing on his keyboard.
"Wanna have that dinner with the Barnes-Rogers family tonight?" He says once Fury passes. "I never got to show off my spaghetti-o skills."
"I'll be there," she says, and when he leaves that night at seven (a little too late for dinner, but he hopes Natalia doesn't mind), he's beaming.
She's there when he gets back and she and Mrs Carter are sitting in the living room, attempting to have a conversation. Bucky drops his bag on the floor by the kitchen table and he's so happy to see her there, sitting in his living room like she lives there too, because a part of him longs for the friendly familiarity. He thinks maybe Natalia does as well, and when she notices him, she jumps up and greets him in Russian.
"Your poor little baby is as sick as a dog," Mrs Carter says pityingly and Bucky finds Stevie lying on the floor on a blanket in the living room, surrounded by some of his toys and sucking on a plastic key ring.
"He is," Bucky replies, then adds, "did you wash that before he put it in his mouth?"
"Yes," Mrs Carter says and smiles over at Natalia. "Your Russian friend reminded me. I can't understand a word she says, but she seems sweet."
"Yeah," Bucky says and he steals a glance over Mrs Carter's shoulder at Natalia, who's hanging back with a lost smile. "She's great."
Bucky pays Mrs Carter and then it's just him and Natalia and Stevie again and he grins at her.
"Your bread is in the cupboard," she tells him and he wants to kiss her.
"Thank you," he says and they both close the distance between each other slowly. Bucky notices she's keeping eye contact as intensely as he is. When they're just seconds away from each other, he adds, "I owe you."
"We do that a lot," she says to him and he watches her eyes flicker down towards his mouth.
"Let's just call it even?" He says and she smiles before he steps up and puts his mouth on hers, his hand on her waist and Stevie rolling on the ground at his feet.
Natalia throws her arms around his shoulders and stands on tip toes to kiss him back. As they draw each other closer and closer, pressing themselves up against each other, he can feel her run hands through his hair. She smells like fine perfume and a scent he can't quite place, something about the smell of her skin and her breath and her hair and he breathes her, cherishing her hands on his body. Again, he wishes he had a second arm to wrap her up in completely instead of halfway.
They pull away when Stevie starts to scream and Bucky leans down and scoops him up, bouncing him and patting him and saying, "there, there, come on."
"Think he's hungry?" Natalia asks and Bucky nods.
"Probably," he says and Natalia reaches up and takes him while Bucky goes into the kitchen to start something. "What do you want?" He asks. "You have your choice of spaghetti-os, box macaroni and cheese, peanut butter sandwiches and frozen pizza." Natalia laughs.
"Wow, gourmet treatment," she teases while bouncing Stevie. "Bucky Barnes really knows how to treat a girl."
"What can I say," Bucky jokes with a silly shrug of his shoulders and he thinks to himself that he could look at her all day. She glows.
He think to himself that he can't remember the last time he was this happy. He can't remember the last time he laughed like this.
They lay Stevie down on the couch to rest and make the macaroni Natalia bought that day together. Natalia reads the instructions on the side out loud in stilted English and laughs at her own mistakes and Bucky takes one opportunity while stirring the boiling pasta to kiss her on the cheek.
When they sit down and eat together, they're both grinning widely.
Natalia holds Stevie on her lap and Bucky feeds him cheese-covered shapes spoonful by spoonful, but when Stevie starts to look a little green, they decide that's probably enough.
"We'll be seeing those noodles again before too long," Bucky comments and Natalia kisses Stevie on the top of his head.
"Poor Steve," she says. "Poor little guy deserves better."
"Yeah," Bucky says quietly. "He does."