A/N: Wow! That was a huge wait between the chapters! Well between work and drama, I sure hope I delivered! Again, thank you all for doing what you do best! Special shout out to the amazing Guest review I received! That winky face made me feel especially pleased ;) Well anyway, enjoy!

Book One: Antebellum

Chapter Six: Baker Girls

He opened his eyes to a golden world too good to be true. Laying in bed and staring up at the ceiling, it looked like an ordinary room. But it was bright. Bucky felt that there was something off. He felt warm, too.

"Oh, you're awake."

Thin fingers trailed his bare chest and red fingernails would lightly graze the surface. From the hand to the arm, Bucky trailed up to the neck and found a familiar pair of eyes staring back up to him.

"Oh don't be silly." The woman smirked. "Don't tell me you forgot all about little ol' me?"

"Ver-vernetta! Uh, no! I would never forget about you."

She was cuddled up against Bucky with her head resting on his shoulder, a looker not willing to let go. She smiled and tilted her head.

"What exactly happened?"

"Well, we had our little kiss and one thing led to another."

With her words, Bucky noticed their bare skin pressed against each other. He felt his heart beginning to pound, stomach buzzing with all the butterflies inside.

"Oh Bucky, you're just the man of my dreams." Vernetta sighed, scooting closer and nuzzling his neck. "So kind and strong, not to mention handsome."

"Vernetta…"

She instantly planted her lips upon his, kissing Bucky with a passion that stole the breath out of them just like the night before. Her teeth nibbled on his lower lip pulling and growling with lust. Vernetta's hand that caressed his chest slowly traveled down his body until the groan she was looking for escaped. It made her smile and grope him more.

"Vernetta…" Bucky shuddered.

"Do you want me, baby?"

"Oh god yes."

Vernetta kept stroking growing bolder with every moan that vibrated through his throat. She began kissing his cheeks tenderly, planting her lips all over the flesh upon his face and throat. But she was a smart woman, only brushing over Bucky's own lips that made him more tense. She threw a leg over him and before he knew it, Vernetta was on top of him. She guided his hands to her naked breasts before returning to her other duty. Bucky became mesmerized and the tension growing in him became worse.

"Do you need me?"

"I need you, Vernetta. Oh god, I need you…"

"Bucky!" Steve shook his friend.

He was just fine with minding his own business by sleeping. The moans had become more intense when it woke Steve up. He tried shaking him awake but Bucky still murmured.

Steve lightly slapped his face multiple times before he could see the green in his best friend's eyes. There was a hazy pleasure in his eye. It disappeared after blinking and Steve only saw the horrified expression take it's place.

"Having a wet dream there?" Steve laughed, slapping his arm.

Bucky immediately pulled the blankets up, only growling and dropping his head back onto the pillow. He didn't really give an answer to the other man. No, his bolted up and left the room covering his groin.

"I'm gonna take a shower…"

"Make sure it's a cold one." Steve quipped, earning himself resentment and his own laughter.

He was quick to think about it once Bucky was gone. "I need you" and "Vernetta, Vernetta, Vernetta". It was safe to say as much as she hated the man, there was nothing she could to do smother his unresolved affections. But then Steve reminded himself that his best friend just experienced a naughty dream about perhaps the most beautiful woman they've ever met. He could only shrug. There was nothing strange about it as much as it made him uncomfortable. He instead chose to dress himself and head downstairs for breakfast.

Vernetta was surrounded by skyscrapers rather than the usual lowly brick buildings. She had dressed herself in more proper attire and sat at one of the modern outdoor cafes. There was a cause and the name was comfort. She couldn't tell her brothers, their morals were warped. She couldn't tell Amelia, she would kill her. She certainly couldn't tell Steve. No, only one person was capable of handling the scandalous truth.

"By all that glitters, is that the Vernetta Holbrook?!"

She turned and saw none other than Victoria Barron, her old best friend and current queen of the socialites, and rose to greet her.

"Oh Victoria, I'm so pleased to see you."

"Likewise."

Both women hugged before seating themselves.

"Now, I know you called me to help correct your mistake, but you have so many in your purse!"

"I don't follow."

"Your first mistake was disappearing without a trace! And then I learn that you settled in Brooklyn?"

Vernetta nodded. She knew that she would have to relive her entire summer for the sake of meager advice. But then again, she'll get the latest scoop in Manhattan's elite when it's Victoria's turn.

"Alright, alright, I got tired of all the nonsense and left. Figured another borough would do me good and it has. I work in a clothing store."

"Work?! My sweet best friend now a poor working girl!" She snickered.

Vernetta went ahead and started with her tale right as she found a woman in need of an apartment. When they first met, Amelia was a recent high school graduate that needed space from her parents in Queens. They first bonded over the fact that they thought an entirely foreign borough would do them some good. Vernetta had found the apartment, Amelia had found the help wanted sign at No.19 and they've been there ever since. Then it was mid-May and two very distinct customers had walked in with style on their minds.

"Ooh! Are they men? I have a feeling this is the beginning to your problem." Victoria interrupted with her giggling.

"You were always so observant! Yes, they're men and one of them in particular is the problem. But anyway…"

She spared no detail about Steve and Bucky with the former as her subject. There was the suit, the graduation, almost the entire month of June that he ignored her. Victoria questioned why her best friend would be interested in someone like that and she was quick to explain that he was the kindest person she's ever met. He was nothing like them or anyone they knew.

"Well, what about that Bucky guy?"

"He's exactly like Bobby albeit much more tamed."

"And which one of them is your problem?"

"Bucky."

"Shocker."

Vernetta refused to tell all until Victoria told her all about her own summer of splendour. Luckily she indulged her with the finest stories.

"So I'm taking a stroll in the rain, replete in lace, ribbons, and my most favorite polka-dot umbrella when a limo happens to pull up. Of course, it's Walter."
"'Would you like me to give you a ride?' Of course! How kind! Then he pulls a 'Just say those three magic words then.' It's this little game he plays despite my voice constantly reminding him of my disinterest. But I indulged him. Those three words finally got through his thick skull."

"I hate you. Oh, you wouldn't believe how fast a limo could speed away!"

"Ugh, Walter! How dare he think he's good enough for you!"

"I just hope he'll finally leave me alone!"

The pair spent the better part of morning and midday gossiping as more cups of tea and pastries appeared on the small grated table. There was so much drama on both ends that they could spend the remainder of the day sitting at the cafe.

"Now tell me of your dilemma!"

Victoria was so excited that Vernetta couldn't believe that she was going to deliver something so tame yet scandalous. She should be talking about an engagement or something deserving of such excitement. Still, her friend would get a kick out of this.

"So...Bucky…"

"So...Bucky…" Victoria copied with a grin before her lips formed an "O" and clapped wildly. "Wait! I must know what he looks like!"

Tall. Dark-haired. Green-eyed. Extremely handsome. Vernetta couldn't exactly describe him with the juicy details Victoria oh-so craved.

"So...he first dated Amelia. Not even a month together and he cheated on her. I found out when I saw him with the other girl and yesterday, I got into a fight with him and he ran off after Bobby pulled a gun on him. He ended up getting so drunk that Steve had to help him back to his own house. I was there talking to Sarah Rogers because she found out about my legal dilemma."

"Wait, how did she find out?"

"She's smarter than she looks. I think she could certainly hold her own in our world."

"She must be legendary then."

"You have no idea."

Vernetta continued about how Steve got a lecture from his mother that made her deal with Bucky all by herself. He was so resentful and pitiful that it made her feel awful. He didn't deserve her attacks but he sure doesn't deserve to be let off easy. Vernetta then attempted to make him go to bed but then some sort of charm broke through. Something in him seduced her. That's when it happened.

"You shoved your tongue down his throat. Ooooh, classic Vernetta." Victoria smirked.

"No! No, no! That's not me anymore! I'm pursuing one and one only!"

"Seems to me that despite your beliefs, you're after the wrong man."

Only the sounds of Manhattan stole their voices for a moment and more. There was wisdom in what Victoria told her. Sure, she liked Steve. He's good because he's innocent. But Bucky, he's what she needs. Of course it was the little things that men do that made women fantasize about them. He touched her shamelessly. He gave her a special pet name she's never heard him utter until that moment. He noticed her perfume. She was precious to him. It made Vernetta wonder just how long Bucky's harbored feelings for her. He's always been attentive but she can't tell if that was due to his nature or heart. Still, her shoulders dropped.

"So between a man who's perfect and a man who gives you what you need, it's obvious what my decision would be."

"Go for the more pleasurable one. Yes, I know."

Vernetta figured a dramatic eyeroll would hit the nail in her statement. Women of their breed were often gluttonous, having one man and then moving to the next in an instant. Another popular method was to share themselves between multiple men. Vernetta would have no part in such a thing, yet it blossomed and placed her in an awkward position. Victoria opened her mouth for another possibility but Vernetta knew all too well her words before being spoken.

"I will not share myself with them either."

The socialite fell back into her seat.

"Well you're more boring than I remember." She huffed.

Once she heard the door open and shut, Amelia was quick to yell for Vernetta.

"Vernetta, get in here!"

Her maturing maternal tone struck Amelia herself to the bone. She didn't mean to be so like that, yet Vernetta forced her voice. The latter walked in with her fancy get-up and a face well-aware of the trouble she's in.

"I come home to find my closet completely raided and when I wait up for you until two in the morning, you gave me the cold shoulder!"

Vernetta didn't have much to say. Really, she didn't utter a word. Her stare was full of exhaustion and her face blank with a tilted head.

"Are you going to lecture me or something?"

An odd question for someone like Vernetta. Amelia had attempted to add a light tone to her words yet her friend had somehow become a brick wall since the last time they met. Something had happened. That's when Amelia remembered.

"And my dress?"

"I haven't had time to clean it."

"You clearly have time to fly away to Manhattan looking like that."

"Well since you're being rather rude I'll go do it now." Vernetta turned and walked out of the room.

Amelia clung to her heel and watched as she tossed her purse carelessly onto the sofa before swerving towards her own room. She tried to demand an answer on why her dress would be considered unclean. Silence only replied.

"Vernetta, I swear…"

Amelia pushed past and was the first to open the door. Vernetta didn't seem to care, though. She acted as if she were hiding something yet when intruded, she became aloof. Perhaps she was tired? Annoyed, obviously, but Amelia just had to know what occurred at a safe pace. She just knew her dress was the starter.

The bed was clean. The floor was clean. The only chair pushed against the front left corner had a strange mass bunched up on the cushion and Amelia went for it. She inspected it with great care. No soda stains or ketchup smudges like she expected. Only the scent of a perfumed woman surviving summer clung to the thread. That couldn't be it though. Amelia laid her dress flat on Vernetta's bed. The backside was the first to be inspected. She then flipped the dress and there it was; light and dark stains on the front of the skirt. Smears, smudges, clean drops, she was just as confused as ever. Amelia glanced up to the woman leaning against the doorframe.

"What is this?"

"Oh, a mixture of alcoholic slobber, snot and tears."

Her face scrunched up in confusion, prompting further explanation.

"You're ex-boyfriend is a weepy and needy drunk, surprisingly. Drank himself into probably the most historic hangover because of regret."

Vernetta didn't continue. Somehow, Amelia knew that she knew exactly why yet didn't say. The way she avoided her look was key but the glint in her eye when she finally faced her said it all. She wouldn't pry. Not too heavily at the moment.

"Why were you with him?" Amelia's voice darkened.

"Why I'll tell you."

Vernetta delivered the truth spanning from striking Bucky in public to tucking Bucky in bed. It was an odd situation indeed. Once Amelia knew that Steve had been in the middle of this tension, it made sense. Vernetta was obliged to check in on the pair of them for his sake as well as her own.

"I called him a foul, loathsome, evil, little cockroach and how I thought he was a good man. I guess me saying something about his nature stuck with him. He broke down when he saw me and called himself the same things."

"Well...he was drunk." Amelia slowly picked up where her friend dropped off.

She had done it. The dress was the key to the door full of Vernetta talking with such intensity that she paced and made expressions and went back to the experience herself. Her hands moved faster as her eyes grew more bold.

"I basically was pitting brothers against each other! I hadn't realized until I called Sarah and she phrased it in such a way that made me feel absolutely terrible! Can you believe that?!"

Amelia opened her mouth but more feverish words silenced her.

"Perhaps I am some broad coming between them! But the Steve I know wouldn't abandon the both of us! I wanted him to go with Bucky! I even told Eddie I'd rather have him help someone he considered family than to come to some silly baseball game. And the Yankees lost, Amelia! Lost! It would've been even more devastating if Steve was there with us…"

"I am sorry I brushed you off last night." Vernetta finally apologized after a lengthy rant. "Last night was just...unexpected."

"Hey, don't sweat it. But you do need to fix my closet. I left it just for you."

The pair smirked at each other.

"Of course you'd put me to work."

Hazel's dark hair was short and curly beneath her wide-brimmed hat. She often found it as a hobby to find a random hat and place it upon her pretty head. The girl would stroll about the apartment taking anything that would be worn above her hair. Hazel preferred ones that Bucky somehow got from Steve, mostly worn in baseball caps dirtied from time and sweat. But she had an appearance to keep up now. Ever since Vernetta Holbrook graced herself into Steve's life, inadvertently Bucky's and her own, she had become so dazzled with her that many poked fun at her. Hazel wasn't in love with her. No, sure she was enamoured but not in that way. She wanted to be like her.

Bucky had stumbled in earlier when Hazel began reading a new book. Apparently it's been around for a while now, yet she just had to figure out why Vernetta referenced it so much. Her brother shuffled in all exhausted and rugged looking. She only quickly glanced up before returning to the print.

"Heard you got completely juiced up."

His smile was forced as he went further and chuckled. She could tell he really just needed to sleep.

"Sarah called mom, told her all she saw and heard."

"For Christ's sake, it ain't your business."

"My only question is why did you seek comfort in a girl who humiliated you in public?"

He only laughed at her words, picking up his steps. He had spurned his sister's questions and trotted upstairs leaving her to sit and wonder what had happened.

'Hungover and moody' she thought and went back to her book.

It was peaceful for a short amount of time before the doorbell echoed within the walls. Dad was working. Mom was shopping. The twins were taking care of Thomas and Hazel knew exactly what her older brother was doing. She was most likely the only one on the first floor.

She answered the door to find a well-dressed dame waiting at the step, fine fabrics and high fashion clinging to her body. Her first thought that it was Vernetta here for Bucky. Somehow, she would be the person to know everything thanks to Steve. Hazel smiled and greeted her.

"Vernetta! How wonderful to see you! Y'know, Bucky just came home although I don't think he'll be taking visitors. Heard he got drunk like it was still prohibition."

Vernetta laughed but with that, Hazel realized her sudden thinking landed her into the humor of a complete stranger.

"Dear child, Vernetta explained everything to me when we met for tea!" She giggled. "I'm obliged to help my best friend even if she doesn't want it."

The only best friend she knew about was Amelia but she wasn't this, well, rich. Her tone was obviously stuffed with money and the aura emitted superiority. Yet her behavior was kind and perhaps a bit open.

The woman noticed Hazel's bewildered expression. She fell forward with a hand upon chest all smiles and comfort.

"I'm Victoria! I grew up with Vernetta in Manhattan! I was completely surprised to find her in Brooklyn. Especially when I found out she was fraternizing with the likes of your brother."

Fraternizing? Does she mean to say Vernetta's been friendly to him? Well, that couldn't be the heart of the drama Hazel knows it there. Of course they were friendly with each other!

"Well yeah, they're friends with each other and Steve."

Victoria leaned back, an honest smile puckering into a face belonging to someone with gossip. Her thin fingers covered the giggle the escaped.

"You're too young to understand, aren't you?" She smirked. Then her eyes diverted to her head. "That's quite a beautiful hat you got there! It nearly resembles something I'd find back in the borough."

"Oh! Well, thank you, but this is just some silly wicker hat."

"Don't say that! Maybe if it were black or made with a finer straw, it could be the next rage!"

Victoria stepped forward and adjusted the hat until her lips proved to be satisfied.

"It looks so haute couture when just tilted slightly! You might be onto something, dear child!"

"I'm just wearing a hat. You're the one with suggestions." Victoria placed her hands on hazel's shoulders.

"You're the first person I have seen in some years to not wear one of those silly cloche hats."

"So you're saying you can make a hat fashionable?"

"I suppose. A new decade is dawning and I would prefer it to be fresh."

Hazel invited Victoria in and led her into the sitting room. She felt embarrassed bringing someone like her into a quaint home such as this. But it seemed the older woman was mesmerized by her surroundings.

"Speaking of fresh," she slowly slid against the fireplace, "you have no idea how lovely it is to see modest accommodations rather than ones that seem to belong to the Windsors."

"The who?" Hazel's brow furrowed.

"The Royal Family in Great Britain?"

"Oh…"

Victoria waltzed around and ending her walk when she spotted a colorful blue book sitting quietly on the sofa. It was more than familiar to her memory.

"Everybody seems to hate the Gatsby novel, yet you read it? Critics hated it, the general public hated it. I swear I thought only a handful of people enjoyed it."

She made a place on the sofa with Hazel moving to sit beside her. She watched as the woman picked up the book and ran through the pages. The first spot to open was the scrap of paper acting as a bookmark. Victoria read only a few words before a smile erupted on her face.

"You're at Nick's first party. I love it especially since perhaps the most famous Jordan Baker quote lies in this chapter."

Hazel waited for her to say the quote. She had only started the chapter

"In true spirit to her philosophy, I want to throw a party with all the decadence and bleeding hearts this book has."

"Oh?"

"And I want you and your handsome brother and whoever you deem worthy to attend!"

Victoria clapped but Hazel was just as confused. A strange woman who happened to be Vernetta's old friend was inviting her to a party for rich people. Nothing can be more baffling than that.

"Er...may I ask why?"

Victoria hesitated for a moment, only offering the girl a look in the eye before blinking some secret away.

"You're a lovely girl and a friend of Vernetta! I feel she'd be more comfortable with Brooklynites in attendance."

Too rehearsed. Too overused as an excuse. She may be young but Hazel could pick up on the strange sense Victoria had about her now. A quick and fast-paced woman suddenly hesitating? The girl knew immediately that there was something more.

"I'll actually go if you tell me the truth." Hazel crossed her arms and held her chin high.

She did it again, Victoria and her hesitation. She attempted to emerge as the true meaning of her name. Little did she know that she challenged a stubborn girl who also happened to be a Barnes.

"Little girls should be concerned with little girl things."

"I know a lot more than you think. And I don't appreciate the conceited tone."

The answer seemed to satisfy the woman. Her sneering look softened and an eventual nod followed.

"You'd do good in my world. It's important to pick up on the little things, especially voice."

She smoothed out her skirt.

"Our Vernetta seems to fancy a man who happens to not be Steve. Your brother, humiliated by her, got drunk with regret. She checked on him later and, well, a passionate revelation ensued."

"Spill the normal people beans!" Victoria rolled her eyes.

"They kissed! Although that's what I wouldn't call it."

Bucky and Vernetta...kissed? No, that couldn't be! She would never go for a man of his ill reputation! His latest scorn involved Amelia! Vernetta wouldn't even dream of being near him! Plus, there was Steve! She wouldn't dare hurt such a sweet man!

"She...they wouldn't do that…" Hazel hesitated her own words.

"Oh really?" She tilted her head. "You're telling me you know that the real Vernetta gets what she wants no matter the obstacle? Interesting…"

Hazel pondered between now and that fateful May day. That's when it hit her astute sense of vision and hearing. He completely gushed over her once the front door closed and only his family remained within the brick. She loved the dysfunctional stories about the Barnes family. He let her talk before voicing his own opinion, which seemed strange to him yet made sense to Hazel. He seemed more focused on her than Amelia. She seemed to read him like a book even only after meeting him a couple of times. One sentence stuck with him after a moment of silence between him and Vernetta.

"Then tell me about you."

Oh geez, she can still remember that cheesy smile and starstruck glint in his eye when he came home and told her. Now that was something only the two siblings shared. Their parents would tease, the twins were nosy loudmouths, and Thomas was an infant. It had only been so obvious. She had always picked up on the cues that rang bells. Yet she couldn't put the puzzle together until Victoria handed her the final piece. Her eyes widened with disbelief.

"Oh my god!" Her brows furrowed. "My brother's in love with Vernetta Holbrook!"

"And I believe Vernetta's heading down that same path."

Hazel could definitely read the mischievous look in Victoria's eye. Over and over, she kept apologizing to Steve in her head. Then the "but" entered her thought. Hazel knew there were plenty of nice girls out there who could fall for Steve. Ain't nothing bad about him. Yet she wasn't entirely convinced that Bucky could passionately fall for another woman. This was too intense to be one of his simple flames.

"Just like Jordan said: 'I like large parties. They're so intimate. At small parties there isn't any privacy.'"

A/N: Ooooooh! Now what are our girls planning? ;) I'll try to update quicker but I'm not making promises! Stay tuned!