December 19, 1942

It had been three days since getting James's final letter and Lucille was pacing the length of her room impatiently. Again. Her sister kept teasing that she would wear a hole in the floor soon if she kept it up. But Lucille didn't know what else she could do to keep herself from going mad from waiting. She knew it was foolish to believe James would be back very soon after his letter; no doubt there were many tasks to do before they could leave. Telling herself that hadn't helped her restlessness one bit. All kinds of scenarios played through her head like bad dreams: they had suddenly decided to cancel the leave to continue training; there was an accident during the last training exercise and James had ended up in the hospital; worse yet, they'd decided send James and his fellow soldiers overseas.

Lucille spun on her heel once more, throwing a glance at the letter that still lay on her nightstand. It looked innocent enough. She sighed and twirled around again.

There was a faint knock on the front door downstairs. Lucille halted mid-step, acutely aware of the frantic butterflies that erupted in her belly. Her nervousness only stopped her for a fraction of a second before she was tearing open her bedroom door and flying down the stairs, hastily mumbling an apology as she elbowed her sister out of the way. Lucille barely made it to a stop to avoid running into the door. Taking a painfully long moment to straighten her skirt and smooth her hair, Lucille took a deep breath in as she opened the door.

Bucky stood on the other side, looking even better than she imagined. There were more well-defined muscles that shaped his frame, and his hair was shorter than it had been, but he was still her James Barnes, if that wide, beaming smile was anything to go by. Lucille found herself being propelled forward before she was even aware that her feet were moving. She wrapped her arms around Bucky's noticeably more solid torso, tucking her head under his chin and relishing the sorely missed feeling of Bucky's arms around her.

"You're here," she whispered, fingers clutching at the fabric of the back of Bucky's shirt, almost afraid to let him go.

"I am," he assured her. "I missed you so much."

"God, I missed you too," Lucille mumbled into his chest. Behind her, Lucille was vaguely aware of her mother hissing at Connie to go to her room and leave her and Bucky alone. "So," she said, pulling away after a long moment, "how was training, Corporal?"

Bucky shook his head with a smile, and told her, "It's Sergeant, now."

"Oh, full of authority now, are we?"

"Not really," Bucky shrugged, "but I do get to boss around the corporals and privates occasionally."

"I see," Lucille grinned. "Congratulations, then, Sergeant. So fancy."

Bucky wrapped his arms more securely around her waist. "Fancy enough to deserve a girl like you?"

"Maybe..." Lucille squeaked when Bucky suddenly brought his lips crashing down on hers. She was quick to respond, wrapping her arms around his neck and fitting her body against his as he pulled her even closer.

The kiss was a long time in coming, and the two were determined to make up for lost time.

Finally breaking apart, Lucille smiled contentedly, already feeling her lips grow red and slightly puffy. "That was long overdue," she murmured, still a little dazed.

"No kidding," Bucky agreed, sounding pleased.

"James, are you burning the garlic bread?"

Bucky gave Lucille a look of exaggerated hurt. "I can cook!" he defended himself, sliding neatly in front of the blackened end of the French bread loaf that he had just taken out of the oven.

Lucille rolled her eyes with a smile. "I never said you couldn't cook. I was just worried about this garlic bread in particular."

"It may be... a little well done," Bucky admitted with a grin. "I'll just scrape it off a bit and it will be right as rain; don't you worry your pretty little head."

"I should have put you in charge of the bread," Lucille stage-whispered to Steve, who immediately shook his head.

"Bucky and I usually order out for a reason," Steve said, sitting down on a stool at the breakfast bar of Bucky's small kitchenette. Bucky tossed a chunk of burnt bread over his shoulder at Steve, who just patiently brushed the crumbs off to the side.

Lucille stirred the spaghetti noodles in the pot one last time before deciding they were ready. She grabbed the pot holders off the counter, placed the lid slightly askew on the pot and hauled it over to the sink. Slowly, she poured the water out of the pot, craned her neck to keep her face out of the scalding steam. "Where's the sauce?" she asked.

"Right here," Bucky said, popping the top off the jar for her. She took it from him and dumped the contents in the pot. She took the wooden spoon and folded the sauce into the tangle of noodles.

"Okay, I think we're ready," she told the other two. Steve grabbed the plates and forks while Bucky uncorked the wine and brought it and three glasses to the little coffee table in front of the couch. Lucille divvied up the pasta between their plates and passed around the garlic bread before settling down on the couch next to Bucky.

"Can I just say, this is probably the best food I've had in about a year," Bucky said around a mouthful of spaghetti.

Lucille smiled. "Really? I thought this wasn't anything very special. Not for your first real home cooked meal since being home." She crunched thoughtfully on a piece of garlic bread for a moment. "A steak dinner would have been more appropriate, but I don't know how to cook a fancy steak and it wouldn't have been nice to have you make your own dinner."

Bucky shrugged. "You're not the one that's been living off mass-produced boiled everything for a year. This right here is the stuff of the gods." Lucille and Steve shared a grin over their pasta. Then Lucille leaned over kissed Bucky on the cheek.

"Welcome home, Buck," Steve said.

Steve had left a couple hours ago. Lucille was curled under Bucky's arm and a blanket as they sat on the couch, the radio in the corner of the room softly playing a Glenn Miller song. Bucky's fingers lightly tapped the rhythm of the song against her shoulder. Lucille smiled to herself and closed her eyes contentedly.

"Luci?"

"Mmm?"

"What would you say to going up to the roof?"

Lucille opened one eye. "Bit chilly, isn't it? Middle of December and all that?"

"Can't be that bad; it's been snowing all evening, so I say we should see how the city looks in a fresh coat of snow."

Lucille bit her lip, very aware that he was using her love of newly fallen snow against her. "All right," she agreed, "but only if I get to take the blanket with me."

Bucky laughed, "Of course you can." They got up from the couch and Lucille followed Bucky out of the apartment and to the elevator, wrapping her blanket securely around her. As they travelled up the four floors to the top, Bucky settled his arms around her, resting his chin on top of her head as he hummed the last song that had been playing over the radio. The elevator gently jolted to a stop and the doors slid open. Bucky, an arm still around her blanket-clad shoulders, led the way to the far end of the hall to a heavy metal door. It opened with a sharp, metallic screech of protest and the couple ascended the short set of steps to the roof.

It was as if they had stepped into a different world. The normally noisy city of Brooklyn no matter what the time of day or night was eerily silent as the snow captured the sounds. Though it was well past dark, the sky was still glowing orange, the innumerable lights of the city reflecting off the new snow and getting caught in the clouds. Bucky followed a few steps behind her as she went to the edge of the roof and looked over the wall to the street below. There weren't even any tracks in the snow on the street, and she thought it was beautiful. She turned to look at Bucky, who was looking at her with a smile.

"It's so gorgeous, James! Come see!" She held a hand out to him from under the blanket. He stepped forward and took her hand, but he didn't look out at the city. He kept his gaze on her, his soft smile fading a bit. Lucille squeezed his hand. "James? What's wrong?"

Bucky sighed, looking down at their hands. "Luci... I was gone for a year. That's a long time; gives a guy a lot of time to think." Lucille stayed silent, unsure of where Bucky was going with this but not liking the conclusion her thoughts came to. He continued, unaware of the worry that was welling up inside her. "I thought a lot about us while I was at McCoy. I didn't think it was fair to make you wait for a fella with such an uncertain future. And I still don't know what the Army will have me do."

Lucille attempted to swallow past the lump that had formed in her throat. "James -" He squeezed her hand and her protest died on her lips, her heart dropping into her stomach.

"When I got your letter, the one saying you would wait forever, it helped me realize what I needed to do, so..." Bucky let go of her hand and took a step back. Lucille closed her eyes to keep the tears at bay. "Luci?" She opened her eyes again at the sound of his voice, her vision blurring as she fought to keep her tears from falling. She blinked rapidly and then the blanket was falling into the snow behind her as the scene in front of her cleared. Bucky was down on one knee in the snow, holding a small red box that contained a thin ring with a softly glinting gem on top. "Luci, my love, will you marry me?"

Lucille's hands flew to her mouth as the tight lump in her throat and the worry were suddenly washed away in a flood of relief. She nodded vigorously. "Yes, yes of course, James!" Bucky, all smiles, stood up and took the ring out of the box. Lucille gave him her left hand and he slid the ring onto her finger.

Still holding onto her hand, Bucky pressed his forehead against hers. "I love you, Luci."

Lucille felt a few happy tears slide down her cheeks. "I love you, too, James."

-0-

I know, I know, I didn't update last week... Sorry! Blame it on the holidays and suddenly becoming an in-demand sub. BUT! To make up for it... double update day! That's right, TWO chapters today! I hope you enjoy them! Reviewers, I'll be replying to you as soon as I get these posted this time, so keep an eye out in your inboxes :) Love.

[Guest: He really did come home! :) I hope the events of this chapter supplied the much-needed time together for you! Thank you for your awesome review!]