May 17, 1943

"James, go. Please. Have fun on your last night home." Lucille tiredly tried to push Bucky out of the door to where her sister Connie and Connie's friend Bonnie waited with Steve in Bucky's car.

Bucky took her hands off his chest and held them in his. "I want you to come," he told her for the hundredth time. He began to pull her out with him, making the blanket slip from her shoulders. He quickly stooped to catch it and tucked it around her again. "Please?" he tried, putting on his most charming smile.

Lucille sighed and smiled back. "No. I won't be any fun tonight, believe me. I'm going to make some hot tea and sit in bed with a book and an enormous pile of tissues." She turned to go back inside, but Bucky held onto her hands. "James," she said warningly. Bucky pulled her forward until his lips touched her forehead. After a long moment, he pulled away.

"Fine. I'll go and have a swell time at the Pavilion with Steve. And your sister. And her friend. And not you."

"Too right you will." Lucille gave Bucky's hands a final squeeze before pulling hers out of his grasp. He sighed and turned, but he only got a few steps away before she called to him again. "And afterward, Sergeant Barnes, you'll come right back here and tell me about all the newest Stark invention and everything else you saw. That's an order."

Bucky turned around smartly and whipped his hand up in a salute. "Yes, ma'am!" He grinned.

"Bucky, c'mon!" Connie called from the car. "We're going to miss everything!"

Lucille smiled and waved as the car drove away down the street before retreating inside and closing the door behind her.

Muffling a cough into a tissue, Lucille closed her book and set it on the nightstand next to her bed. The remains of her tea had long since cooled. She blew her nose and dropped the used tissue into the waste basket she had brought in from the bathroom. Getting sick in the middle of May was the silliest thing she had ever heard of, but here she was. A small commotion coming from downstairs broke her out of her stuffy-headed thoughts. Lucille heard two sets of footsteps bound up the stairs and patter down the hall to Connie's room, where the thud of a door blocked any further noise from that end of the hall. After a moment, another slower set of footsteps made their way up the stairs. This set came down the hall toward her room and paused outside her door. There was a soft knock, and Lucille couldn't contain her smile. "Come in, James." The door opened and Bucky walked in, looking beat, but happy.

"I think your sister is too old to need a babysitter, Luci," Bucky grumbled good-naturedly. "She's only two years younger than you."

Lucille patted the bed next to her and sat up to make room for him. "I'm sorry. But she really wanted to go and my parents didn't want her and Bonnie to go by themselves."

Bucky took a seat next to her and slumped back against the pillows, tucking one hand behind his head while the other found hers and interlaced their fingers. "It wouldn't have been so exhausting running around after them if Steve hadn't skipped out to try to enlist again."

Lucille shook her head. "What is this? Five? Six times now?"

Bucky shrugged. "I don't even know anymore. It's – he's got this idea in his head that the only way he can help is by going over and getting shot at. He doesn't see it that way, of course. But it's nuts, how bad he wants to join up."

"They won't take him, James," Lucille tried to reassure him. "He's already been turned away five times. Steve just doesn't know when to give up, but he'll have to sooner or later."

"Yeah, because he'll be thrown in the big house for lying on five enlistment forms," Bucky muttered darkly. Lucille bit her lip, unsure of what to say next. Bucky sighed and brought her hand to his lips. After a quick kiss to the back of her hand, he sighed again. "I'm sorry, Luci. I didn't mean to come here and complain. That knucklehead just has me worried."

"Steve is my friend too, James. He makes everyone worry about him. But he'll be okay. We all will."

-0-

Really short, I know. Short, but sweet (I hope). I did warn you most chapters wouldn't be very long. This was the second chapter I wrote for this story... I did most chapters completely out of order. Anyway, here's part 2 of the double update day! Let me know what you're thinking after this! Love.