December 25th-Recommended Music: 1.) Celebrate Me Home, Kenny Loggins; 2.)Let it Snow-Frank Sinatra

Bucky stood at the kitchen counter, peeling potatoes on Christmas morning. Steve and Sam stood on either side of him. Steve was chopping onions and Sam was preparing the green beans and Brussels sprouts. After a long night of catching up with one another and drinking Communion wine until they all fell asleep in the basement, Sister Mary Helen had woken them a couple hours later to announce that it was her Christmas present to the rest of the nuns that the three men should prepare Christmas breakfast and dinner for them. Bucky had sworn he'd seen a gleam of impishness in her eyes as she'd told them.

Breakfast had consisted of oatmeal, toast, and sausages. Bucky, having no experience cooking, had been put in charge making the toast, and he'd been quite proud not to have burned any of it.

Now, though, the men were silent as they worked. Occasionally the sound of one of them yawning filled the room. Bucky's prosthetic arm allowed him to peel potatoes with extreme speed, which made him wonder what Zola would think if he could see him now.

Steve's eyes closed over the pile of onions he was chopping and Bucky looked over when he heard a loud thumping noise, only to see Steve's head pressed against the cupboard door and hear quiet snores emanating from his best friend. Sam glanced over, saw Steve and rolled his eyes at Bucky. "Look at this fool," he said with a shake of his head. "And he's not even hung over!"

"He's going to breath in all those onion fumes," Bucky commented before setting down the potato peeler and the tuber he was currently peeling. "Steve…Steve…" he said before reaching over and tapping on his friend's shoulder.

Steve murmured something unintelligible, so Bucky flicked Steve's cheek with his metal fingers. That woke Steve up with a jump. As predicted, the onion fumes caused his eyes to well up and tears began to stream down his cheeks. With a sound of anguish, he rushed over to the sink and proceeded to rinse his eyes out.

Bucky shook his head. "Are you sure I took all the stupid with me to Europe?" he called out while folding his arms. Steve was still washing his face and responded with a particular hand gesture to express his displeasure over the situation.

Sam laughed and set his knife down. "He never acts like this around me," he said. "He's so…Boy Scout usually…"

Steve finally stood up and turned the water off. He wiped his face off with a clean towel before speaking again. "You know, that's the problem with kids these days," he said with a grin. "They all seem to think we were naïve, innocent saints back in the day. But I could tell you some stories about Bucky that would keep you up at night," he continued.

"I wasn't that bad," Bucky objected as he picked up the potato he'd been peeling. "I mean, I gave bullies a run for their money, but I wasn't so bad…"

The three men returned to their tasks in silence, but with more energy than before. Bucky sliced the potatoes while Steve carefully read the instructions for preparing the cheese sauce. Sam finished up with the vegetables and moved onto preparing the ham. He looked around the kitchen, opening and shutting all the drawers and cabinets. "Is there a pantry?" he asked Bucky.

"I don't think so," Bucky replied.

Sam frowned and shook his head. "There are no pineapple slices," he said. "You can't make ham without pineapple slices…"

Bucky moved onto the canned biscuits since he was waiting for Steve to make the cheese sauce for the potatoes. He read the instructions carefully and found two baking sheets in a cupboard by the stove. It took him a minute to get the edge of the paper on the outside of the can to start peeling, but finally he managed it.

When the paper was about halfway off, the can emitted a loud popping noise and expanded suddenly in his hand. His heart pounded from the sudden shock and he gasped audibly while dropping the can onto the counter. He proceeded to smash the can with his prosthetic arm, automatically, blindly, until Sam came to stand next to him.

Sam didn't touch Bucky, but called out to him to get his attention. It wasn't until he raised his voice and said in his most commanding tone, "Stand down, soldier!" that Bucky stopped. He was breathless and the glazed look in his eyes dissipated. He looked at Sam with confusion. Sam sighed and reached out to gently grasp Bucky's good shoulder. "It's all right, man…It's going to be ok," he said quietly.

Steve looked on, concern showing in his features, but remained silent. Bucky took a deep breath and looked down at the mess he'd made. The can and the dough had been nearly obliterated and suddenly he was overcome with a sense of foolishness over what he'd done.

Sam threw away the dough. "It's all right, don't worry about it," he said calmly. "Why don't you get cleaned up, and then you and Steve can go to the store and buy some more?" he suggested.

Bucky nodded his head and walked to the sink to wash his hands. He didn't see Sam and Steve share a look of concern. When Bucky was finished at the sink, he went to the back door to leave, Steve following behind him. As they left, Sam called out to them, "And get a can of pineapple slices while you're there!"

Bucky was quiet as he and Steve walked to the store. He thought about what had just happened, and what had happened at the diner the previous week when he'd heard that old song playing on the radio. Something was wrong with him. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and looked at the ground as Steve began to speak. "You know, when I came back, little things would set me off. I was really angry all the time and noises would startle me and suddenly I'd be back in the war. Sam calls it 'post-traumatic stress'. He's really good at helping people deal with it. He fought in a war too. Lost a buddy there…"

"Iraq?" Bucky asked quietly. When Steve nodded, Bucky grimaced. "I think I started that war…"

"You didn't, HYDRA did," Steve replied firmly.

Bucky was quiet again for a moment as they walked into the store. They made their way to where the biscuits were and as he picked up a can and held it in his hand, he spoke. "Maybe Sam could help me. Sometimes I feel like I'm going off my nut, you know?"*

Steve nodded. "I'm sure he would," he replied. He turned around and started looking at the signs around the store. "We can't forget the pineapple or he'll make us come back again to get it."

They wandered around until they found the canned foods. "I've never had pineapple before," Bucky commented as he looked at the picture on the can.

"It's great on pizza," Steve replied with a smile.

"I've never had pizza either."

Steve smiled. "Well, I suppose that's something to look forward to. I think you might like it here now. There's a lot of interesting stuff that didn't exist in our time."

After they purchased the items and left the store, they continued to talk. "You live in DC now, right?" Bucky asked.

"Yep. You want to move in with me? At least until you get all set up?"

"DC…that's…I can't go back there. HYDRA is looking for me. I don't trust SHIELD either."

Steve frowned. "What were you planning on doing then?" he asked.

"I…thought I would stay here, in the city. At the church. I'm their handyman now." Bucky straightened his shoulders and held his head high as he announced this.

Steve's frown deepened. "But we just found each other again…"

"I can't go back to DC. Too many people looking for me there. As it is I can only hold out here for so long. I might have to move west or something."

Steve looked around as they walked back to the church. "Well then…I'll move back to Brooklyn too," he replied. "I'll rent one of these apartments and we can stay close. It'll be just like the old days."

"Except it isn't the old days anymore," Bucky replied. "We've both changed so much."

Steve sighed as they turned a corner and stopped for a few cars going down the street. "I know…But I'd like to get to know you again, for who you are now, if you'll let me. And you might like me again too, even though I've changed."

After they crossed the street, they noticed a group of children down the block having a snowball fight while they ran around the parked cars. A moment later, Bucky saw that it wasn't so much of a fight as it was an attack of all the children against the smallest member of the group, a little boy about five years old.

Bucky frowned and stopped walking. He handed the bag of groceries to Steve before bending down and quickly forming several snowballs. He carefully took aim before launching them and hitting each of the bullies. They turned in surprise and anger and saw Bucky and Steve both rounding on them.

"This doesn't look like a fair fight to me," Bucky commented as he stepped in front of the older children. Steve moved forward and helped brush the young child off, and helped him to build several snowballs of his own.

"He throws like a girl!" one of the older kids taunted as Steve stood up.

Steve placed his hands on his hips. "I've known many girls who could take you all out with one single snowball and not even bat an eyelash. Throwing like a girl is a compliment, in my mind," he replied.

"No more picking on anybody, got it?" Bucky added.

"Who are you to make me?" the oldest child, a boy around twelve years, asked. The boy folded his arms and narrowed his eyes, challenging Bucky.

Bucky looked the boy in the eye. "I'm Bucky Barnes, I come from this neighborhood, and now I'm back. I don't like bullies and I'm rather good at taking care of them." He folded his arms as well. "You probably don't want to mess with me."

The look must have been sufficiently frightening, because the boy shook his head and held his hands up, as if in surrender. "Sure thing, mister," he replied. "We don't want any trouble."

"I'm glad to hear that," Bucky replied. "You kids go back to your game, but play fairly. I'm going to keep my eye on you all, so you'd better behave." With that, he turned and walked away, back towards the church.

Steve shook his head and hurried after him. "Maybe you haven't changed as much as you think," he said as they walked.

"That was fun," Bucky said with a grin. "I've missed this."

Once they got inside, Steve and Bucky saw that Sam had prepared the rest of the food for them. He was now currently sitting at the kitchen table, drinking coffee with the nuns and swapping stories with them. "So, you were there for the fall of Saigon?" he asked Sister Mary Katherine, who had been an army nurse during the Vietnam War prior to becoming a nun. He shook his head sadly. "It couldn't have been easy to witness. Thank you for your service." He glanced over and saw Bucky and Steve in the doorway and jumped up from his seat. "Did you guys get the pineapple? I want to get that ham in the oven." He grabbed the bag out of Steve's hand and went to the counter to work on preparing the pineapple.

Steve made the biscuits while Bucky sat down to talk with the nuns.

"So, you're staying aren't you?" Sam asked quietly as he and Steve worked side-by-side.

Steve nodded his head. "He needs me," he replied. "I can't leave him by himself right now. He has some recovering to do still…"

Sam nodded in agreement. "Well, we'll just have to look and see if there are any apartments available here."

"You'd come too?"

Sam shrugged. "I might as well. I think I could help him and he seems all right to me."

When the rest of the food was in the oven, everybody sat at the kitchen table and talked. Bucky hadn't heard so much laughter in a very long time, and he enjoyed every minute of it.

By the time lunch was ready and the three men had served the nuns before serving themselves, Bucky felt that he had a lot to be grateful for this Christmas. Delicious food, good friends, safety and security. And now, he would have a relatively stable future, with Steve and Sam here to help him.

When everybody was stuffed and feeling sleepy again, Sister Mary Helen sent the three men outside "to play," as she put it. As she shut the door behind them, they looked around and wondered what to do.

"So…what should we do?" Steve asked.

"Find an open bar?" Sam suggested.

"Nah," Bucky replied. He smiled and shook his head. "Steve, did you bring your shield with you?"

"Yes, why?" Steve replied, his brow furrowing.

"Want to see how fast it'll go down a snowy hill?"

Sam grinned. "I for one would like to see how fast it would go," he added.

"You want to go sledding with my shield?" Steve asked. "Why don't we go join that snowball fight instead? Sledding down the hill on the shield sounds dangerous…"

"Have you ever seen National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation?" Sam asked. When both men shook their heads, he continued. "It's totally dangerous, which is what will make it so much fun!"

Steve shook his head and sighed. "All right, I'll be right back," he said before returning to the church to retrieve it. He returned a couple minutes later, shield in hand. "Ok, let's go, and I get to do it first."

Bucky led the way to a nearby park that would yield hills high enough to sled down. After Steve went first, Bucky took his turn on the shield and flew down the snow-covered hill at an alarming speed, colors and lights of nearby houses flashing before his eyes. He felt a thrill as he neared the bottom of the hill. This was fun, something he hadn't experienced in a very long time. His heart pounded by the time he reached the bottom and came to a stop, but this time it was an enjoyable feeling, not one of dread or panic. As he walked back up the hill and handed the shield to Sam, Bucky realized that this had been his best Christmas ever.

Once they'd all taken several turns on the shield and were trying to decide what to do next, Bucky was hit from behind by something cold. He reached his good hand up and felt snow in his hair. He whipped around in time to see another snowball flying towards him and put his hand up to block it. The children from the snowball fight earlier that day had come to the park and found them. Apparently they were interested in a rematch. Steve used his shield to keep from getting hit, and Sam was already bending down to make snowballs of his own.

The battle waged long and hard that afternoon, but the three newcomers to Brooklyn would prove to be the winners of the Great Snowball Fight of 2014, in the end. Once it was over, the children noticed Steve's shield, and though he wouldn't allow them to sled down the hill on it, he did tell them a few stories about it.

"Let's head back to the church," Bucky suggested after a minute. "It's cold outside for the kids. Let's make some cider and get them some cookies."

The children were enthusiastic about the prospects of free sugar, and readily joined them on the trek back to church. Bucky led everybody on as the sun set that afternoon. He smiled all the way.

*Going off my nut-1940's talk for "losing my mind".

A/N: Thank you everybody for reading along and for the lovely reviews! I hope all of you have the Merriest of Christmases!

-Foodie