Life After Death

by Team Damon

Sequel to Breath of Life. He's overcome a lot to get to where he's at, but he still has a long way to go. She knows that it's not going to be easy, but she also knows that he's worth it. And neither of them have the slightest clue what in the world they're doing. Bucky/OC, post-TWS and non-Civil War compliant. Now complete!

50. Chapter 50

A/N: SO today for the 50th chapter of this story (eeeeeeee!) I bring you guys... this lol. It's Bucky's birthday again and, let me just say first and foremost that this chapter was a challenge for me and my comfort zone and I am horribly embarrassed about portions of it but... well... this chapter called for certain elements and I did my best to deliver. Lol. AND, since I know that some of you guys aren't huge on super, ah, physical chapters, there's some action here too and fluff and what I think is one of the cutest moments so far in the story, so there's something here for everyone. I hope :D Anyway, thank you guys as always, and I am going to go hide under the covers and be embarrassed for the rest of my life now :D and BIG HUGE thanks to midnightwings96 for being encouraging and just utterly irreplaceable. Love to you all, and go easy on me, please :p

Of all the potential different ways in which one could ring in their 101st birthday, punching in the teeth of a few scumbags seemed like as good of a choice as any for Bucky when he couldn't quite fall asleep after midnight came. The rest of the house was fast asleep, and he hadn't hit the streets since before Adelaide was born even though Summer had been telling him for a few months that she was perfectly fine with him playing vigilante again. He'd just been ignoring that itch, not wanting to be anywhere but home at night until he felt comfortable slipping out again. Eight months later, he finally did.

So, after giving Summer a kiss on her cheek and waking her just long enough to tell her where he was going, lest she wake up and panic to find him gone, he checked in on the kids before quietly leaving the house and heading to the city.

He took his bike there, fighting a little bit of lingering unease over leaving everyone at home alone. But he put it out of his mind, knowing that they were all fine and would still be asleep when he got back. It was just a bit harder leaving them behind at a house in a regular neighborhood than it had been leaving them in a fortified tower literally surrounded by Avengers.

Still, he kept on his way and, once he got into the city and left the motorcycle to continue on foot, he felt an odd sense of comfort amid all the noise and clamor of the typical New York City night. For as much as it had changed since he'd grown up there, it was still home, or at least it was supposed to be. It felt comfortable and he knew it well enough to not despise living there, though now technically he was part of the upper-middle class dwelling in the suburbs. That was hilarious.

The city had its problem neighborhoods, the ones that he'd gotten quite familiar with during his first months playing vigilante. There was his old stomping ground of Brooklyn, particularly certain streets within it. Brownsville was the murder capital of the city, and Hell's Kitchen had a little bit of everything wrong with it, though rape seemed to the most prevalent as far as Bucky had seen of it. Each part of the city suffered from the same disease as the next, all displaying different symptoms and severity, and really it was no different than it had ever been, in his eyes. People were just more aware of the crimes now thanks to the media, but that didn't inspire anyone from doing a damn thing about it.

Maybe that was why he ended up wandering into Hell's Kitchen that night, or it was because of what had happened to Summer years ago, before he'd known her or even known himself. Maybe it was having a daughter now and wondering how any father could let his daughter out on the streets in a place like that, or even worse, how a father couldn't care at all one way or the other.

Maybe it was all the lingering feeling of owing the world and people within it such a deep debt for having taken lives on behalf of evil in the past. Maybe it was all of those things, tied up together and pushing him deeper into the city, trying to find someone he could help.

He hadn't strayed to Hell's Kitchen as much as Brooklyn in the past, but he knew his way around and eventually found his way on top of a roof that served as a pretty good vantage point, or at least the best he was going to get for then. He kept watch, waiting for something or someone to call him to action. It could have been anything - an alarm, a cry of pain, the sound of a struggle. He wasn't picky.

Eventually, he found something worth following up on. The sound of two people arguing down below, a man and a woman, followed by sudden silence and what might have been a muffled struggle. He peered over the edge of the roof and watched as the man dragged the woman off of the street and between two buildings, and then it was only a matter of pulling his handy ski mask on over his face and getting down to street level.

On his way down, he couldn't help but feel as if he was being watched. He looked around, checking all angles and searching for the smallest sign of being followed, but there was nothing. He went on, undeterred, and quickly made his way to the alley where his suspicions regarding the nature of the struggle between the man and woman were proven true.

It was almost too easy coming up behind the man and throwing him off the woman, tossing him into the building and then telling the woman to run and get to safety first before calling the police. She thanked him frantically, the way that women usually did when he pulled their attackers off of them, and after she dashed off he took care of the guy without hardly breaking a sweat.

But as easy as it was, it still felt good. He left the man unconscious, propped up against the edge of the alley where cops would find him in a few moments, and then he slipped back into the night and away from the eyes of others.

Or at least he thought he had, until the sensation of being watched became overwhelming and impossible to ignore. He knew it wasn't his imagination and it wasn't the adrenaline in his veins making him sense things that weren't there. He kept walking, keeping the mask on in case he was being tracked, and he focused on getting somewhere away from the streets and the people driving by. He noted an empty warehouse up ahead and walked there, feeling the unknown presence more and more the closer he got.

He ducked behind a wall of the warehouse as soon as he got close enough. He listened and watched, scanning the area with his eyes and finding nothing. He waited long enough to start thinking that maybe it had all been in his head after all, a side effect of staying home a bit too long and having to get used to all of this again, and then he stepped back out.

He hadn't taken more than three steps before he heard a voice behind him.

"Who are you?"

He froze where he stood, instincts roaring to life as he realized he hadn't been wrong after all. Judging by the sound of the voice, the man wasn't very far behind him. He could either run or turn around and face the person.

A thousand possibilities ran through his head during the split second it took for him to turn around. Was it HYDRA? Criminal? Gang member? Agent?

None of those answers seemed likely once he turned and looked at the man who'd been tracking him. He was only a number of feet away, dressed in all black and the entire top half of his face masked. It didn't even seem likely that he could see through the mask.

And whoever he was, he was poised for attack the very same way that Bucky was.

"I said who are you?"

Bucky paused and considered his options for one more split second. He could run, and he'd get away. He was faster than normal men. It would be easy. But then he would be risking the chance of being tracked back home, and that wasn't a chance he was willing to take.

And so, instead of turning and running the other way, he came at the other man swinging. His plan was simple: knock him out as quickly and efficiently as possible and then call it a night. But the problem was, the man was rather well trained, and Bucky found that out rather quickly.

Bucky tried to hit first with his right hand, since staying under the radar sometimes meant not smashing his metal fist into random faces, but the man deflected the hit and came back at him with a punch of his own. Bucky jerked back and avoided it, and then suddenly, he was in the middle of a fierce fight that he hadn't seen coming that particular night.

If the man's vision was impaired by the mask, he showed no signs of it. Bucky was shocked by how good he was, and he had to stay on his toes and not give an inch to keep from getting knocked down. He had no idea who this guy was or why he was so skilled, nor why he had been following Bucky, and that made him all the more dangerous.

Bucky landed a few hits, but so did his opponent - one to his side and another to his head, but it was nothing he couldn't handle or match. At one point, Bucky gained enough of the upper hand to shove the man against the wall and pin him there with his left arm across his throat.

As Bucky held the man to the wall, his disguised left arm began to make noises that were beyond his control. It whirred and clicked loudly, and Bucky began to grow more wary when in the midst of struggling against his grip, the other man seemed to briefly stop and listen to the sounds.

Bucky then let the man shove him away, wanting to get distance and not let whoever this was figure out who he was fighting. It was then that sirens sounded nearby, surely the cops coming to arrest the rapist that Bucky had left in the alleyway, and as both men stopped fighting for a moment and remained where they were, he decided to end whatever this was now.

"Who the hell are you?"

"I asked first," the other man replied, breaths coming heavy from exertion.

Bucky almost laughed. Was this guy serious? "Who sent you?"

"Nobody," he replied, the blare of the sirens getting closer. "I work alone."

Bucky eyed him silently, the side of his head not feeling so great from when the guy had punched the side of it, but his mind was perfectly clear with the adrenaline of battle.

"Why did you take out that rapist?"

Bucky blinked and replied, "Somebody needed to."

"Yeah. I was going to. Then you showed up."

Bucky furrowed his brows slightly and then deducted, "So you're a vigilante."

"Something like that. Same as you, I'm guessing."

Bucky saw the flashing lights of the cop cars back on the street, their lights just barely reaching the walls to Bucky's left. He then shrugged slightly and replied, "Something like that."

"This is my city," the other man replied, voice low but no longer threatening. "And like I said, I work alone."

Bucky could understand that. He didn't know this guy and he didn't know Bucky either, and that was the way it had to stay. "Fine. Never liked Hell's Kitchen much anyway."

The other man almost smiled. Almost. It was more like a barely-there, barely-amused quirk of the lips. "Then you'd better get out of here before the cops get interested."

Bucky gave a short nod, wondering if the guy could even see the gesture. Then, purely out of curiosity, he asked, "You got a name?"

"You must not read the papers," he replied dryly before turning and not walking out of sight but leaping up the wall of the warehouse and catching the fire escape with his hands. He pulled himself up on it and then he was gone, leaving Bucky down on the ground to furrow his brows and wonder once again who the hell this guy even was, and how he could see where he was going.

After that odd and unexpected encounter, Bucky decided to get out of the city for the night and head home. Normally he would have lingered and kept an eye out for more trouble, but that night, what he'd already found was enough for then. And besides... apparently, he wasn't the only one in town with a vigilante hobby.

---

Later that morning, Summer awoke to the sounds of a hungry baby on one side, from Adelaide's crib on the other side of the room, and a snoring husband on the other. She glanced at Bucky sleepily and smiled as she sat up, taking in the sight of him passed out face-first in the bed with his hair covering most of his face. She knew he'd be out for a couple more hours, since he'd been out late beating up bad guys in the city, so she made sure to be quiet as she got out of bed and picked up their baby from the crib.

She'd been waiting for this day to come for what felt like ages now. It wasn't everyday that one's husband turned 101, and it definitely wasn't every day that she was going to put on her bravest face possible and present said husband with a gift that she could barely believe she'd actually gone through with. The photo album in question, a book that was far more discreet on the outside than it was on the inside, was sitting gift-wrapped in her underwear drawer and had been for a week now. Today was the day she'd finally give it to him, and while she couldn't have been happier with the photos and Nicolo had done an amazing job with them, she was pretty sure that she'd never been more nervous in her life.

But, there was much to do before it was time to deal with all of that. She had breakfast to get ready and kids to get dressed and fed, and sometime in the afternoon Steve and a few others were coming over for a low-key birthday party. Well, as low-key as Summer could manage, which probably wasn't very low-key at all, but she couldn't help that. And on the bright side, it was all a very helpful distraction from having to think about giving him her own gift later.

After getting breakfast done and getting both kids fed and taking an impressive three-minute shower after, Summer sat both Adelaide and David down in the kitchen with a tableful of art supplies and helped them create a homemade birthday card. David took the task very seriously, designing most of it himself and meticulously making sure that everything looked perfect, while Adelaide had a blast getting elbow-deep in non-toxic finger paint and making a huge mess. What resulted was a card that was half perfect and half chaos, with little tiny baby handprints on one side and David's impressive pictures and handwriting on the other. Summer liked it that way, since it represented both kids' personalities just right. Bucky would surely love it.

Once the paint had dried, she set the coffeemaker to brew a new pot and then got Adelaide cleaned up. Next stop was her bedroom to wake Bucky up now that it was almost noon, and David ran in front of her with the card in hand the whole way there.

Bucky was still knocked out once they made it to the room, but that would soon change once David all but cannon-balled on the bed and Summer sat down with Adelaide on Bucky's other side. David poked and prodded Bucky's right shoulder while Summer called pleasantly, "Time to wake up, birthday boy!"

Bucky stirred and groaned muffled against his pillow, only cracking an eye open when David's poking grew into impatient two-handed shaking of his whole arm. Once his eyes were open, David beamed and Summer put Adelaide down on the bed as she told the baby, "There he is! Go get him, Addie."

Bucky rolled on to his back just in time for Adelaide to attack him, crawling determinedly up the bed until she was climbing up his chest and giggling happily. He grinned widely and snatched both kids up in a hug, making them both giggle more as Summer looked on with a bright smile.

David quickly signed happy birthday, Daddy, and Bucky squeezed him tighter as he replied, "Thanks, buddy. You're getting strong, by the way. I can't ignore you when you try to wake me up anymore." David grinned at that, and then Bucky turned to his daughter and raised his eyebrows. "And look at you! You're so cute and... pink."

It was true. Today she was wearing a light pink dress and pink socks, and her rich brown hair reached just past her chin and had a giant matching pink flower clipped in it. All she needed were some sparkly wings and she'd be the cutest little pink fairy the world had ever seen.

"Well, you know me... I can't help myself," Summer smiled, leaning down so she could give Bucky a short and sweet kiss on the lips. "Happy birthday."

"Thanks," he grinned lazily, glancing down at her lips and then back at her eyes. She grinned back stupidly and then kissed him again, and this time Adelaide giggled at them. It wasn't anything new - she always found it quite hilarious whenever they kissed, for some reason.

Then David interrupted by shoving the card into Bucky's hand, and Bucky sat up as he opened it up and immediately smiled at the contents. He looked at David and said, "Wow. You really worked hard on this." David nodded proudly, and then Bucky glanced at Adelaide before saying to Summer, "I can't even imagine the mess she must have made."

"Yeah... it was pretty intense," Summer chuckled as Bucky went back to reading the card.

Once he was done, he closed it and then grabbed David for another hug, this one even bigger than the last. "Thank you. I love it, I really do."

David, clearly delighted with the card being a hit, was all smiles as Bucky let him go and then gave Adelaide another squeeze too. She decided to stay in his arms for the time being, opting to take part in her favorite pastime of trying to pull his hair out of his head as he turned to Summer and raised an eyebrow. "All right. These two set the bar really high, so you'd better have something good for me."

Grinning at his teasing tone, Summer replied, "Well, I have coffee and breakfast waiting for you. I would have done the whole breakfast in bed thing, but I know how you feel about finding crumbs in bed, so..."

"Yeah, good call," he agreed, still grinning back.

"I thought so. So... you're just gonna have to wait until later for my present."

"How much later? When everybody gets here?"

Fighting a blush that she felt trying to engulf her face already, Summer smiled nervously and said, "No. I mean later later."

"Oh," his grin widened a little bit. "Okay."

"Yeah, so... just be patient," she said, giving his arm a little pat and then trying to get up from the bed, but he grabbed her wrist and pulled her back to his side. He kissed her again, which made Adelaide giggle one more time, and Summer said with a twinge of pink on her cheeks, "We gotta get moving if we're gonna stay on schedule today."

"Schedule? It's my birthday. I don't want to follow a schedule on my birthday," he half-joked, absently tucking a piece of hair behind her ear.

"Yeah, well... this is what I do for a living, so it's a hard habit to break," she shrugged. "Besides, I'm not leaving any chance of us missing our reservations tonight."

His eyes brightened at that, and after wincing slightly at Adelaide's latest attempts to rip his hair out, he asked, "Sure we can't just skip everything else and go straight to that?"

"Considering I spent about two and a half hours making your cake yesterday, no, not really," Summer smiled before managing to slip away from him and get off of the bed. She then pulled all the covers off and announced, "Everybody up! It's almost one, and everybody's getting here at two!"

David was the first to get up, quite excited for the day ahead and needing no further encouragement. Bucky grumbled slightly but got up next, still holding Adelaide, and he walked straight to Summer. He gave Adelaide a kiss on the cheek and then handed her to Summer, then gave Summer another kiss before his hand slid to her waist and his lips went to her ear. "I can't wait for tonight."

He pulled away as Summer smiled and bit her lip, looking up at him with a mixture of excitement and slight fear in her eyes. "Me too, but..."

"She'll be all right," Bucky assured her, nodding towards Adelaide.

"I know, but... we've never spent an entire night away from her before," Summer said, looking at the baby and pouting a little.

"Yeah, but it'll be good for us. Good for her, too," Bucky said, briefly running a hand over the back of Adelaide's head.

"Yeah... I'm just nervous," Summer sighed, looking up at Bucky and frowning just a little bit.

"Don't be," Bucky told her quietly. Then a slight grin reached his lips as he added, "Besides, I can promise you that I'm gonna do everything I can to distract you."

Summer couldn't help but smile a little at that. There was a good and valid reason why she'd booked them a hotel room for just the two of them that night. Not only was it his birthday and already a special occasion, but they were always so busy and so tired and distracted that they didn't have much time for just each other anymore. It was just the way that life was at that point, but when they had been making plans for his birthday a few weeks before, it had been his idea to leave the kids with Steve and Natasha and have the whole night for just each other. That was really all he wanted for his birthday, and deep down, Summer knew it was not only healthy for them but also healthy for Adelaide to learn to trust being cared for by others.

But that didn't mean she wasn't going to be extremely nervous about it.

"I'm gonna take a shower," Bucky said, kissing her cheek one more time before she nodded and then watched him disappear into the bathroom. He didn't close the door before tossing her one more little smirk, however.

Summer sighed heavily and looked at Adelaide and her fat little cheeks, muttering, "This is gonna be one hell - I mean heck, one heck - of a day."

---

The first part of the day went off without a hitch. Summer's house filled up with people, including her brother and sister in law and all one million of their kids, and even Tony and Pepper dropped in for a quick visit. The cake that Summer had slaved over disappeared within only two hours of being cut, and between the sounds of yelling kids and equally loud adults, Summer managed to forget what she was nervous about for a solid couple of hours. Bucky was happy and surrounded by people who cared about him, and at the end of the day, that was all Summer had ever truly wanted for him.

It was after most of the guests had left and Adelaide went down for a nap that five o'clock rolled around, which meant that Summer had to get ready to leave for her and Bucky's night on the town. She had been getting Adelaide settled in her crib while Bucky had gotten ready, and somehow they had missed one another after, so Summer had no clue what he was wearing by the time she was getting dressed herself.

The dress that she was going to wear had been purchased the same day as the red one that she'd worn in her boudoir photos. Natasha had thrown it at her and told her to wear it on her next night out with Bucky, and ever the obedient student when it came to her best friend/mentor, she decided to follow Natasha's advice. It was a daring but tasteful "little black dress", and it seemed to fit the theme of the night and the gift she would be giving Bucky - also daring and tasteful.

She went about her routine in mostly silence, hands a little shaky and mind racing the entire time. She was on autopilot, fixing her hair and putting on makeup and fretting silently, lacking the distractions she'd had the whole day. It was just about time to face the music, and if she felt vaguely like she wanted to throw up, well... she didn't have a lot of control over that.

Once she was ready, she left her bathroom and headed to her closet to pick out a pair of heels and grab her coat. Her dress was short and it was chilly outside, and after a moment spent in irrational worry, she decided to throw on the coat then rather than walk out in just the dress and heels and try to wow her husband. It had been that long since she'd dressed up like this for him, and the worries over her photos were bleeding into her worries for everything else.

But, as she went to close her closet door, something sitting on the very top shelf caught her eye. It was Thor's wedding gift to her, the small chest full of different little vials of various potions. Seeing it jogged her memory regarding one of the potions inside, and after only a moment's contemplation, she reached up and retrieved the chest.

Of all the potions that Thor had gifted to her, she had only used one so far, which was the one for pain that had made her labor experience utterly incredible. There were still quite a few others sitting there and waiting for her to use, and one of them seemed like they might prove particularly useful that night.

She located the vial in question and unrolled the little piece of paper containing its instructions, reading through the immaculate writing quickly and then taking a breath.

The potion was, essentially, a potion which would give its drinker a dose of pure, genuine confidence. Apparently it was a good potion to take when one was about to charge into battle or make a public speech, or perhaps face an enemy that they were almost sure to face defeat at the hands of.

Or, in Summer's case, have dinner with her husband of a year and a half and give him a book of pictures of her in various states of undress.

She grabbed the potion and put the chest back where she'd gotten it from, then got her purse and carefully deposited the vial into an inner zippered section. Then she walked to her dresser and grabbed Bucky's present out from the very bottom of her underwear drawer, slipped it into the purse, and then ran out of reasons to stall any longer.

She took a deep breath, closing her eyes and telling herself to get over it and be a man - well, woman - and go have a fantastic night out like she deserved.

Summer repeated that like a mantra as she left her bedroom, coat on and purse in hand, walking down to the living room and trying to focus on how excited she was rather than how nervous she was going to be. She was so distracted that it caught her by complete surprise when she reached the living room and walked in on one of the cutest things she'd ever seen in her life.

Adelaide had woken up, apparently, and she was in her "jumperoo" - a contraption that she stood in and could bounce up and down in while playing with the plethora of toys that lined it - and she was staring excitedly at Bucky, who was sitting directly in front of her on the couch and hiding his face with his hands. Steve and Natasha were sitting next to him, both quite obviously taken with Adelaide's antics, but it was what happened next that made Summer's heart melt.

Bucky quickly moved his hands to the side and exclaimed in a pitch that only Adelaide could bring out of him, "Peekaboo!"

Adelaide laughed so hard that she couldn't breathe, throwing her head back and being so fricking cute that it made Bucky giggle. Giggle. Or at least giggle as much as he was capable of.

Summer nearly fainted.

Bucky kept the game of peekaboo going and Summer watched until Steve glanced back and noticed her standing in the doorway with the world's stupidest - in a good way - expression on her face

"Oh, I think that's our cue," Steve said to Natasha, and Bucky glanced back and immediately smiled happily at Summer. She smiled back, trying to get her heart to start beating again after having been slain at the sight of the Winter Soldier playing peekaboo with his baby daughter.

"Ready?" Bucky asked, getting up and grabbing his suit jacket from where it had been laying on the back of a chair a moment before. Summer's words stuck in her throat as she watched him slip it on, her eyes dragging up and down and mind trying to recall the last time she'd seen him look like this. His long hair was combed back and behind his ears, parted on the side, and he was wearing a suit that she hadn't seen him actually wear yet. It was a rich dark blue and he wore a black shirt underneath without a tie, and it all fit him perfectly.

"Summer?"

She blinked and finally returned to reality. "Yeah? Oh. Yeah, I'm ready."

She smiled and he smiled back, his turn to look her over now. He walked to her, eyes lingering at her shoes for a moment before moving slowly back up, and he was leaning in to give her a small kiss by the time his eyes met hers again.

"You look great," he grinned before kissing her as she smiled.

"You look better," she replied, sincerely meaning it.

A brief roll of his eyes was his answer, and then he gently tugged at the belt cinching her long coat together. "What's under here?"

"You'll find out later," she grinned back before side-stepping him and heading for her kids to tell them goodbye.

First she hugged David and told him to be good, and he shrugged off her worries as per usual. She kissed the top of his head and then went to Adelaide next, picking her up out of her jumper and squeezing her in a big hug.

"I'm gonna miss you, Addie," she sighed before kissing her cheek, then turning to Natasha and Steve. "Okay, so you guys know where everything is. I pumped a lot of milk and it's all in the fridge, and in about an hour she'll be ready for a jar of baby food. Try the pears first, and don't bother with anything green because she won't eat it. She usually fall asleep around ten, and -"

"I know, honey," Natasha said with amusement. "I got your email."

Summer smiled and sighed again, closing her eyes. "Okay. Sorry. I'm just... yeah. Nervous."

Natasha then walked forward to take the baby from her arms, telling Summer as she did, "Don't worry. She's gonna be fine. Go have fun."

"Okay," Summer nodded. "Thank you. Thank you both so much for this."

Natasha nodded and Steve shrugged, telling both her and Bucky, "It's no problem. We're happy to do it."

Before Summer could launch into another nervous list of unnecessary instructions, Bucky took her hand and began to lead her away. "Okay, well... call me if anything happens, and -"

"Yeah, yeah - bye!" Natasha grinned as Bucky literally dragged Summer away.

"Bye!" Summer called back as Bucky steered them towards the front door, which he opened and led her out of before she could protest or hardly even notice. Then, once the door was shut and Summer and Bucky were both suddenly alone at last for the first time in months, he looked at her and gave her hand a squeeze as he grinned, "You good?"

She took a breath. "Yes. I'm good."

He nodded. "Let's go."

Ever the gentleman, he walked her to the car helped her get into the passenger seat. She looked at him and smiled when he let go of her hand, quickly looking over her again and wearing a stubborn grin of his own as he closed her door and then walked over to the driver's side door. He looked so good, and she couldn't seem to take her eyes off of him.

She kept watching him after he got inside and closed his door, sliding the key into the ignition and then glancing her way. He paused when he saw the way that she was looking at him, and as the engine came to life, he half-grinned and asked, "What?"

Summer shook her head slightly and leaned over the console, her hand going to his face as she kissed him the way that she'd wanted to from the moment she'd seen the way that he looked that night. His hand left where it had been pulling his seat belt across his lap and moved to her hair, pulling her closer as he kissed her back slowly.

She didn't want to let go, so she didn't. She deepened the kiss, unable to remember the last time they'd kissed like that. Lately it was all short and sweet kisses, stolen here and there whenever they could manage, which was fine. But she'd missed this greatly, and Bucky clearly had as well.

Moments passed before they both pulled away, Summer feeling a little dazed just from that and Bucky cradling her face, staring at her and saying lowly, "You trying to make us late?"

She grinned and shook her head. "No, I just... I've missed you."

His eyes were full of understanding and equal desire as he leaned down and kissed her again, just as deeply and slowly as before. Her stomach fluttered and she forgot about the time and forgot why she was nervous for a few more blessed moments.

But then he pulled away again, his forehead against hers as he muttered, "We really are gonna be late if we don't leave now."

She nodded, swallowing and slipping back fully into her seat. "Yeah. Sorry about that."

He grinned at her, flipping on the headlights with one hand while the other went back to his seat belt. "Don't be. I've missed you too."

She smiled back, knowing that this night truly was exactly what they needed. As he pulled out of the driveway and got them on the road, his right hand moved to hold her left, and she looked down at both of their wedding rings sitting on their entwined fingers. The sight never failed to make her smile, and this time was no exception.

Then her eyes drifted to her purse, where her photo book sat innocently inside, and her smile faded to something more of a nervous grimace.

She just might need that potion after all.

---

The restaurant that Bucky had chosen for his birthday was far fancier than the sort of thing he'd normally go for, but he'd picked it just as much for Summer as he had for himself. She knew that he was trying to sweep her off her feet as much as enjoy his day, and she loved that. It was also only five minutes away from the hotel they'd be spending the night at, so that made it even better.

When they arrived at the restaurant, Summer kept her coat on rather than hand it over before the host led them to their table. She told Bucky she was still a little cold and that was true, but it was also true that she wasn't totally okay with taking it off just yet for far sillier reasons. She'd worn more revealing dresses out before, but it had been quite a long time and she planned on staying within the safety of her coat for as long as she could, silly or not.

They were then led to a little table near one of the corners of the restaurant, a little more private than some of the others but not entirely out of the view of other patrons. Bucky pulled out her chair for her and she thanked him with a little smile, and he gave her a wink before taking his own seat across from her.

She took a deep breath, one of many she'd already taken, and she wondered how in the world she was going to eat an actual meal when all she wanted to do was leap across the table and devour him.

In any case, she started looking at her menu as Bucky ordered their wine first. She'd been here before a couple of times, usually at lunch with work associates, so she knew that everything was good and she couldn't really go wrong. Keeping that in mind, she decided on one of the first things her eyes went to and then closed her menu before Bucky had so much as looked at his.

He raised an eyebrow at her. "You're ready that fast?"

She shrugged. "I know what I want, so..."

He grinned. "Yeah... so do I."

"Really? You haven't even opened the menu yet," she noted.

"I wasn't talking about food."

She grinned back at him. In all likelihood, this was exactly what the entire dinner was going to be like.

"Well... as far as the food goes, you should try the salmon. It's amazing and it's light enough that you'll still have room for dessert."

His damn grin was unstoppable. "Will I?"

"I hope so," she said, cheeks heating up a little. "They, um... they've got an incredible tiramisu."

"I still wasn't talking about food."

"I know," she smiled, looking down and trying to escape his gaze even though she knew it was futile.

That was when their server came back with a bottle of wine and an offer to take their orders if they were ready. Bucky let her order for them both, and the entire time, he didn't take his eyes off of her once. In fact, he got rather comfortable in his seat, leaning his head to one side and tapping a finger on his lips as he stared at her and made her squirm a bit on the inside.

Once the server was gone, Summer looked at him and couldn't help but smile a bit nervously. But before she could say a word, Bucky casually asked her, "What are you wearing under that coat?"

"Oh, um, just -"

"Are you wearing anything under there?" he asked, clearly finding such a prospect rather intriguing.

Her eyes widened and she half-gasped, "Yes! Yes, I'm wearing a dress." She smiled and added, "I'm not that daring."

He smiled back and shrugged, "I just thought maybe that was why you didn't want to take it off, and maybe... maybe you planned on opening it once we were in the car, or at the hotel."

Filing that idea away for later use, Summer shook her head and laughed quietly. "No... sorry. Maybe next year?"

He grinned and bit the tip of his finger, which she found her eyes suddenly fixated upon. "I wouldn't complain." He watched her smile in reply, and then as she raised her glass of wine to her lips, he asked, "So when do I get to find out what your gift is?"

And there it was - pure and utter terror. Summer gulped down the sip of wine she'd been taking, and then she set the glass down and stammered, "Well, um... I, uh..."

He sat there, watching and waiting for her answer, and she found that she had absolutely no clue what to say or how to present the gift to him, or even how to gain the courage to pull it out of her bag at all.

And that was when she realized that the night could not go on like this. She wouldn't allow it to.

"I'll be right back," she said abruptly, grabbing her purse and then all but bolting from the table. She made a beeline to the ladies' room without looking back once, knowing that Bucky had to be confused and maybe even a little concerned, but he'd surely thank her later for what she was about to do.

Once in the safety of the restroom, she walked to the sinks and looked at her reflection with a heavy sigh. She placed her palms down on the counter, eyeing herself unhappily and mentally asking why do you have to be such an idiot all the time?

Shaking her head at herself, she reached down into her purse and unzipped one of the inner sections, pulling out the vial of literal liquid courage that she'd stashed in there. She just wanted to have a good night with her husband and make sure that his birthday was everything he wanted it to be, without letting herself get in the way of either of those things.

And that was why she popped off the top of the vial and downed it in one gulp. What was the worst that could happen?

It tasted a lot different from the pain potion she'd taken during labor. This one tasted like mint and a hint of lemon, and other things that were probably uniquely Asgardian and therefore impossible for her to identify. It wasn't bad, and after she deposited the vial back into her purse, she went back to staring at her reflection and waiting for the effects to kick in.

As she waited, she furrowed her brows slightly as she eyed her coat. It was actually kind of hot now, so she unbuttoned it and then undid the belt, taking the coat off and laying it over her arm. Then she looked at her hair and ran her fingers through it, noting that it actually looked pretty good tonight, then making the same observation for her makeup, aside from her lipstick. She'd gone with a more neutral lip color earlier, but now she decided to fix that and put on a shade of red that Bucky had expressed his affection for in the past. She then straightened out her dress and suddenly felt incredibly silly for still being in the stupid bathroom when she could have been sitting at the table with Bucky and making him drool with how good she looked that night.

As she walked to the restroom door, she wondered once more when the heck the potion was going to kick in, but then she realized something. It already had.

She felt good. She looked good and she knew it. The nervous thrill that been prickling at her from the inside was gone now, and she felt warm and at ease for the first time all day. In fact, there was nothing else she wanted to do more than walk out of that bathroom and finally give Bucky his gift and utterly blow him away.

She smiled to herself, silently thanked God for Thor and also for Loki's lady friend, and then squared her shoulders and walked back out into the restaurant like she owned the whole damn place.

---

As Bucky waited patiently for Summer to return, he sipped his wine and continued to wonder what the hell had her so jittery. A few years prior, when she'd written her sexy little story for him that eventually became her novel, she'd acted very nervous about that as well but this was even worse. And he was completely stumped as to why.

He looked around the room, all the other patrons minding their own business and eating their overpriced food, and he hoped that the night would go half as well as he had been imagining it would. He had been looking forward to this night for days, but he wouldn't enjoy it if Summer didn't. He couldn't enjoy it if she didn't.

She was taking awhile in the bathroom, and he was on the verge of playing on his phone to pass the time when he glanced up and suddenly froze where he sat. Summer had finally emerged from the bathroom, and her coat was off of her at last. And she was walking - no, strutting - to him like she suddenly had all the confidence in the world.

She was wearing a short, long-sleeved black dress that hugged her curves perfectly and had a neckline just low enough to draw his eyes where they had a habit of sticking at least a few times a day. Her legs looked amazing and her figure could make his mouth water, but even more than that, it was the way that she was walking to him that left him speechless. He'd never seen her walk like that - ever - and she held her head high with such confidence that he could hardly believe that this was his wife.

She smiled playfully at him as she approached the table, going to him first and dropping a little kiss on his cheek with her newly red lips as she said, "Sorry I took so long."

"It's... okay," he said, blinking at her in slight confusion. Then she turned and stepped to her chair, and he swallowed when he saw that her dress was backless. He shifted slightly in his seat, meeting her gaze after she sat and shot him another flirty look.

She picked up her wine and took a healthy sip as he stared at her. Eventually he managed to lick his lips and say, "You look... wow."

She grinned and set the wine down, replying, "I thought you'd like it."

"Why'd you hide it from me for so long with your coat?" he asked, still trying to pinpoint what had happened between her going to the ladies' room and coming back to the table that caused her to carry herself so differently. She also had a little mischievous glint in her eye, and he just couldn't place it.

She paused, thinking for a moment before replying, "I guess I just... needed a minute to get myself together. It's been so long since we've been out together, just the two of us, you know? It's kinda weird."

"Yeah," he smiled slightly, "I know."

She smiled back, then reached across the table to take his hand - his left one, looking to all the world like a normal flesh and blood hand. She held it there on the table and said, "I just want to thank you for putting up with me and my weirdness. I know I'm ridiculous and you're so patient with me, and I'm pretty sure you're the only guy in the world who would be, so... thank you."

He smiled and rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand. "You're welcome. And I don't put up with nearly as much trouble from you as you put up with from me."

She gave him an incredulous look, but before she could argue, her smile grew just a little bit bigger and she slipped her hand out of his. "Ready for your present?"

"Yeah," he immediately replied, more than ready, and Summer shot him an excited grin.

He watched as she reached into her bag, at least until she glanced at him and said, "Close your eyes and hold out your hands."

He smiled and did as she said, and within the next few seconds, he felt a solid weight being placed into his hands. "Open," she said, and he opened his eyes and looked down upon his gift.

It was wrapped in black and silver, which earned Summer an amused look, and she merely looked at him with all of that mischievous air that he was so unused to seeing from her. "Go ahead, open it."

"All right," he said quietly, carefully tearing the paper and trying not to make too much noise. Once it was all off, Summer took the ball of wrapping paper from him as he realized that the present she'd been so nervous about was a book.

"Is this your book?" he asked her, asking the first thing that popped into his head.

"No," she grinned. "This is something completely different that I had made only for you."

The cover of the book was mostly plain, just a subtle and dark design on a hardcover, and when he opened it to the very first page, he found the page to be blank aside from a section in the middle stating that the book was made for him, with his full name listed there in fancy print. He glanced up at Summer curiously, only to find her blushing and still wearing that excited grin.

He turned another page, and this time, his questions were answered. Lying before him were two extremely high-quality photos of Summer; in the first, she was standing in the middle of a very old fashioned hotel room in an amazing red dress, her back to the camera and only her face's profile visible. In the second, she was facing the camera, looking out the window. She looked like a movie star from his era, from the curls of her hair to the makeup on her face, and he looked up at her with awe written on his face.

"Summer... you... when did you do this? This is incredible," he said, turning to the next page.

"Last month," Summer replied, watching with glee as he stared wide-eyed at the photos. "Nicolo took the pictures, and Natasha and Esteban helped direct everything."

"You look amazing," he said, pausing at the first close-up photo of her. In his eyes, she was absolutely flawless, and it had nothing to do with the editing that Nicolo had applied to the photos. She might have looked like a movie star, but to him, she put all the real ones to shame. "I was definitely not expecting this."

Little did he know, the real shock was yet to come.

Their server came and brought their food when he was five or six pages deep into the book. Summer casually started eating, but Bucky was too deeply engrossed in what he was looking at to care much about dinner. She ate and watched him in silent amusement, waiting for what was sure to be a priceless reaction once he got to the good stuff.

When he innocently turned a page and then found two photos of Summer out of the dress and in only a set of gorgeous, lacy and partially sheer black lingerie, he slowly looked up at her with his mouth open and eyes clearly betraying his shock.

Summer grinned and bit her lip. "Liking it?"

He tried to speak, but nothing came out for a good long moment. He looked down at the photos and then back up again, this time managing to sputter, "I... yeah."

She blushed, then popped in a few more bites of her food as he continued to ignore his plate and look through the book. He couldn't believe what he was seeing, but wow was it incredible. Each page seemed to get better and better, and he wasn't aware of how he was starting to blush himself because he was too wrapped up in Summer's gift to notice such trivial things.

And yet, though the book had a clear pattern and he should have known what was coming next, it still came as a great shock. He expected maybe some shots that hinted at nudity but didn't actually show anything, since this was Summer after all and she had her limits. But then she went and shot all of his expectations to hell, in the very best way possible.

In one photo, she was wearing only a long, sheer, lacy robe that barely covered anything but just hid everything from the camera. She was sitting on the edge of the hotel bed, looking beyond the camera with her palms flat on the bed. It was gorgeous, and then in the next one, she was sitting the same way but with her head thrown back and the robe falling off of one of her shoulders and dragging down the other, which meant that...

He slammed the book shut, accidentally jostling the table in the process and making the plates and glasses clank nosily. He looked around, wide-eyed and face on fire, making sure that nobody had been behind him or otherwise able to see his wife's very naked body on the pages of the book. Thankfully, nobody was there, and after he smiled nervously at a few patrons who gave him the evil eye for causing so much noise, he looked at Summer to find her absolutely loving every last bit of his flustered, shocked reaction.

"Whoa," she marveled gleefully, "You're blushing so hard right now."

"I'm... I don't know what to say," he half-whispered, still looking around and currently nervously pulling his hair behind his ear, though it was already there to begin with. "I was not expecting... I mean, I thought... fuck."

Summer giggled and then asked, "Which one did you see?"

He rubbed a hand over his face and then muttered, "The... the one with the robe where you're sitting with your head back and..."

"Oh." She then grinned even more deviously than before and said, "Trust me, it gets better."

His eyes widened and he glanced down at the book, and he realized that indeed, there were quite a few pages left to be explored.

He was going to die on his 101st birthday. There was simply no way around it.

After looking around cautiously again, he looked down at his lap and dared to open the book again. It went to a photo he'd already seen, and he slipped his fingertip between two random pages further down and then opened it there.

There happened to be a set of photos of Summer lying on the same bed she'd been sitting on before, only this time she was naked aside from...

Face burning again, he looked up at Summer and said in a shaky voice, "You wore my leather jacket."

She nodded proudly. "That was Natasha's idea. I thought you'd like that."

He looked back down and tried not to gulp. His eyes were drawn to one picture where she was on her back, holding down the jacket by the bottom edges so that they pressed down on her breasts and just barely kept them from being fully visible. But it was her eyes in that picture that especially made his heart pound; they were heated and seductive, fixed firmly upon the camera and therefore him, and he was flabbergasted because he'd only seen her make a face like that before during sex. And not just any sex, but the times when they really went at it and he drove her so far out of her mind that she forgot about her insecurities and just let go.

... How the hell had they gotten those faces out of her, and how could he ever possibly thank her and all three of her comrades enough?

He closed the book again, deciding to stop and save the rest for later because he was starting to have enough of a problem as it was. He again raked his fingers through his hair for no reason, then looked up again at Summer to find that she couldn't possibly be enjoying this anymore than she already was.

"So... I take it you like your present?" Summer asked cheekily, still casually eating away while he had yet to even touch his food.

He laughed a little roughly, feeling his face burning still, and he managed to reply, "I think it's the best fucking birthday present I'll ever get, so yeah... yeah, I like it. I love it."

Summer smiled with pure happiness, sighing and saying, "Oh, thank God. I've been so worried and nervous this whole time, you have no idea."

"I can't believe you actually did this," he said, his tone one of pure admiration. Not only was she breathtakingly beautiful in all of the photos, but she'd worked so hard to get back in shape and she looked better than ever. She deserved to have stunning photos documenting that hard work and the gorgeous results.

"It wasn't easy," she admitted. "But... I did it for you. And for me. Nat talked me into it because of how much you'd love it, and because she said that I should... celebrate my hard work in getting back in shape after Adelaide, so... yeah." She then chuckled and added, "I was super drunk, though."

He grinned back, still in shock and just trying to process it all. He wanted to look through the rest of the pictures but not in a restaurant, and he also couldn't even stand up at that moment if he'd wanted to because of reasons, so he was stuck where he was and he had zero interest in actually eating his food. He was honestly still stuffed from eating a lot of cake before they'd left, so he wasn't even hungry. At least not for food. Certainly not now.

"I just... wow. Wow," he said, wonderstruck. "I can definitely say that this was the last thing I expected."

"Honestly me too," she laughed softly. "But... I think I look pretty good in those pictures. Don't you?"

He stared at her incredulously, finding a knowing little grin on her face. She was doing this on purpose, and he was still struck by how confident she was acting. He would have expected her to go hide under a table or in an entirely different room while he looked over the book, but here she was, beautiful and proud and savoring every last bit of his dumbstruck reactions.

He realized just how confident she was feeling when her high heeled foot started sliding up his leg under the table. He stared at her, heart pounding harder from the hungry way that she was looking at him.

He responded to her earlier question by saying, "You look perfect in the pictures. And I haven't even seen them all yet."

Her grin returned, her foot still playing under the table with his leg, and she tilted her head a little as she leaned over her side of the table just enough to give him a tantalizingly good view of her cleavage. "Good enough so that... when you're alone on a mission or maybe just have some time to kill... looking at the pictures might help you... y'know... blow off some steam?"

He had to fight to keep his jaw from dropping again. He couldn't believe that she was doing this and speaking of these things in a public place. It was so unlike her, but whatever had gotten into her... he loved it.

"Yeah," he teased back. "I think they'll... come in handy."

Just after he said that, their server came back to check on them. As the man grabbed Summer's plate from her, Bucky asked, "Can I get mine to go?"

"Sure," the server smiled, pausing. "Just not feeling it tonight?"

"No, I just wasn't that hungry to begin w-"

Bucky stopped talking abruptly, mid-sentence, thanks to Summer's wandering foot venturing up and between his legs, brushing over the problem that her photos and her general demeanor had caused him. His eyes flew to her as his mouth hung open uselessly, every muscle in his body tensing as she merely grinned like she'd never had so much fun in her life.

He was going to kill her for this, and by kill he meant absolutely wreck her in bed once they got to their hotel room.

The server babbled on obliviously, and Summer did the rest of the talking so Bucky wouldn't have to, smiling and being perfectly pleasant and giving nothing away. The minute that the guy left, Bucky narrowed his eyes and grabbed her ankle under the table, stopping her foot from continuing to rub on him as he hissed, "Stop."

"You sure about that?" she asked innocently. "Because I'm not sure that you can walk out here in your... condition."

"You're killing me," he muttered, looking around them and keeping an eye on the other patrons to make sure nobody was aware of Summer's antics. They weren't.

"Now you know how it feels," she smirked. Then she leaned closer and asked quietly, "Remember that time you put your left hand up my skirt and tested out the vibration on me while we were having dinner with my brother and all of our friends?"

"That was different," he said a bit tightly.

She quirked a brow. "Was it?"

"No," he relented, "but unless you plan on sneaking under the table and really doing this, you need to stop."

Thoroughly enjoying his torment, Summer finally gave in and drew her leg back. Then she said, "I've got a better idea."

Bucky then watched as she pulled out her wallet and laid enough cash on the bill to cover their costs, including a generous tip, and then stood up with a bright smile on her face. As she slipped back into her coat, he stood up carefully with the photo book in hand, trying to hold the bottom of his suit jacket in a way that would hopefully cover himself up. Summer then came and took the book from him and slipped it into her purse, then took his hand and smirked before leading him out of the restaurant.

She walked them out of there like she owned the place, heels clicking on the floor and head held high, and the confidence that she was displaying was so arousing and yet also so confusing, and Bucky was bordering on delirious by the time they made it outside.

"Summer, not that I'm complaining, but what the hell's gotten into you?" he finally asked once they were just outside the restaurant. As he waited for an answer, Summer looked around for a moment. Then she turned and unexpectedly grabbed him by the lapels of his jacket before literally pushing him around the side of the building, into an empty alley way that wasn't exactly shielded from public view.

Before he could take a breath, she pushed him up against the wall and kissed him feverishly. Her heels made them nearly the same height, and the pressure of her body against his, her lower half deliberately dragging against his, made him clutch at her hips and pull her more tightly against him even though he knew that he shouldn't. They should get to the car and go do this at the hotel, but he just didn't care at the moment and he was enjoying this unfamiliar side of her far too much.

The first time that she broke away to take a breath, her hands were on his chest and his were sliding down her mostly-bare back as she looked at him lustily and finally answered his last question. "The book's not your only gift. I took a potion when I went to the bathroom in the restaurant."

"A potion?" he repeated breathily and with slight confusion.

She nodded, letting her hand slide down his shirt. "It's a confidence potion. I was so nervous about giving you the book and even about wearing this dress out, and I'm just so sick of being nervous. I wanted to have a night with you where I'm the way I am in my head instead of the way I am on the outside. So I drank it and... that's why I'm acting like this."

"Oh." He stared at her as everything suddenly began to make sense. She then kissed his neck and started undoing his belt, and he closed his eyes and brought his hand up to bury it in her silky hair.

So this was what she was truly like in that remarkable, gorgeous head of hers. He'd had glimpses of this part of her in her writing and in moments where she was either too drunk or too lost in pleasure to care, and then there had been the confidence that she displayed during her dance for him on their wedding night, but this... this was going to be one hell of a night.

Her lips had found their way back to his by the time that her hand had slipped into his pants, teasing him enough to make him break their kiss and pant against her mouth. Though the last thing he wanted to do was stop her, he still managed to murmur, "Summer, we're... people could see us..."

"Shh," she hushed him, kissing him again for emphasis. She tightened her grip on him and moved her hand in a way that made his eyes close and head fall back against the wall, and she leaned in close and nipped just under his ear before saying lowly into it, "Do you want my hand or my mouth?"

His eyes popped open and he turned them desperately on her, breathing hard through his mouth and knowing that if she started talking dirty to him for the first time in their entire relationship, he was going to lose his mind.

"Tell me," she nudged him, kissing him and teasing her tongue against his in just the way that she was offering to use it on a different part of him. "It's your birthday. I'll do anything you want."

It was hard to formulate a single word when she was still touching him and her voice was carrying such a dark, sexy quality to it that he'd never heard before. Some vague part of his brain registered that this was how she must feel all the time, minus the shock, whenever he spoke things like this to her in the heat of the moment.

"But if you can't answer me," she said, pulling her hand away and wearing a devious little grin, "then I'll just do what I want."

Those words were his only warning before she dropped down to her knees, looking up and making eye contact with him as she grasped him once more and then leaned forwards, lips parting and...

He couldn't keep quiet. He tried, but he couldn't. If it had been a long time since they'd slept together - and it had been, plus rather rare in general over the last eight months - then it had been even longer since he'd gotten to enjoy this. But she wasn't any less skilled for lack of practice, and she didn't try to tease him or prolong it one single extra moment. Instead, she did everything that she knew would bring about a fast and powerful end for him, and it was so perfect and so filthy that it was all he could do to hold on to her hair and try to grip the wall behind him to stay upright.

He fell apart chanting her name, tightly grasping her hair and trying to contain his sounds to the alley as best as he could. It was exquisite, and judging by her own little moans and her enthusiasm, Summer had clearly enjoyed herself as well. After it was over and he was barely still on his feet, she carefully tucked him away and fixed his pants for him, even tucking his shirt back in for him and then rising back up to her full height.

The smirk on her face made him want to return the favor over and over until she screamed and forgot her own name. But then she had to open her mouth and talk, instantly derailing his train of thought.

"At least I saved room for dessert," she teased, leaning in to kiss him just deeply enough so that he couldn't possibly miss her meaning. He then looked at her with eyes that were still dazed with pleasure, heavy-lidded and brimming with promises of what was to come later. She merely smirked in that maddening way of hers and then gestured towards the street.

"Ready?"

He nodded, and she took his hand to lead him to their car. But before they had made it more than three steps away, he stopped her and yanked her against him, holding her there and grazing his lips on the shell of her ear as he told her roughly, "I'm gonna fucking tear you apart when we get to the hotel."

She turned her head so that she was looking up at him, another little smirk playing on her lips as she replied, "I'm counting on it."

After a moment, he let go of her. Then they at last made their way back to their car, Summer strolling there like she'd never been more pleased with herself than at that moment, and Bucky still trying to recover fully from the unexpected and brain-melting encounter in the alley.

They hadn't even gotten to their hotel room yet, and this was already pretty damn high on his list of the best nights of his life.

---

Summer drove the short distance to the hotel while Bucky sat in the passenger seat and tried his best to recover. She was extremely pleased with herself, even more so when she caught him staring at her when she stopped at a red light just a few blocks away from the hotel.

She smirked at him and then reached for her purse, grabbing the book out of it and then handing to him. "Here. Thought you might want to start looking at the rest on our way."

He took the book from her, still giving her that look like he was so awed and thoroughly enchanted by her that he was just about speechless. When the light turned green, she finally looked away and he opened the book.

The potion hadn't worn off yet in the slightest. She still felt great, and being able to actually say and do what she wanted without the slightest twinge of embarrassment was incredible. It didn't change who she was, though, and that was the best part. She had still been blushing like crazy and she was fully in control of herself - she was just finally giving voice to the part of her that had always been capable of writing certain things but never acting them out the way that she wished she could in her head.

When they arrived at the hotel, Summer stopped the car at the front where the valet would come and take it from there, and she looked at Bucky to find him completely engrossed in the latter pages of the book. She smiled a little and then called his name softly, which made him jump a little and slam it shut.

God, she loved seeing him so jumpy. "Let's go."

He nodded, tucking the book under his arm and then getting out of the car as she did the same. She gave the keys to the nice-looking young valet, and then she and Bucky were holding hands and entering the ritzy hotel.

As with dinner, she did the talking at the front desk and secured their room key without incident. She'd gotten them one of the very best rooms available - though not the penthouse because they didn't make quite that much money - and she was incredibly excited to get the next phase of the night underway.

Key card in hand, they walked to the nearest pair of elevators and stepped on as soon as the doors opened. They spent the ride up nearly twenty floors alone, Summer glancing up at Bucky and finding him eyeing her like he was contemplating just how he was going to make good on his promise of tearing her apart. He didn't know that she still had a few ideas of her own up her sleeve.

After they stepped off of the elevator and found their room down the hallway, Summer held on to Bucky's hand while her other slid the key card in and opened the door. She walked inside first, Bucky close behind, and she flipped on the lights as he closed the door behind them.

It was the best hotel room she'd ever stayed in. It was large and roomy, divided into three full areas with one entire wall consisting of huge windows. It reminded her of the tower, only this room was - hopefully - soundproof and they weren't surrounded by friends who'd be able to hear every last noise they made.

Plus the bed was huge. That was a nice touch.

"Well," she said as she surveyed the room, "this looks pretty ni-"

Bucky turned her around before she could finish her sentence. He took her purse off of her shoulder and set it down on a nearby table, then placed her photo book on top of it, and then he leaned in and kissed her as his hands immediately went to work getting her coat off of her.

She let him push the coat down her arms and let it fall to the floor, and without breaking the kiss, he quickly shed his suit jacket and was going to drop it right on top of her coat before she stopped him. Breaking the kiss, she smiled and took the jacket from his hands, telling him, "I really like this suit," and then heading towards the small closet to hang it.

Bucky watched her the whole way, eyes on her back and her hips and her legs as she took care of his jacket, and then he followed her there. By the time she closed the closet door he was right behind her, moving her hair to the side so he could kiss her neck and taking her hips in his grasp. She smiled and leaned into his touch, covering his hands with hers and stopping them when they tried to tug up the bottom of her dress.

She turned her head so she could look into his eyes and said, "Hey now... we've got all night. No need to rush."

"I'm not feeling very patient tonight," he admitted, teeth nipping lightly under her ear.

She chuckled and guided his lips to hers so that she could kiss him. Then she murmured against his lips, "Well... I did have another idea that I think you'll like."

He let out a huff of a breath and said, "Your ideas are gonna be the death of me."

She giggled softly and then managed to slip out of his arms. She gave him a look and then walked to where her purse was sitting, and she took out her phone before she headed towards the other side of the room. In the little living area was a big TV and what she was betting was a dock for her phone. Bucky followed her there, and she quickly got her phone set up the way that she wanted. She turned up the volume on the docking station, and then she turned around and took Bucky's hands in hers as she led him to a part of the room that had enough room to dance in.

"Dance with me?" she asked him with a little smile as the first strains of the song she'd chosen began to play, Beyonce's Rocket. It was slow and sexy, the lyrics full of things she'd never said out loud before, and right then it felt like the most fitting song in the world to dance with him to.

The very first line of the song had him pause and look at her before he laughed. She did the same thing, knowing that he'd still gain a full appreciation of the song before the dance was over.

Her hands left his and her arms slid up and wrapped around his neck. His eyes remaining locked with hers, his hands curled around her hips and she brought her body firm against his as she began to slowly move to the building rhythm of the music. He followed her lead, and a low thrill hummed through her veins. They'd never danced quite like this before, and they were only getting started.

It was slow, languid, perfect. Bucky moved perfectly with her, the gentle rock of their bodies against one another growing and becoming a little less soft the more they moved. He dropped his forehead against hers, closing his eyes and sliding his hand up her back, under her hair, and finally to the back of her head where he cupped it gently but didn't bring her closer. She ran her fingers through his hair, no longer afraid to mess it up now that it was just the two of them for the rest of the night, and then she let out a sharp breath when his left hand shifted her hips just enough so that he could slide his knee between her legs.

He pressed soft but hot kisses to her neck as he held her close with his hand on the small of her back, grinding their bodies together harder but still in sync with the music. Now he was leading her, and she didn't mind handing the reins to him at all. It felt so good, and there was something so incredibly sensual and intimate about dancing with him like that. She wondered why she'd never done this with him before.

His name left her lips in a breathy little noise, and he raised his head and let their eyes lock again while never faltering in their still slow, increasingly dirty dancing. Holding his hair tightly in her fingers, she ground herself on his thigh and took advantage of her confidence, letting herself voice her thoughts without hesitation. "This feels really good."

"Yeah, you like this?" he asked lowly.

"I love this," she replied just before purposefully grinding a little harder on him, rubbing against the growing proof of how much he loved it too. "And I can tell that you do too."

He exhaled a little roughly, eyes closing for just a second, and she grinned before upping the ante and moving steadily harder against him. His eyes opened and he looked at her with pure heat in those blue depths, and she unbuttoned two of the buttons on his shirt as she lightly kissed him. She tried to pull away, but his hand pulled her back and he kissed her with a desperation that she wanted to take advantage of in every way that she could.

When the kiss broke, she rained kisses along his jaw and made her way to his ear. She couldn't help but whisper lowly, "You're so hot." A light groan and a tighter grip on her thigh was his answer, and as they rocked and he ground against her, she added, "And so hard."

His voice sounded a bit strangled as he muttered, "Dammit, Summer, if you talk like this I'm gonna..."

"Gonna what?" she prompted, still at his ear and still rocking just right against him so that it felt better and better for them both. "I can tell how good this feels for you. You could come just from this, couldn't you?"

She pulled away to see his reaction. He was both stunned and out of his mind with desire, and she suddenly wondered why the hell she hadn't always talked like this to him if this was the way that he'd react to it.

"Do you want to?" she asked, leaning in close and her nose grazing him as their lips nearly touched. "Tell me. Tell me you want to come like this."

"Fuck," he cursed under his breath, trembling a little against her as he held her so tightly that it nearly hurt. "Yes, I want to."

She grinned and gave him one more little kiss before turning in his arms, pressing her back fully against his front and pushing back against him. His hands immediately took advantage of the new position, first grasping her hips and pulling them impossibly closer as they continued to dance and he ground hard against her. Then his right hand moved down over her thigh and under her dress, replacing the pressure of his thigh with that of his fingers while his other hand moved up and almost frantically grasped her breast through her dress. All the while, he breathed hard into her neck and moved against her with increasing desperation.

Her hand was buried in his hair and his fingers were teasing the hell out of her, but this was for him and there was really only one thing that she wanted. "Don't be quiet, Bucky, let me hear you."

He answered her with a deep, rough groan, and she knew he wouldn't last much longer. It was clear in the sound of his voice and the tense way that he held her, not to mention the ever-harder way that he was grinding on her. She decided to talk him through it the way that he liked to do for her.

"Keep going, baby," she said, using one of his pet names for her, knowing it would drive her crazy. "Come on, faster." She tugged on his hair, knowing that he liked it when she pulled it, and she could tell when he was on the cusp of losing it. He was moaning beyond his control, mouth open and breath hot on her neck, and she knew what might give him the last little push he needed to let go.

"Come for me," she told him, her own voice thick with need and her hand now holding his right one against her under her dress, moving it for him so he wouldn't have to. "Now, Bucky, come for me."

And with a groan that was so loud and so rough that it made her nearly fall apart herself, he did as she told him to. He held her incredibly tightly and lost his mind so openly and loudly, and she thought that it was absolutely beautiful. He came down from his high breathing like he'd run not one but two marathons, still clutching her like an anchor with his face buried in her neck. She gave him a minute to return to earth, then turned around in his arms and cupped his face with one hand as he opened his heavy eyes to look upon her.

He stared at her like she was a goddess and he was just a lowly servant, privileged to stand in her presence, and she smiled and traced his lower lip with her thumb. On her phone a different song was playing now, and she didn't bother to change it or turn it off. The current playlist fit the mood.

"See?" she said softly, kissing his lips and then pulling back and smirking. "I knew you'd like my idea."

He was wrecked. His hair was a mess, his cheeks were flushed and he looked like he was wrecked, and she wondered if this was how she looked whenever he spent a night dedicated to driving her insane.

He also appeared to be speechless, again. That was okay. She knew what she wanted to do next.

She gently steered him towards the bed, unbuttoning his shirt the rest of the way there. She took it off of him halfway to their destination, and after a pointed look at his left arm, he blinked and then looked down as he disabled the hologram making it look like a normal arm. Once the metal that she knew and loved was no longer hidden from her sight, she began working on getting his pants off, maintaining eye contact with him all the while.

When everything was off and he was fully naked, she pushed him down to sit on the bottom edge of the bed. Then she took a step back and slowly, as if to give him a brief little show, began taking off her own clothes.

He watched greedily, sitting there with his eyes wide open and hands in fists on the bed, watching every last inch of her skin be revealed to his eyes. Summer soaked up the desire pouring off of him, knowing exactly what she wanted to do next, but then he surprised her and nearly threw off her plans.

He moved off the bed and went straight down to his knees in front of her, looking up at her with dark eyes and lips that were a little red from both how swollen they were and from her lipstick rubbing off, and his expression was one of pleading. He was begging her with his eyes, making her heart stutter and leap in her chest just before he leaned in and pressed a small kiss to her inner thigh, just above her knee. Her hand went to his hair and his eyes stayed locked on hers as he slowly and hotly kissed his way up, up, up...

But she stopped him before he could kiss her there.

She pushed him back by his shoulders, then said, "Up. Get up on the bed. Now."

He obeyed at breakneck speed, scrambling back up to sit on the bed while she advanced on him. He reached out to her once she was close enough, expecting her to sit on his lap, but instead she took his shoulders and roughly shoved him down on the bed. Then she climbed on him and made her way up his body, and as soon as he realized what she intended, he grabbed her legs and her hips to bring her closer faster, like he couldn't get her on his face quick enough. Once he'd gotten her there, he yanked her down and put his mouth on her with a rough, satisfied groan, like he was starving and had just been granted a feast.

It was heaven. Summer was so wound up from everything they'd done since the restaurant that she was just about ready to burst from the first touch of his tongue, and neither of them tried to drag it out or make it last longer than was necessary. He let her control the pace and she rode his face with reckless abandon, head thrown back and legs shaking and one of her hands teasing her own breast, no inhibitions left to hold her back.

It ended spectacularly, with her calling his name as mindlessly as he had called hers before, not bothering to try to be quiet or keep her voice down as the pleasure overcame her. It was perfect, and as soon as she stopped trembling, Bucky helped to move her down to the bed, where she laid loose and contentedly underneath him.

He kissed her softly but intensely during those quiet moments, the growing hardness on her thigh a clue that he was nearly ready to go again, but it turned out that he wasn't nearly done with her yet. He stayed where he was on top of her, his tongue tangling with hers as his right hand slipped down between her legs and, in only minutes, had her crying out in pleasure again. Then he switched to his left hand and did it again, and before she could catch her breath after that time, he slid down and used his mouth in addition to those vibrating fingers to make her nearly faint from the onslaught of unending stimulation.

She wouldn't have been surprised if someone had called the cops due to the sort of sounds coming from their room, but luckily, nothing of the sort happened.

By the time that he was done with her, she couldn't see straight and she felt like a filthy mess, in the very best of ways. He laid down next to her, trying to catch his own breath after so exerting himself, and she turned her head and looked at him, unable to stop herself from smiling and giggling breathlessly. He smiled right back, biting his lip and still looking at her like he wasn't even close to being finished with her yet. That was fine with her. The night was still young, after all.

"Getting sleepy on me?" he asked, turning on his side and placing his right hand on her belly. His fingers traced little patterns on her skin as she grinned at him and shook her head.

"No. Just... taking a minute to breathe," she sighed. She touched his face, running her thumb over the stubble on his jaw, and she said a bit dreamily, "You are just so... so... pretty."

He grinned, trailing his fingers up and between her breasts, towards her neck. "Think so?"

"No, I know so," she replied as his fingers drifted back down, softly and almost absentmindedly playing with her breast. His hair was falling into his face, so she started helpfully brushing it back behind his ears as she went on. "I kinda feel like I don't tell you enough how sexy you are. Like... you shower me with compliments every day, but I don't think I do that for you nearly enough."

"Trust me," he grinned, "I know that you think I'm sexy. Everybody knows that. The guy who checked us in at the front desk probably knows."

She gave his shoulder a mock smack, smiling. "But that's besides the point! I know you're more secure than I am, but it doesn't matter. You should know what I think."

"All right," he relented, giving her breast a little squeeze before leaving it be. "So tell me."

She smiled, biting her lip and wondering where she could even start. He had sung her praises so many times, telling her in great detail how perfect he thought she was and how much he adored every inch of her, and now it was her chance to finally do the same for him.

And so, she sat up and gently led him to do the same. Then she climbed into his lap, still smiling like an idiot, touching his by now-chaotic hair and smoothing it down as she took a deep breath.

He watched her and waited quietly with his arms around her. She finally started talking once she figured out where the hell to begin.

"Well... to start with, your hair," she grinned, still running her fingers through it. "I love it long like this. I love it short. I love it no matter what. I love how soft it is. I love touching it. I love when I pull it and you make that noise..."

To demonstrate, she gave his locks a little tug and he made a low almost purr-like noise from his throat. They both grinned, and then she let go of his hair and moved on to the next thing she wanted to wax poetic about. "Then there's your eyes. I have told you before how much I love your eyes. They're so blue and full of life... and I remember when they weren't like that. Makes me never take it for granted to see you happy like this."

His expression sobered up just a little, but his smile remained and so did hers. She then playfully touched his nose with her fingertip, bringing some of the silliness back. "You've got a pretty good nose. Which is good, because I'm pretty sure Adelaide has your nose."

"I think so too," he chuckled.

She chuckled and then ran her thumbs along his cheekbones. "You've also got the bone structure of a model. Did you know that?"

He shrugged, amused. "I think Maya told me that once, actually."

"Well, she was right," Summer smiled. "And your jaw. I have an unhealthy fetish for it."

"Fetish?" he repeated, eyebrow quirked.

She nodded, her cheeks turning just the slightest pink. "When you do that thing where I'm talking to you and you look at me and clench your jaw, my mind automatically gets really dirty."

He grinned at her a little crookedly, remarking, "I'll have to keep that in mind "

"Mmhmm," she mused, tracing her thumb over his lips now. "But these... your lips... and your mouth... God, I could write a book about your mouth. The shape of your lips is just... it's perfect. Sometimes I still can't believe I get to kiss them whenever I want to." He grinned at that, one of his happy smiles, and then she added, "And of course, your tongue... you and I both know how talented that is. In more ways than one."

"Yeah," he agreed, since really there was no arguing that point. He knew full well how good he was, and he was rather proud of it.

"Then there's your chin," she went on, her expression becoming a bit more silly. She smiled and tapped it with her thumb, then said, "It's really, really cute. Not everyone can pull this off, you know. But you do." She then pressed a kiss to it, and it made him smile and let out a light, carefree sort of laugh.

She laughed with him, and then her hands ended up on his shoulders. She looked at her hands, resting on one flesh and blood shoulder and one made almost entirely of metal, and she decided to go for the arms next. "I love your arms. I love this arm," she said, her left hand running down his right arm, "and I love this one, too." She slid her fingers down the cool, familiar metal of his left arm. "I loved it before Tony fixed it and made it vibrate, you know. I loved it way before that."

"I know," he replied quietly.

"No, really, I did," she said, making sure she left no room for doubt. "Back when we had our first date and then I had to go home and be away from you for awhile... I would think about you and think about this hand," she said, holding his metal hand in both of hers. "I'd pretend my fingers were these instead, and I'd touch myself imagining it was you doing it to me."

First he blinked in surprise, still incredibly not used to her speaking so bluntly. Then his gaze upon her grew darker, less frivolous and more heated, and she grinned before she pressed a kiss to each of his metal fingers. "I love how strong it is. It shows how strong you are that you've taken what bad people meant for evil and used it for good instead." She paused, setting the hand down. "And like I said, it's really hot."

His grin widened again, and then it was time to move on to a different part of him once more. For this, she pushed him down on the huge pile of pillows at the top of the bed, so that he was lying back and she could more easily explore his chest.

"I think it goes without saying what I think of all of this," she said, holding herself up with her palms on his chest. "But I'll say it anyway. You're perfect. I love how hard and built you are, and I'm really jealous that you can eat like five thousand calories a day and still look like this." When he chuckled, she smiled with him and then added, "I'd love you and I'd still want you no matter what your body looked like, but... you're just... you're a specimen."

He definitely didn't argue with her, instead grinning at her assessment and then watching intently as she leaned down and started kissing down his chest, towards his stomach. She licked along his muscles, tongue dipping between them and on top of them, and then she peeked up at him and grinned, "You taste really good, too."

She could tell that he was liking where this was going, and that he thought he knew where she'd go next, but he was wrong. She shifted her attention to his legs next.

"You have like... some of the best legs I've ever seen on a man," she said, shifting down so that she could reach them with her hands. She gripped his thighs and then raved, "And your thighs. I mean, I know that you could kill me with them if you wanted to, but really that just makes them even better. And when you're in your uniform, oh my God."

"You have been holding a lot back," he observed, a little surprised by her glowing review.

"I told you I was," she said, slowly making her way back up. She put her hands down next to his head, hovering over him, and he reached up and tucked her hair behind her ear before making another observation.

"I think you missed something."

She feigned confusion. "Did I?"

"I think so," he grinned. "Something else you seem to like a lot, too."

"Hmm... no, I'm pretty sure that I got everything. Well, except for your back and your ass, since... kinda hard for me to reach them in our current position. But I love those too. So firm."

"Still not what I was talking about," he said just before she leaned down and kissed him.

She let the kiss linger, her tongue teasing his as his hands made themselves at home on her body. The coolness of his metal hand sliding up her back sent a shiver down her spine, and she broke away pretending to still contemplate what she'd missed. "Hmm... oh, I've got it. Your brain. I love your mind. So brilliant and... filthy."

He rolled his eyes and grinned. "... Not quite."

He leaned up and kissed her neck, and she bit her lip and wondered how long she could keep the teasing up. She knew she wouldn't last long when he said, "You like the taste of it, too."

"Your mouth? I already covered that," she grinned as he pulled away, and then she squeaked a little as he sat up and put her back in his lap.

"Come on," he nudged her in between laying soft, open mouthed kisses on her lips. "I wanna hear it."

"Hear what?"

He growled and kissed her again, and even as she smiled against his lips, things started to get heated again. Their kisses grew longer and deeper, and the thing that she refused to name was impossible to ignore as he held her close and pushed up against her. She wanted him, needed him, and yet she wasn't quite done shocking him speechless. She knew just how to ask for what she wanted.

"Fuck me, baby," she whispered into his ear, all breathy and lusty and completely unlike her normal outward self.

He turned her face towards his, staring at her with that dark and heated look of his, his eyes giving away how much her talking like that affected him. "You want it?"

"I need it," she replied, rubbing herself against him, pressing her breasts to his chest. "Come on, don't make me wait."

"I won't," he assured her. "Tell me what you need."

"I need you," she said, just before she kissed him again, all heat and a little bit of sloppiness, just enough to express her need. "And I don't want you to hold back. Tear me apart like you promised me you would."

He smirked, his entire face awash in his desire for her, but he wasn't giving in that easily. Maybe it was because he knew that this night was a bit of a one time only deal, and he wanted to make the very most of it. Maybe that was what led him to give her a heavy-lidded look and dare her, "Convince me."

Any other night, she would have clammed up and shied away, scampering back into her comfort zone until he dragged her out of it. That night, she found that she was more than up to the challenge.

"Convince you," she repeated, shifting in his lap so that could grind against him just enough to be a tease. "Convince you to throw me down and fuck me till I scream?"

She kissed where his jaw met his ear, and he groaned and muttered, "God, your fucking dirty mouth, Summer..."

She grinned against his skin. "It can get dirtier. And so can I." She kissed him again, then trailed her lips back to his so that she could look him dead in the eye as she said, "I'll get down on my knees and beg you for your cock if you want me to."

That was what did it. With just one sentence, Summer officially and irrevocably broke her husband's brain.

She'd made him blush before only a handful of times, but this time, his face and most of his neck and even part of his chest went up in flames. His mouth fell open and his eyes gave away how shocked and mind-meltingly turned on he was, and she decided to top it all off with her best and most innocent smile.

He was so hot, in fact, that even his metal arm seemed to be in danger of overheating. It started making noises that were impossible to ignore, many more than usual, and it was reminiscent of an overheating computer.

He was useless and speechless for a few extremely satisfying moments. But then, once he seemed to get a hold of himself once more - at least as much as he could - he licked his lips and then said rather roughly, "You're being very bad tonight."

Her innocent smile dropped off of her face and, in its place, her eyes widened and her lower lip pouted just enough to be falsely innocent but not ridiculous. "Am I?"

"I should punish you," he mused, eyes flashing up and down her body, unknown and surely filthy thoughts passing through his mind. "That's what you want, isn't it?"

She bit her lip. "... Yes."

"Yes what?"

Inside, she squealed with joy. "Yes sir."

His jaw then set and he allowed a side of him that she utterly adored to take over. "On your hands and knees. Now."

She hopped off of his lap and did as he said, poorly concealing her glee. This was perfect. This was exactly what she wanted, and it begged the question - just exactly whose birthday was this, anyway?

She settled in the middle of the bed, her hair falling in dark curtains around her face as she turned her head around to peek behind her. He was right there, just inches away, his eyes taking in all that she had to offer him, and for once she wasn't the least bit embarrassed about it. There was no need to be when he looked at her like that, like she was the embodiment of sex and everything that made it worth having.

His hand, the right one, started out on the back of her leg and slowly began working its way up as he began to speak. "First you give me that book in the middle of the fucking restaurant, when you knew exactly what it would do to me. Then you tease me under the table in front of that waiter and act all innocent about it."

"Well, I -"

He squeezed the back of her thigh just hard enough to hurt. "No talking."

She obeyed silently, secretly savoring the slight ache that his hand left behind.

"Then you dragged me outside and into the alley and fucking sucked me off where anyone could have caught us. Somebody probably did see us and just kept walking."

... Was it wrong of her to find that possibility just a little bit... well... not completely horrible? And oh, the vulgar way that he was talking had her nearly breaking his rule in order to beg him for more.

"Then we come here and you decide to dance really dirty on me and get me so worked up that I came in my pants like a fucking teenager," he went on, his right hand fingertips sliding up from the base of her spine all the way to her neck. Then he grasped a handful of her hair and yanked it, pulling her upright and flush against him.

She gasped in pure pleasure, thoroughly enjoying the rough handling, and it only got better when he then said directly into her ear, "Then you sit here in bed telling me how much I turn you on and how you used to fuck yourself imagining my fingers. But that's not enough for you is it? No... because then you start running that dirty mouth of yours and saying words I've only imagined you saying before."

She tried hard not to smile proudly at his words, but it was nearly impossible. Not only that, but he was scrambling her brain with his words and how tightly he was pressed to her from behind, all while his right hand kept rubbing up and down a part of her that she was praying he was about slap.

"So, after all of that... I think you definitely deserve this."

Smack. Summer gasped and cried out at the shock of him actually and legitimately spanking her. She had never thought that he'd actually do it, out of fear of going too far or truly hurting her, but she'd never been more happy to be wrong.

His left arm wrapped around her waist, holding her up as his other soothed over her skin where he'd struck it. His lips kissed her neck, and she wasn't entirely aware of how she wiggled back against him a little bit, all but begging for more.

"You want more, huh," he said, reading her mind. "Dirty little tease."

Then he slapped her again, twice in a row and just a hair harder than before. This time her resulting cry was more of a moan, and Bucky lost all pretense of trying to "punish" her or scold her.

"God, you're so fucking perfect," he gushed against her ear, right hand leaving her reddening flesh to snake around and slip his fingers between her thighs. "You're soaked. You love this, don't you?"

"Yes, sir," she breathed, just before his fingers left her to spank her again. This time she moaned even more loudly than before, and he lost his patience and pushed her back down on the bed, on her hands and knees once more.

Then he made good on his promise to tear her apart.

He was rougher than he'd ever been with her before, and she loved every last bit of it. He took her hard and fast and unforgivingly, but he wasn't careless and the entire time he was in full control of his every movement. It was a testament to both his self-control and just how crazy she had driven him over the course of their long, blissful night together.

Eventually he pulled her back upright and she tried to grab the bed's headboard for support, but she missed and knocked off the lamp on the bedside table. It hit the floor and shattered, and they both laughed at the mishap before getting back at it. She hung on to the headboard and let him have his way with her, listening to the wood rattle against the wall behind the bed and Bucky groaning into her ear before he abruptly tore himself away, grabbing her and tossed her down on her back.

It went on and on, his stamina perhaps aided by his two warmups from earlier, and by the time he finally could no longer hold out, the pillows and sheets were mostly ripped off of the bed and they were tangled up together down near the very bottom of the mattress. They were both completely worn out without a drop of energy left between them, and Summer was in a deep, almost hypnotic daze following what she would forever remember as one of the most incredible nights of her life.

As they laid there, both suddenly on the verge of a mutual coma, Summer turned her head and looked at him to find him staring up at nothing with a satisfied, lazy hint of a smile on his face. He turned and met her gaze when he sensed it, and then they both grinned and snuggled up closer to each other.

Summer managed to get the sole surviving sheet up and mostly over them before she settled down in his arms, dropping a kiss just under his collarbone before she peeked up at him and said, "Happy birthday."

He chuckled, and it was a low rumble in his chest that she could feel against her cheek. "Thank you. Your gifts get better every year."

"Yeah... figuring out next year's gonna be pretty tough," she admitted, not even wanting to think about that. "But I'm glad you liked everything. And damn I like this potion."

His eyes were closed and he was mere seconds from drifting off, but he still managed to reply, "Yeah, I really owe Thor big time..."

She giggled softly again, closing her eyes just once. "I love you."

His voice was a sleepy, half-conscious mutter. "Love you too, babydoll."

Her eyes popped open and she smiled happily to herself as he began to snore ever so softly. That was a new term of endearment - or perhaps an old one, back from his old life - and it warmed her from the inside out as she closed her eyes and let herself finally drift to sleep.

They ended up sleeping for eleven hours straight, but nobody held it against them. After all, it had been one hell of a day.

---

When Summer finally managed to wake up just before noon the following day, she momentarily could not remember for the life of her where she was.

Her back hurt. Her legs hurt. Her... well, everything was pretty achy, if she was being honest. She felt like she was waking up from a coma, and the weirdest part was... she was on the floor. And so was the bed's comforter and most of the sheets, all of which she was bundled up with.

Turning her head to the side - which also hurt a little - she looked at the bed, which she was only inches away from, and saw Bucky's metal arm dangling off the edge, his fingertips nearly grazing her own arm.

With some difficulty, Summer sat up slowly and then peered at the bed, trying to get a glimpse of the rest of Bucky. Once she got that glimpse, she smiled a little to herself and felt herself blush under an onslaught of memories from the night before.

Bucky was laying on his front with his feet up by the pillows and his head down at the foot of the bed, his face mostly covered by his hair and his body barely covered at all. One sheet that was still partially on the bed covered part of one of his legs and not much else, and Summer bit her lip as she enjoyed the sight and let her mind drift in memory of how amazing their big night out had been.

That was until she looked at the clock on the bedside table and then let her jaw hit the floor. They'd slept until noon?!

She bounded up and off of the floor, intending to make a run for her phone which was still across the room on the entertainment dock, but her legs tangled in the sheets on the floor and she ended up tripping and falling loudly enough to wake Bucky up. He sprang up the minute the sound of her squeaking and cursing many fricks hit his ears, and he bewilderedly looked around muttering, "Summer? Summer?"

"Down here," she muttered miserably from the floor. Their eyes met when he peered over the edge of the bed to look at her, and a confused smile spread across his sleepy face.

"Why are you down there?"

"I guess I rolled off the bed in my sleep," she shrugged, trying to get back up. "And I just panicked because it's noon and we should have been home three hours ago."

"It's noon?" he repeated as she got back to her feet, trying to cover herself with the sheet. "Damn."

"I know," she sighed, trying to rush to her phone one more time. "I need to call Nat and check on the kids and - hey!"

Bucky chuckled, having just reached out and grabbed an end of the sheet and unraveled it from her body entirely. "Sorry. Couldn't help myself."

She huffed, mainly because she was cold and she hadn't been wearing the sheet just for the hell of it, but rather than stay and try to battle him for it, she hurried up and grabbed her phone. She started to panic again when she saw two missed calls, one from Natasha and one from Steve, but her worries were eased when she saw the text Nat had sent just after her missed call.

Everyone's fine, just making sure you guys are all right. No rush in getting back.

Summer sighed with relief and then trudged back to the bed and collapsed in it next to Bucky. He quickly grabbed her and tucked her against his side, kissing the side of her head as Summer pulled up a photo Natasha had sent her of Adelaide sleeping on Steve's chest the night before. Steve looked quite happy in the picture, smiling and sitting on the couch while David played a game next to him.

"Looks like they had fun," Bucky observed as Summer locked her phone and dropped it to the bed. He tugged her closer, nuzzling her neck as he added with a grin, "But not as much as we had."

Summer felt herself blush again, her fingers trying to work through Bucky's wrecked hair as she asked quietly, "Did all of that really happen?"

He lifted his head, his nose grazing hers, and he nodded with a grin on his face like he was still trying to recover. "Oh yeah. It happened. A lot happened..."

"We did a lot of things," she said, a little wide-eyed. Then her face turned a deep scarlet. "And I... oh God. I said... things."

He made a low growling noise. "Yes you did."

She shrunk away and covered her face with her hands. "Oh my God, I'm gonna die."

He chuckled at her humiliation and gently pulled her hands away. "Oh come on... I loved it. It was sexy. Everything was sexy. The book, the way you were all night, the way you talked... didn't think I'd get all that in my wildest dreams."

"Really?" she asked, peeking up at him shyly, cheeks still aflame.

"Hell yeah," he grinned. "Don't be embarrassed. I'm the luckiest bastard alive."

Her eyebrows shot up and she giggled, biting her lip and burying her face in his right shoulder. "I probably sounded so stupid, though."

"No," he insisted, playing with her hair and brushing it out of her face. "You sounded... incredible. And now I know what you're really like in that head of yours."

She cracked open one eye and looked at him cautiously. "... Yeah. I'm a dirty-talking little slut."

He grinned, blue eyes flashing in amusement. "A dirty-talking little slut for me."

She groaned and he silenced her with a kiss that they both smiled into, and afterwards they smiled at each other and shared a little laugh before kissing again. This continued until their kisses grew a little deeper and their bodies got a little closer, Bucky only breaking away when he softly groped her breast to find it as hard as a rock.

"Holy... what the hell?" he said, touching it softly and finding it unyielding.

"I haven't pumped or fed Adelaide since like... five yesterday," she groaned. "I'm gonna explode. Actually, I'm gonna need to squeeze some milk out so I don't get a clog."

He nodded understandingly, then asked a bit mischievously, "Need some help getting things... started?"

She gave him a look and then starting laughing. "No, but... a hot shower helps, so... wanna help with that?"

He groaned softly in approval and then kissed her one more time before all but jumping out of bed, heading straight to the bathroom to get the water started. Summer grinned and thoroughly enjoyed the view.

"Pretty energetic for a 101-year old," she said cheekily as he opened the door to the bathroom.

He glanced over his shoulder and gripped the doorknob, turning around to give her a very full eyeful that didn't go unappreciated. "Get in here and I'll prove it."

He then disappeared with a little smirk, and Summer smiled blissfully as she listened to the shower turn on. She closed her eyes and sighed, her smile lingering as she once again wondered how the hell she'd gotten so damn lucky to have this man fall into her life.

"Hurry up!" his voice called from the bathroom. "I'm old, I might need a nap soon!"

She laughed again and dragged herself off of the bed. Oh yeah. If he was the luckiest bastard alive, then she was the luckiest human being alive, period, and she wouldn't let anyone tell her otherwise.