A/N: HOLY CRAP GUYS. This is the last chapter before the epilogue. ITS ALMOST OVER. We are officially at the end, and I can't believe I actually got this far and got to this point. Seriously, the longest story I've ever managed to actually finish was 25 chapters and like... an eighth of the length of this story lol. I'm just... both sad and relieved that it's coming to an end. But of course, it's not REALLY coming to an end - I've got so much planned still in this "verse", and literally midnightwings96 and I have planned out Bucky and Summer's lives (and their kids' lives) all the way to the end, so this story will DEFINITELY be continued in future sequels, one of which will be heavily hinted at in the epilogue :) So it's not REALLY the end. It's just gonna be a little while before I continue it :)

My huge, HUGE thanks to you guys for reading this massive enormous disgustingly long story and sticking with it through all the ups and downs and cliffhangers and almost-character deaths lol, if I could hug and kiss every one of you I totally would. My thanks also to midnightwings96 for helping me to get unstuck on this chapter when I was writing it at a snail's pace and was ready to put my head through a wall, and for being like 3839498484% of the reason why this story is going to actually be completed very very soon.

And speaking of that! I'm gonna get started on the epilogue as soon as I possibly can, and my goal is to have it up within the next week. I'm also going to be posting a little surprise at the same time, so keep an eye out for good things to come :D thank you guys again, I love you, and I hope you all enjoy! :D

Somewhere in the Caribbean, two months later

From where Summer was sitting, she was pretty sure that she had the best view in the whole damn world.

Sitting on a white, sandy beach in a two piece bikini that Bucky had specifically picked out for her, Summer sat under the shade of an umbrella on a beach chair with a glass of iced tea in her hand and a smile on her face. The gentle waves rolling on the shore were crystal clear and emerald green, the sky cloudless and bluer than she'd ever seen it, but the single best part of the view was the dripping wet, gloriously mostly naked man emerging from the water and walking her way with a maddening little grin on his face.

Pushing the soaked strands of his growing back on his head, Bucky strutted towards his pregnant wife with all the swagger of someone still in the early stages of a relationship, where wooing was still a thing and they weren't already wrapped around each other's fingers. The look that he shot her made Summer blush and shake her head a little, her eyes tripping over his metal arm shining in the sunlight as water dripped down to the sand from his fingertips. She found it strangely arousing, although to be fair, there weren't that many things he did that she didn't find arousing.

"Enjoy your swim?" Summer asked when he flopped down in the chair next to hers, body still wet and glistening tantalizingly. She made no effort to hide her ogling, since such a thing would be kind of ridiculous considering he had knocked her up twice already and pretty much literally the whole world knew how attractive she found him.

"Yeah," he replied, stealing her drink from her hand and taking a sip. "Would have enjoyed it more with you, though."

She shrugged and glanced towards the ocean. "Well... I'm not that big on swimming on the ocean, and especially since there's a little person in my belly, I would just... prefer to stay here in the sand."

Reaching out and running his right hand affectionately over her belly - quite round and noticeable these days, but still on the smaller side at just over 4 months pregnant - Bucky replied, "Yeah, but we came all this way for a second honeymoon, and it kinda seems like a waste if you don't even fully enjoy it."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Trust me, I am fully enjoying it. I don't have to risk getting stung by an evil jellyfish to fully enjoy myself."

Bucky sighed, watching his fingertips trace her skin. "I'd kill any jellyfish that tried to sting you. Just... punch it in the face," he said, holding up his metal fist with a humorous smirk.

"... I don't think they have faces," Summer giggled. "By the way, how the heck can you get that arm in the water and not damage it? I've always wondered about that. Like how come if I drop my phone into the water I'm screwed, but your arm can get dunked in the ocean and be fine?"

He shrugged, glancing at the limb. "I don't know. Tony explained it one time, but I can't remember the specifics."

Summer silently considered that for a moment before another memory of hers was jogged. "Oh! So I heard Tony worked on your arm again before we flew out."

"Yeah," Bucky nodded casually. "Just rewired a few things. Threw in a couple upgrades I asked for."

"Yeah? Like what?"

Bucky paused before recalling that particular memory, only a week old and taking place in Tony's lab one late afternoon while Summer had been working and putting the finishing touches on their honeymoon plans.

"So... I had a question."

Wearing protective glasses and focused entirely on the metal limb that he was tinkering with, Tony absently replied, "No, you won't blow up if you wash down a mouthful of Pop Rocks with Coke." He paused and then added, "Pop Rocks is a carbonated candy that -"

"I know what Pop Rocks are," Bucky replied, sitting shirtless next to Tony and watching everything the man did to his arm. "I have two kids."

"Right. My bad. So what's the question, Gramps?"

Bucky cleared his throat, feeling surprisingly awkward about asking this particular question. He hadn't anticipated feeling this way, usually never feeling awkward about talking about this subject in any scenario with anyone, but...

"Well... I was just... wondering about something..."

"Yeah, spit it out," Tony said, still not looking up from his work. "Believe it or not, I do have things to do besides maintaining this thing for you free of charge. Do you have any idea how much I could charge you for labor if I wanted to?"

"... A lot, I guess, but -"

"Like I said, spit it out. We're on the clock here."

Bucky sighed and clenched his jaw, deciding to just get it over with. "You know how my arm vibrates?"

Tony paused and lifted his eyes up. "Right. One of my happiest accidents, according to your wife."

"Yeah. Well, I was just wondering if... maybe... I don't know if this is even possible, but... we're leaving for our second honeymoon next week and I figured it was worth a shot to ask if..."

"My God, out with it before I decompose."

"Can you make it go faster?" Bucky finally blurted. "Make it... adjustable? Different speeds I can control?"

Blinking a few times, Tony took off his glasses and crossed his arms. "Are you asking me to turn your arm into an actual vibrator?"

... Was Bucky actually blushing a little? "I..." He swallowed. "Yeah."

"... Does this feel as wildly inappropriate to you as it does to me?"

Bucky sighed and immediately began backtracking. "Look, just... just forget it. It was just an idea. Forget I even mentioned it."

"I didn't say no. All I said was that it's wildly inappropriate, but so is at least half of what I do in general on a daily basis."

Bucky blinked, trying to follow Tony's logic. "... So you'll do it?"

"For a price," Tony nodded.

"Okay. What do you want?"

"Never ever having to hear anything about it."

Bucky paused. "That's fair."

"Even I have my limits. This is just inappropriate enough to make me feel mildly uncomfortable. I mean, Summer is the closest thing I have to a daughter figure in my life."

"You don't have to do it if you don't want to."

Tony sighed and waved Bucky's words off. "What the hell, right? I've never intentionally made a sex toy before. Maybe I can use this for practice."

"... Practice?"

Tony shrugged. "I could make Pepper a little... 'me' to keep her company when I'm gone, you know what I mean? An exact replica made of safe, life-like material, and -"

Bucky held up his right hand and made a face. "Oh God. Please stop." He had a lot of respect for Pepper and always had. She was a classy lady and she'd always treated him fairly, and she had helped him and Summer in ways that he could never fully repay her for. For those reasons, he most certainly did not want to hear anything more on the matter.

Tony nodded. "Yeah. All right, so how many speeds usually come with these things?"

Bucky shrugged. "I don't know. We've never used a real one."

Tony scratched at his jaw in contemplation. "Hmm. Can't say I have a ton of experience either. Maybe we should ask Nat."

"Please don't," Bucky groaned, but it was too late - Tony was already texting her.

"We need an expert opinion," Tony muttered, hitting the send button while Bucky dragged a hand over his face. "And besides, I bet she's got an entire closet full of unspeakable things. Her and Steve probably play with all kinds of toys. Weird Russian ones. I bet the Soviets were into all kinds of crazy shit."

"... Ugh," Bucky muttered, not particularly enjoying this conversation.

"Speaking of that, you do realize you could have just gone online and bought a vibrator off Amazon," Tony noted. "You don't have to have your arm do the job."

Bucky shook his head. "No, I want it to be my arm."

"Of course you do," Tony rolled his eyes. "You owe me for this, Buck-o."

Bucky smiled. "Well, what else is new?"

"Bucky?"

Blinking out of the somewhat cringe-worthy memory, Bucky looked back to Summer and smiled before shrugging, "Nothing important. Just little things, mostly."

"Oh. Okay," Summer smiled, letting her head fall back against her seat and not noticing the way that Bucky was hiding a grin.

The truth was, he was just waiting for the right moment to show her the new and improved things that his arm could do. He'd endured quite the ordeal to achieve it, including having Natasha arrive and feel his arm as Tony tested the vibrations, telling him when the range of speeds were perfect and treating the entire thing in her usual casual, unflappable way. Bucky had simply sighed and waited for it to be over, and once the deed was done, he began looking for the right moment to try it out.

Back home, sex was rarely a relaxed or slow experience, at least in those days. With the kids fond of sleeping with them at night in their bed and their days quite full, they had to take advantage of opportunities when they came and that usually meant in the mornings during showers or in the afternoon if Adelaide took a nap and David was occupied, then sometimes in the shower again after the kids were passed out for the night. Shower sex was nice and all, but Bucky wanted to properly lay her down and slowly drive her insane with his new abilities.

He was determined for tonight to be the night. It was day two of their second honeymoon, and while the first day had been all about exploring their two week long tropical paradise and then sleeping because they could both finally sleep again and it was amazing, there was no reason not to treat Summer to her new little gift before the night was through.

He smiled at her as she closed her eyes and enjoyed the warm island breeze, looking so unbelievably beautiful to him that he could hardly stand it. She was wearing a pretty little black and white bikini that he had picked out himself, and he loved it on her. The material was black with white bows near the ties of the bottoms and then another white bow between her breasts on the top, which was structured to provide a bit more of a lift than the average bikini top did. That meant that her breasts looked absolutely perfect sitting above her rounded, growing belly, and her scars on her legs and abdomen being visible didn't put him off in the slightest. He loved seeing her like this, unashamed and free and all his for the next week.

Only a few months ago, Bucky had been convinced that he was going to be separated from Summer forever. Now he was laying on a beach with her, their lives and fates back in their own hands, and damn did it feel good.

The good feelings were mutual. Summer smiled when Bucky tugged her up and out of her chair and pulled her into his lap, kissing her sweetly after she draped an arm over his shoulders and melted against him a little.

"So how are you feeling?" he asked, glancing down at her belly.

"I'm feeling pretty good," she sighed, absently running a hand over the little baby bump. "I think I'm definitely past the puking stage now. And I'm not as tired as I was. I still have a hard time getting out of bed in the morning, but... I don't feel dead tired throughout the whole day now. Especially if I get a nap in."

"Good," he murmured, cool left hand trailing sweetly up and down her back. Eyes trailing over her face and along her whole figure, he grinned, "You look good."

"Are you sure I don't look like I just drink a lot of beer every day?" Summer asked, chuckling when Bucky rolled his eyes.

"Definitely not. You look like a beautiful, sexy woman who happens to be carrying my child," he said, the low tone of his voice and the smirk on his face giving away how much he was into it. "Just makes me want you even more."

"Is that why you keep knocking me up?" She grinned. "Do you have a weird fetish for pregnant ladies?"

"Maybe for one pregnant lady," he teased, kissing the corner of her jaw as she giggled.

"Oooh!" she suddenly exclaimed, grabbing his hand on her belly and moving it a little lower and to the left. "Can you feel that?"

Bucky paused, looking down at his hand and concentrating on trying to feel their baby moving about in Summer's womb. After a moment, he felt a distinct little kick, and he looked up at Summer with a bright smile that made his eyes crinkle. "I felt that."

Summer laughed with joy and looked down at her belly, her hand still on top of Bucky's, and she couldn't help but gush, "It's seriously one of the best feelings ever. It's so sweet. There's nothing else like it in the world."

He kept his eyes on hers, his smile lingering as the joy in her gaze made his own heart swell. Seeing her happy like this was all he had ever wanted for her, and he'd never take it for granted.

"So," she smiled, raising her eyes back to his, "what do you think? Is it a little Jesse or a little Rebecca? We're gonna find out a few days after we get back, and you still haven't made a guess."

He smiled and shook his head. "I just don't know. I really don't. I think it could go either way."

Summer sighed in mock frustration, laying her head down on his shoulder. "I keep thinking boy. I don't know why. It's just a feeling I have. I mean, I had only David for so on and I was so used to having all boy stuff. Sometimes I can still hardly believe that we've got a little girl now, too."

"And she's a girly girl," Bucky added with slightly wide eyes.

"I know," Summer chuckled. "She's gonna be a little diva when she's grown up. Probably gonna be a brat, too."

"She's already stubborn as hell," Bucky noted. "Like her mama."

Summer scoffed, lifting her head back up to look at him in disbelief. "And her daddy! More you than me."

He raised an eyebrow. "I don't know about that, sweetheart."

She rolled her eyes and then placed her palm on his forehead, pretending to feel him for a fever. "I think the island sun is already getting to you. Do you need a drink? Need some water?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "Yeah, I think I do need some water. And so do you."

She had barely a second to look at him quizzically before his grip on her tightened and he suddenly stood up with her in his arms. Just like that, he was marching them towards the water, and Summer immediately started giggling and protesting and trying to wriggle her way out of his grip.

"No! Put me down! Jellyfish! Sharks! Sting rays! Electric eels!" she screeched while laughing, not gaining so much as an inch of freedom as Bucky confidently marched them to the water's edge.

"Don't worry, baby," he told her, stepping into the water and shooting her a smug grin. "Like I said, anything tries to sting you or eat you, I'll punch it in the face."

She pouted, glancing down at the water as it drew ever closer the further he waded into it. "But I don't wanna get wet."

"Oh come on, you love it when I get you wet." He then gently set her down into the water - he would have tossed her had she not been pregnant - and they both laughed as she squealed and promptly splashed him in her pretend-anger.

"You suck!" she exclaimed, barely able to keep up the facade as she smiled and giggled like a moron. "I was happy on the beach, in my chair, and now I'm all... wet."

"Get used to it, sweetheart," he said, leisurely leaning back and swimming around her lazily. "You're probably gonna be wet one way or another this entire week."

She tried her best to appear unamused and then splashed him right in the face. "Yeah? You think so?"

Laughing and squinting as he wiped the water from his eyes, he retorted, "Yeah, I do think so." Then he dove under the surface and the next thing Summer knew, a metal hand was yanking under right under with him. Her laughter rang out before he pulled her down, and then when both of their heads came bobbing back up a few moments later, they were both smiling like crazy and Summer had, unsurprisingly, ended up in his arms.

"I love you, you jerk," Summer smiled, laying a small, wet kiss on his lips.

"I love you too," he chuckled, kissing her back. "Come on. Race me over there."

His head jerked towards a nearby dock, and Summer narrowed her eyes at him. "Really? Race you? You?"

"Yeah," he grinned. "I'll give you a head start. Show off that super serum you've got in you."

"Okay, first of all, I have maybe like... one sixteenth of Steve's strength, if that, and -"

"Head start's running out," he teased. "Ten, nine, eight..."

Summer huffed and started swimming. It came as no surprise when, less than a minute later, her super-soldier of a husband went zooming by her and made a joke out of her head start. She was faster than she ever would have been before she was shot and Steve's super-blood saved her, but she was still nowhere near being able to beat Bucky at anything physical.

But that was okay. She had plans as to how to even the playing field in some respects rather soon. Just as Bucky had a few tricks up his sleeve - literally - she did as well, except her surprise was in a tiny bottle hidden in her suitcase.

It was gonna be a fun second honeymoon, that was for sure.

Later that night, after a dinner spent laughing together and FaceTiming their kids and friends back home, Summer retreated into the bathroom for a brief shower alone as Bucky made himself at home in the adjoining bedroom. He didn't turn on the TV or stare at his phone while he waited for her, instead lingering near the doorway of their balcony and staring out at the beautiful view below.

The island was a private one, frequently visited by celebrities and politicians who wanted absolute privacy. Tony had bought the house they were staying in from an actual king of somewhere a few years back, and just as he had lent them a vacation home during their first honeymoon, he made their second one possible as well. The place was so private and secluded that they could sunbathe naked outside and not have to worry about prying eyes or cameras in the sky, but they hadn't taken advantage of that just yet. They were too busy enjoying reconnecting with no distractions and no interruptions, which was what the little trip was, after all, about.

As Bucky watched the moonlit waves crash on the shore down below, Summer was checking her reflection in the mirror and feeling a silly thrill of nervousness rush through her despite knowing there was no need for it. She was wearing a gift from Natasha, a little piece of surprisingly comfortable maternity lingerie, and as ridiculous as it was to feel nervous about it, she supposed it was a result of having so little time alone with Bucky for so long. This week was starting to feel more like their early days together, and while that definitely wasn't a bad thing, she had to get used to having his undivided attention again.

Taking a deep breath, she turned off the light and walked out of the bathroom. The door clicking shut got Bucky's attention, and Summer could feel herself blush as he turned away from the view outside and let his eyes fall on her.

She smiled and gestured vaguely to herself, feeling incredibly stupid for feeling as suddenly shy as she did. It made no sense. "Present from Nat," she explained as his gaze swept over her, his eyes darkening as he took her in from head to toe.

Her hair was thrown up in a haphazard sort of bun, messy little pieces falling out and framing her face. The only thing she wore was a light blush pink and partially sheer babydoll-style little thing, one that barely skimmed her thighs and draped over her belly prettily and clung to her in all the right ways. It was reminiscent of her wedding night lingerie, only a little more pregnancy-friendly.

"Fuck," he grinned slowly, biting his lip and taking his time in soaking her up.

She smiled and felt her blush deepen, grateful for his reaction. Even though he'd been staring at her in a bikini for a large chunk of the day, he wasn't sick of her yet. She could still make him look at her like she was his dessert and he was utterly starving.

Rather than walk to her and take her in his arms, he walked to the edge of the King size bed at the center of the room and sat on it. Then he shed his shirt and dropped it on the floor before patting his thigh. "Come here. Come sit on my lap."

She did as she was told, her stubborn smile lingering on her face as she made her way to him. He reached out and took her hand once she was there, pulling her down and helping to steady her as she sat sideways on his lap.

"Look at you," he murmured, right hand settling on her hip as his left slid slowly up between her legs, to just between her knees. "You're so beautiful."

She smiled and ran one of her hands through his hair, which was a few months overdue for a cut, and replied, "I don't know why I felt nervous putting this on, but... I did."

He looked at her in a mixture of surprise and amusement, left hand reaching up to pluck at one of the flimsy straps on her shoulders. "All this time and I still make you nervous?"

She shrugged, shivering a little when the backs of his metal fingers ran over her breast through the thin material covering it. "I don't know. I keep waiting to walk out wearing something like this one of these days and you just laugh at me 'cause I look as ridiculous as I feel."

He sighed and looked her in the eye as his fingers moved back to the strap on her shoulder, this time pulling it down her arm. "Trust me, sweetheart. You could walk in here wearing nothing or an empty potato sack and I'd still wanna fuck you till neither of us can walk."

She was so distracted by his words that she barely noticed that he had tugged down the material more, exposing her breast. "Even in a potato sack?"

"In anything," he replied, his cold fingertips sliding on her bare skin and making her jolt a little in surprise. "Although I do prefer this to a potato sack."

She giggled and then his lips were on hers, swallowing up the sweet sound as his gave her breast a gentle squeeze. She could feel herself already throbbing with need - pregnancy hormones were crazy like that - and she moaned when his tongue flicked suggestively against hers. He broke away after the sound left her throat, smirking at her briefly before dropping his head down and holding her breast as he tongue slipped out to torture it. She sighed and tangled her hand in his hair, holding his head closer and arching her back a little as his mouth worked its magic on her.

His lips were drifting down between her breasts when a thought suddenly occurred to her and almost made her giggle. "You know you're gonna have to give these up again soon," she said, Bucky glancing up at her and knowing just what she meant by these.

"Feels like I just got 'em back," he chuckled, peeling down her other strap and freeing her other breast. "Guess I gotta enjoy them while I can."

The next thing she knew, Summer was on her back in the middle of the bed and Bucky was on top of her, grinning and keeping his weight off of her stomach as he leaned down and kissed her briefly but passionately. Then he was kissing down her neck, wasting no time in bringing his hands and mouth back to her breasts and wrecking her with just his attention there. He could have achieved this at any time, but being overly sensitive in her current state, it was almost enough to make her lose her mind just from what his fingers and tongue and teeth were doing to her breasts.

Once she had whimpered and writhed enough to let him know how truly badly she needed more, he gave her more. "Which hand do you want?" he asked, peeking up at her with a hint of a devilish look on his face. He was only asking because he knew exactly what her answer would be.

"Metal," she nearly gasped out, and as soon as the words left her lips, his left hand was sliding up her parted thighs and giving her just what she'd asked for.

He groaned as he gently touched her, just a teasing brushing of his fingers as his tongue swirled languidly along her nipple. Summer was almost too far gone to notice how perfectly in sync his movements were, already so close to losing her mind that she jerked at his first touch and rocked up against his hand in search of more friction.

"So impatient," he chuckled, rising back up to kiss her lips as he continued toying with her, not even bypassing her little tiny pair of matching panties just yet. He knew what he was doing, and he knew that once he really got going, she was gonna shoot off like a rocket in hardly any time at all.

She whimpered his name against his lips, clutching at his hair and shoulders and begging him wordlessly for more. He grinned and kissed her again, and when she felt his arm shift and start vibrating, her resulting moan was one of both need and relief.

Having mercy, he finally slid his fingers down the front of her panties and watched her lose her breath at the blessedly direct touch. He bit his lip as he watched her, knowing that she thought that this was it and that she was completely content with that. It only made him even more excited to surprise her with his new upgrades.

"You love this, don't you?" he groaned, kissing just under her ear as she gently sunk her nails into his back. "You always want this hand. Always have, since the start."

"It's so hot," she admitted, cheeks blushing with the words. It was nothing she hadn't said before, but she still couldn't help it.

"It's all yours," he chuckled, breathing against her ear. "Just don't come until I tell you too."

She couldn't help but whine. "Bucky..."

"Trust me, baby," he murmured, raising his head back up and easing his forehead on hers. "Do what I say."

As if she could ever do anything else but obey. She gave in and tried to control herself, even when his palm pressed deliciously against her and two of his fingers disappeared inside of her, and she realized that she was even more sensitive than she had first thought because it almost felt like the vibrations were stronger than usual. Not that she was complaining - far from it. It was perfect and she was so close already, scratching lasting marks into his skin to keep herself from leaving the ground.

"How's that feel?" he asked just before leaving a filthy kiss on her lips. "Tell me. Is it good?"

"So good," she managed to reply, her body rocking shamelessly on his hand and taking him as deep as she could. "Really... really... oh my God." She trailed off with a gasp and her eyes flew open, because he did something with his wrist and yeah, the vibration was definitely stronger and there was no mistaking it. She looked at him in sudden alarm. "Bucky, your arm -"

"Yeah, I know," he chuckled, eyes full of delight as he watched her nearly faint from bewilderment and increasingly overwhelming pleasure. "Surprise." Then he bumped the speed up again, like he had been gradually doing all along, and she made a noise that was almost his undoing as she dropped her head back and let her mouth fall open in a silent moan.

She was confused and gone and absolutely wrecked, his instrument to play as he pleased as he took her to the edge. He watched her fight it, biting her lip and gasping and writhing and trying to wait for his approval, and eventually it was too much for him to take.

He turned it up again - though not to the highest level possible , which would apparently remain a surprise for another day - and when she arched and shook with her failing self-restraint, he kissed her again and told her the sweetest words she could have heard in that moment. "Let go, sweetheart. You've been so fucking good. Come for me, baby."

The words had barely left his mouth when she was clenching, tightening, seeing stars as she let out a cry that would have disturbed the neighbors if they'd had any. Bucky watched her raptly the entire time, panting a little himself and admiring the way that she trembled and whimpered and gasped for air as she slowly came back to herself. He gently stroked her all the while, the vibration tapering off until it was gone and all that remained was the careful and soothing touch of his hand.

He was busy peppering sweet kisses along her jaw and her neck when she remembered how to speak and properly use words. "Okay," she said shakily, "what the frick?"

He chuckled and smiled down at her. "I told you I got some upgrades."

She blinked in disbelief. "Tony did that? Why? How? It's... your arm is... it's an actual..."

"Yeah," he grinned, adoring how flustered and confused she was. "I know. I just figured... why not? You loved the light little buzzing thing it used to do, so..."

"It's... perfect," she said a little wide-eyed, "but I just... holy crap. I wasn't expecting it."

"That's usually the idea of a surprise," he teased, kissing her gently again.

"... So you actually asked Tony to turn your arm into a... a real... y'know?"

He nodded, still grinning rather stupidly. "I did."

"That had to be the most awkward conversation ever."

He shrugged, looking down at her mostly-naked body and heaving chest. "Definitely fucking worth it, though."

She giggled and so did he, and the next thing they knew, they were kissing again and the heat between them was returning as quickly as it always did. With his arousal grinding incessantly into her thigh, looking for some relief, Summer pushed him down on his back and slid over him with a smile, settling on his hips as she said, "You know what's awesome about your new upgrade?"

"Enlighten me," he chuckled, running both of his hands over her thighs.

"It'll never run out of batteries right in the middle of things getting good."

He laughed. "Happen to you a lot before?"

She groaned and rolled her eyes. "You have no idea."

It was the last words either of them spoke for quite a while, both of them quickly getting caught up all over again. Summer was clearly very fond of Bucky's little surprise, and now she was even more excited to give him her own little "present". But it had to wait until the right time, and that night wasn't it.

But the time would come soon. And they definitely still managed to enjoy themselves for the rest of the night all the same.

Two nights later, as Bucky fired up their rental car just outside the house, Summer decided that it was time to initiate her evil, diabolical, deliciously villainous plan.

Oh yes, this was finally happening.

Under the guise of needing to run back inside to grab her phone that she had mistakenly (purposefully) left in their room, Summer bounded back in the house and up the stairs in her sleek heels, wearing a silly smile the whole way. Once she got there, she headed not for her phone but for her suitcase, kneeling next to it and quickly unzipping it and reaching into one of the side pockets to retrieve what she was looking for.

Pulling out a small little bottle wrapped in a delicate piece of paper, Summer grinned and took a deep breath. She unrolled the piece of paper and read it for the millionth time, double checking the instructions just in case. After all, Asgardian magic was nothing to take lightly.

Underneath the name of the potion - an unreadable word that looked like it was from a language that didn't even exist in the human world - an elegant scrawl stated, This is a very potent aphrodisiac traditionally given to newlyweds as a gift to encourage fertility and affection, as oftentimes in our world marriages are arranged and such a potion can benefit both parties tremendously. To my knowledge, a mortal has never used this potion before, so use this with extreme care and restraint, if you choose to use it at all. It is not drunk but rather inhaled, so when you are ready, carefully open this and inhale half a breath's worth. Be sure not to spill it or allow others to smell it, as the results could be disastrous. As soon as you are finished, close the bottle and store it somewhere very safe. Legend states that this very potion triggered the Great War of Nifilheim some millennia ago, so the importance of safety cannot be overstated. With that being said, do enjoy this gift if you choose to use it, and be sure to seek a healer if the effects last longer than four hours.

Even Asgardian enhancement "drugs" carried four hour warnings, apparently.

The note was then signed Aemilia, the name of the woman who Thor said was Loki's significant other and the same woman who gifted Summer the potion that made her labor with Adelaide painless. Summer already trusted the woman completely following that experience, and she decided to be daring as she carefully opened the bottle and took care not to inhale it.

The potion itself was a thin, pale, and shimmery liquid that had a hint of violet in the color of it. Working with extremely cautious and steady hands, Summer dabbed the smallest amount possible on each side of her neck Ike a perfume. She then closed the bottle and wrapped it back up in the piece of paper before placing it in her purse, just in case she needed to refresh it later.

She then stood back up and the motion brought a small gust of the scent up to her nose. It smelled sweet but not too sweet, a little bit floral and a little bit something else that she had no idea how to describe, and a warmth spread from the roots of her hair to the tips of her toes the minute she got a whiff of it. The warmth then all concentrated low in her belly, and she shivered before giggling and realizing just how potent this stuff was. She could only imagine what would happen if she actually inhaled an entire breath of it.

The deed now done, she happily left the bedroom and made her way back down the stairs and out of the house. Hopping in the passenger seat of the sleek little black car Bucky was behind the wheel of, she smiled innocently at Bucky and put on her seatbelt as he asked, "Got your phone?"

She paused and realized that she had not, in fact, grabbed her phone after all. "... I actually forgot again."

"Then what were you doing in there?" He chuckled. "I can run in and get it if you want."

"You know, it's fine," she shrugged, clicking her seatbelt into place. "You have your phone, so we're good. Let's just go. I'm starving."

He grinned and put the car into gear, turning his attention to the driveway before them. "Yes ma'am."

From there, they drove and crossed two bridges into the island's mainland, about twenty minutes passing before they reached the restaurant their dinner reservations were at. In those twenty minutes, Summer continued to faintly smell the potion on herself, feeling its effects on a very mild level that allowed her to hide it very well. Since it wasn't actually a perfume and the scent didn't travel too terribly far, Bucky didn't smell it in the car nor when they arrived at the restaurant and were escorted to one of the more private booths towards the back of the dining room. And that meant that her plan was working perfectly.

They took their seats at the table, Bucky automatically sliding in next to Summer without her having to ask, and when Bucky almost immediately ordered the most expensive entrees on the menu, Summer raised a brow as the waiter hurried off to place their orders.

"Splurging today, huh?" she noted, smiling as Bucky relaxed against the backrest behind them and draped an arm behind her shoulders, grinning at her.

"Yeah, I figure... why not?" he shrugged lightly. He was wearing a black suit with a white shirt underneath, the top two buttons undone and no tie on, and the island humidity had his hair just a slight bit fluffier than usual. She quite liked his current look, and even more, she loved how truly relaxed and happy he was. "Normally I'd also get you the best bottle of wine here, but..."

"... But no drinking for me," she chuckled. "It's okay, though. Totally worth it."

The restaurant wasn't particularly busy, just a handful of other patrons dining in the low lit room. It was a casually romantic atmosphere, relaxed enough to fit with the island feel, and open windows littered throughout the restaurant brought a pleasant salt-scented sea breeze through the air.

It was nice. A bit warm, perhaps, but Summer was fairly sure that was due to the potion she kept faintly smelling on herself.

"You look gorgeous tonight," he told her, looking her over and running his fingertips over her bare shoulder. She smiled and glanced down at her dress, a flowy floral sleeveless thing that ended just above her knees and was exceptionally comfortable while also looking pretty damn good.

"You too," she smiled, earning a slight roll of his eyes. Her heart rate picked up as he leaned down and pressed a small kiss to her shoulder, but the waiter came back with their drinks before he could catch a whiff of what was on her neck.

Darn it.

A few moments of small talk followed, and Summer did her best to hide her growing frustration. She wanted to just grab his head and shove his face into her neck but that wasn't the plan and she wanted to stick to it, even if it was testing her patience. She figured the best way to make him breathe it naturally was to amp up the affection and draw him in, so that was what she did next.

Putting her hand on his knee and laying her head on his shoulder, she closed her eyes and sighed. "I really love this. I'm having a really great time here."

He smiled and kissed her temple. "Me too. I'm glad we did this."

"We haven't even been married five years yet and we're already on our second honeymoon," she chuckled. "Maybe we should make it an annual thing."

"You know, that's not the worst idea I've ever heard," he teased as she lifted her head back up and threw him a grin before reaching out and grabbing her glass of water. "Where would you wanna go next?"

"Hmm," she hummed, setting the glass back down. "I don't know. Maybe... Alaska? Very remote. Or... Paris, if we wanted to go the more cliched route."

"You'd pick Paris just so you could listen to me speak French the whole time," he noted wryly.

"... Guilty," she giggled. "Remember when we went on our first date, and you like... whispered French all seductively in my ear and then didn't tell me what you said for months?"

Bucky grinned crookedly and eyed her with amusement as he fondly recalled the memory. "I told you I'd rather see you in nothing but those fuck-me boots you were wearing."

Summer's jaw dropped a little. "I - excuse me, those were just normal high heeled leather boots. My sister in law picked them out. They weren't stripper boots."

Bucky shrugged, still wearing that little grin. "Well, to a guy that hadn't seen any action in 70 years, they were fuck-me boots."

Summer sighed and shook her head. "A guy with a high heel fetish who hadn't seen any action in 70 years."

"Exactly. Speaking of that..." He leaned back to catch a glimpse of her heels under the table, and Summer laughed.

"Did you always have a thing for heels?" Summer asked, teasingly running the front of her shoe against his ankle.

"Yeah," he nodded. "But they didn't make them back then the way they do now. And I didn't really notice that until you wore those boots. And your other shoes."

"Oh," she smiled. "So I awakened the sleeping dragon."

"You know you did," he murmured, leaning into the press a gentle kiss to her lips.

She smiled sweetly at him before suddenly remembering her evil plan. Putting one hand in his hair, she kissed the corner of his mouth and then dropped little kisses along his jaw, subtly moving his face towards her neck. He took the bait, skimming his nose along the underside of her jaw before nuzzling her neck. Summer grinned and bit her lip as she awaited success.

She felt him pause with his face pressed gently to her neck, his nose touching the same spot she had dabbed the potion on. Then he breathed deeply, a full and heavy inhale that that she hadn't anticipated, and then he drew away slowly.

She looked at him and felt her heart skip a beat. His eyes were dark and dilated, cheeks a little flushed, and his lips were parted prettily as he stared at her. The effect had been instant and, it seemed, significant.

"Bucky?" she smiled, watching his expression become equal parts aroused and bewildered. "You okay?"

"Y-yeah, I just... I'm..." He shifted a little bit and forced himself to look away only to immediately look back, eyes more than a little wild-looking. "I'm... I'm fine."

He then began staring at his glass of water, brows knit together in pure confusion, and Summer couldn't help but grin as she placed her hand on his thigh and asked sweetly, "Are you sure? You look kind of flushed."

He jumped a little at her touch, turning his head and looking her in the eye as she draped an arm over his shoulders and slid her hand into the back of his hair. Her hand on his thigh gently pressed inward, just a little bit, and he breathed through parted lips as he stared at her like he suddenly wanted nothing more than to have her for dinner.

"You're so tense all of a sudden," Summer said, using all of her willpower to maintain a straight face. "What's the matter?"

Bucky opened his mouth to answer, but then her hand creeped closer up his thigh and he suddenly pulled her head closer and kissed the hell out of her in lieu of speaking. She smiled into the kiss, gently pushing him away once he started to get a little carried away, carefully reminding him, "Hey, calm down. We're in public."

"I know, I'm sorry," he panted slightly, brows furrowing again. "I don't know why I'm..." He glanced down at his lap and hissed out a curse before shifting a bit and pulling away from her. Summer kept her hand on his thigh and stifled a smile, turning her head and biting her lip so he wouldn't see.

She turned back towards him once he started bouncing his leg slightly, his right hand curled into a fist next to his lap. Just that one little whiff of the stuff had really gotten to him, and she couldn't help but feel a twinge of sympathy for him. It was affecting her too, only on a much smaller scale.

She was about to open her mouth and suggest they simply get their food to go when the waiter came back with their entrees, sizzling hot and heavenly smelling and worth every penny Bucky spent on them. Or at least they would have been had either one of them been able to focus on actually eating food as opposed to what their other appetites were demanding.

Bucky did his very best to remain calm and concentrate on dinner, approaching each bite of food like it was a mission that he had to complete or else dire consequences would follow. Summer, for her part, watched him with a tiny and unstoppable smile on her face, having an easier time eating her own meal and attempting to make small talk along the way. Bucky only replied with one word answers, jumping every time she just barely touched him or made eye contact, and she could tell what the napkin in his lap was hiding and how utterly confused by it he was.

Once she was full and he had still barely taken five bites, she decided that since she had gotten him into this mess... the least she could do was help him get through it rather than suffer alone and helpless.

"Not hungry?" she asked, shifting closer to him and running her hand along his left forearm. He stiffened at her touch, but she had expected that.

"Not really," he muttered, giving up the pretense and setting down his fork next to his plate. He then closed his eyes and shivered when she lightly ran her fingers through his hair, leaning into the touch like an affection-starved cat, and Summer was simply aflutter with glee.

She leaned in closer, dragging her lips gently along his jaw until she reached his ear. He almost moaned when she lightly nipped at his ear lobe and whispered, "Do you... maybe... need a hand?"

He grasped the napkin on his lap and held it in a death grip when she tried to pull it away. "Don't," he said through gritted teeth. He turned towards her, eyes cast down to her lips as he shook his head. "I'm fine."

"No you're not," she noted with amusement. "I think I know you well enough now to be able to tell when you're... in need of something."

He opened his mouth to protest only to barely contain a gasp when she simply rubbed her hand over him through the napkin. The touch felt like fire, as indirect as it was, and while the table and its floor-length tablecloth concealed them from any potential prying eyes, Bucky still put his hand over here and stopped her. "Not here," he hissed under his breath. "I can wait."

She nodded, looking him over and obediently pulling her hand back, dragging her palm slowly over his thigh in the process. "All right. I'm sure you can." He took a deep breath, turning back to his plate with that look of determination again, only to lose it in an instant when she casually added, "But I can't."

His eyes flew to hers, and she shot him what she hoped was a devilish little smirk before glancing around to make sure the coast was clear. Once she was satisfied that they were safe, she quietly slipped under the table as Bucky watched her with wide eyes and an open mouth.

Just the very suggestion of what she was apparently about to do made him twitch in his pants and nearly lose it. He looked around a bit frantically as she got down on her knees and parted his legs with her hands, looking down at her and whispering harshly, "Summer, what the fuck are you - are you sure about this? We're... fuck."

Grinning up at him as she slid her hands up his inner thighs, she whispered back, "Don't look down at me. Keep you eyes up and nobody will suspect anything." Then as she reached up and unzipped his pants, she added as an afterthought, "And stay quiet."

That was his last warning before she pulled him free and wrapped her hand around him, his breath hitching and hips jerking just from that one touch. He moved as close to the edge of his seat as he could, opening his legs a little wider for her and leaning his arm on the table to rest his jaw on his hand and try to appear somewhat casual and normal. His eyes fluttered shut when she gave him a few easy strokes, feeling absolutely exquisite thanks to the abnormal amount of arousal coursing through his veins, but it was nothing compared to what he felt when her warm little tongue flicked out and teasingly circled his tip.

He reached down with his free hand - his left, disguised as flesh and blood - and grasped her shoulder as she kept teasing him almost mercilessly. He just barely managed to keep silent, staring sightlessly at his mostly untouched plate of food and then closing his eyes and gasping muffled into his hand when she finally took him fully into her mouth.

Summer, with her free hand on his upper thigh, could feel him tense and strain as she gently and slowly dragged her wet lips up and down his length. His hand on her shoulder tightened and dug harder into her flesh as his pleasure grew, and the filthiness of doing this entirely in public coupled with knowing just how hard it was for Bucky to keep quiet even during even their normal times together made Summer utterly adore every last minute of it.

Then Bucky heard a voice to his left, and his eyes flew up to find the waiter standing there smiling and asking how everything was tasting. Summer heard the question and nearly choked, for several reasons.

"Great," Bucky answered, his voice coming out a little too high pitched at first as he squeezed Summer's shoulder in a panicked attempt to make her stop. She didn't. "Everything's great, thanks."

"Awesome, can I bring you a dessert menu in a few minutes?"

Summer decided in that moment to relax her throat and take him all the way in, until he bumped the back of her throat. She hadn't always been able to do that, but with five years of practice under her belt, it was surprisingly easy now. And it was something that always made him groan and drove him wild.

"No," he replied shakily before clearing his throat, hand now clenching hard in her hair but not pulling her off. She could feel him trembling, feel how close he was and how difficult it must have been to maintain his cool. "No, that's okay."

"All right, well, let me know if you guys need anything," the waiter said before finally turning and leaving. As soon as he was out of Bucky's line of sight, his eyes rolled shut and he cursed out a string of whimpered fuck's and covered his mouth with his hand, just in case he wasn't able to keep fully quiet once the orgasm charging towards him like a runaway train overtook him.

She gave her jaw the workout of its life, holding nothing back and taking him so deep and fast her lungs burned from the harsh breaths she took through her nose. She knew what it meant when he tapped the back of her head suddenly, her warning that he couldn't take any more, and she responded by going even faster and semi-accidentally letting out a hungry whimper that did the trick of set him off and spilling down her throat. He kept his hand over his mouth as his release overcame him and made him see stars, his eyes squeezed shut and his teeth biting hard enough into his middle finger that clear imprints were left in his skin and lasted for awhile.

He opened his eyes as soon as he could, panting into his hand as the waves of pleasure subsided and his wife's mouth gently and carefully withdrew from him. He made sure that nobody had seen him or been watching, and to his relief, the coast was still clear. He leaned back and looked under the table and nearly groaned at the sight that he was graced with - Summer, blushing and grinning, wiping the corner of her mouth with her thumb and then slipping it in her mouth to suck off the last remaining traces of him.

"Is anyone around?" she whispered, unable to get the proud and somehow slightly shy grin off of her face as she tucked him back into his pants and silently zipped him up. He checked one last time before shaking his head, and then she rose back up from under the table and slid back to his side like nothing had ever happened.

Much more relaxed now and exponentially less tense, Bucky leaned back and stared at her like she was an absolute goddess - and a deliciously filthy one at that. She simply reached for her glass of water and asked nonchalantly, "Feel better?"

His arm slid around her waist and pulled her against him before she could take a drink. His lips pressed hotly to her ear, he murmured, "I can't believe you just fucking did that. Right fucking here in the middle of a fucking restaurant."

Someone who didn't know him inside and out like she did might have mistaken his tone and his words for anger. But she knew better, so she grinned and replied, "Well... I just wanted dessert."

He drew away and shook his head as a lopsided smirk turned up his mouth at one corner. "When do I get mine?"

She glanced up and, upon spotting their waiter across the dining room, signaled for him to bring the check. Then she turned back to Bucky and replied, "The minute you get me back inside the house."

"Yeah? The minute?" he asked with clear delight. "So I can push you against the front door as soon as it's shut and get on my knees and go to town on you, baby?"

Her belly fluttering a little at those words and the images they put in her head, she took a breath and answered, "You can have me wherever you want me."

He groaned softly at her words and then kissed under her ear before nuzzling her neck, breathing in the potion again. She could feel his mild shudder as he inhaled, and then as he lifted his head back up, their waiter returned with the check.

What relief he had been basking in before was gone now, hardening all over again as the magic combined with his hunger for the woman next to him made him ache with need. He watched her pay the bill with a smile and warm words of thanks to their waiter, and then the minute the man was gone, Bucky grabbed her hand and all but dragged her out of the restaurant and to the car. He barely managed to avoid throwing her over his shoulder like a caveman and exiting that way, but he hadn't lost all self control just yet.

Bucky pushed the speed limits the whole way home, saying next to nothing and glaring at the road like it had personally wronged him. Summer simply sat back and enjoyed the ride, catching his eye when she looked up in the mirror and tried to fix the lipstick she'd ruined during her adventure under the table. She didn't need to fix it, of course, but watching her do it and knowing why made Bucky's gaze darken with lust even more and his pants become unbearably tight. By the time they were finally pulling into the driveway back at the ultra-private beach house, Bucky was almost angry with need and Summer was doing her best to hold back a rush of giggles.

Bucky left the headlights on and didn't even bother to shut the driver's side door after he turned off the car and tore out of it like a man possessed. Summer grinned and turned off the headlights just before a warm hand enclosed around her arm and pulled her out of the car and to her feet. She grinned up at him for the few seconds that passed before he was dragging her into the house, and then before she knew it he had slammed the front door shut and pushed her up against it just like he had said he would back at the restaurant.

"You drive me crazy," he murmured, pressing his body against hers and brushing the tip of her nose with his, hands grasping her hips and pulling them against his own. "Do you see what you fucking do to me?"

"I could ask you the same thing," she replied breathlessly, arms twining around his neck. "Trust me, I wouldn't get under a dinner table for any other guy in the world."

"You better not," he grinned before capturing her lips in a hungry, already sloppy kiss. She whimpered as his tongue dominated hers, nearly drowning in him before he broke away and trailed his lips down to her neck, right back to where that potion was still strong and very present.

He took another deep breath of the scent and ground his hips into hers, groaning against her skin, "What the hell are you wearing? I swear every time I smell it it's like it goes straight to my cock."

Blushing at his choice of words as well as having to find the right answer to his question, Summer chuckled and said, "Oh, just... something I got as a gift."

He growled and started kissing her neck right where the potion was, breathing it in with every inhale and groaning, and Summer wasn't sure if she was just imagining it or if he was actually getting harder against her the more he smelled it.

"What's it made of, some kinda fucking drug? My God," he nearly whined, grazing his teeth along her sensitive flesh and making her shudder.

"No," she half-moaned. "It's... magic."

Bucky stilled and then raised his head to look her in the eye. "What?"

She bit her lip and smiled, deciding that she might as well come clean while she had the nerve. "It's not perfume. Remember when Thor gave us our wedding gift? There was a, uh... a bottle of aphrodisiac, and..."

Bucky's expression went from puzzled to shocked to dark in less than the time it took for Summer to take a breath. "... You put on a magical aphrodisiac like perfume?"

She smiled and shrugged a little. "I just thought... you know... it might be fun?"

Bucky simply stared at her for a moment before asking, "Where is it?"

She glanced over to where she'd dropped her purse on the floor on their way inside. "In there."

Bucky then let go of her, grabbing her bag from the floor and quickly rummaging through it to find the bottle. He located it quickly, pulling it out and then dropping her purse back to the floor.

"This thing is what made me feel like an out of control teenager tonight?" he asked, holding up the harmless looking bottle.

Summer nodded. "Yep. That's... that's the stuff."

He looked at the thing in disbelief, and then before Summer could stop him and warn him about the instructions, Bucky popped it open and took a full, deep breath of it straight from the source.

"Oh God, Bucky, no! You're supposed to... it's... frick."

Summer gave up trying to protest as she watched Bucky's face change in an instant. His mouth dropped open and his cheeks grew pink, eyes dilating and almost every trace of blue disappearing less than a mere second. His grip on the bottle grew almost tight enough to shatter it, and he actually moaned as his eyes rolled in the back of his head and then fell shut.

Oh boy. She was really in for it now.

When his eyes opened back up, he looked at her like she was his prey and he was a predator who hadn't had a good meal since roughly the Stone Age. Then he was walking towards her, still clutching the bottle, and her hand flew over her nose and mouth. "Don't put that so close to me! I don't wanna -"

"Summer," he said, caging her against the wall with his free hand and his tone absolutely sinful, "you're gonna take a nice, big, deep breath of this shit, and you know why? You did this to me. You did this on purpose. And I'm sure as fuck not gonna be the only one suffering tonight."

Summer stared at him for a moment and then slowly let her hand drop from her face. He was right. This had all been her doing, and if he wanted to level the playing field, then it was only fair for her to let him.

"Fine," she sighed, giving in. Then Bucky smirked and held up the bottle to her nose, and she leaned in and inhaled.

Heat instantly overcame her, washing over every inch of her skin and every last nerve ending and making her feel like lava had just been injected directly into her veins. Suddenly her already-oversensitive body was even more alert and sensitive in ways no human body could ever naturally be, and there was a telltale, immediate gush between her legs that made her gasp and widen her already-bewildered eyes.

"Holy fuck," she blurted out, her filter annihilated and gone. Bucky's eyes widened in shock at her uncharacteristic curse, and then he carefully put the cork back in the bottle and tossed it down on top of her purse on the floor. Then they stared at each other for exactly one second before they both pounced, and then sheer chaos ensued.

High on magic traditionally meant to encourage relations between spouses who either barely knew each other or found each other repulsive - Asgardian spouses at that - the potion spurred the two very much in love human spouses into attacking each other like their very lives depended on it. Bucky kept her pushed against the door and literally ripped off her dress, staying mindful of her belly despite it all, and Summer broke half the buttons on his shirt and had his pants down on the floor before their first kiss had even broke.

"This is insane," she muttered as he slid a knee between her thighs, that lone pressure against her already-swollen center making her shudder with pleasure. He was inhumanly hard against her hip, grinding on her through his boxer briefs like he simply couldn't help it, and she moaned when he grasped both of her hands and shoved them against the door on either side of her head.

"It's your fucking fault," he hissed out through gritted teeth, rocking them together desperately and entirely without finesse.

"Oh my God," she moaned, throwing her head back against the door and gasping in bewilderment as she felt herself start to clench and tighten already. Less than a minute of grinding on each other's thighs and they were both on the edge, and all it took was a harsh bite on her pulse point and she was coming apart and almost screaming his name. He was right behind her, gasping into her neck and making a mess out of them both right there against the door.

She was panting hard and staring wide-eyed and confused into space when he finally pulled away and straightened up, looking at her and wearing the same expression. Summer glanced down at their legs and realized with a start that the... evidence... of what they'd done was almost comically excessive and had even made its way to the floor. Bucky didn't notice this, because he was too busy staring down at himself and muttering, "... I'm still fucking hard."

Summer gulped and felt her own pulse of arousal return just at the sound of his voice. "Bedroom?" she squeaked, and Bucky nodded and picked her up like she weighed nothing and got them upstairs in record time. She made a mental note to bleach the floor later, so the poor cleaning lady wouldn't have to.

Both of them fully naked by the time they made it to their bed, Bucky laid her down on it and crawled over her as he groaned, "I'd fucking tear you apart right now if you weren't pregnant."

Hearing her pulse pound in her ears and feeling another gush that she couldn't help, Summer rolled him over on his back and replied, "I kinda wanna tear you apart."

"How about you just come up here and sit on my face instead," he growled, and she whimpered as she obeyed in a heartbeat. But right at the last minute, she turned around so that she was facing away from him, and he didn't even blink before grasping her hips and pulling her down on his mouth.

She felt like she was right back on the edge all over again almost immediately, and it was like being drunk on feeling and simply being unable to do anything but enjoy the ride and just try to keep breathing. Bucky was groaning and devouring her, leaving bruises on the outside of her hips with his ever-tightening fingers, and he made her fall apart twice before she even remembered why she was in her particular position to begin with. Her entire body shaking but still nowhere near satisfied, she leaned down and grasped his visibly aching length in her hand and didn't dare to tease him before taking him in her mouth for the second time that night.

Neither of them lasted for more than another minute once they were working together, moving in the same rhythm and noisily bringing each other off. She went first, her vision blurring at the edges before his cry of pleasure brought her back to the present. She swallowed him down again, or at least most of him, since the potion was still having effects that she had not anticipated. But she hadn't seen anything yet.

Once again, he still didn't soften even by a fraction. He, of course, was blessed with the stamina of a super soldier but he still had a refractory period, albeit a wonderfully short one that other men would have killed for. But that wasn't the case that night, and Summer stared at the unyielding hardness for a moment before straightening up and turning around, easing off of his face and looking down at him only to gasp and hold her mouth in sudden embarrassment.

He was literally soaked. It wasn't unusual for his face to be a mess following that but his neck and even part of his chest was drenched in her and for a moment, humiliation overcame the heat still burning in her veins and Summer's face became as red as a tomato.

Bucky, however, simply grinned at her and then glanced down at his chest before saying, "Well, that's new."

"I'm... oh God, I'm sorry," she replied, vaguely aware that it was a ridiculous thing to apologize for since she didn't have the slightest amount of control over it and judging by the look on his face, he rather liked it.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" he asked, grabbing the askew sheet beneath him to dry off with since, as she then realized, she'd already ruined that too. "I'm gonna have to try to make you do that without the damn potion one of these days."

She simply stared at him wide-eyed for a moment before he gently pushed her down on her back, hovering over her as she babbled, "I didn't - I wasn't expecting some of this stuff, like -"

He shook his head and silenced her with a kiss. "I love this. I feel like my head's gonna explode and I'm just gonna keep going until it falls off but fuck, this is hot, baby."

Blushing at his words and her eyes fluttering shut as he leaned down to tease a nipple with his tongue, she dragged her fingers through his hair and let go of those sudden-onset inhibitions. There was nothing about her that he didn't love, no part of her that he didn't want to drown in, and she had much better things to focus on than her own body's natural reactions to Asgardian magic - like, for instance, the way that he lifted her leg over his shoulder and pushed inside of her, relinquishing her breast from his lips to groan and squeeze his eyes shut in pleasure.

It was gonna be a long, long night.

From there, he took her in every position imaginable that she could comfortably contort into with her growing belly in the way. Sometimes he went excruciatingly slow just so he'd last longer than two minutes, but even when he went off before he would have preferred, he could still simply just keep going. They were making an utter mess of the entire room and each other, eventually wandering from the bed to the window where he took her from behind as she gazed out sightlessly to the rolling moonlit waves below, fingers scrambling aimlessly at the glass until he picked her up and moved them to a chair that she then rode him in. Nonexistent inhibitions also meant that they were the loudest they had possibly ever been, and Bucky was so far gone he could barely even monologue like he usually did during their nights together.

But it all finally came to a head - three hours after Bucky had made Summer breathe the potion in with him - with Bucky on his back in the destroyed bed and Summer on top of him. His hands were up and grasping a bar of the wooden headboard, hanging on as she gripped the bar above the one he was holding and gave him the ride of his life. All he saw was her, her entire body covered in both his and her sweat, breasts bouncing with every roll and thrust of her hips, her dark hair wild and tangled, her lower lip caught between her teeth and her eyes shut tight as she chased her own pleasure, and he thought that it might as well have been heaven. Everything was so heightened - everything - and when he started to feel himself slip away off the edge yet again, his grip on the wood tightened and it splintered as he came with a roar of a cry.

She didn't stop riding him or slow down even by a second. She was so close and she just knew he wasn't quite done yet, so she simply kept going even faster and then watched with wide eyes as his last shudder of pleasure was followed by his eyes flying open along with his mouth, and then he was gasping and breaking the headboard as he came again, right on the heels of the last one. The sight of him being so utterly lost to the bewildering and overwhelming pleasure pushed her off the edge and she came for the last time with a hoarse, desperate cry, momentarily unaware that her fluttering and clenching around him sent him off for the third time in a row. He made a sound that she had never heard before, something between a scream and a sob, and then, after it was over and his hips stopped jerking and his voice fell silent, his eyes rolled shut and his hands fell limply to the bed at his sides.

Summer, bewildered and only halfway believing what she had just seen - her husband experiencing multiple orgasms so close together it made even her a little jealous - stayed draped on his chest for a few moments after, breathing hard and trying her best to recover. She was pretty sure that she was done now, feeling about as boneless as a bowl of overcooked spaghetti, and she could only pray that Bucky was also done for the night.

She croaked out his name and then lifted her head, only to find him quite literally passed out underneath her. She shook him a little, trying to rouse him, but nothing happened. She had a brief moment of mild panic where she checked his breathing and his pulse - what if he'd experienced a sex and magic induced heart attack? - but he was perfectly fine. He had simply blacked out when it had all become too much for even his enhanced body to handle.

Pressing a kiss to his forehead, Summer rolled off of him and all but collapsed on her back beside him. The bed was broken, and the mattress was probably going to need to be replaced. The room smelled like people had been having marathon sex for about a month nonstop, and did she mention that the bed was actually broken?

She contemplated a shower for about five seconds before deciding that she probably couldn't even stand if she wanted to. She was also starving now, and the baby in her belly was kicking her with a fury that Summer had not felt before.

It made sense, though. The poor baby probably thought they'd narrowly escaped a three hour long ride through a tornado. Summer cringed to herself and decided that she just wouldn't think about that. Just... no.

She would deal with the mess and her hunger and the general disarray of everything in the morning. For then, she curled up next to her passed-out husband and fell asleep right with him, making a mental note to one day make sure she got to thank the lady who had made the potion in person. She now owed her thanks not just for a painless labor but also for the craziest night of her life, and Bucky had a few things to thank her for as well.

And to think, they still had over half their honeymoon left to go.

Having survived their second honeymoon intact - barely - Summer and Bucky returned home to New York and barely had a full day to recover from the lengthy plane ride back before one of the days they had been greatly anticipating were upon them. It was time to find out the gender of their unborn baby.

Sitting in the office of the same midwife who had delivered Adelaide, Summer watched the monitor excitedly as the moment drew ever closer. Bucky was sitting to her left, holding Addie in his lap and sporting a tan he'd brought back from the island, and David was sitting next to him, mentally chanting prayers for a brother this time instead of a sister. David adored his little sister, of course, but she was extremely girly and most of his cousins were girls too. He was ready to have a little brother to play with and have some balance to all the pink and frilly things he'd been living with for nearly two years.

With the cold goo smeared over Summer's belly and the midwife moving the wand around, all eyes were glued to the monitor as the midwife, Claire, first showed the baby's head.

"Aw, look," Summer giggled, pointing at the little tiny button nose visible on the screen. "What a tiny nose!"

"And chubby cheeks," Bucky noted, a smile on his face as he inspected the image of his new son or daughter.

"What are you guys hoping for, boy or girl?" Claire asked, tossing a smile their way.

"Well," Summer said, "I'll be equally happy either way, but I have a feeling it's a boy. My son wants a brother," she smiled at David, "and I haven't been able to get a straight answer out of Addie yet."

Bucky got Addie's attention and asked her with a smile, "Do you want Mama to have a little girl baby or a little boy baby?"

Adelaide then smiled happily at Bucky and exclaimed, "Bunny!"

The midwife cracked up, and Summer giggled before shrugging, "Well, there you have it. Addie's pulling for a bunny."

"And what about you, Dad?" Claire asked, glancing Bucky's way. "What's your vote?"

Bucky let out a breath and smiled a little before giving a small shrug. "I'm just happy to have another baby. I really don't care whether it's a boy or a girl or both or neither."

"He doesn't even care if it actually is a bunny," Summer added with a laugh.

"Well, I haven't found any furry ears or a tail yet, so I think you're safe there," Claire chuckled, pausing the wand and zooming in on a particular corner of the screen. Then she looked at the family and smiled, "Ready to find out?"

Summer's eyes quickly glued themselves on the zoomed in portion of the image, and she instantly knew as soon as she spotted the telltale signs. She smiled and glanced at Bucky, who was squinting and clearly not making sense of the image, and David looked exactly the same.

"Can you tell?" Summer asked Bucky with a happy little giggle.

"Well... I'm not really seeing any boy parts," he replied. "But I'm also not seeing girl ones either. I'm not really seeing anything, honestly."

Claire laughed again, and then she asked Summer, "I know you can tell. I'll let you do the honors."

Summer then smiled warmly at Bucky and David both before telling them, "It's a girl."

Bucky's eyebrows shot up into his hairline before dropping back down as a huge smile curled across his lips and made his eyes crinkle. David, however, dropped his head back against the wall behind his chair and sighed loudly, but he did it with a smile on his face. It appeared that even more bows and frilly things were in his future.

"You've got a little sister, Addie," Bucky told his daughter, pointing to the monitor to show her now that the midwife had zoomed out and the baby's profile was visible again. "Look."

Adelaide looked and then warbled, "Bunny bunny bunny!"

That made everyone laugh, including David who adored listening to his baby sister babble and ramble over random things. If this new little sister was just like her, he supposed, maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

"Got a name picked out yet?" Claire asked.

"Rebecca," Summer replied with a smile. "Rebecca Natalia."

"Oh, that's beautiful," Claire smiled back.

"Yeah... we had a boy name picked out too, but I guess maybe next time we can use it, if we have a boy."

"Already planning a next time?" Claire asked, looking the family over. "You're gonna have your hands full with two little ones running around."

Summer glanced at Bucky and shared a smile with him before shrugging. "Well, I'm not gonna plan or try for another one, but... whatever happens will happen."

She and Bucky were in full agreement there. While they didn't necessarily want as many kids as her brother and his wife had spawned, they didn't see the harm in having a few more. Their kids had been nothing but a joy to them both, and now that they were free to live the rest of their lives as they pleased, they were ready to take however many babies happened to come their way - within reason.

"Well, Mr. Barnes, I hope you're ready to beat the boys back with a stick someday," Claire said, giving Bucky another smile. "You've already got one beautiful daughter, and now you're gonna have two. That's twice the boyfriends, twice the school dances, twice the drama."

Bucky's gaze darkened before he muttered, "I choose not to think about that."

"Me too," Summer agreed. "Maybe we'll get lucky and they'll both grow up and like girls."

"Yes," Bucky nodded enthusiastically. "That would be better. Or even better than that - maybe they'll be asexual."

Summer's eyes widened and she nodded so hard she hurt her head a little bit. "Yes! But that doesn't mean they won't still get their hearts broken."

Bucky furrowed his brows. "I thought asexual meant no interest in anyone."

"No, it means no interest in sex with anyone," Summer replied. "They'd still have crushes and stuff."

"Oh," Bucky frowned. "Well, never mind, then." He was still figuring out modern labels and identities that people those days adopted, and it wasn't easy keeping it all straight. He was doing better than Steve, though, who briefly thought pansexual meant having an attraction to actual cookware. Tony would never ever let him live that one down.

"I'm sure no matter what, they'll turn out just fine," Claire assured them. "They seem to have a good couple of parents to steer them right."

Summer smiled at those words and reached out and took Bucky's hand. Their kids did indeed have two good parents, and neither one of them would ever forget how close they came to losing Bucky forever. Addie and Rebecca would grow up and not remember a thing from that time, but they would, and so would David. They'd never forget how lucky and blessed they were to be together and be a family.

And soon - in just a little over four months - their family would officially gain its newest little member. They couldn't wait.

Four months later

At eight and a half months pregnant, Summer felt like she had swallowed an entire house. While she had only gained half the weight she had with Adelaide - and that was a good thing, considering how excessive her weight gain with her had been - she still felt absolutely enormous and was nearing the point of simply being done with being pregnant.

Actually, scratch that. She was already done with being done with being pregnant.

Construction on their new home in back in Fall's Church had begun two months prior, and not long after that, Bucky began going through the process of being mentally and physically evaluated for going back to work at the Avengers compound. It wasn't a short process, being official this time around and monitored by the proper authorities, but it was a very necessary step in getting back to work doing what he did best. Steve was going to be leading the opening of a second compound in Washington D.C. within the next year, and naturally he wanted Bucky to be there with him and possibly leading missions on his own, once he was up to it.

It was a busy time, that much was sure. But Summer made sure that she and the whole family carved time out of their schedules for a new round of family pictures plus maternity pictures, because while she felt like a beached whale, she wanted to forever remember the time. With only a few weeks left before little Rebecca would be due to enter the world, Summer and the whole family met Nicolo and Esteban at the park for a round of adorable family photos.

It went as one would expect. Adelaide was tooth-rottingly cute but difficult to keep focused, David was bored easily, and Summer's hair ended up in her mouth every time the wind picked up. Most predictably, however, Bucky looked flawless in almost every single shot. His hair was getting long again, not quite long enough yet to put up but long enough to drive Summer crazy and make Esteban rave over his generally lickable appearance. That was even the word that he used. Lickable.

But, after a solid hour and a half of taking photos, Nicolo decided that he had enough decent shots to work with and gave the green light to head back to the tower. There they would take the rest of her solo maternity photos, with a proper backdrop and setup, and then Summer's ordeal would be over. Taking pictures was, after all, a uniquely exhausting experience for a heavily pregnant woman.

On their way out of the park, Nicolo walked alongside Summer and Bucky and said, "You know, if you happened to be interested, I've got a few ideas for some less... traditional photos."

"Like what?" Summer asked, taking a swig from the enormous water bottle in her hand. She was always thirsty, to the point of it driving her nuts.

"Well, you wanted some... tastefully nude shots, right?"

Summer blushed and almost choked on her water. Bucky's eyes widened and he looked at her with great amusement as he asked, "Oh, did you now?"

"I... it was just an idea," she shrugged, blushing even more deeply under Bucky's gaze. "Like... you know, sort of like the pictures where the girl's got fabric draped around her and the lighting's all dark and pretty?"

Bucky had never seen another woman's maternity photos, so he simply shrugged and smiled. Nicolo, meanwhile, replied, "Yes, that's exactly what I had in mind. But... I was also thinking maybe he could jump in a few as well."

"Me?" Bucky asked. "Really?"

Nicolo then paused and fished his phone out of his pocket, pulling up his camera roll and selecting one that he had saved for inspiration. He then showed it to both Bucky and Summer, the former widening his eyes and the latter dropping her jaw and nearly choking again.

"Yeah," Bucky nodded immediately. "Hell yeah. Let's do it."

Nicolo then looked at Summer questioningly, grinning because he knew what her answer would be just as well as she did.

She sighed and nodded. "Fine. I'm gonna die."

She did not die, however. About an hour later, after getting back to the tower and grabbing a snack plus touching up her hair and makeup, she was in a room occupied by only herself, Nicolo, Esteban and Bucky. She had just finished taking her solo photos, some fully clothed and others not, all of them classy with an artistic flare that Nicolo was known for. The two men had a way of making her feel completely at ease and comfortable, even in various states of undress, and she was enormously grateful to have them in her life.

"Okay," Esteban clapped mischievously, gesturing towards Bucky who had been sitting on the sidelines quietly admiring his wife during the shoot. "Get your shirt off and get in there."

He chuckled and got to his feet, doing as he was instructed and Summer sighed as Esteban headed her way to help her off the floor where she had been laying and posing with a big swath of fabric covering her and nothing else. She covered herself with it after he helped her stand, and then he raised an eyebrow and asked, "Ready?"

She glanced over at Bucky as he casually strutted her way, wearing just a pair of sinfully low-slung dark jeans and nothing else. She then bit her lip and said, "As ready as I'll ever be."

"Mhm," Esteban grinned, patting her shoulder as Bucky took his place at her side. He then told them both, "This is gonna be hot. And gorgeous. You," he told Bucky, "I want you to make love to the camera. I want you to look at it and make it your little bitch."

Bucky snorted and raised an eyebrow. "You want me to fuck the camera?"

"Figuratively, yes. And you," he told Summer next, "I want you to just be your beautiful self. Smile, blush, giggle, whatever. Show the camera how much you love this man and why you keep letting him put his babies in you."

"You really have an... elegant way of putting things," Summer smiled.

"Of course I do. Now put this on," he grabbed a flowy black maxi skirt she'd brought with her and tossed it at her, "and that lacy black bra from before, and we'll go from there."

Summer nodded, watching Esteban head back to Nicolo's side and then smiling nervously at Bucky. "Ready?"

"To eye-fuck the camera? I guess," he grinned, and she slapped his shoulder lightly before getting ready for the first round of photos.

They started off with simple, sweet shots. Summer standing sideways, Bucky on his knees in front of her, holding her belly and either looking at it or her, his gleaming metal arm always the one facing the camera. Then they took some of her sitting in his lap, both of them holding her belly and alternating between smiling at each other, laughing together and kissing here and there. Those were the easy, almost effortless pictures, but the sexiest were saved for last.

"I think I'm gonna like this," Bucky said, unclasping her bra for her. She pulled it off of her arms and he made her giggle by placing a kiss on the back of her shoulder blade.

"Of course you will," she mused, turning around and grinning when his eyes of course fell to her breasts. "You like everything involving my boobs being out."

"Can you blame me?" he smirked, and then they were interrupted by Esteban directing them into the position that he and Nicolo wanted.

A few moments later, Bucky and Summer were standing directly in front of the camera, her back pressed to his chest and her hands resting high on her belly. His right arm was wrapped along the lower part of her belly, almost cupping it, and his metal arm was draped across her chest. His held her left breast in his hand, his forearm concealing the other one, and as instructed, he stared at the camera with a gaze so direct and smoldering that Esteban audibly whimpered and began fanning himself with his hand.

Summer couldn't help but laugh a little as Nicolo took shot after shot, looking down and smiling and whispering under her breath, "This is kinda hilarious."

"Shh," he murmured into her ear, never taking his gaze off of the camera. "I'm trying to make the camera my bitch right now."

That made her crack up, and he couldn't help but laugh with her. Nicolo simply kept shooting, fully aware that half the time the best photos were the ones that happened accidentally.

"Stop, you're gonna make me pee," she giggled, trying her best to achieve a straight face.

"I'm not doing anything," he whispered in defense of himself. "But I could if you wanted me to. Like... I could tell you all the things I plan on doing to you later tonight."

She blushed and guessed, "Rubbing my swollen feet and hand-feeding me an Oreo McFlurry?"

"... Dammit, you ruined the surprise."

They started laughing again, and Nicolo briefly glanced up at Esteban so they could both shake their heads at the insufferably cute couple.

"Actually... I planned on getting the kids to bed early tonight," he murmured in her ear after the giggles subsided. "Then getting you in the bathtub and working out all those knots you've got in your back from lugging this baby around all day."

"That sounds great," she groaned, eyes fluttering shut at the mere thought.

"Then... I'm gonna take you to bed and get my mouth on you," he whispered, his breath deliciously warm on her ear and his teeth briefly nipping at the lobe. "All over you. Keep going 'til you make me stop. It's been awhile since I've gotten to do that. Think I'll drag it out, make it last... make you come as many times as I can like that."

Her eyes still closed and her cheeks heating up to almost unbearable lengths, not to mention her heartbeat starting to flutter wildly in response to his words and the dark tone of his voice, Bucky chose that moment to look up at the camera through his lashes and give it his most heated look yet. The first photo that Nicolo took of that ended up being his favorite from the entire shoot.

"Sound good, sweetheart?" Bucky asked once he knew that Nicolo had taken enough shots of that particular look. He kissed under Summer's ear, and all the while Nicolo kept snapping away and Esteban watched while biting his fist.

"Yeah," she replied shakily, smiling while biting her lip. "That sounds..." she let out a giggle. "These pictures are gonna look so weird."

"No, they're gonna be great. You're beautiful like this," he told her sincerely, his right hand thumb swiping affectionately over her belly. "And one day, when our house is finished, we can get the best picture from this shoot framed and put on our bedroom wall."

"... You'd want that?"

He chuckled darkly. "Would I want a big framed picture of us standing here like this, you topless and in my arms, carrying my baby? Yeah... yeah, I'd definitely want that."

She believed him. And now she wanted it too.

Once the shoot was over and Bucky had helped Summer get fully dressed again, not to mention calm down after the heated words he'd been whispering seductively into her ear, Nicolo pulled up his favorite shot from the last part of the shoot and showed it to the couple on his camera's viewer. They both peered down at the photo and let their jaws drop a little at how incredibly gorgeous it was.

"Look at this," Nicolo told Summer, zooming in on Bucky's face. A flash of heat ripped through her immediately - she couldn't help it. He was staring at the camera like he owned it, like he was going to devour the person on the other side, and that was when she realized it - she had seen that very same look countless times before, always when she was laid out before him in their bed and he was deciding how to take her apart first.

And now, seeing that look immortalized in a photo where he was holding her protectively and possessively, both of them naked from the waist up and his shining metal arm the only thing concealing her breasts from view... it was possibly the best thing she'd ever seen in her life.

"You definitely made the camera your bitch," Esteban said, also peeking down at the picture. "Yes. You..." He cleared his throat. "Wow. For once, I might actually be speechless."

"That never happens," Nicolo said, looking at Bucky meaningfully. "Be proud, my friend."

Bucky chuckled, and Summer bit her lip before smiling and telling Nicolo, "When you edit this picture and finish it, we want it big and framed. I need it. Whatever it'll cost, sign us up."

"I can do that," Nicolo smiled. "And of course, I'll personally take care of that for you, just to make sure none of these photos get into the wrong hands and end up on the Internet."

"The Internet would break," Esteban said, wide-eyed. "Forget Kim Kardashian. This would actually bring the Internet apocalypse."

"... Which is why it will be staying in my hands," Nicolo smiled.

"Thank you so much," Summer said gratefully, hugging them both. "I love you both. You're the best. I couldn't do this stuff with anyone else."

"It's our pleasure," Nicolo assured her, hugging her back. "You might be my favorite person to photograph."

Summer blushed in response, and Bucky slid an arm around her waist as he remarked, "Take as many pictures of her as you want, whenever you want. The less clothes she wears, the better. In fact, I'll gladly take another book of sexy pictures of her."

Summer rolled her eyes. "Maybe if you do one yourself, I'll think about it."

Esteban's eyes widened and he nearly gasped, "That might not be a bad idea."

"Boudoir shoot with the Winter Soldier," Nicolo grinned.

"I take it back - that would break the Internet," Esteban said. "It might even break the entire universe."

"Dream on, guys," Bucky scoffed, patting Nicolo's shoulder before walking away to grab his drink where he'd left it on the floor some yards away.

Summer simply smirked at him and called out, "You'd do it if I asked you to. You can't say no to me."

Taking a long drink from a bottle of water, Bucky then lowered the drink and teased back, "First time for everything."

She raised an eyebrow. "... Is that a challenge?"

He simply shrugged and then took another long drink before walking away, shooting her a maddening little grin and then heading towards the door. Once it closed behind him, Summer put her hands on her hips and sighed, "Why does he have to be so hot?"

"God knew that he was going to face an obscene amount of horrible things in his life," Esteban explained with a shrug. "So he blessed him with and endless and irresistible supply of sexy to help make up for it."

"... You know, I might actually believe that," Summer replied, nodding.

"Plus," Nicolo added, "if he passed out in front of your house looking like Steve Buscemi, you might not have ever agreed to date him and then you would have missed out on the great love of your life. So really, it's for the best that he's as pretty as he is."

"... True," she mused.

"Exactly," Esteban added, "because also, you never would have come to New York and met us. And let's face it, your life would be so much emptier without us."

She smiled at both of them affectionately and couldn't help but agree. "Yeah it would. Which is why you guys are required to come visit me all the time when I move back home."

"Of course," Esteban sighed. "That goes without saying. Besides, you need someone to help you decorate the new place, yes? Did you know that I used to moonlight as an interior designer back home in Spain?"

"Of course you did," Summer laughed. "Is there anything you haven't done?"

"I have never slept with a woman," Esteban immediately shrugged. "Does that count?"

Summer laughed and pulled both men into another hug, simply filled to the brim with love and affection for them. She'd miss them once she and the family moved back to Virginia, but she would make sure to visit as often as possible and she wouldn't let their friendship fade. Moving to New York was one of the best decisions she had ever made, but she also knew deep down that going home and starting over in a brand new house built from the ground up was the right next step to take.

But first, the house needed to finish being built, and before that, she needed to evict Rebecca from her current place of residence. That happened soon enough, just two weeks later in fact, on the very day that Summer officially hit the nine month mark.

It happened as Summer was peering out the window in her room, watching the raging blizzard outside blanket Manhattan in over two feet of snow. It had been snowing since the night before, and while David and Adelaide were both incredibly excited at this development, Summer was significantly less thrilled. Several feet of snow meant being stuck in the tower, and being stuck in the tower at full term pregnancy meant that it was time to start getting nervous.

Then, she made the mistake of reaching up to pull the curtains shut. As soon as she stretched her arms out, she felt a distinct and unmistakable pop deep in her abdomen followed by a warm gush down her legs that immediately made her pause and widen her eyes in shock.

Then she rolled her eyes and muttered, "You've gotta be fricking kidding me."

As it turned out, fate and its questionable sense of humor was definitely not kidding her.

After she yelled for Bucky and told him what happened, he proceeded to panic and tell Steve who told Nat who told everyone in a group text what was going on. This resulted in Paul emerging from the room that he had been staying in since the night before - the blizzard hit right at the end of his shift at the hospital and Summer insisted that he stay there rather than attempt the hour-long drive home - and panicking right alongside Bucky. Steve wasn't very calm either, and this left Summer and Natasha to simply mutually roll their eyes as they dialed the midwife and started timing contractions.

"What's gonna happen?" Bucky asked wide-eyed as Summer paced the living room area, keeping moving so as to encourage contractions. "You can't have the baby here!"

"Well," Summer replied, "unless Vision or Tony wants to literally fly me half an hour away to the birthing center, this is exactly where I'm gonna have her."

"But... your midwife isn't here, and... oh God," Bucky groaned, dropping his face into his hands and dragging his fingers through his now-long again hair.

"Hey," Summer smiled, putting a soothing hand on his shoulder. "It's okay. I'm gonna be fine. And there is a doctor here."

Bucky looked at her in confusion for a moment before his gaze drifted across the room and landed on Paul, who was trying to pick up Steve's shield for some unknown reason. He instantly dropped it, and it landed on his toes which caused him to let out a high-pitched cry of pain and clutch his foot as he hopped away from the thing.

Bucky let out a small noise of despair. "... Please don't tell me he's gonna deliver our baby."

"Look, he might be a giant dork who's probably wearing Harry Potter underwear under his jeans right now, but he's a great doctor," Summer replied. "The midwife said she'd talk him through everything once it's time to push. Trust me, we'd be in a lot worse shape if he wasn't here."

As if to prove her point, Tony suddenly appeared wearing a baseball catcher's mitt and umpire's mask. "So, I heard you need someone to catch your baby."

Bucky took one look at him and muttered, "Not you. Never you."

Tony took off the mask and feigned a wounded expression. "Never me? Don't you think that's a little harsh?"

"No," Bucky shook his head. "No I don't."

Next to approach them and offer their assistance was Wanda, who had a much more reasonable and useful proposal for Summer.

"If you'd like, I can keep your mind occupied when the pain gets bad," she told her, following her around the room as she continued to pave. "I don't think I can make the pain stop, but I can try to block it from your mind."

"... That's a brilliant idea, holy crap," Summer replied, eyebrows shot up towards her hairline. "But I've got like five bottles of this pain potion stuff from Thor, and last time it worked perfect, so... maybe instead, can you help keep the kids happy?"

"Of course," Wanda smiled. "And let me know if you need anything." She glanced at Bucky and added, "You too."

"I'm okay for now," he smiled back. "But I'll let you know if I need you to do your voodoo so I don't pass out."

Wanda laughed and then headed off to begin her child care duties, and as a particularly strong contraction hit Summer and made her focus on breathing and working through it, she realized that while this situation was certainly not the ideal for childbirth, it wasn't so bad either. She was surrounded by friends and family and all the people she loved most in the world, and her brother was going to deliver her baby. How many women got to experience something like that?

Paul and Natasha setup a makeshift labor suite for Summer in one of the empty bedrooms as she continued walking and kick-starting her labor. They covered a previously unused bed with clean linens and laid out a number of supplies that Paul had sterilized, and in the end they did a pretty good job of making the room resemble one out of a hospital. Nobody in the tower was particularly well-versed in the realm of home births, but Paul had done a rotation in obstetrics during his residency in California and he was reasonably well-prepared to deliver his niece.

Sort of.

Twelve hours passed by in a blur. Six hours into labor, Summer had taken the potion and four hours after that, she got into the bed that had been prepared for her and labored the rest of the way there. While she wasn't in pain, she was exhausted and there was no telling how long the labor was going to last, so she decided to try to take a nap.

She fell asleep for all of ten minutes before she woke up with a start. "Paul - Paul! Paul, get the frick in here!"

Bucky, who had been dozing in the chair next to her, nearly jumped out of his skin and gasped, "What? What - what happened? Are you okay?"

"I - go get Paul," Summer told him frantically, shaking her hand towards the door. "Hurry!"

Bucky got up and ran to the door at the very same moment that Paul was running to it. As a result, when Paul burst inside the room, he whacked Bucky in the face with the door and sent him stumbling off against the wall with a surprised and bewildered groan of pain.

Summer groaned and dropped her head against the pillow. If nothing else, this birth was certainly proving not to be a boring one.

After apologizing profusely to Bucky and briefly making sure his nose wasn't broken, Paul rushed to his sister's side and asked, "What's up?"

"Well, I was sleeping and then all of a sudden now I feel like she's about to fly out any second, like she's got on a fricking jet pack or something and oh my gosh, yep, oh God, I gotta push - "

"Okay, calm down," Paul said, grabbing a pair of latex gloves out of a box that Tony had provided. "No jet-packing out of there until Doctor Uncle gives the okay."

Bucky returned to Summer's side and sighed with quiet despair at the words "Doctor Uncle", rubbing at his poor battered nose. Then, less than a full minute and one very quick glance later, Paul paled and said, "Oh God. Yep, that kid is coming right now."

"Frick frick frick," Summer whined, taking a deep breath and trying to resist the overwhelming need to push. "Oh God."

"Okay, um... Steve, can you give me a hand?" Paul called towards the door, needing an assistant and fast.

"Are you - oh my God, no!" Summer exclaimed the very moment Steve's bewildered head appeared in the doorway. "He's not coming anywhere near me down there!"

Before Paul could reply, Natasha appeared and pushed Steve out of the way, walking in with an expression of pure calm but also determination and focus. "I'll help. Kid's my little namesake, after all."

She and Summer shared a little smile at that, and Paul said, "Okay then. Nurse Widow it is. First thing I need you to do is call the midwife and get her on speaker so she can supervise."

Natasha whipped out her phone and started dialing. "Done. And don't call me that."

"I'm the doctor, I'm in charge right now." Paul then glanced at Natasha and visibly shrunk a little before muttering, "Kidding. You're in charge. You're always in charge."

"Of course I am."

Summer interrupted the banter with a hiss and a slightly high-pitched groan of, "Oh my God, guys, seriously, I can't hold back. This is unbearable, I'm gonna -"

"Hey, shh," Bucky said softly, grasping her hand and looking her in the eye, using his cool metal hand to brush a few strands of hair from her face. "Try to breathe, okay? You can do it. You've got this. It's almost over."

She nodded, closing her eyes and focusing on his words and on the rhythm of her own breathing. She made herself take long, slow breaths, and then before she knew it, Natasha was gently touching her arm and telling her, "You can push now."

"Oh, thank God," Summer groaned before taking a deep breath and finally giving in and letting her body do what it needed to do. This being her third child, she knew exactly what she was doing and how to push the most effectively, and while she might have lacked confidence in other areas of life, this wasn't one of them. Not only that, but she was more than ready to get it all over with and finally have her new baby in her arms.

With the midwife on the phone and remotely supervising and advising Summer's unexpected support team, everything started to move rather quickly. Summer's focus shifted and narrowed into one singular goal that she put every ounce of energy behind, and once she was in the zone, nothing could stand in her way. Bucky watched her in a state of quiet, mostly silent awe, holding her hand and providing what support he could as their child came closer and closer to making their grand debut.

"Okay," Paul said after only about ten full minutes of pushing, "this is it. One more good push and you're almost done."

She could tell - the feeling of pressure was almost more than her brain could comprehend. After sucking in one more deep breath and tightening her grip on Bucky's hand, she gave it her all one more time.

"Oh my God," Paul said as he delivered the baby, cradling the head first and then guiding the rest of the tiny little creature out. "I'm delivering a baby. I'm delivering my sister's baby. This is insane. Okay, one more little push, and... yep, okay. She's out. Good God, she's tiny."

Breathing hard and head falling back in sheer relief now that it was over at last, Summer only closed her eyes for a second before lifting her head back up and peering down towards Paul and Nat, unable to see the baby at all. Bucky was halfway out of his seat trying to see as well, but before she could impatiently demand to see her, Natasha had thrown a clean blanket over Summer's torso and Paul was placing a brand new little bundle of joy on top of it.

"Here you go, kid," he smiled affectionately, handing the baby over to her waiting arms. "Your new little baby girl."

And then, just like the two other children that came before her, as soon as Summer laid her eyes on the squirmy, very unhappy newborn, she fell in love in an instant. The whole world melted away and all that mattered was this new, precious, adorable life in her arms. Then little Rebecca Natalia scrunched up her face and let out a hearty wail to make her ancestors proud, and Summer and Bucky both laughed as they gazed upon their daughter with love and tears in their eyes.

Natasha helped to clean the baby off as the new parents got lost in the happy daze, gently rubbing a soft cloth over her bright pink skin and then moving on to her hair. As she wiped the remaining goo away from her hair, Summer focused her eyes on the thin little wisps and wondered aloud, "Is she blonde?"

"She might be," Bucky said, leaning in closer to help Summer analyze. "I can't tell."

"Hold on," Natasha said, rubbing a bit more vigorously and finally getting Rebecca's head as clean as it was gonna get. Then all three of them looked a bit closer, and they couldn't believe what they found.

"... Oh my God," Bucky chuckled.

"Well, this is surprising," Natasha grinned.

Summer let out a breathless laugh. "Paul?"

"Yeah?" he asked without looking up, more than a little preoccupied at that current moment.

"Come look up here for a minute."

Paul paused and started to stand up, saying, "Well, I'm a little busy trying to make sure you don't bleed out and die on me because that would really suck and oh my God!" He gasped and his eyes became the size of saucers. "She has red hair!"

Apparently, unlike the case of her previous two children, the Irish genes in Rebecca's blood had emerged triumphant above all the others. Now Bucky and Summer, who were both as brunette as a couple could be, had a little blue-eyed and ginger-haired little girl, and the only person possibly happier than they were was Paul.

"She's beautiful," Paul said with tears in his eyes. "Look at her. Oh my God. This might be the best day of my whole life."

Summer laughed and kissed her little girl on the forehead. Rebecca was now wrapped up snugly in a clean blanket thanks to Natasha, and the little warm cocoon had soothed her so that she wasn't crying any longer. Instead, now she was staring up at her mama, clear blue eyes alert and absolutely beautiful.

"She's perfect," Bucky murmured, gently tracing his daughter's fat little cheek with his finger. "And so little."

"I know," Summer marveled, unable to get the smile off of her face. "She can't be more than seven pounds, if that."

"Cord cutting time," Paul announced, handing Bucky a pair of sterilized scissors. "Here you go."

Bucky took the scissors and kissed the top of Rebecca's head before standing and leaning over to cut the cord where Paul motioned him to. Once it was done and the cord was officially cut, he sat back down and looked upon his little family with more love in his eyes than he could almost stand. He felt like he might just burst, in the best possible way.

Then Summer asked him if he was ready to hold Rebecca for the first time, and it only got even better from there. He carefully took the little baby from Summer's arms into his, hardly able to believe how very small and light she was, his arms simply swallowing her up. He cooed sweet little words to her, told her how much he loved her, and he couldn't help but let a tear escape his eye when he remembered how close he had come to being separated from her forever before he could even meet her.

Though Bucky didn't want to let her go for even a minute, eventually he knew that he had to. So, after he had soaked up as much as he could from her, he turned his eyes to Natasha and asked, "Wanna hold her?"

Her eyes flickered with faint surprise before she quickly recovered and nodded, standing up and walking over to his side of the bed. Then, once she was close enough, they shared a brief but meaningful look before he put the baby in her arms, and that was all it took for the famous and fearsome Black Widow to melt into a helpless puddle.

It wasn't so long ago that Natasha hadn't believed that she was capable of anything good, or that anything good could ever be associated with her or name. But those days were over now, and she was holding a brand new and completely innocent little person in her arms who would bear her name all of her life. This beautiful little girl was pure and good and precious, and Natasha wasn't sure that either Bucky or Summer would ever know quite what it meant to her to have the child named after her.

"Look at you," Natasha said softly, her voice rousing Rebecca's eyes open. She smiled. "You've already made a lot of people very happy today." She glanced at Summer and Bucky and shared a small smile with them before turning back to the baby and leaning down, whispering something into her ear that nobody else could hear.

Soon after that, Paul finished his work and Summer was all fixed up and able to get up and move about as much as her energy level and motivation allowed. Natasha helped to get her cleaned up and into new clothes, and after Rebecca's first feeding, they allowed the others to come in and see the new baby.

David and Adelaide came in first, with Steve and Wanda right behind them. David's eyes nearly turned into giant hearts when he first laid them on his new little sister, his jaw dropping when he saw the very familiar color of her hair. Then Bucky picked Adelaide up and introduced her to Rebecca, but Adelaide wasn't all that impressed. She decided that she'd rather get down and try to get into as much stuff as possible, and that was fine - she and Rebecca would one day be best friends, Summer was sure of it.

Paul got his chance soon thereafter to hold the baby himself, at which point he burst into tears all over again due to just how perfect and Irish she was. He could barely be convinced to give the baby up so someone else could hold her, but eventually he relented and let Steve take her for awhile.

From Steve she was then passed to Wanda, who passed her to Vision, who stared in wonder at the little child before carefully handing her to Tony.

"All right, Munchkin, listen up," Tony told her, gazing down very seriously into her barely open eyes. "I'm Tony Stark. You will love me, got it? I haven't won over your sister yet, but we're not gonna have that problem, are we? I didn't think so. That's right. I'm your favorite. Period."

After that, Sam woke up from a dead sleep to wander out of his room with Darcy and meet the baby as well. All was well until he handed her to Darcy, at which point the baby started pushing her face against her rather ample chest before letting out a pitiful and hungry cry.

"Oh boy, sorry kid, no food in these babies," Darcy said before quickly handing her off to Summer. "Here you go, Milk Factory. You've got an impatient customer."

Summer laughed and happily took the baby, and the room slowly cleared out as she nursed her back to sleep. It was as Rebecca slept contentedly on Summer's chest that it hit her just how dead tired she was, and with Bucky and Natasha's help, she got up and moved back into her own room.

On the way there, she hugged Paul as tightly as she could and thanked him for all that he had done for her.

"Anytime, kiddo," he smiled, hugging her back. "I gotta say, as gross as it was being all up in your business, getting to deliver my niece and welcome her into the world was just... wow. It was amazing."

Summer smiled and laughed at his choice of words. "Thanks for braving the ickiness and doing it. Otherwise I would have been stuck with Tony and his catcher's mitt."

Paul laughed and then bade her goodnight, urging her to rest while she could. He then headed off to one of the guest rooms to crash for the night, and Summer finally got to crawl into her own comfy bed and collapse into a big pile of useless limbs on top of it.

Bucky got the older kids to bed while Natasha deposited Rebecca in a little bassinet right next to Summer's side of the bed, well within arm's reach. "Need anything before I go?" Natasha asked, and Summer smiled and shook her head.

"Nope, I think I'm all set. But I did have a question. When you were whispering to her earlier... what did you say?"

Natasha paused before looking down at the sleeping baby and replying, "Well... she has my name, but she'll never have my life, or a lack of people who love her. I wanted her to know that, even if she can't understand yet."

Summer smiled warmly at her best friend, her words making her eyes prickle with tears. "You know I love you so much I can't stand it sometimes, right?"

Natasha chuckled at that and nodded, patting Summer's leg. "Yeah, I know. Thank you for..." Natasha trailed off then, simply unable to find the words. Finally she just shook her head slightly and smiled. "Thank you."

Summer nodded, knowing exactly what she meant without having to hear the words. Then Natasha told her goodnight and left quietly, walking out the door just as Bucky was walking in.

"I hope you enjoy not sleeping," Natasha smirked as she walked past him, both of them coming to a stop.

"I spent most of the last century sleeping. I'll live," he shrugged with a grin. Natasha rolled her eyes at him before surprising him by pulling him into a warm hug.

Bucky was so taken aback that he didn't know quite how to respond at first, but eventually he raised his arms up and embraced her back. Then when she pulled away, she gave him a small smile and told him, "You've come a long way. And you've got a hell of a life, Barnes. Don't screw it up."

"Wasn't planning on it," he replied softly.

She smiled and nodded, in that subtle way of hers as always. "See you at the office," she then joked, just before turning and heading back to her own room. Bucky chuckled and then shut the door, letting out a deep breath and then making his way to the bed where his wife was laying half-asleep.

She stirred when he slipped carefully into the bed, kissing her forehead as she groaned quietly. "I feel like I got hit by a truck."

He chuckled and gently wrapped his arm around her, above her waist just in case she was sore. "Well, you pushed a human being out of you, so... that's even more badass."

She smiled and closed her eyes, snuggling into his side and letting out a sleepy yawn. "I can't believe I had her here at the tower."

"I can't believe she's got your brother's hair."

Summer giggled. "I don't think I've ever seen him so happy before. I thought he was gonna hold her up like Simba and start singing Circle of Life."

Bucky chuckled back and pressed a kiss to her temple. "Go to sleep, sweetheart. We gotta sleep while she's sleeping."

"Yeah," Summer agreed, yawning again. "Okay. G'night."

"Night, baby," he murmured before closing his eyes along with her. "I love you."

"Love you too."

A few minutes later, the sound of soft snores filled the room as the two exhausted parents finally fell asleep around 4:30 AM. They both felt like they could sleep for days, Summer especially, and it was pure bliss to lay there in silence and just sleep.

At least until a sharp, hungry and demanding cry rang out from the bassinet next to them and woke them both up. Bucky shot up and Summer flailed for a moment before remembering where she was, who she was, and the fact that the crying belonged to the baby she'd just had.

"Oh man, how long were we asleep?" Summer wondered out loud, squinting at the clock as Bucky got up to retrieve Rebecca for her.

Once her eyes finally focused, she read the time on the clock in disbelief. It was 4:48. They hadn't even slept 20 minutes.

She groaned and sunk back into the pillows. "Frick."

Ah, the joys of parenthood. But it was all more than worth it, and of all the things that both Bucky and Summer had lost sleep over during the course of their lives... this was certainly the best.