"Alya, come here."

Bucky could hear the child's feet slapping up against the wooden floor as she ran towards the kitchen.

"What're you doing?" She asked, peering over at the counter.

"I'm baking a cake."

"Why?" She wrinkled her nose.

She's never seen a man make a cake alone before. Her father in an apron was not an everyday sight.

"Because." After the little hiccup they had hours before, Bucky decided he wanted to spend some one-on-one time with her to make sure that she felt like they could move past it. "Back when I was kid, the whole country was going through a Depression. There were food rations all over the place, so we had very little of anything." He explained as he mixed some ingredients together. "So, my ma used to hoard certain foods and when the time was right, she'd bring it all out and make something delicious with it."

"Like what?"

"Applesauce cake."

"Ick."

People put applesauce in cake?

"Ick?" He laughed, scooping out a small spoonful of applesauce for her to taste. "Why don't you try it first?"

This was going to be such a great way to wean her off of all that processed sugar she enjoyed so much.

Alya eyed the spoon warily before she allowed it to enter her mouth. She had to admit, it didn't taste as bad as she thought it would.

"Why are you putting it in the cake?"

"That's just how it's always been." He shrugged. "My ma got the recipe from her mother, I got the recipe from my mother, and now, I'm passing it on to you. Stand up here." He set her up on a little stool so that their height difference wasn't so obvious.

Alya giggled at how tall she'd gotten and looked at everything that was on the counter, eager to dig her hands into something.

"Take this." Her father handed her a whisk. "And stir everything I put in there. Don't leave any lumps."

"I know what I'm doing." Alya focused on the new task she was given.

Bucky had to give it to her, she was driven.

She needed to be in order to survive the Red Room.

"Smell this." He picked up a little jar of spices.

Alya turned away once she got a whiff of whatever it was that he was holding. The smell was a little overwhelming and she couldn't imagine how it could make anything taste good.

"What is it?"

"Clove." He answered her, dumping some of it in the bowl. "We have that, cinnamon, butter, sugar, baking soda and nutmeg. Now, we need flour and the applesauce."

"Can I put it in, please?" Alya lit up.

"Sure, but go put on an apron so you don't get your clothes dirty."

Alya grinned and raced over to the pantry, grabbing her own apron that was littered with sock monkeys.

Everyone in the house had their own aprons. Wanda had one with roses all over it, Peter's was a royal blue, Steve's had stars and stripes, Natasha's was a plain red with a small cat on the right side, Bucky's was a plain green, and Yelena's was purple with Twilight Sparkle on the chest.

"Come here, you little monkey. Let me tie that for you." Bucky couldn't help but think that her enthusiasm was contagious. He was happy that he was able to share a part of himself with her like this; a part that wasn't the Winter Soldier. His hands tied a secure little bow behind her back before he tapped her to let her know the job was done. "We need two cups of flour."

Alya nodded and picked up the bag of flour with the intent of pouring the right amount into the measuring cup that was waiting for her. Unfortunately, flour didn't really pour like water did, so when she saw that most of it was ending up on the counter, she put the bag down and tried a different way.

Bucky didn't say anything. He wasn't going to scream at her for making a mess. That was all a part of the learning process.

Alya used both her hands to scoop the fallen flour up, getting a little distracted by the texture of it as she let it fall into the cup.

When she scooped up as much flour as she could, she went through the drawers to find a big spoon and scooped the rest out, making less of a mess than she had before.

"What now?" She asked as she poured the second cup into the bowl.

"Two/thirds cup of the applesauce."

Pouring the applesauce into the cup proved to be a lot easier than doing it with the flour. There was no mess to be made this time.

"Good girl." Bucky gave her her well deserved props. "Do you wanna stir?"

"Yeah." Alya looked down at her hands and spread her fingers, trying to figure out what to do with all the flour that was sticking to them.

She could've washed her hands, but that would require her getting off of the stool.

And Bucky was standing right there, he was the perfect towel!

Grinning like a Cheshire Cat, Alya wiped her hands all over the front of her father's apron. White streaks were left in her wake.

"Very funny." In retaliation, Bucky dipped a finger in the flour and tapped her nose. "Stir."

Alya's eyes crossed when she tried to look down at her nose before she began to stir, trying to make sure that nothing spilled over.

"Put your back into it, kid." Bucky moved to stand directly behind her, placing one hand on the bowl and the other over her own hand. He wanted to help her out without taking it from her, so this was the next best thing. "You don't want the ingredients to settle."

And just to be funny, he began to stir more aggressively than he really needed to.

Hearing Alya's laughter filling the room, inevitably put a smile on his face.

"Do you wanna peel the potatoes, or chop the veggies?"

Since the applesauce cake was in the oven, Bucky decided to get started on dinner. Alya was so thrilled with being in the kitchen, she didn't want to leave, so he allowed her to stay and help.

Maybe being a part of the process and cooking the food they were going to eat, would make Alya more willing to eat healthier things.

One could only hope.

"I wanna peel the potatoes." Alya made grabby hands for the peeler. "I'm good at it. Watch."

The twelve year old swiped the peeler right across the skin of the first potato and looked up for approval. When she received it, she continued, concentrating very deeply on her task to the point where she wasn't paying attention to anything else.

"Did you use to help your mama when she cooked?" She asked when she reached the fourth potato.

By that point, Bucky had finished chopping up all the veggies and had placed them in the pot on the stove to simmer. So with every potato that Alya finished peeling, he would slice them up and add them to the pot.

"Sometimes. I didn't always have the time to spend with her."

"How come?"

"Well, I was either working on the docks, or I was keeping Steve out of trouble in back alleys."

"Was everything in black and white?" She tilted her head.

"What?" He barked a laugh.

Where had that come from?

"In the movies and the pictures, everything is in black and white." She deadpanned as if he should've been able to read her mind and know exactly what she meant.

The innocence of her curiosity only made him laugh harder, causing her to frown at his reaction.

"Don't laugh."

"I'm sorry, sweetheart. I'm not making fun of you." He tried to stop and the corners of his eyes crinkled from the strain. "I'm laughing because you're cute. No, everything wasn't in black and white."

He could see how the questions had come up. In almost all media, the thirties and very early forties were depicted on black and white film. He was sure that for Alya, it must've been hard to picture those times any differently.

Still, it was an adorable question.

"Oh….what did your mama look like?"

Bucky knew that eventually, Alya would start to wonder about his family. He wasn't caught off guard by all the inquiries. Actually, the very fact that she felt comfortable enough to ask him at all made him happy.

They were making progress here.

"Well, I guess she sorta looked like me." He stopped cutting and stared off into space in remembrance of his mother. "But her hair was curly, kind of like yours. Blue eyes, big smile. I think you have her nose. She was almost always wearing an apron, because she loved to cook. I don't know how she found the time while wrangling three little kids, but she managed."

"What was her name?"

"Winifred….everyone called her 'Winnie'."

If he closed his eyes long enough, he felt like he could see her standing in the kitchen of that old apartment in Brooklyn Heights, which, coincidentally, was not too far from where they were living now.

He could see her running after his three rambunctious siblings. He could almost hear her voice in his ear and feel her arms wrapped around him.

It was only Alya's small voice that snapped him out of it.

"Are you sad?" She looked at him with her sweet, doe eyes. "We don't have to talk about it anymore if it makes you sad."

"I'm not sad, Babydoll." He shook his head in an attempt to clear it. "I'm just thinking…..are you done with all the potatoes?"

"Yeah, they're all in the pot. Are we all done?"

"We're all done. Now, we just wait. You did a really good job today. I'm proud of you."

Alya's face betrayed the elation she was feeling from hearing him say that. She really liked hearing it.

"Daddy?"

"Yes?"

"I like spending time with you. I love you."

"Right back at you, Babydoll." He rested his forehead up against hers. "Right back at you."

"Alright. Eat up."

"What is it?" Steve asked, beginning to fill up bowls to pass them down the table. "Oh, you didn't."

"I did." Bucky smirked.

"What did he do?" Peter raised a brow when he was given his serving.

"This is his ma's potato soup." Steve explained, scooping a generous amount into Wanda's bowl before getting to Alya's. "We used to pretend not to feel well just to get her to make this stuff."

He remembered well. He'd let out a little cough or a fake sniffle (not that he really needed to try very hard), and Winnie would head right to the kitchen to make that special soup.

"It's delicious." Natasha complimented, letting her green eyes linger longer than what was necessary.

Bucky nearly flushed and looked away to save himself some dignity, taking the attention off of himself. "Actually, I had a little helper."

"Me!" Alya piped up from her unassigned assigned seat.

"It's very good, Baby." Yelena smiled.

"See, I knew there was something different about this soup." Steve winked.

"You did a very nice job." Natasha complimented her daughter, watching the child's smile grow wider. "I had no idea you were such a good cook."

"I like it." Wanda nudged her while Peter gave her a thumbs up in between scarfing it down.

"Can I tell them?" Alya asked her father.

"Go ahead." He ruffled her hair before sitting down to eat his own food.

"We made a cake!" She scooped a big spoonful of food into her mouth without a single ounce of complaint.

She was literally eating the veggies she claimed to detest with a grin.

Something all the adults seemed to notice, but no one said anything.

"Wow, you two had a lot of time on your hands!" Natasha matched her enthusiasm. "What kind of cake did you make?"

"It's a surprise! But you have to eat first, 'cause then you might not get any."

"So, does anyone have anything exciting coming up?" Steve asked to keep the conversation flowing.

As soon as they finished dinner, they dove into the much awaited applesauce cake. Bucky was pleased to see that everyone was enjoying it. But he was more content to see that Alya had found something she liked that wasn't candy or ice cream.

"My school has a science trip coming up for the summer." Peter looked directly at Alya.

Alya's head shot up and her eyes widened considerably.

Was he going to tell?

"That sounds cool." Wanda commented. "Where are you going?"

"Europe." He responded, never breaking eye contact. "It's only for two weeks. There was an extra space left, so my principal decided to find someone from the middle school next door to go."

"Oh really?" Natasha noticed the not so subtle looks the two kids were giving to each other as if no one could see them.

They were so obvious.

"What're you two hiding?" Bucky asked.

"Do you wanna tell them, or should I?" Peter gave Alya one last chance to come clean.

He usually didn't like to tattle like this, but Alya's parents deserved to know exactly what was going on. It was a really good thing and they should know about it.

"Tell us what?" Yelena arched a brow.

"If you tell, I'm never speaking to you again." Alya threatened weakly.

If Peter had a dime for every time she said that to him, he'd be richer than Tony Stark himself.

He wasn't exactly worried. Alya said things in the heat of the moment, calmed down and then moved on.

"Now, hold on a minute." Steve, ever the peacekeeper, stopped the impending sibling squabble. "Before we start dissolving friendships, why don't we get to the truth?"

"Alya was the one who was chosen to go this summer. Mr. Morita said that he was looking for someone with a high GPA and academic achievements. She fit the bill."

Alya just pouted and slumped in her seat.

This wasn't something she wanted getting out. She was going to tell everyone herself…..after the trip came and went.

She tuned out the sounds of everyone congratulating her in favor of glaring at Peter.

But all he did was smile.

After all, she was angry now, but that would soon pass. They were both going to Europe, so they had plenty of time to figure it all out.

"I really enjoyed dinner tonight." Natasha made sure to compliment Bucky once again.

It was late at night and the two were the only ones still downstairs. They had sent the kids to bed after a few hours. Steve and Yelena decided to retire for the night as well.

The two sat in silence, enjoying each other's presence as time ticked on very slowly. Natasha wasn't sure if she was getting ahead of herself and, internally, Bucky was feeling the same way.

Eventually, it got too late to stay awake and they both got up and headed for the staircase, bumping shoulders before they could reach the first step.

They could only liken the feeling as an electric shock through the body.

"I, uh.." Bucky cleared his throat. "I'm glad."

And throwing caution to the wind, Natasha took a deep breath and pressed her lips against his before she pulled away.

Fireworks!

Absolute fireworks!

And just before she went to turn and leave, she felt him grab her arm and pull her close, moving in to place a cautiously passionate kiss against her lips in return.

Little did they know, this was the beginning of something beautiful.