It was 1970 and Bucky was heading to work when a man driving past him stopped.
"Hey, man! Make love, not war!" the man said and Bucky sighed shaking his head but kept walking.
"God help me." Bucky muttered.
Over the years Bucky had gotten ranked as high as General quicker than ever but never aged and that worried everyone.
Howard had asked him multiple times for a blood test to see what was going on and after Peggy, the Commandos, Phillips and just about everyone's bugging he surrendered and agreed.
A week later they found out due to his serum, Bucky will never age. How old he'll live is something they'll never be able to figure out but they did know one thing, that was very different then Erskine's serum.
Phillips had died a year later and Bucky was given his position at SHIELD.
Since then Bucky had been given his own office, giving more orders than being given, paid more and more like that.
He and the Commandos will still hang out, still work together on big missions now and then but lately they've been low.
Zola had been let out shortly after the war and Bucky felt like something big was going to come soon. He just didn't know what.
Soon he was in an elevator reading something with a lady.
When it stopped and was at his level he started walking while still reading the paper.
"Have a nice day ma'am." he said while leaving the elevator.
While he walked he saw he was in the lab with the tesseract.
"They should've left you in the damn water." he said shaking his head.
"Arnim, you in there? Arnim? Hey Barnes!" Howard said and Bucky turned to look at him. "I'm looking for Dr. Zola. Have you seen him?"
"Sorry Howard, haven't seen him." Bucky said. "How's Maria doing?"
"Good." Howard said and Bucky saw something.
"Flowers and sauerkraut?"
"Too much time in the office." Howard said and Bucky chuckled.
"We've been trying to stop you but you just don't listen. You know I've got plenty of free time. Peggy has her own family but I'm free if you ever need me." Bucky said smiling.
"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind."
"How far along is she again?"
"I don't know– Uh– She's at the point where she can't stand the sound of my chewing. I guess I'll be eating dinner in the pantry again."
"Ouch." Bucky said. "Any idea what it is?"
"We don't know. A girl would be nice though. Less of a chance she'd turn out exactly like me."
"It wouldn't be that bad having a boy. You'd be able to teach him what not to be like. And he'd have uncle Bucky to have fun."
"You know the greater good has rarely outweighed my own self-interests Barnes." Howard said and they started walking.
"So, any names yet?"
"Well, if it's a boy, Maria likes Elmonzo."
"What?"
"I don't know." Howard said holding his hands out in defense.
"What about you?"
"W-what do you mean?" Bucky asked feeling a little uncomfortable.
'They didn't, did they?' he thought panicking a little.
"If you ever got married and had kids, what would you name them?"
"Oh." Bucky said relieved and thought for a minute. "If it was a girl I'd probably name it Jasmine Iris Barnes. And if it was a boy, Mathew Steven Barnes."
"Nice. But what's with the flowers?"
"I always loved Jasmines and Steve always love Irises. With us being best friends we swore to name our kids after each other somehow." Bucky said and shrugged.
"Makes sense." Howard said. "Do you think you'd be good at it?"
"After helping my parents raise my four sisters and Steve's ma with Steve and his health problems? I think I've got it down." Bucky said and chuckled.
"That's right, you've got a lot of sisters don't you?"
"Yup. Plenty of nephews and nieces I watch to. So if you ever need any help or advice, I'll be there. I'm sure Peggy will be there to." Bucky said smiling.
"Thanks." Howard said smiling back.
"I wonder if they'll be as smart as you?" Bucky said and they laughed.
Later Bucky was walking through some labs when Hank Pym came running down a hallway bumping into him.
"Excuse me! Out of the way!" Hank said and ran.
"Hey! Watch it!" Bucky said and shook his head. "Crazy scientist." he said and headed to Peggy's office.
When he got there he walked in her room, looked at the picture of Steve and sat down to with for Peggy.
A few minutes later Peggy came in looking annoyed.
"You having a rough day to?" Bucky asked and she nodded. "What is it this time? Newbies or men treating you like crap because you're such a strong woman?"
"Both." Peggy said and sat down. "How about you?"
"Uh let's see, almost hit by a car this morning, bumped into Howard while he was looking for Zola and told him I'd pick up my hours so he can lower his and spend more time with Maria before she delivers, then I was walked into by Dr. Pym running to get something and then I came here." he said and she looked at him amused.
"You've had a busy morning."
"Oh you know me, always getting hit by something." he said and they laughed. "I told Howard I'd help him with his kid if he needed me to. I help my sisters with my nieces and nephews, my parents raise my sisters, you and your husband with your kids and pretty much helped Sarah raise Steve with all his medical problems!" he said leaning his head against his chair.
"You really miss him." she said and he sighed.
"Yeah. He was my whole world Pegs. And now he's gone."
"He would be proud of what you've become so quick over the years." she said gently and he looked at her. "It takes longer than ten years to become a General James, you know that." she said smiling and he sighed but nodded knowing she was right and looked at his badge.
"Sometimes I feel like it was just a dream and I should give it back, wake up wearing that Sergeant badge and heading to England." he said and chuckled.
"Well, it's most certainly not a dream." she said chuckling to and he smiled.
"No it's not. If it was, Steve would be that scrawny kid from Brooklyn always getting into fights." he said and they laughed.
