Archive of Our Own ^beta

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AN: This is the first time I've ever posted a fic! This is co-written with a friend. I've re-structured it to make the dialogue a little more natural, but I hope you love the story (and Rose!).

She was pacing around the medical tent, trying to make sure that there were enough open beds for whoever her brother brought back with him from this Hydra facility he had gone to infiltrate. Rosalie bent down to tuck in the corner of a sheet on one of them, trying to keep herself busy and her mind off of whatever could be going on for Steve. He had gotten a little too careless on the last few missions he had gone on and she'd had to patch him back up. The serum didn't make him bulletproof - even if he wanted to act like it did. When she ran out of beds to check, she sat down gingerly on the corner of one and started cutting up strips of cotton that could be used as bandaids. 

Before he had left, Steve had told her he was going to try and free some of the men Hydra had been holding captive, but he hadn't been very specific on where he was going or who he thought he would be able to bring back. They had gotten a telegram earlier that day that he expected to be back with a handful of men that afternoon and the entire camp had gotten to work to get things ready for the group's arrival - but almost everything she had been allowed to help with was done. When Steve had been selected to participate in a war that would ship him across the world, she tried to prepare for the fact that she might never see her big brother again - but when that plan didn't quite sit right with her, she managed to get signed up as a nurse and deployed as well, being lucky enough to end up at the same station as her brother. She showed up a few months after he did, only to be taken by surprise when her big brother had turned into her much bigger brother. Once Steve and his new friend - although Rose was pretty sure the two were more than just friendly - Peggy had explained to her what had happened, she just rolled her eyes. Impulsivity ran in the Rogers blood and her brother was no exception to that rule.

The copper-colored curls that had been pinned back on her head were threatening to fall loose and she was preparing to tuck them back into place when she heard someone shout "They're here!" from outside the tent. She leapt up and poked her head out to look around for an incoming crowd. One of the other nurses rushed past her and turned over her shoulder to look back at Rose. "Your brother's back!" she called and it didn't take long before Rosalie was joining the growing crowd waiting for Captain America to return. 

Rose was already pushing her way through the crowd that had gathered to greet the group as they returned. She could already see Steve searching the crowd for Peggy from where he towered over most of them. Once she was finally at the front of the group, she slid up next to her brother and leaned up for a hug. 

“Glad you’re back in one piece, Cap,” she said, grinning as she released him. 

“Yeah yeah, I even brought you a souvenir this time, Rosie,” he said, grabbing her by the shoulders and turning her around to face the man that was standing just next to him. 

Rosalie barely had time to wave to her brother before she saw the man that was standing next to him, the man she had tried her best to not think about too hard once he had shipped out before her brother had. She felt like her heart had stopped - or maybe the whole world did. She didn’t care about anything he may have been covered in or if he might have had an injury as she threw her arms around his neck.

Bucky barely knew what was going on. Since they got out of the factory, his head had been pounding. He could hear things that he shouldn’t be able to hear at a distance and he had accidentally broken a few things on the way back too which he couldn’t explain. 

All around his left eye was bruised and scratched and a little bloody from where they’d put the machine over his head and shocked him. His left leg was still healing from where they’d broken it in three places and three of his fingers were probably dislocated. Everything hurt but when he heard the commotion of camp up ahead he perked up slightly. 

His stumbling stopped as he saw the amount of people waiting for them, clearly Steve had told them he’d be back. Even if it wasn’t a certainty. He needed a nap and an eighteen course meal. He was fuckin’ starving. Then his eyes caught her and red curls bouncing towards him before he could even brace himself. He stumbled back, hissing a little as he put most of his weight on his bad leg. “Oh how I have missed you kiddo,” he breathed, finally relaxing a little in her embrace before he pulled back slightly. “Wait… you’re here? Like you’re real!? Rosie, why are you here?!” he admonished. Now she wasn’t safe. He’d left so he could protect Steve and Rosie. Then Steve showed up, which wasn’t exactly unexpected given the little fucker’s instance to join up. But Rosie? She shouldn’t be here. “Rosie, you shoulda stayed home where it’s safe,” he whispered.

Rose tried her best to be careful of any injury he may have sustained as she squeezed, allowing herself to believe that he was actually standing in front of bed, alive. And well, for the most part, anyway. 

She knew the white of her own uniform would be smudged with whatever it was he was covered in, but she couldn’t bring herself to care. 

“Who would have looked after you two pig headed men if I had?” She asked, gesturing between him and her brother. 

Bucky buried his face in her neck, “You smell so sweet.” Every smell he’d experienced for the last three months was grime and dirt and chemicals and fuckin’ gunpowder. She smelled like fruit and it was like a breath of fresh air. 

He kissed her forehead gently, “you’re such a pain. I’m the one who’s supposed to keep you both in check, not the other way around!” he chuckled. Steve had always been the trouble maker between the two men. He just always had to pull the punk out of the fights. 

“Let the poor man go, Rose,” Steve called from behind her, causing her to loosen her grip and settle back down from where she had pressed up onto her toes. “And you need to take him to the med tent, he needs to be checked over.” That was what led to her finally peeling herself off of her brother's best friend. 

“Whatever you say, Cap,” she said, giving him a sarcastic salute that only she could have gotten away with, even if the sarcasm in it was only half hearted. She was too busy recovering from shock to be suitably annoyed with her brother. She hadn't expected Bucky to be one of the guys coming back. 

“Cmon sarge. You heard the man. To the med tent with you.”

“Steven, I’m fine. Let the girl hug me, it’s been a rough couple months,” he huffed. He didn’t care if he was in pain, he was just relieved to see her. She’d been one of the many things he missed from home. “Don’t tell me you brought Becca with you cause I swear, I will not be happy to see her here too,” he chuckled quietly. 

As she pulled away he rolled his eyes at her salute. “I’m glad you’re taking him about as seriously as I am,” he chuckled. He sighed, “fine but if you have shaky hands, I’ll do it myself,” he teased.

“Becca sends me letters with candy stuffed in the envelope once a month and has officially earned the rank of my favorite Barnes sibling,” she said, sliding his arm around her shoulder as if she would have any ability to support him physically. She’d never say it out loud, but the weight of it was more of a comfort for her than anything else.

“I’ll have you know that I do the best stitches. You don’t want me to have to amputate a limb, but if you need to be sewn back up, I’m your girl.” 

The weight of that last statement hung in the air longer than she should have let it, before she was pulling back the fabric of the med tent.  Finding an empty cot, she led him over to it and wiped her hands down the front of her dress. “Sit down and let me look you over.”

Bucky scoffed, “Okay first of all, she never did that for me, I need you to tell my sister that she’s dead to me,” he joked, “and second, how is she first?! I mean come on! I’m awesome!” He leant on her with a small smile, putting more weight on him than on her so he didn’t hurt her. 

“You’re not cutting anything off. But you may have to put my fingers back in place. I had a nightmare and punched a tree,” he grimaced. He knew the knuckle was broken and he could already feel that three of his fingers were definitely dislocated. “You’re my girl anytime kiddo. I trust you more than any of these nurses. At least you won’t stab me with a needle and then try and get in my pants after missing my vein four times.” He was still mad about that. A nurse had tried to give him morphine before they moved into Azzano and she missed multiple times. 

He sat with a small smile, “I also might have a cracked rib. I’m not sure, I don’t have medical training. But it hurts when I breathe.” They’d really done a number on him before he escaped but whatever they’d done was already helping the healing process. 

“Can’t promise I won’t at least stab you once or twice,” she said, dipping her hands into the bowl of clean warm water to try and wash them off. “Becca is great, though. Worried sick about everyone and reminding me that her birthday is coming up and that I’m not allowed to forget it.”

“And not to appear as though I’m trying to get in your pants, if you think you have a cracked rib, I do need you to take the shirt off.” 

“Well I trust you’re not doing it to hurt me,” he whispered. He trusted her a hell of a lot more than he did the others. Being in a medical tent was kinda stressful after what Hydra had done to him. But with Rosie? With Rosie he felt safe. “Sure she’s great. But she shouldn’t be your favourite! I mean think of all the shitty relationships you would’ve had if I hadn’t stopped you making those mistakes,” he teased. 

Rose did her best to not stare too hard while he worked to get his shirt off. She had seen him without one plenty of times before, but this time, it felt different.

He raised an eyebrow with a slight smirk, “don’t let Stevie see you. Guy thinks you’ve got a crush on me. I wouldn’t add fuel to that fire,” he joked, peeling his shirt off with a grimace as it pulled on his ribs. 

He’d bruised up the side of his torso from where they’d beaten him, multiple prick marks from where they’d whacked him with a spiked bat. To say his body was a mess was an understatement. “They had nurses back at the factory. One always came to patch me up after a test. I think she kissed me at some point but I don’t remember. I just remember something tasting like cherries.” They’d not fed him fruit. It was usually just a protein paste and some nuts. Any vitamins he’d needed they’d pumped into him so they didn’t have to waste time with him digesting them. Plus the less he ate, the less likely he’d be to throw up.

“James," she said, her voice just above a whisper when she could clearly see the extent of his injuries. "This is not what I would exactly call fine." The redhead knelt down in front of him, just close enough to get a better look at one of the cuts on his chest, eyeing it warily. "That one definitely needs stitches,” she said, gently running the tip of her finger against his skin.

Her knees were uncomfortable against the dirt ground, bits of gravel digging into the skin, but she didn't really care right then. She looked up at him from where she was on the ground, a sad look on her face.

Bucky bit his lip as she said his real name. Only her and Becca called him James and he liked the way she said it. Rosie was always so soft spoken with him. “Rosie, believe me when I tell you a few cuts are the least of my problems,” he whispered, “they did a lot worse than this. But I’ve mostly healed that shit.” Or at least he had physically. He bit his lip as she frowned at him.. she always looked so sad when she looked disappointed. 

"Look, I'm just glad I'm not going to have to dig bullets out of you, Barnes," she said, before standing up and dusting off her knees. She needed to find some suture thread she could use. It didn't take long for her to be able to locate one and a new, unopened needle. 

“That’s cause Falsworth ripped it out with a set’a pliers,” he admitted quietly. He’d taken a hit to the shoulder and Jimmy had offered to rip it out for him so he didn’t have to deal with the nurses fussing. Clearly Falsworth hadn’t expected Rosie. 

She reached for a clean rag and a bowl of warm water to clean the area before threading the needle and looking up at him. "Are you going to be mad at me if I stab you with this?" she asked, holding the needle up between them and raising her eyebrow. "

“Kiddo, I trust you with my life. If it were someone else, maybe I’d be a little worried. But I trust you. You’d never hurt me,” he whispered. If there was anyone he’d trust to help him and not hurt him, it would be the daughter of Sarah Rogers. That woman had been like a mother to him. She’d taken him in when his Ma had died and he could never have repaid that debt. He leant back on the cot, “just promise me one thing… when we’re done, you’re gonna share those candies,” he teased.

Without a word, she stuffed her hand into the pocket on the front of her dress, her fingers wrapping around one of the hard candies before she pulled it out and handed it over to him. 

Bucky smiled slightly as she handed him a candy, quickly unwrapping it and popping it between his lip, “girl you are a lifesaver,” he smiled. “You have no idea how hard it’s been to keep up a sweet tooth when you’re only fed protein and nuts,” he grimaced. 

“Any other requests before we get to work?” She asked, reaching back in to get a candy for herself and pulling the wrapper off of it before popping it between her lips. 

He bit his lip as she asked if he had any other requests, trying to think of something else that he might need. “I think I will manage,” he replied, quietly sucking on the sweet. “Just don’t make me bleed.”

Rose held the needle up in front of her face and deftly fed the end of the suture through the eye. With her face set and without waiting for his answer, she placed her palm gently on the unscarred part of his chest for some leverage before getting to work sewing up the worst of the wounds. She worked quickly and steadily, making small tidy stitches as she went.

He closed his eyes as she began stitching him up, falling back on the defense mechanism he’d inadvertently created when the Nazis had been torturing him. When he felt she’d finished, he looked down at her, smiling to himself, “you’re real good at that,” he whispered, gently kissing her hand, “your Ma would be so proud of you.”

“Keep kissing me like that and you’re going to make all the other nurses jealous,” she said, letting her palm rest gently on his cheek as she said it. 

And just like that, it was like the other nurses in the tent had recognized that he was back and many of them were eager to try to assist with any of his needs and she was willing to bet many things that more than one of them really meant any of his needs. The thought made her stomach turn and she didn’t want to think about it much more. 

“You should probably get some rest,” she finally said, her voice soft. He wouldn’t want to hang out with her too much, anyway. “I can go find Steve if you’re not sick of his face.”

Bucky leant into her touch with a small smile, “I’m glad you’re here. I missed you. Steve’s alright, but you’re less annoying,” he teased. 

He noticed the other nurses come in and flashed Rosie a small smile, “thank you for being here. I don’t know if I woulda reacted as well with someone else.” He would always trust Rosie. He could practically hear the nurses whispering about him from the other end of the tent and the discomfort was evident on his face. He just wanted to rest he didn’t want to be ridden like a horse, whatever the fuck that meant. 

He bit his lip as she said she would go and get Steve, holding her hand gently, “don’t go. I don’t know if I’ll be able to sleep.” Truthfully he’d probably gotten less than 48 hours sleep in the last three months of his captivity. He’d gone days on end sometimes where he just didn’t sleep a wink. Then the labs where they sometimes drugged him awake. “I don’t need Steve,” he whispered, the unspoken "I only want you here” hanging in the air.

A frown pulled across her face as she looked at where his hand held onto hers, as if it would have ever been more than someone looking for something familiar. “You can sleep here if you’d like. There are enough beds. You may still have a concussion in that pretty head of yours,” she said the last bit with a teasing tone.

She settled down, sitting on the edge of the cot and brushed his hair out of his face. It was longer than she could remember it being. She sat there, next to his cot, occasionally reaching over to press her hand to his forehead. “Try to get some sleep, Jim. I’m not going anywhere,” she said softly.

Bucky blushed lightly, laying back against the bed with a sigh, “every time I sleep, I see their faces,” he sighed out. Everything was still there. He wouldn’t forget those labs for as long as he lived. 

He looked up at her with a small smile, “I’ve always liked you calling me that. No one else can.” It was her name for him. No one else could call him that. Becca called him Jamie when she wanted something but that was different. He closed his eyes, nervousness written across his features, only being calmed by her hand on his head. She was always so gentle. “I love you kiddo. Don’t ever change,” he whispered, gently taking her hand in his and squeezing it softly, “you’ve always been good to me.”

Part of her heart broke and she squished her eyes closed before taking a deep breath. 

“Love you too, old man.” 

Bucky cracked an eye open to look at her, “Three years, Sunshine. That’s all it is, you’ll be a fossil soon too,” he teased. 

When he finally drifted off, it didn’t take long before Rose had given up trying to sleep in the metal chair and had wound up sitting on the floor, leaning against the frame of his cot with her legs stretched out in front of her. Her head had fallen against his arm in her sleep, and it turned out to be one of the world’s best pillows, despite the fact he still smelled terrible.

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For the first time in months he’d had a fitless sleep. He’d actually gotten more than fifteen minutes. She’d helped him get that. He couldn’t repay that. He sat up slightly, keeping his arm behind her head so she didn’t whack it on the bed frame. Oh how he wished he could save this moment. She looked adorable. He wasn’t getting up any time soon, the last thing he wanted to do was disturb the one person who’d been able to help him sleep.

The squeak of the metal cot behind her head stirred something that nudged her back awake, her grey eyes blinking the sleep away, slowly before she realized where she was. And whose arm she had turned into a pillow. Rose turned slowly to look over at the man she had followed to war, even if she wouldn’t admit that part to his face. 

“Morning,” she said, stretching her arms out in front of her. “How ya feeling?”

The weight on his arm faded and he looked down at her with a small smile, “mornin’ munchkin. You sleep well? You know you coulda got up here if you were tired. I wouldn’t want you to sleep on the floor,” he whispered. 

Bucky rolled his neck, “like I got the shit kicked out of me and I’ve only just had a chance to feel it? But also, much better than yesterday. Though I could eat a horse.. or five. You wanna go for breakfast with me?”

She snorted at his use of the word munchkin. “Big talk for someone who was asking for candy a few hours ago.” 

Rose twisted so she was on her knees by his bed, reaching out to press the back of her hand against his forehead. “Keep it up, Barnes and no other nurse will help you if you need it and you’ll get rumors going. How do you expect to find a wife to take you if they think you’ve got a thing for your friend’s little sister?”

That last bit was a joke but it was also thrown out as a defense for herself. She knew he didn’t but making a joke of it was easier. 

He closed his eyes as she put her hand on his forehead, “I don't need another nurse. I’ve got a favourite and I intend to keep her as my dedicated nurse,” he teased. At the mention of him finding a wife he chuckled quietly, “oh like you wouldn’t triple check any woman who got close.. just to payback for me doing the same for you,” he joked. 

Before she could say she wasn’t hungry, her stomach let out a growl at the thought of breakfast. She had been on her way to get lunch when her brother had shown back up to the camp the day before, so it had been more than one meal she’d missed.

Bucky smirked as he heard her stomach growl, “well that answers that question, come on,” he chuckled, slowly getting to his feet. “I’m gonna get washed first cause I smell like I’ve been left out for a week. Where can I do that round here?” he asked. He also didn’t have any fresh clothes. There’d probably be a tent for that somewhere.

"I don’t think you can afford my exclusive rate,” she teased. “And correct - any woman who wants to be Mrs. Barnes will have to go through Becca first and me after that, because women do stupid things for a pretty face.”

Bucky smiled, “then I’ll have to find some other way to pay you. Like not ratting you out for sneaking out all those times behind Stevie’s back,” he teased. And he knew that was a fact. Rebecca kept a close eye on who he dated and anyone who she didn’t deem good enough was told as much to their face. Which he didn’t entirely appreciate but he didn’t mind her looking out for his best interests. 

She looked at his bare chest again, eyes focusing on the stitches. “Yeah, a shower is a good idea, because you smell awful. Just be gentle with the stitches because I don’t want to have to follow you in there to fix them if you rip one out.”

Great, now she was considering him in the shower. That was perfect. Not distracting at all.

He chuckled, “well you wouldn’t do them in the shower cause that’s just asking for a slip and a stab,” he grimaced. “If I pull a stitch, you’ll be the first one I call.” He stood up slowly, slinging his shirt over his shoulder, “keep your eyes off my ass Rosie,” he teased as he walked toward the exit to go take a shower. 

Rose had just barely finished cleaning up the space they had been using, her mind still stuck in all the possibilities. He had said she could have gotten into the bed with him. It wouldn’t have been the first time they had slept in tight spaces like that, when she, Becca, Bucky and Steve had all gone out dancing and snuck into the small bedroom to try and sleep off the drinks they had. But it would surely be different now, if they hadn’t needed to. 

Once he was done, he came back with his T-shirt in his arms, but apart from that he was fully clothed. “So I may or may not have pulled a stitch. Or six. Steve offered but I said I thought you’d want to do it since you’re the professional.”

When he spoke behind her she turned, her lips parted in a small “oh” to find him still without a shirt, which had to be some cosmic attempt at torturing her AND with six ripped stitches. 

Bucky smirked at her as she looked a little surprised, “y’know kiddo, I don’t mind if you look. I mean I’d be kinda hurt if you didn’t. I mean, I’m a specimen! I’m like top of the food chain,” he grinned, flexing his biceps which had definitely grown since the last time he’d seen her. 

“Men don’t listen ever,” she grumbled and pointed to the metal chair she had tried to sleep in before opting for the floor.

“I heard that!” he called out as he strolled over to the metal chair, looking up at her with a small smile, “listen, if I didn’t hurt myself, you’d be out of a day job. Then what would you do? Help other people? Boring,” he joked, fake yawning just to top it off. “At least I didn’t tear any wounds open.”

The way he sat there in the metal chair, all confidence and beauty, as if he hadn’t just escaped being tortured behind enemy lines struck something primal in her that had her on him faster than she realized. She stood in front of him, in the space between his open knees, the threaded needle in one hand and his chin in the other, holding his face to tilt it up towards her. 

“Sit still and don’t rip these ones out,” she said, her face much closer to his than she had intended it to be, but she released his jaw and knelt down slightly towards where the stitches had been.

Bucky looked up at her with a small smile, not moving away as she held his face. “And if I do, what will you do kiddo? You know you’ll stitch me up again,” he teased. He looked at her as she knelt down, sighing, “so I heard Steve’s on about forming a team to go after Hydra. We’re being sent to London in a few days.”

Truth be told he didn’t wanna be in the war. But Steve and Rosie were here now and he couldn’t just leave them behind. He wasn’t an asshole. He wouldn’t leave his men behind. But he especially wouldn’t leave his best friend and his favorite girl behind. Favorite girl? When did that happen?!

“Men are idiots,” she said under her breath at his comment about leaving again in a few days while making a mental note to threaten her older brother within an inch of his life later for even having the idea. 

“And yet, I have somehow wound up with two of them.” The edges of her lips perked up, giving away the fact she wasn’t as annoyed with him as she seemed. “I wonder who’s on the list from the med team to go on this trip with you,” she said, a copper eyebrow raised as she said it, tugging one of the stitches closed. “Someone has to make sure you all stay put together.”

“Hey! Not all of us. Steve maybe. But not the rest of us!” he chuckled softly. He squeezed had knee gently, “I’ll be fine. I’ll have that dumbass on my six. Same goes for Steve.”

He rolled his eyes, “well you shouldn’t be so awesome,” he teased. The team wasn’t a particularly hard guess, he had a feeling about a few names. “Falsworths definitely going, he’s good with a bomb. Morita is very tactically minded. Maybe Dugan? Me and Steve obviously,” he shrugged before realizing she was talking about nursing staff. “Well I doubt Stevie is gonna leave you behind where he can’t watch out for you,” he shrugged. “I wouldn’t mind having you come with, it’ll be nice to have someone help balance me out so I’m not surrounded completely by morons,” he chuckled.

“And here I was thinking I’d get another lecture about it,” she teased. When she had first showed up, Steve threatened to not speak to her for a week but gave up only a few hours in. He hadn’t let her sign up for any of the on-mission medic spots either, now that he had some level of authority. 

“But if Dugan is going, it may be worth getting on the list,” she said, fluttering her eyelashes at him. She didn’t care one way or another about Dugan. But it might give her something else to focus on.

“I assume Steve gave you the lecture? Plus you actually know how to throw a punch since you listened to me and didn’t just ignore every bit of advice I gave you,” he chuckled. Steve was big now but he still wasn’t a good fighter. At least now he had a bit of mass behind his hits. Even if those poorly trained punches could lead to him breaking a knuckle. 

He didn’t know what came over him when she mentioned going because Dugan was going, but he felt strangely… protective? Jealous? He couldn’t put his finger on it. “Not a chance. If anyone on that team so much as looks sideways at you, I’ll deck ‘em,” he whispered. “Especially fuckin’ Dugan.” The guy was older than he was! Just no!

A smile stretched across her face as she tugged on the last stitch, before tying off the suture. Dugan it would be, it seems. “He does have a very nice mustache. Some of the nurses mentioned asking if he gave mustache rides but I’m not really sure what that means. Maybe I’ll ask him?” And as if she was about to go do just that, she took a step back and patted his shoulder. 

“You’re good to go, sarge. I’ll see what I can do about making those punches count, though.”

Bucky raised an eyebrow, “I’d suggest you leave that one alone,” he warned seriously. Steve wouldn’t be happy with her flirting with Dugan. And he certainly wasn’t happy with the thought. 

He caught her hand as she stepped away, “I thought we had breakfast planned?” he asked, wanting to not think about her getting a mustache ride from Dugan. “Come on, we’re going for food.”

“Awh I guess finding out how that works can wait,” she said, the mischievous smile still on her face. “Especially if the big bad Sargent Barnes is hungry.” She patted his stomach gently, doing her best to fall back into their teasing ways. The day before had been a lot to try and manage emotionally, so for everyone’s sake, it was probably best to try and get things back to normal.

“I guess you’ll never find out,” he murmured. If Dugan so much as looked at her funny, he’d get a black eye. He eyed her with a chuckle, “oh so I’m the big bad sergeant now?” he chuckled, “what happened to me being your favourite? I remember very distinctly how you wept in my arms cause you didn’t want me to go, and now I’m the big bad sergeant?” he teased, “what’s Steve? Captain stick-up-his-ass?”

He led her to the food tent, plating himself a heaping plate of food and a cup of coffee before sitting down at one of the long tables, noticing Dugan out of the corner of his eye.

“It looks like I’ve grown up and gotten over it,” she said, knowing full well it wasn’t true. She hadn’t expected to see him again but now that he was back, she might have a full on mental breakdown if something happened to him again.  “And you got booted out of favorite spot when your sister sent me candy and you abandoned me in Brooklyn.”

Rose grabbed her own plate, putting an apple and a muffin on it before grabbing a water and settling down across from him.

Bucky raised an eyebrow, “So you wouldn’t mind if a different nurse came with us to England then? Left you here?” he teased. He knew Steve wouldn’t just let her stay here and he certainly didn’t wanna leave her behind again. He rolled his eyes, “I got drafted. It was either here or prison. And it’s not my fault Becca cheats.”

“You’re not the only one with a sweet tooth,” she said, gesturing at him with the fork that hung loosely in her fingers, a piece of melon speared on the end of it. “And you’re welcome to have whatever nurses you want with you, none of them will do as good a job as I will.” And she knew it, too. Too many of them crumpled under pressure too quickly. 

Bucky rolled his eyes, taking the melon piece off the end of her fork with a smirk, “still doesn’t mean she has to be the favorite.” He chuckled softly, “someone’s got a rather high opinion of themselves,” he teased. She was right. But he wasn’t just gonna let her have it. “No, but I’m sure they’ll be happy to be out of this dump. I mean we’re off to London first. Might go sightseeing with whoever we take,” he shrugged. 

 “Look who’s finally awake!” “Mornin’ Dugan.” Dugan grinned, “and who’s this fine young lady? I don’t think we’ve met, have we?” he asked, holding a hand out for her to shake. Bucky didn’t look up from his food, eating in silence. If he looked up, there was a chance that Dugan may lose a few fingers.

The loud voice from behind her had her turning to look up at the man she had just been talking about, a grin stretching on her face as she held out her hand back to him. “Rosalie Rogers, but all the best people call me Rosie.” Her best ‘I am a little sister who gets away with anything’ smile was plain on her face as she said it.

Bucky rolled his eyes at her ‘butter wouldn’t melt’ smile. If only Dugan knew how much trouble Rosie could be. Dugan shook her hand, “Timothy Dugan, at your service,” he grinned. Bucky clenched his jaw, sipping his coffee. If he said something, he’d probably also end up punching the man. Dugan kissed Rosie’s hand, “so what’ve they got a gorgeous little lady like you doing nestled in the middle of nowhere Italy? You should be in a real field hospital brightening every soldiers day with that pretty smile’a yours.”

“Oh, mister Dugan,” she said, turning in her seat more to face the other man, propping her elbow on the table so she could lean slightly. “How funny, some of the other nurses were just talking about how much of a good time you can be.” 

Dugan smiled, “oh yeah? What were they saying, sugar?” he asked, sitting opposite her next to Bucky. Bucky shuffled a little further up the bench just so he didn’t “accidentally” elbow the guy in the throat for opening his mouth. 

“Oh all sorts of things,” she said, putting her fork down to grab the water with one hand, taking a long sip of it while wrapping one of the red curls around another finger. 

“Careful Rogers doesn’t hear you talking to his sister like that,” Bucky shrugged quietly. Sure Steve would be pissed if he talked about Rosie in the same way, but at least Bucky had good intentions. Since when did he have intentions?! What was happening with him today?!

“Roger’s doesn’t like what?” Steve’s voice came from the other direction, causing Rose to whip her head around to look at her brother who had just entered the tent. “Hey Stevie.”

“Buck, you can tell her to be gone if she’s doing the annoying little sister thing again.”

“Nothin’, just Rosie thinking about whether she’s staying here or going to London with us,” he lied. Sure he didn’t like Dugan and Rosie, but he also didn’t want Steve getting involved in this cause it wouldn’t end nice for Rosie. He’d just bench her as punishment and that just wasn’t a good idea. Dugan shook his head, “she’s being great Steve. Real good company. Shame the same couldn’t be said for Barnes over here,” he chuckled. Bucky sighed, “Rogers, how many do we have on this team?”

“Steve, I’m going to London. I’ll go to Peggy about it if I have to and I’m pretty sure she out ranks you.” In all honesty, Rose had no idea if the British woman did or not, but that Steve wouldn’t want to get on her bad side.

Dugan looked at her intrigued, just wanting to know more. Bucky stood as he finished his food, “I’m gonna go for a run.” Dugan nodded slightly, “I’ll keep the pretty lady company, don’t worry.”

Bucky caught Rosie telling Steve she was going as he left. He knew that wouldn’t go well but he also knew Steve wouldn’t be able to stop her if she went to Peggy. It was a lose lose for the guy. Morita caught Bucky as the latter was exiting the tent. “Yo sarge, you look like you wanna kill someone. Do you wanna hit some pads and talk about it?” He shrugged slightly,  “I won’t talk but I will definitely hit some pads.”

Bucky would have just missed Steve telling her, in no uncertain terms that she would not be going with them to London. He definitely wouldn’t have been around to watch her throw her muffin at his head before walking off to go find Peggy and see what could be done about the stubborn man she called her brother. 

Chapter Text

For the following week, Bucky avoided Rosie like the plague. Every time he thought of her, he also thought of Dugan and his stupid mustache. 

The next few days came and went and it wasn’t long before Steve had geared up to head back out on another mission, having asked Bucky to go along with a few of the other men. Given that Rose had been granted permission to join, it would seem that all of her petitioning had done the job. 

Rosalie had been teasing Dugan, telling him that if he kept trying to get her in trouble with her brother, she wouldn’t stitch up any bullet wounds for him, after a few bad jokes made at Steve’s expense as they all found themselves trekking through a heavily wooded part of the forest.

Bucky tightened his jacket, keeping his rifle close as they walked. “So how far is this Hydra base? Cause me and you might be able to walk a hundred miles, but I’m not sure about the others,” he chuckled, walking up front with Steve so he didn’t have to see Dugan’s stupid face or else risk punching it for looking at Rosie.

Rose, for her part, had spent the beginning parts of their hike chatting with Dugan. He was very funny and quite nice, as well. Some of his jokes, she didn’t quite understand but she giggled anyway. Rose knew enough about sex to understand the basic mechanics, but not quite the intricacies. 

Bucky had been fighting the urge to put a knife in the back of Dugan’s head, just sick of the constant jokes and flirting. He understood Dugan’s jokes, knowing full well what he was intending. It just pissed him off more. 

Steve finally called out for a short rest and Rose had never been so thankful to sit down on a rolled up sleeping bag, her legs stretched out in front of her, only to look up and see Bucky  staring down at her. He crouched down to her level, “the fuck are you doin’ kid?” he whispered, not wanting the others to hear him argue with her over whatever the fuck she was doing with Dugan.

Rose tilted her head to the side as she looked up at him, her eyes wide. Despite the fact they had walked for hours, she could smell the shampoo he had used and it was doing things to her brain. 

“What are you talking about?” She asked, trying to look confused. She knew what he was talking about but it was good to know it bothered him. “And I should probably check your stitches, while we are stopped.”

Bucky scoffed down at her, her butter wouldn’t melt attitude never worked on him. He could see through her shit. “You know exactly what I’m talking about.” He scoffed under his breath, “oh yeah, I’m sure your boyfriend will love you peeling my shirt off,” he hissed. 

He grabbed her arm, dragging her into the cover of the trees. Knowing what little he knew about the experiments he’d endured, he knew the wounds had healed. Hell, he’d pulled a few stitches out that morning. “You are impossible sometimes,” he said seriously. He didn’t know where he stood with her. One minute she was crying about him leaving, the next she was throwing herself at Dugan. It was honestly dizzying.

Rose let out a squeak of surprise when he grabbed her to pull her into the trees and away from the others. “James Buchanan Barnes, I don’t know what you think you’re doing,” she half shouted, half whispered at him, the tip of her finger landing on his chest. “But you are being intentionally dense. I do not have a boyfriend and I am your nurse so please let me see the stitches.

Her eyes were narrowed and her finger was still stabbed into his chest as she said it.

Bucky huffed quietly. “Don’t play stupid with me! I’m sick of it. You falling over yourself for someone over eight years older than you! He’s in his fucking thirties,” he scoffed. Did she just… Dense? “Yeah, you’re mine!” he said seriously, “Dugan is bad news.” She really knew how to push his buttons and he was so close to pushing his very little self control to the side to kiss her against one’a these damn trees.

“Ooh no, the horror,” she said, clutching at fake pearls. “Oh no, an adult woman being attracted to an adult man, however will the world move on?” She rolled her eyes and was about to try and push past him when he said “mine” and something inside her finally snapped under the weight of all of the years she had wanted him to say that. 

“Take off your shirt, James,” she said quietly, not making eye contact with him while she said it. She could check the stitches and go back to the group and hopefully avoid him for the rest of the trip.

“Don’t do that!” he scoffed, “don’t make me out to be an overprotective ass when you know exactly what you’re doing. You know I wouldn’t want you flirting with him, so you’re practically throwing yourself into his arms to piss me off!” he huffed. 

He pulled his shirt over his head, holding it at his side, “just cause you wanna make my life a pain, doesn’t mean you have to hurt one of my men too,” he said seriously. “If you wanna piss me off, fine. But don’t drag Dugan along for the ride.”

“How am I supposed to know what you do and don’t want?” She said, eyeing the cut on his chest and then glaring up at him. “Did you rip out your own stitches? I know you’re not that stupid.” 

It looked like he had and like he hadn’t done a very clean job of it either. “I would have done it for you,” she said, reaching into her pocket for a sanitizing wipe and a bandage.

“By fucking asking me?!” he scoffed. Bucky rolled his eyes, “the others had healed. I accidentally pulled those ones,” he lied. He’d done it so he had an excuse to see her but the thought of bumping into Dugan while he went to see her just pissed him off so he never saw her. 

“Well I don’t need you babying me Rosie. I can handle myself. Have been for the last six months without your help,” he said coldly. It was a little low but she had pushed him. A part of him wanted to hug her and apologize but he knew it might be a little late for that now.

“Great,” she said, shoving the bandage back into her pocket without bothering to try and put them on the wound. If he could handle himself, she’d let him handle himself. 

“I’m not sure how you expect me to ask you a single damn thing when you’re not around to ask it to,” she hissed. Logically, she knew it hadn’t been his choice to leave, but that didn’t make it any easier.  And then when she managed to show up, only to find out he wasn’t there and hadn’t been for a while, it had only made things worse.

Bucky bit back the wave of hurt he felt when she put her kit away, clearly he had fucked up on that one but he couldn’t take it back now. 

“Well if you weren’t always with fuckin’ Timothy, I might actually stick around,” he said with scoff, spitting Dugan’s name out with disgust. “And I didn’t wanna go. I got drafted. You’re the one pushing me away with this stupid little charade you’ve got going on with Dugan. That’s on you.”

“Maybe you should have said something about it, then!” She knew it did nothing but make her look like a petulant child when she stomped her foot on the dirt of the ground, but she did it anyway. It took all of her willpower to keep the tears from flooding down her face as they gathered in the corners of her eyes. 

Bucky looked at her with a slight frown. “And say what? What is it you’re so desperate for me to say? Cause you can’t say you want one thing and then keep pushing me away,” he said quietly. He caressed her cheek gently, “I’ll always be there for you kiddo. Don’t push me away.”

For a brief second, it felt like she had failed to keep herself from crying, feeling something roll down her cheek, and then the patter of raindrops hitting the tree tops sounded around them. Of course it was raining while they were all outside on a mission.

He groaned as he felt the rain hit the back of his neck. Oh this was just fuckin’ peachy. Bucky shrugged off his jacket, wrapping it over her shoulders. Sure he might be mad at her about Dugan, but he still cared about her wellbeing. They’d been through too much together for him to drop her so easily.

She wanted to shout at him, tell him she hated him and that she wouldn’t forgive  for leaving her the first time or the second. And then he had his jacket around her shoulders and she was fully crying there behind the tree, rain mixing with tears as she reached up to put her hands on the back of his neck, pushing up on her own toes as she tugged his face down and pressed her mouth to his.

Bucky frowned as she began crying, wanting to just hold her till she felt better. He hated seeing her cry, it always broke his heart.He gasped slightly as she kissed him, his lips moving against hers gently as he pulled her a little closer by her hips. He shouldn’t be doing this. She was Steve’s sister! She was supposed to be off limits but that didn’t stop his heart from yearning for her.

The fingers she had on the back of his neck slid up into the hair at the nape. Part of her brain stopped for a minute, allowing just her hands and lips to move against him, before it clicked in that she had no idea what she was doing. 

She had, of course, seen other people kiss, even if she had never done it herself. It couldn’t be that hard, could it? It certainly helped that he was going along with it.

Bucky pulled her against him tightly as he pushed her against a tree. Something about this whole situation was definitely hard. His brain slowly caught on until he realized where he was and what he was doing. With who. 

Her head thudded gently against the tree he pushed her against and her lips parted, giving him more room and then he put her down gently, stepping back with his hands up. Steve was gonna kill him. He stepped back quietly, a little more in the rain. It felt so incredibly good but it was so wrong. “I shouldn’t be doing this,” he breathed. 

As soon as her feet were back on the ground and the warmth of his body was no longer pressed into her, she was trying to catch her breath, her red hair sticking to her forehead as the rain picked up. 

“It’s okay,” she said, after a minute. “It’s my fault and I shouldn’t have.” 

“Rose?” Steve’s voice rang out from the small camp they had put together, having just noticed his little sister wasn’t immediately in sight. 

“Sorry,” she called back. “I needed to check Bucky’s stitches and I thought he might want some privacy about it.”

Bucky sighed, “it’s not that I didn’t want it…. Or that I didn’t enjoy it..” he whispered. He had. Too much. That was the point. She wasn’t his. She was supposed to be off limits. She was Steve’s sister for crying out loud!

He winced as he heard Steve’s voice, pulling his shirt back on quickly. He blushed at Steve’s comment, being able to bear him even if he was a little further away. “You would too if you were as good looking as I am,” he teased, blushing slightly. They had another night here and they were still this close together   Fuck this was gonna be a struggle.

“It’s okay, it’s fine,” she said, reaching up to fix her hair slightly and straighten her clothes back out. 

“The man who uses any excuse to take his shirt off? Sure,” Steve said, rolling his eyes. “We are going to stay here for the night and see if the rain eases up in the morning.”

“Oh camping, how fun. I don’t want to share a tent with you, though, Stevie, you snore.”

“Haha. No, we set up your own so you didn’t share with anyone.” The look he gave her before turning to look at Timothy made his point very clear. 

“Heard ya loud and clear, Cap,” Dugan said before dropping his stuff in the tent furthest away from Rose’s. 

“You’re between me and Buck so we can keep an eye on you.”

Bucky smirked slightly as Steve had essentially told Dugan to keep the fuck away from his sister, the grin not leaving his face for a minute. 

He nudged her gently. “Don’t get any crazy ideas. I don’t need you waking me up in the middle of the night,” he joked. It sounded innocent enough but after their kiss, it wasn’t so innocent after all. “I get no sleep as it is. Don’t need you makin’ it worse.”

“Oh perfect, two guard dogs in case I have a nightmare,” she said, the sarcasm dripping from her voice. It looked like everyone had pretty much gone into their own tents, trying to get out of the rain. She looked at her own, pulling the backpack she had been wearing all day off and dropping it inside. 

That alone was already a great relief, she realized, rolling her shoulders after the weight was gone from them.

Bucky rolled his eyes. “And this is why he didn’t wanna bring you at first,” he teased. She still had his jacket on and he couldn’t fight the smile it put on his face. 

Chapter Text

Bucky opened his tent, sitting down with a sigh. At least he could get a little sleep away from Dugan’s snoring. Not that sleep had been easy to come by since they got back from the factory. He could hear too much but in a forest with only the few guys and Rosie, he could get a little sleep. But even that didn’t last long, the nightmares making a comeback. He was back in the factory but it wasn’t one of the other nurses that was there with him, it was Rosie. He saw the Germans come in and go to grab her, Bucky quickly stepping between them, only to get beaten to the ground with a club. “Don’t take her!” he murmured, “leave her. Take me. Don’t hurt her!” he pleaded, not knowing he was saying it out loud. He couldn’t lose her. Not like this. “Don’t hurt her. She’s just a nurse! Take me!”

Bucky watched as they took her, hearing her screams as they beat her. It was supposed to be him! They were supposed to take him! Why did they take her!? He felt someone grab his arm, dragging him to the labs where they’d got Rosie tied to a chair, a drip in her arm and the fuckin’ helmet on her head. After the first shock all she did was plead with him to save her and he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t stop it. 

Rose had just managed to start falling asleep after finally finding somewhere that wasn’t horrifically uncomfortable on the ground. She had changed into clothes more suited for sleeping, which really just meant a large tshirt she had nabbed from the base in Italy and had her hair pulled into a braid to keep it out of the way. 

The muffled noises from the tent to her left pulled her back from the edge of sleep and had her slipping through the front flap of her tent and into Bucky’s. He was breathing too heavily for someone who should be sleeping and had a death grip on his blanket. She half made out some of what he was mumbling and her heart broke at the sound of it. 

It took no thought from her to slip under the lightweight blanket with him and snuggle right up to his chest, pressing herself tight against him. 

“Shhh. It’s okay. It’s just a dream. Everyone is okay.”

Bucky felt something warm press against his chest, his arms looping around it and pulling close. He sniffled quietly, tears threatening to fall from his eyes as he buried his face in her hair.

As soon as his arms were around her, she reached up and began stroking his hair gently, whispering softly that everyone was okay and he was safe. The patter of raindrops on the tent offered a steady background to her attempts to help him relax into actual sleep. She wasn’t sure she wanted the full details of his dream, but regardless, it sounded distressing.

Bucky sobbed into her hair, hating how his mind was twisting the events of the past. If anyone was to be locked up and tortured, he’d surrender himself every time before they touched his people. He breathed slowly as he began to realise he was safe, his eyes flickering open for a second. “Rosie?” he murmured quietly, noticing that it was her that had come to comfort him. He leaned down slightly, pressing a gentle kiss to her lips. It wasn’t right, he’d just come out of a nightmare, she’d been the one to comfort him. But he wanted to know this was real, that the Nazis hadn’t gotten him again.

“Hey,” she said quietly, not bothering to move, so it was whispered against his mouth. “Hey. It’s okay. I’m here. You’re here. You’re safe.” 

Bucky nodded, kissing her softy, “I couldn’t save you. You begged me to help you and I couldn’t,” he whispered. He gently pulled her so she was laying on his chest, looking up at her with a soft smile. 

She moved just slightly so she could lean her head back to look at him. “You’re okay, I promise.” Rose took one of her hands and slid her fingers through his, squeezing gently. “Nothing bad is going to happen.”

He bit his lip, squeezing her hand gently. “You don’t know that. You can’t promise that,” he whispered. He knew Hydra, he knew what they were capable of. His hand fell to her hip, squeezing softly. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, “I couldn’t protect you. I failed you.”

Rose popped up on her elbows and then scrambled where he pulled her to his chest so that she was resting on her knees near his lower abdomen, her fingers on his chest. She grabbed his hand from her hip and pulled it up, pressing her cheek into his palm, her own hand not even halfway covering the back of his. 

“I am here. I am safe. You are safe. I promise. I can’t promise anything other than that right now, because we are in the middle of an English forest while it’s raining and it’s a war, but I can promise that I’m right here.”

Bucky looked up at her, biting back his anxiety that none of this was real. That it was all some sick joke. 

He took the hand on his cheek, pressing his lips to her palm. She had always been good to him. She’d always fixed him up after one of Steve’s fights. “You’ve always been so good to me,” he whispered. “I love ya kiddo.” He didn’t know how he loved her, but he knew he did. She was his best friend’s sister but she was more than that. She was so much more.

“You’re gonna have to stop calling me kiddo,” she said, tapping the fingers of her free hand against his chest. “Given that I am in the army and all now.” A grin twisted across her face at her next thought. “And given that you kissed me against a tree.”

They probably should talk about that, and even if it would be awkward, if it distracted him from the nightmare, it might be worth it.

Bucky chuckled quietly, “you’re small and younger than me. I don’t think that’s gonna happen Sugar,” he whispered. He bit his lip as he thought back to how he’d lost control and pushed her against the tree. It had been quite hot. “I did do that, yeah,” he smiled. Steve coming and looking for them had been a bit of a disappointment. 

“Look, old man, if we are going to stick with nicknames then, I’m going to start calling you grandpa.” She grinned and then what he had said after that sank in. 

He looked up at her from where she was laid on him, “it shouldn’t have happened. I don’t want you to get the wrong idea,” he whispered. He couldn’t do that to Steve. The guy had saved his life and given him a home after his Ma had passed. He couldn’t betray his best friend like that.

“Oh,” she said quietly, chewing on her bottom lip. “Does that mean you don’t want it to happen again?” And then all of conflicting things she had felt since he left came flying out of her mouth in a series of rapid fire thoughts. “Because I would maybe like it to happen again and honestly I would have liked it to happen a long time ago but I didn’t think you wanted it to happen but also it does seem like you maybe didn’t want it to happen but earlier it felt like you did and now I’m confused and maybe I should go.” When she finished the sentence, she had to suck in a breath since she hadn’t stopped during the entire confession.

He looked up at her in stunned silence. Truth be told, he didn’t know how he felt. She was incredible and awesome and everything he’d want in a woman. But at the same time, she was Steve’s sister and that was a line he shouldn’t be crossing. Steve would kill him. He caressed her cheek gently, “I don’t want you to get hurt,” he whispered. He didn’t want to be the reason for her sadness.

“Okay,” she said, her voice shaking as she nodded, trying to keep the tremble away from her lip and the tears away from her eyes for the second time that day. “Okay, I should go.”

She needed to get out of that tent and back over to hers before she fell apart. He didn’t want her, not in the way she wanted him to. He had only kissed her back earlier because she had surprised him. It made sense.

Bucky squeezed her hand gently, pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead. “Can you stay? I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep again without you,” he whispered. She calmed the nightmares. He’d been having them since before he got rescued and they never went away until tonight. 

Rose squeezed her eyes closed and inhaled a few deep breaths before nodding her agreement to stay with him. “Yeah, I can stay.” Her voice betrayed how tired she was, though, and how much a toll the emotional roller coaster the past few days had taken on her. 

Bucky wanted her, more than he cared to admit. She had always held a big part of his heart. Rosie was amazing and he wanted her to be his. But he couldn’t. Not with her being Steve’s sister. It wouldn’t be right. That didn’t stop him getting jealous about her possibly seeing someone else. “Dugan doesn’t deserve you,” he whispered.

“Dugan has at least bothered to show interest,” she breathed, settling back down against his chest, not able to stop her lips from pushing out into a small pout at the admission.

Bucky let her lay back down on him, gently wrapping his arm around her. He closed his eyes, focusing on anything but the fact that he could kiss Rosie right now and no one would be any wiser. 

He sighed, “did Dugan kiss you? Do you want Dugan to kiss you?” he asked quietly. The thought made him feel unnecessarily jealous. He’d already told her that she was off limits and now he was getting jealous over some guy liking her. It was so stupid.

“No and no,” she grumbled. He had asked if she thought Steve would wring his neck for trying to pursue her and she couldn’t help but tell him that he probably would. Even before the serum, he would have tried to take the former strongman down for it. 

Bucky raised an eyebrow, “then why did you flirt with him?” He knew the answer. She wanted to feel wanted. It was rather obvious after she’d said that at least Dugan had bothered to show interest. 

“Because he’s nice and tells fun jokes,” she said, shrugging one shoulder. The movement of her shoulder caused her to remember that she was only wearing a baggy shirt over her under things, not having packed nice sleeping clothes for what was really an extended camping trip. 

“I shall forever be an un-marry-able younger sister to Captain America,” she sighed, stretching slightly, pressing closer into his chest. “Spinster life can’t be too terrible, I guess.”

He shook his head. “That’s not true. Just don’t put too much pressure on yourself. Love’ll find you,” he shrugged. His fingers ran through her hair gently, “I wish things coulda been different for us.”

“Let me sulk for a bit,” she said, turning her face into his chest and closing her eyes, hoping he hadn’t noticed her lack of pants, considering she had already embarrassed herself enough for one night.

Of course he’d noticed she was in just a shirt and underwear. How could he not notice? He’d only got shorts on and a t-shirt. The first thing his brain had caught onto when he’d woken from his nightmare was that a half naked lady was laid on him. He stroked her hair gently, “sulk as long as you need. I’m not gonna kick you out. You’re lovely and warm.”

“You’re also warm,” she mumbled, sleep working its way back into her brain. “Warmer than you should be. I need to check if you have a fever. I am a nurse, remember?” Then she yawned and snuggled closer. “But maybe we will check in the morning.”

Bucky shook his head, “been like that since the factory.” The nurse who patched him up back there used to call him a human furnace when she took his temp. He stroked her hair gently, “just sleep. We can worry about that in the morning,” he yawned. He pressed a gentle kiss to the top of her head, his arms looped around her waist. If she wasn’t Steve’s sister, he would’ve kissed her more. Showed her how much he appreciated her company.

Rose didn’t really need the convincing to go to sleep, and was entirely out within seconds. Between the warmth next to her and the weight of his arms around her, and the sound of the rain hitting the tent, she was lulled into a relatively peaceful sleep. 

The next morning came quicker than she would have liked it to, the sounds of wildlife around them starting their day. She snuggled tighter into the solid, warmth at her side, trying to fend off having to wake up as long as possible.

Bucky slowly felt sleep take him, glad he’d been able to get more sleep without a nightmare. Having a small redheaded teddy bear had definitely helped. 

He felt her stir slightly, chuckling quietly as she tried to burrow into his chest. He wasn’t about to stop her, if she wanted to stick close, he’d let her. It was only when he was a little more awake that he’d realized mini Barnes was awake before he was. He pulled his hips back slightly so she didn’t get a feel of something that would definitely piss her off. She’d probably think he was a creep. Of course the one time he’d actually gotten any sleep, he’d woken up with morning wood.

The chuckle that rolled through her pillow had her peeling her eyes open, and that was when it registered where she was. She had slept in Bucky’s tent. Why? Oh yeah, she had gone in there because he had been having nightmares. 

“Morning,” she said, her voice heavy with sleep. “I do not want it to be the morning, though.”

Bucky smiled, pressing a soft kiss to her forehead. “Tell me about it. I could stay like this forever,” he whispered. He caressed her cheek gently, “thank you for staying,” he sighed softly, “I love you kiddo.”

“What kind of nurse would I be if I didn’t help you sleep?” She asked, moving to sit up and stretch her arms over her head, which pulled the hem of her shirt up just enough to reveal the light blue of her underwear and the joint at the back of her neck popping as she did, causing her to let out a soft moan. 

“I need to get back to my own tent before anyone realizes,” she said, yawning but not really motivated to leave just then.

Bucky bit his lip as she stretched, watching her shirt pull tighter around her chest and the way it lifted over her stomach and he could see her underwear. If he wasn’t hard before, he definitely was now. Fuck. 

He gently took her hand, keeping her close as he kissed her again, like they’d done at the tree. He wanted her to know how he felt, even if he couldn’t act on it.

Rose hadn’t been expecting it, so the feel of his mouth against hers took her by surprise but it didn’t take long for her to get on board. Her hands found their way to the back of his neck, twisting up in the dark hair there, tugging him closer towards her. 

He was so warm and solid and just Bucky.

Bucky pulled her ever closer, just wanting to feel her. He knew it was wrong, he knew he shouldn’t. But having her in his arms like this just felt right. As soon as he felt her hands on his neck, he kissed her harder, his tongue rolling over her bottom lip. Steve was gonna fuckin’ kill him.

His tongue was on her lip and it made her nearly turn feral, her lips parting to give him space to do more, show her more, teach her more about why all the girls back home blushed when he walked in the room and the others called him “bad news.” Her world had been full of bad news lately, a little more wouldn’t hurt.

Bucky cupped her cheeks gently as he kissed her harder, his tongue slipping into her mouth roughly. He didn’t know how many people Rosie had been with or kissed, he doubted it was many, if any at all. But she tasted delectable.. like coming home.

Rose melted into him, a soft moan leaving her lips as they opened wider for him. She was fully prepared to let him devour her whole in that tent - or maybe she would devour him. 

It was only the sounds of a tent flap moving that started pulling her back to reality, when she heard someone, presumably, her brother, pull aside the entry flap to her own tent, probably to get her up for the day.

Bucky swallowed her moan with a smile. Right now he didn’t care who her brother was, he just wanted her and everything that she could give him. 

He gently put his hand over her mouth as he heard Steve open her tent. He knew where the guy would be going next and the last thing they needed was Captain America busting his best friend kissing his sister.

She could have cried when he pulled his mouth away from hers, only to replace it with his hand, but she knew why. She didn't want Steve to come looking for her in here, hopefully he'd wander off and she'd be able to sneak back into her own tent and pretend she had been off to find somewhere to pee. 

He pressed a finger to his own lips to tell her to be quiet before his hand that wasn’t on her lips slid under her shirt with a sly smirk. 

She did the only thing she could at that moment and slid her own hand over Bucky's mouth, so at least they'd be even. Her lips stretched into a grin under his hand as she looked at him, eyes sparkling.

As she covered his mouth, he eyed her curiously. If Steve came looking, he’d lie for them. But he couldn’t do that if she had her hand over his lips. It was a miracle he’d done no more than kiss her. With her just in a shirt and underwear she looked exquisite. His mouth practically watered at the sight of her.

Her eyes widened at the feel of his hand on her bare stomach, her heart thundering in her chest. She knew he'd be able to feel it, too which was embarrassing and brought a pink tone to her cheeks. 

Rose tilted her head to the sound of Steve stomping around the makeshift camp site, as if she was trying to tell him she needed to find a chance to sneak back into her own tent so they wouldn't get caught.

Bucky gently trailed his fingertips over her stomach and to her chest, biting his lip as her eyes widened. She was so beautiful! If there wasn’t a stupid super soldier walkin’ around, he might’ve kissed her more. 

He nodded slightly, waiting to see if he could hear Steve’s footsteps getting quieter. His eyes went from the tent flap to Rosie, his eyes rolling over her body. Oh what he wouldn’t give to not be stuck in a damn forest right now. He heard Steve open Rosie’s tent, gently lifting Rosie’s hand off his mouth, “I think she went for a walk Stevie. Heard her get up about ten minutes ago.” If Steve were to come closer, he’d just lie and say he was naked just to get the guy to fuck off and leave them alone.

Her eyes closed as she tried to slow her breathing down, sucking air in through her nose as she sat there, essentially straddling his waist, while her brother searched for her just outside. She needed to get out of there before she discovered if people could spontaneously combust. 

"Little sisters," Steve groaned from the outside. "She has to have a death wish. If you see her before I do, remind her that it's stupid to wander off on her own." She hoped that he would go wander off far enough that she could scramble back into her own tent and make it seem like she had just stepped away for a minute and then came back to get dressed.

Bucky smirked up at her, gently running his thumb over her nipple. She was so cute when she was all flustered. He knew it was bad to want her like he did, she was Steve’s sister. Your best friend’s sister is supposed to be off limits. 

He chuckled quietly, “she’ll be fine Steve, she won’t have gone far,” he shrugged. Bucky smirked as Steve said it was stupid to go off on her own, “yeah. You never know what’s lurkin’ about. But seriously Steve, she’ll be alright,” he said with a slight smile. His brain caught up to the fact that she was practically straddling him and all that separated them was her underwear and his shorts. His hand that was on her mouth moved to his lips, miming for her to keep her mouth shut as he gently squeezed her ass, leaning up to press a gentle kiss to her neck.

How this man ever expected her to be quiet when he did that was beyond her. Her head fell back slightly and she had to slap one of her own hands over her lips to stop herself from making noises that would definitely have Steve in that tent. Her other free hand went to Bucky's shoulder to push on it slightly. 

When she finally heard her brother walk away, she "You're insane," she whispered, but the shine in her eyes betrayed that she meant it in all the best ways. "I'm going back to my tent so he doesn't try to cut off parts of you."

He smirked slightly, “but in a good way, right? Don’t act like you weren’t having fun,” he teased. He leant up to kiss her softly, “you think I’m scared of Steve? Really? Come on kiddo, I thought you knew me better than that,” he teased.

"Look, I want you to keep all the parts til I get to meet them, Barnes," she said with a wink before she squirmed off of him and crawled to the front of the tent, peering through the small slit and trying to see if her brother was in sight of her path back to her own. She tried not to think about the fact that her current position left her with her behind facing Bucky while she had nothing on other than her underwear and a t-shirt. 

When she saw Steve wander off to the side of the camp, she slipped out quietly and back into her own tent where she hurried to get changed into clothes for the day.

Bucky rolled his eyes, “I’m not about to lose my junk cause your brother thinks he’s scary,” he chuckled. He swatted her ass gently as she looked through the front of the tent, watching her rush out to her own tent. 

He pinched the bridge of his nose. ‘The fuck are you doing Barnes. She’s Steve’s little sister. She’s not just some dame you can take home and have fun with.’ She was unattainable. He needed to stop this before one of them got hurt seriously. 

He got dressed before slipping out of his tent, making his way to where the guys were having breakfast. “Mornin’. You guys ready for what’s coming? Cause I ain’t.” He was terrified of them taking him back and he hated that he felt that way. But he couldn’t shake the thought.

"What exactly do you think is coming for you, Sarge?" Rose said as she came up behind Bucky, now dressed in her own clothes for the day, her hair tamed back into a neat braid on the back of her head. Hopefully none of them could pick up on anything that had happened. 

"Rosalie Marie, where were you? Bucky said you went out for a walk on your own? Are you insane?"

"Only in the ways that are apparently hereditary, Stevie," she said, rolling her eyes. "And yes, I went to find somewhere for some privacy given there's no ladies room in the middle of the woods."

Bucky bit his lip, fighting the urge to whisper ‘I wish it was you.’ But he knew Steve would hear that and beat him to death. 

He snorted at Rosie’s reply. “She’s not wrong Steve. She acts as impulsively as you do,” he chuckled. “Maybe if you led by example, you’d be able to not have a heart attack.”

"It's a shame that I got all the brains and the good looks," she said, grinning at her brother over her shoulder. 

"You certainly got all of the annoying," he said, sitting down on her other side and bumping her with his shoulder. "But please, at least take someone to stand guard, even if they have to turn their back."

He laughed at Rosie’s comment, only to shake his head at Steve’s, “nope. You of all people can’t say that when I have to drag you out of fights every other day. At least she was a good girl and listened to me when I told her not to fight people.” He didn’t know if Steve would want him standing guard but he didn’t necessarily trust Dugan to have the best of intentions and the others didn’t exactly know her and he didn’t know if she’d feel comfortable around a stranger.

“You know I wasn’t the only experiment right?” Bucky continued. “They were testing on other people. The rest died but they didn’t just test on us. They tested on dogs too.” Those fuckers looked evil. He doubted they’d die with a shot to the head. 

"Oh, big bad super puppies. I want one," she said, her eyes lighting up. She had always wanted a puppy but they had never really had the right place or time for one. Maybe one day, if they all got to go back home, she'd finally be able to get one, or a cat. 

Bucky rolled his eyes, “Believe me, you don’t. I saw one before they’d got it perfected and it tore a guy limb from limb,” he shuddered. 

"Sounds like a good guard dog to me," she said under her breath, reaching for a piece of sausage that had been cooking over a small campfire. 

Breakfast was quick and it wasn't particularly filling, but then they were back on the hike, chattering amongst each other - and then it happened. Falsworth hit the ground and shouted, grabbing his shoulder. She hadn't even heard the gunshot, but she could see where he was bleeding. Steve shouted at her to duck and get to him, but that wasn't her job.

Rose found herself on her knees in the dirt, digging in her bag for a bandage. If she could at least stop the bleeding, she could deal with the actual wound later, when they were out of immediate danger. 

"It's okay, you'll be okay," she said, more to herself than to him. She was able to get his shoulder patched with a bandage well enough for him to hold it on the wound and get him to his feet, before she jumped up to follow him, trying to find a place to duck for cover. 

It had all happened in slow motion. She had heard the crack. Felt something hot. It hurt. Oh god it hurt. Someone shouted her name but it sounded far away. 

She managed to look up and see her brother who was looking at her in horror and then she saw Bucky who looked like he was screaming. But she couldn’t hear him. She tried to take a step towards him to tell him he didn’t need to scream but she stumbled and then everything went black as she hit the ground.

Chapter Text

Bucky saw Falsworth drop and ducked into the trees. His heart was pounding and his rifle was currently disassembled in his pack. Fuck. 

Putting his rifle together had taken him less than a minute and he saw Rosie rush out into the open to get Falsworth. “Rosie! Get the fuck back!” he snapped, not wanting her to get hurt too. 

He caught a glint of a scope out of the corner of his eye, lifting his rifle but they’d beat him to it and he saw Rosie stumble. “Rosie!” Fuck this was so not good. He lifted his rifle, firing a shot at where he’d seen the scope, hearing a thud as the guy fell from the tree. 

His heart raced as he rushed for her, sliding on his knees to try and catch her so she didn’t crack her skull on the ground, managing to support her neck and head at the last second. He cradled her to his chest, “fuck. We need exfil now. We’ve been made,” he said seriously. He looked at Steve, “call for Peggy! Get her to send someone quick!” he ordered, trying to hide the quiver in his voice. She couldn’t die. He wouldn’t let her die. He watched Gabe go and attend to Falsworth as he cradled Rosie against his chest, wiping her hair from her face, leaving a slight bloody streak on her forehead and cheek. “I’m sorry.” If he’d focused on the task at hand and wasn’t thinking about Steve’s sister, this wouldn’t have happened.

Everything that happened next was small fades in and out of consciousness. Rose heard small bits of people talking, but could only make out a few words. Something about needing blood and Steve and...

“Consequences of doing….” 

“With the effects of the serum….” 

“We can’t promise…”

She didn’t know what was happening, but it felt like her entire body was on fire. The heat rushed through her veins and spread across her. It felt like it was ripping her apart and stitching her back together over and over. If she could have screamed, she would have. 

Finally, everything seemed to calm down and she rested again, sinking back into the blackness for a bit.

—----

Bucky stood to the side of the room, guarding the door. He’d failed her once, he wouldn’t let Hydra find her and finish the job. He frowned as she looked to be in pain. He put the back of his hand against her forehead, frowning at how hot she felt. “Sweetheart, you’re roasting,” he grimaced. He knew the serum was an experience that he didn’t wanna relive. But he didn’t know how it would affect her. Steve had had a proper facility. He and Rosie hadn’t. They just had nurses and scientists. “Just breathe through it Angel,” he whispered. 

When she passed out again he stepped out of the room to take a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding. He’d almost lost her cause he was too distracted to spot the guy in the trees. This was his fault. It was clear to him now. They couldn’t be with each other. It was bad news. He’d just get her hurt.

Rose found herself waking up, peeling open her grey eyes, only to be greeted by a bright light above her which caused her to groan. She tried to throw an arm over her eyes to block out the light but couldn’t seem to move her arm.

She heard her name but it sounded miles away. Managing to turn her head, despite the pounding in it, she saw Steve in the chair next to her hospital bed. Of course he was there, her older brother. He had always tried to protect her, as much as he had been able. There were dark spots under his eyes and it appeared that even super soldiers had their limits for needing to sleep.

But there was a distinct absence in the room, or at least as far as she could see. 

“Bucky,” she managed to croak out, her throat dry and sore, her voice hoarse.

"Not quite, Rosie," Steve said, before closing the book he had been reading and moving to stand next to her chair. "But he's outside."

“Rose,” Steve said, slowly as he moved towards her bed, cand pushed some of the hair out of her face. “They had to give you a blood transfusion. They gave you mine. No one is quite sure how the serum might affect you, if it will at all. The doctors here have been sworn to secrecy about everything and Howard helped set up the transfusion." 

She frowned at that and then tried to sit up, looking around for some water. She would try to deal with the information her brother had just told her later, but right now, she wanted to see Bucky. 

"It hurts," she said, her nose squishing as she said it. Nothing in particular, she really meant all of it.

"I know, Rosie Posie," he said, using the name he called her when they were little kids, and  handing her a glass of water with a straw sticking out of the top of it. "Don't drink too fast, it'll hurt." 

"Is Falsworth okay?" she asked, remembering what she had been doing before everything went dark on her. "Wait. I was shot. Someone shot me. With a gun." The reality of all of it was starting to hit her and one of the machines started beeping more quickly as her heartrate picked up. 

"Yes, he's fine. You didn't need to go over and get him in the first place, but he's fine. And yes, you were shot. Because you're too much like me," Steve said, rubbing his jaw with his hand. It looked like he hadn't shaved either and some stubble was starting to grow in. 

"You're a mess," she said, scooting over in her bed. "You should try to get some sleep." 

"Funny thing about that, Rosie, is that it's hard to sleep when your sister is dying in your best friend's arms and then she's turned into a science experiment and you know what it feels like to have that happen to you." 

"Stevie," she said, frowning. "I'm okay. I mean. I feel like I was hit by a train, kind of, but I'm okay. Speaking of said best friend of yours, where is he?"

"I'm not sure," Steve said, with a sigh and turning to look over his shoulder. "He didn't handle things very well, so he's probably gone to get someone to look at his hand. He busted a couple of knuckles on a tree." Rose frowned at that, and Steve noticed it. 

"He feels bad, he thinks that he should have seen the guy that shot you before anything happened." 

"Why would he think he'd need to even be looking? No one was supposed to know where we were." 

"You'll have to ask him that, Rosie." 

"Fine. I will. Can you go find him?" 

Steve sighed again and turned to head to the door. "Yeah, I'll go see if I can track him down. Hopefully he's getting some sleep though."

Bucky had been pacing the halls for the last god knows how many hours. He hated hospitals, they never brought good news. He was exhausted which definitely didn’t help matters. 

He sat on a chair outside of Rosie’s room and sighed. He could have done so much better. Instead he failed her and Steve. Falsworth had gotten off lucky whereas Rosie had took a bad hit. He could still see her blood on his hands. 

One of the nurses came to tell him that Rosie had woken up but he didn’t move. If he went back in there, there was a chance she’d hate him. Blame him for not protecting her like he always promised. She deserved better. Someone who wasn’t Steve’s best friend. All he was doing was hurting the two people he loved the most.

“Sergeant Barnes. You can go and see her now. She’s awake,” a nurse told him and he just felt like leaving. He knew she was awake. This was the third damn nurse in five minutes! She looked him over, “you know you’re bleeding, right?” Bucky frowned slightly, looking at his side and sighed. Great. So not only did falsworth get shot, and Rosie. But he apparently got clipped too. 

He pulled his shirt over his head and let the nurse clean him up and stitch up his wound before laying back in his chair. If he saw her now, he’d break down. He couldn’t do that. He needed to put distance between them before he became too attached.

Bucky closed his eyes, taking a long breath. She’d almost died cause he was distracted. He wasn’t going to let that happen again. When the nurse was done, she looked down at him. “Sarge, whatever you’re thinking, it’s not on you. You didn’t shoot either of them. Least of all your girl,” she explained softly. Bucky shook his head. “She’s not my girl. We aren’t even dating.”

The nurse put her hand on his thigh. “Then let me help you forget about it. Focus on me,” she whispered. They’d put Rosie in her own wing given her relationship with Captain America. They didn’t need the press swarming them. So she knew they’d have a little privacy. “James, have you not been home since the incident?” she asked softly. He smelled like gunpowder and dirt. “Let’s get you a shower and some fresh clothes, come on. You’re my patient now, you need looking after too.”

The nurse ran her thumb over a cut above his eyebrow, “where’d you get this? Cause she got shot, same with James. Where did the cut come from, sarge?” He bit his lip, he’d punched a tree when evac took Rosie from him. Had toppled the fuckin thing too. Nearly crushed himself with a spruce tree. What a way to go. His knuckle was fucked up but the skin would heal in a day or two. 

She cupped his cheek gently. “Stop thinking about what could’ve happened. It could have been a lot worse if you hadn’t acted when you did. You’re a hero James. Don’t let anyone tell you any different.” He wasn’t sure he believed that. If he had been in the right mindset, she wouldn’t have gotten shot. He would have spotted the shooter before Falsworth went down. 

When he didn’t seem to get out of his own head she looped her arms around his neck, “just focus on me James,” she whispered, kissing along his jaw. By the nip at his pulse point and the way he felt her smile against his skin, he could tell she felt his excitement too. She gently put her hand under his shirt, fingertips trailing down his abs. “You’re so strong James, just let yourself relax. Lose control for once,” she breathed, kissing up to his lips, smiling more as he kissed her back softly.

The nurse put her hand in his hair as he kissed her back softly, his injured hand moving to cup her jaw. He just needed to let go. If he could focus on something else.. someone else, he might be able to sleep tonight. She pulled back slightly to look at him, “sarge, you couldn’t predict them being in the country. I mean they have taken countries overseas. But England? No one expects that.”

He should. He’d been with them for months. He heard how they were going to topple countries. How they wanted him to help them do it. Some program. He couldn’t remember the name of it now. Bucky just shook his head, kissing her softly, “I don’t wanna talk about it,” he whispered and she got the message very clearly as one of his hands came down to her hip, pulling her down into him with a muffled moan. 

He nipped at her bottom lip gently, growling under his breath. If he could forget Rosie for a night and have a little fun, he might be able to have a nightmare free evening. They weren’t good for each other. He’d known that since the beginning. Since she’d thrown herself at Dugan to make him jealous. Was he trying to get his own back? He didn’t know. All he knew was that a woman in uniform would never not do it for him.

It didn't take very long for Steve to find him, considering he apparently hadn't gone far from the room to begin with. What he didn't expect, despite having known his best friend for almost their entire lives, was to see him with a nurse in his lap, making sounds he certainly could have gone without hearing. 

The blonde cleared his throat, with his eyes on the floor, just a few inches in front of his toes. "Buck. Rose was asking about you, if you wanted to go in and see her. I'll uhm...give you a minute, though." 

He slipped back around the corner and groaned. All of the things in the world could be going wrong and James Barnes would still be able to get a pretty lady in his lap.

Bucky pulled back as he heard someone clear their throat, staring at Steve as his cheeks flushed. “Just don’t tell her about… this,” he said quietly. The last thing he needed was her wanting to break his fuckin’ nose with her new serum. 

The nurse pressed a soft kiss to his lips, “you go see your friend. I’ll be out here when you’re ready for more fun,” she winked, stepping off him and flashing him a grin that he really couldn’t resist. Why did he have to find a nurse so hot!? Damn that fuckin’ uniform. 

He stood up, straightening himself out so it didn’t look like he had a hard-on before catching up with Steve, elbowing him gently. “Don’t even start. She came onto me and you know how I feel about a uniform,” he shrugged.

"I'm not sure why you think she'd care," Steve said, too tired to try and think about anything other than just making sure Rose stayed alive over the past day and a half. Peggy had come by twice with coffee to check on him and try to convince him to go try and sleep. He took her up on it once after she promised to stay with Rose and come get him if anything happened, but he only managed to sleep for thirty minutes before he was back in the hospital room.

“Cause she likes to judge who I do or don’t date,” he shrugged. It was slightly true. He knew she’d get pissed off if she found out he’d kissed another woman after telling her that he wanted her. He pushed the door open to the room, looking worse for wear than Steve did. His stubble was in full force, his hand was a mess, his eyes were baggy and tired. If he didn’t know any better, he would have thought he hadn’t slept for a month. Which technically he hadn’t really. He barely got an hour of sleep each night. And since Rosie had been hit, he didn’t get any.

"Hey Rosie," Steve said once he pushed the door open. "Found him. He wasn't all that hard to find, just around the corner." He stepped aside to let Bucky walk past him into the room. It shouldn't matter to his sister what his best friend did with anyone. As far as he was concerned, Rose didn't have any clue that men and women could do the things that Bucky had told him about. "With a nurse in his lap and all, so it seems like he's feeling fine, despite the way he looks." Surely, knowing that Bucky was back up to his normal antics would make her feel better.

It took a minute for Rose to register what her brother had said, her eyebrows furrowed until her grey eyes widened at the statement, her gaze flicking to Bucky's face.

Bucky rolled his eyes. “You ask a guy to do one thing,” he muttered under his breath. He glanced at Steve, murmuring, “told you she wouldn’t be happy.” He caught the little jab about him looking bad but didn’t say anything about it. The guy was completely right. But when Rosie’s eyes met his, he felt like he was gonna combust. At times like this, he wished the world would just swallow him whole. “Steve, can you give us a minute? You’ve had her for two days. I want me time,” he said with a small smile, trying to portray that they were still their normal selves and that nothing had happened cause he knew Steve wouldn’t like it if he knew that A, he’d kissed his sister and felt her up.. and B, that he’d then kissed another woman while she was practically grinding against his lap.

Her eyes narrowed when she heard him mutter under his breath at her brother and then dismiss him. Probably for the best, considering the meltdown she was about to have at the man. She was barely able to contain her quivering lip until her brother dipped out of the room, saying something about looking for Peggy and trying to find some dinner. 

The redhead folded her arms over her chest, causing one of the metal stands holding something that was attached to her via some IV to move slightly across the floor as she did so. She wasn't sure she wanted to ask, not sure she wanted to know. But she realized she could still hear Steve's boots walking across the floor, even though he had to be halfway down the hall by now. And everything smelled strongly of antiseptic. It caused her to wrinkle her nose and her stomach turned a little at it, a grimace finding its way to her face.

Bucky looked at her, raising an eyebrow as she scrunched up her face. “Smells horrible, doesn’t it? Now imagine someone using that shit on you day in, day out. Still can’t get the taste outta my mouth,” he joked. 

"Seems like you feel fine," she finally said, not looking at him. "Certainly seems like you're trying to replace it with a lot of different tastes," she said, her voice cold as she looked at one of the needles that had been put in the back of her hand. She fiddled with it, peeling the tape off before slowly pulling it out of her hand, a small wince as it slipped out.

He rolled his eyes. “You would say that. You passed out pretty quick. You didn’t see everything going off. I was one second too late,” he sighed. He’d been one second short of beating the guy to the shot. He could’ve prevented this. Prevented her getting hurt. “You lost so much blood.”

"But it seems like I'm fine now, other than feeling really sore." She didn't even want to try and move the blankets to see where the bullet wound had been. She wasn't sure she could handle that just yet.

Bucky rolled his eyes, “what do you want me to say? Huh? We aren’t good for each other,” he said with a serious expression. He was certain of that. Steve wouldn’t be happy with either of them and he didn’t want to have his best friend hate him. ’Though upsetting her by trying to fuck another nurse? Sure, he’d love that. Good job Barnes.’ 

He shook his head, “I don’t care how you feel. You’re on bed rest. Not just cause you were shot. We don’t know how the serum is gonna react with you. It worked on Steve cause he had all the support of Stark and Erskine. I had Hydra to watch me constantly. It’s different with you.” He glanced at the door, “so you want me to go and get you some clothes? I’m sure the nurses around here have some that you could take,” he shrugged. ’Ah yes, let’s just ask the nurse who just had your tongue down her throat! Idiot.’ He didn’t know what that voice was. It had bugged him since the experiments. Whether it was something to do with the shocking or if he had created it when he tried to hide himself from the pain, he didn’t know.

"I don't want you to say anything," she said, glowering at her arms as she methodically went about removing each and every medical device that had been attached to her. Some of them hurt more than others, and when she pulled the heart rate monitor off her finger and tossed it to the ground, the incessant beeping got louder and she winced. 

Bucky rolled his eyes as she pulled off all the medical equipment. “Where are you going? You’re on bed rest for the day. That’s an order. Not from me, from the nurses,” he said seriously. 

"I can get my own clothes, thank you," she grumbled, slipping her legs over the edge of the bed and wiggling her toes before sliding her feet to the cold floor. "You can go back to doing whatever it is you do."

“Whatever it is that I do? The fuck has gotten into you? Is this cause I kissed that nurse?” he asked seriously. “We aren’t good for each other. I told you that.” ’Didn’t stop you putting your hand on her boob, did it?’ ‘Whose side are you on?!’ “Doll, just slow down. We don’t need you doing more damage to yourself.”

"I'm going wherever I damn well want to go, James," she said, wincing as she put her weight on her feet. She felt a bit wobbly and everything hurt, but that wasn't about to stop her. She was pissed off and wanted to be anywhere but in the hospital where people could just pop in and out when they wanted.

Bucky shook his head, “you’re not going anywhere. You’ve just been shot, the last thing you’re doing is walking about,” he said seriously. Even if Steve found out about what had happened, the guy would probably still agree that Rosie needed to stay in the hospital for at least the rest of the day. “Don’t make me get Steve in here to make you stay. Hell, if I have to, I’ll block the door. You need to heal. You’re no use to us if you’re injured. We’re already down a man for the next two weeks while he heals his wounds.” He was lucky it was just a flesh wound and didn’t hit bone cause the guy could’ve lost the movement in his arm.

"James, if you do not get out my way, I'll find a way to shoot you myself," she said, although the fact she had to grip the bars on the side of the hospital bed as she walked around it made her threat slightly less convincing until she pulled her hand away and saw the small indents where her fingers had twisted the metal. Her eyes widened and then she looked at her palm and then back to the railing of the bed. 

"I will apparently heal pretty quick. So move."

Bucky rolled his eyes, pulling out his small revolver from his ankle holster. “Do it then. Shoot me,” he shrugged, holding the gun out by the barrel so the stock was facing her. He smiled slightly as she looked at the railing confused, “the serum does that. It’s a bit of a learning curve. We’ll find you some fine china to practice on so you get used to not breaking stuff. Like your patience’s bones.” He crossed his arms as she told him to move, “Sugar, I’m not going anywhere.” 

"Call me all the sweet names you want, and then go suck someone else's face," she said, folding her own arms to mirror his pose. He was probably right, honestly, though, if the dizziness that was overcoming her from all the moving around was any indicator of how she was doing. Not that she'd let him know that, blinking back the feeling of dizziness as best as she could.

“Rosie, sit back down,” he ordered. As he saw her blinking, he slid a bin over to her with his foot, “if you’re gonna puke, do it in that. Believe me, I’ve been through this. Steve might have had a gentle awakening but you and me? We get the aftershocks of this shit,” he grimaced. “I’m not letting you leave. And I’m not going back out there to suck faces,” he said, scoffing at her wording. ’You already did, asshole. You’ve hurt her and she didn’t deserve it.’

"I am not about to vomit," she grumbled, knocking the bin out of the way and watching as it clattered to the ground. She didn't feel like she was, anyway. No, but she did feel light headed and like the air in front of her was swimming. She took another step towards him - or towards the door he was so annoyingly standing in front of and everything went fuzzy as she blacked out again.

Bucky rolled his eyes. “Fine, don’t listen to me. But when you feel like shit and you get sick, don’t come crying to me,” he shrugged. Even if he would drop everything to help her out. As soon as she stepped closer he could see her vision starting to go and slipped his arms under her shoulders, holding her upright before gently carrying her back to the bed and laying her down. “You shoulda listened kiddo. Next time, I’ll cuff you to the bed,” he said, even though he was pretty sure she couldn’t hear him.

Chapter Text

The blackness was both horrible and wonderful. On one side, she couldn't feel the weariness that had taken over. On the other side, she had no idea what was happening around her and was plagued with images of Bucky dancing with a faceless woman, and then disappearing. When she finally came back to, she found that her pillow was wet from where she had been crying in her sleep. 

Bucky looked over as he saw her wake up. He’d heard her crying in her sleep and had to fight the urge to cradle her against him until she stopped. But he left her alone cause she probably would’ve accepted his gun and shot him if he had done. “You gonna listen to me now? Or are you going to try and escape again?” he asked seriously.

"Depends on if you're still being an asshole," she said, her voice smaller than she had wanted it to be as she opened her eyes and turned her head to look at him. "How many nurses did you take to the broom closet while I was out?" she asked trying to sit up again.

“You’re seriously gonna play those games? Doll, I had to carry you back to bed cause you didn’t listen to me. I’ve lived this, believe me when I say, I don’t need you hurting yourself like I did.” He sighed as she asked if he’d kissed anyone else, “I haven’t left. I also haven’t told Steve about you fainting. So you’re welcome.”

"So at least you're not totally dead to me," she said, sliding her hand under her pillow as she turned on her side to look at him, while remaining firmly in the bed - because she wanted to and certainly not because he told her to. "Even if you do decide to be the first man I ever kiss and then 48 hours decide to go be up someone else's dress." She hadn't meant to say it. She hadn't planned on telling him that - it had just kind of ... spilled out of her. Whatever drugs they'd put her on were not doing her any favors, that's for sure.

“Oh is that all it takes? Not telling Steve and staying in a room with you? That’s what it takes to not be dead to you? That’s a really low bar, Sugar,” he whispered. He frowned slightly, not knowing what to say to the fact she just admitted he was her first kiss. “I was your first kiss?” he asked quietly. He was also probably the first guy to touch her like he had. “I shouldn’t have been your any kiss.”

She stared at him for a minute, not really sure what to say. She had always wanted it to be him, had always hoped that it would be. Years ago, she had thought maybe at the carnival, or somewhere else fun. She never expected it to be in the middle of an English forest in the rain during a war. 

"It's fine, you don't have to ever do it again," she finally said, barely over a whisper but she knew he'd hear her anyway.

Bucky walked closer, sitting on the edge of her bed. “Sweetheart, it’ll only end bad. I mean Steve isn’t gonna like it for one. And two, if it doesn’t work out, it’s gonna be super awkward. I mean the guy is my best friend, and your brother. That’s like the number one! You don’t fall for your best friend’s sister, no matter how good it feels,” he whispered. “We should just keep it professional. Neither of us need a distraction right now,” he said softly, squeezing her knee gently. 

He knew he’d hurt her before and he knew this would crush her but it was for the best. There was no way Steve would support this and he knew it would just end horribly for both of them.

Rose closed her eyes and did her best to pretend to be asleep, even if she knew it was not very convincing. But maybe it would mean he would leave. She didn't hold her breath on it, since he hadn't left before, but it was worth a shot. She didn't have anything else to say to him right then, and wasn't sure when she'd want to talk to him at all. 

She did hear a nurse pop into the room to check her vitals on something and make sure she had kept all of her iv's attached this time, before the nurse suggested that Bucky go try to get some sleep too. She hoped he would listen.

Bucky stayed in the chair in the corner of the room, knowing full well she wasn’t asleep. He’d shared a bed with her enough to know when she was asleep. Plus he was a marksman, spotting things was kinda his job now. 

Did Bucky listen to the nurse? Of course he didn’t. Every time he closed his eyes he saw her bleeding out in his arms. He couldn’t sleep without seeing her fall to the ground in front of him and him not being fast enough to save her. What happened next time? What happened when he didn’t get there? He wouldn’t be able to cope with that. If she was gonna be too impulsive, she couldn’t run with the team. It was too dangerous. She’d put herself and her team in harm’s way by rushing in to save Falsworth.

Rosalie wasn't sure how long it had been when she woke up, after having actually fallen asleep thanks to her attempts to look like she was sleeping. Or maybe the nurse had upped something to try and keep her in bed a while longer. But when she had woken up, it was to Steve coming into the room with a tray of food. The smell hit her like a ton of bricks and almost made her want to puke in the way she had earlier been so adament that she wasn't going to. 

"No," she said, pointing at the food, flapping her hand at him to take it away and then covering her mouth. "Absolutely not." 

"You need to eat something." 

"I'm not hungry." 

"It's been two days since you've eaten anything." 

"Get rid of it."

Bucky rolled his eyes as Steve came in with a tray of food, “Steve, she’ll throw up if she even attempts to eat any of that. Trust me. You had Stark and his machine to make sure you came out okay. Me and Rosie had after effects. Get the girl some crackers or something light. Maybe a slice of toast or something. Just nothing heavy or greasy. Gingerbread would do the trick too. Would help with the sickness,” he shrugged. 

Sure he knew Rosie was angry at him, but he was gonna make sure she was well looked after. He knew what it was like to first come out of having the serum. It was a hard thing to adjust to as your body got used to things being faster. The change in senses was overwhelming too. “Plus she’s been asleep for most of those two days so she won’t have used up that much energy,” he shrugged. 

“Steve, please,” she pleaded, squeezing her eyes shut. “Unless you want me to be sick all over you and Sargent asshole.” 

Bucky snorted quietly. “That the best you’ve got, Doll? I thought you were a lot more creative than that,” he teased. He didn’t care if Steve was there, he wanted to get all the anger out of her. Being tired and angry was never a good combination. 

She didn’t miss the look Steve gave her and Bucky, one that very much said he realized he was missing some information. “Language,” he said, before turning around to hand the food to someone in a hallway, that, once she listened, realized was Peggy. Steve asked the British woman to see if she could find a piece of toast, which she agreed to, the sound of her high heels clacking against the floor.

Bucky scoffed under his breath. “Oh Captain America suddenly doesn’t swear? You’re from Brooklyn, punk. Don’t let those assholes make you kid friendly. Little you woulda lit a guy up for even looking sideways at a lady. But now you’re correcting us for swearin’?” he laughed incredulously. He didn’t miss how he’d asked Peggy Carter of all people to go get toast. “I’m sorry, did I miss something? Did you just ask Peggy Carter for toast? She outranks you tenfold and she’s getting toast for you?! Have you been fonduing?” he smirked.

“He’s got a thing for her and is too dense to see that she is into him too,” Rose said, rolling her eyes. “Super everything except knowing how to talk to women.” 

Bucky laughed. “She is definitely into him. I mean did you see the dress she wore at the bar when the Commandos were formed?! Damn Steve! Even I woulda danced with her if she’d asked and she’s not even my type.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. I don’t want to hear anything from either of you about it. You,” he said, pointing at Bucky, “can’t see women past what’s under their skirts and you,” he said, turning his finger on his sister “haven’t even attempted to date, whatever you were trying with DumDum is one of the dumbest things I’ve ever seen.”

Bucky put his hands up. “Hey, I can totally do that. I mean I’ve dated before. Just cause I don’t bring the ones I date home, doesn’t mean I don’t date. I mean would you bring a girl home when you have a tiny apartment for four people?” he chuckled. He smiled slightly as Steve mentioned Dugan, “I think she knows it was a mistake. Guy doesn’t know how to handle a Rogers.” He did. He’d been keeping Steve alive for years. That and looking after Rosie after Sarah had passed.

“I’m sure he could find a way to handle something,” she grumbled under her breath. To be fair, he was nearly a foot taller than her and his hands were quite large. 

“I am going to pretend like I didn’t hear that,” Steve said, pinching his nose as he tilted his head back. “And I’m going to pretend like what you said was “yes Steve, I promise to behave myself and not cause any issues” and I need you to definitely not continue trying to do whatever it was you were trying to do with Dugan.” 

“Is he the only one off limits?”

Bucky rolled his eyes, “you’re gonna get yourself into trouble one’a these days talkin’ like that,” he said quietly. 

“Rosalie I will put you on the first flight back to Brooklyn,” Steve said with an annoyed look on his face.

He chuckled dryly, “Steve, she knows not to go after Dugan.” At her comment about Dugan being the only one off limits, he paused. Was she talking about him or one of the others? Why did he feel jealous that it could be someone else, she wasn’t his to have. 

“Actually, captain,” came a female voice laced with a British accent, “you don’t have the authority to do that. Young Ms. Rogers is now, much like yourself, considered property of the US government.”

“Hi Peggy,” Rose said, reaching for the toast the woman had bought, taking a small bite out of the corner of it. Bless Peggy Carter for having smothered it in butter and strawberry jam, and Bucky rolled his eyes. For a feisty twenty-something, she could be very easily swayed by toast of all things? Why hadn’t he thought of that?! 

Bucky scoffed at that. “Oh fuck off. She’s no one’s property. If the U.S. government wants her, they’ll have a very angry super soldier defending her. You may have made him, but you didn’t make me Sugar. I’m here cause Steve asked me to be. Otherwise I’d have gotten the first boat back to Brooklyn.” He shook his head, “Steve signed up for the serum. She didn’t. If anything, it was forced. I don’t care what you call it, it was forced. And forcing simeone to undergo medical enhancements has gotta be some sort of ethical and moral violation, no?”

“That is correct, Sargent Barnes. It would have been a huge violation, had we not gotten the consent of her older brother, who happens to also be her legal guardian.  So we are lucky Captain Roger’s was around to sign the forms and provide the blood needed for the transfusion.”

Rose didn’t miss the look Peggy gave her brother at that last statement, and she had to stop herself from vomiting up the toast she had just eaten.

Bucky stared at Steve as Peggy talked, not even realising he’d swung at the guy until his bad hand was throbbing and Steve’s nose was bleeding. “You fucking idiot. They made you into a fucking show pony and only let you out when you literally went out against orders. You think they’ll treat her any better?! Come the fuck on! What has the government ever done for us?! They certainly weren’t gonna go marching in to save my ass,” he scoffed.

“You might have saved her, but you also just screwed her over big time. And you,” he started, turning to Peggy, “you knew what this meant, didn’t you? You knew that someone would object to it, so you put that nice little loophole in there. Is that why you’re here? You’re not here for Steve, are you? You’re only interested in the serum,” he spat. 

He’d been taken by Nazis and subjected to torture but this was one of the most egregious acts of bullshit he’d seen. Someone who was supposed to be friendly had practically signed Rosie’s rights away.

The toast hit the ground and Rose was on her feet and across the room sooner than she realized, a hand wrapped around his upper arm, yanking him back. 

“Jim,” she hissed  at the same time Steve yelped out a “Bucky!”  and Peggy with her own “Sargent Barnes!” The agent had taken two steps back, though, towards the door and with a
hand on the gun at her side. 

Bucky looked back at Rosie, “I suggest you let go. You don’t wanna be getting hurt,” he whispered. 

“I am here to check that Ms. Rogers has something to eat and to make sure there is not too much testosterone, which it appears there might be.” Peggy leveled a glare at Bucky, before looking over at Steve. “We should have someone check your nose, Captain.”

He stared at Peggy, her hand on her gun. “You wanna shoot me? Do it. You wouldn’t be the first, most certainly won’t be the last.” At least he’d heal from it in a matter of days if she did. “You also said she was property, so let’s not pretend it’s just cause you care about her,” he spat. “Yeah, Captain, let agent Carter check your nose. Who knows she might even put a fuckin’ tracker in it so the government… oh sorry… the people that own you and your sister, know where you are!” he scoffed.

Rose tugged on Bucky’s shoulder again, before wobbling slightly. She still wasn’t used to what all was happening to her body, wasn’t used to Bucky feeling how he did, now so much stronger, not used to him trying to fight with her brother. “Please sit down,” she begged. “Peggy, can you please take my brother to go get his nose fixed so it doesn’t heal crooked? He is finally not entirely unfortunate looking and he should get to hold onto that.”

Bucky could’ve shrugged her off… of flipped her over his shoulder but he didn’t cause he knew she would either hurt more or bang her head on something. “Yeah Peggy go take your soldier to get fixed. Let them track him while you’re at it. You don’t wanna lose sight of your precious property,” he spat.

“Sit. Down,” she said again, yanking on his arm, while Steve followed Peggy out of the room, still looking bewildered that Bucky had hit him. They had been in more than a few scuffles over their friendship but never quite like that. 

She was surprised to see that her tugging his arm had any effect, before she led him over to the edge of her own hospital bed. 

Bucky stumbled back but didn’t fight her. He didn’t want to hurt her. That was always the last thing on his mind. He sat down, bowing his head slightly; he really shouldn’t have punched Steve in the face. Especially not with that much force. 

“Let me see your hand,” she said, sounding tired and reaching for his hand and holding it up to inspect his knuckles.

He’d not even had a chance to refuse the instruction before his hand moved on its own. “It’s not as bad as it looks,” he shrugged, “the tree did most of the damage. It was healing pretty well even kept it clean cause I knew you’d fuss.” 

"Of course I'd fuss," She said, turning to one of the cabinets in the room to grab some sanitizing pads and bandages. "Hitting Steve was just as stupid as hitting a tree and I'm not even going to ask why you thought it would be appropriate to do either." 

“Yeah I know. I just… it’s gonna sound stupid.” He knew he was right but he didn’t think Rosie would agree with him. “He practically signed your life away. You’re just property to the government now. They won’t treat you like a human, they’ll just see you as a tool they can use,” he said seriously. 

"You're right. It does sound stupid. I would have done the same thing for him if the choice was between signing some paperwork to for a chance that he wouldn't die or not signing it and knowing he would." Her brows furrowed as she wrapped the bandage fabric around his knuckles. 

She held his hand up with one of hers, and used her teeth to rip open the packet holding the sanitizing pad before wiping at his cut with it. "Because it's starting to seem like you would have rather I bled out in the forest. What were the other options, other than what they did?"

He scoffed quietly. “You think that’s why I was pissed off? Cause they saved you?! No, it’s cause they took you and told me to back the fuck off when I came with you. They didn’t even let me come near you. You died on the fucking table twice. We were left behind waiting while they rushed you off! For all I knew, you could’ve died in that ambulance and not come back!”

"It might have been easier if I had," she whispered, not looking at him. "Then we wouldn't have to be having this conversation. It wouldn't matter what you wanted to do or who you wanted to do it with."

He looked up at her with a sigh “Don’t say that,” he whispered sadly, “don’t ever say anything like that again.” He didn’t want her to think she’d be better off dead. That wasn’t true at all. “Listen, me and you aren’t good for each other. It wouldn’t work. Steve wouldn’t allow it for a start,” he sighed. “I’m sorry I hurt you though.” ’Sorry you got caught more like.’

"You just punched him in the face for signing paperwork that saved my life and now you're worried about what he would and wouldn't allow?" Rose let go of his hand, before she turned to put the supplies back into the cabinet she had gotten them from, using the time she wasn't facing him as a chance to try and get her face on board with not crying again.

“I punched him in the face for making a stupid fucking decision that will change your life in a terrible way!” he scoffed. “And yeah, cause I still care about the guy and know for a fact he wouldn’t like us together. I’m not putting him or you in that position. Not a chance.” He watched as she turned away, letting out a sigh, “look, I love you, I always have. You’re awesome, who wouldn’t want to be with you? But I can’t. I would if I could. But I can’t.”

"This all sounds like a lot of bullshit excuses," she said, gripping the edge of the small counter in front of her so hard that her knuckles went white and the countertop let out a cracking noise as a hairline fracture ran down the middle of it and she jumped back at the noise.

Bucky rolled his eyes. “What do you wanna do? Run away together? Hide in the woods away from everything?!” he scoffed. He raised an eyebrow as he heard the cracking noise, “you’re gonna have to get a hold of that. Can’t be of use to your new owners if you’re breakin’ shit,” he shrugged.

She hadn't realized what she was doing until it was already done. Rose didn't recognize the glass jar full of wooden tongue depressors when she grabbed it and didn't register that she had whipped around and thrown it at his face until it was shattering against the wall behind him. 

"Go. Away. James."

Bucky froze as he saw her throw the jar, not flinching but also not wanting to move incase she threw something sharper. “I’m not just gonna walk out on you when you’re very clearly in distress.” ’You’re causing it asshole.’ 

Rose hadn't heard the approaching footsteps and didn't realize there was a person standing in the doorway to her hospital room until Timothy Dugan was clearing his throat and dropping a shoulder to lean against the doorframe. 

"I uh...was just comin' to check on you and make sure eveything was goin okay, but I can...I can come back later."

Bucky stared at Dugan. “She’s fine Dugan. She’s just getting used to the serum. Clearly it’s got some effects,” he shrugged. He didn’t want Dugan here right now.  Of all people, Dugan was probably the worst to come in right now. Hell, he would’ve preferred Steve at the moment. 

"Hi, Timothy," she said, the weariness apparent in her voice. "No, you don't need to leave. I was just telling Sargent Barnes that it might be a good idea for him to leave and try and get some sleep." 

The look on Dugan's face was that he very clearly didn't believe it, but wasn't willing to push it at that moment. "But I'm feeling mostly fine, just getting used to some new...newness."

Bucky rolled his eyes, “you think I’m gonna just walk out on you when you’re clearly upset? Cause that’s an excellent idea,” he scoffed. ’Just like how you stepped out on her when she was out cold.’ That was different, they weren’t even together! He eyed Dugan, “you heard the lady, she’s fine,” he shrugged.

"I think you're going to leave because I'm asking you to leave or I will have someone escort you out. I'm sure Sargent Dugan would help you find someone to spend your time with." Rose folded her arms over her chest and stared at him, waiting for him to insist more that he was staying.

Bucky rolled his eyes. “Is that what this is about? Seriously? You and I both know why it’s not a good idea. I’m sorry, but it’s not good for us,” he whispered. “But I can’t just walk out on you when you’re in such a fragile state. I mean you fucking fainted earlier and I had to catch you. What happens if you hit your head and no one is around to help you?”

"I am sure one of the nurses or doctors or Howard fucking Stark himself would be happy to come sit in the room," she said, her eyes narrowing. For someone who was so insistent that it would be better off if they stayed apart, he was very determined to not leave her alone.

“Fine, you want me gone, I’m gone. I’ll keep my distance,” he shrugged. He ignored Morita as the guy walked past him through the corridor. If she wanted him to leave her alone, he could do that. He could do that very well.

As soon as Bucky had left her hospital room, Rose found herself crawling back into the bed, pulling the blanket up to her chin and then looking over at Dugan. "Honestly, I'm okay. Thank you for coming to check on me. But I think I'm going to try and get some sleep." 

He nodded without saying much else and turned, closing the door behind him to leave her to herself. 

As soon as the door clicked shut, the tears started falling down her cheeks from where they had gathered in the corners of her eyes and it wasn't long before she was asleep again.

Chapter Text

Bucky stuck to his word, throwing himself into mission prep and training like never before. He’d gotten the highest score on the range and had pushed himself to figuring out his limits for the serum. He could lift about half a ton at the moment but he felt he could do more. 

When he got hit on a mission he avoided Rosie like the plague, instead picking his own bullets out and stitching himself up, or just waiting till they had backup or got home. It wasn’t hard to tell they weren’t talking. To be fair, Bucky didn’t care. She’d told him what she wanted so he was gonna keep his distance. He wasn’t gonna hurt her again.

Considering that there wasn't a ton for her to do while she was under observation, Rose wrote a few letters to Becca, venting her frustration about Bucky to her best friend. The letters she got in return included more candy and promises to try and "straighten him out," whatever that meant from as far away as Becca was. 

Finally, when she was allowed to leave the hospital wing, she was almost immediately summoned to the office of Agent Carter. While Rose liked Peggy quite a bit and had been thankful for her friendship, she was not thrilled with the new responsibility that the British woman was handing over to her, disguised in a garish red, white and blue dress. It was as if they had taken her brother's costume and turned it into a frilly dress that one of the USO girls would have worn. Only it had been "engineered with the same technology as Captain Rogers's suit." 

"We don't expect you'll be in any combat situations any time soon, but the appearance of Ms. America might cheer up some of the troops," Colonel Phillips said, when she looked unamused by the dress.

—---

It had been nearly fifteen months since their argument and Bucky’s stubbornness was still going strong. Even if seeing Rosie in that dress did things for him that he really wished he could express. The guys had all taken note of the change in attitudes between the two and he wasn’t surprised. 

He’d thrown himself into his training, avoiding the others and Rosie a decent amount as he focused on himself. At least that was until a file slid under his door while he was doing pull-ups on the bar that Stark had made for him. The front of the file had two sticky notes on it. Both presumably from Stark. ‘Zola- do not throw away. IMPORTANT!’ And ‘maybe after this you will be less tightly wound. You need to talk to your girl Barnes.’ His girl?! What did Howard see that he didn’t? He’d made it pretty clear that he was avoiding her. Was he protecting her or himself at this point. He’d woke up too many times in the middle of the night to nothing. To just being alone and he missed the feeling of warmth that stuck with him after she’d cuddled up to him when he had that nightmare all those months ago. He missed her, more than be cared to admit. She was a big part of his life and he couldn’t just cut her out. It hurt too much. 

He picked the file up, reading through it, only to find another sticky note at the end. ‘I put a machine gun in your locker for the mission. You won’t need your rifle.’ It would be him, Steve and Gabe going onto the train. Apparently they’d only have a small window. He changed into a military shirt and cargo pants, leaving his apartment with a sigh. Maybe he did need to talk to Rosie. But what did he say? What could he say to make it all okay?! 

Of course he’d not gotten that chance to find her cause the team was ushered to an airstrip and taken to a landing strip a few clicks from where they’d be jumping. At least they’d been provided with a pair of jeeps and wouldn’t have to walk all the way there.

So that’s how he found himself on the top of a mountain, shitting himself about the jump ahead. Steve clearly did this as a sick joke. Why else would he have? ’Maybe for hurting Rosie all that time ago? And then cutting them both off whenever he wanted to spend time with you?!’

It was freezing on that mountain and Rose was not happy about having to be there. But given the circumstances, no one else with medical training wanted to go and Phillips promised her a break from the dress if she went to make sure everyone was safe. 

The past months had been filled with dancing and general "pep squad"-ing, activities she would have rather not dealt with, but it was apparently her new role. Photos and interviews. It was similar to what they had Steve do for a while and it was starting to wear thin, so when she saw a way out of it for a while, she jumped at it - only to then be told about what it would take. 

It didn't help that Bucky had not spoken to her since that day in the hospital, Steve had been busy, Peggy had been pre-occupied and Becca's letters had slowed down. She felt alone. 

Bundled up with a heavy jacket, she found herself wandering around, only to come across the man in question. She sighed, and silently went to stand next to him, staring off the cliff at the tracks below. 

"You don't have to do this," she said, quietly, after a few minutes. "You could go home. I would go with you. *We can go back to Brooklyn."

Bucky didn’t even look her way, just sighed and crouched down slightly, as if to get a better look at the landscape. “I have to do this,” he whispered, “if I don’t, and he gets away. I’ll never forgive myself. It’s him then Schmidt. That’s it and we can be done with it,” he said quietly, his brain only just catching up to what she’d said. 

“If we went back together, people are gonna ask questions,” he whispered. He didn’t want Steve to get mad at either of them for getting too close to each other. Frankly, he was too busy shitting himself about Zola to care about Steve all that much. “Just two more and we can go home. Just Zola and Schmidt and then we’re free.” If he was being completely honest, he wanted Zola dead, not as a prisoner.

Rose sighed and reached up to push some hair out of her face that wound up immediately back in her face thanks to the wind. 

“Buck,” she said, nudging him with her knee to try and get him to stand back up. 

When he did, she said to hell with all of it and threw her arms around his neck. “Let them ask,” she said, her cheeks pink from more than just the chill of the air. “But we can go home. See Becca. Have a life.” And Rose leaned up to kiss him, for the first time in over. a year, with the squad around them and chilly mountain air whipping at them both.

Bucky gasped as she kissed him, kissing her back softly. She was right, but he had a duty here. If he left with her and Zola got away, he would be haunted by it till the day he died. He looped his arms around her hips gently, “I’ve got to do this. You might not see why but I have to get him,” he whispered. “I love you, have for a long time. And while I wish you’d worn that fuckin’ dress, I’m glad you’re not getting frostbite just for me to leer at you,” he chuckled quietly. He kissed her again, more passionately than before and he heard a whistle to his right from Falsworth, “so this is why you’ve not talked to each other since I got shot! Damn sarge!”

“Come back in one piece, Sarge,” she said with a grin, “and I’ll put it on just for you to take it off.” Anything else she wanted to say was cut off by his mouth back on hers and the shouts of the people around them. 

When she finally had to come up for air, the smile was still stretched over her face, her hands gripping the front lapels of his jacket. 

Bucky smirked down at her, “those are fightin’ words Doll. Maybe I’d have you keep it on. I’m sure we could make it work,” he whispered, nipping at her bottom lip gently. 

“Zola. Schmidt. And then we go home, Jim.”

He put his hand to his head, saluting her with a grin, “call me Jim again and I’m gonna miss my jump,” he chuckled, pressing a soft kiss to her lips as Morita called out to him and Steve, “you’ve got incoming. Get in position, you’ve only got ten seconds to get out there.” Bucky grabbed his zip line, looking at Steve, “this is revenge for the cyclone, huh? Cause I made you puke all over your shoes?”

Rose stepped back away from the edge of the cliff and held up a hand to wave. 

"You're lucky I didn't have time to come up with revenge for that," Steve said, nodding his head in his sister's direction. "I don't even want to know. I don't want to talk about it. I don't even want to think about it. Let's just do this and maybe she'll have come to her senses by the time we get back."

"Be nice, Steven," she said, just loud enough for the two of them to hear over the sound of the wind. "Both of you come back, please."

Bucky rolled his eyes, “it’s happening. We’re both adults, if you can’t accept it, that’s fine. But I really like her Steve. Have done for a long time. You want what’s best for her, and I know that may not be me, but I want what’s best for her too.” He checked his pistol for ammo before hooking onto the line, “I don’t care if you don’t agree with this, it’s happening whether you like it or not.”

Steve sighed and shook his head. "I want what's best for both of you, I just didn't think it would be each other." Then there wasn't anymore time to talk about it, it was time to go. Steve went first, and then Bucky, and then Rose wasn't watching anymore, her back turned to the train tracks. She trusted that Falsworth or Morita would let her know if anything that needed her immediate attention happened. But once the guys were on the train, there wouldn't be anything she could do for them.

Bucky landed with thud, he and Steve making a quick and quiet entry while Gabe went for the front of the train. He put down two men with guns before slipping through a door, waiting for Steve before they were cut off from each other. And a guy, with what he could only describe as a portal gun, started shooting at him from the other side of the carriage. 

He heard Steve put his opponent down before shooting quickly at his own guy, emptying his magazine with little effect. Bucky emptied his pistol to the same effect. Steve pushed the button for the door and threw Bucky his pistol, Bucky quickly firing on the man while Steve used his shield to knock him down, Bucky quickly putting a bullet in his head. Cause fuck that guy. 

They didn’t have long to celebrate before another big suit came shooting through and knocked Steve on his ass, Bucky quickly picking up the shield and holding it up with his gun. 

What happened next he didn’t know. He felt the shot but he didn’t notice it had taken the carriage out behind him, and he was suddenly hanging on the side of the train. He tried to hold on for Steve, silently begging whatever deity would listen to let him back up so they could finish this. Then the bar gave way and he was falling. He hit his arm on the way down, passing out from the pain before he landed in the stream at the bottom of the ravine. 

Rosalie didn't remember much of what life had been like before she died. The months after the train, she had been mostly a walking ghost, stumbling around the base, barely eating, to the point Steve threatened to send her back home. 

The team had gone a few days afterwards to search the area under the tracks to see if they could find anything, but any part of Bucky that had been there was gone. Steve had found his dog tags, though, pocketed them and then took them back to give to Rose. No one asked too many questions when she started wearing them around her own neck. 

When Steve had asked her to go on one last trip with him, and then they'd try to both go home for a while, get a break from everything, she hadn't been able to tell him no. And then all of a sudden they were heading nose first into the ice.

Chapter Text

A lot changed over the course of nearly 50 years. People had little computers in their pockets, which she had grown to love. Women were able to do a lot of new things. TV had gotten so much better. But none of it quite filled the hole that was in her heart.

Rose managed to adapt, with Steve alongside her. Then the aliens showed up. And Howard Stark's son, of all people, now had a flying metal suit, although she supposed if anyone would have done it, it would have been a Stark. And god's from different realms...there was just a lot to get used to.

Rosalie had heard the pacing outside her door. Not matter how light footed the assassin was, she had gotten really good at hearing people get to her door. The numerous orders of takeout and delivery food, right from her little pocket computer had really assisted in that. 

There were various plastic boxes with bits and pieces of food left in them scattered about her kitchen and the mess of clothes, blankets and jewelry that were strewn across the couch. It was finally getting to her and she figured it was time to do a ...what did the call it? Full Reset. 

Natasha had been up most of the night trying to come up with a way to cheer up Rosalie; she knew the girl had dark days where she couldn’t forget her loss. And then there were good days. She wanted to help the girl have a good day. Hence why she was pacing the hall outside of the girls apartment in the tower. 

She’d decided on giving the girl a boost with shopping and then treating her to a spa day, courtesy of Tony’s credit card that she’d swiped months back and occasionally paid for things with. Not that she needed the money, she had her own side-gigs doing  hire work as a mercenary or a go between for gangs and thieves and their victims. Every time they get their shit back without paying a ransom, she got a cut of the would-be ransom money. Better to pay 30% than all of it. 

Was it hella early? Sure, but she also knew the girl might not have gotten a lot of sleep after a not so great day before. She knocked loudly, realizing maybe it was a little too early to be doing this. It was seven thirty after all.

Rose was stood in her living room, in a pair of black leggings, a dark blue tank top, with her hair pulled up into a ponytail that swang as she walked, trying to figure out the best place to start when Nat finally decided to knock on the door. "C'mon in, Nat," she said, grabbing a sweater off the couch. "Excuse the disaster that is my life, right now."

Natasha looked around as she stepped inside, frowning slightly, “when did the hurricane come through?” she joked, “we’re gonna be going out later. We have a spa afternoon booked and then I’ll take you for dinner. First, we’re gonna tackle whatever this is, have breakfast, then I’m buying you clothes cause you’re cute and I wanna dress you up,” she grinned. 

Was she attracted to Rosalie? Hell yeah, but she wasn’t gonna do anything about it, cause A, it didn’t go deeper than that, there weren’t really feelings there.. more of a curiosity? And B, the girl was clearly still mourning the loss of her boyfriend. 

“You think your life is a disaster? Be glad you’re not dealing with Clint on a daily basis. Guy is a walking mess. He just leaves shit everywhere! I feel sorry for Laura.” She unzipped her jacket, laying it over the back of the couch, “where do you want to start?”

Rose looked at her friend with a grin. "Hey, just because some of us don't have military style neatness running through our veins does not a hurricane make." When she heard about the plans for the night she perked up. "We can skip the cleaning and go straight to the fun," she said. "But I do think you're just trying to get me drunk so that I kiss you again, like the Christmas party." 

It hadn't been her fault, honestly. Thor had brought some magical drink that he shared and it was the first time Rose had been able to get drunk since getting shot. Regular alcohol just burned off immediately. The end result, however, had been Rose climbing into Nat's lap and attempting to find all the comfort she was missing in the mouth of her friend.

She snorted quietly, “sweetheart, there’s neat and tidy and then there’s this. Steve might be OCD but oh my god this is definitely hurricane season!” she teased. She blushed lightly, “hey, listen we agreed to not speak about that!” she whisper-yelled, “if I wanted to get you drunk, I’d just give you some of Thor’s booze. Cause I do have some, just in case Steve needs knocking out,” she shrugged. 

"And you're correct, Steve is certainly OCD. It got worse when he got big, it wasn't that bad when we were kids."

“I’ve never known anyone so particular! It’s crazy. Like okay, we get it you don’t understand modern tech, but handwritten reports? In 2014?! Man needs to get laid. Badly.”

"If only the love of his life wasn't in a retirement home," she said, tossing in a pod of laundry detergent before starting the machine. It was true. She had really taken to the modern way of life, even engaging in social media. It had been Coulson's idea, actually. He had his teenage daughter come over one day to help set her up an Instagram account and teach her to use it. It didn't take long for people to start following and for a bunch of companies to send her offers of free things, as long as she took pictures of her with the things. 

"If you were really my friend you would have told me about this secret stash ages ago," she said, grabbing a pair of shorts from the floor before bending over to grab a mountain of clothes that had been on the end of her couch for at least two weeks. "Let me toss this into the washing machine and brush my teeth. Maybe we can deal with the trash after we get back?" She fluttered her lashes at the other woman as she walked past, towards the closet that housed her washer and dryer, before dumping the clothing into the washing machine. 

Natasha rolled her eyes, “not a chance. I know how you drink when you’re depressed. You’d need your stomach pumped! At least with wine you’re just gonna burn it off,” she shrugged. She bit her lip as the older woman bent over, letting out a slow breath, “how about I make you breakfast and you deal with this shit. Till I’m done making pancakes,” she grinned. Was it hard to resist the urge to just say fuck it, and bend at the knee for the redhead. Sure. But she wasn’t going to. Engaging in bad habits wouldn’t help them. Plus she knew if the girl had too much fun, they wouldn’t get anything done. 

"Fine. If you put extra chocolate chips in mine, I'll clean up until you're done."

Natasha chuckled and got to work making the batter “You’re lucky you have the serum, all that sugar is terrible for your teeth,” she teased, “plus I’d have to make you work twice as hard in training to burn it off. And we both know I hate to see you hot and sweaty,” she joked. 

She had no idea if Steve knew they flirted like this. Would he judge them? She knew he was old but was he that much of an ass? He grew up in the slums of Brooklyn. Gay people existed back then. She’d be surprised if Steve hadn’t noticed she was bisexual. It was like Nat was hiding it. She’d brought girls back to the tower for drinks on multiple occasions.

Rose rolled her eyes at the idea that her brother would use something like Tinder. "He doesn't understand the concept of a selfie and he's worried that people would only want to go out with him because he's Captain America." She had, at least leaned into the whole Ms. America schtick. These days, everyone had to have a personal brand, and hers had been basically handed to her decades prior. But she had gotten more than a few messages from people asking if she "needed her stars spangled." The first time it happened, she made the mistake of asking Tony what it meant. Jarvis now did his best to filter out the more explicit messages before she saw them.

Natasha shrugged. “Listen, you see the comments on the Avengers instagram? People wanna climb your brother like a tree. Hell, I would but he’s not my type. Too big and triangle shaped.” She plated up the pancakes, “even made one in the shape of a star for Ms America,” she teased, “you really gotta wear that dress more. Makes your legs look spectacular.” 

“A woman after my own heart,” Rose said, pressing a hand to her chest before sitting down on one of the barstools at her kitchen counter, her feet dangling just off the floor. “And my legs look good in everything and better in nothing,” she used the side of her fork to cut off a chunk of pancake before sliding into her mouth. “I actively tune out any of the comments referring to my brother as a tree.”

Nat snorted. “What? He’s cute. Very righteous. Probably a little too gentle for my liking though,” she shrugged. “You’re a little taller than me. I’d climb you any day,” she murmured, quickly sipping her coffee to try and fight the blush that spread on her cheeks as she said it.

At the comment of climbing, Rose tilted her head, sending the copper ponytail swishing behind her. “I’m not for climbing. I thought World War Two nurses were bad, apparently nothing on former Soviet spies. But you’re great for my ego, Romanov,” she said with a grin before taking another bite of pancake. “Pancakes and spa day and shopping and night out.” 

Nat shrugged, “listen, we know what we like,” she teased, “and you were a nurse Alie, so clearly you’re talking about yourself. Did you ever climb Steve’s best friend like a tree? I bet he was a good kisser,” she sighed.

“Bucky?” Rose asked, frowning for a second and reaching up to twist the metal chain she always wore with her finger. “Yeah, he was great. We didn’t really get much of a chance for anything.” They would have, though. If he had ever bothered to listen to her. 

Natasha nodded, “you know S.H.I.E.L.D. made him an agent right? He’s on the wall as one of the first agents to die in action.” She kissed the girl’s temple gently, “sometimes cause you’re so young looking and gorgeous, I forget you’re like eight years older than me,” she chuckled. “Speaking of which, it’s your ninety fifth next year, what do you want to do? I need to know so I can plan a massive surprise,” she grinned. 

“Not my fault you’re an infant,” Rose said with a small smile. “And do we have to celebrate 95? Can we not just say “the 70th anniversary of my 25th”? That sounds way better.” 

Natasha huffed quietly, “I was eighty five last year. I’m hardly an infant. Just cause you’re old and hot doesn’t mean you get to have an ego sweetheart,” she teased. She looked at her with a smirk, shaking her head, “nope. If you and Clint can put up banners for my 85th and make sure I know I’m old, we’re doing the same for your birthday grandma,” she whispered. Maybe she could pick up some treats on the way back? Or get a big slice of cake for them to share from the bakery she knew Clint loved. “I’ll even provide chocolate cake on the way home.”

At the mention of the banner, Rose bristled. “It was Clint’s idea, I just helped me put the ladder in the right spot to hang the banner,” she said, holding her hand out in front of her, fingers splayed wide as if she were inspecting her nails. 

Then there was a mention of chocolate cake and she was on her feet, swiping all of the plastic food containers off the counter and into the trash can. 

“Give me twenty minutes and I will be ready to go.”

Natasha chuckled quietly, “honey, you can’t blame Clint. He’s an ass but he’s too scared of me to call me old. He’ll call me many names, but he’s too afraid to make fun of my age,” she shrugged. The man was a lot of things but suicidal wasn’t one of them. 

She snorted as Rosie began clearing up, “how about we call it an hour and you can have a proper shower and get dressed to go out in the world and not look like you’ve spent the morning spring cleaning,” she said softly. “But seriously, chocolate cake is what motivates you? Alie, if id known that, I would’ve brought you cake every time you were depressed.”

“Cake is a great way to get me to do things,” she said, nodding as she started loading dishes from the sink into her dishwasher. “Sweets in general really.” 

Chapter Text

As soon as the dishes were going, Rose walked Nat back to the door before ducking into her bathroom to shower and change for the day out. A pair of flowy dark blue shorts and a white tank top, hair in a braid and a pair of sunglasses and she was ready to go.

Natasha leant against the doorframe as she waited for Rose, biting her lip as she looked at the older woman. Why a tank top?! Was she trying to kill her off?! “Are the sunglasses so I can’t see you ogling me while we walk?” she joked, even though she had very much been staring when Rosie came out.

"The sunglasses are so people can't see me roll my eyes when they shout at us and try to take pictures where we supposedly don't notice them," she said, tossing a slouchy tote bag over her shoulder. "We should stop for coffee on the way." That was another thing that people had really gotten better at over the past seventy years. There were all different kinds of coffee now, instead of just disgusting black sludge with a little bit of sugar and milk.

“So it’s not to stare at my chest and get away with it? Damn, and here I was thinking I’d worn a cute top,” she pouted, look up at her. “Sure, we can make a stop. We need to fuel your addiction,” she teased. “Coffee and sugar are like your crutches. God help us if global trade goes to shit,” she laughed.

"It's not an addiction," Rose corrected, sliding her sunglasses up onto the top of her head as she followed Nat down the hallway of the compound. "It's....a preference. And you can't complain about it when Clint drinks Red Bull as if his life depends on it. Have we had him evaluated for ADHD?" 

As soon as they were out on the street, she slipped her sunglasses back down to her nose - they had been mostly a joke, Tony had gotten them for her, with their red, white and blue theme. They were, unfortunately, wonderful sunglasses and had quickly become her favorite pair. "Where to first?" she asked, slinging her arm around the other woman's shoulders.

“It is. You have too much, how Steve can deal with you when you’re hopped up on sugar, I’ll never know,” she teased, “you’re a little terror.” Clint’s Red Bull addiction was a separate matter that she couldn’t fix. He was too much of a pain in her ass but he was effective at his job. “Clint is different. Clint knows his limits cause he’s smart like that. And yeah, we have. He failed to be tested cause he pissed off the woman asking the questions.”

Natasha looked up at her at the question, snorting quietly at the sunglasses, “I’ll never get tired of those. They’re so American but on you they don’t look tacky,” she winked. “We’re gonna go dress shopping cause I’m pretty sure you and I have a charity event next month. So I’ve gotta get you looking gorgeous, not that it’s much of a struggle, I just wanna watch you model outfits for me,” she grinned. She couldn’t exactly do anything with any of the others’ fashion. Clint was a lost cause, Steve wore a button up and slacks, or just a T-shirt and jeans. And Tony was too eccentric and a pain to deal with. “If you’re lucky, I’ll let you pick out my dress… or maybe a suit. I don’t know which I’d prefer.”

"He deals with me because he has to, it's in the big brother code." Rose did her best to try and only refer to her relationship with Steve as "her brother" or "Steve" or "Captain Annoying," and avoid phrases like "little sister" because she knew Nat had a sister at one point and didn't now, so it would be a sore subject. 

Natasha chuckled quietly, “or because you’re awesome and he’s lucky to have you. It’s the same reason Clint keeps me around, only he and Laura also enjoy using me to settle arguments between them.” Not that many of them worked out in Clint’s favour. The guy just needed to learn to pick his battles with Laura. She was too smart for him. 

She glanced down at Nat, with a grin on her face. "I'm going to make you wear something other than the color black for once in your life. Have you not heard of like...green? I bet green is great on you."

She detested that, she totally wore colours. Hell, she had blue and black socks on. Not that they were visible under her boots. “I wear colour. It’s not my fault you look like the American flag threw up on you,” she teased, “though that dress from the war really is a sight. Please tell me you have more footage. I’ve seen everything I could find,” she grinned. She blushed lightly, “green, I’ve been told, looks great on me. An ex once bought me a full emerald green lingerie set. And I rocked that look!” she grinned.

"I'll make you a deal, Tasha. Wear green to this next charity shindig and I'll wear the old dress for your next birthday." She grinned at her next thought. "And I'll even make Steve get his out and we'll sing you one of the old songs or something." 

She did still have the dress, in the back of her closet. Fury had given it to her, one day. She didn't want to know where he had gotten it. He had just said that there might be a time where she would need it. She hadn't expected that time to come three weeks later when she was told to put it on and paraded around the city for some memorial event.

Natasha bit her lip, “but my birthday is like three months away! How am I supposed to wait for that?!” she pouted. “How about we skip the Steve stuff, and it’s just you and me, you in that dress and you can make me wear whatever you want and I’ll be your servant for the weekend? The weekend just following the event. It’s on the third, that gives you this week and most of the next to think of an outfit before the event on that Thursday? That gives you all of Friday to make sure you’re certain on an outfit for me to parade myself around in all weekend,” she winked, “I might even wear a suit and tie for you. Be your butler.”

Rose ducked into the passenger seat of the car, dropping her bag onto the floorboard at her feet. "Steve would want to strangle me for it, anyway. But I do think you should have to wait until your birthday. Teasing you about it for months will be half of the fun of it. But hold onto that suit and tie idea, that's not bad," she said, with a grin. 

Natasha laughed quietly, setting off with a roar, “you’re a cruel one, you know that? You know how many times I’ve seen those clips? This is just mean!” she complained. She but her lip as Rosie told her to remember the suit idea, biting her lip, “you’re cruel and you don’t even see it. Fuckin’ little devil I swear.”

It didn't take long for them to arrive at the local coffee shop around the corner. The girl behind the bar already had her drink started when Rose walked in, having frequented the shop a lot. "Tasha, you want anything?" she asked over her shoulder, before turning to smile at the girl making her drink -  A chocolate and cinnamon concoction, over ice. It was perfect.

Natasha eyed the board, mumbling, “you?” Only for her brain to catch up to her, “uh, caramel macchiato. To go please,” she said, looking at the girl behind the bar. She looked up at Rosie, “just so you know, I’m paying.” It wasn’t a discussion, she’d always pay if Rosie let her.

"No, Ms. Romanoff," the girl behind the counter said with a grin. "Anything Ms. America orders is on the house." It had been something Rose had pushed against for a while, until the manager had told her that every time she came in for a drink and posted about it online, the shop saw a peak in sales for the weekend. "It's just good business, really," he had said. 

She had told Tony about it, to see what was going on, and he shrugged and said something about "influencer marketing." When he hadn't been particularly helpful, Pepper had elaborated on it. "If people see you, someone well liked by the public, drinking coffee from a small shop, they will also want to drink that coffee. It's a marketing strategy. Just make sure you take photos of your drinks any time you go." When she still had been worried about it, Pepper promised that the Stark Foundation would make a large donation making sure any equipment that needed to be upgraded in the store could be.

Natasha looked at Rosie with a smile before pulling fifty dollars out of her purse and slipping it in the tip jar. “Enjoy your little loophole. Don’t go spending it all at once,” she winked. If she couldn’t pay for the drinks, she’d be damn sure to tip well. “You’ve gotta stop with this Instagram shit, I’m trying to be a gentlewoman and you’re making it really difficult,” she grumbled at Rosie as she got her drink. 

She wanted to shower Rosie in gifts, make her smile that bright smile that met her eyes. Money wasn’t a problem for her, and if it ever did become one, she’d just use Tony’s card. “So after our spa afternoon, I know the perfect restaurant,” she grinned as they got out onto the sidewalk, “massive slices of chocolate cake. And I’m saying huge. It’s so good. You’ll be proposing to me by the end of it,” she teased, leaning up to kiss her temple gently.

It was purely platonic, even if a tiny part of her didn’t want it to be. But when an asshole up the street started yelling as he walked towards them she frowned. 

“Don’t go corrupting our star avenger, just cause you commie dykes can’t keep it in your pants!” he yelled. “I mean, you fuck you way onto the team, play with their heads and now what? You got bored? Wanna corrupt a war hero?! You make me sick! You’re nothing. All you do is destroy things. Bet you were the one who invited that bastard in New York. We saw you on that tower shutting it down. Clearly you knew how it worked. You must’ve set it up so you could fuck some alien guy,” he spat. 

Natasha shrank slightly; normally she’d give it back, yelling but she’d been on such a good streak, she wasn’t in a fighting mood, it just kinda knocked her back. “You make me sick, you and your kind. You dykes will never last. Sooner or later you’ll realize you’re better off with a man. What happened to the blonde? Cute one that was in the papers with you the other year. The last one the papers saw you with? You kill her? Bet you did. Couldn’t handle it, could you? The fame and notoriety… had to kill her to make yourself feel powerful.” Obviously the guy didn’t know they’d split up just over a year ago. Before Christmas..  before she’d gotten the chance to fight her corner and tell her how she felt.. before she got the fuckin’ call there’d been a crash. Before she’d crossed three state lines to get there before it ended. He didn’t know she didn’t make it in time. How could he? 

Rose hadn't fully tuned in to what was happening behind her as she reached across the counter to take the drinks from the barista, giving the girl another smile. When she turned around, her eyebrows furrowed at the site of her friend shrinking back as a man was spitting foul things at her. She turned quietly to place the drinks back on the counter, making sure to not spill any of them before whipping back around and slipping quickly and deftly between the man and Natasha. 

"Hi," she said, slapping a fake smile on her face, holding up her hand, palm out, between them. "I am, one, going to need you to take two steps backwards, because yikes. Two, you're going to have to stop shouting, I don't know if you know this, but I have super hearing so I really don't need you shouting and busting my eardrums. I need those. Thirdly, and most importantly, I'm going to need you to shut the ever loving fuck up." The smile fell off her face with the last sentence, before she herself took a step back and dropped her arm around Nat's shoulders again. "We just want some coffee, I wasn't aware that was a crime? Was...was anything we did a crime?" she asked, looking over at the barista again who slowly shook her head. 

"Right, so really the only issue here is that you can't get laid and you're mad about it. Got it. So we're going to go now."

The guy scoffed, looking straight at Rosie, “don’t defend her. She’s a murderer and a harlot. Everyone knows what she was. We’ve all read the papers.. seen the pictures of her taking women back to her apartment. It’s disgusting!” He eyed Natasha, “you did kill her didn’t you? I can see the guilt in your eyes… what was her name? They wrote it in the paper. Fuck… what was her name? … oh Alicia, that’s it. You killed that girl, cut her life short and for what? So you could move on a year later and sleep with America’s sweetheart? What would sweet Alicia think of you now?” 

Nat didn’t even know she’d swung for the guy before her knuckle was bleeding and the guy more than likely had a broken nose. “You keep her name outta your mouth, you hear me? You say her name again and I’ll cut your fuckin’ tongue out with my knife. Push me and I’ll make sure it’s painful,” she hissed, trying her hardest not to cry. She’d been doing so well! She wouldn’t ruin her makeup for this asshole. She kept him held by his collar, her hand throbbing in pain but itching to hit him again till he stopped breathing. The man looked at her, “go on. Kill me like you killed her. Let the world know what a monster you truly are.” She shoved him away hard, watching him stumble back before being caught by a man who she assumed was a friend of his, ushering him away. “Should’ve gone to a bar instead of coffee,” she chuckled dryly. She didn’t like having her dirty laundry aired out in public, especially the death of the woman she loved in front of Rosie, who she still wasn’t sure about. She didn’t know how she felt with Rosie. There was definitely attraction there but she couldn’t tell if it was more and she didn’t want to push to find out.

Rose sighed and watched as the men wandered back out into the street. "Come here," she said, quietly, reaching her hand out to grab Nat by the elbow and leading her over to one of the plush chairs that were empty. "Let me see your hand." She grabbed Nat's hand and held it up in front of her face, before reaching into her bag and pulling the small first aid kit she kept on her. 

Natasha walked with her, not looking at her as they walked. She couldn’t look her in the eyes. She’d embarrassed her in front of people. She’d humiliated her. Without even registering Rosie’s request she held her hand up, spreading her fingers apart so the girl would see her knuckles better. 

"You'd think you would have learned how to punch someone without getting your own knuckles bleeding by now," she said, softly, a smile pulling at her lips as she said it. The whole situation brought forth the memory of patching up Bucky's knuckles in her own hospital room, after he had punched a tree...and then her brother's face.

“Wasn’t thinkin’ about hitting him,” she murmured, “just didn’t shut up.” Her eyes finally flicked up from the floor to look at.. Alicia before shaking her head and blinking quickly when her mind finally realised it was Rosalie. Her therapist was gonna have a field day with this. “I didn’t kill her,” she whispered spontaneously. “I didn’t. She… we…” she didn’t even wanna finish that thought. “You get our coffees?” she asked softly.

"It's okay, Nat," she said quietly, wrapping the bandage around her friends hand. "No one thinks you did. And if they do think that, it's not our fault they're stupid." Once she was satisfied with the bandaging, she dropped her hand and looked over her shoulder at the drinks that she had left on the counter. Still perfectly intact. "Yeah, they're all good," she told her, before stepping away to go get them, only to return and hold the caramel drink out for her. 

"C'mon. Time to shop. I'll even let you play barbie doll and pick out a bunch of outfits," she said, nudging Nat with her elbow.

Natasha looked down at the bandage, “you just carry those around? Seriously?” a quiet laugh slipping from her. Why didn’t she think the girl was always prepared. She took a sip of her drink, looking up at her with a slight smile, “y’know, you’re just gonna make me wanna buy you a lot of clothes. We may have to stop at IKEA on the way back for another closet,” she chuckled. 

"Of course I do, I regularly spend time with a bunch of punch happy idiots," she said with a laugh. "I've also got some of those healing stick things that Thor and Tony made, but I keep those for major injuries."

Natasha’s smile grew slightly, “hey, I wasn’t about to let him bad mouth me without eating my fist,” she shrugged. “She mentioned both my girls in one. I wasn’t gonna let that slide.” Hell no, she would’ve fucked him up if Rosie wasn’t there. “Yeah, that’s just a waste of a stick for a busted fist,” she chuckled. 

Her hand fiddled with the car key in her pocket. Her hands were still shaking and if she was being honest, she wasn’t fully focused. “If you agree to be careful, do you want to drive my corvette?”

As soon as Nat held up the key, Rose’s eyes widened and a wicked grin spread across her face. "That might be the silliest question you've ever asked," She said, holding her hand out for the key. She definitely would not be driving very carefully.

She saw Rosie’s eyes go wide and she shook her head, “you gotta promise me. You gotta behave. The last thing I need is you writing off my baby. That thing is my pride and joy.” 

Obviously if they crashed, she’d care more about Rosie than the car. But the principle was still there. After Alicia passed, she drove a lot more carefully. Sure she sped a lot but she only did it in safe places. Plus she’d had countless defensive driving courses courtesy of S.H.I.E.L.D. “You have to promise me,” she said, her voice going serious for a second, “can’t lose you the same way I lost her,” she whispered, her voice cracking slightly, her hand dropping the keys in Rosie’s, and moving the coffee cup to her lips to take a long gulp.

"Yes, yes, I promise, I promise," Rose said, grabbing the keys and practically bouncing around to the drivers seat, her own coffee in hand. She slid into the seat and placed her drink into the cupholder before slipping the key into the ignition and cackling as the car roared to life. "One shopping trip, coming your way," she said, glancing over her shoulder before pulling out onto the street and pressing far too heavily on the accelerator. 

She navigated towards the block with all the best shopping, slipping in and out between cars, keeping a safe enough distance away from the other cars to not cause an issue. When they made it where they were going, she pulled up to the front of the first store and turned to look at Nat, the grin still on her face.

Natasha put her coffee in the spare cupholder, only just managing to put the seatbelt on before they were speeding away. “Ease off the gas! You’re gonna burn up your tires!” she laughed. 

She grabbed the handle above the door for dear life as they weaved through traffic, her heart in her mouth. Was she having a heart attack or was her heart rate going back to normal? She couldn’t tell. “I’m driving us home,” she said flatly, “I wanna make it home in one piece.” She’d enjoyed it but the thought of being a passenger and having no control when driving at those speeds didn’t feel right. “Now come on, I’ve got a girl to dress up. I still can’t believe I agreed to wait for my birthday to see you in your suit,” she sighed. It was gonna be a long three months.

"Don't hate on my driving. I only started two years ago." Rose tossed the keys back to Nat, the grin still on her face, before she reached back into the car to grab her coffee. "But yes, I do prefer being the passenger princess." 

Natasha raised an eyebrow, “two years ago? Girl, you need a small car. I’m getting you a beater that you can destroy and run till it breaks before you take my baby for a spin again,” she said seriously, “can’t believe I let a rookie drift my baby through traffic.” She finished her coffee, taking the cup with her as she got out, throwing it in a bin as she walked past. 

Once they were in the store, Rose immediately made her way over to the evening gowns and started browsing through the racks. She liked this place, because the staff were used to a variety of clientele that included movie stars and models, so having two Avengers in the store wasn't a huge deal, and they could be mostly left to their own devices to shop, instead of being followed around the entire time.

She’d only been here a few times. Her and Pepper had their own place they usually went too that did an excellent pencil dress. Her eyes flicked to Rosie, “Alie, you’re gonna have to show me what your usual style is so I can work with what you like. I’m not gonna put you in something you hate just cause I think it looks hot.”

"Something that does not make me look like a showgirl," she said, with a shrug. She wasn't particularly picky and didn't have the chance to dress up all that often. Any guidance on the subject would have been helpful. 

Natasha nodded slightly, she could deal with that. That wasn’t a particularly hard criteria to follow. Plus she had a few ideas for what the older woman would look good in. 

"Naaaat," she called in a sing song voice, pulling a pink dress from the hanger and holding it up. "I think I found something for youuuu." The dress was garish, not the assassin's style at all. Rose honestly couldn't see it being anyone's style. When she saw the price tag on it, her eyes just about took over her entire face as she quickly tried to hang it back up.

She looked over as Rose grabbed a dress, her hand covering her mouth as she visibly nearly threw up. “Nope! Put it back. You put that on and I refuse to go. Dear god, who would every buy that?!” she grimaced. She went through the rack, pulling out a blue dress that looked like a monotone version of the dress Rosie had worn in the war, “I think this would suit you greatly,” she grinned, holding it out in front of Rosie’s body to see how it would fit.

“That’s a pretty color,” she said, taking a long sip on the straw in her drink, before taking the hanger from Nat and holding it to her own body. “Let’s add it to the stack to try on.” 

Natasha smiled, “reminds me of your wartime dress. Looks cute,” she whispered, putting it in a rolling rack that the shopworkers used to help restock dresses.

Rose spotted something over Nat’s shoulder and slipped past her to pull a green dress off the rack, holding it up to spin it around and inspect it before holding it out at Nat. 

“This one.” There wasn’t much room for discussion, if her tone of voice was any indication.

Natasha’s eyes widened as she saw the dress that Rosie saw, biting her lip as she looked over it. “It’s beautiful. The lining may be a little tight around the ass, but I’ll make it work,” she shrugged. She noticed a floor length blue dress and grinned, taking it off the rack. “You might prefer this to the shorter one. But we should still get the short one. They’ll both look good on you.” If she couldn’t wear the wartime dress fill her birthday, she’d get creative and use her imagination to fill in the gaps.

“I’ll try them both on,” she said, hanging the long green gown she was holding for Nat onto the rolling rack. “With your hair up, this dress would be perfect.” She snagged a different green gown, one that looked like it had more structure and a fuller skirt, hanging it as well, just in case the first one was rejected for some ridiculous reason.

“And I’m sure we can get any of them tailored to fit more suitably, so you can’t use that as a reason to veto this dress.”

Natasha nodded, looking at the second dress Rosie had picked for her. “Guess I’ll have to get my hair done then,” she chuckled. You know this is a charity event right? We’re there for the charity, not for you to ogle me,” she teased, taking the first dress Rosie had found. “I’m gonna try this on. I may need a hand in a minute,” she chuckled. How she was gonna get this on first time, she wasn’t sure but she’d try anything once. 

“Yeah and I’m sure once all the rich people get to see your ass in that dress, there will be a ton of money donated,” she said with a shrug. 

Natasha blushed heavily, “are you trying to compliment my ass?” she whispered, “or are you thinking of other people staring? I know which I’d prefer.” Nat stripped down to her bra and underwear, pulling the dress on, taking a moment to realize the thin strap that went along the shoulders was supposed to be at the back. She adjusted her chest, grinning at herself in the mirror as she turned slightly to see if it hugged her figure as much as she thought it would. 

“Oh we’re buying this one,” she grinned, “and you would look cute with a tan. I’m sure the sun would really bring out your freckles.”

“We will have to make a whole girls day of it,” Rose said, reaching down to her bag to grab her phone and snap a few different photos at various angles in the mirror. They’d be good for a teaser post just before the event, in case they were needing to fill a few seats. 

“We can schedule hair and makeup that morning, and then go get ready in my place. Or yours.” She wasn’t positive that the last option was really an option, Nat was pretty private.

Natasha nodded, lifting her hair and shaking it out so it was more flowy. “I’d like that. It’s at the start of next month so we’ll just have to clear our calendars. Tell Steve we’re not mission ready for that day and the day before,” she shrugged. 

“You’ve really put some thought into this, huh? We can use your place, you’ve got a bigger mirror.” Really, it was cause her apartment was as bare bones as Stark allowed. She’d got her basic amenities and a huge bathtub that had jets in it and a bed she didn’t know the size of, but apart from that, the rest were just basic appliances and minimal decorations. 

“I do have a way better set up for stuff like that,” Rose admitted. She at least had a television so they could put something fun on while they got ready. “But you’re the one that has to tell Steve, because he’s a little afraid of you and he’d purposefully schedule me for something just before.” 

“Yeah, plus I like your room. At least when it’s tidy. When it looks like a bomb hit it, not so much,” Nat teased. She scoffed quietly, “you know full well he’ll just bend over backwards for you. You’re just too awkward to ask for time off,” she chuckled, “and it’s a charity gala. If he scheduled you for something I’d break his legs.”

Natasha stayed in her dress for a minute, waiting till Rosie stepped out, opening the curtain with a grin, “what do you think? I think it makes my ass look too big.” She looked at Rosie with a small smile, “we still need to get you some shoes. I’ve got a pair of emerald green shoes, but I doubt you’ve got many pairs of heels. And I don’t think we’re the same size.”

“I don’t think that could ever be an actual problem,” Rose said with a laugh, letting her eyes run over her friend in the dress. “I think you’re getting that dress and then we will go find some shoes.” She purposefully didn’t specify what kind of shoes because she was going to do her best to not have to get heels. 

Natasha bit her lip, “you need to watch your mouth,” she breathed, her cheeks flushing red. “Fine, I’ll get it. But we’re getting the small blue one for you too! I wanna see you wear that sometime.” If she couldn’t see the war outfit, she’d make do with something similar. 

“To shoes and then to spa,” Rose said, nodding her head towards the shoe selection. “Can I just wear… I don’t know…like silver shoes or something?” She asked, looking at a pair of bedazzled sandals.

“Sweetheart, you can wear whatever you want. You don’t wanna be uncomfortable at an event cause the photos will just be of you all grumpy that your feet hurt,” she teased. “Not that that’s an issue, I give an excellent foot massage,” she shrugged. She’d had to learn a lot of skills at the KGB: hairdressing, massuering, drink making and her personal favourite, identifying poisons. 

“You have no idea how much I need this spa day,” she sighed, “my back and shoulders have been killing me all week. I’ve been meaning to get a massage but never had the chance cause S.H.I.E.L.D. likes to keep me busy,” she grumbled.

“Oh good,” she said with a sense of relief. “Flats it will be.” She picked up the glittery pair of shoes and held them up. “Then I think these will work.” They were just strappy enough to look elegant with a dress without her having to worry about the state of her feet the day after the event.  “I need to find them in a size seven, though,” she said, before crouching down to look through the boxes for her size.

Natasha nodded, “plus I don’t need you breaking an ankle. How am I supposed to have a fun evening if I can’t even dance with my friend!?” she grinned. She looked at Rosie with a fond smile, even searching through shoe boxes she looked beautiful. She pulled out a box, grinning to see that it was Rose’s size, kneeling on one knee as if proposing and holding out the box with a grin, “m’lady, would you accompany me to the dance so I can show you how to truly party,” she grinned.

Rose grinned down at her friend, leaning down to take the boxes. “Oh, a woman after my own heart,” she said. “I accept.” 

Chapter Text

Once they had paid for their purchases - or rather Nat had insisted on paying for them, they were back in the car, with Nat driving after refusing to give Rose the keys again. Rose's phone in purse started blaring The Star Spangled Banner, indicating that Steve was calling. 

“Yes, Stevie?” She asked, sliding her thumb across the screen to answer the call, the tone in her voice slightly annoyed. “Bridge. Now. Emergency!” She didn’t get a chance to ask questions before a car whipped past them, sirens blaring.

Natasha rolled her eyes as Rosie’s phone went off, she had the same ringtone for Steve. She knew the guy didn’t like it, that’s why she kept it. As she saw the car fly past, she followed it closely, only to see it blow up and she dived down a side street, slamming her brakes on. “Holy shit! The fuck was that?!” she grimaced. Her guns were under the trunk where the spare wheel was usually kept. “Come on, your brother needs backup,” she sighed, getting out and grabbing two glocks and a few widow discs.

Rose was out of the car before it had fully stopped, sprinting towards the commotion. There was shouting and gun fire and she wished she hadn’t worn sandals.  Natasha grabbed her guns, chasing after her quickly. ‘Fuckin super soldiers! Do they all have a death wish?!’ she thought as she dove between covers so she didn’t get shot.

When Rose finally found her brother, he was looking at her with his eyes wide. “You’re in shorts!”

“I was shopping! You’re in khakis! Who casually wears khakis!?”

“No time for this, we have a problem.”

He pointed to where a man clad in mostly black jumped from the bridge onto a car that crunched under the impact, a large gun on his shoulder. 

“What did you do to him?”

“I didn’t do anything, he stole the steering wheel out of our car!”

She saw the soldier in the distance and bit her lip, “shit. Uh, do you have any idea who his target is?” Nat asked quietly. If he were ordered to kill Steve, the rest of them would be spared. But who sent him?! She thought he was dead after the USSR fell, then Odessa happened. Was he a rogue agent now? But why go after Steve? The conditioning would be fading by now? “Why the fuck is the Winter Soldier after you!? What did you do Rogers!?” 

Rose whipped around when she heard Nat had finally caught up. “You know that guy?” She asked, ducking back behind the car as the man storming towards them lifted his gun. Steve, however, popped out from behind the van and that was when she realized he at least had the shield on his arm. How? Did he just have it with him all the time? Nerd.

Natasha shrugged, “used to hook up with him. We had a thing back in the seventies and eighties. Thought he was dead till he shot me in ‘09,” she said quickly. She watched as Steve ran at the guy with his shield, hoping that Steve could at least get the upper hand. Having met and worked with the soldier, she knew that was a difficult thing to do. 

As as the pair of men started exchanging punches, Rose slipped out of her own hiding spot and did her best to stay on the perimeter as she circled around to the other side of the street. The guy was taking punches from Steve as if they were nothing, so that didn’t bode well for them. She reached into her bag to find one of the sedative shots she kept on her, for Dr. Banner. If that shit could knock out the Hulk, it should be able to handle this guy.

When Rose felt her fingers close around the vial, she stopped for a second, dropping behind the nearest car to try and fill a syringe with it. The vehicle slammed into her shoulder just as she was finishing, and with a quick glance under, she realized the guys had knocked into it. At least that was convenient.

With the syringe in one hand, she used the other hand to yank herself on top of the car, before jumping onto the masked man’s shoulders, her legs wrapping around his neck as she tried to find a good spot to stab the needle.

Natasha kept back, taking out the men that had come along with the soldier. “Who’s the guy with Steve? You met him before?” she asked loudly. Who the fuck was he? Wings looked cool though. As she saw what Rosie was searching for, she lifted her gun, firing a shot near the soldier’s head, trying to distract him so either Steve or Rosie could get the upper hand. God knows they needed it.

She watched in slow motion as Rosie leapt up to stab the guy in the neck, only for him to reach up and throw her off.

Rose had her thumb on the plunger of the syringe and was about to press on it when she went flying through the air, slamming into the brick wall of a shop.

Rose heard footsteps approaching, her vision blurry as she saw the boots. If she was lucky, it would be S.H.I.E.L.D.. 

“Get the girl,” a man’s voice said, that she almost recognized but couldn’t place, and she felt herself being lifted off the ground before everything went black.

Nat grimaced, throwing one of her discs at his arm, watching as he turned to face her. He was terrifying when he was focused on a mission. It was so hot when they were on the same side, but when they were facing off? That stare was terrifying. 

Steve hit the guy in the mask with the shield, throwing him over his shoulder.. probably payback for launching Rosie. When the blonde spoke, she froze. The soldier scoffed, “who the hell is Bucky?” And Natasha felt like she’d been hit with a truck. He was Bucky Barnes?! The guy Rosie was still caught up on?! The guy she’d slept with was Bucky Barnes?! What the fuck?! “I slept with Bucky Barnes?!” She’d seen the tapes from the war when she was young.. how she didn’t connect the dots she’ll never know. 

In her confusion, she hadn’t head the convoy of cars pulling in, Rumlow going straight for Cap, Rollins in tow. She had a gun to her head within seconds. Fuckin’ great way to end her afternoon! She just wanted a massage! Was that so much to ask. She watched as the soldier was taken down with a cattle prod to the shoulder, forcing him to the ground and hitting him over the head to try and keep him in line. “Come on James. Get up. Fight back,” she murmured, knowing full well he wouldn’t. They wouldn’t let him. They’d put him down if he tried anything.

Natasha watched as Rosie was picked up, grabbing the gun of the guy who had her pinned and pulling him over her shoulder and knocking him out with the butt of his own gun. These were S.H.I.E.L.D. men! They shouldn’t be doing this! She heard a shot ring out before she felt it, her hand coming to her shoulder as she fell against a car, Rumlow smirking at her, “you won’t run Romanoff. You run and we’ll make sure your friends suffer till you’re found again.” 

She put her hand on her head, getting on her knees, “you wanna arrest me, go for it. But you touch a hair on her head and I’ll kill you all.” Her and Steve were moved to the back of a van, followed quickly by Sam. She expected Rosie to be behind them but when she wasn’t with them, and the van set off, she panicked. This definitely wasn’t good. Was it Ross? She knew he wanted the serum, it was why the guy hated Bruce so much. Was he taking her for the serum? Were they taking her with James? What was S.H.I.E.L.D’s play in all of this? It didn’t make sense. 

---

Bucky had been knocked out and thrown in the back of a van, ready to go back to the bank. He knew the chair was coming when Hydra showed up. He knew they’d wipe him again. He recognized the redhead who’d jumped on his shoulders. But he couldn’t place her name. 

When they got to the bank, two men picked him up, throwing him into a vault and slamming it shut, “Pierce will be here in ten. You come out when he gets here. No sooner.” He could hear whispering from up the hall until they slowly got louder and the vault next to him opened up and a body got flung inside. By the sounds of it it wasn’t the captain or the guy with the wings. And Natalia would've bitten anyone who picked her up, so it must’ve been the other redhead.

When Rosalie finally came to, she found herself in an empty concrete room with a splitting headache. It took a few minutes for the events of the morning to come back to her. She had been shopping with Nat and they were going to go have a spa day. And then…

The bridge. The fight. She had been sent into a brick wall while Steve and Nat and some guy with…wings?? that she hadn’t met yet were still dealing with the guy with the mask and the giant gun. 

She groaned as she sat up, reaching for her head. Those assholes. Hopefully her brother and Nat made it out okay. 

She heard footsteps in the hall outside and she sat still, trying to hear what was being said. 

“Barnes is back in his vault. We got the Roger’s girl though. The experiment has a better chance of working with her, Stark did the serum himself on her.”

Chapter Text

Bucky blinked hard, trying to fight the migraine that was coming on. Fuck did the guy with the shield hit hard. He’d be feeling that for a few hours. The tingling still hadn’t left his arm from where Natalia had shocked him. Not that he was surprised, she was trained well. 

He heard the girl groan in the vault next to him, gently thumping on the adjoining wall between them with the metal hand, “they do anything to you?” He wouldn’t put it past Hydra to try something with a passed out woman. They’d tried enough with Natalia back then and he’d killed everyone that hurt her. “What they’re planning, it won’t work.” Why he thought she’d hear him, he didn’t know. As far as he knew, she was just a mortal woman. The concrete between them was at least a foot thick. 

He heard Rollins and Rumlow approaching and sighed, he really hated those two. Rumlow was an asshole and Rollins was the guy that was tasked with putting a bullet in his head if he tried to run. Not that it would work. He’d just heal it within a week. Too many experiments in the sixties to test his limits. Then he heard Pierce approach in the distance. He was worse than the other two. Fuck, he hated that guy. At least Karpov and Lukin had been scary. Pierce was just a creep.

Rose jumped slightly at the sound of a voice coming from the other side of the wall. At his question, she did a quick inspection of herself to see what the damage was. There were a handful of bruises that already looked like they were healing, and the throbbing in her head, but more concerning was the fact she realized she was only in her underwear and bra. 

“I…I’m not sure,” she said, frowning. “Did they just call you Barnes?” She asked, her brain clicking back to what she had heard from the hallway.

Bucky nodded slightly, “if you’re still clothed, probably not,” he shrugged. He remembered one of the widows being thrown in a cell naked after one of the agents had had their way with her. He’d enjoyed killing those guys. He’d always seen the widows as family. No matter what generation. He’d trained a lot of them. 

He sighed, “I think so. I don’t know who that is though,” he said quietly, “man on the bridge called me Bucky. Whatever the fuck that means.” He thought it sounded like a cereal. Not that he’d eaten cereal in decades.

Her heart thundered in her chest at his answer and she scrambled to her knees, pressing her hands against the wall that separated them as she tried to make sense of everything. 

“That man on the bridge was my brother, Steve. My name is Rose. If you’re who he said you are, then…” she trailed off at that, trying to keep the tears from falling as they pooled in the corner of her eyes.  After a beat, she tried to compose herself, she sucked in a deep breath. “Not fully naked but not in all the clothes I was in, either,” she said.

“Rose,” Bucky whispered, it sounded familiar but he couldn’t place where he’d heard it. “Steve is the man on the bridge?” he asked quietly. He’d been sent after Captain America. That must be Steve? And she was Rose? His head was starting to hurt connecting all these dots. 

He frowned slightly, “they’re gonna use us for a few experiments. They won’t work,” he said quietly. They’d done it before. He was sure of it. When the man in the mask said her name, things clicked into place. Rose Rogers? He knew that name. Remembered a train. She’d kissed him before he fell. How had she survived so long? Why couldn’t he remember?!

She didn’t have time to answer him when the door opened, and a man stood there, wearing a mask pulled over his face, but something about him seemed familiar. 

“Up, Roger’s,” he said, gesturing with his gun for her to stand up.

Bucky banged on the door with the metal arm, “don’t hurt her!” he yelled, “take me!” He knew the chair was here. He didn’t want her going though that. He didn’t let any of the widows in that chair. Not even Nat. If he had to break out of here and risk being killed to stop her being put in the chair he would. But why did he care so much? He didn’t know the girl, only her name. Plus he’d thrown her pretty hard. He doubted she’d want to help him.

Rose felt her heart shatter the sound of him shouting in the room next to hers, only for her blood to go cold when the man in front of her started laughing. 

"Up, on your own or we can make you,” he finally said, looking at her again. As much as she hated it, it was really the only option she had right then. There was nothing to fight with, nothing to defend herself with, in the room. Maybe somewhere else would have better odds. 

Rose got to her feet and walked towards the door, a little unsteady as she did so. 

“No funny business,” the man said and when she looked up at him, her eyes narrowed. 

“Brock?” She asked, her head tilting to the side in her confusion.

He didn’t say anything, just grabbed her by the arm, holding tight while someone else went to open the door of the room that had been next to the one she had just been pulled out of.

Bucky banged harder, “you hurt her and I’ll kill you all!” he snapped. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d gone on a killing spree. He heard Brock begin to walk her away and shoulder checked the door, wincing at the pain that shot through his shoulder. 

As his door opened he looked up at the guy, baring his teeth at him. If he was gonna be made into a machine, he was gonna go down with a fight. He had a gun to his head before he could even move. “Pull something stupid. Please. I’ve been itchin’ to do this since I met you,” Rollins hissed. 

Bucky stood, walking with the man with a gun to his back as they followed Rose and Rumlow. If he acted fast he could disarm and kill Rollins. But he had a feeling Rumlow would hurt her if he did.

“Keep moving,” the person Rose was now certain was Brock Rumlow said, keeping his grip on her arm firm. That didn’t stop her from looking over her shoulder as they lead the man down the hallway behind her. 

Now, outside of the chaos and without the mask, she could see it. She had no idea how, or why, but James Barnes was behind her. And if the person next to her was Rumlow, that meant the person with him was…

“Rollins, you piece of shit,” she spat, which got her slapped across the face before she could realize what was going on. 

“Look here, you star spangled slut,” Rumlow said, shoving her into another room. “This is not fun dress up superhero time. No one here gives a shit about who you are, so you’re going to follow directions or I’m going to go find your brother and Romanov and I won’t be a nice with them.”

Bucky kept his head low. He wanted to break out of here but if he timed it wrong, they’d kill her too. That was blood on his hands that he didn’t want. 

Dress up? Was she with the Avengers? She said Captain America was her brother. Then it started coming back to him. Seeing clippings of her USO shows in the papers back in the war. They had… she was…. This changed things a lot. 

The soldier bristled as Rumlow mentioned Natalia, “you keep away from Natalia. I’ve killed enough of your men. You want to lose more?” he scoffed. This wasn’t Bucky talking, the soldier had taken lead again, “you leave my girl outta this Rumlow or I’ll snap your neck with my bare hands.”

Bucky knew he and Natalia had split decades ago, ‘84 if he was correct with his timing. She’d put a knife in his chest and kicked him out a six storey window. That had been a bad fall. He still remembered how it felt to reset his wrist in place and get back to his feet.

Rose’s eyebrows furrowed at that, and didn’t have the time or brain power to ask questions about it just then. The pair of them were shoved into a new room, with a sad looking bed in the corner and … the realization that the mirror probably wasn’t just a mirror made her stomach churn. 

“You know what the mission is,” Rumlow said, looking at Bucky, and gesturing with the barrel of his gun between Rose and the bed. “We already did most of the work to get her undressed and you should like this one. So do it or I’ll knock her up myself.”

Bucky rolled his eyes as they were pushed into a room. He knew what they wanted. He also knew it wouldn’t work. They’d done too much damage. Too many chemical experiments for this to be possible. 

At the mention of Rumlow having his hands on her Bucky growled quietly, slamming the metal door shut behind them. He made quick work of the camera in the corner that was disguised as a lamp, crushing the bulb with his flesh hand. “They wanna make another me,” he whispered, “it won’t work.”

Rose shrank back when the door slammed, watching as he systematically moved around the room. He looked like Bucky. But he didn’t. He sounded like him. But he didn’t. It didn’t make any sense that he was here. But it didn’t make any sense for her or Steve to still be around either. 

“James,” she said under her breath, taking a tentative step towards him.

Bucky bit his lip, looking at her. He knew why she’d been chosen. Natalia couldn’t bare a child. But it didn’t help that it felt like some sort of trick. Dangle a cute redhead in front of him and hope he thinks she’s Natalia. 

He looked at her curiously as she stepped closer, “you should be dead. They told me you died,” he whispered. He remembered that day. That was the day they’d broke him. That was the day he gave up. “I didn’t stop fighting. Not one second. Then they said you were dead…” he whispered. It had destroyed him.

She took another small step towards him, before slowly reaching her hand up to place her palm against his cheek. “Jim,” she said, a war of emotions happening behind her eyes. “I thought you were dead. For months. Until…until the ice.” Maybe right now wasn’t the right time to get into all of it. 

“How did you wind up here?”

Chapter Text

Bucky wanted to lean into her touch, to just let the world fall away but he knew they were watching them. If they weren’t, they’d be stupid. But then again, who’d wanna watch someone with as many wounds and scars as him fuck a woman? Maybe they had left them alone? 

“Pierce bought me when the Soviets fell,” he sighed. He looked down at her with a soft smile, “they’ll kill you, y’know. This isn’t gonna end good for either of us.”

Rose closed her eyes and took another step, and then another, until her face was pressed against his chest. She knew what he said was right. She had worked with these men, trusted them, at least somewhat. 

“I know. It’s okay,” she said. It wasn’t. But she would do her best to tell him it was.

Bucky looped his real arm around her gently, “it’s not. I won’t let them hurt you. I won’t lose you again,” he whispered. They wouldn’t take her again. He wouldn’t let them. He’d fight for her. For his memories. He wasn’t going to lose his past again.

“I love you. I always have,” she said quietly, her own arms reaching up to wrap around him. He was so warm, warmer than she remembered him being. “I am so sorry for everything that’s happened to you.” 

If she had been more insistent, maybe he would have never been on that train. But if he had let her talk him out of it, he wouldn’t have been the man she fell in love with in the first place. “I’m sorry we never got the chance to be happy.”

Bucky hugged her gently. “You didn’t do this to me. You didn’t sentence me to this life,” he whispered. “Should’ve known you weren’t dead. You were always such a stubborn little fucker,” he chuckled quietly.  He pulled back slightly and pressed a soft kiss to her lips. “With Hydra around, we never would’ve gotten the chance. There’s always someone after me. You’d be targeted from your serum. We wouldn’t have been happy. We’d just be running constantly.”

“I’d run,” she whispered. “I’d run with you, around the world, time and time again.” The fabric of his clothing was scratching at the bare skin on her stomach but it didn’t matter.

Bucky shook his head, “Don’t speak like that. Not after what I’ve done,” he whispered. He’d killed so many people, hurt many more. He was a monster. 

“I’d ask what our shot is at getting out of here, but I think I know.” She leaned back to look up at him, a mischievous look on her face. “And I figure they’ll try to kill me whether or not we do what they want. So how about it, Jim?”

“Certain death would be too easy for this lot,” he sighed. “They’d do a lot worse than kill you, believe me.” He bit his lip as he saw the look on her face, things slowly clicking back into place. “You really are trouble. You’ve been spending too much time with Natalia as of late, huh? Now that girl was trouble. Stuck a screwdriver in my wrist when she first met me,” he chuckled quietly.

“I would bet all of the money in Tony Starks’s bank account that you deserved it,” she told him with a grin.

He frowned slightly. “You work with him, don’t you? Stark? Do you remember Howard?” he asked quietly. “Wish he was here. He wouldn’t have stood for Hydra being around.” He was the one that killed him! He was the one that ruined the chance of Howard saving him. 

Rose nodded before taking a step backwards towards the shitty bed. She didn't really want to think about Tony or Howard or anyone else at that moment. She reached up to rub her own cheek, her eyes going dark. “If Rumlow thinks he can get his hands on me again, he has another thing coming. I still can’t believe he slapped me, the asshole.” 

Bucky caressed her cheek with the metal hand, “believe me, I’ll break his jaw for that,” he whispered.

Then she said what she had needed to say for a while and never thought she'd have the chance. “But don’t let him be the first,” she finally said, barely above a whisper.

His breath hitched as she said he’d be her first. After all this time? “Angel, I don’t wanna hurt you,” he whispered. “I don’t wanna slip and lose control. I coulda killed you back at the bridge.”

At his concern, she opened her eyes again. “It was always going to be you for me, Jim,” she said. “And I’m not as fragile as I used to be.”

He bit his lip, “I’m not as gentle as I used to be,” he whispered, “I’m not the man I was all those years ago.” Bucky unzipped his kevlar jacket, dropping it a distance from the bed before pulling off the undershirt. He really wanted to keep it on, he hated seeing his scars. But he knew she would never judge him.

She watched as he started stripping off layers, and when he pulled off the undershirt, her heart sank. She was supposed to be one of the good guys, an Avenger, Ms. America, but at that moment, part of her wanted to find each and every person who had hurt him and break all of their fingers. 

“I don’t need gentle. I just need you.”

He could see the way she looked at him and it just made him want to hide. “Please don’t look at me like that… like I’m some victim,” he whispered. The scars near his shoulder were self inflicted from when he’d tried to rip the arm off by hand, a few were from people fighting back. One or two from Natalia. 

He unbuckled his trousers, dropping them as he toed off his boots. “This is such a bad idea,” he whispered as he walked over to the bed, leaning over her to kiss her softly. It was definitely a bad idea. But it felt so right. He couldn’t argue that he was aroused. All her talk about ‘only needing him’ and how ‘he was always going to be the one’ had really gotten him worked up.

“I don’t think you’re a victim but I do think I’m about to make victims out of a lot of people,” she said, her voice cold until he stepped over to her and kissed her. 

It definitely was a terrible idea, but pretty much any other option was an even worse idea, so they may as well take advantage of the time they had. Her fingers ran up his chest, skating over the bumps and scars that had found their way there, dipping in and out of the lines in his muscles. She bent backwards slightly, pressed against him as she kissed him backs

Bucky smiled slightly, “I might just help you do that,” he whispered. Even if they beat him to death, he would back her up every time. 

His breath hitched as she touched his chest, no one really touching him intimately for over thirty years. He gently pulled her closer, kissing her softly as he walked back against the bed, only stopping himself from falling on top of her with the metal arm, the bed creaking out in pain. “I don’t think this bed will survive this,” he chuckled. It was even worse than the cot they’d given him in Siberia.

She laughed, really laughed at that, in a way she didn’t think she could. “Yes, well, that’s what they get for cheaping out. But I’ll break furniture with you anyway, Jim,” she said, stretching up to kiss him again. 

This was so different than it had been, sneaking around in his tent during the war. Neither of them should be alive, neither of them should be able to do what they could. But now neither of them had to toe carefully around each other. 

She twisted slightly, getting her arms behind herself to snap open the closure on the bra, slipping the straps down her arms.

Bucky shuffled to pull his boxers down, kicking them off with a sigh as he was freed from his cloth prison. Fuck he was so worked up right now. 

He pressed a gentle kiss to her jaw, “tell me to stop at any time,” he whispered, shuffling down the bed to kiss down her body, looking up at her with a smirk. Sure it had been thirty years but he hadn’t forgotten a thing. Back in the day oral wasn’t a big thing. But Natalia had shown him a lot. He kissed the inside of her thigh, his finger gently hooked in her underwear, “can I remove these?” he whispered lowly, looking up at her with lust blown eyes.

Her skin erupted is goosebumps as he pressed kisses on her bare skin, and she was pretty sure she wasn’t on fire but there had been that one guy, Johnny, who apparently could randomly be on fire, so she wasn’t positive it wouldn’t happen. 

“Please,” she said, even if it came out as more of a whine than she had intended it to.

Bucky looked up at her with a slight smirk, “you’re so beautiful,” he whispered, pulling her underwear down and throwing it away. He dragged his tongue over her heat with a moan. Fuck, he could get addicted to her. He kept up his slow licks, his metal thumb drawing small circles on her thigh with a smile.

As soon as his tongue was on her, she knew she was a woman doomed. Her fingers found their way into his hair, her feet sliding up the mattress so that her knees were bent as she cried out. Oh yes. If she was going to be held prisoner, there were much worse ways to go about it. She couldn’t even bring herself to care if the two assholes were watching through the mirror.

Bucky looked up at her through hooded eyelids, watching her as he worked his magic. As she bent her knees, he smirked, gently suckling her clit softly as his flesh hand slowly and gently pushed a finger into her. 

She hissed slightly at the intrusion of his fingers into her body but was quickly distracted by the feelings of pleasure coursing through her body. Her lips parted as her breaths started to come in small pants with each of his movements.

Her eyes closed as she focused on all of the things he was doing to her body with just his hands. Her fingers tighter in his hair. Oh yes, she realized. This was way better than anything her brain could have ever conjured decades ago.

It didn’t take long at all before she was about to become a puddle on the mattress at his mercy.  “James,” she managed to get out amongst the other sounds rolling from her lips. 

“I swear to god, I have waited for this since for decades and if you make me keep waiting, I am going to explode.”

Bucky lapped at her heat gently as he worked at her with his finger, slowly and carefully pushing in a second when he felt she was ready. 

At her saying his name, he pulled back, pressing a gentle kiss to her thigh, “Angel?” he breathed, his fingers still keeping a steady motion. He wanted her to enjoy this, he didn’t know if they’d ever get this chance again. Once those helicarriers were in the air, he knew they didn’t need him. They’d execute him on the spot. So he was gonna make this count. 

He smirked slightly, “tell me what you want Angel, and I’ll make it happen. Tell me what you need from me.”

In that moment of stillness, like the quiet before a hurricane, she knew that this memory would last forever. Even if, when it was all over, neither of them were still standing. This night would be scratched onto her memory until she died. 

So she did the only thing she could do. She begged - in every way that she knew how. 

Her hips shifted on the mattress, trying to get more of him between her legs. Her lips parted as small cries of “please” fell repeatedly from them. Her soul - which had had his name etched into it for as long as she could remember - reached out for him. 

“James, please.

Bucky lapped at her softly, savouring her taste as he gently pulled her fingers back, licking them clean with a groan. “You have no idea how delicious you taste,” he whispered. 

He looked up at her, smirking to himself a little, “tell me what you need, I gotta know so I can help you,” he whispered. Standing up slowly, he stroked himself with the metal hand, climbing onto the bed hovering above her with a smile, “is this what you wanted? You wanted me?” he asked quietly. Bucky caressed her cheek softly as he kissed her, holding his hardness in his hand as he pushed into her, a quiet moan slipping from his lips. He’s not been able to bring himself to orgasm for thirty years. No matter how hard he’d tried. But right now? He knew he could. “Feel so good for me Printsessa,” he breathed.

Rose whimpered, sinking further into the mattress  under the weight of him. When she felt him press into her, a small gasp of air escaped her at the deliciousness of the stretch. It hurt, kind of, but was nowhere near as painful as she had thought. 

This time around, she had a much better sense of things worked, thanks to the internet. There were all sorts of things to read. Her fingers fell away from her grip on his hair and slid down his neck, as she lifted her hips against him.

Bucky kissed her softly, pushing into her as gently as he could. He knew it could be an experience when it was your first time. Natalia had been especially sensitive. 

He moaned quietly as she lifted her hips, leaning down to kiss her sweetly. She felt so good around him and he was trying so hard not to go too fast or hurt her. He wanted to lose himself to the pleasure but he knew she would hurt if he did. “You have no idea how long I’ve wondered about this,” he breathed.

Her knees tightened at his waist, holding him where he was as though she was afraid he would realize what was happening and that she was just his best friend’s little sister and that he didn’t want this. 

And then he made that sound and it almost turned her feral. Her fingers raked their way back down his chest and over his muscled stomach, something clenching in her own stomach as she did so. “I bet I have a rough idea,” she said, pulling her face back enough to kiss at his stubbled jaw.

Bucky kissed her passionately as she held onto his waist, keeping him close. He gently ran the metal hand up her stomach, caressing her breast gently, “you’re so beautiful milaya.. wanna keep you as mine,” he breathed. 

He shivered as she ran her fingers down his chest, a quiet whimper slipping from his lips. The moan that fell out of him as she kissed his jaw was anything but restrained. “Natalia used to remind me of you,” he whispered, “once called her your name and she punched me so hard I couldn’t breathe,” he chuckled quietly.

She laughed at the thought of it, pressing another kiss to the soft part of his throat. “Sounds like you deserved it.” The laughter died quickly when he moved in a way that had her seeing stars, her head tilting back as she moaned herself. If he kept that up, she would only be able to make incoherent babble.

He whimpered again as she kissed his throat, slowly picking up the pace of his thrusts. “You were always on my mind,” he whispered. “Missed you so much. Surprised Ms America didn’t show up in her spangly dress today,” he teased. His metal thumb rolled over her nipple gently, “so beautiful like this. Have no idea how many nights I thought about you when we weren’t talkin’,” he sighed.

She wasn’t able to form the words “that was your own fault,” or “come back with me, I have the dress,” because her brain was too busy being scrambled. 

The man above her was going to make her see a god she had long since stopped believing in, she realized as her head dropped back to the mattress, her back arching off of it. 

She could have died right there, and have been perfectly happy with the way her life had gone if it all meant leading up to this moment.

As it was, she could already feel herself falling apart at the seams. So she let herself fall apart, right there with him in that broken bed.

Bucky kissed her passionately as he felt her flutter around him, he could already tell she was getting closer to her climax and he couldn’t help but smile. She looked so pretty.. so euphoric. 

If anyone asked him what his favourite position was, it’d be missionary, for this exact reason.. so he could see the lady he was making love to come apart beneath him. It was so different from his dreams… from his lonely fantasies on the quieter nights. 

The metal hand moved from her breast to her hair, stroking through her locks gently. Why were redheads always the ones he fell for? Even the soldier was the same. He didn’t understand it one bit. But he wouldn’t change it for the world.

If she took everything into consideration, which, she wasn’t capable of doing in that exact moment, she would have been struck by how odd the circumstances were. The experience had been everything she had ever hoped it would have been, but also everything she had ever hoped it wouldn’t be. 

When she finally managed to get it together, she looked up at him, her own hand plastered to his cheek as if that alone could keep them tethered together forever. “Jim,” she breathed out. “Do that again.”

Bucky looked down at her with a slight smirk, who woulda thought a girl experiencing her first time would be so needy. “Talk to me angel, tell me what you want. I’m a lot of things… mind reader ain’t one of them,” he whispered. 

When she’d finally rode out her orgasm, he continued his thrusts a little faster as his metal hand gently tugged on her hair to expose her neck to him. “My beautiful girl. Wish we could stay here forever,” he whispered. Maybe not here in particular but he wanted to be around her for as long as he could. Before they ripped her away again.

When he picked up the pace between her legs, she groaned slightly, her head tilting to the side when he tugged on her hair, the slight pain against her scalp almost delicious. She wiggled her hips a little, adjusting where she was just slightly, before she realized when she did that, something happened that she liked. Another groan rolled over her lips and her fingers slid down his face to land on his chest. 

“Jim,” she panted out, her fingers curling, nails digging into his skin. She was trying to find the right words for what she wanted. She needed him to feel as good as she just did, even if she wasn’t entirely sure how to make it happen yet.

Bucky breathed heavily as she moved her hips, a breathy moan slipping from his lips. He sucked a mark on her neck with a grin, loving every moment of this. If he could scratch this into his brain for eternity he would. 

He pulled back slightly as she called him Jim, biting his lip as she dug her nails in. He gently moved one of her hands to his back, holding it there for a second in the hopes she understood what he wanted. “I don’t care if you draw blood,” he whispered, “just.. mark me, claim me… make me yours.” 

“Mine,” she said, nodding, the spot on her neck throbbing, but in one of the best ways. He was hers and he always had been, even if he was too stubborn to have seen it all those years ago. From the first time he had saved her brother from an alleyway fight. 

As soon as her fingers made contact with the muscles in his back, she grinned. She could do that. Her left leg slid up and around his waist, pulling him tighter into her.

Bucky nodded, panting with a smile. She felt so good. Everything she did drove him wild. He kissed her neck lazily, panting to keep his breath, “fuck… feels so good,” he breathed. 

He bit his lip as he felt her touch his back, moaning as she pulled him against her with her leg. “So close,” he panted, burying his face in her neck as he finally hit his peak, climaxing with a quiet groan.

As soon as his face was in her neck, she wrapped herself around him, her nails digging in the skin at the back of his neck as she clung to him. 

It would have taken an entire army to peel her off of him at that point, especially with the noises he just made in her ear. Sex was great. She would have said she should have tried it ages ago, but she knew she would have never without him.

He panted against her, his hips bucking against her till his orgasm had passed. Bucky pulled back slightly, looking down at her with a fond smile, “I’ve needed that for a long time,” he whispered. 

“For about sixty years or so, I figure,” she teased, reaching up to push her own hair out of her face. At the look on his face, something twisted in her guy and she reached up to pull him down next to her, snuggling into his side. 

He snorted quietly, kissing her again and again till he couldn’t stop smiling. “You’re hilarious. Like the most funny person,” he drawled sarcastically, a little Brooklyn slipping into his voice. Bucky looped his arm around her with a small smile, gently running the metal hand through her hair. 

Bucky caressed her cheek gently, his metal hand holding him up as he stroked her cheek with his thumb. “You’re so beautiful. I wish we could have more time together,” he sighed. He knew if they won… if Hydra succeeded, he’d be executed. They have no use for him.

“Steve will come,” she said, quietly. “Nat will come. They might even bring Tony and Bruce.” But if she was honest, she had no idea if they would. If they had known where Bucky had been this whole time, that he had been alive, they would have searched for him high and low. She didn’t have a clue where they were and had a feeling her friends had no idea how to find her either.

“If Rogers knew his baby sister was currently being held by Hydra and where you were. We’d be out by now. Guy doesn’t exactly do anything by halves,” he sighed. No, they were well and truly stuck for the time being. “We’ll strike when the time is right. Shouldn’t be too many days. Who knows, we might even get to do more of this,” he winked.

“I am glad you finally developed an appreciation for my sense of humor,” she said, patting his stomach. 

“If Steve knew where I currently am being held, you might be safer with Hydra,” she said, laughing and pressing a kiss to his shoulder, where the metal met his skin. 

Chapter Text

The door to the room squeaked when it opened, and she did her best to try and cover herself, scrambling for the shirt he had dropped by the bed, and yanking it over her head before the person managed to make it into the room. 

“Lookit that, Barnes, this one isn’t crying this time.” Rumlow. Asshole.”C’mon princess,” he said, pointing his gun at Rose. “You’re coming with me.”

He growled quietly as Rumlow pointed a gun at Rose, “you hurt her and I’ll make sure you don’t leave the building in one piece.” He wanted to tear the guy’s throat but he knew Rumlow would get a shot off before he could get out of the bed.

“I might rough her up a little,” he said, the intent in his words not hidden, as he nodded his head towards the door. “I don’t have all day, Rogers.” 

Rose stood up, Bucky’s shirt ghosting the middle of her thighs as she walked towards Brock, her eyes narrowed. “Is this because I refused to get dinner with you that one time?” She saw the vein in his forehead throb before he grabbed her by the back of the neck and pushed her out of the room. 

“You’re lucky they want to do some tests on you, but Pierce already said if it doesn’t take, you’re up for grabs.” She didn’t want to think too much about what that exactly meant.

Bucky scoffed, “if she so much as comes back with a scratch, you’re all dead. You hear me? All of you.” He wouldn’t let her get hurt again. She was too good for this world. 

He bit his lip as she stood up, if they ever got out of here, he would let her wear his clothes more often. Fuck, did he love those legs!

The growl that left him from behind the closed door was almost feral. ‘Up for grabs’?! Yeah, he wasn’t gonna let that one slide.

—-

Rumlow led her down the hall a few doorways down to a small room that had been converted into a makeshift hospital room. Her nose wrinkled at the smell of antiseptic, but despite the smell, she didn’t have faith in the cleanliness. 

“Up,” he said, pointing at the small exam table. 

"I know you probably don’t get a lot of experience with women who are concerned with being pregnant, considering no woman wants to touch you, but even if your sick plan worked, you can’t tell this early.” 

That earned her another slap across the face. 

“Up.”

She grumbled as she climbed up onto the table, but then he was right in front of her.  “I am supposed to just give you some prenatal vitamins, just in case,” he said, reaching for a syringe on the counter. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t have some fun.”

Rose jumped slightly when his hand landed on her arm. 

“Is the super soldier afraid of needles?”

“I was a nurse, Brock,” she said, rolling her eyes. “I am more worried about whatever makes you so disgusting.” His eyes narrowed as he pushed the needle into her arm and released…whatever it was but she was pretty sure it wasn’t just vitamins, if there were any in there at all. 

His other hand started sliding up her bare leg heading for the spot between her legs. Before she realized it, her knuckles hurt and were covered in blood, and then she looked up at his face, which he had in his hands. 

“The bitch punched me,” he shouted to someone outside the room and another pair of footsteps sounded down the hall before Jack Rollins appeared in the room.

Bucky grinned as he heard that Rumlow had been punched, he’d wanted to do that for a long time. It wasn’t a secret that the guy was a dick. 

Rollins eyed her carefully, “punch me and I will hurt you. There’s a reason they made me the guy to put Barnes down if he goes rogue. Cause I won’t hesitate. So please, give me a reason. Not that I’d shoot you in the head. Wouldn’t wanna ruin that pretty face,” he smirked. 

“Where’s Pierce? I’m sure he’d like to make her watch when they wipe him.” The sight was horrific but he’d never liked Barnes in the first place. 

Bucky grimaced as his door flung open with three guards stood at the entryway. “Come on Soldier. You’ve got a mission to perform.” He felt a needle prick his neck before he was lifted off the bed and dragged with his feet barely touching the ground. He knew what came next. Everything he held close disappeared again, and he hated that. Pierce could go fuck himself. 

Rollins grabbed her wrist roughly, “come on, we can do tests later. It’s time for the big show before Barnes is sent back out for a mission,” he grinned, dragging her towards the door and out to where Bucky was being dragged. They threw him into the chair and he glared at them. He hadn’t even noticed Rose in the room, slightly opening his mouth for the rubber guard they gave him. He’d only made that mistake once. It hadn’t even occurred to him that he was only in his boxers, not that Hydra cared, they’d wipe him in any attire he had on. He closed his eyes as the headpiece came down, his arm being locked into place. Then they put the IV into his arm, with who knows what. They never told him. He never asked. He was clinging onto what he remembered, wanting to keep the thought of Rose… the memories of Natalia, of Steve… of everything with Rose. He could barely see Pierce through the tears in his eyes. He wouldn’t cry for this bastard but that didn’t mean he wasn’t scared… scared of the pain, of forgetting again… he was scared of it all. 

Rose didn't go easily, Rollins having to practically drag her down the hallway with his hand around her wrist. When they finally managed to get her into an entirely new room, Rollins promptly shoved her in front of himself, one hand wrapped around both of her wrists, his other hand keeping his gun right under her chin. 

"You watch him, without a word, and I won't shoot you. I bet it would take a long time for that wound to heal, if it did at all." 

She wouldn't admit to him that he had a point. Steve might have been able to come back from that, even if it took a while. She wasn't sure the same held true for herself.

Bucky was dragged in and shoved into a chair. It took all of her strength to not try to get away from the man holding her when they put a horrible looking headpiece on him, the look on his face when they shoved something into his mouth.

Bucky clenched his jaw, he knew what was coming. It was the only certainty about his time here. At least Karpov didn’t wipe him before every mission. The guy actually treated him like a prisoner, not just a weapon. His eyes clocked onto Rose and he fought the urge to reach out for her. With Rollins’ gun under her chin, he didn’t want to endanger her. 

Then they switched it on and he saw white. Just white hot pain burning through him as his metal hand clenched at his side. As soon as it stopped he saw Pierce stood in front of him, smirking to himself. “The world is on the edge between order and chaos. You’re gonna give it a push. A lot of people are counting on you,” he said seriously. It was a complete lie but the only way he’d been able to control the soldier was to make him believe he was doing good things. 

Bucky looked at him blankly, “where’s the mission?” “DC, ASAP. There’s a helicopter waiting for you to get to the Triskellion. Don’t let anyone stop those helicarriers taking off.” 

Bucky stood slowly, hearing the order of “get him ready. Wheels up in five”, but he was already on his way to the armory… or makeshift armory really. 

Pierce turned to Rose with a smirk, “Captain Rogers’ little sister. It’s a shame you’re not as strong as he is. Though I’m sure we can find a use for you under Hydra,” he grinned. “You’re going to serve us well Rogers.”

Chapter Text

Rose had been promptly thrown back into the room with the mattress, Rollins leaving with the ominous message that he'd be back - after he helped Rumlow with his nose. 

She heard shouting from the other side of the door and "Shit, fuck, that hurts!" and despite everything, she couldn't help but feel rather pleased with herself. If these men were going to ruin her life, she could at least break a nose. 

The two men came back into her room, Brock now sporting a bandage across his nose and a look on his face that told her he was in a foul mood. 

"You know, ladies love scars," she said, folding her arms over her chest. "Maybe now you can get a girlfriend." 

"I'll show you fuckin girlfriend," he growled, taking a few steps closer to her while Rollins shut the door behind them, both of them advancing on her. "Your little boyfriend is off doing our bidding and getting your brother out of the way. We get to have some fun, just the three of us, now."

"I wonder how loud she screams," Rollins said, tilting his head while he looked at her, and it was then that she realized how well and truly fucked she was.

Natasha had just got off the phone with Maria, she’d managed to track Barnes landing on the helicarrier to a takeoff point near a bank. She also got word that Steve was being sent to hospital for several wounds. If she had to guess, punctured lung, broken ribs, fractured skull, perforated liver, cracked femur and a concussion to rival that of a professional boxer. 

She pushed the side door open with a grimace, the stench of chlorine and cleaning products burning her nostrils. “James! If you’ve come back, come out. We can keep you safe,” she called out. If she’d taken him with her when she ran, he wouldn’t have suffered for thirty years. The man she’d loved had suffered for decades and she could’ve stopped it years ago! “I’m sorry James, I should’ve taken you with me,” she called out with a sigh. 

After Odessa, she’d cut all ties with the thought of loving him again. But seeing him in DC, seeing how dead behind the eyes he was brought a lot of shit back. She didn’t want him to endure that anymore. If she could show him she still loved him… if she could bring out the man she loved, she could help him. 

Her ears perked up to the sound of a door slamming, her pistol drawn as she stalked down the corridor to where she’d heard the noise, kicking it in with her gun raised.

Rose could hear someone’s voice from the hallway and shouted, before turning and throwing another punch at Rumlow, her fist connecting with his face. She had hit him wrong, her own knuckles stinging, but the sound that he made told her she had at least made contact. 

“You fucking bitch!” he shouted, trying to reach for his gun while holding his face. Rollins had already lifted his, firing off a shot that narrowly missed her as she darted towards the door, only for it to swing open and her to wind up face first with another gun. 

“…Nat!??” Her eyes widened in surprise and she ducked away from the barrel of the gun, hoping that her friend would think quick enough to shoot Rollins in the leg. Or the face, she wouldn’t be picky, really.

Natasha looked over at Rumlow, smirking as she saw his nose was most definitely broken. She didn’t even flinch when Rollins pulled his gun on her, firing a bullet through his forehead and watching him land with a thud. “James is on the run. I don’t know exactly where but since you’re here, with these two alone… he isn’t here. I have some ideas but checking them out will take time,” she sighed. 

She looked at Rumlow, firing a bullet next to his head, “you follow us and I won’t miss. I promise you that,” she said seriously. Her eyes rolled over Rose and she grimaced, “let’s get you some real clothes, huh? My car is around the corner and I’ve got a duffel bag full of stuff. I uploaded all Hydra and S.H.I.E.L.D. files onto the web and Nick has shot Pierce and killed him. Hydra has no head. Let’s just hope we can get to James before a splinter group crops up and tries to break him.” She paused as she walked, “there’s a chair here, right? Show me where it is.”

She’d been put in one of those in the seventies. Could still feel the pain in her teeth if she focused. They’d used it on her to punish James and make him feel bad. They’d used her to hurt him. Natasha knew they’d need the chair to control him. It was highly unlikely they had the book. Last the knew, Karpov or Lukin had it. And Lukin was dead. So it was either buried or locked in a vault somewhere in Russia.”

Rose threw her arms around her friend, excited to see someone she trusted, and was even happier to see her once there was a bullet in Rollin's skull. "Yeah, let's go!"

Natasha hugged her tightly, “we thought they’d killed uou,” she whispered, “thought they were gonna hurt you.” She could hear Rumlow cry in pain from around the corner and smiled to herself. “Shoulda fractured his skull.”

Rose grabbed Nat's hand to tug her down the hallway before something occurred to her. She dropped her friend's hand and jogged back into the room she had just left, giving Rumlow a swift kick to the ribs, just for good measure. 

"Sorry, I'm back," she said, returning to the hall. "I just needed to do that real quick." She spun where she was in the hallway, eyes scanning the different doors. "It's around here somewhere and I am trying to remember." The adrenaline pumping through her had her mind spinning and not in a particularly helpful way. She chewed on her bottom lip as she tried to focus. God how were Steve and Nat so good at focusing when things happened? 

"This way, I think," she said, trying to remember which direction she had been yanked back down the hallway towards the room she had just left. After a few steps, she was confident that they were going in the right direction and a few doors down, she pushed open a door to reveal the chair she had seen Bucky get shoved into, not wanting to think too much about what she had seen in that room.

She nodded slightly, “they’ll have it somewhere secure. Like a vault or something,” she shrugged. Natasha could tell Rose was on edge and squeezed her hand gently, “you’re okay. Did you see them use it?” she asked quietly. She’d thrown up the first time they’d made her watch. He’d been fucking electrocuted by the thing constantly but when she saw it for the first time, she was the one that was effected the worst?! It made no sense. 

"Yeah," she said quietly, wrapping her arms around her middle and refusing to look at the chair.  "Yeah, Uhm. Rollins. I think it was Rollins, because I had broken Rumlow's nose the first time by that point, he shoved me in here with them while they..." She didn't have the words to explain what she had seen.

Natasha nodded slightly, “you’re okay. You’ll never see that again. I threw up the first time I saw it. Just be glad they didn’t put you in it as a power move,” she grimaced. She knew they weren’t above being petty. 

Natasha grinned as she saw the chair, sticking a memory stick into the back of it to download the data the chair stored before dropping her backpack and pulling out a small explosive device, sticking it on the chair and pushing the button, quickly grabbing Rose and dragging her out of the room so she’d not get caught in the blast. “Come on, we need to get you dressed and get flying to Europe. We’re already hours behind. He could be halfway to Italy by now,” she grimaced. Maria and herself had had a bit of a delay finding the bank so she wouldn’t be surprised if he’d stowed away on a cargo plane to Germany and camped out in the wheel-well.

When Nat grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the room, saying something about Italy, her eyes flew wide. "But I don't speak Italian!" Not that it mattered, if Maria and Nat were both around, that meant that others would be aware of what was going on, too. Maybe Tony had something that could help. 

"What...what happened?" she finally asked. "After the bridge. I don't remember....I just woke up and everyone was gone. Or...I guess...I was gone?"

Nat passed her girl a duffel bag from her trunk, letting her choose what clothes she wanted to wear. “They knocked you out and took you. Me and Steve got arrested and they dragged James off and threw him in a van. Me and Steve got picked up by Maria who helped us get out…. Met up with Fury, who’s alive by the way. I’m still pissed about that,” she sighed, “you’re safe now. That’s all that matters. Why the hell do you only have his undershirt on? When did he give you that?” she asked, a little jealous to say the least.

In a whirlwind, she found herself once again fully clothed, although not willing to give up the shirt she had been wearing, opting to just slide a pair of leggings on so she'd at least have pants. 

"We should call Steve. Is he okay? Does he know I'm okay? Oh. Yeah. The shirt. Uhm. Well. You see what had happened was I woke up in a room in just my underwear and I don't even want to think about how that happened, but probably Rumlow because he's disgusting and anyway, the guy in the room next to me, the one from the bridge, with the metal arm, that was Bucky, you know, Bucky? The Bucky? Jim? James? Lotta names, really. Anyway. Woke up in there, wait...how is he still alive? I don't know. How am I still alive? How are any of us still alive? Okay. Focus. So he was there and apparently they wanted me to...ya know....uhm...help him make more .... I guess more...hims? Maybe since I have the serum from Steve, it was supposed to have worked this time. Anyway...Yeah. So then we....uhm....yeah so we definitely had sex and it was so fun and I can't believe I spent all this time not doing that but I only ever wanted to do it with him anyway. It was great, not gonna lie, but then Rumlow came back in and wanted to run some tests and then he tried to touch me and I broke his nose and they drug me into the room with the chair and did....whatever it is that they did and then I was back in the room and Rumlow and Rollins were in there and I broke Brock's nose again and that's when you showed up." 

She sucked in a deep breath and then looked over at her friend, realizing she hadn't stopped to breath during the whole recounting of events.

Nat listened to the older woman ramble and laughed quietly, “honey, breathe for me,” she teased. “Steve’s fine. I’ll text Sam that you’re fine and Steve will be made aware. The guy woke up and his first words were ‘Bucky ran’. So that’s where his priorities are right now,” she shrugged. She didn’t like the next part, cause they’d done it back then too. Asked her to make more soldiers. Only problem was Madame B got to her first and sterilized her. “They got him to sleep with other women back then. They had to command him to do it. He didn’t wanna do it,” she sighed, “but at least with you, he seemed lucid right? Like it was him in control and not the soldier?” She didn’t wanna imply that Rose had taken advantage, even if it was possible. Not that Rose had much of a choice either. “He got the serum from Zola in ‘43. And then got an upgrade in ‘56 and ‘92. But after all their fuckups and experiments, he’s infertile.” She growled possessively as she mentioned Rollins and Rumlow put her in a room alone, “should’ve shot them both. Both wastes of space,” she huffed. 

She opened the car door for Rose, “come on. First stop is France. Me and James had a hangout in Lille,” she said softly, “he’ll go to places he’s frequented most… apart from Siberia,” she shuddered. She really hoped she didn’t have to follow him all the way there.

"He definitely knew who I was and who he was," Rose said, twisting the hem of the shirt around her finger as she got out of the car. "You don't happen to also have...a hair brush and a tooth brush with you, do you?" she asked. 

Chapter Text

On the way to the airport Rose was doing her best to get the knots out of her hair to feel more like a human again. The first thing she was going to do when they got to France was take the world's hottest shower to try and scrub all of the grime off of her. And maybe try to track down some new clothes. And some shoes. Definitely shoes. 

Once her hair was finally de-tangled, she twisted it into a loose braid and curled up in her seat to fall asleep.

Nat pulled into the airport, managing to score them some business class tickets so they wouldn’t sat around people constantly asking for pictures. “First thing we do when we get to the house, I’m gonna scout the town nearby. You can shower and wear whatever you find. I’ve got clothes there.”

When they’d landed, she grabbed her bag and hired a sports saloon, knowing if they found James, she’d need three seats minimum. “Just so you know, this won’t be easy. It could be a month before we even get a sniff of his whereabouts. He’s trained to hunker down and hide. I would know. I taught him what he knows.”

"Just put up a billboard that we have hard strawberry candy. He'll find us," Rose said, slipping into the car. "And a shower sounds so good right now. I have so much disgusting to wash off." The nap she had gotten on the plane had done wonders, so a shower and a coffee would have her back up to normal.  When they pulled up to the house, her stomach was in knots. She knew the likelihood Bucky would be in there when they walked in was almost impossible, but there was still a chance. Once they were inside, she knew they wouldn't have been that lucky. 

“The soldier loves plums too. Just leave a basket of candy and plums and he’ll come running,” Nat chuckled. She put her foot down, “we have limited hot water. So don’t spend all night in there. I don’t mind a cold shower once in a while but not when I’m trying to hunt down a super soldier.” She kept her gun close as she unlocked the door, pulling it out as she pushed into the house, checking corners as she moved. If he was here, he would’ve either jumped on her or out of the window. 

"I'm going to clean up and get changed. I want to help you look, though," Rose said. "Can you be back in about an hour so we can go together?"

Natasha nodded slightly, “I’ll not be long. Just gonna scout the town, make sure we’re not being watched. And then we can go on mine and James’ running route.” She pressed a kiss to Rose’s temple, “there’s a knife in the bedside table. If someone comes in and doesn’t announce their arrival, keep that close to you.”

Rose nodded and as soon as Nat was out of the house, she found the bathroom and promptly stripped down and started inspecting herself in the mirror while the shower heated up behind her. There were bruises amongst the grime, all starting to heal. The spot on her arm where Rumlow had injected something into her was nearly gone. All in all, she was in okay shape, at least physically.  When the water was warm, she ducked into the shower, letting it wash all of the mess down the drain. She scrubbed the soap against her skin and then before she knew it the water was running cold and she was crying and scrubbing her skin raw, trying to get all of it off of her, but it wouldn't clean off. They wouldn't clean off.

Natasha slipped out of the door, leaving her baseball bat next to the door just incase someone knocked when Rose was out of the shower. She walked through the town, keeping her hood low over her face and avoiding prolonged eye contact with anyone she came across.  By the time she’d scouted out the town, she’d not seen anything. At least nothing unusual. There was a base 6 miles east of here that she’d scout after Rosie got out of the shower, but she needed to get home first and arm herself for a possible fight. 

She unlocked the door, calling out as she stepped inside, “it’s just me. I’ve got an idea for where he’s been but it’s not certain.” The door clicked shut behind her and she slipped off her shoes, making her way back upstairs to route through her weapons.

Rose heard the door open and her eyes widened, coming back to and realizing how cold the water had gotten. She scrambled to turn the shower off and tried to get out, but her legs felt really unsteady and her teeth were chattering. Why hadn't she thought to put a towel by the shower before she got in?  She wiped her palms under her eyes and did her best to try and breath, to stop hyperventilating but was not incredibly successful with it. 

"I'm in here," she called, her voice not quite as loud as she would have liked it to be.

Natasha heard her announce where she was and knocked gently, “I’m guessing you don’t have a towel,” she chuckled, noticing all the towels were currently hung up on a rack in the bedroom.  She pushed the door open gently, frowning as she saw the look on Rose’s face, her heart breaking a little. “Come on, let’s get you in front of the fire. I’ve got limited logs but we’re gonna get you warm. We’ll go out after you’re not suffering from possible hypothermia,” she whispered. 

“I’m gonna wrap this around you,” she said softly, holding up the towel before gently wrapping it around her body, grimacing as she felt how cold the water was on her skin, “were you in there all this time?” she sighed. Well there went the hot water. She’d make do with a cold shower later on.

Rosalie whimpered slightly when she felt the towel around her, nodding at the question. "Yeah," she said, sniffling. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to use all the hot water, I'm sorry, I just...lost track...of everything. I was trying to get clean and nothing was making me feel clean and..." she trailed off at the end, reaching up to tug on the ends of her hair with the tip of a finger, her eyes squeezing closed. "Thank you," she finally said, after a few seconds of trying to remember to breathe properly. "Dinner's on me. On account of....the no hot water and everything."

Natasha shook her head, gently rubbing on the towel to try and warm the girl up, “you’re fine, don’t worry about it. I’ve had cold showers before. Believe me, I don’t mind. If I get my ass kicked when we go out, the cold shower will do me good.” She kissed her temple gently, “they won’t ever hurt you again. If Rumlow ever comes after you, I’ll gut him.” She wasn’t kidding either. She’d disembowelled many people in her time as a widow.  She frowned slightly, “two things. First, don’t ever thank me for being a human being and caring for you. It’s not something I need to be thanked for. Second, you’re not buying me shit. We’ll pick something up on the way back from where we’re going. I’ll pay, and I’m not taking any arguments. I’m not gonna make my girl pay for dinner when she’s in a sad mood,” she said seriously, not really thinking about what she’d called Rosalie.

“On account of your shooting a man in the face for me, then,” Rose said with another sniffle before standing up. “I need to get dressed and get my shit together, we have stuff to do.”  She didn’t want to sit around the house and just hope things worked out. It would also be good for her to go work on something. And to see France, considering she hadn’t seen it for decades.

“Sweetheart, you aren’t paying for anything. Let me take care of you,” Nat whispered, cupping her cheeks gently. 'Kiss her! Just do it!’ ‘She’s in love with James! It wouldn’t be right!’ The angel and devil on her shoulder, battling it out as she tried not to do anything stupid. “Sweetheart, I doubt he’s around. If he was, we’d probably be hearing gunfire by now.”

The base was six miles out, she just hoped he’d not stolen a bike otherwise he’d be long gone by now. She went back into the bedroom, opening her bottom drawer to get her knives, pausing as they weren’t there. “Alie! He was here!” she called out, putting her gun in her waistband and slinging her bow over her shoulder. She’d used it for hunting in the early seventies when they got stranded here one winter. There were woods near the base and she’d drive their pickup back and forth with meat she’d found. “Get dressed, we’re gone in five minutes. We’ve got a lead to follow.”

At Nat calling towards her from the bedroom, her ears perked up and she squeaked before jumping into action. "Five minutes?!? I am supposed to be ready to go outside in front of human beings in five minutes?" She screwed up her face and tried to focus. She grabbed a pair of leggings and a black sweater from the clothes Nat had brought, before quickly yanking on her boots.  It didn't take long before she had her hair twisted in two braids running down the back of her head, not even bothering to ask if Nat had packed any of her makeup. If she had, Rose wouldn't have had the time to put it on anyway. 

Natasha scoffed, “we’re taking the car to a base! You’re not modelling for the Queen!” she called back. “You’re an agent. You should be able to get ready in under five minutes and be ready to fight. What if someone jumped through that window now?” she asked seriously. Sure she’d been trained since she was kid for this stuff, but it wasn’t hard to get dressed and ready for a fight.

"France doesn't even have a queen," Rose said, tucking a stray hair back into her braid. "And not all of us have black leather cat suits that zip up in two seconds or less," she pointed out. "Some of us only have dresses that, while very good for twirling, are not great for anything else." Maybe she'd have to change that. She had been doing a lot more, ever since Nat had started to train her. She was mostly still just helping in case anyone got hurt, but she knew she could do more. 

"Can we.....stop for coffee on the way, perhaps maybe for one sad person who will remain nameless?" 

Nat looked at her with a small smile, “Sure. But you’re leaving it in the car when we get to the base. You can’t fight if you’re carrying a coffee,” she chuckled. She twirled her car keys on her finger, “come on. The cafe is five minutes away and the base is only six miles. If we’re quick enough, we might be able to hear him in the woods.”

"I knew you loved me," she said with a grin, following Nat to the car and ducking into the car. "And you make him sound like a werewolf." Her mind slipped to the old movies, a young girl being chased through the woods while a monster chased her down.

Natasha bit her lip, looking at her with a shy smile, “I just know you’ll be dead weight without your caffeine. You addict,” she teased, trying to ease the sadness that sat in her chest. She knew Rose wasn’t attainable.. her heart yearned for another. She scoffed quietly, “a werewolf is less dangerous. But seriously, if we lose sight of him, it could take days before we get another shot,” she said seriously. She drove quickly to the cafe, getting herself a latte before speeding to the base, parking a short walk away. “Just know, if he is here, he won’t come quietly. If it comes down to it, you take the shot. He’ll heal.”

"I won't," she said, shaking her head. "I don't think I can do that. I'm sorry. I'm not...I'm not you. I'm not Steve. I'm not Tony. I'm not even Bruce, who's a giant teddy bear when he's not all green and grouchy." She took a long sip from her coffee, before putting it back in the cup holder. "I don't even have anything on me to shoot him with." 

Natasha sighed, “sweetheart, if it’s his life or yours, you pull the trigger. I don’t care if you’re scared. If you’re in danger, you shoot to kill.” She knew a single bullet wouldn’t take the guy down. She also knew Rose wasn’t the best shot in the world. “I know you love him, but I do too. Even if he hadn’t proposed to me, I would be here. He needs to know he’ll be safe with us,” she shrugged, holding a pistol out for the older woman, “you’ve got nine shots. Make them count.”

When Rose climbed out of the car, she wiped her palms on the back of her legs. "Alright. Lead the way. I will...be here, I guess. You didn't happen to grab my bag with all my field medic shit, did you?"

Nat kicked the side door of the building off its hinges lifting her pistol, “no. You’re not here to heal people. If I get hit, I’ll deal with it. If anyone opposes us, they’re dying. End of story,” she shrugged. She wasn’t gonna let Hydra scum live. She stepped into a meeting room, grimacing as she looked at a map, several X’s marked on a map of Europe. “That’s blood. Someone’s marked off Minsk, Bucharest, Bologna, Kyiv and Berlin. But not Krakow. He hasn’t had time to clear these bases. Unless he knows something we don’t,” she muttered to herself.

She backed out of the room, down to the land, kicking the door open and turning and to grab a bin, emptying her stomach with a grimace. “Rose, don’t come in here!” she called out behind her. “Fuck, James. You really showed ‘em, huh?” she whispered, eyeing the charred corpse of a lab technician who’d been shocked to death, the smell of burning flesh and hair hanging in the air. The smell of blood hung strong in the room, the taste copper on her tongue. All the cabling from the chair was torn out and scrambled, the computer that controlled it filled with bullets. “I know where he’s going next!” she called out as it clicked into place. “He marked off the bases without chairs! Krakow has a chair! He’s gonna destroy that chair next.” There was one in Poland and one in Siberia. But she knew he wouldn’t be in a rush to get to Siberia. There had been one in East Berlin but when Berlin unified, the chair had been shipped to France. At last they had a lead

"I don't need to," Rose called back, slapping her hand over her mouth. She could smell the stench from where she was. "I can smell it from way back here." When Nat came running out of the room, still slightly pale from when Rose had heard her puking, she gave her a small smile. 

Natasha gagged again, “good! It’s fuckin’ grim,” she retched. She stumbled through the door with a grimace, “let’s not go back in there.”

"Poland? How has this man already gotten to Poland? Didn't we JUST get here?" She groaned and turned back towards where Nat had parked. "Being an agent, super serum or not, is exhausting." 

“No, that’s where he’s headed next. So we’re gonna beat him to it. We’re gonna eat and then fly out first thing in the morning. There aren’t many late flights from this part of France. They don’t like disturbing the peace and quiet of the locals,” she shrugged. She pulled her bow off her shoulder, dropping it in the trunk, “god, how are you an avenger,” she teased, “surprised you haven’t broken a nail yet.”

"I didn't ask to be an Avenger," Rose pointed out. "It just kind of happened." At the point about her nails, Rose held out her left hand, curled into a fist except for her pinky. "And I did break a nail." Nat chuckled quietly, “All we did was get out of the car and walk! How the fuck did you break a nail?!” she laughed. 

“I actually think that happened earlier,” Rose said, pulling her hand back to her own face to inspect it. “On Rumlow’s face, probably.” 

“You broke a nail punching Rumlow? Am I gonna have to teach you how to box with false nails, just so you don’t hurt yourself?” she laughed, “if you can’t punch, hitting someone in the face with an elbow or the heel of your hand works too.”

What Nat had said was still playing over in her mind as they got back into the car, about having to maybe shoot him to save her life and she knew that she wouldn't be able to. It had surprised her enough when she'd punched someone, let alone when she had done it a second time. And then something stuck out to her. 

"Wait. PROPOSED to you?"

Nat climbed in the front seat, slouching with a sigh, she really needed a nap. It had been an exceptionally long day. As Rose questioned her, she snorted quietly, “Sweetheart, we were together for just over thirty years. Proposed with an ornamental knife on the thirteenth of May 1971, we got captured before I could give my answer,  then I got shot in the June of that year and they wiped us both to separate us. Loada good that did,” she scoffed. They’d sought each other out within the week. Lukin didn’t know how to handle them and their relationship. She still had the knife. Clint had asked her about it when he found it hidden in her room. She didn’t take it on missions, it was too delicate. It was in a glass case on top of her fireplace.

"Food. Then bed. Then Poland," she said, pulling her knees up to her chest. "And then I guess you tell me more stories about how you spent decades with the man I thought I would marry." She wasn't upset.. Well. No. She was. But not at anyone in particular. It was just another injustice that the world had committed against all of them, yanking them out of the lives they had planned to live and dealing them a really shitty set of cards instead.

Natasha nodded, “when we get back, I’ll book the first flight out. It’ll be at like 6am. So we will have to leave at like four though,” she shrugged. There wasn’t much to tell. Her and James never went on real dates, just missions. And the occasional getaway to hide from the Soviets in a motel or a safehouse. “Not much to tell sweetheart, we never really did much relationship-y stuff,” she shrugged.

She didn’t like the thought of two people she cared about having to run from place to place and hide, even if she understood why. And it didn't upset her for the reason she would have thought it would - she was more sad that she wasn't there to help them with all of it and be there with them.

She sank into the seat of her car with a sigh, “would you be opposed to napping in the air if I can get us an earlier ride?” she asked softly. If Rick could get her transportation, they’d be able to get to Poland before he did, or at least be there when he was. “I have a guy who is usually very good for rides. Plus if James is ahead of us, there could be a chance he’s already at an airport to go to Poland.” If he beat them there and then left, they’d be chasing leads for weeks.

“I can nap anywhere,” Rose said with a shrug. “And in my defense, I didn’t hurt myself punching him, I just broke a nail.” That part wasn’t exactly true, her knuckles hadn’t felt great after hitting him, but they were fine now.  “But anything we can do to get ahead of the game is all well and good to me. I spent the past few years thinking he was long dead, so now that I know he’s not, I am ready to sort some shit out.”

“Sort some shit out? What’re you gonna do? Box him up and send him home by post?” Nat teased. “I get what you mean though. It’ll be strange having him around.” She knew from the fact Bucky had been lucid and slept with Rose, he would pick her. Who wouldn’t? She was gorgeous and she had a whole lot less baggage. “You’re like a fucking cat,” she chuckled, “it’s cute. I can just imagine you curling up on a sofa and purring yourself to sleep.” She gently took her hand, “I doubt that. You looked in pain when you rejoined me,” she grimaced, “you better not have broken anything. Can’t have my favorite avenger being benched,” she teased. 

"I do purr if you pet me right," Rose said with a grin, letting Nat look at her hand. "But yes, apparently this man owes me a whole marriage proposal via knife." 

Natasha shook her head with a fond smile, “you keep talkin’ like that…” she whispered, “you’re trouble.” She snorted quietly, “you don’t seem like the knife sorta girl. Knuckle duster maybe, but not a knife,” she joked, “you’re lucky this isn’t broken. I’m retraining you when we get back. I’m sure James will be happy to lecture you on how to actually throw a punch.”

“He’ll come back. It’s either that or be on the run for the rest of his life. I know what he’d prefer. Plus, the compound has you, me, Steve and all the weapons he could possibly want to train with. His range scores in Siberia could rival Clint’s, especially when he was prepping for a mission.” She knew Stark might not agree. But it was three against one. She didn’t know where Bruce would stand and Thor was off world. Clint however. She really didn’t know where he’d stand. He’d support her, but she also knew he wanted to break James’ jaw for shooting her in Odessa.. and again in DC.

"I only recently discovered that fact about myself," she said with a shrug, even if her cheeks flushed pink at the memory. "And no, if someone wants to marry me, they need a ring, even if the knife happens to be very pretty." 

She held her hand out in front of her, fingers splayed wide as she tilted her head as if in contemplation of what a ring might look there. She had thought about it before, but never too seriously. 

Rose didn't have a chance to say much more before her stomach let out a loud gurgling noise that betrayed just how hungry she was. "So you mentioned something about dinner?"

Chapter Text

Nat snorted quietly as Rose’s stomach grumbled, “I know a nice place not too far away. Makes the best milkshakes. You’ll love it. It’s like something straight outta the fifties,” she grinned, already speeding towards her destination. She pulled out her phone, handing it to Rose, “call fly boy,” she instructed with a slight grin. "And don't worry too much, he'll get you a ring, when we get him back."

"He can get a ring or not." Rose knew that she didn't sound as convincing as she would have liked. Despite everything, she still felt a bit like the little girl, all those years ago, begging for the man she loved to love her back. Marriage and a wedding and the whole happily ever after might not really be in the cards for them. She  took the phone from Nat. It didn't even really have a chance to ring before she heard her brothers voice on the other end. "What's going on?"

"Hi Stevie," she said, quietly, wincing as she prepared for the onslaught of questions he was about to throw her way.  She held the phone out from her face, with her arm stretched all the way out in front of her.

Nat snorted as Steve immediately answered the phone, “Rogers, she’s fine. She’s with me. We have a lead on Barnes.” She knew Steve worried but at the same time, Rose had the serum… maybe not all of it but she could take a few hits if she had to.

Steve scoffed from his hospital bed, “Rosie you better keep safe. I’m not having you getting taken again. Nat, look after her cause if she gets hurt, I’ll tell Clint that you’ve been steppin’ out on him.” By the sound of his voice, he thought he’d win this argument. Obviously the guy was as stupid as half the agents at S.H.I.E.L.D. “You think me and Barton are together? Seriously? That’s laughable,” she snorted, “fuckin’ Barton?! Oh honey, he’s not my type. Long haired super soldiers however…” she grinned, “especially the redheaded ones,” she added, winking at Rose

"That means you have to keep your hair cut, or you make the list," Rose said, grinning at the phone before letting her elbow drop onto the center console, so that they could both speak to her brother while he was on speaker phone.  "And I'd like to point out that I'm not the one in the hospital."

"Only because you got kidnapped."

"That's not my fault!"

"...Are you okay?"

She frowned and looked at the phone. "Yeah, Stevie, I'm okay. We're going to go get food and then go find Bucky."

Natasha shook her head, “You're too righteous for me. I like my men rough and rugged,” she shrugged. It was why her and Clint never hit it off, that and he was engaged when she met him.  “She isn’t injured Steve. She doesn’t need a hospital. All she needed was coffee,” she smirked. The older woman’s caffeine addiction was very similar to her rocky road addiction. She just couldn’t get enough.  “We’re off to Poland. Tell Sharon I owe her a drink for putting up with your stubborn ass as a neighbor,” she teased. She pulled up at the diner and smiled, “you wanna share a milkshake? Or are you one of those gremlins that dips their fries in their drink?”

“That does not make me a gremlin, that makes me have good taste,” Rose said, with a sniff as she got out of the car. “It’s not my fault you cannot appreciate the combinations of salty and sweet and hot and cold.” 

She slipped out of the car, walking towards the diner door, waiting for Nat to catch up before opening the door for her friend. “I kind of wish we had a chance to come to France for, ya know, just like a girls weekend and not on a super last second emergency trip.”

Natasha scoffed, “oh honey, I know you’re ancient and you wanna try modern stuff. But this is not the hill to die on,” she teased, “the fries just get soggy. It’s just not the best.” Even if she was only eight years younger, she enjoyed being able to tease Rose about her age. 

She got out, locking the car before jogging up to Rose pressing a quick kiss to her cheek as she slipped past, “such a gentlewoman. Who knew you were so chivalrous? I’ll have to take you out more often.” She nodded slightly as Rose said she wouldn’t mind being in France for a better trip, “we can always come back. Stick James with Sam and have a weekend away? Paris is cute this time’a year. Plus it’s the city of love.”

"Maybe you've just been dipping the wrong fries, and you just need someone to show you a better way." Rose was just talking about the fries, she was pretty sure, she told herself, as she slipped into the chair in a small booth. It wasn't like she could really show Nat much of anything, really.  "I'm trying to figure out if you like Sam or not," she said with a laugh, once they were both seated. "Because sometimes it sounds like you do, but then you say things like that and it makes me think that you might not."

“The wrong fries? Sweetheart, I’ve been dipping French fries. The fry you’re apparently supposed to dip but it’s just wrong,” Nat shrugged. “It’s like vodka and cookies. It doesn’t make sense.” She slipped into the booth, sitting opposite Rose, “a better way? And how would you do that? Is there even a better way to dip a fry?” she asked utterly perplexed. 

She scoffed quietly, fake offens on her face, “how dare you. Sam is like my best friend! I know like three things about the guy,” she joked. “I feel more sorry for James. I feel like Sam would talk his ear off, poor guy.” 

"Perhaps you need better fries. Crispier. Crinklier. Cuter," the last part of her sentence trailed off as she said it and someone stopped by with menus. It wasn't the normal greeting that they would have gotten in an American restaurant, which was fine. She wasn't sure she could handle much more conversation at this point.

Natasha frowned, “We’re gonna circle back to you calling fries cute,” she laughed. “What in the world could possibly make a fry cute? Like you are very cute, adorable even. But a fry? That’s not cute. Delicious sure, very tasty. But not cute.” She nodded, “yeah, he is kinda the rational guy that Steve needs in his corner. He’s a sweet guy,” she smiled. “But he does like to talk. And has a little bit of an ego. But he’s funny so he gets away with it.”

"Fries can be cute," Rose said, not looking at the woman across the table, the pink tinging her cheeks again. Maybe it was a good thing Nat didn't realize she was no longer talking about thinly sliced potatoes. "But you're saying you would never enjoy a fry dipped in a milkshake?" S he got cut off on her questioning when the waitress came by to take their orders. When they were alone again, she shrugged. "Steve has a lot of people in his corner. He's Captain America. The whole country mostly loves him."

Natasha frowned slightly as she noticed Rose’s cheeks turning pink, “I’m missing something aren’t I? Is this some American idiom that I’m not familiar with?” she asked confused. “I’m not saying I wouldn’t ever enjoy it, just that from my past experience it wasn’t exactly the best,” she shrugged. If Rose was talking about something else, she wouldn’t be any the wiser. She was so confused. 

“He’s Captain pain in my ass more like,” she chuckled, “you’re much easier to deal with. Hell, so is Stark! Steve is too by the book. It’s not my style! I can’t wait till we get James back and he can put the guy in line. Seriously, what happened to the Steve that got into scraps in alleys? Why is new Steve so fuckin righteous!?"

"He has broken the law more times than I can count and now all of a sudden, he wants to be the police,” Rose agreed. She figured that might change if they were able to get Bucky to come back with them. Steve would most likely do whatever it took to keep him safe, even if it meant harboring a war criminal. 

“Fine. We will have to get you to try it with the right fries and the right milkshake.” And like Rose had willed it into existence, her own order of fries and a chocolate milkshake were placed on the table in front of her.

“Yeah, but he might not want his best friend fucking his sister under the same roof,” Nat shrugged, “if he’s not okay with it, I’ve got a few places to go. Have a small penthouse in Brooklyn if you wanna crash there.”

She looked at the fries and a burger she’d ordered before taking the lid off the milkshake, dipping a fry tentatively. “Okay, so it was a little better with chocolate. I usually get strawberry,” she admitted, not noticing that a little bit of milkshake had dribbled down her lip just above her chin.

“I can always get my own place if I need to,” she said, before grabbing her own fry and absentmindedly dunking it into the milkshake. “Well of course doing it with strawberry wouldn’t be good, you’re supposed to do it with chocolate.”  Rose went about pulling the onion off her burger before she re-assembled it and took a bite. For someone who didn’t like onion that much, she was always forgetting to ask to have it taken off. 

“So. Dinner and then airport? Then Poland?”

Nat nodded, a small smile on her lips, “I’ll call Rick after this. Might be a few hours but it’ll be quicker than waiting till morning. Last I heard he was in Sweden for another client.”

“Maybe you just need to trust me more,” Rose told her with a shrug before taking another bite from her burger. She would have to revisit the idea of fries and milkshakes later, maybe when she wasn’t in desperate need of a nap. The events of the past few days were catching up to her and the realization of what would have happened if Nat hadn’t shown up was exhausting to think about. 

“Fly to Poland. Locate …” she was about to call Bucky “boyfriend” but something about that didn’t feel right. So she settled on “Locate James, get pastries, go home.”

Natasha scoffed quietly, “I trust you a lot! It’s not my fault I wasn’t made aware that you have to use a certain type of milkshake for it to taste right!” she chuckled.  She could tell the girl was starting to get tired, “yeah. I’ll get us coordinates for a pickup and then it’s just a matter of flying to Poland. If you need to, you can sleep on the way there,” she said softly. “We’ll have your boyfriend back in no time.”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” Rose said, with a slight pout to her lips as she said it. It felt like high school all over again. Having a shake with your girlfriends while discussing the boys that you hoped asked you to dance. That thought bounced off something in the back of her head. “Hey Nat,” she said, slowly dragging a fry through her shake as she said it. “You like to dance, right?”

Nat smirked slightly, “but you want him to be, don’t ya?” she cooed teasingly. She knew the answer, of course Rose did. She looked up from her fries at the question, pausing slightly, “who doesn’t like to dance?” She didn’t know if the girl meant slow dancing or just dancing in general. But she’d not slow danced since before Christmas 2012. No matter how much Clint and Laura tried to ease her into it. It wasn’t the same if it wasn’t with someone she truly loved. Sure she loved them to death, but they were family. It was a different sort of love she yearned for when she danced.

“How come we never dance? I don’t know anything about ballet. You could teach me. I bet you look cute in a tutu. Do you wear tutus? Maybe not.” She was babbling again. Maybe the idea of Nat in a tutu scrambled her brain a bit. Or maybe she was just tired.  Probably both. She took a long sip from her milkshake and smacked her palms on her thighs before looking around the diner. She needed to get up and not be still for a few minutes.

“I can teach you a few ballet moves if you want,” she smiled. “I used to wear a tutu. Now I just dance in a leotard,” she shrugged. “If you’re lucky, I’ll even teach you a few other dance.” She pulled out her purse, leaving a hundred euros under the glass they’d had their milkshake in. “Come on, I’ve paid more than enough so we should be set to go,” she said, standing slowly. If she was lucky she’d be able to teach Rose a few moves without anyone recognising them.

“I want a tutu,” Rose said, following Nat out of the dinner. She made a note to ask Jarvis to transfer a chunk of money from her account to Nat’s later, when they were back. That way she couldn’t tell her no. “When we are back home, we can do lessons in the training room. There’s mirrors and all sorts down there. All I really know is swing.”

Natasha smiled, “I’ll pick you one up when we get back,” she said softly. She had a feeling the older woman would look remarkable in a tutu. But then again, she’d look exceptional in anything.  “Oh sugar, I have my own dance hall. Stark added it early 2013. We had an incident at new years and we both agreed that dancing was a safe way for me to work out stress,” she shrugged. She was still grateful for Tony not telling Clint about her little episode. Not that she hadn’t fell apart in front of Clint a few weeks later. “Swing isn’t bad. Very old fashioned, but quite fun,” she smiled.

“Old fashioned isn’t bad,” Rose reminded her. “I mean, cell phones are great. I love Wikipedia. But old fashioned has its place around sometimes.”  Sometimes she looked around herself and felt so out of place. It helped, here and there, to go visit Peggy. To talk about how things used to be. How they could have been. What life might have been like. 

“Even better, we can try all sorts of fun things, if it’s a private dance hall.”

“I know. I just like reminding you that you’re ancient,” Nat teased. She frowned slightly, “you’re using Wikipedia as your source of information? I thought we taught you better than that!” she laughed, “and I know you love your phone. You post on Instagram almost daily.” She raised an eyebrow as Rose said they could try a lot of things, curious to what she meant. “Do I even wanna know?” she asked quietly as she pulled out her phone, dialing Rick‘s number. 

“Mason! I need a ride. We’re stuck in Lille and need to get to krakow within the next eight hours. You think you can make that happen? I’ll pay you double…. Awesome. Rick you’re a lifesaver. No, I don’t need backup. This isn’t the eastern front Mason, I can handle this one…. You call Clint and I’ll kick your ass….. Good, don’t test me. I’ll see you in a few hours. Fly safe Dick,” she smirked, hanging up. “So, we’ve got two hours to kill. What do you want to do?”

Rose’s face flushed at the question about what could happen in the studio. “I have…uh…so, you see, there’s a thing called twerking and I can’t…” she hung her head in her hands. “I cannot figure out how to do it but I want to.” When she finally peeled her hands away from her face, she tilted it back to look up at the sky refusing to look at her friend. They had TWO hours to kill now and she wanted to crawl out of her own skin.

Natasha’s cheeks flamed at the thought and she stared at the older woman. She’d been frozen for 70 years and now she wanted to learn to twerk?! What was her life?! She bit her lip, “y’know, I am not the person to ask,” she whispered. “Best I know, you squat, pop out your ass and then shake your ass?” she shrugged. She really didn’t know, ballet was her forte. Twerking was way off base for her.

“I’m sorry,” Rose said, shaking her head, the red braid swinging as she did it. “It’s stupid and it doesn’t matter but. I figured. Maybe, it would make things feel a bit more like I’m supposed to be here. Like I’m supposed to be now.” She threw herself into social media because it helped her feel a little less lost in time, but nearly every day, there as something that reminded her she should have been going through her twenties about sixty years before.

Natasha squeezed her hand gently, “it’s not stupid. You lost decades of your life and you wanna feel like you belong and you’re not some relic like Steve. Believe me, I get it. Only difference is, I lived my years. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t have to get with the times. Let’s just say finding out it was now socially acceptable to take a girl on a date was a good change,” she smiled. “And hey, you introduced me to milkshakes and fries! You’re showin’ me modern stuff too.”

“I just…want to feel a bit normal,” Rose said, slipping her fingers between Nat’s as they walked down the street. “And you should be allowed to take anyone you want on a date and anyone who tells you that you can’t is stupid and I’ll punch them.”  She swung their hands as they walked, contemplating the entire fries and milkshake thing. Rose had always loved milkshakes, and only recently considered having fries, and had very recently considered mixing the two.

Natasha nodded, “doesn’t help that Steve pulls the older brother routine,” she chuckled quietly. She bit her lip, “you’re right. I should be able to take anyone I want on a date,” she whispered. But she knew the girl was in love with James. How could she live the embarrassment down of asking out Captain America’s sister and being turned down?! She gently lifted Rose’s hand, kissing the back of it gently, “y’know, I’m glad it’s you here and not Steve. You’re a lot less stressful to deal with. Plus you’re a damn sight cuter too,” she winked. Everything about Rose made her feel butterflies. Her gorgeous smile, her eyes that she could just get lost in for hours… that beautiful hair that she could run her fingers through forever and style however she wanted. ’Just kiss her! The worst she can say is no!’ ‘For once I actually agree with the asshole.’ Once again the angel and devil in her shoulders proving to be a problem. Maybe she should just throw caution to the wind.

“Steve is probably a lot more helpful though,” Rose admitted with a shrug. “He wanted this, he  wanted to be a super hero and to save people and I just… I wanted to be a nurse but mostly I didn’t want to be left behind,” she admitted. It was really the first time she had expressed that as part of her reasoning for what she had done. Why she had gone in the first place, why she had insisted on going on the mission that wound up with her getting shot. 

“Hey Nat,” she said, reaching up with her free hand to rub the back of her neck. “So. The thing about the fries and the milkshakes…” she took a deep breath as she tried to figure out what she wanted to say. How was she supposed to explain all of that? And why right now? Maybe it could wait. 

“I’m glad you decided to give them a shot.”

Chapter Text

Nat frowned slightly, more than a little confused at Rose's statement, “Milaya, I’ll always try things if you ask me to,” she whispered. She gently squeezed the older woman’s hand, kissing it gently. ’Just kiss her!’ ‘Do it!’ But she was in love with James! She couldn’t. Then the little voice piped up in the back of her head that she thought she’d lost forever ’k chertu eto (fuck it)’ and she cupped Rose’s cheeks, pressing a gentle kiss to her lips before quickly pulling away embarrassed. She really shouldn’t have done that. 

When Nat kissed her, Rose didn’t realize what was happening before she had already done it, having reached up to put her hands on Nat’s collarbone and pressing, not as gently as she meant to. Not to get her off of her, but more to get her down the small alleyway just to their left. She leaned in to press her lips back to Nat’s before pulling back herself, a look of shock on her own face. “Uhm, uhm. Uh, hi yes, what’s going on?” She said, barely above a whisper, before looking over her shoulder.

Natasha stumbled down the small alleyway, looking up at Rose with flushed cheeks. When the older woman then kissed her back, she melted. Was this seriously happening?! Was she sober? Had she been drugged right now?!  She looked up at Rose, biting her lip slightly, she looked very pretty in the moonlight. “You kissed me back,” she murmured. Her eyes flicked over Rose’s shoulder, “there’s no one there. Believe me, we’d hear them if there were.”

“Of course I did, I thought you were trying to make a cover,” Rose said, reaching up to tug on the end of her braid as she chewed on her bottom lip. “Is that not what you were doing?” Her own cheeks flamed red, as if they were trying to math her hair.  “But uh, if not, it’s okay, we can one hundred percent totally act like that didn’t happen, if that’s what you wanna do. I’m not saying it’s what I wanna do, but you have the option, ya know?” And there was the rambling. And the old Brooklyn accent was breaking through. She was well and truly fucked.

Natasha frowned slightly. “You think I’d only kiss you if I wanted to make cover?” she asked quietly. Was that how everyone saw her? As just a flirt for the missions? She looked up at Rose as she rambled, gently pushing her against the wall of the alley and pulling her down to kiss her softly. “Will you just shut up?” she breathed, “you’re makin’ it really difficult to not want to kiss you.”

Rose was about to point out that it was what made the most sense before Nat was kissing her again. “Sorry,” she apologized, before pressing her mouth back to her friends, before pulling back again. “Sorry.” A nd then she gave up trying to apologize or make any sense with what she was trying to say. Fries. And milkshakes. Maybe she could get both.

Natasha nipped at her bottom lip as she apologized again. Rose was adorable but she had nothing to be sorry about. For someone eight years older than her, she was extremely cute.  Then her brain decided she’d had enough fun. What if Rose was just kissing her to appease her? What did this mean for James? She knew the older woman was still in love with him. And she wouldn’t get between the two of them, even if she still harboured feelings for the man. Was she just a distraction from everything until Rose got to James again? Did this mean anything? Was she even breathing? Why wasn’t she breathing? Why couldn’t she breathe?!

“Was it….was it not just for cover?” Rose asked, finally, not really sure she wanted the answer. She wasn’t super sure she could handle the answer being that it was, especially after the roller coaster of emotion she had just been hurtled through.  “Because… uhm. I hope it wasn’t. I have a lot going on right now with everything but that doesn’t mean that I don’t…I definitely do… I am very bad at this.”

Natasha looked at Rose, shaking her head slightly, “Alie, I don’t just kiss girls in the street,” she whispered. Hell, she’s not kissed anyone since…. “I wanted to kiss you.” She bit back a smile at how bashful Rose was, looking up at her adoringly. “You’re really cute when you’re all bashful,” she teased, “it’s honestly adorable.” She took a step back, leaning against the other wall, “I know that if we get James back, you and he will…. And I’m fine with that. Nothing has to come of this,” she shrugged. It was just a kiss. It was just a kiss. But why did the thought of Rose just walking away to be with James crush her heart? She wasn’t meant for this! Feelings and emotions were something she struggled to control. She could control a mission, she could handle a fight. But feelings? She couldn’t quantify feelings. Couldn’t hide them if she needed to. Feelings could get her killed.

Rose put her hands in her face and peeked out from behind her fingers. “I have never been good at this and someone always ends up half dead after I kiss someone so I apologize now for that. But even if Bucky comes back it doesn’t mean…I don’t really know.. he might now want… “ She groaned and dropped her head backwards against the bricks behind her. “When did things get so complicated?”

Natasha rolled her eyes, “milaya, I’ve been shot, stabbed, kicked out of windows, thrown through a wall… you name it, I’ve probably done it. You kissin’ me isn’t gonna kill me, I promise.”  She frowned slightly, “doesn’t mean what? Are you trying to say what I think you’re saying?” she asked quietly. Was she suggesting they share her? Would James want just Rose? She’d not thought about what James coming back would mean for her. She missed him, that was a certainty. “Things have always been complicated. You’re a super soldier, I’m an enhanced assassin, James is a trained super soldier assassin. Life has been complicated for decades.”

“Life was a lot easier when all I had to worry about was someone punching my brother and then Nazis,” Rose grumbled for a second and then let out a long breath through her nose. “We can figure something out when we all go home.” Home. Home sounded good.  “But we have to go get the super soldier assassin before we do any of that,” she said, looking at Nat’s face when she said it.

Natasha smiled slightly, “back then, the world was all black and white. You didn’t have shadow organisations toppling governments… okay, you did cause the Red Room has been a thing since 1871 but that’s beside the point,” she shrugged. She bit her lip, “when we get home, there’s gonna be a lot of shit to deal with. Stark for one,” she grimaced. She didn’t know if Tony knew about Howard, but if he did, it might not be so easy to just take James home. 

“We do,” she agreed, “Rick shouldn’t be too long and then we can get in the air,” she grinned. As she said that, she heard the faint sound of a helicopter in the distance. “Speak of the devil and he shall appear,” she laughed, shielding her eyes from the spotlight on the helicopter as the man came into land. 

He turned the engine off with a smile, “evening Tasha.” She grimaced as she looked the helicopter, “did you take a time machine back to 1962? This thing is straight out of the Cold War! Will it even get me to Poland?” she asked seriously. Rick smirked, “alright Miss Rushman, it’s not my fault you gave me no time! Or a budget for that matter,” he shrugged, “it’ll get you there. Then I’ll have something for you in Warsaw to get you home. So you’ll have to make your way to Warsaw when you’re done. But I’m sure a lady of your calibre can manage such a simple task,” he teased. When his eyes finally landed on Rose, his eyes widened, “oh, you’re Cap’s sister, right? Tasha, does the Captain know you’re out gallivanting with his sister in France this late at night? She is cute though. Very much your type. Reminds me a little of…” “Don’t. Just please just shut up,” she whispered, looking at him pleadingly. He threw her the keys, “she’s fuelled up, you’ll just have to take her there. No autopilot I’m afraid.” The redhead scoffed, “what do you expect?! It’s from the sixties!”

Rose slipped into the helicopter, grinning at the man who brought it to them. “Stevie knows I’m here,” she said with a wink before buckling into one of the seats. “This thing is ancient, though.”  She looked at the controls, tilting her head as she scanned them. “Ya know, Howard once offered to teach me to fly one of these things and I’m starting to think I should have taken him up on it.”  At least Poland wasn’t terribly far from here. She had originally planned to sleep on the flight there but now she wasn’t sure she would be able to if she tried.

Natasha grimaced as she looked over the controls, “Rick, you’re sure this will make it there?” “Would you rather drive?” She sighed, “I’m taking it. But if it falls outta the sky, I’ll hunt you down,” she warned teasingly. She stared at Rose, “I’ve seen you drive. You in a helicopter sounds terrifying!” she grimaced. Natasha flashed Rick a small smile, “you need a lift back to the airport? My hire car is like five minutes from here at the diner. It’s paid for. You’d be doing me a favour in taking it back,” she shrugged as she leant out the door of the chopper. Rick nodded, “I’ll take it back. But you owe me.” “I’ll wire you the money when we land. Thanks Rick.”

She buckled herself in, looking over the controls. It had been so long since she’d flown something this old. She blew dust off the panel, starting the blades, the engine quickly spinning up and she slowly got them in the air. “Poland here we come,” she grinned. It wouldn’t take them long in this thing. Sure it was old, but it was a nippy little thing.

“Hey, less traffic in the sky, who knows, I could be way better up here,” Rose said, with a shrug. Maybe another time, though.” She rested her head against the back of the seat, trying to close her eyes.  The ascent was bumpy though, and once they were up, she was far too fidgety actually relax, turning her head to look at the other woman. 

Natasha rolled her eyes, “sure. But in a car you can’t fall from the sky,” she grimaced, “and I’ve been in enough crashes to know that crashing an aircraft hurts more.” She remembered James pulling her out of one in the late seventies. His metal arm ripping the door off the helicopter and scooping her up. 

Rose sent Nat a wicked grin. “If you’re going to crash us, please aim for the nearest chunk of ice. That seems to work. But maybe do your best to not crash it, I like how things are going this time.” Then another thought occured to her

“So uhh… since when?” She asked, biting the bottom corner of her lip.

Nat glanced over at Rose, trying her best to focus on the controls, “how long have I liked you?” she asked quietly. “Since the party Stark threw in June last year.” It had been over six months since Alicia… Tony had decided it was a good idea to try and lift her spirits and threw a party. He was really the only one she’d confided in after everything. His sleep schedule was almost as bad as hers so she’d just sit in his lab watching him tinker as they talked about anything and everything. Including her guilt about falling for Rose. She thought it was too soon but Tony had been right. He said she would know when she was ready to make that leap. That was about nine months ago now. Clearly some part of her thought she was ready. 

At the confession, Rose felt her face fall back into what she hoped was a neutral expression, but in reality, it probably looked more pleased than she had any right to. 

Getting closer to Krakow Nat checked her fuel, grimacing. “I would make sure you’re fastened in sweetheart. We’re gonna make a very controlled landing,” she said before the engine spluttered and they dropped a little before it was barely spinning at all and she had to fight to keep it stable, landing and sliding in a field with a grin. “And that is what I like to call controlled,” she chuckled. “We’re about a mile out, should be an easy walk,” she shrugged, grabbing a torch from one of the overhead compartments.

“Hmm?” She asked, her voice sleepy. They bumped as they hit the ground and she threw her arms above her head, her fingers bracing on the metal above her. “I don’t want to hear about my driving ever again, Natasha.”

Natasha rolled her eyes as they landed, “listen, where can I stop for fuel at this time of night? Huh?” she shrugged, “you’re lucky I didn’t roll us… and we’re gonna keep talking about your driving cause it’s terrifying.” 

She got out, stretching out with a groan, “just be warned, this base is worse than France,” she said softly. “This one was actually manned the last I checked. And that was six years ago. Only it was a rogue science lab, not Hydra. So who knows,” she shrugged, pulling a knife out of her boot.

Once Rose was out of the copter, she patted her pockets.  “Anything useful? A knife? A gun? One of Tony’s suits?” She wouldn’t shoot Bucky, but she’d probably be down to shoot another Hydra agent. If she saw Brock Rumlow again, she’d happily bury some bullets in him.

“I’ve got a knife if you want it,” Nat shrugged, pulling out her spare knife and twirling it in her hand.  As they got closer she could see a motorcycle tipped over near the front entrance and grimaced. “We’re not alone. Keep behind me,” she whispered, nudging the door open gently. She pushed another door open to see the soldier had practically destroyed a bathroom with some guy’s face. There was water spraying out of the broken faucet and a loose pipe hanging out of the sink. Once she’d ripped it off completely, she swung it to get used to the weight. She could hear the sound of metal on bone and winced. This was gonna get nasty. Stalking down the corridor, she peaked her head into the main cell, seeing the soldier beating a man with the metal arm before throwing him in the chair. “James, I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” she warned, holding that pipe behind her back as she got closer. She didn’t wanna hit the guy but she would do if she had to.

Rose followed Nat through the hallways, her fingers wrapped around the handle of the knife as they walked.  As soon as they found him, beating a man senseless, half of her wanted to run to him and tell him everything would be okay and another part of her wanted to let him finish. Didn’t he deserve to, after everything? 

“Hi Buck,” she said, waving carefully from around the corner.

Natasha watched his eyes flick to Rose and she shook her head, “we’re not here to hurt you. But you gotta back off the guy. We can’t help you if you make this worse for yourself,” she whispered. 

The soldier growled quietly, hitting the guy hard enough for his fist to leave a dent in his skull, his victim dying almost immediately. “You didn’t have to do that,” she whispered and the soldier scoffed, “on zasluzhil smert' (he deserved to die).” 

She kept the pipe hidden, “James, I know you’re in there. I don’t wanna hurt you,” she whispered. “I even brought someone you might recognise… you spent time together the other day.”

Rose leaned down to place the knife that she was holding on the floor, not taking her eyes off of Bucky as she did so. "Hey Jim," she said quietly, standing back up, her palms up and facing him.  Part of her heart broke at the sight in front of her, wanting nothing more than to just be able to reach into her pocket and pull out a candy for him and for that to some how make things all better, like it used to when they were kids.

The soldier eyed the new girl carefully; he knew Natalia. He’d spent enough time with her to recognise her face. But the new girl? She made him nervous. He took a step back as she put the knife down and Natasha rolled her eyes, “we’re not here to fight you Soldat. We’re here to help you.”

She kept the bat gripped at her back as the soldier stared down Rose. He dropped his hands and she knew what was to come. He’s done it to her a million times. The old ’I’m friendly and just want a hug’ routine. Asshole got her one too many times with that one.

Rose flicked her eyes from Bucky over to Nat, before taking a small step towards him, her hands still up. "Please please don't make me have to give you stitches again. We've done that a lot already, remember?"  She chewed on her bottom lip, remembering having stitched him up after Steve brought him back in Italy. "You didn't enjoy it then and I don't think you'd like it now, I am a bit out of practice." She took another slow step towards him.

Natasha rolled her eyes as Rose walked towards him, his right arm going under her shoulder as he picked her up over his shoulder and dropped her behind him. 

The soldier looked up for a split second to see a pipe flying at him, hitting him in the forehead before Natasha swung again, watching him pass out with a thud. “You really thought walking towards a shower soldier who doesn’t trust or know you, was a good idea?” she asked seriously, “and here I was thinking I’d trained you better than this.”

"I am also a super solider," Rose groaned from the floor, sitting up. "And I fight with Steve all the time but now I'm wondering if he lets me win." She managed to get back on her feet and looked at the ground. "He cracked the floor with me. Asshole."  She rubbed her neck and looked over at Nat. "And in my defense, he does know me, even if he doesn't know he does."

Natasha chuckled quietly, “Steve takes it easy on everyone. Even me. Even when I goad him into pushing me. He’s too nice it’s irritating.” She looked at where Rose had landed, “well to be fair, he’s enhanced and you’re more muscular than you used to be,” she shrugged. 

“James knows you. They put James back in his box so he would do their bidding,” she said softly. As Bucky slowly came to, she put her foot on his chest, “you gonna flip out again?” “Man have I missed having you pinning me down,” he drawled with a smirk, his Brooklyn accent falling from his lips. He’d not even noticed Rose but when he did, he froze. “You’re real? Shit, I thought they’d just pumped me full of psychs again and sent me off the deep end,” he shuddered.

As soon as he started talking, Rose grinned. That was the man she knew. Sinking back down to her knees beside him, she tilted her head as she looked at him. "I always knew you dreamed about me." Rose looked up at Nat from where she was kneeling and smirked. "This is getting more and more interesting by the day." 

She let her fingers ghost over his cheek, the softness returning to her face. "It's good to have you back."

Chapter Text

Bucky rolled his eyes at Rose's comment about dreaming of her. “Hard not too. You’re like an angel,” he breathed. He looked at Natasha as she coughed, “I’m still here. Please don’t eye-fuck while I’m stood here.” Bucky looked at Rose with a slight smirk, “y’know, little Natalia has a thing for you? Could tell in DC after she was getting arrested. I shot her and she still threatened multiple men with their lives!”

Natasha blushed heavily, “James, shut up.” He didn’t. “You should’ve seen how she was begging for them to take her instead. It was so cute. My little Natalia actually has a heart of gold. You act like a hardass but you’re just soft,” he grinned. “What were you two doing before I ruined your day? Cause you both came in a sports car, I know that’s not S.H.I.E.L.D. issue.”

Rose stood back up and grinned. "Today has been wonderful for my ego." She reached down to offer a hand to Bucky before slipping her other hand into Nat's, lacing their fingers together. "And you're just salty because you're feeling left out," she said, leaning over to kiss her cheek. 

Natasha rolled her eyes, “you’re lucky you’re cute. If you were Clint I’d be making sure you didn’t get a big head,” she teased. Bucky let her help him up, smirking as she kissed Natalia’s cheek, “oh she’s so jealous! Look at her, she’s gone so red!” he grinned. 

"We were trying to have a spa day, with massages, which I really need, now, before you decided to shoot at us," Rose told him, reaching down to thread her fingers through his as well.

“You’re the one that approached the soldier unwarranted sweetheart, it’s not his fault he felt threatened. Especially since you’re with this one,” Bucky shrugged, nodding at Nat. Nat squeezed her hand gently, “I’ll give you a massage when we get back. Since I didn’t warn you about him flipping you… like he’s done to me like fifty times.” “It’s not my fault you’re both so gullible to a pretty face,” he whispered before pausing, “this is real right. Like you’re both here and this isn’t some sick joke?” he asked quietly. Natasha rolled her eyes, “if this was Hydra, would they be able to do this..?” she whispered, grabbing him by the back of the neck and kissing him passionately, pulling away after a minute to catch her breath. “That feel real?”

If anyone had asked Rose a few days ago how she would have felt about watching her best friend kiss the man she had been in love with since she was sixteen, she probably would have said they were insane. Mostly because that would have meant Nat was kissing a corpse. But all that aside, now she was only curious, her head tilted slightly.  “I thought there was no eye fucking with others in the room,” she finally said, but her tone lacking any indication that she was upset.

Natasha stepped back slightly, biting her lip as Rose spoke, “you’ve seen that face! Are you jealous that he gets a kiss and you don’t? Or that I’ve just kissed him in front of you?” she asked softly. Bucky stepped back from both of them, “don’t fight over me, please. This is like a dream come true for every man on the planet.”

Rose chewed on her lip for a second while she thought about the question. "Neither," she finally settled on. It felt true. She wasn't really upset about either of it. "And no one is fighting over anyone, as long as no one is throwing anyone over a shoulder anymore," she said, rolling her own shoulder again. 

They had a lot to figure out, but maybe this wasn't the place. "How about...we all go find somewhere warm and dry? And maybe with a good bathtub. Someone, I won't name names, but it rhymes with Schmosalie, could really go for a warm bubble bath right about now."

Bucky looked at Nat with a slight grin, “you thinking what I’m thinking?” “Cabin up near the lake? I doubt that bath would fit two of us… hell, it barely fits you!” She glanced at Rose, “you wanna spend some of Tony’s money and book a hotel?” Bucky paused, “how would we get there?” “Walk, my helicopter is in ruins a mile away.” From her reply Bucky immediately knew what she’d done wrong. “Did you let it run out? Again!?”

"I love spending Tony's money," Rose said with a grin. She pulled out her phone and started looking for their best options. "This one looks expensive. Oh but this one looks more expensive." She grinned as she booked a suite. Two bedrooms, a living room and a large bathroom. Plenty of room. She could see it now, drinking champagne and soaking in a warm, fluffy bath, a comfy robe waiting for her when she was done. 

She chewed on her lip while she scrolled through the email confirming the booking. "I can be me for this, and Nat can probably be Nat. But you, Sarge, are gonna have to not be you."

Bucky bit his lip as she called him sarge, “I’ll be whatever you want me to be, sugar,” he whispered. Natasha rolled her eyes, “bring back the soldier. He was a romantic without being cheesy,” she shrugged. Bucky kissed her cheek gently, “she likes to be flirted with Natalia, I thought you’d understand that.. you know, since your whole thing since you met me was to flirt with me and distract me at every opportunity!” he shrugged.

"He also tried to dislocate my shoulder," Rose grumbled. "Time and place, Barnes, time and place." Then the rest of his statements kicked in and she took two steps back from both of them, one hand on her hip, the other raised in the air with one finger pointing up. 

"You're not wrong about the flirting thing, please feel free to continue. But if we're counting, thats one kiss for each of you...no wait, that's two for Nat, one for James and zero for Rosalie."

“Wouldn’t be the first time he’d dislocated a body part of someone he cared about,” Nat snorted. “You fell! It’s not my fault you fell off the bed!” he laughed.

Rose didn't get to say anything else before her phone buzzed in her hand, a text from Tony coming through. 

there wasn't a more expensive room available?

if there had been, I would have taken it

 you are my favorite rogers sibling

"Let's go, our hotel room should be ready. And if we're hiking the..." she pulled up the map to the hotel on her phone and groaned, "...six miles to the hotel, I'm really going to want that bath."

Bucky and Nat looked at each other with a slight smirk, “I mean, one of us will carry you if we have to. Wouldn’t want our sweet angel getting poorly feet,” she whispered. Bucky nodded, “you can braid my hair while I have you on my back.” “You can pull mine!” Natasha jumped in before covering her mouth as he cheeks turned deep pink.

Rose's cheeks immediately flushed too, her lip going back between her teeth. "You know, it's a wonder the soviet union lasted as long as it did with the two of you. I have no idea how you ever accomplished any mission ever."  She bent down to pick up the knife she had placed on the floor when they first got there, slipping it into a strap at the hip of her leggings before straightening back up. "But c'mon then. A glorious hotel awaits. I'm going to spend so much money on room service."

Natasha looked away with a small smile, “listen, we didn’t exactly get to spend all our time together. So when we did get a mission together, it was over as quickly as possible and then we fuck till exfil got us. It was fun times.” “Till they used us against each other.” She snorted quietly, “oh you’re gonna be Tony’s favourite. He loves when we waste his money. It’s honestly so fun. You have no idea how many times me and Pepper have gone on shopping trips.” Bucky gently picked up the younger Rogers sibling, putting her on his shoulders.

Rose squeaked when Bucky picked her up, her fingers clenching on his shoulders once she was up there. "It's been forever since you did this," she said, grinning. "I think the last time was at a fair." She had tagged along, even when Steve had told her to stay home. "I'm already Tony's favorite," she said, sticking her tongue out at Nat from where she sat higher up. "Not that the competition is particularly high, you're the only one a real threat to my spot." 

Natasha rolled her eyes, “cause you’re cute and didn’t threaten to cut his dick off,” she shrugged. To be fair, it was warranted. The guy had asked for a threesome with her and Pepper. 

The journey didn't take as long as Rose had thought it might, and before she knew it, she was tapping his shoulder to get put back on her own feet. "Okay. So. I guess I can go in and get the room keys and we will just figure out how to get you in and not arrested?"

Bucky gently put her down, kissing her cheek gently, “well Nat is fine. I can just climb a drainpipe if I have to. It’s not the first time I’ve done that. Won’t be the last.” “You sneak in to see your many girlfriends?” Natasha teased. Bucky rolled his eyes, “first time was to see you, asshole. Or do you not remember me scaling a building in St Petersburg to try and scare you?”

Once her feet were back on the ground, Rose grinned when he kissed her cheek. "Okay, we'll find a room and flash the lights a few times so you know where to go."  She had taken a few steps towards the hotel before she remembered something and turned around, pulling a chain from around her neck and shaking her hair loose from it as it dangled from her fingers. "I've had these for about 75 years," she said, handing the dog tags to him. "But they're technically yours."

Bucky shook his head, “keep ‘em. Clearly they kept you safe,” he whispered, pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead. “I just wish I’d had yours.” Natasha bit her lip, an idea coming to her. “I got a set for joining S.H.I.E.L.D. and I’m sure Alie has a military set. Why don’t we have each others?” she asked with a nervous smile.

Rose slipped the chain back over her head and nodded, pressing up on her toes to kiss him on the mouth. "You. You always kept me safe." It was only the realization that Nat was still there, a few feet away that pulled her away from him. "But uhh. Yeah, that's a good idea. Mine are....with the dress."  Hidden in the back of her closet, tucked away where she had relegated it to "someone big is cashing in a favor and I really can't say no" territory.

"C'mon," she said, stepping away from Bucky and reaching out to take Nat's hand. "Time to figure out if Stark has a credit limit."

 When they got to the room, Nat gently pushed Rose back against the closed door, kissing her softly, “I really needed to do that before he steals all your attention away from me,” she whispered.

Rose felt the solid door behind her and then Nat was on her and she was about to melt. "Okay," she said, breathing again. "I'm going to get absolutely nothing done ever again between the two of you," she said with a grin tugging on her lips. "I'm going to run a bath, because I deserve it. You're in charge of literally everything else. I would like a bottle of champagne and like a billion pierogis." 

Natasha nipped at her lip gently, “you have nothing to do. You can just relax and we can take care of you,” she whispered, “you just wanna be a nurse? We will make that happen… you wanna try horse racing? I’ll buy you a pony,” she shrugged. She grabbed the older woman’s hand as she stepped away, pulling her in for one last kiss, “one bottle of champagne and a billion pierogis coming up,” she whispered. 

Rose went about exploring the suite and found exactly what she was looking for. A giant bathtub, complete with jets and a slew of different goos, salts and products to make a perfect bath. "Oh yes. Yes, yes yes." She leaned over to turn the knob, letting the water heat up.

Nat helped Bucky get in the window before calling down to room service for Rose’s order, as well as a bottle of vodka for her and James, a bottle of bourbon and a bottle of white wine. If she was gonna spend Tony’s money, she was gonna do it well. Bucky could hear the bath running from the living room, quickly making his way to the bathroom as Rose leant over the tub, gently lifting her hair and kissing the crook of her neck. “So beautiful. Missed you so much,” he breathed.

Goosebumps rippled down her spine when she felt him behind her. She had heard him approaching and carried on dumping the bubble bath mix into the water. She straightened up, her back pressed against him and sighed, closing her eyes.

"You saw me yesterday, but I think you don't remember that very well," she said, dropping her head backwards to thunk against his chest as she opened her eyes to look up at him.

Bucky nodded, “I remember some bits. Waking up next to your cell. Us being put together. Them dragging you out,” he sighed. He gently ran his fingers through her hair, “you always had such soft hair. Won the genetic lottery,” he whispered. 

"I...am going to take a very warm bubble bath. You should join me. And not just because you reek."

He nodded slightly, pulling his shirt over his head with a wince. He’d still got bruises from the whole Triskellion mess. “I think I will,” he whispered. He looked over as he heard Nat knock on the door frame with a bucket of ice and a bottle of champagne. “Pierogis will be another hour. Apparently the kitchen isn’t open at this time of night. But for a price, they decided to open.” Bucky flashed her a grin, “you gonna join us?” She nodded, shrugging off her leather jacket before stopping herself from lifting up her shirt, feeling a little self conscious. “Natalia, I know you might not think you’re beautiful because of your scars. But you are. One bullet wound isn’t gonna change that.” She bit her lip. She wasn’t ashamed of the bullet scar, even if it did symbolise one of her very few mission failures. “It’s not from a mission,” she whispered. Bucky frowned as he connected the dots, gently taking her hand and squeezing it, “we won’t judge you. You’ve seen me at my lowest,” he whispered softly.

“Look, we all have bumps and bruises,” Rose agreed, reaching to pull her shirt over her head. As soon as it landed in a pile at her feet, she pointed at the scar on her abdomen, where she had been shot all those years ago. And then she looped her thumb into the waist band of her leggings and rolled them down her legs, before turning, and pointing at another scar on her hip. “And this, is from I tried to follow Clint into the vents one day.” She twisted again and pointed at a small spot under her left arm. “And this is from one of those alien things in New York when Thor’s brother was being a pain.” She turned back to face the two assassins and shrugged, standing there in her underwear, glad it at least matched, the light blue set. “I don’t think you guys think I am any less attractive because of them and I don’t think anything about yours.”

Natasha bit her lip, they were self inflicted! She knew they’d judge her for that. Why wouldn’t they? She shimmied off her trousers, kicking them to the side. When she pulled her shirt over her head and unclipped her bra she could feel Bucky’s eyes on her.  She shook her head, “we’d never thing you weren’t attractive,” she whispered, “I could never think that.” Bucky’s hands cupped her breasts gently, his lips softly making their way down her neck, “we both think you’re beautiful. We would never judge you,” he whispered as he kissed his way down her body, looking up at her from his knees as he got to the scars on her thighs, kissing them softly, “you survived. That’s what these mean. They don’t make you weak or pathetic. They mean you survived,” he whispered seriously.

Rose nodded, not totally sure what was going on, but knowing she trusted both of them. She twisted her arms behind herself and unclasped the back of her bra, letting the lacy thing fall into the pile with the rest of her clothes. The underwear was quickly dropped on top, and she tuned to step into the warm water. 

Natasha bit her lip as Rose took off her bra and Bucky scoffed, “keep your tongue in your mouth Natalia, we’re just having a bath,” he teased, knowing full well a bath with Natalia and him usually ended up in water spilling out of the tub. 

She wanted to give them a chance to have a moment. They needed each other as much as she needed both of them. Before settling in amongst the bubbles, she reached over for the bottle of champagne and twisted the cork out, taking a long sip. The glasses room service had sent seemed so pointless. 

With the bottle in one hand, Rose lowered herself into the steaming water and groaned as soon as it hit her muscles.

Bucky smiled as Rose sank into the water, grabbing the bottle of vodka Natalia had ordered, taking a long gulp, “way better than the shit in the states,” he sighed happily. Natasha chuckled, “of course. It’s like buying a croissant in Brooklyn. They taste better when they’re from France. She watched Bucky climb in behind Rose after he stripped off, debating sliding in front of the older woman or squeezing behind. “You want me at the front or the middle?” she asked quietly.

Rose grinned when Bucky got into the bath with her, before sliding over to sit between his legs, the bottle of champagne in her hand, leaning back against his chest and settling in. "Brooklyn only makes good things," she said, closing her eyes and dropping her head against Bucky's shoulder. 

"Just get in the water, Natasha," she said moving her legs slightly and putting her hand on Bucky's thigh to push it so that Nat would have room.

Bucky kissed her shoulder gently, “she is right though, Brooklyn make incredible things,” he whispered, “especially the dames.”

Natasha climbed in across from them, squeezing Bucky’s shoulder as she got in. She gently lifted Rose’s arm before pressing a slew of open mouthed kissed up the length of it. “Forget the dress. You look even better naked,” she breathed, “like an angel.” 

Natasha leant back into her with a relaxed smile, “we really should have done this a long time ago,” she sighed. Bucky looked at the both, “didn’t you say you were going for a spa day? How about we give you a massage, sugar?” Natasha bit her lip, she liked the sound of having her hands on a naked Rose.

Rose shivered and slid over, making room for Nat before taking another drink from her bottle of champagne. She set the bottle on the side of the tub, water sloshing as she moved. As soon as the glass clinked against the tile floor, she adjusted herself so that she was sitting in Bucky's lap, facing him, her fingers on his chest. 

She looked at him from under her lashes. "How much of the other day do you actually remember?"

Bucky bit his lip, “I remember some stuff. Them shoving us in a room, saying they wanted us to have sex,” he whispered, “I don’t remember much of it but I know it was fun.”

"Yeah, they put us in a room and as much as Hydra sucks, that part wasn't too bad." Her fingers traced the lines of muscle on his stomach. Had those always been there? She didn't think so. "I can try and jog your memory a bit, if you'd like."

He bit his lip, “I remember you telling me I was your first,” he whispered. “Now you’re pretty bold, huh? Had I known you were such a sexpest, I’d have never ignored you for all of 1944,” he chuckled. Natasha rolled her eyes, “of course, the only reason you’d wanna be around her was the sex,” she teased. Bucky scoffed, “says you who proposed our little situationship within a few weeks of us training cause she couldn’t keep it in her pants!” he smirked.

“Look, I wanted you to get there before Rumlow, I didn’t want him to have that hanging over me,” she said, frowning at the memory of him trying to touch her. “And yes, five stars to you and the Sargent,” she said, letting her finger trail lower down his stomach. “I’ve always been bold, James, or do you forget the part where I snuck into your tent? You’ve always just been too dense to see it.”

Bucky nodded slightly, “I’m glad he wasn’t. He didn’t, did he? Am I gonna have to kill him?” he asked seriously. Natasha bit her lip, “it’s always so sexy when you talk murder,” she whispered. Bucky bit his lip as she trailed down his stomach. “I remember. Also remember trying to push things a little but you ran out so Steve didn’t catch us,” he chuckled, “kinda wish he had. It would’ve got him off my back for a month.”

"He tried. But I broke his nose. Twice, I think. Rollins is dead, too, because of that one," she said, pointing over her shoulder. She adjusted how she was sitting in his lap so that her knees were on either side of his hips. 

Rose twisted to look over her shoulder. “Hmmm, well maybe someone has to be a bit hands off for a while, then, give us some time to catch up.” There was a mischievous sparkle in her eyes as she said it.

Natasha blushed heavily, “hey! Wait! You can’t be serious?! You’re gonna touch him and I just have to watch? You’re evil malen'kaya lisa (little fox). Had I known you were such a sadist, I woulda brought cuffs. At least if I’m being forced to watch, restrain me,” she shrugged. Bucky snorted quietly, “she does like being restrained. And seriously, little fox? She’s got red hair sure, but she’s taller and older.” 

"Yes, Natasha. I'm going to touch, amongst other things. And yes, you have to just sit there and watch, at least for a little bit."

Natasha groaned, “this is so not fair! I’m the one that brought you here! If I hadn’t brought your pretty little ass here, you wouldn’t be able to fuck your favourite super soldier, now would you?” she pouted. Bucky let his hands fall to Rose’s hips, looking up at her with a smile, “ignore her. She’s always been petty when she’s denied…. How long has it been Natalia?” “Over a year,” she murmured and he smirked, “see, she’s acting out cause she’s needy.”

"Then you'll be fine to hold out a while longer," Rose teased, leaning down to press another kiss to Bucky's throat again, her tongue running over the cord of muscle that led to his shoulder. "You taste better than the champagne," she said against his skin. She was way past caring that all three of them were filthy. She had needed him for decades and now that she had him in arms reach, she would be hard pressed to let him go. Speaking of hard pressed...

"Jim, let's see how long she can keep her hands to herself."

Natasha whined quietly, “I let you drive my car! My pride and joy!” “You also let her get slammed by the winter soldier,” Buckg added with a grin. His smile fading slightly as she ran her tongue on his neck, a sigh slipping from his lips. “Sweetheart, I don’t exactly smell great,” he whispered. Natasha rolled her eyes, “you smell like burning and gunpowder. That’s just you. Or the soldier.”

She frowned as Bucky smirked, “I give it ten minutes,” he whispered. “What do I get if I make it longer?” she asked, knowing full well she would wait till her time was done to get her reward. “I’ll let you kiss me. Or I will let our sweet girl have her way with you while you beg for her to let you come,” he smirked.

Rose grinned and shifted again, feeling exactly how he felt about that plan. "I think one of those sound a lot better than the other, Nat," she said in a singsong voice. "And to be fair, I didn't really mind the getting slammed part, I'm not terribly breakable, so don't feel like you have to be all that gentle."  She bit at her bottom lip and looked over her shoulder. "That rule...applies to everyone."

Bucky rolled his eyes, “believe me, I know you’re not breakable. You wouldn’t be able to walk if you were a regular person I threw,” he chuckled. “And I’ll keep that in mind angel. Though I won’t rush to be rough with you. Gotta work our way up to that."

Natasha bit her tongue with a groan, “you’re really not making this easy, huh?” she sighed. “How am I supposed to watch my best female friend, and my hot ex boyfriend fuck and not get handsy? This is so unfair!”

"Give me another reason to not be able to walk, Jim," she said, nipping at his throat again and shifting her hips against him. The bit Natasha said about not being fair had her laughing against his skin. "Ex boyfriend? Best friend? Is that what's happening?" Obviously, her friend had not picked up on the whole thing she was trying to say with the fries and the milkshakes.

Bucky moaned quietly as she shifted her hips, her teeth on his throat only turning him on more. Natasha blushed heavily, “I didn’t wanna put a label on things and offend anyone!” she whispered. “I don’t know what’s happening … well not much on my end cause you won’t let me! But still,” she shrugged. Bucky chuckled quietly, “I think what our sweet angel is trying to say, is that she’s wanting us to be a three. Not a two and a one,” he whispered and Natasha stared at her, “seriously? So this isn’t just you two inviting me in for fun?!”

Rose moved again, slipping her hand between the two of them to wrap her fingers around him, before pressing her mouth to his as she slipped down onto him. It took a minute for her to be able to say anything at all, adjusting to it. "Nat, I am saying that I'm needy and stingy and..." she trailed off for a second, having shifted slightly and lost her train of thought. Once she collected herself again, her hips moving slightly, she tried again. "I'm saying right now, you're only allowed over there, but like...yeah...you're invited. Kinda permanently. If you want."

As she wrapped her fingers around him, he whimpered quietly. He was expecting her to just stroke him a little but when she sank down onto him he let out a low moan, Natasha closing her eyes for a moment so she didn’t shuffle over and kiss him all over while Rose pleasured him. She blushed heavily at Roses statement. She was inviting her into the relationship? “I don’t wanna put any pressure between the two of you,” she whispered and Bucky scoffed, “bullshit, you’re not doing anything. Plus I still love you and I can tell by how Rosie here looks at you, she’s also very much infatuated with you. Though who wouldn’t be? You are pretty hot. Occasionally,” he added, teasing her with a grin. 

Her own lips parted in a small "oh" as her hips started to move, rolling against him as she rose and fell, each movement pulling moans from her lips. She knew she should try to chime back in for the conversation, but she was pretty sure she wouldn't be able to string together a coherent sentence. "The right...fries," she said, putting her hands on Bucky's shoulders to help stabilize herself. "The right fries and the right shake," she finally managed to get out.

Bucky looked up at her with a smile, “you’re real hot when you’re on top,” he whispered. Natasha stared at her, “is that what you were goin’ on about at the diner?!” she whisper yelled. It all made sense now! Her hands clenched at her sides as she watched Rose moving on Bucky, wanting to hold her, guide her while she kissed the older woman. But she wanted to win this battle. She knew she still had a few minutes before her little bet was over. Bucky looked at Nat with a smirk, “look at her, she’s taking me so well. I bet she’d love it if you kissed her,” he teased, knowing that would get her to lose the little challenge he’d set for her.

She didn't have the mental bandwidth to answer Nat about fries and the milkshake since she was too busy losing her mind as she reached down to wrap her hands around the wrist of Bucky's metal arm, dragging his hand up her front before placing his fingers at her neck. She did tune in enough to hear him tease Nat about kissing Rose and that did something to her that squeezed her lower stomach. She whimpered and dropped her head so that her forehead was against Bucky's shoulder.

Bucky looked at Rose seriously as she put the metal hand on her throat, feeling a little nervous about the possibility of hurting her. Nat squeezed his calf gently, “you won’t hurt her. You wouldn’t. And I wouldn’t let you either,” she whispered softly. Natasha decided she’d had enough waiting and gently put her hand over Bucky’s metal hand, gently pulling rose back into her hold as she sucked a hickey onto her neck, “you have such good skin. So beautiful,” she breathed.

"You lose," she said, barely above a whisper, her head moving to the side to give Nat better access, the pressure of their hands around her neck causing her eyes to roll towards the back of her head. She kept one hand on Bucky's shoulder as she rolled her hips again, which only pulled another whimper from her, and then reached behind her to thread the fingers of her other hand into Nat's hair, tugging at it.

Natasha nipped at her neck gently, “I wouldn’t exactly call this losing princess,” she whispered. She looked at Bucky who looked to be loving life and smirked, “look at him angel, let him see how you feel,” she breathed. Bucky squeezed her hips gently, “you’re so fuckin’ hot. We have so much time to make up for,” he whispered, grinning as Rose pulled Natasha’s hair, a quiet yelp slipping from her lips. “She can take harder than that princess. She loves having her hair pulled.”

With Bucky in front of her and Nat behind her, it didn't take long for Rose to find bliss, a series of curses falling off her lips as her nails dug into Bucky's shoulder with one hand and the other tightening in Nat's hair as her body tensed up as pleasure rolled over her before she essentially turned into jelly between the two of them.

Natasha smiled up at her as she swore while she climaxed, “such a naughty girl. Ms America swearing like a sailor.. oh whatever would the press think?” she teased, whimpering as Rose’s hand tightened in her hair. Bucky bit his lip, gently thrusting as she rode out her climax, feeling close to his peak too. “Claw me all you want princess. Natalia has drawn blood a lot over the years.”

Bucky moving below her sent her spiraling again, her head falling back against Nat's shoulder behind her, her nails raking down the chest of the man in front of her, angry red lines following her fingers as she just about collapsed backwards against Nat's chest.

Natasha held her up with a smile, letting the girl lean back on her as her hands travelled up the redheads chest, cupping her breasts gently. She looked at Bucky with a small smirk, “you gettin’ close big guy? You gonna come for us?” He nodded frantically as he kept up a gentle pace, feeling himself teeter over the edge with a low moan, his chest rising and as he panted.

Rose twisted her head to bury her face in Nat's neck, trying to catch her breath as Bucky finally fell apart below her. Bout time. She was about to start taking it as an insult, honestly. "I could do this all day," she finally said, blinking as she started to regain power over her own mind. "I don't even want coffee right now."

Natasha stroked her hair gently, “atta girl. Just breathe for us princess. You did so well,” she praised softly. As she said Steve’s catchphrase both Bucky and Nat stared at her with a grimace, “don’t you…” “ever say…” “that during sex again,” they said seriously, talking over each other as they warned her. At the mention of coffe Natasha snorted, “you’re an addict! I’m actually surprised you’re not having withdrawals right now,” she teased.

Rose grinned at them and then at their tandem admonishment of her, she broke into giggles. Or maybe she was just going delirious. She leaned down and pressed her mouth back to Bucky’s, a little more gentle about it this time before pulling away and twisting towards Nat to kiss her, too.

Bucky kissed her back softly, his hand squeezing her hip gently, “you’re a little minx. But you’re our little minx. That being said, you say that during sex again and we won’t touch you,” he warned quietly. Natasha bit back a grin as he warned Rose before sighing as Rose kissed her, kissing her back happily. “You, moya lyubov, are undeniably gorgeous,” she breathed.

Rose shuddered at the threat. “It’s hard to take you seriously when it’s really hot when you’re being all threatening,” she said, tuning back to kiss him again. 

She would have stood up if she felt at all capable of doing so. As good as the bubble bath had been, they would probably all require showers to actually get clean.

Bucky rolled his eyes, “so are you gonna listen? Or are you gonna go against my word, princess?” he whispered. Natasha looked at her with a grin, “do it! He won’t let you sit there alone and bored!” She gently ran her hands along the older woman’s stomach up to her chest, gently rolling her thumbs over her nipples.

“What does the punishment look like?” She asked, the wicked look returning to her face as she rested back against Nat. The hands on her body  had her whimpering again in almost no time, her face going pink. This was not fair, really. There were two of them and only one of her. She was going to be a red headed puddle in the bathtub by the end of the night.

Natasha kissed her skin gently, gently rolling her nipple between her thumb and forefinger, squeezing them gently, “you could spank me?” she whispered, “I’ve been a bad girl. I should be punished.” Bucky shook his head, “don’t listen to her, she’ll enjoy it too much. We should edge her a few times instead so she knows she messed up,” he shrugged and Natasha frowned. She gently nipped at Roses neck softly as one of her hands gently moved southward, leaving a hickey on Rose’s neck as she gently grazed her clit with her fingertips, “or… we could skip the punishment and I could make you come right now,” she husked against Rose’s ear. 

As Nat’s hand slid down her stomach and between her legs, Rose was forced to consider the idea that maybe Rumlow had killed her and she was now living in her perfect heaven. 

If she weighed the two options in front of her, Nat’s idea did sound way better, and it was hard to argue with her when she did that. The movement of Nat’s fingers caused the muscles in her stomach to clench down on Bucky, who she was still straddling. 

Presented with the option of the man she had loved for most of her life or the woman she had just found out she was also allowed to have, there was really one answer. 

“Both?"

Bucky bit his lip as he felt Rose tighten around him, looking at Natalia with a smirk, “it seems someone’s enjoying this a lot,” he whispered. Natasha smiled, nipping Rose’s earlobe gently, “is that true Printsessa? Are you enjoying yourself? Or should I stop?” she asked quietly. 

She rolled her eyes, “oh so your way to reward me for making you feel good is to get James to edge me? Thanks angel, how nice,” she drawled sarcastically, even though there was no venom behind it. “But I do agree that I should keep going. I’ve dreamt of this for a while,” she smiled, her fingers circling her clit gently. Bucky watched them in awe; he could really get used to this sight.. both his girls naked within an arms reach. He could die and go to heaven and even that wouldn’t compare to this moment.

Rose whimpered at Nat's teeth on her ear and her voice in her ear, her hips moving against Bucky again. "Don't stop." It came out practically as a whine and if she had any sense of shame in that moment, she might have felt it, but she did not care. 

She peeled her eyes open to look at Nat, who, from where Rose was leaning backwards against her, was upside down. It took a few seconds for her to be able to gather her thoughts enough to reach up and pull Nat's face down to her own, pressing her lips against the other woman's mouth. "You'd like it, though," she said, panting against her lips.

Natasha smirked slightly, “oh yeah? What would you do if I did?” she cooed, slowing a little before resuming her previous pace. Sure she liked to tease but she’d been waiting for this for a long while. 

Natasha smiled as the older woman opened her eyes, kissing her softly. “I like a lotta things princess,” she whispered, “believe me, James here can be a little sadist when he wants to be,” she chuckled. The man in question shrugged, “listening to you beg is like music to my ears,” he smirked.

“Naaaaat,” she whined again, her hips moving in time with the other woman’s fingers, moving against them and Bucky at the same time. She would probably lose her mind if they kept this up - or worse if they stopped.

Then Bucky mentioned Nat begging and she discovered a new mission for herself. That project just skyrocketed to the top of her to-do list, but later, when she could focus better.

Natasha kept up her motions chuckling quietly to herself, “fine, I won’t edge you but you act out and I will spank you,” she warned, “if you’re especially bad, I’ll use James’ belt.” She’d be gentle with the belt though. That would hurt if she put force into it. 

Bucky’s hands gently guided Rose’s hips with a small smile, with how she was constantly throbbing against him he felt like he’d be on round three in short order. Natasha could tell he was slowly getting there, the look on his face spoke a thousand words. “Look at him angel, look at how good you make him feel,” she whispered lowly, “lucky for us, the serum really reduces his refractory period. So he can go again and again and again…” she trailed off, gently replacing Bucky’s metal hand that was on the redhead’s throat.

Rosalie Rogers was officially beyond making coherent words, just a series of whimpers leaving her lips at that point, the grip of Bucky’s metallic hand tugging her against him, the feel of Nat’s fingers around her throat. 

All of it was enough to send her over the edge for the third time since getting into the bath. She would be completely useless tomorrow.

Natasha kissed along her jaw gently, leaving a few hickeys in her wake,”poor Steven is gonna have a heart attack when he sees her tomorrow night,” she chuckled. Buckg grimaced, “please don’t talk about Steve while I’m inside his sister,” he complained. He was over the worry he’d had back in the war. Rose kissing him had really set him straight. 

Bucky moaned lowly as he felt Rose climax, his following soon after hers and Natasha sat back proudly as she looked at them. “Made you both come by only touching one of you? I’ll call that a win,” she smirked, “all this talk about me being a bad girl and here I am pleasuring you both!”

When Rose was finally able to sit back up from where she had collapsed against James’s chest, she groaned, slipping off of him to settle back down in the water next to him. 

“Yes yes, praise be unto Natasha,” she said, dropping her head to rest her cheek on Bucky’s shoulder. “And agreed, please do not mention my brother while I am in the middle of orgasming in his best friends lap.”

Natasha smiled at them both, biting her lip at the sight. They were both so hot but so very different too. Bucky was all muscle and tough, whereas Rose looked more toned down. Both were very much hot and in love and it made her feel like she might not fully belong. She knew it was a bad thought. But it kept nagging at her. That they’d see all the blood on her hands and walk away. She felt like she was third wheeling to their date and it didn’t feel right. 

Bucky nodded her temple gently, “fine, I won’t mention him, or anyone else for that matter, that isn’t in this glorious tub,” he whispered. He looked at Natasha with a slight frown, noticing she’d zoned out. He nudged her gently, “we’re not boring you, are we?” 

Rose barely had the presence of mind to reach over the edge of the bathtub and pick up the bottle of champagne she had left there, but somehow, she managed. She took a long drink from it and then looked between the other two in the bathtub, a tired smile pulling at her lips.

“Or are you just feeling left out?”

Natasha blinked at her, shaking her head slightly, “I’m good,” she murmured before Bucky grabbed her by the arm to pull her in for a hug, “I think you’re feeling left out,” he whispered. She bit her lip, “do you two want me here?” she whispered, “I… I want this but if you two don’t, please tell me.”

Bucky kissed her cheek gently, “hey, have less of that one,” he whispered, “we want you here. What’s goin’ on in that little head of yours, malen’kaya myshka (little mouse)?” She looked up at him with a sigh, “I just don’t wanna wake up and you both think you made a mistake,” she murmured, “you two are so cute together and I don’t wanna ruin that.”

Rose rolled her eyes and reached out to pat Nat on the cheek, probably a bit harder than she had intended, but it was hard to put any effort into managing super strength at that given moment. She then slipped her hands up onto the side of the bath tub and lifted herself out, a little wobbly on her legs as she did so. 

“Welp. I love you both but you two are gonna have to work this out without because if someone touches me right now, I will die. A happy death but a death nonetheless. And I need to actually shower.” She bent at the waist to press quick kisses to both of their cheeks before turning to look at the shower that stood next to the large bath tub.

Natasha winced as Rose practically slapped her… okay so it wasn’t that hard but still, it did knock her back into the moment. “I love you too Milaya, go get cleaned up and we’ll see you after,” she whispered. She blushed slightly as Rose kissed her cheek, watching the older woman walk into the shower with a fond smile. 

Bucky squeezed her hand gently, “you good? I know how you get,” he whispered. She bit her lip, “just a little overwhelmed. Not in a bad way it’s just..” “Like your drowning in too much good energy considering our pasts? Yeah, I feel it too but I’ve gotten good at swallowing the bad stuff,” he shrugged. 

She pressed a hard kiss to his lips, his metal arm sliding down to her ass and giving it a rough squeeze, Natasha letting out a moan. “You think she’ll be able to hear us over the shower?” she asked quietly and Bucky shrugged. “Depends how loud you plan to be,” he smirked. He gently pushed two fingers into her and she sank down with a moan. “You think room service would source us some lube?” she asked with a quiet chuckle. He shook his head as he began thrusting gently, grazing against her clit with the metal thumb. “I doubt it. You’d have to ask. Why, you thinking about old times?” She nodded against his shoulder, her hips moving against his fingers with a whimper, “..you felt good with your metal in me while you fucked my ass. And then the other way around,” she sighed, “felt so full.” She glanced over at the shower, her mind thinking of how to ask the other redhead if she’d be willing to fuck her while Bucky also fucked her, the thought only making the coil in her stomach tighten.

As soon as the water in the shower was warm, Rose stepped under the stream and sighed, letting the water rush over her body, every single part of her feeling more sensitive than she could have ever remembered it. The glass walls of the shower gave her a good view of what was still going on in the bathtub. Nat appeared to be taking her note about working things out between the two of them seriously, her hips moving on what had to be Bucky's hand. 

She tilted her head to the side, letting the warm water rush over the numerous bruises Nat had left on the side of her neck, before leaning down to grab the bottle of shampoo on the small ledge and lathering up the copper hair, trying to wash all of the grime off. 

She could hear them, but opted to not tell them that just yet. Maybe things would get interesting. And it did. As she was rinsing the bubbles from her hair, she picked up on something Natasha said and her eyebrows furrowed as she tried to sort out the logistics of that.

Natasha kissed Bucky softly, moving her hips as smoothly as she could manage. She didn’t remember her thighs burning this much last time. Bucky looked up at her with a small smile, “you look like you’re gonna o pass out, you alright?” She grimaced, “my thighs are on fire,” she whimpered. Bucky nodded, gently turning her so she was laying on her back against his chest as he pushed his fingers back into her before adding a third. 

That woke her up a bit, her hand reaching up behind her to pull Bucky’s mouth closer, kissing him lazily as his fingers pumped into her. “It’s a shame we weren’t in Lille. That mirror in the bedroom has seen some action,” he whispered in her ear. “I bet Rose would be loving this, seeing you all needy for me.” She whimpered as he called her needy, feeling the coil in her stomach tighten as she approached her climax. 

She leant her head back abashed Bucky’s shoulder as she felt herself right on the edge, a frustrated whine leaving her lips as Bucky pulled his fingers out her, leaving her throbbing around nothing. She stared at him and he smirked, “I said I’d edge you milaya, but clearly you weren’t listening,” he shrugged. She groaned, “if you don’t… fuck!” she growled, getting cut off by a moan as he pushed his fingers back into her, “you were sayin’…” he smirked, nipping at her neck gently.

They were going to be in great danger of the hotel running out of hot water if Rose just continued to stand in the shower, staring at the pair of them like it was some kind of cinematic masterpiece, even if she really wanted to. The noises coming out of Natasha had her using all of her willpower to keep her fingers massage conditioner into her scalp and not dipping down between her own legs. 

“We were in Lille,” she called from the shower, giving up on trying to give them their own space. The body wash she had managed to spread around had bubbled and was rinsing down the drain, but she stood there, still the in beating downfall of the shower, her head tilted to the side, watching them. 

Natasha leant her head back against Bucky’s shoulder as he worked her up again, getting her right to the edge before pulling back. A frustrated whine slipped from her lips and she looked up at him, a frown plastered across her lips, “Jamie, let me come!” she whined, “I was never this cruel!” She was way worse. Back in their cabin in Finland she’d been very cruel with her teasing. 

She blushed heavily as Rose called out, hoping she couldn’t hear how she had been begging for Bucky. She knew she’d never hear the end of it. Bucky nipped at her neck gently as he curled his fingers, “in the morning I’m gonna go find some lube,” he murmured. She bit her lip, “we have to be out of here by one in the afternoon,” she breathed, her chest rising and falling quickly as he brought her to the edge for the third time. A quiet pleas leaving her lips before he surprised her by keeping going, not even slowing down for her to ride out her orgasm, throwing her quickly towards her second with a silent scream as the edges of her vision turned white. Bucky gently pulled his fingers from her, stroking her hair slowly, “that’s it princess, just breathe… atta girl, so good for me,” he cooed softly as Natasha slowly levelled out her breathing, leaning up to kiss him gently as she recovered from her double orgasm.

"The sooner we get home," Rose pointed out, stepping out of the shower and grabbing one of the large, fluffy bathrobes off a hook and pulling it over her body. "The sooner we have that giant mirror in my bedroom." She stepped carefully back over to the side of the bathtub, doing her best to not slip on the puddles of water that had collected from all their moving about. She stopped and bent over to grab Nat by the hair at the back of her neck, tugging enough to tilt her head back and kiss her. "Because surprise surprise, showers are no match for super hearing," she said against her mouth. 

She didn't get to torment her anymore when a knock sounded at the door. "Oh, Pierogis!" The redhead tightened the belt of her robe before going to answer the door to their suite. She was starving now. And in a way that the pierogis would probably only kind of help.

Bucky looked at Natasha with a slight smirk then turned to Rose, “you should know she’s got bad luck with mirrors. She’s broken two while having sex,” he warned and Natasha huffed, “the second one was you!” “You kicked me off the bed!” “But you were the one that stumbled into the dresser! You broke it. It’s not my fault you’d edged me so much I was overstimulated when I finally came!” she scoffed, “You cause it. Not me.”

Natasha moaned against Rose’s lips, a quiet plea of “harder,” falling from her lips. Her face fell as she heard the knock at the door, watching Rose disappear. “Fuckin room service,” she huffed.

Rose took the two trays from the door attendant, before using her foot to swing the door closed. She wandered into the living room of their suite and placed the two trays down on the coffee table before flopping down onto the couch and grabbing one of the dumplings and taking a bite out of it. 

"Neither of you take this the wrong way," she called towards the bathroom, "but these are better than the sex."

Natasha rolled her eyes as Rose called out, looking back at Bucky, “if you shower without any funny business, I’ll go down on you.” He got up quickly, picking Nat up as he went, practically throwing her down on the ledge as he turned the water on. He lathered up some soap on Natasha’s skin, washing her gently as his lips brushed against her neck. She stood on her tiptoes pushing her ass against him. “Need you James. Need you inside me,” she pleaded, feeling his arm fall from where it had been washing her to pick her up and lay her down on the ledge on her back. She reached up to pull him down on top of her as he pushed into her with a moan. Her mouth was against his ear as he began thrusting, “don’t hold back James. I can take it,” she breathed, feeling him speed up. Her legs wrapped around him, her heels digging into his lower back as her nails clawed at his back which only encouraged him to go harder. She panted up at him, words failing her as all she could get out were gasps and moans. Her mouth hung open as she felt herself getting closer, her orgasm crashing over her roughly as she stared up at Bucky. If they weren’t currently in a shower she would be dripping with sweat right now. She couldn’t remember when she’d last been fucked so hard. Not that she would ever complain. 

Bucky heard Rose’s comment as Natalia sat on her knees in front of the ledge, pushing Bucky to sit as she took him in her mouth. She bobbed her head feverishly, matching her movements with her hand to give him the best pleasure she could. Every slight throb and movement of his cock sent a shiver through her. God she loved this cock. Bucky looked down at her as he felt himself getting closer. As his breathing changed, she could tell he was close, pulling back so only her hand was on him as he rested on her tongue. He came with a guttural moan, watching as she licked him clean and swallowed, looking up at him with a proud smile as she showed her clean tongue so he knew she’d swallowed it all. “We would have to disagree angel!” she called out as she finally had an empty mouth. 

Chapter Text

Rose frowned when she realized the other two were still in the bathroom and then the frown deepened at the noises she heard. Putting the pierogi back down, she walked quietly back to the bathroom before poking her head around the doorframe. Once she noticed what was going on, she stepped back again, quietly and wrapped her arms around her waist. Maybe she didn't like this plan so much. She had to act fast if she wanted to get out of there before they noticed what she was doing. Help from Tony would undoubtedly come with questions she wasn’t sure how to answer. There was really only one other person she could think of that could do what she needed. 

She quickly and quietly tugged on some clothes before stepping out onto the balcony of the suite and tilting her head to look up at the sky. 

“Uhm. Thor? I’m not sure how this works but can you hear me? I could use a ride.”

Bucky looked down at Natasha with a small smile, kissing her softly, “y’know we should get clean and join Rose, I’m sure she’s waiting on us.” Natasha bit her lip, “gimme a minute, I gotta catch my breath.” 

She stood slowly, pulling Bucky under the water with her to wash him, jumping on his back to run her hands through his hair with a smile. Once she’d washed his hair, he did hers and they dried off in the bathroom. Bucky kept his towel tight around his waist, knowing full well how insatiable Natalia could get if he stayed naked. 

Thor could hear Heimdall calling out to him, saying one of his friends was in distress so he made his way out to the lawn of the compound, the bifrost sending him to Poland where he landed out back of the hotel. “Lady Rogers!” his voice boomed, looking up at the balcony, “are you okay?” He jumped up to the balcony, looking down at her worried. “Where do you need to go? I thought lady Natasha was with you?” They’d both left together, that’s what Clint had said when he questioned the archer about the redheaded pair’s disappearance.

Rose held her finger up to her lips, eyes wide as he landed next to her, backing up to give him room on the balcony.  “You don’t really have an inside voice, do ya, big guy?” She asked, looking over her shoulder again. “Uh. Yeah. Natasha is here. But something came up and I really need to go home. Like now. Before she realizes I’m leaving.”

“Oh! I see what this is. It is a prank! Like what Loki does when he changes my pillow into a giant snake. Very well. I shall keep your secret prank.” 

Rose nodded and grabbed onto his waist, holding tight. She had only ever traveled this way with him once before and she didn’t love it, but she really needed out of Poland.

Natasha pressed a gentle kiss to Bucky’s lips before pulling a robe on, tying it around her with a grin, “fuck, I didn’t realise these were so fluffy,” she sighed. 

She stepped out into the living room to see the pierogis left on their plate. “Rose!” she called out, worry flooding her chest. The breeze from the balcony whipped around her ankles and as she stepped out, there wasn’t anyone there. If she hadn’t been kissing Bucky, she probably would’ve heard Thor. Or him shooting off with the bifrost.  She stepped back away from the balcony, her heart racing. Bucky poked his head out, “where is she?” he whispered and she broke down. “They got her James! They must have followed us here!” she panicked. Bucky put his hand on her shoulder, “there’s no sign of forced entry. Are you sure?” She shook her head. She wasn’t sure of anything. But why would the girl just up and leave?! 

She followed Bucky’s eyeline to the grass behind the hotel where it was scorched to the dirt, a growl leaving her lips. “That bastard!” she yelled. Bucky followed her back inside as she pulled on her clothes quickly, pulling out her phone as she made sure she had her knives. She didn’t care if he was a god, he better have a good reason for taking her! 

“Talia, what’s going on?” “Thor! That’s what’s going on. He took her!” she yelled, “just came by and whisked her off!” She pulled out her phone, not caring it would be late in the states, ringing Stark. She knew he’d be awake, the guy was as much of an insomniac as she was. “Stark I need a jet…. Yes same hotel as the receipt…. If you see Thor, can you knock his teeth out with Veronica. Yes I know she’s built for Bruce! I don’t care. Or give me control so I can cave his head in!” she hissed, hanging up. Bucky crossed his arms as he pulled a shirt over his head, “how long is the ride?” “Quinjet will get us back in three hours. But it’ll take about the same amount of time to get there. So six hours while she’s alone. She could go anywhere!”

Rose wanted to throw up as soon as they made it back to the compound. If it had been the interdimensional travel, the champagne, the lack of full meals or solid sleep or something else, she didn’t know. Probably a combination of all of the above. 

“Thanks, man,” she said, stepping away from the Asgardian to go to her own room. She figured she had at least a few hours before the other two made it to New York. She wasn’t sure it was long enough. 

"Lady Rogers, you seem sad.” 

“I’m okay, Thor,” she lied. “And thanks for the ride. I am going to find something to eat and maybe take a nap.”

Thor pulled something from one of his pockets and handed it over to her. “Asgardian ale,” he said with a smile. “It will help lift your spirits. Or at least help you forgot what made you sad.” She nodded and stepped into her own apartment, shutting the door behind her. 

“Jarvis, if anyone other than the delivery person for the coffee I just ordered shows up, I am not at home.”

Natasha checked her phone every ten minutes until the quinjet landed out back, jumping off the balcony into a roll, followed quickly by Bucky who just landed in a squat. “You’re gonna blow your knees out if you keep doing that,” she called out as she dropped the ramp for them to get in. 

“So what’s the top speed on this thing?” “Should take about two and a half hours if I push her to her limits,” Natasha shrugged, “so hold onto something. If we hit turbulence, we may die.” Tony had been tinkering with boosting the thrust. Not that she trusted it to work without exploding but she’d give it a shot. 

When they landed at the compound, she got off and a S.H.I.E.L.D…. Ex-S.H.I.E.L.D? Whatever he was… guard stopped her. “He can’t come in Ma’am. He’s a war criminal.” “He’s also my fiancé, so I suggest you back the fuck up before you end up fired or buried,” she hissed. Bucky followed after her in a jog as she speed walked through the compound, “he was just doing his job Nat.” “I don’t care. I’m sick of people treating you badly. You didn’t want to do that stuff!”

“Hey Jarvis, is Rosalie home?” she called out and Bucky jumped as a voice spoke back. “That’s Jarvis, he’s the AI that runs all the systems here. He’s great, you’ll love him.” “No Ms Romanoff. She isn’t home.” She scoffed quietly, “did she tell you to say that?” “No ma’am.” Bucky put his hand on her shoulder and she shrugged him off, banging on Rosalie’s door roughly, “open the door. I just wanna talk. If you don’t open it, James will. Jarvis can lock it all he wants but he can’t stop a metal fist through a wall.” Bucky chuckled quietly, “it wouldn’t be the first time I burst through a wall.”

Rose had gone about cleaning her apartment when she got home, only stopping when a knock at her door came with coffee. She opened the door to see her brother, holding the iced coffee with a disapproving look on his face which was immediately wiped away when he saw her own face. 

“What’s wrong? What happened?

“Nothing, Stevie,” she sniffled, knowing it wasn’t very convincing.

Her older brother pushed past her into her apartment and looked around, before setting the drink on the kitchen counter. “Did you….clean? Okay, something is really wrong? Weren’t you with Nat? Where is she?”

“She’s in Poland,” she said, wiping the back of her hand under her eyes.  Steve sighed and sat down on the couch, letting his sister cry into his shoulder. As angry as he could get with her for doing stupid things, she never really did anything stupider than him, and she was the only person who understood what it was like.

Rose’s crying had finally calmed down when there was a banging on the door and Steve wrapped a blanket around her tightly. 

“Want to tell me why my baby sister is crying, Natasha?” He asked as he opened the door, only see not just Nat there, but Bucky as well.

Natasha was just calming down till she saw Steve’s face and she felt like screaming. Really?! She went to Steve too?! They were just getting somewhere and now she was running away and having her brother play bodyguard. 

“I don’t know Rogers! I come out of the shower and she’s gone. Burnt a fucking hole in the grass out back, that I had to pay for. Thanks Thor,” she scoffed. Bastard didn’t even take card so she had to find a cash point and give him $15000 in Zloty! My accountant is gonna have my ass for that.” 

She took a breath, “are you gonna let us in or am I gonna have to go through you? Believe me, I will. And if I can’t, he will,” she said, nodding back to Bucky who just shrugged. He wasn’t gonna argue with Natalia when she was pissed off.

“Steve, just tell us what’s going on,” he sighed, “we’ve just had to wait six hours to get back. For all we knew, she could’ve come here and ran off. Clearly she didn’t. And we don’t know why she’s crying. It’s been over six hours since she left. Hell, she was fine before we went in the shower. She went for food and me and Nat fooled around a little in the shower. We were probably separated for about an hour. So I have no idea what could’ve happened in that time. If I were a mind reader, I’d know. But I’m not. And if you let us in so we could actually fucking talk to her, maybe we could sort it out. You’re not her guard dog Steve. So move your ass before someone moves it for you. You might think that playing the big game makes you look good, but it doesn’t. You’re hurting her by not letting us see her. If you wanted to help her, you would let us in. Instead you’re trying to look tough in front of two super soldiers. So move. You’re still that little kid from Brooklyn, even if you’re big. Believe me, if I wanted to lay you out, I wouldn’t have to try,” He didn’t know where it came from but he was beyond frustrated. 

For not the first time in their long and storied friendship, Steve punched his best friend in the face and both of them hit the floor. 

“You’re not allowed to cheat on my sister, you shouldn’t even be with her in the first place, and then you’re going to do that right there? After she went across the world to find you? After it was your fault Hydra had her in the first place?”  He only half meant some of it and didn’t mean most of it at all but he was mad. 

Bucky winced as Steve punched him before putting his metal arm up to block any incoming punches. He punched the guy in the gut with a growl. 

“You know nothing!” he snapped, “ask her! Go on! You think I cheated? That I wanted to hurt her?!” he snapped.

Natasha shook her head, “we were all fooling around. When she went for food, me and James had some alone time.” At Steve’s last comment he flipped them, punching him hard in the face with the metal hand. “My fault?! I didn’t want them to take her! I didn’t wanna be there either! You think I wanted them to take her? For her to see what they made me?!”

Steve flipped Bucky back on his back, punching him again, “you seemed pretty cozy with Nat! Clearly they didn’t mess with your head hard enough.” Natasha scoffed, “that’s low Steve,” she snapped as Bucky growled, “you know nothing of what I’ve been through, of what Natalia has been through!”

“Oh, Natalia and James. Got a real thing going, huh? What a bunch’a heartbreakers. Some best friend you are,” he said staring a Nat, “he comes back and you jump into bed with him?! And you..” he started turning to Bucky, “you’re a coward. You don’t deserve her.”

At the sound of the commotion, Rose stirred from her spot on the couch. Clad in her favorite slouchy pajama shorts and a white shirt, she made her way over to the door, dropping her shoulder to lean against the doorframe, watching as the men fought on the floor.  Her grey eyes were still red and puffy from where she had been crying. At Steve’s last comment, she reached down and grabbed him by the neck of his shirt and yanked. “That last bit was too far, Steve,” she said quietly, not looking at the other two.

Natasha looked up as Rose stepped out, frowning at how sad she looked, watching her pull Steve off James. The older of the two was definitely gonna have a black eye, Steve would probably need to get that cheek looked at if James didn’t pull his punch. “Angel, what’s going on? Why did you leave?” she asked softly. Steve scoffed at the term of endearment and Natasha kicked him hard.

“All of you stop it,” Rose hissed, pinching the bridge of her nose with thumb and her forefinger, sucking in a deep breath as she tried to stop herself from crying again.  “Steve, inside. I will look at your face and make sure you don’t need stitches.” She grabbed him by the sleeve of his shirt and tugged him back towards the apartment.  “The Hydra thing, not Jim’s fault. They’re assholes all around. Everything else is… I don’t know.” She frowned. She had been dead for 70 years. She had thought Bucky was dead before that. They hadn’t officially been anything back then, either. She had no right to be upset at him. 

“It’s fine,” she finally said. “It’s fine.” It wasn’t fine. They were engaged, they had decades of history with each other. All she had was some kisses in a forest and on a mountain, followed by heartbreak. That didn’t give her any claim or right to any of it. To either of them. Natasha and Bucky stepped back, not wanting to envoke her wrath. They just wanted her to be happy. That’s all. They watched her drag Steve off before slipping in behind him.

Natasha scoffed, “he’ll live. He’s just lucky I didn’t give James a knife. Those were low blows,” she said pointedly, looking at that blonde. Steve scoffed quietly, “was I wrong?”

Bucky nodded, “good to see you’re on our side here. He was being a total ass!” Steve stared at him, “says the guy who cheated on my sister! In front of her!” he spat. 

“I am not on your side, James,” Rose said, quietly, pushing her brother to sit at one of her kitchen chairs and leaving the door open as she did.

Bucky sighed, “right, scratch that then. Stay neutral. Good strategy. Like Switzerland.” Not they had been very good, storin’ all that Nazi gold. Lyin’ Swiss. 

They might as well not have this out in the middle of the hallway. She made her way into her kitchen and bent over to get the first aid kit from under the sink. That last punch with the metal arm had busted a cut open on Steve’s forehead and while it may not need stitches, she could at least clean it up.  As soon as she straightened up, her eyes landed on the knife Nat had in her fingers, twirling it around and she slipped past her, without saying anything, her eyes squeezed shut as she put the white plastic box on the table. 

At least she had cleaned. 

Standing beside Steve, she dabbed at his face, rolling her eyes as he hissed. “That was water, Steven.” 

“Yeah, but you’re angry so that hurt.”

“….sorry.”

Bucky scoffed quietly as Steve hissed, “man up. It’s a cut, she’s not amputating it with no anaesthetic.” Natasha rolled her eyes, of course he was gonna make it into a competition. Not that he was wrong. They had really butchered him when they put the arm on. The fact they’d fused it with his spine was proof enough. Fuckin stupid Soviets. “Are we gonna talk? Or are we just gonna chill in here for the next three days?” Natasha sighed.

“You two probably have a lot to talk about,” Rose said, still not looking at them as she put a small bandage across the cut on Steve’s eyebrow. If he left it alone, it would keep the cut closed and help heal, but she knew he wouldn’t. She did find herself looking at the spot on Bucky’s shoulder when the metal met the flesh. It looked like a hack job, honestly.  She could have done it much cleaner, if it had gotten to the point where it had to be done at all.

Natasha rolled her eyes, “don’t do that. Me and James aren’t worth you gettin’ hurt. You were the one that proposed this idea,” she said seriously, “if you’re getting cold feet, you can have him. We were fun, but I would rather you be happy than me hurt you,” she whispered. 

Bucky noticed her looking and shifted his shirt slightly, a little self conscious of his scarring. Even though she’d been looking at him naked less than eight hours ago. He looked at Rose sadly, “Doll, you gotta talk to us. We can’t help you if you don’t open up.”

Steve looked clearly confused and she frowned before patting his shoulder. “Do not rip the bandage off,” she said. “Or I’ll let him do it again. But can you give us some privacy?”

“Are you serious!?”

“Yes, Stevie. I love you. I’ll see you for breakfast?”

He rolled his eyes and pushed his way past the two staring at his sister to let himself out of the apartment. 

Rose stood in front of them, almost too emotionally exhausted to have the conversation as she held her hands up in front of her like we was at a loss for words and they might fall out of the sky into her hands. 

“I…I don’t know,” she finally said. “I don’t want to intrude on whatever history you have or any plans you made.”

Natasha looked at Bucky and snorted quietly, “plans? Milaya, we just got back in touch. We have no plans. Hell, I thought the three of us were gonna make a go of it,” she said softly. “Don’t you want that?” Bucky looked at Nat with a slight frown, “can you give us a moment? I’ll be out in a sec,” he promised. Natasha nodded slightly, “I’ll be in the hall. If anything is wrong, shout me. Either if you.”

As she left Bucky gently took Rose’s hand, guiding her to sit on the couch, “talk to me Sugar. It’s just me and you in here. Tell me what’s on your mind.”

Rose let him pull her over to the couch where she pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs. 

“It’s okay,” she said quietly. “To tell me no. I know Steve hovers a lot, but it’s okay. You never really wanted to be with me all those years ago. And then you died. And then … well… anyway, I guess you thought I was dead and I thought you were dead and…James, you guys are engaged and I don’t want to be in the way of any promise you made.” She sniffled, looking at her own knees.  “You left for war and then so did Steve and I was left behind. And then things happened and…” she finally looked up at him, her eyes shining. “I don’t…blame you. For anything that happened to me. Not in the forest. Not in the ice. Not a few days ago. Steve is just an idiot.” 

After a second where she had to suck in a breath she continued.  “And…somewhere in the middle of all of that, you met Nat and I don’t blame you cuz she’s great. But… I don’t…I don’t want to get left behind again.”

Bucky listened to her with a frown. Tell her no? Fuck that. If could have them both, he’d have them both. Fuck what anyone else thought. “I dont wanna lose you,” he whispered, “I had to go seventy years without you in my arms. I can’t do another seventy years,” he whispered. “I wanted you, believe me. I’ve always wanted you. You ever wondered why none of my dates lasted more than three dates? None of them were you!” he said softly. 

He bit his lip as he saw her eyes shining, knowing she was gonna start crying again and he wouldn’t be able to cope. He hated seeing her cry. “Well I blame me for the forest. I got you all worked up and then threw you away and then you got shot cause I wasn’t man enough to admit my feelings and I got distracted.”

“She is quite great. But she’s not you! Get that in your head. No matter who I sleep with. No matter who I marry. They’ll never be you. Sure I love Natalia. Always will. She’s my rock, a half of me I didn’t know I needed. But you’re the other half. Without you and without her, I wouldn’t be me,” he whispered, “I love you. And I love her. Why can’t we just all be happy? I know Natalia likes you a lot,” he whispered, “let’s make a real go at this, all three of us.”

Her bottom lip quivered when he started talking. “I thought you were secretly just really bad with women,” she whispered “and that rumors were all just…rumors. I liked you despite that, though, because I knew you’d be perfect for me.”  She sniffled again, wiping under her eyes with her thumbs. “The forest thing was Nazis. You didn’t shoot me and no one was supposed to know we were there.”

Rose looked at the door where Nat had walked out a few minutes before and she frowned. Part of her was telling her to try and make everyone happy because why can’t they all love each other and another part was screaming at her that if he had to pick, it wouldn’t be her, so wouldn’t this be better than nothing?

Bucky shook his head, “I had fun but I didn’t see a future with any of them. And I sound like a dick for saying it. But I dated them cause I thought I could never have you.”  He squeezed her hand gently, “but they did know and I was trained to be able to sus those things out,” he whispered. “Then you became US property, which I’m still not happy about.”

“Yeah well. No return receipts, so really, I’m less of their property and more of their problem these days,” she said, not able to stop the tug at the corner of her lips. 

He looked at her as she frowned, trying to discern what she was thinking. Bucky didn’t have a clue whether she wanted him gone out that door, if she was waiting for Steve to come back in or if the fucking god of thunder was gonna make an appearance. “Talk to me Sugar.”

“What happens when you two want to be just you two?” She asked, her voice barely above a whisper, but she knew he would hear her. “Because I might be new at the whole sex thing but I’m not naive enough to know that if you had to pick, there’s only one option and it’s not me."

Bucky shook his head, “we won’t be. Cause Nat wants you too! We all want each other. And you think I’d choose her over you? You think she’d let me do that?” he whispered, “fuck that. If me and her were still together and you weren’t with us, she’d call it quits for your sake.”

She nodded and leaned over to put her cheek on his shoulder. “I’m going to be bad at it, though,” she said after a minute. “I have never even had one boyfriend, much less a girlfriend at the same time.” She sighed and wrapped her fingers around his upper arm before leaning over to look at the left one. “They did a shit job with that,” she said, a frown on her lips. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there to do it better.”

Bucky shook his head, “you can’t be bad at a relationship. You learn as you go. And I’ve not had two partners either. This is new for all of us.”  He looked at her with a slight frown. “Don’t. Cause if you blame yourself, you’ll just keep digging deeper and deeper. It wasn’t your fault. And I know they did, I still get phantom pains.”

"You can, remember Steve and Peggy?" she said, with a grin, nuzzling her face into his neck. "They were terrible at it. Well... mostly Steve, anyway but what else is new?"  She frowned at the admittal he still had phantom pains in his arm. She didn't want him to have any pain. "I love you," she said quietly, sliding over to wind up back in his lap. It was officially her new favorite place to be. She leaned in and pressed a kiss to his mouth before pulling back and sighing. "We should go find Nat."

Bucky chuckled dryly, “you mean Steve not being able to talk to women? That not being bad at relationships, that’s being terrible with women!” He nodded, “it doesn’t seem like he’s gotten any better.” He gently wrapped his arm around her waist as she cuddled into his lap, “I love you too Kitten, and I wouldn’t worry about that,” he whispered before gently covering her ears and yelling “Natalia! You can come in now!” He could practically hear her pacing outside the door. She pushed the door open with a shy smile, “is everything okay?”

Rose twisted in his lap, chewing on the bottom corner of her lip when Nat came back in the room and she realized that while the apartment might be clean, she herself was an absolute mess - her slightly curly copper hair was spilling over her shoulders, having been let out of the braid and her eyes were still puffy. She twisted the hem of her shirt in her fingers as she nodded. "Yeah, I think so. But I want to repeat that I don't know what to do with a girlfriend. Or a boyfriend. Or both at the same time."

Natasha frowned slightly as she took in Rose’s appearance, noting how she’d been crying and her hair was a little messy. She nodded slightly, “I’ve not been with another man apart from James. And the only other woman I’ve been serious with was Alicia,” she said with a sad smile. Bucky looked up at her with a slight smile, “how long were you together?” “She joined S.H.I.E.L.D. in 2000. I joined in 1999, we hit it off pretty quickly. Then she passed in 2012,” she sighed. 

Bucky kissed Rose’s temple gently, “we’re gonna figure this out together. But I think we should set a few ground rules first,” he said softly. Natasha nodded, “how about me and James can only fool around if we’re with you?” Sure they’d flirt and tease each other but neither of them wanted to make Rose uncomfortable or left out.

Rose shifted so that she was on her feet, instead of in Bucky's lap before she walked over quietly to her kitchen and pulled the small white board she kept on the fridge for little reminders off, grabbing the marker for it off the counter before turning and heading back to the living room, sitting on the floor with the board in her lap. 

She uncapped the marker and wrote, in her small, but neat handwriting, across the top "Rules." 

"I think....that might be a good idea?" she said, still chewing on her lip as looked up at the pair of them. "At least....for a little bit?"

Bucky watched her retrieve the board and chuckled quietly, “now it’s super official,” he smiled. Natasha nodded, “for as long as you need princess. We do this by your book. Me and James are well versed in what each other needs.”

Bucky looked at Rose with a smile, “regular date nights. I’d say either Friday or Saturday night.” Natasha nodded, “ooh that’s a good one! Uh… dip your fries with milkshakes cause you gotta remember where you came from!” she grinned. Bucky bit his lip as he thought, “maintain our own lives as well as our collective. Just so we don’t become dependent on each other,” he said softly. 

Natasha grinned, “use my bedroom for sleepovers! I’ve got a huge bed and my bathroom has a hot tub. Oh and a dance hall.” She knew James would like that; he’d always enjoyed watching her dance. He occasionally joined in too which she’d always enjoyed.

Rose grinned, writing down each rule as it was spoken, before adding two of her own. "Be nice to Stevie, most of the time, unless he really deserves it," she said, putting it on the list. "And no other people." That last one got underlined twice, before she looked up at them again. 

"Anything else?" She held the board up, before something occurred to her and she scrambled to her feet, passing the board to Nat as she dashed into her bedroom. After some digging around in her closet, the other two could hear an "Aha!" before she came back out into the living room, a metal chain glimmering in her hand as she fiddled with the clasp at the back of it.

Bucky rolled his eyes, “seems to be on a bit of a hot streak lately. Might be best if I kept a distance.” Natasha nodded, “three is enough. Plus there’s no one I’d add that James would like.”

She bit her lip as she thought, “if we can’t agree on something, ask Pepper or Laura. They’re both extremely impartial.” “Isn’t Laura Clint’s wife?” Bucky asked confused, “surely that’s a conflict of interest?” “Clearly you’ve never met the woman. She likes being fair with her decisions.” They both watched her run off, looking at each other confused when they heard the metal chain.   “Do we wanna ask what that’s for?”

Rose rolled her eyes as she managed to get the chain unclipped, the two small metal plates sliding off of it and into her open palm. She placed the chain on the breakfast counter at the kitchen and then pulled the other one, holding James's tags over her head, before unclipping that one and pulling the two tags off of it. She slid one of hers onto the chain that had previously held Bucky's tags and passed it to him. "You'll have to get Nat's later," and then slipped the second of hers and one of Bucky's onto the remaining chain before handing it to Nat, leaving the remaining tag of Bucky's on her counter. "And you'll have to get me one of yours later, too," she said, looking at Nat as she passed over the set of tags.

Bucky watched her work on the tags and smiled slightly, it was such a cute idea. “Is this our way of making sure we’re all safe?” he asked softly. He knew it was a dumb superstition but he loved it anyway. If someone else had your tags, it meant you wouldn’t die in battle.

Natasha nodded slightly, “I’ll be two minutes!” she said as she leapt up, running to her apartment to find her dogtags. She still wore Alicia’s, not that she’d ever get rid of them. But she would wear the other two on a separate chain. She came back with the chain, looking at it with a sad smile, “they’re a little scuffed up from the crash,” she murmured, but you could still read them. She didn’t mention which crash it was, she really wasn’t ready to get into it all tonight.

“It worked,” Rose said, nodding her head at Bucky’s comment, before sliding Nats tag onto her necklace and tossing the other one to him. “I mean, you fell off a train but you didn’t die. I wound up with your tags the next day. Dugan and Falsworth went and got them for me.” She headed back over to the couch and flopped down next to him, looking at Nat over by the kitchen. “What next?”

Bucky nodded, “it did. Even though I didn’t give them to you, you stole them,” he teased, putting Natasha’s tag on his chain. 

Natasha leant against the counter as she put the tags on the second chain, biting her lip at the feeling. Was she replacing Alicia? Bucky glanced at Nat, seeing her forlorn expression and nudged Rose gently, “date night tonight? Some quiet place to eat and then come back and watch a movie with ice cream?” Natasha looked at him with a small smile, “how about takeout and movie? And then ice cream after?” she offered, “you’re still being looked for, give it a few days to let the heat die down. Me and Rose will have to disguise you when we go get you some clothes. You can’t wear Steve’s. I’m not gonna let the man that I love look like some suburban dad.”

Rose held her hand in front of her face, fingers spayed as she inspected her nails, frowning at the one that had broken. "I think..." she said slowly, before looking up at Bucky from where her head had landed in his lap, "I'll have to double check, but I think that I technically have the authority to issue pardons. And if I don't, Steve definitely does." 

She snorted at the comment about Steve's fashion, but she wouldn't argue. The man really needed to find some jeans or something... and a t-shirt. Button ups didn't need to be an everyday thing. "Pardon's can be granted for those who pay for Chinese food."

Natasha nodded, “that could be quite useful. You’ll have to enquire about that.” She had a feeling if Steve had to give the pardon there would be a condition of Bucky having to break up with Rose or Natasha having to leave her too. Bucky shook his head,”if Steve has to give the pardon, he may force us to break up. It just seems like something he would do at the moment given how I annoyed he is at me.”

Bucky rolled his eyes “you expect me to have cash? Seriously? You are correct, I have like $60 in my mission trousers. So I will gladly pay for food under the condition that a pair of pretty redheads give me kiss each. That is my only demand.”He paused slightly, “what is sleeping situation tonight, I don’t have my own room.” Natasha nodded,“how about we have a word with Tony, and then we can either look online for furnishings or we could try and disguise you and go to IKEA.” She turned to Rose, “ does that sound like a plan before date night and then we can either order Chinese or pick it up on the way back?”

Rose looked over at Nat and pouted. "Food first. Shopping tomorrow," she said. "But yes, IKEA is always a great place, I am need of another Knagglig." Her pronunciation of Swedish was nearly as terrible as anything other than the little bit of Italian she had picked up in the 40s. "And I'll look into what all is entailed in my diplomatic immunity." 

She shifted and looked between the two of them and shrugged. "Sleepover with someone or we all sleep in Nat's room." She had been very excited to see her own bed, but she'd have a sleep over in Nat's apartment if it meant not having to go anywhere else for the night. "IKEA date day tomorrow, once we have some better way to hide the war criminal with a weapon in his pants."

Natasha rolled her eyes, “sweetheart, diplomatic immunity is where you’re not gonna get tried for a crime you commit in another country,” she said softly. Bucky frowned slightly, “you want another ‘squeamish’? I know my Swedish is a little rusty but that doesn’t sound like furniture to me?”

"Yeah, but I'm pretty sure it comes with extra perks," she said, shrugging. "And I'm pretty sure there were some crimes committed in a bathtub in Poland." There was a smirk on her face as she said it, sitting up. 

Bucky chuckled, “like what? Free coffee at the airport? It’s a title, that’s about it.” Natasha snorted quietly, “there were definitely crimes committed. That poor shower has also seen better days.”

"I get free coffee most places," she said, rolling her eyes. "Wait until I teach you about Instagram. You'll be a fitness influencer before you know it."

Bucky looked at Natasha who smirked, “all at Nat’s, I wanna have both my girls cuddled up against me.” Natasha nodded, “that’s fine. Uh, you may wanna bring a blanket for the couch so we can watch a movie on my flatscreen. I’ll order Chinese later on.” She chuckled as Bucky blushed at the ‘weapon in his pants’ comment. “It’s true, you do have a weapon. How you managed to not keep a lady in the thirties I’ll never know,” she teased, not knowing he’d been turning ladies down for second dates and rarely sleeping with them. “And if we can’t get a pardon straight away, we can always just stick a glove on him and put a baseball cap on. It always worked in the sixties.” They’d only had to hide cause they made a break for it. It was when Bucky had proposed.

"Blankets, I can do," she said, dipping into her room and grabbing the comforter off her bed and wrapping it around herself. "And he was too busy being a stubborn asshole in the thirties, that's how," she said from her cocoon. "Not to mention that all the women he tried to date were pretty useless. Well...no. That one could cook," she said with a shrug.

They watched her grab the comforter, frowning slightly. Nat looked at Bucky, and Bucky at Nat. Nat decided to speak first, “I’m guessing you don’t get the same heat thing that we do? Cause two of us in that blanket will be like a furnace.” Bucky looked at Rose with a scoff, “I wasn’t stubborn, I was holding out hope that Steve would perish and I could have you without him judging me,” he joked, “and there were a few that were pretty useful. At least in terms of making me feel good… not like that!” he added, glaring at Natasha’s smirk.

"You just wait until Tony figures out time travel," Rose said, pointing at Bucky. "And I can go back to then and push them all off a building and then kick your ass, too." She glanced between the two of them. "I am always cold, what do you mean you're a furnace?" The idea sounded so nice, if she was honest, having something warm to snuggle up to. 

Bucky rolled his eyes, “you wouldn’t. Cause you’re too nice and it would make me sad. I doubt you’d wanna make me sad?” he pouted. Natasha nodded, “it’s horrible in the summer. You’ll kick us out for sure.” “We used to sleep naked in Russia.. it wasn’t fun. Constantly too hot.” At least if Rose was cold, they’d had something to cool them down.

"I would," she said, her eyes darkening. "Do you know how many times I or Becca answered the door after you and Steve left, to let some poor heartbroken girl know you had gone off to war? It got to the point we considered making a sign for the door." Rose made a mental note to keep them in New York, so that they'd be more likely to sleep naked, even in the winter. 

Bucky rolled his eyes, “you know how many girls I turned down a second date with? Most of them. I didn’t ditch any of them! It’s not my fault they came back."

Natasha got up, grabbing Bucky by the hand and pulling him to his feet before leading them to her room. She scanned her palm before the door unlocked, “it has a passcode too, so if either of you need to get in here, I’ll tell you the code,” she shrugged. It was pretty barebones with very little decoration other than paint and wallpaper in set places, the occasional lamp and a lot of pictures on her mantelpiece, from many different places, mainly composing of her and Clint, her and Laura, and Clint, her and Laura. And then the most numerous were of her and Alicia. One with Alicia showing off her ring, another with them in Venice where she proposed, one a bystander had taken at the Eiffel Tower… and her personal favourite, a selfie she’d taken not long after they’d slept together with their hair all splayed out, the younger brunette tiredly curled into her side with a blanket only just covering her chest. “Make yourself comfortable, I’m gonna go make sure my room isn’t a mess.” It was a bit of a lie, she just needed a second to breathe. It was a little overwhelming having someone in her space for the first time, let alone two people. 

Rose stumbled into the room, tripping over the blanket she had left wrapped around herself as she crossed through the doorway, her eyes wide as she looked around the space. 

"I thought I was Tony's favorite," she said under her breath, before crossing further into the room. Oh, Nat's couch did look comfy. And her TV was huge. This was so not fair. "You've been holding out on me, Romanoff!" she called after the other woman, and then proceeded to settle in on the couch, pulling the blanket tighter around herself.

Natasha looked at herself in the mirror opposite her bed with a small smile. She could do this. She didn’t have to be so nervous. When she came back out she caught Bucky holding one of the photos and she took it out of his hand, putting it back down, “I love you but if you break that, I’ll kill you in your sleep,” she whispered harshly. Bucky nodded nervously, “got it.” It was from Alicia’s camera. The camera she took to go to her mom’s. The camera that was currently a pile of junk in the bottom of a cardboard box of shit from the crash that she hadn’t sorted. She knew the memory card would be dead. 

She looked at Rose with a small smile, “it’s cause Tony is afraid of me. Plus after the tower, I told him if he didn’t let me personalise my apartment.” Bucky chuckled, “so you’re saying I’ve got a chance for a jackpot apartment here?”

"If Bucky gets a better apartment, I motion to remove the rule about us all having our own places," Rose said from where she was on the couch. She tucked her legs under herself and pulled her phone out, scrolling through the delivery app. "Did we officially settle on Chinese or were there thoughts on anything else?" 

She was doing her best to not try to feel like she was invading Nat's personal space, even though she was quite literally doing that. Bucky had gone about looking at the photos, picking them up and all. A quick glance had told her all she really needed. It seemed like proposals were getting passed out left and right to everyone but her.

Bucky laughed, “oh Angel, I would never deprive you of staying at my place more often. But maybe we could all stay here for a while, I intend to get some stuff put in mine that may take a little while.“ Natasha raised an eyebrow, “boxing gym or dance hall?” “Dance hall! What do you take me for, there’s already a gym here. But if I wanna dance, I don’t wanna have to open your room and scare you at 3 am if I wanna shake off a nightmare.” Natasha shrugged, “Chinese is good with me. Or Indian. Hell, even Thai food would hit good right now.”

Natasha looked at Rose as she looked a little down, “talk to me Sugar, where’s your head at?” she whispered. Bucky squeezed her knee gently, just letting her know she was safe. Nat didn’t know what Rose was thinking. They’d not been around each other enough yet. Her and Bucky were in sync at times but Rose was an enigma she was very intent on cracking. 

Rose twisted around to look at Bucky, her mouth hanging open. “Since when do you do any dancing that requires a dance studio?” Her eyes widened at a thought. “Do you wear tights?? Am I the only one who doesn’t dance ballet?”

“My head is currently doing a lot of spinning to come up with the image of Jim in tights, and I like it,” she said with a grin, doing her best to push off the actual question, resuming the scroll for food on her phone. Once she found one she liked, she tapped it, pressing the screen a few more times to add a variety of selections - with extra egg rolls, to the cart before pressing the button to finalize the order.

Bucky rolled his eyes, “sugar, you’ve not known me for seventy years. I dance,” he shrugged. “Mainly ballet but I know some other stuff too.” Natasha smirked, “I once danced for the Bolshoi and did the nutcracker. James begged me to teach him the moves so we could do it at St Petersburg.” Bucky blushed lightly, “I also remember all of swan lake.”

Bucky rolled his eyes, “they weren’t tights…” he trailed off, glancing at Natasha who nodded, “.. okay maybe there were. But that’s not what we want to know,” he shrugged. Natasha nodded, sitting on the other side of Rose, “yeah. Please don’t deflect, I wanna know what’s bothering you,” she whispered, “if I can’t figure it out on my own, I need you to help me,” she added, gently squeezing the older woman’s hand, lifting it to her lips and kissing it.

“They were definitely tights,” she grumbled, watching her order progress bar on her phone until Nat took her hand and she was forced to look at her. 

“I uh. I am just apparently the only one who’s never been engaged,”’she said, limiting one shoulder in a shrug, looking at her own kneecap instead of Nat.

Natasha snorted, “they were. And you looked so cute too! They really made your ass pop.” Bucky groaned, “I won’t wear tights when I dance. It’ll either be what I sleep in or sweatpants,” he shrugged. Natasha bit her lip, “but the tights were so hot! Plus you could see everything!”

She frowned slightly as Rose wouldn’t look at her, “Princess, look at me a second,” she cooed softly. “We will propose to you at some point. It’s a given. But we aren’t gonna rush this. Me and Alicia were together for 12 years before she died. She proposed not long after this idiot put a bullet through my abdomen!” she said glaring at him. “Just be lucky I recognised you a little. It could’ve been a headshot. I went where it wouldn’t immediately kill you.” “Anyway. Me and James were together for like… 12 ish years. Me and Alicia were together for seven. Believe me, neither of us are gonna make you wait that long. We both know how life is unpredictable. But we will propose. Just when the time’s right.”

She frowned and nodded. “Yeah, okay,” she said, not really sure how she felt about the whole thing. “You don’t have to,” she said after a beat. “If you don’t want to. Like it would be okay.” 

It wouldn’t. She wasn’t really sure how she would make it okay, but she would tell them it was without hesitation because the only thing worse than being “un-marry-able” was only getting married because someone felt like they had to.

Bucky looked at Natasha, “you’ve thought about it too, right? Like when you end up head over heels for someone and you plot everything out in your head?” “Yeah, I’d be in a suit, she’d be in a long white dress and she’d look like a princess and I would probably die of happiness at the altar.” Bucky nodded, “evidently we’re on the same page. You would definitely rock a suit too.” 

Natasha kissed her cheek gently, “believe me when I tell you this, I will marry the socks off’a you! Then I’ll take you somewhere nice and hot and we’ll have cocktails on a beach. You, my dear, are my endgame.” Bucky snorted quietly, “when did you learn chess?” “You taught me, you idiot!”

“I would have the best wedding dress,” she admitted, smiling. She had thought about it more than once. Torn between the idea of something more modern versus what she had used to imagine, and what she had seen her friends pick before she wound up in Italy. 

“We don’t have to be married for a beach trip,” she finally said after being pulled back to the present by her phone buzzing in her lap to let her know their feast of a dinner was on its way to them. “But we can worry about that later, I guess.”

Natasha nodded, “oh money would not be a problem, you would get the best, most expensive dress you can find. I won’t scrimp out on making you look like an angel.” Bucky smiled, “would your suit be white or black?” Natasha bit her lip, “white, with a red tie. Bride wears white,” she shrugged, “both brides gotta wear white. You’d wear black.” 

Bucky chuckled quietly, “oh well if that’s the case, we will take you out some time.” Natasha nodded, “the Mediterranean is beautiful in the late spring.” The phone buzzing drew her attention and her stomach grumbled, “what movie do you wanna watch babygirl?” she whispered, “nothing horror related, I don’t want my pretty girl getting nightmares.”

“You could wear a tutu,” Rose teased, pressing a kiss to Bucky’s cheek before the comment about the Mediterranean in the spring dinged a bell in the back of her head. She chewed on her bottom lip while she swiped over on her phone to check the date before grinning. “Jim, it’s almost your birtthdaaaay. What, you’ll be about 200 now, huh?” 

At Nat’s question about the movie, she thought for a minute and looked between the two of them. “Lord of the Rings? It’s cozy. It’s adventure. Old man over here used to love the books.”

“I wouldn’t be caught dead in a tutu,” he shrugged as he rolled his eyes. Natasha grinned, “oh yeah? Old man Barnes. What are you now? 3000? God you’re so old,” she teased. Bucky groaned, looking between them both, “you’re both impossible!”

Natasha looked at Bucky, “remember that series I stole for you in the sixties after we ran? That was the lord of the Rings.” Bucky paused, “oh those! Yeah I remember. I forgot they’d made a sequel to the hobbit. Or prequel. It’s been a long time since I read it.” Natasha looked at Rose, then to Bucky, “it’s gonna be three hours. So if you need the bathroom, or a drink. Go now.” She was on the side closest the kitchen, so if she had to get up, she wouldn’t block the screen. And if she really needed to, she could hop over the back of the couch.

“You’ll love it,” she said, patting his leg as she snuggled up into his side, dragging his arm around her. She liked the weight of it, it was secure and comforting. And Nat had been right. He was like a furnace. 

As soon as they were settled in, a knock came to the door. “Lady Natasha,” Thor’s voice boomed through the door. “A man named Uber was trying to deliver food to Lady Roger’s, but Sir Jarvis said she was in here with you!”

Bucky kissed the top of her head gently, “I don’t trust that. You make me nervous at the best of times. Don’t plan anything too crazy,” he whispered. Natasha chuckled, “oh we’re gonna get fireworks with your face in them,” she teased. 

Bucky looked up as he heard the knock and Natasha picked up her knife off the table, she was still fuckin’ mad about Thor running off with Rose. She opened the door twirling it in her hand, “thanks Thor,” she said, stepping into the hall with him. “Just so we’re clear, you run off with her like that again without telling one of us she’s disappearing, I’ll gut you like a fish. You hear me?” she asked seriously as she took the food. “Thanks for the food, but seriously, warn one of us next time, we thought she’d been kidnapped!”

Rose kissed Bucky’s cheek before hopping to her feet. “I think I need to save the god of thunder from a woman a third his size,” she said with a grin before hurrying over to the door and pulling it open. 

“Heya big guy,” she said, waving at him as she opened the door. “Thanks for the food.” 

“Lady Rogers! How goes the prank!”

She grinned. “Well if it was still going, you would have just blown it. We will work on that later.”

Natasha tapped the tip of the knife against his chest as Rose came out, “it went well. Do it again, and I will hurt you. You’re a god, you’re not indestructible,” she whispered, twirling her knife in her fingers before flicking it into a board she had on her wall for when she wanted to throw a knife in her apartment. 

Bucky’s eyes widened as the knife flew past his head into a board on the wall, “the fuck was that?! You nearly took my head off!” he called out. Natasha flashed Thor another smile, taking the food inside, “it was nowhere near your head. Don’t be a baby.”

Rose grimaced and watched as Natasha went back inside. “Sorry, I’ll get you…I dunno. What does a god need? A new cape? I’ll talk to her,” she said backing into the apartment again before closing the door. 

Chapter Text

“You could have ducked,” Rose said to Bucky, shrugging and following Nat towards the kitchen. “This smells great,” she said, closing her eyes and sniffing. Natasha nodded, “see, our girl has a point! You have a neck. Duck next time.” She smiled, “Yeah it does. Can you get the plates,” she asked as she grabbed herself and Bucky a beer from the fridge, “you want a beer princess? Or do you want something else?”

“Cmon. Lo mein and then movie. Aragorn is the best part. I love a grimy man in leather and long hair.” She winked at Bucky as she said it. “How are you with a long sword?

Bucky rolled his eyes, “of course you’d have the hots for leather. Seriously though, leather and long hair does it for you?” Natasha snorted as she checked her twitter notifications, “keep him off of twitter. They’re currently thirsting over you and Steve fighting my in DC. Apparently someone recorded your knife flip. And your murder walk that you do. Fuck, that’s hot.” “Like that thing you do with your thighs! Seriously, I can’t believe you can do that.” At the mention of a long sword Natasha bit her lip, “he can’t use it, but he damn sure has one,” she winked, passing Bucky his and her beer for him to pop the caps with his thumb. Bucky rolled his eyes, popping the caps, “I can use it, thank you very much. But seriously, I am excellent with a sword. Much better with an axe but a sword will do.”

At the mention of beer, Rose perked up and shoved her hand into the pocket of her pajama shorts, pulling the small vial Thor had given her earlier. “I’ve got the good stuff,” she said, holding it up with a grin. Natasha raised an eyebrow, “he gave you that? You lucky little minx, he doesn’t like giving it to me. Says drunk me is too scary.”

Rose tilted her head backwards to look at the two of them. “He likes me because I gave him some shampoo someone sent me, but it’s better for blondes.”

Bucky frowned, “what’s going on?” “Thor has booze that actually gets us drunk and he won’t give me any. But he gives it to her.” Bucky paused, trying to compute what Nat had just said, “we can get drunk again?! That’s so cool. Remind me to get some of that from Thor.”

At the mention of people thirsting over her brother she faked gagging, taking her plate back towards the couch, and then realizing Nat, being a clean freak, might not like people eating on the couch. She sank down on three floor, her legs folding under her. “Please keep any comments about my brother away from me.” But then she found herself scrolling anyway, snorting at one of the posts. “Someone made a gif of you on a car and I now understand better how I got distracted when I was trying to knock you out,” she said, her head tilting to the side as she took a bit of noodles, leaving the gif on repeat as she watched it play over and over.

Natasha sat on the couch and handed Bucky his plate, “Princess, you don’t have to sit on the floor,” she whispered, “unless you are likely to spill, then please do. Cause cleaning a couch is a pain in the ass.” Bucky chuckled quietly, “I don’t think she was talking about Stevie, princess,” he teased. Natasha shook her head, “I wasn’t. They’re obsessed with the soldier. Some are saying they wanna be choked by the metal arm,” she chuckled. They both watched the gif on Rose’s phone, Natasha biting her lip and Bucky grimacing, “I really gotta stop doing that. It fucks my knees. I’m just lucky that car crumbled. If I’d done that in the war with a jeep, I’d have gone straight through the roof and smashed my knees when I hit the floor of the car.”

Rose took another bite of food and almost choked on a noodle before reaching behind her and grabbing his metal hand. “It does make a nice necklace,” she said, slipping the fingers around her throat again and grinning back at him from where she was on the floor, basically looking at him upside down.

Bucky bit his lip as he looked down at her, “you two are really bad for my brain,” he chuckled. Natasha smirked, “you weren’t saying that last night when she was making you come your brains out. Multiple times,” she shrugged, setting up the movie before moving onto eating as it began playing that first in the trilogy.

“Guilty,” Rose said, straightening up to watch the movie. “But not that you can do anything about it.” She popped the cork out of the small vial before taking a large sip out of it, a larger one that was probably smart. The shit was strong. She took another sip quickly before passing it back towards Bucky. Nat had mentioned having her own store of it already.

Bucky rolled his eyes, “you’re both trouble. And I love it but you’re really going to be the end of me,” he chuckled. He took a decent sip out of the bottle and smiled, “oh that is good.” Natasha put her half empty plate on the coffee table, rushing to the kitchen. She climbed on the counter to reach into the back of the cupboard and Bucky smirked, “you alright there shorty?” She managed to find the bottle of Thor’s magic booze and pulled it out. It wasn’t as big as a regular bottle of beer but it was bigger than the small vial. “Praise be to Odin for giving us this delicious beverage!” she grinned, taking a long sip. If they were gonna get fucked up tonignt, she would join them happily. “If either of you need to puke, use the toilet. I’m not cleaning this carpet. Red wine is bad enough.”

Rose grinned and slid back up onto the couch. The movie, despite it having been her idea, ceased to hold any importance in her mind as soon as the ale had its way with her brain, which was quicker than it had any right to be. She slipped into Bucky’s lap, which was quickly becoming her favorite spot to be, her knees on either side of his hips, her arms dropping around the back of his neck. 

“Good with a sword but better with an axe, huh?”

Bucky looked up at her as she sat in his lap, Natasha taking his empty plate with hers to the sink.  “I was trained in all weapons. Even know how to fire a canon and a tank,” he whispered. Natasha grinned from the kitchen, “should see him axe fight. It’s so hot. We had a job back in the fifties. Some crumby bunker outside of Berlin. Well the Nazis managed to revive the dead. It was grim. I ran out of ammo and he didn’t have much left. He just grabs and axe and starts swinging. It was so hot.”

“No one lets me have any weapons,” she said, her lips forming a small pout. “In the war, it was all “women can’t have guns, you’re a nurse. Oh wait. Now you’re a symbol, go dance on that stage.” She had only gotten to see combat a few times, all of which she had snuck out to follow Steve on. “Morita gave me a gun once and then DumDum took it away after one small incident involving thinking Falsworth might have been a squirrel.” She rolled her eyes.  It was probably for the best, she really hadn’t ever had the stomach for violence anyway. She had shot two people, not counting the incident with Falsworth. Both times she had puked, even if it had been warranted.

Natasha chuckled, “well me and James will be happy to teach you to shoot, even if you might not need it,” she whispered. “And you can always carry a gun with you if you need to, just promise me you’ll be careful?”

Bucky chuckled quietly, pressing a soft kiss to her lips, “breathe princess. You’re talkin’ at a million miles an hour!” Natasha took another swig from her bottle, “if I fucked Thor, do you think he’d give me a lifetime supply?” Bucky shook his head, “you’re not gonna fuck him. Don’t even think about it.” Natasha tapped her chin in thought, “bet his huge! I mean he’s a god! What if I blew him? Would that get me in trouble if it meant you got a lifetime supply of amazing booze?” she asked, her eyes not focused at all. Oh boy did she feel great!

Rose kissed him back, only pulling back when Nat mentioned trying to sleep with Thor. “Go try it. Let me know if it works. If it works, you win one free whatever you want.” She wasn’t worried about it, the god was so enamored with Jane that she was pretty sure he didn’t even register any other woman as a possible option.

When she put her attention back on the man whose lap she was in, she ducked her head to press her lips to his throat.

Natasha bit her lip, “I bet he’s so thick! Just stretches you in a good way,” she groaned. She looked at Bucky as she heard him whimper as Rose pressed her lips to his throat. “Suck on his pulse point Angel and scrape your teeth against it, he loves it!” she called out. Bucky bit his lip, “you two are so much trouble and I love it. Makes me feel weightless.”

Rose grinned against Bucky’s throat, her lips moving against it as she made her offer to Nat. “I can call for him if you’d like to try, he almost always comes for me.” She left the statement to hang there in the air, before dragging her teeth against the sensitive spot on the throat she was so focused on at the moment, able to feel exactly how much he enjoyed it. 

“Way better than an English forest, huh, sarge?”

Natasha bit her lip, thinking it over, she wouldn’t admit it sober but it wouldn’t be the first time she’d thought about it. Bucky still had his eyes closed but he could tell Natalia hadn’t moved, “you go out there for him and I’ll make sure you don’t come for a week!” he whispered before gently poking Rose, “and you, don’t encourage her bad behaviour.” His voice was shaky as she was kissing him but he managed to get the message across. Natasha smirked slightly, “is our sergeant getting a little worked up?” she whispered. Her eyes flicked to Rose, “why don’t you let him lay down and you can watch me suck his cock while you sit on his face,” she whispered, hearing Bucky moan at the thought.

Rose, who had officially started moving her hips against Bucky, trying to get any of him into her, heard Nat’s idea and it struck her with an idea. She had so much to learn. “Sit back, Jim,” she said, pushing on his shoulder before slipping back onto the floor, on her knees between his legs. 

Looking over at Nat, she licked her lips. “Or you could show me how.”

Bucky whimpered as she rolled her hips, staring at Natasha with excitement evident by the tent in his pants. Oh he could definitely get used to this. Natasha tapped his thigh gently and he lifted his hips for her so she could strip him off. He looked down at her, his mouth watering as she tied her hair back. He didn’t know how she made it so sensual but he loved it nonetheless. 

Natasha looked at Rose with a small smile, “he’s your first, isn’t he? Oh this is gonna be fun… James, don’t forget that she needs to breathe. I might be able to hold my breath for minutes at a time but she isn’t trained like us.” Bucky rolled his eyes, about to come up with a reply when she stroked him slowly, “just nod if you want to say yes, shake your head for no,” she whispered, speeding up a small bit before letting go. Natasha sat on her knees next to Rose, gently tying the older woman’s hair back, “pace yourself princess. If you need to breathe, pull back. If he has hold of your hair, tap his thigh.”

Rose nodded, getting slightly distracted by feeling the other woman’s fingers in her hair. As soon as it was up and out of her face, she turned back to the man on the couch, reaching a hand out to wrap her fingers around him. 

Of course she had seen him before this, but not quite up close. It was beautiful and she couldn’t stop herself from leaning forward to lick at the tip, before getting bold enough to drag her tongue up the length of him on the underside.

Bucky let out a shuddering moan as she licked the tip, his metal hand clenching and unclenching as she moved her tongue up his length. The smirk on Natasha’s face only grew, “when you take him in your mouth, you’ve gotta breathe through your nose,” she whispered. “When you get out of breath just stroke him… he likes it when you do both at once too,” she added. She left open mouthed kisses along his thigh, working her way up to his hip and then back down. “Just make sure you keep it wet and slick, nothing worse than trying to go down on someone with a dry mouth,” she murmured.

For what it was worth, Rose tried to indicate her understanding of what Nat said, but her mouth was a bit preoccupied by the time she tried. She had given him a few more licks before she parted her lips and dropped her open mouth down on him, doing her best to try and remember to breathe through her nose, but not doing great at that part.  She had to pull back after a few seconds to suck in a breath, laughing when a strand of her own saliva stayed connected to him, swatting it away.

Bucky bit his lip as he looked down at her, he could definitely get used to this. Natasha stroked Roses hair gently as she had her first try, chuckling quietly as the girl struggled to breathe. 

She saw the strand of saliva and licked it to catch it before gently taking Bucky into her mouth, keeping eye contact with him as she focused on the tip, stroking his shaft gently. The whole thing only lasted a minute before she pulled back. She didn’t want to make him come. She wanted to let Rose do it. “If you just take it slow. Don’t try and take his whole length. Just focus on the tip. Suck on it, use your tongue. Keep it slippery. Then when you’re ready just move down gradually. Don’t jump the gun cause you’ll choke,” she whispered.

“I can do it,” she said, swiping the back of her hand across her lips, her other hand replacing Nat’s. When she sank her mouth back down on him, she was proven so wrong and pulled back with a cough.  “Okay, nope, you were right,”she said, before leaning back to lick at his tip again, giving herself a second to recalibrate, her fingers stroking up and down him slowly.

Bucky ran his fingers through her fiery red locks with his metal hand, quite whimpers and moans tumbling from his lips as she worked his tip. Natasha could tell he was sensitive, he always was a little more sensitive the first time. She joined Rose flicking her tongue over his tip, almost kissing Rose around his cock, the subsequent moans that slipped from his lips proving that she was right that he’d enjoy this.

The hand that wasn’t wrapped around Bucky was placed firmly on his thigh as Rose adjusted herself to get better leverage. As soon as Nat joined her, she twisted her face and licked against the other woman’s lion before turning back to the task at hand. The noises he was making were enough to nearly turn her entirely feral. She pulled back enough to swirl her tongue around the tip of him before slowly wrapping her lips around him and trying again.

Natasha kept up her motions, looking up at him through hooded lashes. He didn’t know what to think anymore. Wasn’t even sure if his brain could come up with real words. 

As Rose went in for another try Nat pulled back, putting her hand on the older woman’s back encouragingly. Bucky moaned, feeling himself getting closer to the edge. “Fuck… so close… please don’t stop,” he breathed. Natasha kissed her cheek gently, “if you stroke him while he comes on your tongue, he’ll love that,” she whispered, “keep eye contact too.”

At Nat’s encouragement, she dragged her tongue up the underside of him, her fingers following at the same pace just behind her lips, before she settled back on her heels, her lips working his tip while her hand slid up and down his base. She glanced up at him from under her lashes, the faces he was making leading her to believe that she’d be able to do this everyday until she died

Bucky moaned loudly as his orgasm wracked through him, his eyes locked onto Rose’s. Fuck, Nat was a much better teacher than he thought. The woman in question smirked up at him from where she was knelt next to Rose, gently pulling her back by her chin when Bucky was done and kissing her slowly. The sight was almost enough to rile him up again. She had no intention of this being the last time he came tonight. 

As soon as he spilled into her mouth, she grinned and gave him a few more small licks before Nat had ahold of her face. “Hi,” she said against her lips, her face still stretched in a smile.

Natasha kissed her softly, “hi. You are so pretty,” she breathed, her eyes running over the older woman’s features. “You really should be a model. Your face is exquisite.” Natasha gently kissed Rose’s cheek, “get him hard again, I want him to make you come at least twice before he fucks my ass,” she whispered, winking at Bucky as she stood.

When Nat got up, her eyes widened and she looked over to see where she was going. “I heard you talking about that yesterday, I want to try that,” she said, her eyes sparkling.

Chapter Text

Upon Rose’s admittance, Natasha bit back a grin, “new plan. James, get a big towel from the bathroom. I don’t wanna get lube on my sheets,” she ordered softly before gently pulling Rose to her feet. “We’re gonna get you nice and warmed up for him first. You need to promise to use your words though. If you’re uncomfortable at any time or you want something to change, tell us,” she whispered. Bucky nodded, “she’s right. When we first tried this it took about half an hour of build up before she could take me. Lucky for you, Natalia became somewhat of an expert on how to get worked up to that point.” He laid a towel over the entirety of the bed, Natasha gently pulling Rose’s top off with a grin, “James, my lube is in my nightstand. In the bottom drawer,” she ordered. She got down on her knees, gently tugging the girls lower garments down and throwing them with her top and underwear as Bucky pulled off his shirt. He lifted the hair away from back of Natasha’s neck as he kissed it, reaching around with the metal arm to tear her shirt down the front and throw it to the side. Her trousers and underwear saw a similar fate, her outfit on the floor ruined. “Do you think you can handle my fingers while you work her up to take me?” he whispered in her ear as his metal fingertips grazed her clit, a shiver running through her.

Rose watched Nat’s face as she explained things, like making sure she spoke up if she needed to, and nodded. Then she was being undressed and she caught sight of Bucky pulling his shirt off and her brain stopped.  She might have just had the man in her mouth, but James Barnes shirtless would always stop her in her tracks. Watching him come up behind Nat and rip her clothes off and whisper in her ear had her ready to melt already. 

Natasha smiled as Rose froze, “he’s pretty huh? Little pretty boy,” she cooed, tapping his cheek gently. Bucky blushed lightly, throwing the Russian onto the bed, “are you gonna be good? Cause I’ll restrain you if you aren’t careful,” he warned and she gasped mockingly. “Oh no a big strong super soldier wants to tie me up and have his way with me, what ever shall I do?"

“What do I do?” Rose asked, sounding more breathless than she expected.

The (ex)-winter soldier rolled his eyes, gently pulling Rose into his arms, “you’re gonna lay on your front. Poke your ass a little into the air and Natalia is gonna work you up so that I can fuck you lster. But while she works you up, I’m gonna prep her. Maybe if she’s a good girl, she might make you wear a strap so we could both fuck her,” he whispered and Natasha whimpered at the thought. She’d never been fucked by two people. The most she’d had was James in her ass and then a few of his fingers in her pussy. Which was amazing, don’t get her wrong. But 2 cocks? That was a dream she’d had for a long while. She looked at them both seriously, “I will beg if I have to! Please?”

Bucky kissed Rose softly, “why don’t you lay down and let Natalia get to work and maybe, if she’s lucky, we can reward her after I fuck you senseless.”

Rose leaned up on her toes, pressing her bare front against him as he kissed her. “You are already making me senseless,” she breathed, before stepping back and bending down to crawl across the bed towards Nat. Once she made it to the top of the bed, she stretched out, leaning down so her elbows were under the pillows, but her knees were still pressed into the mattress as her ass was up slightly, wiggling in the air.  “Keep begging, and I’ll consider it,” she said with far more authority than the situation warranted considering she had no clue how to go about doing anything that Nat was wanting.

Bucky smirked, swatting her ass gently as she stepped away. And Natasha bit her lip at the sound, “some other time you’ll have to use my paddle. Want you to tan my ass.” She sat up as Rose crawled up the bed, kissing her softly before shuffling a little down the bed to grab the bottle of lube Bucky had left on top of her bedside table. 

She squeezed a little onto Rose’s hole, then a little on her fingers, “sorry, it’s a little cold. I promise it’ll warm up soon,” she whispered as she gently and very slowly pushed her finger into her. 

Bucky grabbed the lube squeezing a little onto Natalia’s ass, running his metal finger over her hole, “you fucking asshole! Why the metal one?!” she shrieked, the cold feeling running a shiver through her.

Rose squirmed at the feel of something slick and cold against her skin, about to voice the fact it was cold before Nat was already acknowledging it and then oh. Something was pushing into her in an entirely new way, it felt…odd. But good. 

She let out a loud breath through her nose before sucking on more air. When Nat shrieked, it caused her finger to move in a way that sent Rose face first into the pillow, a low groan spilling over her lips, an “oh my god” following it quickly.

Natasha kissed the older woman’s lower back, gently pushing the finger into her with a smile, “doing great for me angel. Really good,” she praised softly. She thrust the finger in her gently, wanting to make sure she was careful as to not overdo it too quickly. 

As Rose groaned she curled her finger slightly, knowing like the g-spot there was a similar erogenous zone in the ass. “That a good oh my god, or a bad one?” she whispered. Bucky pushed his finger into the Russian who moaned similarly, “oh I’m sure it was good. You make the same noises,” he teased, thrusting his finger in her gently, the redhead quickly accommodating him. “I think it’s rather cute you’re teaching her all this. Like a good mommy,” he cooed and Natasha cringed, “please never call me that again,” she grimaced. He nodded, “roger that Milaya. Ha Roger,” he snorted, proud of his own joke.

“Hmmm?” Rose asked at the sound of her last name. “Wha” she was about to push herself back up on her elbows to look back at him before whatever Nat was doing had her back in the pillows, babbling a series of “oh my gods” and “yes” and “please.”

When she realized what Nat had asked her, she nodded, doing her best to try and tell her that it was in fact a good one. She hoped her message was clear because she knew her words were not.

Bucky smirked slightly at the redhead’s confusion, “aw look at her Natalia, she’s so cute!” he cooed, Natasha nodding in earnest. “Yeah she is. Our pretty princess,” she whispered. When she thought the time was right she gently added a second finger, splitting them apart as she thrusted in and out. Bucky did a similar action to Natasha, earning a delighted groan from the redhead as she rest her forehead against Rose’s lower back.

“Fuck I’ve missed this,” she sighed. Bucky smiled slightly, “you and your girl never did this?” “Oh all the time. But it feels different with the metal hand,” she whispered. As he curled his fingers again her thighs quivered and he smirked, “you’re so easy to get a reaction out of,” he teased, earning a glare from the Russian. “Well excuse me for enjoying myself,” she grumbled, her faux anger being met with the sergeant slowly adding a third finger. Natasha moaned at the stretch, “James… fuck,” she breathed out, trying to tell in how she felt but she had a feeling he knew. She gently scissored the fingers inside of Rose, trying to stretch her out a little. “James, can you pass me the little purple toy out of my bag?” she asked nodding to the duffel bag that was sat close to the bed. The soldier gently pulled his fingers from her, bringing the bag closer and laying it on the bed next to her so she had all the access to toys she wanted before resuming his position with his fingers. “Angel, we’re gonna take really good care of you,” she whispered lowly.

The praise from behind her only served to tighten the muscles in her stomach, ripping another low moan from her throat. Whatever Nat had started doing had her hips moving rhythmically against the hand between her legs while Rose did her best to remember to breathe. 

She was brought back to the present by Nat talking in her ear, promising her something that she wanted. “Yes,” she pleaded, finally managing to turn her head to look at the two behind her. “I trust you.” Or at least that’s what she tried to say, even if it came out a bit mumbled.

Natasha smiled as Rose moved her hips, curling her fingers gently, “so good for me princess, my favourite girl,” she whispered. She took the toy Bucky had gotten out for her and lubed it up, gently pushing it in with a smile, the flared base holding it in place as she kissed the small of Rose’s back. Bucky looked at her with a confused expression, “you couldn’t use your fingers?” Natasha shook her head, pressing a button on the base of the toy causing it to vibrate intermittently. “I could do. But my fingers don’t vibrate,” she grinned. 

Bucky smiled as Rose said she trusted Nat, the redhead blushing slightly at Rose’s words. She searched through her bag, finding a small bullet vibrator, turning it on with a grin. Her hand moved to the back of Rose’s hip, gently pushing her down a little, “lay down a little more princess. I’m gonna make you feel so good,” she whispered gently putting the vibe against the older woman’s clit, using the girls body weight to hold it in place. She moved back to the toy in Rose’s ass, gently thrusting it with a grin, “you think you’ll be able to go a little bigger?” she asked. The little purple dildo was only just bigger than two of her fingers.

When Nat pulled her fingers out, she whined, only to pant slightly when she pushed something slightly larger back in, which had her swaying her hips again. Then it started buzzing and her face was back into the pillows, muffling the noises that only grew in frequency and pitch when Nat put another buzzing thing in front of her. 

“Mhmm” was the most she could do to indicate her agreement to anything more, as she was too busy having her brain scrambled. It was hard to think that there could be more but there was.

Natasha smirked down at her, “you’re doing so well for me angel. Taking me so fuckin’ good,” she husked softly. She pulled out a toy a little thicker and a little longer than her fingers, gently pushing it into Rose’s ass. “You are doing so well for us baby,” she whispered softly. She thrust the toy gently, reaching around to turn up the vibe under the older woman’s clit. 

Bucky looked down at the two, biting his lip, Natasha could tell he was excited, not just by the fact he was hard as a rock. He added a third finger into Nat’s ass and she moaned loudly, pushing back against him with a shudder. She bit her lip as she looked at Rose, “do you think you’d be able to take a dildo while I fill your ass? Or will that be too much?” she asked softly.

Oh god. She really had meant more, hadn’t she? It took a second for Rose to really get her head wrapped around the question before she was nodding, using her hands to press up off of the pillows a bit more. “Yeah,” she said, her voice a little wobbly. “Yeah I want to try that.” 

She honestly would have tried anything they asked her to in that moment, as long as they kept telling her what a good job she was doing about it.

Natasha smirked slightly, pulling out a toy a similar size to James, but it could vibrate. She pushed it into Rose with a smile, keeping the bullet vibe where it was as she turned on the vibrator in her pussy. “You’re so good for us Milaya, taking me so well,” she breathed, going back to thrusting the toy in her ass. 

Bucky pulled his fingers out of Natasha, grabbing a condom and putting it on before squeezing some lube on his length and stroking himself. She whimpered at the feeling of being empty only to moan loudly as Bucky pushed his length into her, fucking her into the mattress. “Fuck! James, warn a girl next time!” she moaned, trying to keep up her motions with the toy in Rose’s ass. Her heart pounding as Bucky gently wrapped his right hand around her throat, pulling her to sit up a little. “Fuck, Natalia. Always such a good little slut for me,” he breathed. She nodded, “James, let me get the harness. Fuck me into her!” she whispered and he slowed down, pulling out of her as she pulled the harness on before picking a toy a similar size to the one Rose currently had in her ass, pulling out the one she’d got in at the moment and discarding it with the other used toys. 

Natasha kissed the back of Rose’s shoulder gently, “tell him if you need him to slow down, cause I’m not gonna have much control over my movements,” she chuckled, pushing into Rose’s ass.

Rose whined she felt something push into her, so big and then it was vibrating too and she was seeing stars, whimpering into the pillows as she felt her orgasm roll through her body. 

She had barely recovered from the first one before Nat was pushing something slightly larger into her, too. Between the vibrating both in and on her pussy, and Nat stretching her ass around more plastic, she was thrown full force into a second orgasm, more incoherent cries being yanked from her throat as her fingers curled around the sheets below her. 

This had to be what it was like to die and go to heaven.

Natasha smiled down at Rose as she came, stroking her hair gently, “look at you, so good for us,” she whispered, “so good.” 

As Bucky began moving Natasha moaned roughly, his hand around her throat tightening. She worked her hips in time with his thrusts, her first orgasm creeping up on her before her thighs shook and she was barely holding herself above Rose by her arms. Her second orgasm wasn’t too far behind as Bucky began thrusting more roughly, getting closer to his peak. Natasha looked up at him as he held her throat, “harder James… need more,” she breathed, her moans turning into breathy whimpers and barely audible gasps as the soldier in question doubled his efforts to push her for a third orgasm before his own climax washed over him, a low moan falling from his lips as he thrust to completion.

By the time Bucky was moaning through his orgasm, Rose could have been considered nothing more than a woman shaped puddle on the bed, having lost track of what was happening to her, whether it had been a string or orgasms or just the same one rolling over her again and again. 

She barely managed to open her eyes, shifting her hips slightly only for that to result in Nat being pushed further into her which had her whimpering into the pillows again. “I’m never going to be productive ever again.”

Natasha whimpered as Bucky pulled out of her, panting to herself as she held herself up with her arms. She really needed to do that more often, the harness always hit her clit perfectly. 

She snorted as Rose pushed back into her and whimpered, gently pulling out of the redhead as Bucky tied off the condom and threw it in the trash. “You two look like you’ve just run a marathon,” he teased. Natasha rolled her eyes, “well maybe if you hadn’t fucked the life outta me, I might be a little more active,” she murmured, closing her eyes for a moment to slow her heart rate. “Amen to that angel,” she breathed, “so I take it you like anal then?” Oh she had a few ideas for the future. Alicia had bought her a vibrating buttplug for Christmas a few years back that she’d loved to use. She bet Rose would enjoy that.

As soon as Nat was out of her, she was whining, but managed to roll over onto her back, her arm dropping over her stomach as she tried to get her breathing back in order. “I liked that,” she said, “and would definitely do it again.” 

As soon as Bucky was moving back towards the bed, she reached out her hand for him, hoping to pull him down beside her. “Come here,” she pouted. “I’m cold.”

Natasha smiled slightly, “if you ever just wanna surprise one of us, I have a few buttplugs you can wear to keep yourself stretched out,” she smiled. She gently pulled the vibrator out of Rose’s pussy licking it clean with a grin before laying it with the other used toys to be cleaned when she could be bothered to move. 

Bucky smiled, cuddling against her, “you’re actually cold. Damn your serum is so strange,” he chuckled. Natasha smiled, “but very useful. We just gotta work on your stamina and we’d be able to fuck all night,” she grinned.

“Blame Falsworth,” Rose said, with a yawn, pointing the toes of one of her feet, stretching her leg and groaning as she did so before dropping it down across Bucky’s legs. “He’s the one who got shot and it’s his fault I got shot and had to get it in the first place.” She dropped her head onto the pillows, cuddling between the two of them. 

“Gimme like ten minutes and a Red Bull,” she said, her eyelids heavy even as she said it.

Natasha chuckled quietly, “well I’m gonna have to make a Time Machine and thank the guy for helping bring you to this century,” she smiled. Bucky rolled his eyes, “it’s your fault you got shot! He got hit in the shoulder, he was fine. You on the other hand slid into open fire like a moron,” he teased. 

Bucky stroked her hair gently, “you’re fine princess. Sleep if you need it. We’ve got plenty of time to have more fun.” Natasha nodded, standing slowly and grabbing all the toys they’d used, “I’m gonna clean these and bring her a warm towel to clean her up with. James, just keep her warm,” she smiled before taking all the toys into the bathroom and cleaning them.

“I knew you’d keep me safe,” she mumbled, snuggling harder into his side. “Always did. Even with dad.” It was when she knew he was the one for her. It had been two weeks before her fourteenth birthday and her dad had come over to see Steve and try to make her go to dinner with him. She had spent the whole time locked in her room, when she heard Bucky show up and get her dad out of the house. She didn’t know if he knew she’d been home when he did it, they never really talked about it.

Bucky frowned slightly, “you heard all that?” he asked quietly. He remembered that day like it was yesterday, “I coulda killed him,” he whispered. A part of Bucky wished he’d done it a long time before he had been caught but he knew he’d gotten his chance after the war between missions. “Do you know how he died? After the war? You ever read up on him?” he asked quietly. He didn’t know if he should tell her but he felt like it was the right thing to do.

“He was there for my birthday,” she said, with a frown. “Never managed to get it quite right and when mom told him he was two weeks early, he tried to see Stevie who was sleeping.” She slid her hand across his chest and pressed a kiss to his shoulder. “I was hiding in my room. I hated dinners with him, we always went somewhere gross with some of his friends that always looked at me weird.”

When he asked what she knew, she shook her head. “Never bothered to care, I don’t know he knew what happened to me and Steve, either.”

Bucky nodded, “dude was messed up in the head. Me and your Ma saw it early on. He’d get slips in memory, his anger would flash over. I think the war had really fucked with him,” he said quietly. Bucky’s father had died not long after the war. Becca never knew why, his Ma had told him when he was ten. He couldn’t tell Becca cause he knew it would crush her that their father had ended his own life. He wrapped his arm around her gently, “he had the worst friends.”

“He died in 1947. Under mysterious circumstances,” he shrugged, “poker game gone bad apparently. The few friends who were there got beatings too. Joseph died of asphyxiation from a crushed windpipe.”

For some reason, the news comforted her. If her father was really dead, there’d be no chance of him coming back again. She pressed another kiss to his shoulder. “See? Always kept me safe,” she said with another yawn. “I love you, Jim. Since two weeks before my fourteenth birthday.” 

It didn’t take long for her to let the sleep take over after that. It had been a long, dramatic, confusing past few days.

Bucky stroked her hair gently, “I’d die for you milaya. You mean more to me than you’ll ever know,” he whispered as she fell asleep in his arms. Natasha walked back in, looking at the two with fond smile. She folded the damp handtowel and left it on the nightstand, climbing in next to Rose with a smile, curling up against her with a yawn. Bucky reached over Rose to squeeze Nat’s hand gently, an unspoken gesture of his love. The Russian falling asleep not too long after Rose. All the fighting and sex over the last few days had been exhausting. It didn’t help she’d not slept since before she and Rose went to France. Bucky closed his eyes, knowing the risk. He knew that he might not sleep. That the nightmares could take over. That he could wake up as the soldier but he tried to sleep anyway, knowing Nat and Rose would pull him back if he began to slip into old habits. Lucky for him tonight they wouldn’t need to.

Chapter Text

Rose wasn’t sure how long she’d been sleeping by the time she was sitting upright in the bed, panting and looking around, frantically. It had happened again. She had mostly gotten past it, the nightmare where she was on the edge of a mountain, watching a train drive under them, before suddenly realizing she was in a plane heading face first into frozen ground. It usually only happened when her sleep schedule was messed up, which it had been over the past few days.

Her heart was pounding in her chest as she realized where she was and why she wasn’t freezing in her own bed.

Natasha grumbled quietly in her sleep as she felt Rose sit up, her arm gently tugging on the older woman with a murmur. Her pillow had just disappeared and she wasn’t happy about it. She was awfully needy when she was sleepy but if anyone ever accused her of such, she’d deny it to her last breath. Only Bucky knew how needy she could be but the soldier in question was still out for the count, enjoying his first peaceful night’s sleep in decades.

As soon as she realized where she was, she slipped back into her spot, not entirely sure she would have been able to extricate herself from the middle of the bed anyway. “Sorry,” she said, settling back in, trying her best to slow her own heart rate and try to get some more sleep. It didn’t go her way, though, and she wound up staring at the ceiling for about 45 minutes before she got an idea. 

Rose rolled over onto her stomach and slid a few inches down the bed. It was time to practice.

Natasha murmured happily as the older woman laid back down, kissing her shoulder in approval. Bucky rolled onto his back, snoring quietly for less than a moment before Natasha whacked his nose and the snoring stopped, almost like she’d done it a lot over their relationship. Apparently it worked out well considering it always stopped the snoring and she always managed to stay asleep.

Rose slid down a little bit further, having been blessed with great access since Bucky chose then to roll over, and she was very pleased to not have been between the two when Nat whacked him in the face. 

Licking her lips, she pressed a gentle test kiss to the top of his hip bone. When he didn’t stir too much, she went about making her way further down until she made it to her goal, reaching out to run the tip of her tongue across the head of him.

Bucky whispered incoherently in his sleep as she kissed his hip but didn’t wake. Upon discovering Rose had disappeared, sleepy Nat rolled to lay her head on Bucky’s chest, her feet curled up close to her. Bucky breathed shakily in his sleep as she touched the tip with her tongue, his dreamless sleep suddenly playing the events of last night in his mind, especially Rose’s blowjob. He wasn’t expecting her to pick it up as quickly as she did. But oh wow did he enjoy it.

If the stiffening that was happening under her lips was any indication that she was doing okay, she’d take it, dragging her tongue up him slowly. She wasn’t sure if she wanted him to wake up, she was having quite a bit of fun learning what would make him twitch. 

It was her own fault, really, when she wound up choking again. She hadn’t gone easy or slow about it, and found herself sitting back and coughing. So much for stealthy.

Bucky moaned quietly in his sleep, his metal hand clenching against his side. When Rose started choking, Natasha blinked open to see Bucky still asleep and Rose laid between his legs. A small smirk crossed her lips as she looked at the redhead, gently shifting off of Bucky to join her, kissing her cheek gently. 

Her eyes kept flicking up at Bucky to make sure he was still asleep, “don’t go too deep or you choke,” she murmured, “you’ll have to work on your gag reflex if you wanna take him whole one day.”

“Yeah, I’m finding where that limit is,” she said, dragging the back of her hand across her mouth. “It’s…a lot,” she said with a grin. “Which is great but also, a lot.”

Rose sucked in a deep breath and got back to work, only going so far as the tip, or just past for now. She’d work on getting more into her mouth later. Another day. They had all the time in the world, now.

Natasha nodded slightly, “I know. It took me a while too,” she whispered. The grin she’d had when she finally managed to take him whole had been huge. She’d been so proud of herself. 

She gently stroked the younger woman’s hair, watching her with a small smile. It was an odd feeling, to watch the man you love getting a blowjob from a woman you also loved. It wasn’t a bad feeling, just something she wasn’t used to.

Rose leaned into Nat’s touch, craved it, almost, the comfort of all of it. A few days ago, the woman had been her best friend and then just a few hours ago, she had her fingers inside of her. It had been a whirlwind.  Another long lick up him and she found her fingers curling into the skin on his upper thigh, her nails making small crescent shaped indents.

Natasha kissed her temple gently, she really did wonder how she’d got here. Not that she’d ever complain. She gently braided the older woman’s hair as she licked James, smiling to herself. 

As she dug her nails into his thigh, Bucky blinked his eyes open and bit his lip at the sight. “Well, if I’d known I’d be getting this sight first thing in the morning, I’d have woken up sooner,” he chuckled.

At the sound of his voice, Rose looked up, the tip of him still in her mouth, her lips wrapped around him. She grinned and pulled back enough to be able to speak. “Had a bad dream. Couldn’t sleep. Figured this was a better use of my time than counting the ceiling tiles.”

Bucky smiled down at her, “well, don’t stop on my account. Clearly you were enjoying yourself,” he teased. Natasha crawled up the bed to kiss him softly, “look at our girl, so beautiful. She’s been working so hard! She deserves a reward for all her good work,” she whispered.

She gave small little kitten licks to the very tip of him, before grinning when Nat spoke. “As a completely independent third party with no personal gain in the matter, a reward is always a good idea,” she said, before wrapping her lips around him again.

He bit his lip, moaning quietly as she wrapped her lips around him. Natasha leant her head on his chest looking down at her with a smile, “a reward is a good idea. What would you like princess? You want to sit on his face or ride him?” she whispered.

Rose bobbed her head a few times as she considered her answer, before pulling off of him and sitting up slightly. She scooched up just enough so that her knees were on either side of his hips. “I do think his lap is my new favorite spot to be.”

Bucky looked up at her from where she was kneeling and smiled, “the floor is yours princess. Take what’s yours,” he whispered. Natasha kissed her chest gently, working her way up to the redhead’s neck, sucking a hickey onto her skin, “so beautiful for us milaya.”

“Less so if you keep bruising me,” she said with a laugh. She pressed her palms flat against Bucky’s abdomen and used that as leverage to lift herself up just enough before sinking down onto him, her lips parting in a groan as she did so, her head tilting back.

Natasha shook her head, “you look beautiful always. Bruised or marked, you’re always beautiful to us,” she whispered, smiling as Rose groaned. Bucky let out a quiet moan, “you two are incredible. How did I get so lucky?”

“Musta done something right in past life, sarge,” she said, shifting her hips to adjust to the feeling of him inside of her, not noticing how her accent dived back into Brooklyn. It had to be combination of his dick scrambling her brain and the general lack of sleep.

“Or you’re just an amazing person and you deserve everything good that happens to you?” he whispered softly. Natasha gently guided her hips with a smirk, “I think our sarge needs a good seeing to. Why don’t you show him just how good you can take him,” she whispered lowly.

“It’s not a secret that I think you’re wonderful,” she said, letting Nat move her hips gently before she found a rhythm that had small moans rolling over each other past her lips as she moved. “So good,” she managed to get out.

Bucky smiled, his metal hand resting on her waist as Natalia guided her hips. “Da, doing so good for us princess,” he whispered. He knew at this rate he wouldn’t last forever, her work while he was asleep had helped spur him on a lot.

As she continued to rise and drop in a repeated rhythm, she kept her eyes on his face, learning how it reacted to each movement. She loved everything it did, biting her own lip in a mirror of his expression. “Jim,” she breathed, her fingers running over his chest as she moved.

Bucky took one of her hands, kissing it gently, “don’t stop. Please… fuck.. I’m so goddamn close,” he breathed. Natasha watched them with a smile, last night had been a lot more rough and vigor, this was a lot more passionate and cute. “Go on Jamie, you’ve been so good for us. Let go,” she whispered, nipping at his earlobe gently before he moaned breathily, his orgasm running through him. She could have gotten drunk on the feeling that moment gave her. It was perfect, there in the quiet of the morning, the soft light of the sun pouring in around them.

At his release, she bent at the waist, her hips still dragging up and down as she pressed her mouth to his, moving one of her own hands to hold back the wave of red hair that fell down around their faces as she did so. If she had possessed the power of mind to say “I love you,” she would have, but as it was, she could already feel herself falling apart at the seams. So she let herself fall apart.

He looked up at her with a fond smile, sighing against her lips as she kissed him. If he could, he’d have every morning be like this. Just him and his girls. His hand reached out for Natasha, pulling her to cuddle with him as he felt Rose flutter around him, moaning against her lips. Natasha kissed his cheek, “you’re both so sweet.. could watch you two all day,” she sighed.

Rose finally collapsed on top off him, half on James and half on Nat as she panted. “That certainly got rid of the nightmare,” she said, snuggling between the two of them and burying her face into Nat’s neck.

“Misses Romanoff and Rogers and Mr. Barnes,” a voice came from…wherever it was JARVIS was. “A large part of the team has gathered for breakfast in the communal dining room.”

Bucky stroked her back gently, “next time you have a nightmare, wake me,” he whispered, “or do that again. Whichever you think will help. But I don’t want you to suffer in silence,” he whispered softly. Natasha kissed her cheek gently, “he’s right, if you’re ever going through shit, tell us,” she reiterated. 

Bucky jumped slightly at the voice, “how does he know who’s in here? Is there cameras in here?” he asked quietly. Natasha kissed his shoulder gently, “no, there aren’t any in the apartments. Only in the corridors. So he can tell who has entered rooms.” “How does he know who I am? The soldier was a ghost.” Natasha snorted, running her fingers through his hair idly, “cause he’s got good facial recognition, and you have a very pretty and memorable face…. Ugh, do we have to get up,” she sighed. Bucky looked at Rose, “do you still need a coffee first thing in the morning?” he smiled, “please tell me the stuff here is better than the sludge we had in the war,” he shuddered.

“JARVIS,” Rose groaned, throwing her arm over her face. “Please put in several orders of giant pancakes, one caramel macchiato, one giant iced coffee with extra espresso and…” she turned to look at Bucky and ran her eyes over his face for a second, before continuing “one black coffee with two creams and two sugars, and let everyone know we’ll be down in a few.” 

“Very well, Ms Rogers.”

“I will…have to go back to my own room,” she said, sitting up and pulling the blanket with her. “I only have pajamas over here.”

She looked between Nat and Bucky with a grin. “And then we go shopping?”

Bucky smiled as she placed their order, “you remember my coffee order?” he whispered. Natasha snorted quietly, “you had two creams and sugars? Oh Russia really deprived you, huh? You only used to drink it black when we had coffee. Little did I know you put sugar in your coffee! I would’ve stole some sugar for you!” He shrugged, “I didn’t really remember much. Plus black coffee was just more efficient to drink and get moving."

Natasha shook her head, “I’ve got spare clothes here sweetheart.” Truthfully she still had a lot of Alicia’s clothes in her closet. She liked the oversized stuff and it would probably fit Rose. Bucky grimaced, “I’m not going to have anything to wear.” “That’s where you’re wrong, wait here,” she whispered. 

She sprang up, leaving her apartment and breaking into Steve’s cause she knew he went for a run early and then read the paper in the communal area. The guy really acted his age at times. She stole a pair of blue jeans, a U.S. army T-shirt and a flannel shirt, running back to her place and leaving them at the end of the bed. “Stole all the stuff Steve doesn’t wear. Well, he wears the jeans. But the shirts he doesn’t. And you’ll be fine in your combat boots. We really need to get you some new boots. They’re too military.” Bucky scoffed quietly, “practical Talia, they’re practical.”

The two assassins nodded at Rose’s question, “yeah. Need to get this asshole some furniture… speaking of, I need to speak to Stark about securing a room for him. And then we can get lunch and maybe do some clothes shopping. If we’re going to that charity gala, we can’t leave James here on his own,” she grinned. “Plus the soldier looks dashing in a tux.”

“I’m not sure how I feel about you wearing my brothers clothes after you fucked me stupid,” she said, grinning as she finally climbed out of the bed, her muscles opposing the whole time. She stood in front of the mirror by the closet, standing up on her toes and stretching her arms over her head as she stretched, groaning as something popped. 

When they were younger, there was no way Bucky would have ever fit into Steve’s clothes, so it wasn’t something she had to consider. “But you do look so good in a suit.” She remembered her ma’s funeral. She had just turned sixteen. Becca had sat next to her the entire time, with Steve on her other side and Bucky on the other side of Steve. She had thought about kissing him then. To let him know how she felt, that she didn’t want to wait until one of them was having a funeral, any sort of comfort, anything. 

It didn’t take long before she had pulled on a pair of black leggings and a slouchy grey sweater. Her hair was such a wreck, it wasn’t worth even trying to do anything with it, so she twisted it up into a messy bun on the top of her head. “Good enough.”

Bucky rolled his eyes, “listen, if I could walk everywhere naked without gettin’ arrested, I would,” he chuckled, “but sadly that’s not an option.” He whistled as Rose stood, not exactly being subtle about ogling her body. Natasha was practically drooling at the older woman before throwing Bucky’s clothes at him, “get dressed. I need coffee.”

He chuckled quietly and Natasha smirked, “you should see the dresses we picked out. You’ll be dying when we show you,” she grinned. She was rather proud of her choice for Rose and Rose’s choice for her. “Mine is emerald green and hers is blue. You’ll love them.”

Natasha rolled her eyes as Rose put her hair in a bun, “Angel, if you need me to brush it and braid it, I can do,” she smiled. Bucky looked at her, “you remember when you used to cut my hair? You were really good at that.” Nat chuckled quietly, “well I was trained in hairdressing. It was the only time I got a chance to use it. And even then it was just the occasional trim.” Bucky got dressed, pulling the flannel over the T-shirt before shrugging it off and just tying it around his waist. He’d leave his arm uncovered till they went out. 

Natasha opted for a tank top and zip up jacket with a pair of skinny jeans, “y’know, we should see about doing something with that vest of yours. It’s practical but so eighties,” she teased. Bucky rolled his eyes, “you don’t touch my vest. It’s fine the way it is. Everything has a pocket. I’m not improving something for the sake if it,” he shrugged as he grabbed the door for them, only just noticing the growing bruise on Natalia’s neck.

“It’s fine for breakfast and shopping,” Rose said swatting away Nat’s concerns about her hair. She was more focused on trying to adjust the neckline of the sweater she was wearing to better hide the developing down her neck where Nat had essentially tried to eat her. 

“I’m also not opposed to you walking around naked all the time, but I’d have to kill some people, which I just don’t feel like dealing with.”

She would also have to find some time in the next day or so to go to the nail salon and get her nail fixed. She should probably also go see Bruce after everything that happened, just for a once over. But first…

“Pancakes” she said, her nose crinkling and relaxing as she caught the smell of breakfast.

Chapter Text

Natasha grinned, already being able to smell the food as they walked to the communal area. Clint looked up as he saw them coming in, sliding Nat a newspaper, “thought you’d wanna check that.” She read the headline and scoffed, “seriously? That’s what they go with? You leak your entire life onto the net and that’s what they’re using?” she chuckled dryly. “He was a dick, guy was making jabs about Alicia. I wasn’t taking that. So what if I broke his nose? Guy was lucky I didn’t kill him,” she shrugged, thinking back to when she’d punched the guy while her and Rose had gone for coffee.

Rose stood up on her toes and peered over Nat’s shoulder to look at the paper, a grin on her face. “He deserved it,” she said, shrugging and reaching for her coffee before hopping onto the counter, her feet swinging. 

“Anyone wanna tell me why the Winter Solider is just in the kitchen?” 

“Morning, Tony,” Rose said, batting her lashes. “Thanks for the pierogis.”

“Yeah, and I got the bill for whatever you did to the bathtub and it looks like I just found the answer.” She shrugged again, the grin still on her face. “He’s pretty and we wanna keep him.”

Bucky glanced at Tony, “that might’ve been my fault,” he murmured and Natasha chuckled, “the shower definitely was your fault.” Clint turned his hearing aids down, “I don’t need to hear this shit. Seriously, Nat? Damaging a shower?” Bucky chuckled, “she’s got a much harder back than I remember.” 

Natasha nodded as Rose spoke, squeezing Bucky’s ass as she slipped past him, “we will keep him. No matter what you say Stark. He’s got skills and knowledge we need. Especially since Hydra isn’t actually gone.” 

Clint grimaced slightly, “you remember after New York when we handed the scepter over… who was it we gave it to?” “Strike team Alpha… Fuck,” she groaned, realization dawning on her. Bucky ate a pancake with a shrug, “I mean would it be hard to find? I know of a few places. Though a lot of them will be abandoned now. But there are a few. Austria is a good shout. There’s a few doctors there who like doing freaky shit,” he shuddered. Natasha glanced at him, “1956?” “And eight.” Clint groaned, looking between them both, “you both just talk in locations and years? No background?” Nat shrugged, “we both lived it. No need to fluff out a conversation when we both know we’re on the same page.”

Rose looked at her knuckles before holding her hand out for Clint. “I broke Rumlow’s nose,” she said with a grin. “And Rollins is dead.” She looked over Tony’s shoulder as Bruce filtered into the kitchen as well, before he grabbed a mug and went about making himself a tea.

Clint grinned, fist bumping her, “see Cap, this is why your sister needs proper training! She kicks ass! Let Nat train her. I’d do it but Barnes scares me and Rose would snap me in two.”

Chewing on her lower lip, Rose slid the sleeve up on her right arm. “Hey Bruce,” she said quietly. “Uhm. Rumlow gave me something he called vitamins but I don’t know that it was, is there any chance you’d be willing to check things over?”

The doctor’s eyebrows furrowed and nodded before lifting his mug in Bucky’s direction. “Should also check out the new boyfriend, too, just to see what we can find out about what they did to him.” 

Rose twisted to look over at Bucky. “He may not like being poked and prodded,” she said under her breath. “But you can try. Uhm. I also woke up there with no clothes on and I don’t know how that happened or how long it was before I woke up.”

Bucky chuckled quietly, “I know what they did to me. I was awake for all the experiments. But she’s right. I won’t be prodded. You do the minimum required, and you don’t touch the arm.”

Clint looked at Natasha, “looks like the arm touched someone,” he smirked and she threw a slice of toast at him, which he caught in his mouth. “I’m just saying Nat, I knew you and Alicia got freaky. But the soldier too?” Sam looked between Rose and Nat, “wait, which one is he dating?” And Bucky bit back a proud grin as he sipped his coffee, “wouldn’t you like to know birdbrain.”

“Morning Stevie,” Rose said from her spot on the counter, taking a long sip of her own coffee. “Have a good morning run?” Sam laughed and came to stand next to her. 

“Ya know, he runs a lot faster when he’s mad.” 

“I know,” she said. “Sorry that you lost your race.”

“Both parties have to know it’s a race for it to be a race,” Steve said, pouring his own cup of coffee. When he turned to look at his best friend, his brows furrowed. “Are those my clothes?”

Natasha shrugged, “you weren’t in and he couldn’t exactly walk around naked…. Well, he could but you lot would be complaining that you were no match for a 97 year old man…” she shrugged, quickly followed up by Bucky, “I’m 96… birthday is a week away. Talia, you really are losing your edge.” She threw a grape and he caught it, popping it in his mouth, “and you’re still predictable.” 

Clint looked between the three of them, “okay, so three things. Steve’s mad at what exactly? Nat, are those new tags? And seriously, is no one gonna mention the fact that they broke a bathtub?!” he chuckled baffled.

“I don’t think I had anything to do with the bathtub,” Rose said, putting on her best “I am perfectly innocent” face before slipping off the counter and moving to go stand next to Bucky, reaching her hand out for Nat. Bucky rolled his eyes, “you were there. That’s involvement enough,” he teased. Natasha squeezed Rose’s hand with a smile, “you were definitely involved. We’re not the only ones to blame.”

“I am mad that my sister has decided that my best friend, who, by the way, tried to shoot me, and we have spent forever thinking was dead, is allowed to be her boyfriend but also sleep with my other friend.” 

“Does it make it better if I’m also sleeping with the other friend,” she asked, taking a forkful of pancake to her mouth as she said it, knowing full well it would not in fact, make it better. 

Tony pinched the bridge of his nose and tilted his head back. “The three of you, to the lab please, so Bruce can look at you. Cap, go chop some wood or something before you … yep, that.” The mug Steve had been holding was now a pile of ceramic pieces on the floor.

Bucky looked at Steve as the mug smashed, “when we get back later, me and you are going a few rounds,” he said seriously. “I’m sick of the fighting. You wanna let the anger out? Go for it. But don’t question her judgement. She might be your sister, but she’s a grown woman. She can do what she wants.” “And who she wants,” Natasha added with a smirk.

Rose slapped her hand over her mouth to stifle her giggles at Nat’s comment, refusing to make eye contact with her brother just then. Bruce sighed and refilled his mug before leading the way down the hall towards the lab. She had been in the lab plenty before - both for general testing any time she had been out on a mission and in the few cases they had needed her help. Bruce’s hands were too big to fit in the cavity for Tony’s arc reactor and Rose was really the only one willing to put her hand in there. 

“I’m not sure what was in the syringe, but Runlow's bedside manner left a lot to be desired,” she said, hopping up on the small exam table. She didn’t love going to the doctors, never had, even when she was little. It’s why she had become a nurse, to do it herself. But she always trusted Bruce.

Bucky scoffed quietly, “that’s an understatement. The guy is a dick. Seriously Nat, Rollins wasn’t the one to shoot. Rumlow shoulda gone,” he shrugged. Natasha nodded, “when we find him, you’ll get first crack at him.” She looked at Bruce with a small smile, “is there anything I can do to help?” At the moment she was just fiddling with her jacket zip, trying to focus on something other than the memories of being in similar looking labs. 

She looked at Bucky as he moved the metal arm, hearing a slight crunch near the shoulder. Without even thinking about it she sat him down on a stool and grabbed a scalpel, popping one of the plates with a grimace. “Next time you fall in a river, clean your plates!” she groaned, “you don’t need a repeat of Moscow ‘52.” He shuddered, thinking back to how he’d tried to fight one of the doctors but the arm jammed up.. they’d beat Natalia for his insolence.

Bruce smiled at Rose when she was on the table. “I’m sure everything is fine, but we can check just in case,” he said, sitting on a rolling stool. He went to grab a few things from his desk before putting on gloves and then looking over at the other two in the lab. 

“If we are at all concerned you might have been assaulted, I need to do a kit,” he said quietly. “And I don’t exactly want to be on the wrong end of either of those two.” Bucky’s eyes flicked over to Bruce, “you don’t. I mean I was trained to kill all of you. But big green is someone I don’t wanna have to deal with. So let’s keep it civil,” he shrugged. 

“I can swab myself,” she said, holding her hand out for the small swab. “I don’t know that they’d be super on board with anyone else in my pants right now.” Natasha chuckled, “the only people ever in your pants will be us… or a nurse if you get injured. No other people. Definitely not from the team,” she shrugged. She finished cleaning Bucky’s arm out, clipping the plate back into place and the soldier looked at Bruce, “if we had unprotected sex within the last few days, would that harm the test?” he asked quietly, “especially within the last few hours?”

“If I can take a sample from you, Sargent Barnes, I can run it to test for a match. If all is well, you should be the only male DNA result.” 

Rose slipped back out of the bathroom to hand over the swab, which she had stuck back in the wrapper. “If it makes you feel better about it, I can pull the sample,” she offered.

Bucky looked at him with a slightly confused expression, “and when you say sample?” he asked quietly. “You talkin’ blood… or the other stuff?” 

At Rose’s offer, he still was confused. Sure he’d prefer if she pulled his bloods. But he still wasn’t sure if it was blood they needed. Natasha looked at Bruce, “they did a lot of chemical tests to him in the late sixties and early seventies. Like a lot. We’re talking injecting acids into him, seeing if he’d flush them out.. pumping him with psychedelics. You name it, they did it. So he’s infertile. So that’ll be less of a worry. In ‘61 I got pregnant. So before that he could… but I doubt he still can. The serum is good but that amount of damage? Even over forty years later, it’ll be a tough fix.”

“Just blood,” she said, slipping her hand into his. “I don’t know Bruce wants the other stuff all over his lab.”

“That would be correct,” Bruce said. “And we probably need to do a blood panel on you, too if you’re saying they injected you with something.”

Rose slotted the things Nat had just said away in the back of her brain for later. It maybe wasn’t the time or place to try and sort through all of that. 

“Up,” Bruce said, pointing at the table and she hopped back onto it. “I’ll pull yours and then I can do his or you can. What makes you more comfortable?” Bruce asked, looking over at Bucky as he wrapped an elastic band around Roses bicep.

Bucky shrugged, tying the shirt around his waist around the top of his arm in a makeshift tourniquet. He pulled a knife out of his blood, “I can do it. Just get a jar or something to catch it in.” Natasha took his knife with an eye roll, “they use needles here James. This isn’t Siberia.” He nodded slightly, “Rose can do it. You’re nice and all, but I trust you about as far as I can throw ya.”

Rose winced as the needle sank into her skin, but it was over pretty quick and she was sliding off the table again. She washed her hands in the small sink before pulling on her own pair of pink latex gloves. Bruce passed over another kit before he sat down to run her own samples on some different strips. “Just enough to pull DNA from you, if we don’t really need to be worried about anything else right now.”

She swiped a small sterilization pad over his bicep, before nodding at the knife. “For people  who were historically really into science, they didn’t do shit right, did they?” She slipped the needle into his arm while she was talking, quickly smoothly.

Bucky nodded, “sure if they knew how to do it. Howard helped give him the stuff and even he couldn’t separate Steve’s DNA from the serum,” he shrugged, “the Hydra serum is different shit.”

He looked at Bruce, “you’re better than the docs we had in Siberia. But the labcoat does you no favours,” he said seriously. Natasha could see it too. The guys who hurt them always wore a labcoat. That was the one recurring detail they always remembered from the labs. 

Natasha scoffed quietly, “really into science? More like experiments… they just bodged shit till it worked. That’s his third arm. Took multiple attempts to get it to work right. Let alone figure out how to do a hand that actually looked like a hand.” Bucky looked at Rose as she took his blood, smiling at her slightly, “you always were so gentle.” He really hoped that whatever they were gonna find in his blood could either heal with the serum or wouldn’t need any procedures. The last thing he needed was a doctor poking at him.

Rose slipped the needle back out and leaned up to kiss him. “Only for you,” she said. “I was less kind to Morita when I had to pull a bullet out of his shoulder, but he was stupid about it so…” She pulled handed the two tubes of blood she had gotten from him over to Bruce who carried on with his tests. 

“Well Jim had a way with being a pain in the ass. So I don’t blame ya,” Bucky chuckled. Natasha rolled her eyes, “hearing stories from Rose and Steve over the years, I’d say you were more of a handful James.”

“So after this, IKEA? Or did you actually want to try and get Steve into the gym with you?”

Bucky bit his lip, “if we get furniture, I’ll be building it all night. Might as well work up a sweat, get lunch and then go shopping. Plus it should be quieter in the afternoon,” he shrugged. Plus he kinda wanted to punch Steve for all his comments over the last twenty four hours.

Rose nodded, pulling her hand up to her lips to chew on the tip of her fingernail as she watched Bruce finish his test. “Don’t go too hard on him, he missed you a lot, I think he’s just trying to figure out how to deal with everything and you know he’s never been good at explaining how he feels. Acts stupid, thinks later.”

Bucky rolled his eyes, “he’s got a funny way’a showing it. Listen, if he steps outta line, I’ll push him back. But I won’t do real damage. At least not anything they can’t fix.”

Bruce had gotten most of the results back. All in all, Rose seemed mostly fine, if not high on adrenaline, but given her caffeine intake, it wasn’t surprising. The rape kit came back with one unknown male sample, which was then paired up with the sample from James she had just pulled. He was about to tell it her was all clear when another unidentified sample came up. His browns furrowed and he pressed a button, running a quick rescan. Same results. He had Jarvis make a mock up of what the person may look like and the result was a face he recognized, if only briefly. 

Brock Rumlow. 

Shit. He certainly didn’t want to be the one to tell the, for all intents and purposes, very bubbly super soldier the news. 

“Looooooks like it all came back clear,” he finally said, slapping a smile on his face and then shooting a glance at Natasha that he hoped she picked up enough to realize he wanted to talk to her privately.

Natasha squeezed his arm as she slipped past him, “Rose,  you make sure he doesn’t kill Steve, I’ve gotta have a word with the doc about some certain issues I’ve been having,” she shrugged, “I’ll be five minutes tops.” Bucky frowned slightly, “you good?” “Yeah, just wanna do a quick check to make sure I’m at peak condition.”

The soldier nudged Rose, “you wanna show me to the gym and get Steve down there?” He wasn’t sure if they were gonna use gloves… or if a glove would even go on the metal hand. Well anything was worth a try. At least he had Rose to wrap Steve’s hands if they went bare handed.

She nodded with a grin on her face. “You need something other than jeans though,” she said. “I know Thor has recently discovered athletic wear, so let’s see if he’s got something you can borrow.”

As soon as the two of them were far enough down the hall that he felt like they wouldn’t be able to pick up what he was saying, he waved Nat over to the screen, pulling up the results. 

“Her blood test is fine, nothing weird there, but maybe we try to get her to under 500mg of caffeine a day.” 

He swiped over to the kit test results.

“It came back with one unknown male, which we found a match for with Barnes.” He swiped again. 

“And then it spit out another.” Swipe. “Rumlow.”

Nat stared at the screen, closing her eyes, a slow breath leaving her nose. Oh she was mad now. Now she really wished she’d killed the guy. “Bruce, please tell me that doesn’t say what I think it does,” she murmured. Fuck! “I’m gonna step back before I break something. But seriously, that’s… he didn’t… did he?” she asked, her mind piecing the events together. She wanted to burn the whole world down to find the bastard. She would enjoy skinning him and making him beg for an easy death.

Bruce picked up the Hulk shaped stress squeezer Tony had gotten him as a joke and passed it to her with a grimace. “The computer just mocks up what it thinks someone with that DNA might look like. But given what we know, the logical conclusion is…unfortunately. I ran it twice. It could just be residual from him being near her, we all transfer a bit of DNA all the time, and if it had been anyone else taking the swab, I’d say there’s a chance it’s wrong, but…Rose knows how to.” 

Natasha squeezed it, found it didn’t work and put it back down, “I need to hit something. A squishy you isn’t gonna do it for me,” she shrugged. “Bruce you don’t have to explain it. I know what it means. I also know that it’ll hurt her. And believe me, I’ll hurt him.” She looked at the results again and shook her head, “get rid of it. I don’t care if you save it somewhere. But just… don’t let her see it. If anyone’s gonna tell her, it’ll be me,” she whispered. She was the one to find her. They were a thing now. She wasn’t gonna have Bruce spooking the girl. 

She flashed him a small smile, “I’m gonna go smash something.  Thanks for telling me Bruce.”

“That’s my line,” Bruce said with a sad smile. “I’m sorry to be the one with the news but I figured she would take it better from a friend.”

Natasha shook her head as she laughed, “I hate that that made me laugh,” she sighed. “Hopefully this doesn’t throw off the deep end,” she murmured before heading toward the training room. She wanted to punch something and quite frankly, she was debating not wrapping her hands, even if Rose would kill her for it.

Chapter Text

On their way to the Thor's room, Bucky rolled his eyes, “sweetheart, I’m boxing him. If we were doing mixed martial arts, maybe I’d swap outfits. But I’ll live. I’ve fought in much worse than jeans,” he shrugged. 

“I just want the excuse to put you in grey sweatpants,” Rose said with a shrug. “Humor me.” She lead him down the hall towards Thors living quarters and then knocked on the door. 

Bucky rolled his eyes, “is this a thing? Grey sweatpants? Is it a dick thing?” he asked with a chuckle. He walked with her with a small smile, “just know, I’m not going shopping to in sweatpants. I’m 96, not 16,” he shrugged. Thor answered the door with a grin, “Lady Rogers! It’s great to see you!”

“It’s definitely a dick thing,” she said with a grin. “Thor,” she said when he opened the door. “Can my man borrow some sweatpants? He’s going to get in the training gym and I don’t think training in jeans is a that great of an idea.”

Thor grinned and disappeared back inside before returning with a pair of dark grey sweatpants. “Here, these are quite comfortable.” 

Bucky shoved her gently, “you’re a pain in my ass,” he laughed. He smiled slightly as Thor returned, “thanks big guy. Jesus you’re big. I knew Steve was well built and obviously you’re a god but… fucking hell! How do you wear anything?” he chuckled. 

Rose proceeded to lead Bucky down to the gym. It was fully decked out with anything they could have ever wanted, and half of it, she had no idea what it was or what it was for. But Steve was already down there, punching some pads that Sam was holding up. He was certainly holding his own against the super soldier and Rose was impressed. 

“C‘mom,” she said, steering him towards the locker room. “Get changed and let me wrap your hands. Or at least one of them.”

Bucky nodded, kissing her temple gently, “I’ll be two minutes,” he whispered, glancing at where Steve was before rushing off. As he came back in, Nat came in through the entrance, looking at Steve before going for one of the reinforced bags, not holding back her strength when she punched it, the bag not breaking but the chain holding it up snapped and it flew back and hit the wall. “Talia, if you’re gonna smash shit, wrap your hands.” She didn’t even look towards him, just roundhousing the next bag, Bucky’s hand blocking it from swinging too hard. The redhead stared at him around the bag, “I don’t care.” “Well I do. So wrap up or you’re sitting out.” She scoffed quietly, “like you could take me.” 

He took a slow breath, “I ain’t gonna fight you kitten, just take a breath. I’m not gonna hurt you.” He grabbed a roll, wrapping up her hands so she didn’t fuck up her knuckles on the reinforced bags. She waited till he was done before flipping him with a smirk, “you still don’t expect it. And here I was thinking you’d always be prepared.” Bucky groaned in the floor, looking over at Steve, “you ready to go a few? Before a certain redhead puts me on my ass again?”

Rose rolled her eyes Nat tried to murder a punching bag before she hopped up into the ring herself and looked at her brother. “Do you want me wrap your hands? I don’t know why you didn’t before you attempted to beat Sam’s palms bloody.” 

“I’m doing fine, Rosie Posie,” Sam said with a grin. 

“Yes, Sammy, very impressive. If I were you, I would exit the ring before everyone else gets up here. Don’t want your pretty face taking a stray fist.”

Steve rolled his eyes but held out his hands and let her wrap them. 

“Don’t do anything stupid.”
“I can’t, it looks like you’re doing all the stupid.”

Her eyes narrowed as she dipped out of the ring and took a spot just outside of it to watch.

Bucky looked at Steve as he climbed into the ring and Natasha stood at the side, watching them both. “Don’t pull your punches Stevie. We both know I can take whatever you give.”

Natasha bit her lip as she glanced at Rose, “he was wearing jeans. Were the sweatpants your idea? Is that why they’re grey?” she chuckled quietly, “you horndog.”

“I got them from Thor,” Rose whispered. “So they’ll be a little loose. You’re welcome.” 

Natasha looked at Rose, “you’re a little devil,” she chuckled. 

Steve held up his hands, curled into fists as he bounced on the balls of his feet, swapping weight from one foot to another. He knew how Bucky fought, had gone to see it time and time again. He had no idea how the Winter Soldier fought and if he was honest with himself, was sure either of them could beat him without really trying. But it was the principle of the thing.

As Steve bounced on his feet, Bucky kept still, watching him move. He wouldn’t throw the first punch. But he could probably piss Steve off enough to throw first. “You know, if I knew you were just gonna dance, I woulda fought a showgirl,” he shrugged. 

“It seems like you’ve got enough girls,” Steve said, before throwing what would have been a well aimed punch at the ribs, had his opponent been anyone else.

“There’s a lotta me to go around Stevie. More the merrier,” he shrugged. It was a complete lie, he knew Natalia would know that and Rose should too given their rule number seven. As Steve went to punch him, he took it, throwing a shot back just right of the guy’s liver. If he wanted to put him down in seconds, he knew where to hit. But that wasn’t what this was about.

Natasha nudged Rose gently, “Steve knows the soldier can take a beating right? Like several punches without flinching? He does know what he’s getting into right?” she murmured nervously.

“Are you asking me if Steve Rogers considered the consequences of his actions before he took those actions?” She asked, looking at Nat with a raised brow. “Do you see any flying pigs?”

“You do have a point. Steve always has been a little pigheaded,” she chuckled, “let’s just hope that James doesn’t tear him apart.”

“And you’re just okay with that? If they did that too? What if it was the other way around? What if it were me and Rebecca?” Steve said it, knowing it wouldn't land the way he wanted it to.

Rose snorted at the idea. As if Rebecca Barnes would have ever seen him as anything other than her brother’s friend, even after the serum. She winced as Bucky’s fist collided with Steve, and then again when Steve managed to land another punch on Bucky’s stomach.

“Steve, they’ve got each other. If they wanted to bring in another, they’d have every right to,” he shrugged. Would it hurt? A little. But it wouldn’t change the fact they loved him and he them. 

At the notion of Steve and Rebecca he laughed, “real cute. Steve, I’ve seen the guys she used to fancy. You definitely weren’t it. You definitely wouldn’t be if you were big back then either,” he shrugged. He grit his teeth as Steve bit him in the stomach, swinging the left hand toward Steve’s jaw on instinct. Only just realising to pull his punch before he hit him.

Rose couldn’t help but laugh at the entire exchange. “If I am allowed to get other people involved, I’m gonna see if Tony knows anything about bring back dead people. Nat, I think you’d like Timothy Dugan.”

“Not yet, little Roger’s, but word has it someone uptown can, some surgeon,” Tony called from where he was leaning against the door frame, eating popcorn. 

Bucky pointed at Rose, “rule number eight. Anyone but fucking Dugan,” he warned her, “Morita and Falsworth? Fair game. Dugan, not a chance!” 

“You two are trying to defile my baby sister,” Steve said, throwing another punch before pointing at Nat. “I don’t know what you two have been teaching her.”

Natasha shrugged and Bucky rolled his eyes, “defile her? Oh Stevie, believe me she’s anything but innocent,” he said, slipping the punch and throwing another to the blonde’s gut. He chuckled quietly, “nothing she wasn’t already curious about. She has a filthy mouth that sister of yours.”

Rose held her hands up in mock innocence when he pointed at her, but the way he looked when he did it had her feeling anything but innocent.  “You act like I didn’t grown up around the two of you,” she said. “And dad’s disgusting friends. And a war camp, Steven. Dumdum wasn’t the only one with dirty jokes.” She turned to Nat again. “No but really, you woulda liked him.” 

Steve glared and threw a series of quick punches. “I want you, and you,” he said, pointing at Nat, “to keep your blood stained hands away from my sister.”

Bucky managed to block the occasional punch but stumbled back, “blood stained? Steve, without these hands, you’d be dead,” he scoffed. Natasha rolled her eyes, “without us, you would be nothing Steve. Your only saving grace is the serum. Without it, you’d still be a lousy agent.”

“How do we know she’s not your next mission? You beat me senseless! What’s stopping you from waking up in the middle of the night and going back to being the Winter Solider? And you,” he said ducking a punch to point at Nat again. “Do you wanna wake up to a dead girlfriend?”

Bucky knew it shouldn’t have gotten to him; he’d thought about it a couple times. But that didn’t mean hearing it from Steve didn’t make it hurt less. Natasha shook her head, “he wouldn’t. He has more control than you realise,” she said sternly. Bucky grabbed Steve as he pointed at Nat, flipping him over his shoulder. “I would never hurt her. Ever. Just like I never hurt Natalia unless they forced me to.” Though the handprint on her neck said a different story. But the three of them knew it was consensual.

“Steven,” Rose hissed, taking a step closer towards the ring only to hop back when Bucky flipped him. “James! Rule six, although he did kinda deserve that.”

Bucky scoffed, “fuck rule six!” he shot back, “dickhead needs to learn a lesson!”

Steve was back on his feet, swiping the back of his hand across his mouth. “Yeah well… how do we know nothings going to force you to now? You already shot Nat. Want to repeat the forest? Where my sister almost died because you weren’t paying attention?” Steve coughed and stood back up, looking at his sister, who just shrugged. “The rule was to be nice to you at least 80 percent of the time unless you really deserved it, I can’t help you.” 

Bucky put his fists back up, “if I was under their control, I wouldn’t have stayed after we slept together last night. I’d have slit their throats and ran. But I didn’t. I’m still here. Cause I’m in it for the long haul!” At the mention of the forest Bucky punched him hard in the ribs with the metal arm, “want to repeat the Helicarrier?! Where I nearly killed your ass?” he spat. Natasha chuckled dryly, “keep digging Steve, he’ll only hit you harder. And don’t drag me into it, me and James hurting each other has been a tradition for decades.”

“And since when were you into women? Is that some sort of weird Russian KGB mind control you’ve got going on? Nat, your last girlfriend dumped you so you just turned my sister into one?”

Natasha stood up and Bucky heard her step towards the ring but the metal fist landed first, square under the jaw. “Don’t you ever talk about her or her ex like that again! They were on a break!” he spat. The desire to just lay into Steve was a hard one to fight but Natalia beat him to it, tackling the blonde to the ground throwing punch after punch at his face. “Don’t. You. Ever. Talk about her again!” she yelled, each punch harder than the last. “You ever mention my dead ex-fiance again and I’ll slit your fucking throat,” she snapped, sitting back on her heels.

Once Nat had finally gotten off of him, half of her punches landing on his face, but she was sloppy with the others, landing them on the forearms he threw up to protect his face. 

Steve rolled over, spat towards the corner of the ring and managed to stand up again “I can do this all day,” he said, looking at the man who had used to protect him from fights like this. He looked just past him, to where his sister was. All their conversation about Dugan earlier had reminded him. 

“You know, the commandos went on a mission to a Hydra base after we were in the ice. The files said Dugan didn’t make it. He encountered some specialty weapon there that they’re weren’t clear about, but just said it was Hydras answer to Captain America. You realize he killed DumDum, right?”

Rose didn’t even see Bucky throw the punch that distracted her brother until she was already in the ring with them, side stepping the fist for herself. She grabbed Steve’s shoulder and yanked, sending him to the floor. 

“That is. enough.”

He watched Rose throw Steve to the floor and let out a breath. He wanted to tear the fucker’s throat out. He was outta line again. “Rose, just let me hit him. You wanna keep pushin’ your luck? Think about who kept you alive for years! Cause it wasn’t yourself! I protected you.. I took care of you… I protected your mother. All I’ve ever done was try to be good enough and you just see me how they wanted you to see me,” he scoffed, stepping out of the ring. “You were supposed to be the one to believe in me. Clearly you’re not the man I thought you were,” he sighed, pushing the door to the training room open and stepping out.

Rose watched as Bucky left the room, nodding her chin after him as she looked at Natasha. “Go check on him,” she said before turning back to her brother and squatting down next to him. “Do that again,” she said, her eyes cold, “and I won’t make them stop next time. It doesn’t matter anything he did if it wasn’t his own brain,” she said, before sinking down to sit on the floor and grab his hands, to check his knuckles under the wrapping. She was pissed at him, but he was still her brother. 

“Dr. Erskine would be really upset at you right now. You do not treat family like that and they are family. I picked them as family. They’re more family than Dad ever was.” 

“He threw dad out of the house!”

“Because he was beating mom and you were too sick to see it.”

“Dad was a good guy.”

“Dad wanted to sell me to whichever gross friend had the biggest bank account,” she spat. “All Bucky ever did was keep us safe, including your dumb ass. You need to go take a shower. Give us this afternoon to get some shit sorted. But tomorrow. Tomorrow you make it right, Steven Rogers.”

Rose left her brother on the floor of the boxing ring, slipping between the straps on the side and dropping down onto the floor. 

“Tomorrow, Steve. Not perfection. But just…try.” Tony had moved out of the door by the time she was walking through it, but Sam had taken his spot. “Talk to him,” she said. “Figure out what’s actually going on, because this isn’t it.”

“Do you need to talk?”

“No, I’m okay.” It was a lie and the look on Sam’s face told her he knew it too. But he didn’t push. She was glad. She hated fighting with her brother and hated talking about their father even more. She turned the corner and found the two of them, before going to sit next to Bucky, her own back against the wall as she tilted her head back to look at the ceiling and take a deep breath.

Bucky looked up as he heard the door and leant his head on her shoulder as Rose sat down next to him, “sorry,” he whispered, “I shouldn’t have pushed him.” Natasha shook her head, “were not doing this. It’s not your fault,” she shrugged. 

Rose stood after a moment, groaning as she stretched, “come on both of you, I was promised a trip to IKEA and I need to get some photo frames, so come on,” she said grabbing their hands. 

Chapter Text

“I’ll drive, since one of us doesn’t have a license and the other is a wanted man,” she teased. Bucky rolled his eyes, “do you have a glove for the hand? Cause we’ll be outed straight away if we don’t.” She shrugged, “Steve had a pair of driving gloves that I stole months ago but they didn’t fit… and I never gave them back.”  Bucky elbowed her gently, “you gotta stop stealing his stuff or he’s gonna get mad at you.” “He doesn’t notice. He’s got the object permanence of a baby.”

“He noticed,” Rose said, reaching up to take Nat’s hand. “He just thought it’d be better for you to steal his shit than someone else’s.” 

Once she was back on her feet, she kissed Bucky on the cheek, dragging his metal arm around her shoulders. “He needed a little pushing,” she said with a shrug. “I don’t think he knew anything about dad.”  To be fair, he had also never told her what he had found out about the commandos going to Austria. About what had happened to them. She’d have to look into it later.

Bucky kissed her temple gently, “why would he? It’s not like aunt Sarah was gonna tell ‘im,” he shrugged. Natasha looked at them both, “did he ever actually get to Steve?” Bucky shook his head, “no, Sarah put herself in front of his room all the time. Took the brunt of his anger.”

"Dad was a piece of shit and Steve just thought he was the best." He had been the best when they were little, but something changed in him and he wound up taking it out on everyone around him. 

Bucky nodded, “yeah, he was an ass. Honestly if he wasn’t such a drunk, he might’ve been a better guy.” He knew the war had effected the guy, but that was no reason to beat his wife. 

He looked at Nat, “y’know, when we get all this furniture. How are we getting it back in your car?” Natasha shrugged, “Happy… you haven’t met him yet, I’ll get him to pick up the stuff in a van. The iron legion can unload it when it gets here and then you can assemble it whenever you want.” Bucky grinned, “I’ve missed working with my hands. It’ll be nice to get my hands dirty.”

Rose slid her fingers into the waistband of his sweatpants, a grin on her lips as she looked up at him. "I'm certainly down to help you get your hands dirty, Sarge," she said. 

"But c'mon. Ikea has good snacks and I always like looking at the fake little rooms they set up."

The soldier put his hand on top of hers, “down girl. You need to keep a lid on that,” he whispered.  Natasha looked between them, “James you need to swap out those sweatpants before she pulls you into a cleaning closet.” 

Natasha grabbed Rose, throwing her over her shoulder before running towards the garage, “if you want your girl back, I suggest you move your ass and get changed!” she smirked, “I’ll meet you at the garage!”

Rose was about to make another dirty comment at Bucky when she felt her feet lift off the ground, squealing as she wound up over Nat's shoulder. She put her hands on Nat's back so that she could lift her torso to look at Bucky. "Ask Jarvis where the garage is!" she called.

"Nat," she said after they rounded a corner. "Put me down, please, unless you want chocolate chip pancakes down your back."

Natasha smirked slightly as she ran off with Bucky, knowing full well he was fast enough to catch her. As they rounded the corner, she felt Rose disappearing off her shoulder before she was dangled upside down over Bucky’s back. “James! Put me down!” she yelled, “I’m sorry! But if I didn’t take her, she woulda just ripped your pants off!”

Bucky looked at Rose with a smile, “you alright to walk with me? Or do you want carrying too?” He could probably put one of them under each arm if he got the positioning right. Natasha groaned quietly, “James, you know I don’t like being upside down! Can you please put me down?!”

Rose grinned as soon as she was on her own feet, holding her hand out to take his free one. "I'd take a piggy back ride, but you seem a bit busy in that area right now," she said. 

She tilted her head and crouched down to smile at Nat, reaching out to squeeze her face between her thumb and forefinger. "This is what you get for trying to run off with me," she said smiling. 

Bucky squeezed her hand gently, “I’ll walk around with you on my back when we go out,” he smiled, “I like to share.” Natasha rolled her eyes, “can you put me down?!”

Natasha glared at her playfully, “when he puts me down I’ll take you again, just be aware,” she warned and Bucky rolled his eyes, “I’m not putting you down till we get to your car.”

"I will buy all the furniture IKEA has to offer if it means watching you put it together," Rose told Bucky as she lead the way to the garage.

He looked at her with a curious smile, “What’s with you and watching me work?” he asked quietly, “you got a carpentry fetish?” he teased softly, putting Nat down as they got close to the garage, the redhead immediately jumping on his back and nipping at his neck, “you’re an ass! You put me upside down like that again and I’ll wake you up with a bucket of cold water,” she threatened as she grabbed her keys for her Mercedes. She’d take the ‘vette but it only had two seats and she had a feeling James would want to be with them rather than following on a bike.

"I don't think I have a carpentry fetish," she said with a shrug. "I think I have a James Barnes fetish, which I can't even really be blamed for." 

He chuckled quietly, “you can’t, I’ve heard he’s rather good looking.” Natasha rolled her eyes as she set off, “clearly you haven’t looked in a mirror, good looking is an understatement.”

While they were in the car on the way, Rose scrolled through her phone, swiping through her Instagram feed. "Look at this, someone made a post with a photo of me getting kidnapped," she said, holding her phone over her shoulder to show Bucky in the back seat. "Rude of them, really. Not my best moment and they're putting it all over the internet."

Natasha smirked at Bucky’s stunned face, “she can’t drive! What if you get hurt while driving and someone has to take over?!” She shrugged, “rules are rules sweetie, I don’t make them, I just enforce ‘em.”

Bucky looked at the photo with a frown, “that’s a shitty thing to do. Though I do look good in the background,” he chuckled. Natasha nodded, “that jacket you wore definitely made the arm look good.”

"I can drive," Rose said, pouting before pulling her phone back to her own lap. She tapped to leave a comment on the photo. "They didn't get to keep me for long, xoxo." 

Chapter Text

Once they made it to IKEA, Rose was practically bouncing on her feet. "Ligon.Berry. Every. Thing," she said with a grin. "And I could honestly use some new bedding while we're here, anyway. I'm feeling a redecoration."

Natasha chuckled as she parked her car, opening Rose’s door with a smile, “me too. I feel like we may end up ripping some sheets if we aren’t careful,” she shrugged. Bucky pulled his cap down on his head, double checking the glove was still on his hand as he pulled the flannel shirt on. “We need to make a list. If we don’t know what we’re getting, we’re gonna miss things,” he shrugged. Natasha nodded, “you’ll need bedding, a bed frame, a wardrobe, chest of drawers, coffee table… couch, utensils. The apartment comes with ovens, laundry facilities and a fully functional shower. If you want a big bathtub, we can add that too.” She handed him a tablet with the floor plan so he could add things as he went. “You think I could get a pole in my dance room?” he asked with a smirk. Natasha elbowed him, “if you want me to pole dance for you, I’ve gotta have an incentive.” “I’ll cook for you tonight. I’ll make blinis and pirozhkis like you taught me,” he shrugged. Natasha bit her lip, she loved it when he cooked homegrown meals for her. “James, you have no idea how good that sounds.”

Once they were inside and making their list of what he would need, she had kind of tuned out the other two, wandering towards the different rooms that had been set up to display the various ways one might arrange their furniture. She wandered in and out of the first of them. A cute bathroom here, a well organized kitchen there, not that she really needed much kitchen organization. 

Before she realized it, she was standing in the middle of a small, pastel blue nursery, complete with a plush rocking chair in the corner.

The two watched Rose walk ahead, Bucky and Nat grabbing things Bucky needed for his apartment and realising very quickly that while it was all flat pack furniture, James couldn’t carry it all. Natasha grabbed an abandoned empty cart for him to load up and when they’d finished loading it with what they had so far, they noticed Rose had stopped. 

Natasha and Bucky had kinda gotten used to the idea they couldn’t have kids, it had been a fact for decades. But obviously Rose could if she wanted to. Just not with either of them: Bucky for chemical reasons and Nat because it was physically impossible. “You alright angel?” Natasha asked quietly.

By the time Bucky and Nat had caught up to her, she had a small stuffed rabbit in her hands and was looking at one of the small white cribs, considering it carefully. When Nat spoke, she jumped slightly, having not heard her come up behind her.

"Oh, yeah," she said, quietly. Biting her lip she looked at the two of them and then back down at the crib. "We can't have kids, can we?" she asked, her voice quiet as she placed the rabbit back into the crib, propping it up gently in the corner.

Bucky looked at her with a sad smile, this was all he’d ever wanted… with Rose, with Nat… but he couldn’t give that to her. Or to Nat. And it crushed him to deny her that dream. 

Natasha felt like burning the world for being so cruel. Rose deserved the world and neither of them could give it to her. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. If she’d fought harder against Bucky’s trials, maybe he would be able to give her what she wanted. Bucky opened his arms for Rose, “come here,” he whispered, his heart breaking for her.

Rose took two steps forward and stepped into his chest, pressing her face against his arm. "I'm sorry," she said, too. Part of it had to be her fault, she was sure. Probably something else about her that got all messed up in that hospital room back in England. 

When she was younger, she had let herself imagine maybe growing up, getting married, having kids, having a life. The kids always seemed to have Bucky's eyes. And then he went to war and she made herself stop thinking about it. But then, on the side of that mountain, she had let herself want it again. And then her entire world fell apart around her, before she was ever in the ice.

Bucky hugged her tightly, “it would never be your fault,” he whispered, “you didn’t do this to me.” Natasha wrapped her arms around Rose and leant on them both, “this isn’t anyone’s fault but the Soviets. They did this. None of us,” she whispered. 

She pressed a kiss to Bucky’s cheek before kissing her back of Rose’s neck, “come on, let’s see if we can find something to hang on his wall apart from a dart board,” she whispered. She knew they’d gotten eyes on them. It wouldn’t surprise her if there was already a tweet out there about Natasha Romanoff and Rosalie Rogers hugging an unknown muscular man. Her phone buzzed with a text from Clint, ‘Laura says you’re on the news. Something about an old base you were kept at. They’re trying to pin the bombing on you. And the 184 casualties.’ She huffed, “I’m starting to regret leaking all those documents.” She knew when the bombing took place, knew where she was. She and James had escaped. Steve was so gonna bench her over this! A bombing for an escape was one thing but murdering 184 men by hand, even if they were evil, wouldn’t look good. “James, do you remember Przemyśl?” “Base in Poland? Built in 1931, was a prisoner of war camp in the war and then was a Soviet camp turned facility for torture. Blew up in 1970,” he shrugged.

“We need to move,” Rose murmured, peeling herself off of his chest. “People are staring and the last thing we need is to go viral for photos of Ms. America cuddling an unidentified man and The Black Widow in the baby section of an IKEA.”

She should have known better, should have put her hair up or had glasses on. Something to help stay hidden. 

“I’m going to go look at the bedding. I can meet you guys back at the car. I’ll just draw more attention to you if we stick together,” she said, stepping away from both of them.

Natasha slipped Bucky her bank card, “go and pay. Pin is 1961,” she whispered. If they split up, she could distract a few people with getting pictures taken and Bucky could go wait for Happy in the car park. 

She looked at Rose, “text Happy, tell him we need a van in the next twenty minutes,” she said before slipping away from Bucky and walking from where they were, heading toward a group of people who had their phones out. 

Bucky squeezed Rose’s shoulder gently, a friendly gesture to anyone who didn’t know what they meant to each other. But to him it meant more. It was a ‘stay safe’, a ‘keep your eyes open’ and a reassurance that he’d keep safe. 

He looked back at Natalia one more time before pushing the cart toward her, aiming to take a turn before he reached her but something caught his eye. Call him paranoid but he recognised the creases a back holster caused, and the guy wearing it was clearly a part of a couple with the girl on his left, her arm around the small of his back. As he stepped closer, he heard thr click of the hammer cocking. Service revolver. Wouldn’t jam. No time for error with this one. In a flash he had his metal hand over the muzzle of the revolver, crushing it and dropping it to the floor before grabbing Natalia, “come on,” he ordered, grabbing her arm and pulling her towards the cashiers. Natasha stared at him, “how…?! You? I thought they were just wanting photos,” she whispered. Bucky shook his head, “he had a holster. Tried to cover it with a white shirt. Fucking moron clearly didn’t know who he was trying to shoot.” But he had just outed  himself. Who else would be able to crush a gun like that?!

They paid quickly and Bucky pushed the trolley out front where Happy was parked, the soldier quickly loading the van before pushing Natalia in the back, her keys mysteriously missing from her pocket. “Hogan! Get her back in one piece.” Natasha went to object and Bucky slammed the doors shut, walking back to Natasha’s car, leaving it idling in the car park as he waited for Rose.

Bucky checked his watch, frowning slightly. He hoped Rose wouldn’t be too long. The longer they took, the more Nat would be pissed at him for throwing her in the back of a van. Sure she’d understand why, but it didn’t mean she wasn’t mad. She could handle her own. 

He pulled out the flip-phone Natalia had stashed in her glovebox, dialling a number he vaguely remembered. “Come on, pick up… just pick up,” he sighed, groaning when the number wasn’t in service anymore. Fuck! He had contacts who would be able to track that revolver and get answers. But without the revolver or his contact’s information, he was back to square one. 

He turned the radio on, listening as the song playing ended and the presenter started speaking. “We’re back with a caller in Brooklyn, New York.” “Hi Jonah. I just wanted to say all this stuff coming out about Miss Romanoff is downright disgusting. She helped save the world. The avengers have always had a sketchy past. Stark used to sell weapons to criminals, Clint Barton was a contract killer. What makes Natasha so bad? Is it cause she’s older than we thought? Is it cause she’s a woman? Why don’t Tony or Clint get this level of stick?!” The call was cut and Bucky was grinning as the radio presenter brought another caller on.

“Good afternoon Jonah. What Miss Romanoff has done for this country, whether for S.H.I.E.L.D. or the Avengers, pales in comparison to the latest decrypted file. 184 bodies in one night? And blowing up a building in Poland? Not even her homeland? It’s downright criminal. And this is after we found out about her setting fire to a hospital in 1973. She isn’t good to have on the streets. Plus the Winter Soldier appearing in DC and then vanishing? The files state their relationship. What if she’s got him holed up in some shack in Bolivia? We’d never know. She should be put on a stand and made to testify for her crimes against our great nation and many others she’s infiltrated with her lies.” Bucky scoffed, he’d seen the number for the radio station on a billboard on the way into the city, dialling it on the flip-phone. He was prepared to tear this fucker to pieces

Rose had barely made it to the textiles section, having just found a set of sheets she liked and located them in the correct size when someone shouted in her direction. It took all of her inner willpower to take a deep breath and force a smile on her face. 

There was a dad there, with his little girl who was waving at her, little blonde pigtails and she felt a pang in her chest, but kept the smile on her face as she waved back at the little girl. 

"Can we get a picture?" The man asked, shifting the girl on his hip. 

"Of course," she said, still smiling, and leaning down to put the package of bedding on the floor. The dad bent down to put his daughter on the floor, who then ran to Rose, a grin on her tiny face.

Rose let the little girl wrap her arms around her, as she slid her arms back around her, picking her up and pointing at her dad to get the girl to smile as he took a picture. 

"I wanna be like you when I get big," the little girl said. 

"Awh, no. You want to be like you. Just bigger." 

The girl giggled and ran back to her dad who shot Rose a smile of his own, before looking over his shoulder. Some commotion had broken out and the buzzing in her back pocket told her what she needed to know. It was time to go. 

She snatched up the bedding and headed towards the exit, paying for them quickly before walking through the doors into the parking lot, her eyes scanning for...the van. which was not to be seen. But she did see the Mercedes, with Bucky in the front seat of it.

As she crossed the parking lot, she pulled out her phone to see the notifications popping off about "Black Widow" and "blowing up" and "found dead" and "Daily Bugle Live Stream". She rolled her eyes and hurried over to the car before slipping into the front seat. 

"What. The Hell. Did you do?" 

Bucky was on the phone with the bugle, when he caught Rose rushing out of the store. He was currently sat on hold, awaiting his turn to be on the air. Jameson wasn’t gonna know what hit him. If there was anyone who knew the most about Natalia, it was him. 

As she got in the car he flashed her a small smile before being prompted to give his details. “Jim Barnes. 96.  Brooklyn born and raised. Occupation? Uh, I guess you could call it demolition,” he shrugged. He’d blown up enough stuff in his years. 

At Rose’s question, he covered the phone, whispering, “someone tried to take out Nat and this asshole is ruining her credibility,” he shrugged, uncovering his phone as he was took off hold. 

“I just got on.” He turned the radio down slightly so the phone wouldn’t pick it up but so Rose could still hear anything that was asked of him. Hopefully Natalia wouldn’t be too pissed about him throwing her in a van… and hopefully she’d appreciate this stupid stunt. 

Rose tilted her head and listened to the radio, half hearing the other end of the phone as Bucky spoke. Once she realized what station was on the radio, she narrowed her eyes and held her hand out to the phone. 

"Let me talk to him," she said. She hated Jameson and his dirt rag of a publication. He was always printing stupid things and never seemed to have all of the info. She had been seen outside a flower shop with someone one time he decided that they had to be engaged and when someone informed him that they weren't, that he was literally just a nice stranger holding the door open for her, with flowers for his actual wife in his arms, she was all of a sudden a floozy, leading men on. 

"I just wanna talk."

Bucky put his hand on her shoulder keeping her from taking the phone. “Jameson, you keep talking about Natasha like she’s some kind of psychopath, hellbent on US destruction. Believe me, it couldn’t be farther from the truth…. How would I know? Cause I know her,” he shrugged, “she and I go back years. If anything, you couldn’t be more wrong about her. That woman risked her life for this country, for this planet when those bastards came down from the sky. So have a little respect for her.”

He was more than a little annoyed about the shit Jameson pushed about Natalia but he really didn’t want to aggravate the guy. “You see Jonah, before she was the famous black widow, she was just one of fifteen women in her class, trained in infiltration and extraction of information. She is a powerful adversary but an even more fierce fighter when it comes to those she loves. If I know one thing, it’s that she would let herself burn before any harm came to those she loved. So you can put this in your little shitty publication… the soldier is back to stay. You won’t find me, but be assured, if anyone threatens Natalia’s life, there will be consequences. I’ve already stopped one of you little fuckers,” he spat, not talking to Jameson anymore, talking more to his audience, “so if you’re ever wondering why the plots on her life keep failing, remember she’s got a guardian angel watching over her.”

Rose pouted and folded her arms over her chest in the passenger seat, letting him say his piece before shouting towards the phone before he had the chance to hang up. "Keep printing stupid shit, John, and see what happens!" 

She was pretty sure if she asked nicely enough, Tony would buy her a paper. Or threaten the man with enough lawsuits that his paper would go out of business on it's own. She was over it and him and all his stupid lies. 

When the line finally disconnected and the man on the other end continued spouting off about how free speech and the integrity of journalism was under attack, she smashed the power button on the radio...a little too hard, when it pushed all the way into the dash. 

She winced and wrinkled her nose as she looked at Bucky. "You don't think she'll notice that, do you?"

Bucky rolled his eyes, hanging up with a chuckle, “had to have the last word, huh?” he teased. 

Chapter Text

He listen to Jameson rant before wincing as she crushed the power button into the radio. He had a feeling he’d be able to fix it. But not with what he had to hand. “She will if I don’t fix it,” he said with a shrug. He knew Natalia would have the money to get it fixed but he wanted to give it a go first. He grabbed her toolbox out of the back that she kept just incase she broke down. He pulled the front panel off the radio, looking at the power button with a grimace. He popped it out with a screwdriver and took the spring out of it. 

“You compress a spring too much and it’ll just jam up,” he said softly, coiling the thin piece of metal so it would spring again. He clicked it back into the back of the button, leaving the button on the dash as he checked to make sure there was no internal damage. “You’re lucky me and Stark spent a lot of time disassembling jeeps in the war. We wanted to see if we could install comms into the radios but it never worked. The radio causes too much interference.” He clicked the button back into place and pressed it with a nervous smile, changing the channel when the radio loaded up. “And I’ve just saved you a lecture about remembering your strength,” he teased. 

He put the toolbox in the trunk before climbing back in, putting the car into gear and speeding off, following the reverse of the route Natalia had taken to get here. Sure the compound was a classified location, but with a good enough memory you could track where you’d come from when ease.

She flopped back in the seat, grumbling under her breath about the failures of modern journalism while he went about fixing the radio. Something about watching him methodically dismantle the parts, gently repair them and put them back together calmed her down. 

By the time they were halfway back to the compound, she was well into the situation. She had never gotten to see him drive before and there was something very masculine about watching him do it and she started feeling a bit warm. 

She reached over and slipped her hand into his, pulling the flesh one away from the steering wheel to put it into his lap. "Sometimes I wish you had listened to me before jumping onto that train," she said quietly. "Things could have been very different. We could have been grandparents by now." She shot him a sad smile.

Bucky chuckled breathily as she rambled, “sweetheart, shit’s changed a lot since we died,” he shrugged, “some good, some bad. But mostly good. Journalism is not one of those things. It’s gone so badly downhill.”

He drove with a calm smile on his face, it had always calmed him. It was part of the reason he enjoyed tinkering with Stark in the war. Whenever they did something, they’d take it for a drive to see if it worked. Then when it didn’t, Bucky would be under the car fixing whatever went wrong. 

His eyes flicked to her as she took his hand, gently squeezing hers. “Me too kiddo,” he sighed, “but we wouldn’t have Steve. Or Natalia,” he whispered. Sure things would work out differently. But would it have been better than his life now? He wasn’t sure. He loved Rose but after the excitement of taking on the Nazis, he wasn’t sure he would’ve been able to settle down and not fight again. 

He drove them back carefully. Sure he could put his foot down and drive like hell, but then that would just draw attention they didn’t need. When Jarvis read Natalia’s plate and opened the gate he drove up to the garage, putting his hand behind Rose’s headrest as he backed the car into place, parking it with a grin.

“Things would be very different,” she agreed. “More peaceful, for sure.” A peaceful life had never really been in the cards for them, it seemed. “But I am in my nineties now, I think you’re officially supposed to stop calling me kiddo.” 

“Peaceful, sure. But two super soldiers? We wouldn’t have had it easy,” he whispered, “people would still come for us.” They never would have gotten that lucky. It wouldn’t be possible. “Your younger than me princess, I think you’ll just have to get used to it,” he teased. 

Once the car was fully in park and the ignition was off, she in his lap with her hands on either side of his jaw, pulling his face towards her. 

She had been sold when he was on the phone, melting when he fixed the car, and then felt she would simply die when he was driving and then he put his hand on the back of her seat to park the car and smiled at her and all of a sudden she understood why people had sex in cars.

He looked up at her as she sat in his lap, smiling happily. “Hey there,” he breathed, leaning in as she pulled him closer. 

Bucky kissed her softly, his metal hand dropping to her hip. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d made out with someone in a car. Though last time he’d actually been in motion and Natalia had been in his lap kissing his neck and jaw to aggravate him into pulling over.

As soon as his mouth was on hers, her fingers left his jaw and slid down to his shoulders, shoving at the flannel shirt to push it away.  “Off,” she said, shoving it down his shoulders before moving her fingers to the zipper on his jeans. She needed him and she needed him badly.

Bucky shrugged off the flannel, throwing it into the back seat quickly. He could tell what she wanted. Could practically feel how much she wanted him.  His metal hand almost ripped the zipper off as he unzipped his jeans, sliding them down his thighs with a smile, pulling himself out of his boxers as they went with his jeans. “You’re so hot when you’re in control,” he whispered, “so fuckin’ hot.”

She slid her lips down to his neck, running her teeth over it like Nat had told her, her hand reaching down to grab the lever on the side of the seat, sending them falling backwards and it was laid flat.  “You’re hot when you fix stuff,” she said, pulling off her own shirt. “And when you drive,” she said, yanking the leggings off. “And just all the time.” She pressed her mouth back to his, her fingers running over his chest under the tshirt he still had on.

Bucky let out a shaky breath as she touched his neck, his metal hand coming up to the back of her neck, not applying pressure, just wanting to show her he wanted her there.  He looked up at her as she pulled her shirt off, biting his lip as his hand gently moved to cup her breast, “you’re so fuckin’ sexy when you get like this,” he breathed, moaning against her lips as she ran her hand up his chest.

“Even a car is better than that stupid tent,” she said, kissing her way down his chest before working her way back up, shifting so her knees were next to his hips. She rocked herself against him, wanting him to see what he did to her. The whole drive back had been foreplay, as far as she was concerned. 

“Jim,” she breathed against his neck. “Need you.”

“You liked the tent,” he sighed, “coulda fucked you right there. Just didn’t think you’d be able to keep quiet.” His breath hitched as she rocked against him, his hand moving to her hip, pulling her down a little to give them both more friction.  His skin pebbled with goosebumps as she breathed against his neck, a shaky whimper falling from his lips. “Then take me,” he sighed out.

“I definitely wouldn’t have, but it would have given Dugan the hint,” she said, dragging her tongue up his carotid artery before reaching between them to adjust and sinking down onto him.  She could do this every day for the rest of her life and she would still never get sick of that feeling.

Bucky chuckled quietly, “I really hated that guy,” he breathed, his metal hand pulling her down toward him so he could kiss her again. 

Sex in a bedroom was one thing, but this felt a lot more intimate. It felt like he was truly cared for. And for some strange reason, it kinda turned him on that it wasn’t this car. That they were currently fucking in their other girlfriend’s car. “I love you kitten.”

She groaned at the feeling of his hand on the back of her neck. It never scared her, didn’t worry her. Made her feel safe. “Good,” she said, moving her hips on him. “Because you’re going to be stuck with me for the rest of your unusually long life.”

Bucky  moaned quietly, his eyes filled with nothing but love for her. Would Natalia be bothered they got it on in her car? Maybe. But he had a feeling she’d be more jealous that she didn’t get an invite. He leant forward to kiss her softly, “I wouldn’t call it that,” he sighed. He could never be stuck with her. She wasn’t something to be stuck with. She was his prize. His pride and joy.

It didn’t take long before her hips were moving more sporadically against him, her breath coming out in short pants and low moans. Her fingers found their way to his pecs where they curled in, her nails leaving angry red marks on the skin.  A noise that sounded halfway through a moan and his name left her mouth as she found her climax, atop him, in their girlfriend’s car.

Bucky winced slightly as she dug her nails into his chest but he didn’t pull away, didn’t ask her to stop. He’d take whatever she’d give him. A little pain meant he was still alive and this wasn’t some dream. H e felt her flutter around him before she hit her climax, his hands guiding her hips through her orgasm as he built himself up, following her over the edge shortly after with a low moan.

Rose collapsed against his chest, her breathing heavy and whimpering as he kept moving her hips with his hands. His climax sent another bolt of pleasure through her and she found herself dropping lazy kisses across any skin she could find.

Bucky let his head fall back against the seat, smiling lazily up at her. He sighed as she kissed his skin, happy to have this private moment with her. “Y’know, for a cold super soldier. You really know how to heat up windows,” he teased, nodding to that slightly steamed up windows.

“For a hot one, you’re just really hot,” she said with a grin, dragging her teeth across the skin on his pec. “We may have to take Nat’s car to get detailed,” she said, not looking like she felt bad about it at all.

Bucky shivered slightly as she dragged her teeth across his chest, “you’ve gotta stop angel, or I’m gonna have to go again,” he whispered. He gently grabbed her chin with his right hand, intending to pull her in for a kiss before the door opened and Clint was stood there. Bucky grabbed his flannel throwing it over Rose. “Barton! What the fuck!?” “Tasha is looking for you. And she’s pissed. But also kinda happy about something. Just… don’t piss her off more. I don’t know if any of us can handle her throwing you through a wall.”

Rose yanked the shirt around herself, pressing her front against Bucky, a stupid smile on her face as she giggled. “Clint, can you tell me more about this when I have pants on and no parts of other humans inside my body?”

“Gross. Maybe I will let her throw you through a wall.”

“You’d never.”

Bucky glared at Clint, “give us two minutes to get dressed. Tell her to meet me in my new apartment. I’m gonna be cooking soon,” he shrugged. He looked at Rose with a smile, “hope you’re ready to be amazed, blinis and pirozhkis are my Russian specialty.”

“You’re my Russian speciality, she said, grabbing his jaw and kissing him again, licking at the inside of his mouth.

Bucky moaned against her lips with a smile, his metal hand squeezing her ass, forgetting Clint was there for a second. 

That got Clint to shut the door and she giggled and she slid off him to grab her own clothes and wiggle them back on. Maybe he had fucked her hard enough to knock her brain around. Nah. They’d have to try for that later though.

As he watched the archer run off, he slapped her ass with the metal hand, giving it a quick grope before pulling his trousers up. He tucked himself back into his boxers and pulled the chair to sit back up, “I hope she’s not too pissed at me for throwing her in the back of a van,” he grimaced.

She let out a noise at the feel of his hand on her ass and turned on him, halfway into her shirt. “Do that again and we aren’t leaving the car,” she said, the smile still on her face as she reached down to grab her underwear. 

Once she had her leggings pulled all the way up, she reached to grab her new sheets from the back of the car before she climbed out. 

“Still good for that piggyback ride? Considering I just had a front ride?”

Bucky bit his lip, “oh we’ll be coming back to that cute little noise later,” he whispered. So she liked a bit of a spanking? He could work with that. 

He got out of the car, putting his flannel over her shoulders with a grin, “looks better on you than me,” he whispered before snorting at her comment. He shook his head, “nope. Sorry,” he whispered, picking her up and pulling her against his chest, “wrap your legs around me Angel. And hold on tight. I’m not planning on walking and having Natalia get angrier,” he chuckled, breaking into a jog and then building his speed.

“There’s a whole list of things to come back to, Jim,” she said with a grin. As soon as he scooped her up, she wrapped herself around him, fully content with the arrangement. 

“I’ll hold onto that for later too,” she said just before he took off towards the doors, her cheek pressed against his chest as she closed her eyes.

“We need to make a list of things to try or things we have tried and enjoyed,” he whispered, knowing it was gonna end up being quite the list. 

Chapter Text

He pushed the doors open, rushing towards the apartments to find his new door already open and Natasha angrily assembling a chair. He took one look at it and noticed she’d put the seat upside down so it would only hold two legs and apparently have two backrests? “Talia, you have that upside down,” he whispered, putting Rose down gently and the redhead scoffed. “Well if you were here instead of fucking calling radio hosts I might have gotten it right!” she spat. That wasn’t what she was mad about and he knew it. “About the van…” “Yeah, about the van! You didn’t trust me to handle myself!” she snapped, “I love you for defending my honour on the bugle. But I can hold my own in a fight!” “She nearly put a bullet through your skull! I wasn’t risking a sniper waiting outside!” he said seriously. She dropped the chair legs on the floor, walking over to him. He didn’t know how she was gonna react to this, but he took a chance and kissed her, feeling her melt into his touch.

“You’re supposed to be hiding. Not fighting my battles James,” she sighed, “what if someone had seen you? What if someone had gotten to you while I was being kidnapped by Happy?” she asked worried. He brushed her hair out of her face, “I would handle it. Believe me, I’ll always come back for my girls.”

Rose rocked back and forth on her feet while the two of them sorted out what they needed to. “In his defense,” she finally said, “John Jameson is an idiot and I hate him. He sucks. I tried to yell at him but someone wouldn’t give me the phone.”

That reminded her. She pulled out her own phone, opened the notes app and passed it to Bucky. It was open the a very extensive list that she had googled earlier that morning. A variety of different things they could try, a very select few of them already having the green checkmark emoji next to them.

Natasha stared at him, “you didn’t let our girl say her piece? That’s not very nice James,” she chastised and he rolled his eyes, “listen I practically outed myself. Last thing we need is Ms America being associated with me so soon after DC.”

Bucky scrolled through it, looking at Nat, then back at the phone. “You’re into all this.” Natasha looked at the screen and smirked, “well I’ve done that… and that. Apparently now we’ve all fucked a celebrity. Oh we did number fifteen alright,” she grinned. She passed Rose her phone back, “so obviously you’d not had sex before us. But please tell me you at least learned how to masturbate?” she whispered.

Rose peered over Bucky’s arm to keep track of where they were looking at the list, and then at Nat’s question, her cheeks went dark pink, and she scrolled further down the list.

“Look, all of these look really fun.” She found “car sex” on the list and slyly put the green check next to it.

Natasha smirked slightly as she noticed Rose’s cheeks turn pink. She looked at Bucky with a grin, “so I may or may not have assembled the bed first cause I was angry at you and I was gonna make you watch while I fucked our girl. But.. now I’m a little curious about if our girl knows how to properly take care of her needs when we’re not here.”

She caught Rose add on car sex and stared at them both, “seriously?! And you didn’t think to ask me?!” she pouted, “I thought you knew better James.”

“Clint came and got a peep show, too,” Rose said, sliding her phone back into her pocket and looking at the chair before looking towards the bedroom.

“If you did the bed anything like how you did that chair, I am not getting into it,” she said, pointing at the abomination of furniture that was on the living room floor.

Bucky nodded at Natasha’s questioning look, “we were both naked. Poor guy got an eyeful,” he chuckled.

Natasha scoffed quietly, “well I was a lot more focused with the bed,” she shrugged, grabbing Rose with a huff. “Come on, I’ll even prove it’ll hold all three of us. Especially when two super soldiers are pounding you senseless,” she tacked on. “But first I wanna make sure you can take care of yourself if we’re not there,” she said softly. “So why don’t you strip for me and lay on your back for me princess.”

Rose was about to protest when the mental image of both of them making her lose her mind caused her brain to stop working on her team.

“When you put it like that,” she said, reaching for the hem of her shirt to take it off after only having had it on for a few minutes.

“Wait!” She said, coming back to her senses. “Bucky should get to be the first one to use his own bed, we don’t need to do this right now.” She was sure she would find some way to embarrass herself with this.

Natasha looked at Bucky, “what do you think? You wanna see your girl make herself come? Or do you want to get a little action too?” He bit his lip, “why do I have to decide!? I like both options,” he shrugged.

He gently lifted Rose’s shirt, “come on angel, show us how you get yourself off and then me and Natalia will fuck you stupid,” he whispered.

Natasha bit her lip as she got an idea, “I’ll be two minutes! Do not start yet!” she yelled back as she rushed off. When she came back with her toy duffel bag, she dropped it at the end of the bed. “We might as well get you prepped. At least while you’re getting yourself off, you’ll be ready to take one of us in your ass,” she grinned.

The repeated suggestion of being made stupid had her more on board with the plan, she realized as she let him take her shirt off.

“Okay,” she whispered, looping her thumbs into the waistband of her leggings, pushing them down, her underwear going with them. She sat on the end of the bed, waiting for Nat to return and then eyed the bag, nodding when the other woman explained.

Natasha grinned as Rose sat on the edge of the bed, grabbing her chin gently as she tilted it up to kiss her softly. “You’re so beautiful when you’re obedient, such a good girl,” she praised. She put her hand on the older woman’s chest, lightly pushing her back to lay down. A quiet groan went through her as she gently dragged her fingers through Rose’s folds, “who does this pussy belong to princess?” she cooed softly.

Bucky bit his lip as he watched Natalia work; she’d always been incredibly sexy when she took control. Natasha gently lifted one of Rose’s legs and sat it on her shoulder as she reached back for her lube and one of her smaller toys and a plug. She slicked up her fingers and the redheads hole, a finger sliding in with ease and she let out a moan, “look at you. You’ll be taking James in no time,” she whispered.

Bucky watched as Natalia worked her way from one finger, to two, then used the toy before using three fingers, “Tash, I think she can take the plug,” he breathed, looking at the size of it. It was a little less girthy than him but he was sure they’d make that work. Natasha looked at her, grabbing the clean plug and holding it up to her lips, “suck on it princess before I put it in your ass.”

Her shoulders had just barely hit the comforter behind her - it looked like they had gotten him a dark blue one, she liked that, and then Nat was on her. She didn’t even possess the power of mind to answer the question. She had been wracking up orgasms all day long and was sensitive.

She let out a small whimper where a third finger made its way into her, not quite as much as what she had last night and then Nat was talking to her again, holding something small and metallic out to her. Without question, she wrapped her lips around it, sliding her tongue against the cool metal, her eyes flicking up to look at Nat.

Natasha tapped her clit gently, “I asked you a question angel, I can’t make you feel good if you won’t talk to me,” she cooed. “Who does this pussy belong to?” she asked again, a little more sternly than before.

She smirked down at the older woman, caressing her cheek with her free hand, “so beautiful for me Milaya,” she whispered. She gently pulled the plug back from her, dragging it through the lube that had slipped out of her, gently working the metal into Rose’s ass, grinning as the widest part slipped in and the plug glided in on its own. “So pretty for us Printsessa,” she breathed. “Why don’t you show us how you get yourself off. Show us how you take care of your needs,” she breathed. She heard Bucky’s trousers unzip and she could tell he was stroking himself. She knew he wouldn’t be able to wait.

Of course he couldn’t wait, his two girls were looking like that and he was supposed to just sit back and watch? Fuck no!

Rose whimpered again as Nat tapped at her, barely gathering her mind enough to formulate her answer. “Me,” she panted. “Belongs to me.” It did, to be fair, she just let them borrow it.

Then something was pushing in and she let out a loud cry once it was settled in. It was cool, even by her standards.

The sound of a zipper had her lifting her head to look up at them, her vision not entirely focused while her fingers slid between her legs as she groaned.

Bucky snorted quietly, “she’s got you there Milaya,” he teased and the redhead glared at him. “Don’t encourage her.” The soldier shrugged, “or what? You’ll punish me? I’d like to see you try.”

Natasha rubbed her back gently, “well done angel, took it so well,” she cooed softly. She gently laid Rose’s leg back down on the bed, curling up next to her, her head on the older woman’s chest, looking down towards their legs.

Natasha watched her move her fingers south and smiled, kissing her cheek gently, “atta girl. Show us how good you are. Show us you can follow orders.”

"Don't push it, Romanoff," she panted out, her fingers moving rhythmically against herself, her lower lip getting pulled between her teeth. It didn't take long before she turned her head to capture the other woman's lips with her own, all but moaning into Nat's mouth as she slipped a finger inside herself, her lower stomach tensing at it.

Natasha chuckled, “what’re you gonna do kitten,” she breathed, “you’re all talk.” Sure she was goading the woman, but where the fun in things being easy. She sighed against Rose’s lips, her fingertips circling against Rose’s hip as she tried to keep her hands to herself. She’d said she wanted rose to do this herself… so she wasn’t gonna break that request now.

She was about to say something to do with kittens and their claws but then Nat's hands were on her hips and she lost the train of thought. She panted out another groan, squirming a bit against the mattress as she tried to find the right amount of pressure that the other two always seemed to manage to find with no issue.
Natasha put her hand over Rose’s gently adding to the pressure the older woman had on herself. She nipped at her lip softly as she pulled away from Rose’s kiss, sighing against her lips, “you’re so pretty right now,” she breathed.

The pressure Nat added was exactly what she needed, sending her over the edge with a cry before she pulled her lips away from Nat's just enough to bat her lashes at the woman before asking "does that mean you don't always think I'm pretty?"

Natasha gently pulled her hand back as the girl cried out, kissing her cheek gently. Bucky and Natasha quickly shook their heads at Rose’s question, frowning slightly, “what? No.. angel you’re always pretty. Just.. especially now when you’re all worked up and toying with yourself,” she whispered. Bucky chuckled quietly, “good save.”

The corner of her mouth tilted up in a lazy, lopsided smile as she sat up slightly on one of her elbows, her eyes flicking between the two of them as they tried to backtrack the statement. "I'm going to have so much fun with the two of you," she said, her eyes landing on Bucky who was naked again.

Natasha rolled her eyes as Rose sat up, pushing her back down, “oh you’re a pain,” she huffed. Bucky kicked his pants off as he walked over, crawling over to them with a grin, “oh we’re gonna have fun alright.”

She laughed as a puff of air left her lungs when Nat pushed her back down, and then her eyes darkened as she watched him crawl onto the bed. The soviets had tried to turn him into a weapon, but there was not a thing about him that scared her. "Why don't you show us how, sarge?"

That was enough to have her eyes rolling back in head, her entire body tensing at the idea. She wanted to say "yes, yes, that please," but the words weren't coming so all she could do was nod her head, ducking her face enough to grab the thumb of his metal hand with her teeth, pulling it between her lips.

He gently pushed his thumb into her mouth, biting his lip as he felt himself get closer to his climax. Natasha looked at them both with a fond smile, those were her people. As Bucky came with a low moan, she looked at him with a smirk, “you wanna uncuff me and we can show her real pleasure?” she grinned. Sure she might not come while doing it, but she was way more into giving care than taking it. She was a service bottom. Sue her.

The feeling of him pulsing inside her had her whining again, before she was using her fingers to quickly undo Nat's cuffs. She didn't even care anymore about who behaved and who didn't, as long as she got what she wanted.

Bucky pulled out of her, tying off the condom and throwing it in the trash, “Angel, do you want Natalia to fuck your ass? Or do you want me to?” Natasha flashed a small grin, “I’ll let you pick the toy.”

She managed to move so she was sitting up, her gaze flicking from one of them to the other before biting her lower lip? “Both?” She asked tentatively. “Not … both there…but both…at the same time?”

Natasha chuckled quietly, “oh princess, that was the intention. We wanna both fuck you,” she whispered. She grabbed the harness, “but who do you want in your ass first?” she asked as she pulled it on, biting her lip as Bucky slapped her ass as he slipped past her.

At that, a huge grin broke out across her face. "Oh good. Uhm. Well, he was just there. So it's your turn," she said, sinking back to sit on her heels, looking between the two of them again.

Natasha looked at Bucky, “you heard the lady, get on your back,” she grinned, slapping his ass in return as she moved to grab a toy for her harness. Grabbing a dildo ever so slightly thicker than Bucky but a small amount shorter, she clipped it into place with a grin. She gently grabbed Rose’s hair, pushing her forward up the bed onto Bucky who gently gripped her thighs, “just be aware moya krasivaya devochka, I will be marking your neck. So I would say your goodbyes to that beautiful skin,” she whispered lowly, proving her point by gently nipping at her skin, rolling her tongue over the affected area.

Rose grinned down at Bucky, leaning down to press her mouth to his. She really could do that every moment of every day for the rest of however long her life was going to be, and never get sick of it. She gasped into her mouth when she felt teeth against the back of her neck, courtesy of the redhead behind her. This was going to be the best moment of her entire life. She was positive nothing was going to top what was about to happen.

Natasha kissed down her spine with a grin, nipping and licking every so often as she worked her way down. The redhead groped Rose’s ass with a smile, “you’re so fuckin’ hot milaya. So good for us.” She grabbed the lube, stroking some onto the toy before reapplying some to Rose with her fingers, “just so you know Princess, you’re gonna struggle to talk, so if you’re wanting things to stop, raise your open hand. If you wanna keep going when we ask, raise your fist so either of us can see it.” She was down to get rough and mean when she was asked. But safety was always number one. She wanted her partners to feel like they could be heard and that they wouldn’t be in danger. Bucky pushed into her first, pulling her down with a quiet moan before Natasha was pressing the dildo against her hole. “You ready princess? I’ll start slow.”

Rose slapped her own hand over her mouth to stop herself from shouting when Bucky pulled her down. She was so sensitive still and it felt good, but then Nat was pressing into her too and it was a lot. Good. Nice. She didn’t want them to stop, but a lot.

At Nat’s question, she nodded, forever grateful that she had pulled her hair up into that messy bun earlier in the morning so only loose strands of hair were sticking to the back of her neck.

Bucky looked up at her, his metal hand gently wrapping around her wrist to pull her hand away from her mouth. Natasha smiled slightly, “this place is soundproofed.. at least I think it is. The tower’s floors were at least.”

Natasha gently pushed into her with a proud smile, gently massaging the older woman’s shoulder with one hand as she used it for leverage. “You okay Princess?” she sighed, “feelin’ a little full?”

As soon as her hand was pulled away from her lips, a series of curses fell out of her mouth, continuing until Nat was fully settled. “Jesus, fuck,” and then more whimpers. “Yes,” she finally managed to get out at Nat’s question.

Natasha kissed the back of her neck gently, “such a dirty mouth. Who knew you could be so crass?” she teased softly. Bucky rolled his eyes, “shoulda heard her in the war when she was mad at me,” he sighed out, his hands gently guiding Rose’s hips as Natasha began to thrust.

“That,” she panted out “was because you were always - fuck - always doing dumb shit.” Her forehead fell, making contact with Bucky’s shoulder and she reached behind him to grab onto the headboard for some sort of leverage.

Bucky kissed at her chest gently, flicking his tongue over her nipple, “says the one who got shot,” he teased. Natasha smirked, “you always get shot! It’s like a pastime for you!”

Her other hand reached down to grab into his hair, her fingers twisting into it as she let out a moan. The two of them would be the eventual death of her.

Natasha kissed up the side of Rose’s neck, gently nipping at her pulse point, “how many times should we make her come James? Twice? Three? Six?” she whispered and Bucky grinned, looking up at Rose, his eyes blown wide with lust. “I think you can take at least two more orgasms? Huh?”

The thought of it had her already reeling. It sounded both great and terrible. She knew that regardless, she’d not be able to accomplish anything other than sleeping for the rest of her evening. She hissed at the teeth against her pulse, her hips moving as she jumped slightly, only for that sensation to overwhelm her.

Natasha sucked a hickey onto her neck, “would you like that honey? For us to fuck you till you’re boneless?” she cooed softly. Bucky moaned as she jumped, his metal hand gripping her hip roughly. That would probably leave a mark. Natasha’s hand gently moved to wrap around the older woman’s throat, pulling her back a little as she pushed herself deeper with each thrust, “gonna mark you all over so everyone knows you’re ours,” she whispered lowly, “bet you’d love that, huh? My hand on your throat and our lips and marks all over your skin? Let everyone know who loves you.”

With both of them pulling her body closer to themselves, and all the things they were saying, it wasn’t a surprise when she went spiraling off the cliff, her pleasure wracking through her body as she cried out.

Talk about boneless, she thought as her torso collapsed down onto the man below her.

Bucky looked down at her on his chest, smiling slightly as he felt her flutter around him, him and Natasha both slowing their movements to a crawl. “You alright princess?” he whispered softly, his metal hand moving to caress her cheek. Natasha smirked slightly, gradually picking her speed up again, “she’ll be fine. Won’t you angel? You wanna come again?” she cooed.

The cool of the metal on her face had her peeling her eyes open as she looked over at him. “I’m great,”she said, her voice slow and sleepy. “Peachy. Perfect. Ready for more.”

Bucky stroked his thumb over her cheekbones, “atta girl. So good for us.” Natasha moaned quietly as she thrust harder, the harness rubbing against her as she moved, “such a good girl. Taking me so damn good.”

Another whimper was pulled from her when Nat started moving again. She’d be lucky to have any use of her voice the next morning.

“So good,” she panted against the skin of his chest. “So much.”

Bucky gently moved Rose’s hips for her, controlling her movements as Natasha kept up a consistent but quick pace. The constant movement from Natasha behind her was starting to work Bucky up, his hand on her hip tightening slightly. “ ‘m so close,” he breathed, his head thrown back against the pillow as he bucked his hips up in time with his movements of Rose’s hips.

Rose had the power of mind to nip at Bucky’s throat when he pressed his head back into the pillows, exposing the skin there to her as she panted against him.

It quickly all became too much and she was careening again, thankful for the strength of the two on either side of her to keep her body moving in time with their own as she fell apart again.

He’d been right on the edge as Rose nipped at his neck, the small action throwing him over the edge as she did so. As he felt her orgasm hit, it felt like she was milking everything out of him and he was very quickly pulled into a second orgasm.

Natasha looked down at them both fondly, giving Rose’s ass a firm squeeze, “just once more and I’ll clean you up,” she whispered, “can you do that? Can you give me one more?”

The squeeze on her ass had her slowly trying to come back to the present, having made it halfway to oblivion. At Nat’s question, she huffed out between her lips, sending a small tuft of ginger hair flying in front of her face. Another!? These two were so greedy.

“Yes, Natty,” she mumbled, half incoherent as she said it, trying to pull herself back together.

Natasha smiled slightly as Rose huffed, moving her free hand around to gently brush the hairs out of her face, giving her throat a little squeeze as she slapped the older woman’s backside.

As Rose spoke, her cheeks flushed with heat and she paused her movements slightly, staring at the redhead in front of her, her pulse racing. Really? That turns her on? “Did you just call me daddy?” she asked, more than a little aroused at the name.

Rose whined when Nat slapped her ass. It stung and she’d have to get her revenge later. At the question, she nodded, wondering why it was such a big deal. She didn’t call her that often but it hadn’t been unheard of for her to refer to her like that, even if she did more frequently opt for Tasha.

Natasha squeezed her throat gently, thrusting a little harder before. “So good for daddy,” she breathed, “making me so proud princess.” Bucky looked up at them, his hands guiding Rose’s hips as he thrust into her gently. He’d just came twice. He was more than a little sensitive.

Rose felt her eyes roll into the back of her head at the pressure on her throat. Bucky’s hands on her hips, moving her as if she were just a doll for the two of them to use, her fingers curling in against his chest as she was about to fall to pieces again.

Bucky looked up at her with a tired smile as she curled her fingers on his chest. He felt like he’d need a long sleep after this. Sure he and Nat used to go at it like rabbits decades ago, but he was a lot younger then, plus they never made him finish twice in very quick succession.

Natasha leant forward and kissed Rose’s cheek as she kept up her thrusts, feeling her climax quickly approaching. She’d been wanting this for so long. Her thighs were cramping as she hit her peak, her hips falling towards Rose as she held herself up off the older woman with her arms.

When Nat finally found her end, Rose completely collapsed in a heap of redheaded mess on Bucky’s chest, panting. “Goodnight,” she managed to mumble out, before shuddering as her muscles contracted and released over and over again, coming down from the high.

Bucky rubbed Rose’s back gently as she collapsed onto his chest, “come on, let’s get you laid down,” he whispered. Natasha gently pulled out of her, dropping the harness next to the bed as she made her way to the bathroom. Bucky gently lifted Rose off of him, letting her lay on her side against his shoulder as Natasha came back in, cleaning her off with a warm towel.

She pressed a kiss to Rose’s forehead, brushing the loose strands from her face before slowly and gently taking the older woman’s hair out of her bun so she wouldn’t wake up with a headache.

Rose whimpered again as she was moved from a spot she found quite comfortable, and then sighed as she was placed into the soft comforting plushness of the bed.

A small hum came from her when she felt Nat playing with her hair and it didn’t take very long before she was tumbling into the darkness of sleep.

Bucky closed his eyes as Natalia worked, gently pressing kisses to Rose’s forehead as he cuddled her to his chest. Natasha cleaned herself up and kissed him softly before finally getting back in bed to be with them.