Moral of the Story

Chapter Ten

It took less than ten steps out of the room before the kids came running back in.

"Hey guys-" Y/N began as they ran to her. But she wasn't expecting them to run past her completely and go straight to the brunette behind her.

"Hey you little rascals!" Bucky laughed as he did the same thing Y/N did when she first saw them. He was bent down to their level, but instead of falling back, his firm build was able to withhold the tackling of Manny and Lily.

Y/N raised an eyebrow at the interaction. How did they know Bucky?

"Hey Bucky, guess what Dad and I did yesterday?" Manny said, pulling back from his hug enough to see his face. Lily was still wrapped around his neck and holding tight as she turned slightly to watch her brother.

Bucky had an arm around her and was squeezing Manny's arm before he pulled away.

"What's that, Big Man?" Bucky asked. His attitude was a completely different one with the kids.

"We went to a new park and Dad took off my training wheels for a little!" he smiled brightly.

"No, no. That can't be. You're too small to be doing something that crazy," Bucky exaggerated.

"No, I'm not! I even went to the skate ramp and went from the highest hill they had!"

"You did what now?" Denise butted in, sending her husband a look.

"It wasn't the biggest hill," John said with a tense chuckle at being caught. "It was like toddler size one."

"No, Dad, remember?" Manny interrupted. "We were going to do the biggest one, but my knee and elbow pads didn't fit anymore, so took them off and you said we could do the one right by that one." He turned back to Bucky with a big grin the same time Denise sent a scary look to her husband. "It was like 10 feet high!"

"What?" Denise gritted.

Everyone looked back and forth between Denise and John. Manny hadn't realized how much trouble he just got his dad in, and all the other adults were trying to stifle laughs or smiles on their faces at the act.

"Ok, but hear me out," John started.

"Oh, I'll hear you out," she scoffed, taking her mimosa and moving to the backdoor. "John, outside. Now."

He hesitated and walked out like a dog being punished.

"I think you just got your dad a night in the dog house there, Buddy," Bucky laughed before he stood up and picked up Lily with him.

"We don't have a dog house, Silly. We have a cat. That would be weird," Manny brushed off the comment before quickly moving onto the next interesting thing in the room; Paw Patrol that was playing on the TV.

"Manny, you keep this family interesting," Sherri sighed before going back to helping Thomas organize the food into serving dishes.

Y/N couldn't help, but laugh at the scenario that just unfolded in front of them, but she was quickly reminded by Lily and Bucky talking off to the side that they all knew each other somehow.

Once he let Lily down and she ran over to help her grandma set something up, she turned to Bucky.

"Um, how exactly do you know..." She didn't finish the sentence but instead pointed at her niece and nephew, and Bucky blushed some before rubbing his hand through his scruff in nerves.

"Uh, well. Since I'm here a lot of weekends, I sometimes have dinner with everyone when they come in town, too," he explained timidly.

"You have dinner with your ex-wife's family on weekends?" she asked.