Come Back With Me

I Think It's Time We Talked

When Lizzie wakes up, she looks next to her and finds Bucky deep in sleep. He's asleep on his stomach and has his face towards her. The sheets are around his waist, exposing his bare torso to her.

It took a little bit of time but Bucky has finally gotten comfortable with not wearing a shirt around her again. He is so self conscious about his arm and what it represents but to Lizzie, he's perfect.

His mouth is slightly open and his hair is sticking in all directions. In sleep, he looks like he could be the carefree young man who wasn't touched by war and tragedy.

She gets out of bed, throws on one of Bucky's shirts and grabs her sketchbook. She sits back on the bed with her back against the headboard and props her sketchbook on her legs. She is so engrossed in sketching that she doesn't even realize that Bucky is awake.

He doesn't think he's seen anything better than his wife lounging in bed with one of his old shirts on. He can tell she's very focused on her sketch and takes a moment to examine her.

He notices that she looks healthier than when he first came back a month ago. The circles under her eyes are gone and there's more color in her cheeks. She was so thin when he came back and he's glad to see that she's starting to gain a little weight again. He hates how she used to overwork and miss sleep and meals. He has taken it upon himself to make sure she doesn't work herself to death so he makes sure she is eating enough, getting to bed at a decent time, and most importantly, that she leaves her work at the office. He loves how important Lizzie's job is to her but she always struggled with finding a balance.

She still hasn't noticed that Bucky was awake, still too engrossed with her drawing. She's been working on something recently that she's been very secretive about. He'll catch her drawing sometimes and when she sees him, she'll quickly put it away. He is so curious but he doesn't want to peek at something she obviously isn't ready for him to see. He decides that he's been staring long enough and it's time to get her attention.

"Good morning, beautiful," he says.

Lizzie jumps nearly a foot off the bed and snaps her sketchbook shut.

She definitely is hiding something.

She turns to put her sketchbook on the nightstand and Bucky reaches out and pulls her to him.

He spins them so that Lizzie is trapped underneath him.

"The correct response is 'good morning, my incredibly attractive and amazing husband'" Bucky says.

Lizzie wraps both her arms around him, bringing him even closer to her. She leans over and places her lips by his ear.

"Good morning my incredibly... annoying and disruptive husband," Lizzie whispers.

"Hey! I actually waited quite a bit, you just didn't notice I was awake," Bucky defends with a laugh.

"How long were you watching me you loser?" Lizzie asks.

"Wow, what's with all the name calling this morning, Mrs. Barnes?" Bucky asks.

Lizzie rolls her eyes because he tries to work that name into as many conversations as possible.

"I'm sorry, good morning, love," Lizzie says appeasingly.

"That's better," he says.

He presses a quick peck to her lips.

"Did you sleep better tonight?" Bucky asks.