strawberry pancakes // bucky barnes

The One Where Things Start to Go Wrong

Dress picked, venue secured, the theme is chosen. Everything was falling perfectly into place when it came to Bucky and Lily's wedding and love story. Soon, it was going to be signed, sealed, and delivered. Everything would be just as Lily had dreamed it would be all those years ago when she prayed for the love she had with Bucky. At nights when Scott would wander in, smelling like another woman, she used to wish for someone better. She knows it's awful, but Lily was desperate for a shred of humanity in someone. She wanted to be treated like a person, not just an object.

Bucky gave her that tenfold. He treated her like she was everything and more. No one could even touch Lily without Bucky knowing. If anyone tried to hurt her, he was on it in an instant. Everything Bucky did, he did for Lily. She was the thing that saved him in a dark time and brought light to the world he knew to be dark. And just as she had found salvation in him, he found a saviour in her.

When Stella was asleep and Hunter had wandered off into his room, the two would put on music and sway in the kitchen. Foreheads pressed together and breath intermingling. Their love was sweet and secure, and Lily was grateful for the life she leads every day. Whether it be the two children she's graced with or the one in a million love she had stumbled across in a cafe.

-----

"Now remember," Lily whispered as she unbuckled Stella from her car seat, "You can't tell Daddy a single thing about the dress."

Stella nodded briskly, encircling her arms around Lily's neck as the two rambled up the steps into the house. Pushing open the chestnut door, the two were welcomed with dogs barking and boisterous laughing echoing around them. She could only assume it was the rowdy groomsmen that Bucky had chosen to stand with him at the wedding. It probably didn't help the lot of them were prepping for Steve's wedding in the next few days, stressing and fussing about the smallest of things in Steve's vows.

"I think I hear Uncle Steve," Lily whispered to her daughter, earning a bright giggle from the girl as she set her down, "Go get him!"

Steve and Natasha were the second set of parents to Stella, it seemed. Whenever either had the chance, they'd beg Bucky and Lily to let them watch her. Steve adored the little girl and jokingly threatened he was going to steal her away one day. Stella was even given the honour of flower girl in the two's wedding coming up, only furthering the fact that she and Steve had a connection like no other.

"Well, look what the cat dragged in," Lily grinned as she picked up Alpine, ruffling his white fur as she smiled at the men, "How'd it go?"

"Suits are well and ordered, doll," Bucky cooed, standing to his feet and pressing a kiss to his fiance's cheek, "No more worrying."

"And how're the vows coming?" Lily quizzically asked, eyes boring into Steve's as he picked up her daughter.

"Gonna make her cry," Steve boasted, "Right, Hunt?"

"I wouldn't go that far, Uncle Steve," Hunter chuckled as he placed his phone down, "I think Yelena is the only one who can make her cry."

Lily barked out a laugh before turning towards Bucky, scanning his face, "Where's Cedar?"

"Went out a bit ago," Bucky lamented, working his hand over his stubble, "Don't know where."

"Great," Lily muttered, glancing down at the floor, "Any moving trucks come by?"

"Not yet," Bucky grumbled, both of their voices hushed, so the others were ignorant to what they were talking about, "I've asked Hunter if he's talked to him, and he says no. So he doesn't know about the adoption yet."

Lily knew it wouldn't be pretty when Scott finally figured out it was official that Hunter was no longer his son, legally. She had already contacted the school and changed all of the documentation, so Lily could only assume Priya was notified by one of the women in the office. It was only a matter of time before Scott showed up down the way from the Barnes family, orchestrating whatever plans he had. There was no law saying Scott couldn't move to the same area, but Lily wasn't an idiot and knew her ex-husband. Something was working in his mind, and he was attempting to do something against the Barnes family.