Trying Your Luck - Bucky BarnesxOC

Part 73: New Beginnings

Author's Note: CW for this chapter: Mentions of birth and hospitals. I kept the birth details to the absolute minimum as far as that stuff goes, but it's still there. I said no babies when I originally started this fic, but I was a different person then – and I had no idea where this story was going to go.

Two years later

Bucky is freaking out.

Freaking out is actually an understatement. He's been prepared for all kinds of scenarios, but the birth of his child is something else entirely. She's been in labor for twelve hours now. Six of those, she was by herself. He was on a mission with Sam. He's still in the gear that Shuri made for him. A black and gold armored motorcycle jacket with matching pants and boots. He finally got to test it out over the past few days after just staring at it hanging on their wall for six months. Of course, he would have a mission at the tail end of Shannon's pregnancy. He should have been here.

Bucky takes a deep breath, wringing his hands. Did he mention that he was freaking the fuck out?

As Shannon is breathing while a nurse checks her vitals, Bucky paces around the hospital room. He needs a distraction. Anything. His eyes land on a cabinet with a broken door. He fiddles with it.

"What are you doing?" Shannon asks, breathing deeply in between each word.

"This is busted," he tells her.

"Mr. Barnes, just leave it," the nurse orders.

"I can fix it. It just needs to be shoved back into place."

He grabs the door and pops it back into the hinge. He hears Shannon sigh.

"What?" He asks.

"Is this what you're doing?" She asks with a smirk. "I'm in labor and you're fixing doors?"

The nurse just laughs at him and looks over at Shannon.

"Sweetheart, when men don't know what to do in these situations, they do what they can."

"I resent that," Bucky retorts, crossing his arms over his chest.

Shannon laughs.

"You're in dad mode already." She looks over at the nurse. "You know, he checked the thermostat when we got in here?"

The nurse stifles a giggle, and Bucky shrugs.

"I just wanted to make sure she would be comfortable."

"I told you he was a sweetheart," Shannon tells her.

The nurse smiles and walks toward the door, patting him gently on the shoulder.

"Mr. Barnes, why don't you hold your wife's hand and time her contractions? The doctor and I will be back in a few minutes to check on you. If you need anything, hit the call button."

He nods and sits beside Shannon, holding her hand.

"You're losing it, buddy," she laughs.

"I know. I'm scared."

"You're scared?! I have to push this kid out of me." She sighs. "It's fair to be scared though."

He smiles.

"Damn right."

He times her contractions on his phone, thinking that it'll be a while before things start to get crazy. Holy shit is he ever wrong! Within half an hour, she's screaming, sweating, and the doctors and nurses are flooding the hospital room. Bucky doesn't know what to do. He paces and touches her shoulder. He whispers in her ear. The whole process seems to take forever, yet no time at all. And the whole time, his entire body is rushing with adrenaline.