Redemption ||Bucky Barnes||

Epilogue

            "This is insane," I say. "No matter what year you go, it's always crazy and cold. That's why we stay indoors and watch it like normal people."

"Dani, we live in New York. Come on, you've talked about it for a while now." Bucky hands my coat over to me. "It's only once. I promise I won't drag you outside on New Year's Eve ever again."

"You promise?" I raise an eyebrow.

He pulls me into his arms, kissing me softly. "Is that good enough?"

"Try harder." I smile against his mouth as he kisses me again. He moves away, down my neck. I lean against him. "Okay, okay. If you keep going, we might not make it out there."

"Eh, it wouldn't be such a bad thing. We'd have next year to try, and the year after, and the year after that, and the year after that..."

"No, I want to do it now." I sigh. "It's a shame we can't drive there."

"We'll stay warm from walking." He shrugs, taking my hand. "Let's go."

I make sure to lock the apartment before we head out into the bitter December weather. It's snowing on this New Year's Eve. I blow air out noisily through my mouth. We have to walk to get a good view of the ball dropping this year.

Bucky grabs my hand, and we walk down the sidewalks. Ever since we've made ourselves home here, Bucky's done some exploring. He's my guide to New York. He's definitely happy here, as he grew up in the state. His happiness has radiated onto me. If I could have anyone with me to deal with the New York life, it'd be a born New Yorker.

It's so different than California, way noisier too. We're dragons as our breaths come out as puffs before our faces. To top off the snow, there's a bitter wind in the air. Like I said, perfect New Year's Eve weather. Why did I say I wanted to go? Why couldn't I have just let Buck keep going, that way we could have stayed in the warmth of our apartment?

He tricked me into wanting to go, I know he did. Buck can be clever like that sometimes.

"Of all the times to snow," I say, shaking my head in disbelief.

"I think it's nice," Bucky comments. "It'll be snowing and raining confetti come midnight."

"What a wonderful mixture."

"You're not the one that's got to clean it all up at the end of the night." He nudges me in the side. "You'll admire it."

"How would you know that?"

"I'm psychic."

I smile. "More like psychotic."

"Nice try." His arm is around my waist as he keeps me close by. "If you really thought that, you wouldn't have said yes."

I feel the weight of the ring on my finger. It hadn't taken long for him to ask me to marry him. In fact, he'd proposed on a New Year's Eve. We'd had my parents over at our place, and a few fellow S.H.I.E.L.D. agents decided to join. Needless to say it was a cute proposal, a simple one. I can't say the same about the wedding.

It was nice, the wedding, but a little over the top. The reason being goes by the name of Tony Stark. More like Pepper Potts really. I'd gotten to know Pepper when running into her after we'd just moved into New York. We became friends really fast. We get along great. I can't say the same about Bucky and Tony though. It's a very sensitive issue. The only reason they tolerate each other is because of me and Pepper.