"The entire time I knew him, he only ever had one goal..." Or so they thought...
Perhaps Thanos needed to retrieve all six Infinity Stones to complete his mission of balancing the universe, but he also needed them for something else: to reawaken th...
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While Cap and the group headed back to the Avengers Facility in New York, Karen headed to Wakanda. She had butterflies in her stomach as she touched down in the city centre. She honestly felt just as excited as she had before going on her first date with Bucky, back about eighty years ago. A whole lifetime had passed since then. The world had been very different.
For that first date she wore a coral-pink dress with a matching hair bow. Now she wore her combat suit.
Princess Shuri, who had been treating Bucky, greeted her. "Hello, Agent Granger."
"Princess." Karen nodded. "I got your message."
"Yes, he is ready and eager to see you," Shuri said with a smile. At this, the butterflies in Karen's stomach fluttered madly.
The princess led her out into an open field, huts speckling the grass. This was where Bucky had been recovering and healing.
"Uh, h-how do I look?" Karen asked the princess, suddenly nervous. She had been about Princess Shuri's age when she had first met Bucky.
"Nervous," chuckled Shuri. "You look fine."
"You look amazing." A familiar voice caused Karen to spin around. There stood a smiling Bucky, her Bucky.
A wide smile instantly spread across her face. "Buck."
He was dressed in Wakandan robes of red and blue. His now long hair was partially pulled back into a bun, and he had a new metal arm.
Shuri chuckled. "I will leave you two to catch up on the last eighty-or-so years."
"Thank you, so much, for everything," Karen told her.
"Yes, thank you, Princess," agreed Bucky.
Shuri only smiled. "It was my pleasure." And with that, she left them.
The couple turned back to face each other, not saying anything for several moments, just taking the sight of each other in.
Karen felt tears prickling her eyes and her hands quickly flew up to her face to hide them and quickly wipe them away. "Oh no - I promised myself I wouldn't cry." She brushed the traitorous tears away. "It's just, you look so much healthier and happier than last time we found you."
Bucky chuckled. "Well, that's good to hear. And yeah, Wakanda has done wonders for me." He flashed her that ever-charming smile of his which had her smitten from the very start. She had always thought her Bucky had a winning smile.
"I like the hair and the beard," she commented.
"Do you?" He rubbed his hand across his jaw. "I was wondering whether or not I should give it a cut and shave."
"I like it," she repeated, reaching out to brush his cheek herself. "It's the new you."
"Yeah. They're calling me 'White Wolf.'"
"'White Wolf'," she tried. "I like it, too. I think it suits you."
He reached up and captured her hand, still resting gently against his cheek, in his metal one. "It's beautiful," she commented, now running her fingers along his metallic arm.
"Yeah, Princess Shuri made it for me. It's made from Vibranium, the strongest-"
"-Metal in the world." Their words overlapped and they shared a chuckle.
"Can you feel with it?"
He gave her hand a squeeze. "Yeah."
Her smile then fell ever so slightly. Time for the hard part. "Listen, Buck. I've been thinking a lot about this, about us, lately and I want you to know that I'm not expecting anything. I'm not expecting us to get back together, or something like that. Thing's have changed so much for us. You've been through so much, and its been so long, I just don't want you to feel any pressure-"
She was cut off and silenced then by his lips against hers in a kiss, an embrace that felt so distant yet familiar and one which she immediately melted into.
He pulled away, smiling at her surprised expression. "How was that for eighty years of no practice?" She only stared up at him, blinking and shocked speechless. "And wait, did we break up?"
Karen was still shocked. "W-well, no, not technically. But I thought you were dead and then you didn't remember, and-"
"-And its been eighty years. For the first time in eighty years I have a choice, I'm in control. And I'm choosing you, choosing us, this. And look at us, eighty years later, not looking so bad for a couple of senior citizens if I must say so myself." This made her laugh. "Life's giving us another chance, so let's grab it and run. What d'ya say?" He grinned and raised his eyebrows.
"Very smooth, Barnes." Now she was beaming. "You always were charming."
"Didn't lose that part of me." He winked.
"No, you didn't." They embraced again.
Someone clearing their throat broke in a few moments later. "Excuse us."
"I told you not to interrupt them, Brother, they're reuniting."
The couple broke their embrace to see King T'Challa standing there before them, slightly awkwardly, along with his sister and general, Okoye.
"Pardon us for interrupting, but we have some news," the king explained.
Bucky and Karen exchanged a glance. "Where's the fight?" asked Bucky.
T'Challa sighed. "On its way."
(Yay, Bucky's back! ;) He's always been a favourite of mine! Thank you so much for reading and the 700+ reads! And, as always, I hope you enjoyed! :)
What are your predictions for 'Avengers: Endgame'? I'd love to hear your thoughts!)
