Everything's Going to Change

A New Family

 "What do you mean you've never seen Star Wars?!"

"It never came up!" I protested. Steve and Bucky looked at me, scandalized.

"Well consider this your introduction to the family." Steve said as he carried me to the couch and tossed me on it. I giggled as I hit the cushions and bounced onto the ground. Bucky shook his head with a smile and picked me up to sit me between him and Steve. The opening credits started and I was transported to long ago, in a galaxy far far away.

"That was amazing." I breathed as the movie ended. Steve and Bucky high fived as I stared at the screen in wonder.

"We'll watch the next one tomorrow." Steve said with a smile "Right now, you need to go to bed. It's almost midnight and we're getting up early so we can have some fun." Bucky set me on his shoulders and carried me to my room.

"Get some sleep." he said softly as he pulled the covers up to my chin "See you in the morning."

"Goodnight." I mumbled as I drifted off to sleep.

Great, a nightmare. Just what I needed right now. Part of me was considering staying in my room. The sane part of me said get up and go find Steve or Bucky. I listened to the latter and quietly padded out of my room. It was only until I was outside my room did I realize that I couldn't just wake them up because I had a bad dream. I turned around to go back to bed, but a voice stopped me.

"Charlie, are you OK?" I turned and saw Steve sitting on the couch, looking concerned.

"Bad dream." I mumbled "I'm fine."

"Do you want to stay out here with me?" I nodded immediately and darted over to Steve who held me in his lap and gently rocked me back and forth.

"Why are you up?" I asked after a minute.

"The Lion King was on and there was no way I was missing it." I giggled and tucked myself into a tighter ball as I tried to go to sleep. Eventually the movie ended and Steve carried me to his and Bucky's room. My arms were wrapped around his neck as I held on tight.

"Is she OK?" I heard Bucky ask tiredly.

"Bad dream." Steve said softly. Bucky said something I couldn't hear, but Steve gently handed me to Bucky who kissed my forehead and held me in a tight hug.

"You're OK." he whispered as I started to go back to sleep.

"I'm scared." I whimpered as Steve leaned over to hug me too.

"Don't be scared Charlie." Bucky said softly "Steve and I are right here, nothing's going to happen as long as we're around. I promise." I took a deep breath and burrowed under the covers as I went to sleep, surrounded by my new family.

"Heads up!" I ducked as Steve tried to toss an egg into the trash can. Bucky however was not as quick and it hit him right in the face. I burst out into laughter as Bucky glared at Steve who looked paralyzed with fear. They started chasing each other around the kitchen and Bucky eventually caught Steve and kissed him, getting egg all over Steve's face in the process. I was just about crying from laughter as I sat on the floor, gasping for breath.

"It's not nice to laugh at other people's pain!" Bucky whined.

"I'm sorry." I choked out "If you could just see your face though, I think you'd understand." Bucky stuck his tongue out at me as he and Steve wiped the egg off their face.

"OK." Steve said excitedly "Here's what I have planned. First, we go play on the beach, then we try out the new Nerf guns I bought, then we'll watch the next Star Wars, and then we'll go to sleep. Am I missing anything?"

"Food." Bucky and I said in unison.

"I think there's pizza and cookie dough in the fridge."

"Yes!"

"This is so cool!" I shrieked with excitement as I swam around in the ocean "We didn't have one of these back home!"

"You're welcome!" Steve called as he and Bucky swam over "I could have bought a house on the countryside." I laughed and giddily splashed some of the water at the happy pair. That was a mistake on my part. Soon, I was engaged in a full out battle that I lost, in every conceivable way possible. We were having so much fun that I didn't even have time to be sad or depressed. I loved feeling happy. I continued to feel happy all through out the day even when Steve and Bucky slaughtered me in the Nerf war. It wasn't until it was dark outside that I started to get scared.

"Do I have to go to bed?" I whispered as I laid with Steve and Bucky on the couch after the movie was over.

"We'll be right here." Steve said gently as Bucky held me in his arms "Nothing bad's going to happen."