The Captain's Husband

54. My Angel (Bucky)

From the other side of the living room, I can hear Zander come off the elevator, huffing and puffing angrily like a little train. When I see him go toward Steve, my nerves settle, but I listen close. Zander's more like me than his siblings are, after all.

"What's wrong, pup?" Steve asks gently.

"Tired," Zander quips back, like a reflex.

"Use your words, tough guy," Steve coaxes, picking him up off his feet so he can hold him.

"Meri and Niko wanted to play tag, and when I was it, I couldn't catch them," he says. "I got worn out, and then I tripped and fell down."

"You didn't get hurt, did you?" Steve asks.

I move carefully so I can look over the back of the couch and watch the exchange between my husband and our eldest son. He's older than Meri and Niko by seconds, but, you know, that stuff is important to kids. They'll use anything as leverage.

"I scraped my hands," Zander says, showing Steve his palms. "They're healing as fast as normal, but I don't like how bad it stings."

"Well, let's see what Daddy can do, all right?" Steve suggests, setting Zander on the kitchen counter.

Zander and I both watch Steve intently, fixated on how his breathing and movements change as he takes Zander's hands in his, white light shimmering from his fingertips.

Incredible.

Absolutely incredible, Stevie, baby.

An idea dances through my head, and I silently move down from the couch to the floor, my metal arm clattering to the floor as I shift into a black cat...with three legs, of course.

I scamper over to them and jump up onto the countertop where Niko is sitting. Steve smiles when he sees me.

A purr vibrates through me and I can't help but inch closer, eager to feel the magic coursing from Steve's hands.

I want to touch the rainbows, the light in his hands, and I want to burn it into my memory. I was too starstruck to absorb the sensation when we were testing him.

Once Zander's hands are healed up, Steve pats him on the head, saying, "You're good to go, kiddo."

As Zander bounces toward the elevator, probably to go find his siblings, Steve turns to me.

"How on earth can the world's most feared assassin be so damn cute?" He smiles, eyes all lit up as he takes me into his arms and presses kisses to my forehead. "I could squeeze you, you're so cute."

I grin as I shift back, and Steve automatically adjusts to the transformation. I press kisses to his cheek and drape my arms around his neck as he carries me bridal-style toward our bedroom.

"Ready for date night number two?" He asks me as he nudges open our bedroom door with his foot and closes it behind us a moment later.

I hum in question.

"I didn't know there was a second date night planned?" I say, careful to keep my hands on him as he carries me to bed and lays me down.

He smiles as he lies down beside me, his ocean eyes shining as he says, "The kids wanted to spend another night with their Mom and Uncle Tony."

"Oh really now?" I ask, moving my hand so I can run my fingers through his hair.

"Tony told me that Nat makes the best pancakes in the world according to the kiddos," he tells me. "And they let them sleep in their bed with them, so Nat had all three in her arms when they woke up this morning. He said he has to take a picture of them the next time it happens."

"They do that with you too," I smile, pressing a kiss to the top of his head as he snuggles closer, resting his head on my chest. "It's terribly cute."

"I'm just happy that the triplets are so close," he says. "They don't fight like Wanda and Pietro do, and those two are closer than duct tape on duct tape."

"Oh, I'm sure they'll have their moments as they get older," I sigh. "It's kind of like our relationship before we became something a hell of a lot more than friends. We were ride or die, you know?"

He hums in agreement, and then he says, "Speaking of, I think Tony's going to ask Nat to marry him soon. When I went down to the lab earlier, he was browsing one of those build-a-ring websites. Knowing how he is, he's going to make her ring himself in secret while she's sleeping; he just doesn't want it to be something so overdone that she won't want to wear it."

"He asked me in passing the other day what I would say if he asked us if he could marry Nat," I tell Steve. "I asked him why he hadn't proposed to her yet."

"I'm assuming he gave you a reason?" He says.

"He said that Nat wanted him to ask us, and to ask Peter," I say softly. "He knows what our answer is, we're all for it, they've been together for years. But, he still isn't sure what Peter will say. I mean, they adopted him, and Peter loves them both to death, but he's incredibly protective of Nat. If Peter believes even the slightest that they won't survive a marriage, that'll be the end of it."

"But Peter also knows what we do," he says. "He's watched them grow into the couple that they are today. How they are now is completely different than how they were while you were in cryo and before we were killed in space. They're a team, and they're willing to work with and for each other. They know they have to balance their work and their relationship, and they've kept it out of the news. We didn't have a choice, I had to open up to the world to help them understand what the hell we were actually fighting for. But, Nat and Tony, they didn't need the publicity, and they haven't chased it."

"Can I be honest for a second?" I ask.

Steve smirks, "Aren't you always?"

"Well, yes, of course, but this is different," I smirk back.

"How so?" He asks.

"When I saw Natasha, when we reconnected after you finally told her what the actual situation was with us and why you were fighting so desperately for me," I say, "I knew that she wasn't even the slightest bit interested in rekindling the nightmare that was our relationship. I knew that she wanted something else, that she wanted friendship. But, I could see that flicker of romance in her eyes. Only this time, it wasn't for me or for Clint. It was for Tony. It's the same look that she has in her eyes even now after so many years. She loves him, she truly does, and she loves him with all of her heart."

"At one point, she told me that if she had known who exactly you were and who you belonged to, for lack of better words, then she would have hunted down Clint, Coulson, and Fury even sooner and pulled me from the ice herself," Steve tells me. "She felt that terribly about hurting either of us the way that she did. I just told her that she didn't hurt either of us. She gave the Winter Soldier a home, and if it weren't for her, God knows what the hell you actually would have done."

"But, we all know that she didn't give me a home," I say softly. "The only home I've ever had, wanted, and needed is you."

He presses a kiss to my cheek and puts his hand on my chest as he says, "I love you."

My heart flutters in my chest as his fingertips shine, tiny rainbows dancing across my chest. I breathe in the moment, heart racing as I move over top of him, straddling him as we lace our fingers together.

"I love you, my angel," I tell him softly as I lean in to kiss him.

He smiles as our lips meet, and I can't help but smile into the kiss as he drapes his arms around my neck and pulls me in, unbelievable energy coursing through my body wherever he moves his hands to.