It's five years after the death of Iron Man and the Black Widow. Five years after the retirement of most heroes, five years in which life has went on. But heroes are always needed, no matter the time. It doesn't matter if they do something small or...
Relief flooded Aiyla as the crowd that had gathered in the court broke off in murmurs, and her eyes sought the light ones of Anton Balakin. It wasn't hard to meet his eyes when he was already looking at her. There was cold apathy in the way he looked at her, his lips were pursed and almost lost from the force he was applying. Even as he was led out of the room, he didn't look away from her, and Aiyla forced herself to keep looking at him until he was no longer in the room, and she had the chance to finally let out a sigh of relief.
The two men standing on either side of her exchanged a look over her head at her sigh before turning to face her with slight concern. The one standing on her left grabbed her hand and gave it a tight squeeze as the other cleared his throat.
"Everything alright, Aiyla?"
She nodded and as she looked up at him, she couldn't help but smile. "Yes, Sam. I'm just relieved."
"Relieved for what?" her other companion that had remained quiet so far spoke up as he guided her out of the room, Sam following right after her. "Did you ever think he'd be left free?"
"No, not with all of us testifying against him," she admitted as she walked in between them. "Seeing him being taken away was still a relief, though."
"Because I bet you were so afraid when you got back home with that monster of yours in the house-"
"Gus is no monster, Bucky," she chastised even though she was smiling. "He's my dog and I love him."
"You hear that, Barnes?" Sam smirked over at him. "You've got competition."
Aiyla couldn't help but laugh as Bucky huffed. They headed to her car parked a few ways away, walking a bit slower than usual because of her slight heels that were slightly restricting her moves. Bucky didn't let go of her hand until they had reached the car and she moved around to sit on the driver's seat. Sam sat on the backseat as Bucky sat down beside her, and she checked the rear view mirror before driving off.
"We'll be at Pepper's house in about an hour."
"We're going to Pepper?" Bucky complained lightly as he turned to face her, paying no heed to the way her dark red lips twitched at his slight pout. "Ever since we started living like normal people you spend three days a week at Pepper's house, haven't you gotten bored?"
"If you're jealous, Mr Barnes, you could as well say it."
Sam snorted at Bucky's scowl, and he briefly turned around to send him a light glare before turning back to his front. "I'm not jealous."
"Of course you aren't. You've no reason to be."
Sam rolled his eyes. "While being the third wheel is definitely exciting-"
Aiyla turned the radio on and Bucky raised the volume, the two sharing a smirk as Sam let out a huff and mumbled something about them being immature before looking away. For the duration of the ride they were quiet, the music filling in the silence and relaxing Bucky as it distracted him from thinking about the way Aiyla was driving. The ride to Pepper's house seemed to be short and before they had realised it, Aiyla was parking the car in between the trees, in front of the house. Sam got out as soon as he could while Bucky and Aiyla took their time leaving the car. As she locked the car, she turned to face him with a small smile as she walked over to him.
"Here," she murmured as she fixed the collar of his white shirt and then reached up, smoothing down some of his hair. She sent him a small smile. "You need a haircut again."
"I cut it last month, sugar," he pointed out, his hands finding their way to her hips.
"Yeah, but it won't cooperate," she teased as she reached up to press a kiss on the side of his mouth before walking away. Bucky's hands fell from around her waist as she walked back to the house, sending him a wide smile behind her back as she got up the stairs. He was quick to follow after her to the house, getting in just after her.
"Aiyla!"
His eyes widened as a child practically attacked Aiyla, but she only laughed as she held the little girl close and placed a quick kiss on the top of her head.
"Hello, Morgan," she said softly as she pulled back with a wide smile. "Did you miss me?"
"Hasn't stopped asking about you since you last left."
Pepper got in from another room, Sam in tow, and she sent both of them a wide smile as she moved over to Aiyla, looking calm and collected as always.
"When are you going to bring us Gus?" Morgan asked, still holding on around Aiyla's waist with a wide smile as she laughed.
"Next time, if you want."
"I'd love to," she grinned, "he's cute."
Sam slowly made his way beside Bucky. "It seems to me that everyone prefers Aiyla's dog to you."
Bucky shot him a look, "Shut up."
"I see being polite is your second nature."
Bucky briefly rolled his eyes, ignoring Sam's quiet laughter as he watched Aiyla being dragged away by Morgan to her room. She hardly managed to send him a smile as she got out of sight, and he trailed his eyes over to Pepper who was walking over to them with two glasses of wine.
"You'll stay for lunch, won't you?"
"If you insist," Sam smiled as he exchanged a look with Bucky who nodded. Just then, they heard Aiyla call them over. With a brief smile at them, he left the glass of wine to the side as he followed her voice to Morgan's room, the rest following after him. Aiyla was sitting on Morgan's bed, the girl right beside her and she was holding a drawing. As they got close, they took a look at it.
In the drawing, Morgan was standing in the middle in between Aiyla and Pepper. Beside Pepper stood Happy and on Aiyla's other side was Gus, Sam and Bucky right next to her dog. Bucky blinked in disbelief as Sam let out a delighted laugh.
"Gus is bigger than Bucky!"
As Pepper and Aiyla joined in his laughter, he raised an eyebrow down at Morgan. At her innocent smile, he couldn't help but smile.
Some teasing between friends never hurt anyone before.
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And withthischapter, the story of Bucky and Aiyla is over. I hope you liked it, guys, I had lots of fun writing this and I loved everythingaboutthis. I'd like to thank a few people personally forthis, and they are
