Possessed - Bucky Barnes x OC

Part 43

Life since the London trip had been fairly uneventful.

No attacks. No threats. No Hydra.

James had been using all of his spare time working with his lawyer and the security team that he hired to protect Maggie. Spending long hours at the office or hunched over his laptop, emailing back and forth to various connections.

Their first week back, Maggie was never left alone. Not for a second. Her body guards followed her everywhere. It was honestly starting to drive her a little mad. They would stay stationed in the lobby of her gallery while she worked, do a full sweep every time she got to her apartment or James' house, and even tagged along when she went to spend time with her girlfriends.

Sometimes, she would try to sneak out of her house without them, but sure enough, they'd catch right back up to her.

After an incident at her gallery, she had finally hit the breaking point with her babysitters.

They stormed at one of her most valued clients for walking 'too quickly' towards her. She later begged James to cut back. Literally on her knees, begging. He hesitantly agreed, but insisted that she was always at least escorted home.

Since the adjustments were made, her new security drivers— Harrison and Russell, would switch off each day with her.

She had developed friendships with both of the men over the last couple weeks. Her naturally kind ways making it easy for her to get along with anyone. Even intense bodyguards. They were both middle aged, hugely muscular men with wicked senses of humor. Despite their amicable relationship with Maggie, she could tell they were both more than capable of killing someone with their bare hands.

James and Maggie had spent Thanksgiving at his house. Just the two of them. She felt a terrible pang of guilt for not going to see her grandma, but a massive snowstorm hit the city and literally no one was able to fly out. Not even private jets. Rose insisted it was fine, explaining that she was going to spend it with her huge group of friends in San Francisco anyways.

Their little feast at home felt oddly normal. Like they didn't need anyone else in the world to have a great holiday. They spent the whole day cooking together, accidentally making way too much food.

After they ate, they ended up getting incredibly drunk together while watching Christmas movies in his media room. Passing out under their heaping pile of blankets, safe from the freezing world blustering around them.

Everything felt peaceful. Calm and cozy. Like things were starting to finally turn around.

As Christmas was just around the corner, Maggie was out quite a bit, shopping for everyone. She needed to buy gifts for all of her friends, her grandma, and James. She knew exactly what she wanted to get each of them, except for him.

With her newfound success as a business owner, her salary had nearly tripled, so money wasn't her concern. It was that he already had everything. Quite literally, there was nothing he didn't have. He owned the world. Godlike wealth allowing him to have access to the most sought after possessions, like it was nothing.

She had spent the entire afternoon at various boutiques around town. Ending up at Neiman Marcus, trying to find the perfect thing. A stylist walked her around the whole store, offering suggestions to which her response was always, "he already has that". To say she felt discouraged would be a massive understatement.

On top of the frustration she felt, not knowing what to get him, she knew he would go all out for her. She asked him to hold back, but she knew he wouldn't. He already showered her with gifts on a weekly basis. Every time she got to his house, there would be a new dress, or shoes, or a purse. It was almost nauseating thinking about the amount of money he was sure to spend on her for the holiday.