Endings And New Beginnings

CHAPTER ONE - MEADOWS AND HILLS

Bucky stands in the middle of a meadow, the light breeze gently whipping his hair back. He has his hands inside his jeans' pockets as he watches the sun slowly lowers down and hides itself behind a distant hill. To his right side is a treeline that continues on into a forest and to his left stands a two-storey country house. It's an old house but recent renovations sure cheered it up a lot, making it decent and habitable.

It has been eight months since they rescued Natasha in Austria and they all seemed to have gone back to normal. Clint's back with his family, taking in Wanda under his wing again. Sam is back in DC and based on his last message to Steve, he is currently dating a dynamite woman. Then he and Steve made a few changes too after that, the most drastic of them all was Steve deciding to leave Brooklyn and buying a property miles and miles away from the city. He remembers the day Steve brought him to the property for the first time.

"How could you even afford this?" Bucky asked, his eyes wide in amazement as he looked around, seeing the vast land, the hills and forest that surround them. "I thought you used your army back pay to buy that Brooklyn apartment."

"I sold it and believe it or not this is --- Tony. I finally took his offer," Steve replied with a soft smile.

Bucky looked at him with eyebrows raised, "That's nice of him. Still apologizing to you, I see."

"I guess."

"Everyone knows about this?"

"No, not everyone. Only four people and I'd like to keep that circle small."

Bucky smiled and nodded at Steve in understanding.

"Come on, let's look at the house. I'll even let you choose your room first," Steve said and they started walking towards the house.

"Thanks for this, Steve," Bucky said, a heartfelt smile on his face.

Steve clapped him on the shoulder and said, "You're family, Buck. You know that. It's your home too. I just hope a room is okay with you. I can't give you your own hut like T'Challa. But if you want, we can build a gazebo there, and get you goats and sheep too. I didn't peg you for a farmer but, hey, whatever floats your boat, right?"

Bucky's cheeks reddened, knowing Steve is referring to his life back in Wakanda, and tried to hide his slight embarrassment with a chuckle. "Hey, I make a pretty decent farmer. We might just try that here!" They both broke into laughter as they entered the house.

"Hey, it's your turn to make dinner!" a voice shouts from a distance.

Bucky snaps out of his reminiscing when he hears Steve's voice from the house, a little muffled and easily carried away by the sunset breeze. He turns around and starts walking back to the house. He goes straight to the kitchen and starts whipping up a mac 'n cheese from a box. Steve grabs their beers from the fridge and goes out to sit on the porch to wait for their dinner. After ten minutes, Bucky joins him, hands him his bowl and sits next to him.

Steve and his team's rescue of Natasha brought them back under the authorities' radar that different intelligence agencies and even the army asked if they can come back in. Fury didn't dismiss the idea but Steve was resolved that he is retired. Well, that was until the day someone knocked on their Brooklyn apartment and when Steve opened the door, found himself face to face with the President himself. Needless to say, after that quick and most definitely risky visit, Steve's resolve swayed a little. Out of respect for his Commander-In-Chief and appreciation for the lengths the President underwent just to change his mind, Steve managed a compromise --- he agreed to change his status from retired to semi-retired.