Bring Me Home // Bucky Barnes

Chapter XLV - My Home For So Long

"I really think I should -"

"No Lizzie," Wanda interjected, placing the lipgloss and a travel perfume into Lizzie's nude bag, refusing to smile at her overly nervous friend. "You are not changing."

"I hope he likes it," she sighed, dropping back to sit on her bed, pulling Wanda with her.

"Excuse me?" Wanda raised an eyebrow at her.  "You could wear a brown paper bag and I'm pretty sure he'd love it. In fact," she glanced at Lizzie, unsure of how she'd react to the next part of her observation, "the brown paper bag might be easier to rip off of you."

Lizzie gasped loudly as she blushed furiously. Her mind reeled, desperately searching for a way out of this conversation, as Wanda's eyes widened.

"Lizzie, you two did -"

"No," Lizzie laughed breathily, shaking her head as she got back to her feet and pretended to organise something on her dresser, "we did not. Our romance took place in the middle of a war zone Wanda. And that sort of thing... we just didn't okay."

Relief and gratitude flooded through her when Steve knocked, leaning casually against the door frame with an embarrassed smile on his face.

"Mind if I interrupt?" He smiled a wide, easy grin as Elizabeth turned to him. She was breathtaking.

"Of course Steve," Wanda nodded. She pulled Elizabeth in to her for a quick embrace, whispering in her ear as she squeezed her. "You look incredible. Find me as soon as you get back because I want details. Unless you two finally..." She grunted as Lizzie grabbed her sides and squeezed playfully, laughing as Wanda pulled back grinning. "Okay, okay. I'll stop."

Steve stepped into the room, his hands tucked into the back pockets of his jeans as he nervously glanced around the open space, his eyes eventually falling back on Lizzie. She stood fidgeting with her fingers, her lips pulled into a tight frown as she shifted where she stood, uncomfortable with the way the thin heels sunk into the carpet beneath her.

"So," she breathed, "how do I look? It's so different to what I would normally wear..." She paused, watching how Steve tilted his head slightly to the left, a small smile forming as she tried to explain something he clearly already knew. "It's too much isn't it?"

"You look beautiful Elizabeth," Steve smiled. "Really, it's perfect."

When she smiled it was like her whole face was illuminated. She had the smallest dimples in her cheeks that only seemed to appear when her smile was uncontrolled and wide, and her eyes danced with laughter that had yet to leave her lips. Steve looked at her and felt the warm swell of emotion. He watched as her shoulders relaxed and how she slowly stopped fidgeting and stood taller. He chuckled to himself as he realised she had needed his approval, just as he had needed hers this morning.

"Thank you Steven." Lizzie perched herself on her bed as she smiled up at him and tapped the open spot next to her. "So, what can I do for you?"

Sitting beside her as she was preparing to go on a date with his best friend Steve suddenly felt awkward and nervous. Speaking to Lizzie had always come so easily to him; she was the only person who knew what it was like to wake up out of time, to lose Buck, to lose yourself. But this felt different. He couldn't predict how she'd react to this, what she would say in return.

"Look," he sighed, "I - um - well, I know we kind of got thrown together by fate a little, and we've had each other's backs by default ever since."

Lizzie smiled reassuringly at him as she took his hand, feeling the disjointed energy of nerves and comfort and uncertainty mingling in the air. He tripped over his words as she searched for what he wanted to say, afraid that he was overstepping a line between them.

"Just say it Steve," she grinned, shoving him a little.

"Right," he laughed gently, "I love you to pieces Lizzie. I really do and I don't think I've ever told you that I love you before. You are my family and I meant what I said about you being my kid sister," he grinned as she blushed at the memory of being caught mid-kiss on the roof, "and I love you. I just wanted to say that and to say I'm here, okay? If you need me, I'm here."

She felt the prickle of tears in her eyes as Steve spoke and her lip quivered. He was right, they had never said that they loved each other, but they did. They were the family they chose when everything in their world crumbled around them. Her chest ached with a fullness she hardly recognised as he sat opposite her, telling her he was there. She knew what he meant: if things didn't go well with Bucky, she still had her family. He was still there, no matter what.

Lizzie wrapped her arms around his waist as he twisted to her, embracing her as she buried her head against his chest, gently holding her softly against him as she revelled in the safety of Steve Rogers, not Captain America, Steve.

"I love you too Steve." She laughed as she realised she was crying. "I really do. You're my family. You've been my home for so long now. I just - thank you."

Steve pulled back gently, chuckling as he wiped away her tears, careful not to smudge her make up. "Hey, none of that Missy. Wanda would kill me."

*

Bucky sat on the couch, his knee bouncing with excess energy as he let his nerves build. Nat dropped down on the sofa beside him, smirking as she watched him twitch and turn to look at the stairs three times.

"Looking good Winter Soldier." She pulled at the soft leather jacket he wore, hiding the metal of his arm beneath the darkness of the material.

"Oh -" he blushed, "thank you, I think?"

Nat grinned and shook her head. "I mean it, the leather look suits you. Keep the jacket please - I hate it on Steve."

Bucky laughed heartily as he recalled the conversation he had as he took it from Steve's closet.

"Come on Steve," Bucky grinned, "leather is not a good look on you."

"What? That's ridiculous Buck. You can't take my jacket." Steve pouted. "Go get your own clothes."

"Steven Grant Rogers," Bucky folded his arms as he turned to face his best friend, "not only am I taking the girl I damn well forgot about on my first date in seventy years, but I have saved your ass countless times. I am taking the goddamn jacket."

"Yeah." He leant back, relaxing a little. "He's a little too clean cut for leather."

The clicking of heels snapped him to attention and he jumped up from the seat, his head snapping to the right as he searched the open space of the corridor for her. His breathing hitched as she stepped into view. His heart took flight as she descended the stairs and he couldn't stop the smirk that now sat firmly in his lips.

Her hair was a sea of dark waves, smoothed down and pushed back on the left. Her lips were turned up in the sweetest smile; coy and innocent and nervous. His eyes roamed down her body, drinking in the way the lace of her top clung to her skin, highlighting every beautiful curve. The billowy silk shirt made her outfit modest, and yet all he could think about was how the beautifully soft fabric made him long to slip it from her shoulders and see the snow of her skin clearly. Her eyes, beautifully wide as she looked up at him, were made all the more green, as if by magic, just by the simple choice of colour that was brushed against her lids. She was magnificent and Bucky Barnes had never felt more alive than he did there and then; staring down at her.

"It's too much isn't it?" Lizzie bit her lip as she followed his eyes down her body and embarrassment came calling to her like an old friend. "I can change. Just give me five minutes so I can change."

As she turned away from him he reached out, his fingers hooking into the belt loops of her jeans, spinning her around and pulling her back to him, against him, his face just inches from hers.

"Don't you dare," he growled, his eyes burning with longing as he held her against him.