𝐑𝐎𝐒𝐄 | 𝟏𝟖+

48 || stay

"You're awake," he repeated against her forehead.

"You look so tired," Amelia croaked softly, her tiny hand encircling around his forearm.

James savored the sound of Amelia's voice for a few seconds, the way it immediately soothed his nerves, as he pulled back tentatively to stare at her. Two days ago, he just knew he was never going to be able to hear that voice again, or see her peeking up at him through her lashes. The doctor's declared her dead on arrival, that was until he practically threatened to murder everyone in the vicinity if they didn't try to revive her.

"You've been out for two days," James whispered finally, his thumbs rubbing circles on her warm cheeks. "I couldn't sleep, not until I knew that you were going to wake up."

"I'm okay," Amelia smiled feebly up at him.

James' brow furrowed together as he brought his lips down onto her full ones, his mouth moving ever-so-softly over hers - afraid if he applied anymore pressure that she would break. The taste of her felt like heaven to his palate, and he was starving.

"I thought you were dead," he admitted faintly as he broke the kiss, his hands sliding down to hold onto hers. "I wasn't sure if they were going to be able to bring you back."

"You can't get rid of me that easily, Barnes," Amelia teased, faintly squeezing his fingers with her own. "You should know that by now."

Finally, a small chuckle escaped his full lips, filling Amelia with relief as she watched his mouth turn up in the corners - even though it didn't quite reach his eyes, it was still something. She could only begin to imagine the horrors that James had to deal with the past few days, quite proud that he was able to hold himself together at all.

"You almost got yourself killed coming after me, Amelia," he murmured, his half-smile faltering as he spoke. "You were dead when I brought you here, I had to threaten people's lives to make sure that they didn't give up on you."

"I'm sorry that I put you through all of this," Amelia's voice broke as she blinked away the water that was filling in the corner of her eyes. "I had to do something. I had to make sure that you knew how I felt about you, because I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if something happened to you before I could tell you."

James sighed deeply as he brought her fingers up to his lips to press tiny kisses against them. "I'm not worth risking your life over."

"You told me once that you trusted me with your life," Amelia said weakly. "Do you remember?"

He nodded slowly.

"I trust you with mine, too, because you are worth it to me, James."

Using his hands to gingerly scoot Amelia's body over, James climbed into the hospital bed next to her, wrapping his arm behind her shoulders as he pulled her against him. Pressing his cheek against the top of her head, he mumbled, "I love you, Amelia Rose."

Her head titled up shyly as she peeked at him through her eyelashes, her heart thumping against her chest at his words. "Really?"

James nodded as he reached up to brush her wavy hair behind her shoulder. "You have been in my corner since they day I met you. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be the person that I feel like I am right now, no where near it."

"You've always been this person, you just had to heal a little bit, first."

"I owe you everything," he brought his hand up to caress her bottom lip with his thumb. "You barging into my life the way you did ended up being the best thing that ever happened to me."

Amelia buried her face into James' chest, closing her eyes as she inhaled his scent that she had missed so much this past week - thankful that she was still here, thankful that it wasn't time for her to go just yet. She wasn't ready to give this all up, especially everything with Bucky, it felt like their story was only just getting started.

"I don't want to spend another second without you, Rose. Promise me you'll stay? Promise me that this doesn't end just because the work is over."

Reaching up to caress his cheek, Amelia winced slightly from the nagging pain in her torso, brushing it off as she continued to glide her thumb along his cheekbone. His tired eyes flickered along her features, waiting expectantly for her response, as her lips lifted into a widespread smile.

"I'll always stay, Bucky."

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two chapters and an epilogue left, besties.

oh, and I guess I forgive everyone who said they hated me for the last chapter, lmao