Can We Keep Her?

Nightmares

"Will you come around?" you asked. It came out small and pleading. You knew they were probably exhausted. That Bucky was probably not even the Bucky you were used to. But you needed to see them. To hold them and know they were okay.

"If that's okay. We want to see you," Steve replied, sounding almost grateful.

As soon as you hung up the phone you started cooking. Increasing the comfort food you were making to feed them too. You made mac and cheese, and corn chowder. You baked brownies, and started heating milk and adding grated chocolate to it, so they could have hot chocolate. It was just ready to serve when you heard the turn of the key in the lock and the door opened. You moved the milk off the heat and ran to them, throwing your arms around both their shoulders at once.

They had both obviously cleaned up and been to the med bay. Steve had butterfly bandages down the left side of his cheek, and Bucky had some gauze on his neck.

Bucky flinched as you touched him, but he soon melted into you, clinging to your back. You rested your cheek against his head and ran your hand through his hair.

"Come and sit down," you said. "I cooked."

Both Bucky and Steve let you go, and Steve lingered to kiss you. You closed your eyes, parting your lips enough to let his tongue dip inside. As you kissed, you ran your hand down his neck. "I was so worried about you," you whispered when you broke apart.

"I know. We're here now. Safe with you. Let's just focus on that," he replied. He kissed your forehead and let you go, leading Bucky to the couch.

You plated up the pasta and soup along with cups of hot chocolate and brought them to the coffee table. "Tell us what you did while we were gone," Steve said, picking up the bowl of soup. Bucky took a drink from the hot chocolate and ended up with cream on his upper lip. Steve went to wipe it away with his thumb, but Bucky flinched as his hand came close.

"Sorry," Bucky said quietly. The sound of his voice was so broken, it broke your heart.

"Nothing to be sorry for, pal," Steve said, wiping the cream away.

Seeing them so broken was hard. You knew why they came to you though. Obviously, it was that they loved you, but they also wanted something normal. So you started to talk, telling them about your week as you all ate. Everything from the really mundane things, like how when you went to do everyone's pay this week, your computer crashed halfway through and you couldn't remember whose you'd done and whose you hadn't. To the exciting stuff, like how your shop will be featured in O magazine. When they finished eating, you brought out the brownies.

Bucky picked one up and looked at it. It was triple-layered. Choc-chip cookie dough at the bottom, Oreos in the middle, brownie at the top.

"They're called slutty brownies," you said, by way of explanation. Bucky actually laughed as he took a bite. It made your heart skip a beat. Steve smiled, reached over, and gave your hand a squeeze.

"They taste real good, honey," Bucky said, as he slowly chewed it.

"Of course they do. I made them," you teased.

Bucky smiled and moved a little closer to Steve. Steve put his arm around him and kissed him on the forehead. You moved to Bucky's other side, and he wrapped you in his arms. "Thank you for cooking," he whispered.

"We've been eating a lot of things from packets this week," Steve added.

You smiled and tucked yourself against Bucky's chest, curling your legs up. "Of course. Cooking is the thing that I do."

You put on the TV and watched a movie for a while. Bucky settled against Steve and you curled up against Bucky. After a little while, you got up and cleaned the kitchen, putting on the dishwasher and packing up leftovers. When you came back Bucky looked like he was waning. His eyelids were heavy, and his head was drooping against Steve.