Her White Wolf

Chapter Thirty-Two

Cleo watched them as she took a bite of her sandwich. "He looks even smaller when you big guys hold him," she said with a smile as she slipped onto a stool at the counter. "Doesn't he smell great?"

James blushed as he looked up at Cleo, knowing he was caught. "Everything about him is amazing."

"I swear, he almost smiled at me. I think I'll burst out into tears when he actually does," she said sweetly, taking another bite of her sandwich.

"I think I would too," James chuckled. He walked over and sat in the rocking chair, rocking Grant gently.

Cleo watched him quietly for a while, Steve eventually joining her at the counter. Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he took a picture of the two in the rocking chair.

"Being a daddy looks good on you, Buck," he said as he checked out the picture.

James looked up, giving him a happy bright smile. "I can't think of anywhere else I'd rather be, right now."

Steve snapped another photo of that handsome smile that Grant would surely one day share. "Look, photographic evidence that James Barnes can smile," he teased lightly, knowing his friend's occasional tendency to be morose.

He rolled his eyes and shuffled Grant so he could flick Steve off. "Takes one to know one, Rogers."

"Hey, I smile," Steve remarked, his own dazzling smile on his face.

"You can both get kind of in your heads sometimes though," Cleo pointed out. "I'll take as many pictures of the both of you smiling as I can get."

James chuckled as he looked back down at Grant only to see his son staring back at him. "Hey, little one."

"Talk to him, baby," Cleo coached before she finished the first half of her sandwich. "I think he likes the way it rumbles in your chest."

Chuckling softly, James continued to talk to Grant softly. Meanwhile Grant stared up at him with wide light blue eyes. "I love you, little guy. So much."

"He'd fight the world for you," Cleo cooed, abandoning her food to approach the two in the chair. "Both of your daddies would. And you're so lucky to have two superhero daddies. No one else can say that."

Steve chuckled as he watched Cleo and James. "I feel lucky to be a part of the family."

"We're lucky to have you," she replied as she lowered herself onto the couch beside James. Reaching out, she smoothed a finger over Grant's cheek. "He seems so content with you."

James nodded as his metal arm caught his attention. "It surprises me that he does."

"He'll never see this arm as anything but daddy's arm. It isn't a weapon," Cleo said sweetly.

With a deep breath, James felt uncertain. "I still worry."

Gently Cleo reached out and smoothed her hand over the dark metal. "I know you do. Maybe one day you won't, but until then we'll believe it for you." She knew Steve felt the same way.

James smiled softly as Grant found his hand to suck on his fingers. "Thank you. Both of you."

"And Buck... you know I'd never let anything happen to you like that again," Steve remarked as he got up to meander in their direction. "No matter what."

"You didn't let it happen the first time," James told him. "It's not your fault."

Steve sighed, his hands resting on his hips. Bucky made his own choices, he knew death was a possibility... but he'd never known what other horrors might await him. "I know, Buck... but just like you, I still think about it. I still feel it. So we remind each other."