Snow

Chapter 23

"𝓜𝓞𝓜! Mom!" Sebastian came running, his long brown hair flying out behind him as he raced across the ground. His little sisters- Scarlett and Winter- came toddling after them, their blond hair glistening in the sun. Their matching scarves tight around their neck.

"What's wrong?" I asked automatically, getting to my feet where I was sitting with Steve and Bucky. We'd been relaxing in the backyard of our house. Bucky was scrolling on a phone, his wedding ring winking in the sun by the firepit. Steve had kicked back with a newspaper, the complete contrast of Bucky. Meanwhile, I had been flicking through a new book I'd bought.

"Come look what we found." Sebastian said with a big goofy grin on his face. "You won't believe it."

"How about you bring it here?" Steve suggested, looking up. "Your mother isn't supposed to be on her feet to much right now."

That was true. I was pregnant with triplets that were due within the next month. I sat back down gingerly in my chair. Scarlett and Winter climbed up on Bucky's chair, both of them trying to get to his metal arm.

Without even looking at them, Bucky held his metal arm out over the chair and the two girls giggled, clinging to it as they dangled a few inches over the deck.

"What is so great about that phone?" Steve scolded Bucky.

Bucky barely glanced up. "Well, Clint told me I should check out Tinder. I don't know what it is exactly yet."

I started to laugh. "Oh my gosh that is such a Clint thing to do."

Steve looked repulsed, "Isn't that like porn or something?"

I dissolved into giggles again. "No! It's a dating site."

Bucky finally looked up and squinted at me. "Wait. But why do I need a dating site?"

"It's a joke." I replied, covering my smile terribly with my hand.

Bucky grumbled, swiping off the phone and clearly deleting an app. "What else did Clint tell you to check out?"

"Pornhub, but I already skipped that one. I'm not a complete idiot. Then something called OnlyFans, Reddit, and TikTok."

"Those are all complete garbage." I replied. "You don't have to look at them. Well, maybe Reddit if you're looking at cute baby animals."

"So what should I look at?" Bucky grumbled. "I don't understand."

"Umm. . . Pinterest. Instagram. Oh, definitely Wattpad." I rattled off my most used apps. "You can post about our family on Instagram if you want. And Wattpad is kind've like a fan base writing sort of thing. Although, I guess a lot of it is like written porn. And Pinterest is just kind've an aesthetic thing."

Sebastian came running back across the grass, holding a huge cardboard box.

"What in the world?" I asked. "Seb, what's in the box?"

"Look." Sebastian said, placing the box at my feet.

I peered in and saw that there were like eight or nine black baby kittens in the box. They could all easily fit in the palm of Steve's hand.

"Gosh Seb, where in the world did you find this?" I asked, eyes widening. "Was there no mother? They don't look to be old enough by themselves."

"There can't be a mother." Bucky said, having put the phone and children down. "Otherwise they wouldn't be in a box. This is a new box, they were only put in there today. Someone was. . ." He drifted off.

"Trying to get rid of them." I finished. "Like Mr. Peters did with me."

Bucky's hand clenched into a fist. Even after so many years, Mr. Peters and me being a kitten and him dumping me in the reflecting pool was still a sort spot for both Bucky and Steve.

"Yeah, that." Steve grunted, putting the newspaper aside.

"May he forever rest in hell." Bucky snarled.

"Buck." Steve and I patronized, motioning to the kids.

"I meant capital H- lower case e and two hockey sticks." Bucky rolled his eyes, patting Winter on the head.

"Bad daddy." Scarlett patronized, looking at him solemnly with her four year old eyes.

"That's right sweetheart, bad daddy." Steve said with a grin, winking at Bucky who grew rather flustered.

"What are we going to do with the kittens?" Bucky asked quickly, shifting uncomfortably in his seat.

"We can take care of them." I said with a shrug. "I mean, we'll have to get a special formula for them of course. Take them to the vet. But I don't see why we can't keep them, even if there are a lot of them."

"They're not any cousins of yours, are they doll?" Bucky asked with a sparkling grin.

I rolled my eyes. Every time we saw a cat, they immediately asked if I knew him or her. "If they are, I haven't been alerted to their Earthly presence."

Steve chuckled, standing up finally, coming over and rubbing my shoulders. "That's a lot of cats to name."

"I've got them." Bucky said comfortably. He pointed to each one as he named them, "Alpha, Calypso, Cloud, Cosmo, Luna, Nova, Sirius, and Stella."

Steve, Sebastian, Winter, Scarlett, and I all looked at him in surprise. Bucky shrugged, cheeks burning again, "They're all space names. I mean, you kids can name them if you want."

"I like them dad." Sebastian said eagerly. "They're great names."

"I like Luna the best!" Scarlett declared, scooping up the kitten that Bucky had dubbed 'Luna'.

"Gently Scar." Steve said and showed her the best way to hold the kitten and how you had to hold her gently. I caught Bucky's eyes and we both smiled. Every single time Steve did something fatherly with the kids, it actually turned both of us on. Except at the moment I was to big to actually do anything except lay there.

"Alright." Bucky said quickly, scooping up his phone and putting it in his back pocket. "It's been a long, busy day. Let's get the cats in, make sure them have some water at least, maybe a little chicken. Actually, it might be better if we started them off on cat food right? Then they won't be picky like you." He nudged me a little.

Rolling my eyes once more, I waddled into the house. Steve and Bucky helped the kids in the kitchen get the kittens all ready while I climbed into bed. I could only lay on my back at this point, but I knew very soon I wasn't going to be getting any sleep at all with triplets.

Steve and Bucky put the kids to bed, before coming in and laying down next to me. Steve slipped his ring off to put it on the dresser next to the bed. He rolled over again to hug me from one side. Bucky on the other.

"Kittens are in the kitchen. Kids are in their beds. All the shades are closed, lights are out, and all the doors and windows are locked." Bucky said before yawning, snuggling into me.

"Thank you love." I mumbled, closing my eyes, letting my men be my warmth.

"We love you Y/N." Steve muttered.

"I love both of you too." I said quietly, falling asleep as it started to snow outside.