We Get One Shot At This

The Avengers

"So I assume the honeymoon was good? You guys look great."

Bucky threw his suitcase at Steve, huffing with a heavily sarcastic tone, "yeah, Steve. It was amazing. My favorite part was getting texts from you at all hours of the day, asking how things were going. What the hell, man?"

"Sorry," he said sheepishly, "by now you know that trouble follows you two around, and I guess I was nervous."

You sat down wearily on the couch, kicking off your shoes and tucking your legs beneath you. You never really were one to enjoy flying, and the feeling of being able to move freely was almost a luxury at the moment. "Steve, you need to lock that down. It's hard to believe that Captain America still has such bad anxiety. You know we can handle ourselves."

"Well, I think it's just worse when it comes to you two idiots." He threw your luggage into your room and took a seat by you. "You can't really blame me, can ya? Or should I do a run down of every time you guys have been almost arrested, abducted, injured or killed?"

"Point taken," you said with a dismissive cough. "So, Rogers, you said you had something you wanted to talk to us about? I can only assume it's more important than letting me get a nap after a twelve hour flight?"

Bucky appeared from the kitchen with three beers in hand and a skeptical look on his face. He moved behind you, handing you a bottle and bending down for a quick kiss as he passed by. "What could be more important than keeping my wife happy?" he winked and moved to sit on the floor in front of you, humming quietly to himself as you ran your fingers casually through his hair.

Steve took a deep breath and grabbed his drink from Bucky. He took several swallows and looked from you to your husband a few times before finding the resolve to finally speak. You knew where this was going; you had expected this conversation to happen from the day that Bucky regained his memory. You knew exactly why he was stalling, and why he insisted on meeting you so quickly after the two of you had returned.

"I have some people that I want you guys to meet."

~~~

You sat with Bucky on a bench in the middle of Central Park, watching a group of kids run up and down the mall as their parents watched them burn off their exuberant amount of energy. The trees were just beginning to change to their beautiful reds, oranges, and yellows of fall, and the leaves were piling up everywhere you looked. The kids had begun to gather them up and jump in, squealing with joy at the sound of crunching leaves beneath them. It was a cool fall day, and you realized that you couldn't remember when you last took the time to enjoy one like this.

"Babe, what's on your mind?"

"Just enjoying the day," you said. "It's beautiful, isn't it?"

"You're beautiful."

"You're biased," you laughed, nudging him with your shoulder.

Bucky paused and studied your face, trying to gauge your emotions. "So really, what are you thinking about? Are you having second thoughts?" He shifted on the bench to turn towards you and grabbed your hand. "Tell me now and we'll just head home and forget the whole thing."

You would be lying if you said you hadn't considered it about a thousand times leading up to now. Steve was the worst liar you had ever met; he said it would be a small meet-and-greet to get to know his friends, who were 'very eager' to meet you; you knew he wanted you to meet the Avengers so they could convince you both to join them. You barely knew Natasha, who still hadn't made the connection that you had tried to kill her not so long ago, and you had only met Tony for a moment. There was no reason for this group to be so interested in meeting you other than for your skills; Steve's lie was full of holes, but that was no surprise.