Back To Brookes // back to barnes bk2

epilogue

On the day Bucky and I got married (for real this time), I was five months pregnant. We wed on the top of a cliff overlooking the ocean, just at sunset. I wore a simple long-sleeved dress, Bucky wore a white shirt and a blue tie, his long hair tied back away from his face - we were both barefoot.

The only guests were Shuri, T'Challa, and the queen. Steve officiated. At the altar, Bucky held my right hand in his left (all metal for this occasion) while his right hand and my left rested gratefully on my swollen belly. Steve's words were kind, punctuated with things that drew small laughter. Bucky looked into my eyes with adoration, only looking away to glance at his best friend for a moment or down to his growing baby girl. He cried. We both cried.

"To be here, now, with you, is the only thing I've ever needed in my long life, Maisie Jo. Every day that has lead up to this moment - every memory, every torment, every sin - is worth it as I look at you, beautiful you. To live the rest of my life with my love and our baby girl seems too much to ask, but I'll beg for it anyway. Thank you for choosing me." Bucky's smile could have outshone the sun. Through my grateful tears, I laughed a little bit. He's mine. I'm his.

"My sweet Bucky, I had no idea that you were what I was waiting on. All that time wasted with other people, other priorities, all brought me to you. You're right, it was worth it. To think back to the grubby man in my cell that tried to kill me," I hiccupped another laugh, as did he and Steve. "then to you now - bright, beaming, alive, whole ... it's all worth it. I'm grateful for every moment of patience, kindness, and loyalty that you've shown me. I want to spend the rest of our probably-way-too-long lives together with all the purple babies our arms can carry. I love you. I'll always love you."

We kissed, married. Whole. Alive. Together.

Carter Rebecca Barnes was later born, as loved and as healthy as any loved baby in Wakanda was. She wasn't purple, no Vibranium arm in sight - she was perfect. Bucky wore her in a sling like it was his job, his metal arm wrapped under her little butt in a hug at any given moment. We sat in bed every night holding her in her pink swaddling blankets, just breathing her in. She was quiet and calm, cooing at her papa whenever his beautiful blue eyes met hers. He was in love. Deeply, completely in love with her.

Carter and I would watch Bucky as he went surfing, her squishy pink skin soaking in the sun as I cradled her in my arms. The breeze blew my waist-length hair around as I nursed her, Bucky running back onto shore and dipping down to give me a kiss, salt water-covered hand leaving a wet print on my shoulder. He sat with us and we talked about how we would celebrate Carter's first birthday even though it was almost a year away. He snuck it into the conversation a few times that we should have more babies. I agreed but added that we should soak in our little girl for a while longer. He put a hand on my cheek and a hand on Carter's tiny head as he kissed me, as gentle as the first time.

We had heard nothing from SHIELD, nothing from the US, nothing. We didn't think about it much either, one of us occasionally looking to each other with slanted eyes and a "hey, do you know if they've reached out?" and the other would respond with a shrug and a "who cares?" The answer was not us. We finished the discussion the day I told him I was pregnant - we were done. If anyone reached us in Wakanda, we would just go somewhere else. No more fighting. Just Carter. Just each other. For the rest of our lives.

Steve left Wakanda once, just to go grab whatever was left in his apartment in DC so he could stop paying rent and join us full-time. He was, after all, Carter's godfather, and just like her doting father, Steve couldn't get enough of her. She was the last deciding factor in him giving up the superhero way of life like Bucky and I had. We ate most of our meals together on a random balcony, in the woods, out on the beach, anywhere but at a table, and Steve would take an hour or so to eat as he occupied himself with kissing Carter's fuzzy head or booping her nose.

Sometimes I caught myself thinking about the loose ends. Bad things still happened, bad people still existed. Just because we decided we were done dealing with them didn't mean everyone else was. I had to take a deep breath and pray that the capable hands that found those bad things would simply pick up where Bucky and I left off. If they didn't, they would find help, but it wouldn't be us.

The Barnes family, and our adopted uncle/godfather/best friend Steve, were home at last. It certainly wasn't where we had seen ourselves a few years ago, but it was better than those visions could have ever held. Every time Bucky kissed me on the forehead and I remembered that drunken night in my room with his sloppy kisses and him saying my name for the first time, I was reminded that every wrong turn was just a step closer to him. He was my love, I was his forever. We found peace at last.

The end.