The pair had naturally relaxed into each other as they continued the date. Lizzie's legs were draped across Bucky's lap and her head was resting on his shoulder. Bucky had wrapped his arm around her and was absently stroking up and down her back.
"Where do you see yourself in 15 years?" Lizzie asks.
"With you, hopefully married. We might even have a couple kids by then. You will be a successful doctor or scientist," Bucky says.
"And what will you do?" Lizzie asks.
"I won't have to do anything but wait for you to come home. Do you know how much doctors make? That's half the reason I plan on marrying you," Bucky says.
"So your plan is to become a housewife?" Lizzie laughs.
"I'm secure in myself enough as a man to be able to let my wife do all the work," Bucky says.
"You're the worst," Lizzie says.
"I'm mostly kidding, in all honesty, I think I'd like to be a cop or a firefighter. I think I'd like to save people like you will," Bucky says.
Lizzie beams up at Bucky.
"I think you'd be good at that. You saved Steve and I throughout the years," Lizzie says.
He knew that technically he had saved them both at different points in their friendship but he felt like they saved him as well. Maybe not in a physical way but he doesn't know how he would've turned out if he didn't have the twins to ground him.
"Thank you. Well anyways, that's where I see myself in 15 years. What about you?" Bucky asks.
"Your dream sounds pretty perfect, can I borrow it?" Lizzie asks.
"Sure, El," Bucky responds.
Bucky kisses her forehead and they fall back into comfortable silence.
"What's your biggest fear?" Bucky asks.
Lizzie stiffens in his arms and he immediately regrets asking the question.
"You don't have to answer the question if it makes you uncomfortable," Bucky says quickly.
"No, it's fine. It's just not something I love to think about. My biggest fear is losing you and Steve. Without you two, I don't know how I'd survive. I'm terrified to lose Steve. You know how connected we are and I honestly don't know how one of us would cope if we lost the other. I'd never be completely whole again. If I lost you... I don't know if I'd ever be able to be happy again. You two are my everything," Lizzie says.
Bucky can't help but agree that losing her and Steve would be excruciating. He would have his family, unlike the Rogers twins, but he still doesn't think he'd ever recover. How does one cope with losing their best friend and the love of their life?
"I promise to do my best to protect Steve and take care of myself so we can always go home to you," Bucky swears.
"Thank you Jaime. I know you'll do everything you can to keep that promise," Lizzie says.
Bucky knows how vulnerable Lizzie must feel right now so he owes it to be vulnerable with her too.
"I'm scared of hurting you," Bucky whispers.
Lizzie snaps her head towards him and sits up.
"You could never hurt me," Lizzie says.
Bucky remembers seeing the bruises on her arms.
"Can't I?" Bucky asks.
He knows that she is thinking about when he dragged her as well.
"What happened was an accident, I know you'd never hurt me on purpose," Lizzie says dismissively.
"No, I'd never abuse you, I don't have that in me but I hurt you in anger once already, regardless that it was an accident," Bucky says.
"I forgave you for that," Lizzie says.
"I know and I'm so happy you did but that doesn't mean I'll ever forgive myself. I can never forget the devastation on your face when I confronted you in your room. You were terrified of me," Bucky says.
Lizzie doesn't know how to respond because back then, while the rational part of her knew Bucky did it on accident, the irrational part was scared of him.
"Well how about I promise to tell you if you are worrying me. I know that you would immediately stop whatever you were doing if you thought you were hurting me. I honestly don't ever think it will be a problem again but I'll promise you that," Lizzie says.
It doesn't completely expunge his fear but it helped to share with her.
"Thank you, Ellie," Bucky says.
"You're a good man Bucky Barnes. One of the best men I've ever met," Lizzie says.
He loves her, simple as that. He always wondered when he was younger why people fall in love when it ends in pain more often than not. It was because of moments like these.
"I love you, Elizabeth," he says.
She can hear the deep emotion in his voice.
"I love you, James. More than I could comprehend. You told me that I deserve a book worthy romance and I have that with you. Now that we're together, I can't remember why I fought you so hard," Lizzie admits.
He looks at her and takes in her features. Her blue eyes look so dark in this lighting. The light always changes the color. He's seen her eyes as light as the sky and as dark as the ocean at night. They always fascinated him.
Her eyebrows were pale and thin but they always were so expressive. He could always tell her emotions from a lift of her eyebrow or the little crinkle that forms between them when she's stressed.
Her lips were always entrancing to him. He had thought about her lips a million times but the first time he kissed her, he couldn't imagine that a pair of lips could be that amazing. He couldn't help but let his eyes drop to stare at her mouth.
"I don't want this night to end but I really want to kiss you," Bucky admits it.
"I'll allow it," Lizzie whispers in a quiet voice.
He kisses her and it's unlike any of the kisses they had shared before. It was like a mix of their first kiss, passionate and greedy, and the softness and love of the kisses that came after.
He kept one hand on her back while the other wrapped around the side of her neck with his thumb stroking her jaw line.
Lizzie's hands rest on his chest but as the kiss continues, her hands move up his chest and shoulders to rest in the hair at the nape of his neck, pulling his head closer to her.
He doesn't know who initiates it but they end up laying across the bench seat of the car with him resting on top of Lizzie. One of her hand is still pulling on his hair while the other roams up and down his back. He uses one of his arms to hold most of his weight off of Lizzie while the other grips her hip.
They don't know how far the kiss would've progressed if Bucky's foot didn't accidentally kick the car horn but the sound breaks them out of the spell they were under.
"We should probably stop," Bucky says.
Even though he knows that they have to stop, he's having trouble removing himself from against her body.
"I don't really want to," Lizzie says.
"Me either, but we shouldn't do anything we'd regret in the heat of the moment," Bucky explains.
Bucky gets off of her and they manage to get back into a sitting position.
"You'd regret it?" Lizzie asks.
"Never, I'd never regret anything I do with you but I may regret it being in my dad's car on our first date," Bucky admits.
Now that things have cooled down a little, Lizzie realizes that Bucky was right in stopping it. He may have done this kind of stuff before but she hasn't. All her and Riley ever did was kiss.
Like Bucky, she can't say that she'd regret him but she may regret the location and timing. She knew she wasn't ready for anything besides kissing but she got caught up in the moment like him.
"You're right, we needed to stop. Doesn't mean what we were doing wasn't fun," Lizzie says.
Oh, she was going to test his resolve. Now that she was his, she was all the more irresistible.
"It was really really fun and as much as I'd like to continue, I should probably take you home. I don't want to worry Steve," Bucky says.
Bucky hopes that mentioning Steve will cool them both down and it does.
They notice that between the talking and kissing, they had managed to fog up all of the windows in the car. They use Bucky's jacket to wipe off the steamed windows so he can drive.
Bucky pulls up to the Rogers' house just before 10 o'clock. They both get out so Bucky can walk her to the door. Luckily, it had stopped raining so they don't have to run to the front door.
When they reach the porch, the pair turn to face each other and Bucky pulls her into an embrace.
"I don't want this night to end," Bucky admits.
"You could always stay for a little," Lizzie says.
As much as he would love to continue the night with her, he knows they both need time to digest the events of the night.
"I've failed a bit at the traditional first date tonight. The proper thing to do is return you to your house at a decent hour and avoid running into any protective brothers," Bucky says jokingly.
"Well the least you can do is give me a kiss goodnight," Lizzie responds.
The kiss is soft and slow and intimate. Things begin to heat up again but they are interrupted by the porch light flicking on and off.
"I think my brother waited up for me," Lizzie whispers against Bucky's lips.
"He can wait a little longer," Bucky responds before kissing her again.