Bucky got home before Lizzie for once so he decided to go pick up the groceries for the week. She usually leaves the grocery list in her bed side table.
He is going through the papers she left in there trying to find it when he finds a packet labeled 'Lab Results'.
He knows he should leave it alone but the fact that she was getting lab work done scared him. What if something was seriously wrong with her?
He opens the packet and slides out the paper. There is a lot of scientific jargon that he doesn't understand but there is one word he definitely did understand.
Pregnant.
Lizzie is pregnant.
He quickly puts the paper back into the packet and places it back in her drawer, groceries forgotten.
Lizzie notices that Bucky is acting strange when she gets home but he says it's nothing when she asks and she decides to let it go.
Weeks pass and Lizzie still hadn't told Bucky she was pregnant and he was beginning to get angry.
He understood waiting a couple days to tell him but weeks?
He was the father, doesn't she thinks he has a right to know?
They are eating dinner one evening when Bucky finally snaps.
Lizzie was telling a story about her first week in the new school year when Bucky drops his fork to his plate.
Lizzie stops telling her story and looks to see Bucky has a furious expression on his face.
"Were you ever going to tell me?" Bucky demands.
His tone automatically sets her off.
"Tell you what?" She says.
"That you're pregnant," Bucky says.
"I'm not pregnant," Lizzie says.
"Don't lie, I saw the test results in your night stand," Bucky says angrily.
She knows instantly what must of happened and why he was having such a harsh reaction right now.
"I can explain," Lizzie starts but Bucky interrupts her.
"Didn't you think that I deserved to know that I'm going to be a father?" Bucky yells.
She is immediately angered by his tone. She's not pregnant but if she was, he should not be yelling at her like this. When she doesn't respond, he continues.
"Or were you just hoping you'd lose the baby and never have to tell me?" Bucky says.
"What did you just say?" Lizzie snaps.
"A baby would ruin all your plans so maybe you were just hoping the problem would take care of itself," Bucky says.
The room goes silent. Bucky knows that he shouldn't have said that but he is so angry.
Lizzie says nothing but walks out of the room. She immediately goes upstairs and starts packing a bag.
Bucky follows her up and sees her packing.
"What are you doing?" He demands.
She doesn't respond but she keeps throwing stuff into the bag.
He rips the bag out of her hands so she is forced to respond.
"I can't stand the sight of you right now so I'm going to stay with Steve," Lizzie says.
She takes the bag back from him and finishes packing everything she needs.
He blocks the doorway.
"No, we are talking about this," Bucky says.
"Bucky, I swear to God if you don't move then I'm going out the window," Lizzie says angrily.
They glare at each other, waiting to see who would break first. It ended up being Bucky.
He knew that Lizzie would actually attempt to climb out the window if he forced the issue. He may be furious at her right now but he wouldn't want to risk her or the baby out of spite.
He moves out of the doorway and Lizzie storms past him. He follows her to the door.
She was halfway out of it when she hears Bucky behind her.
"Lizzie, wait," Bucky says.
She turns to see what he wants.
He wants to beg her to stay so they can work it out but he knows that that's not going to happen tonight.
"Can you please call me when you get to Steve's? Or at least have Steve call me so I know you got in safe?" Bucky asks.
She looks at him sadly. She wants to stay so they can work it out but she knows that that's not going to happen tonight so all she does is nod.
As soon as Lizzie is out the door, tears flood her eyes and her body is racked with sobs.
She walks the short walk to Steve's apartment and knocks on the door.
Steve is confused when he hears a knock on his door. He wasn't expecting anyone tonight.
He opens the door to find a tear soaked Lizzie.
"Can I stay here for a couple of days?" Lizzie asks.
He pulls her in for a hug. He wants to know what's going on but he knows that Lizzie just needs comfort right now.
"Of course you can stay here. You can stay here as long as you need," he whispers into her hair.
He pulls them over to the couch and lets Lizzie lay her head on his lap while he strokes her hair.
Their mother used to do this for them whenever they were upset when they were little.
Lizzie's sobs begin to quiet down and eventually his ministrations lull her to sleep.
The phone rings and Steve quickly grabs it before Lizzie can be woken up.
"Hello?" Steve whispers.
"Please tell me she's there," Bucky asks frantically.
"Yeah, she just fell asleep. She was distraught when she arrived but she cried herself out. Do you want to tell me why my sister is here with me and not with you?" Steve asks.
Bucky hesitates because he is scared to tell Steve what happened.
"We had an argument," Bucky says.
"Must have been a doozy," Steve says.
"She's pregnant," Bucky says.
"What?!" Steve yells.
He freezes, waiting to see if he woke up Lizzie but she remains dead to the world.
"I take it that this wasn't exactly planned?" Steve asks.
He doesn't know what to feel about Lizzie being pregnant. He's always wanted to be an uncle and he wants to be happy for them but he still doesn't know why she showed up in tears.
"Of course it wasn't planned!" Bucky exclaims.
"Are you mad at her because she got pregnant? Because last I checked, she wouldn't have been able to do that alone," Steve says.
"Of course I'm not mad she's pregnant. This is not an ideal time for a baby but I'd love any kid we had," Bucky says.
"Then what's the problem?" Steve asks.
"She hid it from me for months. I'm honestly not even sure how far along she is," Bucky admits.
"Didn't you guys talk about it?" Steve asks.
"Well..." Bucky starts.
Steve knows that whatever Bucky has to say next, he isn't going to like it.
"Bucky, what did you do?" Steve asks.
"I found some lab work in her bedside table that confirmed the pregnancy. I kept waiting for her to bring it up but she never did and tonight I just snapped," Bucky admits.
He knows Lizzie well enough to know that Bucky must have said something really bad to get this reaction.
"What did you say to her?" Steve asks.
"I may have accused her of not telling me because she was hoping she'd lose the baby," Bucky admits guiltily.
Steve has to take a few deep breaths to avoid screaming at Bucky and waking Lizzie up.
"I don't want you coming around here for awhile. If she wants to see you, which I doubt, I'll contact you but until then, I'm going to need you to stay away," Steve says.
"Steve..."
"No, Bucky. You accused your pregnant fiancé, my sister, of hoping to miscarry. Do you know how messed up that is?" Steve asks.
Bucky knows that she would never do anything like that. She would love any child they had. He was just so hurt she lied, he wanted to hurt her back.
"I was just so mad at her for hiding it," Bucky says.
"Well you better hope she forgives you because I can't back you up on this. Don't call here again Bucky, I don't want you upsetting her more. I don't want the stress to harm the baby," Steve says.
Steve then hangs up on Bucky and he is left with his thoughts.
Bucky has known she was pregnant for weeks but has never really reconciled that they are going to have an actual baby.
He wasn't ready to be a father but he would love that baby so much because it was a part of him and Lizzie. He would love anything that was part Lizzie.
He just prayed she would forgive him.
He went to the kitchen and pulled out a bottle of whiskey. He was never a big drinker but tonight was definitely a whiskey night.