Lizzie and Bucky both don't sleep that night. They are too wrapped up in each other to even think of sleep. However, when the twins start crying, Lizzie quickly gets up and starts to get dressed.
"Elizabeth, sit down," Bucky demands.
She rolls her eyes but does as he says. He walks over and helps her get dressed before picking her up and walking over to the twins' room.
As soon as the enter the room, the twins stop crying.
"Mama!" They yell.
Bucky let's her down and places her in the rocking chair. He walks over to their cribs and picks them up before bringing them over to Lizzie.
As soon as they're in her arms, she hugs them close. She places a kiss on the top of each of their heads and the cuddle into her. She begins to cry and JJ notices.
"No cry, mama," he says.
Steven looks up at her face and uses his little hands to wipe her tears away.
She gives a small laugh and wipes her own tears away.
"They're happy tears, baby," she says.
They don't understand but they see her smile so they smile back.
Bucky lets her hold on to the twins as he carries all of them downstairs. He sets her down on the couch and the twins wiggle out of her arms. She places them on the floor before they run off, most likely to find Sarah.
"They're running. You said they were walking, not running," Lizzie says in surprise.
He sighs before sitting down next to her and putting his arm around her shoulders. He pulls her in close and drops a kiss to the top of her head.
"You know how fast they develop," is all he says.
She nods but she's sad that they are growing so fast.
Steve walks into the living room and smiles down at his best friend and his sister on the couch. He is so happy that she's come home. He was really worried about Bucky going off the deep end.
Bucky looks like himself again as he gazes down at the love of his life.
Bucky hears the floorboards creek and looks up to see Steve. Steve is smiling at them and Bucky knows that Steve must be so happy to have her home. He must be so happy that she's alive.
She's alive.
Steve should have known she was alive.
Bucky's smile drops as he thinks about how Steve would have been able to feel she was alive. He's always been able to feel her in the past.
Steve notes Bucky's expression turning from confusion to anger.
"Did you know?" Bucky asks in a calculated voice.
"Know what?" Steve asks in surprise.
At that moment, the kids run back in the room but Bucky's attention is locked on Steve. However, he also doesn't want to have this discussion in front of the kids.
"Outside," Bucky demands.
He gives Lizzie a quick kiss to the temple before standing up. She shoots a nervous glance between her brother and her husband.
"What's wrong?" She asks.
"Nothing, doll. Just stay with the kids and stay off your feet," Bucky says with a small smile.
She's worried because she can feel the tension between the two of them. She knows that if she doesn't let them go, the kids will have to witness the disagreement and she doesn't want that.
"Don't do anything stupid," she warns both of them.
Steve still doesn't know what he did wrong but agrees anyways.
Bucky storms outside and Steve reluctantly follows him.
Once they are in the backyard, Bucky turns on Steve.
"Did you know she was alive?" Bucky asks.
Steve hesitates and Bucky has his answer.
"I wasn't sure," Steve says.
Bucky turns away from Steve in utter betrayal. Put aside the fact that it was his own sister's life on the line, it was also Bucky's wife. As Steve's best friend, his brother, why would he let him suffer thinking his wife was dead?
"I was having Howard look into it," Steve says.
Bucky turns on Steve at that point.
"You told Howard Stark that you thought she might be alive but not me?" Bucky yells.
"You were already struggling so much, I didn't want to give you false hope," Steve says.
Bucky gives a sardonic laugh and then punches Steve in the face. Steve falls to the ground but is quick to regain his feet and get in a defensive position.
"You should've told me," Bucky yells.
Bucky throws another punch but Steve blocks it this time.
"You should've told me and we should've brought her home," Bucky roars.
Steve moves backwards as he continues to block Bucky's punches. He's still getting a few good hits in though since Steve is just aiming to defend.
"I guess she just isn't as important to you anymore. Who cares about Lizzie? As long as you have your wife and daughter, that's all that matters, isn't it?" Bucky asks.
Bucky's assumption lights a fire in Steve and he starts fighting back.
"Struck a nerve, did I? Mad because there's some truth there?" Bucky says.
"You don't know how much it hurt when she died," Steve says.
They continue their violent dance across the yard as they air out their grievances.
"I get it! You have a twin bond. You've been bonded to her since the day you were born. Just because you're bonded, doesn't mean she's your priority anymore," Bucky says.
Steve loves his sister so much. He's loved her longer than he's loved anyone else. He's furious that Bucky would assume that he loved her any less than he always had.
"I was looking into it! I knew something was off so I enlisted Howard to help," Steve says
"If you really cared, you would have stopped at nothing to find her. Even if it was just a hunch," Bucky says as he throws a particularly hard kick at Steve's side.
"I'm not like you! I don't throw caution to the wind without thinking about the consequences which is exactly why I didn't tell you. You would have gone insane in your search for her and put both our families in danger," Steve says.
Steve lands a punch to Bucky's solar plexus, knocking the air out of him. He quickly recovers and begins to retaliate.
"We could have worked together! We could've made a plan that protected everyone and still found her. I always thought you and I were a team but I guess I was wrong!" Bucky screams.
The fight goes out of Steve at his statement. They are supposed to be a team. They've always been unstoppable when they work together.
Bucky drops his defensive position when he sees Steve relent. He suddenly realizes that he is fighting his best friend. A man he considers his brother. He is still so incredibly hurt by him though.
"You saw how much pain I was in and you had the power to stop my suffering. Why would you do that to me?" Bucky asks in hurt.
Steve lowers his head in shame because he knows he hurt his friend.
"If I was wrong, I'd hurt you more," Steve admits.
"Yeah, well I was already shattered. She's home now and that's what matters," Bucky says in despondency.
"Bucky, I'm sorry. I would change it if I could but I can't. I was just trying to do what I thought was right," Steve says.
Bucky sighs because if he knows anything, he knows that Steve is a selfless person. He accused him of a lot of bad things but he knows Steve doesn't have a malicious bone in his body. He's the best person he knows except for Lizzie.
"I'm sorry for what I said. I was just hurt," Bucky says.
Steve claps him on the shoulder.
"I understand, let's just put it behind us. Let's go get some breakfast," Steve says.
They turn back to the house which they managed to fight their way quite far from and begin walking towards it.
"Look at the bright side, it's been awhile since we had a real spar. We were getting a little rusty so it was time for a refresher course," Bucky says.
"Maybe you were getting rusty, I think I did pretty good," Steve says with a laugh.
"You're the one who's going to have a black eye tomorrow, not me," Bucky responds.
They both know that the first punch doesn't count because he caught Steve completely off guard.
They reach the backdoor and Bucky goes to turn the knob but the door is locked.
Steve and Bucky look at each other in confusion until they see Peggy approaching through the glass window of the door. She takes a piece of paper and slaps it against the glass so they can read the writing on it.
'If you are going to fight like children, you are going to have timeout like children,' it reads.
They burned a lot of calories during their fight so they were starving but they knew better than to argue with their wives.
They sit on the back porch for a couple hours until the girls feel they've learned their lesson and let them back inside.
Steve and Bucky may fight, but in the end, they are brothers and always will be.