CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
❝ letters from home ❞
WARM LIPS AGAINST her skin was the first thing that Lucy could feel as she woke up. She didn't even need to open her eyes to recognize who those lips belonged to. "Mm," she hummed. "Buck?"
"Did you sleep well, Mrs. Barnes?"
When Lucy's eyes fluttered open, she was met with the sight of her fiance's face hovering just inches away from her own. He placed a light kiss on her right cheek, then to her left, before finally pressing one right to her lips.
After a lazy kiss, Bucky pulled back and Lucy smiled sleepily at him. "Technically, I'm not Mrs. Barnes just yet."
Bucky snaked his arms around her torso and rolled her on top of him. Lucy relaxed in his hold and settled onto his chest, letting her legs lay between his own as she propped herself up on both elbows. She couldn't resist the urge to reach her left hand up and run her fingers through his unruly hair.
Bucky grabbed her hand and kissed her knuckles. "Well, according to this ring," he held up her hand, showing off the ring that he had lost sleep over picking out. "You pretty much are."
They held each other for a bit longer before finally rolling out of bed and showering. Their room was nicer than it should have been, a perk of being Captain America's best friends. Bucky threw on a suit while Lucy wore the SSR-issued skirt set that Peggy had supplied her with.
As Lucy was observing her outfit in the mirror, Bucky wrapped his arms around her waist and lovingly kissed the side of her neck. "You look beautiful," he murmured.
She leaned her head back into the crook of his neck. "Thank you. You look handsome."
There were three knocks on the door. "Do you guys have clothes on? " Steve's voice was heard from the other side, his tone hesitant for what he might walk into.
"Nope! We're busy!" Bucky lied.
Lucy smacked his bicep and pulled herself out of his arms, a small sound of protest leaving Bucky's mouth at the action. "He's kidding! Come in, Stevie."
Steve swung the door open blindly, covering his hands with his eyes as he walked into the room. He tripped over Lucy's heels that were laying on the ground, grabbing onto the dresser right beside him to stabilize himself. "Are you sure? I love you guys but I don't love you that much."
Bucky picked up one of their pillows and threw it at the blonde, nailing him right in the chest. Steve peeked through the cracks of his fingers, sighing in relief while removing both hands from his eyes. "Thank god."
"Everything okay?" Lucy asked.
Steve perked up. "Oh, yeah!" He waited a moment, expecting one of them to say something. He huffed out a breath and looked at Bucky, whispering a question so quietly that neither of his friends could hear him.
"Pal, I can't hear you," Bucky deadpanned.
The blonde nervously scratched the back of his neck. "Did you, you know, do it yet?"
Lucy finally understood what Steve was talking about. She was about to show him the ring until Bucky placed a hand over hers and played dumb instead. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Steve blinked once, then twice. "The ring," he dropped his voice to a whisper at the second word, hoping that Lucy wouldn't hear it.
Bucky threw his hands up in fake frustration. "Steve— C'mon, man! You ruined the surprise! I didn't give it to her yet!"
Steve's face paled, thinking that he truly did ruin the surprise. "O-oh I didn't—"
"Well, you did," Bucky cut him off.
"I'm sorry, I..." Steve trailed off, looking like he was either about to throw up or cry. Maybe even both. Lucy stepped forward, giggling while pushing Bucky back. "Steve, he's kidding. You didn't ruin the surprise."
"I- Wait, I didn't?" Steve asked, completely confused.
"Nope," Lucy said as she held up her left hand. Bucky pointed at the jewelry and smiled, proud of himself that he picked out a ring that she adored
"Wait, you already proposed?" Steve turned to Bucky for confirmation.
Bucky rolled his eyes. "No, I just gave her the ring for a random occasion—"
Before he could finish his sentence, Steve ran forward and embraced them both in an excited hug. The sheer force of his sudden action sent them tumbling onto the bed behind them.
"Finally! I've been waiting for this since we were eighteen! Bucky has made me hold onto that thing for years!" Steve beamed.
"God, you're heavy," Bucky wheezed from underneath him, still not used to Steve weighing more than ninety-five pounds.
"Tell me about it," Lucy groaned, also crushed underneath Steve's bulky body.
"Sorry," Steve apologized, climbing off of them and going to stand at the end of the bed instead. A dorky smile was on his face as he outstretched his arms toward them, offering a gentler hug this time.
Lucy giggled and dove into his arms first, smiling as she felt Bucky's arms wrap around the two of them soon after. The trio embraced each other with a type of love that could never be replaced and laughed like they were still three clueless kids living in Brooklyn.
"What, you're just going to leave us out?"
Lucy, Bucky, and Steve all turned around to see Peggy and Howard standing in the doorway. They had clearly come with Steve to see if Bucky had proposed as he told them he would.
"Well?" Peggy asked, the anticipation nearly killing her.
With a wide smile on her face, Lucy held up her left hand, showing off the diamond that inhabited her ring finger. Howard and Peggy both threw their hands up and cheered, joining the hug to celebrate.
───
"What's all this?" Lucy asked Howard, her eyes immediately falling to the tables covered with weaponry as they entered the lab.
Bucky had gone to go help the Howling Commandos with a few things, promising to take Lucy to lunch right after he finished. Howard insisted that he had something to show her in the lab, so she reluctantly followed him into the facility and down to the basement level.
"Do you want to fight?" Howard asked her, leaning against one of the tables while intently studying her reaction.
His bluntness caught Lucy off guard. "What?"
Howard was one of the few people who knew about what had happened to Lucy and Bucky inside the HYDRA facility. He took some of Lucy's blood and tested it, the traces of serum found proving that Zola wasn't bluffing after all.
He looked at her with care, dropping his voice to a low whisper despite them being the only two in the room. "It's your decision but we've been training you for a while and now that you have the serum..." he trailed off, pausing for a long moment. "I think that you would benefit Steve's team. And it would give you the satisfaction of getting revenge against those bastards."
Did she want to fight? One part of her was terrified. Sure, she had the serum running through her system, but she didn't exactly know how to use it. She used to practice her weaponry with Peggy while she still worked for Howard, but after the incident with HYDRA, she hadn't picked up a gun since.
The other part of her itching to fight, itching to get her revenge for what HYDRA did to her and Bucky. And Howard was right, months of training and practice helped her become handy with weaponry, the very quality that helped her escape her restraints and take down two bulky men in Azzano.
"I... I don't know," she told him, the crease between her brows prominent as she contemplated the offer. "I should probably talk to Bucky about it."
Howard nodded in understanding. "Okay, take your time. But just remember that this is your decision. Not Bucky's. Not anyone else's. Yours."
"I'll think about it," Lucy promised him.
"Good!" Howard clapped his hands together. "If you do choose to fight, I've been working on some new weaponry and made a few things that I thought you would like."
He brought her over to a table on the other side of the room, pointing at his display. "I've got all of the goods here. Guns, knives, batons. You choose."
Lucy nodded, scanning her eyes over the dozens of options, stopping when she spotted a collection of beautiful knives sitting towards the back. "What about those?" Lucy asked, disregarding the other weapons completely to focus her attention on the knives.
"Ah, I knew you would notice these," Howard said, picking one up and handing it to her. "Aerodynamic, perfect for throwing, and when you press this button."
When Howard pressed the small silver button on the side of the knife, the blade disappeared completely, transforming into a long silver baton with sharp edges. "Wow," Lucy said in awe, taking the baton back from him to twirl it around in her hands. "How is it so light?"
Howard proudly smiled. "That's vibranium that you're holding. Rarest metal on the Earth and these," he pointed to the set on the table. "Are pretty much the last of it."
"They're amazing," Lucy concluded, pressing the button to transform the baton back into a knife.
"Here, try this." Howard disappeared into another room for a moment, reappearing with a small target in his hands. He positioned it across the room. "Try and hit that."
Lucy nodded, twirling the knife in her hand a few times as she positioned herself. She rolled out her shoulders and took a deep breath, aiming at the board before throwing it, sinking it right into the center.
She turned back to Howard with a small victorious smile on her face. "That was easier than it should've been."
Howard clapped his hands together. "There you go! See, I told you that all that training would pay off."
Lucy sarcastically bowed while laughing. "That knife is incredible. Thank you."
Steve's voice interrupted the two, "Are you and Peggy... fonduing?"
Lucy and Howard turned their heads to the door, scrunching their faces in confusion as they stared at Steve. He stood there with his tie nearly undone and his hair messed up, looking like a true mess. "Uh, what?"
"You know..." Steve blushed. "Sex," he whispered, directing his question toward Howard while trying to avoid eye contact with Lucy.
They both simply stared at him until Howard spoke up. "You know that fondue is just cheese and bread, my friend... Right?"
Steve's face went pale with embarrassment. He finally turned to Lucy, helplessly gesturing around while she just sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Really? I didn't think—"
"Nor should you, pal," Howard cut him off. "The moment you think you know what's going on in a woman's head is the moment your goose is well and fully cooked."
Lucy leaned over and lightly slapped the back of Howard's head before zeroing her attention on her best friend. "What happened, Steve?"
He looked at the ground in shame. "I don't know... I was just talking to this nice woman and blinked and all of a sudden she was kissing me. Then Peggy walked in and..." Steve trailed off.
Lucy could tell how upset he was, walking over to lay a hand on his shoulder. "You know what would resolve this? Communication. Next time you see Peggy, tell her the truth."
Steve sighed and let his head hang down low. "I will. Thanks, Luce."
"Well," Howard clapped his hands together, eager to change the subject from whatever that was. "Now that you're here, I can show you the new weaponry I've been working on for you and your team."
He lead them over to a collection of items on the other side of the room, picking up a piece of protective gear and showing it off. "Carbon polymer. Should withstand your average German bayonet. Although, HYDRA's not going to attack you with a pocket knife."
Lucy scrunched up her nose in disagreement. "Technically, they could."
"Well, technically, they probably won't," he shot back.
The three moved on as Howard continued, "I hear you're kind of attached," he told Steve, tapping the destroyed shield that rested on the table in front of them.
Steve ran his hand over the bullet holes that dented the patriotic print. "It's handier than you might think."
The inventor pointed to the table filled with dozens of different shield prototypes. "I took the liberty of coming up with some options. This one's fun," he pointed at one with wires poking out of it. "She's been fitted with electrical relays that allow you to—"
"What about this one?" Steve asked. It wasn't until he picked up the plain silver shield that was hidden underneath the table that Lucy even noticed it.
Howard quickly shook his head. "No, no. That's just a prototype."
"Why is it a prototype?" Lucy asked Howard, running her hand over the cool metal surface of it.
"It's made of vibranium, just like those knives I showed you," he told Lucy before turning to Steve to explain, "Vibranium is stronger than steel and a third the weight. It's completely vibration-absorbent. I whipped up some knives for Lucy made of the same metal but those aren't pure vibranium like this."
Steve played around with it as he spoke, shocked at how light it felt in his hands. "How come it's not the standard issue?"
"That's the rarest metal on Earth," Howard reasoned. "What you're holding there, along with Lucy's weapons, that's all we got."
Peggy strode into the room and Lucy could immediately feel the waves of tension roll in with her. "You quite finished, Mr. Stark?" Peggy asked, a hint of anger lacing her tone. "I'm sure the Captain has some unfinished business."
Steve turned to her, holding the shield in front of him while cutely smiling. "What do you think?"
Lucy nearly smacked her own forehead. "Not the right thing to say," she mumbled. Howard chuckled beside her when he heard her words.
Peggy looked at him for a moment, pretending that she was about to answer until she grabbed the gun off of the table beside her and fired at Steve four times.
Both Howard and Lucy flinched, shielding themselves with their arms at the unexpected action. Steve hid behind his shield, successfully blocking each bullet with the vibranium.
When Peggy lowered her gun, she gave Steve a fake smile. "Yes, I think it works." She didn't even spare the blonde a glance as she walked by him and out of the lab.
Steve and Howard stood in shock, staring at the door where Peggy had exited. Steve leaned over to the inventor, holding a piece of paper in his hands. "I had some ideas about the uniform."
Howard took the sketch from Steve's hand, still unable to break his stare from the door. "Whatever you want, pal."
Lucy just exasperatedly ran a hand over her forehead. "Men," she mumbled.
"What's going on in here?"
The three of them turned to the door when they heard Bucky's voice. He walked right over to Lucy, placing a hand on the small of her back and a kiss on the side of her head while furrowing his brows at Steve and Howard's shocked expressions.
"Peggy shot at Steve," Howard simply told him, causing Bucky's eyes to widen.
"Geez, pal. What the hell did you do?"
Steve sighed and covered his face with his hands. "I didn't—"
"She saw him kissing another woman," Lucy jumped in.
Bucky thought he couldn't have been more shocked than he was at the first statement, but that one proved him wrong. "Another? Who the hell are you and what have you done to Steve Rogers?"
"Buck," Lucy chided him. "Not the time."
Steve just sighed and covered his face with his hands.
"I'm just sayin'! This is not the same kid that was too scared to even speak to a woman back in Brooklyn!" Bucky exclaimed.
"Oh, Lucy." Howard grabbed an envelope from the table beside him and handed it to her. "That reminds me, I forgot to tell you that some mail came in for you today. Says it's from Brooklyn."
Lucy frowned and hesitantly took the letter from his hands. She didn't really have anyone left in Brooklyn to receive mail from other than Bucky's family. "That's weird."
"Yeah, who's it from?" Bucky asked.
Ripping the envelope open, Lucy peeked inside before pulling out a singular piece of paper. Her eyes fell on the words written, a stoic expression on her face as she digested the information in front of her.
Steve and Bucky snuck a worried glance at each other, the latter speaking up when Lucy didn't respond. "Luce? Everything okay?"
Slowly nodding, Lucy folded the paper up and slid it back into the envelope. She placed it on the table in front of her and sighed. "I, uh, have to go back to Brooklyn for a few days."
Bucky worriedly took a step closer to her. "Brooklyn? What? What do you mean."
Lucy took a deep breath and fiddled with her sleeves, finally looking up to make eye contact with her fiancé.
"Thomas Everhart is dead."
AUTHOR'S NOTE!
back to brooklyn, baby!
i've been waiting to write these next couple of chapters for so long.
also, thank you all for so many reads and over 100 votes!
it means the world to me!
<3 mal