~Buckys POV~
I woke up slowly, squeezing the warm blanket to my chest as I blinked, lazily opening one eye to scan the room.
The blanket I was cuddling wasn't entirely a blanket. Amelie was wrapped up in it, her hair sticking upright onto the pillow. In her sleep she shuffled back, her body curling into mine as I readjusted my hold on her, stroking her arm and kissed the top of her head that I could reach.
She had set several alarms for this morning, to ensure D'Arcy would have breakfast and the day could begin.
Owen, David and River had spent the night in their Grandfathers old place after the funeral a few days ago, but would be returning to stay with us next week. David explained that it was his way of honouring him, and we were all happy with this arrangement.
Which meant that the people who were usually filling my house with noise, wouldn't be here today.
Amelie was unaware, however, that I had organised for Sam to babysit D'Arcy today. I lent him a key when he got here earlier this morning to pick D'Arcy up. I explained to her that she would be spending the evening with him at the Tower whilst me and her Mum spent the day together.
It was to make up for the birthday I missed, along with the date nights we had lost recently. After she began softly snoring last night, I turned all her alarms off, and hoped that after I'd handed D'Arcy over to Sam and gone back to bed, that we would both wake up naturally, but with time for us to complete the rest of the tick list I had prepared for the day.
She sighed softly, stretching slowly, arching her back as she reached her fingers above her heads, wiggling them as she woke up. "Morning," she mumbled, and I watched as she brushed a hand over her face, the other reaching out to pick up her phone.
And then -
"Fuck! Oh shit! I'm so late, Bucky get up! We need to go! D'Arcy! We need to wake her up right now."
"Amelie, doll, hey look at me," I held a hand on her arm, gently easing her to lie on her back, "Sam took her."
"What?"
"Happy birthday?"
Her confused frown crinkled into a confused smile, her eyes scanning mine as she reached her arms to hook around my neck, "what do you mean?"
"I missed your birthday," I leant down, tracing my lips over her neck as she sighed happily, sinking down into the pillow, "and you deserve so much better than that."
"Bucky, I said it was okay. You got me flowers that evening."
I shook my head, propping myself onto my elbows so she could see my sincerity. "You deserve better."
She gulped gently, and her finger tangled into my hair. "I love you." She whispered.
I smiled, meeting her lips halfway as she rose up, her arms wrapping around my back, pulling me down onto her.
"So the house is empty?" She whispered, her voice slightly raspy as her eyes met mine.
I nodded, "it's just us."
Her eyes sparkled, her hand slipping under the blankets.
This was not the first step I had planned.
But who was I to deny my wife of pleasure.
***
The shower had been fun. Bubbles everywhere, the floor covered in splashes of water as we washed each others hair and sang loudly into shampoo bottles.
Amelie was still smiling as she dried her hair, while I mopped the bathroom floor. Music was playing in the background, and I pulled on a pair of jeans before kissing Amelie's hand and jogging downstairs. I brewed some coffee, then pulled a top over my head that had been drying in a room downstairs.
Amelie came down ten minutes later, wearing a pair of dark jeans and a low cut top, a necklace resting on the neckline. She grinned as I passed her a fresh mug, and a plate of warm croissants smothered in chocolate. The sliced strawberries beside them were drizzled with sauce, and the smell was only beaten by Amelie exaggerating her playful moan as she began eating breakfast.
"I actually want to do this today," I waggled my fork at her, "stop teasing."
"But its funny," she giggled, "what's the plan then."
"Eat," I pointed at the half eaten croissant on her plate, "and drink," she sipped her coffee as I spoke.
We finished quickly enough, and I grabbed her knitted sweater that she liked to wear in the wintery weather we were still experiencing. It would almost be Christmas, and she was trying to get me to knit more for presents for everyone. Not that I had the time.
She slipped her shoes on as I dug through the shoe rack, waving various children's shoes in her direction, "where have mine gone?"
"They're on the bottom shelf," she pointed over my shoulder, "just there."
I huffed, "I'm the tallest one here, who is burying them at the back," my back cracked as I twisted it, and I caught Amelies eyes widening.
"Bucky are you okay?"
"I'm an old man," I grumbled, rubbing it gently but it was just the noise, nothing worse luckily. I yanked the shoes onto my feet, and pushed myself upright, "come on doll, otherwise we'll be late."
I led her out of the door, careful that she didn't slip on the little bit of ice that was on the drive. She clambered into the car, and by the time I sat down she was already playing some music.
I stole a few glances in her direction as she hummed, then yawned, and dodged out of the way just in time as she stretched and almost poked my eye.
"Sorry!" She peered at me, inspecting my ear which was beginning to warm from wear her ring hit my skin.
"Its okay," I laughed it off, then realised she would have the same feeling, "is your ear okay?"
I could see her shrug out of the corner of my eye, her finger tracing the lobe of her own ear, "nothing broken or bleeding."
"Well that's good, otherwise I would have to rearrange this whole day."
I drove carefully, aware that the cold weather would affect my speed. I didn't do a lot of driving until I met Amelie, and although we had been together a little while I wasn't too used to driving on the road as a citizen.
As a Hydra agent, I had vague memories of not really caring about my safety.
But I was a father and husband now, and that fact scared me senseless.
"Bucky? ... James?" I almost jumped as I heard her soft voice.
"Yeah?"
"You did get D'Arcy up this morning right? Sam didn't come in and just get her from her room?"
I turned to stare at her once I'd pulled up to a red light, "Why would I let Sam get D'Arcy ready by himself? Could you imagine what a mess that would be?"
She spluttered her laugh through the hand she held over her mouth. "Sorry," she ran her palm over her hair, "I just can't believe I slept through it all."
"You've been busy. We both have, we've gone from being two to... a house full."
She nodded, and I could feel my lip split as she chewed on hers. "My love-"
"Hm?" She turned to look at me, her eyes widening as I glanced back, "oh sorry!" She smoothed her thumb over her own lip, eyes training on mine, "not bleeding."
"Are you ready?" I changed the subject as I pulled down a drive, following the path through a line of trees.
"Ready."
I parked close to the path, then helped Amelie climb out the other side. With our hands clasped together, and our eyes trained on the slightly muddy patch on the ground, we made our way to the end.
"Where are we..?"
"There." I leant down to her eye level, pointing my arm over her shoulder to the building in the distance.
"Why are we walking there?" She squinted, "and not driving."
"Because of them." As I whispered in her ear, two horses slowly approached. Their eyes were trained on us, ears flicking a little as the wind blew around them. Small animals chased each other on the other side of us, and in the distance, a lone dog was chasing its tail in circles.
She was quiet as we followed the length of the path, her eyes fixed on all of the animals as they approached, and ran away. Only one horse followed us the whole way.
"What is this place?"
"A spa."
She spun to look at me, "a spa? With horses?"
I grinned, "that building is the spa." I pointed to the building we were stood next to, "over there-" I held her shoulders and spun her slowly to look to our left, "that is an animal conservation. All of these animals have been dropped on their doorstep, almost dead. We have some of their leaflets at work."
"So this is a spa day?"
Her smile was growing, although I could see she didn't want to give me the satisfaction of a full, cheesy grin.
"Yes gorgeous, it is a spa day, to spoil you rotten." I pushed the door over her shoulder, then held it open for her to walk through.
She gasped softly at the entrance hall. I couldn't blame her - I had when I'd seen the pictures during my research.
"How may help you?" The lady sat behind the smooth white desk had matching white hair, long and straight, carefully flipped over one shoulder. Even her outfit was white, which made the blooming leafy plant next to her stand out even more.
"Two under Barnes, I booked it a little while ago."
She smiled, her eyes fixed on the screen for all of five seconds before she nodded, and began collecting items from behind the desk.
She stood up, handing over two boxes filled with dozens of bottles and scents that somehow smelt expensive. "These are complimentary gifts for you. You can use anything in the building, just let the staff member in the area know, and use these cards to sign in and out of each room. If you can go through the door on my right, you can get changed."
She dismissed us with another smile, before lowering herself back into the chair, her eyes dropping back to the computer screen.
Amelies eyes widened, looking a little overwhelmed, so I held a hand to her back and gently guided her through the door.
We were met with a second door, then one labelled 'Dressing Room'. "This looks so fancy," she whispered. I could hear her laughing loudly as she stepped into the room, "Bucky, look at these!"
White fluffy dressing gowns hung from a hanger.
She was almost dancing as she shimmied out of her coat and slid the gown over her arms. "Oh Bucky," her eyes were fixed on mine as she wrapped her arms lazily around my neck, "you are something else."
Maybe it was that 'something' that got us to experience nearly every single thing they had to offer.
We went to a sauna, which was just too hot, but it made the hot tub after that much more enjoyable. We got hair treatments with fancy oils and sprays which smelt divine, which rendered our shower that morning useless, and Amelie even convinced me into having a pedicure with her.
I didn't get the shining purple polish on my fingers like she did, but the polite man did do something that made mine look great.
I enjoyed the whole experience a lot more than I thought I would. Maybe it was my experience as a child before the war, or as a Hydra agent... or just from seeing other men talk about such pampering days, but I had been hesitant to share the day with Amelie.
Originally I was going to buy the treat for Amelie to share with one of her friends, but Bruce had told me to enjoy it when I mentioned it to him.
All I knew was that if one of the others had suggested this when I first began living with them, I would have ignored them, locked myself in my room, and descended into a worried, frustrated mess for days.
Amelie was the reason. She always was.
"We have to go home now don't we?" We were back in the Dressing Room after having a British themed afternoon tea, complete with tiny sandwiches, snacks, scones with cream and jam, and cakes. Amelie had drowned herself in the non-alcoholic champagne they served, while I tried some of the tea bags they offered.
I was carrying a box full of the leftovers that we were too full to finish.
"Yeah," I kissed her cheek as I helped her out of the dressing gown, "but we have the house to ourselves when we get home. No battles for the bathroom, no cartoons, no arguments over tea-"
"I'm not sure I could eat another thing," she laughed softly.
"Maybe later," I kissed her cheek as she laughed again, before her hand found mine. With the dressing gowns hanging on the rail, and our box of treats and food carefully packed into a bag in my other hand, we left the room.
Another lady was sat at the desk as we were leaving, and she stood up to offer us a bottle of wine, "for visiting us today."
"Thank you!" Amelie accepted the bottle for us, before I helped her step out of the building.
I saw a cat sitting a few feet away from us as we stepped into the chilly wind outside.
It began to walk closer, then fell into step beside us. Amelie cooed at it, hand reaching out to stroke its head.
That caused it to slip between my feet and I cursed as I stumbled over it.
"I've got you!" Amelie yelped as she grabbed the back of my jacket.
I swore, gently testing the ground as my ankle felt a little sore. "Bye cat, bye now." I mumbled, trying to step over it.
But it rolled under my feet, purring louder than an engine.
Unlike Brian who regularly meowed loudly until I cuddled her and she would run away, this cat wouldn't leave us alone. Even after Amelie spent two minutes stroking them to appease their cuddly nature.
"Maybe we can take you home," she joked, before standing up and brushing her hands against her jacket, "come on Buck, let's go."
The cat followed us to the car, and when I swung my door open it leapt into my chair. Amelie, who was sat in the passenger seat laughed so hard she became silent as she rocked forwards.
"Maybe we should bring you home," she sounded breathless as she slid out of the car, eyes fixed on the cat.
"Do we need another one?"
"Oh face it grumpy man, you want them too. Let's go and ask if we can take you home." She crouched to talk to the cat, fingers stroking its face as it stretched, happily lazing in my seat.
I did want to take the cat home.
But I stayed quiet as I stood back, letting Amelie pick them up and place them back on the ground. It followed us almost like a dog, trotting by our side, occasionally taking off to chase a windswept leaf.
When we reached the building, it began crying at us again, meowing loudly for our attention. Amelie had just pushed the door open when it darted past us, now stood waiting patiently inside.
A scruffy man was sat behind a desk, curling hair tumbling halfway down his back as he tapped on his computer. "Hi," Amelie squeaked, her eyes shining as she peered back at the cat.
The cat that was now lying across my shoes.
"Oh, hi! Sorry, I wasn't expecting anyone today. How can I help?" He shoved his glasses onto his head, squinting at us a little.
"We were wondering if we could adopt this cat?" I looked down as it rolled over, eyes meeting mine as it stretched over my feet.
"Who - oh, Alpine? How weird." He peered over the edge of the desk, brows furrowing as he examined the cat.
"I'm sorry, what's strange?" Amelie was calm as she asked, but I could see her hand begin to shake. Her nerves had come back, but she shoved her fist into her coat pocket as she caught me looking.
"Alpine doesn't like many people. Won't go near them, let alone-" he gestured at my feet. "We've got a little process to go through with animal adoption, but to be honest... Sorry, I just can't get over how happy he seems with you."
I sat down on a chair as Amelie asked about the specifics of the adoption, but Alpine obviously didn't want to join her, as she jumped onto the seat next to me and crawled into the front of my jacket.
"Oh, oh no you don't, come on." I attempted to pick her up, but she meowed loudly, rolling her body up so she could slip behind the zip.
"I don't think-" I tried unzipping my coat more, but her claws clung to my chest, her face snuggling into my chin.
"Bucky!" Amelie's voice was sharp as she rubbed at her chest, "please can you not make her scratch like that."
"Sorry!" I apologised, then stroked Alpine who had settled back down, "see, you're getting me into trouble already."
"Erm, sir, you need to sign here." I glanced up to see the man holding a pad of paper with a pen in his outstretched hand.
"Isn't it great!" Amelie grinned.
"What is?" I asked, trying to figure out how to stand up with Alpine still neatly tucked, now sleeping, in the front of my jacket.
"We can take her home today!"
"She's not technically on our books, but if you can sign here I can make up and print the papers now for you." The man explained.
Amelie was beaming as she leant up on tiptoes, pressing a kiss to my cheek. "I love you," she whispered, tickling my ear.
Then she leant down, hands cupping Alpine's face as she cooed gently, "I love you more. Yes I do, I do love you."
My heart swelled as she laughed softly, thanking the man over and over for him arranging the same day adoption.
I squeezed her hand as she threaded her fingers through mine.
"I love you too," I murmured, pressing my lips to the top of her head.