Author's Note: Bucky and Shannon say goodbye to Kansas and head out to see Sam. As per usual, some of the dialogue is taken directly from the show and altered slightly.
"Negative," Shannon says, tossing the pregnancy test into the trash as Bucky walks into the bathroom in his boxer briefs, stretching and yawning. He flinches at the sound of the test hitting the metal trash can.
George is being discharged from the hospital today. He and Janice are coming over for a big pancake breakfast in the hotel before Bucky and Shannon drive to Delacroix to drop off Sam's suit. Janice insists that she can drive George back and get him settled without supervision. His live-in nurse is waiting for them.
Bucky is excited to be back on the road, and even a little thrilled at the chance to get to see Sam again.
"How many do you have left?" He asks.
"One. I took one in Berlin and one in Madripoor." She sighs. "Seems like my implant is working, though. I'll pick some more up before we leave."
"I'll pay for them," Bucky offers. "It's only fair – wait, you don't take one every time we have sex, do you?"
"No," she laughs. "But we have sex pretty much all the time, so I want to make sure. Like you said, you don't know how much of you is enhanced, right?"
"Right." He looks over at her. "Are you sure you don't mind taking them?"
She rolls her eyes and chuckles at his naivete.
"Bucky, I'm peeing on a stick and waiting a couple of minutes, it's not exactly physically taxing."
"Okay," he whispers. "I just want to make sure."
Shannon pats him on the chest and gives him a chaste kiss on the lips.
"I'm sure."
They start getting ready for the day. She washes her face and puts a million different serums and creams on it. He doesn't know why or what they do. She's tried to explain it to him, but it all sounds like she's speaking a different language. She does make him wear sunscreen now, though. It's not like he's outside for long periods of time, but it smells nice. Kind of like coconut. Bucky looks in the mirror, assessing his beard and hair growth.
"Should I shave this?" Bucky asks, combing his fingers through his beard which has grown even thicker since his arrival here last week. "I'm thinking about shaving it."
His hair has started to grow out. It's longer near the front now. Shannon puts some pomade in it and keeps the hair around his ears and the back of his neck trimmed short. She teaches him how slick it back, but he kind of likes the volume. It's not so long that it reminds him of his days as the Winter Soldier, but combined with the beard, it's a good look. She looks over at him, her mascara wand making an audible pop as she pulls it out of the tube and goes to put it on.
"Please don't. The hair and the beard combo is working for me. You look like a DILF."
Bucky closes his eyes and laughs, shaking his head.
"I'm so afraid to ask what that is."
She laughs and puts her mascara tube down, winding her arms around his waist and kissing his neck.
"A dad I'd like to fuck."
Bucky winces, his eyes slamming shut. A loud, disapproving groan escapes his lips.
"Shannon!"
"What?!" She laughs. "You can say things like 'you sound so pretty when you come in my mouth' but you can't handle being called a DILF? And don't think I don't remember ninety-nine percent of your dirty talk, Sergeant."
"I'm not even a dad!" He laughs as she lets him go and he puts a string of toothpaste on his toothbrush.
"You look like one, though." She's quiet, continuing with her makeup as he brushes his teeth. "I think you would be a good dad."
He raises his eyebrows, tucking his toothbrush in between his teeth and his cheek.
"Are we having this conversation?"
Shannon shrugs.
"I think we sort of had it before when we stopped using condoms. Neither of us are ready right now, but in the future, I can get my implant removed." She laughs. "I can safely say that I want kids with you, Buck. And I've never felt that way about anyone before."
"Me neither," he whispers.
Bucky grins. The idea of them starting a family together is one he hasn't really allowed himself to think about much.
"Do you think we're crazy?" She asks him, interrupting his thoughts. "Talking about marriage and kids when we've only been together for four months?"
"Maybe," he sighs. "But I don't care what other people think. We'll take it slow."
"Something we've been notoriously terrible at," she chuckles, putting on her lipgloss.
Bucky laughs, spits out his toothpaste, and rinses his mouth out.
"We're going at a pace that works for us," he tells her. "I don't think that's a bad thing."
She smiles at him as she puts her lipgloss back into her makeup bag.
"I don't either."
Bucky leans over and kisses her. Shannon squeals.
"Bucky! I just put that on!"
He licks his lips. Cherry and vanilla.
"This is my favorite one, I think."
"What about the donut-flavored one?" She laughs as she reapplies it. He leans in and steals another kiss.
"That one's good too."
Shannon shrieks as he kisses off her second application, "JAMES BUCHANAN BARNES, YOU ARE INSUFFERABLE!"
They both double over laughing, and she swipes at his face with the lipgloss wand, getting him in the beard. She sticks her tongue out at him.
"Now there's glitter in it."
Bucky shrugs.
"I've had worse stuff in my beard."
"I don't wanna know," she chuckles as they walk out of the bathroom and get dressed.
"Probably not."
They dress. Shannon wears a pink and white polka dot sundress that leaves little to the imagination whenever she bends over. Which she does. On purpose.
"You know, that's going to be a distraction on our drive," Bucky purrs.
She turns her head and giggles.
"I know."
Bucky sighs softly.
"You'll be the death of me, Shan."
They pack up their stuff and Shannon orders another feast for room service. Janice and George knock on the door. It's nice to see him standing up and dressed in something other than a hospital gown. Bucky shakes his hand.
"Good to see you, Sergeant," he says softly.
"It's good to be on my feet again."
Janice gives Bucky a kiss on the cheek as they enter. They sit on the large patio overlooking Topeka, eating their breakfast and sipping coffee. Janice is leaned up next to George while Shannon has her legs draped over Bucky's. She steals bites of his pancakes, insisting that they taste better than hers, and he scoffs.
"You're as bad as Ace, you know that, right?"
She scrunches her nose at him, and he kisses her softly.
"Do you two ever think about moving out of New York?" George asks as he takes a sip of coffee.
"All the time," Bucky says instinctively.
"Really?" Shannon asks.
"Yeah. I like it here. It's quiet. Peaceful. Haven't had that in a long time."
"Where have you lived, James?" George asks.
"Siberia, Brooklyn, probably some other places in Russia that I don't exactly remember. Haven't really gotten around that much other than short visits."
"It's nice here," George tells him. He looks over at Shannon and Bucky with a sly smile. "Good place to raise kids."
Shannon rolls her eyes and takes a big gulp of coffee.
"Don't you start on that too, daddy!" She scolds him.
"I'm just making an observation," he laughs.
They chat for a few hours, finishing their breakfast and having a few more cups of coffee. Alpine naps in George's lap, having grown quite fond of him in Kansas and remembering him as the person who always fed her scraps of bacon and toast when they were staying at the farm. Bucky shakes his head at how spoiled she is, but George seems to enjoy her company.
"Where did you find her?" He asks.
"Underneath a dumpster in Brooklyn."
"She's a gorgeous cat."
"She's a handful," Shannon laughs. "She's always swatting something off of the damn dresser."
"Should stop keeping things up there," George teases her as he scratches Alpine's head.
She laughs and sticks her tongue out at him. He does it right back. Bucky sees the connection between the two of them strengthening, even more so than back at the farm. It's the first time in 80 years that he's felt like he was part of a family. George and Janice accept him without pretense or judgment. They treat him like a son, teasing him the same way that they tease Shannon. They reach out to squeeze his metal hand without fear and embrace him as a whole person, even if he's a 106-year-old former assassin. At one point Janice looks at him and asks,
"When's your birthday, Bucky?"
"March 10th."
"Good to know," she says with a wink.
"You'll have to come out here to celebrate," George offers.
"That would actually be nice, Buck. Maybe you, me, and Sam could do a road trip?"
"Yeah," he chuckles. "That would be good. I'd like that a lot."
All of his birthdays for the last 80 years have been spent alone, and most of them have begun and ended with a fight. He hates his birthday, but maybe with Sam and Shannon it could be different.
Eventually, checkout time comes and the four of them say their goodbyes. There's a lot of crying on Shannon and Janice's part. They've been through hell for the past week. Shannon cries off most of her mascara and promises to call them the minute they get to Delacroix. They're not stopping. It's a 12-hour drive and they can crash at the AirBnB until the morning. Bucky still isn't sure what an AirBnB is, it just sounds like they're paying to break into someone's house for the night. Shannon tells him she can drive for six hours and then she and Bucky can switch to get there in time. He's driven for much longer than that, and he needs less sleep than her thanks to nightmares and the serum. They get on the road at around 11:00am. He holds her hand the whole way. Even when she's passed out with her head against the window.
They get into the AirBnB around midnight. Shannon and Bucky find a note from the owner telling them that the liquor cabinet is free to raid and to take as much as they want. She raises an eyebrow and looks over at him.
"I think I like these people."
Bucky chuckles and pours them both a glass of whiskey. They sit on the couch and breathe a collective sigh of relief. Bucky looks over at her.
"How are you doing after the last week?"
Shannon shrugs.
"Relieved, mostly. I really thought dad wasn't going to make it for a second there."
"But he did."
She smiles.
"Yeah."
Bucky checks her stitches.
"These'll have to come out tomorrow. It's healing well."
"All thanks to you and Oeznik."
He grins.
"The next time we have a mission, we'll just wrap you in Kevlar."
Shannon throws her head back and laughs.
"Ohhh, no. No more missions for me, Sergeant. I'm sticking to cooking and laying on the couch watching TV."
Bucky kisses her softly.
"Sounds good to me, doll." He smirks at her. "You're a lousy shot, anyway."
She boops his nose and kisses him. Eventually, they fall asleep on the sofa surrounded by a mountain of blankets while Ace and Alpine explore the house. Bucky sleeps soundly for the first time in a while.
~~~
Bucky finds himself nervous the next morning, bouncing the suitcase on his knee while Shannon gets dressed.
He's already been out for a walk with Ace, that turned into a jog, that turned into a run, followed by a full workout in the basement of the AirBnB. It's a nice house. It kind of reminds him of Steve's parent's old place in Brooklyn. Big windows, lots of sun coming through during the day, dated furniture, and a huge collection of old blues records that he and Shannon put on the moment they found the record player last night.
"You okay?" She asks him as she ties up her hair in a big, bouncy ponytail.
"Yeah. All good."
"Really? You look like you're going to be sick."
"Just scared about what he's going to say," Bucky whispers.
She leans over and kisses him.
"Buck, whatever your worst fear is, I promise, it's not going to happen. It almost never does."
"Thank you," he whispers. "I love you."
"I love you too."
The house is about a mile away from the docks where he already knows Sam will be. They decide to walk there, leaving Ace and Alpine to sleep. Delacroix is beautiful in the daytime. Tranquil, even. People smile at them as they walk down the street. He's never experienced that in New York. When they arrive at the docks, Sam is talking with two older men, gesturing at a huge container of wrapped up parts that Bucky assumes are for the boat.
"How are we gonna get it off the truck?" Sam asks.
Shannon looks at Bucky, elbowing him in the ribs.
"Your time to shine, big guy."
He leans over and kisses her as he grabs the bundle and hauls it over his head with ease, putting it down near the boat. Sam looks confused at first until he sees Shannon. A huge smile explodes across his face and he rushes up to her and wraps his arms around her, laughing softly.
"Hey, Rambo!" He exclaims. "How's the shoulder?"
"Not bad," she replies.
"And your dad?" Sam asks. "How's he doing?"
"You'd never know he fell. He went home yesterday with my mom."
Sam hugs her tighter.
"That's great to hear. I sent some flowers and a little care package to your mom's house."
Shannon chuckles.
"You're too sweet. Expect a phone call from my mom."
"Can't wait," Sam says with a grin. His eyes slide over to Bucky. "What are you guys doing here?"
Bucky hauls the suitcase onto the back of the truck.
"Just dropping this off. You can sign for it and we'll go." Sam already seems to know what it is. He stares at it and takes a deep breath. Bucky continues. "I called in a favor from the Wakandans."
Suddenly, a pipe on the boat behind Sam begins to hiss violently.
Bucky hears a woman's voice call, "Sam!"
She runs up to the boat. Bucky figures that she must be Sam's sister. Sam dashes toward the pipe, trying to close the connection with a wrench. Bucky hears him swear underneath his breath. He grabs Shannon's hand and pulls her toward the boat, turning to Sam's sister and grinning.
"Hi," he greets her with a small wave.
"Hi," Sam's sister replies. He hears her lean over to Shannon and say, "Is he with you?"
"Yep."
"Nice work, girl."
Bucky tries his hardest not to flush, but it's tough when two gorgeous women are talking about him within earshot. Shannon laughs as Bucky watches Sam try to close off the pipe.
"I'm Shannon."
"Sarah. I'm Sam's sister. Nice to meet you."
"You too!" Shannon chirps.
Bucky taps Sam on the waist, encouraging him to move aside.
"Hold on, hold on. You gotta go up!" he shouts over the noise.
Sam hands him the wrench and Bucky manages to tighten it, stopping the steam from shooting out, and that awful hissing noise. Sam stares at him.
"Why didn't you use the metal arm?"
Bucky sighs and glances down at his hand.
"Well... it's... I don't always think of it immediately. I'm right-handed." Bucky looks up at the boat. "So, this is the boat, huh?"
"This is it," Sam replies.
Bucky turns to him and gestures to Shannon and Sarah who are now involved in a very animated conversation.
"It's nice." He takes a deep breath. This could be a chance for he and Sam to have a real talk about the shield without worrying about Karli, the mission, or anything else. "Shannon and I are in town for a while. You want any help?"
Sam grins.
"Yeah."
He gestures for Bucky to follow him as Shannon and Sarah finish their conversation. Shannon digs in her purse for her sunglasses while Bucky walks up to Sarah, smiling.
"I'm Bucky."
"Sarah," she replies, turning to Shannon. "You two here to help out?"
"Yes, ma'am," he answers.
Shannon nods.
"I'm not great with tools and stuff, but anything else? I'm your girl."
"Well, I need help unloading some of those trucks. You gonna be okay to do that with that shoulder?" Sarah asks, gesturing toward Shannon's bandage. "Sam told me what happened."
"Not a problem," Shannon assures her.
"All right. This way." Sarah turns back to Bucky. "It was nice to meet you."
"You too, Sarah."
Bucky and Sam spend the day sanding parts of the boat and stripping off old hunks of metal, tossing them into a huge pile. In the distance, he can see Shannon helping Sarah unloading boxes off of trucks and bringing them beer and sandwiches. Sometime during the afternoon, Bucky hears the sound of two boys screaming and Sam laughs.
"My nephews."
"AJ and Cass, right?"
"Yeah."
"Cute kids," Bucky remarks as they sip their beers, taking a much-needed break.
Bucky hasn't worked with his hands like this in so long. Even on the farm, the work that they were doing wasn't nearly as taxing as this. He sighs softly, content.
Shannon is immediately drawn to the two boys, introducing herself with a handshake and a big smile. They seem to take a liking to her right away, talking her ear off (yelling is more like it) while Sarah stands to the side, beaming as they tell them about their day. Bucky hears the word "troublemakers" as Sarah points to the boys, who are now running around the dock and playfighting. Shannon laughs and looks over at him, a small smile lingering on her face. Bucky smiles back and blows her a small kiss when Sam isn't looking. She catches it and scrunches her nose up at him, grinning the entire time.
Soon, the boys get too close to the edge of the dock and Sam stands up.
"Hey! What'd I tell you about that?!" He shouts.
"Sorry uncle Sam!" the boys yell, sprinting off in the other direction.
Sam sighs and turns to Bucky.
"You two wanna stay for dinner?"
"We don't want to impose."
"It's fine, Buck. You guys let me stay at the farm, it's only fair that we open our door to you too."
Bucky smiles.
"Sure."
"Besides," Sam chimes in. "I bet you anything Sarah already asked Shannon."
"And Shannon already said yes."
"You got it."
They continue to work until the sun goes down. Sam stands up, stretching, and drains his beer as Shannon runs over to them.
"Dinner time, boys."
"Perfect. What are we having?"
"Your sister made macaroni and cheese and I made a salad."
"Sounds amazing already," Sam replies as they step out of the boat.
Bucky tucks his arm around Shannon's waist. She buries her head in his chest.
"You smell like motor oil."
"I should probably shower."
"I like it," she replies. "Very manly."
He laughs as they walk into the house. Bucky is immediately hit by the smell of food. It almost knocks him over. Shannon dashes to the kitchen to help Sarah put dishes on the table. AJ and Cass are at her heels showing her where the cutlery is, and all of the cups. She laughs and pats them on the shoulder.
"You guys are so helpful," she chuckles.
"They're only behaving because we have company," Sarah tells her.
"That's not true!" Cass tells her.
"Oh, really?" Sarah asks as Bucky and Sam sit down. "Because this is the first time you've set foot in the kitchen other to ask me when dinner is going to be ready."
AJ points and laughs at his brother while Cass sneers at him. Sam shakes his head as Cass looks at him to defend him.
"I'm not getting involved in anything," he replies, laughing. "This is between you and your mom."
The boys settle down and sit next to Sam while Shannon and Sarah finish brining all the food to the table. A huge dish of baked macaroni and cheese, an enormous bowl of salad, dinner rolls, chicken wings, the works.
"We figured you two would be hungry," Sarah tells them. "Same with the boys."
Bucky smiles.
"This looks amazing," he whispers as everyone begins to serve themselves.
"Bucky, you didn't tell me your girlfriend was such an amazing chef," Sarah says.
He nods with a mouthful of food. Bucky tries to keep some of his table manners intact. It's hard when he's been working all day and the food tastes this good. Shannon chuckles.
"I never want to impose on someone else's kitchen."
"I'm happy to have the help," Sarah tells her. "Bad enough I have to look after these three all the time now."
"What'd we do?" Sam asks.
AJ and Cass are too busy eating and showing each other videos on their phones to be paying attention. Sarah flashes Sam an incredulous look that says, "you're kidding me, right?"
Bucky laughs softly. Cass looks up and points at Bucky's arm.
"Is that metal?"
"Cass," Sarah warns him. "That's not appropriate."
Bucky shakes his head.
"It's fine, Sarah." He turns to Cass and AJ. "It is. It's pretty strong, too. It's made of vibranium."
"Can it punch through anything?" AJ asks with wide eyes.
"Pretty much."
"Cool!" The boys say in unison.
Bucky grins and Sarah chuckles, shaking her head.
"How long are you two in town for?"
Shannon and Bucky look at each other and shrug.
"A few days, at least," Shannon tells her.
It's not like they have anywhere to be right now. They can't go back to New York until Will's trial starts. Early this morning they were tossing around the idea of going to California. Bucky was reluctant after telling Shannon that his sister is there. The confession only made her more adamant to continue to suggest it. She wants to go to the beach. Bucky isn't such a big fan of the beach. Sand gets everywhere, it smells weird, and seagulls try to steal your food. At least that's what happened at Coney Island.
"I appreciate that," she says softly. "God knows there's plenty to do around here. You got a place to stay?"
Shannon nods, taking a sip of her water.
"An AirBnB down the road."
"Oh, the Johnson's house!" Sam chimes in.
"Yeah!" Shannon says. "They're lovely. They're coming back in a couple of days."
"Well, our door is open – if you want it, that is," Sarah tells her. "We've got a huge couch to sleep on, or I can always kick Sam out of his room."
"Nuh-uh. No way," Sam replies, pointing at Bucky. "This one's got super healing powers or some shit. My back still hurts from Latvia."
"Wuss," Bucky mumbles.
Cass and AJ cackle and reach over the table to high-five him. Sam's jaw drops and he looks over at Sarah, pointing at Bucky with his fork.
"Can you believe this? What he's teaching your boys?"
Sarah shrugs.
"Well, you are a little bit of a wuss, Sammy."
Bucky cackles and Shannon hides her laughter behind her water glass.
"This is fun. Usually, I'm the one getting picked on." He leans into Sam with a devilish grin. "Oh, how the tables have turned."
Sam rolls his eyes.
"I'll smack that goddamn fork right out of your hand," he threatens.
"Try it," Bucky whispers. "I dare you."
"Okay!" Shannon announces, clapping her hands. "That's enough."
"They're as bad as AJ and Cass," Sarah chuckles.
The rest of dinner is calm and peaceful. They chat about anything and everything except for the Flag Smashers, Captain America, and anything else related to the mission. Shannon tells Sarah about the restaurant, growing up in Kansas, and Bucky offers some stories about Brooklyn, making sure not to make it obvious that he's over a hundred years old. It's hard, though. He's only been a part of the modern world for a handful of months without going back into cryo-freeze.
It's nice to sit at a table and have a normal conversation. He never realized how much he missed this. As they empty the final dishes and lean back, stretching with full bellies and big smiles on their faces, Sarah looks at Sam.
"You and Bucky are in charge of the dishes. Shannon and I are going to have a cocktail on the porch."
"I love that idea," Shannon says with a huge smile as she and Sarah get up, make a drink, and head out to the porch. AJ and Cass go to play outside, leaving Sam and Bucky alone to scrub pots and pans.
"I'll wash, you dry?" Bucky offers.
Sam nods.
"Sounds fair to me. You want another beer?"
"Sure."
He opens a bottle for Bucky and hands it to him. Bucky puts on a pair of yellow rubber gloves and gets to work scrubbing while Sam sips his beer and looks outside at Sarah and Shannon.
"They're getting along well."
"Yeah. Not surprising. Shannon makes friends with pretty much everyone."
"That's true," Sam laughs, turning around to lean on the counter.
"You think Karli's gonna throw in the towel?" Bucky asks after a long silence.
He has to ask. Their mission isn't complete yet, and the Flag Smashers could be growing in ranks. It's impossible to tell at this point. By all accounts, they've completely disappeared.
"I think she's gonna double down," Sam tells him.
"Any idea how to stop her?"
"I got Joaquin working on something."
Bucky sighs.
"Well, Zemo says there's only one way."
Sam stares at him as Bucky hands him the casserole dish.
"Since when do you listen to him?"
"I'm not saying he's right, Sam, but Karli's gone off the deep end. Who knows what she's planning now."
Sam looks over at him as he dries the casserole dish.
"I don't want any more people to get hurt, Buck."
"Understandable."
There's a long silence between them. The suitcase containing Sam's new suit sits on the adjacent counter, untouched. Bucky looks over and catches Sam staring at it.
"Whatever you decide, it's the right decision," Bucky tells him. "Shannon and I will be out of your hair in a couple of days and you can save the world."
Sam laughs.
"So you're just gonna set me up like that, huh?"
Bucky sighs.
"We don't want to make it weird for your family."
Sam rolls his eyes and punches him gently in the arm.
"Sarah offered you guys her home, Buck. Don't pretend like you didn't hear it." Sam laughs. "Just stay here for as long as you guys want. The people in this town are the most welcoming people in the world." He gestures to Bucky's blue t-shirt over top of his long sleeve shirt. "They don't care if you wear small t-shirts, or if you have six toes, or if your mom's your aunt--"
Bucky laughs and waves him off with his hand.
"Okay, I get it. I get it. I mean, the people here are nice."
Sam snaps a finger and points at him.
"But no hanky panky on my sister's couch. You can do it in the boat, but I don't wanna see it or hear it. If either of you breaks that rule, I'll have Carlos cut both of you up and feed you to the fish."
"Got it," Bucky says with a laugh and a nod. "I'll pass the message along to Shannon."
Sam reaches over and pats him on the shoulder.
"I'm glad you're here, man. Both of you. Feels like old times."
Bucky smiles. It does. He looks out the window and Shannon and Sarah, both of whom have their heads thrown back and are cackling about something. Their laughter is beautiful, it makes Sam and Bucky chuckle.
"I wonder what they're talking about."
"Probably making fun of both of us," Sam tells him. "Sarah only cackles like that after she gets me with a good roast."
Bucky laughs as they finish the rest of the dishes and head out to join the girls and watch the sunset, nestling beside Shannon on the patio. The four of them clink their drinks together and sigh contentedly as AJ and Cass toss a football back and forth. She leans her head on Bucky's shoulder and he plays with her hair, listening to her gentle hum of contentment.
It's the perfect end to a pretty perfect day. Even after all of this stuff with Karli is over, he could get used to living in a place like this.