Sitting out on the swing, you closed your eyes while playing your sad music because you needed it for the mood you were about to go into. You put on your noise cancelling headphones, and opened your laptop. You bit your lip, knowing this wasn't going to be easy. You were in your own nightmare for a few days, but you were proud of the fact that you had remained strong and kept just trying to focus on the team coming for you and talking to the wolves to stop your anxiety from getting to you. You started detailing how when you took a sip of the coffee, it tasted a bit off but you figured it could have been the machine when it was made. You noted the bitter flavor you weren't anticipating. You noted how Timothy's partner had been the one to purchase the drinks, and when you were conversing you had started to feel tired. When you realized something was wrong, and saw Timothy pass out you had called Clouds name before you hit the ground, and the last thing you remembered before waking up was the partner getting out of the car, and his black shoes standing in front of you.
You went on to explain you didn't know how long you had been out, but when you woke up they had taken your sweater and your shoes, you were on a dirty mattress on the floor of a dingy cell and you were chained to the floor by your arms and legs, with a heavy device on your neck. You mentioned how your whole body had felt like it had hurt. You detailed your conversation with Shawn and the revelation that it was a bomb around your neck. You detailed each conversation as best as you could including the ones with the wolves. You went on to explain how you tried to look through Cloud's eyes a few times to see if the team was coming or if everyone was safe still. You described how when you knew Cloud was looking through yours, how you tried to show him as much information as possible, and the conversation with Shawn during that interaction as well. You realized you were going through pages and pages of information that you were putting into the report, but you were scared to miss any details the team might need, or Shield might need. You detailed how you tried to pull yourself out of the cuffs ending up in injuries, since you had nothing else to use. When you got towards the end, you detailed how Shawn came to take you to another location when Scott came and took the remote control for the bomb, and then knocked Shawn out with a single kick to the face. You explained how Tony came in and took the bomb off of you, and shielded you from the blast, and after how you rescued the wolves. You felt a tears were falling down your face, remembering how scared you were when Tony was taking the bomb off. You angrily wiped at them and sniffed a bit before continuing on to explain how you had lost your temper and fought the agents down the hallway until Pietro stopped you and carried you back to the jet. You took a moment to re-read the report before hitting send on it, then set your laptop to the side and curling up on your swing for a moment. You hadn't fully dealt with everything that had happened, you just let it go thinking it was a matter of circumstance. You knew the team would come, and that was all that mattered. What bothered you was you were under his control for three days, and you had lost time. You had wanted to feel more closure, but knew there wouldn't be any. Shield had him now, and he was being sent to the raft. There was no escaping that. You thought you should feel like you won, but all you were feeling was loss.
You barely registered that you were still crying when you looked up seeing Bucky come out of his room and he looked at you and you saw he looked upset. He walked towards you and picked you up easily and sat down where you were and put you on his lap. You put your head on his shoulder and he held you close and just let you cry it out.
"I knew you were keeping it together too well" Bucky sighed and pulled your headphones off, putting them to the side.
"I knew you guys would come for me, I don't know why I'm crying" you sniffed.
"You could have died, there was a bomb on your neck for three days. You were chained in a cell, with only wolves to talk to, and thank God for that" he whispered. "No one gets through that and is fine with it as soon as it happens. I knew it was too soon to do the report" he sighed.
"It had to be done" you shook your head.
"You shouldn't have to revisit it this quickly" he pulled you closer and started rocking the swing. "Thank God for Tony knowing how to get that off of you" he whispered.
"It was quick and painless. I thought I was going to die" you admitted.
"You're never going through that again, don't worry doll. He's on the raft by now, and he can never touch you again" he vowed. "I'll kill him myself if he ever tries"
"My hero" you giggled.
"He's lucky it was Scott and not me that came down those stairs" he shook his head.
"You would have been my white knight?" you smiled at him.
"Always if you'd let me" he winked. "There's the smile I was hoping for" he wiped your tears.
"Are you going to read my report?" you asked gently.
"Yes, I want to know what happened" he admitted easily. "I don't want to ask you to repeat it to me, so when your sleeping, I'll read it"
"You really don't sleep that much?" you asked curiously.
"Its easier with the pack" he chuckled. "But no, I don't sleep much. I have a lot of nightmares too"
"You can always come sleep with the pack" you offered.
"I'm trying to court you, let me try to do it properly" he grinned.
"Is snuggles apart of the normal courting process?" you raised an eyebrow.
"Artistic liberties as Stevie calls it" he chuckled and you gave a small giggle. "Come on doll, its time for lunch, and then I need to finish my report"
You easily slid off of his lap and grabbed your headset and laptop walking into your room and Bucky followed behind you as you put it all away. He helped you take a moment to make your bed, then followed you to the door to head for lunch.
"Thank you for writing out your report and sending it so quickly. We know that couldn't have been easy" Steve spoke up at the end of lunch. It had been a fairly quiet affair, and you were sitting between Clint and your mom for it, with Bucky across from you.
"It needed to be done" you nodded. "Now mama and I can work on thank you pies"
"Make sure there's apple" Tony reminded you and you grinned. You heard Pup bark from Visions arms and you got up quickly to go get some of the pre-made bottles. When you came back, your mom already had Pup and held her hand out for the bottle, and you could see milk already on her shoulder from earlier.
"I need to do my laundry soon, I'll do yours too" you whispered to her. "You have milk all over you already"
"He's my grand puppy. He's worth a little bit of a mess" she smiled happily as Pup ate happily from his bottle. You took your dishes, your moms, and Clints and put them in the kitchen and started prepping a few extra bottles just in case when you saw Natasha came in and grabbed a reusable bag and put three bottles in.
"Can I see her?" you asked gently.
"Of course" Nat smiled and you took her pup and touched your forehead to hers and held her close for a moment.
"She's going to be a heartbreaker" you smiled at her as you rocked her a little bit.
"Any words?" Nat whispered to you.
"No, not yet. Same with Pup" you admitted. "She's going to be quite the girl though, I can feel it" you slowly handed her back to Nat.
"We should probably spend more time in the evenings with the team, so they know the rest of the pack. Its so hard to let her go" she admitted.
"I know the feeling, I hate to put Pup down. I know that everyone needs to be recognized as pack, but its still not easy" you whispered.
"I'm almost excited for Snow to have her pups, just so we have more to spoil" she giggled a little.
"We will have survive teething first I think" you admitted. "She's not too far along yet"
"I better go finish my report, I'm making Bruce take her out until I'm done it" she winked at you.
"I'll see you at supper" you grinned as she walked out.
You started pulling out the ingredients for all the pies you wanted to make, making sure that this time you would make two plum pies. One for the meal, and one for Bucky in his bedroom. You started with the pie dough, making far more than necessary. By the time you were done mixing it, your mom walked in with Pup and gave a smile.
"How many pies are we making?" she raised her eyebrow.
"Fifteen" you nodded to yourself. "Two plum, and the rest apple and peach. That will leave fourteen for the team"
"You just said fifteen" she hid a smirk.
"I like to give Bucky one for himself in his room" you admitted. "He's done a lot for me" you shrugged.
"That and you like him" she reminded you.
"There's that too" you flushed. "Let me go get one of the dog beds so you can help me with the pies. Pup is okay to be on one if there's still warmth" you admitted. You ran to the living room and saw there was one spare bed, and the other wolves were all curled up. "Can I get two of you to come keep Pup warm while we make some pies?" you asked gently.
"We need the practice" Jasper stood up with Snow and followed you back to the kitchen. You set the bed down in the corner and the pair of them curled up and your mom put Pup between them. He let out a small whine until Snow bumped him with her nose and he calmed down.
"He's such a lively little one" Snow chuckled as Pup kept wiggling over the two of them trying to find a good spot.
"He's going to be a handful" Jasper nosed at Pup and you smiled to yourself.
"I'm enjoying every second of it" you admitted internally.
"I'll get started on the apple pies" your mom announced, and you gave a soft smile. You heard her turn on ABBA again and without a second thought you started singing to it while you started on the plums and peaches. This was something that was natural for you to do in the kitchen. You loved baking, and pouring all your love into it. You barely noticed Bucky and Steve walk by and go into the living room, but saw them from the corner of your eye. You looked up curiously and saw them both with their laptops at the couches. You shrugged it off before you started to dance as you prepped the fruit, and looked over to see your mom was almost done at the same time as you. You naturally went to start with the sauce filling for the apple on the stove, dancing a little as you went.
"Alright songbird, did you want help with the plum, or do you want to work on that one yourself?" your mom broke your musings and you looked over your shoulder with a smile.
"I'll do the plum one, the recipe is inside my head. I haven't written it down yet" you admitted. "I'm looking forward to tasting it, and seeing if I need to tweak it a little" you smiled again. "Just leave the plums in the bowl for me"
"Your experiments always turned out well when you were younger, I'm sure its good" she gave a reassuring smile. You finished the filling and went and poured it over the apples, and saw your mom had already finished with the peach pies. You put the pan in the sink and went to turn your attention back to the plum pies. You finished them up quickly and put them on top of the pie crust, and your mom helped you put the lattice topping on each pie. You sang a little louder as dancing queen came on again and you started dancing more to the music as you both put pies into the ovens. Your mom giggled, and watched as you grabbed two mugs to make coffee, and you both sat on the stools available to sip at your coffee while waiting for the first five pies to finish baking. You sang to the music as you looked at your phone and started shopping on Amazon.
"What are you buying?" your mom looking over your shoulder.
"Some frames, I think I'm going to put some photo's up on the walls. You were right, and it would make it feel more like home here" you shrugged.
"Those are pretty" she pointed at a set you were scrolling past, and you agreed, so you put them in the cart.
"I don't want to put too much up, its more to move later" you sighed a little.
"Live for the moment, not for the future" your mom reminded you. You gave a small smile, and went back and bought a few more picture frames. You went through and bought a few other things before updating your shipping address, realizing you would need to update your mailing address with everyone now.
"I forgot to check my mail at the cabin when we went" you frowned a bit.
"You should consider fixing the cabin, you were always so proud of it" she spoke softly. "I know what it means to you"
"I will consider it, its just having to go there to start on it... after everything, it still hurts" you sighed.
"Its still your place, you need to reclaim it" she seemed so knowledgeable. "This is your home now, but that is still your place. You can visit it on weekends, or when you're not on missions"
"You're really pushing this" you looked at her with raised eyebrows.
"You can't just let go of everything" she shrugged. "You also can't keep hiding all your sadness with a smile"
"I don't" you shook your head.
"You do, you always have" she shrugged. "I'm not the only one to notice it. That report you had to do, got to you today"
"Of course it did, but the baking helps" you gave a gentle smile. "So does the music. Besides, I just did some shopping" you gave a giggle"
"Knowing you have a date tomorrow with a good man must be helping too" your mom grinned and you blushed.
"The pies need to be taken out" you continued to blush. You grabbed the gloves and started pulling the pies out to put on the cooling rack. You saw your mom quickly put in five more pies and smiling at you again. You heard Pup let out a whine, and you grabbed some of the pre-made bottles.
"He must have had a good sleep" you sighed, and picked him up from between Jasper and Snow. You quickly put him in the feeding position and started feeding him. You looked up to see your mom busying herself with tidying the kitchen and Bucky walked in while you softly sang to ABBA to Pup while you rocked him.
"I heard the whine" he grinned grabbing some paper towels.
"You have excellent hearing" you giggled. "Were you listening the whole time?"
"Maybe" he flushed a bit and pulled up a stool and sat in front of you, putting his legs on either side of yours.
"I thought you had a report to work on?" you raised an eyebrow as he leaned into you and touched the side of Pup's face.
"And miss the show? Stevie and I are working in the living room together" he shrugged.
"What show?" you raised your eyebrow and he chuckled.
"I like to hear you sing" he admitted. "Its also fun to look back and see you dancing and smiling a bit" he winked. You noticed he didn't let any milk get on you. "I agree with your mom, you should reclaim your cabin, for what its worth"
"I think I will" you whispered and he smiled at you.
"I'll help you put up your pictures" he added.
"Thank you" you flushed again, and you grabbed the next bottle. "Did you want your pie in your bedroom?"
"Sure, I'd love that" he grinned again, leaning in closer to you. "What's our plan for tonight?"
"What did you want to do?" you whispered, leaning closer to him.
"Sit on the couch, listen to music and read. Or we could watch a movie if you wanted" he whispered back.
"I'm up for that" you gave a smile and he gazed in your eyes for a moment before wiping Pup's face again.
"I'm looking forward to it" your mom's voice broke the moment and you both sat up a bit more. "Some of these pies have cooled enough. I'll go put Bucky's in his room" she took one of the plum pies and headed down the hallway.
"I forgot she was there" you giggled.
"So did I" Bucky flushed. "I guess you have that effect on me" he winked and leaned in again while wiping Pup's face. "Did you choose his name yet?"
"No, I have a few idea's, but I want to make sure that it fits. I'll know it when he howls" you smiled serenely. "Should be soon now" you bit your bottom lip.
"Can I run him out to pee when we are done feeding him?" he asked you gently.
"Of course, if you really want to. What about your report?" you were curious.
"I'm almost done, I just wanted some time with my favorite dame and the little guy for a little break" he gave you a flirty smile. You flushed a bit, and grabbed the third bottle and went back to trying not to gaze into Bucky's eyes again. He licked his lips and touched you on the side of your cheek making you look at him, and he grinned.
"That's better" he winked at you. "I love the color of your eyes" he whispered.
"I love yours" you whispered. "It's a beautiful blue" you blushed again. You saw him blush a bit, but give that flirty smirk again. You sat in silence, leaning into one another a bit more before Pup finished his last bottle, and your mom walked in at that moment as Bucky was picking up Pup from you.
"I'll bring him back to you" he whispered in your ear. You smiled at him as he walked out, and he looked back once or twice to check to see if you were watching him still or maybe just to look at you again. You waited a moment and turned to go check on the pies in the oven. You pulled them out, and your mom put the last of them in.
"I'm glad I took my time, it looked like you two needed a moment" she smiled at you, and you flushed again.
"The cook will be coming in soon" you looked back at your phone again, trying to decide if you wanted to make a new playlist of music for tonight or not.
"How about I keep an eye on this, and you go choose your book for tonight" your mom smiled at you. "You can bring it into the living room for later"
"Alright, I'll be back" you walked out of the kitchen and headed to your room. You took a moment to appreciate the roses and the flowers in your room before grabbing the romance novel you had been reading, and heading back to the living room to put it on the bookshelf.
"I'll stay in here" your mom announced as you walked by. "I have the pies, you relax". You had a feeling she was trying to set you up more with Bucky. You put your book down, then went back to the kitchen, waking up Jasper and Snow and brought them back to the living room to sleep with Cloud and Melody as well. You brought their bed and set it in the center of the room and saw Steve look up and smile at you before going back to his report. You took your book and sat on the other end of the couch that you saw Bucky was set up on.
He came back in the room, and gave you a flirty smile before handing you Pup as you started reading. You saw him move his computer closer to you, and smirk as he sat closer to you. You flushed a bit, and put more of a hold on Pup, and tried to concentrate on your book. You saw Bucky lean towards you and lean down and you grabbed your legs. You giggled as he put them over his lap, making you change your position altogether.
"Much better, now I can concentrate on my report" he whispered to you, and you heard Steve chuckle and saw him shake his head.
"I'm glad you finally asked her jerk" Steve chuckled again.
"I'm still surprised she said yes" Bucky blushed.
"Oh please, of course I would say yes after showing me what kind of man you really are" you blushed a bit. You saw Bucky flush, and he smiled largely. You wiggled your legs a little and leaned back as you continued to read. You watched as Bucky finished his report, he closed his laptop and leaned back putting one arm up on the back of the couch, and his other hand on your legs. You went to move your legs so he could get up, but he held fast to them and smiled to himself. Cloud woke up with a start and looked over, and you could feel his smile.