Days had passed since the funeral.
Despite the upheaval brought about by the blip, or maybe because of it, Betty had managed to secure a small apartment in Brooklyn for her and Bucky. Steve offered for them to stay with him but she knew he was only being brotherly. They'd lived apart for long enough now that spending every night in each other's pockets was starting to wear a little thin. Betty could tell things were weighing heavily on Steve's mind. He'd been through so much after the snap and then during the blip. He looked so tired and Betty couldn't miss the growing crinkles around his eyes and the smallest of grey patches appearing in his scruff.
Bucky spent most of his days with Steve at the government offices as Betty still wasn't allowed to be considered his "chaperone". Fuckin' Ross is gonna get my boot up his fuckin' ass one day, she grumbled to herself as she bustled around the kitchen making dinner for the three of them. The door opened and Steve came through first, shrugging out of his jacket and hanging it on the hook by the door. His steps were weary as he walked past Betty to his room, ruffling her hair fondly as he went.
Bucky closed the door behind him as he entered the apartment, a bunch of sunflowers clutched in his hand. With a broad smile he presented them to Betty before bending his head and kissing her cheek.
"Missed you Doll."
"Hey Buck, I missed you too. These are lovely, thanks!"
"You're welcome. I just realised that I never really bought you flowers, so we stopped off on the way home."
"Well I don't think I was ever a flowers kinda gal Buck, but I sure do appreciate these." She kissed him right back as a faint blush tinged her cheeks.
"You two still smooching?" Steve asked as he came back into the room.
"Every damn day Punk."
"Don't I know it," Steve scoffed.
Bucky opened his mouth to retort but was interrupted by his phone buzzing in his pocket. He looked at the screen and frowned slightly at the number before turning away and taking a few steps into the lounge before answering. The Rogers siblings shared a look and a shrug as Bucky had his conversation, shoulders tense. He paced around the room, his trademark scowl becoming even more pronounced. Betty could only hear one side of the conversation but Steve, with his enhanced hearing, could detect it all.
"Mmmhmmm," Bucky nodded tightly, "yes, sure. I understand."
He wasn't giving much away from his end of the conversation and Betty began to worry. They'd had so many setbacks, were they about to encounter another?
"Every week, sure. I...thanks. Really."
The call ended and he turned to face them, blowing out a breath and running a shaky hand through his hair.
"Everything OK Buck?" Steve asked warily.
He looked at Betty, eyebrows almost in his hairline, eyes wide and watery with disbelief. "That was the lawyers."
Betty sucked in a breath and she could feel Steve tense beside her.
"The Government agreed to a full pardon," Bucky almost whispered, as if he didn't quite believe it himself.
"What?!" Betty burst out crying and stepped into the circle of his arms.
"I...I gotta have therapy but...I'm a free agent," he choked out. "I guess you're off the hook for babysittin' duties now Pal," he said to Steve over Betty's shoulder.
Steve clapped his friend on the shoulder, eyes misty, and then turned to plate up the dinner while Betty composed herself. He heard them whispering softly to each other, their words punctuated by gentle kisses and quiet giggles. If he concentrated he'd be able to hear what they were saying but he gave them their privacy, Lord knew they'd had enough heartache between them for a hundred lifetimes; they deserved their little bit of peace.
Their meal was happy and relaxed but Betty couldn't help but notice the tightness around Steve's eyes that he got when he was contemplating something. It was almost twin to his "mission face". She didn't push him on it, knowing that he'd tell them when the time was right and didn't have to wait for long. It felt as if Steve was on edge the whole of the next day and finally, after he and Bucky had returned from collecting Bucky's paperwork and they had eaten dinner he leaned his elbows on the dining table and started to speak.
"I've got something to tell you," he said warily, "and I'm not sure how you're gonna take it."
"That sounds ominous," Bucky smiled, his face open and encouraging, but Steve didn't return it.
"We have to take the stones back to their places in the timeline, you know that, right?"
Betty nodded her understanding.
"Thor said he'd do it but I volunteered instead."
"That's very noble of you Pal, that's got the potential to be a dangerous mission in more ways than one. You might not come back!"
Steve looked down, his voice almost a whisper as he said his next words.
"I'm not planning to."
He didn't look back up at them, he couldn't. There was a heartbeat or two before anyone could speak and it was Betty who broke the silence, her voice a choked whisper.
"You're goin' back to her, aren't you?"
Steve nodded, the crease deepening between his brows.
"You're going back? For...for Peggy? You can't pull her out of her own time Steve, it'll change things too much," Bucky said incredulously.
Steve raised his eyes to meet his friend's and they stared at each other for a moment before realisation dawned across Bucky's face.
"You're not bringin' her forward. You're stayin' behind." Bucky's jaw tightened and he jolted to his feet so quickly that his chair clattered to the floor.
He stormed into their bedroom, slamming the door behind him and Steve almost cowered at the sound. Betty kept her eyes trained on her brother and it took him a few seconds before he could meet her gaze.
"Am I being selfish?" he whispered.
"Yes," she replied, and he winced, "but I've never been more proud."
Steve sucked in a shaky breath as Betty continued. "You, of all people in this world, deserve the chance at a life. If this is it then I support you Stevie, with all my heart. I'm just worried about things goin' wrong. How do you know it's gonna work?"
"I know it's gonna work because it already has. I've seen it."
"What do you mean?"
Steve took another breath and reached across the small table, grabbing her hands in his, more of a comfort for himself than anything else.
"Do you remember at Peg's funeral, her family."
Betty nodded. They'd not spoken to them, what would they have said? But Betty remembered them.
"The old guy, her husband, he carried the coffin. Did you not think how weird it was for a man in his 90s to be able to carry a coffin like that? Even with other pall bearers?"
He could see the cogs whirring in Betty's brain as she relived the memories of that day, the light in her eyes when it finally clicked.
"Oh. My. God..."
"I thought he looked familiar at the time, maybe someone we'd known in the SSR, but no, he wasn't."
Betty's eyes filled with tears. "My God, Stevie."
"I gotta try Bets..."
She nodded and then rose from her seat, stepping over to her brother and wrapping him in her arms.
"When?"
"A couple of days."
"So soon?" She couldn't hide the crack in her voice.
"I can't...I'm...I'm really struggling Bets. Every day."
The swell of emotion threatened to overwhelm her but she choked it down, determined to be strong for her brother and to support his decision.
"Even before the snap I was thinking about hanging up the shield but...what would I actually do? Run a boxing gym? Teach art? Could Captain America even retire? I don't know who Steve Rogers is anymore Bets, and that terrifies me."
Betty rubbed her hands over his back and lay her cheek against the top of his head, breathing in the warm familiar scent of him that had been a comfort to her since they were children. It wasn't often she held her brother like this and he sighed in appreciation.
"Steve Rogers can be whoever he wants to be, whenever he wants to be."
He lifted his head, smiling sweetly at her, and she kissed his forehead.
"I'm not gonna say goodbye, 'cause I don't think I'll be able to let you out of the door, and I'm only gonna say this this one time. I will miss you every single second of every single day little brother, but knowin' that you're takin' your chance to be happy makes all of this worth it. I love you so much Stevie, and I'm so so proud to be your sister."
They both cried then and Steve pulled Betty down onto his lap as they clung to each other, allowing their emotions to take over. Betty hoped that Bucky had listened to their conversation, that it had helped him understand Steve's reasons for his decision but she knew that he had to be hurting.
"Do you think he'll let me talk to him?" Steve whispered, as if he'd heard her thoughts.
"Just try and don't take no for an answer. He'll come around Stevie. Go talk to him."
She slipped off her brother's lap and shooed him towards the bedroom. He went, rapped softly on the door and entered the room, closing the door gently behind him. With a shaky breath Betty cleared away the dinner things and cleaned the kitchen. The boys still hadn't emerged by the time Betty had finished and she first sat, and then lay, on the couch to wait, drifting off into the deep sleep of the emotionally exhausted. She woke in her own bed to an empty apartment but there was a note left for her on the kitchen worktop, along with a pot of hot coffee. Gone to sort out logistics with Steve. We'll be back later. Love you, B.
The next two days passed quickly and although there were no more tears, at least not in public, there were awkward silences and the atmosphere in the apartment was heavy with emotion. Steve had packed up a lot of his stuff, donating most of his clothes to Goodwill, and set aside a box of personal effects for Betty and Bucky to keep, photographs, his records, his sketchbooks...
The day Steve went back Betty watched as her two boys walked out of the door, with a hug and a kiss on the cheek from her brother, and her usual cheeky smooch from Bucky. She managed to keep the smile on her face until she closed the door behind them and held her sobs in check until she was sure that not even a super soldier could hear her.
The handle clicked open and she stood, abandoning her packing, as her husband walked through the door, his eyes red-rimmed but clear. She pulled in a breath to speak but before she could he met her gaze and nodded, and a soft smile suffused his features. Betty couldn't stop herself from crumbling. Her lip trembled and tears welled in her eyes that burst over the dam of her cheeks. She covered her face with her hands as she began to sob, grief and happiness mingling within her to form the perfect storm of emotion.
Bucky crossed the room in a few steps, joining her when she sank to her knees, wrapping his arms around her. He murmured words of comfort in her ear and peppered her face with soft kisses, allowing her the time to let out all of the grief she'd bottled inside since Steve informed them of his decision.
"My little brother..."she whispered, sobbing anew her face in his broad chest, letting the warm of his embrace flow through her as she tried to reconcile in her mind that she now lived in a time where her brother did not. The thought was so alien to her. They were so close in age that she couldn't remember a time when there hadn't been Stevie.
"Buck I..."
"I know Betty, my love, I know. It's OK," he reassured. "Be sad. Be happy. Be angry. Hell knows, I am, but I've got you Doll. Always."
"Did it...was everything..."
"Yeah, everything went perfectly Bets."
"But how can you be sure?" She asked, still needing reassurance.
"Because he was there."
"Who was?"
"Steve, old Steve. He was there by the lake, waitin' for us."
"Oh my God," she gasped, eyes flashing up to meet his. "Was he OK? How did he look?"
"Like he'd lived a good life," Bucky breathed out, a smile ghosting across his lips.
Betty breathed a shaky sigh as she pulled away from Bucky's chest. He stood and pulled her up with him, keeping his hands at her waist.
"I'm gonna miss him so much Buck."
"Me too Doll, me too." He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "He gave Sam the shield."
"I'm so glad. He's perfect for it." Betty smiled then.
"Well Steve must've thought so. There was somethin' in the bag with the shield though. For us."
She raised her eyebrow in question as he reached into the inside pocket of his jacket and pulled out and envelope. The brown paper was soft with age but the seal was still intact. She ran her finger over the familiar script that adorned the front, tracing out the words that still gave her a thrill to see; Sgt. and Mrs J. Barnes.
"He coulda called you lieutenant," Bucky smirked.
"He knows better," Betty managed to grin.
"Open it then Doll," he urged, eager to see what his friend had left for them.
Betty slipped her thumb under the edge of the seal and ran it across the length of the envelope. The old dried glue cracked easily and she slid her fingers inside and pulled out a yellowed piece of paper. Bucky didn't look at the paper, his gaze was fixed on his wife, the way her eyes scanned the document and misted over with tears yet again.
"Betty, what is it?" Bucky asked in concern, putting his arm around her and looking at the paper.
"It's...it's our marriage certificate. From 1943. He found it."
"Damn that little Punk" he breathed and had to wipe away a tear himself.
Betty suddenly stiffened and breathing became a little erratic. Her could hear her heartbeat start to races and Bucky felt himself go on high alert.
"Betty are you OK?" he asked, and then started, as his wife vanished from his arms.
He calmed a little when he heard her shuffling about in the bedroom, pulling open drawers and rifling through papers but when she let out a scream he ran. Betty looked up in surprise from her seat on the floor as Bucky barrelled into their bedroom, gun drawn, concern etched across his features.
"Bucky, what's the..." she sighed. "Sorry Baby, I'm fine, I just got a little over-excited. Put the gun away."
Bucky did one more check around the room and then secreted the gun away, as if by magic.
"Baby, where did you even put that?" Betty asked, eyes wide, but he just smirked at her, his anxiety calming slightly. "C'mere," she said, patting the floor beside her, clearing a space in the papers that were spread all around.
He sat next to her, leaning into her side, and she rubbed her hand along his thigh, soothing his nerves even more but he couldn't help notice that she was shaking.
"Doll, what's the matter?" he asked, putting his hand over hers.
"It's this," she held up the marriage certificate. "He knew, he fuckin' knew Buck." Her eyes started to fill with tears again.
"Knew what?" Bucky asked softly but didn't get an answer, Betty just handed him another sheet of old cardstock.
His brows furrowed as he read what was on the document."I've never seen this before."
"Neither had I, until I woke up from the ice. It came with a note from Howard. It was a wedding gift," she smiled wistfully.
"Well it's nice and all, we could get it framed? Put it on the wall?" he suggested, nonplussed.
Betty held the two papers together for him to see. "Buck. It's a shares certificate,"
"Yeah."
"Made out to us."
"Yeah, Doll, I see that."
"But I couldn't claim the shares as I had no proof that we were married..." she tailed off, hoping he would understand.
"Holy cow..." Bucky muttered, as realisation dawned in his eyes.
"Buck...it's a lot of money..." Betty whispered.
"How much is a lot of money Betty?" he asked gently.
"Over a million..." she squeaked.
His jaw dropped and he stared at his wife in awe. Pulling her on to his lap, he wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in her neck. She felt his shoulders shake and pulled away a little but there was no hint of sadness in his features. He was laughing with incredulity.