You and Bucky moved around the kitchen fluidly with each other. Sarah, Rebecca, and Kate were coming down to have dinner with you. They did it every couple of weeks if you didn't count their random drop-ins. The kids might have all grown up and left the nest but they were all still close, and with the other two living a little further away, Sarah seemed to take on the role of making you, Steve, and Bucky still felt wanted. Bucky loved that about her. They all had their strengths and were all very loving, but Sarah wore her heart on her sleeve and he was always so proud that she allowed herself to be that open.
"Maybe they'll have news," Bucky said nudging you as he walked past. The girls had decided to go forward with trying for a child but they had decided to keep everything else between them. You didn't know how they were doing it, or who had decided to be the biological parent. So the three of you had just been waiting on bated breath for news.
"Maybe. Don't get your hopes up, Buck," you said, rubbing the small of his back as he walked past again.
Bucky whined a little and began chopping garlic. "I'm just excited to be a grandpa." It was the truth. The constant march of time usually came with a slight tinge of dread for loss. This was the first time he could see the hope for new things to come without that side of things he'd lose.
You chuckled and came up behind him, kissing the side of his neck, he squirmed at the brush of your lips on his skin. "Well, you're like a million years old. It's a little overdue," you teased.
"So mean," Bucky said, pretending to pout.
You laughed and blew a raspberry on his neck. He squirmed away from you and slapped you on the ass. "Oh, you wanna get fresh with me, Barnes?" you teased.
He grinned and pulled you into his arms. "Maybe I do," he said and brought his lips to yours. You smiled into the kiss as he teased his tongue over your lips.
The door opened and Steve came into the kitchen. "That doesn't look like cooking."
You broke the kiss and smirked at him. "You can do it if you don't like the way we do."
Steve shrugged. "If you want my cooking. Sure."
After you had chased Steve back out of the kitchen, you and Bucky finished making dinner. Sarah, America, and Kate showed up just as you were plating it. The five of you all sat around eating and catching up on the things that you'd missed out on over the last few weeks. There was a lot of shop talk. America and Kate filled Steve and Bucky in on Avengers things. You and Sarah talked about the stores and new recipes they'd been trying. Sarah and Steve spoke about art. Bucky and Kate spoke about Clint.
You brought out the dessert. You'd made medium-sized curls of marbled white and milk chocolate served with rice pudding filling and three blobs of mousse, one white, one milk, and one dark.
"This is supposed to look like sushi. Not sure it doesn't just look like fancy chocolate mousse," you said, bringing some of the plates in and placing them on the table.
"Mom!" Sarah squealed, turning her plate around. "It looks amazing!"
"Aww, such a good girl." You teased, kissing the top of her head and sitting back down as Steve came in with the remaining plates.
You took a bite of the mouse, the chocolate shell cracking under your spoon, and took a bite. The crackle of the chocolate melted in with the smooth mousse sweet and bitter all at once while the rice pudding added strong notes of cinnamon and cardamom. You let it sit on your tongue as you savored each flavor.
"You should show your mom the photo we got," Kate said, nudging Sarah.
You swallowed the pudding and looked over at your daughter. "Photo?"
"Oh yeah. No big deal," Sarah said, picking up her handbag and fishing around. "Just saw something cute and thought you might like to see."
She handed over a small computer print out and before you could even see the image on it you knew what it was and let out an excited squeak. "No! Oh my god!" you squealed, taking it and looking at it. It was a printout of an ultrasound. You could see the little peanut shape that was the baby, sitting against the black background of a womb.
Bucky snatched it out of your hand and stared at it wide-eyed as you got up and hugged all three of the women in one go, squeezing them as tightly together as you could. "We're going to be grandparents?" Bucky whispered and looked first at Steve and then at the women across from him all squashed in a huge embrace. "Steve! Can you believe it?"
Steve got up shaking his head and looking a little bit like he was going to cry and wrapped his arms as best he could around everyone. "I can't. But I'm so excited. Congratulations, girls." Bucky came over too and soon everyone was completely crushed in the six-person hug.
"Okay... Cap. You're crushing the baby," Kate complained from the middle of the pile.
"It's you, Kate? You're pregnant?" you asked as everyone pulled away.
Kate shook her head. "Nope."
"Who? Can we know?" Steve asked.
America pointed at Sarah. "That would be your girl."
Sarah grinned up at the three of you and you couldn't help it you all hugged her again.
"You're pregnant, honey? How far along?" Bucky asked.
Sarah just melted into the three of you the way she always had growing up. "I am a little over eight weeks."
"Morning sickness?" you asked.
She shook her head slightly. "Doctor seems to think it might be because of the serum. I don't really get sick. But the baby is healthy."
You finally pulled away and the three of you sat down. "We are so happy for you, girls. You're all going to make wonderful mothers," Steve said.
"Thanks, Cap. We're pretty excited too," America said.
"Can we know...?" you said, waving your hands around.
"Who the father is?" Kate teased. You nodded and she started laughing. "So predictable."
"So you know how America has that really close bond with Loki right?" Kate said.
Steve's jaw dropped and he blinked a few times. "Sarah?"
"Oh, it's not Loki... just wanted to remind you," Kate said, starting to laugh. America hit her in the arm. "Mac, seriously. I'm human."
"It's Edwin. We asked him if he would be the donor. Seemed like a good choice," Sarah said.
You put your hand over your heart and felt tears prick your eyes. "That's..."
"Fantastic," Bucky finished.
"Is he going to be involved?" Steve asked.
The girls nodded. "Yeah. We went to him and asked him if he'd like to help us and we talked about what it would mean. He decided that if he did it that he'd want to be the dad. That they got to see each other regularly. We live in the same building, so it's not like sharing custody is this huge deal. The biggest problem we foresee is if he starts seeing someone and they don't like the arrangement, but ..."
"He's like his dad," Steve finished. "He'd never let someone get in between him and his family."
"Pretty much," Sarah agreed.
"We know it makes things super complicated for a kid to deal with," Kate said.
"But you know, Sarah had two dads and a mom and she's amazing," America finished, tucking a lock of hair behind Sarah's ear.
"And America was raised by a different Loki in a whole other universe and she's pretty fantastic too," Sarah added.
Kate grinned. "And my dad is a rich philanderer and I chose Clint Barton as a mentor."
"The point is," Sarah said. "The world is weird but in my experience having a lot of people who love you and are there for you is a bonus."
"Sarah, you big sap," you teased as Kate lifted Sarah's hand and kissed her fingers.
"You chose the live forever thing?" Bucky asked quietly.
Sarah nodded. "We took a long time to decide. But... I don't wanna watch my kids die before me if I can avoid it. And here's the thing, I grew up kinda knowing that this might be the case. This is what I know. And yeah it can be scary but I don't see it as a curse. So I shouldn't be scared of passing that down."
Steve got up and came over to her, hugging her hard and kissing her on the top of the head. "I'm so proud of you," he whispered.
"Thank you, dad," Sarah replied, snuggling in against him.
"Alright!" Bucky said, getting up. "I think this might be a toast thing."
"With soda, dad. I can't drink." Sarah yelled after him as he left the room.
Bucky nodded a wide smile breaking out as he went to the kitchen. He was excited for the next part of his life. He'd had so many different iterations now. Son. Brother. Best friend to the little fighty Steve. Sergeant. Winter Soldier. The broken guy he was after that. Boyfriend. Husband. Father. Grandfather never seemed like a thing that he could be. Now it was happening, and he couldn't be more excited.