"I have someone who hasn't met you yet," Bucky says, a tiny pink bundle in his arms. Is it cliche to dress his daughter all in pink? Absolutely and he'd been given a tongue lashing for it from Shuri but he didn't care. It's how things are now, traditionally, and he and Steve had always grown up in hand-me-downs. His daughter is going to have nothing but brand new clothes and more of them than she could ever possibly wear before growing out of them.
He gets close enough to sit on the edge of the bed and gently eases Rebecca into Natasha's arms, careful not to inadvertently press against her where she's still healing from surgery, and he hopes Rebecca is in a good mood and cooperates for this visit.
"She's got the prettiest blue eyes I've ever seen," Bucky says, more proud of this than anything he's done in his entire life. "Your nose, which is probably a good thing, my hair, not sure about the height..." he rambles, unable to get everything out that he cares about and loves about this kid.
Natasha abruptly broke off with Steve as the door opened, and Bucky stepped in with a small pink-blanketed package cradled in his arms, and her throat suddenly closed, eyes widening. Her daughter. Their daughter. Then Bucky was sitting down beside her and leaning near to give her the bundle, and Natasha's eyes suddenly filled with tears as she, for the first time, cradled a child of her own in her trembling arms.
"...James..." she absently hear herself whisper, fighting back the strong urge to just sob into his arms as she gazed down at the tiny girl, instantly memorizing her small, perfect features. Rebecca yawned, gurgled, and reached a little hand upwards, and Natasha leaned her cheek into that feather-light touch, feeling her gut clench for an altogether different reason, this time.
She cradled Rebecca against her, murmuring softly in her mother tongue, "Hi, my sweet darling. I'm your mommy, and this big, silly giant here is your dad. We're going to take care of you, pretty girl, because you're the most precious thing either of us could ever have." Natasha looked up from her daughter to her husband, crystal glistening on her cheeks. Pulling him close with one hand, she whispered, "I love you," in Slavic, followed by, "She's so beautiful, James. Thank you."
Seeing Natasha hold their daughter affects Bucky more than he thought it would and his words are caught in his throat for a moment. When he's finally able to say something, though, it comes out in Russian instead of English and he presses a kiss against Natasha's temple as he says the words.
There's nothing more beautiful than seeing you get to hold her, he says, his own throat choking up on him. I was hoping you would pull through and I worried I'd never get to see this. I was afraid I'd never have this.
It's something he'd written off for himself and he'd tried to satisfy himself with living here in Wakanda and mentoring children. He's still going to do that, no question, but a child of his own blood is something so special that he doesn't know if he'll ever cease to be awed by it.
Steve, watching his two best friends and their small family, smiled around his own tears, and gave Shuri a gentle nudge with one elbow. The Princess flashed him a grin, no less happy. "It is remarkable," she said in a low voice, gazing at her three patients. "The little one was born three months early, and in less than seventy-two hours, is already almost strong enough to not be needing the incubator anymore."
The former Captain grinned. "Yeah, but look at her parents, Shuri. Both of them are the strongest people I've ever met." Shuri acquiesced the point, shrugging one shoulder. "That is true, yes. I've analyzed the baby's DNA, as well, and it's very similar to the Sergeant's. More complex. Resilient." She quirked an eyebrow up at the tall soldier. "Apparently the serum you both were given passes itself along in the hereditary chain. Might want to remember that if you ever consider having kids, Captain."
Steve chuckled a little wryly and shook his head, crossing his arms. "Ohho, no worries there, Princess. I'm a long way off from settling down and becoming a family man." But his eyes softened as he looked back at Bucky and Natasha. "But I'm glad they can, though. They've more than earned it."
Bucky overhears Shuri but it doesn't process, not just yet. Right now he's too focused on his family. One of the things he's most fascinated about is the fact that Rebecca's hands are so tiny that he can barely even see her fingernails; how can one little girl be so small?
"I don't know how to contain all the feelings I have for the two of you. I spent a long time locked away from my feelings," he explains. "I wasn't allowed to have them and when I was, they recalibrated me. I didn't know I still had this much capacity to feel."
It seems the USSR and HYDRA couldn't take that from him after all. He's felt deeply for others, yes, but this is like a dam has loosed.
Natasha too was lost in her fascinated contemplation of her daughter, leaning against her husband as she held the small girl close. She rested her temple against his cheek as he spoke, turning her head to softly kiss the corner of his mouth. "I love you," she said simply in their shared language, "and so does she." She watched, enraptured, as little Rebecca's hand slowly closed around Bucky's left thumb, and gurgled happily. "Look," Natasha smiled, "she knows you already."
The baby opened her eyes, looked at both of her parents, and her tiny mouth parted in a huge grin, and she cooed happily, wiggling back and forth. "She's perfect," Natasha mused, brushing Rebecca's tiny cheek with one finger. "And God, she looks just like you, it's almost scary."
"Probably going to wish she looked more like her Mom when she gets older," Bucky jokes. They're probably only getting this one chance at a biological child and he hopes that as Rebecca gets older, more of Natasha shows in her. Right now, though, she's Barnes through and through.
Feeling her hand close around his thumb makes his heart stop a bit and when he looks at Natasha, his eyes are soft and shining a bit with unshed tears. All the emotion he'd kept locked in while Natasha was ill and Rebecca was in the incubator seems to be coming out now and he's glad he's alone with his family for the moment.
"I never get emotional like this," Bucky admits. "But this is too much for me, I think. I don't think I've ever felt this many things at once - fear, joy, panic, love. It's all crashing around in my brain and I don't know what to do with it all."
Natasha laughed softly, not even looking up when both Steve and Shuri drifted out, the door closing quietly behind them. "You're entitled to be emotional, James," she told him with a fond smile, cradling the tiny girl's head to her to kiss her small forehead. "She's your daughter. Come here, lie down with me."
She inched over to give Bucky more room, carefully situating the baby between them, cushioned on one of their arms each. Natasha settled against Bucky's chest, watching with her own small yawn as Rebecca yawned just then, and gurgled quietly to herself, tiny hands and small socked feet waving back and forth.
"I think it's normal to feel all of that right now," the redhead mused, admitting, "I'm sort of feeling the exact same way, so at least you're not alone, da?"
"No, not alone, though there was a little while there that I thought I was going to be a single dad and I didn't know how that was going to pan out. I'm pretty terrified I'm going to be a bad father but at least with you to help, I'm a little less scared. If it was just me alone? I'd be helpless."
The light weight of Rebecca against him is a tangible reminder that he is a father and they have a miracle on their hands. He gives Natasha the kind of smile that should only be seen behind closed doors and he hopes no one else is around to catch him looking like this.
"You did pretty good, Nat. I couldn't imagine a better gift than this baby girl and I know you're going to be a damn good mother. You couldn't be anything but because you're tough as nails but you're all soft underneath."
Natasha rolled her eyes in amusement; Bucky always tended to babble whenever he felt out of his depth, or off balance. A defense mechanism, she supposed, from the days when he wasn't allowed to express anything at all. But it was endearingly cute, most of the time, but this time, she placed a finger over his lips with a glance down at their child, who was yawning again and settling down in her blanket and her father's strong arm for a nap.
"I'm not going anywhere, soldier," she assured him, placing a gentle kiss to his clean-shaven cheek. "So just hold us while we nap, da?" She nestled down closer, craving his warmth and closeness. "'cause I'm tired all of a sudden..."
Natasha kissed her daughter's smooth cheek and rested her head against Bucky's chest, closing her eyes. For the moment, all was well in the world; her husband held her and her child, they were safe, and more importantly, together. She could rest, and rest easy.
"Fine, fine. I guess I could use the sleep too," Bucky says good-naturedly. He'd had a decent amount of sleep the night before but the pull of Natasha and Rebecca's warmth lulls him to sleep soon enough. There's a contentment there that Bucky doesn't think he's felt in a long time and possibly ever.
When he wakes up, it's because Rebecca's starting to fuss a little. She's squirming against his chest and there's little noises that sound like they're going to segue into a full-blown cry any time now. He eases himself out of bed with Rebecca in his arms and carries her a bit, bouncing her in his arms to try and soothe her.
He sticks his head out the door to find a nurse and tells her that he thinks Rebecca's hungry. "I don't know if Natasha can breast feed or if she wants to but my kid's hungry...I think, anyway...and I want to do something about it before she wakes Nat up." The nurse checks the chart and indicates that because of her weight, Rebecca's on a supplemental formula and that they can bring him a bottle to feed her.
"Here that baby girl? Daddy's going to take care of it, all right? Don't you worry."
Natasha woke to a truly amazing sight: her husband was feeding their daughter a bottle, and shuffling around the small room while he did so, humming a little off-key under his breath. Rather than interrupt, she simply shifted about so that she could watch the world's most feared assassin care for his daughter, and Natasha's heart melted all over again.
She just smiled when he turned around and caught her watching, and she gave a little shrug and indicated he continue. Natasha knew right then and there that Bucky Barnes was going to be the best father in the whole world, and that their daughter was no doubt going to end up being one of the most spoiled kids in the history of all mankind.
Oddly enough, that didn't bother her in the slightest.
"That's a good sight to wake up to," she told him softly when he and little Rebecca drifted close. "Come kiss me, papa, before I get jealous of my own daughter."
"How do you think I felt when pregnancy hormones had you pushing me off you after we got to the home stretch?" Bucky teases. He leans down and kisses Natasha though before straightening again. Rebecca is still in his arms but she's drowsy now after being fed and her eyes are sleepily blinking at him. It's the most beautiful thing he's ever seen.
"Do you want me to put her in the crib or get back in bed with her?" Bucky asks, a shrug indicating he was fine with either choice. He's pretty sure his daughter's feet won't touch the ground until she's five regardless, considering the number of aunts and uncles she'll have.
"I hate being away from her for too long. I miss her and it burns in a way that's so painful. I didn't know that it'd be like this to be a dad."
Natasha gave him a Look for his teasing, but rolled her eyes in amusement nevertheless. She took his kiss with sweet interest, giving their daughter a gentle hug before Bucky pulled away. "The crib should be fine. We don't want her to be spoiled even before we make it back home, do we?"
The new mother shifted around in her bed, wincing as her surgical wounds protested. "We can snuggle with her a little later. Let her get some good sleep." Then she held out one hand and crooked a finger. "But you come back here and lie with me. Feels like forever since I've had you close, moya zvezda."
Bucky wants to argue that a child can't be spoiled by love and affection but Natasha's invitation is too good and he lays Rebecca in the crib before getting back in bed alongside his wife. He hates that she's still in pain but having her awake is such a relief and he thinks his heart can start beating again.
When he shifts into bed alongside her, he keeps his right arm free so he can stroke her hair. It's tangled from being in bed for so long and he'll ask her if he can brush it later but for now, he's content with these simple touches.
"It has been forever. I was here the whole time, though. Shuri had to practically lock me out so I'd go shower and eat and sleep."
Natasha settled against him with a contented sigh, resting her head on his left arm in catlike contentment. She loved his hands in her hair - it was one of her indulgent pleasures. And although she knew it would be far better to wait for Shuri to release her, she nevertheless couldn't wait to get home and begin raising their family together.
"I know you were," she told her husband, kissing his rough cheek softly. She placed a pale hand on his chest. "I could hear your heartbeat." Green eyes smiled up at him. "I always know where you are, James." Then she pulled him down for a more serious kiss, letting her fingers drift from his cheek into his hair, holding him close.
"You and Rebecca are all that matter to me," Natasha told him when they finally parted for air. "I don't know where I'd be without you, James."
"Probably not living in the middle of nowhere in Wakanda hiding from SHIELD, I'm guessing, but I'm glad you came out here to find me. I needed you even though I was denying it at the time."
Since the war, Bucky has gone from a person who relies on a team and trusts his friends to someone who doesn't trust anyone but himself. The fact that he's let Natasha and now Steve in is monumental and he doesn't know if he'll ever be that man he was before the war, before the Winter Soldier. He doesn't know how to be that man again.
"I need my family. Without you, I'm only half of myself. I thought I was going to lose you, kotyonok and it was something that scared me shitless."
"You won't lose me," she promised, gripping him gently by the front of his shirt. "You're stuck with me now, Sergeant, so tough luck." Though she smiled up at him, the gesture was still a little tired and wan. Everything was exhausting, right now. And she hated it. But she couldn't break down in front of her husband. He tried so hard, did so much to make her happy that she didn't want to cause him distress in any way at all. She couldn't.
"Will you stay beside me tonight?" Natasha knew she didn't have to ask, but she did anyway. To let him know that she needed him; she needed his warmth, his comfort. "Hopefully our girl will sleep okay, or should we let the nurses put her back in the incubator for a while?" Their daughter's health and safety was priority one.
"Probably need to keep her in the incubator. It seems like she got some of my healing factor," Bucky says, pondering it for a moment, "But I would rather be safe than sorry. She's our child and we have to take the best care of her we can. I'm not taking any chances with that when we've got the most advanced medicine in the world at our disposal."
Bucky thanks god again that this baby had been born in Wakanda under Shuri's care and not somewhere else where Natasha and Rebecca might have died. Most places he's hidden over the years haven't had the luxuries that Wakanda does and it's a little crazy to him that T'Challa and his family managed to keep it hidden away for so long.
"When we get home, though, all the family bonding we can stand. I don't ever want to be away from her for a second because I'm afraid I'll miss something."
The nurse came in not long after to take Baby Barnes back to her incubator, but not before goodnight kisses from both her mother and her father. Another smiling Wakandan nurse came in to take Natasha's vitals, inquire as to any pain, and report that all looked well, and her recovery was progressing right on schedule.
The redhead sighed, and once more relaxed in her husband's arms, gently slipping hers around his thick torso. "You're going to be a wonderful father," she predicted, kissing his cheek softly. Then she smirked, eyes crinkling lightly. "But you'll have to let her learn to walk before she's twenty, moya zvezda."
"She doesn't need to walk. I'm strong enough to carry her in one arm and you in the other," Bucky scoffs. Being curled up against Natasha makes it feel like something falling back into place that had been broken for a little while. He drifts his hand through her hair and since it's his left, he tries to be careful so the joints in his prosthetic don't pull.
"You gave me the most precious gift I could ever receive," he murmurs. "And I don't know if I can ever repay you for that or even if I have to but I want to spend the rest of my life trying to. I want to be the best husband and the best father I can possibly be."
She had to laugh at that one, but some deep part of her actually worried that he might serious. Well, once they were home together, Natasha knew things would get easier. Eventually. They were both Soviet-trained assassins, surely they could handle parenthood. Her eyes closed as Bucky stroked her hair, and she settled more comfortably into his grasp, relishing his warmth and familiar scent. It always comforted her.
"James, you will be." She touched his cheek and kissed his lips. "Try not to worry so much, malyutka, okay? We're going to be fine. Rebecca's going to be fine." Natasha tucked her head beneath Bucky's chin and sighed softly. "We got this, you and me." Her arms wound gently around his torso and she held him tight. "Get some sleep, baby." A soft nuzzle. "I wanna wake up in your arms tomorrow morning."
"Telling me not to worry is practically useless, you know," Bucky admits, laughing hollowly. Sure, they're both trained assassins but how can he protect Natasha if her health fails? How can he protect an innocent child? He'd been designed to kill, not protect, and it still feels foreign to flip that orientation.
"My whole world is the two of you. I couldn't be me without you," he murmurs against her hair. "And if I lose you, I'm afraid I'll regress back into what I was before they deprogrammed me. As many times as they wiped me, you were always in there, though. I always wanted redheads. When I saw you in Odessa, I was so stunned by you that I almost fucked the mission. I almost broke out of programming and that's how I shot you. I never would have - I would have gotten a clean shot - but you jarred me. I'm sorry."
Natasha placed a hand over Bucky's mouth. "Enough," she told him quietly, but firmly. "That's enough. All of that is in the past. This is our future, you, me, and that little girl in there." She slipped her fingers from his lips to his cheek, making him look down at her.
"That's all that really matters, James. Hear me?" She pulled him close again, hand at the back of his head to soothe his worry and his fears. "I'm okay, Rebecca's okay. In a few days we'll be home, and all of this will be just another memory. Now, get some sleep, da?" She pulled away to smirk at him, lips tilting. "Or do I need to get Shuri to give you something to knock you out?"
Bucky did go to sleep that night, curled around his wife, and true to all the assurances he'd gotten from Shuri, from medical staff and from Natasha herself, the entire family was back home in a few days.
Seeing Natasha with the baby is something that pulls at his heartstrings every time he sees it. There's nothing more beautiful than his daughter resting in Natasha's arms or seeing those big blue eyes looking up at green ones. He knows he spoils the baby too and right now he's rocking her, shushing her little cries.
"C'mon pretty girl. It's gonna be all right. You know it is."
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He gets close enough to sit on the edge of the bed and gently eases Rebecca into Natasha's arms, careful not to inadvertently press against her where she's still healing from surgery, and he hopes Rebecca is in a good mood and cooperates for this visit.
"She's got the prettiest blue eyes I've ever seen," Bucky says, more proud of this than anything he's done in his entire life. "Your nose, which is probably a good thing, my hair, not sure about the height..." he rambles, unable to get everything out that he cares about and loves about this kid.
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"...James..." she absently hear herself whisper, fighting back the strong urge to just sob into his arms as she gazed down at the tiny girl, instantly memorizing her small, perfect features. Rebecca yawned, gurgled, and reached a little hand upwards, and Natasha leaned her cheek into that feather-light touch, feeling her gut clench for an altogether different reason, this time.
She cradled Rebecca against her, murmuring softly in her mother tongue, "Hi, my sweet darling. I'm your mommy, and this big, silly giant here is your dad. We're going to take care of you, pretty girl, because you're the most precious thing either of us could ever have." Natasha looked up from her daughter to her husband, crystal glistening on her cheeks. Pulling him close with one hand, she whispered, "I love you," in Slavic, followed by, "She's so beautiful, James. Thank you."
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There's nothing more beautiful than seeing you get to hold her, he says, his own throat choking up on him. I was hoping you would pull through and I worried I'd never get to see this. I was afraid I'd never have this.
It's something he'd written off for himself and he'd tried to satisfy himself with living here in Wakanda and mentoring children. He's still going to do that, no question, but a child of his own blood is something so special that he doesn't know if he'll ever cease to be awed by it.
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The former Captain grinned. "Yeah, but look at her parents, Shuri. Both of them are the strongest people I've ever met." Shuri acquiesced the point, shrugging one shoulder. "That is true, yes. I've analyzed the baby's DNA, as well, and it's very similar to the Sergeant's. More complex. Resilient." She quirked an eyebrow up at the tall soldier. "Apparently the serum you both were given passes itself along in the hereditary chain. Might want to remember that if you ever consider having kids, Captain."
Steve chuckled a little wryly and shook his head, crossing his arms. "Ohho, no worries there, Princess. I'm a long way off from settling down and becoming a family man." But his eyes softened as he looked back at Bucky and Natasha. "But I'm glad they can, though. They've more than earned it."
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"I don't know how to contain all the feelings I have for the two of you. I spent a long time locked away from my feelings," he explains. "I wasn't allowed to have them and when I was, they recalibrated me. I didn't know I still had this much capacity to feel."
It seems the USSR and HYDRA couldn't take that from him after all. He's felt deeply for others, yes, but this is like a dam has loosed.
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The baby opened her eyes, looked at both of her parents, and her tiny mouth parted in a huge grin, and she cooed happily, wiggling back and forth. "She's perfect," Natasha mused, brushing Rebecca's tiny cheek with one finger. "And God, she looks just like you, it's almost scary."
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Feeling her hand close around his thumb makes his heart stop a bit and when he looks at Natasha, his eyes are soft and shining a bit with unshed tears. All the emotion he'd kept locked in while Natasha was ill and Rebecca was in the incubator seems to be coming out now and he's glad he's alone with his family for the moment.
"I never get emotional like this," Bucky admits. "But this is too much for me, I think. I don't think I've ever felt this many things at once - fear, joy, panic, love. It's all crashing around in my brain and I don't know what to do with it all."
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She inched over to give Bucky more room, carefully situating the baby between them, cushioned on one of their arms each. Natasha settled against Bucky's chest, watching with her own small yawn as Rebecca yawned just then, and gurgled quietly to herself, tiny hands and small socked feet waving back and forth.
"I think it's normal to feel all of that right now," the redhead mused, admitting, "I'm sort of feeling the exact same way, so at least you're not alone, da?"
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The light weight of Rebecca against him is a tangible reminder that he is a father and they have a miracle on their hands. He gives Natasha the kind of smile that should only be seen behind closed doors and he hopes no one else is around to catch him looking like this.
"You did pretty good, Nat. I couldn't imagine a better gift than this baby girl and I know you're going to be a damn good mother. You couldn't be anything but because you're tough as nails but you're all soft underneath."
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"I'm not going anywhere, soldier," she assured him, placing a gentle kiss to his clean-shaven cheek. "So just hold us while we nap, da?" She nestled down closer, craving his warmth and closeness. "'cause I'm tired all of a sudden..."
Natasha kissed her daughter's smooth cheek and rested her head against Bucky's chest, closing her eyes. For the moment, all was well in the world; her husband held her and her child, they were safe, and more importantly, together. She could rest, and rest easy.
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When he wakes up, it's because Rebecca's starting to fuss a little. She's squirming against his chest and there's little noises that sound like they're going to segue into a full-blown cry any time now. He eases himself out of bed with Rebecca in his arms and carries her a bit, bouncing her in his arms to try and soothe her.
He sticks his head out the door to find a nurse and tells her that he thinks Rebecca's hungry. "I don't know if Natasha can breast feed or if she wants to but my kid's hungry...I think, anyway...and I want to do something about it before she wakes Nat up." The nurse checks the chart and indicates that because of her weight, Rebecca's on a supplemental formula and that they can bring him a bottle to feed her.
"Here that baby girl? Daddy's going to take care of it, all right? Don't you worry."
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She just smiled when he turned around and caught her watching, and she gave a little shrug and indicated he continue. Natasha knew right then and there that Bucky Barnes was going to be the best father in the whole world, and that their daughter was no doubt going to end up being one of the most spoiled kids in the history of all mankind.
Oddly enough, that didn't bother her in the slightest.
"That's a good sight to wake up to," she told him softly when he and little Rebecca drifted close. "Come kiss me, papa, before I get jealous of my own daughter."
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"Do you want me to put her in the crib or get back in bed with her?" Bucky asks, a shrug indicating he was fine with either choice. He's pretty sure his daughter's feet won't touch the ground until she's five regardless, considering the number of aunts and uncles she'll have.
"I hate being away from her for too long. I miss her and it burns in a way that's so painful. I didn't know that it'd be like this to be a dad."
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The new mother shifted around in her bed, wincing as her surgical wounds protested. "We can snuggle with her a little later. Let her get some good sleep." Then she held out one hand and crooked a finger. "But you come back here and lie with me. Feels like forever since I've had you close, moya zvezda."
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When he shifts into bed alongside her, he keeps his right arm free so he can stroke her hair. It's tangled from being in bed for so long and he'll ask her if he can brush it later but for now, he's content with these simple touches.
"It has been forever. I was here the whole time, though. Shuri had to practically lock me out so I'd go shower and eat and sleep."
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"I know you were," she told her husband, kissing his rough cheek softly. She placed a pale hand on his chest. "I could hear your heartbeat." Green eyes smiled up at him. "I always know where you are, James." Then she pulled him down for a more serious kiss, letting her fingers drift from his cheek into his hair, holding him close.
"You and Rebecca are all that matter to me," Natasha told him when they finally parted for air. "I don't know where I'd be without you, James."
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Since the war, Bucky has gone from a person who relies on a team and trusts his friends to someone who doesn't trust anyone but himself. The fact that he's let Natasha and now Steve in is monumental and he doesn't know if he'll ever be that man he was before the war, before the Winter Soldier. He doesn't know how to be that man again.
"I need my family. Without you, I'm only half of myself. I thought I was going to lose you, kotyonok and it was something that scared me shitless."
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"Will you stay beside me tonight?" Natasha knew she didn't have to ask, but she did anyway. To let him know that she needed him; she needed his warmth, his comfort. "Hopefully our girl will sleep okay, or should we let the nurses put her back in the incubator for a while?" Their daughter's health and safety was priority one.
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Bucky thanks god again that this baby had been born in Wakanda under Shuri's care and not somewhere else where Natasha and Rebecca might have died. Most places he's hidden over the years haven't had the luxuries that Wakanda does and it's a little crazy to him that T'Challa and his family managed to keep it hidden away for so long.
"When we get home, though, all the family bonding we can stand. I don't ever want to be away from her for a second because I'm afraid I'll miss something."
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The redhead sighed, and once more relaxed in her husband's arms, gently slipping hers around his thick torso. "You're going to be a wonderful father," she predicted, kissing his cheek softly. Then she smirked, eyes crinkling lightly. "But you'll have to let her learn to walk before she's twenty, moya zvezda."
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"You gave me the most precious gift I could ever receive," he murmurs. "And I don't know if I can ever repay you for that or even if I have to but I want to spend the rest of my life trying to. I want to be the best husband and the best father I can possibly be."
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"James, you will be." She touched his cheek and kissed his lips. "Try not to worry so much, malyutka, okay? We're going to be fine. Rebecca's going to be fine." Natasha tucked her head beneath Bucky's chin and sighed softly. "We got this, you and me." Her arms wound gently around his torso and she held him tight. "Get some sleep, baby." A soft nuzzle. "I wanna wake up in your arms tomorrow morning."
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"My whole world is the two of you. I couldn't be me without you," he murmurs against her hair. "And if I lose you, I'm afraid I'll regress back into what I was before they deprogrammed me. As many times as they wiped me, you were always in there, though. I always wanted redheads. When I saw you in Odessa, I was so stunned by you that I almost fucked the mission. I almost broke out of programming and that's how I shot you. I never would have - I would have gotten a clean shot - but you jarred me. I'm sorry."
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"That's all that really matters, James. Hear me?" She pulled him close again, hand at the back of his head to soothe his worry and his fears. "I'm okay, Rebecca's okay. In a few days we'll be home, and all of this will be just another memory. Now, get some sleep, da?" She pulled away to smirk at him, lips tilting. "Or do I need to get Shuri to give you something to knock you out?"
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Bucky did go to sleep that night, curled around his wife, and true to all the assurances he'd gotten from Shuri, from medical staff and from Natasha herself, the entire family was back home in a few days.
Seeing Natasha with the baby is something that pulls at his heartstrings every time he sees it. There's nothing more beautiful than his daughter resting in Natasha's arms or seeing those big blue eyes looking up at green ones. He knows he spoils the baby too and right now he's rocking her, shushing her little cries.
"C'mon pretty girl. It's gonna be all right. You know it is."
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