Breathe

“Nicely done.” Natasha said from the floor.

“I still think you’re letting me off too easy, Natasha.” Trinity laughed offering her a hand up.

“You’ve thrown and pinned me down twice now, you can call me Nat, you know.”

“Only if you call me Trin, Natasha. Besides, you’ve been kicking my butt everyday for what, three weeks?”

“Fine, but you’ve got to learn to hit me like you mean it or I’ll drag Steve in here, you don’t have to worry about breaking his hard head, believe me.”

“Still hasn’t asked you out then?” Trin asked in a commiserating tone, imitating her mentors stretches.

Nat simply grunted her frustration and landed a few spectacular kicks on the punching bag nearby before turning back to her friend.

“I’ve flirted, we even kissed back when we were hiding from Hydra, what more do I have to do before he gets the hint?”

“Beautiful, isn’t she.” Trin said, stepping in at Steve’s side as he watched Nat warming up through the glass door of the gym.

“I, what? No. I mean, yeah. But…”

Steve’s face flushed red and Trin grinned up at him. “You are allowed to admire her, Steve.”

“It’s not. Nat is more than just-” again he tripped over words.

“More than what?” Trin asked, feigning innocence.

“She’s not just a pretty face, and that’s all that anyone ever sees. She’s not just some hot assassin robot for people to ogle.”

“I know that, and you know that, but if all you ever do is look at her, how is she supposed to know that you value more than her appearance?”

“I can’t- she’ll think I’m trying to… we’re friends, Trin.” Steve was frustrated and it showed. All the doubts he’d compiled in his head to convince himself he should be satisfied with Nat’s friendship were disintegrating and left him feeling exposed.

“She likes you.”

“She likes everyone.”

“You know that’s not true. And she definitely doesn’t look at everyone like that.” Trin patted his arm as Nat’s gaze locked onto Steve through the glass. “Just talk to her, be honest and it’ll work itself out.”

Bucky entered the little blue house with a large brown envelope under one arm and Matt at his side.

“Trin, you home?”

“Coming, just give me a seco- Matt!” Trinity froze mid turn, her paintbrush still dripping paint thinner on the plastic sheet over the floor and her hair wrapped up in an old t-shirt. She dropped the brush back into the tin and wiped her hands furiously on her apron as she approached. “Matt I’m so…”

“Sarge told me. about your dad,” Matt interrupted, “I get it, I’m not mad at you Elle.” He shuffled his feet as he spoke. “I mean, I wish you’da told me, but I get it. I’m just glad you’re back.” He watched her gaze shifted from him to his mentor and there was a question in her look that Matt couldn’t decipher. “What’s going on?”

Again, Elle looked from Sarge to him and back to Sarge.

Sarge stiffened and he set the envelope on the table before turning to the teen. “I’ve got something I want to ask you. Could we-?” he gestured at the chairs and settled in the nearest one as he waited.

“Ok Sarge.” Matt took the chair nearest the door and his eyes flashed between the two adults he trusted most. “What’s going on?”

It took Bucky a moment to gather his courage and he pulled papers from the envelope and slid them over to Matt.

Wary eyes raced over the header on the form again and again, unable to absorb the words printed under the official looking seal.

“Adoption?” Matt squeaked, not even embarrassed at the cracking of his voice for once.

“If you want, it’s totally your decision.” Bucky fumbled, his eyes firmly on the table for fear of seeing the young man shake his head.

“Are you serious right now, Sarge?”

The disbelief didn’t last any longer than it took Bucky to nod solemnly and then skinny arms wrapped him in a tight hug before releasing him. Matt collapsed back into his chair with a sound that could have been laughing or crying and covered his face with his hands.

“I think that’s a yes, James.” Trinity smiled, patting Bucky’s arm reassuringly as she rose from the table. She returned a minute later with a pitcher of water to find them both surveying each other with cautious expressions of hope.

“When?” was the first of Matt’s many questions.

“You can have the papers signed and notarized whenever you’re ready.” Trinity answered.

The dam broke and Matt spilled every question that popped into his brain one after another as Trinity poured three glasses of water.

“Tomorrow? Today? Where do you live? Where am I going to live? Do you want me to call you Sarge? Or something else? And Elle, I shouldn’t keep calling you Elle, that’s not even your real name, and if you’re my dad’s girlfriend, then what am I to you?”

Bucky had nearly recovered his voice when the word dad finally pierced through the happy haze in his brain and he found his tongue was again made of lead.

“Slow down a bit Matt, we’ll figure it out together, one thing at a time, ok?” Trinity again answered for Bucky and he was grateful she understood him so well. “As for my ‘real’ name, its Trinity Brianne…” her voice faltered as it had every-time she tried to use her full name. “You can still call me Elle, if that’s what you’re most comfortable with.”

Matt moved into Bucky’s Brooklyn apartment for the final weeks of school, and the two fell into a sort of comfortable rhythm, walking to and from school, afternoons in the park with ice cream or donuts and evenings working on homework and figuring out how to live together.

Weekends were spent with Trinity on the compound. The second bedroom was made up for Matt and Bucky slept on the couch, though Matt tried more than once to convince him to switch, Bucky wouldn’t budge. That bedroom had been intended for his son and Trinity fully agreed that Matt should have a place to call his own when they stayed with her.

Trinity marveled at the change in the man she had grown to know and love.

He smiled so easily now. He laughed, and interacted with the others staying in the compound, occasionally started conversations with relative strangers, and he’d even made ground with Stark after they helped Matt and Peter execute a prank on Sam and Steve.

As long as one arm was wrapped around Trinity and his son within sight, Bucky seemed ready to take on the world.

The bright and beautiful colours of Trinity’s paintings soon hung on every wall of the blue house, and Bucky felt he finally understood them. The world was full of such beauty and hope, and although the darkness remained, he could really, truly, believe in the light and joy she had begun to show to him in a little watercolour sketch on a park bench so long ago.

The semester was finally over and the party Tony had thrown for Peter and Matt had lasted into the wee hours of the morning so it came as a surprise to Trinity when Matt bounced out of his room at 9am and informed her that he was going to spend the morning in the compound with his newfound friend.

“Seeya later Elle!” Matt had stuck to calling her Elle, and though lately the name was accompanied by a smirk she didn’t understand, she never objected.

He hugged her unexpectedly and then he was off out the door, leaving Trinity to her first cup of coffee. The couch was vacant and the blanket lay neatly folded on the pillow, so she only pulled out one plate and ate her pastry alone as she looked over the application to officially reclaim her name.

“Hey.”

Bucky hadn’t returned sweating and eager for a shower, instead he stood just inside the door with an expression on his face that Trinity knew all too well.

“Something on your mind?”

“Yeah.” He settled on the edge of the chair nearest her, scratching the back of his neck and chewing on his bottom lip. “Have you decided then?” he pointed at the forms in front of her.

“Not really, I was thinking maybe I’d just stick with Landry, since that’s the name on my certificate.”

Again, her gaze poured over the paper. She’d changed her name so many times before, it struck her as odd that this one was so difficult. She didn’t want the name of the man who’d taken so much from her, and at the same time changing her initials from what they should have been troubled her.

“How would you feel about Barnes?”

Trinity Brianne Ba- wait, what?

Bucky knelt before her, with a small box in one hand and the most important question she’d ever been asked.

“Trinity Brianne Landry will you marry me?”

Tears of joy sparkled in her eyes as she nodded her answer.

“Is that a yes?” came a youthful voice from just beyond the open front door.

“Yes.”

James Barnes

&

Trinity Landry,

with their son

Matthew Eoghan Barnes,

invite you to the celebration of their vows

on Saturday the Twenty Second of August.

You and I both know, dear reader, that they had the very best sort of revenge that anyone could ever have on those who had tried to break them down and destroy their lives.

Happily

Ever

After,

They lived.