Empty nest
The next couple weeks Bea was more than settled in with the others. She and Wanda loved cooking together, she would talk with Bruce about his work. He was surprised to learn that Bea was interested in becoming a science teacher but never had the chance to go to college. She had no problem helping with Morgan if Tony and Pepper were busy and she all but adopted Peter.
Steve loved getting to see Bucky out of his shell. Bea had this energy that made anyone feel safe. He got the same feeling from Sam when he met him. He grabbed his gear and gave them both a hug. "Take care of him Bea. We'll be back soon." Bucky grinned "kick some ass out there Stevie." He patted his back and left with the others.
"Well we have a few days to ourselves. Got an empty nest as it were. What would you like to do?" Bea hugged herself close. "I can't shake the feeling that he shouldn't have gone." Bucky nodded "I feel that way every time he leaves but he's tough. How about we go to the farmers market today. It's the last one of the season. They probably have some good deals on apples." She smiled and grabbed her jacket. "Sounds like a plan."
They walked hand in hand down to the market. Most of the vendors knew them by name at this point. They looked over each stand picking out some things to cook for the week. Bea smiled "I haven't canned my own fruit preserves in a while. That could keep us busy for an afternoon or two." She and Bucky went through and picked out more fruits and made arrangements to have them delivered to the tower later. They headed to the store to get jars and other supplies to cann things.
Bucky smiled as they set everything up on the counter. "My ma and Steve's ma would cann things at the end of summer. Came in real handy in the winter especially when Sarah had to choose between work and Steve. They would spend the better part of a weekend prepping and cooking. Steve always got to do the labels because his handwriting was so nice." He let out a deep sigh. Family memories could be tough sometimes but Sam taught him that talking through them was better.
Bea placed a hand on the small of his back bringing him out of his thoughts. "We got a lot of work to do, best get crackin'." After a few hours of work the counter was full with several dozen jars. He sat and watched her carefully label the jars. Her handwriting was neat and curly as she finished a label she carefully blew on it so it was dry and didn't smudge.
Over the next two weeks he helped Bea make blankets for all of the tower residents as well as some extra blankets for her family for Christmas. He quickly learned where every craft shop in the city was. Bea had him up in the morning and he quickly settled into a routine with her. On Friday night they went out to a movie and dinner. When they came back he and Bea settled in for the night. He was sitting on the couch watching tv when Bea came out and curled up with him.
"It's so nice having someone to share my evenings with but I gotta say, my bed's been pretty cold and lonely." Bucky looked at her "you askin' me to go to bed with you? I thought we weren't serious." She chuckled "It doesn't have to be serious. I see the way you look at me. I may be 70 but I'm not dead. Nothing wrong with a little roll in the hay. Not like you have to worry about getting me in trouble." He shifted on the couch. "How about we share some space tonight and go from there. I don't want to mess things up." She patted his cheek "fine by me. We can just cuddle."
He led her to his room. She looked at the Ragged blanket on the bed as he carefully folded it and moved it to the side. "You miss him when he's gone don't you?" He nodded "He's my family. I always worry when he's gone. He can be pretty stupid sometimes." They sat on the bed and talked for a while. He was soon settled, his arms wrapped around Bea holding her close. He ran his hands along her body despite her age, she was in amazing shape. He smiled when she linked her hands with his. She wasn't afraid of him.
He kissed the back of her neck and pulled her as close as possible breathing in the scent of her perfume. Bea turned to face him a little more and Kissed him. They held each other the rest of the night until he heard the team arriving in a flurry of noise. Before he could get up Sam came bursting into his room. "Barnes we need you no-" he froze as he looked over them. "We'll discuss this later. We need you in the med bay. " he was immediately up and following Sam.
"What happened?" Sam shook his head. He looked pale and bruised. "The whole building went down and Steve was in the basement. Took us a day or so to find him. It's not pretty. He's got some chemical burns and internal bleeding. Serum's working overtime but i think its focus is on the organ damage and not the tissue. Helen is worried about putting him in the cradle because we don't know how the serum will handle it." They entered the med bay and he saw Nat carefully holding Steve's bandaged hand.
"They just put him under again. Helen is gonna change the bandages in an hour. I never want to see any part of Steve's bones again." She shuddered as she spoke. "I've got it from here Nat. Go get some rest and a shower." She stood and gave him a hug. Once she left Sam looked at him. "Did I interrupt something?"
"No. We were only cuddling. It was her idea. Not mine." He nodded "That's fine. I'm more ok with it than I think I should be. I guess I'm glad she's happy." He nodded and took Steve's hand. "You get some rest too. I'll take care of Steve."
He spent the better part of the day watching Steve heal and sleep. Bea came in for a while and helped clean him up where they could. She placed the blanket they made over him and left to take care of the others. Steve was awake by the evening but not for long periods of time. "Hey punk, ya gotta stop scarin' me." Steve smiled a little "just in time for halloween huh? Nice blanket." He smiled and tucked it around him more. "Yea I helped Bea make one for everyone on the team. We also helped make Morgan's halloween costume. You get some rest. I'll be here when you wake up again. I'll always be here." He held Steve's hand tight and let out a shakey breath. "Till the end of the line pal."