Nurture

“We’ll be fine here, Buck.” Sam says as he holds onto Francis. “You guys just go off to your appointment. Francis and I are good here.”

It’s been a few days since Bruce ran the tests that he needed to on Francis, and so far they’ve not gotten any results back. Bucky knows that Bruce said it’ll take a few days, but even though it has been a few days with no results yet, he’s not sure if he’s ready to see them yet.

He’s afraid that Francis may have some sort of ability due to the serums. And while it’s not the end of the world if he does have something, he’d much rather that Francis doesn’t have anything.

Now though, Bucky has an appointment with his new midwife. An alpha woman by the name of Juliet Burke. Steve and Wanda had found her, and according to them, she’s fantastic and very willing to be his new midwife.

But even after all the background checks on her, Bucky finds himself a little unsure about her. It’s not that he doesn’t think that she’s good at what she does, or that she’s not as willing as she sounds, it’s more so because he’s never met her, and is just automatically wary of her. He needs to meet her first to know for sure if he can trust her.

It was the exact same with his lawyer, Benjamin Linus. He’s still a little wary of him though, but he trusts the guy enough, and he knows that Steve wouldn’t just choose anyone.

“You boys ready?” Wanda asks, poking her head through the doorway. “You’re appointment with Dr. Burke is in about half an hour, Bucky, so we should be getting a move on.”

Glancing at the clock, Bucky finds that Wanda is right. His appointment is scheduled for eleven forty five, and it’s currently eleven fifteen right now. He doesn’t want to be late.

“Yeah, I guess so.” Bucky says, turning his attention to Francis in Sam’s arms. “You be good for Uncle Sam okay, buddy?”

Francis nods. “I will, mommy!”

“Come on, Buck.” Steve says, holding his hand out for him. “Let’s go.”

Bucky looks at him, before following him and Wanda out of the room and down into the facility's garage, where they find Wanda’s car waiting. Bucky’s not sure what model car it is, but it is a very nice shade of purple, and the inside is even better.

It doesn’t take very long for them to drive down to the doctor’s office, and they don’t have to wait very long to see Bucky’s midwife. Though Bucky does find himself growing even more nervous by the second as they sit waiting to be seen before she shows up.

“James Barnes?” A blonde woman asks, making her way into the waiting room from somewhere down a long corridor.

She looks up from her clipboard, looking around before her eyes land on Bucky, Steve, and Wanda as they stand up and walk towards her.

“Uh, Bucky is fine.” Bucky says, stopping in front of the woman, Steve and Wanda standing right by his side.

The woman nods, smiling at him. “It’s nice to meet you, Bucky.” She says, holding a hand out for him to shake. “I’m Juliet Burke.” She says, as Bucky shakes her hand. “If you’ll follow me.”

They follow her down the hall towards the exam room for the ultrasound, and Bucky just hopes that there’s nothing wrong with the baby. He’s sure that little Reese is fine and healthy, but that doesn’t stop him from worrying. Especially if there’s the chance that their kids might have something due to the serums, but they can’t really find any of that out until later on.

“If you can get seated here.” Dr. Burke starts, referring to the bed in the middle of the room next to a large machine that Bucky vaguely recognizes as the ultrasound machine. “We can get started.”

Nodding, Bucky takes a seat on the bed and looks around the room cautiously. He can’t say that he’s very comfortable around this type of tech, but he does his best not to panic. That’s the last thing he needs.

Steve walks over to Bucky’s side, sensing his nerves, and grabs his hand in his, squeezing it gently in assurance that everything’s going to be okay.

Bucky knows that everything’s going to be okay, but he appreciates the assurance from Steve nonetheless.

“If you could lift up your shirt so we can get a look.” Dr. Burke says, and Bucky lifts his shirt just as she asks.

He watches as she gets out a tube of some sort of gel, the name he’s not sure of, but he’s seen it enough to know what it does.

“This might be a bit cold.” Dr. Burke warns as she squirts some of the gel on his stomach.

Though, Bucky doesn’t even flinch when the cool gel touches his stomach. Ever since Hydra he’s ran cold, so it doesn’t surprise him that the gel doesn’t seem to cause him any discomfort.

He sits back as Dr. Burke moves some sort of wand thing (Bucky doesn’t know the correct name) around the gel on his stomach, and plays around with something on the ultrasound machine.

“And here’s the little guy.” Dr. Burke says, moving the screen of the ultrasound machine around a little so Bucky can see it. “Perfectly healthy, and everything appears to be going as it should.” She plays around with something else, until the sound of a heartbeat can be heard.

Bucky smiles as he sees his little boy on the screen, and hears his little heartbeat. He doesn’t bother to stop the few tears from slipping down his face. He doesn’t find himself caring about his tears. All he cares about is that his little boy is growing strong and healthy.

“There’s no complications that you can tell?” Steve asks.

Dr. Burke shakes her head. “Not as far as I can tell.” She says. “But due to what you spoke to me about on the phone, I suggest running a few tests on him after he’s born. I’m unsure if mutant abilities can be detected in utero.”

Steve nods. “We have someone who can test for that.”

“Great.” Dr. Burke nods. “Now let me just print off a few photos for you.” She does something on the machine before she’s getting up and going into the small room.

“You alright, Buck?” Steve asks, just as Bucky sits up on the bed, pulling his shirt back down after wiping the gel off his stomach with a tissue.

Bucky looks over at him, smiling. “I’m fine, Steve.”

Steve smiles, leaning over to give him a quick kiss, which causes Bucky to blush a little.

Dr. Burke comes back in soon after, handing over a couple ultrasound photos to Bucky, who takes the from her gratefully. He has a feeling that over the next few months until Reese is born that he’ll be having a hard time not looking at these photos.

They stay and talk with Dr. Burke for a bit longer, until they’re finally leaving and making their way back home.

******

Once they get back to their floor at the Avengers facility, they’re met with Francis running towards the with Sam following behind him. And Bucky is quick - well, as quick as he can in his current condition - to get on his knees and hug his son.

He chooses to ignore the fact that it’s going to be a bit difficult for him to get back up by himself for the time being. Steve will no doubt help him up anyway, or Sam or Wanda will help.

“Were you good for uncle Sam?” He asks, brushing Francis’s hair out of his face.

He’s going to have to give him a haircut soon. Francis’s hair is much like his own, it grows way too fast.

“Yes, mommy.” Francis says. “How is little baby?”

Bucky smiles, resting a hand on his stomach as he feels Reese start kicking. “The baby’s good, buddy.”

He sure is glad that Francis is just as excited as he and Steve are for Reese to be born. He’s not sure how they would’ve been able to cope if he wasn’t happy about getting a little brother.

“Hey, you want to see a photo of your baby brother?” Bucky asks, digging around in his pocket for one of the ultrasound photos Dr. Burke gave him.

Francis nods excitedly, taking the photo from Bucky once he’s found it and looks over it. Though as he stares at the photo, his face turns to that of confusion.

“I don’t see baby, mommy.” He says, handing the photo back.

“Come here, I’ll show you.” Bucky says, shifting around on the floor so he’s sitting more comfortably, and indicates for Francis to sit in his lap.

“You see this?” He asks, as Francis sits down on his lap. “There’s his head, his hands and his little feet.” He says, holding the photo up for Francis to see as he points out each body part of the baby.

“Oh! I see now, mommy!” Francis exclaims, as he takes the photo once more.

Bucky smiles, kissing Francis’s cheek as he hugs him close. He never wants to let him go. Unfortunately, Francis has other ideas as Wanda makes her way over to them.

And as Wanda sits down next to them, Francis turns his full attention to her. Bucky is sure glad that Francis loves Wanda, though he has a bit of a fascination with Wanda’s powers. But Bucky won’t lie, he does too.

“Auntie Wanda, can we go play?” Francis asks, dropping the ultrasound picture to the floor as he gets off Bucky’s lap.

Not wanting the ultrasound photo to get damaged, Bucky picks the photo up and slips it back into his pocket for the time being. He’ll put it somewhere save once he gets up.

Wanda nods, smiling. “Alright.” She says. “What do you want to play?”

“Make my toys fly!” Francis says, jumping up, before he’s attempting to pull Wanda up.

Bucky smiles as he watches Wanda get up and be dragged down the hall towards Francis’s room. His son really enjoys it when Wanda uses her powers to make his toys float in the air. He finds so much joy out of it, and Bucky finds it adorable to watch.

Looking over towards the small kitchen, he finds Steve and Sam sitting at the table talking about whatever. Bucky doesn’t bother to pay any attention to what they’re saying. Instead, he shifts around so he’s laying on the floor. He’s not bothered to get up just yet, or at least not until the back pain starts to kick in - and he’ll move to the couch as soon as that starts to kick in.

“You want something to eat, Buck?” Steve calls over to him.

Bucky narrows his eyes a little at the question. “Is that supposed to be a trick question?” He asks, as he stares up at the ceiling. “Of course I want something to eat.”

“Dude, what’re you lying on the floor for?” Sam asks. “That’s gonna give you back pains.”

Sighing, Bucky sits up so he’s able to look over at Steve and Sam properly. “Doesn’t matter where I’m lying down.” He says, rubbing a hand around his stomach. “I’m gonna get back pain no matter what. Besides, the floor is surprisingly comfy right now.” He says. “Gotta hand it to Stark. He chose some soft as hell carpet for this place.”

The carpet is surprisingly very comfortable and soft. He’s got to ask what brand it is so he and Steve can buy some once they’ve found their own home, cause hell yes they’re getting this exact carpet for their home.

Steve sighs, staring fondly over at Bucky. “You can’t get up off the floor by yourself so you’re just going to stay there for now aren’t you?”

“That’s partly true.” Bucky says, before laying back on the carpet once more. “But this carpet really is fucking comfortable.” He sighs, closing his eyes. “You need to ask Stark what brand it is.”

“Will do the next time I talk with him, Buck.” Steve assures him.

Bucky sighs in content. Though his contentedness is short lived, as something crosses his mind. He’s still finding himself bothered by the fact that he cannot remember what happened on the night he was supposed to kill Tony’s parents.

He’s been racking his brain trying to remember what happened that night, but no matter how hard he tries, he cannot remember what happened. He needs to figure out what had happened, otherwise it’s just going to keep on bothering him.

Only problem is that he’s not sure how he’s supposed to go in remembering what happened. Mostly all his memories have gradually came back by themselves, but he’s not sure if he can just wait for what happened to come back to him on its own accord.

“Hey, Steve?” He asks, sitting back up again. Maybe Steve knows a possible way to reclaim this lost memory?

“Yeah, Buck?” Steve asks. “You need help off the floor?”

“No. Well... not yet anyway.” Bucky says. “It’s just… there’s this… lost memory I have that I want to get back.” He bites his lip nervously. He’s never told Steve that there was another date that he was supposed to kill Tony’s parents instead of the one where it did happen. “It’s from the night I was supposed to kill… Tony’s parents.”

Steve stops what he’s doing to look at Bucky. He doesn’t think that it would be a good idea to go digging. “Why would you want to remember what happened?”

“Wait, the day Hydra made you kill Stark’s parents wasn’t supposed to be then?” Sam asks.

Bucky shakes his head. “No. I was supposed to kill them the night Tony was born, and take Tony back with me to Hydra.” He says. “But… something must’ve happened that made me not do it, and it’s bothering me that I can’t remember what.”

Something significant must have happened if it’s bothering him so much that he can’t remember what it was. If it wasn’t, then he doubts that it would be bothering him this much.

“You sure it’s a good idea to go digging?” Sam asks. “Whatever happened, it might not be something you want to remember.”

While Sam may have a point, Bucky feels as though he needs to find out what happened that night.

“No…” He shakes his head. “I need to figure out what happened.” He says. “It’s bothering me too much to just ignore it.”

Steve sighs, shaking his head. He doesn’t like the sound of Bucky digging back through his memories of the years Hydra had him, but this appears to be bothering him too much to just simply ignore.

“If it’s important to you that you find out what happened that night, then… maybe we can ask Wanda for a favor.” He says. “She should be able to help you remember what happened.”

If there’s anyone here who should be able to help with something like that, it’s Wanda.