“Steve, don’t run off to far!” Bucky looks annoyed at the boy as he takes Y/N’s gloved hand. “It’s like back then. He just won’t listen to me.”
“I wonder where he got that from.” Y/N looks sheepishly at him as he scoffs. “Okay, fine. I might be a bit responsible for that.”
“You might?” Y/N laughs before she kisses his cheek. “I’m sure that it’s all your fault.” Bucky smiles back before he stops. He turns Y/N around so that she’s facing him. He slings his arms around her hips and pulls her closer before he kisses her softly. A goofy smile spreads across his face as he breaks the kiss. “I love you.” Y/N smiles back and leans against his chest. “I love you, too.” They look at Steve for a while and savor the sight.
A week prior Tony came up to them and told them about a cabin he owned. He passed some bags into their hands, claiming he doesn’t take a no as answer, before he declared they have an hour to pack before he gets them to their holidays up in the mountains.
And here they are, surrounded from snow covered trees, at a frozen lake somewhere in the nowhere. And they enjoy it. It’s quiet, no villains, no hero stuff and most importantly, no one to bother them. Steve starts building a snowman as he looks up. Y/N sees how he slowly gets near the lake. “Stevie! Don’t go too close, you hear?!” She shouts for him and watches as he looks at them before he nods. Nonetheless, he’s still walking to the lake. She sighs and looks up to Bucky. “You’re a bad influence.” He smiles apologetic at her before he kisses her again. Then they loosen their hug and start walking once again. “I’m really glad that Tony dragged us here. It’s beautiful. It’s been a while since I saw that much snow.” She glances up at Bucky who has his eyes on Steve. A little frown crosses his face. She tugs on his hand to get him to look at her. “You’re doing fine here, do you? No bad memories? No flashbacks?”
“No, doll”, he shakes his head and squeezes her hand to reassure her that he’s fine. “I’m good. Actually, I enjoy it, too. Stevie and I always had to worry about the snow, because the heating was shit in our apartment and Steve would get sick all the time. But this”, he gestures around before his eyes meet hers; “This is nice. No worries, no cold in the house, no sickness. Just you and Steve and me.”
“Mommy! Daddy! Look, there’s something.” They turn to look at Steve but immediately their smiles fall. “Steve, come back!”
“Steve!” They both start to run to their boy as they see that he slowly walks across the ice. “But there’s something.”
“Steven Grant Rogers, you’re getting back here in two seconds!” Bucky’s voice resounds back from the ice. Steve turns around. He looks at Bucky and back at the ice. Y/N can clearly see the conflict in his face. “Stevie, sweetie. Come back. It’s too dangerous.” Steve’s eyes switch to her and back to the spot he looked at before. “I just want to get it real quick.”
“Steve, no!” But the boy runs up to the spot, crouches down and picks something up, before holding it in the air triumphantly. “Got it. Look. It’s a-” A loud crack let him stop talking. As if in slow motion Y/N sees how the ice gives away under Steve, and he falls into the water. She stands frozen at the shore. Everything around her seems to stop as she watches Steve fall. She barely registers Bucky as he lets go of her hand and walks across the ice. It gives away under him, too, but she looks as he resurfaces with a motionless, blonde boy in his arms. Somehow, he manages to get back to Y/N. “Y/N.” She hears his voice and she takes the boy from his arms, wrapping him in her jacket, but she’s not fully registering what she does. “Y- Y/N!” Bucky grips her arms. The ice-cold feeling of his metal hand let her snap out of it. “R-run up t-to the c-cabin.”
“Oh my god. You’re shivering so much.”
“F-focus. G-Get Stevie h-home.” Her eyes dart from Bucky face to the boy in her arms. She nods and takes a last look at Bucky before she runs back to the cabin that’s luckily not that far away. She fiddles with the key before she manages to open the door. As quickly as she can she strips the unconscious boy out of his wet clothes, takes off her own, except for her underwear, and hugs him to her chest while wrapping themselves into a blanket. Anxiously she waits for Bucky to step in. She hears him a few feet away. His usually quiet steps are sluggish and loud. He shuffles in and Y/N sees the shivering mess he is. “Come here, quick! Strip out of your clothes.” She commands at him and opens the blanket for him to slip in. A shiver runs down her spine at his cold feeling. Bucky groans and shuffles uncomfortable. “Ow, that s-stings.”
“That’s good. It means you get warm again.” She gifts him a small smile and strokes his cheek before she worryingly looks down at the still motionless boy in her arms. “Stevie. Come on. Wake up.” She nudges him a bit but other that his head rolls to her shoulder, nothing happens. She barely manages to choke back a sob. “D-doll. Don’t c-cry. He had w-worse.” He softly drapes an arm around Y/N and guides her head on his shoulder.
For a while none of them talks. Y/N stares at Steve and Bucky just holds her. He stands up once and goes upstairs for a while. Y/N can hear water running and after twenty minutes he comes back down, dressed in a pair of Steve’s sweatpants and his hoodie. His wet hair hangs into his face, and he strokes them back. He places some of Steve’s clothes and some of Y/N on the armrest before he sits back beside her and slowly manages to pull her on his lap. “You’re warm.” She sighs and closes her eyes for a moment, appreciating the warm heat from Bucky. “Yeah, the shower helped. I feel better now. Stevie?” Y/N opens her eyes and looks down at the boy. His face has turned into a frown. “He started whimpering ten minutes ago.” She feels Bucky nod before he presses a kiss to her temple. “Let’s get him in some pants and his shirt. This way you can go shower and heat up yourself. I take care of him.” But Y/N shakes her head. “No, I’m not leaving.” She can feel Bucky stare at her, but he doesn’t say anything else. They quickly dress Steve in his pajama. Bucky carries him upstairs into his room as Y/N gets dressed and follows them. She sits down on his bed and takes the blonde back in her arms. Bucky kisses her temple once again before he leaves the room to make some cocoa. Y/N rocks Steve a bit as he opens his eyes and starts to cry. “M-Mommy!”
“Shh. I know. It hurts, but it’s okay. It’s over soon.” Steve clings to her but every so often he tries to get his tired limbs away from her and the pain. Each time she grabs him a bit tighter and kisses his forehead and cheeks. “Mommy. Hurts. Make it stop.” Bucky comes in and sees the crying boy. “Finally.” He places the two cups he is carrying on the nightstand and sits down on the edge of the bed. Carefully he strokes through Steve’s hair before he leans down and kisses his cheek. “Hey Stevie.”
“Daddy!” Steve makes grabby hands at the brunette and Bucky gladly takes him from Y/N’s arms. He stands up and walks up and down in the small room, rocking the crying boy up and down after Y/N drapes the blanket around his shoulder. “Daddy, it hurts.”
“I know. But it’s good. You’re getting warm again. Mommy and Daddy were really worried, Stevie.”
“Sowy.” Sobs wrack through him and he chokes on his tears. “I’m sowwy. Don’t be mad.”
“We’re not, sweetie.” Y/N comes up and hugs them both. “But please, never do this again.” Steve shakes his head and hides in Bucky’s shoulder. He slowly calms down before he starts to cry again, because of the pain. Eventually he falls asleep and Y/N places him in his bed, kneeling beside it and watches him sleep while combing through his hair with her hand. “Y/N, you should go shower now. You got cold, too.” She shakes her head once again. “I’m fine. I got warm by now anyway.” Bucky makes a frustrated sound before he crouches down beside her and gives her a soft kiss to the cheek. “He probably got his stubbornness from you.” As he leaves, Y/N sinks down to the floor. Her back hits the drawer of the nightstand, and she pulls her legs up to her chest. She rests her head on her knees. After a few seconds she knows that she probably gets a bad backache, but she won’t leave Steve so soon. She changes the position a few times until she settles with one elbow on her knees and her forehead in her hand. She closes her eyes for a second.
Her head falls out of her hand, and she wakes with a start. Dim light falls into the room and as she looks up the door opens. “Y/N?” Bucky pokes his head inside and as he sees her awake, he steps in fully. “Hey, doll, come on. Come to bed. It’s late.” Y/N just manages to shake her head before Bucky is crouching in front of her and picks her up. “Bucky, no…”
“Don’t argue with me, please. He’s sleeping and he’s fine. But you need a proper rest too.” He walks across the hall and into the master bedroom. Carefully he sets her down on the soft mattress and kisses her forehead before he sits on the edge of it. “Baby doll. I know you’re worried. But please, don’t forget about yourself.” He places a hand on her cheek, and she immediately close her eyes and leans into it. “I love you.” He whispers the word against her mouth before he closes the short distance and kisses her. Y/N slings her arms around his neck and breaks the kiss. She buries her head on his metal shoulder and sighs. “I know. I’m sorry. How are you feeling?” She looks up and studies him. He’s kind of pale but it could easily be the lightning in the room. “I’m fine. Don’t worry. The serum helps. I can’t get sick.”
“That’s not true.” She shakes her head before she takes his hand in hers. “The serum just helps you to get over it quicker. But that doesn’t mean you can’t get sick at all.”
“Y/N. Stop worrying. I’m fine. I promise.” He squeezes her hands, kisses her forehead and pushes her down before he covers her with the blanket. “I’ll be right back. I’ll just get our little ice diver.”
“Bucky.” The word comes out more tired than indignant. “Sorry, bad joke.” He kisses her again and leaves. A few seconds later he places the sleeping blonde in the middle of the bed. Y/N hugs him to her chest as soon as Bucky let go of him. The brunette slips in behind him and pushes against his back, throwing his arms over him to hug them both, so that they are a tight bundle.
* * *
Y/N turns around uncomfortable. It’s hot under the covers. She looks to the right and sees both Steve and Bucky cuddled up to each other. Steve’s head lies on Bucky’s shoulder and Y/N can clearly see how he drools on his Daddy. She smirks and runs her fingers through his hair before she looks at the clock at her left. It’s five past nine. She extracts herself from the covers and slowly shuffles out into the hall and into the bathroom. She uses the toilet, brushes her teeth and gets her hair into a more presentable way before walking down to the kitchen. She takes her time preparing some breakfast for herself and to make a cup of tea and coffee for Bucky. It takes almost an hour to finish and eat. She sits on the table, a cup of hot tea in her hands, a book in front of her and looks outside. It’s snowing again. Her eyes follow the falling flakes until her eyes switch to the clock once again. It’s quarter past eleven and on a normal basis Steve would already bounce around and sing, laugh and tell stories. But today he seems to sleep in. Y/N sighs and puts her steaming mug down. She stands up and makes her way back up to the bedroom.
A coughing lets her look up from her book. Her eyes automatically wander over to the watch on the wall. It just quarter past eleven and normally both men, as child or grown up, would be bugging her by now. She makes a small wondering sound before extracting herself from the blanket. She takes the brief flight of stairs up and opens the door to the bedroom. Steve’s already awake, cuddling close to his daddy. He smiles as he sees Y/N, and she smiles back. Carefully to not wake her sleeping boyfriend so suddenly she slips in under the blanket and kisses Steve’s forehead. “How are you, sweetie?”
“Good. I’m hungry.”
“Yeah? It’s good that I made something to eat then.” As if on cue Steve’s stomach grumbles, and he giggles which is cut short from yet another cough. But it doesn’t come from Steve like Y/N has thought. Her eyes fly over to Bucky. “Daddy’s sick, mommy.”
“Yeah I hear it. Come on sweetie. Go and wash your hands. I’ll wake up daddy and check him up and down. I’ll be downstairs in a few minutes.” She watches as Steve leaves before she turns back to Bucky. His nose and eyes are a bit red, and he has a nice flush on his cheeks. She smirks for a second. So much to the fact that he can’t get sick. “Hey, Buck. Wake up for me.” She takes his hand as she scoops over to him and kisses it lightly. She lies down so that she’s on eye level to Bucky. Her hand wanders up to his cheek. She lets her fingers glide over his beard into his hair. “Bucky.” The man grumbles before he lets out a heavy sigh. His eyes remain close but Y/N knows he’s awake now. “Hey, handsome. Come on. It’s already past eleven. Wake up.” Bucky opens his eyes and squints at her. He rubs them a few times before he coughs again. “Morning.” His voice sounds raw and thick with sleep. “There you are.” She smiles at him and places a quick kiss on his lips. “How are you feeling?”
“Good. ‘M good.”
“Really? Your cough tells me otherwise.”
“Just dry.” Y/N hums knowingly before her hand wanders once again through his hair. Bucky nuzzles into her palm and sighs. “’s nice.”
“Come on down. Stevie is already waiting for us.” Bucky coughs once more and groans. Y/N stays while Bucky gets dressed, he shuffles sleepily next to her to the kitchen. She can see that he’s a bit pale and if the rubbing on his throat is any indication, then she knows that his throat hurts. She just thinks her part on that, not ready to tell him that she told him so, instead she takes his hand in hers and squeezes it lightly before letting go again. She quickly makes the breakfast for the two boys warm again and eyes both of them closely. Other than Bucky, Steve seems to be fine. He has no cough, fever or other indications that proofs that he’s sick. He just looks a bit tired. Bucky instead coughs almost all the time, even after drinking a cup of tea with honey that Y/N brought to him. While Steve goes to the living room and works on one of the color-books he took with him, Y/N sits down next to Bucky on the dining table. “Hey, be honest with me. How are you feeling?”
“I’m good. Can’t get sick.”
“That’s not true and you know it.” Y/N shakes her head and places a calm hand on his. “Bucky.” Her voice lets no room for lies now, even if it’s a gentle tone. Bucky sighs and supports his head on his free hand. “’Kay. My throat hurts and I have a headache. But I’m fine otherwise, promise.” Y/N hums and gives him a light kiss on the cheek. “You know what we’re going to do today. We’ll take a nice, hot bath in that thing that Tony calls a tub but is actually the size of a small pool and then you go lie down and sleep for a bit while Stevie and I watch over you. Okay?”
“No, Y/N, come on.” Bucky starts to argue but Y/N shakes her head and holds up a hand. She drags him back up the stairs and Steve follow curious. It doesn’t take more than a few minutes before Y/N manages to fill the tub and get Steve and Bucky naked and in it. Then she undresses herself and slips in behind Bucky. “That’s supposed to be the other way around.”
“Just roll with it once, sweetie.” Y/N leans back and pulls Bucky with her, so that he’s leaning with his back to her chest. She practically feels him relax in her arms. As she peeks down at him, he has closed his eyes. His right hand wanders through his hair while she interlocks, her left with his metal fingers. Bucky doesn’t make a sound, but he doesn’t have to. Y/N knows that he feels comfortable, because his body goes slack the moment her hand touches his hair. Meanwhile, Steve plays with a little boat and a plane in the water. Now and then he splashes a bit of water into their direction. As he catches Y/N staring at him, he lets the toys be toys and waddles over to them falling on top of Bucky who lets out a groan which quickly turns into a cough. Surprised at that both, Y/N and Steve, look at him but Bucky just opens his eyes after the coughing fit ebbed away and hugs Steve to his chest and kisses his face all over, making him giggle and try to get away which leads to all of them slipping on the ground of the tub. Y/N almost gets under water but manages to catch herself. They laugh and for a while they all play together with the water and the toys Steve has.
“Now close your eyes.”
“But I want to stare a bit longer at you.”
“Bucky. I can’t read you to sleep if you not try to sleep.” Annoyed she lays the book on her lap and tugs Bucky tighter into the blanket. Steve lies between them and looks at Bucky before he tuns to the other side to look at Y/N. “Mommy? Can we do Mission: Baby brother?”
“It’s more a Mission: Baby daddy now.”
“Hey!” Y/N sticks out her tongue at Bucky before she looks back at Steve. “Of course, we can. What do you want to do?” Steve makes a thinking face and Bucky just stares at the boy with a horrified face. “Tea. I want to bring tea.” Y/N sees how Bucky relaxes and makes a note to ask him later on what he expected what Steve wants to do. She nods at the boy and slips out of bed. “Then let’s make some real quick. And you!” She points at Bucky who tenses again. “When we come back you better closed your eyes by then.”
“Yes ma’am.” Bucky makes a small salute gesture and is immediately greeted with a pillow in his face.
As Y/N and Steve slip back in the room Bucky is sound asleep and sprawled out on the bed, blanket on the ground. “Put the cup on the bedside table, Stevie.” The boy nods and looks at the table Y/N points at. Slowly he walks around the bed and places the steaming cup on it. Meanwhile, Y/N slips onto the bed and covers Bucky with the discharged blanket, kissing his forehead and slips under the same blanket after she organized his limbs. Steve looks at her, and she pats the space between her legs. The boy crawls over Bucky, hitting him with his foot into the ribs but the brunette doesn’t even stir. Y/N flinches for a moment but release her breath after she sees that nothing happens. She makes some room for Steve and pulls the blanket back over him after he got comfortable between her legs. Then she takes the book she put aside earlier and opens it, it’s the story of Mary Poppins, and starts reading aloud to her boys.
* * *
The feeling of being crushed wakes her up this time. It’s dark outside and the look to the clock shows her that is almost six in the afternoon. She tries to move but can’t get far. A grumble in her ear lets her stop immediately and carefully she glances to her right and is met with the adorable face of a sleeping Steve. But this Steve isn’t small which explains the feeling of being crushed because he’s still lying on top of her and not surprising, he’s very naked. Little snores escape him and Y/N stifles a small laugh. She wiggles a bit to get one of her hands free and lets it wander through his hair, before she carefully shoves him away enough to slip out under him, which isn’t easy because this huge man is heavy. She sits up and looks over the blonde to the other side of the bed. There lies a small, shivering ball of brown hair and metal in too big clothes and Y/N feels sympathy as soon as she sees him. She shuffles a bit around until she manages to get fully out of bed. She yawns and walks over to the bedside Bucky is lying on. She kneels down and lightly touches his cheek. He seems not to have a fever, but he still huffs a bit and shivers. Now and then he lets out a small cough which sounds really pathetic to her ears. “Bucky, honey. Wake up for mommy.” She lightly traces his features of his face to let him wake up slowly. She learns early that she never should wake up Bucky suddenly, even not as child and especially not as adult. The boy shows no sign of being even near waking up, so she tries it once more, tickling him a bit with his own hair. “Sweetie, time to wake up.” She tries a few times more. The boy huffs which turns into a sharp and hurt sounding cough. He opens his eyes just a little. “Mommy?”
“Yes. Sweetie, you have to wake up. Time to eat and drink something.”
“Not hungry.”
“Hey, hey. Don’t close your eyes again. I know you're not hungry but you need to stay strong to get better, okay? Mommy carries you. Sounds good?” The boy nods sleepily and holds out his arms for her to pick him up. “Y/N?”
“Hey, Stevie. Wake up slowly and come down, okay?” Somehow, she manages to stroke his hair, which make him hum in anticipation, before she takes the mug from Bucky’s bedside table with the cold tea and takes it with her down to the living room. She places the cup on one of the cupboards before she sets Bucky down on the couch. “How are you feeling?”
“Throat hurts.”
“Yeah? Is it bad?” The boy shakes his head no and yawns. “Okay. I’ll make you some tea. You and watch some TV until Steve comes down, okay?” The boy answers with his head again and watch as Y/N turns on the TV. “Y/N!” Shocked at the shout she looks up from the kettle and stares at Steve who crashes down the stairs, stumbling and almost falling but catching himself on the banister of the stairs. “Oh my god, Steve! Be careful. Are you okay?” Y/N rushes up to him and gives him a once over but the Captain just grabs her arms and rumbles down an apology. “I’m so sorry Y/N. I didn’t mean to worry you or be such a trouble for you. I didn’t think about what could happen. I’m really sorry.”
“Whoa, Steve, calm down. It’s okay. Nothing happened. Or did you hurt yourself?”
“W-What? Oh. No, I didn't mean the stair thing just now. I mean the lake. I’m so sorry. Now Buck is sick because of me. I feel terrible and I-”
“Steve.” The man shuts up and looks at her a bit frightened. “It’s okay. I’m not mad. You were just a kid, and we had to focus more on you than on ourselves. It’s fine. Okay?” she lays her hands on his cheeks and looks him deep in the eyes. As he doesn’t answer she asks again. “Okay?” Slowly Steve nods. “Still, I’m sorry.” Before Y/N can say something else. a wet sounding cough interrupts her. They turn to the couch were Bucky sits. He’s crouched forward and coughs. His head is already bright red so Y/N quickly makes her way to him and rubs his back in soothing circles. Steve stares for a moment. Y/N throws him a short look. The look in his eyes seems to be distant, and she gets the feeling that he’s back somewhere in the 1940s. “That’s not sounding good. Steve. Steve!” The man snaps out of his stupor and switches his gaze back to her. “We should get home. I call Tony. Can you watch over him? Maybe make him some tea?”
“Y-Yeah. Sure.” She looks at Steve for a second longer as he walks over to them. She has the feeling that he still feels guilty and that, whatever memory it was that popped into his mind, wasn’t a pleasant one if the pale face of him is any indication for that. Slowly pulling out her phone she walks once again up to the bedroom and while she dials Tony’s number, she gets the big trolley out of their closet and throws their clothes in it.
About two hours later Y/N has Bucky tucked into bed at home, Steve running around, grabbing everything that they could need. Bucky started to get a fever as they sat in the plane home and at the moment the plane hits the ground Tony rushed out, checked them over and ran inside again to get Bruce or Dr. Cho or whichever doctor was available. It took an hour again after the doctor, Tony brought with him, told them that Bucky has, gratefully, just a light case of pneumonia and if they would be careful and follow the orders, he gave them, he would be alright in a few days. The next two days she didn’t really see Steve. He’s always running around doing everything to keep Bucky entertained and keeps him company. On the third day Y/N stands in the door frame and looks as Steve has the boy on his lap, back at chest and looks with him into a book while the blonde reads it. Bucky seems to be deep lost into the story and his eyes would go wide each time Steve changes his voice on a terrifying or interesting part. This time she doesn’t take a picture, so she won’t disturb them. That is until Steve looks up for a brief second. “What?” He smiles at her, and she knows that she has a constant smile on her lips. “Nothing.” She leans her head against the door frame and looks at them with a look of adoration. “Just admiring my boys.”
“Why staring? Join us. It gets interesting now.” His smile gets a big wider, so Y/N pushes back from the door frame and walks over to them. “Scoot over a bit.” She motions with her hand. Steve shuffles a bit with Bucky still on his lap. The boy makes a displeased sound but smiles up at his mommy. She smiles back, slips into the bed, too, and looks at the book. “Now, carry on reading.”
“Commanding. But fine. Where were we? Ah… If you shut your eyes and are a lucky one, you may see at times a shapeless pool of lovely pale colors suspended in the darkness; then if you squeeze your eyes tighter, the pool begins to take shape, and the colors become so vivid that with another squeeze they must go on fire. But just before they go on fire you see the lagoon. This is the nearest you ever get to it on the mainland, just one heavenly moment; if there could be two moments you might see the surf and hear the mermaids singing.”