Pre-Edit Count – 2,630 Words

The song I listened to for this chapter: Eyes Open by Taylor Swift

Previously:

With that the two turn back to the view, only murmuring to each other questions and answers.  Forging that bond that they both crave.

Now:

They spend quite a bit of time that night talking to each other.  With the idea of being open with Bella, Bucky had told her earlier about the Volturi and what was going on with them, and that they will be talking about it in more detail later.

As they admit that it should be time to head inside, Bucky grins down at her, telling her that after the meeting the following day, he has planned that they will go out for their first date.  With the two of them smiling, they spend the rest of the time that night, before they are stirred by a cough from one of the guards making his rounds, with her standing wrapped in his arms, watching the stars above.

With a gallant bow, Bucky turns and ushers her back to her room:  Bella can’t keep the giggles from erupting at his gentlemanly ways.  She is pleasantly surprised when he kisses her cheek as he leaves to go to his own room,  only to blush as he brushes her mind with his affection and a soft goodnight.

She compares the feeling of his mind caressing hers to ‘cashmere, his touch feels like pure cashmere to my mind.’  She remembers the warm, soft, cuddly feeling she got from a real cashmere blanket and realizes it was the only thing she can think of to compare the brush of his mind to. The slight surprise of him contacting her that way is enough to have her rethinking the closeness of their mind bond while she hums to herself as she gets ready for bed. ‘This might not be as bad as I thought if a slight brush and a murmured goodnight feel so comforting.’

The following morning as she drinks a cup of coffee before heading out for breakfast there is a knock on her door. Someone is standing there with a box in their hands, “a gift for you, milady,” he says with a bow, turning to leave once the box is in her hands. There is a note taped to the top, ‘I hope this is what you meant’. Eager to find out what is inside, Bella opens the gift, surprised that she is enjoying the sensation of getting a gift for the first time in a long time.  After lifting several layers of tissue paper, Bella finds a soft cashmere sweater; it is a dark red color. She rubs it with her face, thinking about how soft and luxurious it will be to put on.

Bella spends a moment or two wondering why she received the sweater, only to realize as she heads out of her apartment that Bucky must have heard her the night before and tried to give her a gift.  As she thinks about it, Bella realizes that she doesn’t feel violated as she had before.  Bucky had mentioned that it was part of them and, to be honest, he wasn’t as intrusive as Edward had been with all the questions he had constantly asked since he couldn’t read her mind. And so far it seemed like Bucky was trying to do right by her with small gestures like the kiss to the cheek, and letting her spend time with friends and family, and tokens of his attentions; like the sweater.

In fact, Bucky only seems to catch the more ‘public’ thoughts she has.  When she thinks about it, that is all she is also catching from him as well.  ‘Maybe when we trust each other more, that will get deeper? ‘

The more Bella thinks about it, the more she can agree to it,  and agree with Bucky that there is more to it than they thought, that she needs to work with him before automatically thinking the worst.  She had jumped into things with Edward and she knows where that got her.  Right now, she needs to think first, if it is at all possible.

And she has a funny feeling that Bucky will do his best to give her that time to think.

Bucky has been waiting for her to enter the dining room.  He can feel her getting closer and looks over at the doorway for her to enter.  Once he does see her, his heart stutters at her smile and how the sweater looks on her.

Memories fly through his mind of the night before when he tried to figure out what cashmere was. He shuddered mentally when he remembered going to ask Steve.  The thought of what must have been a sight to see when T’Challa came into the room and saw the two of them trying to find it on the internet made him grin. To T’Challa’s credit, he had only shaken his head and then helped the two out of time soldiers find what they had been looking for.  Once they had told him what they were looking up, and why, T’Challa decided to make life easier for Bucky and put him in contact with one of the ladies in the palace who could help him in the future.  Then he had walked down the corridor, trying to keep his chuckles from being loud enough to get back to the two soldiers; they heard him though, but just rolled their eyes as Steve commented softly, “He tried.”

Bucky turned to the lady who had come at her King’s request and  nodded to her, “Sorry to have woken you up, but I am glad someone can help me out.” Then, looking at his lifelong friend, he told her with a huge grin and a thumb jerk towards Steve, “And you will probably need to help this jerk when his lady comes to visit.”  Steve shoved Bucky playfully but did not deny his comment.

Laughing at the two men, she introduced herself as Aanouluwakiishi. She smiled at their look of bewilderment as they realized they couldn’t hope to get anywhere close to the proper pronunciation of her name, and told them to call her Aanu.  After shooing Steve away, Aanu had even managed to sit down with him and talk about what he wanted to do with his Swan.  When she had found out the details, Aanu had told him that she was now assigned to him and Miss Swan.  For now, she would help him out, and then asked what color he wanted the sweater to be.

Taking note of the name, for the time being, Bucky decided to take advantage of someone to help him out and not only told her the color he had been envisioning since he saw what the sweaters looked like, but also what he had planned for after the meeting. She had smiled, telling him that she only wished that someone would try to do the same for her, then promised that what he needed would be ready for him when the meeting was over.

The memory rushes through his head as his Bella walks into the room and only pauses for a moment, allowing her brunette hair to settle around her shoulders, before making her way to him. Bucky hopes that his gift to her is welcome, seeing her wearing it makes it seem as though she liked it and that he is letting her know that he is serious about the mind link and how he is not going to ignore it or abuse it.

Bucky is determined, and he has promised, that he will not push his way into her mind, but when she is practically purring in his head, and the words accompanying that purr feel so warm, he’d had to gift her with it.  Showing her the positive side of their link, instead of having it be something she detests is definitely the way to go as long as he doesn’t overdo it.

Once Bella reaches him, he stands quickly to offer her a seat, then pushes it in as she seats herself.  He sits next to her,  kissing the hand she reached out to be seated with as he does so. That is enough to make Hope turn and look at Scott with an eyebrow raised as she asks, “Why don’t you do any of that for me?”

Scott looks up from his food, bewildered, “Huh?” He had been thinking about some changes Hank had suggested to his suit with the technology they’d seen on Wakanda.

The rest of the group laugh as Hank sighs. “One of these days men will realize that manners do mean a lot, even now,” he says as he shakes his head at his future son in law. However, they can all see the slight uplift to his lips as he also recognizes that Scott had been worlds away in his thoughts.

Blushing, Bella hides behind her hair but quickly straightens up when she sees her uncle look at her, “It is nice to see you in person, Bella.  I had hoped to see you sooner than this to make sure you were okay, but from what I can tell, you hid from everyone: not even Scott could find you.” He lifted his eyebrow at her, giving her a stern look to show how worried he’d been.

Steve and Bucky glance at each other, wondering when the ant had been out looking for their Bella.  They had not seen anything, not that they would have done anything but maybe work with him since he could hide much better than they could.

Shrugging at the look from the men, Scott just tells them, “Hope asked me to.  She was worried about Bella.” To him it was not just Hope, he had been worried about the petite brunette as well. He had been pleasantly surprised at how well she could hide.  If she could hide that well from him, then she would not be an easy target.  He had been surprised though when the ants wouldn’t even help him find her.

Nothing more was said as everyone went back to eating. Since Bella had already eaten in her room she only munched on an apple while the others finished their meal.  It was interesting, seeing the amount of food Steve and Bucky were putting away.

“I’m not the only hog anymore?”  She asks, surprised. That had been the reason she ate in her room, the amount of food she could put away now had been alarming and embarrassing for her.

A smile came her way from Hank as he watches the two men, “No. If you had come to us sooner, you would have found out that all of you need a lot more calories now.  Your bodies are burning the energy more quickly than you can store them.  You should never worry about gaining weight now, the changes are permanent.  The most that will happen now is if you don’t eat in a week, you stand a chance of going into…,” he looks to the ceiling for a moment, trying to remember what it was called, “what did you call it Peter?”

The tall vampire answers as he watches Bella, “Downtime.  Not a coma, but your body will start shutting down non-essential functions so you can survive without food.  But you guys can consume pretty much anything and not worry about getting sick from it.”  He highly approves of Bella coming back to join them.  She had needed the time apart to come to some realizations, but it was Loki who had helped her put things in perspective.

Peter smiles at the three of them, “You are the next evolution of humans that don’t have the X-gene if Hank’s research is right.  Kind of a mix between regular Humans and Vampires.  You may find that rare or raw meat will be needed since straight blood has more of what you need than anything else.  But at the same time, you may not.  This is why we wanted to watch you guys, so we can help you out if you need it.”  He wants to drive home the fact that she cannot be running anymore.  He can understand the one time, but no more.  And, knowing Bella, telling her that it is not only in her best interest to hang around, but Steve’s and Bucky’s as well, she will be more than willing to hang around.

Plus, his knower is telling him to push her to show the rest that she does have a backbone and it is much stronger now.

Looking to the side, Bella sighs before turning back to confront them about the elephant in the room, “While you might be upset that I disappeared, there were reasons behind it.  I needed to get a handle on what is going on.  All in all, it worked out, so can we keep the remarks to a minimum.  I know you guys are unhappy with it, but it’s over now.”  She raises an eyebrow as if questioning them all.

The rest nod as Bucky and Steve finish up their breakfast just in time to go for the meetings.  Without thinking about it, Bucky stands, then assists Bella in standing, then pushes in her chair as they leave the room.

Hank shakes his head at Scott when he tries to mimic the Winter Soldier but fails spectacularly.  “Kids these days,” he says with a knowing grin. He is soon following his niece out of the room while the rest of the group teases Scott.

The meeting is quick.

It is nothing more than a way to note what is going on and what they need to do: Letting everyone know that they are keeping an eye on the incoming vampires and are preparing to meet any attack further out in the wildlands in order to protect the secret of Wakanda, and keep the general population as safe and far away from the battle as possible.  They also talk about possible other outcomes, as well as alternatives if they can’t get their battleground of choice, and some safety measures that will need to be implemented so that they won’t have to deal with the enemy vampires making others of their kind from the populace.

Afterward, it is time for Bella and Bucky’s date.  Bucky had informed her that there was no need to change from what she was wearing as they headed out of the meeting, although it is with some embarrassment on Bella’s part as they walk out since the rest of them are yelling out their wishes for a good time.

Once they finally make it out of the palace there is a motorcycle waiting for them.  Bucky gets on, then hands his Bella onto the seat behind him as he grins at her over his shoulder. “You ready?” He asks as he starts the bike, making sure she is balanced as he checks things over, waiting for her answer.

With her chirp of “Yep,” he takes off, laughing as he can not only hear her enjoyment but can feel it as well.  Bucky also feels his grin only growing bigger as she leans into his back, her arms surrounding him as she holds on. Releasing a hand, he puts his hand over hers as he maneuvers the bike through the city to the mountains that contain their destination.

Taking the advice of Aanu about the route, the two enjoy the scenery to the top of a mountain that has a large creek. which borders on being a river, falling over the edge of the mountain.  They both get wet from the mist from the waterfall as the road winds its way up, but neither of them cares.

The cool air surrounding them on their ride up to the spot chosen for their date contradicts the jungle scenery around them, but it was the winter season, which is nice for them since they both think the daytime weather feels more like a spring day from where they grew up, than it does cold and snowy or rainy and cold:  Not that the hot weather would have bothered them anyway. The quiet and beauty of the spot only enhance the enjoyment of the peaceful time that they found during that moment with each other.

When they reach the top, they pause for a moment, still on the bike, overlooking the awesome view before them. It is some of the most jaw-dropping scenery they’ve ever seen.  After a few minutes, Bucky takes one of her hands from around his waist and kisses it as he helps her off the bike.

With a practiced motion, he kicks the kickstand into place and dismounts, still holding her hand. With a slight pull, she comes into his arms, and they stand there, still amazed by the scenery around them.  They may have been reveling in their freedom with the wind in their faces, and in each other, but, unfortunately, they know there will soon be times where those free moments will be rarer than rare.

Bucky finally tries something, he sends ‘you look beautiful in that sweater.  Better than I ever imagined’ to her mind.  The atmosphere is just too peaceful to disturb by talking, and he is hoping she will welcome their mind link to talk rather than disturb the nature surrounding them.  He really wants to explore their link since he knows how valuable such an attribute can be in battle situations.  Not that he ever wants Bella to be in a battle, but he is being realistic, his lady is not one to sit back and allow others to fight her battles for her.  With her new abilities, she should be involved and will make sure they all know it.  He chuckles to himself about the fights to come from others who will try to prevent her from being on the battlefield.

Reveling in the warm caress of his mind, Bella answers back the same way, ‘Thank you. You were right, this way is not as intrusive as I thought it would be.’ Then she decides to tease him, ‘Though I wonder where you got the idea for this?’  She had caught T’Challa chuckling last night as she went for a snack, his grin getting bigger when he saw her.  Bella couldn’t deny the wish to know more about what was behind his amusement.

Hugging her tighter to him, he leans back into the tree behind him, resting his chin on her shoulder as he thinks about his answer.  ‘You kinda…shouted it?  No.  Not shouted.’ His confusion and slight aggravation leak through as he tries to explain. ‘But it leaked through. I couldn’t ignore it.  Sometimes certain things come through, things I guess are important for me to know?  If that makes sense.’  Bucky wants her to understand how it works just as much as he wants to know himself.  This is new to them both, and they need to talk to see if the experience is the same for each of them, or what differences there are.  But, putting his experiences into words is a lot harder than he thought it would be.

Thinking about it, Bella can understand. She has gotten the same type of things from him occasionally as well.  Mostly it’s been telling her where he is or if he would like something, and sometimes it feels like his actual thoughts.  Lately, it’s been telling her that he is waiting on her, that everything is up to her, and that he will wait forever if he needs to.  It’s been there in her mind, but until now, she hasn’t paid much attention to it.

So, with his words clarifying what she’s finding, Bella slowly nods, ‘Now that you’ve said it, you’ve explained it exactly. I can’t ignore the information, but it’s not as if I go into your head to get it,’ and in her words is a huge sense of relief.

He smiles.  Bucky turns slightly and gives her a kiss on the cheek as his mind answers, ‘Exactly!  This I can deal with easily. Maybe more later on, but for now, I want to keep you comfortable with the link.  I admit it was a chance, but there is not much even Steve can tell me about your likes and dislikes.  I counted it a blessing when I got the information about cashmere given to me,’ he offers, not caring how it sounds.  He had heard from Steve about things being different, but he has no issue telling his soulmate that he wants to know what will please her and what won’t and to give her gifts to show he is paying attention to her needs.

With a laugh, Bella turns to him and says out loud, “Then why don’t we spend today getting to know each other?”  It’ll be nice to know more about Bucky than what little she’s been able to find in the history books.  And history books, while a good source of information, are nothing on talking to the person’s face to face. Besides, history is written by the victors, so what she thought she knew could very well be wrong or skewed in some way. Even with her brother being so close to him, Bella has not wanted to intrude on their closeness, preferring to learn on her own.

With another kiss on her cheek, Bucky takes her hand as he straightens up, moving to the location that he had been told was the place for their picnic. He easily found the blanket which was laying out for them, as well as a basket waiting for them with goodies and drinks.  They sit down, and for the next few hours, they do nothing but talk, eat and relax with each other.

It’s not until the first stars are coming out that they realize how much time has passed.  Bucky’s laying on the blanket with Bella resting against yet another tree, his head in her lap.  He plays with one of her hands as her other moves his hair away from his face, combing it.  The peaceful moment is soothing for the two of them, especially with the turn their conversation has taken.

They are talking about some harder things now;  Bucky’s past, having already gone through Bella’s.  Bucky had been angry when he found out how close she had been to death already, but he had told her about his choices, and how he is much happier knowing that he had made the right choices, ones that saved not only her life but the lives of so many others.

Now he is telling the harder part: The part that he has shied away from often before bearing down and dealing with the truth of what his body had been made to do: How he murdered so many.  How he had trained another team to be better than he was.  How so much of Bella’s life was because of his actions: Bucky wants her eyes to be wide open about who he was and what he had been forced to do.

He doesn’t want anyone to be shocked to find out what he had done, especially her.  He still mourns for Howard’s, his friend’s, death, and for the fact that his actions had made the last action between Steve and Tony Stark not be one of friendship.  That action was defined by his own actions, one in particular: He had actually killed Howard and his wife in cold blood.

When he feels Bella’s feelings turning on the genius, Bucky takes the time to explain Tony to Bella, how he is very loyal to his friends, but at the same time, he has a hard time with guilt.  “Tony is a genius, and he wants to save everyone.  To find out that so many died, or could have died, from his inventions broke something inside of him.  The showman is gone.  The sight of this world in space and how frail it seems is one that is in the front of his mind.  He will do anything to save his friends and this planet.”

Tony is one that Bucky understands better than even Steve now.  Tony is going through what Bucky went through at the beginning of his service in the war.  To find out that his actions had, or could, cause death was very humbling and scary, and finding out how easy it would be to take someone’s life, while never getting his own hands bloody, was terrifying.  Then to have the experience of seeing Earth from space and seeing with his own eyes the might that the universe could bring to the frail jewel hanging in space, it is enough to break anyone.

Bella’s soft voice asks, “Then why does he turn away from Steve?  I know he’s not perfect, but there are good points to what Steve said.”  That’s part of why she’s confused:  She had met Tony, but it’s evident from what Bucky has said that there is more to the man than she had seen.  And seeing Tony after the battle had shown her a man who had been wracked with nightmares for the small amount of time that she had been there.

With a small smile on his face as he caresses her mind, which amazes him, Bucky says, “He does believe him now.  But Tony loves his father and mother, no matter how much they were not there for him.  The son and Father never saw eye to eye, but they loved each other deeply.  To find out the way he did that Steve knew I killed his parents and didn’t tell him made him lose his mind.  It didn’t matter that I didn’t do it of my own free will, or at least that is what they think.” He hadn’t admitted to anyone but Bella that it had been him in his right mind that made that choice.  To be honest, Bucky has no idea how to even tell Steve or, more importantly, Tony what the alternative had been.

Sighing, Bella comments, “It is so wrong now.  There are two factions, and they need to be on the same side, but politics is getting involved.  And personal feelings.  Either way, I have a bad feeling that someone is manipulating us all.” Frowning, Bella tries to figure out how to articulate the uneasy feeling she’d had since she’d been told about everything by Steve.

With a sharp glance at Bella, Bucky asks, “Loki?” He has been wondering if the Asgardian Prince has more to do with things than he had been told.  He knows he has Loki to thank for this new closeness with Bella, but at the same time, the man had killed more people in a week than Bucky had in all his years:  It was mind-numbing, trying to place the two widely differing aspects of the same person into one body.

Looking down at him, Bella shakes her head. “He’s just as much a victim in all of this as the rest of us.  He knows there is something wrong and is willing to face it to keep his brother and as many others alive with him as possible.  Loki doesn’t know what else to do, but he needs to be in control.

“The time under the Mind Stone did him no favors.  He was as much a slave as Eric Selvig and Hawkeye were, though I can understand how no one else saw it.” The last is said sadly, knowing that the man has suffered, and still suffers for what he has done, not to mention the torture he was subject to before being put under the Mind Stone.

Touched by the thoughts she has, and the evidence that she has thought through things more thoroughly than anyone else, Bucky reaches a hand up to her cheek.  His hand then glides down her soft skin to her lips, rubbing her lower lip that is often bitten, with his calloused thumb until he cannot help himself and leans up and kisses her.

The kiss is gentle, nothing like anyone would imagine from Bucky, except maybe Steve.  He worships her lips, and only pulls away to tell her, “You amaze me.”  His eyes and mind both show her how he is only saying what he is feeling.

Her eyes gaze into his, and she smiles down at him, “I amaze you?  You amaze me.  So much pain in your life, and you still want to do right by people.  You are a world-renowned assassin, a warrior that no one wants to go after without an army to back them up, and you think I’m amazing?  You treat me better than anyone in my life ever has.” She shakes her head in wonder and amazement.  He blows her away with his true self.

He leans up, turning his body in one smooth motion so he is facing her. Bucky then informs her, “And I will do so forever.  I had no idea about you specifically, but I did so much for a chance at happiness.  Now, seeing you, knowing you, the more I am around you, the more I want to make sure we do this right.  We have forever, and I want to take advantage of it.”  He shares with her his dreams, his wants in the hope that she wants the same.

Bella lifts an eyebrow, “And if I want you to?”  She asks and held her breath, hoping that Bucky will become all she had dreamed about as a child.

His eyes darken as his voice grows husky, “Then I am yours.  I am anything you want, milady.  You freed me, and I became your slave. No one can command me but you.  I give you that control.  I go as fast or as slow as you wish.  Just remember, we do have forever, there is no rush.” His blue eyes are shining brightly as he swore himself to the woman he is fal- no;  He is in love with.  He can admit it to himself.  He has long since fallen and is completely in love with her.

Unable to help the smile playing on her lips, Bella murmurs as she leans into him, “Then I wish you to kiss me, soldier.”

Bucky grins as he answers with an eyebrow arched, “Yes, Ma’am!”

Final count: 5,095

Fairfarren~