Venus | James B. Barnes✔️

lxii. 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎'𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝

"HOW'D YOU know I'd be in New York?" Evelyn asked them as she felt around for her phone to let Bucky know where she was. She knew he hated his phone, but she also knew he was constantly checking it while she was gone for updates. He was worried, and she was as well. She was ready to get back to him.

"We were passing through. Dropped Wanda off with Vision, and they're going off on their own," Natasha told her. Evelyn noticed she had cut and dyed her hair blonde.

Sam nodded, grinning at Evelyn. "Yeah, and we saw all of the cops heading to a Burger King. Steve put it together that we should check it out, just in case."

Steve shrugged when her eyes went to his. She squeezed his hand, not having let it go yet. "Well, thanks."

"Were you seeing Tony?" Steve asked her.

She nodded. "He wanted to tell me about his engagement, catch up. It was nice, oddly." She finally let go of Steve's hand as she pulled the hologram off of her head. "Gave me this back. Friday? Disable all tracking."

"Done."

"Which was probably his main purpose," Evelyn said with a sigh. "Still a nice thought. Where are you guys heading?"

"Italy. Didn't you say Venice was nice?" Steve asked cheekily.

Evelyn laughed, leaning her head back. "It was. I brought something in case I ran into you guys." She reached into her pocket, pulling out the small wallet. "It's got enough for a while. That way you're not killing each other for food and shit."

"Thanks, Evelyn," Natasha said kindly.

"No problem," Evelyn said in return, glancing outside of the jet.

"We planned to drop you close to Wakanda," Steve said after a while. "I know you want to get back to him. How is he?"

Evelyn told him all about Bucky Barnes. She told him about the success of the procedure. She told him about their small home they were given for doing chores and stuff for the country. She told him about all of the stories he was remembering, which made Steve's smile widen harder than ever.

When they grew close to the country, they stopped in a nearby town to refuel the jet and themselves. Evelyn decided to stay there to wait for her transportation of Ayo to pick her up once she would hit the button on the device the woman gave her. There was no teary goodbyes as the trio went back on the run. She promised to be there if they needed her just as they did the same. She knew the money she gave them would help out immensely, and for that, she was grateful for the Stark account.

When she returned to Wakanda, she began walking back to her home. It was dark, and Bucky was lying on the bed, his arm behind his head as his steely blue eyes stared at the ceiling—worry obviously in them. He twitched when he heard the door open, his gaze shifting to hers. A beautiful smile appeared on his face, something of sunshine. He was beautiful. There was no other word for it.

He sat up quickly, only wearing sweatpants. His chest was on full display, including the stub where his arm should have been. She knew he was self conscious about it, but he refused the offer of a new arm unless necessary. It was almost as if the arm represented Hydra, and he wanted no ties to it again.

"Hey, honey," she murmured, scared to talk too loud.

"Hey," he greeted back, just as quiet.

He watched as Evelyn took off her clothes, putting on a night dress that she had gotten from the Wakandans. She scrubbed off her makeup before turning and practically falling into the bed next to him.

"Long day?"

She dramatically turned her head, a small smile on her lips as he stared down at her as if she was the most precious thing on the planet. "Yeah. Tony and Pepper seemed happy. For being on the run, Steve was as well."

Bucky nodded, shifting to lie next to her properly. His arm wrapped around her waist as he sighed.

"What'd you do today?"

"Worry 'bout you," Bucky murmured into her hair. "Shuri visited."

"What'd she have to say?" she asked softly, reaching down to grab his hand—intertwining their fingers. "Anything good?"

Bucky hummed. "Just wanted to see how everything was. Showed me a few things... the children are always here in the morning. She ran them off."

Evelyn chuckled softly. "They like you."

"Yeah, I'm aware," Bucky responded gruffly. "I would think children should fear me."

"Why?" she asked, turning her head to look at him properly. "You're a big teddy bear."

Bucky rolled his eyes, but she saw a smile falling on his lips. "Yeah, right."

Evelyn turned all the way so that she was staring at him. "You are," she murmured, leaning her head up to kiss him three times in a row. "Big softy at heart. I love it."

"You love everything about me, doll."

"It's true. I'm easily pleased when it comes to you," she whispered, leaning forward to kiss his chin. He smirked at her words. She trailed the kisses up his neck toward his ear as she felt him tighten his arm around her waist. He sucked in a breath of air when she bit his ear. "I did miss you all day."

Bucky grinned at her words, moving his face to meet her lips once again.

They cherished these moments, not ever wanting the peace... the calm to end.

But, like everything, it would.

It did.

The following week, Bucky and Evelyn woke up to the children's laughter outside—calling for the White Wolf and White Tiger. Bucky groaned quietly before getting up after kissing Evelyn's bare shoulder. As he got ready for the day, Evelyn took her time to admire her husband.

A few days ago, they had gotten it official.

Shuri got her hands on wedding papers, getting everything official finally. She was Evelyn Vanna Stark Barnes—refusing to get rid of Stark for her brother's sake. Bucky did not care. He was just glad she was his wife forever. There was nothing keeping her from him anymore, and he savored every moment.

Evelyn finally got up after Bucky gave her a look when they heard the children giggling further. She hurried to dress, doing her business before following him outside for their chores.

For the rest of the morning, everything was fine as they tended to their garden and goats. It was when Bucky furrowed his eyebrows questionably that Evelyn realized something was wrong.

"James, what is it?" she asked as she turned to see Okoye and King T'Challa and two other guards walking toward them with a large case.

When the group made it to them, the two guards placed the case down—opening it to show the contents. Inside was a brand new Vibranium arm and a new Vibranium black and white suit.

Bucky sighed, resignation clear in his voice as he asked, "Where's the fight?"

Evelyn frowned, tears springing in her eyes as T'Challa sadly responded, "On its way."