Chapter Fourteen 
Soroya

"They're so adorable when they aren't screaming in our ears." Bucky whispers to me as we watch our grandchildren sleep.

We promised Livy and Zy we would watch John and T'Challa while they go out for dinner with Stevie and Lee. They're celebrating Lee becoming a Light Knight and Stevie getting Sam's shield. When they told us the news Bucky and I could hardly contain ourselves, we were bursting with joy and pride. We would have joined them but we had already promised Livy and Zy a night off. With Zy running the kingdom and doing his duties to the Universal Alliance, Livy going back to work at the hospital, and becoming parents to two kids, they needed a break. It's been half an hour since they all left and we've spent that entire time trying to get the boys to sleep. They finally have after I began to sing 'Moon Tiger' to them. We should have thought of that immediately, my singing is exactly what put Livy and Stevie to sleep as babies. Something to remember for our next time babysitting.

"They still aren't nearly as loud as Stevie was." I remind him.

Bucky tries to stifle a chuckle so he doesn't wake the babies up. "Stevie had quite the set of lungs as a baby."

I sigh, glancing between John and T'Challa, who are both huddled up under paw print blankets in their cribs. "I can't believe we're grandparents."

"I know. What do you think they should call us? Grandma and Grandpa? Nana and Papa? Granny and Grandad?"

"I like Grandma and Grandpa. Do we know what Nakia is going by?"

"I asked her earlier while you were changing the boys and she said Nana."

"Good because I'd hate to have to use our names too. 'Grandma Soroya' doesn't have a good ring to it."

"Yeah, I'm not a big fan of Grandpa Bucky'."

Bucky steps away from the cribs and sits down in the rocking chair in the corner, the same one that was in Livy's nursery and then Stevie's. I follow him and sit on his lap, leaning my head against his shoulder, feeling his arms lock around my waist. We sit there in silence for a long moment, watching our sleeping grandchildren, the sun finally starting to set, basking us and the city outside in a gorgeous gold light, a light that makes the nursery shine with it's nearly identical gold paint. We helped set the room up about a month ago, it's in a room connected to Livy and Zy's. It's beautiful, filled to the brim with toys and books and everything two kids could ever want.

"Are you doing alright?" Bucky asks me softly. "With Sam gone?"

I shrug. "I miss him, but I'm happy for him and Jade. They deserve this."

"So you're not worried about being director by yourself?"

"I plan on holding a meeting tomorrow to discuss if there's a candidate the team has in mind for Sam's replacement, but if not I'll be fine. I'll figure it out."

"You know I'll be here to help you in any way I can."

I nuzzle closer to him, smiling to myself. "Thank you, Liebchen."

After another pause, Bucky asks: "When do you think we should retire?"

"Why? Are you thinking about retiring?"

"No, but I think it's important to have a retirement plan. And since Sam and Jade announced their retirement I've been thinking a lot about ours."

I feel a larger smile tug at my lips. "What do you have in mind for our retirement?"

"I think when we retire we should take a long vacation, just the two of us. Then after that I think I'll look for a retirement job, because I'm incapable of not working. Maybe I'll teach at the institute. And since I know not working will drive you insane too, maybe you could finally live out your dream and start dancing professionally."

"You think after all these years I could still make it as a dancer?"

"Sweetheart, the moment you step onto a stage people will be lining up to see how incredible you are."

I feel my chest tighten and I lift my head up to place a kiss on his cheek. "I like this retirement plan."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, but I can't see myself retiring for many years. According to Shuri I'm going to live into my one hundred and eighties if I'm lucky. I want to spend as much of that time as possible making change and helping those who need it."

Bucky's metal knuckles begin lightly trailing up and down my back. "I know."

"Maybe I'll retire in my one hundred fifties."

"When you're one hundred fifty I'll be...two hundred and twenty one. Well past retirement eligibility."

I can't help but laugh. "Oh the amount of jokes Alex will make when we retire."

"At that point I will have dealt with Alex for one hundred and twenty four years so I think I'll be immune to his remarks by then."

"I think you could know Alex for an eternity and never be immune."

Bucky tilts his head from side to side and nods, seeing my point. "It doesn't matter what comments about my age he'll make. All I'll care about is all the time I'll get to spend with you and our family."

I place a soft, lingering kiss on his lips, whispering into the darkening room: "I'm excited for our retirement, but I'm equally as excited for all the years leading up to it."

"Those years will certainly be interesting."

"If not dangerous."

"Oh they'll definitely be dangerous."

I kiss him again, this time a little longer, and I say against his lips: "It's days like these where it can be hard to remember why we do the job we do. We just fought another battle, we're healing from some pretty intense injuries, there are several planets that need our help to rebuild, and I'm positive that tomorrow some other life threatening problem will arise...but even with all the chaos and danger in our lives, I wouldn't change a thing."

Bucky pulls his face away from mine so I can see his smile, and it's infectious. "Neither would I."

"Really? You no longer want a peaceful life?"

-

Bucky

Do I want a peaceful life? That's all I ever used to want. It's what I used to crave with every fiber of my bones, a day when the fighting would end and I could reclaim the life that was taken from me all those years ago by HYDRA. It's what I promised my sister I would find someday. But peace is a relative term, as I've come to realize, and with a kiss on my wife's cheek, I answer:

"These last couple decades with you, fighting these battles, facing these challenges, having these adventures...it's been the greatest privilege of my life. Even when we do retire one day, I'll look back on these years of chaos and danger and think how lucky I was to have lived through them."

She sits up a little in my lap and places her hands on my chest, her face mere inches from mine. "Really?"

I use my flesh hand to cup her face and bring her lips fully onto mine, her hands gliding over my chest and shoulders, slowly snaking into my hair, my metal hand splayed across her lower back. We pause though when one of the babies makes a cooing noise, which causes us to break into hushed laughter.

"Yes," I drop my voice even lower to not jinx it. "Peace to me isn't a life without fighting and danger. Peace is being happy with the people I love in the home we've built. You, our brothers, our children, our grandchildren, our friends...that's my peace."

Lena brushes her lips with mine, a feather light touch, then leans her forehead against mine. "That's mine too, and I'm grateful everyday that I have it."

I tighten my grip on her, smiling playfully. "I bet you're grateful you didn't shoot me in that safe house all those years ago."

This gets a laugh out of her, one that comes out a little louder than intended. She waits a solid thirty seconds before speaking again. "So am I. If only I'd known what meeting you again would mean back then."

"Would you have done anything different?"

Lena, with a half grin, leans her head back down against my chest, her fingers interlaced with mine. "Not a thing, Liebchen. Not a thing."