July 31st 1935

The summer ended too fast for Jo. While her and the boys had tried to go on as many adventure's as they could, the boys now had jobs of their own and didn't have as much free time as they once did. The clock in the living room had struck midnight and Jo sighed, pulling her knees to her chest as she felt the tears start to well in her eyes.

Every year, Bucky would call at midnight on the dot to make sure that he was the first to wish the girl 'happy birthday.' She knew he had gotten off at work later tonight, and part of her knew he wouldn't even call because he'd be too tired. But there was still a sting in her heart when she didn't hear the phone ring like it had for the two years previous. Wiping at her eyes, the girl collected herself and stood up from the fading floral couch. She made her way to the staircase to call it a night when there was a knock on the door.

Jo hesitated before making her way to the front door. She peaked through the small window seeing a mess of brown hair facing away from the door. Slowly, the small girl turned the lock and pulled the door open. "B-Bucky?" The boy was still in his work clothes. Tattered blue jeans from working in the construction yard all day and a dirt stained white t-shirt. "Thank god you're awake," the boy said, breathing a sigh of relief stepping into the doorway and placing a bouquet of flowers onto the small table beside the door. "I figured because I didn't call you would have gone to bed." he added on, pulling the girl into a big hug, burying his head into her wild mass of curly hair and breathing in the familiar scent of wild flowers.

Jo sniffled from under the boy, making Bucky pull away from her and gently grabbing her face in his hands. "Jo, are you crying Doll?" Bucky asked softly, wiping under her eyes to catch the tears right when they started to fall. "You didn't," the girl had to stop to take a deep breath. "You didn't call - I thought you forgot." the girl whispered, more tears welling up as Bucky looked down to the girl.

"Darling, I promised you months ago that I was here till the end." Bucky whispered, bringing her back into his arms and pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "Happy birthday little Jo Elliot." he muttered, pulling apart from her just enough that he could dip down and press his lips to her forehead, before resting his own against hers. Their noses brushed against each other as Bucky gave her a small smile. "Come on, I've been running around all night trying to get everything ready." Bucky finally announced, pulling away from the younger girl and handing her the bouquet of wildflowers.

Bucky stood and fought with the florist for thirty minutes about how he wanted the flowers to look. The woman insist on adding roses but Bucky knew Jo like the back of his hand - roses was the last thing he'd ever give her. Instead he requested a mass amount of field scabious, a purple flower that bloomed in the beginning of July, and slowly started to disappear towards the end of september. They were Jo's favourite, along with the rustic orange Marigolds that complemented the purple flowers beautifully. "Buck," Jo whispered with a small smile, bringing the flowers to her nose to inhale the sweet scent. "Do you like them?" Bucky asked, his voice full of hope.

"I love them." she confirmed with a smile, sniffling before wiping away any trace of tear stains from her face. "Come on, grab your house key we have somewhere to be." Bucky encouraged. The girl placed the flowers back down on the table and scooped up her house key from the small table and her shoes from the front door. "Bucky you worked all day, you should really get some sleep!" The girl called, as her best friend raced to his worn down car and opened the passenger door for her. Her shoes were still clutched in her hand as she locked the front door and chased after him. "There's no time for sleep, birthday girl. We have twenty four hours to make this the best birthday of your life." Bucky responded, closing the car door for her once she was in. He jogged over to the drivers side and quickly started the car.

"Did you take work off?" Jo asked as they drove away from her house. Bucky looked over to her as he drove down the empty road and chuckled. "My best friend only turns seventeen once." he shrugged, making Jo gasp. "Buck you need the money!" she exclaimed, hitting his arm as the boy laughed. He flicked on the radio, lucky enough to get his hands on one that was going to be scrapped. The boy installed his very own radio into his car as soon as he could, car radios were up and coming and the boy wanted to stay ahead of the game.

"My best friend needs me more." Bucky replied, shooting her a bright white smile and reaching out for her hand. "I know Steve and I haven't been around much because of work but I'm going to make it up to you." Bucky told her, bringing her hand up and placing a kiss to the back of it. The girl was thankful that it was dark and he couldn't see the blush forming on her cheeks. "You don't need-"

"No. I do. I promised you nothing would change and they did," Bucky cut the girl off before she could even protest. He let go of her hand to grab the steering wheel as he rolled down his window, Jo following in suit. "You're the most important thing in my life JJ, and you start school next week." he let out a sigh. "I missed the fourth of july because I had to work. I couldn't even take you to see the fireworks, I missed going to the beach with you and Steve because he had the time off." Bucky felt a tinge of jealousy knowing Steve got to enjoy more of the summer with the girl than he did himself. "I missed a summer full of saturday movie nights and sunday breakfast with your parents." Bucky sighed and shook his head, running his hand through his hair. "I'm here now." He said sternly which made Jo smile.

"You never left." Jo mumbled, turning to look out her open window. She had no idea where they were going, and honestly it didn't matter. Going anywhere with Bucky made her heart feel like it was soaring, and her mind felt at ease. She knew that no matter where they ended up the two of them could make it an adventure all in it's own and that alone is what mattered. Jo knew, that life with Bucky was an adventure and she had a first class ticket to enjoy it with him.