The brightness of the sun found its way through Marlena's bedroom curtains, lighting up her fair skin with a beautiful golden hue. The light fell upon her closed eyelids, causing the petite girl to let out a groan. She pulled her comforter over her head and rolled over in bed, once again oblivious to the fact that she had been laying on the very edge of the bed to begin with. Marlena squealed as she fell and hit the ground with a very distinct thud. She let out a huff and threw the comforter off of her body before sitting up, now fully awake and very annoyed that she had allowed that to happen again.

She sighed and pushed back the hairs that had fallen from her ponytail before glancing up at the clock on her bedside table. It was 11:37, which confused her slightly. She was always up before 10:30 because of Mason, but he hadn't woken her up this morning which was rather strange. Marlena stood up, gathering the comforter and placing it back on her messy bed. Her eyes flickered over towards the couch where Bucky should have been sleeping, and she grew shocked to find that he was awake and looking at her with a mixture of amusement and another emotion she couldn't quite read on his face.

"Did you see that?" she questioned him.

He chuckled and nodded his head, causing her to frown. She wished she wasn't so clumsy, but she couldn't exactly help it. Her dad and his mom were two of the clumsiest people she knew, so it was in her genes. "You are quite possibly the clumsiest person I've ever met."

"It's just who I am," she replied as she looked at the clock again. She scratched her head and turned back to Bucky, more than ready to speak again until he cut her off.

"There's a woman here," he stated. "I heard her come in at around four in the morning." Bucky remembered being fairly startled when he heard the front door open earlier in the morning. He thought the government had found him, or worse, Hydra. He even left the comfort and safety of Marlena's room to see if he could assess the potential threat, but when he realized that the woman talking on the phone was somehow of relation to Marlena, he found himself sauntering back into Marlena's room without another thought.

"A woman?" Marlena double-checked. She was ninety-nine percent positive she knew who the woman was, but she hadn't been expecting her for at least three more days.

Bucky nodded and Marlena scoffed, rushing over to the door. She stopped halfway out the door and turned to face Bucky, who was looking over at her with a dubious look on his face. "If you want to take a shower and get dressed, that would be lovely. Just come downstairs when you're ready." She didn't even give him the chance to respond before she sped out of her room and headed down the stairs.

The smell of bacon and maple syrup flooded into her nostrils, and Marlena hurried towards the kitchen. She shoved the kitchen door open, only to be met with the excited voice of her little brother and the very familiar figure standing by the stove.

"Mom?" Marlena started as she walked further into the kitchen. "What are you doing here? You're supposed to be in California."

Her mother scoffed at the greeting and threw a piece of french toast onto a plate. "Hello to you, oh dear daughter of mine. No 'How was your flight?' or 'I'm so glad to see you.'? I feel so much love." She turned around and sat a plate of food down in front of Marlena's normal seat at the island before turning to face her daughter.

"You know I'm happy you're back," she told her mother as she hugged her tightly, "but I just wasn't expecting you to be home so soon, or at least back on the east coast so soon."

"Well, I finished what I needed to get done, so I decided to come home early and spend some time with my two beautiful children before I'm forced to go back to work."

Marlena shoved a piece of bacon into her mouth while her mother poured her a glass of apple juice. "How much is 'some time' exactly?"

"Three days, doofus," her mom retorted, turning back to the stove to fix some more food. "It's not long, but I've missed you guys."

"We've missed you too, Mom!" Mason exclaimed with a mouth full of french toast. Their mother laughed and continued cooking.

The kitchen was silent for about five more minutes, disregarding the sound of the food cooking on the stove. Marlena stuffed a piece of french toast into her mouth when she began to hear the faint sound of a shower running upstairs. She hoped desperately that her mother wouldn't hear it, but much to her despair, she did. Her mom stopped cooking and looked up at the ceiling with furrowed eyebrows before shifting her focus on her kids.

"Why is the shower running?" she asked skeptically, just as the water switched off.

Perfect timing, Bucky, Marlena thought.

Mason giggled knowingly and Marlena pursed her lips. She was surprised the little rat hadn't told on her yet. "Hallie's taking a shower."

"No she's not. Hallie doesn't wake up until like one-something in the afternoon, and it's only almost twelve. Plus, her car wasn't outside when I pulled in this morning; I only saw yours," her mother replied as she removed the remnants of the breakfast foods from the stove.

Marlena sighed and pushed her half-empty plate away. She wanted to tell her mom about Bucky, but she wasn't sure how she would react to the information. Despite the fact that Marlena was nineteen and an adult, her mother still had very strict rules regarding who she brought in the house when she wasn't home, more specifically, what gender she brought in the house when she wasn't home. It had been that way since Marlena's last relationship ended; it was to protect her, of course, but Marlena didn't need to be protected from Bucky Barnes.

"Okay, look," Marlena started as her mom moved to stand across from her. "I met this guy yesterday at the Smithsonian—"

"Weird place to meet a guy, but go on," her mother interrupted.

Marlena shook her head in amusement and continued. "The thing is, he needed my help with something really important and I couldn't exactly turn him down. So, I brought him here and he stayed the night," Marlena murmured.

Her mom raised a brow and put her fork down. "What did he need help with? Unbuckling his pants?" And this was the wonderful Miranda Claire that Marlena's father had fallen in love with when he was only fifteen years old; her outstanding wit and her sarcastic nature had drew him right in, and even now she acted much the same. It gave her a comforting atmosphere that many people seemed to enjoy.

"Mom," Marlena groaned, "it's not like that at all; I'm almost positive that he's not even like that. You actually know him fairly well, really."

"Do I, now?"

"Yes, you do."

Miranda narrowed her eyes at her daughter and picked up her glass of apple juice, bringing it to her lips. The sound of footsteps could be heard coming towards the kitchen, and all three of the Claires turned their heads at the sound of the door creaking open. Bucky walked through the door now dressed in a plain black t-shirt, a pair of Marlena's dad's blue jeans, and his black boots. His hair was also damp, revealing that he had just washed it.

Marlena smiled at him, as did Mason, but Miranda, on the other hand, practically choked on her drink. It wasn't because the man in her house was dressed in her late husband's clothes, but it was because of who this man was. She had learned enough about Bucky Barnes from Marlena's great grandfather as well, not to mention Marlena's grandfather and her father. She felt the same way Marlena did when she first saw him; she didn't believe it could possibly be him, but she couldn't not believe it either.

Miranda sat her glass down and hurried over to grab a paper towel to cough into. Marlena, Bucky, and Mason stared at the woman with shared expressions of surprise on their faces. Marlena had expected her mom to feel some sort of way about seeing Bucky for the first time, but she didn't think she would nearly choke to death on her drink because of it. It was amusing to her, yet incredibly frightening all at the same time.

When Miranda had finally calmed down, she let out a deep breath and looked back over at Bucky before glancing down at her daughter with a rather incredulous expression on her face.

"Surprise?" Marlena squeaked with an innocent smile.

Miranda looked back at Bucky. "Bucky Barnes?"

"Yes, ma'am," he answered as politely as he possibly could.

Miranda could hardly think properly. This wasn't supposed to be anywhere close to possible, but it was, and it was messing with her mind. "W-what? How is this possible? How are you here?" Her eyes flashed to his metal arm and widened slightly. "And what happened to your arm?"

"I was experimented on by Hydra after I fell off the train; it was their technology that allowed me to survive and also provided me with this cybernetic arm to replace the one I lost during the fall. They wiped my memory soon after that and put me on ice. I've been in cryostasis for the past seventy years," Bucky explained quietly. He didn't mind her knowing, nor did he even mind twelve-year-old Mason knowing. He knew that he could trust the Claires, just as he trusted his good friend Joseph Claire so many years ago. He just couldn't tell them about the Winter Soldier. It'd ruin everything, and he was doing so good.

Miranda gaped at the man in front of her, still unable to process all this information. She turned to look at her daughter and took a deep breath. "Well, I have to say I'm glad you brought him home instead of some random douchebag."

"Mom," Marlena warned while Mason snickered beside her.

"What?" Miranda exclaimed, throwing her hands up in defeat. "I'm just saying. You don't have a very nice history with guys. It's just good to know you're acquainted with one who won't try to kill you, that's all."

Bucky wondered what she could possibly mean by that, but wasn't given the chance to even continue thinking about it when Marlena's voice sounded.

"And on that note, I'm leaving," Marlena said to her mom as she hopped off of her stool. "Bucky and I are going to go to the mall so I can buy him some decent fitting clothes to wear."

"Oh, have fun with that," Miranda chimed as she took another sip of her drink.

Marlena looked at Bucky. "If you want to stay down here and talk to my idiot mother, you're more than welcome to. I'm sure she has plenty to talk about with you."

"You're right, my idiot daughter!" Miranda chimed from the island.

Bucky seemed slightly startled with the fact that he would have to engage in conversation with someone else other than Marlena, despite the fact that it was only her mother. The only reason he was even remotely comfortable with speaking to her in the first place was because of Marlena's presence, but she was about to head upstairs to get ready, leaving him alone with her mother and her brother; the thought was unsettling to him.

Marlena noticed Bucky's expression and smiled, placing a comforting hand onto his flesh-arm. She knew why he was feeling the he was, but she didn't want him to feel that way. "It's okay, you'll be fine. I'll be right back."

Bucky calmed slightly in response to her words and watched as she took off through the kitchen doors.

Marlena ran up the stairs and into her bedroom, just in time for her phone to start ringing. She groaned in annoyance but ran over to grab it anyway.

"Hello?" she answered without bothering to check the caller ID. She had a very good feeling about who it could possibly be, though.

"I've called you like five times!" Hallie exclaimed over the speaker. "I was beginning to think you actually hated me."

Marlena chuckled and sat down on her bed. "I'm annoyed with you, but I could never hate you."

"That's what I called to talk to you about in the first place," Hallie spoke again. "Look, I'm sorry about yesterday. It was rude, and the weather was bummin' me out."

"It's okay, Hallie," Marlena sighed, "I just wish for once in your life you would listen to me when I try to tell you something."

Hallie scoffed. "I do listen to you. This particular issue is different though; I'm still convinced your friend is a dangerous psychopath."

Marlena frowned at her words. The way Hallie spoke about Bucky really did bother her, but she didn't want to tell her that. It would only start another argument between the two of them. "Look, Hallie, I don't have time for this right now. Maybe we can talk later on today or something."

"Why not now? It's not like you have anything to do," Hallie chuckled.

Marlena rolled her eyes. "I do, actually. I'm going to the mall with James." The name felt strange coming out of her mouth, but she had to call him that to keep her out of the loop. If she called him Bucky around Hallie, she would be able to put the pieces together much faster, and Marlena didn't want her asking questions she couldn't answer.

"Really? Wow. I didn't see that coming," Hallie murmured.

"I'll talk to you later, okay?"

Hallie mumbled an almost inaudible "okay" before hanging up the phone.

Marlena sighed and headed over to her closet just as she had intended to when she first stepped foot in her room. She rummaged through the multiple clothing items for about three minutes until finally picking out an outfit. In minutes she was dressed in a pair of dark wash jeans, a flowy white t-shirt, an olive green cargo jacket, and her black ankle boots.

Once she was dressed, she headed over to the mirror to do her makeup, applying only a few layers of mascara, some eyeshadow, and foundation. She did her hair last; she threw it up into a messy bun and finished it off with a cute bandanna to match her outfit.

When she took notice of the time, she rushed over to grab her purse and her car keys, as well as Bucky's jacket and hat and hurried back down the stairs. She headed into the kitchen, stopping when she noticed Bucky and her mom actually conversing with each other; she blamed it on her mom's comforting aura.

"I'm ready, Bucky," she said to the super-soldier. Bucky and her mom looked over at the sound of her voice, both of them smiling at her.

"It's about time, Mar," her mother teased. Marlena stuck her tongue out at her mom, only for her to laugh in response.

She bade her mom a goodbye before taking off for the front door with Bucky, handing him his jacket and hat in the process.

"So, what did you two talk about?" Marlena wondered as she stepped out the front door.

Bucky shrugged with a small smile hinting at the corner of his lips. "Not much. She did help to jog a few memories though."

Marlena smiled and approached the driver's side of her sleek black 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee, stopping only to look at Bucky. "So, I take it we're making progress?"

"Slight progress, but yes." Marlena smiled at him once again, and soon enough the two were taking off down the street.