Marlena sat outside on the porch with her journal on her lap and her feet pulled up onto the seat of the swing in which she sat upon. She had just finished the breakfast Laura and Wanda had prepared for her birthday, as well as the gift exchanges she had never been anticipating. She had known she would become close with the Barton family over the course of the few months she had been staying with them, but she had never expected to become so close that they felt they needed to give her gifts for her birthday. She was touched that they thought so much of her, though, and she was more than touched with her gifts as well.

Aside from the gifts from Greyson, Tony, Steve, and Mason that had come in the mail, the Bartons and Wanda had done a fairly excellent job in contributing. Clint had gotten her a box full of flannels from multiple places, considering she loved the shirts more than she loved her own life sometimes; Laura had bought her multiple vinyl albums and a few books Marlena had talked about wanting; Wanda had bought her a necklace that matched the one she wore, though Marlena's consisted of a sapphire blue gem instead of a red gem. It wasn't much, but it was more than enough for Marlena.

Marlena scribbled away in her journal. She was writing down the events that had taken place in the last couple of days since she hadn't had the time to do so given the persistence of her temporary family and Wanda Maximoff. They had been very insistent on making sure she celebrated her birthday with them. With Bucky's absence, she hadn't really been wanting to do very much of anything, but they refused to allow that to effect the way she spent her birthday. They were tired of seeing her mope around all day, and if taking her out for a secluded dinner by the lake and then taking her to a bonfire meant freeing them of the moping, then they were game.

Marlena was working on her second page of the entry when the sound of footsteps crunching in the grass caught her attention. She looked up from the stationary to see Levi walking towards the house, a smirk on his face and a a small box in his hand. She let out a breath and closed the journal, sitting in down beside her after doing so.

"Happy birthday, Marzipan," Levi greeted as he stepped onto the porch, holding the box out to her.

She eyed it for several seconds before looking up at him. "I told you not to get me anything, Levi," she frowned and took the box from his hand.

"And I told you I do what I want," he chuckled before sitting down beside her, careful not to sit on her journal. "Don't just sit there and stare at it either. I paid too much damn money for you not to want it."

"How much did you freakin' pay?" she asked with a raised brow.

"About five hundred."

Her eyes widened in response to his words. "Levi," she chastised him.

He simply laughed. "You'd think as a telepath you would know I was lying, but I guess not. Just stop whining and open it, dumbass."

Marlena rolled her eyes at him and opened up the box, her glistening hazel eyes falling upon a beautiful—yet simple—piece of jewelry. It was a black hemp bracelet, its knotted strings conformed and centered around a blue gem, one that was very similar to the one hanging from her necklace. It was made beautifully and effortlessly, and Marlena knew instantly that the piece of jewelry was crafted too perfectly to have come out of a jewelry shop.

"Oh my gosh, Levi," Marlena said as she looked up at him. "Did you make this?"

He shrugged. "I don't mean to brag, but yeah I did make it. You don't have to tell me it's gorgeous, because I already know."

"You're a special one, Parrish," Marlena chuckled as she removed the bracelet from its case.

"I can't take all the credit, though," Levi said as he pulled the bracelet out of her grasp. "Chance helped me pick out the stone, which seems to almost match the one on your necklace; I say 'almost' because mine is better."

Marlena smiled and shook her head. "It must be nice having a boyfriend to help you out when you need it."

"Hey, I told you it was more than okay if you needed me to pretend to be your boyfriend if the situation called for it," Levi reminded her as he clasped the bracelet around her wrist. "I'd never kiss you because your face is revolting, but I'd hold the title in case I needed to kick someone's ass."

"You are such an asshole," Marlena exclaimed as she swatted at his arm. "You told me I had the face of a model last week, and now you're telling me my face is revolting? What kind of best friend are you?"

"The honest kind," he smirked, sitting back in his seat.

Marlena rolled her eyes playfully and picked her journal back up. "I hate you."

"No you don't," he teased, eyeing the journal in her hands. She had opened it up and continued her writing, which made Levi slightly curious. He knew she kept a journal, but he wasn't so sure why that was. In his opinion, she didn't seem to be the type of person to keep a journal, despite the insane amount of hell she had gone through. It just didn't appear to be her style.

"I can hear your thoughts, y'know," Marlena said as she wrote, not once looking up at him. "There's no trouble in asking a question."

"But why ask a question I know you won't answer, Marlena Claire?" Levi said. "You're a little shit sometimes."

Marlena snickered but continued writing. "That may be true, but you'll never know unless you take the chance."

Levi let out a breath. "Okay, fine—why do you keep a journal?"

"I like to write down things that have been happening so Bucky can read about them when he gets out of cryo," she answered. "I don't want him to miss anything."

Levi frowned and nodded. The two of them hadn't talked very much about Bucky, but Levi knew just how important he was to her, and he knew his absence had been the reason she had been so heartbroken the past couple of months. He had never in his life seen someone so in love with someone else; he didn't even think his relationship with his boyfriend could compare to the one she used to have with Bucky. "I think that's the most beautiful thing ever."

A ghost of a smile appeared on Marlena's face as she listened to his words. "I appreciate your opinion more than you know, Levi Parrish."

Levi opened his mouth to respond, but wasn't given the chance before he caught sight of something in the sky. He looked into the vast blue above to see what looked like a jet of some sort lowering itself into the treeline not too far from Clint's yard. He nudged Marlena's arm, but before he could even point out the jet to her it had disappeared from sight.

"What, Levi?" she asked as she looked up at him, completely oblivious to the fact that a quinjet had just landed many yards away from the house she sat outside of.

Levi looked away from the treeline and looked at Marlena, a certain fear sparking inside him. He wasn't sure who was flying the jet or who was inside the jet; all he knew was that the unknown scared him, regardless of the fact he was in the presence of one of Earth's mightiest human beings. "Something like a jet of sorts just landed in the trees."

She raised a brow, unable to believe a word he was saying. "'Something like a jet of sorts?' Are you sure? Maybe you used a little bit too much hemp to make this bracelet," Marlena chuckled.

"Listen here, you sarcastic little shit," Levi exclaimed as he removed the journal from her hands and sat it down beside him. "I know what I saw, and you would know, too, if you weren't such a lazy ass telepath."

"Whoa there, buddy. There's no need for such hostility," she snickered.

Levi rolled his eyes. "You're pretty powerful, right? I mean, you threw me into a tree with a wave of your hand when we first met."

"I guess so?" Marlena said slowly, unsure of where he was going with his statement. "What are you getting at?"

"C'mon, we're gonna go see who the hell just invited themselves to your little birthday party," Levi said.

He grabbed Marlena's wrist and pulled her from her spot before she had the time to respond. Levi pulled her down the porch stairs and onto the gravel of the pathway, much to her despair. She wasn't sure where he was taking her, and she wasn't sure she even wanted to know. All she was sure of was that he was an idiot—a very paranoid idiot.

"You're an idiot, Levi!" Marlena exclaimed loudly as he pulled her further into the yard.

"Shut up, dumbass," he said through his teeth. "You're gonna get us killed."

"I will scream so loud. Try me," Marlena threatened him.

Levi stopped and cursed under his breath as the sound of a twig snapping met his ears. He twisted around and clamped his hand over Marlena's mouth before she had the chance to say anything. He picked her small body up as if it were a football and began running back to the house with her in his grasp. She struggled in his arms, kicking her legs and trying to remove his hand from her mouth, but nothing worked, not even licking his palm.

"You're gonna have to do a lot more than lick my hand to set yourself free, baby," he exclaimed as he continued running, glancing behind him to see if the twig snapper had made an appearance. This proved to be his first mistake.

Levi's eyes widened in surprise and shock as he took in the sight of the five figures making their way out of the treeline and into the open. His lack of attention at his front, however, caused him to trip over a rock. He fell to the ground with Marlena still in his hold, though he released his grip on her in order to grasp his now-bleeding arm.

Marlena let out a groan and rolled over on her back, her eyes falling upon the blue skies above her. "What the hell, man?" she breathed out.

"I'm bleeding," Levi stated as he held his arm with his hand.

Marlena rolled her eyes and pulled herself from the ground, turning to help her idiot friend off of the ground. "Like I said—you're an idiot."

"Maybe so," he shrugged, averting his attention behind her while she examined his arm. "But I wasn't lying when I said I saw a jet, Mar."

Marlena looked up at Levi with furrowed brows, but he wasn't looking at her. He was still looking behind her, and so Marlena turned around to see exactly what it was gazing so intently at. Her breath caught in her throat when she was met with the sight of five men, though her gaze had fallen on one man in particular, one man she wasn't sure she'd ever see again, yet there he stood a mere feet away from her.

The tears pricked in her eyes as she looked at Bucky Barnes, and before she could even think she was running to him as fast as she possibly could. An enormous grin pulled onto Bucky's face as she made her way to him, and in seconds she was jumping into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck. She held onto him as if she was afraid to lose him again, which she was. Bucky had been gone for three months, and though that wasn't exactly much time, to Marlena it felt like years.

"Hi, sweetheart," he said quietly as he (surprisingly) wrapped both arms around her. To him, being in cryo felt like no time had passed at all, but the first thing he asked for when they took him out was Marlena. He missed her more than anything, and to finally have her back made him ecstatic.

"What the hell? Why are you here?" she asked, her face buried into his neck.

Bucky moved to pull away from her so he could answer her properly, but she refused to allow it. She simply squeezed him tighter, causing him to laugh. "They let me out of cryo."

Marlena pulled away long enough to press her lips to his in a longing and passionate kiss. She had missed everything about him, including the feeling of his lips against hers. The only thing that managed to pull them apart was their need for oxygen, as well as the sound of Sam Wilson's voice.

"Save the reunion sex for later, please," he teased the couple. "We have more important issues to deal with at the moment."

Marlena smiled and jumped back to the ground, running over and wrapping Sam in a tight hug. "I've missed your annoying sexual remarks, Sammy."

He laughed, while Steve let out a sigh beside him. "I sure haven't."

"Steven," Marlena exclaimed happily, removing herself from Sam to hug Steve.

"Hey, Mar," Steve greeted her with a smile.

Tony narrowed his eyes at the two from where he stood, feeling slightly left out. "I think as the richest and best looking of the group I deserve a hug, too."

Marlena pulled away from Steve and looked at Tony, a small smile coming onto her face. She hadn't seen him once since the fight in Siberia, and she couldn't help but feel a bit glad that he was here, not to mention he was here with Steve and Bucky. There seemed to be no problems between them as far as she could see, and that made her happy. "It's good to see you, Tony," she said as she hugged him.

"It always is."

"I would ask you to hug me, too, but I do not like you, so. . ."

Marlena looked over at Pietro with raised brows while he smirked at her, slowly inching his way passed her. "I didn't wanna hug your nasty ass anyway," she remarked with narrowed eyes.

Pietro simply smiled and ruffled her hair before speeding off towards the house, Tony following closely behind him. She frowned and fixed her hair, which was much much shorter than the three men remembered it being. It was slightly shorted than Bucky's hair, which disturbed Sam. He had to refrain from making a remark about it, however.

"Please stop staring at me," Marlena grumbled as she pulled whatever amount of hair she could back into an elastic. "I know it's short, but it'll grow back."

Someone cleared their throat behind Marlena, and she lowered her hands and turned around to see Levi. He was still holding his arm, but his focus seemed to remain on Marlena, as well as the three men still standing in front of her. Marlena rolled her eyes at him and walked over to him, grabbing his arm in her grasp. It was still bleeding, though not as much as it had been before.

"This is what you get for being stupid," Marlena chastised him.

Sam, Steve, and Bucky all exchanged wary glances, unsure of who this boy was. All they could gather was that he seemed to be very close to Marlena, and for some reason Bucky didn't like that at all. He believed he was too attractive to just be friends with a female as beautiful as Marlena.

"That's not why I was clearing my throat, you shithead," Levi remarked.

Marlena simply ignored him and took off the flannel she was wearing, leaving her in a graphic tank top she had stolen from Wanda.

"What the shit?" Sam muttered from Bucky's side. "She's stripping for him."

Bucky shot Sam a glare and turned his attention back to Marlena, who was busy wrapping her shirt tightly around Levi's stupidly muscular arm. The sight of it almost made him jealous.

"That hurts," Levi winced.

"Do you wanna bleed out?" Marlena exclaimed. "Because if you do I can help speed up the process."

Levi shook his head quickly as Marlena finished tying her makeshift tourniquet around his arm. "You're the best. Thank you."

"Who's your friend, Mar?" Sam asked before she had the chance to respond to Levi.

She turned to look at the three of them, ignoring the expressions on their faces. "This is Levi; he's an idiot. Levi, this is Bucky Barnes, Steve Rogers, and Sam Wilson; they're idiots just like you."

Levi glared at her, holding his injured arm in his other hand. "I ought to punch you in the face."

"Good luck with that, pal," Marlena smirked, placing her hands behind her back.

"It was lovely meeting you guys," Levi said as he turned to look at the three men, all of whom were eyeing the pair skeptically. "But I think I need to go to a hospital now."

"You do that," Bucky said slowly, wanting nothing more than for him to get away from his Marlena.

Levi gave a nod and leaned down to Marlena's ear, speaking at a frequency that only she could hear. "If you don't jump that man's bones tonight, just shoot me a text and I'll be right over to do it for you. He'll forget what being in cryo ever felt like when he gets a taste of this hot piece of meat."

Marlena's mouth fell open in shock, and Levi pulled away from her, looking down at her with a smirk on his face. She was much too flustered to respond, so Levi just kissed her on the cheek before sauntering off, seeming very pleased with himself.

"What did he just say to you?" Bucky asked her, refraining from also asking why he had the audacity to put his lips on her face.

Marlena shot her head over to look at him, Levi's words still swimming around inside her mind, though she wanted nothing more than for them to disappear. "N-Nothing, uh. . .let's go inside."

She smiled and grabbed a hold of his hand before she began pulling him towards the house, Sam and Steve following closely behind them. It was then that Marlena actually felt happy, and she knew it was because of Bucky being back. Her heart was finally whole again, and she wished nothing more than for it to stay that way.