OCTOBER 2018

★ ★ ★

Marlena rushed around the house picking up clothes and toys that her very ornery one year olds had decided to leave scattered throughout the house. She thought her life working with the Avengers had been exhausting, but being a full-time mother, wife, and sister proved to be much worse. She loved being a mother, though, and she loved even more that she was a mother to twins. Becoming a mother at the age of twenty-three wasn't exactly what she had planned for her or even Bucky for that matter, but she managed to make it work, even now as a twenty-four year old.

What Marlena didn't like about motherhood, though, was continuously bending over in order to pick a stuffed animal, a rattle, or another one of their various toys off of the floor. She could have very easily cleaned up the many messes by using her abilities, but she refrained from ever using her abilities around the twins. She was more in control than she had ever been, but she was also much more powerful than she had ever been, and she refused to risk hurting either of them for the sake of not wanting to bend over.

Marlena let out a sigh of relief as she threw the final stuffed animal into the basket in her hold and she hurried up the stairs, strolling down the hall towards the twins' shared bedroom so she could put the toys away.

The moment she stepped into the bedroom, though, she was met with a sight that had become one of her favorites since the twins had been born. Bucky lay fast asleep on the small couch inside the room with both twins resting soundly on his chest. It had been a thing for him to fall asleep with them at least once a day, and Marlena never got tired of it. Bucky loved them so much and the sight made Marlena burst with happiness.

Marlena could remember a time in which she could see the pain and brokenness in Bucky's eyes even through what little happiness he felt; now that pain and that brokenness was hardly there, if at all. She hadn't been sure what it would take to completely rid him of that pain and brokenness; she feared there was nothing that could, not even Marlena herself. Then the twins were born and Marlena found a certain light in Bucky's blue eyes she had never seen before. They loved him unconditionally, just as Marlena did, and that made Bucky feel whole again.

With a warm smile, Marlena padded across the carpet and towards the bin in which she kept the twins toys. She began placing them in one by one, careful not to wake the three sleeping on the couch, but one had managed to awaken anyway.

"Mar," Bucky's groggy voice could be heard behind her.

"Hmm?"

"I think Charlie peed," he muttered sleepily.

Marlena chuckled and finished putting the toys away before turning to face where her husband lay on the couch. "What makes you so sure of that? She's wearing a diaper."

"Dribble," Bucky replied with a yawn. "Come get her and change her."

"Why can't you change her?"

"Because then I would disturb JJ, and that's rude," Bucky answered her as he very absentmindedly tightened his grip around the twins.

Marlena sighed and shook her head before walking over to retrieve her daughter—Charlotte Elisabeth—from her father. Bucky smiled up at Marlena as she removed the small girl from his arms, and Marlena delivered a swift flick to his forehead before heading to change Charlie.

Bucky watched her work with a smile on his face and glistening blue eyes, his thoughts drifting to just how insanely lucky he was to have found her in the museum that day back in 2014. Marlena could only smile as she listened to his thoughts; she, too, felt lucky to have found Bucky in the museum. He was her everything, and it scared her to think of what her life could have been like without him. She had been through so much pain and so much suffering since she had met Bucky, but she would experience it all one hundred times over if it meant the outcome of it all was him.

"I'm lucky to have you, too, Buck," Marlena chimed as she finished changing Charlie, who was now beginning to wake up.

Bucky chuckled and shook his head, nestling himself further into the couch cushions. "Get out of my head."

Marlena picked Charlie up and headed back over to Bucky; he raised his legs to give her room to sit down before placing them back down on her lap. "It's hard not to be in your head, Bucky. Your thoughts are considerably loud."

"All of them?" Bucky questioned with a raised brow.

Marlena chuckled and nodded, obviously getting at what he was hinting at. "Yes, all of them."

"Oh well," he spoke, his tone tired.

Marlena didn't have the chance to respond before Mason appeared in the doorway.

"Hey, Mar," he started as he leaned against the door frame. "Can I go out tonight?"

Marlena and Bucky had become Mason's sole guardians since she and Bucky had gotten married. He was almost like another one of their children, disregarding the fact that he was Marlena's little brother and Bucky's brother-in-law.

"Go where?" Marlena asked with narrowed eyes.

Mason pursed his lips as he tried to fight the smirk pulling onto his face.

"Are you going to see that blonde girl?" Bucky asked him.

"Maybe," Mason muttered.

Bucky laughed and Marlena shook her head, getting up to put Charlie in her crib. She was still very sensitive about the fact that Mason was growing up; he had just turned seventeen and Marlena was still trying not to lose her mind. He had his driver's license and all, and that much she believed she was okay with, but what she wasn't okay with was him dating. She was still very protective over him, just as she had been since he was little. She just didn't think there was a girl out there that was good enough for her little brother, and if there was, then she had yet to meet her.

"Why do you wanna see her?" Marlena practically whined from her spot in front of Charlie's crib.

Mason shrugged his shoulders and looked down at the floor, his cheeks reddening with slight embarrassment. "I really like her, Mar."

Marlena rolled her eyes. "And what has she ever done for you to make you really like her?"

"Exist," Mason smirked.

"And this is where my lady skills rub off on you; girl's got herself a keeper," Bucky said.

"What lady skills?" Marlena scoffed.

Bucky grinned as he looked at her. "The ones that I used on you."

Mason laughed and shook his head at the two of them. "So can I go?"

"Nope," Marlena answered as she began organizing the room.

"Don't let her tell you what you can and can't do," Bucky snorted. "You go out and you have a good time, and I don't mean 'have a good time' as in have sex; I swear I'll figure it out and I'll literally kill you, Mason. Just be back before midnight, okay?"

"Got it."

Mason ran out of the room before Marlena had the chance to respond, and Marlena turned around to face Bucky with an annoyed look on her face.

"Do you not understand what no means?"

"You've gotta chill out, Mar," Bucky told her as he finally stood up from the couch, JJ in his arms as he did so. "Mason isn't the little boy he used to be, and he's definitely not the little twelve year old boy I remember meeting the day you brought me home from the Smithsonian. He's growing up, and I know you don't want to accept that, but you're gonna have to."

Marlena let out a breath and ran a hand through her hair. "I know, it's just—"

"I know," Bucky cut her off as he laid JJ down in his crib. "But you have to accept it, Marlena."

"It's just so hard," Marlena frowned as Bucky approached her.

Bucky ran his hands over her arms and pulled her closer to him. "It'll get easier, I promise."

Marlena smiled up at him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, bringing herself even closer to him. "Just like being married to you will get easier?" she teased.

"Being married to me is possibly the greatest thing in the world and you know it," Bucky remarked with a chuckle. "If anyone's struggling through marriage, it's me."

"And why is that?"

"For one, you're always stealing the chicken out of my alfredo, and for two, you steal all of my clothes," Bucky told her. "I'm one pair of sweatpants away from having to walk around the house naked."

Marlena laughed and pressed a kiss to his lips. "Y'know, I don't think I would mind that very much."

"You wouldn't, but Mason might." Bucky smirked and scooped Marlena up into his arms, holding her small body to his chest, "But since Mason isn't here and since our children are asleep, I guess it doesn't matter whether or not I'm clothed."

Marlena tightened her grip around Bucky's shoulders. "I guess it doesn't," she responded before pressing a rather lustful kiss to his lips.

Bucky shifted her in his arms and pulled away from her, his eyes boring into her own. "You couldn't wait until I took you three doors down the hall?" he questioned her, his breathing ragged.

"You know I can't."

"God, I love you," Bucky breathed out.

Marlena giggled and pressed another kiss to his lips. "I guess it's a good thing I love you, too, James Barnes."

Bucky smiled down at her, his blue eyes glistening with so much love for the small brunette he held in his arms. "I guess it is, Marlena Barnes."

THE END