Longing •Bucky Barnes•

• Thirty •

"Alright we have a plan, 6 stones, 3 teams one shot." Steve said at the head of the meeting.

We had devised a plan to retrieve each of a stone in as few trips as possible. The Space, Time, and Mind Stone were all in New York around 2012, the Reality Stone was in Asgard in 2013, and the Power and Soul Stone were on Vormir and Morag in 2014.

It was going to be a tight operation, but I think between us all we could manage. Tony seemed sure the plan was going to work and I guess that's some form of comfort. I felt good about it but I still worried after the big loss we had taken I don't think we could afford to make another.

"Me and the Racoon will take on Asgard." Thor said and Nat nodded.

"Me and Nebula will take Morag." Don said and we all agreed.

"Steve, Bucky, Scott, Bruce and I will go to New York." Tony said and I nodded. I didn't like the idea of getting separated from Tony and Bucky, but they would at least be together. I know they would watch out for each other.

"Looks like we're taking on Vormir." I said looking at Nat and Clint said.

"We're set then." Nat said nodding firmly.

She looked to Clint and they nodded to each other. Clint had been missing since the beginning of all this and Nat had stayed in the shadows watching him from a distance. She knew when we started discussing the madness of fixing all of this she needed his help. He was hesitant to help, but he lost his whole family in the snap. He had frankly lost himself, so a chance to get them back was everything he needed to know to come along.

"What's left to do other than to suit up?" Steve said and we all semi-excitedly went to the lab.

Bruce and Scott had focused on getting together suits made for travel in the quantum reality. Wasn't my usual get up, but I had to admit they looked good and clearly worked. I found my suit and went to go change. It fit like a glove and there wasn't much else to it than taking a nice big deep breath before heading out to meet the others.

I left the lab and most everyone had left to go to the machine. I followed suit and made my way out there to join the others. I opened the lab doors and turned a corner and saw Bucky pacing. I watched him for a moment before he turned around and saw me. He was in his suit as well instead of his normal rugged wear.

"You alright Bucky?" I asked hesitantly because I had never seen him pace like this and surely it wasn't for anything good.

"Yeah, anxious." He said in a small tone. I walked closer to him and his hands went behind his back.

"I thought you said Tony was positive this would work, what are you anxious about?" I asked with worried eyes.

"It's not that Val." He said shaking his head.

"Talk to me." I said standing in front of him.

"I don't know- I wasn't planning on this but- I don't think it's going to sit well with me if I don't- I just feel like I need to do it now." He said fumbling over his words talking a mile a minute.

"Bucky spit it out, what's wrong? You're making me worry." I said with sad eyes.

His eyes looked to me and I could see he was conflicted. His jaw settled and he exhaled as he looked away. His hand came out from behind his back and a small black box was in his hands.

"I was going to do this at Christmas and make it a whole thing, but with everything going on- I mean we're risking everything right now- I would never forgive myself if I just didn't..." He said trailing off topic. "I talked to Tony already, I don't know just-"