The Veteran, The Soldier, and the Liaison || B. Barnes

** Thank You **

Well. We've reached it. This is going to be a completely mushy (I am actually tearing up already) thank you, so again, if you aren't into mushiness, I thank you for coming along for Allie and Bucky's story. If you are a sucker for mushiness, buckle in because I'm actually tearing up a bit writing even this sentence.

I've mentioned it before, but I had a pretty humble beginning to my fanfiction writing days. I had this small account that was Jelsa based (2014, I'm telling ya!) and I had a drive for it for a while, but it eventually lost its luster for me. I moved to Wattpad, experimenting with stories and writing for just myself for a while before essentially abandoning writing fanfiction altogether. I dabbled a couple of times in 2019 and 2020 before running dry before starting another story earlier last year (which temptation to revisit it is there).

My spring semester of school last year really began to hit a rough patch towards the end of March and beginning of April. Thankfully, our good pals Bucky Barnes and Sam Wilson were gracing our Disney+ accounts every Friday and it was during those six weeks that I had found a new love for Bucky.

And all of a sudden, I got the idea of a story with Bucky and Steve's younger sister. I knew that the concept wasn't a brand new thing, but I had their story so distinctly stuck in my mind that I knew I had to write it down. When I started writing, Steve's sister didn't even have a name. I was so bent on finding the name that felt right with both Steve and Bucky's names and both the Rogers and Barnes last names that I researched names of the time and finally thought of Allison. From that moment on, she'd taken shape and lived in my mind rent-free.

The night that I published the very first chapter of The Captain, the Sergeant, and the Nurse, I remember I had finally finished the chapter and thought to myself "What the hell? Let's share it." And so I did. I quite honestly wasn't expecting it to really be seen. I am so thankful that I was wrong.

With each comment that you all left, each guess, each kudos that was given, it helped to give me the motivation to keep sharing their story. I am so grateful to each and every one of you that stumbled upon my story and cared about it enough to stay for the journey.

I know that I leave an end note on every chapter (that's just who I am), but even in those alone I can look back and see my confidence growing with each chapter, and I attribute that to you guys.

While this is the final part of their journey, Allie and Bucky aren't going to be gone forever. I have so many ideas for more self indulgent stories that they won't be leaving my mind for a while. And these three stories? They'll be edited (with additions of new content!) and republished as I am able to do so at some point in the future.

I must admit, I don't know my future plans in regards to stories with Bucky, but I will be returning to Steve and Katherine in The Shield and the Rose, as well as eventually bringing in more stories with other characters (*cough cough* Sam Wilson *cough cough*).

This work has helped to make my 2021 and beginning of 2022 better. It's become a source of so much joy for me and it is so bittersweet to be writing this. It's provided me with motivation to go back and write my own original work (stories I've been dreaming of writing for so long!) and I cannot wait to see what the future holds.

But for now, this is my final thank you.

Remember: You are beautiful. You are special. You looked fucking gorgeous today. You are wanted. You are loved.

I love you all

~ xoxo Alli 💚