Betrayal - A Bucky Barnes Fanfic

Epilogue

6 Months later

"How did the court hearing go?" Ava stepped aside to let Wanda into the flat.

Ava had been living together with James in a flat for six months now and it couldn't have gone any better. James was always coming up with new things to surprise Ava with a romantic gesture and it still felt to Ava like she was freshly and madly in love.

Things were also going great with her own website. By now Wanda and Ava had enough daily visitors on their website to have monthly advertising revenue. And Ava could only be glad that she had moved into a three-room flat with a balcony with James – her flat served as an office and Wanda came over almost every day.

Just like today, even though the verdict on Wanda's brother Pietro's killers was in court today.

"I'm just glad it's over now and I can put it behind me," Wanda replied, dropping into a chair at the dining table. "My brother's killers are going to spend a long time behind bars and that means I can finally move on."

Ava joined Wanda at the dining table.

"Here we go then," Wanda said, pulling her laptop out of her bag.

Ava shook her head in amusement. Wanda didn't speak more openly about her feelings even after all the months they had spent a lot of time together. She preferred to bury herself in work.

"Is James not here today?" asked Wanda after a few minutes of pecking away at her keyboard.

Ava took a sip of her tea.

"He had to work today, but he should be home any minute."

Ava gripped her cup of tea tighter in her hand, reached for her phone and looked tensely at the time.

"God, what's up with you today? Can you stop with the wiggling?" Wanda looked at Ava, unnerved.

Ava hadn't even noticed that she was bouncing her leg, making the whole table move.

"Sorry." Ava tried to steady her leg.

"Now come on, tell me what's wrong," Wanda urged.

"All right." Ava took a deep breath. "Actually, I was going to wait until James got here to announce the news. But I can't keep it to myself any longer-"

Ava paused dramatically and Wanda rolled her eyes in annoyance. Just then, the front door was heard. Immediately Ava jumped up and ran towards the hallway, paying no further attention to Wanda, who let out an exasperated groan.

"James!" exclaimed Ava in excitement.

James had just opened the door and as soon as his eyes fell on Ava, he began to beam. He pulled her into a hug and kissed her deeply.

"What did I do to deserve such a joyous greeting?" James's lips were inches from Ava's and she could feel his fresh breath on her skin.

"I really need to tell you something," Ava replied.

"Actually, she was about to tell me something, but then you showed up," Wanda spoke up, having followed Ava into the hallway.

"I brought company." James ignored Wanda and took a step aside to let Steve and Nat into the small hallway.

Immediately Ava pulled Natasha into a hug – as best she could, after all Natasha was now 8 months pregnant and round as a ball.

"What are you doing here?" asked Ava in surprise, "We just saw each other yesterday!"

"Have you had enough of me already?" Natasha smacked Ava's arm with affectionate severity. Instead of giving Ava an answer, Natasha went ahead into the living room to sit down. Steve was immediately on hand to follow her, one hand gently placed on her lower back.