Breakthrough

Five

"So, what have you decided to name her?" Zach asked as he peaked over your shoulder at the bundle in your arms. 

You looked down at your pup, sleeping now, that soft infant's face peaceful. She'd been born after a long, exhausting labor. And your heart felt like it was about to burst. She was healthy and perfect. 

Zach's fingers touched your hair, stroking gently to remind you he was there. Your lips twitched and you looked up at him. "Her name is Autumn." 

"Autumn?" Your brother's eyebrows lifted. "You're gonna name her after your favorite season?"

You hummed, figuring it was better that he believed that was the case rather than the truth. He had smelt like autumn leaves. You doubted you'd ever see him again, but he had given you this amazing gift...you wanted to honor that in some way. Calling your pup Autumn just seemed to fit. Especially considering the dark shock of hair she had been born with, and eyes the color of blue you'd only ever seen once before. 

Her eyes blinked open then, looking up at you in that confused way infants looked at the world before she whimpered. Shifting her so she could nurse, you focused back on your brother. "Yes. Autumn." 

Zach nodded, bending down to kiss the top of your head and leaving to give you privacy. He paused in the doorway. "I want you to tell me about the alpha that fathered her soon."

He didn't wait for an answer before he left your room, shutting the door quietly behind him. You snuggled down in your nest, balancing the pup easily while she nursed so that you could reach under a nearby pillow and pulled out a small thin blanket. It still smelled faintly of him. Tucking the fabric around your pup, you stroked your finger across the downy softness of her black hair. 

The typical way things went was that the parents would nest down together, the combined scents imprinting on the pup so that they would know what home and comfort was. For obvious reasons, Autumn wouldn't be able to truly know her father's scent. But you'd saved this small blanket hoping that at least for a little bit, the faint scent of him would help soothe her for the first couple of days. 

A large part of you felt the ache of his absence. You wished he was here, not just to help you with Autumn, but because you craved him. Craved his scent, craved the feel of him. Rubbing a corner of the fabric across your cheek, you felt a few tears leak out as you shifted her to the other side. 

~*~*~*~

The Soldier...no, his name was Bucky...he stood to the side in his dream, watching as the dark-haired boy as he held his hand out to the skinny blond boy on the ground. He helped pull him to his feet, grinning.

"Man, you just don't know when to quit do you?"

I can't stand bullies." The boy wiped away the blood from his split lip and held out his hand. "I'm Steve Rogers."

"Bucky...uh, James. I'm James Buchanan Barnes."

Steve dabbed his sleeve against his lip, grinning at him. "That's a mouthful of a name. I think I like Bucky better."

He watched as the landscape of the dream blurred and changed. Bits and pieces of time. Memories that felt like they belonged to someone else, but he knew were technically his. Some of them were happy times, some of them decidedly not. But it was all about the life before ...before he had become The Winter Soldier. Then it started to change again, darker edges creeping in.

These memories felt like his memories. The pain, blood, and death that was The Soldier. So much. Too much.

Then it changed again, he was The Soldier. But this wasn't pain, or blood, or death. His brain was filled with need, with urges he recognized but hadn't felt in so long. He wasn't alone. No, he was in a nest, with an omega. The scents and sounds of her heat, of her pleasure surrounding him, seeping into him as he rutted into her. The bone deep satisfaction he felt as she came and he knotted her, filling her with his hot release....