you & me. legal. forever.

8. D Day

Zoe woke up to the dog barking. Though she was a rescue greyhound who had probably not had the easiest life, she usually didn't make a peep unless something was very very wrong.

As she ran downstairs, she heard Bucky grumbling and trying to get the dog to settle down. When she got to the kitchen, she saw what all the fuss was about. There were flowers and pieces of broken vase all over the floor, which Bucky was trying to clean up with blood running down his right hand and the dog going crazy.

Not exactly the peaceful start to the day she was hoping for, but also not a surprise attack from an international terrorist organization like she feared. What? She lived with the former Winter Soldier, it wasn't out of the realm of possibilities...

"Hey..." Bucky looked sheepishly at her as she got close enough to grab the dog. "Sorry about this, somebody thought it would be a good idea to try and taste the flowers before I could stop them..." He glared at the dog who just barked at him.

"Laika, outside." Zoe commanded the animal, who trotted off through the open back door like nothing had happened. "What the hell did you do to your hand, James? Go clean yourself off, I'll deal with this mess."

"But it's your birthday!" He protested. "You shouldn't have to clean my mess today!"

"I shouldn't have to stitch you up, either, but here we are..." she sighed as she saw the gash on his thumb as he rinsed his hand in the sink. She went to the bathroom to get one of the suture kits and some skin glue she kept in the house. "How much did she eat? Is she gonna puke all day?" Zoe asked as she set her supplies on the counter and went to wash her own hands.

"Not much, I don't think. Are peonies poisonous to dogs?" Bucky asked, not sure he wanted to know the answer. He didn't need this today...

"I mean, they're not good for them...but unless she ate a lot, she should be fine. Maybe a little gastrointestinal upset." Zoe gloved up and began suturing his wound. "The ones that survived are lovely, though. I can't believe you remembered. Thank you."

"You're welcome, Zoe. Of course I remembered, they're your favorite. Not exactly how you wanted to start the day, huh?" He chuckled dryly. "Maybe we should go out for a while? Let the dog fart it out of her system?"

"Maybe..." Zoe concentrated on her work. "Just try not to break anything else today, hmm?"

"Will do. Can I make you breakfast as my penance?" Bucky smiled hopefully. "Promise not to burn the house down."

"I suppose..." Zoe rolled her eyes and smirked. "Try to keep this clean until I take the stitches out later today. Good thing you heal so fast."

"Thank you, as always, for putting my Frankenstein ass back together again." He kissed her cheek and went to plug in the waffle iron. "Happy birthday, love."

"Yeah yeah yeah..." she groaned as she cleaned up the counter. "What did you have in mind if we were to leave the house later?"

"Oh. Um, maybe the observatory?" Bucky tried to play it cool while he worked on the waffles. "Might be a nice thing to do, you know, for old times sake?"

"Old times sake? We go there all the time, weirdo!" Zoe shook her head and laughed. "But since I do love it up there, sure. Why not?"

"Great!" He sighed with relief. "How about later this afternoon? Then maybe we could spend the majority of the day hanging out, watching movies, avoiding our gassy dog?"

"And you say you've lost your game..." Zoe laughed harder. "You got yourself a deal, Barnes." She walked up behind him and kissed his shoulder. "There's still some blackberries from the farmers market in the fridge, want me to cut some up?"