The Lakes (Steve Rogers AU)

23

From the moment she walked through the door, Nell heard the little scampering off paws across the flooring, a furry little face poking his head around the corner.

"Go on, go say hi..." Steve now encouraged the puppy who cautiously came to Nell as she crouched down to pet him.

"Hi beautiful! Look at you all nice and cleaned up!" She grinned, Erskine now coming over to her and licking her hand. "Have you had a nice afternoon with Steve?"

Steve leant against the doorway. "Sure has, whimpered every time I went to go to the bedroom to sleep. Pepper said he'll probably be like it for a few nights".

"Why don't you go lay down. I'll do dinner".

"I won't sleep tonight anyway so it's fine". He brushed off as Erskine bounded back to him on little legs. "Best buds aren't we? No doubt you're gonna have Nell wrapped around your little finger".

She stood up and smirked. "He did from the moment I met him". 

Making her way into the kitchen, she watched as Steve got on the floor to play with Erskine, the pup tugging at toys, scampering after his ball. It was lovely to watch.

Steve looked over and saw her smiling. "This your source of entertainment for the evening?"

"Sure is. I just think it's cute watching you two - Bucky may have some competition when it comes to who is your best friend".

He ruffled the pup's fur as it flopped beside him. "I think someone's tired", picking him up and putting him on his bed. "There you go bud, sleep well".

Heading over to Nell stirring the soup she'd made them, he kissed her neck, feeling like they now had some little family unit going on.

And it felt right.

Just like Nell felt right to him.

She turned and leant up to kiss him. "You hungry?"

"For you? Yeah".

"Well officer I'm not on the menu". Her eyes looked up at his. "Unless you're wanting a dessert for after?"

"Mmm, I'll take anything". He teased, kissing her deeper.

Nell now pulled away. Go lay the table, I'll bring this over".

**

"Oh man! You've been replaced!" Sam was roaring with laughter as Bucky was glaring at Erskine the next morning - the dog who had now knocked him off the 'best friend podium' in his words.

Everyone in the office had been giving him attention, playing with him. Not much work had been done, however now he was currently asleep on Coulson's lap in his office whilst the Sheriff was on some calls.

"He's not replacing me". Bucky cracked his knuckles before taking a long slug of coffee. "Anyway, how are you and Nell going-oh shit..." he sighed as he realised what he'd said.

Sam's biscuit plopped into his coffee as he now stared at Steve, mouth agape. "I'm sorry...what did he just say?"

"Nothing, I said nothing" Bucky said, sitting back and hoping he'd drop the subject.

"If it was nothing then why did you...wait..." it finally dawned on him, "are you and Nell dating!"

Bucky immediately was over at his friends desk, clamping his hand to his mouth. "Shhhhhh! You want the whole of fucking Westview to hear?"

Steve sighed. "It's fine Buck, and yeah...we, er, we'll we're giving things a shot. We didn't really want anyone to know, but we're planning on making things a little more known at the fair this weekend. Think you can keep your mouth shut until then?"

Sam smirked. "You should be asking Buck that", and then looked at Steve. "You happy?"

He nodded, looking rather wistful. "Yeah...I really am. She got me back into sketching, encourages it more than anything. She just...I don't know how to describe it without sounding like some mushy doofus, but with her it just feels natural..."

"You need that kinda girl, she is it. Bucky and I said you'd go well together". He and Bucky now looked rather smug as the latter nodded in agreement.

"We called it".

Steve chuckles. "Whatever, anyway we need to type up these reports, otherwise Coulson's gonna be making us stay here for the night".

"I don't think he cares" Bucky said, noting Phil giving Erskine attention. "He ain't getting. Anything done either".

"How was last night with him? Did he cry for most of it like Pepper said?"

"Yeah...Nell took pity on him and moved the bed into our room. Then he was asleep for the rest of the night".

Bucky winced. "That's gonna be a cock block".

Steve rolled his eyes. "I'm sure we can work around that."

"What if you're...y'know, getting busy and you make eye contact with him?"

"Guys! Stop!" Steve shook his head. "We're not talking about this".

"Oh but we are!" Sam and Bucky were enjoying every moment of this. "But hey, at least if you guys ever have kids, you're gonna have one protective pooch".

Steve swivelled back around to face his screen. "Let's not talk about that. Besides we've only just got together".

The last thing he wanted to think about was marriage and babies. That wasn't to say that he was ruling anything out, but it was still too early. Steve wasn't even sure whether he even wanted to get married again. He wasn't sure whether it was what Nell wanted either. He didn't want to be selfish if it was something she'd want, but after Sharon he was hesitant to go down that road again. They'd not had children because she hadn't wanted them.

He had, but now he was unsure of whether he even saw them in his future.

He saw Nell in it for sure. But as for kids and marriage? That much was unclear.

Thankfully, Phil now appeared and asked for Sam and Bucky to head out on a patrol of town, which would now give him some peace and quiet to finish his report.

If his mind wasn't elsewhere...