In Another Universe

EIGHTEEN

Saturday, 6pm
The Tower

Seeing how all four kids have soccer practice tomorrow in Central Park, Wanda and Vision happily accompanied Anastasia and with the kids back to NYC. This way they'll only have to drive five hours home tomorrow instead of dealing with the round trip of ten hours all in one day.

Still, Even with Wanda and Vision by her side anxiety causes Anastasia to fidget uncontrollably with her duffle bag's strap. Wanda places a comforting hand on her shoulder as the elevator dings open on their floor, The four kids waste no time and take off running ignoring poor Vision as he warns them to slow down.

"It's going to be fine." Wanda hums low enough so the kids don't hear, Anastasia forces a smile as she glances to the glow Wanda dances upon her finger tips.

She already swore if Bucky dared try to start a fight with Anastasia tonight that she wouldn't hesitate putting him into a nice deep sleep.

"I know." Anastasia nods, shuffling her boot covered feet up to the door just as it's pulled open.

"DADDY!" Rosie squeals, Leaping into his arms, a smile beams instantly across his clean shaven face.

Anastasia's panicked eyes dart to Wanda who stands to her left, Her brows raised as she glances from Anastasia to Bucky.

Riley and the twins hug his legs and Bucky excitedly greets them all.

"WE GOT TO MAKE CUPCAKES!" Rosie tells him before Billy shouts over her. "AND AND WE MADE SNOWMEN OUTSIDE!"

"Tommy I wanna show you our ball pit!" Riley demands, Tugging his cousin inside the house.

"I wanna see the ball pit!" Billy calls, Chasing after them. Rosie wriggles free from her Dads arms whining. "Wait for me! Wait for me!"

Vision shares a polite nod to Bucky as he steps aside to let everyone in, "I'm sorry, If I knew you all were coming I would have had a suite made up for you."

"That's quite alright, Bucky." Vision replies, Setting his, Wanda's and the twins bags on the floor against the three tiered shelf cluttered with the families shoes.

Vanilla warms it's across the girls noses as they shed off their winter layers onto the coat rack, Wanda continues to give Anastasia reassuring scrunches of her brows. She absolutely loathes feeling the stress pouring off of her best friend, How did she go so long without knowing how bad things have truly gotten?

At least the roar of giggles from the kids pinging plastic balls off of things in the living room helps to ease the tension slightly.

"We'll be staying the night here, The kids wouldn't want to be separated if they don't have to be. I'm sure you don't mind." Wanda's olive colored eyes narrow, the faint curl of her blush painted lips daring him to argue.

"Of course I don't mind, You're always welcome in our home." Bucky swallows thickly, His gaze meeting Anastasia's as she watches with bated breath.

Her heart almost aches at the sight of him, His short hair messy instead of perfectly gelled up for the first time in forever. And his dimples no longer hidden beneath his thick beard.

"Anastasia, May I speak with you for a moment?"

"No." Anastasia answers, Wanda and Vision's both shift their gaze between the two as they speak.

Bucky sighs, gliding his tongue over his bottom lip as he mentally prepares for this to become a battle.

Truly, All he wants is a chance to apologize. But without knowing how much Wanda currently knows, He's not very well going to serve up his own head on a silver platter. He needs to pull Anastasia away from prying eyes and ears if he's going to fix this.