It's Been A Long, Long Time // Steve Rogers

Chapter 39

Steve's POV

A few months passed and it was safe to say that Becca had pretty much acclimated to this time fully and now we had our regular routine. I would wake up early, go for a quick run with Bucky and Scout, get back and shower before Becca wakes up, and then once she wakes up, we cook breakfast together and then take Scout on a nice leisurely walk around the compound. After that Becca would shower, sometimes I'd join her, and then the rest of the day would really begin.

"Steve, can you hand me a red ornament?" Becca asked. I nodded and picked out a red ornament with silver designs and handed it to her. She was carefully standing on a stepstool and decorating the top portion of our Christmas tree. Bucky and I offered to help, since we were a good foot taller, but she quickly shooed us away. Apparently we would only mess up her 'vision'. Now we were simply handing her ornaments when she asked for them.

"Becca you need one here." Bucky said, pointing to a bare spot on the tree and holding a green ornament. "I'm not finished yet, James." She said, glaring at him. He held his hands up in defense and shoved a chocolate chip cookie in his mouth.

"Why don't you two go make yourself useful and hang up those wreaths and lights I bought?" Becca said, pointing at the pile of outdoor Christmas decorations she purchased after learning about Amazon home delivery. "No one comes here but agents, Bex, we don't need to decorate." Bucky said, groaning. Becca glared at him and I figured now would be a good time to one, save him from his sister, and two, to talk to him about something important.

"Come on Buck." I said, pulling him up off the couch. "Seriously?" I nodded and dragged him towards the pile of things. I handed him a nice large handful while picking up my own and headed outside. "Thank you baby!" Becca yelled.

"She has you wrapped around her finger." Bucky laughed, setting down his pile of things. "Yea, yea, I know." I said. We quickly got to work hanging up some of the wreaths in the places we could reach before we needed a ladder or to program one of Tony's old suits to put the rest up as well as the string of lights.

"Hey Buck, can we talk for a minute?" I asked him. I shifted slightly, nervous to even bring this up. Not that I even had anything to be nervous about, I just was. "Yea, what's up?"

I took a deep breath and motioned for him to follow me. We walked for a little bit until we were a good distance away. "I want to talk to you about Becca." "Oh god, please don't tell me she's pregnant...I'm too young to be an uncle." I rolled my eyes and punched his shoulder. "First of all, we're old enough to be great grandparents and second of all, no, she's not pregnant."

He laughed slightly and shrugged his shoulders, "What's up, punk?"

"Well first I want you to know that when I left and went back into the future, I never anticipated running into Becca. I would have figured she was still somewhere in Indiana. But anyway, when I arrived, the first thing I did was gather myself and then go see Peggy. I knew she had gotten married but I had hope that maybe, just maybe, I could get there first. Obviously, she turned me down. And while that sucked and my life felt pretty shitty for the next year, it was the best decision she ever made. That rejection led me to Becca in a little bar in Brooklyn. She recognized me almost instantly, I don't know how, I looked like shit and had really let myself go...but she did. And in an instant it was like I had a piece of my old life back and so did she. We bonded on a deeper level and became friends...which slowly progressed into more. We have spent almost three years together and those years have truly been some of the best years of my life. I never thought I would get a chance to be happy like this. Rebecca is my everything and I would genuinely go to the ends of the earth to make her happy and to see her smile. I love her so much and I'd love to ask her to marry me."

I pulled out the ring that had been burning a hole in my pocket for the last couple of weeks since I took it to get polished and resized and opened the box. "I guess what I want to know is, do I have your blessing to ask her?"

Bucky smiled and picked up the delicate ring from the box, "was this your mothers?" "It was."

"Steve, you don't need my permission to ask Becca to marry you. Of course I'd be thrilled for you both." He said, patting my back, "But if you ever hurt her I will finish the job of killing you. I don't care if we've been friends since the 20's."

I laughed slightly and nodded, "trust me, if I ever hurt her, I'd let you kill me. And I know I don't need your blessing but it would mean a lot to her, and to me." Bucky smiled again and set the ring back in the box. "Of course you have it, punk. She's gonna love it, Steve."

"I thought about giving her my mothers engagement ring...and using your parents' wedding bands as our wedding rings. That way we have a piece of each of them." I explained, pulling out the wedding bands that Becca had saved over the years and brought with us here. "I think that's a great idea, Steve." "I can always use your mothers-" He cut me off by shaking his head. "Our mother's engagement ring was huge. And to be honest it's not Becca's style. Sarah's ring...it's perfect."

"Thanks Buck." He pulled me into a quick hug.

"So when did you want to ask her?" He asked me, pulling away. I had been thinking about it and I was thinking of taking her into Manhattan for her to see New York at Christmas time in this new era. Plus, Becca loved the Rockefeller tree. I just knew a proposal there would be special. "I was thinking about the tree. Rockefeller tree."

"Oh she'll love that. I used to take her every year until the move to Indiana. I just know she'll love a proposal in New York, especially now during Christmas time with the tree and all of the new decorations and lights. I think that will be perfect." He replied. "I'm just nervous." I sighed, even though I had nothing to be nervous about. "Really?" Bucky gave me a look and I shrugged, stuffing my hands in my pockets. "What like she's gonna say no?"

"I don't know...she could." I mumbled. Bucky rolled his eyes and threw his arm around my shoulder. "You still know nothing about women, do you?" He laughed. I rolled my eyes at him and he laughed. "My sister has had her dream wedding planned since she was a little girl. Now I'm sure she never thought it would be a wedding to my scrawny, scrappy best friend who doesn't know how to dance...but this is a day she's always dreamed of. And she is head over heels in love with you."

"Yea I know, I know. I have nothing to be worried about. And I'm not scrawny..." I said, looking at him. "Not anymore." Bucky patted my back and then we started walking back towards the compound.

"Now, we better get back to decorating before she realizes we didn't finish hanging things up and refuses to give us cookies."