Lady Liberty |1| The Liberty Saga (An MCU Fanfiction)

Chapter Six: Elke Fischer

It was strange, really, how the world could change so much in such a short time. Not just the world, but hers. In the space of a few weeks, she had gone from spending every night alone to waking up with the absence of Bucky Barnes keenly felt. How familiar he had become in that time, that now it felt alien to be without him even for one night.

But of course, it was bad luck to see the bride before the wedding.

He, for what it had been worth, had been adamant he didn't believe in such a thing. She had saved him from the Hydra factory, had been the first friendly face he had seen since he had been isolated from the rest of the prisoners of war. How could seeing her possibly bring bad luck to him? She had a feeling a lot of that little speech had been more to reassure her than to make his point to the others, but she appreciated it all the same.

In the end, though, he had been outvoted. Not by her, but by the rest of the Howling Commandos, who had seemed curiously invested in making sure the wedding was conducted in the proper manner. Coming from at least three different nations, their ideas of 'proper' sometimes clashed, but they had at least agreed that the bride and the groom shouldn't see each other until the moment the bride walked down the aisle, and Bucky and Elke had allowed themselves to be persuaded.

From Bucky's perspective, tradition was all well and good, but it didn't really matter in the grand scheme of things. It was the middle of war—who cared if they spent the night together? They might not get so many chances to do that again, if Hydra persisted.

In fact, the only tradition that he had agreed to without any fuss at all, had been about the wedding night. Elke was not naïve enough to believe that he hadn't had experience with other women, and he had no intention of trying to deceive her in that respect. But he knew that what had gone on in those youth camps before the war hadn't always been done right. She hadn't gone into great detail about it, but she had at least intimated that the role she'd played in those relationships had been very minor indeed. It hadn't been unwanted, exactly—she had considered it her duty, her role fulfilled. But whatever you wanted to call those previous liaisons, he wanted this one to be her decision entirely, and so they had agreed.

As it happened, they had spent every night since his proposal together—but in each other's arms. It wasn't that she hadn't wanted to, as she had assured him many a time. It was just that she felt firsts ought to be a little more special. The first time she had kissed him had been the day they had reached the safety of the Azzano camp, the day he had come home.

She wanted this to feel like coming home, too.

A knock came at the door, and she heard the familiar, dulcet tones of Peggy Carter filter through. "Elke? Look alive, old girl. You've got a big day ahead."

A very big day, indeed.

***

People always said their wedding day was the happiest day of their life, but Elke hadn't truly believed them until she had stepped foot down the aisle of that little British church and seen the downright ecstatic smile of her husband-to-be. The love in his eyes as their gazes had met had very nearly sent her to heaven, and it was credit to Peggy that she had even made it the rest of the way down the aisle.

And then she was at the altar and holding his hands and gazing into eyes that threatened to melt her very soul. And his low, husky voice was in her ear, and he was saying, "Doll, are you marrying me in your nightdress?"

She couldn't help but laugh at the ridiculousness of it. "It was the only white dress I could find!"

The warmth of his laughter could have melted iron. "It's beautiful. You look beautiful, doll."