❝Whatever happens, just know that I never stopped trying.❞
. . .in which she must do whatever she can to protect the world and what's left of the ones she loves.
[BOOK THREE]
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★ ★ ★
It was nearing three in the morning. The house was finally quiet, unlike it had been only hours prior. Bucky and Marlena's unexpected visitors disappeared just hours earlier, leaving the couple quite ecstatic. Although they absolutely loved seeing their friends after being away from them for so long, they'd both been hoping their night with them would end so the two could get some sleep, Bucky more-so than Marlena.
Not a single one of Bucky's and Marlena's friends understood just how difficult and tiring their lives were compared to the way they used to be. Sure, Bucky and Marlena had been out of the field for the better part of four years—the field itself was tiring and draining on its own—but the field of parenting was much different. The couple's devotion to taking care of their children was so much more exhausting than any field work, though the difference between their exhaustion from field work and their exhaustion from taking care of the twins was that they actually welcomed the exhaustion from taking care of their kids.
Charlie and Jay were Bucky's and Marlena's entire lives apart from one another. The twins brought the two of them a happiness they had never known before. All the pain and sadness their lives had once been riddled with had disappeared when the twins came into the picture. Bucky and Marlena would do absolutely anything for Charlie and Jay. The love they felt for their children was among the strongest of anything they had every felt before, and there was nothing and no one who could take that away from them.
Bucky and Marlena lay soundly in bed with one another. Neither one of them had fallen asleep yet, despite their desperate need for it, and they weren't exactly sure why that was. Marlena figured it was due to the wave of nostalgia she'd been met with while in the same area as the group of people she called her family. It reminded her of old times in which she would stay up until ridiculous hours of the morning with Bucky just chatting about life. It'd been years since either one of them were allowed that simple luxury.
"Stop moving your legs, Marlena," Bucky muttered.
Marlena scoffed and yanked the comforter tighter over her body, effectively pulling the remainder of it off of Bucky's body. "Why can't you just go to sleep and leave me alone?"
Bucky only groaned and pulled the comforter back onto his body. He grabbed Marlena as well, eliciting a quiet squeal from the petite brunette. "I would love nothing more than to go to sleep, but leaving you alone is a different story, sweetheart," he hummed as he squeezed her tighter.
"And why exactly haven't you gone to sleep yet?" Marlena giggled, craning her head to look up at him. "You've been grumpy all night because all you've been wanting is to go to sleep, yet here you are wide awake."
"I could ask you the same thing, love." Bucky nuzzled his head into Marlena's neck and closed his eyes, though he still could not bring himself to fall asleep. "We haven't stayed up this long in years; it can't be a coincidence."
