Love's New Hope

Surprise

"Buck? How do you feel about a job?"

Bucky stood in stunned silence for a moment before grinning. "When and where?"

"Head over to the Avengers Tower in about two hours. This is a team effort."

Bucky nodded slowly even though Steve couldn't see him. "No problem. You want Tasha too?" If Steve was resorting to cryptic words, which everyone knew he was terrible at, then the rest of the Avengers must be there.

"Yeah, that'd be perfect." Steve replied, relieved that Bucky understood.

"Okie dokie. See you then, punk."

"See you then." Steve said fondly before they hung up.

Bucky walked into the bedroom where Natasha was still sleeping. She'd had a late shift last night and was trying to catch up on sleep. He quietly walked to the closet and pulled his old suit and gear out of the back. He smiled at the suit, which Shuri had fixed and upgraded.

"Reminiscing or do you have a purpose in looking at that?" Natasha asked sleepily.

Bucky turned around and smiled at his wife. "This time I've actually got a purpose."

"Which is?"

"Steve wants us to come in for a mission. With the Avengers."

Natasha was suddenly wide awake. "Both of us?"

"Yep. That's what he said." Bucky chuckled. "He wants us to be at the Tower in two hours, so grab whatever you're gonna need and get dressed."

Natasha beamed at him. "Finally! I was beginning to rot in this normal life."

Bucky smirked. "Looks like normal isn't really our speed."

"Uh, no." Natasha replied chuckling.
*
2 hours later
Bucky weaved in and out of traffic on his motorcycle with Natasha on his tail on hers. Though they could've opted for a car like normal people, Shuri had made them these motorcycles while they were still in Wakanda. She'd claimed that it was "just in case" but Bucky suspected that she just enjoyed making things for people.

"That it?" Bucky asked Natasha through their comms.

"Yep." Natasha replied, wrinkling her nose at the Avengers Tower.

"Well that's a big ugly building." Bucky commented, causing Natasha to snort loudly.

"You and Steve both." She said chuckling.

They pulled into the parking garage and Natasha grinned at Bucky as they stowed their helmets and grabbed their bags with their tac suits and gear.

"You're gonna love these guys." Natasha told him, smirked.

"That was definitely sarcasm." He retorted, giving her a playful shove. They reached a door at the back of the parking garage and Natasha quickly put in a code on the keypad. Which beeped annoyingly at her and flashed red.

"Ugh Stark." She muttered. She banged a couple of times on the door. "FRIDAY!! Open up!"

"Hello Agent Romanoff." An accented voice said, causing Bucky to jump and look around. "I'll get that open for you."

"Where's this voice coming from?" Bucky whispered to Natasha as the door swung open.

"It's FRIDAY, who's an AI. That means that she's artificial intelligence." Natasha told him.

"I thought you said that the AI was JARVIS." Bucky said, confused.

"It was. But then he was uploaded into Vision and... you know what, this is a really long story. Just trust me, FRIDAY is the resident AI."

Bucky rubbed his forehead. "My head hurts with all this bologna." He muttered.

"Just wait till you meet Stark." A friendly voice came from the end of the hallway.

"Hey, Steve." Bucky said smiling, giving his friend a hug.

"Steve," Natasha echoed, giving her brother a hug.

"Come on." Steve said, motioning for them to follow him. "You guys are the last ones to get here."

"All the best people are, Mr. I'm Always Fifteen Minutes Early For Everything." Bucky teased.

"Sure Sir Late To His Own Birthday." Steve snarked back.

"Thank you Lord Know It All." Bucky shot back. Both boys grinned, warming to this game, but Natasha smacked both of them on the backs of their heads.

"Shut up both of you." She snapped at them. "Grow up." They both opened their mouths to reply snarkily, but one look at her face shut them up. They walked into a large room that held a surprising amount of Avengers. There were original Avengers (Tony, Bruce, Clint, Thor), the new Avengers (Wanda, Vision, Rhodey, Sam), and also the Valkyrie Tessa and Loki. And now Steve, Natasha, and Bucky joined them.

"Well if it isn't the Manchurian Candidate." Tony sniped the second he laid eyes on Bucky. Bucky shot a confused glance at Natasha who just shrugged.

"I guess." Bucky said warily.

"So Steve tells me you're going to help me find my girlfriend."

"Wait, Pepper's missing?" Natasha said, sending an accusing glance at Steve.

Steve held his hands up protectively. "I figured you might as well get briefed with all the others."

"Wait, what's Romanoff doing here?" Tony asked frowning.

"You wanted all the help we could get, so I gave them a call."

"Wait, when did you call Romanoff? You haven't touched that phone since you called Barnes..."

"Tony..." Bruce gently said, realization coming into his eyes. The others were having similar revelations, except for Clint and Sam, who already knew.

"Romanoff, what's going on?" Tony asked, turning to Natasha.

Natasha smirked. "Oh no, Tony. It's not Romanoff anymore." Bucky chuckled a little. Natasha had always been a bit of a drama queen.

"Then what is it?" Tony asked, exasperated.

"It's Barnes." Natasha replied smoothly.

"Barnes? But that would mean..." Tony trailed off as it hit him. "You ... and Barnes?"

Natasha nodded, still smirking.

"But... why... how..." Tony stuttered, his mind temporarily off of Pepper.

"Let's focus on getting Pepper back first." Loki said, breaking the slightly awkward silence. "After that, the Barnes's can tell us their fascinating little story."

"How do you know it's fascinating?" Natasha asked Loki curiously.

Loki shrugged. "Heimdall sees all and gets really bored. He's been keeping an eye on you guys for years now." He chuckled. "You're his 'ship'."

"Well that's not at all creepy." Bucky muttered to Natasha.

She just grinned at him and walked over to the map on the table. "So where do we start?"