Eternity

Epilogue

"No, no, NO!"

It happened far too fast for her to be prepared, but at least she had a strong enough grip of her attacker to bring them down with her. She fell the short distance until she was fully submerged by clear blue water, sinking down before she pushed firmly with her arms and legs, breaking the surface with a gasp.

"You asshole!" She laughed, pushing her hair back out o her face as she turned to Bucky who was coughing as he resurfaced with a laugh.

"I should have known you'd pull me in too," He chuckled, wiping water out of his eyes and shaking out his hair.

"I should have known you wouldn't let me get away with sliding that ice cube down the back of your shorts." She laughed turning to face him.

"So what your saying is, you agree you deserve it?" He teased, flinching as she flicked some water at him.

"What was that?"

"I said-" she splashed him again, laughing as he lunged for her but missed.

"Missed it again." She smirked splashing at him again as he ducked back underwater and swam towards her, leaving her no time to escape before he resurfaced and trapped her between him and the wall of the pool. She held up her hands in surrender before placing them on his shoulders and then wrapped them around him.

"You're in a very playful mood," he commented happily, glad with how much she had improved over the past few months. It was relaxing to see her smile and laugh again, merge back into her normal, wonderful self.

"I blame aaall the tequila sunrise cocktails I've had today." She smiled, letting him guide her legs to hook around his waist and lean back a little so they could float across their private pool.

"I'm pretty sure the last two you made for us where just tequila." He smirked.

"Well, it is our honeymoon, excessive drinking is allowed."

"Along with excessive sunbathing, sleeping, eating, relaxing and heavy petting." Bucky agreed, gently tugging beneath the water at the tie of her bikini at her back. She gently grabbed his arm to pull his hand away.

"Oh no you don't, we have dinner reservations in the town, and we still have to dry off." She kissed his lips softly.

"We could skip them," He mumbled into the kiss.

"Again?" She asked with a chuckle as she pulled their lips apart, only to being a trail of kissed against his neck.

"Mmhmm, reschedule for later."

"But," she pouted against his neck and exhaled softly, tickling a sensitive spot that made him tense. "I'm hungry."

"For food or-" he teased her, smiling as she laughed. The exact reaction he wanted.

"For food!"

"Looks like we both have different ideas but with the same outcome,"

"The same outcome?" She frowned, bringing her head back to look at him.

"Getting our of these wet clothes." He successfully undid the knot and grinned. "Bye bye bikini."

Natasha held it on tightly, mocking surprise at the cheeky grin on his face as she untangled her limbs from him and floated away backwards. "You are very persistent."

He laughed as he pulled himself out onto the pools edge, watching her re-tie her bikini before offering a helping hand to pull her out the pool. "Come on Doll, let's get you fed."

She allowed him to help her out the pool and grabbed the towels from the sun loungers of their private villa, hidden in the Spanish mountains. Natasha admired the view as she began towel drying her hair, zoning out in thought with a small look of confusion when her phone buzzed with a message. She read it, her face remaining impassive as she lightly dropped it back onto the sunbed without a word. James rested his towel over his metal shoulder as he finished drying off and lightly stroked his fingertips across her back while moving to stand behind her.

"What's on your mind?" He whispered softly, looking out at the view with her as she exhaled softly.

"That I don't want to go back to reality any time soon...I want these two weeks to last forever."

The sincerity in her voice struck a cord with him, his hand resting on her shoulder as he wrapped an arm around her. "We can run away, disappear off the grid if you've had enough of this life. Say the word and it's done."

There was a pause as she looked up at him, "You're Captain America..."

"I'm your husband first." He replied evenly, looking down at her. A loving smile spread into her lips as she nuzzled into him.

"I don't want to run anymore." She said more confidently, kissing his shoulder. "I want to live each day as it comes."

"Well Mrs Barnes, that's exactly what we will do." He grinned happily.