Bucky Barnes Imagines

Best Kept Secret

"Can someone please explain to me why I'm being assigned to this mission?" Steve hadn't even finished the sentence falling off of his tongue before Bucky had interrupted him. The rest of the team turned to look at him. A scoff leaves Tony's mouth as he glares at the super-soldier.

"Buck." Bucky crosses his arms as he raises his eyebrows, practically asking if Steve really wants to go there. He clenches his jaw and holds back the words that he so wants to say. The muscles in Bucky's arms tense and go rigid as he stays silent. But being typical Tony, he has to assert himself further into the situation. Instantly, Nat rolls her eyes and relaxes back into the armchair, her eyes darting between Steve, Tony and the angry Bucky leaning against the furthest doorway.

"You see, James, we work as a team here." Tony's tone was cold and teasing as he clapped his hands together to enunciate his words.

Bucky turns his head to glare at Tony, the blue of his eyes darkening as he settles his gaze upon the man that tries to make every second miserable for him.

"Does it look like I was talking to you, Stark?"

"Would you stop wallowing in your own self-pity for just five minutes. There are more important issues than what's going on in that broken little head of yours."

"Tony, that's enough." Steve intervenes by grabbing Tony by the shoulder and pulling him back towards him. "Buck, I think it's best if you just go."

"No, he stays." Tony spits the words in rage, his anger rising. "He's going on this mission whether he likes it or not."

"Ton-"

"He goes and that's final."

The sound of the door slamming into the wall causes the team to turn their heads towards where Bucky was previously stood. The door swinging back and forth from the force of Bucky's strength, a crack now embedded in the concrete wall.

"Well done Tony." Sam sarcastically mumbles as the rest of the team disperse to prepare themselves for their mission.

You are sitting on your bed, an unopened book in your hands, your head hanging forwards as you fall in and out of sleep when you hear the apartment door swing open. Bucky is silent as he enters and quietly closes it behind him. Jolting up, you turn and smile at him through the open doorway, acting as if he didn't nearly just catch you dozing off.

"Hey." Your voice is soft and gentle when you address him. The small smile falls from your face when you see his expression as he stalks through the sitting room and into the bedroom, towards the wardrobe on the far side. Carefully placing your book on the duvet next to you, you stand and tiptoe across the carpeted floor to stand next to him. As you wrap your hands around his torso, the muscles underneath your fingers instantly relax. A sigh leaving Bucky's lips as he leans back into your touch.

"I can't get out of this one, doll." His words are heavy with guilt as he speaks. "I'm sorry."

"James." His name on your lips is music to his ears. You're the only person he can even begin to tolerate calling him that. The only other person was his Mother.

"You don't have to apologise for anything."

"I have everything to apologise for."

With a soft exhale, you place both of your palms against his cheeks, refusing to let him avoid eye contact.

"James, this is your job, I knew what I was getting myself into when I met you." With a voice as soft as yours, Bucky can't help but bathe in the love held within your gaze. It often makes him wonder what you lives would be like had you both been together during the forties, yet he cannot think this way for too long, the longing ache of his past life . "Now go and save the world." A wave of sadness crosses his features before he places a chaste kiss against your lips, both hands running gently through your hair. It is only a fleeting moment before he regretfully pulls away, walking backwards slowly, never breaking eye contact until he reaches the door.

"I'll be back before you know it."

True to his word, Bucky returns a week later as you are running a shallow bath, humming a soft lullaby in your shared bedroom. As he enters the apartment, he is careful to not make a sound. Yet the sight before him as he enters the dimly lit room has a breathe falling audibly from his lips. You turn to him, a small bundle held protectively in your arms.

"You're home." You move across to him with a spring in your step, throwing you free hand around his neck and pulling him as close as you can manage to your body. "We missed you."

"I missed you both too." As you move apart, Bucky cannot help but admire the small girl held within your arms, soundly asleep. "How long has she been out for?"

You chuckle at his question, knowing how much he loves to spend time with his daughter, especially when she is awake to entertain him.

"You need to be patient, James. I should expect that she'll wake up in the next ten minutes or so."

He nods with a soft grin on his face, admiring the sleeping infant in his arms.

"Go and take your bath, doll. I'll watch her." Before you can even protest, Bucky gives you a stern yet loving look. With a lingering kiss to his lips, you disappear into the bathroom to bathe.

During this time, Bucky sits with your daughter cradled in his arms as she stirs in her slumber, and as predicted by yourself, she wakes not ten minutes after you left the confines of the bedroom. She is grizzly as she wakes, fussing and crying as her blue eyes open, taking in the appearance of her father.

"Hey, pretty girl." Seeming to relax at his voice, Bucky continues talking to the little girl, telling her stories of his own childhood.

Ever since her birth, you and Bucky were enamoured with your tiny creation – from the way she wiggles her toes and clenches her fingers to the colour of her eyes, that are identical to her father's.

Yet she is still your little secret, the only other person aware of your little girl being Steve.

Between the both of you, you knew it would be in her best interests to keep her hidden away from the world for a little while, considering Buck's job and the dangers that come along with it. But when the world is that little bit more safer and the both of you are ready, you'll introduce her to her many aunts and uncles that reside at the compound.

And as Bucky basks in the love and joy of the moment, his first child wrapped carefully in his arms, the love of his life only metres away watching them adoringly from the bathtub, he can't help but feel that everything that life had thrown at him had all lead to this moment – to his happy family. His best kept secret.