3A/N: Well I'm just surprising myself all over the place. Lo and behold, a BuckyNat fic! Before you ask, yes, this falls in my 20 Questions AU, and yes, I have a whole timeline. That being said, I think this stands pretty well on its own, just another AU where Bucky and Natasha actually get to heal and live their own lives. *sniff* If only it were true... Just on the off-chance you want to track this with my Steggy story, this takes place in 2018, around the time of the "Midnight Musings" chapter. Please enjoy!
{[Just a Couple of Strays]}
Bucky opened the door of the apartment to see a bruised and muddied version of his wife standing on the doorstep with a little girl fast asleep on her shoulder. Natasha stepped into the entryway looking bone-tired, and without a word handed the sleeping child off to Bucky, giving him a quick peck on the lips and then heading for the bathroom, closing the door to it behind her.
The dial tone sounded in Bucky's head for a moment as he stood in the entryway, processing what had just happened. Eventually he closed the front door and, careful not to jostle the little girl who had inexplicably appeared on his shoulder, he made his way towards the living room. Just then, he heard the bathroom door open and he turned, hoping to get some more information. Natasha stuck her head out the door.
"Don't wake her up," she whispered, fixing him with a fierce glare as she pulled her head back into the bathroom.
Not that Bucky would have ever thought going against Natasha was a good idea, but that look made him especially sure that he wanted to keep this child asleep. Unsure what else to do, he just stopped where he was, in the middle of the living room. He heard the shower turn on, and listened to the patter of the water while he stood still, only swaying a bit if his charge seemed to rouse.
If Bucky had had to guess, he would have said that the girl was about five or six years old, but she was tiny. She couldn't have weighed more than forty pounds. He couldn't see any of her features, but he thought he could tell she had straight brown hair. Maybe. She was definitely in need of some grooming, so her hair could have been purple for all he knew. She wore scuffed up sneakers with no socks and a dirty old dress with holes in it, over which she had an oversized coat that Bucky recognized as Natasha's. He smiled at the thought of his wife, and then his smile faded into a grimace.
When Natasha came back from missions, she took her time cleaning up. Especially when she came back as dirty as she just had. He knew she probably wouldn't take an exceptionally long shower, but he did know that he should prepare himself to stay planted for upwards of forty-five minutes, if necessary. At least the girl wasn't heavy, he thought to himself grimly. What he was not prepared for, however, was hearing the water stop a mere five minutes after the bathroom door had closed.
"Ok," he thought. "Maybe she just wanted to rinse off."
That had not been the case. No longer than thirty seconds after the water stopped, Natasha exited the bathroom, fresh and clean, wearing her blue fluffy bathrobe and wrapping a towel around her hair. Bucky was even more confused than he had been before, so he didn't even think of asking any questions until after Natasha had taken the sleeping child and padded over to the couch. His mind finally woke up, and he followed her.
"So..." he began in a whisper, trying to think as Natasha laid the little girl on the sofa and began tucking a blanket around her. "Who's this?"
Natasha seemed about to answer when the child stirred and her eyelids fluttered open. Bucky saw a momentary sleepy haze in her blue eyes, but it cleared as soon as she saw him, and she sat bolt upright, scooting back as far as the couch would allow. Natasha immediately held her hands up in a peaceful gesture and began speaking in Russian. Bucky hadn't spoken the language in years, but it was so burned into his memory that he had no trouble following the words.
"Whoa there, little one. It's alright."
The girl didn't answer, only fixed her eyes fearfully on Bucky. Natasha glanced back at him and tried again,
"He won't hurt you, I promise."
This seemed to make the fear in the child's eyes waver briefly, and she shifted her gaze between the two adults in front of her. She still didn't seem completely sold on the idea, so Natasha considered her for a moment.
"Hey, listen," the girl locked eyes with Natasha, who smirked. "If he tries anything," she narrowed her eyes playfully at the girl, "I'll kill him." She drew a finger dramatically across her neck.
Much to Bucky's dismay, this sparked a hint of a smile on the little vagrant's face, which his wife returned.
"You go to sleep now," Natasha said, helping the girl settle back in. "I'll be right here."
[{WINTER – WIDOW}]
Ten minutes later Bucky and Natasha stood in the kitchen, watching from behind the bar as the little girl slept. Bucky had his arms around Natasha, who was stifling her yawns.
"So are you going to tell me about her?" Bucky nodded towards the couch. "Or am I never going to find out. I'm fine either way, just wondering what to expect."
Natasha leaned her head back into his chest and sighed. After a moment, she answered, "I haven't been able to get much out of her, but her name is Katerina. She was on the street and I got rid of a bunch of-" she seemed to be searching for a word, and Bucky heard her mutter a Russian expletive under her breath before she moved on with, "- perverts that were moving in on her. I asked her all the usual questions, which she didn't answer, and then spent the next two hours trying to find out if she had a family."
"And?" Bucky prompted when his wife fell silent.
"And she didn't have anyone. Or at least, not anyone in the city. I was very thorough.
"By then I was late for my meetup. I took her along with me and told her to stay in the van, which she did, surprisingly, but my contacts weren't very happy. They got spooked, I got made. Things got messy, and I had to grab the package and run." She sighed, turning around so she could wrap her arms around her husband. "Amateur, I know."
"Nah." Bucky kissed her head and squeezed her tighter, "You had a very important distraction." He thought for a moment as Natasha's breathing evened out. He had another question.
"Hey, did you steal this kid?"
He felt a muffled mmhmm of confirmation against his chest.
"That's what I thought."
Natasha was drooping, so Bucky hooked an arm under her legs and lifted her.
"Hey," she said sleepily. "I'm not supposed to leave the room."
"I know," he replied, sinking into one of the armchairs and settling his wife on his lap. "But you do need to sleep."
He wasn't completely sure if she agreed with him, but she didn't offer any more arguments, and by the time he pulled the blanket over them, a soft snore was escaping her parted lips.
[{WINTER – WIDOW}]