The Story Book

Cont...  The first time he saw her in his freaking school, he froze, understandably. She was walking into his English class, his first class of the day looking as self-confident as she had the first time they'd met when she'd dropped him two stories. She had scanned the room and hadn't seemed at all surprised to see him. Peter cursed her in his head; of course, she wasn't surprised; she'd planned this. Like his life wasn't crazy enough as it was. Peter laid his head down on his desk as the teacher did attendance.  "Darling Barnes." The teacher called.  "Present," Darling responded.  "Welcome to Midtown Tech, Ms. Barnes." The teacher paused to nod.  "Thank you." Darling smiled back.  Oh, she had this planned alright. Peter huffed.  "The new girl looks cool," Ned whispered, leaning over as the teacher began their lesson.  Peter shifted over to give Ned the stink eye while still having his head in his arms as he wal...

Cont...  Darling touched down in Wakanda at dinner time. Shuri hadn't asked questions, and Darling was grateful. She wasn't sure what she would have said if asked. In truth, she hadn't thought, she'd been in Moscow, and she had found the info she was looking for, but then she'd stumbled onto something else. She'd dropped everything and found the first flight back.  Suddenly she was standing at the end of the ramp of a quin-jet with Bucky's house within a quick walk, and she doubted. Halfway across the world in less than twelve hours, and this was the first time she hesitated. Would he even want to know?  But the jet was lifting off, and everything in her wanted to call it back, but it answered her question, he might not want to hear what she said, but he was going to.  She walked slowly over to his home and watched him work gently with the kid goats from afar. Once she got closer, he turned to greet her, "Darling! I wasn't expecting you!"  Darl...

Cont...  Walking all night through what equated to enemy territory to get to an Embassy that would probably arrest them on sight was not Bucky's definition of a nice birthday dinner. At least it wasn't raining. Darling and Ziena had hit it off and were talking quietly together as they walked, looking more like regular teenagers than the little adults they always were.  The bodyguards were a slight problem though, they stuck out like a sour thumb the way they moved and looked. They were willing to do what the others told them to do to get through the blockade. They had walked right past group after group of sketchy-looking people and made it to the safe side of town at 2 in the morning.  "There it is." Ziena nodded to a modest building with an iron gate around it.  "You'll need these." Nat handed one of the bodyguards the phones from the terrorists.  "Thank you." The unaccented bodyguard nodded.  "You're welcome. Every little bit helps....

Cont...  It was in Brussels when trouble caught up to them again. It was March, and they were planning on staying the week for Bucky's birthday. In fact, he and Steve were on their way to meet up with the others for dinner to celebrate his birthday when trouble found them.  Trouble in the form of a young girl screaming, the squeal of tires, and a struggle. Steve didn't even think twice and was running over with Bucky quietly cursing, and he followed. They rounded the corner to find a group of masked men trying to shove an Arabic girl into a van while two bodyguards tried to hold them off.  Steve sent two of the masked kidnappers flying upon contact. Bucky sliced through three of them at the same time. The bodyguards held their own, taking down one each, but when they turned to find the girl, she was being dragged towards the van with a knife to her throat. There was a bang, and the man crumpled. Darling stood behind him and shifted to shoot the driver also before lowering...

Cont...  November came, and the week before Thanksgiving, the Rouges all showed up at Bucky's Wakandan home. He'd returned two months ago to finish his mental therapy. Now his hut was filled with laughter and food.  They had all somehow crammed into his little home, and it was nice. They had all managed to bring a boatload of distinctly different foods, so instead of the normal turkey and stuffing and fixings, it was barbecued pork and enchiladas and other things that were smelled so good Bucky didn't care to figure out the name of. His tables had been slid together as one long one, and everything that wasn't a chair was shoved off to the side to try and make room.  "Can we please eat?" Sam begged.  "No! We have to wait for Darling!" Natasha scolded, rotating the platter with the Peking duck on it.  "But she's taking forever, and it smells so good!" Steve joined in the mock whining.  Bucky rolled his eyes as he came over with the cold d...