[ WWII AU ] what a night to go dreaming

[from_the_outside]

There's no doubt that things have shifted, a little, since the day they spent tangled up together in that sun-dappled cottage, tucked away in the trees behind the nearby town. The other Howling Commandos have, seemingly by silent agreement, stopped flirting so outrageously with her, though she's caught Jim and Gabe giving Bucky more than one fondly exasperated glance. She still dances with all of them, and enjoys their company, but they yield the floor to Bucky at the end of the night, and he's the one who, as she said she wanted, walks her back to her tent. 

And then there are their rendezvous' out in the field, where she still checks, each night, for a portal opening in the air. It never comes, but she spends hours there with him, walking and laughing and dancing under the starlight, stealing every moment they can together.

Aunt Peggy says nothing, but Sharon knows she can tell things have changed. There's a worried frown that lives between her brows, but she doesn't forbid her niece to see Steve's best friend, knowing it would only backfire.

Other things change not at all... like the morning tests Howard still makes them do. They're nearing the end of the sequence today, and she lets go of Bucky when Howard tells her to, careful not to linger. It's difficult to say what Stark thinks of his findings; he mutters to himself and snaps at his assistants, but all she can glean from it is that the resonance is still fading at a regular rate from her cells.

But none of them know why.

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[from_the_outside]

She nods, her heart in her throat, and reaches up to smooth the wave of his hair, her fingers light against his cheek.

There's still some time. They don't have to say goodbye yet. And this is a last-ditch experiment, the chances that it will work have to be slim in the extreme.

But she wants him to be certain, anyway. "All of you," she murmurs back, and lifts up to press her lips almost chastely to his. "You're everything I've ever wanted and more, sweetheart."

[nerves_of_ice]

"Angel." His smile is almost heartbreakingly sweet, and he squeezes her to him for a second. "You say the nicest things."

[from_the_outside]

"You deserve every one of them."

She smiles at him, crooked. "Walk with me?"

[nerves_of_ice]

"Anywhere you want," he tells her, and shifts to give her his arm and draw her against his side.

[from_the_outside]

Her smiles turns wry – if only that were possible – but she tucks her arm in his and presses against his side like she has so many times. "Let's go to that little hill," she coaxes. "Where we were star-gazing my first night here."

[nerves_of_ice]

"Okay." He leads her along the side of the field toward the woods path.

"Maybe sometimes once you're back, you can look at the stars and remember me, if you want." He gives her a little smile. "The stars aren't going to change between then and now, right? So it'll be like we're looking at them together."

[from_the_outside]

She huffs a breath that catches her in chest, like a sob. "I will," she promises, and looks back up at him, her own smile sad but warm.

"Don't you forget me either, soldier boy."

[nerves_of_ice]

"I never could," he promises. "You've changed my life, angel. And I'm glad of it."

[from_the_outside]

"Me, too."

They stroll along the path they'd taken that first night she was here, when she'd teased him about it being a date. Over there is where they paused walking back to the camp and kissed for the first time; up ahead is the stretch of meadow where they'd danced and everything had shifted around them. She'll come back here, she decides. When she makes it home. She'll come back and find this place where they'd spent so much time together. And maybe it'll feel like he's just a few steps behind her on the path, like any moment she'll see him come walking through the dark.

[nerves_of_ice]

Bucky can't decide if he's grateful or sorry that they'll be packing up to head back to London soon. If Howard's experiment tonight works, being here at camp without her will be like being haunted, he's pretty sure - but at the same time, leaving this place will be like leaving her behind, just as she'll leave him to return to her time, her life. Either way, it's not anything he can control. She can't either, not really.

For now, he watches the play of sunlight through the trees against the gold of her hair, and holds on to this moment with both hands.

[from_the_outside]

In the daylight, the little hill and the meadow beyond it look real and solid, far from the dream she remembers. She strolls with him up the gentle incline, then lets go of his arm when they reach the top.

Settling herself down in the grass, she pats the spot next to her and smiles at him, much as she had that first night, when he decided to trust her. "Take a load off, Sergeant."

[nerves_of_ice]

He chuckles at that. "Yes, ma'am." Bucky sits easily down beside her, legs outstretched as he leans back on his elbows.

"It's nice here, isn't it?"

[from_the_outside]

"It really is."

She studies him, the way the sunshine kisses his skin, the long lean line of his body, and smiles.

This time, there's the glint of mischief in it. "I brought a little treat for you."

[nerves_of_ice]

Surprise is written in his features as he looks over at her.

"You did?" She looks as though she's anticipating something, and he's curious as hell. "What is it?"

[from_the_outside]

She reaches into the pocket of her skirt and liberates the familiar rectangle of her phone. God bless Stark tech, the thing had still turned on when she tried it earlier. He really had cracked long-lasting, sustainable energy.

"The rest of my things are back in my tent," she tells him, thumbing the phone into life. "But I did promise to show you some photos."

[nerves_of_ice]

He sits straight up, utterly fascinated, and leans over to look at the device in her hand.

"That's the smallest darn camera I've ever seen or heard of, by the way," he tells her.

[from_the_outside]

"It's more than a camera," she tells him. "But the photos are probably the only thing on it that'll work right now."

Tragically, wi-fi and streaming music stations won't be invented for a few more decades.

She navigates to her folder of photos, and flips to the ones she'd found earlier and marked, then hands him the phone with a smile. On the screen, a younger Sharon smiles up at him, though there's something slightly exasperated in her expression. She wears a white dress and her hair is curled and a corsage blooms at her wrist. "There you go," Sharon-of-now says, amused. "My debut."

[nerves_of_ice]

He holds it with care, half-afraid it'll come apart in his hands, and scrutinizes the photograph with increasing delight. "Look at that," Bucky marvels. "You're gorgeous, baby."

[from_the_outside]

She laughs and reaches to swipe her finger across the screen, showing a new photo of her in the same outfit, but standing arm in arm with a handsome gray-haired man who shares her same smile.

“My dad,” she tells Bucky.

[nerves_of_ice]

"I can see the resemblance." He tilts the device a little, making sure to see the picture from every angle. "The two of you look happy."

[from_the_outside]

“He was happy I went through with it, and I was happy to make him happy,” she says. Reaching again, she swipes past a few more photos and lands on one of the mountain house, her parents standing in front of it, smiling and waving.

“This is the house in Virginia.”

[nerves_of_ice]

His jaw doesn't drop, but it's a near thing. Bucky stares at the enormous house, then at Sharon.

"House? That's a mansion!"

[from_the_outside]

“What? No.”

She leans to look at the house, trying to see it through his eyes. “I mean, I guess it’s a pretty big house…”

[nerves_of_ice]

Bucky laughs. “If it’s not, the future must be a heck of a place. That’s amazing, baby.”

[from_the_outside]

“I never thought of it as being a mansion,” she says, but his good humor keeps her from being too embarrassed.

There are so many other photos she wants to show him, but for now she just scrolls back to that first one, of her in her deb dress, and lets him look as long as he wants. “I wish I could show it to you in person.”