We finally got Morgan and Harley down after their evening bottles with less fussing than I expected. And the twins were great about it too.

"Well, that was easier than I thought it would be," Sam said, plopping onto the sofa next to me.

I laughed. "Well, you did have that practice run with Clint's kids."

Bucky groaned. "Ugh, don't remind us. Natasha showed us up with that whole diaper thing. And I grew up with siblings."

Tony trudged over to us. "At least you three are only helping temporarily. I'm the one that has to get up with them in the middle of the night." He flopped face-first onto the sofa. "Dirty diapers are worse than any villain we've ever faced."

"I beg to differ." I smirked. "I'd say battling Ultron was pretty bad."

"You had to go there," Sam said, shaking his head.

Right then, I heard the unmistakable sound of a key in the lock of the front door which could only mean one thing: Natasha was back from her bachelorette outing with the girls.

"We're home!" Emery sing-songed as she walked into the main room. Natasha, Pepper, and Yelena followed close behind.

Nat brightened when she saw me.

"Hey, babe." I greeted her with a kiss. "How was your night?"

"So much fun. But we're all pretty tired." She slipped off her heels and looped the straps over two fingers. "Did you have fun here?"

I nodded. "We did." I turned to Pepper who was checking on Tony. "The twins went to sleep with no issues. And Tony behaved as well."

That got me some grunts from Tony and laughs from Yelena and Pepper.

"Well, I think I'm gonna turn in for the night," Natasha said, squeezing my hand and walking toward the elevator.

"I'll be up in a minute," I told her.

"Steve, we got it covered down here," Yelena reassured me. "Go be with your girl."

"Are you sure?" I asked. "I can still help clean up in the kitchen—"

"Go!" Yelena, Emery, and Pepper yelled at me.

"Do what they say, man," Sam said, clapping me on the shoulder. "We got it from here."

I nodded my thanks and headed upstairs where I found Natasha sitting on our bed, her legs tucked under her body.

"Hey, you." She pulled me toward her on the bed.

I leaned forward, my lips parting so I could kiss her. "Gosh, I missed you tonight."

Natasha smiled, pulling me again so I was on top of her. "Well, then I guess we have to make up for lost time." Her kisses trailed along my jawline as her fingers untucked my t-shirt from my waistline.

"I thought you were tired?" I teased, helping her pull my shirt free and over my head.

Natasha smirked. "For you? Never." She giggled as my fingers grazed over her waist under the fabric of her top.

I tugged at her bottom lip with my teeth and she moaned happily, pulling my body closer. "Have I told you how much I love you?"

She smiled. "Mm, I never get tired of hearing that. Tell me, what do you love the most?"

"Well, I love your lips." I kissed her. "Your heart." Another kiss, this time on her chest right where her shirt dipped down. "Your hair." I tangled my hands in her fairly newly dyed dark auburn hair as I pressed another kiss to her forehead. She'd colored it for the wedding, and it was one of my favorite colors on her. "Your passion." She laughed at that. "And the way you've never stopped loving me."

She reached up and cupped my face in her hands. "I will never stop loving you. No matter how crazy things get, you will always be that constant in my life. And I can never thank you enough for taking a chance on me."

"There is no one else I would rather spend forever with." Our lips met again, the heat between us increasing as we fumbled to get closer to each other and shed away all layers of fabric that separated us.

"I love you so much," she whispered, our eyes locking in a knowing gaze. "You are my whole world." She trailed her fingers down my bare chest.

I smiled, brushing her hair behind her ears. "And you are mine. Forever and always."

*    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *

The next day, I woke up with Natasha still wrapped in my arms. I quietly slid out of bed, pulling on a shirt and tiptoeing out of the room so I wouldn't wake her. Once downstairs in the kitchen, I took out the griddle and a bag of pancake mix. I hadn't made breakfast in bed for Nat in quite some time, so I figured I'd surprise her.

"Wow, Cap I hope you made those for the whole compound," Tony said, interrupting my concentration as I flipped one of the pancakes. "They smell incredible."

"Thanks, Tony. I made enough for me and Nat, but there is plenty of batter left if you want more," I replied.

"I've been up half the night with Harley, I think I'll just stick with my coffee before I attempt to make actual food."

I laughed. "Your call, man." I added the plate of pancakes to a tray that already had two cups of coffee on it, taking it upstairs.

Natasha was sitting up in bed when I got back to our room, the covers pulled around her slender frame. "You made breakfast!" She grinned.

"Indeed. How is it?"

She sipped at her coffee, closing her eyes. "Yum. Perfect as always."

"Glad to hear it." I scooched across the bed so I could sit next to her.

"Any exciting plans for today?" she asked as we ate our pancakes.

"I promised Bucky we'd go to the shelter and play with puppies."

She laughed. "You're a goof. But that's really sweet."

"Yeah, but knowing him, he'll wanna take all of them home. And that's the last thing we need here—two babies and a whole bunch of puppies." My lips twitched up into a smile even as I said that. "Maybe that wouldn't be so bad."

"Oh, Tony would one hundred percent allow it. Pepper on the other hand..." she trailed off and I laughed.

"True." I checked my watch. "I should probably go."

She tugged at the front of my shirt, pulling me closer so she could kiss me. "Have fun."

I kissed her once then rolled off the bed, heading for the door.

*    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *

A few hours later

"Bucky, we have to go! Where are you?" I called out, roaming through the shelter with Sam.

"Found him!" Sam said, stopping a few seconds later. "Oh lord."

"What? Oh. Oh no. Buck, what did we say about getting a dog?" I crossed my arms over my chest.

Bucky was sitting on the floor of the shelter playing with a German Shepherd Husky mix puppy...with three legs. This is gonna be way too hard to say 'no' to...

"Oh come on, Steve! How can you say 'no' to this face?" He pouted. The dog arf'ed in response, jumping onto his lap and licking his face.

I groaned. "Buckyyyyyyy. Man, you make this difficult."

"Please?"

I glanced at Sam, who shook his head.

"Your call, man," Sam said, backing away slowly.

Bucky picked up the puppy, facing him at me and moving his front right paw. "Please let Bucky adopt me! I will be good!"

I laughed. "Buck, we are way too old for this." I knelt down to pet the dog.

He grinned. "Exactly why I know you'll cave."

The dog arf'ed again and licked my face.

I shook my head at him but couldn't help smiling—and giving in. "Alright, fine. But you're explaining this to the others."

"Noted."

We picked up a few things we'd need for the new pup before heading back to the car and then the compound.

"So, have you thought of a name?" I asked, clicking my left blinker on.

"Yeah."

"What is it?"

Bucky leaned forward from the backseat and whispered something to Sam, who responded: "Oh, that's good."

"What?" I asked again.

Sam smirked. "Steve."

"Yeah?"

Bucky snorted. "That's the name."

"What is?"

"Steve."

"Yeah?"

Bucky and Sam burst into laughter again. And then I got the joke.

"Very funny. You're not actually gonna name the dog after me, are you?"

"Yes," Bucky and Sam said in unison.

"Great, now you two decide to agree on something," I grumbled, shaking my head.

"Oh come on," Sam protested. "It's a great name."

"Yeah," I said. "It's mine."

They both laughed again at that.

We arrived back at the compound a few minutes later, greeted inside by a flurry of people who wanted to see if we brought home any dogs from the shelter.

Bucky proudly told Tony, Nat, Pepper, and Emery that he'd adopted a puppy and he'd named it ever so fondly after me. Natasha smirked.

"Promise me you won't love the dog more than me," I said to her, pouting.

She laughed, kissing my cheek. "Babe, no one could replace you. You will always be my one and only Steve."

This received a chorus of "awwww"s from the group. From there, Tony immediately started planning the prosthetic he was going to make for the puppy, calling in the best vibranium expert to help: Shuri.

Bucky was just excited that he would have a matching arm with his new pal Steve.

----

A/N: this deserved a cute ending and I really wanted to include the puppy :D (some brief context about Shuri because I haven't mentioned her for a while: she was back in Wakanda but will be returning for the wedding along with Peter). I had a very difficult time choosing the pup lol but thanks to everyone who voted in the aesthetic book, it did help me in the end :D

also, the idea about the dog with the prosthetic made by Tony came from Pinterest (image also from Pinterest); name creds for the pup go to JohannaMason120 :)

I hope you enjoyed!

~Han