(It's finally back!! At long last, here is part five!)

The continuation of the story ended up waiting for more than a week. The team had gotten called away on a mission. When he wasn't working or fighting, Sam was thinking how the story should go. He knew he had to make it good. Nothing less than perfection would do. Not now that he had everyone invested in it. By the time they all had a chance to hear more of the story, Sam was ready.

"SAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMM!" Sam grinned hearing your youngest call his name. He turned and saw her looking up at him with wide eyes. "Go ahead and get everyone," he told her. She squealed in delight before gathering everyone together. "Okay, now we were with Bucky and Princess Y/N in Steve's village, right?" At everyone's nod. "Alright. So...let's go."

"Familiarity breeds contempt." That was the phrase that kept echoing in your brain and Bucky's too. The three of you had been traveling together for weeks now and it was getting tiresome. Every little thing was starting to irk your nerves. To you, Bucky was an egotistical jerk and to Bucky? You were a spoiled princess who snored. The two of you fought over everything. Even Steve was beginning to get irritated with the two of you.

"Princess?" Steve's soft voice asked. You were walking a few feet behind Bucky, just to get some space between you. "Yes, Steve?" Steve looked nervous, like he was afraid you were going to blow up at him. "Do-Do you think you could stop fighting with Bucky? He really needs this quest to keep him out of the mess he was in. If he gets too upset to continue, he may go right back to what he was doing before." You frowned slightly.

"I will stop fighting with him if he stops being an arrogant a-" Steve cut you off. "Enough said. Perhaps I can get him to relax a little." With that, he darted ahead to catch up to Bucky. You were left behind with your thoughts and you hated it. Over the past weeks, your guilt had began eating away at you. Bucky was really convinced that he was on his way to save his love...that she still loved him. It hurt your heart.

In truth, you didn't hate Bucky as much as you liked to pretend. He really was the gallant knight you'd heard about. Even when he was trying to get under your skin, he was obnoxiously charming about it. And he had a heart of gold. His only wish was to be reunited with Natasha and instead, you were leading him into a trap. You were betraying him. You weren't sure if you could keep up the charade much longer. Not when your heart felt a tug every time he was near you.

"OOOOH!! THE PRINCESS LOVES BUCKY!" Your eldest daughter cried out, earning a "SHH!" from all around. She flushed and quieted down. You chuckled lightly. You couldn't believe that every single one of your children and the Avengers were so enraptured by this story that Sam was clearly coming up with off the top of his head. Even Bucky was enjoying it, sitting there with his arm wrapped around you. You snuggled closer to your husband and turned your attention back to the story

"Bucky?" Bucky didn't look at Steve as he surveyed the area. Instead, he hummed in response. "Do you think you could be a little bit nicer to the princess? She's far away from home and probably a little scared. You being unkind isn't helping." Bucky arched a brow and finally looked at Steve. "I'm helping her, aren't I? I'm going to help save her kingdom from Tony and get Natasha back." Steve noticed that Bucky's voice didn't have the same ferocity it once had when talking about Tony and Natasha.

Steve shook his head. "Look at her, Bucky." Bucky cast a glance back at you. It appeared that you were lost in thought and those thoughts bothered you immensely. Bucky felt a pinch in his chest. Maybe Steve was right. Maybe he should be a little nicer to you. True, you could act like a spoiled brat sometimes, but not all the time. In fact, you were quite sweet and pleasant to be around when you wanted to be.

Bucky nodded to Steve, who smiled before returning to where you were. He glanced over to you. You gave him a little smile and the sun shone off your (h/c) hair. Bucky turned away quickly, shaking his own thoughts from his head about how beautiful you looked just then. He was there for Natasha. Only to save Natasha. Right? Now, Bucky wasn't so sure. Somehow, he was beginning to think about what life would be like without you in it now.

He was pulled from his thoughts by your voice. "Uh, Bucky? I'm not sure this is the best path to take. There are stories of bandits in these woods." Bucky rolled his eyes and scoffed. "Excuse me, Princess. Are you the hero?" You opened your mouth to reply, but Bucky cut you off, "No you aren't. You are the princess. I am the hero. The hero chooses the path." Your fists clenched by your sides and your gaze hardened into a glare. It took everything in Bucky not to cower back at the fierceness of the look.

"Bucky's in trouble now," Tony stated with a laugh. Natasha elbowed him sharply. "OUCH!" Your children giggled. "So what's happening in Princess Y/N's kingdom while she and Bucky are fighting?" Clint asked, ignoring what was going on around him. Sam smiled. "I'm glad you asked. We know that Natasha and the jester have a, uh, special relationship. Well, let's just say Tony had a plan for the jester."

Clint appeared and Tony's side and whispered in his ear. The tyrant king nodded. He rose from his seat to make his way to where he now knew the jester was hiding. He stormed into the room, making the jester jump and cower. Tony grabbed a sword and brandished it at Sam. "I know what you've been doing with my wife. And I have just one thing to say."

The jester swallowed thickly. This was it. He was going to die. Tony threw the sword down on the table. Sam blinked in surprise. "Teach me to be funny!" Sam's jaw dropped. "What, Your Majesty?" Tony frowned. "I said, teach me to be funny. It's obvious that's what Natasha sees in you. Help me be funny so I can woo her." Sam readily agreed. He was just glad he wasn't going to die.

"Well, there are a few things to know first." Tony listened intently as Sam tried to explain how comedy wasn't something you could force. He went through everything he could think of, but Tony didn't just seem to get it. Still, Sam had to pretend he was. How else would he be able to keep his head? By the time Sam was done with their lessons, Tony was determined to stage a comedy show for Natasha. Sam encouraged him half-heartedly. "And by the way, if this fails, I'm going to take your head."

Sam found himself praying that, somehow, Tony was able to pull this off. He rather liked his head where it was after all. Sam stood at the back of the throne room, ready to run if necessary. Then again, they had a failsafe just in case. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad. Natasha was escorted into the room and Tony began. Sam groaned as Tony's jokes fell flat. He turned to the chef, Vision. "Give him the pie." Vision turned to Sam. "What now?"

"Dammit, man. He's drowning up there. Give him the pie!" Vision nodded before running up to Tony with pie in hand. Tony looked confused at first, but then beamed. Before anyone could react, he shoved the cream pie into Clint's face. Everyone began laughing, including Natasha. "She did it! She laughed!" Tony exclaimed. Natasha stopped and looked confused while Sam looked relieved. He was going to get to keep his head.

"Daddy, can we shove pies in Uncle Clint's face?" your youngest asked. Bucky chuckled. Clint glared at Sam. "Thanks, Wilson. Uncle Clint would rather not have a pie shoved in his face, kiddo." Sam shrugged. "What about Bucky, Steve and the princess? King Tony and the others are at least safe in the castle, but what about Bucky and them?" Wanda asked. Sam held up his hands in mock defense. "I'm getting there, girl. Just give me a minute."

Steve groaned silently. They were at it again. Just because you suggested a different path. It seemed nothing would make the two of you stop. "If you could just put your ego aside for a moment, you'd realize that maybe I'm right. This path may not be safe." Bucky huffed. "And if you would stop worrying about messing up your hair and clothes, you'd realize that this path is the fastest way to get back to your kingdom."

Steve wanted to cover his ears just to try and drown you both out. This had been going on for several minutes now. "Now, I'm done arguing. We're going this way," Bucky declared, turning on his heel to head deeper into the woods. "Hey, I wasn't done talking to you!" You chased after him and Steve trudged behind you both. The three of you were never going to get through this journey.

You were still trying to get Bucky's attention as you entered a clearing. Bucky whirled around to face you. "That's it. If you don't stop complaining, I'm going to pick you up and carry you over my shoulder." You narrowed your eyes at him. "You wouldn't dare." Bucky took a step closer to you."Wanna bet?" That set you both to arguing again. You were arguing so loudly, you didn't hear the people creeping up all around you. It wasn't until you felt the cool feeling of steel against your neck that you stopped shouting at one another. "Bandits," you whispered exasperatedly.  

"Bandits! They'll never get to Y/N's kingdom now!" your son cried. Bucky gave him a pat on the back. "I'm sure Uncle Sam has an idea about that. Bucky's the hero, remember? He has to complete his journey at least," he said. Then he looked at you and continued, "And get the girl." You smiled and kissed his cheek. "EW." Everyone laughed. "Let me guess, Mom...time to end it for now?" your eldest questioned. You nodded. "Yep. Uncle Sam needs to rest his voice and you three have homework to do."

The children grumbled and so did the adults. "Such a stick in the mud, Y/N," Clint whined. You smacked him across the back of the head. "That's enough from you, mister. Shouldn't you be going to help your own kids with their homework?" Clint blushed. "Oh...yeah." He darted off, making you chuckle. Soon, it was just you and Sam left in the room. "Hey, Sam?" He hummed. "Thanks for doing this for them." Sam beamed. "It's no problem, Y/N. I'm actually having a lot of fun." He really was and he couldn't wait until the next day, when he could continue the story and save the heroes.