I've only been gone a day, yet still Mira barrels into me first thing I get through the door. Guess she's still spooked from the last time I left. I pick her up and spin her around in my arms. When I finally set her back down, I see Bucky sitting on the couch, wearing black sweatpants and a matching T-shirt. The damn shirt looks like it's a size too small with how it clings to his chiseled abs and pecs. I can see the curves of his muscles clear as day.
"Welcome back," he greets with a smile.
I make my way to the couch, plopping down next to him and kicking off my combat boots. I quickly unzip my bag and slide out the notebook. "Got it," I smile at him.
"Got what?" Mira asks, leaning on Bucky's legs.
"Something that will hopefully answer some questions."
She shrugs before turning and running to the corner of the room. "Look what we did," she announces, pointing to the now-decorated little three-foot tree. It's wrapped in silver tinsel, small white and red balls hanging all around it, mixed with little paper snowflakes scattered in.
"Dad and I made the snowflakes. It was so much fun, but he wouldn't let me use the big scissors."
I glance over at him. "Didn't seem like a good idea."
I chuckle. "You forgot the star," I whisper.
"Nope, we were just waiting for you," he replies, pulling the star out of a bag on the floor. It's a pretty golden star, probably way too big for that tiny-ass tree, but who ever said they had to be perfect?
The three of us gather around it. I lift Mira up just enough so she can plop the star right on top. Bucky promptly plugs in a wire, and the tree lights up with little white twinkle lights.
"It's so pretty," Mira whispers, her eyes staring in awe at the tree.
Memories flood in of the last Christmas I spent with Jamie. We were seriously broke, so I made do with what I could to give her the best holiday. I couldn't get a tree, so I told her we should decorate one in the forest so everyone could enjoy it. I sifted through trash, getting old newspapers to cut up into fun decorations. I couldn't get her any presents, but I managed to snag military rations from one of the camps I danced at. So we had one hell of a feast—or at least, we considered it one at the time.
We didn't have lights, tinsel, or anything like this. But we had each other, and somehow that was enough. My heart aches thinking about those things and now looking at Mira, enjoying all the things I wish I could have given Jamie.
I turn unconsciously to Bucky, only to find he's already looking at me, our eyes locked on one another. I feel a gentle pull—not from him, but almost like the universe itself is pushing me toward him. Before I know it, my hands rest on his chest, his on the small of my back, our lips meeting in a sweet, gentle kiss.
"Ew," I hear Mira mutter.
We break apart and look down at our child, her nose scrunched as she stares up at us.
"Um, what's in the notebook?" Bucky says, releasing me in a hurry and clearing his throat as if that'll distract anyone.
"Didn't read it," I reply, following him to the couch where we open it and try to make heads or tails of Lang's sloppy handwriting. I think the man didn't worry about hiding shit because he knew if someone got it, they wouldn't be able to read it very well.
After an eternity, we finally manage to get the gist of it. The six stones are Mind, Reality, Power, Time, Soul, and Space. The Space Stone is the Tesseract—the one I was exposed to.
The Mind Stone is the one that was in Vision's head and gave Wanda her powers. The rest focuses on where they were and what they do, but their names do them justice for exactly what they can do and what they control—although the page covering the Soul Stone is basically blank.
The only thing it really says is that it's at Vormir. No damn clue where the fuck that is. Plus, it doesn't go into detail about what it does or its power, and I'm really hoping it isn't something weird like being able to control people. I think we've both had enough of that in our lives.
While the information gives us some insight into the powers of the stones, it's limited. The thought occurs to me to just kidnap Lang, interrogate him, and see what he knows so we can find out more. But Bucky has shown clear apprehension about me using violence to solve this situation.
The next few days, until Christmas rolls around, pass by in a flurry. Bucky and I somehow have some kind of mind meld about getting Mira presents separately. He comes home from therapy one day later than usual with three presents wrapped to perfection and places them silently under the tree. Mira promptly insists on opening them and throws a fit when we tell her she has to wait.
I leave her with Bucky one day to go shopping and end up at some obnoxiously large mall. Standing in the swarm of people—the irritating jingle of someone ringing a bell, children running around, endless chatter—is a bit overwhelming for me. I guess I got too used to moving through the shadows and backstreets, because now standing in the center of it all feels far too exposing.
I flip my jacket hood up and pull my baseball cap lower to hide my face. I try to tuck my now very long brown hair into my cap, but strands escape and cascade around my face. In the past, I loved my hair long. Now it's just an annoying identifier I don't need—not to mention a stupid way to get caught if I leave even a strand behind somewhere.
I toy with the strands between my fingers, contemplating what their fate will be in the coming days.