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sjsmith56 · 28 days ago

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A Better Man, Part 7 - Appearances

Summary: Bucky and Andrea become closer but still haven’t kissed. Winnifred advises Andrea to make the first move. As the demolition work finally begins on the brownstone, evidence of someone watching them becomes apparent.

Length: 4.4 K

Characters: Bucky, Andrea, Winnifred, Steve, Clint, Mrs. Parker.

Warnings: Someone is watching, Mrs. Parker becomes mysterious, it’s going too well.

Author notes: This part is mostly sweet in tone but it does end on a dark note.

<<Part 6

Part 7

Bucky stayed home with Andrea the next morning, worried enough that he insisted she let him do almost everything. Since she didn't want to stay in bed, he agreed she could sit on the couch, as long as she was covered up with a throw blanket over her legs. The arrival of some flowers from the office really cheered her up and by noon, she convinced him that she felt well enough to be left on her own. When he agreed to go to work, he kissed her on the cheek, smiling softly at her as he stepped into the elevator.

As they each fell back into their routines during the rest of the week, she received a visit from Natasha who shared some details of her romance with Steve, admitting that she found him very engaging. Although the redhead wouldn't admit to being in love, she did admit that she considered him her boyfriend. She questioned Andrea about her relationship with Bucky, teasing her gently about her shy "beau" who she had yet to meet.

A phone call the next morning produced an invitation from Winnifred Barnes to come over for lunch. It was a very pleasant visit with Bucky's mother, who warmly welcomed Andrea and Lily. She asked to hold the baby as soon as she could, exclaiming once again how sweet the little girl was. While she sat with Lily on her lap, the older woman shared some photos of Bucky and his sister as children.

"I only had the two," she said. "I would have liked more but I was working long hours."

"Bucky said you ran the contracting company," said Andrea. "There weren't many women in your position."

"No, that's true," smiled Winnifred. "I was an only child, so the business was left to me when my father died. We faced some challenges keeping it afloat in the 1990s, but George was a rock for me and things turned around. When my husband was dying of cancer, I took a leave of absence to look after him. That's when Bucky took over managing the company and we found Mrs. Parker to do the office work. I couldn't go back without him there, so I retired, well, mostly retired. I'm still interested in the business and help when I can, but Bucky has done a good job running it. It helped that Steve and Sam also worked for the company since that time. They've been friends for a long time; Steve from childhood and Sam from high school."

"Steve is dating my friend, Natasha," said Andrea. "She's quite taken with him. I didn't see that coming."

"How do you feel about Bucky?"

Andrea was mid-bite when that was asked and chewed her food slowly while she considered her answer.

"I like him very much," she said. "I'm not sure how he really feels about me, other than as a good friend."

Winnifred put her cutlery down and placed her hand on Andrea's.

"He has much deeper feelings for you than what you think," she said. "He's quite shy, especially since his last girlfriend rejected him. It's made him reluctant to make the first move. Does he know how you feel?"

"Well, I told him I wanted to take it slow. Is that why he's only kissed me on the cheek?"

That made the older woman smile. Sometimes, Bucky was too much of a gentleman for his own good. He would never make the first move after Andrea's request, unless she gave him a little nudge.

"Would you accept some advice?" Andrea nodded. "Dance with him. When he was growing up, I always played 70s and 80s soft rock. Right from when he was a little boy, I would invite him to dance. It's still his go-to music."

"He hasn't played any of it, although he wears his headphones when he's working out," said Andrea. She blushed. "You don't mind if Bucky and I become involved?"

"Andrea, I would be thrilled," she answered. "He needs you in his life, of that, I'm sure."

"Okay, I'll try to get him to dance," said the younger woman. "There's a few of those songs I love myself."

"Perfect."

That evening, after dinner was cleared away, and Lily had been fed, bathed, and put to bed, they were sitting, each reading a book, as music played in the background. Then Fooled Around and Fell in Love came on and Andrea put her book down.

"I love this song," she said. "It's been in so many movie soundtracks. Dance with me?"

Bucky looked at her. "Really? You want to dance with me?"

"Yeah, it's a great song." She stood in front of him. "Come on."

Taking her hand in his, Bucky stood up and began to sway with her then started adding some moves, making her smile as he twirled her then brought her close. They each sang to the song as they danced then Bucky looked down at her with a smile as she laid her head on his chest for a brief moment before they split apart again and laughed as he did another dance move. As the music faded away, he impulsively kissed her hand, then realized that she didn't pull her hand away. If You Don't Know Me By Now came on next and Bucky gazed at Andrea, then gently moved a strand of hair behind her ear. She said nothing, not moving while her hand was still in his. Slowly, he put his other hand around her waist and pulled her closer. She breathed faster for a moment then looked up at him, not quite believing that this was working.

"You don't have ...."

"Shhh," he whispered, interrupting her. "Do you know what you do to me?" She shook her head slightly, her eyes focused on him. "Since I first saw you, I haven't been able to think much about anything else. I have issues, I know that, but when I'm with you, they don't bother me as much. You're so kind and understanding, an amazing mom, and I think you're beautiful."

"I'm not really," she answered. "I haven't lost a lot of my maternity weight, and I hardly wear any makeup."

"You're perfect," said Bucky.

He looked at her lips then slowly lowered his head, brushing his lips ever so gently against her cheek. She didn't move away so he kissed her on the lips, softly, losing himself in the sensation. Briefly, he looked at her and saw something inviting in her eyes, so he kissed her again, opening his lips and almost groaning when she opened hers, allowing their tongues to touch. It was incredible how good she tasted. When her hands touched his chest and slowly pressed against him, he thought he had died and gone to heaven. Then You Make Me Feel Brand New came on and Bucky began to sway again, only this time he kept Andrea close. For the whole song, they danced slowly, and intimately, as they kissed and caressed each other.

"Can we sit?" he asked, when they stopped at the end of it.

He pulled her towards the oversized armchair, big enough for both, him sitting first then she sat next to him. Boldly, he pulled her onto his lap so he could cradle her, then ran his hand through her hair as he kissed her again, exploring lightly with his tongue. Taking it slow and somewhat respectful, he held her close, running that one hand down her shoulder then down the side of her body to the round of her cheek. A whimper escaped from Andrea's throat, and he switched his mouth to her neck, mouthing it until he found her pulse point. He slowed down, not wanting to overwhelm her, then kissed her lightly along her jawline before pulling away.

"What are you thinking?" he asked.

"You're a good kisser for a guy who says he's shy," she joked, as she placed her palm on his chest. "Why did you wait so long to kiss me?"

"Because you said you wanted to take it slow." Lovingly, he gazed at her. "I can go faster."

"A little faster is okay but I'm scared," she admitted. "Not of you but of this. I've been thinking of you, and I want this, but I don't know if I'm ready to fully trust anyone yet."

He nodded in understanding. "Brock really hurt you, didn't he?"

Her lips straightened in a line. "You're not him." She rolled her head up a little. "Just by your own actions, I know you're a better man but trusting someone again is really hard and I have Lily to think of."

"Does it help that when I took care of you, then changed Lily and fed her the other night that I felt like I was taking care of my family? I liked it, a lot. It felt natural to me."

"Yeah?" She smiled broadly, then kissed him. "It does help. Are you going to take me on a real date?"

It was his turn to smile. "If you want. My mother already said she would look after Lily. I think we should take her up on her offer."

"Okay, but nothing fancy. I don't need to be impressed."

"What about right now?" he asked, speaking in a lower timbre than usual. "Is what we're doing now okay to keep doing?"

"You mean, kissing and touching? Nothing more?"

"Nothing more," he confirmed, looking at her lips as he spoke. "I like this, just holding you and kissing is really nice, like amazingly nice." They both chuckled, then he raised her hand to his lips and kissed her palm. "Can I ask you a question?" Andrea nodded. "Did my mother tell you I like 70s and 80s music?"

She blushed and buried her head into his shoulder, as he smiled indulgently at her.

"Yes. She said it's your go-to music. I think she's rooting for us."

"You're probably right and it's okay. Maybe I was dragging my feet a little. I don't want you to feel pressured into anything you're not ready for."

Her answer to that was to kiss him, prompting him to wrap his arms around her, bringing their bodies flush against each other. It was easy to get lost in each other, being so close together, with music playing in the background. Andrea couldn't recall any time she ever made out with someone in a way that felt as soft and sweet as what they were doing at that moment. Winnifred was right to tell her about his preference in music. There were many layers to Bucky Barnes and so far, each one that was revealed was intriguing.

In the week after that evening, they became more affectionate with each other, kissing hello in the morning after getting up and before they went back to their separate bedrooms in the evening. Bucky played more with Lily when he was home, displaying a loving patience with her that impressed Andrea. He even showed up with some baby board books that he picked up on the way home.

"Mrs. Parker told me about them," he explained. "She said we should be reading to Lily now and when she gets a bit older there are books with textures in them that she can touch as we read the story."

It was more proof that he wasn't just good boyfriend material, he was showing himself to be a good father as well. She found herself missing him when he was at work during the day and looking forward to his return every evening.

When he was at work, Bucky kept checking in with the city, inquiring about the building permits for the renovation. On the day the approvals finally arrived, he phoned Andrea to share the news, as well as go over what had been done already at the house.

"The abatement is complete, and the guy was in to treat the mold underneath the roof. The roof will be replaced in a couple of days and the foundation should be repaired by next week."

"Sounds like it's all coming together," she said. "When do you begin taking the kitchen and bathrooms apart?"

"We're starting tomorrow," he replied. "I'm going to bring you some catalogues of new bathroom and plumbing fixtures. We can go to the kitchen cabinetmaker's place so you can choose new cabinets and counter tops. We should talk about the lighting fixtures as well, although we won't be able to replace any until the house is rewired."

"Can we get some energy efficient lights?" she asked. "Retro-looking but new?"

"Absolutely," he replied. "We can go to the light store and pick out what you want. I'll note where the existing fixtures are, but we may want to add some depending on what you decide for the new kitchen and bathroom layouts. Plus, with the new electrical system you'll be able to have more outlets and more fixtures to light up some of those darker areas."

Steve entered his office, sitting down on one of the chairs. Acknowledging him with a nod, Bucky listened to Andrea's response to his suggestions then told her he had a meeting, saying goodbye to her. Placing the handset down, he looked at his friend.

"What's up?"

"When were you going to tell me and Sam that you and Andrea are officially now a couple?" asked Steve, looking hurt. "I thought we were your best friends?" Bucky sputtered for a moment, then the blond started laughing. "Man, is it ever easy to rile you up. She must be the real thing. Natasha told me you two finally got something going. She tells me a lot of things."

Bucky scrunched up some paper and threw it at Steve, who batted it away.

"Wasn't trying to keep it a secret," he said. "It's just new, and kind of precious."

"Have you ...?" Steve raised one eyebrow as he grinned.

"No, just kissing and being affectionate. We haven't even been on a date yet, officially. I was going to ask Ma if she could look after Lily on Friday night."

"Your ma has met them?"

"Yeah, she likes Andrea, adores Lily." He leaned forward. "She told Andrea that my go-to music is 70s and 80s soft rock. That's how we ended up kissing for the first time. A song came on and she asked me to dance with her." He shrugged. "It just went from there."

"Well, we're double dating on Friday night with Sam and Maria. Why don't you two join us?"

"Andrea doesn't like anything fancy. I know the type of places you take your dates. She had fancy clubs with Brock and probably doesn't want to run into him."

"We can do something low key. There's a nice jazz dinner club that just opened; very laid back and mellow. We were already thinking about trying it." Steve watched his friend think about it. "Sam and I will be on our best behaviour."

"She still doesn't know about what the company really did."

"She won't hear it from us. Scout's honour." Steve put his hand up, displaying his palm.

"You were never a scout."

"Wanted to be. That's gotta count for something." He opened his eyes wide, batting his eyelashes at Bucky, which just made him laugh but the dark-haired man agreed to the group date. Taking his phone out, Steve brought up the club's website and entered some information. "Done. We have a reservation for 7:30 for dinner. Dancing starts at 9 and if it isn't to your taste then you can leave with the fair Andrea."

He leaned forward, offering his clenched fist to Bucky, who bumped his fist with Steve's. The next thing to do was to call his mom, then Andrea with the Friday night plans. He just hoped that everything worked out okay.

The following day, Bucky headed out to the house with his demolition crew. The large disposal bin had been dropped off and positioned as close to the brownstone as possible. There was also portable fencing to put up, which he assigned to Scott and Luis to assemble. He showed them the metal sign warning about it being an active work site, that had to be attached to it after, with Barnes Contracting and their phone number on it.

Just before lunch a guy from OHS showed up, looking pleased at the fence with its warning sign, then making sure everyone had steel toed work-boots and hard hats. Bucky ordered submarine sandwiches for everyone for lunch, along with an assortment of soft drinks and they scattered on the steps in the sun, enjoying them. It was nice hearing the guys talking about the job, then about sports. When lunch was done, they cleaned up their mess and got back at it. About an hour later Bucky heard someone calling him. Clint's voice reached him from the baby's room. He was standing at the window, looking down at the street.

"Someone's watching the place. Do you recognize him?"

He pointed to a man across the street, leaning against the iron fence of another brownstone, smoking a cigarette. Bucky looked. It wasn't anyone he recognized so he took a picture of the man and sent it to Steve.

Bucky: He's watching the place. Know him?

Steve: Hold on, let me check the books.

Bucky and Clint watched the guy for the time it took Steve to answer.

Steve: Nothing, but he may be one of Pierce's new guys. You want an intervention?

Bucky: No, but I do want someone to tail him and find out who he's reporting to.

Steve: He'll be there in half an hour.

He looked at Clint.

"Good work. You want to keep an eye on him until our guy gets here?

"Sure." Clint kept watching the man. "You think he knows who lives here?"

Bucky sighed, unsure. If Alexander Pierce sent a guy to find Andrea there was a good chance he knew about the baby. If the guy was watching his crew, Hydra could be thinking of making a move on them, either interfering with the job site or making plans to hit the office while they were at the house, although why they would do either was beyond him. Unless ... he was there to watch Bucky and follow him to find out where he lived. The location of his apartment had been kept quiet. If they knew he was helping Andrea .... It was almost too much to think about and further emphasized Bucky's desire to get out of that line of work.

Half an hour later Bucky got a text from Shaun, one of his guys.

Shaun: Boss, I'm outside, watching the guy. I'll keep close tabs on him.

Acknowledging the text Bucky got back to the demolition process. It went quickly and by quitting time, he was pleased with their progress. The electrician was going to be in the following day as that process would take a while. Two of his guys would take the wiring and strip it of its covering, then roll it up to be taken to a metal recycler. Another guy would open up the walls where directed by the electrician to assist in the rewiring process. The next few weeks would be busy for all of them.

Friday arrived quickly. They still didn't know who the guy watching on that first day was, but he knew how to shake a tail as he successfully got away from Shaun. He didn't show up at the brownstone again, and neither did anyone else from what they could see. Steve suggested they have someone watching Bucky's apartment building so Shaun was sent there. Damned if he didn't send a text that the guy was there, in the disguise of a road worker.

Shaun: Your lady friend took the baby for a walk, but he just followed at a respectful distance. He called no one. If I didn't know better, I would say he's a cop sent to watch her. What do you want me to do?

Bucky: Just keep watching. If he makes a move on her, you move in.

Shaun: 👍

He called Steve with that bit of speculation. It wasn't until Bucky got back to the office and both Steve and Sam followed him into his space that they gave him the news.

"He's a special investigator for the District Attorney," said Steve. "Doesn't your ma know him?"

"Yeah, they go back a long way," said Bucky. "He used their services in the past. Why would he be watching Andrea?"

"Maybe you should ask your ma," suggested Sam. "Maybe, they're building evidence against Barnes Contracting for that task force."

"Except we're not a focus of the task force," answered Steve. "Natasha said they're focusing all of their attention on Hydra."

A knock on the door brought in Mrs. Parker with some papers. Steve and Sam both nodded their heads in her direction, as well as their eyes in the universal gesture of "Ask her." Bucky cleared his throat, making the older woman stop and look coolly at him.

"Yes?"

"How well does my mother know Nick Fury?" asked Bucky.

"Very well," she replied. "They've known each other since before you were born."

"Does she trust him?"

"Why don't you ask her?" Bucky glanced at the other two men, who both looked like they wanted to be elsewhere with the gaze she had fixed on each of them in turn. "What's going on, boys?"

The way she said boys meant she wasn't happy with them. Bucky could either bluff his way out or tell her the truth.

"A man was watching the brownstone yesterday. We put a tail on him, but he got away, only to show up outside my apartment today. He followed Andrea when she took Lily for a walk. Steve found out he works as a special investigator for Fury."

"Phil Coulson," added Steve. "For an old guy he's pretty slippery."

For the longest time Mrs. Parker said nothing then she went to the door of Bucky's office, stopping before she left.

"Ask your mother," she said, firmly. "She needs to know about this. I'm glad you boys are watching out for Andrea and Lily but don't get confused by the different players in this. There is one enemy and only one that you should be concerned about. Sometimes, the enemy of your enemy is your friend."

What the hell did that mean? She went straight to her desk, got her purse, and left the office as they stood in the doorway. When Sam went outside, Mrs. Parker was nowhere to be seen.

"She's gone," he said. "She usually takes the subway from Queens, right? Which means I should have seen her walking away but there was no sign of her."

Outside, Mrs. Parker, who watched Sam come out of the building looking for her, kept herself hidden until he went back inside. Then she pulled her cellphone out and placed a call.

"The boys put a tail on your man outside the brownstone and Bucky's apartment. Nick, hasn't this gone on long enough? How much longer do you need to get all the evidence to shut Hydra down? You're making the boys jumpy and if Pierce finds out that Andrea and Lily are staying with Bucky, you'll be putting them all at risk." She listened for several moments. "Well, I'm very fond of them. They're good boys, all of them, even the ex-cons. They bought into the revamp of the company right away and are proud to be working on the right side of the law. Don't even get me started with Andrea and Lily. Those two deserve someone who will love and take care of them and that's Bucky, especially after all that boy has been through." Her face became resigned as she listened some more. "Fine, but mark my words, if Pierce gets his hands on that baby, I'm blaming you."

She sent a text message to another number, then looked at the office building one more time. That job was so much fun, and those boys, all of them, were like family to her. If they could pull this off, maybe she could retire and stay on as their administrative assistant for as long as they would have her. She owed it to George and Winnifred Barnes. She owed it to her husband, Ben, murdered so many years ago, probably on Alexander Pierce's orders.

Inside the office, the three men were still puzzled by Mrs. Parker's words and her disappearance. If they had been smart, all three of them would have cancelled their plans for that evening but despite their earlier occupations, there was a certain level of innocence in all three of them that made it unlikely that they could connect the dots that were becoming more and more prominent. Bucky promised to talk to his mother when she came to babysit that evening while Steve and Sam, the dumbasses that they were, focused more on how to impress the two women who had managed to capture something neither man ever offered to a woman before: their hearts.

When they all left the building, activating the security system, then locking the door, none of them saw another figure watching them from a dark vehicle. They didn't know he sent a text message to yet another person, then followed Bucky's vehicle as he drove to his apartment building. Bucky didn't notice the man sit in his car in a parking lot half a block away, watching as the general contractor entered the parking garage then came out an hour later with Andrea Hart and got into a waiting vehicle. But Phil Coulson did, and he used all the tricks of his trade to electronically home in on the phone call the man made to Brock Rumlow that he was about to follow the pair to their destination. That was when Coulson texted his boss, Nick Fury, the message that Hydra knew where Bucky Barnes and Andrea Hart lived. The die had now been cast.

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