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“Go hide, he's just about to see us…no over-”
“Hands where I can see them, ma’am.” You heard the gruff, husky voice coming from behind you. His boots rattled the wooden floor below your feet, the hollow echoes of his footsteps stopping just before your bedroom door.
You were so close. But he caught you red-handed.
Bucky knew there were thieves where he lived. The sheriff knew almost every hole and hideout that rested among the small town he’d grown to love and protect. But a criminal in his own home…now that was new territory.
“What can I do for you, Sheriff?” your eyes kept to the wall, there wasn’t much to look at, except for a small carved out doorway that led to your cramped, shady wardrobe area. Your gaze wavering, hoping to turn around to catch a glance at Bucky. The Sheriff. And your lovely husband of too many years.
His lips were always narrowed, curled into a frown while he stomped around town with his big bad horse, and his partner in crime, or partner in catching crime, Steve Rogers. Intimidation and confidence was key in their way of keeping peace in the small town.
But when the Sheriff rides home for the night, walking into the dimly lit home that he created just for the two of you, the permanent frown lines seem to fade just a little. The candles soften his face, as a shadow spreads across the cupid bow of his lip, and the only thing you can see in the room of faded darkness, is his blazing blue eyes, and his beautiful lips covered in a smile that was only reserved for you.
Maybe the darkness was playing tricks on you and Bucky. Because obviously he must have mistaken you for the huge dark shadow that resembled a human body, who definitely wasn’t wearing an exact shadow replica of his extra cowboy hat he just happened to leave sitting out.
What kind of monster would touch a man’s hat. Especially a cowboy’s hat.
You were frozen in place. A tickle of a laugh was trying to crawl its way up past your lips, but you wouldn’t let it. There's a wide open window, about two steps to your left. You could make an escape. You just had to.
Bucky knew your plan before he even told you to move. But it was funny seeing your eyes twitch from the plain wall in front of you to the window on the side next to your shared bed. It was inevitable. His feet were about two steps away from you. But he had to give you a chance. He just had to.
Your feet shifted slightly to the left, your fingers were stuck on the brim of his hat, slowly sticking to your hands as you started to sweat from the excitement. Your husband wasn’t going to let you get away so easily.
But then a quiet “ now ” slipped from your lips, confusing Bucky before he could even say anything else, and the air had been cut by the hat. It flew through the air in a different direction out of his reach. His eyes immediately went to the hat first, being the first thing that moved before your feet dashed by your bedside, reaching for the frame of the window, being only a one story house, you would step right into the sand with ease. The horse barn just inches away from you, it was a good plan. A great plan. The first “criminal” to ever escape Bucky’s wrath.
But just as his hands were about to grip the hat that was sinking to the ground, a small shuffle came from the shadows of your closet. A small set of grabbers, your child Rebecca’s tiny hands, lunged for the hat as she appeared out of nowhere.
—
Before Bucky even set foot into the home, you heard your daughter, Rebecca Barnes, named after your husband’s younger sister, giggling from you and Bucky’s bedroom. You went to go check on her, as she wanted to hide from you as it was almost bedtime. She never wanted to go to bed before Bucky got home, making sure that you and him tucked her in at night, sleeping soundly.
But as late as your husband was tonight, you needed to get your daughter to bed. But you played along with her little hiding game for a few more minutes. As you stepped into the room, you heard her small shuffling in the small room that held your clothes, being the perfect hiding spot for her, being so tiny, but her little feet just slipped out, giving her away.
“Oh, where did my sweet little Rebecca go?” you huffed loudly, your body pointed the opposite direction, giving into her shenanigans.
You heard her giggles again, and her small, “mama will never find me here” whispering to herself.
“I just miss my daughter so much. Bucky will be so sad knowing she’s gone missing. What am I going to do?” You dramatically sit on your bed, covering your face as you sigh, hoping your missing daughter will turn up soon. Your smile being easily covered by your fingers as you hear her little struggle to pull herself out of your clothes, her footsteps running close to your bent-up legs that sat on your bed.
“Oh, mama, I'm right here!” she giggled. A big gasp came from your lips, your eyes widened with relief as you scooped her up in your arms. Kisses surrounded her cheeks under the huge cowboy hat that was too big for her head hiding her face as she laughed, knowing her hiding spot was the best.
“My baby finally came home! And with a new hat I see?” you questioned as you pulled it up to reveal her face.
“That's your fathers hat, you know.” you tried to pry it from her little fingers, as you could easily pull it from her grasp, but it looked too cute for you to take it off her.
“But I found it, mama.”
Bucky must have left it out, maybe in a rush this morning on a new case. You knew Bucky should be home soon, and Rebecca wasn’t going to bed anytime soon.
But that gave you an idea.
—
You could hear his hefty laugh from behind you as you pretended to sneak out the window. Your hand clutching the thin curtains that were draped by your bed, next to the sill of the window, your foot on top of the white sill that jutted out from the wall. Your face turned to see the “thief” or your daughter grabbing the hat from Bucky’s fingers, putting it to her stomach before she tried to bolt between the small opening that laid by Bucky's leg and the small wooden chest that led to the hallway door.
Her giggles rang through her dad's ears making his small smile turn into an instantaneous hollering laugh. As you watched your daughter evade his theatrical grasps trying to capture her made your heart fill with so much emotion.
—
The smiles and laughs he reserved for you are also reserved for his daughter too.
His time. He’d hop on his horse and her little feet would run up to him right before he left in the morning, a doll in her grasp, rubbing her tired eyes, since it was too early for her, as you lifted her to give him a kiss on the cheek. Her small voice whispered, “5 o'clock sharp, dad.” As he promised to play with her and her dolls. “Of course, Becca. I wouldn’t miss it.”
His happiness . “I love you so much, Becca.” he’d press a kiss to her forehead before grabbing the lit lantern that laid next to her bed. As he walks away, her little “dad” makes him spin around quick. Before he sees her tiny arms being pulled out of the snug blanket she had, before her arms were held out wide, as far as her finger tips could reach to her sides, “I love you this much, dad.” His little sigh of happiness, making his heart just burst. He lives and breathes for her.
His laughs were her laughs. As you listen to them as you gaze at the sight before you. Bucky holding Rebecca tight to his chest, hugging her as she keeps the hat out in front of her. His laugh at the awkward angle your daughter held herself, completing the task you two planned out together.
They’re all reserved for his daughter too.
—
“Mama, help!” she squealed as she waited for you to grab Bucky’s hat and bring it to safety. You ran to her in strides, a permanent grin stuck to your lips while you pulled her and Bucky in a big hug pretending to grab her away, trying to play along but holding your husband and daughter in your arms, you’d never pull away from this.
You took the hat from her, as you sat it atop her head, her head being almost swallowed whole as it was made just for Bucky. You laughed and almost awed at the sight. The Sheriff and his little deputy. Your husband and your daughter. Your whole life, right in front of you.
“She wants your hat, you know.” you giggled, as she tries to lift the hat to see. Bucky pulling at the brim of the hat, her tired sigh as she successfully keeps the hat in her grasp.
No one touches a cowboys hat.
“All she had to do was ask.”
But for his family. For his daughter. Everything that he had, belonged to them. And no one will touch her hat, because he loved his family. And would protect them till his last laugh.