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The stone beneath Sam’s feet crumbled as he walked through the old compound. Their best estimates had the construction of its structures around 1500, but it’d recently been taken up as a hideout for some new group the government was concerned about.
“South room’s all clear.” Sam spoke into the comms, knowing only Joaquin was on the other end. All the other agents had gotten sick of waiting after the first fifteen rooms, everyone figured it was so clearly abandoned and there was no point to it.
It wasn’t until the last room he found any kind of life.
“Joaquin, there’s a—” Sam cut off and took off running towards the crying infant laying on a cracked step towards the back of the room. He’d seen a hell of a lot on missions, but nothing that tugged at his heart quite like this. “There’s a baby here.”
“A what?” Joaquin sat up straight for the first time in hours. “A baby? As in a kid?”
“Yeah. Poor thing, they probably left her behind when they moved operations.”
“Do you see any sort of id? Any identifying markers at all?” Joaquin spoke into his comms, typing fast to scan every missing person’s report within the last weeks.
“No, nothing. She’s got a birthmark on her chin, that’s it. I think that’s a scar under her eye, too?” Sam spoke quickly, trying to check if the little girl was hurt. She was so small, maybe four months if his memories of his nephews were any indication.
“She can’t stay here. It’s freezing cold and she only has a blanket.” He scooped up the baby, holding her close, trying to warm her up through the kevlar of his suit. Her tiny hands moved to clutch at the star on his chest. “I’m taking her back home. We can go from there.”
“Sam, are you sure you wanna—?”
“I’m not leaving her here. She’s a baby, Joaquin.”
“Okay. Okay, I’ll forge her a passport. Safe flight home.”
The endless beeping from someone’s room was the only thing keeping Sam from disappearing into his head as he sat in the hospital waiting room. They’d taken the kid back for inspection, but he couldn’t stop worrying. He didn’t normally see his mission through this far, at least not from this up close, but the poor thing didn’t have anyone. When Bucky got there, hair a mess and eyes wild, Sam was staring at the floor like it had the answers to the universe.
“What happened?” Bucky sat next to Sam, concerned in a way he only got with his husband, even if he still tried to mask that worry after all this time. “Joaquin said you found a kid? Are you okay?”
Sam gave an almost imperceptible shake of his head and reached for Bucky’s hand.
“M’just worried.” Sam muttered, not lifting his eyes.
“Yeah. That’s okay.” Bucky untwisted a water bottle with one hand and pressed it into Sam’s free palm. “Drink. You’ve probably been too worried to remember.”
After a long while of sitting in silence, and many minutes of Bucky running his thumb over the back of Sam’s hand, a doctor walked in. It was a young guy with a smile too big and teeth too bright and a dragon sticker on his lab coat. Bucky hated him already.
“Your little baby’s doing great, such a trooper. Which one of you is her parent?” The doctor asked, eyebrows raised higher than should be possible.
“Both of us.” Sam answered without thinking, standing to be level with the doctor soon after Bucky. “This is my husband.”
“Oh!” The doctor’s smile grew, but his eyes lost a bit of their freakish twinkle. “How modern.”
Bucky glared. Sam gave a small, mildly uncomfortable nod.
“So, uh… can we see her?” He asked, trying to gesture towards the room the doctor had just left.
“Oh, yes, of course! We just need the little bugger’s name for our records.” The doctor tapped his pen to his clipboard, not blinking for an uncomfortably long time.
“We haven’t, y’know, picked yet.” Sam started, but Bucky finished for him.
“We’re modern.” Bucky gave an unnatural, tight smile to the doctor before dropping it to a glare again. The doctor dropped his smile but moved to let them into the room.
“She’s all yours, you’ll just have to sign the discharge forms when you leave.”
Bucky shut the door to the room as Sam moved over to the bed. Joaquin had it set up so the baby girl would have a room to herself. Her tiny hospital bed, hardly bigger than the table of instruments beside her, looked like a spec of dust in the hospital room. Sam kneeled down to be closer to her and reached out to scoop her up. He held her close to his chest, and Bucky moved to sit beside them, putting one hand over her little forehead and the other over Sam’s.
“She’s ours?” Bucky whispered to Sam, afraid to disturb to calmly babbling child. Sam smiled down at her dark curls and piercing blue eyes. She was theirs.
“Yeah. She is.”
”Then she needs a name, doesn’t she?” Bucky spoke softly, looking into Sam’s eyes as Sam gazed down at their baby.
“Grace.” He said after a second, looking up at Bucky, smiling. “Grace Rebecca Wilson-Barnes.”
Bucky’s whole face softened at the middle name. His eyes filled, maybe for the first time in years. He leaned in to press a kiss to his husband’s cheek, then down to plant a kiss on Grace’s forehead. The little girl gave the tiniest giggle, and Bucky melted at it.
“My Gracie.”
When Joaquin walked into the room, car seat in one hand and a latte in the other, they were still sitting on the floor. Sam looked up, Bucky moved to take the car seat and rip off the packaging to figure out how it worked.
“Guess I got competition now, hm?” Joaquin smiled like he always did after his stupid jokes, but his eyes were softer than Sam had ever seen them as Sam stood up with Grace in his arms. Grace babbled incoherently at Joaquin, but she seemed content. Bucky nearly ripped the handle off the car seat trying to figure out how it worked.
In the parking lot, Bucky spent half an hour adjusting the car seat. Joaquin handed a diaper bag to Sam. Sam made him repeat everything he got and how it’s used about five times before handing Grace off to his husband and pulling Joaquin into a hug.
“Thank you, kiddo. Really. Means a lot.” Sam patted his back once before pulling away. Joaquin smiled and nodded.
“You’re gonna do great, Cap.”
Sam walked back over to Bucky’s muttering at the seemingly endless buckles. The constant clicking, then unclicking, then clicking again, had Sam holding back a laugh before stifling it with a kiss to Bucky’s jaw. He moved to take over, getting all the buckling in one try. Grace grabbed at him, but she could only manage to hold two fingers.
“Aw, sweetheart…” Sam leaned down to press a gentle kiss right in the centre of her curls. Bucky’s hand moved to rub between Sam’s shoulders.
“Are you sure she’s okay? Are her buckles too tight?” Bucky’s eyes were wide with fear as he slid his hand down from Sam’s back to take his hands.
“I’m sure, Buck. She’s okay.”
“Okay.” Bucky nodded one too many times and brought his hand up to scrub over his face. “Okay. That’s okay. I still wanna sit in the back with her.”
“Okay.” Sam smiled, fighting down the urge to tell Bucky how adorable he is. He leaned in for a quick kiss, smiling against Bucky before moving to get into the driver’s seat.
The whole ride home, Bucky sat still as a statue beside Grace’s seat, his head tilted awkwardly against the back of the seat so he could see Grace as clearly as possible. He started every single time the car hit the smallest bump, but Grace’s soft breaths were the only sound in his head. When they stopped for red lights, Sam reached his hand back to rest on Bucky’s knee.
“We’ll be okay, hun. We’ll figure it out.” Sam ran his thumb over Bucky’s jeans. Bucky lifted his eyes to meet Sam’s for the first time since getting Grace in the car.
“I know. We’re her dads.”