Marlena sat on the enormous couch in her and Bucky's room, flipping through one of the many photo albums Miranda and Mason had brought along with them. She was surprised she had the energy to even sit up, let alone sift through a photo album. Her head was pounding, her body ached terribly, and her throat hurt to the point of her hardly being able to talk. To her, the sickness was completely random, as she had woken up with it out of nowhere, but after speaking with Tony about it he had informed her it was because her body was trying to adjust being off of the suppressors, although she had been off of them for almost a week. He said it wasn't supposed to last long, and Marlena could only hope that was true.

With a painful sigh, Marlena flipped the page of her photo album. She gazed at the numerous pictures scattered across the page and smiled. She was looking at her great grandfather's old photo album, which meant there weren't very many pictures of her dad or her grandpa in it. Instead, there were pictures of her great grandfather with the Howling Commandos, his wife, and his family in Sokovia before he left for America. It had been quite a while since she had looked at that particular photo album, but after everything that had happened during the past few months, it gave her a sense of comfort and familiarity.

The bedroom door opened and she looked up to see Bucky entering into the room. He glanced at the empty bed in the middle of the room before looking over at her with a raised brow.

"I thought you were asleep?" he said as he walked over to her.

Marlena shrugged and flipped the page. "I couldn't," she told him, sending a wave of pain shooting down her throat.

Bucky frowned and sat down beside her on the couch. "You sound horrible."

"I know," Marlena frowned as she laid her head down onto his shoulder. "I feel worse."

Bucky chuckled and wrapped his arm around her, pulling her closer to him. "My poor, sick little baby."

Marlena sighed and flipped the page in her photo album once more, attracting Bucky's attention. He looked down at the pictures on the page, his eyebrows pulling together when he noticed a picture of him and Jo sitting in the corner.

"Your hair was pretty immaculate back then," Marlena croaked as she glanced up at him. "Except in this picture it's kinda gross."

Bucky scoffed and removed the photo album from her hands. "In my defense, I don't think I recall having had a shower in days. I basically lived in the dirt during World War Two. Don't judge me, Claire."

"I'm not judging you, Barnes," Marlena chuckled as she looked down at the picture again, ignoring the intense pain inside her throat. "I'm just observing the fact that your hair in this picture isn't as immaculate as it is in all of the other pictures I've looked at."

Bucky flipped the page and laughed, pointing at a picture of him, Steve, Jo, and Dum Dum. "You mean pictures like this?"

Marlena smiled and nodded. "Why did you guys take so many damn pictures together?"

"I honestly have no clue," Bucky replied. "All I remember is being summoned by one of the guys and being told to pose or smile. I always hated pictures, but looking back I realize just how glad I am I was in so many."

"I bet you are, Bucky," Marlena said as she turned the page.

Her hazel eyes stopped on a smiling young girl standing between Bucky and Jo in a picture. Bucky seemed to be very comfortable with the girl, as his arm was wrapped tightly around her and his lips were pressed to her cheek. She had never seen the picture before, and if she had there was a possibility she hadn't paid as much attention to it as she was doing now.

Marlena looked up at Bucky with a teasing smile on her face and pointed at the girl. "Who's she?"

Bucky narrowed his eyes at Marlena before glancing down at the picture she was pointing to. He let out a chuckle when he recognized the girl and looked back at Marlena. "I think her name was Connie; she was an old friend of mine and Steve's. I can't be too sure, though. It's all still just a bit fuzzy to me."

Marlena nodded and looked back down at the picture. "She's cute—definitely your type. Just look at that flawless complexion and that beautiful brown hair. Don't even get me started on those perfectly crafted cheekbones, my goodness."

"Are you jealous, Marlena?" Bucky laughed.

She shook her head quickly, electing to ignore the throbbing pain. "Not at all, Bucky."

Bucky smiled softly and closed the photo album before placing it onto the floor in front of him. He wrapped his arms protectively around Marlena's body and pulled her onto his lap, planting a gentle kiss to the top of her head.

"Good, because you shouldn't be," he told her, tightening his grip on her slightly. "You're the only one I have eyes for and the only one I will continue to have eyes for. I only wish that I had met you back then; things were so much simpler, but I think I'm perfectly fine with where we are now."

Marlena smiled and wrapped her arms around his torso, the feeling of being pressed against him making her feel slightly better. "Y'know, sometimes I think about what my life would have been like if I had existed in the forties."

"I dunno, but I do know one thing—you would've been the most beautiful dame on the entire eastern seaboard," Bucky said to her, squeezing her side.

"I think you're over exaggerating, Bucky," Marlena giggled.

Bucky looked down at her and smiled. "If anything, I'm under-exaggerating. There are no words I could use to describe just how beautiful I think you are, Marlena—how beautiful I know you are."

"You are without a doubt the corniest assassin I have ever met," Marlena chuckled.

She didn't give him the chance to respond before she pressed her lips to his in a deep kiss. The sound of Marlena's phone ringing from inside the couch cushions, however, was what eventually prompted the two to pull away from each other.

Marlena groaned in response as Bucky laughed and proceeded to dig for her phone. The ringing was giving her an even worse headache than she had already been burdened with, and the fact of it made her want to throw her phone against the wall to stop the incessant ringing.

Seconds later she pulled the phone out of the cushions and pressed it to her ear, not even bothering to pay attention to the caller ID.

"Hello?" she coughed out, removing herself from Bucky's lap.

"Hey, pipsqueak. Your mom told me to call you, because she's incompetent," the voice on the other line asked.

Marlena ran a hand through her hair and stood up. "In regards to what, Greyson?"

"One of Bucky's Christmas presents, I believe. This shit is harder than I originally thought it would be," he exclaimed. "I need your help."

Marlena let out a groan in response to Greyson's words, and she glanced down at Bucky, who was watching her with narrowed eyes. She pulled the phone off of her ear and pressed her hand over the speaker as if to prevent Greyson from hearing what she was about to say.

"This idiot is in need of my assistance," she said to Bucky. "I'll be right back."

He was barely even given the chance to respond before Marlena ran out of the bedroom, leaving him alone on the couch. He wondered what was so important to Greyson and Marlena that Marlena couldn't even speak to him while in the room with him, but he didn't linger too much on it. Whatever it was, he assumed Marlena would tell him, and if she didn't then the situation must not be as important as Bucky originally believed it to be.

By the time Marlena finished her phone call and headed back into the room, Bucky had found his way over to the bed. He watched the way her exhausted figure sauntered over to where he lay on the bed, her phone still in hand.

"What did he need help with?" Bucky asked as she laid down beside him.

She looked over at him and smiled. "You'll see in due time."

He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "What do you mean by that?"

"Don't worry about it, Bucky," she said as she picked up her phone off the mattress. "Stop asking questions and just trust me."

Bucky only let out a sigh of defeat in response to Marlena's words and watched as she played with her phone.

A sorrowful expression fell upon her face as the screen lit up, and she let out a sad sigh before locking the phone and throwing it back down onto the mattress. Bucky frowned in response to her actions and picked up the phone in an attempt to see what it was that had made her upset. He pressed the home button and was immediately met with a picture of Marlena and Hallie, one he could recall being there for months. Marlena had never cared to change it, as something as simple as a lockscreen seemed to be so irrelevant compared to everything else that had been taking place in her life. Looking at it now, though, and realizing that it was still there only made Marlena upset, and seeing Marlena upset only made Bucky upset as well.

"C'mere," Bucky said as he reached his arms out to Marlena.

She wasted no time at all in reaching out for them, and in seconds he was pulling her small body to his. He hugged her as tightly as he could without hurting her, all the while trying to figure out exactly how her phone worked. He wanted to take a picture of the two of them to replace the one of her and Hallie so she wouldn't be upset every time she used her phone.

"How do you get to the camera on this thing?" Bucky muttered.

"What are you trying to do, Bucky?"

"Take a picture," he said matter-of-factly. "Why else would I ask where the camera was?"

Marlena shook her head and slid her finger up the screen, revealing the camera. Bucky smiled in triumph and focused it on the two of them.

"Smile, hot stuff," he instructed Marlena as he grabbed her hand with his metal one.

She groaned and buried her head into his chest, tightening her grip on his hand. "No, I'm ugly."

"I swear, the next time you call yourself ugly I'm gonna hit you," Bucky said with a roll of his eyes.

Marlena only giggled and closed her eyes, intertwining her fingers with the cool metal of Bucky's. Above her Bucky was snapping a dozen pictures—each with several different facial expressions—much to Marlena's despair. If there was one thing in the world she truly despised besides Hydra and Brock Rumlow, it would have to be taking pictures. It always proved to be a struggle when trying to get Marlena to take pictures with anyone, but Bucky seemed to be having a much simpler time with it. It had everything to do with how horrible she felt at the moment; it was the only thing preventing her from actually protesting against the mini photoshoot.

"It says here that I took a hundred and three," Bucky said as he scrolled through the pictures, smiling when he stumbled upon one he liked.

Marlena looked up at the screen as he scrolled and chuckled. "You're gonna kill my battery with them selfies, Buck."

"Then hurry up and pick one to be your background," he said, handing the phone to her.

She grabbed it with her free hand and scrolled through the copious amount of pictures, smiling at each and every one of them. She didn't think she could love Bucky any more than she already did, but as she looked through the pictures of him and his multiple facial expressions she figured out just how wrong she was.

"Who knew Bucky Barnes was such an amazing photographer," she mused as she stopped on a photo. It was much like the others were, only Bucky had his eyes closed and lips pressed to the top of her head; Marlena could be seen below him with a small smile on her face, most likely due to Bucky's gesture.

"It helps when you have something beautiful to capture."

Marlena smiled at his words and set the picture as her lockscreen before placing her phone onto the bedside table. She wrapped her arms around Bucky and pulled her closer to him.

She absolutely loved being with Bucky—all she wanted was to be with him—but she couldn't help but wish she was with him back in D.C., along with Mason and Miranda.

She knew the risks Tony and Bruce would be taking by letting her go home, as she was nowhere near close to being able to fully control her abilities, but she wanted to go home. She loved New York, she loved being in the tower, and she loved being around those she considered her second family. It had been months since she had even seen her house, however, let alone slept in her own bed; it had been months since she had driven her Jeep; it had been months since she had fallen asleep on her couch after watching an unnecessary amount of movies. The thought of it made her upset and only worsened the way she felt in regards to her withdrawal condition.

"I wanna go home, Buck," she said quietly, a frown plastered on her face.

Bucky let out a sigh and hugged her closer. He had known just how bad Marlena had been wanting to go home since the two so much as arrived at the tower, and he wanted nothing more than to be able to give that to her. It was difficult, though, as her current situation would not permit such a thing to happen, nor would Tony, but he never stopped trying.

"I know, baby."

"I mean, I love everyone here, I really do, but this isn't where I wanna be cooped up for the next three months, or however long it takes for me to learn to control myself," she sighed, "There's less stress back home; I feel as if though I'd do better learning there than here."

"Have you told Bruce and Tony that?" Bucky questioned her.

She shook her head and moved away from him so she could meet his eyes. "They're my caretakers—they're the only ones who partially understand what's going on with me. If they were to say yes, me being away would only inconvenience them, and I don't want that for them. And it's not like it matters at the moment anyway. Mason and my mom just got here; I wouldn't wanna inconvenience them either by telling them to pack up when they've already gotten settled."

Bucky's eyes glazed over in deep admiration as he looked at Marlena. "Despite every horrible thing that's happened to you over the last few months, you're still willing to choose everyone else over yourself. . .god, how'd I get so blessed to be with someone as amazing as you, Marlena Claire?"

"I think I'm the one who should be asking that question, Bucky Barnes," she said as she wrapped her arms around him once more.

He smiled. "We'll figure something out, though, Mar. You'll be home soon—I'll make sure of it."

"For now can we just lay here and go to sleep?" Marlena asked as she tightened her grip around Bucky.

He chuckled and pulled her closer to him, placing yet another kiss on top of her head. "Yes, I'm more than okay with that, sweetheart."

Marlena smiled in response, and before long she was drifting off into a peaceful sleep.