[WWII AU] a brand new day

[nerves_of_ice]

Bucky wakes in the predawn darkness, long before reveille would normally be called. He spends a few minutes reviewing the mission in his head before he rolls from his cot; there's no room to think about anything else. He meets Steve and the rest of the Howling Commandos at five-fifteen. As planned, they're on the move before the hour has passed.

It's a long day, a hard day, but in the end a successful day, for the most part. The hidden facility carved into the hillside is no more when they leave, HYDRA's agents defeated, their stockpiles destroyed. But there's still no sign of Schmidt, nor of Zola, and that remains incredibly frustrating.

Still, there's reason to celebrate today's win, and the squad's more or less exuberant on their return, some fourteen or so hours later. Steve disappears into the command tent to debrief with Colonel Phillips; Bucky'll catch up with him afterward, as usual. He spends a few minutes trading quips with the others before disappearing to weapons storage to see to his own rifle - also as usual. Something about taking care of it helps him feel like he's cleaning the blood off his own hands.

After that, he finds he's too restless to settle yet, and figures it's not the best idea for him to be around others until he sorts himself out. Bucky wanders along the edge of camp in the dark, then veers from the path and off into the field where he'd spent some time watching the stars only a couple of days ago.

It should be peaceful there, more or less.

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[nerves_of_ice]

"Believe me, so will I," he promises her, as he guides her to the edge of the floor. Bucky gives her hands one last quick, light squeeze, then lets go and steps back as Falsworth comes to whirl Sharon back out onto the dance floor.

He makes his way back to the table with a cheerful smile, and sits back down by Steve. "Can't blame this one on me, boys," he points out. "Luck of the draw."

[from_the_outside]

Apparently the whole disc is slower songs: Falsworth gets a waltz, and when Jim Morita comes to steal her back again, they dance to a foxtrot. It's nice to cool down and catch her breath, and the slow songs are good for conversation. They can't talk about the mission, but she learns a little more about each of the guys she dances with, tucking each nugget of information away to treasure later, when she's back home and most of them are long gone.

[nerves_of_ice]

It's a good night, filled with companionship and laughter and teasing and music, the kind of night where a guy could almost forget that there's a war on. Bucky enjoys each moment of it to the fullest, and joins Steve in marveling at how much beer Dugan can drink between stories, each more uproariously ridiculous than the last.

[from_the_outside]

She dances with them all again in turn, until the night is just a whirl of music and steps and sips of beer in between. Brad puts on another disc of big band songs, then another, until she loses count.

It's so much fun dancing with the guys and laughing with them, with fast songs and slow and everything in between. Even Steve seems to loosen up a little as the night goes on, though of course the alcohol does nothing to him even as the other Howling Commandos get progressively more and more effusive.

It's almost a surprise when Brad puts on the disc Bucky had identified before as the last one he usually plays, but as Sharon goes to the dance floor with Gabe, she realizes it's got to be late in the evening by now.

[nerves_of_ice]

The count of songs on the disc adds up such that one of them's going to be left out, which Bucky realizes when Falsworth angles to swap dances with him. Amused, he agrees to it as though he doesn't realize what the other man's doing. After all, he's had two extra dances with Sharon that the others don't know about, not to mention she's agreed to a date, so it's only fair. Bucky goes to take a load of glasses back to the bar as Falsworth goes to claim Sharon for what would usually be the last dance of the night.

As he sets the glasses on the bartop, he notices Brad trying to catch his eye. Bucky raises his eyebrows at him, and Brad flashes a conspiratorial smile, taps another disc behind the Victrola and nods to him, then tips his head toward the dance floor.

Bucky grins back at him and drifts casually to the edge of the dance floor in time with the end of the song, waiting.

[from_the_outside]

They drift around the floor to the final waltz on the disc – 'The Waltz You Saved For Me' – and Sharon's as surprised as Falsworth is to see Bucky waiting at the edge of the floor as the disc comes to an end and Brad lifts it from the Victrola.

"I'm afraid you're out of luck, old fellow," Falsworth tells him. In the next second, they all hear the scratch of a disc settling onto the Victrola, and Falsworth's eyebrows shoot up his forehead as he turns a disbelieving glance on Brad.

[nerves_of_ice]

Bucky shrugs, and turns a bright, hopeful smile on Sharon as he holds out his hands. "Got one more dance in you?"

[from_the_outside]

"Unbelievable," mutters Falsworth in something like exasperated admiration, and transfers Sharon's hand to Bucky's. "Thank you for the dance, Agent Carter."

"Any time," Sharon tells him, then gives Bucky an amused glance as she offers him her other hand. "I think one more won't hurt."

[nerves_of_ice]

"You're the best," Bucky tells her, and swings her onto the floor as the strings swell in the opening notes of Vera Lynn's beautiful, wistful waltz. Brad's done him a real solid here, he realizes, even as Dugan's deep, startled laugh echoes.

[from_the_outside]

"Yeah, I guess I am," she says, amused. She can hear Dum Dum's laugh, but it evaporates pretty quickly as the waltz crackles out of the old Victrola and swells around them.

In fact, the whole pub seems to dissolve out of the edge of her vision, because it's impossible to focus on anything other than him as the waltz coaxes them around the floor.

[nerves_of_ice]

She's light on her feet, light in his arms, her gaze dark on his, and his hand tightens on hers as he looks down at her.

One dance led up to another / And now I can't let you go, the song tells them, and Bucky's never agreed so strongly with music as he does in that exact moment.

[from_the_outside]

She's unprepared for the rush of wistfulness that floods her as she listens to the words that send them drifting around the floor, or the way his fingers tightening on hers makes her own squeeze his back. Tell me this is real romance, croons the singer, and she can't help it, pictures bringing him to the house in Virginia, charming her parents, walking together through Brooklyn.

Nothing that's possible. Nothing that can be real. But for a moment she wants it so badly she almost lets herself believe that it really could be.

[nerves_of_ice]

They're not the only ones on the dance floor, but it feels like it as the music wraps around them, as he guides her through the long, slow curves of the waltz.

Let this be the answer to our future years, he hears, and has to fight not to close his eyes. They have this moment, before she vanishes again into the impossible future that sent her here. They have this time. Something as special as this he'll remember always, he's sure, and he doesn't want to miss a moment.

[from_the_outside]

She softens her hand on his shoulder and allows herself a brief run of her thumb over the material of his uniform under the guise of changing her hand position slightly.

They won't have an anniversary. Even if by some miracle or, more likely, series of terrible life decisions this becomes something real, it has an end point. She'll go back. And he'll...

But just thinking about it breaks her heart. It seems impossible, in this held moment when he's guiding her gently around the dance floor, that he could ever vanish from this world, that somehow this isn't meant to be, even though it feels so completely like it is.

[nerves_of_ice]

He smiles, sweet and warm, as the song drifts into the final verse as gracefully as they're moving across the floor.

"Thanks for dancing with me tonight, angel," Bucky murmurs.

[from_the_outside]

"Thanks for asking." Her voice is a low murmur back as she smiles up at him, a wholly different expression than the teasing, mischievous smiles she's been flashing at him through the evening.

"Too bad this is probably the last song."

[nerves_of_ice]

“Probably,” he agrees. “But I’ve enjoyed every second of it.”

[from_the_outside]

"Me, too."

She wishes she could move closer, dance cheek to cheek and feel him warm and solid against her, but even this dreamy waltz isn't quite enough to make her forget where and when they are.

But it doesn't make her stop wanting it.

[nerves_of_ice]

"Come on," he says, softly, as the song comes to a close. Bucky squeezes her hand, then offers her his arm.

"We better get you back."

[from_the_outside]

"Probably a good idea."

She slips her hand into the crook of his arm and looks up at him, then ahead as they stroll slowly off the dance floor.

[nerves_of_ice]

He walks her back to rejoin the others and holds her chair for her before reclaiming his seat and his drink, both. Dernier just shakes his head at him and nudges him with an elbow.

[from_the_outside]

Jim Morita looks faintly morose, but perks up when Sharon sits back down in her seat next to him and reaches for her drink. "Do you have the time, Private?" she asks, and he glances at his watch.

"Little after twenty-two hundred," he tells her, and she nods, then takes a last sip.

"Time for me to be on my way, I think, gentlemen."

[nerves_of_ice]

Gabe pounces on that before anyone else can get a word in. "I'll walk you back, Agent Carter. It's, um, dark out there."

"Dark?" Falsworth mutters.

[from_the_outside]

Sharon ignores Falsworth and smiles at Gabe, nodding.

"Thank you, Private," she says. "That's very sweet of you." He gets up to help her out of her chair and into her uniform jacket, then offers her his arm, smiling widely at a scowling Jim Morita. Sharon glances at the others. "Good night, guys. See you tomorrow."

[nerves_of_ice]

"Good night, Agent Carter," Bucky says, part of the flurry of farewells around the table. He takes a swallow of his beer as Gabe and Sharon leaves, then nearly spills it as Dernier elbows him again.

"How'd you pull that off?" the other man demands. "You didn't even go near Henshaw all night!"

Bucky grins. "That's a secret, fellas."