A year ago Steve wouldn't have found a dinner with Becca's parents uncomfortable. Once they figured out he wasn't too talkative, they made an effort to include him in conversation, but didn't go overboard. They liked him fine, and he liked them.

Then, they'd found out about Bucky. Steve didn't know how they heard that he and Becca were in a polyamorous relationship with Bucky, not that it'd been a big secret. He hadn't considered how her parents would react. In all likelihood, if he hadn't been home the day she had a fight over the phone with them, he would have assumed they'd accepted it. But he was home.

Bucky had yanked him out of the shower and dragged him into the bedroom where Becca was sobbing. She wouldn't tell either of them what had happened for quite a while, but eventually they got the story. Her parents didn't approve of the relationship, not at all. They hadn't disowned her or anything, but they made their opinion clear. Without even needing to talk about it, Steve and Bucky had immediately offered to end the relationship as it was, but Becca had told them no. This was her choice. She wouldn't let anyone, even her parents, shame her into changing her mind, and "you two had better not go have a self-sacrificing conversation behind my back or I will end the both of you." So their relationship had continued on without her parents' approval.

Tonight, however, Steve hoped to get their approval on a different matter. He hadn't been sure they would talk to him, but he had to try. He had called; Molly had answered. After explaining that he had something very important to discuss with them about Becca and he just wanted a chance, there had been a long pause.

"We have dinner at six on Sundays," Molly had eventually said, her voice clipped.

"I'll be there," Steve had said. "Thanks."

Molly had hung up the phone with a sharp click.

Dinner was mostly silent, which was unnerving as Ben usually talked everyone's ear off. Steve made an effort to start conversation, but Molly was quiet even under the best of circumstances, and Ben's answers to these attempts were short and tended to trail off. And the way they looked at him, Steve felt like he was a once favored pet that had chewed up their couch. They wanted to send him off to the pound, but he was their daughter's favorite, so they were stuck with him. One wrong word, and Steve thought he'd get a verbal rap on the nose before he was shown the door.

Yet, Molly had invited him here. Steve wasn't sure why, but he figured – he hoped – that it was because they wanted to make things right with Becca.

Molly put down her fork beside her mostly untouched dinner. "You had something important to say about Becca?"

Steve was surprised it had taken her this long to bring up his reason for coming. He swallowed a gulp of wine. He would get right to the point.

"I'd like your blessing to ask her to marry me."

Ben's mouth gaped comically. Molly showed less of a reaction, her eyes merely widening for moment as she was caught off guard.

She asked, "What about that man?"

When they'd last visited, Molly and Ben had met Bucky. Steve knew that Molly remembered his name and purposely chose not to use it, which irked him. He barely managed to refrain from saying that whether or not Bucky would be a part of the marriage was irrelevant.

"Bucky won't be in the relationship anymore," Steve told her.

"He won't be around at all?"

"He will. He's been my friend since we were kids." Steve did know better than to say he still loved Bucky. Not only would the declaration make this already delicate situation worse, but it was really not her business to know. "But I think of marriage as a commitment between two people. He understands."

Molly looked skeptical. "Does he?"

"Yes, he does. Bucky cares about me and Becca. I've already got his blessing."

As a matter of fact, Bucky's exact words had been, "It's about damn time."

But Molly wasn't satisfied. "So you don't think having him around might test that commitment?"

"No. Look, if I thought having Bucky around made Becca unhappy, I'd do something about it. But she'd never ask me to walk away from him." That was one of the many reasons Steve loved her so much. She understood how much Bucky meant to him. If he announced plans to live the rest of his life with the both of them, he didn't doubt he would have her support.

"Maybe she should," Molly snapped.

Steve swallowed, his teeth gritting together in frustration. "Ma'am, if you invited me here to try and convince me to tell Bucky to hit the road, that's not –"

"I invited you because I was hoping to hear that you had apologized to Becca for this – this indiscretion and were going to try to make amends."

So far, Steve had taken care to keep his tone civil and not say anything he thought would cause further argument, but Molly had gone too far. Calling his relationship with Bucky an "indiscretion" was not something that he could let stand and neither would he be scolded for it.

"If anyone needs to apologize to Becca it's the two of you," Steve stated, barely containing the anger that threatened to force him to his feet. "Do you have any idea how much you upset her?"

Molly looked to Ben for support, but he wouldn't meet her gaze. He played with his fork, shifting it back and forth, and said nothing. His silence was expected. Steve had taken him as the kind of person to actively avoid confrontations whenever possible. Molly had likely shoved the phone into his hand when they'd called Becca and glared at him until he'd talked, only to snatch the phone away when he began to change the subject.

Fed up with waiting, Molly asserted, "We were doing what's best for her."

"By telling her I'm cheating on her? By saying that she's 'confused?'" Steve threw the word back at Molly like a punch, recalling how Becca's voice had broke, how the tears had streamed down her cheeks faster than she could wipe them away. "I really don't see how that's doing what's best for Becca. That seems to me like doing what's best for you."

Molly's nostrils flared, her face flushing with indignation. "You are the one doing what's best for yourself. Becca wasn't enough, so you thought you could have someone else on the side. And Becca's so blindly in love that she came up with a wild scheme to keep you. She deserves better."

"You're right. She does deserve better. But she loves me, and you can be damn sure I know how lucky I am that she does. That's why I'm asking her to marry me. So that everyone else will know that I know how special she is."

Steve should have asked Becca sooner. He did accept a small portion of the blame for this entire situation. The thing was, he'd never thought about asking Becca to marry him until recently because it felt sort of like they were already married. They'd been living together, sharing an apartment, a bed, a life, for years. Back in his day, by all accounts, they would be married in all but name.

Then, one night, Becca had been recounting her trip with fellow bridesmaids to get their dresses fitted for a friend's wedding, and Steve had looked down at her hand in his and realized how much he'd like to see a ring on her finger. He kept thinking about it until Bucky took him aside and told him she was going to notice if he continued staring at her hand all the time.

Despite Bucky's encouragements, Steve had taken several days to think. As much as being in a relationship with Becca was similar to being married, he truly felt that marriage was going before God in a church and promising to be faithful to one other person. If other people thought different, that was fine, but that's what marriage vows meant to him. Once he'd come to a decision, the next step was asking her parents, not only because that's how he'd be raised, but because he knew it would mean a lot to Becca if they supported the marriage.

"I don't expect you to understand what's between me, Bucky, and Becca," Steve told them. "But if you want to do what's best for your daughter, you'd accept her choice and be happy that she's happy."

Timidly, Ben ventured, "Molls, if Becca really is happy…"

Molly glared him into silence, her face white with fury. Finally, she snapped her head back towards Steve, and hissed, "You wanted my blessing, but until that man is gone, my answer is no." She stood abruptly and stalked out of the dining room.

Steve sighed. He had prepared for the worst, and at least he had given this his best shot. He would ask Becca to marry him regardless of how her parents felt because he thought she'd want him to. He was mostly sure.

After fidgeting some more with his fork, Ben apologized, "I'm sorry about this. You have to understand, the way we were raised, three people together wasn't acceptable."

Steve reminded him, "I was raised Catholic in the 20s and 30s." If Ma had been alive to see him living unmarried with a man and women under the same roof, he figured her reaction wouldn't have been much more positive than Molly's. She'd have probably given him a good clap on the head, too. "I'm not saying your beliefs are wrong. Not saying they're right either. What I'm saying is that just because you've got good reasons, doesn't excuse how you treated Becca. As long as she's not hurting, I think the right thing to do is agree to disagree and tell her you respect her decision and love her no matter what."

"Of course, we love her," Ben replied, his voice at last gaining some surety. "It's just, she's our only daughter and, well, no offense, but she's been through a lot of hell on your account. All we wanted was for her find someone who loved her more than anything in this world, and when we heard about, well, you know, it made us nervous."

"I know." Steve couldn't blame them for being protective. It was how they went about being protective that he took issue with. "I do love her, Ben. I swear I do. If I could, I'd give her the moon, but since it's kinda important to keep that rock up in the sky, I'll have to give her another rock and spend the rest of our time making up the difference. And as long as we're married, it's me and her and no one else. I can promise you that much."

Ben took a moment to think. "Okay. Then, for what it's worth –" he took an unsteady breath "– I give you my permission to marry Becca." He blinked, and Steve thought his eyes appeared a little watery. "You make sure you treat her right."

"I will," Steve promised.

"And take her someplace nice when you ask her."

"I plan to."

"And I'll talk to Molly, see if I can't get her to come around. I don't know if she will, but she wouldn't miss the wedding. I think it's a safe bet there'll be one."

"I'm hoping."

Ben shook his head. "I can't believe my baby girl's gonna be Mrs. Captain America."

"Well, that won't be what it says on the marriage certificate, but…" Steve got a sudden vision of a wedding planned around such a theme. "Actually, if you could not mention that to Becca. She might get an idea that it'd be funny to have bald eagles flying around or have the Star-Spangled Banner playing when we're walking back up the aisle. And I know a few people that would be only too happy to help."

"Right. I'll keep quiet." Ben mimed zipping his lips shut.

"Thanks."

Steve stood up. He should help clean up and then get going. He had to drive all the way back to the city tonight. Not trusting himself to lie, he had Bucky covering for him.

"Oh, you don't have to worry about the dishes," Ben assured him, getting up as well. "I think it might be best if you go, and I'll talk to Molly."

Steve agreed. The longer Molly stewed, the angrier she was like to get, and Ben was probably already in trouble for not agreeing with her. "All right. And, uh, maybe you could give Becca a call. I think she'd like to hear from you."

"I'll do that." Ben walked around the table, and Steve tolerated a hug. He almost enjoyed it. The hug felt like he was being welcomed back into the family. "Good luck."

"Same to you."

Steve left the house, pulling his leather jacket over his shoulders and zipping up. He got on his bike and backed it slowly out of the driveway. He hoped that if he returned, it would be under more pleasant circumstances, but for now, he was heading home, back to where Becca was waiting for him.

Her eyes itched. Probably because she'd barely slept in three days and had been staring at a computer screen for most of that time. Becca rubbed one eye before realizing that would smear her eyeliner. She looked at the black smudge on her hand. Whatever. She had bigger fish to fry.

Getting promoted to lead copywriter was great in that she was making more money, but came with the double edged sword of being in charge of advertisement projects. On the plus side, she met more people and she liked getting to work with them. On the negative side, she had to make sure all the people she managed got their part of projects finished on time and all their work meshed effectively into the larger advertisement campaign, which could be difficult, especially when some members of her team were procrastinators. Her current team – who Becca had asked to send their work by tonight so she'd have at least 48 hours to review, give feedback, and have the final ads ready for the deadline – had yet to send four of the fifteen advertisements for music themed t-shirts.

On top of that, Becca had agreed to create something for a billboard Narcotics Anonymous had rented. She had submitted several designs over the course of the past two weeks, but upper management was still hemming and hawing. Well, they couldn't hem and haw for that much longer or they'd be paying for an empty billboard, which would be an unnecessary waste of a lot of donated funds.

So, to sum it all up, the pressure was on.

"You should go to bed," said Bucky, who was sitting on the couch with Sandy watching Muppet Treasure Island. Becca had put it on in the vain hope that the background noise of one of her favorite childhood movies would make her less stressed.

Another tactic that didn't seem to be working was lying on the hard floor in an effort to keep herself awake. Becca lied, "I'm not that tired."

"Your nose is almost touching the screen."

Becca drew back from her laptop and propped her head on an arm, sending a shooting pain through her elbow. When she did have to get up, her body was definitely going to be lodging a lot of protests from resting on hardwood for so long.

"I'm fine," she insisted.

"Becks." Oh boy. Bucky was using his "you're-being-a-stubborn-idiot-and-should-listen-to-me" nickname for her, which meant he was really serious. "Steve said he still heard you typing at three in the morning on Friday, and I know he carried you to bed last night around two because you fell asleep on the couch."

Becca refreshed her e-mail. Still nothing. "I've got a lot on my plate right now. How about I'll go to sleep at midnight or when Steve comes home, whichever comes first."

"How about you go now?"

"It's not even –" Becca checked the clock. God, she'd thought it was later. "– It's only nine-thirty."

"Steve told me to make sure you were in bed by ten at the latest. If you put up a fight, I'm supposed to drag you in there and barricade the door."

Becca rolled her eyes. "He did not say that."

"All right, he didn't say the part about dragging and barricading," Bucky admitted. "But he did ask me to make sure you got to bed at a decent time."

"Midnight's decent."

Bucky stared at her and sighed. "Okay. Remember, you had your chance to go of your own free will."

Her prediction about getting up turned out to be right. Becca tried to scramble to her feet, but one of her legs was asleep, and everywhere else just plain hurt. Bucky grabbed her as she stood, dragging her easily along, socks sliding on the floor.

"Bucky! Let go!" Becca protested, smacking him hard on the back. Sandy trotted along behind them, wagging her tail and leaping at Becca as if this was a game she wanted to be a part of. "I've got work to do!"

Bucky maneuvered her toward the bedroom, ignoring her squirming. "Nothing that can't wait until tomorrow."

"I've got a deadline."

"No, you don't. You said your deadline's Tuesday at midnight."

Damn. "But the Narcotic's –"

"That doesn't really have a deadline, and anything you put out tonight wouldn't get voted on until tomorrow anyway."

Damn, damn, damn. Why did she have to go and complain to Bucky earlier? Becca growled in frustration. "But… but…"

Bucky dropped her arm, and before Becca could come up with another excuse or even think of trying to slip past him, he closed the bedroom door in her face. She grabbed the doorknob, but he was holding it shut. Fuck it. Fuck it! She was too tired to deal with any more shit today.

"I can't go to sleep without brushing my teeth!"

A pause, and then slowly Bucky opened the door. He supervised the rest of her routine, much to Becca's annoyance, and insisted on keeping her laptop. When she was finally under the covers, she stewed for a while. Bucky hadn't thought to confiscate her cell phone, so she checked it once or twice.

And when the phone rang, Becca picked it up off the bedside table. The call was coming from her parents' house. She hesitated, not sure if she was in the mood to be further shamed. However, she missed talking to her parents more, so she answered.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Becca," greeted her dad.

"Hey, what's going on?" Becca almost wished her mom had called instead. Her mom was the always the judgmental one. When her dad told her that he didn't like her being in a poly relationship, it had stung a lot worse.

"Just wanted to call to check in on you. Are you okay? You sound sick."

"I'm fine. A little tired, that's all. Work's been crazy."

"I won't keep you long then. But I had to tell you that I'm sorry."

Becca was taken aback. She couldn't remember ever getting an apology from either of her parents. "You… are?"

"Yeah." Her dad did sound apologetic. Becca could hear the guilt in his voice, softening his words. "I said some things and your mom said some things that I know hurt you. We never wanted that. We were trying to look out for you, but I realize now that you're not my baby girl anymore and I have to let you decide what's best for you. So if that means living with Steve and… gosh darn it, what's that man's name? You know how I am with names. It's there and then it's –"

"Bucky."

Her dad made a noise, the kind when he was annoyed with himself for being forgetful. "That's right. If living with Steve and Bucky makes you happy, then I'm happy."

"Thanks, Dad. That means a lot." Becca swallowed as her throat closed up. She needed to hear this right now. "Is Mom…?"

With a sigh, her dad said, "I'm working on her, sweetheart. You know how she is. That's where you get your stubborn streak from."

"Yeah." Becca was disappointed that her mom hadn't gotten on board, too, but knowing that at least her dad supported her was something.

"You get some sleep, okay? You've got a big day coming up soon."

"I do?"

"Well, uh, you said work's been crazy, right? I assume that means something big's coming."

"Oh. Yeah." Duh. She was way overtired.

"Goodnight, sweetheart."

"Goodnight, Dad. I love you."

"I love you, too."

Becca set her phone back on the nightstand and snuggled deeper into the blankets. She would call him back tomorrow to talk. They had so much to catch up on, especially since her dad was a talker and would have stories about absolutely everything going on in her old neighborhood. She felt a lot better and ready to totally pass out and maybe even sleep in. Except she did feel kind of bad about hitting Bucky and giving him the stink-eye when he'd only been trying to look out for her. If her dad could apologize for being wrong, so could she.

Becca got out of bed and returned to the living room where Bucky had turned off Muppet Treasure Island – the heathen – and was flipping through channels.

"I'm going to back to bed," Becca promised immediately, holding up her hands when Bucky looked like he was about to jump of the couch and drag her back to bed. "I just had to say I'm sorry for hitting you. I wasn't in a good mood."

"It's all right," Bucky assured her. "Who were you talking to?"

"My dad." Becca smiled. "He said he's sorry for what he said about us, and he's happy for me."

Bucky smiled back. "Hey, that's great. Now go on back to bed."

"Jeez, am I still talking to my dad?" Becca teased, but she gave Bucky a kiss and went.

It didn't take long for Becca to fall asleep. Once she turned off all the lights and hit the pillow, it was pretty much instantaneous. But she woke up again to low voices out in the hall. Steve and Bucky. Steve was home. She vaguely remembered Bucky telling her he had to meet with some important people, government stuff. She had learned not to ask too much in the way of details. She should go out and make sure the meeting went okay and say goodnight.

Becca stumbled out of bed, rubbing the sleep from the corners of her eyes. When she opened the door, Steve gave her a guilty look.

"I didn't mean to wake you up," he apologized.

"It's fine. I'm not used to going to bed this early, so I'm…" Becca lost her train of thought. "Anyway, how'd the meeting go?" She hugged him. Mmmm, Steve was warm. And comfy. She was going to keep her head resting against him and just not let go.

"Good. Not perfect, but good." Steve kissed the top of her head. "Come on. Let's get you back into bed."

"M'kay." Pointing at Bucky, Becca promised, "I'm really going for good this time."

Bucky chuckled. "If you say so."

Becca allowed herself to be shepherded into the bedroom, where Steve tucked her under the covers. He sat beside her on the edge of the bed and ran his fingers gently through her hair. "I heard your father called."

"He did." Becca had almost forgotten. She was so glad he'd called that she couldn't help smiling. She poked her hand out of the covers so she could hold his hand while sharing the exciting news. "Everything's all right with him now. He loves me again."

"I'm glad." Steve brushed his thumb back and forth across her knuckles, his gaze following the sweeping movement. The motion was soothing, and Becca closed her eyes. She could easily fall asleep right now. "I wish I could give you the moon."

What? Why was he talking about giving her the moon? Becca was too sleepy to figure it out. She didn't even know what she'd do with the moon. It was a big, dusty rock. Who needed that?

"I don't need the moon," she mumbled. "I have you."

Steve's fingers stopped their sweeping motion and curled around her hand instead. His lips pressed against her temple and lingered there, his breath warm against her hairline. Comfortable and perfectly content with him beside her, Becca fell asleep.

Author's Note:

Merry Christmas to those who celebrate, and Happy Holidays to the rest. Okay everyone, that's it for this collection. Hope you enjoyed the fluff. I will start posting To Stand Unshielded in a week or two, so I'll see you then!