June 8th, 2014

At first Beatrice didn't know why she'd woken. It wasn't quite the middle of the night, but the nursing home was already virtually silent.

Usually, she slept quite peacefully through the night. She always had. The only exception had been whenever she'd been under great stress or when she'd been overly worried. It had happened a lot during the War, especially after losing Danny and later Bucky. Same when her children had been young and one had caught a nasty bug. Or when Gordon had been fighting his cancer. Or after he'd passed and she was suddenly sleeping alone after so many years of marriage. But even that was many years ago, now. She glanced over to her nightstand, dimly lit from the streetlight outside her window, her eyes skimming across the familiar photos out of sheer habit alone; her brothers' enlistment portraits; one of Bucky and Steve in their Howling Commandos uniforms; her wedding photo from when she'd become Mrs. Gordon Ferris; her favorite photo of her, Gordon and their two children, Jaime and Madeline. It was a soothing habit, to look at the faces that were most precious to her, and already she could feel sleep rising up to claim her again.

But then a shifting movement caught her attention. There was someone next to her bed, lingering in the shadows. Outside her window, a car drove by, the faint haze of its headlights causing the darkness to ease just a bit more.

As she looked over with surprise to the unexpected visitor sitting by her bedside, she let out a hitching sigh as recognition washed over her like a warm spring breeze.

"I knew you'd make it back one day," she murmured, unable to help the smile that came over her face as she took in the sight of him.

Part of her wondered if it was a dream—God knew she'd dreamed of him coming back before—or if seeing him here meant she had died and that he'd come to take her away with him.

But another, stronger part simply knew it was real. It wasn't a dream or her first taste of the Afterlife. And it had nothing to do with how weak she still felt or the aches that still suffused her almost ninety year-old body.

No, if it were a dream or a vision, she'd be seeing him as she remembered him, with his hair neatly trimmed and combed, his clothes carefully pressed and his shoes shined. He didn't look like that. He barely looked like himself.

But she recognized him anyway.

Her heart wanted to break seeing him as he was before her now, almost as young as she remembered but somehow looking…ancient. Broken.

With a tentative almost-smile, he reached out, taking her thin, frail hand in his.

"Hey there, Bumblebee."

A/N: And that, my lovelies, is that. :') Thank you so much for reading!

Happily and sadly, this is the last Instalment of Dear Bucky,. It's a bittersweet ending to a bittersweet story.

First thing's first: I don't have the words to adequately thank you all for favouriting, following, reviewing and, most importantly of all, for reading!

Naturally, I have to include on last, heartfelt thanks to my reviewers! You have all been so amazingly supportive and enthusiastic! Your encouragement and excitement really do make posting these fun little projects worthwhile. :)

I truly don't have the words to describe just how grateful I am for everyone who read my little bit of fun. It really is just so lovely, the support and encouragement I have received over the course of posting this story. It means so much to me to share my stories and see other people enjoying the stuff that comes out of my overactive imagination.

I hope you'll leave me a lovely little review if you enjoyed, which I hope you did! :) And I hope you'll all consider checking out some of my other works! There are now three other MCU stories I've posted for you all to enjoy if you haven't yet.

And one final time, Thank you all. I hope our *virtual* paths cross again.

Happy Reading, my friends!

DarkLadyAthara