It was cold, it had been snowing and the group of Howling Commandos was to take down a HYDRA train. Steve felt the wind against his skin as he slid down the rope to board the train, he was followed by Bucky and the rest of them.
They were ready for an attack. The HYDRA guards had heavy-duty weapons with the power of the Tesseract as ammunition.
When one blast tore the train open, Steve should have foreseen what would happen.
The last time he saw Bucky, he was falling to his death, after reaching for Steve's hand. Steve couldn't help him.
He didn't even go back for him.
As he watched Bucky fall, he heard, "I won't let anything happen to you, I promise" being said through the wind.
Steve woke up to his Washington apartment. He was on his back, and had been sweating from his dream despite it being so cold there. His hand was on his bare chest, his heart was pounding, he wore a pair of blue track pants, and through his tossing and turning, the blankets had mostly been kicked off the bed. He closed his eyes again, hoping to get a peaceful sleep when he heard a quiet and hesitant knock on his front door.
He checked his alarm clock, 2:36. He brushed off the knock, thinking someone may have just bumped into it.
Just as he was about to fall asleep, there were three knocks again. These were louder but still hesitant.
He turned over, it was the middle of the night he obviously wasn't expecting anyone at the time.
Steve was just about to fall asleep once more, when whoever was knocking came back. This time there were five knocks, all loud, and all urgent.
Steve sighed as he got up, he went to the front room and saw his shield on the couch. He figured he should grab it just in case, so he did then unlocked the door cautiously.
The first thing he saw when he opened it was the silver shine of a piece of metal. He was glad to have his shield with him now.
He opened the door all the way with the circular vibranium shield in front of him. He wasn't suited to fight, but the man in front of him didn't have his usual armour on either. He wore a dark jean jacket with a black shirt underneath and black jeans. On his head he wore a black baseball cap over his somewhat long dark brown hair. Steve lowered his shield when the two of them met each other's gaze, Steve looked concerned, while the man at his door didn't appear to have any emotion.
"Bucky?"

Steve had been looking at the file Natasha had given him on Bucky before she left a few days prior. She told him not to pull on this thread, but he knew he had to find him. He had to bring him back. He didn't remember how he got out of the water after falling from the helicarrier, and Sam said that none of them found him. He knew it had to have been Bucky, he was the only other one there, and if that was true, his old friend was in there.

He was thankful to have Sam working with him on this, and with this file, at least they had something to work with.

"So what's the deal with this guy?" Sam had asked him after Steve decided to look for him.

"I told you, he was my friend, all this time I thought he was dead."

"And now he's trying to kill us, so why look for him?"

"I can't give up. I promised that I wouldn't let anything happen to him."

He had made that promise over seventy years ago, but even now he regretted not keeping it.

"I also can't just let him go free to help HYDRA somewhere else," Steve pointed out.

Sam nodded in agreement, then asked "How're you going to get him to remember you?"

Steve hadn't really thought that far ahead, "I'll figure something out."

He kept looking Bucky's file, trying to figure out exactly what happened, why HYDRA used him, how they even found him. Of course that kind of information hadn't been included, just that he was strong and the only one able to deal with their tests. There had been a picture in the folder of a red journal with a black star on the cover, there was information about the book, but Steve didn't see its relevance to what he needed.

Unable to find the answers he was looking for, he decided to take a break from looking.

He put a record on, and looked at the newer painted spots where bullet holes used to be. The first time he met the Winter Soldier. He walked around his apartment, looking at the posters and pictures he had from World War II and from when he was younger. He stopped to look at a picture of himself and Bucky before the war. Back when everything was right, when most nights they would fall asleep in each other's arms, when Steve would be quite literally breathless from kissing Bucky when he had asthma. When Bucky would constantly try to make him blush. When they were in love.

They had both decided to cut off their relationship before they would be going to their training camps. Or rather, before Bucky left. Steve didn't leave at the same time as him, after all. It was easier to do that than to hide their relationship for the years they'd be overseas, and that way when they came back, they could get back to it. But that never happened. Steve did fall in love again while he was in the army, with a woman, an agent named Peggy Carter. By some luck, she felt the same for him, and the two had planned to go dancing, but that never happened either. He looked at a picture of Peggy and smiled. He was glad to be able to catch up with her again, at that time she was the only one he had known that was still alive, until he found out who the Winter Soldier was.

Steve sighed, and decided he would draw to pass some time and stop thinking for a while.

He had a sketchbook lying on his counter in the kitchen, so he pulled up a stool and sat under one of the hanging lights to draw. He let the pencil wander on the page, and didn't put much thought into what it would create. Before long, he learned that he was drawing a familiar face. One that he has drawn many times before. He recognized a smirk that he gravely missed, and had to put the book down. He thought drawing would take his mind off of Bucky, not put his face right in front of him.

He looked at the time displayed on the stove across from him, it read 9:30, so he decided to get to sleep early.

"Bucky?" he asked, worried about if this was his friend standing before him, or if it was the Winter Soldier.

"You're… Steven?" Bucky had asked in response, instead of answering. He had a notebook in his hand, as well as a pamphlet from the Smithsonian. "I saw you at an exhibit."

"Steve," he replied, it felt weird to him, telling his best friend which name he prefers.

"I'm... Bucky?" he asked again, in a low voice, looking at the pamphlet.

Steve figured this was probably more confusing to Bucky than it was for him, they may have both been frozen for however long, but at least Steve didn't have any memory loss. However, he couldn't help but smile, knowing that for right now, his friend was there.

Steve looked over Bucky's shoulder, making sure his now-CIA neighbour wasn't there, and moved so Bucky could come into his apartment. He was thankful he had Fury get his place debugged after SHIELD fell, otherwise Bucky being here may be a problem.

"Can I get you some water or anything?" Steve asked him.

Bucky nodded, and Steve went to get him a glass.

"You can take a look around, make yourself at home," Steve called from the kitchen. He was wary of Bucky being here, but he wanted to let him know that he was welcome.

Bucky walked past the bookshelves, looking at some of the books Steve kept, there were many World War II books, and some other history books. He walked into Steve's living room, and saw the pictures in frames on the wall. He saw pictures of the two of them together and he took it off the wall to look at it closer.

Steve joined him in the living room with the glass of water, and handed it to him. Bucky took it, then put the picture back on the wall.

"You don't remember that, do you?" Steve asked him.

"I… Don't know." Bucky paused, and looked at the picture again. He took a drink of his water, then turned to Steve.

"We were friends." Bucky stated, though it had the tone of a question.

"Yeah, Buck, we were best friends."

Bucky nodded, "We were more than that." This statement didn't have the tone of a question at all. Steve looked at Bucky with complete surprise.

"Yes." Was all he could say.

Bucky nodded and looked at another picture, this one was of Peggy.

"Who's she?" He held the picture up to Steve.

"That's Peggy Carter. You met her briefly, you made the joke of how you were turning into me because she wasn't paying attention to you." Steve said, smiling.

"Did she like you?"

"I think so."

Bucky put the picture down, "Did you like her?"

After a moment, he told him, "Yeah, I did."

He didn't know if Bucky would be upset or anything by it. He couldn't be, he hardly even remembered him.

"So things did change." Bucky looked at him, there wasn't a definite emotion on his face, but Steve thought he could see a hint of sadness. He looked toward the pictures Bucky was standing near. There was another picture that was also displayed at the Smithsonian of them laughing as if they were back in Brooklyn.

"I-I'm sorry, Buck. I didn't mean..."

Bucky looked at him, "You're the same though. I mean, your personality, not so much your looks."

Steve looked back to him, he had a small smile on his face, he figured that Bucky was accepting his apology.

"You're a jerk," Steve told him, still smiling.

"Punk," Bucky didn't know why, but that was the first word that came to mind. "You liked me more, though, right?"

"You know I did." Steve said, then to himself thought Still do.

Cautiously, he went up to Bucky and pulled him into a hug. Bucky stiffened, but then relaxed and put his arms around Steve as well, and for some reason, it just felt right for him.

AN/ Welcome to the sequel to my other Stucky fiction! More from that will tie in later, as well as that part that I put at the end of the last one, with changes made. As usual, please review!