There is the slightest hint of a noise, and Steve wakes. She sits up, rubbing sleep from her eyes, and casts her gaze around the room, wondering what woke her.

She almost misses him. He's so perfectly concealed in the shadows, hidden except for where the moonlight slashes across his face. She has no doubt it's deliberate. He wants to be found, wants to be seen.

Steve swallows.

"Bucky."

He steps out of the corner. "They know," he says, voice graveled, like he hasn't spoken in a long time.

"What? Know what?"

"About you." There's an urgency in his voice, a tremor. Like he's scared.

"About me? What about…" But she trails off, realizing what he's talking about.

The truth about her sex has been spreading like wildfire over the news since Natasha's info dump. "Captain America or Miss America?" the headlines screamed, as if a woman couldn't be an Army captain. And that was just the mildest of headlines. Talk shows and radio shows had been inundated with talk about her true sex. Fox News was having a field day. At least, they were when Steve had bothered to pay attention. She'd woken up at the hospital, spent about ten minutes watching—against Sam's advice—then turned it off.

She didn't care. She just didn't care. It wasn't important. Bucky was alive and that's all that mattered. Everything else could take a flying leap.

In a move so fast she almost can't see it, Bucky is at the side of the bed. His hand clamps around her wrist. "We need to leave. Now."

"Bucky, calm down. It's fine."

"No." He shakes his head, brow furrowing. "They know." He tugs at her wrist. "Now."

She hesitates a moment, then climbs out of bed.

Bucky takes it as encouragement and starts dragging her across the room toward the window.

"Wait. Bucky, wait."

"No time."

"I have time to get dressed. No one's coming right this instant. Let me at least put my pants on."

He looks at her, then at the window. He's clearly anxious, tension radiating from his body in waves. But, after a moment, he nods and releases Steve's wrist.

Without taking her eyes off Bucky, she crosses the room to her dresser. She pulls out a pair of jeans and slides them over her boxers. Then, hesitantly, she reaches into the top drawer where she keeps her binder.

Bucky makes a noise in his throat and steps forward.

Steve immediately lifts her hands, showing that she doesn't have anything in them. "I just need my binder." At Bucky's blank look, she adds, "For my breasts. To keep them down. I'm not going for a weapon."

He frowns but jerks his chin up in a nod.

She grabs her binder and hesitates. She doesn't think that Bucky will do anything to her. After all, he had dragged her out of the Potomac. He's here. He probably—probably—wasn't going to shoot her in the back.

She can't bring herself to turn her back to him. So, flushing hotly, she pulls of her tank top and slides the chest binder on.

Bucky's eyes never leave her face. He's practically vibrating with anxiety. If he'd been his old self, Steve has no doubt he'd be tapping his foot or waving his watch in her face. Instead, he stands there, fists clenched, jaw tight.

She slides a shirt on, then quickly pulls on socks and her boots. "Okay." She grabs her wallet from the dresser and slips it into her back pocket. "Where are we going? Should I take anything?"

Bucky steps forward and grabs her wrist. "Let's go."

"I should call Sam. Leave a note."

His hand tightens until her bones creak. "No. It's not safe."

"Buck…"

"No." He drags her to the bedroom window and opens it.

"Can I at least take my shield?"

Bucky stops. Tilts his head while he thinks. Then he gives a brisk nod.

The shield is propped against the wall next to her bed. She slides it in its case and slings the strap over her arm. "Okay." She looks at the window Bucky is standing next to. "We can go through the front door. There's no one…"

"Can't be sure. It's everywhere."

She sighs, but she also knows there's no reasoning with him. Not right now. She can't be sure how much he's remembered or how much of what Hydra had done to him was still with him. The fact he is here, coming for her is heartening, but she knows not to get too hopeful. She'd read the files, and those were just the tip of the iceberg. Bucky, her Bucky, might not ever be coming back.

But she is going to do what she needs to get something of him back.

So, she climbs out of the window and down the side of the building. She follows Bucky to a nearby SUV and gets inside.

As soon as the door is closed, Bucky goes tearing off into the night. Steve, even though she loves thrills and enjoys riding fast and jumping out of planes and all that, has to grab onto the handle above the window. Bucky drives like he's in the middle of a battlefield. Even with the streets being practically empty, he takes turns sharply and weaves in an out of what little traffic there is.

"Um… where are we going, Bucky?" she asks as they make their way out of the city.

He doesn't answer.

She tries again. "So, uh. You remember about me."

"Went to the museum," he says. "They didn't have the story right."

"About me?"

"It was wrong. I knew it was wrong. They said you were a man, and I knew it was wrong. Then I saw the news."

She nods. "Yeah, it's all over. It's a little weird. Especially since it's not…" She breaks off, deciding now isn't the time to get into semantics. Trying to explain that she was genderqueer or nonbinary to a man who'd essentially been kept on ice for the last seventy years was probably futile. It was hard enough to explain it to people as it was.

"They're going to lock you up," Bucky says.

She blinks and shakes her head. "Buck, no. No, they don't do that anymore. I can be whatever I want. Live however I want. They won't do anything."

But Bucky shakes his head and tightens his grip on the steering wheel.

They drive for hours. She finds herself dozing off a couple of times, waking in confusion and disorientation. Bucky's a silent presence next to her, so focused on driving. They stop once, around eleven in the morning, for gas. Steve gets a few sandwiches and waters from the convenience store and wolfs two down before Bucky finishes gassing the van. She offers the others to Bucky, but he shakes his head.

"You need to eat."

"I don't need to eat."

She frowns. "Of course, you do."

"Only enough to complete the mission."

What is he talking about? "There is no mission."

"You're my mission."

"What? No. No, Bucky, that's over. Hydra's gone. We won, and you're free. You don't have to kill me."

Crinkles appear at the corners of his eyes. "You're my mission," he repeats, emphasizing "you're".

Steve licks her lips, trying to figure out what he means. What the mission is. What Bucky is trying to do.

What Bucky has always done.

"You're trying to protect me."

A nod.

Okay. Okay, she can deal with this. She hadn't thought that Bucky was trying to kill her, but having explicit confirmation is nice.

"Okay," she says. "I'm the mission, so I'm calling the shots. And I say you eat something now."

"I don't need…"

"You were giving a modified version of the serum that I got. It boosts our metabolism. We need more fuel to keep us going." She holds the sandwich out. "You could go for a long time without eating, but you won't be performing at optimal levels. Eat the damn sandwich."

Bucky gazes at her for a long moment. He's expressionless and disheveled. There's scruff on his face and tufts of hair sticking out from his baseball cap. His eyes look… uncertain. A little confused.

"What do you usually eat on a mission?

He thinks about it a moment. "Bars."

"Bars. Like… protein bars? Ration bars?"

He nods. "I have some. Something like what they fed me." His nose crinkles. "It tastes… different."

"Different how?"

He frowns, nose crinkling a little more. Then he shakes his head. "Too much flavor."

"Yeah. Even in the army, the ration bars, the kind that they gave us, were… Well, bland is too good a word for them. They tasted like ash. Like mud."

Bucky nods. "The ones from the store are… too much."

Sympathy wells in her. She kind of likes the taste of today's protein bars, now that she's gotten used to them. But to someone who was used to eating something with no flavor—and she had no doubt the bars were deliberately kept flavorless to deny Bucky even the pleasure of eating—it must be overwhelming.

She presses the sandwich into his hand. "Trust me. This doesn't have that problem."

After a moment, unwraps it and takes a bite. His nose wrinkles ever so slightly, but he finishes the sandwich in a few large bites. When Steve hands him a water, he takes it without comment and gulps it down.

"Can we go?" he asks when the bottle is empty.

Steve grins. "Yeah. Let's go."

They drive through the day and well into the night until Bucky finally comes to a small cabin in the middle of nowhere. Steve's lost track of where they've gone. Frankly, she doesn't really care. Bucky isn't trying to kill her, and she trusts him. Trusts that he'll take her somewhere safe, somewhere that she won't be in any danger. That's the point of this, right? To protect her?

So, she gets out of the SUV and stretches. Bucky comes around, takes her by the wrist, and leads her inside the cabin.

"I'm not going anywhere, Bucky. You don't need…" She stops as Bucky lets go of her wrist and goes to secure the door.

Steve rubs her face and then looks around the room. "Where are we?"

"Safehouse."

"So, any of Hydra's remaining agents will know about it?"

Bucky shakes his head. "It was set up for me. If a job went south, and I was compromised, I was to come here. The head of Hydra would come for me. Him, or someone with the code word. I was supposed to kill anyone else who came." He meets Steve's eyes. "No one else knows."

"So, the secret died with Pierce." At least, she hopes it did. Sounds almost too good to be true, but it's not like she's defenseless if Hydra goons show up.

Bucky goes to the wall. Flips open a panel and keys in a code. The wall slides open to reveal an arsenal of weapons. "You should get some sleep," he says, taking out a sniper rifle. "I'll stand guard."

"Bucky, no. No one is coming. And if they are, let's not shoot first and ask questions later. I have friends. They might come after me and I don't want…"

"Friends? Did you contact them?"

The urgency in his voice takes her aback, and she shakes her head. "No. No, I didn't contact anyone. Didn't tell anyone. But they have resources, and since I just disappeared…"

Bucky checks the weapon for ammo. "I'll stand watch."

Steve lets out a slow breath and walks to Bucky. Puts her hands on the rifle. "Bucky. The world has changed. No one is going to throw me in an asylum for being what I am. No one is going to beat me or lock me up or force me to change. No one is going to hurt me. It's okay."

A muscle twitches in Bucky's jaw.

Steve smiles tentatively. "I was born a girl. But I started living as a man when I was young. I always thought I was… I don't know. Wrong. But there are other people like me and words that people use to describe people like me. And support groups. And doctors who help people like me."

Bucky's eyes flare, and he shakes his head.

"No! No, not like you're thinking. If I… well, I can't, because of the serum, but if I didn't have it, if I was like other people, I could have a surgery. It could make me a man, if I wanted. Which I don't. But I could."

For a long moment, Bucky stares at her and, for the briefest second, Steve thinks she's gotten through to him.

And then, Bucky steps back, hands tightening on his weapon. "Get some sleep. I'll keep watch." He moves around her and walks up the stairs.

Steve sighs and rubs her eyes. Okay, this was going to take some work. Until then, food and then sleep.

Luckily, the kitchen is fully stocked. Not with anything fresh, but there's frozen food and canned goods. She makes herself a quick meal, leaving enough for Bucky, if he ever chooses to come down from his hiding place. Then, she heads upstairs to find a bed.

There are rooms, but no beds. A few chairs, but no other furniture. This place was not made with comfort in mind. She finds a barren mattress on the floor and a threadbare blanket in a closet. Well, she's slept on worse. She climbs onto the mattress, wraps the blanket around her, and quickly falls asleep.