Steve glanced back at his friend, Sam, as they jogged around the Reflecting Pool and for our morning workout. They stopped after a few miles and took a rest; Sam collapsing against a tree while Steve looked out over the sleepy city of Washington as it tried to wake up.
"Wanna go check out the memorial?" Sam panted, he turned back to face him and thought for a few seconds.
"Sure, why not?" Steve said back, giving his friend a hand up and walking towards the other end of the pool.
Steve walked into the circle of monuments and to the Freedom Wall, looking over all the stars until they heard soft sobbing. Steve heard it first, turning on a dime to trying and find the person, Sam noticed the quick movement before he heard the crying but followed Steve's lead none the less.
"Where's it coming from?" Sam whispered as both men tried to pin point the location of the noise.
"I think it's coming from the Howling Commando's section." They walked closer and saw a man standing in front of the carved stone. He was wearing a pair of wore out, old jeans that were too big for his frame, a faded blue sweat shirt that swallowed his form. His sneakers had holes in them and were all but falling apart while his faded cap held back his longish hair, a few strands having escaped its hold. The man's right hand was slowly running over two names again and again.
Steve moved closer until he was only two feet away and was about to ask if the man was alright but stopped. Steve saw the man's face, his blue eyes filled with tears that slid down his cheeks, over the stubble that made his look older. Steve's eyes teared up as Sam moved beside him and gasped softly.
"Bucky?" Steve whispered, the man's head jerked to the side, wide eyes taking in the people in front of him as though he hadn't heard them. Steve stepped closer to Bucky to see what he'd been looking at. The names James Buchannan Barnes and Steve Rogers were engraved on the stone under Bucky's hand.
"Steve?" he whispered, "I-I remember so much, it hurts."
Steve took a risk and quickly stepped forward, engulfing the broken and confused soldier in a bone breaking hug. Bucky hugged him back, breaking down in his best friends arms in an embrace that was seventy years overdue.