Tony all but leaped out of the vehicle. "Oh my God, that was the longest car ride ever."

"It was four hours," Pepper said. "With a long stop in Trenton."

Tony pointed an accusing finger at Bucky. "Being trapped with Mr. Unfiltered Mouth over there creates the worst kind of time dilation."

Pepper raised an eyebrow. "Seemed normal to me."

Tony blinked at her.

"You know," she said, "having no choice but to travel with someone who doesn't think before they speak."

"Are you comparing my tendency to be blunt with what he just did?" Tony snapped.

Pepper gave Tony a long suffering smile.

Despite feeling lightheaded, Bucky smiled at Tony's rant. He felt like a marionette with broken strings and half stumbled as he got out of the SUV. Steve climbed out after him instead of going out of the door on the other side.

"You're pale." Steve wrapped strong fingers around Bucky's upper arm. "You okay?"

"Glad we're not actually in D.C. but I know we're close. Too close." He looked at Steve then at the ground. "Where I tried to kill you." He stole a glance at Natasha standing to the side. "And her."

"And you didn't." Steve gestured at Pepper. "When's dinner?"

"You can sample this evening's wine and cheese while we check in," she said. "We'll leave right after that. We can unpack later. You and James are in the first floor apartment. We figured you two would need the kitchen so you can eat between meals. Groceries have already been delivered. The apartment has two bedrooms, each with a queen size bed." She smiled. "Also should make it easier for you to keep an eye on him."

Steve nodded. "Where's everyone else going to be?"

"Tony and I are in the Peacock Room on the third floor,` Pepper said. "Happy is in the Newport Room on the third floor, and Natasha's on the second floor. We've rented the whole house though, for privacy."

Bucky didn't pay much attention to the check-in process, which went quickly. The big Victorian house had a lot of nooks and crannies, which was somewhat overwhelming, but it was old fashioned and almost felt like something from his childhood, like someplace someone's grandmother might have lived back then. He followed Steve when they took their suitcases in.

Even with traffic, the drive to Baltimore's Inner Harbor took less than fifteen minutes. Tony talked the whole time they walked from the parking deck to a waterside restaurant called the Rusty Scupper. Bucky ordered the authentic Maryland crab cakes because Tony told him to. Tony was clearly in Gracious Host mode.

"What's the problem there, Bionic Man?" Tony looked concerned. "Don't like seafood?"

Bucky squirmed. Right now, he just wanted to be left alone. "I miss eating in the kitchen."

"The tower kitchen does have a great view of New York," Tony conceded, "but this place has a great view of the Inner Harbor, even if it is a little crowded with boats."

"When we eat in the kitchen—" Bucky fell silent. The words we're a family went through his mind but didn't make it out of his mouth.

"What about the kitchen?" Tony prompted.

"It's more comfortable," Bucky said.

Tony nodded. "It is. Sorry you have to wear gloves everywhere else."

Bucky nodded as though the thin, close-fitting, tan gloves were actually an issue. He stared out of the restaurant's window wall. The view of the long narrow, relentlessly built up, harbor was engaging, but he didn't want to be here.

"Can I go to the Smithsonian again?" he asked.

"Again?" Steve said.

"I told you," Bucky said. "After I got you out of the water, I went someplace that showed you, and showed me as a soldier."

Steve's eyebrows went up. "That's what you meant, when you said that, the first time you went into the pressure chamber yourself, without being sedated or already asleep."

Bucky nodded.

"We're in Baltimore," Natasha said.

Most of the table looked puzzled but Bucky knew what she meant. He drank his citrus seltzer water.

"Not D.C." she explained.

"Too close," he said. "Makes me itch, like something's trying to crawl out through my skin."

"If the monster crawls out, Steve and I will handle it," she said.

He flexed his left hand. "Thank you."

"I don't understand you two," Tony said. "You spend the whole road trip fighting—I thought Natasha might kill you at one point—now she's got your back?"

Steve stared into his lemon-garnished seltzer water.

"Siblings," Pepper said.

Tony and Steve both stared at her. She shrugged. "You never had siblings. Siblings can fight like cats and dogs one minute then fight for each other the next."

"The Avengers do that too." Natasha smirked.

"Similar dynamic," Pepper agreed.

Tony drank some wine. "Smithsonian on Saturday."

Bucky met the inventor's expressive brown eyes. "Thank you."

After dinner, they walked along the extensive path that went all along the commercial area at the tip of the Inner Harbor. There was too much brick and concrete for it to seem like a park, but it was close. The breeze from the water made the walk pleasant even though the evening remained hot and humid.

From a distance most wouldn't register that Bucky had gloves on, but he felt compelled to hide his hands and kept them in his pockets. Which made him feel even hotter. He was the only one in the group wearing a shirt with long sleeves. He understood the necessity.

"You seem lost in thought," Steve said.

"Nothing complicated," Bucky said. "I hate my left arm."

Tony, who was in the lead, turned at that. "We're working on it."

"I know."

"Bruce and Sam—" Tony said.

"I know!" Bucky snapped. Chagrined, he took his right hand out of his pocket and extended it toward Tony.

Natasha snagged his wrist, stripped the glove off, then let him go. "Just keep your other hand in your pocket. This one's fine."

He blinked at her. She tucked the tan glove into the right hand pocket of his jeans. She gave his shoulder a shove. "Keep walking. Before the weekend's over, I'm pretty sure we'll have to take you and Steve to a gym somewhere. Too much pent up energy. We've got to run you like sheepdogs or something."

Tony set a brisk pace. They walked another twenty minutes before Tony phoned Happy to get the car.

As they headed through the buildings toward the curb, Bucky turned around. He stared wistfully at the water. "I want to stay here."

"Next time," Pepper said, "we'll stay at one of these hotels."

"Don't care about the hotels," Bucky said.

"They will not let you sleep on a bench." Tony was irritated.

"They wouldn't find me." Bucky was certain of this. As antiseptic as the touristy part of the harbor looked, it was quite complex with many potential hiding places. Further down, where the harbor became more industrial, it was a veritable maze.

"No they wouldn't," Natasha said. "But you need to stay with us."

"Bucky." Steve's voice was thick. "You aren't thinking of running away?"

"Thinking?" Bucky ruminated. Thinking didn't have anything to do with it.

"Some of us are always running," Natasha said. "No matter where we are."

Steve stared at her. "You don't look like you're running."

"Looks can be managed for the sake of other people." She glanced at Bucky. "Pretend whatever you need to, but you don't have to pretend with me."

Recognizing Yakov's words, Bucky's knees went weak. He clutched at Steve. Natasha's eyes went wide. He guessed that just then, she realized what she'd said but didn't realize what she'd done—she'd triggered something in his memory.

"Happy's here," Tony called.

Steve dragged Bucky to the SUV and strapped him into the middle set of seats next to the window. Natasha climbed into the other door and sat beside Bucky. Steve opened his mouth, closed it, and then went to the front and rode in the passenger seat beside Happy.

Natasha looked at Bucky. He looked out the window. "Those memories are distant," she said. "I wasn't aware, when I said it."

He knew it was an apology and he didn't want it. "Those memories were taken from me." He stared hard out of the window. "Your words brought one back. They always watched me and the children."

"You were careful about talking to me," Natasha said. "And careful about not making it long."

"Just a few words," he said, "as though they were part of the lesson."

"But it was a different lesson." The redhead looked at him askance. "Why'd you do it?"

"Talk to me, Sasha." He looked at her then. "So I remember."

The breath she sucked in was small and the action so subtle that most wouldn't have noticed it, but he did. She, in turn, saw the question in his face.

"Now you look like Yakov," she said.

He nodded.

She went silent and he wondered if he could coax her to talk. If he couldn't do it, maybe Steve could. Or Pepper. There were so many things he wished he could forget. He wasn't sure why he wanted to remember this, which only made him want it more, want it solved. How far would he go? He wondered this as he looked at her. Her face was closed, her eyes unreadable.

They were back at the Wilson House, less than ten minutes in the lighter traffic.

"Why?" she said as they stepped into the foyer of the grand old house.

He led her to the right and around the corner to a living room with a sink-into-it-soft couch. He sat in one corner of the overstuffed sofa and she sat in the other.

The others were not subtle. They settled into the chairs and the settee of the adjacent music room as though it were not fully open into the living room. The only one who hung back was Happy, and he was positioned where he could hear.

Bucky didn't care. He didn't even care about Steve's reaction.

Natasha kicked her shoes off and pulled her feet up. He leaned back at an angle, one leg half on the sofa seat, and watched her face. "This is a mystery." He gestured between them. "And I want the answer."

"What if you don't like the answer?"

"I doubt I'll hate it more than other things I didn't want to know but remembered."

Natasha nodded. "The first strange thing you said to me was after a field test. We were outside and you had us positioned so no one could read our lips. 'You're better than they think you are,' you said. 'Don't let them see that. Don't prove anything to them.'"

Bucky clutched his fingers into his hair. He felt pressure against the top of his skull and pressing down on his ribs. He couldn't breathe. Impressions flashed in his mind's eye and ear. He didn't want to hear the Russian. This must be how Natasha felt sometimes.

"I said that," he choked out, "about two weeks after I became your teacher."

"Yes."

"I'd already worked for Red Room for a year. It's the longest stretch I was ever thawed out. I began to hope it was permanent. I—I lied to them, did what they wanted, bided my time. I went to libraries, quietly read old papers, discovered Steve was dead." He released his hair and looked up, into Natasha's eyes. "I knew what I told you from boxing. Don't let them see how good you are. Beat them quietly. Let your opponent be overconfident. Put on a show." He took a breath. "I knew I was James Barnes."

One of her eyebrows jumped.

"Or at least," he said, "that I had been someone named James Barnes. I was Yakov and James at the same time."

"You had to hide that from them." Natasha spoke with a Russian accent.

He nodded. "It was a quick trip to death, or at least the freezer, if they suspected."

She frowned.

"I saw that you were different," he said. "Some of the testers, the scientists, feared you. They didn't understand you. I started looking at your files, the ones they didn't give me, started picking locks, searching. Never took anything. Looked and memorized."

"You dropped hints about what you found."

"About what I deduced," he corrected.

"You told me that I should pretend. That I could carefully lie to the scientists, and my teachers and handlers. That there was honor in it because I was worth preserving." She flashed her eyes up to his, held them there. "You said I was special, that I could get away someday and was one of the few that could."

"After that I quietly showed each child how to beat the system. Most, I couldn't tell directly. I modeled behaviors, said indirect things. Performance improved. There were fewer punishments."

"What did you see in my files?" Her voice was quiet.

He closed his eyes, visualizing the paper documents he'd accessed one at a time. "That your traits were inborn. They hadn't experimented on you directly. They hadn't experimented on your mother, so you weren't one of the stars they created in the womb. This worried them, that you must have mutations they didn't understand."

She nodded. "Makes sense. But no other teacher would have interpreted those files as you did. No one else would have said things."

"It wasn't just the files. It was you. Little, smart, strong. Full of crazy courage."

She raised her eyebrows. "Did I remind you of you? Or Steve?"

One side of his mouth ticked up. "The crazy courage was definitely Steve. And maybe the little."

Her features relaxed with satisfaction, as though she understood something new. "Then they began to suspect you."

"I made a mistake." He pushed his fingers through his blond hair. "Became unwilling to kill the children deemed unworthy." He sighed. "And I protected you."

"Without the encouragement you gave me for a few months when I was seven, I might never have escaped Red Room." Her eyes were steady. "It took me a lot of years to manage it."

"You managed by yourself. Remarkable that you did. But, then, I knew you were remarkable."

"And you told me so."

"If that helped at all, then I managed to do one small good thing as Bucky Barnes in the midst of the worst of the nightmare."

"It helped," she said. "I wasn't able to help you, though I tried."

"You overheard them, and you told me."

"I went to you and begged you to kill a child, me if necessary, or they were going to do something to you. And I cried. You lied when you said I never did."

"One tear, Sasha. That's all. One tear escaped your eye."

"When we heard them coming, you tossed me through the second floor window into the gym. You turned your back as though you hadn't heard them, and you walked. I knew what you were doing—leading them away from me. I was out of sight before they ever turned the corner. so many and so heavily armed, I thought they would kill you."

"I killed some of them." He shrugged as though the memory wasn't so terrible, that it wasn't the moment his spirit broke and his will to escape died.

"I know." She exhaled. "Even watching best I could while staying hidden, I wasn't sure they just captured you."

He leaned forward and rubbed his thumb over her cheek. "One tear, Sasha, is that all I ever get?"

She shifted forward and let him fold his arms around her. She sobbed quietly into his chest. He knew she was seven and he was Yakov.

The ten minutes that she cried felt too long and too short all at the same time. He simply cradled her. He didn't say soothing words, or stroke her hair. A few tears of his own fell into her red locks. He hadn't been able to protect her enough.

She became firm in his arms and dried her face on his shirt before she sat back. She was Natasha again, all grown up. His face was still wet and she noted it.

"You ever make me cry again," she growled, "I'll cut your heart out."

"I might need you to," he choked.

All predatory grace, she stood. She picked her shoes up. "Steve."

Steve was at her side so fast, it was like he materialized there by magic. She pushed him toward Bucky then turned around and climbed the stairs to the bedrooms as though they'd just been having after-dinner coffee. Steve looked confused as he reached for Bucky.

Bucky thought just go to her, but his mouth couldn't form the words and his vocal chords made a broken sound.

Steve pulled him up and led him toward their rooms. He treated Bucky gingerly, and Bucky moved as though he was injured. He caught a glimpse of the others. Tony looked shocked. Pepper's eyes were wet. Happy hung back in a shadowed area.

Steve got Bucky ready for bed as though he was an invalid. He should probably have felt humiliated that Steve got a cloth and washed his face but he found it soothing. It didn't take much for Steve to cajole him into brushing his teeth. Bucky's mother had him well trained in that from a young age. Finally, Steve got a fresh Tshirt and running shorts on Bucky and opened the queen size bed. Bucky let himself be coaxed under the covers. Steve turned the bedside lamp off.

Bucky grabbed his arm. "Don't leave me alone."

"Not going far, Buck. I'm in the other bedroom down here."

Bucky frowned. "I'm used to sleeping on the floor now."

"Don't think you'll fall out of this bed. It's plenty big. Remember how small our beds were back in the forties?"

Bucky snorted. "When we even had beds."

Steve's teeth shone white in the dim light when he grinned. "I'll get more pillows."

Steve left and returned quickly with three more pillows. He tucked them around Bucky along with the extra pillows already in the bed, and that was nice. Bucky yawned through the word, "Thanks."

Steve rubbed his hand through Bucky's hair and then left and closed the door. Having extra pillows was familiar but everything else felt wrong. Disjointed memories flickered behind his eyelids like broken strips of film.

The next thing Bucky knew, Steve clutched his shoulder and woke him up. He was laying on a sofa in the dark facing a big wall unit.

"What are you doing up here?" Steve said.

"Where?" Bucky mumbled.

"You're on the second floor landing in the sitting area."

"Mmm." Bucky was sure that was meant to be something eloquent that just didn't come out right.

"Why'd you come here?"

"Don't remember leaving my bed." He brushed Steve's hand off his shoulder and snuggled more deeply into the sofa. "Lemme sleep."

"You can't just sleep out here."

Wearing a camisole and purple argyle pajama pants that were too long for her, Natasha appeared from the second floor corridor. "I'll take care of him."

"Thought you were going to cut his heart out."

"He isn't making me cry."

Bucky stumbled to his feet when Natasha tugged on his arm. He leaned on her and let her take him down the hall. The wallpaper in her big room was floral but didn't look too girly. He willingly followed her into her bed. They wrestled for a minute over who was going to spoon whom. She won. Having her curled around him wasn't too bad.

He was almost asleep when the thought hit him and he laughed bitterly.

"What?" she said.

"We'd both rather have Steve here."

"I really wouldn't." She combed her fingers through his hair. "You might be a poor substitute for Clint though."

"Mm hmm," he agreed. "Can't cook."

It was her turn to chuckle. He fell right to sleep.

He knew it was daylight before he opened his eyes.

"Wake up, sleepy head. You missed breakfast."

Bucky looked at Natasha. She carried orange juice and a plate laden with cheese, bacon, fruit, and waffles festooned with chocolate chips. He sat up and she thrust the plate into his hands. She set the orange juice on a coaster on the bedside table.

"Thanks." Bucky ate.

Natasha organized her belongings until the room looked more staged than occupied. She had obviously already showered and was dressed for the day in a casual medium-gray suit and elegant white cotton top. Her pants were capris.

"Hurry," she said. "You need to shower and get dressed."

"'S delicious." He rushed through his breakfast then got out of bed.

"Thanks," he said again.

"Don't mention it." She took his plate and shoved him toward the door.

He left and went to the apartment he was supposed to have slept in. Steve wasn't there. Bucky showered. He was almost dressed when he heard the door to the apartment open. He poked his head out of the bedroom then sighed. Not Steve.

"Come on Robospy," Tony said. "We're on a schedule."

"Okay." Bucky finished buttoning up his long sleeved linen shirt and put the tan gloves on.

Tony fidgeted but waited on him. Four minutes later they walked out the front door. Tony climbed in beside Pepper. Bucky climbed into the middle seat where he was by himself. Natasha was in the back seat. Steve sat in the front

"Happy," Natasha said., "before you get on the highway, stop at that convenience store we saw up that way."

"Convenience store?" Tony said.

"Six pack of water," Natasha said as though it made sense.

After buying the six pack of water, Natasha climbed into the back seat of the SUV. She settled in with her phone and Happy headed to the highway. Tony chattered. Pepper occasionally answered him. Steve stared out the window. Bucky couldn't figure out what was going on so he was quiet but hypervigilant. Mostly, he watched Steve.

Fifteen minutes into the drive, Pepper turned toward the back seat. "Tasha, why'd you bring him breakfast this morning?" She gestured toward Bucky.

Natasha didn't look up. "He was in my room."

Tony's attention was jerked to the redhead and his torso followed suit. "Your room?"

She rolled her eyes. "He was in the second floor landing, on that sofa. Apparently, he wanders in his sleep. Steve was bugging him. Bucky was uncooperative. They were loud as magpies. Another five minutes and they'd have woke the whole house up. I intervened."

Tony's gaze was steady on her. "You intervened."

"I'm the only one in a room on the second floor."

Tony persisted. "You didn't trust Cap to get him back down to the ground floor or something?"

"Not without sounding like a herd of elephants." Natasha continued playing a game on her phone. "My sleep was disrupted enough."

"So you slept with him," Tony said.

Steve turned around at that comment.

"Might be more accurate to say he slept with me." Natasha shrugged. "It was my room."

Tony turned his head just enough to look at Bucky. "So how was it?"

Pepper smacked Tony's shoulder.

"What?" He held his hands up. "We got to see the foreplay. I want to hear the rest of the story."

Steve made a choking sound.

Natasha muttered, "V nevedenii litsemer."

Bucky grinned at her statement then leveled his eyes at Tony. "She's not a restless sleeper, and she was up and dressed before I woke up. Plus, she brought me breakfast in bed. How can I complain?"

Tony rolled his eyes.

Bucky turned toward the back seat. "Did I have nightmares, Natasha?"

"No. If you'd awakened me with that kind of crap, I'd have dragged your ass back to Steve in a heartbeat. The whole point of my intervening was to get my beauty sleep."

"And it worked. You look especially beautiful today." Bucky turned back to Tony. "Between no nightmares and not waking up every hour or two, I'd have to say sleeping with Ms. Romanoff is the best sleep I've had in years, possibly decades."

Natasha cuffed his shoulder.

Bucky said, "What? It's a compliment," before he turned enough to see the small grin on her face.

Pepper cracked up.

Tony glared at her. "Why are you laughing?"

Steve looked perplexed as he continued to watch carefully. When he looked at Bucky, the sergeant winked at him. Steve looked even more confused.

With a sigh, Bucky turned to stare out the window.

The Wilson House was about an hour from Arlington. Happy got them to the Starbucks just down from the gate to Arlington National Cemetery three minutes early. At Pepper's behest, Bucky had just ordered the same thing as the CEO—a double chocolate chip skinny frappuccino—when Phil and Clint walked in. Both men were dressed casually but respectfully in black jeans and nice shirts—a blue polo for Phil and a black sleeveless button down for Clint.

Natasha and Pepper went over and hugged them. Natasha said, "You look more relaxed than I've seen you in years."

"Amazing what getting enough sleep will do for you," Phil said.

"And talking and pleasurable diversions." Clint smirked.

"That too," Phil agreed.

"Oh good." Pepper was pleased. "Looks like we did the right thing, sending you off by yourselves. How was Gramercy Mansion?"

"Perfect," Phil said.

"Breathtaking," Clint said. "The bathtub faucet is a brass swan's head and neck. There was a little fountain on the patio wall. The grounds are gorgeous."

Pepper beamed. "I'll tell Maria you liked it. She picked it."

"She has excellent taste," Phil said.

Natasha's name was called. She went over to pick her iced coffee up. Phil and Clint ordered hot coffee.

After ordering, Steve had located an isolated easy chair. When Bucky went over to talk to him, Steve barely acknowledged him. After a minute, he gave up and sat with Tony at one of the larger tables.

Natasha took a sip of her cold drink then walked past Steve and smacked him in the back of the head. "Bàlvan."

"Hey." Steve jerked around to her before rubbing the back of his head. "What was that for?"

Clint stepped up to stand next to Natasha. "Probably for being an idiot." He looked from Natasha to Steve to Bucky. His name was called and he picked his coffee up.

Natasha grabbed Clint's arm. She dragged him outside. They stood next to the outside table that was farthest away. Bucky glanced their way occasionally, enough to know that Natasha paced and then talked, but never sat down. Clint spoke with her and laughed twice.

Everyone in the group had gotten their drinks.

"Do you like your frapp?" Pepper asked.

Bucky nodded. "Taste's like a lightweight mocha milkshake."

A peeved looking Natasha came in and sat next to Phil.

Clint went around to Steve. "Come with me Cap."

Steve stood. "What's this about?"

"Pretty sure Natasha's assessment of you being an idiot's got merit."

Steve rolled his eyes but followed Clint outside.

Ten minutes later, they loaded up to go to the cemetery. Phil and Clint got in their low-key black sedan, borrowed from Tony's fleet. Everyone else piled into the SUV. Steve sat next to Bucky.

As Happy pulled out of the parking lot, Steve spoke to Bucky. "You nervous about seeing your grave?"

"No," Bucky said.

Steve fiddled with his nearly empty coffee cup, rotating it between his fingers.

Bucky watched for a moment then leaned on Steve's shoulder.

Natasha muttered under her breath.

Tony turned around and opened his mouth. Pepper elbowed him, hard. He exhaled with a whooshing sound and glared at Pepper. She glared back.

Tony faced front and crossed his arms.