Steve woke up with a groan. His chest ached and his head was pounding, the past day's events slowly returning to him.

His eyes widened slightly as he took in the hospital room he was currently occupying. No one seemed to be in here with him. Now that he thought about it, no one probably knew he even ran into the Winter Sol- Bucky.

Steve smiled slightly at the fact that Bucky likely brought him here. Though, he could tell he didn't remember much at all, just enough to know he had to protect him. And he did.

His chest still ached. He could guess that they performed surgery to help repair the lung pierced from the bullet. It was still quite difficult to breathe, but he was recovering. And, he felt 2x as better than he was the previous night.

As he glanced out the window, he noticed that it was pitch black outside. His room lights were also dimmed, allowing him to get proper rest. Though, he didn't dare to move; surprising based on how stubborn he is. He didn't want to injure himself further and cause himself to become even more incapacitated.

He doesn't even know how long he's been asleep, but he doesn't worry about that right now. Steve simply lays his head back onto the soft pillow and drifts off to sleep again. Unfortunately, he wished he hadn't, because he was soon taken over by a nightmare.

Steve stood and faced the Winter Soldier. They were staring at each other, the Winter Soldier more menacingly so than Steve.

"Bucky.." Steve started, reaching out a hand but keeping his shield close by.

"Who the hell is Bucky?" the Soldier growled, bringing out a gun and shooting Steve straight in the chest by surprise. He gasped as the Winter Soldier charged toward him, slamming his fist into his face repeatedly.

"Bucky!" He tried to scream, but it hurt his burning lungs. "Bucky, stop! Please! I'm sorry- I-"

He seemed to finally snap out of his nightmare, yet not completely wake up, when he felt a warm hand against his forehead.

Though, he found that his chest was in much more pain than it was before. He must have been, at least, yelling in his sleep.

A small, pained groan escaped as he blindly lifted his hand and placed it on his chest, clutching the hospital shirt that had replaced his previous.

He felt a hand rest on his own and heard a heavy sigh coming from next to him. Finally, he slowly blinked open his eyes, which were still a bit glassy. Everything seemed blurry at first, and the figure sitting beside him wasn't fully visible.

"W-Who…" He murmured a small wheeze escaping his lungs. His vision finally cleared after a moment. The first thing he saw was the metal arm, then Bucky's face.

Steve slowly attempted to sit up, but Bucky's flesh hand moved to his chest to gently ease him back down. "Don't.." He muttered.

He finally took in Bucky's exhausted form. The dark circles under his eyes indicated he likely hasn't slept. He had also changed into more civilian clothing, consisting of a simple red shirt and a black jacket.

"Buck-" Steve was thrown into a coughing fit, hand clutching his chest. It easily reminded him of when he was sick or had asthma when he was smaller. He calmed down after a few moments, but Bucky was staring at him now, expression showing absolutely misery, along with some worry and concern which was likely, and quite obviously, directed at Steve.

"How long…" He asked quietly, turning his head to look at Bucky instead of the bland ceiling.

Bucky only gave a small shrug. "Lost track after 2 weeks.."

Steve swallowed. He was out for at least 2 weeks? Geesh..

"Yea.." Bucky looked up at him with only a shadow of a smile, speaking as though he just read Steve's thoughts.

Steve looked at him, expression turning to concern. He didn't want to get his hopes up and ask if Bucky remembered, but he probably remembered something because he was sitting right next to him and making sure he didn't apparently hurt himself. And he was worried. Clearly.

Bucky's flesh fingers intertwined with his metal ones a bit nervously as he made eye-contact with Steve. He seemed to have known what Steve was thinking. "I remember some things...Not everything," He sighed. "I remember you, though and some of the things I did.." Bucky's gaze broke away and fell to the ground.

"It wasn't your fault, Buck..You didn't have a choice," Steve reassured softly.

"I know, Steve...but I still did it," Bucky spoke without looking back up. Steve didn't need to see the expression on his face to know he was completely miserable and torn up inside. Anyone who went through the same hell Bucky did would be the same. He'd be surprised if they weren't.

Steve sighed when there was a sudden cascade of yelling and commotion just outside their room. Bucky looked up and in that direction, Steve doing the same.

The door was kicked open, and Steve wanted to instantly dive out of a window or something, because he knew, despite his stubbornness, he was in no shape to fight.

Hydra agents piled into the room and Bucky instantly stood up, wide-eyed. Pierce appeared at the front of them with a smile. The familiar gun he had tried to kill Steve with was still holstered at his side, giving the hint he would try to do it again.

"Surprising to see you alive, Rogers. But I'm glad you are," Pierce said with a grin. Bucky instantly walked to shield Steve from the crowd of Hydra operatives, some of which were still outside of their room, giving no hint of escape.

Steve muttered a few curses under his breath, staring at Pierce and the rest of the watching Hydra operatives defiantly, but his gaze drifted to Bucky, who was keeping an eye on both him, and the Hydra agents a few feet away.

"I believe you have something that belongs to me," Pierce smiled, looking at Bucky. "But it looks like we'll have to do a much more efficient job this time."

A shudder was sent through Bucky's body, but he spoke up anyway. "No. I'm not your damn weapon anymore."

"Oh, aren't you?" Pierce said with a smile. Rumlow stood beside him, gun silently aimed at Steve's torso. "You've already killed many, all in the help of keeping the world in balance."

"Killing innocent people isn't going to help anything," Steve spoke up.

Bucky spotted the gun just a second before it went off. He took that time to jump in front of it, taking the blow to his lower abdomen.

He winced, but it didn't stop him. The reaction was instantaneous; he blew forward and slammed his fist into Rumlow's side, sending him flying backward. He did the same to multiple other Hydra agents, eyes narrowing at each one.

Pierce managed to sneak around him, yanking Steve to his feet with a strangled gasp, gun set up against his temple.

"Do you want him to die?" Pierce asked as Bucky turned around and realized that his friend was being held hostage.

Bucky was silent, staring on with wide, terror-filled eyes.

"You wouldn't.." Steve rasped from Pierce's grip.

"Oh, I would," Pierce smiled. "Quite gladly actually, since I failed to last time due to the Asset's...faulty programming I suppose."

Bucky winced at the name.

"He's human...not a damn machine," Steve snarled.

Pierce tightened his grip on the gun, finger hovering dangerously close to the trigger.

"Don't," Bucky pleaded, voice shaking. "Please.."

Suddenly, something struck Bucky's back and his eyes flew wide, but soon began to droop closed. Upon realizing what was happening, he fought to stay awake. "Steve-!" He stumbled toward him, hand out-stretched desperately, before he crumpled to the floor.

"Bucky! Stop! You aren't taking him!" Steve yelled, struggling violently before he managed to throw Pierce off. His fist connected with his head and he stumbled backward.

Rumlow and other Hydra agents had already gotten their hands on Bucky, dragging the unconscious man from the room. Steve chased after them. His chest ached painfully, but he refused to give up. He grabbed Rumlow first and threw him into more of the Hydra operatives, knocking them to the ground with painful ease.

The effects the dart had on Bucky were beginning to wear off, as he was starting to stirr.

Steve was kicked to the ground, a fist connecting with his chest. Having not even fully recovered, it caused his breathing to suddenly become extremely difficult. He stumbled backward onto the ground, clutching his chest and gasping as if he were having an asthma attack.

At this point, Bucky was wide awake. He had jolted to his feet upon seeing his friend get knocked down and was taking down Hydra agents quicker than anyone was anticipating.

Pierce entered and shot a bullet toward Bucky. It bounced off of his metal arm as he stormed toward his former-handler. Pierce missed the 1st and 2nd punch Bucky threw at him, but the 3rd hit him in the back of the head and rendered him unconscious. He then grabbed the gun and shot the man in the chest twice.

He spun around and dodged Rumlow's swing, easily taking down the man with a swift kick to the ribs and a punch to the head.

Steve struggled to get to his feet. He was shaking badly and barely noticed when Bucky came running over, dropping the gun he had killed Pierce with and helping Steve upright.

"Oh god.." Bucky's voice was trembling in a fear Steve had barely heard from him before. "Oh god..are you- are you okay?"

Steve nodded. "'m fine..chest hurts.." The next breath he took in was an extremely loud wheeze, which worried Bucky even more. "I-I knew they'd come looking- I-I knew that they'd find us..and-and hurt you-"

Once he was sat down back onto his hospital bed, he grabbed Bucky's arm swiftly. "It isn't your fault, Bucky.." He coughed a few times. "I'm fine..just gotta recover."

"But- They probably knew I was here..and then-"

"Shh. It isn't your fault.." Steve eased Bucky down next to him, wrapping an arm around his shoulder and allowing Bucky to sob into his chest. It ached slightly, but not as bad as before.

"I'm sorry, Steve.." Bucky gasped through heart-wrenching sobs. "I'm so sorry.."

Steve rubbed circles on his friend's back. "It's alright. I'm not mad at you, and I forgive you. "

Bucky looked up with bloodshot eyes. "Y-You do?"

Steve's heart shattered seeing his friend like this; miserable and broken. It makes him want to kill every single Hydra agent he could find even more.

"Of course I do. Yeah, you did do bad things, but it wasn't you. You weren't in your right mind and they tortured you. God knows what they did..In all honesty this is probably my fault..If I didn't even let you fall in the first place..Or if I came looking for-"

The roles swapped and Bucky was the one wrapping his arm around Steve's shoulders. "Hey..That ain't your fault either. The gap was too much and if you went any further you would have fallen with me.."

"That would have been better.." Steve muttered.

Bucky looked a bit surprised at that. "Steve. No it wouldn't have. I'm glad it was me instead of you. If it was you-" He swallowed painfully. "I don't know what I would have done. I definitely wouldn't want you having to go through all the pain and torture I did just because you fell with me. We both likely would have went through the same thing and we'd have no one to turn us back to ourselves if we both fell."

Steve sighed. Bucky did have a fair point. He embraced Bucky tightly, burying his face in his shoulder. "'m just glad you're here…"

He heard Bucky take a deep, but shaky breath. "I'm glad you're here too…"

They stayed like that for about 10 minutes before Bucky helped Steve to his feet. "Where are we going?"

"Getting away from here before any of those idiots decide to come back," Bucky replied.

Steve nodded.

"And..Steve?" Bucky asked.

"Hm?"

"Thanks...For everything..Don't think I would be here without you.."

Steve simply smiled and nodded.