The plane ride hadn't been too bad. Bucky had been sure that Steve would spend the whole trip mother henning him, but no, he'd backed off, left Bucky on his own.
That space, that quiet, had done a lot to give him back some of the calm he'd lost when Hydra had nearly taken him. Steve's understanding that Bucky needed that space was the reason he knew it had been right to come to his old friend for help.
The only person to approach him during the short flight had been Pepper Potts. She'd been kind, gentle.
Bucky liked her.