Bucky popped more nuts into his mouth and then took a swig of beer. He and Sam were lounging on the couch in the entertainment room in front of a large high-definition, theater-sized screen on the wall. Empty containers of delivered Chinese food rested on the small coffee table in front of the couch. His younger counterpart had taken a shower and then headed down to the medical tent for another therapy session with the arm.

Bucky hadn't really gotten into the whole T.V. thing. No one had home televisions back in the early 40s, and as the Winter Soldier, he'd simply gone from mission to cryo to mission again. It was only during the past year, after Wakanda, that he even had access to a television.

The only thing he ever really watched on a television, other than a couple of things in Steve's book, was news. It was all very new to him. The commercials were…a lot. Loud. Obnoxious. He hadn't yet figured out its appeal, but apparently binge watching was a thing.

So, when he told Sam he wanted to see if binge watching was all it was supposedly cracked up to be, the other man had almost gleefully shown him the streaming services and told him there would be no commercials, then asked him what he was in the mood to watch. There were almost limitless options.

Considering everything that had happened and what was likely in his future, he'd said comedy, and now he was watching something called 3rd Rock from the Sun about aliens—again with the aliens—but at least these ones weren't trying to take over the planet. He wasn't even sure they were smart, though he did get a kick out of the old guy in the kid's body and the security officer as a towering, no-nonsense woman named Sally.

It wasn't until he saw the character named Sally blissfully making meatloaf and suddenly realize she had dead cow on her hands that he grasped the appeal of the show and, for the first time in a long time, let out a surprised, genuine laugh and took another sip of his beer. The effects of the vodka had worn off a little while ago, and the beer was about as strong as water for his enhanced system. Sometimes, he wondered why he even bothered drinking it at all.

"Ah, so you like this show?" Sam asked with a smile.

Bucky tilted his head. "It's not bad. A little silly."

"Hey, sometimes silly is just what we need."

Bucky took another sip of his beer. Silliness wasn't something he'd had much of since about 1943.

"Ah, there you are, man from the future," a deep voice intruded.

Bucky looked away from the screen to see Thor walking toward him. Natasha was right behind him. Bucky furrowed his brow and studied the large Asgardian, wondering why he was suddenly back.

Thor plopped himself down on the couch next to Bucky and eyed the television, then slapped a hand on Bucky's chest. It almost knocked the wind out of him. He really wasn't used to having so many people around who were as strong or stronger than him, and he found that he liked that feeling. With everyone else, he had to watch himself—make sure he didn't use too much pressure when shaking hands or tap Sam on the shoulder too hard. He went through most of his life the past two years having to constantly mind his own strength…especially at 'normal' gatherings like Sam's with lots of people and children.

Sometimes, he found it exhausting.

"What is this?" Thor waved a hand at the television.

"A sitcom," Bucky answered, looking over at the man. "I thought you'd left."

Thor nodded. "I will take my leave soon, but I promised to return to bid a final farewell before doing so." He looked quickly around. "Where are Stark and Rogers?"

Natasha curled into the adjacent recliner. "In the lab going over some final details about how to send this guy home."

Thor shifted to look at Bucky. "Natasha has told me the challenges you will face upon your return."

Bucky took another sip of his beer and then shoved more nuts into his mouth. He turned his gaze back to the television and sank a little lower into the cushion. He didn't want to keep talking about that. All he wanted to do was sit on the couch and be absolutely useless for a little while before he had to head back and face the unpleasant music.

Thor nodded despite not having received a reply, then rose suddenly and went to the compact refrigerator in the tiny kitchenette. He retrieved a beer and dropped back into the couch, popping it open and letting the cap clatter to the ground as he turned his gaze to the screen.

"I myself have done a lot of this recently," Thor began, his voice suddenly softer. "I believe I understand something of what ails you. Perhaps I can introduce you to the game of Fortnite."

Bucky glanced briefly at Thor, eyeing him more seriously for the first time. The change in the man's appearance over the last five years was certainly remarkable. Thor had left shortly after the funeral the first time around, so the only information Bucky had about the Asgardian was what he'd gotten from Sam and the Internet. All he really knew was that Thor had lost his home and blamed himself for not stopping Thanos in Wakanda. Judging from Thor's appearance, the last few years had been difficult ones.

Bucky wondered whether Fortnite was something that had helped get Thor through those hard years. "What is that?"

"It is a game of many players," Thor explained, "where great battles can be fought and won."

Bucky took another swig of his beer and turned his attention back to the screen. "Sounds a bit too much like a day at the office for me."

Thor gave into a deep chuckle and nodded. "Indeed, perhaps it is." He took a long drink of his beer and then held it out toward Sally on the television. "This will do just fine. I like her spunk!"

"I think she might be a he," Bucky mused, though he wasn't even sure whether the fictional aliens had male and female genders given the way they talked about the bodies.

"Well, that dress fits him quite nicely," Thor observed.

-0- -0- -0-

Sam looked up as Steve stopped in the doorway to the entertainment room. From the corner of his eye, he saw Bucky give them an acknowledging nod, then return his attention to the screen. He and Thor had been in the same spot for the past two hours. They hadn't even moved to use the bathroom.

Natasha got to her feet and headed out the door to talk to Steve. Sam followed, moving a few feet into the hallway with them.

"How are things going in the lab?" Sam asked.

Steve gave an encouraging nod. "Tony, Banner, and Shuri have made remarkable progress, and I think we have a decent plan forming."

"That's something," Natasha said.

"How long have they been like this?" Steve asked, jerking his chin toward the two men sitting motionless, side-by-side, on the sofa.

Sam looked back at them. What he saw were two men who had both been through their own personal hells and hit the proverbial wall. The past five years had not been kind to Thor. As Sam studied the Asgardian, he could tell there was a positive change in the man after the battle with Thanos…now that they had won. Thor was climbing out of his personal hell hole, but he was good enough to recognize when another soul needed a rest stop along the way.

"It's nice," Natasha observed, "that Thor gets him right now."

"You read my mind," Sam commented.

"How has he been doing?" Steve asked.

"Well," Sam sighed, "I told him whatever he needs, and he needs this right now. No expectations. No talk. No thinking. Just mindless entertainment, and his mind is a blank slate as far as television is concerned. I think the only thing he's ever watched other than news is a few Star Trek and I Love Lucy episodes. He hasn't even gotten to the Star Wars or Rocky movies yet."

Steve's eyes stayed focused on Bucky in the other room, and Sam had a pretty good idea what was going through the Captain's mind.

"You can't beat yourself up over a decision you never made."

Steve looked at him, a flicker of surprise on his face. "Am I that easy to read?"

"When it comes to your super-sized guilt, you are."

Steve shook his head. "I just keep thinking about what it must have been like for him after the other version of me left. I can understand why I would've done that. I can't lie and say the thought hasn't crossed my mind. It has. When I saw Peggy…" His voice trailed off. "But hearing what happened, not just with Bucky, but with the world, I wish there was a way I could punch the other me square in the jaw."

"You couldn't have known," Sam tried to reassure him.

"I should have thought ahead." Steve returned his gaze back to the room and the two men seated next to one another. "He just barely got his mind back, and then he's thrown into another fight—the biggest fight of them all. After that, he's arrested, put in a jail cell, given a lawyer and probably a bunch of psychological evaluations, and then a conditional pardon." Steve took a deep breath. "I should have been there for him. He was always there for me."

"You can be there for the Buck of our timeline," Natasha said, her voice gentle, then she looked at Sam and added, "and from that letter you read, Sam, I gather you will be there for the other Bucky when he returns to his timeline."

Sam shook his head, thinking back to that letter. There had been so much in it that made his head spin. He hadn't even fully processed it all yet. "Yeah, and as Captain America, apparently. That just doesn't feel right."

Steve smiled at him. "I think it fits you perfectly."

-0- -0- -0-

Steve returned to the lab to see Tony, Banner, and Shuri clustered around the table in the lab. They'd been working out the final details of how to return the stones and get Bucky back to his own timeline. Steve was beginning to feel a little more at ease now that it looked as though they had a solid plan. He hoped it worked, but there were, admittedly, a lot of variables involved. Whenever there were variables, there was opportunity for things to go awry.

Tony dropped the tiny chip into the top of the small holoprojector. The device was about the size of thumb drive and would fit easily in a pocket. He placed it in the open shell of a small, hard case.

"This should do it, Dad." Tony nodded at the projection of his parents next to Pepper and Morgan and waved goodbye to his little girl. "I love you kilotons," he told her.

She giggled and leaned against her mother. "I love you 3,000 and more!"

Pepper smiled. "Goodnight, Tony."

"Goodnight, Pepper, Mom, Dad…Morgan, bed, now." He killed the holographic image and turned toward Steve.

"It's great that she gets to know them," Steve said.

"Yes, it is. I think they love her more than me," Tony replied.

Steve gave a sympathetic smile. "I'm sure that's not true. But, uh, how is everything going? Is that the last bit?" Steve pointed to the hard case. He was anxious to get the stones and Hammer back where they belonged and deal with Bucky's situation. "What about the other device?"

"That's it," Tony replied, "and, yes, we're ready to go. We can return the stones anytime."

Steve nodded. "That'll be our first priority." He hoped the trips into the past went smoothly, and this time, he planned on returning.

"No rush in sending Bucky Darko back anytime sooner than necessary." Tony leaned back against the table and glanced at Shuri, then asked her, "You and T'Challa—you're sure it'll work?"

She nodded. "I am." She placed the Kimoyo bead in the case next to Stark's drive. "They will be able to verify the authenticity."

"I'll be glad when all the stones are back where they came from." Banner sighed and adjusted his glasses. "The sooner the better."

Steve looked at the three people in front of him and, for a moment, realized just how lucky he was to have what had to be the smartest people on the planet putting their heads together to help Bucky and their respective timelines. The whole thing was a bit surreal considering how, just a few years before, Tony had been of a completely different mindset.

Not that he could blame Stark given how it all went down. Fortunately, all that was in the past, and Tony's little girl now had her father and her grandparents. He'd be damned if he'd let the man responsible for that spend the rest of his life in a windowless, super-charged cell.

-0- -0- -0-

Bucky found himself once again standing in front of his friend and saying goodbye. This time, they were inside the Avenger's lab rather than an open field. His younger self was on his right, and Sam was on his left. Steve smiled at him, the stones securely nestled inside a small case almost identical to the one he'd carried in the other timeline.

Bucky tried to ignore the familiar ache in his chest and told himself that, this time, things would be different. Steve had made it clear he intended to come back, and Bucky believed him, but a part of him wondered if that resolve might waffle the moment Steve laid eyes on Peggy Carter.

Even if this Steve did come back, nothing would ever change things in his timeline. His timeline had already been cast. Steve was gone. The most he could hope for is that the Bucky Barnes of this timeline would get his best friend back.

Steve's gaze drifted over the three of them. He turned to the younger Buck and clapped him on the shoulder. "I'll see you in about five seconds, buddy. Don't do anything stupid until I get back."

Buck smiled at Steve, and Bucky observed the exchange, almost overwhelmed by the sense of déjà vu. Those had been the same words his Steve had spoken just before leaving the first time around. It made sense this Steve would say the same thing. They were essentially the same person with just a slightly different sequence of events between them.

Steve then turned to Bucky and clasped him similarly on the shoulder. "I'm coming back."

Bucky nodded, but the lump in his throat wouldn't let him answer. Instead, he reached out and pulled Steve against him hard, listening to his breathing and taking a moment to appreciate the fact that, whatever happened over the next few seconds in his time, he'd had this chance to see his friend one more time.

"Hey," Steve pulled back after a few seconds and looked him firmly in the eyes, "I'm coming back. Five seconds. That's all it'll take for you."

Just don't be an old man when we see you again, Bucky pleaded silently.

Steve moved to Sam next and gave him a nod and a grin. "Make sure these guys don't get into trouble over the next five seconds."

Sam chuckled. "No promises." He punched Steve lightly on the shoulder. "Be careful. See you soon."

"Anytime, Cap." Tony prodded from his position at the controls next to Banner.

Shuri hovered at a nearby table, working over two devices that looked like small high-tech ankle monitors. She looked up briefly from her work and caught Bucky's eyes, then gave him a reassuring smile. He took a breath and turned back to Steve just as the man hopped up on the platform.

Thor's Hammer was already on the platform. Steve turned and pushed the suit activation button on his left wrist. The quantum protection suit engaged, covering him. He grabbed the Hammer.

"Going Quantum," Banner began, "in three…two…one."

Then, Steve vanished.

Bucky closed his eyes.

"And returning," Banner continued, "in five…four…three…two…one."

Bucky swallowed. He felt a vibration through the floor and a deep, bone-rattling hum. The pressure in his chest gave way to blessed relief, and when he opened his eyes, he saw Steve in front of him, a smile on his face and a large brown paper bag in each hand.

"What's that?" the younger Buck asked, pointing to the bags.

Bucky looked down at them, and the familiar smell tickled his nose.

No. It couldn't be….

Steve set them on the floor, reached into one of the bags, and pulled out two very large hero sandwiches from Paddleworth's deli.

"I can't believe you did this," Bucky eagerly grabbed one of the sandwiches. "Ah, man. This is fresh, isn't it?"

Steve nodded, his face split by the hugest grin Bucky could remember seeing in a long time.

"Made a few minutes ago." Steve gave the other sandwich to Buck and then pulled out two more. "I got you each two, and the rest are for everyone else."

"You are my favorite person, man," younger Buck took the two sandwiches and found an empty chair near a small table. He immediately unwrapped one and took a large, indulgent bite. "Steve," he mumbled around his mouthful, "I love you."

Steve laughed and grabbed one of the sandwiches, opening it himself. The others in the room soon clustered around the bags, grabbing sandwiches like children at a candy bowl.

Bucky held his up and sucked in a deep breath, enjoying the familiar aroma that brought him instantly back home to the streets of Brooklyn. He closed his eyes, imagining himself there, standing in front of the deli. If he walked a few blocks east, he'd be at his folks' place, hurrying up the steps, through the front door….

"You okay, buddy?" Steve's voice intruded on Bucky's inner sanctum, and for a moment, he held onto the illusion, imagining it was the Steve from 1943.

"Yeah." Bucky opened his eyes to see Steve in all his Captain America glory standing in front of him, and the illusion vanished. "Just thinking of home."

He felt the subtle sting touch his sinuses and snake behind his eyes. He blinked, taking a steadying breath. God, how he missed his folks…his sisters. All of it.

"Come on." Steve slid an arm over Bucky's shoulder and guided him over toward his younger counterpart.

They retrieved a couple of empty chairs from a nearby workstation and joined Buck. Bucky set his sandwiches down on the table and unwrapped one. He took a moment to relish the impressive sandwich…the meat, cheese, glint of peppers, and oozing sauce that was the sole and proprietary creation of the lovely couple that owned the deli and that you just couldn't find anywhere else…

He cheeks tingled in anticipation as he lifted the hefty mass and took a large bite. It tasted just like he remembered. This moment—with Steve and his younger self inches away and the decadent taste of fresh bread, capicola, salami, pepperoni, and cheese in his mouth—was probably the closest he'd get to anything like heaven.

Sam pulled up another chair, and Bucky scooted his over a few inches to make room around the small table.

"This smells amazing," Sam said, unwrapping the parchment around the sub-shaped thing on his lap. "Thanks, Steve. I can't believe I'm about to dig into a sandwich from the 1940s." He lifted one half of the massive hero. "This job definitely has its perks."

-0- -0- -0-

Steve watched as Shuri worked on the detached vibranium arm. Bucky sat bare-chested on a chair in the building's lab with one of Steve's blue T-shirts draped over the back. It was just the three of them. Steve tried not to stare at the connecting piece that made up Bucky's shoulder, but he couldn't help thinking back to what Stark had said before about Bucky tearing off an early model of arm…or the gruesome image it had evoked. He was glad he hadn't seen the video. The mental image he manufactured was terrible enough on its own without having the actual, living scene burned into his brain.

And how many more horrors like that had Bucky endured in his 80 years under Hydra's brutal control?

"The geo-location feature is disabled…as is the kill switch," Shuri said with a teasing smile as she lifted the arm and presented it to Bucky.

He managed a brief, almost apologetic grin in response to that. "You're too kind. Thank you."

She tilted her head, and her expression became serious again. "My diagnostic showed minimal damage from the electrical surge you mentioned earlier; however, I have enhanced the shielding and biomechanical interface protection. Should a similar situation occur, you should be more protected from the adverse effects. However, given the properties of vibranium, I cannot eliminate the risk altogether.

Bucky nodded as he took the arm and slipped it onto the connecting shoulder piece. His face grimaced for a moment, almost as if the attachment process produced discomfort, then he gave the arm an experimental rotation. "Thank you."

Shuri bowed her head quickly. "You are welcome." She turned and headed off toward another workstation against the far wall.

Steve walked up to his friend. "So what happened?"

Bucky grabbed the shirt from the chair back and slipped it over his head. "Just another day at the office." He smiled briefly as his head popped through the neck and he slid his arms through the holes. "It doesn't matter, anymore. That situation's resolved back in my timeline."

"The supersoldiers, I take it?" Steve asked.

Bucky nodded. "Yes, it was one of the new supersoldiers."

"You took them on yourself, it sounds like? You and Sam?"

Bucky shrugged. "Mostly."

Steve thought about what that other timeline must be like with the Avengers pretty much decimated. "What happened to the Avengers? Do they even exist anymore in your timeline?"

Bucky shook his head. "Not really. Stark's gone. You're gone." He swallowed hard at that, and Steve once again wished he could punch his alternate self. "Wanda," Bucky continued, "is MIA. Vision's gone. Clint is with his family. Banner's…somewhere…grieving, I assume. I don't really know where he went. Thor, last I heard, was somewhere out in space," Bucky waved a hand upward. "And, well, Natasha is still dead."

Steve felt a twinge in the center of his chest as he imagined that bleak world. Just a few hours ago he'd said goodbye to Thor. He'd tried to convince the Asgardian to stay on Earth, but Thor was adamant about leaving. Too bad. It sounds like Earth could use all the help it could get during its post-blip recovery.

"So, it's basically you and Sam?" Steve asked.

Bucky shook his head. "Actually, it was mostly just Sam in the beginning. I pushed myself into that mission when he mentioned the group he was after had members that were obviously too strong. It's not like we were very buddy-buddy at the time, but he was pretty much the closest thing to a friend that I had…have…in my timeline."

Steve was beginning to understand Bucky's decisions better. He remembered the feeling of walking into the bunker in Siberia and expecting to face five supersoldiers with Bucky at his side. Two against five. How many had Bucky and Sam been up against?

"If you hadn't stopped them, what would have happened?" Steve asked.

Bucky took a breath and shook his head. "I don't know. Without the Avengers, it'd be left to the governments. A lot of people would've died. Given the support the Flag Smashers had, the chaos after the blip, and their enhanced abilities…who knows. You like to think the worst won't happen, but you and I have seen enough to know that sometimes it does, and by then, it's too late."

Steve studied the lines on his friend's tired face and recognized the burden he carried by the heaviness in those murky blue eyes.

"It's a good thing you stopped them, then," Steve said.

Bucky rose from the chair and tilted his head. "I know what you're saying…what you're trying to do. Thank you. I told Ayo that Zemo was a means to an end, but the end doesn't always justify the means. I traded lives." Bucky lowered his voice and glanced away. "You never did."

"Maybe I should have." Steve drew in a long, deep breath and thought back to his decision with Vision. "I didn't make the right call back in Wakanda. I was trying to save Vision, but in the end, it was hopeless. If we'd destroyed the mind stone a whole lot earlier….who knows? Things might have turned out a lot differently."

Steve felt the warm clasp of Bucky's hand on his left shoulder. "Hey man," Bucky said, "maybe, maybe not. Frankly, Thanos had the rest of the stones, and my guess is he would've destroyed our planet in retribution. Or, he' would've used the time stone like he did and just wound Vision back further. You don't know that it would've turned out any differently. In fact, it might have turned out worse. Maybe we never would have been able to reverse the damage."

"Maybe." Steve met Bucky's firm gaze. "Maybe the same goes for your timeline. Who knows what would have happened if the Flag Smashers hadn't been stopped. How many more people would've died?"

Bucky offered a weak smile. "Maybe. Thank you." The smile touched his eyes. "And thank you for coming back."

"There's nowhere else I'd rather be right now."

"Not even with Peggy?" Bucky asked.

Steve bowed his head, thinking of her face, her intelligent, mischievous eyes. "I promised her a dance. I gave it to her. It was hard to leave her behind, I won't lie, but I know she lived a good life after me. She married. She had children." He felt the swell of renewed grief in his chest as he imagined what could've been. "Just not with me."

Bucky gave Steve's shoulder another squeeze. "You saw her?"

Steve nodded. "I had to make good on my promise. We danced. I explained things the best I could without revealing too much. I told her to move on and enjoy the rest of her life, and that the future needed me…and her. She accepted the explanation the best anyone could. I hope it eased her grief a little."

"Are you okay?" Bucky asked softly.

"Yeah." Steve had no regrets about his decision, but that didn't stop him from missing her. He'd always miss her. "I'm exactly where I want to be."

Bucky's arm slid across Steve's shoulder as he muttered with a mock southern drawl, "Come on, pal. How about we take a load off in front of one of these newfangled moving picture sets before we ride off into the time traveling sunset?"

Steve smiled and leaned against his friend as he walked with him to the door. "That sounds pretty perfect right about now."

Just before they reached the doorway, T'Challa appeared. He was dressed in a long, dark brown jacket and stood stiffly before them.

Steve heard Bucky suck in a breath as he stopped before the royal leader. Steve figured Shuri had told the Black Panther about how Bucky had freed Zemo, and it was obvious that Bucky expected that T'Challa wouldn't be pleased.

Bucky slid his arm off Steve's shoulder and met T'Challa's gaze. T'Challa held that gaze, then his dark eyes slid to Steve. A subtle smile played at his lips, and Steve breathed a sigh of relief. Whatever T'Challa was there for, it wasn't to berate Bucky.

T'Challa reached behind the wall to the right of the doorway. He pulled his arm back to bring forward a shining new shield. It was similar to the one Thanos had destroyed, except that the center circle around the white-silver star was black and the rings going from inside to outside were red, white-silver, and blue, respectively.

"Captain Rogers," T'Challa held out the shield, "I believe you could use a new vibranium shield."

Steve reached out tentatively. He could barely believe his eyes, and T'Challa's generosity touched him deeply. Steve looked over at Bucky to see surprise in his eyes and a silly grin on his face. Bucky nodded at him and gave a quick raise of his eyebrows, looking almost exactly as he had that day when he'd yelled, "Let's hear it for Captain America!"

"Thank you." Steve looked back to T'Challa and offered a grateful bow of his head as he took the gift. The shield felt even lighter in his hands than the other one. He hefted it a few times and turned it around. The straps on the inside appeared to be vibranium mesh. Steve looked back up at T'Challa and smiled. "It feels…perfect."

"Hey there." Tony appeared behind T'Challa.

The Black panther moved aside, and it was then that Steve noticed Morgan standing next to Tony, her tiny hand clutched in his right one. Pepper walked up behind them both, her gaze immediately going to Bucky, and her face broke into a huge smile.

"So," Tony said, moving into the room. "Morgan here won't shut up about something." He rolled his eyes, and Morgan giggled.

Steve and Bucky stepped back to give the trio more room.

Pepper put a hand on her daughter's shoulder. "She has been very insistent."

"Go ahead," Tony told his daughter. "You nagged me enough. Don't chicken out now."

Morgan smiled and ducked her head shyly as she walked up to Bucky. Her small head tilted up at him, and her blue eyes studied his vibranium arm, then went to his face. "Thank you for my Dad, and for my Grandma and Grandpa." Then she turned slightly and wrapped one arm around her dad's leg as she continued to stare up at Bucky.

Steve studied Bucky, noting the stunned look in his eyes and the uncomfortable—almost bewildered—look on his face. Bucky blinked as though he suddenly realized he needed to reply and managed a shaky smile. It was obvious Bucky wasn't used to having people thank him for saving their lives, and Steve hoped there'd be many more of these moments in his friend's future.

Bucky seemed to gather his senses about him and gave Tony and Pepper a quick glance, then knelt in front of Morgan and looked her in the eyes as he replied softly, "You're welcome."

The little girl held her right hand out to him. Bucky smiled brightly, his eyes twinkling, and extended his right hand. He barely closed his fingers around her palm as he gave it a gentle shake.

"It's nice to meet you, Morgan," Bucky said. "My name's Bucky, by the way."

She smiled shyly. "I know. Dad told me."

"Oh." Bucky looked up at Tony, then back down at Morgan. "What else did your dad tell you?"

"That you're really old."

Bucky laughed. "Yes, I am."

"Are you really over a hundred? Sometimes Dad jokes."

Bucky nodded. "I'm a hundred and six, actually. How old are you?"

"Four."

"Ah, single digits," Bucky said. "One-hand stuff. I don't have enough fingers and toes for my age."

She giggled, then pointed to his metal arm. "Does that have lasers?"

Bucky laughed. "No, but I'm going to ask the person who made it why it doesn't. That's a great idea." He glanced quickly back at Shuri with a mischievous grin, and she swept her gaze incredulously upward and shook her head affectionately.

"Okay, munchkin," Tony said, patting her on the head and ruffling her hair, "enough with the tech suggestions for now." He stooped and picked Morgan up.

Pepper took a few steps toward Bucky, then looked him square in the face, her eyes almost sad. "Thank you for Tony," she whispered, low enough that Morgan couldn't hear.

Steve wondered exactly what Tony had told Morgan. The little girl obviously knew Bucky helped her dad and was responsible for her grandparents being in her life, but from Pepper's reaction, it was obvious Tony had sugar-coated the facts. Of course, he would. Morgan was only four years old, after all, but she was a sharp four-year-old.

Bucky nodded at Pepper. "You're welcome."

She shifted uncertainly on her feet as she studied him. "Would it be okay if I gave you a hug?"

Bucky swallowed hard and nodded.

Pepper leaned forward and pulled Bucky against her, then whispered in his ear. Steve couldn't quite make out the words, but from the sudden red flush around the edges of Bucky's eyes, he knew those words had made an impression.

-0- -0- -0-

Tony held the cloned tablet in his hand as he nodded at the two men about to step on the platform. The quantum signature lock was fastened around the flesh of Bucky's right wrist, indicating it was active and engaged with a string of solid green lights. The brown pack was slung across Bucky's chest. Rogers stood next to Bucky in the field in front of the machine, a medium gray case in his right hand and a large, round leather satchel in his left. He didn't need a wristlet for the initial trip. He'd follow Bucky like a trailer hitched to a truck, since Bucky and the platform would all be going to the same point on Bucky's timeline. Steve's wristlet was safely shielded in the case for his return trip.

Both men were dressed casually in jeans and long-sleeved T-shirts. Rogers wore a blue one, and Bucky the laundered gray one he'd arrived in. Steve's brown jacket covered his, and Bucky wore a simple black one. Bucky held the original tablet in his hand. He'd be the primary operator, and Tony would keep an eye on the quantum signature locks and the back-data calibrations from his cloned tablet.

As far as time travel machine platforms went, the one before him was far less elegant and sophisticated than the Pym-Particles-based version they had used to retrieve and then return the stones. However, the actual device itself, encased in a transparent, protective box, was so elegant and sophisticated that he wasn't sure whether it had originated on this planet or another one.

"I hope this works like it should," Banner said, standing beside him, towering over him.

Tony hoped so, too. The science was sound. The math checked out.

"It should," Shuri said. She stood a few feet away, a Kimoyo bead in her hand, projecting a complex quantum matrix in the air. "We've triple checked all the calculations."

Tony glanced over the small group around him. Buck, Sam, Wanda, Banner, Shuri and Natasha were all present and they'd all said their goodbyes to future Bucky. Now, the only thing most of them could do was watch, except for Banner and Shuri, who were the mental muscle for this particular mission. Banner was operating the backup control panel while Shuri was synchronizing the wristlet locks and double-checking the calibrations to Bucky's quantum signature. Tony used the tablet to ensure the platform and the device were both synced to that signature, as well.

Tony eyed Bucky and said, "anytime you're ready."

Bucky nodded an acknowledgment, and his gaze swept over the group, finally resting on his counterpart. He took a few steps closer to the other man.

"I wish I had some grand words of advice," Bucky told his younger self, "but really, I haven't done such a bang-up job of figuring things out. The only real advice I can give you is…" he paused, a subtle smile playing on his lips, "…cut your damn hair and shave that beard. It's not a good look, and your crap friends should've said something."

Sam barked out a laugh and clapped a hand on Buck's shoulder.

Buck smiled and shook his head in apparent disbelief. "I'll take it under advisement."

"I said something," Shuri spoke up, "a couple of times in Wakanda, if you recall."

Bucky grinned at her. "That you did." He gave the group a two-finger wave and then turned back to Steve. Together, they hopped up on the platform. Bucky looked down at the tablet, his fingers dancing over the screen.

Tony glanced down at the cloned tablet in his hand, watching the data enter on his screen. Barnes should arrive the night before he originally had in this timeline, well before the split and a few days before Thanos arrived…only he'd be in New York, in this empty field adjacent to a park, in the middle of the night. As Bucky prepared to hit the final activation button, Tony studied the two men about to head into an alternate, future timeline and wondered what that other timeline was like.

How were Pepper and Morgan doing? How had Morgan handled his death? How was Pepper dealing as single mother? Was she running Stark Enterprises, or had the reigns been turned over to someone else?

He tried to imagine his amazing little girl at his funeral, and the thought almost broke something inside of him. He wished he could be there for that other version of Morgan…. But he had to be content with knowing that he'd be there for his Morgan, if he managed to keep his head above water and not do anything too stupid over the next few decades.

He saw Bucky eyeing him closely, and he nodded a final thank you at the man. Bucky glanced back at Steve and set a firm hand on his elbow.

"Thank you for coming with me, buddy," Bucky said.

"Anytime, Pal," Steve said with a smile, shifting slightly closer to Bucky and setting the case and round satchel down next to his feet.

It looked as though the Cap were adjusting his stance to better center himself in preparation for a bumpy ride. Bucky had explained that this method of time travel was a little more disorienting than the other method.

Tony watched as Steve smiled and thought he sensed something odd from Barnes. He knew Bucky wasn't happy about Steve risking his life even a little bit to travel back with him, but as far as plans went, Tony felt this one was as solid as it could be considering they were dealing with some other timeline and alternate versions of people they knew. If those people were essentially the same as their counterparts in this timeline, assuming nothing drastic had happened in the year to change them in any fundamental way, then hopefully Bucky should get the help he'd need.

Hopefully. There were a lot of ifs with the plan, though, and Tony didn't much like ifs. He'd been burned by them too many times in the past, and yet still, he found it necessary to deal with them. There really was no other viable alternative short of trying to kidnap one futuristic former Winter Soldier and forcing him to abandon his Sam in his timeline.

Bucky's hand hovered over the activation button, then, suddenly, he twisted and swept a leg out as he tried to shove Steve off the platform with his free arm. Steve obviously had seen the move coming, because he was prepared, shifting his weight at the last minute and grabbing Bucky's arm. In a single movement, he was behind Bucky, his arm around Bucky's neck. Bucky dropped the tablet to the platform and used his other hand to reach back, preparing to grab Steve and send him sailing over him.

"Now, Tony!" Steve yelled,

Tony tapped the activation button quickly before the two men managed to damage the tablet or wristlet in their struggle. The Platform, and the two men, vanished.

"Son of a bitch!" Tony rushed up to Shuri, who looked at the empty field with a shocked expression. "That dumb, stupid, idiotic…" he took a breath. "I swear to God," he looked over at the younger Buck and pointed at him, "you…" Hell, he couldn't even be mad at that version of Buck. Based on the expression on the other man's face, he was as shocked and alarmed as Tony.

"Captain Rogers obviously anticipated this," Shuri remarked.

Tony nodded. "Steve knows his friend well, that's for sure." They'd grown up together, Tony reminded himself, and that reflection brought with it a new wave of guilt for his actions in the Bunker a few years ago.

Things would have gone so much differently if Tony had managed to kill Barnes back then. He knew, ultimately, that decision would've haunted him forever and no doubt devastated Steve. There would have been no repairing their relationship after that.

And Tony knew he would never have forgiven himself after the agony of watching his parents murder had dulled. He sent a silent note of thanks to Rogers for stopping him back then. In doing so, Steve had not only saved Bucky's life, he'd save Tony a level of guilt he wasn't sure he could've recovered from.

"Do your thing again, Cap," Tony whispered at the empty space where Rogers and Bucky had stood moments before. "Godspeed."

-0- -0- -0-

Steve's ears were ringing as the world solidified around him. He found himself kneeling on the platform. Bucky was on his hands and knees beside him, shaking the obvious disorientation from his head. The tablet, satchel, and case were next to Steve's right leg, and he grabbed the case. He couldn't risk losing what it held inside.

Bucky's eyes met his. They flashed first with anger, then softened.

"You're one stubborn punk and you really piss me off sometimes," Bucky said, grabbing the tablet and pushing himself to his feet.

"I know you too well, buddy," Steve grinned and slapped Bucky on the shoulder, then looked around.

It was night. The field was empty. No one was around, which was just what they'd hoped. Now, all they had to do was jump forward again, and hopefully get diverted into Bucky's timeline.

"Ready?" Bucky asked him.

Steve nodded. "No time like the present."

Bucky grimaced at that bad joke and shook his head. He glanced back down at the tablet, tapped on the screen a few times, and then the world dissolved in a flurry of electricity once more.

Steve found the second trip just slightly disorienting than the first since he knew what to expect, but he still ended up on his knees. He looked up to see Bucky already getting to his feet. Bucky slipped the tablet into the pack, then reached in and pulled out the cell phone he'd arrived with, holding it up as he checked the screen. It was night again, and they were in that same empty field.

"The burner phone's got service," Bucky said. "I can't risk calling Sam, though. I'm a wanted man here, and any contact I have with him will just implicate him further."

Steve nodded. They'd charged the phone fully a few hours before, so at least they'd be able to use it to monitor news and other information. Steve crouched down and opened the case, pulling out two small photostatic veil devices. He eyed the other items in the case briefly—the wristlet for his return trip and the two other holodevices Tony and Shuri had given him.

He didn't bother checking the large compartment underneath the devices. He wouldn't need the uniform just yet. For the time being, he and Bucky needed to keep a low profile.

"When are we?" Steve asked.

Bucky glanced down at the phone. "One day after I left. It's 1 a.m."

Steve placed one photostatic veil device behind the top lobe of his ear and handed the other to Bucky. "Here you go. Stark said the power source for these should last us a while, at least a week of continuous use."

Bucky took the device gratefully and placed it on his right temple, beneath his hairline and just above his ear. "These things sure do come in handy. So, we should probably not bother wasting the charge when no one's around…as long as we stay off cameras."

Bucky looked back down at the phone in his hand, his thumb selecting an Internet icon. Steve shifted closer so he could get a clear view of the screen as Bucky scrolled through news headlines.

He clicked on one that said, 'Authorities widen search for former Winter Soldier Barnes."

Steve clasped what he hoped was a supporting hand on Bucky's shoulder. "We'll figure this out, Bucky."

Bucky nodded briefly at him, but his eyes revealed that he didn't quite believe those words.

On the phone's screen, the news story opened. There was a video with a thumbnail of Bucky's face and story text below. Bucky scrolled through the text, and Steve read the words as they flashed by, noting that the "manhunt" for Barnes had expanded to the entire United States and that special measures were being taken at the airports, bus terminals, and border crossings.

Bucky scrolled back up to the video and clicked on it. After a brief delay, the video began playing.

A newscaster's voice spoke over an image of Bucky's face. It looked like a recent booking photo.

"James Barnes, the former Hydra assassin dubbed the Winter Soldier, has thus far evaded capture. Authorities consider him extremely dangerous and urge anyone who encounters him to avoid contact. If you believe you have information relevant to Barnes' whereabouts, authorities urge you to dial your 911 immediately but do not approach him."

The video shifted to Sam, standing on the porch of a blue, southern-style home. The caption below read, 'Sam Wilson, Captain America.'

Despite the circumstances, Steve smiled at that.

"Barnes is not dangerous," Sam's hollow voice rang from the phone's speakers. "That is all I can say on the matter at this time."

"Captain, how do you respond to reports that Barnes had help in the assault against the Stark security personnel last night? Were you involved? How do you explain your presence with Barnes and escaped convict Zemo in Madripoor?"

Sam shook his head. "No further comment." He turned and walked back into the house.

The video shifted to the face of a newscaster. "Details about the nature of the assault at the vacation cabin are scarce as we have been unable to obtain a statement from executives at Stark Enterprises. However, the leaked video from a bar in Madripoor has made authorities concerned that Barnes may be unstable and unpredictable. We will show a clip from that video shortly but caution that it may be upsetting to sensitive viewers."

The image cut to a dark bar. Bucky was dressed in tactical gear. A man took a swing at Bucky. Bucky grabbed his arm, delivered a few punches, and then kicked him, sending him sailing into another man several feet away. Others came into the fray. Steve saw Zemo and Sam in the background. Zemo had a smug smile as he observed, then at one point, it looked as though he pushed a bystander into the fray. Bucky dispatched that man, too, then sent another man sailing into a metal beam.

Bucky looked away and clicked off the phone as the newscast came to an end. Steve saw the muscles clenching in his friend's jaw, the tight lines around his eyes, and the subtle slouch of his shoulders.

"That doesn't look good," Steve admitted to his friend, "but you were undercover. We can explain that."

Bucky looked at him. "People just see the Winter Soldier. Zemo made sure of that. All anyone has wanted is an excuse to lock me up." He held up the phone. "This gives it to them…I gave it to them, and I dragged Sam down with me."

"We're just going to have to take this one step at a time," Steve said. He reached down and closed the case, then grabbed the handle and, with his other hand, picked up the round leather satchel that carried his shield. "Let's get going."

Bucky nodded, and they hopped off the platform. Bucky pocketed his cell phone, then removed the time device from the platform. He handed it to Steve, who quickly opened the case and set it inside, then closed the cover again. Bucky folded the platform and eyed it.

"We can carry it, but it'll be awkward," he said. "You're gonna need it to get home."

"Let's work on finding a car."

Bucky stared at him for a moment, and Steve knew he was thinking over things, weighing options. "I'm calling Sam."

"I thought you said—"

He trailed off when Bucky pulled his phone out of his pocket and clicked on the only contact number that came up. It said, simply, "S." Bucky hit the speakerphone icon. After four rings, Sam answered.

"It that really you?" Sam's voice sounded alert, so Steve figured he hadn't been sleeping.

"I told you last time I wasn't going to let you take me in," Bucky said, his voice hard. "But if you ever want to know what I took from Stark, meet me asap. Are you in NY?"

"D.C," Sam answered, his voice flat and cautious.

"Meet me at the bench. Three hours. Come alone. No cops. No Feds," Bucky ended the connection and slipped the phone back into his pocket.

Steve didn't like what he was hearing. "You think his communications are being monitored?"

Bucky gave a quick, affirming nod.

"And you're going to have him turn you in, aren't you?"

Bucky gave another nod, and the look on his face told Steve it wasn't up for discussion.