Waking up next to someone wasn't something that Steve was used to. Or Natasha, for that matter. Even though they'd been exploring their "relationship" for a while now, Steve was either too much of a gentleman or too scared to spend the night with Natasha. Maybe it was a little bit of both. It wasn't like she'd been pushing for it too hard, either. Nat was used to keeping people at arm's length, both for her protection and theirs. She'd been intimidated by her feelings for Steve and even more intimidated to learn that he shared those feelings. Now, though… Now, things were different.

Natasha had slept better than she could remember sleeping in… well, longer than she cared to admit. And even though this was all new, the warm weight beside her felt familiar. Like she'd woken up to it a thousand times already. When she opened her eyes to see Steve lightly dozing beside her, it stirred a strange, warm feeling inside of her. It was like being shot in the chest with a burst of sunlight, but she wouldn't be caught dead telling anybody that. Instead, she leaned over and pressed a kiss to Steve's cheek.

The Captain didn't really have a great relationship with sleep. Not since waking up to find that he'd been sleeping on ice for six decades. There was always that fear that if he slept too hard, it would happen again. He knew it was ridiculous, but he couldn't help it. The thought of losing another lifetime and all the people in it was pretty terrifying. Despite all this, Steve couldn't deny the comfort he felt with Natasha beside him. Her arms wrapped around him seemed to serve as an anchor, keeping him grounded and letting him know that everything was alright. Everything he needed was right there, and it would still be there when he opened his eyes.

The drugs that were still phasing out of his system probably didn't hurt, either.

Regardless, when sunlight started slipping through the bedroom windows, Steve's internal clock had started chiming. He was coming to the surface, not quite awake but not quite asleep, when he felt the soft pressure on his cheek and the brush of hair against his ear. He slowly batted his blue eyes open, inhaling a deep, cleansing breath as he did so. The world came into view, and he rolled his head to the side to see familiar green eyes and the half-smirk that accompanied them. The sight caused an involuntary reaction of his own lips curling up into a small, sleepy smile.

"Good morning," he said, his voice still gravely from sleep.

"Good morning." Natasha replied in her slightly raspy tone. She rested her hand on his chest and then lowered her chin to rest on top of her knuckles, peering up at him with wide eyes that contained a maddening mix of complete innocence and pure mischief.

"If we're going to keep bunking together," she said, "we're going to have to do something about that snoring."

Steve furrowed his brow and lifted his head off the pillow to look down at Natasha. It didn't take a genius to figure out she was joking. "Are you always this funny first thing in the morning?" He asked with no shortage of sarcasm.

Natasha shrugged one shoulder. "I dunno," she said. "Guess we'll find out." Her eyes roamed his face, and her expression fell into something soft and serious.

"How are you feeling?" She asked.

The question prompted Steve to take stock of his current situation. There was a dull ache between his eyes that made him feel like he needed to chug a gallon of water… or coffee. Or both. Other than that, he felt okay physically. It was his mind that was a bit uncertain. There were a lot of memories and emotions quietly swirling just beneath the surface, and it felt like any one of them could come bubbling to the top at any moment. He wasn't quite sure how to handle all that, let alone describe it.

"Like I shouldn't have jumped into that helicopter." He admitted.

"Mm," Natasha made a sound and nodded. "Well, I could've told you that."

Steve slid an arm beneath her and pulled her tightly against him, wrapping her up in something like a half-hug for a few moments. He brushed his fingers through Nat's short blonde hair and just stared up at the ceiling. He knew he they would need to get up soon. They needed to see T'Challa and Shuri and, once again, thank them for their help, and Steve needed to see Bucky. He had a lot of questions for his old friend. He wasn't quite ready yet, though. There was still a bit of heaviness in the air; things that needed clearing.

"Nat…" he began.

Natasha lifted her head from Steve's chest, causing his hand to fall away from her hair. She pressed down on the hand on his chest so she could rise into a half-sit. She looked down at him with a somewhat surprising firmness in her eyes.

"Don't." She said with that same firmness.

Steve sat up as well, sliding up and resting his back against the wall behind him. Before he could breathe another word, Natasha was already speaking.

"I know you're sorry," she said. "Don't you think I'm sorry, too? I pointed a gun at your chest, Steve. Twice. But we can't keep… going around this circle. If we do that, then Garrett wins, and I've really had enough of that guy winning."

Steve furrowed his brow. His lips pulled down into a slight frown as he thought about what Natasha said. He knew she had a point. He knew that, that fight had been just as difficult for her as it had been for him. Maybe even more so. She had been in control of her own body, and she'd known exactly what she was doing when she pulled her gun on him. Still, none of that erased the deep ache in his chest when he thought about what he'd done. He could still see that damn wire in his hands…

"Steve." Natasha curled her fingers beneath his bearded chin, forcing him to meet her gaze. "I forgive you, okay?" She didn't even think there was anything to forgive, but she had a hunch that maybe he needed to hear that. She didn't know how much it would help. She didn't know if it would make him forgive himself and move on, but maybe it would take one less thing off his plate. One less thing for him to worry about.

She leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his lips. It was brief but firm, wordlessly sealing the deal on this whole conversation. Then, she gently slid out from beneath the blankets and rose to stand beside the bed, stretching her arms above her head and listening to the satisfying pop in her shoulders and back. Steve watched her for a few moments before ultimately deciding to just let the matter drop and get out of bed. It would be rude to keep theirs hosts waiting. Especially when those hosts were royalty.

Not long later, after finding some showers and procuring some clean clothes, Steve and Natasha met up with T'Challa and Shuri. The siblings were discussing upgrades to Wakanda's defenses while picking over some plates of fresh fruits and bread, but they promptly quieted their debate upon the arrival of their guests. Smiles, hugs and handshakes were exchanged, as well as another round of thank you's from both Steve and Natasha. Neither one of them felt like they would ever be able to truly express proper gratitude for everything that had been done for them, but they were sure as hell going to try.

While Shuri did a brief check on Steve to make sure everything was on the up-and-up, Natasha caught T'Challa up on everything that had been happening since their last visit. The Wakandan King was dismayed to hear that things were still hard for the heroes. They didn't deserve the treatment they'd been receiving from their own country. It was unfair.

"But," T'Challa informed her, "you will always find safe harbor here. You are always welcome in Wakanda."

"You might not say that next time one of us shows up asking you to… I dunno, reattach a severed foot." Steve said as he entered the room, shrugging back into his shirt.

Shuri, who was following behind, released a chuckle. "Oh, please," she said. "I hope you would give me a bigger challenge than that!"

"How is he?" Natasha asked.

"Everything looks good," Shuri informed them. "I give the Captain a clean bill of health."

The news was a welcome relief to Natasha, who had been silently worrying throughout her whole conversation with T'Challa. She supposed she shouldn't have been so anxious about it, though. Steve was no normal man. If anyone could bounce back from something like this, it was him. What's more, he had the best minds and technology helping him. He'd been in good hands from the start. Still, it was good to hear that he was going to be alright.

Steve was just as relieved. Having your brain rewired wasn't exactly a five-star experience, and he didn't want to have to re-experience it ever again. Which reminded him, he needed to go see Bucky. He couldn't put it off any longer. He felt guilty enough for putting it off as long as he had. He apologized to Shuri and T'Challa for having to slip away, but they both understood his reasoning. Natasha walked with him out of the room, but she announced she would be staying behind while Steve made the trek out to see his friend.

"He needs to see you," she told him. "Alone. And I think maybe you need that, too."

Steve couldn't argue with that logic. He nodded as he reached forward to brush a strand of hair behind Natasha's ear. She was looking particularly lovely in some traditional Wakandan garb. "And what are you going to do while I'm gone?" He asked.

Natasha shrugged one shoulder. "I'm sure there are plenty of trinkets in that weapons lab to keep me occupied," she said with a smirk.

It was hard to tell whether or not she was being serious, but Steve knew that, if she was, Shuri would be more than happy to show off her latest designs. He chuckled quietly and shook his head a few times. He slid his hand to the back of Natasha's neck and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

"Just try not to blow anything up," he said as he released her. "I don't think we could foot the bill."

"Speak for yourself." Nat said with a wink. Then, she went back in to join Shuri and T'Challa while Steve made his way out.

It was a warm and sunny morning, and people were already bustling about the streets of the city. Steve took his time as he walked. He wanted to take in his surroundings and feel out his own physical and mental state, but he was also feeling a little apprehensive about seeing Bucky. He wasn't quite sure why. Maybe a part of him felt a little disappointed in the fact that his friend had opted to stay out in his isolation rather than return with Natasha yesterday. Maybe he was worried that Bucky might not really be Bucky after all. After everything that had been done to him, it wasn't like Steve could just expect him to be the confident, sarcastic kid from their youth. Could any of them really expect to be unchanged by all of the things they went through?

Steve realized that he was surrounded by people whom life had dealt a pretty rough hand. The people he cared most about in this world were people who had been most harmed by it. They had been subjected to the horrors of humanity and were expected to, what? Come out the other side, better from all of it? Steve now knew first hand what it was like to have his brain tampered with. He wasn't sure he would ever recover from that. He wasn't sure he would ever not feel the pain and the fear caused by those moments, and his situation had only lasted a matter of days. Bucky had been controlled for years. Natasha, too, in her own way. Instead of a childhood, she'd had years of constant boot camp. Instead of getting to be a little girl, she'd gotten to be a soldier. A tool, something to be used by other people. How could they just… move on from all of that? Steve wasn't sure. All he knew was that each step closer to Bucky's current "residence" he got, the more anxious he started to feel.

He couldn't turn back, though. He wasn't going to abandon his best friend, even if part of him felt like his best friend had abandoned him.

Natasha's directions were pretty easy to follow, and they took Steve through a lot of the different parts of the city. He got to see different facets of life here that he hadn't really gotten to witness before. Even though there were gleaming towers filled with remarkable technology standing tall in the distance, there were still men and women selling wares in stalls on the streets. So many old ways of life still had a strong presence here. It was pretty impressive, the harmony between all of those different things. There were lessons here that the rest of the world could stand to learn.

Eventually, paved streets and pathways gave way to dirt paths winding through jungle territory. The air became a bit thicker and a little hotter, and by the time Steve emerged through the thicket and to the open space outside of it, he'd worked up a bit of a sweat. The breeze rolling in from the lake was a welcome sensation, and Steve allowed himself a moment to just stand there and take it all in. The area reminded Steve of a small farm, with a couple modest huts, wooden chairs and tables outside, and some goats grazing in the near distance. He found it incredibly hard to believe that Bucky was tending to goats now, but… well, he supposed he'd seen stranger things. His blue eyes roamed around in search of his friend, but there was no sight of him.

"Buck!" He decided to call out. "Don't tell me you're still sleeping!"

Movement in the trees to his right caught Steve's attention. He turned his gaze that way to see the greenery shifting and parting. They gave way, and out walked Bucky with a machete in hand. He was wearing a worn pair of cargo pants and a green shirt whose sleeves had been sloppily cut off. A piece of woven cloth was wrapped around his left shoulder, partially obscuring the missing arm from view. Steve was fully aware of the fact that Shuri could have provided Bucky with a replacement. She'd probably offered. It didn't look like Bucky had taken her up on it.

Bucky came to a stop outside the treeline. He looked… confused. Steve noticed the way he gripped the handle of that machete just a little tighter.

"Easy, soldier." Steve said. "It's me. The real me. All my marbles are back and in working order."

Bucky chuckled and rolled his eyes. "Jeeze, with jokes like that I know it can't be anybody else."

He walked forward, sticking the blade of the machete into a tree stump as he passed. Smiling, Steve met him halfway, and they greeted in a firm hug. Steve gave his friend a couple of hearty slaps on the back before stepping back to take another look at him.

"You look good, Buck." He said.

"Well, last time you saw me I was in a plastic tube." Bucky pointed out. "There was a lot of room for improvement." He gave Steve a once over. "Wish I could say the same for you. What's on your face? All that old age finally catching up to you?"

Steve rubbed at his beard. "Just trying to make it a little harder for people to find me. Seems like you had the better idea."

Bucky's expression fell. He looked down at the ground for a second before lifting his gaze once more. He lifted his hand to scratch at the back of his neck. "Sorry about… not coming back," he said as his arm fell back to his side. "I just… It hasn't been that long, you know? There's a lot I'm still sorting through. I don't always trust myself. I have these dreams…"

"Bucky." Steve placed a firm hand on his friend's shoulder. "It's okay. Really. I understand. And I'm okay, so… it all worked out." He smiled and allowed his hand to fall away.

Bucky was quiet for a few moments. He nodded and motioned towards a couple of wooden chairs in front of one of the huts. Steve followed him over and took a seat in one of them. He was surprised that they didn't break under the weight of either man. They were sturdier than they looked, it would seem.

"Seems like we've got a bit of catching up to do, huh?" Bucky said with a quiet huff of a chuckle.

"Yeah," Steve nodded. He leaned forward in his chair and rested his forearms on his legs, hands clasped together in front of his knees. He looked over at his friend and offered a small smile. "Why don't you go first?"

…..

Back in the city, Natasha had, indeed, gotten Shuri to show her some of the new tech she was working on. There was no shortage of things to be impressed about when it came to the teenage genius. Natasha found herself wishing that she could put Shuri and Tony Stark in the same room, if only to see Tony's reaction when he realized there was someone out there who was smarter than him. It was probably best to keep Tony away from a place like Wakanda, though. He'd be like a kid in a candy store, and it was no secret that he didn't exactly have much when it came to impulse control. People like him made Natasha understand why T'Challa had kept Wakanda a secret for so long.

Shuri showed Nat all kinds of things. There were guns that shot concentrated sound waves, shoes that created temporary surfaces for the wearer to jump on, and cloaks that generated incredibly dense shields. Of course, there were plenty of things that Shuri wasn't at liberty to show Natasha, which only made her that much more curious, but the Black Widow understood the need for secrecy. She was more than happy with the things that Shuri did show her and especially with the things that she was able to try out for herself. They certainly didn't make guns like this back in Russia.

"You weren't lying when you said you like a challenge." Natasha noted as they walked.

Shuri nodded her agreement.

Natasha paused, prompting the young woman to do the same, and fixed the princess with a serious look. "How… much… of a challenge?" She asked.

Shuri narrowed her gaze at Natasha, a curious and expression on her face. "Why do you ask?" She asked cautiously.

"Maybe we should sit down," Nat replied. "I have… one more favor to ask."