The government was a mess now that Nat had leaked Hydra and Shields information. She was in hiding, fearing they would come for her after all the things she's done. You didn't know where she was, but a good guess was probably at Barton's farm.

You had convinced Steve to move back to the tower with you, and you told him he could take one of the other two bedrooms on your floor. Tony had gotten the tower completely fixed and it looked better than it did before. You were in the living room of the penthouse when Tony found you. "Hey buttercup." He said, ruffling your hair. You glared at him for using the pet nickname, and he just stuck his tongue out at you. Bruce chuckled from the kitchen as Tony passed him, getting a cup of coffee.

"Where's the Capsicle?" Tony asked.

"Down at the gym." You told him. You had been working on the Hydra files you took from Jersey for about an hour or so, Jarvis running into every firewall there was. You groaned and sat your computer down on the island, refilling your coffee. "This is taking forever." You told them. Tony stepped over to your computer and started typing.

"Well, here, you don't even have the latest update for Jarvis on here, hold on, I'll be right back." Tony said running to his room. He came back and plugged a drive in, working his magic. You were pretty good at computers, but you were nowhere as good as Tony. A few seconds later and you heard a ding, letting you know that the Hydra files had been decrypted. You scooted Tony out of the way, letting him peer over your shoulder as you looked through them.

Your stomach turned when you found pictures of Bucky after he was found in the snow. Bruce was standing behind you now. "How did he survive that?" He asked softly.

"Arnim Zola injected him with a knock off of the same serum Steve got. That's the only reason he survived the fall and the surgeries." There were schematics of his arm, and how it was connected to his body. You gasped as you read it. There was a metal column through his back that had a rod connecting the arm through his shoulder.

The next photos were of Bucky on the operating table. "There's a video." You whispered. You hand shook as you clicked on it and in a second you wished you hadn't. It was a video of the surgery to attach the metal arm to Bucky. His screams echoed throughout the floor and you were thankful nobody was home.

"He was awake…he was away when they did this to him." Tony whispered, and the way he said it unsettled you. Tony never acted like he cared.

You clicked on another video and it was of Bucky standing in a room. Bucky seemed to be fighting the two people holding on to his arms. He groaned in pain when someone started speaking in Russian.

Longing, Rusted, Seventeen

Daybreak, Furnace, Nine

Benign, Homecoming, One

Freight, Car

After the words were spoken, Bucky went still. Looking straight ahead. "Ready to comply."

"What the hell was that?" Tony asked. You gulped. "Those are the words that activate the Winter Soldier."

There was another video. Bucky was sitting in a chair, THE chair, and someone was talking to him. It was Pierce.

"I remember. My name is James Barnes. I was in the one hundred and seventh infantry."

"Wipe him."

"No! My name is James Barnes, my best friend is Steve, the girl I love is Ally!" He screamed as they strapped him down to the chair. A strangled cry escaped your mouth and you had to turn around. He remembered you. They wiped him because he remembered you and Steve.

"They scramble his brain when he remembers who he is?" Bruce asked. You nodded, turning back to the computer, wiping tears off your face. There were dozens of videos of the same thing, him getting wiped, the Winter Soldier getting activated, kill missions he was sent on.

"This is crazy, it's not Barnes' fault. He wasn't even in there. Hydra did this to him." Tony said. You were glad he felt that way, although he might not in a

"Tony, there's something I have to tell you." Tony turned to you and raised an eyebrow. You took a deep breath before you spoke. "Your parent's death wasn't an accident." Tony's mouth dropped open and he just stared at you. "You mean…did he…it was him, wasn't it."

You looked down and nodded, a tear falling down your face. "I'm so sorry Tony. Howard had more serum that he was transporting, and Hydra had the Winter Soldier intercept it, take it and kill them." Tony stood; hands clenched at his sides. "Why didn't you tell me?" He whispered.

"I didn't know how. I didn't know when to bring it up. I wanted you to see what they did to him and make you understand that Bucky would never have done this. He didn't have a choice. I know that doesn't make up for it, I know that it doesn't make it okay." You told him. You shared a glance with Bruce who was still standing behind you.

"Show me." Tony said.

"What?" You and Bruce said in unison.

"There's a video, right? There's got to be. Show me." You nodded slowly, looking through the files to find the one that said December 16th. You clicked on it and watched the car go down the road, getting runoff by the motorcycle, and Bucky coming back, pulling Howard from the car, going around to kill Maria, then shooting out the camera. You looked to Tony and saw a tear fall down his face.

"Oh Tony." You whispered. You reached out to him and pulled him to you, wrapping your arms around his middle. He was stiff for a minute, before his arms circled around your shoulders. "I'm so sorry Tony. That wasn't Bucky. I promise you we will find every Hydra base and agent and kill them all. Together." You felt Tony nod and pull back, smiling down at you.

Tony went back to the lab with Bruce to let off some steam, and you decided to put all the videos and files that anything to do with the Russian words in a lock file, that only you had access to. If you needed to show these videos to anyone again, nobody needed to see or have access to them.

Steve came back shortly after with pizza and beer, because you were having movie night. "What do you wanna watch tonight Steve?" You asked.

"Something funny. We've had enough serious stuff for a while." You laughed, scrolling down the hundreds of movies Tony had on there.

"How about Elf? I know it's not Christmas, but it's hilarious." Steve nodded and you clicked play, settling into the arm of the couch with your legs over Steve's lap. This is always how you watched movies together, and it always annoyed Steve when you bounced your legs to the music.

You were both laughing so hard you were crying by the end of the movie, you had to take a few minutes to remember how to breathe. "I'm pretty sure I'm gonna call Tony a cotton-headed-ninny-muggins the next time he does something stupid. Oof I have to tell Clint that too, he'll think it's amazing." You told Steve. You and Clint were really a lot alike, and you couldn't wait to see him again so you could tell him all the funny jokes you know, because texting them just isn't the same.

You covered your mouth to stifle a yawn, but Steve had caught you. "Alright, come on, let's get you to bed." He said. You nodded and stood, kissing him on the cheek before heading into your room to brush your teeth, then going to sleep.

Bucky laid over you, holding himself up by his arms, breathing heavy. He had just made love to you, and it had been so sweet and so slow, because you both knew it was the last time for who knew how long.

You were leaving for the train tomorrow and you wanted to spend every last second with him. You ran your hands up his arms, up his neck, and rested them on each side of his face. He was so beautiful, and you wanted to remember every little detail about him.

"What are you doing doll?" He asked, leaning down and kissing your collarbone.

"Just trying to remember this moment, that's all." He stilled, sensing how your voice was trembling. He looked back at you and frowned, seeing the tears well up in your eyes. "Hey, come on, don't do that, I'm gonna be fine doll, remember?" He whispered, leaning down to kiss you softly.

"I know. I just…"

"Just what?"

"I…didn't expect to love you so much." You whispered. He smiled down at you. "I love you too doll." He told you, before crashing his lips down on yours. Round two was less slow and steady, and more frantic, gripping each other's skin wherever you could.

You came together for the second time that night, and Bucky rested his forehead on yours. "Promise me you'll find me. Promise you'll bring me back." He told you. You nodded, kissing him. "I promise Bucky, I promise."

You sat up quickly, breathing heavily. It had been a dream. You wiped at your face and realized you'd been crying in your sleep. Glancing over at the clock, you noticed it was two thirty in the morning. You groaned and laid back against the sheets, knowing you wouldn't get back to sleep soon.

"Jarvis?"

"Yes Miss Allison?"

"Is Steve asleep?"

"No ma'am Captain Rogers is awake and in his room." You grabbed your pillow and opened your door, quietly walking down the hall to Steve's room. You knocked softly and only waited a second or two before he opened it.

"Hey Ally, are you okay?" He asked. You shook your head and placed it on his chest, sighing heavily. He pulled you into his room and led you over to the bed, where you got under the covers. He sat down next to you against the headboard and picked his sketch pad back up. "Bad dream?" He asked softly.

"Not a bad dream per se, but I did dream about Bucky again. From the forties." You told him.

"I'm sorry." He said, looking down at you, getting a shrug in response.

"It's okay, what are you drawing?" You asked him. He tilted the pad towards you, and you saw a picture of a young Peggy Carter. You lifted your arm and placed it on Steve's giving him a sad smile. "It's beautiful Steve."

When you woke up the next morning you remembered you fell asleep in Steve's room. Ah, that's why it feels like there's a rock on my side. You looked down to see Steve's arm draped over your middle. You rolled your eyes. God, he's freaking heavy. But cuddly, and oh so warm.

You could never feel anything more than friendship from Steve, but he was a good person to cuddle with from time to time. You slowly tried to slide out of the bed, but Steve pulled you back towards him. "No, just five more minutes." He mumbled into your hair. You laughed and patted his hand.

"What are we, five?" You asked. You yelped when he tickled the spot near your hip.

"No. Six." He deadpanned, leaning up on one elbow to look at you. You rolled on your back and poked him in the chest.

"No fair, you know I hate being tickled."

"I know, that's why I do it." Your moth dropped opened and you tried to wiggle out of his grasp, but he held you still "Okay! Okay, I'm sorry. But seriously, five more minutes, pleeeeeeaasssseee?" He pouted. Well now you couldn't say no to a sad Captain America. You rolled your eyes and buried your face in his chest.

"Fine, five more minutes, you jerk."

You didn't have a whole lot to do today, you were gonna go to the art store to get a gift for Steve since his birthday was in a few weeks. You also wanted to go to the salon, because who the fuck knows the last time you had anything done. That was your first stop.

You ended up getting your hair trimmed, it had been getting long, and had them curl it for you. You also got a manicure and pedicure, Tony told you to go nuts when he handed you his credit card. The art store was amazing, you ended up getting Steve a new sketch pad, some pencils and one of those adult coloring books with swear words in it, you were sure it would make his face redder than his shield. You grabbed some Starbucks and took a detour back to the tower through the park. You opened your phone, deciding to send your joke of the day to Clint.

You: Yesterday I saw a guy spill all his scrabble letters on the road…. I asked him 'What's the word on the street'?

There was a few minutes before your phone buzzed, and you pulled it out, excited to see what Clint said.

Hawkey: Omfg. That's fucking amazing. I got one for you. What's always missing from Tony Stark's kitchen?

You paused. You really had no idea where he was going with this.

You: I don't know, what?

Hawkey: The Pepper Potts

You actually stopped because you were laughing so much. That one was pretty good you had to admit. You were getting ready to reply when you head a voice behind you.

"Ally?" You froze. You knew that voice. You slowly turned around to see who the voice belonged to.

"Bucky?"