-Morning Bliss? -

James woke sometime later feeling sated and finally for once in a long-time content. The man in his arms snored something awful but it was a welcomed noise, almost comforting really.

His head is still filled with pleasant memories of the Sokovian screaming his name long into the night. He was quite sure I wouldn't be able to get up today, so he figured it was his turn to try and take care of him.

He made his way down into the kitchen and took stock of what was available. James was a shit cook; it was something he did not mind at all admitting. He had never ever gotten a chance to practice. From going right off to war and eating MRE's and rations, through his entire military career and the slop Hydra had fed him to keep him alive and then being on the run hiding from the world and then Steve, Sam and the avengers looking after him. Whenever he did have an opportunity to cook… well he just didn't and rather would just order in take out of some kind. But he sorely didn't have that option now and after the brutal session they had, had last night, Zemo certainly wasn't in any condition to do anything today let alone try and come down and cook for him again.

Before he had left the bed, he had caught glimpse at the naked man's form as he had pealed away from him. The Baron's chest alone was marred with bite marks, broken skin, bruises and more. He had never used the stop light system he had himself put in place and Bucky hadn't really been in the mind frame to stop and ask if he had been, over and over like the Baron had him.

He found eggs on the counter and bacon in the fridge. He had seen the Baron make this for him the first day… surely, he couldn't fuck up eggs he thought.

And he could not have been more wrong. He broke shell into the eggs twice. Those attempts he still cooked and ate himself; it was only just extra protein… and he figured he had eaten worse things over his time running. All the while he cooked the bacon to a crisp. And then trying to cook the eggs for Zemo again, he broke all the yokes. They stuck to the pan so badly they end up scrambled by the time they where on the plate.

It was an honest try at least.

As he entered the bedroom again, he found that Baron was sitting up in the bed, a book in his hands and a shirt pulled on.

"Ah mornin James"

He coughs the man before catching him off guard a bit

"Good, yes good morning Zemo…. I ahh, I made you some food"

And he set the plate in front of the Sokovian hesitantly. The man didn't say anything else, just took a fork full and fed himself silently. He stood there watching him. the faces he made while eating the crispy bacon was funny. But he continued to eat it without complaint.

"I'm sorry I know it wasn't good… I don't cook much if ever"

He takes the plate and places it on the chaise and sit on the corner of the bed.

"The effort was much appreciated, as would a bath now if you could possibly help me there?" he nods quickly getting up and gently pickup up the man before him and cradled him to his chest and then set him down gently at the edge of the stone tub.

He set to turning on the tub. Clicking the drain all the while the Baron beside him stiffly removed the shirt and pants he had somehow managed to get on. Once the water started to fill more, he lowered himself in all the while Bucky just sat there and stared at him, studying the man before him. now in the daylight he was seeing the full extent of what he had managed to inflict onto him as well as all the other scars previously there.

"You have so many scars…" he half reached to touch the scar on his shoulder but the man before him flinched away. "I'm so sorry Zemo"

The tense silence that followed seemed like it lasted more than the only mere seconds it actually had.

"No, it is I that should apologize to you. I pushed you and… you just let out everything you had bottled up. And I let you use me… and well I can not lie and say that in the moment I did not enjoy it. As I enjoyed it rather thoroughly." He lays back into the water and floats there as he had the other day. "I felt that I deserved the pain. Bit of a sadists to myself I admit." He closes his eyes and just lays there for several more minutes now silent.

Bucky can see he is fine here now by himself and leaves the bathroom. Find a dressing robe and towel and bring them back to the side of the tub before going back downstairs. He knows if the man should need him, he wouldn't hesitate to call for him… he hoped.

He found the technology and equipment in the main room all set up. Most of it turned off and stacks of paperwork scattered everywhere. He picked up the first file and sat on an old floral print couch that creaked under his weight. It was incredibly old Hydra file, as he flipped through it, he read every word carefully. It was all information… on him.

Of course.

Some of this stuff was stuff he had never wanted to see again. Mission reports, medical exam reports. A lot of the missions had sticky notes stuck to the pages with messy handwriting he could only guess was the Baron's.

One that stuck out to him was a mission report from august 30th 1968.

It had been a mission for the Soviet Union and Hydra. A part of the Invasion of Czechoslovakia. The hole mission had been an incredible success but what had come after had many unintended consequences and it had been months after the mission that had actually stuck out to him most as a memory and hadn't been in the files. He grabbed the file and flew up the stairs 4 steps at at time and into the bathroom and obviously startled the Baron as he sat up abruptly.

"What is it, James!?" he had a worried look on his face seeing the files he spread o the floor in front of the bath opening the file again to that mission report and then the corresponding medical exam notes.

"Zemo, you saw nothing interesting or relevant in this mission report, did you?"

"No James. Not at all, again why?"

"And this medical exam record from 3 months later, you saw no relation between the two?"

"NO James, now tell me what is going through your damn puzzle of a mind"

"Well, they are connected. The mission had gone well. The Soviet Union got what they wanted initially. But months later it resulted me being taken out of Cryo just to be brutally punished."

"Okay so they are connected. So, what does that have to do with now?"

"Well, the reason they took me out of Cryo to punish me was that they found out I had disobeyed orders and broken protocol for the first time in YEARS of them having the winter soldier." Zemo was silent now. Something of a bloom of realisation on his face. "The result was the Brezhnev Doctrine. This was a bad thing for Hydra. And the only reason this came into effect was me and not following my orders directly."

"What made you ignore your orders, James?"

"Some random lady actually. Now this part is a little fuzzier in all honesty as its mostly the soldiers' memories I remember. But she took me by surprise I think, said I looked like her dead son, and I think she screamed at me she loved me"

The look on the Barons face was of not of pure shock like he would have thought. But more it looked like he was connecting so many dots in a mental map.

"James. I have a crazy theory. You may not like it. But we NEED to find out how to activate you!"

Zemo was struggling to get out of the tub and try as he might to rush around the room.

"What are you talking about Zemo! Why would you EVER what to do that! ITS NOT HAPPENING!"

Zemo stopped suddenly and crossed the room to him and put a hand on his cheek.

"James, you have a safe word that snaps you out of being the winter soldier that Hydra didn't know about" and just as quickly as he had stopped, he began going again like a melee

A safe word? How could that be possible! Hydra would not have had a use for one. There was absolutely no way they would have managed to miss that he had one, or accidently added one without knowing it… would they have?

He stood there silently for a while trying to process what Zemo had just said to him but still could not wrap his head around it. So, he made his way back through the house and down into the room with all the files. Zemo was there typing away on the computer with several more files strewn about the table before him.

He peered over his shoulder to get a look at what he was typing, and there seemed to be a conversation going on with someone.

- We have had a break through of some kind .b

- We still have a few birds around, but please explain .s

- I think the wolf may have 2 sets of keys .b

- oh .s

"are you talking to Shuri in codes?"

"Yes James, they know you as the white wolf. And the birds she is talking about are US government agents that got sent to Wakanda as we made our escape."

Well, that made sense. Shuri must be being extremely cautious. Making sure if someone was watching her, that they wouldn't know exactly what they were talking about.

"So 2 sets of key words?"

"Yes James. I do not think who ever activated you used the ones from the red book. If Hydra didn't know you had a failsafe word, then maybe one of your other handlers had another set of activation words that they didn't tell hydra about"

"That's a far stretch, considering I remember being activated with those words. I remember enough to know that much"

"But you don't remember before or who said them"

"Well no…. but"

"No James. This is the only way it shakes out. It has to be"

Zemo sounded desperate, his voice certain but strained and forced.

"Why Zemo, why does it have to be only that"

A shuddering breath came from the man seated in front of him, his back still turned to him, not breaking focus with the papers he was still shuffling through.

"Because if it isn't this… then I'm lost, and I can't fix you." Another deep shuddering breath "And if I can't fix you, then no one can"

Another message comes into the screen view before Zemo closes it and Bucky only, just catches the quickest look before it gone.

- Going back to where it began .b