"Where is the nearest metro station?" Bucky asked in Romanian.

"Two blocks down and to the left." she answered him easily, having mainly spoke the language with him for the past three months.

"And what time does it come?" he asked, switching to French rather smoothly. Her brow twitched for a moment, working through his question and pulling the language from a corner of her mind,

"It depends on the line you want to take." she responded in the same language. The corner of his mouth quirked up, which Q knew meant he was going to try and trick her.

"I'm going to be taking the blue line." he told her in what she thought was French again, but she paused before responding. The word for blue was similar sounding in both French and Italian. Her brain took a second to work through the rest of the sentence before settling on that he hadn't made the switch based on the a few other pronunciations.

"Then it comes every fifteen minutes." she responded confidently in French. Bucky grinned at her; she clearly got it correct and he continued,

"I guess I should leave soon then." he finished in a different language. But before she could open her mouth to respond, Dawson's annoyed groan filled in.

"Jesus, Latin?" he asked in English with raised eyebrows, "Nobody speaks that anymore - hence the whole dead language thing." he raised his hand up and waved it a bit. Q tried not to smile while Bucky just looked mildly confused.

"You know Latin?" he asked, switching back to English. Dawson gave him a very familiar duh look, having gotten over the whole "former Hydra assassin" thing a long time ago. Now he just treated Bucky like he treated almost everyone else: like an annoyance.

"Uh, yes. Basis of every program ever." he twirled the screwdriver in between his fingers, "But I don't go around speaking it like some idiot from the dark ages." he made a face and then gave a pointed look at Q, who rolled her eyes.

"We're just trying to figure out how many languages I know." she reminded him with a point to her head, "Apparently it's a lot."

"Apparently you can help a lot of tourists get to the train." he shot back, pulling down the corners of his mouth as he teased her a bit. She gave him an unamused look before crumpling up a piece of paper and tossing it at him. He batted it away easily and gave a triumph huff of a laugh. Bucky watched the two of them interact, being reminded of the friendship between him and Steve. Longing filled him for a moment, then quickly dissipated when a shock snaked down his metal arm, jolting him back to the present. He glanced down to see that Dawson had resumed his tinkering with the metal prosthetic - something that Q expected would happen at some point once Bucky became more comfortable around him; she knew how interested Dawson was in the technology behind Bucky's arm.

And it didn't seem like Bucky minded. She had heard him ask Dawson a few questions about the arm itself or the two of them getting into long winded discussions about it. Almost like he didn't know certain things about how the arm worked, like he had just treated it as an arm that was a little more enhanced than the other parts of him. It also amused her to learn about how much a science nerd Bucky was.

Over the last month, things had settled. With the help of Bucky, she had slowly been working through her Hydra trauma and learning what the side effects were. While Dawson had been able to help her in the beginning, being with someone who had much more firsthand experience under the restraints of Hydra was much more helpful. Bucky had been able to explain certain things or figured out other things that ended up making much more sense after he connected the dots.

And in a way, it had helped him begin to work through his trauma as well. Besides having little nerd conversations with Dawson, Q had given him the research she had done over the years in her search for him, letting him page through the documents and journal at his own pace. They had talks, not unlike the ones she had with Steve all those years before, both of them contributing to the conversation about Hydra. He was healing, slowly. They both were.

Of course, she wanted didn't want to just talk to him about Hydra and make him relive all the pain he went through. She didn't track him down just for that. She found him because she was interested in learning more about him as a person. The brother of the grandmother she thought she knew so well. Those were her favorite conversations - the times where he remembered stories about her grandmother or even Steve. And in return, she told him stories about her grandmother and Steve. It was a little weird to hear about the two people each of them knew during different times of their lives. But it was also nice.

"Do you still want to go to the farmer's market? I have that interview in a couple hours, so if you do, we should go now." she raised her eyebrows at Bucky, pulling his attention away from where Dawson was poking through the metal plates.

"I'd like to." he nodded, giving her a small smile in return. The farmer's market had become a weekly outing for the two of them. A chance for her to help him get better at being in public and interacting with strangers, re-teaching him that not everyone was a threat. It was only the two of them who ever went; Dawson always stayed at the AirBnB, working on some sort of vest thing that had a lot of flashing lights. Q didn't ask. She had enough going on.

Still, she looked forward to their trips to the market. Made her feel like she was truly building a relationship with him. And it gave her a bit of insight to the life he led in Romania, the relationships he had managed to build without even realizing it. Sometimes something would trigger a memory for him about her grandmother or even Steve, which was always nice to hear. Sometimes, she'd tell him a story about her grandmother as the woman she knew, which he enjoyed considering he never got the chance to see her really grow up and become the woman she did. As they walked through the stalls, it was like they were just two normal people, enjoying each other's company with no hints of shared trauma between them.

"Remember, focus on why you're here." he murmured to her as they got closer the market, having already noticed that Q was trying to take in everything at once, "Your instincts will kick in if you need them. You don't have to keep them at the forefront." he reminded her because even if progress had been made, she still struggled with becoming overwhelmed by it all at times. She nodded at his advice, running through the mental checklist she had created on the walk over: they needed cheese and bread, there was the local winemaker who had a new bottle for her, she wanted to stop at the vendor who was making a pair of butterfly earrings the previous week, Bucky needed plums because the fruit helped neutralize cell-damaging free radicals, and Dawson wanted strawberries because he liked the taste. Bread, cheese, wine, earrings, plums and strawberries.

Though whenever there was a loud noise, she got distracted. If someone moved too close to them while they were at a stall, she flinched. And Bucky couldn't help but notice. Usually, she was good at hiding it, but there were days. Her Bad Days, she called them, and he hated that she ever had any to begin with.

"What's next on the list?" he asked calmly, getting her attention. She glanced over at him, confused by his question and his demeanor. He wasn't the biggest fan of being out in crowded places either - even if he had gotten better at it over the months. Still, one of them had to be calm and it looked like it was going to be him that time, which was odd to say the least.

"I - I wanted to look at the earrings Elena was making last week." she pulled her checklist back to the front of her mind. Bucky nodded and gestured toward the table the woman usually sat at,

"Lead the way." he instructed, following her through the maze of tables and tents before they arrived at the jewelry vendor. The earrings were on display among other handmade items, the light shining off of the glass. She reached out and gently ran her finger over the edge of the earrings, feeling almost soothed by the delicateness of them. And while she really did want them, a part of her told her that she didn't deserve them, which made her draw her hand back and step away.

"Not what you expected?" Bucky asked, noticing her reaction. She shook her head and took in a breath before responding,

"Too good for me." she mumbled a bit. His eyebrows furrowed, unsure by what she meant. She noticed his expression and then sighed, picking under her fingernails, "I don't know...I don't think I deserve them." she admitted.

"Why not?"

"Because." she answered with a simple shrug, not wanting to get into it right then and there. Bucky fixed her with a look, one that told her he knew what she meant and also wasn't going to accept that as an answer,

"You have to stop punishing yourself." he told her, gaining an eyeroll from his grand-niece. Though he didn't specify what she needed to stop punishing herself for, it covered everything they had talked about previously; Hydra, Steve, her leaving him the way she did, the things she had done during her search for Bucky, the things she had done even before that before SHIELD and Steve, etc. etc. She may have made some bad choices but so had he.

"Real rich coming from you." she scoffed. Still, the look stayed, unflinching at the little dig at him.

"You're supposed to be better than me. That's the whole point." he reminded her with a slight gesture. That's what family and generations were supposed to be about - being better than those that came before.

"But I'm not." she shook her head, unconvinced. He sighed heavily, knowing she was just trying to have an excuse. Of course she was better than him. She hadn't spent the last seventy-five years under the control of a Nazi organization, doing whatever they told him to do. Killing innocents, losing himself, becoming a monster. She was just unlucky.

"Buy the damn earrings or I'll buy them for you." he gave her a small ultimatum. Her brows furrowed, not understanding her choices.

"Why?" she asked. His eyes flitted from her face to the earrings and then back to her, softening a bit when he saw Rebecca's - his sister's, eyes staring back him, curiously confused.

"Because when life gives you something nice, you have to take it. You have to." he told her, speaking from experience. There hadn't been many nice things life had given him over the past few years, but in the past few months, getting to know his grand-niece was certainly one of them. And he was happy he hadn't pushed her away like he wanted to at first. She paused for a moment, considering his words and then sighed,

"I would but I'm out of cash." she gained an eyeroll from him before he turned to Elena to discuss how much the earrings were. He handed over a few notes and then took the small box Elena handed him with a flirty smile that he didn't notice. Feeling Q's eyes on him, he slipped the box into his pocket and started to walk away from the booth.

"Wait, what-" Q asked, following after him.

"Admit you deserve them, and then you can have them." he glanced over his shoulder at her, waiting for her to fall into step beside him.

"What the fuck kind of logic is that?" she sputtered out, coming up on his side, but he switched to her right side - just like he used to do to Steve when they'd walk through the markets because of his bad ear. He didn't respond, just raised his eyebrows up at her and waiting for her to do as he told her.

"I...I deserve them." she responded hesitantly. He tilted his head to the side and clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth.

"You don't sound so sure of yourself." he told her, making her scoff.

"Well this a weird request!" she raised her shoulders up, not sure what kind of weird Karate Kid moment he was trying to have with her. Still, he didn't respond, just patiently waited for her to continue, "Fine." she stopped walking and crossed her arms over her chest, "I want the earrings, and I should have them. I deserve to have them." That made him smile, digging into his pocket to hand over the box with the earrings in them. She snatched them away from him, "Thank you." he grinned, sliding his now empty hand back into his pocket,

"Anything else you want or need?" he asked. She paused for a moment, refocusing on the tasks at hand. Running through her mental checklist, she let the rest of the world fade away for a moment before shaking her head.

"No. That's it." she told him and he nodded in response.

"Okay. Let's go back to my apartment then." he turned in the direction of his apartment, having had enough interaction with strangers for the day. Even with Q's help in getting him to stop being so paranoid, there was still only so much he could take. So much either of them could take. But she noticed how he didn't call it home. She wondered if there was any place he really considered home.

The apartment was much more quiet than the farmer's market, but for some reason it was just as overwhelming. Bucky seemed to notice and moved over to the coffee maker in the kitchen, letting the simple white noise be enough to calm her and let her refocus. She gave him a grateful smile, leaning her elbows on the island and watching him move around the kitchen.

"Is there a key to controlling it?" she asked curiously, noting that despite everything he had been through, he still was functional and able to act like a human even if he was having a day where he didn't feel as such. He shrugged, not really having an answer to her question; it was different for everyone.

"If I start losing control, I remind myself of who I am, where I am, what I'm doing. Like we did at the market." he answered simply, "Take a second and come back."

"That's it?" she asked, sounding doubtful at how easy it seemed to be. Again, he shrugged,

"Sometimes it works. Sometimes I need to really remove myself from the situation." he stressed, making it sound physical more than metal, "And sometimes I just need to distract myself." he gestured to the coffeemaker. She nodded, understanding what he meant, "Now, come on, help me figure out how to make this pasta." she snorted and then shook her head,

"Hard pass." she put her hands up, "I'm not allowed in kitchens. It's a safety hazard. I will burn down your shitty apartment." she sighed, putting her hands back onto the island counter, "And besides, you know how to make pasta." she told him and ignoring his offer. He made a face and shrugged,

"I forget. I tend to forget a lot of things." he gave her a pointed look and she rolled her eyes in response. While she liked that his sense of humor made an appearance every so often, she didn't like when he used it to his advantage. Pushing up from where she was leaning against the island, she moved around to the inside of the kitchen area, taking the pot from his hand and filling it with water before placing it on the stove.

Despite claiming he forgot how to cook pasta, he walked her through what to do. It had been a long time since he had taught anyone to do anything - and even longer since it had been something non-violent. While it had started out as a way for him to distract her from the chaos in her head, it became a distraction for him too - giving him something to focus on and the emotions that came with it. There was something soothing in watching her break apart the pasta and dump it into the boiling water. A weird sense of pride filled him when a noodle stuck to the wall after she took it out of the pot and threw it against the wall. The whole experience reminded him of days he would cook dinner with either his sister or Steve, working with each other through new recipes or teaching each other tricks to make it easier. Who knew something as simple as cooking pasta would make him feel so human?

Still riding the high of successfully making one pot of pasta, Q returned to the AirBnB with enough time so she could get ready for her Skype interview with the CIA offices in Berlin. She dug out one of the only button up shirts and blazers she had brought with her, changing her top half but keeping her leggings on since the camera would only see from her shoulders up. She tied her back in her usual half-up, half-down do that she wore her hair in almost every day at SHIELD. While her face looked much better than it had when she first escaped Hydra, she couldn't do her interview with a bare face. The bags under her eyes needed to be covered up the bags and her lips and cheeks needed a bit more color.

Usually makeup was her favorite part of her routine, finding solace in the motions and liking how she looked with it on, but while she painted her face, she found just how sensitive she was to the bristles of the brushes and how the heaviness of the coverup seemed to be suffocating her. Staring at herself in the mirror, she remembered Bucky's advice; remind and distract. She had the makeup on for an interview, an important interview so that she could be a contributing member of society again. And it was only for an hour at most, she could handle it.

Her eyes caught sight of the small white box that held the butterfly earrings Bucky had bought her at the market. There was a little warm fuzzy feeling inside of her at the thought that her butterfly hairpin had been her grandmother's and Bucky had also given her something butterfly themed. Another connection. She carefully took off the top, letting the light in the bathroom glint off the colored glass. Gingerly, like she was afraid they would shatter under her fingers, she plucked them out of the box and put them in her ears. It took a second to repoke through the holes in each of her ears and she winced in discomfort before the earrings finally went through.

Letting her hands fall to the counter of the sink, she studied her reflection for a bit, turning her head to each side to catch sight of the earrings. It had been a long time since she had worn any sort of jewelry, let alone earrings. The earrings plus the makeup made her look like herself, made her feel like herself again. Her reflection hadn't gone through any of the shit she had, was still really with Steve, had a stable job, was happy. She liked it. She wanted to be her reflection.

As far as interviews went, the Skype call with the Berlin office of the CIA had gone well. Even before Hydra had fucked with her head and enhanced her analyst abilities, Q had always been a good interviewer. All interviews were pretty much the same, all with different variations of the same questions. What mattered was the person asking those questions, and since Q was good at reading people, it was easy to figure out which direction to take. Understanding what they were looking for in a candidate and what the right was to answer the questions she was asked. If she should try and be funny, or stick to be serious. If she should be confident in her skills or a little hesitant and open to learning. Playing the game, and becoming the best candidate in the hour they had.

Of course, there were questions about her involvement with the takedown of SHIELD, which she answered just as she had during her Congress hearing. Then one final one about what she had been up to since her exit from Stark Industries. And while she didn't lie, she of course didn't flat out tell them what she had been doing. All they knew was that she had been traveling. Which was true.

The interview ended with a timeline of what would happen next: a background check, references, another round of interviews, a personality test, an in person test or trial run to see if she'd be a good fit for the agency and really did have the skills her resume said she did, then an offer or not. A long process but one she was willing to go through so she could finally start to move forward.

Almost like she had some sort of sixth sense (or maybe just knew the person who was interviewing Q), Sharon called her as soon as the interview was over. She answered on the third ring, shrugging out of her blazer as she did so,

"Hey," she smiled in her greeting, ready to dissect her interview with someone on the inside.

"How'd it go?" Sharon asked, clearly on the same page.

"As well as it could've given who I am and what I've done." she sighed, summing it up plainly because it was true. She felt confident in her interview, but there was still the matter of her background and the personal opinions the interviewer came into the interview with - if he realized it or not. Sharon snorted on the other end,

"Hey, they hired me." she pointed out, making Q laugh a little,

"Yeah, you weren't on SHIELD's most wanted list though." she reminded her friend. Sharon made a little noise of disagreement,

"Technically it was Hydra's." she pointed out. Q sighed and leaned back in her chair, putting her feet up on the small night table that housed her laptop for the interview - the perfect height so she wasn't looking down or up.

From there, the two women discussed Q's interview for a short while more, then the conversation progressed into what Sharon was up to in her life and what was going on in the world. Three months ago, when she found Bucky, Q hadn't realized she had so removed herself from the world. Her constant contact with Steve was enough for her, but apparently there was a lot she had missed. Like how Tony had opened a new Avengers compound in upstate New York, but then left the Avengers. Or how Thor and the Hulk hadn't been heard from since the Battle of Sokovia.

"...And then there's this whole Accords thing." Sharon sighed, sounding like she was sitting down somewhere, probably behind her desk.

"What Accords thing?" she repeated after, brow furrowing. Steve hadn't mentioned anything about any sort of accords - he hadn't mentioned anything about Thor or the Hulk either, but that was beside the point.

"After the Battle of Sokovia, the UN got together and created them. It's a set of documents designed to regulate the activities of enhanced individuals," Sharon started to explain before getting into more detail, "Specifically those who work for either government agencies such as SHIELD or for private organizations such as the Avengers." she sounded like she was quoting something that had been told to her.

"Like Steve." Q realized, a sense of dread settling over her, "Do they know about the documents? The Avengers?" she clarified.

"Not yet." she answered, the sound of her clicking pen coming over the line. She was nervous, "The UN is still waiting for a few more countries to join in ratifying them."

"How many have already?" she asked a follow up question.

"A hundred, at least." Q blew out a slow breath, letting her feet drop from the table and sitting up a bit more, "This isn't a bad thing, Q. Ever since SHIELD fell...the Avengers aren't being held accountable. And I know they're doing good things and all, but also they're kinda...just doing whatever they want." She was right, Q knew this, and she couldn't help but agree that there needed to be some sort of supervision when it came to dealing with people like the Avengers. But she also knew that Steve was not going to like it. It would prevent him from doing the thing he loved doing the most: the right thing.

After thinking about her conversation with Sharon for a few days, Q came to the conclusion that it was time for her to go back to New York. She wasn't sure when the United Nations was going to drop the Accords in the Avengers' laps, but she knew she had to be there when it happened. Just for Steve. So he knew she was supporting him. Getting back into her life. Moving forward.

"You could come with us, you know." she told Bucky as they were saying goodbye. He paused for a moment, turning over the offer in his head and then shaking his head.

"I don't think that's a good idea." he responded, glancing at the floor and avoiding eye contact with her, "No one needs to know me." he continued. Q knew he meant Steve and her heart dropped a bit. Even after all this time he had spent healing and getting his memories and himself back again, he still didn't want Steve to know this version of him. She could understand that.

"We know you." she pointed out, also grouping in Dawson. He pulled his gaze from the floor to hers and gave her a small smile,

"I think that's enough for now." he told her firmly. She hesitated but then nodded in agreement, letting him have his way. Maybe this wasn't home for him, but it was a place where he could continue to heal from his trauma. And he was glad that Q had found him; it had helped him more than he could've ever thought. One day, he would be more sure of himself to go back to New York. To see Steve again. And maybe be forgiven for his sins.

Acting on instinct, she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Bucky in a hug. He was surprised by it - not having this much contact with another human being in a long time, especially one so full of love and warmth. He hugged her back, careful with his metal arm, but relishing in the motion and committing it to memory for whenever there was a day where he forgot himself.

With a promise to keep in contact and another hug for the road, Q left Bucky's little apartment a bit nervous about leaving him on his own again. But before she could spiral and turn back, she reminded herself that he had managed on his own before she found him, and he was better than when she found him. It would be okay.

As she and Dawson made their way to the airport, Q's burner phone buzzed with an incoming text. Flipping it open, she saw Steve's name above the short text he had sent:

Can't wait to see you. Glad you're coming home.

A/N: I know it's not a Steve/Q reunion, but it's ALMOST a Steve/Q reunion! Please let me know your thoughts and what you think is going to happen.

And with only a few days before the two year anniversary, I just want to say thank you to everyone who's taken the time to read and review this story. It means a lot to me, really. Here's to two more years!