Steve and Bucky sat next to each other on the stone bench in the forest on the lake the day before Steve was going to return all of the infinity stones.

"I'm going back," Steve confessed as he looked out onto the lake, unable to look at Bucky to see his reaction, "and when I say that, I mean to the 1940s, to live out the normal life I never got a chance to have, permanetly."

"You're leaving?" Bucky asked, looking directly at him, "But the world needs Captain America now more than ever. Half of the population just reappeared out of thin air. It's going to be chaos for quite a while."

Steve said, "Well Captain America isn't going anywhere. I'm the one that's leaving, not the shield."

Bucky asked, "What do you mean? Are you passing mantle on to someone else?"

"Yeah," he answered, finally able to look Bucky in the eyes as he said, "I'm giving the shield to Sam."

"Oh," Bucky replied, trying to hide the pain in his voice, "can I know why?"

Steve said, "Yeah I have the perfect reasoning. He's a good man, and you're the perfect soldier. When I originally took the serum to be transformed into what I am now, I was told to always remain a good man and to not become the perfect soldier. It's a perfect parallel! Don't you think?"

Bucky struggled to put on a brave face to agree with him as he said, "You're right, I can see that logic. Does Sam know how to use the shield? Has he ever even touched it?"

"No," Steve answered as put his hand on his shoulder, "but I'm sure you can show him how."

"I'm don't know if he'll listen to me, Steve," Bucky said sadly, "he wouldn't even move his seat up for me when I asked him to."

Steve asked, "Seriously?"

"Yes," he replied.

"We'll I'm going back to the 1940's anyway," Steve said, "I think he'll be nicer to you once he sees that I'm officially retired."

Bucky asked, "Are you thinking of going back to 1945 to not long after you went into the ice?"

Steve answered, "Nah, I'm going to wait it out a few years, to around 1948 or so. That way I can let Peggy get her own development and maybe get over the initial shock of my disappearance."

"Peggy," Bucky said, "why does that name sound so familiar?"

"Peggy Carter," Steve replied, "you met her a couple of times. She was supposed to pick me up when I rescued you behind enemy lines but my radio broke. You remember her. She was with us in that pub with the Howling Commandos."

Bucky's eyes went wide and asked, "That woman in the red dress that didn't even notice me? Her? Are you serious, Steve?"

Steve smiled and said, "Yeah."

"I went to that museum you're in," Bucky explained in disbelief, "I saw that video where she explained how you rescued her husband from behind enemy lines. Did you hear that, Steve? I know you had to have gone in there at least once. She married someone else. She moved on! If you go back you'll ruin her life. She had children and grandchildren after you 'died.' What are you thinking?"

Steve replied, "Well I saw a picture of myself on her desk when I went back to 1970. I don't think she moved on as much as you might think."

"I can't believe this," Bucky said in shock, "it's like you're going against everything you've ever believed in and stood for just to...just to go back and get laid by a woman you barely knew when we were younger. That's not like you."

"She saw me when I was invisible, Buck," Steve replied, "I wouldn't expect you to understand."

Still not believing what he was hearing, Bucky tried to ignore that statement as he himself also noticed Steve when he was invisible but apparently that didn't matter. He said, "You're telling me there's no one in this time period that wants you at this very moment even looking the way you do. What about that woman you kissed in front of Sam and me?" He stared Steve down, practically demanding an answer.

Steve said, "You mean Sharon Carter. Yeah, she's hot and everything but it's been over 5 years since I've perused that relationship. I think it would be weird to try and rekindle something like that now."

Bucky stared at him in disbelief. He asked, "Do you even hear what you're saying? What year did you officially wake up from the ice?"

"2012," Steve replied.

"If it's 2023 now," Bucky explained, "then it's been 11 years since you've talked to this Peggy Carter woman, Steve. You seriously haven't moved on? Wait, both of these women have the same last name? That's a weird coincidence."

"Oh," Steve said, "no that's not a coincidence. They're related."

"What?!" Bucky demanded.

Steve explained, "Yeah, Sharon is Peggy's niece."

Bucky gave him a WTF look. "You didn't not just say that."

"It's the truth," Steve confessed.

Bucky scoffed at him and asked, "Do you not realize what's going to happen if you live out your life with her aunt? That incest!"

Steve looked around nervously to make sure no one was around. "You don't have to scream it so everyone can hear you," he said, "God. No. It's fine. She would be my niece by marriage after I marry Peggy. That's not weird."

Bucky moved away from him and said, "Don't sit so close to me. I need to know how this relationship started in the first place. Was Peggy still around and she introduced you to her family and then she said, 'this is my niece' and you were like, 'she's hot.' Is that what happened?"

"No," Steve explained, "I noticed Sharon was hot and we started getting closer and then I found out she worked with S.H.I.E.L.D. and then after Peggy died she confessed to being her niece at the funeral. She hid her relation from everyone, including me."

"Why?" Bucky asked, horrifed at the implications.

"She didn't want people to compare her to her aunt, Bucky," Steve replied, "that's not that strange."

Bucky said, "Steve, she had to have known about you. Everyone knows who you are. That means she willingly went into a relationship with the man she knew her aunt worked with and liked at one time." He was unable to look Steve in the eyes after that.

Steve confessed, "I honestly haven't thought much about it."

"What's going to happen if you do go back?" Bucky continued, "Is one of you still going to be in the ice? You said you're retiring as Captain America so are you just going to pretend to be some guy who just happens to look exactly like Steve Rogers? What if you run into this woman's husband or boyfriend alongside her in 1948?" Bucky stared at him.

"Then I'll deal with that stuff in the moment," Steve replied, turning back to face him.

"You can't seriously still be thinking of going back," Bucky said, still horrified at everything he just learned.

"Oh I'm still going," Steve said, "and you're the first person I've told about this, but thanks to your adverse reaction I'm not going to be telling anyone else about it now."

Bucky asked, "You're not going to let anyone say goodbye to you?"

"I'll only be gone for 5 seconds," he answered, "I'll come back to this very bench we're sitting on together as an old man. You'll see."

"I guess I can't stop you," Bucky said sadly, "but when you go back to 1948, you're obviously going to rescue me in that universe from Hydra, right?"

"Nah," Steve replied, "I think I'm going to let history play out exactly the same way so I can come back to this very moment in 2023 without causing any time space continuum problems."

Bucky's face fell and turned to horror. "Steve," he said seriously, "I was suffering."

Steve said, "No I know. I know you were." He patted him on the back.

"I don't think you do," Bucky explained hastily as he pushed him away, "when I say suffering I mean unending pain that lasted for days and weeks at a time for decades, Steve. This replacement arm I got after my natural one got torn off? I got it without any anesthesia! I was ripped open and pulled apart, literally. I was beaten and my whole personality and existence was wiped only to do their bidding and nothing else. I killed people that definitely didn't deserve to die the way they did. You have to rescue me!"

Steve shook his head and replied, "I don't think I can."

"Seriously?" Bucky asked, "You changed so much in 5 years."

"Yeah I have," he said as he put his hand on his shoulders, "for the better. This is perfect closure for my character arc."

Bucky shook his head and said, "I don't think so."

"So long Bucky," Steve said as he stood up, "I'm going back to 1948 to get laid."

Bucky put his head in his hands as Steve walked away from the bench. He whispered to himself, "I guess I really wasn't worth it after all."