Twelve days after the press release, James 'Bucky' Barnes was cleared of all charges. Soon after "Team Cap", as they had been dubbed by the public, were also pardoned. Stark Industries' B.A.R.F technology had been further developed and Barnes was to be woken from cryo. He, along with Team Cap, would be transported under the custody of the Wakandan King, who had revealed he had granted them asylum. Upon their arrival in New York, they were to be housed in the Avengers Facility.

"A gilded cage is still a cage." Clint protested, their pardons were a farce. They weren't allowed to leave the Facility for 6 months, they had until then to sign the Accords or they would be forced to retire and placed under another 18 months house arrest.

"It's a good behaviour period, be grateful we are allowed to return home at all." In all honesty, Scott had had enough of Clint. He hadn't stopped complaining since they'd landed in Wakanda.

"Stark was the one negotiating on our behalf, I'm surprised we aren't confined for life." Wanda scoffed.

"Stark got us pardons, we should be thankful for that." Scott frowned. Clint and Wanda weren't Stark's biggest fans and he could understand their frustration with him. But Stark had stuck his neck out for them all and they weren't the least bit grateful.

"I'm sure once we're there we can talk to them and sort out a better deal," Steve reassured the others.

—

Bucky hadn't spoken much since being woken. He was a little skeptical about whether Stark's tech would be able to cure him and even if it got rid of the HYDRA programming, he'd changed. He wasn't the same Bucky Steve remembered anymore. But then Steve wasn't the same either. The old Steve couldn't stand bullies. Now, he barely even defended Stark. Whilst they hadn't parted on friendly terms, through that was a bit of an understatement, the things Barton and Maximoff were spouting were out of line and Steve hardly protested.

While he didn't fully trust Stark, Bucky didn't think he deserved the vitriol the others were spitting about him. No matter his motivations, Stark was helping them, and didn't seem to be asking anything in return.

In order to avoid the media, their return flight was classified information. When they landed, they were greeted by two drivers who hadn't said anything other than to direct them into the cars. The drive to the facility was accompanied by a tense silence.

The drivers were obviously more than just drivers as they led the group into the facility and into the elevators. "The facility has been remodelled. You have all been assigned new rooms, your access codes remain the same and will allow you into your rooms, the gym and training areas, the mess and the common rooms. Any further access must be requested, just ask FRIDAY. She will pass the request on to the appropriate person."

They exited the elevator on the third floor and walked past a small common room and a kitchen, to their rooms. The doors had name plates beside them, designating each room's occupant. "Ask FRIDAY if you have any further queries." The two drivers returned to the elevators, leaving them in the corridor.

"What happened to our old rooms?" Steve frowned in confusion. They had the entire top three floors in the Tower and half a floor in the facility before they left.

"They said the facility was remodelled, perhaps that included our rooms." Sam gave a shrug, he had never stayed in a single place for long when he was in the Air Force and never had a connection to any one place.

"What the fuck?" They all turned to Clint who had just opened his room and was standing in the door way, looking ready to punch something. "Where is that bastard?" Or someone. "This is barely a room." The others keyed in their codes and pressed their thumbs against the scanners.

Pushing the doors open revealed a standard room with a double bed in the back right corner and a small desk and bookshelf in the left corner and a wardrobe against the right wall beside the bed. Steve could see no bathroom and looked up at the ceiling. "FRIDAY, where is the bathroom?"

"You will find the shared bathroom at the end of the corridor, Rogers." Steve didn't miss the dropping of his rank and her clipped tone. The last time she had seen him was when he was fighting Tony so he supposed her animosity was understandable.

"And where is Stark living then? I can bet he's not holed up in a cell like this." Clint growled from his room. When there was no reply forthcoming, he glared at the ceiling. "Hey, FRIDAY, I asked a question."

"I was unaware the question was directed at me. Boss continues to live in his old rooms. He does fund the Facility after all." FRIDAY had been told to answer their questions but she was not in a helpful mood and was pushing it to the limits of her programming.

"Right, of course, King Stark up in his palace while we are here rotting in the cells."

Bucky thought Barton was being a little dramatic its not like they needed any more space in the bedrooms and they had access to the common room and kitchen as well. They weren't even paying rent for any of this. If they were used to more, Stark must have been spoiling them. Honestly, Bucky thought Stark must be pretty generous if this is what he was providing after their fight.

He placed his backpack on the end of the bed and walked around the room slowly, inspecting the furniture. There was only one door leading to the hallway, a window that didn't open and an air vent in the ceiling. He knew would survive jumping out the window, they were only on the third floor. He was also fairly sure he could reach the ceiling vent and it looked large enough for him to fit through. Crawling through the vents would be difficult with one arm but he would manage it. Satisfied with his assessment, he began to unpack his things.

"I'll talk to Tony and get him to give us more suitable accommodation." Steve was attempting to reassure Barton once again. Bucky tuned them out as he arranged his few possessions. He vaguely registered Maximoff's voice and a slam of a door which was probably Lang.

—

"Boss, Sergeant Barnes has left his room." FRIDAY interrupted Tony's tinkering. He was upgrading the armour.

"Why are you telling me this Fri, he's allowed across that level." He continued his work, not looking up.

"Its 2am Boss."

"And he's allowed to leave his room." FRIDAY didn't respond and Tony lasted almost 3 minutes before asking "Baby, pull up the security feed of Barnes."

"I thought you said he was allowed to explore his floor." The smirk was almost audible in her tone.

"Don't sass me Fri, just give me the feed."

"Sure thing Boss." A small video feed appeared in the corner of one of Tony's holographic displays. Barnes had found his way to the common room and was poking around the cupboards and drawers. He didn't seem to be taking anything, just looking in every single drawer and opening each door, glancing in before shutting it again. Once he'd gone through everything, he sat down at the table and pulled out a small notebook. Tony could get FRIDAY to zoom in on it, but he felt that would be a bit too much of a breach of Barnes' privacy. If he was honest, watching the security feed could be considered a little creepy, but they all knew the common areas of the Facility were monitored.

It seemed Barnes wasn't doing anything else other than writing in his notebook so Tony went back to working on the armour.

When Tony next checked the feed, the notebook had been put away and Barnes was just sitting there staring blankly at the wall. Tony watched for a minute but he didn't seem to be moving at all, other than the blinking of his eyes.

At 4:47, Tony saw movement on the feed out the corner of his eye. Barnes got up and slowly walked back to his room.

"Well, that was anti-climactic." Tony thought out loud.

It happened the next night, and the night after. And the night after that too. Barnes would leave his room at around 2 and go back in at 4:30. All he did was sit at the table and write in his notebook.

Tony noticed on the third morning that at 5, Rogers would leave his room, use the bathroom and head to the gym. Barnes would go back to the kitchen and eat breakfast and return to his room before Rogers got back.

On the fifth morning, Tony realised Barnes only left his room of his own accord when Rogers was at the gym. If he didn't know any better, it seemed like Barnes was avoiding Rogers. Sure he'd leave his room when Rogers knocked but it seemed to take a fair amount of coaxing to get him out.

It was interesting. Tony was curious.

—

Bucky was getting a little frustrated with Steve. He hadn't left him alone since he'd been woken in Wakanda. He thought Steve would get better when he got home, but it was still just as bad.

The first night, when he couldn't sleep more than a couple of hours, he'd gone into the common area and checked everything out, cataloguing everything that could be a potential weapon. All their weapons had been confiscated and wouldn't be returned unless they signed the Accords. It seemed, they were still trusted with kitchen knives.

When he was done, he still didn't think he'd be able to sleep. He took out the journal the psychologist in Wakanda had given him. He was supposed to write down his thoughts. Things that happened during the day, things that were bothering him, a list of things he liked or didn't, memories that surfaced. He was a little skeptical but what could it hurt.

He wrote a few lines about the plane trip and their arrival in America but he didn't have much else so he put the book away and just sat there, enjoying the quiet. No complaining from Barton and Maximoff, no pestering from Steve to talk or spar. He didn't mind Wilson and Lang but it was nice to have no one bothering him. So he just sat there.

A quick glance at the clock told him he'd been in the kitchen for two and a half hours when he heard shuffling in the corridor. He heard the bathroom door shut and he stood up and slipped back into his room, careful not to make any noise. He didn't need someone coming into the kitchen and questioning what he was doing.

A few minutes later he heard a soft knock on his door. "Bucky?" Steve's voice filtered through. "You up? I'm going to the gym. Wanna come?"

Bucky stayed still and kept his breathing even. Hopefully, Steve would think he was asleep or at least take the hint that he didn't want to. He didn't hear anything further but he didn't hear any footsteps either.

He waited a little longer before whispering. "FRIDAY?" He hoped Stark's robot voice would be able to hear him.

There was a small pause before he got an answer. "Sergeant Barnes, how may I be of assistance?" The robot voice was a little muted but still loud enough to be audible through the door, especially to a super soldier. He hoped Steve had left.

"Do you know if Steve is still there?" He kept his voice low and hushed.

"Rogers has left for the gym." The voice seemed amused. "There's no need to whisper Sergeant Barnes, the rooms are completely sound proof."

"How did I hear Steve earlier then?"

"There is a small speaker that activates when the door is knocked." It seemed a lot kinder than it had earlier when it was answering Steve and Barton.

"Is there anything else I may assist you with Sergeant?" The voice asked when he didn't say anything.

"Uh no, thank you."

"You are welcome Sergeant Barnes." If it had a face, Bucky imagined it would be smiling, for a robot, it was very expressive.

After pretending to be asleep the first two mornings, Steve stopped knocking at 5 and wouldn't try until after he got back a couple of hours later.

As much as he was grateful Steve had helped him, he was also getting sick of Steve constantly dragging him around everywhere, not that they had anywhere to go. But Steve would pester him to come and sit with him while he drew or join him in the common room or eat meals together or go to the gym.

The voice didn't seem to like Steve much. So if it had been helping him avoid Steve, Bucky wasn't going to complain.

—

Sometimes Bucky woke because of the nightmares. Some nights he'd wake up thrashing, pulling at restraints that weren't there, others he'd jolt awake in a sweat, not really sure what it had been exactly. The worst though were the ones where he would watch himself carry out missions and couldn't do a single thing to stop himself. He'd meant it when he'd told Stark he remembered all of them.

The nightmares had started soon after he broke the conditioning. But they'd been fuzzy, he often woke up shaking and upset but with no real memory of the dream. They'd gotten clearer and more frequent until he barely ever got through a night.

It seemed the super soldier serum made up for the lack of sleep though. No matter how emotionally exhausted he felt, physically, he was pretty sure he could run a marathon and be perfectly fine to do it again.

Most nights he managed a couple hours of sleep before he woke, but it seemed that was enough for the super soldier serum to work with. No matter how emotionally exhausted he felt, physically, he was pretty sure he could run a marathon and be perfectly fine to do it again.

The psychologist in Wakanda had recommended he see a one in the US, and if not at least a therapist. The facility had two psychs working in the med bay and a team of therapists on rotation 24 hours. But Bucky hadn't quite worked up the courage to go down there.

The psych in Wakanda had been assigned to conduct an evaluation before he entered cryo as a baseline and before his departure had offered some general advice. He likely wouldn't have seen anyone otherwise.

He had to admit, the notebook had been helpful in sorting out his thoughts and he'd been speaking to FRIDAY, who had been very helpful in providing information on mental health and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

During the war, they'd called it shell shock, though that was a little outdated and the doctors had often diagnosed it as combat stress fatigue. But no one spoke about it.

The voice, or rather FRIDAY, had informed him that many often still avoided the topic but there were people and groups out there who were working to destigmatise it. She'd given him resources for support groups for veterans and prisoners of war as well as phone numbers and websites to helplines and online councillors. They were all written on a page in his notebook but he hadn't tried any of them.

How would the even help, sure they were probably qualified and experienced, but had they ever been trained to deal with a brainwashed assassin who'd spent 70 years been frozen, defrosted, used and frozen again?

Maybe Stark's treatment would fix him. It had been tailored to erase his triggers but from what he'd understood, the B.A.R.F technology had originally created to aid the user in overcoming traumatic experiences. Until then, well he wasn't alright, but he was dealing with it.