Bucky couldn't pinpoint the moment he first noticed Steve slowing down. The day started much the same as any other day but as time went on, he became less and less responsive. He hesitated when Bucky prompted him with questions. Even though they could have worked for hours without stopping, Bucky opted for mid-morning rest. A few straggling children on a break from their lessons were by the goat pen, their laugher breaking the quiet.
Steve stationed himself in front of the hut while Bucky busied himself with braiding a leather strap. He looked up from his work from time to time, looking for some signs of life but his friend remained motionless. Bucky knew about Stark and his suit problems which would be a worry, but that wouldn't slow him down like this.
"Steve, are you ok?" A blank face turned to him. Bucky left his work to kneel beside him, giving him a hard shake but he didn't respond. The lack of recognition raised Bucky's concerns.
"You!" he called out to the children in their own language. "Find my friend, the one who flies, tell him to come here!" He never spoke to them in that tone of voice so he forgave their shock but he needed their help. "GO!" he said, sounding as commanding as he possible, in English. They ran away, some back village, others opting to take Bucky's message up the hill.
Time slowed down to a crawl. Steve muttered a few words and fixed his gaze across the lake but that wasn't what he was seeing. An eternity passed before Sam showed up, with the children. The situation excited them, their words a mixture of Wakandan and English. Bucky tried to force Steve to focus but nothing happened. Steve spoke, but his answers slow and confused. Bucky shooed the children back to their homes.
"How long?" Sam asked. He knelt down beside Bucky, giving their mutual friend a visual inspection.
"All morning," Bucky replied.
"What's caused this?" Sam asked, giving him a gentle shake. "Steve, can you hear me? Steve? This is Sam."
"Sam, you're alive! I found you again! You came back!" Steve broke into a smile. "We lost you…"
"I'm right Steve. I've always been here," he said, his reassuring tone the result his time as a medic. "Has he hit his head or something?" He directed his question to Bucky while tilting Steve's head back, looking into his eyes and running his hands over his head, looking for injuries.
"I didn't notice anything but then Steve's the type to..."
"Shake it off. The way he looks, the way he's acting like,…" he seemed hesitant to say his suspicions out loud.
"The battle affected him," Bucky finished.
"Why now? Is this some kind of delayed reaction because he's a super soldier?"
Bucky pulled himself upright and paced around his homesite as he considered their next move. He hated making decisions that affected other people who couldn't give their consent because he hated it when it happened to him. He couldn't escape the inevitable, hoping Steve would forgive him.
"I need to tell you something, something that'll sound impossible, but it's the truth. I wanted to tell you right away but Steve wanted to wait, he thought you should focus on the mission," he said.
"Tell me what?"
"We've got to get him to Shuri. I'll tell you on the way." Bucky stood up and in one easy motion hoisted Steve up and draping him across both his shoulders, in a fireman's carry. Steve did not protest. He seemed to be almost asleep.
"Let's go," Bucky said and started toward the complex. Sam fell in step beside him. "You suspected something off about some of our friends," he continued without breaking his stride. "You have no idea…"
The sight of Steve being carried by Bucky in the company of Sam did not go unnoticed or perhaps the word was spread by the excited children. By the time the complex came into view, personnel with an anti-gravity stretcher came out to meet them, relieving Bucky of his burden and asking about his condition. No one tried to stop the pair as they followed them up the hill and into a medical facility. They stayed outside in the hallway while the medical personnel set up their scans, staring through the large glass window into the room. Shuri found them and asked the unanswerable questions.
One by one, Romanoff, Stark, Rhodes, and Banner, each arriving alone, each asking the same questions and getting the same non-answers from Bucky. Sam stayed silent, leaning against the wall, his arms crossed in front of him. They spoke in generic terms, Bucky wondered if it was some kind of code.
Sam broke his silence. "He's suffering from that after battleitis that hit all those other people," he said. "Why he's getting hit now" The rest of the team exchanged worried looks but didn't speak. Stark started to pace and Doctor Banner hit the wall which caused all of them to jump. Natasha started chewing on her lower lip. They wanted to talk but couldn't. This had reached the point of absurdity. Bucky made a command decision to put everyone out of their misery.
"Steve told me everything," Bucky said. Every one of them turned to look at him, their worry replaced by surprise. "Everything. Who you are, what you did…."
"Damn," Stark said. "Why the hell… I should have known the honorable Steve Rogers can't keep his mouth shut…"
"Don't blame Steve. Sam and I both suspected something was off about you and for the record, I asked him outright. He volunteered nothing," Bucky said.
Romanoff continued to bite her lip. " You're close, you would notice something and Steve being Steve…"
"We meant no harm," Rhodey said. "Seemed like a good idea." The hard cold Colonel Rhodes disappeared in that instant.
"A good idea?" Sam asked. "A good idea? You can't just walk into people's lives, and play god with us… not telling us…?" He uncrossed his arms, taking a step forward. "This little charade supposed to keep going indefinitely? Going to tell us anytime soon?"
"Hey, we lost you in our world!" Tony snapped stepping forward on his own to meet him. The controlled Tony Stark dissolved right before them, the change more abrupt than Colonel Rhodes. The other guy, the intruder stood before them. "I stood helpless while a kid, a kid blew away in front of me… and I got the chance to take him home! If you could grab at the chance redo the most tragic things that ever happened to you, wouldn't you take it?"
"For Sam, this just happened. He just lost our Steve. Give him time." Bucky said, stepping up to them. Sam gave Stark a withering glare before turning away. "And something else for the record, Sam is taking it a lot better than I did. I seem to remember breaking things."
"I KNEW this would happen," Banner said. "Once again. I let you talk me into…" The confident college professor was gone. His lips turned downward and his eyes squinted as if he was trying to hold back tears.
"Well, you didn't have to come!" Stark snapped again.
"It wouldn't work if we all didn't agree," Banner said. "You didn't give me a choice."
"Maybe, we would do the same thing, but it's over, we have to… move forward I guess," Bucky said. He kept his volume down on purpose.
"You're quite the peacemaker over here, aren't you?" Romanoff asked, her gentle tone surprising Bucky. No more cold Ice Princess. Her question caught Bucky off guard.
"Not like the other guy?" he asked.
"They took him before we got to know him… but Steve trusted him, and so did we, even if he…"
"Tried to kill us all on various occasions," Tony said, still rattled.
"TONY!" Bruce snapped. "He had no choice…"
"HE is not here," Natasha said holding up her hands in mock surrender. "I'm sorry I said anything. Steve is out of commission and the suit not working, what does his mean for the mission?"
"A mission we can't complete, considering the resistance agreed to work with us on the condition that all the team shows up, which includes Iron Man, and Captain Rogers," Tony Stark said.
"Leave the suit to us," Banner said. "It'll mean being up all night, but we'll get the job done." The Doctor Banner Bucky remembered flashed back in that instant.
"Which leaves Steve…" Natasha said. Walking over to the window she spent a few minutes looking at the sleeping man before turning on her heel to stare at Bucky. "The answer is right in front of us," she said.
Bucky returned her gaze, confused. "What are you saying?"
"Of course !" Rhodey snapped his fingers. "The helmet, the suit, why not?!"
"And use the weave, for good measure!" Tony said. "It's possible."
Their words didn't sink in. Their speed of agreeing after snapping at each other amazed Bucky. Did they always work that way?
"What are you guys saying?" Sam asked. "Are you saying dress Bucky up here as Cap and let him…? Do I have to remind you that just a few days ago you were telling him to stay home...?"
Bucky swallowed hard. All of their eyes were on him, expecting his input. "What's the plan?" The question was a weak attempt to delay a decision.
"Sam and I will take out the sensors on the perimeters," Tony Stark said. "They've surrounded the place with heavy armaments, which Vision, Wanda and I will take out, then Sam and I will fly overhead, do the same with the sensors on the inner facility. Some armed guards on the inside, they shouldn't prove too much of a challenge to Cap and Romanoff… or you. Bruce will stay back at the jet, we'll only use him if needed."
"The resistance fighters will be with us. Each time we open a new level, they're planning on pouring in. We should open the way to big guys, and at that point, the resistance fighters will take over," Romanoff added.
"Steve and I, our fighting styles are different, and I'm still getting used to working with a team. The other times, Steve and I…" Bucky began.
"You gotta grow up sometime. Spread your wings," Sam said, his tone almost joking.
"You can't possible…. this will never work!" Bucky said. Shuri opened the door before Sam answered. The group went silent as if being caught misbehaving by a teacher.
"The good news is we can find nothing wrong with Captain Rogers," she said. "but he seems to have fallen victim to the same disorientation that affected so many. Given time, this should pass with no lasting effects."
"Why did this happen now?" Banner asked.
"Perhaps the delay resulted from the enhancements done to Captain Rogers?" She offered. "All we can do at this point is assure you they will monitor him and we'll inform you of any change. Our investigation is ongoing."
"Thank you," Bruce Banner turning back to the group after she left them. "Is this the coming attraction for the rest of us? Are we going to zone out in the middle of everything?"
"I've noticed small things, about all of us," Natasha said. "I thought it was my imagination but..."
"Small things like what?" Tony Stark demanded.
"I touched your new suit, and it gave me memory, a real memory of seeing it fly above me and relief at you showing up. And Bruce, he seems a lot more content here. Rhodey, you said you're acting like Colonel Rhodes while you're getting work done on these treaties, Tony, you're most controlled, more, willing to think things through over here. Steve, for whatever reason, got triggered first. It might be because of his proximity to Sam and Bucky.…."
Bucky considered the long nights, talking to Steve, holding him. Damn it. Did I do this?
"The wound in the fabric of space is healing. The gap is closing," Bruce said. "We're changing along with everything else. We're becoming something new."
"For the record, I don't want to turn into that other guy!" Colonel Rhodes seemed disgusted at the idea.
"We'll become a mixture of us, and them," Bruce said. "What she's saying makes sense."
"We can debate about the properties of space and time later, and who we might turn into, but there is this mission to complete," Tony Stark said. "Are you with us or not? Oh, Vision and Wanda… remember them? Should we tell them about our little secret…?"
"You should!" Bucky said, Sam, nodding in agreement. "But after the mission. We need to time…"
"Don't take too long to decide. Time is our enemy. We have two deadlines. We have to get to the bad guys before they form a cohesive unit again and we don't know how long we will be in our right minds," Tony said. "If this doesn't work, we'll need a Plan B.."
"Can you give me some time with Steve," Bucky asked. "An hour? You'll have my decision in an hour."
"We'll get that suit up and working." Bruce Banner ran out the door. Tony waited a moment, giving Bucky a long hard look before following his friend.
Natasha turned to him "I'll program a holo weave for you, even if you don't go this time, and Steve's uniform is in the Quinjet, everything should fit," she said, following the other out the door.
Rhodey was the last to leave "This team took quite a chance with you, trusting Steve's judgment. You'll do the right thing,"
"The right thing," Bucky repeated as he watched the man follow his friends, leaving Bucky alone with Sam.
"You're hesitating? You? Do you need an excuse to go? Normally…" Sam said.
"This isn't normal."
"Of course it's not normal. Thing is, we need you, but whatever you decide, I'm with you."
Bucky didn't answer, just nodded his agreement. Sam returned the nod and took his time as he exited the hallway, leaving Bucky alone. He made his way through an adjoining hallway and doors marked no admittance until he was alone with Steve. There was no sound except for the whirl and beeps of the monitors.
"They've asked me to be you," he said. "Put on your uniform, take up your shield." He sat down and took Steve's hand and squeezed and felt a response. "I'm going to be Captain America, for a little while, and I hope you don't mind. I'll try to not get too attached to the shield, I'll give it back when I'm through. I hope it's the right thing and I don't mess up."
Steve's glazed eyes focused on him for a moment. "Go ahead, Buck," he said. "I'm with you, till the end of the line." His eyes glazed over again as he retreated into his private world.
The words felt familiar, like a memory from childhood. A sign Steve agreed with the decision. He kissed him on the forehead he walked back the way he came, deciding he would talk to Sam first and then formed in his mind what he would say to Tony, Natasha, Bruce, and Rhodey. He stopped short right before opening the door and realized without prompting, how easily he used their first names.