Bucky sat beside Steve in the co-pilot's seat doing his best to stay calm. He couldn't remember the last time he had taken a trip simply for the sake of taking a trip. Missions were different. Missions had a focus, an end game and while this expedition might be needed, it could hardly be called a mission. Steve joked about making it a working vacation. Going back through his long life, he couldn't honestly remember ever having gone on one before. Did going on leave when they were in the Army count?
Sam responded to their message but he was with Thula and her team, in the far reaches of the distant mountains. He offered to come back, but in the end, they decided what he was doing was important and there was no real emergency. Bruce said he didn't want to leave the research at this delicate stage and whatever Steve decided was ok with him. Something else seemed to be bothering him, but he didn't want to talk about it so they didn't push it. Bucky thought it odd that he didn't seem to express any more concern for Natasha, but maybe that was just his way of dealing with things.
They traveled in silence for about a half an hour. Bucky got up and wandered around the jet, walking by the firearms and Steve's Shield, still hanging up the weapon's locker. Memories of all his missions with the team were resurrected, along with the last one, the one where he took Steve's place.
"I hope we don't need them," Steve said. He flipped the switches that put the plane on autopilot and came back to join him. They didn't worry about him leaving the controls because the plane's back up systems had back up systems. He reached his arms around Bucky's waist, gently turning him around, and kissed him.
Bucky responded but pulled back so he could look him in the eyes. "Really?"
Steve laughed. " I might as well take advantage of us being alone in broad daylight and several thousand feet in the air with no one around to ask questions and nothing to distract you." He kissed him again, harder, pushing him gently against the wall of the plane. Bucky lost his balance and felt himself falling backward, into one of the seats, Steve falling with him. They broke apart laughing. After disentangling themselves, Steve took a seat beside him.
"That was fun," he said. "I was starting to think the honeymoon was over."
"I know, it's all me acting weird, about us," Bucky said, taking took a deep breath. The opposite side of the plane became a lot more interesting. "I know I'm the same person I was before I found out I'm not like everybody else…"
"And I shouldn't push it. Let you take your time." Somewhere a monitor beeped and the plane shook a little bit. "I better go see what that's about. Maybe we can do our own version of the mile high club on the way home."
What the hell was the mile high club?
What it was about was bad weather. Steve took control, flying above it and keeping out of its way until they landed at the Avengers Compound during the early evening hours. As they exited the plane, Ms. Potts was waiting by the runway. Steve went forward to greet her, but Bucky held back staying close to the plane thinking he might need to run back into for shelter. It was all too familiar. Intrusive memories of the last time he was here started to surface.
"I'm glad you've come. Mr. Stark told me everything, even warned me that this might happen. He insisted on staying here through it all, but he told me it should only last for about two days," she said. 'It's been nearly three weeks."
Steve said nothing for a moment, standing still with his arms crossed. "What did you think...about what he told you?" he asked.
"I admit I didn't believe him at first, but as time went on, it became evident this was not the Tony Stark I knew, and Agent...Natasha and Colonel Rhodes backed up his story. I can't tell you exactly when the turning point was, but after a lot of soul-searching, and after everything that's happened, I decided he was telling the truth….how about you?" She directed her question to Bucky who had been standing quietly in the background. The fact that she acknowledged him surprised him.
"I was angry. Yelled at him, broke things, but like you, there was a moment, when everything came together and I believed him." Bucky said. He wasn't used to interacting with her. She was one of the background characters in his life, darting in and out when she needed to relay important messages to Mr. Stark. To Tony.
"Yes," she said. Staring past him into nothingness. She shook her head, bringing herself back to the present." You will want to see him." She led them upstairs through the compound to a room that had been fitted up like a hospital room. It was familiar. Monitors, beeping sounds, IV 's and Tony, on the bed, but instead of appearing to be sleeping peacefully he was jerking about, his eyes closed tightly as if in pain.
"You didn't act like that," Bucky said.
"The doctors we have here can't find a cause. He's not even in a proper coma, just a deep sleep. They can't wake him up…"
"What's happening is he is blending with the new reality. When he wakes up, he'll be a new Tony," Steve said. "I know it's a lot to take in, but please trust me, this thing we created is a lot better than what we left behind."
Ms. Potts stared long and hard at him. "That's what he told me. I could be angry if I let myself think about it, but the damage you caused to the Consortiums speaks for itself. We tried for so long to bring them down, and now their powers have been greatly weakened. I must thank you, Captain Rogers. That convinced me that you had no ill will toward us."
"What about Peter?" Steve asked.
"He was here most of the day, and as it was getting late, I had to send him home. He said something about seeing Doctor Strange."
"Natasha tried to get in touch with him, but he's out of contact."
"Peter will be back tomorrow. I can hardly keep him away. Mr. Stark...Tony...was a mentor to him. You are welcome to spend the night here, Your old quarters are ready. Bucky, I understand if this might be difficult for you, being back considering what happened when you were here last..."
Steve turned to give Bucky a quizzical look.
"The bomb," Ms. Potts said, her voice gentle. "It tore apart the conference room. Bucky was the only one hurt, and fortunately or unfortunately, all the damage it did was to his prosthesis. As soon as he was stable, he disappeared. We got word a few days later from T'Challa that the was safe in Wakanda. It's been redone but I can take you by the back way…"
"No, that's ok. I'd like to...see it if you don't mind." Bucky said. He didn't want to, but it was best to face this and get it out of the way. He couldn't avoid it forever.
"If you're sure," Ms. Potts led them through the familiar hallways, past the offices until the came to the conference room. "I'll leave you here," she said, making her withdrawal.
Bucky walked in and sat down, stretching his arms out on the table so he could feel the smooth wood beneath his hands. He ran his fingers of his real hand along the edges, "No one knows how they got past the security measures, but they must have had a spy on the inside. That day, we had just finished and I was the only one still sitting here, everyone else had gotten up. Good thing too, or they would have been killed. I don't know if they wanted to finish me then, or just get me back. The noise, the wall caving in, the windows breaking, my arm getting ripped off in the blast, the pain...I remember it all. It was the second time it had happened, the first time almost took out T'Challa. I realized that just my being here, my very existence had almost gotten everyone, including Steve, killed and I had to get away. I was angry at him, but I still cared. I couldn't let him get caught in a crossfire meant for me."
Steve sat down beside him, giving the room a good look around. Without a word, he reached out and laid his hand across the back of Bucky's metal one."You going to be ok?" He asked.
"Yeah, I guess so. Are you? I mean, this probably strange to you, coming back to this place…"
"It looks pretty much the same as I remember it, some differences. The decorations on the wall are different, and the coffee maker was over there. That window is a little bigger. This is where we finally decided to ...do what we did. I had a lot of self-doubts when we first came here, worrying if it would even work, what the fall out would be, but not anymore. This was the right thing to do."
"I'm glad you came," Bucky said. He didn't look at Steve. All he could see was the room exploding and falling into ruin but the feel of Steve's hand made it a lot less traumatic than it could have been.
They left, making their way through the halls to the wing of the building that served as their temporary quarters before and after missions. It was strange because the place was once so full of life was empty. Everyone was scattered around the globe. Their footsteps echoed through the empty halls, reminding Bucky of what he had left behind for Wakanda and what Steve left behind by crossing over. He didn't want to move back here permanently, but he did miss what they had before it all went wrong.
"So my room or yours?" Steve asked, with a smile.
"How about mine tonight, your's tomorrow," Bucky said. After they were settled they both stayed lost in their own thoughts for a long time, saying nothing before Bucky reached for Steve, in need of comfort. Steve instinctively seemed to know what he needed, wrapping his arm around him and pulling him close.
"The hours I used to look up at that ceiling and think about Steve, about how to fix him, how to get him back, sometimes I thought it was impossible…"
"Even when you were mad at him, you were still concerned about him…" Steve said. "You never gave up."
"Neither did you," Bucky replied, moving closer to him. It had been a long day and they soon fell asleep.