This is a fan made story. I don't own the rights to Captain America, any of its characters or any characters within the MCU… Much to my disappointment. This will have some violent content and possible triggers. Steve/Bucky Established Relationship. Constructive criticism is welcome but if you don't like it simply because you don't like the line of thinking, please don't attack me for it.

Chapter 2: Morning Minds

After they had eaten and while going over the game plan for the first base they would check, Wanda, Steve and Bucky went to the floor that was assigned to Steve. Bucky was laid down in the bed before Wanda hovered over him and placed her hands on his temples. Her hands glowed red and Bucky found himself sucked into his own mind. Wanda seemed to be there too. As memories flashed by going back further and further into Bucky's memories, he found his knowledge of what had been happening as the Winter Soldier was being pieced together.

Wanda was putting his mind back into order from the chaos it had become due to Hydra. When they stopped at the memory of Steve failing to rescue him on the train, Wanda started to move his memory progression forward again.

"What are you doing?" Bucky asked mentally.

"I am going through your memories to find the point where they implanted the first suggestions and removing the influence over you," Wanda responded calmly as Bucky found himself in the chair they used to erase his memory without the metal arm. "This is where it began. You must not fight this."

Bucky didn't understand what she was referring to until he felt a shock run through his mental body when the memory began running through a series of brain washing techniques used on him. He felt like his mind was being shredded for a few moments, while trying to obey Wanda and not fight what she was doing. After what seemed like an eternity he shot up from the bed he had been laying on before the pain in his head became too much and he blacked out.

"What happened? Is he ok?" Steve's voice was borderline panicked as he appraised Bucky whose breathing had evened out by this point.

"They had to reinforce a lot of the brain washing and mind control. He was very apt at breaking free from it. I need to sleep now," Wanda's voice waivered before she collapsed, Steve barely catching her in time.

He sighed, before collecting her properly in his arms and bringing her to one of the spare bedrooms on his floor and tucking her in, grateful that she was already wearing comfortable clothing. Once she was settled, he went back to his own room and carefully stripped Bucky down to his boxers, his body very heavy. He then slipped a pair of pj bottoms on him and changed for himself. Steve felt a sense of relief he hadn't felt for many decades as he climbed into his bed and was able to wrap his arms around the love of his life. A man he had loved for as long as he remembered.

Sleep came quickly, with more ease than since before Bucky had fallen from the train. In the morning, he woke to his spine being traced by feather light fingers. He smiled as he woke and looked directly into chocolate brown eyes. The expression on his counterpart's face was best described as bliss. Bucky opened his mouth to speak before closing it and opting to kiss Steve instead. In seconds, Steve was pinned beneath his lover and being kissed senseless and was completely blissed out.

"You… Know… I… Could… Get… Used… To… This…" Steve said breathlessly between kisses.

Bucky pulled away slightly to look at him intently, "If you are capable of speaking still, I am clearly not doing a good enough job." With that, he kissed Steve so passionately that it took them several minutes to realize that FRIDAY was attempting to gain their attention.

"…Excuse me, Gentlemen, but this really important. Mr. Stark did ask for you ten minutes ago," FRIDAY's speech seemed to make them realize how little attention they had been paying to their surroundings.

Bucky pulled away when Steve gently pushed him back. Steve then sat up, his right hand taking Bucky's metal left one to indicate not to go far, "Sorry, FRIDAY, what was that."

"Oh, good, you are actually listening. Mr. Stark asked me to inform everyone that it is time to eat before gearing up for your mission. Miss Romanoff requested that I emphasize the importance of a healthy meal before missions so that you are in peak condition for any potential combat."

"When did Nat request that?" Steve asked as he slipped of the bed, but not before giving Bucky a searing kiss.

"Approximately four minutes ago when the rest of Avengers assembled in the common dining room and you had failed to even respond yet," FRIDAY's response was even.

Steve chuckled, "Alright, tell them we will be up shortly. We were a bit distracted."

Bucky looked confused by this, "How do they not know what we were doing?"

"Natasha nearly ripped Tony's throat out when she found cameras in her bedroom, told him it was a violation of her privacy and he had better remove them. We all requested the same. FRIDAY can only take in high volume input and it has to be directed at the AI. Otherwise it doesn't get shared or recorded. Tony's not stupid enough to eavesdrop on us by this point, at least not in our bedrooms or bathrooms. The other parts of the floors have video and audio so we will be risking a show. Although we can engage privacy mode which will shut off those cameras too," Steve shrugged as he tossed Bucky a t-shirt and put one on himself.

Steve didn't bother changing out of the pj bottoms since he knew that they would just changing again after they had eaten. Once Bucky had the shirt on and followed him out and onto the elevator he took his lover's hand. He sighed when Bucky tried to pull his hand away, "Buck, it's ok. It's legal to be gay now. Hell, it's legal for gays to marry too. I love you and I am not hiding it from my friends and colleagues. Besides, Wanda's already seen inside your head, you think she doesn't know?" Steve firmly threaded his left hand with Bucky's flesh hand, which wasn't stronger than his own.

Bucky looked surprised at the firm expression on Steve's face because Steve never took the lead in their relationship before. That had always fallen to Bucky. He also knew based on the stubborn expression that he wouldn't win this battle and accepted that if Steve said it was safe, then maybe it was.

"…So, I was thinking that we need to do this quickly. They have a secondary base less than an hour away which means that if we don't get in and out by then, they could get reinforcements. It is probably why Bucky thinks this is to top option. It would be next too impossible to get his daughter in an hour and get back out solo. Hydra would be able to have just enough people to man the place and slow him and if he was stupid, make him think he could get out on his own," Natasha was reviewing the schematics of the base with Pietro and Wanda while Clint and, surprisingly, Thor cooked. Tony was apparently using a machine to make fresh orange juice, much to Steve's amusement.

"Oh, look whose finally up. What, were you having a morning quickie?" Tony asked as he noticed them coming out of the elevator and eyed their hands with a Cheshire cat grin. "Looks like my old man was telling the truth after all."

"Tony it doesn't take a genius to realize they were an item, even in WWII. Steve literally became a one-man army to get his precious James Buchanan Barnes back when he learned that he was a POW, despite it being a completely insane move. I remember retired Director Carter speaking at my graduation from the Academy and saying that she believed that was the greatest moment for the founders of SHIELD, air dropping him twenty miles behind enemy lines," Clint was serious which caused Steve to chuckle.

Bucky on the other hand looked like he was going to bang his head against something, "I told you that you sucked at hiding your feelings, Stevie. Does everyone know?"

"Please, before you showed back up, Steve behaved like he had a death wish. I was teasing him before your return, trying to get him to admit to being gay by pointing out all the women who were into him. By the way, I totally kissed him, sorry, but we were under cover," Natasha earned a glare from both Bucky and Steve that made her reconsider her wording. "It was a life or death matter."

"No, it wasn't, you grabbed me and kissed me when you and I could have turned away. We are hardly the only people who are blonde and red haired, nor were we the only ones in that mall," Steve growled out. Bucky eyed her before shrugging.

"Sometimes you have to go with the flow Stevie. If your life was in danger and a kiss protected it, I will barely tolerate that," Bucky's words made Sam look at him like he was crazy.

"You do realize that that happened when they were on the run from Hydra after you shot and failed to kill Nick Fury right? Just a little while before you ripped the steering wheel out of my car and tried to kill us all," Sam's expression was incredulous.

"Sam. He wasn't aware or in his right mind," Steve tried to defend Bucky.

"No, he wasn't, but that didn't stop you from trying again and again to get into his head and get him back. He nearly killed you in the process. Guess I know why now," Sam stood and walked over to a window, looking out at the city scape.

Bucky's expression nearly broke Steve's heart. He quickly turned Bucky to look him in the eye, "Buck, I do not blame you for that. That was one hundred and ten percent Hydra. The point isn't how hard it was to get you to start remembering. The point is that once you had so much as a glimpse of your memory, you saved my life. Wanda, tell him what you told me last night."

Wanda shifted to stand next to Steve, "He is right. You have a very strong mind. They had to repeatedly replace the brainwashing and mind control because you would frequently break out. By the time you saw Steve again, it is truly a miracle that you remembered anything at all."

Bucky seemed to lose the slightest amount of tension from this information and glanced at the map of the compound. Tony set a glass of orange juice at Bucky's place setting at this point, breaking the remaining tension and Natasha took advantage, "That also isn't the most important thing to focus on right now. That's the past. You have a little girl out there that needs you to rescue her. That is the important part. Eat, we are going to need all the energy we can if we're facing Hydra."

The mention of Rebecca brought Sam back to the table, though he didn't look at either Steve or Bucky. Bucky nodded his agreement without speaking, his hand once more firmly in Steve's, who sat next to him. Natasha began outlining the plan, "So, we will take teams of three to search through the compound. My thoughts were Steve, Sam, and Wanda as team one, Clint, Tony, and Bucky, as team two, and Me, Vision, and Thor as team three. Rhodes, Pietro and Hill will be our sentries and back up if we need it."

"Why can't I be with Wanda?" Pietro asked with Vision seconding that.

"Yeah, no offense, but I would rather have Steve at my back," Bucky added.

"Because this isn't a school project. We don't want anyone getting distracted by cute asses or being over protective of loved ones. Bucky, you came to us to get your little girl out, we can't take risks with kids involved. Is there any way or something we can say that will gain Rebecca's instant trust?" Clint asked as he started bringing plates of food to the table with Thor and Tony's help.

The reminder of his daughter being endangered by distractions put Bucky straight into a serious mode, "Steve and I will get instant trust. Steve only needs to show up and she would recognize his uniform, I described it so much. She would obviously recognize me and she is smart enough to be able to tell that me infiltrating a place means that I'm not under Hydra control. Calling her Rebecca and saying you're Steve's friends are your best bet of winning her over. I told her enough about him that she knows we were lovers and I doubt that is common knowledge."

"It isn't, it's just common SHIELD knowledge. So, we're Captain America's friends and her name is Rebecca. Everyone got that?" Clint confirmed to Bucky's nod. Steve got a goofy look on his face at the knowledge that Bucky had talked to his daughter about him.

"No getting mushy on us Capsicle, Mrs. Capsicle, you too. Save that for when we get back," Tony smirked at Bucky's expression at Mrs. Capsicle. "I already have my legal team on stand by for the process of legal custody and all that. We wouldn't want Hydra being able to pull some legal bull shit out of their hats. We get her, we do DNA testing to confirm she's Barnes's kid, my legal team files for full custody for him," Tony looked determined on this, much to Steve's surprise.

"Ok, I'm finished eating. What about everyone else?" Natasha looked around and nodded approval that they had all shoveled the food in between conversation. "Good. Get dressed, we meet in the hanger bay in ten."

Everyone nodded their agreements. The dishes were piled in the sink to be dealt with the automated system that Tony had for cleaning. They then filed into the elevator and were dropped off on various floors. Steve got his uniform while Bucky redressed in the black cargo pants he had been wearing the night before and stole one of Steve's black t-shirts. He dressed with a military speed that made Steve smile. Once they geared up and waited for the elevator, Steve stole a quick kiss.

"Just remember, this is easy. We've faced way worse," Steve stated, taking Bucky's hand as the elevator door opened with Natasha and Sam inside.

"Good to know we didn't have to drag you out of your room Steve. Though, I suppose you see this as a little more important when your head is clear," Natasha smirked at the two of them. Steve instantly wondered if Natasha had hidden a mic or camera in his bedroom. He made a mental note to check for that later.

"Forgive me for indulging in showing my significant other that he matters before an important mission. I did just learn that he has a kid that he didn't get a choice in. A little reassurance of affection never hurt anyone," Steve pointed out curtly.

"I can't really argue with you there. I kind of suck at that though so I won't fail to annoy you about it," Natasha responded. Sam was still not speaking to Steve which made him a little uncomfortable and uncertain as to why.

When the elevator reached the hanger they had also collected Wanda and Pietro. Vision was the only one already in the hanger since he neither had a need to change, or eat, or use such mundane things like elevators or doors. Privacy was one of the main reasons Steve had opted for an apartment outside of the Tower. The Android had difficulty grasping the concept of knocking.

A few moments later, the elevator returned with the rest of the Avengers. They split onto two QuinJets. Natasha, Steve, Bucky, Wanda and Pietro on one and everyone else on the other. Bucky and Steve buckled into the bucket seats in the back while Wanda took the co-pilot seat to Natasha piloting. Natasha had taken the young witch under her wing and was teaching her the basics of things needed.

Pietro took the remaining empty seats and went to sleep. Steve chuckled and shook his head at the younger man before taking Bucky's hand, "It is going to be a few hours once we get to cruising altitude. If you are still tired from Wanda scrambling your head, feel free to take a nap."

"I have a better idea. I could tell you about Rebecca, or at least what she was like last time I saw her," Bucky countered as he noticed the door to the cockpit was closed and if they talked quietly, Pietro wasn't likely to be woken.

"That would be nice," Steve nodded, encouraging Bucky to do just that.