A/N: So, here we are. I triumphed over RL! and managed to get this out. Some fluff, some start of adventure. Enjoy!

Bucky was in the Hulk-out room for three days, alternately staring at the wall, screaming at the ghosts in his mind, and begging for his handlers not to wipe him. He refused to eat, couldn't sleep, and got violent when anyone tried to approach him.

All Steve could do to help him was keep talking. That seemed to be the only thing that would stop Barnes from damaging himself. Steve talked himself hoarse, drank a bucket of tea, and kept talking.

JARVIS recorded everything Barnes mentioned, everything he said about HYDRA, every mission he mentioned, every memory either false or imagined. Between the data in the hard drive and Barnes' information, they were rapidly compiling evidence that HYDRA was in fact not obsolete, but alive and well.

After the three-day mark, Bucky went from slightly homicidal to near-catatonic. Again. The only thing he did was sit on the cot and stare at the opposite wall. Nothing Steve said could move him. He just, sat.

Allie came down to the Hulk room, that day, with two smoothies in hand and a protective Clint two steps behind her. "Steeb," she said, walking over to where the discouraged Steve was sitting on the floor.

"Hey doll," Steve said quietly, mustering up a smile.

She handed him one smoothie, and crawled into his lap. "How's Bucky?" she asked.

Steve sighed. "He's going to be okay, sweetheart. I hope."

She glanced over his shoulder at Bucky. "Do you think, I can give him de smoothie, Steeb? He needs pwotein. Bwuce said."

"I don't think it's a good idea for you to go in there," Steve said firmly. "I'll give it to him, okay?"

"Kay." She stood up and watched him approach the door.

Bucky didn't look over when Steve came in.

"Hey, Buck," Steve said gently, holding the smoothie out. "Allie brought you a smoothie. You want to try it?"

No reply.

Allie took matters into her own tiny hands, and ran into the Hulk-out room.

"Allie no!" Clint said, darting after her.

Allie ran right up to Bucky, turned into a puppy, and jumped into his lap, putting her little paws on his chest and licking at his cheek. She yipped.

He looked down at her, the first response he'd given in four days, and put his right hand on her back.

She licked his cheek again, the puppy-version of a kiss, and pressed her nose under his jaw in a cuddle.

He gently smoothed his hand up and down her back, and absently accepted the smoothie from Steve with his other hand. He drank the smoothie, petting Allie with the other hand, and returned to staring at the wall.

Allie curled up in his lap and gave Clint a look that plainly said, "I'm fine, go away."

Clint dragged Steve out of there, and they both took up posts outside the Hulk room. "If Natasha comes in, it's your fault," Clint said firmly.

Steve nodded.

Natasha did not come in, and Allie stayed with Bucky for almost two whole hours. Then she bopped his nose with hers, wagged her tail, and jumped to the floor. Bucky watched her go, and then turned his gaze to Steve. His expression was almost blank, but now he just looked lost.

"Hungry?" Steve asked gently.

A hesitant nod.

"All right. We'll get you something to eat." Steve gave him an encouraging smile. "Food here is lots better than in the forties. Have you had a stuffed crust pizza yet?" He chatted to him cheerfully, Allie chiming in periodically, while Clint went and got everybody slices of pizza.

Bucky silently accepted the plate of pizza from Steve, and then looked at Allie. She smiled at him. "Like dis," she said, lifting up the pizza and taking a bite. He copied her actions, and his expression lightened when she smiled cheesily at him.

Allie helped Bucky eat an entire pizza and a half (she nibbled on one slice while he ate the rest), and then he fell into a slight food coma. She curled up next to him as a kitten, and purred like a toy freight train. Bucky patted her little head with his metal hand oh-so-gently, and stared at the ceiling.

Then Natasha came in. She assessed the situation, turned white as a sheet, and pinched Clint in the arm, her Look promising mayhem and murder.

"Ooowwwwww," Clint protested in a pained whisper, "Allie's fine."

"It's the principle of the thing," Natasha said. She jerked her chin towards the door. "Go. I've got this."

"All right." Clint pressed a quick kiss to her mouth, and headed up to the common room.

Another hour, and then Natasha stepped up to the open door of the Hulk room. "Allie?" she said quietly.

The kitten looked over, her ears perked inquisitively.

Bucky's glance slid over to her, assessed her as a threat, and stiffened slightly.

"It's bedtime, sweetie," Natasha continued, in her most calming tone.

Allie shifted into her human form, and asked, "Ten more minutes?"

"Not tonight, baby."

She wrapped her arms around Bucky's metal arm and looked up at him, her eyes wide. "You goin' be okay, Bucky? Wif Steeb?"

Bucky managed to give her a small smile. "I think I'll be okay, doll." That was the longest rational sentence he'd said in four days.

Allie gave him a kiss on the forehead, gave Steve a kiss as well, and went off with her mom.

Bucky watched the small child go, and then turned to Steve, meeting his eyes for the first time. "Steve."

Steve swallowed hard. "Yeah?"

"Is it true that Becca's still alive?"

Steve gave him a small smile. "Yeah." He told Bucky all about his visit to Becca Smith, nee Barnes, and the fates of all the Howling Commandos and their families.

Bucky listened intently, and asked questions.

As the conversation rambled to an end, Steve rubbed a hand over his face. "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For leaving you behind." Steve gave him a look. "If I'd known, Buck, I swear I wouldn't have stopped looking for you-"

"And then we would both be dead, idiot," Bucky interrupted. His memories might be jumbled, but his tactical mind was sharper than ever, and he could see the possibilites unfolding. None of them allowed for Steve's survival to the twenty-first century, unless he'd been brainwashed too, and that was something that could NOT happen.

A~A~A~A

After that, Allie came every day to sit with Bucky, either as a fluffy animal, or a cuddly child, and while he was distracted with Allie, Steve managed to get him to eat. Otherwise, Bucky couldn't stomach food, couldn't force himself to swallow it.

The times when Allie was not there, were difficult. James Barnes hadn't had the opportunity to exercise free will in over seventy years, and making choices was almost painful. Choosing between showering or watching a movie made him retreat for half a day. He begged Steve to just order him to do things, but Steve refused.

So they started simple.

"Would you like to shower?" That was only yes or no. And yes, Bucky would like to shower. So he did. And as the hot water cascaded over him, he cried. And then stayed in the shower for an hour, enjoying the endless steam and the fresh soap.

"Would you like to have coffee?" That was also yes or no. And yes, he would love coffee.

"Would you like to sleep in Steve's guest room?" That was an emphatic NO. He didn't trust himself not to fall under the programming of the Asset, and he didn't want to hurt anyone. So he stayed in the Hulk-out room.

"Peaches and cream or chocolate mint?" That one, Bucky could answer. "Just chocolate." Allie and Steve had beamed for an hour straight.

Two weeks after the ice cream breakthrough, Bucky requested to see Coulson. "I need to talk to him. I need to talk to SHIELD."

"What can I do for you, Sgt. Barnes?" Coulson asked kindly.

"I need to tell you about HYDRA." Bucky rubbed at his temples. "I don't know what's real or not, but, I need to make up for, for what I did. They're still out there, and, it's bad."

"All right," Coulson said, clicking his pen. "Tell me everything, and let SHIELD worry about the rest."

Two hours into Bucky's painful monologue, Coulson made JARVIS lock down the Tower and go into complete radio silence with SHIELD. He left Bucky to decompress for a bit, and gathered the rest of the Avengers in a conference room.

"What's the problem?" Steve asked, all business.

Coulson shook his head. "There are HYDRA agents within SHIELD."

All the Avengers gaped at him. "What."

Coulson shook his head again. "At this point I think it's safer to say that there are HYDRA agents within every level of government, in every government."

"What."

"The handlers Bucky mentioned, the missions, the info, that only could have come from SHIELD, or the World Security Council. Given the way that SHIELD has been going, especially with the Phase-2 weapons, and several other projects we're not supposed to talk about, I think all of the WSC's orders to SHIELD have been initiated by HYDRA." He started putting up specific examples.

That, combined with the data Tony had copied from SHIELD, combined with some subtle JARVIS-hacking, revealed the ugly truth. HYDRA had been there all along.

"What are we going to do?" Bruce asked nervously.

Natasha looked pale. "When I joined SHIELD I thought I was joining the good guys," she murmured, staring at the screen. "But I just traded in different faces for the same villains."

"We've all been deceived," Steve said grimly. "It seems like my war never ended."

"So what are we going to do?" Clint asked, looking at the Avengers' leader.

Steve shook his head. "For now, we're going to pretend we don't know anything about anything. We're going to gather intelligence. We're going to keep SHIELD off our backs. And we're not going to tell anyone about Bucky."

A~A~A~A