As he walked past, Steve couldn't help but look at the cryostasis unit, unable to help the concern he felt knowing that Bucky was willingly allowing himself to be frozen again. He couldn't help it. After everything the man had gone through, putting him into cryosleep again felt...not wrong, but undeserved. He shouldn't have to. It clashed with Steve's inner sense of justice. But then, a lot of things had been at odds with his personal moral compass these last few weeks.

Ahead of him Bucky sat on the cot directly across from the unit, an IV hooked into his remaining arm, the stump of his metal one sleeved in a soft-looking black covering. He looked more himself than Steve had seen him since their days with the Howling Commandos; his hair clean, brushed and trimmed—though still far longer than he'd have ever worn it during the War—his white cotton shirt and pants crisp and neat. His gaze was distant even as he stared at the prepped stasis pod, the unit serving as a physical manifestation of his choice. And it was his choice. Had it not been, there was no way Steve would be going along with it.

Bucky looked up as Steve approached, and the relief that look drew out did a great deal to beat back Steve's concern; his steel-blue eyes were clear and content and all Bucky. A reserved grin appeared on Steve's face to greet the one on his oldest friend's. It gave Steve a grim sort of reassurance to see Bucky so at peace with the prospect of being put under again. Oh, he could see the apprehension, but that was only natural considering the circumstances that had seen him frozen each and every occasion previous. Perhaps it was because this time he was doing it of his own free will; he'd chosen this, and Steve imagined Bucky'd had very little in the way of choice over the last seventy years.

"Sure about this?" Bucky exhaled heavily at Steve's question, his expression sobering as his gaze slid back to the cryostasis unit.

"I can't trust my own mind," he replied. He glanced back to Steve, a self-depreciating smile easing across his face for a moment before fading again. "So until they figure out how to get this stuff out of my head I think going back under is the best thing," he smiled again, though there was a shadow in his eyes that left Steve feeling sad, "for everybody." There was no mistaking who all 'everybody' meant. Steve sighed, ignoring the silent hope that lingered, despite its unlikelihood, that Sam would complete his 'errand' and make it to Wakanda in time. But he forced a reassuring smile, laying a hand on Bucky's shoulder, pointedly not looking to the small sunflower pendant that his friend now had fastened around his neck. He knew from the way Bucky's lip tugged that the former HYDRA agent saw right through the attempt, but he smiled back anyway, reaching out to lay a grateful hand of his own on Steve's shoulder.

A doctor walked past, pausing to slip past Steve to check on Bucky's IV. Drawing away, Steve hazarded another glance to the stasis unit, still trying to reconcile himself with Bucky's choice as the doctor spoke softly with the former HYDRA agent. But then, as he turned back to Bucky, movement out in the hallway beyond the glass wall that bordered one side of the room caught his attention. Steve allowed himself a small sigh of relief, unable to help the pleased smile when he saw what, or rather, who it was.

They'd made it.

Just beyond the glass wall T'Challa was shaking hands in greeting with Sam, the two men exchanging reserved grins as they spoke, their words lost behind the glass. But it wasn't them Steve had been most eager to see. Rather, he was relieved to see the woman standing beside Sam, her hazel eyes wide as she looked to the King she was meeting, her cloud of short, dark curls framing her drawn, nervous face even as her hands clung white-knuckled to the shoulder strap of her bag.

But as Steve turned back to Bucky, he frowned.

Bucky's own face had blanched, his blue eyes wide and unreadable beyond the most obvious descriptor of shock, and his whole body had tensed as soon as he saw her. His own brow furrowing deeper, Steve stepped closer, watching his friend warily. He was completely taken aback by how scared Bucky suddenly seemed.

During their flight to Siberia, Bucky had been almost desperate to extract Steve's promise to make sure she was alright when it was over. He hadn't expected to be able to even think of seeing her again, expecting either to be forced on the run again...or that he wouldn't make it out the other side. As soon as they had gotten Sam and the others out of the Raft, the decision had been made to retrieve her for Bucky. This reaction, though, was not exactly what Steve had expected. Certainly relief, just seeing that she was alright. Hopefully some happiness, even delight or elation. Trepidation, maybe; given how Bucky had apparently left things and how their last reunion had gone, it was to be expected.

But outright fear?

But he didn't have time to think on it further for, at that moment, as she took in the newness of her surroundings, Iris caught sight of Bucky. A great whooshing breath of relief seemed to leave her as her eyes grew bright, her face overcome with an expression of disbelief and anticipation. Another shuddering breath left the man beside Steve. No longer even aware of Sam and T'Challa, in a heartbeat had she pushed between them, her hand coming to rest on the glass that separated her from the dark-haired man staring right back at her. She barely even noticed at first when the Wakandan King laid a hand on her arm, directing her around the corner to the door.

"What's she doing here?" Bucky's voice was hoarse and Steve lifted a perplexed eyebrow at his baffling reaction. "Steve, she shouldn't be here."

"James?" At the sound of the soft, questioning voice every trace of tension bled out of him, his eyes sliding shut as though Bucky couldn't believe he'd just heard it. In a heartbeat the young woman was across the room and standing before him, completely ignoring Steve just as she had Sam and T'Challa. Her hand reached out, but she hesitated just short of touching his stubbled cheek.

"Iris." Bucky's eyes had opened as soon as she had started crossing the room, his gaze darting across her features, her form, desperately checking to see that she was okay. And just as she had, as soon as she'd come to a stop in front of him his hand had lifted from his thigh, reaching toward her only to hesitate and draw back. Neither seemed to know what to do, what to say, both suddenly afraid to try and broach the gulf the last week—the last year, really—had created between them. Steve nearly shook his head in fond exasperation.

"And I'm invisible again, just like I used to be," he quipped lightly to break the silence, raising a pointed eyebrow at Bucky. Bucky's gaze jolted to Steve, his eyes narrowing with exasperation of his own, though his far more annoyed than Steve's. Steve just grinned, trying not to laugh at his friend's reaction. His sense of relief deepened then; that he'd recognized Steve's teasing, and obviously remembered the history behind it, was yet more proof that Bucky was finding himself again. He didn't glare at the Captain long though, his steel-blue eyes returning at once to Iris. The tension, if not broken, had at least eased enough that Bucky was able to find his voice.

"You're okay?" His question was so quiet and so rough Steve barely heard it. But it was something Steve knew had been weighing heavily on him since the warehouse, since Bucky had remembered Iris' unexpected presence in Berlin. He'd heard the answer from Steve and Sam both, but what Bucky really needed was to hear it from her. With a cautious smile, Iris nodded.

"A little bruised, but I suppose that's what I get when I—" But then she froze, her eyes going wide again with disbelief as her eyes flicked to his face from the pendent resting against his collarbone.

This time she didn't hesitate, her fingers brushing against his skin as they traced over the sunflower resting there. Bucky swallowed thickly, anxiety flickering in his eyes again.

"I thought it was gone," she breathed, her eyes rising to meet his, "but you had it." Steve couldn't quite discern just what her reaction was and, judging by the look on Bucky's face, he wasn't sure either. But warily Bucky nodded, his gaze slipping from hers.

"It was in my hand when I got my mind back," he said quietly, "I, uh, I don't—I don't know why I—" Her hand lifted from the necklace to his face, her palm cradling his clenched jaw.

"Because you knew me," she said, voice quavering with a sudden influx of emotion, "you knew me, and you protected me." And then her arms were around him, drawing a satisfied grin from Steve as Bucky's eyes slipped shut in relief.

No sooner had she wrapped her arms around him then she began trembling. Letting loose a another shuddering exhale of his own, Bucky's remaining arm was immediately circling around her, pulling her as close as he could manage as he buried his face in the crook of her neck.

It was such an intimate moment that Steve's gaze shifted away of its own accord. It was then that he noticed the two doctors in the room had wrapped up their prep work and were waiting patiently off to the side. With a subtle gesture Steve motioned for the doctors to give them a minute, something they thankfully acceded to; though, not before the woman shot Bucky and Iris' tender moment a pleased and approving glance that nearly had Steve chuckling again. Restraining his own wide smile into a satisfied grin, Steve turned back to the couple as the door eased shut.

He realized then that, with every shaking breath, Iris was murmuring anxiously into Bucky's shoulder. At first Steve couldn't even make out what she was saying, her rushed, nearly panicked words mingling with the low, soothing sounds coming from Bucky. Once he did, he immediately thought she was reassuring Bucky, but as more and more words spilled out, he realized she was reassuring herself:

"You're alright. You're okay. You're okay. God, James, I was so afraid—so scared. The footage from the airport? I thought I was never going to see you again. I needed to know you were okay, but there was no word, no news, nothing." As her voice grew nearly frantic Bucky drew back, his hand rising from his tight hold around her waist to tenderly brush back her curls and cup her cheek. With an audible click of teeth, she cut her ramblings off.

"I'm okay," he murmured back, his thumb brushing across her cheek to catch the first tears beginning to fall, his lip tugging into that almost smile of his as he tilted his head to catch her eye, "really. I'm me again, and you're here with me." She nodded jerkily, struggling against stream of emotions and worries still trying to pour out of the mind they'd been caught rioting around in for days. After a moment she seemed to have regained control of herself, a gasping breath breaking through the silence she'd enforced on herself.

"I know," she said quietly, her voice far more measured even though it still held traces of distress in its tremulous undertone. "But, God, I was so scared. Especially on the way here, when Sam said things hadn't gone well for you; that you'd been in a fight against Iron Man? That you were in bad shape? I feared the worst." Her fingertips hovered over the marks that still lingered on his face, the creases forming between her brows marking her concern over how slowly they were healing. Steve could tell from that look that she was guessing—correctly too—that his body had suffered enough abuse in their fight against Tony that he wasn't healing as fast as he normally would have. "And your arm—"

Bucky's jaw clenched self-consciously when her eyes dropped to what was left of his cybernetic arm. A tense smile flickered across his face as her fingers lifted to the remnants of the metal limb, his hand closing gently around hers and pulling it away.

"It's no great loss," he assured her, his eyes pleading as they caught hers again. Her head tilted sadly as a comprehending light glinted in her eyes, only to be overtaken by a far more determined expression. Steve's eyebrows lifted with surprise even as Bucky frowned with bewilderment.

"I found it strangely beautiful, you know," she objected quietly, her tone nevertheless still gentle as her free fingers threaded into his hair, "and you shouldn't forget, it saved my life." A soft groan of realization escaped Bucky at the reminder, a faint look crossing his face to settle in his friend's steel-blue eyes that Steve tentatively identified as a mixture of acceptance and adoration. She grinned with satisfaction. "I can't help but mourn it a little, James." A burst of laughter caught in Steve's throat, though he managed to restrain it to a huffing breath as his eyebrows lifted with amusement. Bucky did not look impressed when he caught sight of that look.

"James?" Steve asked, fighting back a smile. Bucky nearly scowled at Steve's ribbing tone, earning a look of bewilderment from Iris as she glanced between them with curious frown. A chuckle managed to escape him. "C'mon, Buck—there was a while there where you wouldn't let your own mother call you James." The corner of Bucky's mouth twitched, the reminder nearly startling a laugh out of him despite his determination to glare unhappily at Steve.

"Well, she's not my mother, is she," he snarked back, pulling another laugh from Steve and a playful smack from Iris. A full-blown grin spread across his face as he looked to Iris again before shooting Steve a silent request. Understanding completely, Steve nodded back before stepping back from the couple.

"Of course. I'll be just outside." But just as Steve reached the door he paused, unable to resist one last teasing remark at his best friend's expense; after all, he'd endured his fair share growing up. It was only right to return the favour...

"And Buck," Two pairs of eyes, one faintly exasperated steel-blue and the other bright but distracted hazel, swiveled to Steve where he stood at the far end of the medical lab. Steve grinned cheekily, "no hanky-panky; there is a window." The glare he received should have laid him out flat right then and there.

But then Bucky's eyes glinted roguishly. "Punk," he muttered, the corner of his lip quirking despite himself. Steve couldn't help the feeling of warmth that spread through him as his grin widened further.

"Jerk," the Captain fired back just as quietly before turning and finally leaving the long-parted couple alone.

Right as the door slid shut Steve heard Iris ask with scandalized astonishment, "did he just say hanky-panky?" Steve could only laugh as he turned the corner back out into the hallway where T'Challa and Sam and a slowly growing group of observers waited. The former paratrooper met Steve's silent thanks with a nod of his own.

"Needed to happen," Sam said quietly as the three men settled into a loose circle. Steve nodded, glancing back over his shoulder to his oldest friend and his girl.

"Yes it did," he murmured back as, behind the silencing wall of glass, Bucky leaned in to kiss the woman he obviously loved.    

A/N: Thanks for reading!

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