The Irony of it All

56

"Man, I know you're out here!" Sam called. "You'll visit Steve, but you won't look me in the face."

"How do you know I visited Steve?"

Sam nearly jumped, turning to find Bucky sitting in the shadows of the trees. "Because I checked the fingerprint logs like a modern person. Why are you waiting in the shadows like a serial killer?"

"I am a serial killer," Buck deadpanned.

"You-" Sam stared at him, having no response. "Well then I guess we all are."

Bucky stood up and started to walk away.  "Why are you here, Sam?"

"Why am I here? Why are you here?"

"I was meditating."

He laughed. "Really?" Buck kept walking. "Alright, in all seriousness, I came to check on you."

"Why?"

"I used to work with Veterans. You don't know this because you're from the 1940s, but PTSD is a serious side effect of war. Too bad none of you kids knew that before you signed up."

Buck turned and looked at him warily. "Am I supposed to know what that means?"

"It means that I understand at a small ratio what you're feeling after coming back to yourself. Congrats, by the way. I heard that you broke free."

"I don't feel free."

All jokes a side, Sam felt for him. "Talk to Steve," he suggested, softer than he'd been. "When he wakes up."

Bucky smiled, pained. "You don't know Steve."

"I hate to break it to you, but someone had to try and keep him in line while you were gone. That ended up being me and Natasha. And we did a bang up job as you can tell." He laughed, and Bucky chuckled, genuinely at the thought.

"You were gone, man," Sam told him. "In all essences of the word. You don't know what he went through without you. I know us guys don't talk about our feelings. But if anyone's gonna understand losing their entire world and waking up seventy years later, it's gonna be Steve."

"I'm not the same."

"That's okay. We don't expect you to be. Now c'mon. We've got a friend in that palace with a death wish who doesn't know when to quit."

___________________________________________

Buck paused outside the door. He knew Natasha would be inside. Part of him didn't want to disturb her. He hadn't been back to visit after they'd watched Steve start breathing on his own two days before. They deserved to be alone for awhile. There was something broken about Natasha, and he could feel it.

He bit his cheek and pressed his hand to the door, hoping that it would just be Natasha and no one else.

"Bucky?"

His eyes shot open as Steve stood up shakily in his hospital gown. He fumbled for words, and without realizing it he was moving across the room, crushing his friend into a hug.

"You bastard. You enjoy scaring me, I know it."

They both laughed, and Bucky pulled apart. "God, you look the Steve I used to know. Makes me feel like the big guy again."

"Enjoy it while it lasts."

"That was beautiful," Sam crooned in the corner.

"Shut up," Bucky snapped.

Sam laughed and came forwards, taking his chance to hug his friend too. "Man, you scared the hell out of us. This is the second time you came back from the dead. And you," he turned on Natasha who'd been watching from the corner of the room. "You were just keeping him to yourself in here? Letting us think he was still brain dead. How long?!"

"Last night," she told him. "He's been sleeping a lot on and off and he's talking more and more."

"Does the Princess know?"

"She's been in to check up on things, but she keeps popping in when he's asleep."

"Sit down," Bucky said, pushing on Steve's shoulders.

"I'm okay-"

"Sit down!" He said again, pushing him harder until he hit the bed.

"Ow."

"I'm gonna find the Princess," Buck told him. "She'll tell us just how okay you are." He patted his shoulder and then left the room.

Sam watched him leave and then laughed. "You old people. He doesn't know that there's a buzzer for that?"

It wasn't long until everyone was flocking to see Steve. Clint burst into the room first, and hugged him until he hurt.  Banner hugged him, then Wanda hugged him, and cried, then T'Chala shook his hand. Then Jemma came in and took stock of him herself, double checking all of Shuri's work. Fitz helped. May came in and introduced herself along with Mack. Daisy nearly swooned in her excitement.

"Why are you hyperventilating?" Fitz had asked. "You already met him."

"I know, but now he's not dead."

The last person to come in, when everyone else had finally gone, was Tony.

Natasha watched him stand at the open doors as Steve dozed away. "Are you just gonna stand there, Starke."

He shrugged. "I went through so much effort to keep him here. I wanted to see if my work had paid off."

"Thank you."

They both turned, and watched Steve open his eyes.

"You saved my life. Thank you."

"Yeah. Well, you can't be put in the Raft if you're dead." He regretted it as soon as he said it. But Steve just smiled.

"You saved Clint too, I see. I was shocked when he came in earlier."

"That was actually only partly me."

"I know Banner helped too. And that kid from Queens."

Tony nodded. "And you and Red here." Even Natasha looked to him now. Her curiosity piqued.

"Banner used the regenerative properties of the Erskine serum to jumpstart Clint. Properties we took from Natasha's blood samples in the FBI's evidence locker."

"Nat's?"

"Mine?"

"During pregnancy there's a two way flow of cells and DNA between mother and child. In your blood, we found male cells that contained the pure form of Erskine serum. Your baby saved Clint's life."

They were looking up at him like innocent children. Tony looked away. "Thank you," Natasha murmured.

He shrugged her off. "All I did was run with my crazy theory that you guys were doing it."

"Thank you for believing me."