Siren

Unexpected turnaround

Six weeks after the dinner- late August

If you were to ask Bucky how he was currently doing he'd tell you Karli Morgenthau was dead, Zemo was back in prison, he was in deep shit with T'Challa and Juno was still engaged to be married to Henri so how do you think he was doing? The answer would be pretty obvious to even a blind man from space. Not fucking good at all. With things still not wrapped up with the Power Broker because he was still in the wind, everyone involved with hunting him down were taking a much needed break. Sam went back to Louisiana to visit with his sister and his nephews while Steve and the twins went back to the Compound. The plan had been for him to join them, but over the last few days before they went home he decided not to.

In the days following that text Juno had sent him it had all pretty much gone even more downhill for him on a personal level. So much so that it affected things for him on a professional level. One that had Zemo using Buck's distraction as a means to escape while he was fighting with Steve while also trying to deal with Ayo and the other Dora Milaje at the same time. It had definitely not been his finest hour. Going to Wakanda was out of the question what with them currently pissed at him for breaking Zemo out of prison. It didn't matter the reason why. It certainly hadn't helped his case that he was able to scoop him back up in Sokovia a little while later. Bucky was most certainly on Ramonda's shit list and you didn't piss off the queen mother without consequences. No laying low in Africa for him this time.

So instead of going back to the Compound, he had been holed up in the apartment Steve and then Juno had used for the last three weeks. It wasn't much really. The small one bedroom worked for him though. It kept him close enough in case he was needed for anything in regards to the team while also keeping him out of Jun's way. With her and Henri living together now in his penthouse apartment on the upper east side and his place way the hell out in Brooklyn it meant they wouldn't be crossing paths at his local bodega.

Keeping mostly to his apartment, Buck read a lot when he wasn't out taking long walks by himself. The only time he really saw anyone was when Steve or Peter dropped by to check up on him or when he went upstate to see his goddaughter. Then there was when he went to his weekly appointment with Dr Kent. Buck wasn't required to go anymore after Steve used his pull to get him out of jail for missing his then mandatory meeting that first week they'd been dealing with the Flag Smashers, Zemo, the Power Broker and the rest of it. With everything going on he knew he needed to keep going and he certainly hadn't held it against the good doctor for reporting him. It was his own fault for forgetting to check in to let Dr Kent know what was going on. This whole Juno thing had thrown him for a loop. His mind wasn't where it was supposed to be and so when Steve called it, he hadn't fought him on taking a break.

However he couldn't stand the thought of being around everyone knowing that they'd be sympathetic and overly kind whenever he would enter a room. Walking on eggshells so as to not upset him anymore than he already was. The twice weekly visits was the compromise he'd agreed to with his best friend as well as his appointments with Dr Kent in exchange for using the SHIELD apartment. And with Queen's not far away, Peter decided that he would make time to come see him too. Between him and Steve they kept him updated on stuff with the team. Like the birth of Tony and Pepper's daughter Morgan a week after they'd come back to the city.

Buck hadn't been sure at first if Stark would even want him to come by. But the other man had surprised him when he'd reached out inviting him up to meet their kid. He'd made sure to triple check ahead of time before visiting the hospital so that he wouldn't bump into Juno. With Tony and her being best friends and with her being the baby's godmother, she was for sure going to be up there. It's how he found himself showing up with a large balloon bouquet and a stuffed teddy for the littlest Stark the day after she was born. Within seconds of entering the swanky private hospital room he was shoved into a rocking chair and had the baby placed in his arms. Freezing, Bucky had been too scared to move for fear of hurting a sleeping Morgan who was completely unaware that she was being cradled by the man who'd murdered her grandparents.