Part II: Real Man, Always Thinking With My Fists

'Cause Everything Will Change Tonight

A/N: Thanks so much to everyone who's commented or voted!  I will be finishing up the sequel and start posting it next week sometime :)  Enjoy!

It was late afternoon when he was awoken and Steve returned the following morning. He was in the lab again, having some tests run. N'Kana insisted, wanting to make sure everything was fine. At only two months, he was pretty sure it was the shortest time period he'd ever spent frozen, so he wasn't particularly concerned about that. Though he had been thinking about the trigger words a great deal.

"Buck," Steve said with a warm smile as he walked into the lab. Then he paused, glancing at N'Kana. "Is it okay if I'm – ?" he trailed off uncertainly.

"Yes, Captain. I am almost finished," N'Kana replied, seeming amused.

Needing no further assurances, Steve continued moving and embraced Bucky – a little awkward, since he was sitting down on the exam table. "So, how is everything?" he asked.

"Well, I've been asleep, so I'm not really sure," Bucky replied with a grin. Steve made a face at him. "No, it's good. I think. N'Kana could tell you more."

Steve glanced over at the scientist, who looked up from his monitors. "He is in good health, mostly recovered from his injuries from – ah – from before. We seem to have gotten rid of the brainwashing."

"That's great. What about his arm?" Steve asked.

That gave N'Kana pause. "I did not realize – I will look into it, Captain. It would be a pleasure to come up with a more advanced model," he added with a grin at Bucky, who winced.

"Nothing too fancy, N'Kana. Just an arm, not a Swiss army knife."

Steve laughed at that. "What, you don't want it to have a lock-pick or a bottle-opener?"

With a smile, Bucky shook his head. "I'm not going to say that wouldn't be useful. I'm just saying, you know, priorities. I'm sure whatever N'Kana comes up with will be perfect," he added. "Are you done with me?"

"For now. Come see me tomorrow and we'll talk about an arm," N'Kana replied, sounding distracted as he read his monitors.

Hopping down from the table, Bucky headed for the door with Steve a little behind. "You okay, Cap?" he asked lightly.

Steve seemed to be somewhere far away, but he smiled. "You don't need to call me that."

"Everyone else seems to," he pointed out with a shrug. "I'm sure you'd rather I not call you Stevie like I did when we were kids."

Snorting, Steve shook his head. "I think that might detract a bit from my authority. But I'm not Captain America anymore."

Bucky stopped and looked at him. "Why not? What's happened?"

A flicker of confusion crossed Steve's face. "I, uh, went against the government to help this fugitive, you may have heard of him. Then I fought the guy who bankrolls the Avengers, and left my shield behind. I think we should go ask N'Kana about your loss of memories," Steve teased tentatively.

"No, I remember. I just don't see why you can't still be Cap is all. Did you bust out your friends?" he continued, changing the subject as he started walking again.

"I did, yeah. We're lying low, but doing some good work."

"Like what?"

It took the rest of the walk to their quarters for Steve to explain what kinds of things superheroes did when they didn't want to attract attention. It was mostly spy stuff.