Out of Ashes

One: Out of Ashes (Steve)

     Jarvis chimes excitedly, saying, "Captain, you have a guest."

    We've just come back from fighting Ultron, and the team is in the gym trying to get gear off. We've decided to hold off on debriefing until later on.

     "Who is it?" I ask.

     "Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes," Jarvis chirps happily.

     Tony and Natasha immediately go on the defensive, but I stand and hold a hand up to them.

     "Stand down," I warn them. "He's my problem. Not yours."

     The elevator dings and the doors open. He steps out, dressed like a patriot on his way to the gym, and looks right at me. My heart stops and catches in my throat.

     "Bucky," I say breathlessly.

His ocean-painted steel blue eyes narrow defiantly as he struts into the team's gym and stalks toward me like a panther. I take a hesitant step back as he rips his shades from his shirt, knowing that I won't be able to stand up to him for shit if he's really this pissed off at me. His eyes darken as he zones in on me, picking up speed as he moves.

Natasha grabs Clint and Tony's collars and hauls them out of range just as the ocean-eyed executioner closes in and grabs me by the collar of my tactical suit. I'm hardly able to react, too terrified to even think let alone move.

He should be dead.

     With Hydra.

     Something.

"You're damn right, it's me! What the fuck were you thinking?" He snaps viciously, black ice flooding his eyes. "You shoulda given Peggy your coordinates, Steve! It's not that fuckin' complicated!" He lets go of my collar and closes the distance between us, shouting in my face. "Who the fuck d'you think you are? Jesus Christ, I'm gone for five minutes and you fly your dumb ass into the arctic? And then you decide to fight a bunch of killer aliens and evil robots? What a goddamn clusterfuck of bright ass ideas, Captain!"

He stands there, seething with rage, still shouting. Wanda, Clint, Tony, Natasha, Vision, Rhodey, Bruce, and Thor stand around the training area, horrified.

"What would your ma say about this, Steven?"

The team is thinking the same thing that I was thinking just a moment ago: he should be dead, still under Hydra's control, something that isn't here...especially with all of his memories back.

"I oughta string you up by your ankles and take a few swings at your pretty goddamn face, ya fuckin' idiot!"

The man in front of me shouldn't be here. I should be trying to hunt him down to bring him home.

    How did he get here?

    How did he find me?

    He's supposed to be a ghost.

"And Peggy? What about her? Poor girl lost ya because, hell, the rations we got on the front lines have more sense than you do!"

But, he's right here.

"How'd'ya like that, Steve? Fucking MREs got more sense than you!"

And he's got his memories back.

"Oh, and don't even get me started on the fact I had to pull your fuckin' ass from the Potomac or the ragtag band of wackos you've got right here! And, just an observation, but Howard would flip his shit if he could see you dancing around like a ballerina with that shield!"

Bucky, the love of my life...he's right here.

"And what the hell are you doing with Natalia Alianovna Romanova on your team? And the big green guy? Why the hell is so much rage necessary? And lightning? Really? You just had to have a literal god join the party? And the witch? And the archer? That's cool shit, but we've got guns now. Get your heads in the 21st century, people!"

     All that matters is the fact that I've been in love with him since I was 16.

"Seriously, I can't even begin to explain how much this pisses me off. I knew you were hard headed, but this shit, Steve, you're a goddamn fool. Sentinel of liberty, my ass!"

I finally have a second chance.

"Walking around like you own the place, with blood on your knees and dirt on your face. It's asinine. Who told you it was acceptable to come back from a mission and not take care of yourself? Even my handlers were nice enough to make sure I didn't get tossed back in the chair or the fuckin' freezer with blood all over me!"

I have a chance to make things right.

"Act like an adult for once. Goddamn!"

I have a chance to give Bucky the love I so desperately want to give him. I've been waiting for years, and when I found him as the Winter Soldier, the feelings only got stronger.

"I'm not going to be around to lecture or save your dumb ass forever, you know. You're lucky I'm even here right now."

I step closer to him, absolutely fearless.

"Fuck, Steve, I mean, look. I broke out of Hydra's brainwashing and came right back home to slap some sense into you. Fucking stupid decisions you keep making. You just had to —"

I grab the front of his jacket and wrench him to me. I let my eyes slip closed as my lips crash into his, and after he hurdles over the initial shock like a fucking champ, he melts right into my arms. Years of loneliness, years of begging for him to come back, years of wishing I hadn't let him slip through my fingers...the immense weight lifts from my soul as he wraps his arms around my neck and pulls me closer to him. I smile against his lips and gently pull back, wrapping my arms around him and resting my forehead against his.

     "You're a punk," He muses, eyes shining and cheeks pink.

     "Jerk," I murmur sweetly, pressing a tender kiss to his forehead.

     "Holy shit," Tony gasps.

     "I was right. Oh my God," Natasha whispers.

     Rhodey nudges Tony with a smile, saying, "Cap got his shield back."

     Bucky hugs me tight, saying, "I missed you, pal."

     I hug Bucky tight, one hand on his back and the other on the back of his head, saying softly to him, "Missed you more."

     Bruce smirks, "'Bout time Steve got his Bucky back."

     "Can't believe you did that," Bucky muses.

     "I ship it," Wanda smiles.

     Clint nods in agreement.

     I squeeze Bucky tight and drop a kiss on top of his head, saying, "I've wanted to do it for years, Buck."

     Bucky steps back from me, still in my arms though, and says, "We have plenty more years ahead of us to get caught up, Stevie."