I hear the soft patter of feet following me from the gym. Turning around, I find Bucky following me from a ways back. I stop in the middle of the hallway to allow him to catch up.

"You don't have to sneak around to follow me you know." I say, placing one hand on my hip. "I'm your friend, if you want me to be. I'm not trying to run away from you."

He just nods and falls in step beside me. We continue down the corridor for a ways before I continue talking.

"How'd you know where the gym was?" I ask.

"Steve told me." He answers. "I got a little lost, but I made it."

"How are you and Steve getting on so far?"

"Okay, I think."

"That's good." I pause for a moment before going forward. "Don't put too much pressure on yourself to remember him."

"Hm?" He looks at me, his features saying he want's to ask why but he can't quite find the words.

"I just mean that acclimating to life outside isn't easy. Getting used to it comes first, not your memory." I try to clarify as best I can. "Your memory will come back with time. The two of you just have to be patient."

"Steve's never been patient." Bucky says with a snort.

I freeze mid step and turn to look at him. His eyes are wide and confused and his mouth opens and closes like a fish out of water, trying to find his words.

"How did you know that?" I ask slowly.

"I-I don't know." He says quietly. "It just slipped out."

I grin at him and he just looks back at me, confused.

"What?" Bucky asks.

"We found a trigger!" I exclaim.

"A...trigger?"

"Yes! Something that triggers a memory. In this instance it was a word." I explain. "Triggers can be nearly anything. My memories seemed to be mostly triggered by sights and smells. There were a few times where sounds and dialogue from movies set it off, but not often."

"So what do we do about the trigger?"

"Well, we could read the dictionary, but that would be not only boring, but brutal. In all honesty we shouldn't do anything but let it be for the time being and let your memory come back on it's own."

"Okay." We begin walking again. "Could I ask a favor of you?"

"Of course."

"Could you not tell Steve about me remembering?"

"I wasn't planning on it, Bucky." I glance at him from the corner of my eye. "It's my job as your friend to help you. Not tattle on you."

"You keep saying you're my friend. Why?"

"Because I am your friend." I say simply.

"But why?"

"Because I know what it's like to feel alone in a crowded room. When I first got here I was afraid. I didn't know who I was, but I did know that every single person around me was a threat. In a tower filled with nothing but kind people, I was alone. Until the Maximoffs practically took me I felt like I had no one. Feeling so alone for so long..." I heave a sigh. "Bucky, feeling alone for so long, it physically hurts. I know Hydra taught us that pain is important for some reason, but you don't have to hurt. I just want to help. To make it hurt a little less."

I come to a stop in front of the elevator and press the button to call it. I glance at him, only to find him staring. It's a little disconcerting, but at the same time familiar. I meet his gaze for a moment before tearing my eyes away.

"The way I see it, you could use a friend who didn't know you before Hydra. Someone who doesn't expect anything from you and just wants to be there for you. But really, do I need a reason to want to be friends with you?"

The heavy doors slide open and I step inside, turning to face Bucky. he just stands there, staring.

"Well?" I ask, holding out my right hand to him. "Are you coming?"

He nods once, takes my hand and comes to stand at my side. I punch in the floor and access code and the doors slide shut. The elevator begins to move, jolting and shuddering a little as it gets started. A small screech of metal on metal reminds me that I'm holding Bucky's hand. The shaking of the elevator must have startled him slightly. I lightly squeeze his hand back in an attempt to reassure him. The result is another screech as the two metals scrape together. I take a moment to look at his profile. his steely blue eyes are focussed on the floor counter and his jaw is clenched.

"You okay?" I ask. He just nods in response. "Don't like heights much?"

He shakes his head, no. I chuckle lightly.

"Don't worry, we should be there relatively soon."

"Where is "there"?"

"Tony's lab."

"Why?" He drops my hand from his grip and steps away from me, his body language immediately defensive.

"Hey, whoa! It's fine!" I hold up my hands in defense. "Tony built my arm. He just needs to run some routine diagnostics to make sure everything is connecting properly. You don't even have to set foot in the lab."

"Okay." His body visibly relaxes.

"He is going to want to look at your arm at some point though."

"I know."

"You're going to need someone to perform maintenance on it too. I'm not saying you have to talk to him now, but you're going to have to soon." The doors slide open and I spin around to face him. "I'm not going to pester you about it. I just want you to feel safe and comfortable."

I back out of the elevator and turn on my heel, heading to the staircase that leads to the lab. I bound up the stairs, taking them two at a time. I can hear Bucky's quiet footsteps following after me, and I smile to myself. It hasn't been a full day and he's kind of latched onto me. It's kind of nice.

I pause outside of the door to place my hand on the scanner beside it. The thin line of green lights scans my hand print and the door disappears to the side. I turn to my left to find Bucky.

"I'll be out in , maybe, fifteen minutes. If you want to join us just knock. Tony'll let you in."

He nods to acknowledge my words. I smile faintly before slipping through the doorway. I find Tony with his back to me, messing with some sort of algorithm on the screen in front of him.

"Hey." He says turning to face me. "Where'd your shadow go?"

"He's waiting outside." I jerk my thumb towards the door, and hop up on one of the work tables. "Why'd you call him my shadow? Were you spying on us?"

"I own the building, sweetheart, so it's not technically spying, but if you insist I be honest, yes, I was spying on you." He removes a few plates from my arm along the bicep, forearm and shoulder. "After this morning I wanted to make sure you were okay to be working with him."

"And...?"

"And, I think it's safe." He pokes at one of the wire bundles, eliciting a wince from me. "He's weirdly at ease around you."

"Right? I- Eep!" I squeak as he tweaks the wiring closest to where my arm was amputated.

"What! What?"

"That hurt!" I whine.

"Good!"

"Good? Hurting me is good?"

"Yes, it means the the tech is connecting correctly."

"Well shit, Tony, you couldn't have told me that before you started poking away at the cervo's."

"Technically, they're not cervo's, they-"

"I don't care what the technical term is." I say grouchily. "My shoulder muscles are gonna be tense for hours now."

"Sorry." He says. his tone sarcastic. "What were you saying about frosty?"

"Oh yeah. I think I may have known him-"

"And you can't remember because of the memory wipes?" I stare at him, mouth open. "What? The cameras have audio."

"You need a new hobby, Stark."

"But I'm right, aren't I?"

"Yeah." I sigh heavily. "Like I said earlier, no one knows aside from you and Bucky and I want to keep it that way."

There comes a light knock at the door. Tony looks to the source of the knocking, then back to me. I nod and he opens the door.

"Don't worry, kid. My lips are sealed." He presses his index and thumb together and runs them across his lips like he's zipping a zipper.

Bucky walks up to the table and takes my human hand in his, lacing our fingers together. He looks around the room, eyeing Tony warily.

"Hey, Buck. What's up?" I run my thumb over his knuckles in an attempt to get him to calm down a bit.

"It's too quiet out there." He says, reluctantly taking his eyes away from his surroundings to look at me. "It's only been about twelve hours and your chatter is the only thing that calms me."

Tony snorts from my right side as he's replacing the panels on my arm.

"Shut up, Tony." I say, sticking my tongue out at him.

"That's pretty childish of you, kid." He says, not taking his eyes off my arm.

"True, but I'm only in my early twenties. What's your excuse, old man?"

"Oh!" Tony places a hand over his heart and looks at me, jutting his lower lip out in mock pain. "That absolutely, positively stings, (Y/N)"

"Well, I learned from the best."

"You are to kind." He responds as he secures the last plate.

"I wasn't talking about you. I was talking about Barton." I turn to Bucky and wink, waiting for Tony's response.

"Barton?!" His head snaps up from what he was focusing on, his expression a mix of anger, shock and what can only be described as betrayal. "Barton?! What do you mean Barton? Has my comedic genius not been enough? Have I failed as an educator? A father figure?"

"Father figure?" Bucky mouths. I just giggle in response.

Tony continues ranting on and the door at the back of the lab slides open. Bruce walks in, his bespectacled eyes glued to the file he's reading. As Tony's angry tones reach his ears he raises his eyes, looking over the brim of his glasses at us. When he finds a somewhat startled Bucky, a nearly red faced Tony and me wearing a shit eating grin, he almost immediately backs out of the room to find another place to focus on his readings. I chuckle before turning my attention back to Tony.

"Tony." He keeps on with his rant. "Tony!" I try raising my voice. "You may want to cover your ears, Bucky."

Bucky does as I say and I turn back to Tony.

"ANTHONY." I yell.

"WHAT."

"I was kidding." I press the index finger and thumb of my left hand together and draw a horizontal line through the air for emphasis.

"Kidding?" He says it like he's asking for the definition of the word.

"Yes, dear. Yanking your chain. Getting your goat. All of those things."

"I never taught you that."
"I know. That I did learn from Barton. All the other stuff I learned from you." I pat his cheek and hop down from the table.

"Yeah, all the good stuff..." He grumbles, putting his tools away.

"Oh, before we go, have you been able to find a room for Bucky?"

"Yup, he's gonna be in fifteen B."

"Fifteen...B?" I ask. "But I'm in fifteen. Where is fifteen B?"

"It's going to be the room next to yours." He turns back to face us and leans on the counter. "I'm enlisting master carpenter Barton's help to make them two joined rooms. We're going to add a door between the two, just in case Jack Frost here has a night terror. Those types of things seem to be pretty common with you Hydra rescues."

"Huh." I bob my head and turn to Bucky. "Sound good to you?"

"Yeah," He nods. "Just don't sit on my chest next time."

"You've got yourself a deal, Mr. Barnes."

As we turn to leave, we can hear Tony splutter in response to our banter.

"You sat on his CHEST?" He says loudly. "How did I not know about this?"

"I broke the cameras in my room, Tony. You need to step up your creep game if you want to keep up with all the hot gossip. Just, no more cameras in anyone's room okay?"

The lab door slides shut behind us and I hear Bucky chuckling beside me. I look over to find a pretty big smile on his face.

"Think that's funny, wait till we mess with Steve." I giggle at the thought of a beet red Steve.

"Really?"

"Yeah. It takes longer to fluster him than it used to, so it takes a little more work, but goodness, when he goes of it really is a show."

"I look forward to that."

"So do I!" Suddenly my stomach growls. "Time for food. You hungry?"

"Not really, but I should probably eat."

"Alright then, to the kitchen!" I cry, thrusting my arm to the sky, index finger pointed towards the ceiling.

Bucky turns to go down the stairs, but I catch his arm before he can get too far. he turns back to me, confused.

"What?" He asks.

"We're gonna take the stairs," I say, pointing down the hall. "Save you the shaky elevator ride."

Something like relief floods his features and he smiles at me. I gently smile back and direct him towards the staircase door.

"Race ya." I say, swinging the door open.

"Which direction are we going?"

"Down, five floors."

"You're on."

I grin at him and he smirks in response. We both fly down the stairs, skipping steps, tripping occasionally and nearly falling a few times. The stairwell is filled with laughter as we tear through, shoving each other aside now and then to get ahead. We turn sharply around the corners of each landing, skipping the least two or three steps on each flight. We fall into a rhythm and keep going till we reach the door. It gets flung open, though it's not entirely clear my who, and we both meet in the doorway at the same time.