When the two pairs woke up, it was more awkward for the others than the couples. Apollo explained to each set that their souls had been bonded, and made plenty of inappropriate jokes. Bucky and Steve just added it to the List-Of-What's-Crazy, and Annabeth realized she was immortal.

A few hours after both had gotten back on their feet, Percy showed up to talk to Bucky and Steve. "So, we've got a little situation on our hands." 

"What happened?" Steve asked.

"Well, apparently you've been gone too long, because Pirate Nick had to talk to Uncle T to talk to me to talk to you." Percy said. "We get surprised soul-hitched and suddenly everyone needs us."

"That's one way to put it." Bucky commented.

"So what does Fury want?" Steve asked, preferring to find ground he was familiar with.

"Well, with what we know now, he thinks that it'll be better to keep you in the light. If Hydra's after you, well, it would be quite the backlash if they killed you in public." Percy said.

"So, stay seen, stay safe." Steve said.

"Pretty much." Percy nodded, "Plus he probably wants you to get back to work. You're kind of unique."

"Of course." Steve sighed. 

"He also said they've set up an apartment in DC." Percy added.

"Right. I guess I've got to head to DC then." Steve said.

"You mean 'We'." Bucky corrected.

"I do?" Steve raised an eyebrow.

"I'm coming with you. Can you imagine how uneasy it would make them if I was there, helping you?" Bucky grinned.

Steve chuckled. "Fury would have to give you clearance."

"Pirate Nick will give it, if he knows what's best for him." Percy smirked.

"Now that's settled, how're we getting there?" Bucky asked.

"I've got my bike." Steve replied.

"Yay. Have fun at work while I die." Percy said.

"Why're you dying?" Bucky asked.

"I have an appointment with Athena, who hates me by the way, to talk about politics." 

"Good luck."

"Thanks, I'm gonna need it."

~~~~~~

That evening they walked into Steve's apartment, and settled down. The following morning, Steve woke up before Bucky. It wasn't unusual, Bucky preferred to sleep in. So Steve left a note for Buck, and left to go on a run.

He had missed doing these with Percy. Maybe one of these mornings Bucky would get up early enough to go on one with him. Steve decided he liked the view on this run.

As he came to pass a man on his own run, Steve said, "On your left."

Another lap, and he came to pass the same man. "On your left."

"Ahuh, on my left. Got it." The man replied.

When Steve approached for the third time, the man said, "Don't say it, don't you say it!"

"On your left." Steve said.

"Come on!" The man exclaimed.

Later, Steve found the man sitting with his back against a tree.

~~~~~~

When Bucky woke up, Steve was already on his way to the SHIELD base with Natasha. Bucky texted, asking where he was, and Steve texted back. Eventually, the two in the car noticed a bike following them, with a familiar rider.

"Did he steal my bike?" Steve asked rhetorically.

"Did you hide the keys?" Natasha retorted.

~~~~~~

Once through the SHIELD security, they were on the jet with the STRIKE team.

"Target is a mobile satellite launch platform, the Lemurian Star. They were setting up their last payload when pirates took 'em 93 minutes ago." Rumlow said.

"How many pirates?" Steve asked.

"25. Top mercs led by this guy, George Batroc. This guy's got a rep for maximum casualties." Rumlow answered.

"Alright." Steve said, "I'm gonna sweep the deck and find Batroc. Nat, you kill the engines and wait for instructions. Rumlow, you sweep aft and find the hostages. Get 'em to the lifepods, get 'em out. Let's move."

"You heard the Cap, gear up." Rumlow said.

"Secure channel seven." Steve said into his comm.

"Seven secure." Bucky and Nat said into their own.

"You doing anything fun saturday night?" Nat asked.

"Well, all the guys from my barber shop quartet are dead, so no, not really." Steve replied with a small smile. 

Bucky rolled his eyes before his attention returned to Rumlow and the other agent. Both had been trying to hide their looks, but Bucky saw them. They were confused, and it was glorious.

"Coming up on the drop zone, Cap." A voice said, and the hatch opened.

"You know if you asked Kristen out from statistics she'd probably say yes." Natasha commented.

"That's why I don't ask." Steve replied.

"Too shy or too scared?"

"Too busy!" Steve said, and casually walked off the platform.

"Was he wearing a parachute?" The Hydra goon asked.

"No, no he wasn't." Rumlow said.

"That dumbass." Bucky said, and took off after him, also lacking a parachute.

It was only once he was falling that he remembered that jets flew high up. The water was certainly down there, and he knew that was good because water was his friend. But the problem was that the water was down there. 

Bucky managed to dive enough to catch up with Steve's plummet. It was a relief when the water silently swallowed them. Then they began to climb up the chain to get onto the ship, and Bucky glared at his hand. 

"What?" Steve whispered.

Bucky lightly poked the chain with a metal finger, and a small, metallic noise sounded. "Well, isn't that fantastic."

They made it work, somehow. It usually meant that Bucky held onto Steve's ankle or wrist as they maneuvered up the chain. Then Steve had to hop the rail and knock the pirate out, before he could pull Buck up.

From there, things got better for Buck. Well, he was certainly impressed with Steve's fighting capabilities. And Buck kept surprising Steve too, for that matter. Considering their bulk, they were pretty stealthy. 

The one time a pirate got lucky, Bucky had caught up and snatched the gun from the pirate, and kicked him to Steve who knocked him out. Rumlow landed a few feet away, with a missed opportunity.

Natasha landed a moment later, and smoothly ditched her parachute. "What about the nurse that lives across the hall from you? She seems kinda nice."

"Secure the engine room, then find me a date." Steve replied.

"I'm multitasking." Natasha quipped as she disappeared from view.

Bucky sighed. 

~~~~~~

"This isn't freedom. This is fear."

"SHIELD takes the world as it is, not as we'd like it to be. It's gettin' damn near past time for you to get with that program, Cap."

"Don't hold your breath."

~~~~~~

"I just need time to make sure it's nothing."

"But if it's something?"

"Then we'll both be damn glad those helicarriers aren't in the air."

~~~~~~

"Look who it is, the Running Man." Sam said.

"Caught the last few minutes. Pretty intense." Steve said, and leaned against the wall.

"Yeah brother." Sam said as he shuffled through some papers on a table. "We all got the same problems. Guilt. Regret."

"You lose someone?"

"My wingman, Riley. Flying a night mission, standard pj rescue op. Nothing we hadn't done a thousand times before. 'Till a rpg knock Riley's dumbass outta the sky. Nothing I could do. It's like I was up there just to watch."

"I'm sorry."

"After that, I had a really hard time finding a reason for being over there, you know?"

"But you're happy now? Back in the world?" Steve asked.

"Hey, the number of people giving me orders is down to about," Sam took a moment to look around, "Zero? So hell yeah. You thinking about getting out?"

"No," Steve said, and then amended himself, "I don't know."

~~~~~~

"Get me Agent Hill!" Fury demanded.

"Communications array damaged." The AI responded.

"Well, what's not damaged?" 

"Air conditioning is fully operational."

~~~~~~

Bucky was holding down the fort when someone else came in. Those footsteps weren't Steve, or Natasha, and if it were either of them they would have said something. So naturally Bucky picked up the nearest knife.

Whoever had just walked into the house was injured, and male. Bucky heard him walk over, and play a record. What the heck? Who was this? Then the intruder grunted as he situated himself in the corner chair.

Well, no better time than now. Bucky stepped out of his spot, and faced the intruder. The man's single eye snapped to him.

"I was wondering where you were."

Bucky narrowed his eyes, before it clicked. "Oh, you must be Pirate Nick."

Fury glared. "What did you just call me?"

"I'm sure you heard correctly." Bucky replied.

"Only one person has ever had the audacity to ever call me 'Pirate'. At least, to my face." Fury said.

"Well, did you also shoot the guy?" Bucky raised an eyebrow.

"I did."

"Yeah, he's still grumpy about that." Bucky said.

"Not like it hurt him much." Fury said.

"Do you want some ice?" Bucky asked, after an awkward silence.

"I... Wouldn't mind." Fury said.

Bucky returned the knife to the sheath on his belt, and went into the kitchen to dig around in the freezer. Walking back to Fury with a bag of frozen peas, he stopped to pick up a pillow. Without a word, Bucky helped Fury rest his arm as comfortably as they could manage.

"You're different from your file." Fury commented.

"Which one? The US military or Hydra?" Bucky retorted.

"The Hydra one."

"Then I suppose that's a good thing."

"I suppose it is."

~~~~~~

When Steve came home, he assumed that Bucky had played the record. Which was why he was surprised when he saw Bucky lurking in a shadow. He followed Bucky's gaze, and peeked around the corner.

"I don't remember giving you a key." Steve commented.

"You really think I need one?" Fury replied, grunting as he sat up. "My wife. Kicked me out."

"Didn't know you were married." Steve said.

"A lot of things you don't know about me."

"I know, Nick. That's the problem." Steve said, and flipped on the light. For a moment, Fury's face was illuminated, and Steve's eyes widened.

Fury gestured for Steve to wait, and turned off the light himself. He typed on his phone, and showed the screen to Steve. Bucky saw as well.

[EARS EVERYWHERE]

"I'm sorry to have to do this, but I have no place else to crash." Fury said.

[HYDRA IS MAKING THEIR MOVE]

"Who else knows about your wife?" Steve asked.

Fury stood. "Just my friends."

[ONLY US]

"Is that what we are?" Steve replied.

"That's up to you."

Before Steve could reply, Fury cried out as bullets tore through his chest. He fell to the floor, and the two soldiers grabbed a hold of his arms and dragged him out of the way. Before Steve could pull away, Fury grabbed his wrist, and held aloft a drive.

"Don't- trust- anyone." Fury choked out.

The door banged open, and a woman called out, "Captain Rogers? Captain, I'm Agent 13, SHIELD special service."

"Kate?" Steve replied.

"I'm assigned to protect you." 'Kate' added.

"On who's order?" Steve demanded.

She paused for a moment when she saw Fury. "His." She kneeled down and checked for a pulse before grabbing a radio from the front pocket of her pink scrubs. "Foxtrot is down, he's unresponsive. I need EMTs."

"Do we have a 20 on the shooter?" 

"Tell him I'm in pursuit." Steve said.

Steve ran and jumped from the window, crashing into the next building over. Goddammit Steve, why do you make me do this? Bucky cursed, before taking the leap himself. At least it was easy for Bucky to follow Steve as he barreled through like a speedy tank. 

Bucky reached the window in time to see Steve catch his shield, sliding back from the force. It was just barely a second that Bucky saw the shooter, but he recognized the figure.

~~~~~~

Natasha ducked into the room, and froze beside Steve. 

"Is he gonna make it?"

"I dunno."

"Tell me about the shooter."

"He's fast, strong. Black eyes."

"Ballistics."

"Three slugs, no rifling. Completely untraceable." Hill answered.

"Soviet made."

"Yeah." Hill confirmed.

The operators brought out the defibrillator. 

"Don't do this to me, Nick." Natasha whispered.

"Time of death, 1:03 AM."

~~~~~~

"Natasha!" 

"Why was Fury in your apartment?" 

"I dunno." Steve lied.

"Cap, they want you back at SHIELD." Rumlow said.

"Yeah, give me a second." Steve nodded.

"They want you now." Rumlow added.

"Okay." Steve said.

"You're a terrible liar." Natasha said, and walked away.

Bucky glared at the wall as the intercom announced the STRIKE team to escort Steve to the base.

Rumlow paused in front of Bucky. "What are you doing here, Soldier?" He asked quietly.

"I'm here on orders." Bucky replied.

"Who's?" Rumlow demanded.

Bucky leaned closer, and stared Rumlow in the eyes. "My own."

Rumlow's eyes widened, and he was distracted enough to miss Steve slipping Bucky the drive.

A/N

This chapter took so long to get up because I had to wait until I could watch The Winter Soldier by myself so that I could take notes. Notes are good. Then I had to figure out how to get Bucky into the plot, but not as he originally is in the movie.