After a while, Bucky finally relaxed. He was still insistent on staying in his mama's arms but she was more than happy to indulge him, and kept him as close as she possibly could. Eventually Sam had to get up from the couch to use the bathroom, allowing the depth of Bucky's anxiety to be revealed. Y/n watched as Bucky's face fell and he got off of the couch to go sit by the bathroom door. She moved to go and follow him but he looked at her fearfully. "No," he whimpered, trying to get his point across with his limited speaking ability as he pointed to the couch. "Mama no."
"You want Mama to stay on the couch?" She asked and Bucky nodded his head. She hesitated for a moment, wanting to comfort her baby, but she also didn't want to cause him any further distress so she sat back down. She watched as her baby stared at the door, waiting for his uncle to come out and tried her best to reassure him from her place on the couch that he would be out soon.
Sam walked out of the bathroom to Bucky sitting right outside the door, in fact he almost tripped on him. He looked over at Y/n, who looked incredibly concerned, and then back at Bucky. The little boy immediately reached for Sam, a few tears slipping down his cheeks, and sniffled. Sam didn't hesitate to pick him up, holding him tightly in an attempt to comfort the upset baby. "What happened little guy?" He asked quietly, running a hand up and down Bucky's back.
"Sammy," Bucky whimpered, sniffling again against his caregiver's shoulder. "No go."
"Oh kiddo," Sam cooed, carrying Bucky over to the couch where Steve and Y/n were watching with concern. "I'm not going anywhere, I promise. Uncle Sam just had to go potty."
Bucky nodded his head, but didn't let go of his uncle for another 15 minutes. He only released him when the timer went off and Steve told Bucky that he had to go pull the dinner that Sam had made earlier out of the oven. The anxious little boy immediately threw himself at Steve, violently shaking his head. "No go Stevie," he whimpered. "No."
"Buck, our dinner could burn," Steve tried to explain, helplessly looking at his sister. "I have to go get it."
"Bucks, how about we all go to the kitchen together?" Y/n suggested. Bucky nodded his head, reaching for his mama for comfort, and she didn't hesitate to bring him into her arms and hold him close. "I know baby, Mama understands."
"Mama," Bucky whimpered, relieved that she knew what was going on. Communicating was so hard when he was this little, thank god Mama could translate for him. "Mama, Sammy, Stevie, no go 'lone."
"Alright baby, we'll use the buddy system for now," Y/n reassured him, following her brother and Sam to the small kitchen. "Guys, from now on we're only leaving Bucky's sight in pairs, okay?" They nodded their agreement and Bucky relaxed, resting his head on his mama's shoulder. "Are you hungry, baby boy?" He nodded his head against her shoulder but when Steve offered him a plate of food he turned away, letting out a little whine.
"How about I make you a baba?" Sam offered, already grabbing one from the dish rack. Bucky gratefully nodded his head, and Y/n took him to the couch so that he could eat. The gentle reassurance while he ate went a long way into helping him settle and by the time his caregivers had all eaten their dinner, Bucky was feeling much better.
Before long they had figured out how to use the television in the living room and were curled up watching Cars. The baby was smaller than usual and so he didn't speak much while his uncles and his mama cuddled and cooed over him on the couch. He giggled at their silly jokes and babbled at them while they listened with their full attention. He was really only saying a handful of real words, but his mama and his uncles were still smiling softly at him and nodding along. It made him feel so small and loved, like nothing could touch him as long as his caregivers were there. Everything finally felt okay.
Then came the gunshots.
Steve heard the first one and immediately went to the window. "There's a bunch of hunters out there!" He said angrily. Another shot rang out and Y/n felt rage course through her veins. It had been building since Bucky had regressed, her anger at Hydra boiling over, and there was finally an excuse to release it.
"C'mon Steve." She ran over to the door "They picked the wrong fucking day to hunt on our property."
Two more gunshots rang out as the door closed behind Y/n and her brother and Sam watched as Bucky shot up from where he had frozen on the couch and bolted into the room he shared with Y/n. Sam followed him in when he didn't immediately come out, and saw the frightened little boy curled up in the corner of the room, clutching his blankie like his life depended on it and rocking back and forth in an effort to self-soothe.
"Buck?" He called out gently, coming to crouch down beside him.
"Don' let 'em take me," Bucky begged, clearly on the verge of tears. "P'ease Uncle Sam. Can be a big boy, p'omise, I can. Bucky can be good, Bucky can try harder, jus' don' send Bucky away."
Sam got a sick feeling in his stomach as he realized that Bucky was trying to force himself out of his headspace. He got closer as Bucky begged not to be sent away, trying to tell Sam that he could 'be a big boy' if it meant that Sam would protect him. "Buck, no one's gonna take you. You don't have to be a big boy, you can be as little as you want."
Bucky violently shook his head as he burst into tears. "I don' wanna go back," he sobbed. "I don' wanna be bad again, I wanna be a good boy. P'ease, Uncle Sam, 'm not Hydra. M not Hydra, I p'omise."
Sam couldn't take it anymore and lifted the sobbing little boy into his lap, holding him close while his broken pleas devolved into harsh sobs. "I know you aren't Hydra," he whispered as gently as he could. "You're a very good boy, you were never bad, sweetheart. Hydra can't touch you here, I promise, I'll protect you. The scary noises were just hunters, no one's coming to get you." He kept up the reassurance until Bucky's sobs slowed down enough that he could finally speak again.
"Would anyone help?" He choked out, holding on to Sam's shirt like a lifeline. "Would anyone come an' save Bucky?"
"Of course we would," Sam assured him, tilting Bucky's chin up to look him in the eye. "If, by some impossible twist of fate, Hydra managed to get past me, Steve and your mama to take you away, we wouldn't stop looking or fighting until you were back home where you belong."
"Why?"
That one question broke Sam's heart in two. Y/n had spoken to him and Steve in the past about how unworthy of love Bucky felt, but he hadn't ever truly seen the depths of it. He could see now that she hadn't been exaggerating, not even a little. After all this time. Bucky still couldn't figure out why they would want to save him. "Honey, we love you," Sam said earnestly, watching as even more tears spilled over into Bucky's cheeks. "We would do anything and everything it takes to bring you home." Another hiccuping sob escaped Bucky's mouth and Sam pulled him closer in his lap, pressing a kiss to the top of his head.
"But wha' if I f'get you?" Bucky cried out, barely understandable through his sobs.
"What do you mean, kiddo?" Sam asked, running a hand up and down the baby's back.
"The chair." Bucky spit out, holding on tighter to Sam as he desperately sought security.
"Oh honey, you're never going back to that chair," Sam said quietly, trying to hold himself together as Bucky fell apart. "We won't let Hydra get you again, I promise. They can't hurt you anymore."
"They'll find a way," Bucky said sadly. "Make me hurt you like before. Make you hate me, make you not want Bucky no more."
"There's nothing that they could possibly do to make any of us not want you anymore." Sam was managing to keep his voice steady, even as a tear fell down his cheek. Bucky sounded so convinced that Hydra would manage to steal away his whole support system, it was breaking Sam's heart. "I know that it wasn't really you who tried to hurt me that first time we met. Bad people were using you to do bad things, but that doesn't make you a bad person."
"Not scared?" Bucky asked in a shaky little voice, finally calming as Sam reassured him. "Uncle Sam not scared of Bucky?"
"Not even a little bit." Sam pulled Bucky back so that they could look each other in the eye. "How could I ever be afraid of you when you're big, huh? With that big goofy smile, and the way that you always hog the blankets on movie night. And what about when you're little and you want your mama? It's like your whole body reaches for her, and you make that sweet little sound when she picks you up. I could never be afraid of you, Buck. And that goes for when you're big, little, or somewhere in between. I love you so much, that'll never change." He pressed a kiss to Bucky's forehead and wrapped his arms all the way around Bucky's back as the little boy collapsed against him, trying to process what his uncle had just told him.
While Sam was comforting Bucky, Y/n and Steve had just finished yelling at the hunters that had foolishly chosen to fire their guns near the cabin. They began heading back inside, but Y/n stopped her brother on the porch.
"Stevie, are you doing alright?" She asked gently, remembering the look on his face when Bucky had involuntarily regressed earlier at the lake. "I know it was upsetting when Bucky slipped."
Steve stiffened up, he thought that he'd been doing a much better job of hiding his emotions but apparently his sister could see right through him. "I just feel so guilty," he said quietly. "None of this would've ever happened if I hadn't brought him on that train. I'm his best friend but I can't help him, I couldn't even save him."
"That wasn't your fault, Stevie," she reassured her brother. "You can't change the past and you can't fix what happened to him, but you can be there now."
"I'm trying," Steve said. "I feel so helpless. I can't do what you do, I can't provide the kind of comfort that you give him."
"I know you're trying," Y/n said, reaching out to squeeze her brother's shoulder. "You don't have to do what I do in order to help him. He has more fun with you than he does with anyone else, and that's not something he's ever gotten to have while he's little. Be his uncle. Be silly and reassuring, take him to go make a mess and act like a little boy. That's what he really needs from you right now."
"You really think I can help him?" Steve asked anxiously, eyes shining with unshed tears.
"I know you can." Y/n pulled her brother into her arms, letting him hold on tight for a few minutes while he calmed down. "We're going to be okay, and with time Bucky will heal."
Steve nodded his head against her shoulder, finally pulling away. "I kinda thought I was doing a better job of hiding this," he admitted, laughing a little bit. "I guess not."
Y/n laughed. "Stevie, you're my little brother, I'll always be looking out for you."
"You know I'm technically older than you, right? I was born in 1918." Steve teased his sister.
"Biologically I'm like three months older, don't start with me," she warned, throwing an arm around his shoulders as they walked inside. She was shocked to see that Sam and Bucky weren't on the couch, and walked over to the room she shared with her baby when she saw that the door was ajar. She walked in to see Sam sitting in the corner of the room, cradling her baby and telling him over and over again that Hydra wasn't going to get him. "Bucks?"
Bucky's head shot up when he heard his mama's voice and he reached for as he burst into tears all over again. She picked him up immediately and sat down on the bed, rocking her baby back and forth while Sam explained what had just happened. "Mama stay here," Bucky begged Y/n as he held on tight. "P'ease. P'ease Mama."
"Oh my poor baby boy," Y/n cooed. "Mama's right here, I won't let anyone take you away." She picked up her baby and walked to the living room with Sam and Steve. Once he was settled with his caregivers nearby he began to calm, but he was still upset. He reached for Sam's hand, holding on tight while his metal hand stayed fisted in his mama's shirt. He whimpered when he realized that he couldn't hold on to Steve, and looked up at his mama in seek of help.
"Stevie, I think he needs a point of contact with you," Y/n explained. Steve nodded and reached out, resting a hand on Bucky's back from his place beside his sister. He began running it up and down Bucky's back as the little boy let out a relieved sigh. "Is that better, baby boy?" She asked Bucky, pressing a kiss to the top of his head when he nodded. "We're here, baby. None of us are gonna disappear. No one's gonna take us from you, we promise."