•••
"MISTER BARNES, MISS micheals, boss wanted me to remind you the quinjet leaves for wakanda in less then two hours." friday's voice echoed through bucky's room, alexa sighing. she draped her arm across his abdomen, spooning him. bucky put his hand in her's and intertwined them.
"i can hear your thoughts honey. shuri knows what she's doing. two days tops she said, and you'll be free from hydra." bucky exhaled, turning in alexa's arms.
"i know, i trust shuri, according to tony she's smarter then him and bruce combined, and that's pretty smart," alexa chuckled softly.
"i just- i never imagined that i'd finally be free from what they put in me. i cant trust my own mind, and until she can get the words out, i gotta go back under." alexa nodded, understanding. she placed a kiss on his lips, bucky relaxing immediately.
"i'll be right there when you wake up." bucky cocked an eyebrow up, a small smile on his lips.
"promise?" he stuck his pinky up, alexa smiling. they locked pinkies.
"i promise, you dork." the two laughed, unhooking their pinkies as alexa's hand went to the back of bucky's neck, kissing him once again.
•••
"i hope i see you back and better then ever barnes." sam brought bucky into hug, bucky accepting it.
"thanks sam." the two smiled, bucky saying goodbye to everyone. he went to natasha, her giving a small smile.
"you know, you've come a long way since the red room bucky. i'm proud of you. we all are." he chuckled, looking down at his feet, then looked back to look at natasha.
"you've come a long way as well nat. i'm proud of you too." natasha felt her smile grow, and held back the tears in her eyes. she brought bucky into a hug, holding him tight.
"good luck barnes. you're gonna come back out good as new." "that's the plan." he heard her chuckle, him releasing her from the hug. he walked towards jet, seeing alexa, steve, bruce and tony waiting for him. everyone waved one last time at the group, watching the runway close and the jet take off from the tower.
•••
wakanda was beautiful. a place like none other.
when the jet landed, and the runway opened, bucky nervously stood up. he grabbed alexa's hand, her looking up at him. she placed her head around the back of his neck to pull him down for a loving kiss.
"breathe honey. everything's gonna work out fine." he nodded, sending alexa a small smile. she grinned back, the two following tony and bruce out of the jet, steve to bucky's left.
the king of wakanda, t'challa, the princess of wakanda, shuri, and the dora milaje greeted the group.
"sergeant barnes, it's great that you're finally here." t'challa greeted, bucky letting go of alexa's hand to shake t'challa's.
"thank you t'challa. it means a lot that you agreed to help." t'challa chuckled.
"you're very welcome sergeant barnes, but you don't have to thank me. as you may already know, i'm not the one who will be preforming this." he motioned to the younger girl, who walked up to them with a smile.
"well, you must be shuri." tony smirked, shuri sending one right back.
"yes mister stark, i'm glad you contacted us to help you." she spoke, shaking his hand. his jaw dropped slightly, the younger girl sassing him a bit. bruce chuckled softly. she shook bruce and tony's hands.
her and peter would be good friends.
"sergeant barnes, it's a pleasure to meet you." she then shook bucky's hand, him smiling.
"it's great to meet to meet you shuri, thank you for helping. it means a lot." she dismissed him with a wave of her hand.
"no need for a thank you. it's my pleasure. follow me, i'll show you the lab." bucky looked at steve before they followed shuri and t'challa into the lab.
it was very spacious with technology that even tony hasn't seen before.
bucky's eyes found the cryostasis chamber, his eyes then looking at shuri. he took a calming breath, and focused on what she was saying.
"....with his brain. it won't take too long, since i've had time to figure things out. two or three days maybe, four the most." alexa nodded as shuri finished talking.
"i'll prep the lab, and we'll start in a hour. you all have rooms here for the time being, which will be shown to you now." shuri motioned to a few men, then leading the group out of the lab to the rooms.
bucky and alexa opened the door to their room, it being big and spacious. the bathroom was large, and spacious as well. alexa walked into the bathroom, seeing bucky look at himself in the mirror.
"hey doll?" "yes my love?"
she watched his lips quirk up through the mirror. she wrapped her arms around his abdomen, her burying her head into his back.
"can you cut my hair again?" bucky felt alexa move her head, and her head popped out next to his bicep.
"yea of course, wanna shave too?" he nodded, alexa smiling. she found some scissors, a razor and shaving cream. he wet his hair, and sat down on a chair. he slipped his shirt off quickly.
she grabbed his comb, brushing his hair. she looked at him through the mirror, sending him a soft smile. he smiled back.
"how short honey?" "like before."
she nodded, and started cutting. bucky watched this time, his grin growing as alexa cut. she wiped the hair off his bare shoulders. he looked just like he did in the photos during the 40s.
"thank you." bucky whispered, alexa leaning forward to kiss his cheek.
"of course baby, now, sit still, or you're gonna get shaving cream everywhere."
•••
bucky was sitting in a chair, a white tank top covering his chest. the doctors were helping shuri set up, bucky going under soon.
"we'll see you on the other side barnes." tony joked, bucky chuckling.
"thanks stark."
steve walked up to bucky, steve's arms crossed over his chest as bucky met his eyes.
"hey, once the words are out, maybe i'll be back to the way i was before." steve shook his head, disagreeing.
"i've known you my whole life buck. i liked you the way you were in the 40s, and the way you are now. i'm always gonna be your friend, no matter what. i know doing this is the best choice, to fianlly get rid of him ever coming back. i'll be right here waiting for you to get back." bucky grinned, bringing steve into a hug.
alexa smiled softly at the two friends, watching steve back away. alexa walked forward, bucky's hands laying on her waist.
"i'm gonna be right here when you wake up." "promise?"
alexa's lips quirked up, leaning down to kiss him. her hands cupped his face softly, pulling him closer.
"i promise baby. i'll be right here." she mumbled against his lips. his eyes met her's, him putting his left hand into her hand. he kissed the back of her hand, smirking as he looked up at her. she chuckled, shaking her head.
"dork." "nerd." "geek." "mine."
bucky laughed, alexa smiling at his reaction.
"that was smooth baby, that was really smooth." she smiled, kissing him one last time. before she had a chance to back away, he hugged her tight. she smiled softly, her head hooked over his shoulder.
"i love you babydoll. don't do anything to crazy without me." "i love you too james, and how could i? i need my crazy boyfriend to do crazy things with."
they smiled softly, alexa watched with her arm's crossed over her chest as bucky got into the chamber. bucky looked at her one last time, him winking at her, a smirk on his face. she winked back, smiling. he turned his head back foward, head tilting upward a bit. he closed his eyes, the chamber freezing up.
alexa sighed, resting her head on steve's bicep. steve looked down, wrapping his arm around her waist.
"c'mon sweetheart." alexa nodded, the two following tony and bruce out of the room.
•••
the sun was setting, and steve and alexa were taking a walk together.
"this for the best. bucky needs the reassurance that he won't come back again. one step closer to recovery, as sam says." alexa spoke up, steve nodding.
"i was so close." steve mumbled, alexa looked up, seeing steve shake his head.
"i was so close to grabbing his hand and saving him. that scream lexa, haunts me to this day. if only i had grabbed him, he wouldn't have been captured." alexa shook her head, grabbing his hand.
"steve, honey, sit down." the two sat down on the grass, alexa holding his hands.
"you cannot blame yourself. i've read bucky's file. he and the 107th were captured, and he was experimented on. hydra was planning this all long, to take bucky. you tried your hardest steve, and that's all you could have done. i know watching him fall had to be the hardest thing, you feeling like you're up there just to watch. 70 years later, not the way he was before, but he's here. he's smiling, cracking jokes, and teasing you, like you two did in the 40s. he may not be the james barnes you grew up with, but he's here." steve blinked back tears, alexa squeezing his hands for reassurance.
"when bucky gets out, he's one step closer to recovery. he told me wants to keep his hair short now. he's getting better steve." "thanks to you."
alexa cocked an eyebrow up, steve letting out a wet laugh.
"you've helped him so much. he's laughing and smiling harder everyday. he has you to lean on, you having the best understanding of everything that happened. i knew when you two met, you two would become friends, and i'm so glad you did. you helped him get used to people touching him, without harming him. he hugs me everyday, but when i found him two months before i brought him to the tower, he would whip a knife out at me. he's opened up so much, cause you helped him learn that the team is family. you helped him become the person i grew up with again."
alexa smiled softly, leaning forward to hug steve. he held her tight, his head hooked over her shoulder.
"i love you steve." "i love you too alexa."
the two released the hug, now standing up as it started to get dark out. they started their walk back to the palace.
"we haven't had one of those deep conversations in a while." alexa said, steve agreeing with her.
"thought you were replacing me." alexa looked up at him and grinned, nudging him.
"i could never steven." "good, i would be a mess without you alexa."