They'd only meant to get back the shield— to talk a spiraling Walker off the ledge and get him to see some sense. No one else was supposed to get hurt, whether they were an innocent bystander watching the altercation or someone involved in trying to get Karli to stand down.

Simply speaking, you weren't supposed to end up like this; bedridden and bruised to all hell with no memory of the last eight years. In the skirmish for the shield, you'd taken a blow to the head when Walker had tossed you into some of the machinery around. Bucky had already been nervous when you went unconscious, but nothing had prepared him for seeing you look at him like he was a stranger.

Because he was, at least, without the memories of being together on the run, fighting in countless battles, and the grey areas in between. No huddling together in safehouses scattered across the globe, no being by his side while he underwent his deconditioning, and none of the romance that had bloomed between the two of you since the airport fight in Germany.

You were everything to him. You just couldn't remember.

While Sam's been away making amends with his family and community back home, Bucky's been more focused on helping you with your memory. Photos, videos, news reports— anything that could spur something in your memory, he'd try.

"How're you feeling?" he asks softly as he sits with you on the couch. It takes everything in him not to take it personally when you scoot away, but the furrowing of his brow gives away his unease.

Fate must still have it out for him after all the atoning he's done, because only he would have to experience forgetting and being forgotten. If this is anything like what Steve went through trying to get through to him, Bucky's never felt more grateful for him never giving up on him.

Offering his metal hand out, Bucky feels some form of relief when you accept it willingly. Progress. His thumb brushes over your knuckles like it's done many times before. "... Go slow," he coaxes, hoping that he'll catch a glimpse of the person he's loved for years (his version of you, at least).

"I've got all the time in the world."