Shyest

by biblionerd07

Summary:

SHIELD discovers that HYDRA took a DNA sample from Captain America and a DNA sample from the Winter Soldier and tried to breed a perfect supersoldier. Steve and Bucky suddenly find themselves the parents of a three-year-old boy who won't speak.

Notes:

• Translation into Tiếng Việt available: Shyest (translation) by StuckyShipper
• Translation into 中文-普通话 國語 available: 第六子 by joankindom

As you could probably guess, this was inspired by that tumblr post going around about HYDRA/SHIELD trying to breed supersoldiers but finding Steve's DNA doesn't actually contain the serum. Any Russian comes from google translate (including the title, Shyest) so if you speak Russian and something's ridiculously wrong, please let me know!

Chapter 1

Steve comes back from a morning run to a message on his phone asking him and Bucky to go into Fury's office (which is in Stark Tower now, something that delights Tony to no end) for a “very important meeting.” It's from Fury himself, not his secretary, so Steve figures it must be something big. Steve feels a little ill. Bucky's not exactly okay, but he's better than he was six months ago. What if Fury wants Bucky to join the Avengers? Of course Steve would love to have Bucky watching his back, but hasn't Bucky fought enough? Can't he have a break?

“I'll just say no, Stevie,” Bucky says, somewhat out of the blue as they're getting dressed. Steve looks up, surprised, and Bucky gives him a wry smile. “I can see what you're worried about. You're worried he's going to try to get me to join your little group. I'll say no.”

“It's not that I don't want you there,” Steve assures him quickly, turning back to face the dresser so he can figure out what shirt to wear. “I just want you to have some peace, is all.”

Bucky smiles faintly and comes over to wrap his arms around Steve's waist and rest his face against Steve's back. “Not sure peace is ever really going to be in the cards for me, pal.”

Steve sighs and covers Bucky's hands with his own. “I'm going to make it be in the cards.”

Bucky laughs. “You can't make things happen out of stubbornness, you know. Even if you are the most stubborn little shit on earth.”

“Are you not counting yourself in there?” Steve snorts. Bucky licks Steve's neck and Steve yelps, turning around in Bucky's arms to rest their foreheads together.

“I'm not stubborn,” Bucky mutters, fake-scowling at Steve. He can't even say it with a straight face.

“Button your pants, jerk. We're going to be late.”

“You don't want to button 'em for me?” Bucky's grin starts slow and Steve has to back away from him.

“Don't,” he scolds. “We have to leave in ten minutes! We're going to be late! Don't you come near me with your pants unbuttoned, you know I can't resist.”

They're late.

“Gentlemen.” Fury nods at them as he closes the door to his office. Steve flushes a little because that eye looks a little too knowing about why they're late. Bucky just raises his eyebrows because he's Bucky.

“I'm not really sure where to start,” Fury actually sighs and Steve freezes. This must be something big. Beside him, Bucky also looks wary.

“Start at the beginning,” Steve suggests. Bucky smirks and Steve kicks him.

“Well, Cap, do you remember giving DNA samples?” Fury asks. Steve's brow wrinkles in confusion.

“Um...I don't know. I've given a lot of blood over the years.”

“Not blood. You gave a cheek swab to SHIELD when you first woke up.” Fury purses his lips as Steve shrugs. “It would seem the branch of SHIELD that came into possession of that sample was...compromised.”

“HYDRA,” Bucky mutters. “You can say it out loud, you know. I'm not going to freak out.”

Fury levels a glare at him for a second. “Well. Yes. HYDRA. And they decided to do some testing with your DNA.”

Bucky tenses. “What did they do?” He asks, sort of freaking out even though he'd just said he wouldn't.

“They were experimenting with creating new supersoldiers.”

“Like Zola did?” Steve asks, hand clenching against the arm rest.

“No.” Fury hesitates. “Creating them from birth.”

The office is silent for a moment. Bucky coughs. “They, um, they used Steve to make...kids?”

Fury sighs again. “Not just Steve,” he admits quietly. “They also had a sample from you, Barnes.”

“A cheek swab sample?” Steve knows from the look on Fury's face it isn't a cheek swab sample but his breathing is so fast he has to say something to steady it. Fury shakes his head just once. Steve starts swearing and looks at Bucky. He's sitting ramrod straight in his chair, staring straight ahead, jaw clenched.

“They used DNA from both your samples to create children,” Fury continues. “We just found the testing facility.”

“Children?” Steve asks faintly as Bucky babbles,

“We have to go—they can't be there. HYDRA's no place for kids, we gotta...we have to go bust them out.”

Fury holds up a hand. “There's just one child. And it appears he's been under private supervision. Still under HYDRA control, but not a HYDRA facility. They didn't know what to do with him when he turned out to not be superhuman.”

“He?” Steve swallows hard. “How old is he? What's his name?”

“He's three years old. According to the files and the intel we have, they call him Shyest.”

All the color drains from Bucky's face and his breathing picks up. “That's—” He presses his lips together, trying to regain control.

“What? What's that?” Steve asks.

“It's Russian for six,” Bucky says with gritted teeth. “Does that mean...?”

“The other experiments were unsuccessful.” Fury's voice is even.

“Unsuc—what does that mean?” Steve asks desperately. “They didn't...” He can't make himself say it.

“As far as we can tell, only two experiments actually produced children, and the other died shortly after birth.” He raises a hand at the look on both their faces. “Natural causes. A heart condition.”

Steve flushes. “Well, they obviously used my DNA,” he mutters.

“But where's the kid?” Bucky presses. “Even if he's not in a HYDRA facility, if he's under HYDRA's control, we gotta go get him out of there.”

“We've already done that,” Fury assures them. “He's downstairs, actually. He's being examined by some doctors.”

“What's going to happen to him?” Steve asks slowly. Fury raises an eyebrow.

“That's up to you,” he says. “He is product of your DNA. You can do with that information what you will. I'll give you some time to talk it over.”

It's not really a question, and they both know it before the door even closes behind Fury. They can't just send some traumatized kid out into the great unknown, especially not when he's theirs.

“Well,” Bucky huffs out a little laugh. “Always used to think about having kids with you, back before the war.”

“Not anymore?” Steve asks quietly.

“Steve, I can't even sleep through the night.” Bucky tips his head back to look at the ceiling. “But.”

“But,” Steve agrees, reaching over and lacing their fingers together. Bucky takes a minute or two to gather himself, then he stands up and pulls Steve to his feet.

“Let's go meet our kid.”

They hold hands the whole way, public be damned. Everyone knows they're together anyway; they've never kept it a secret, but they've never been big on PDA. It's a lingering side effect about having to be so careful before. But this—well, they have no idea how to handle this. The only thing they can do is cling together for dear life.

“The doctor isn't quite finished,” an agent posted outside the door tells them. Steve stops listening, stops breathing even, because he can see the kid through the glass wall. The white-blond hair is Steve—his ma used to tell him his hair was almost translucent when he was younger—the blue eyes could be both of them, and the cheekbones are all Bucky.

“Holy shit,” Bucky murmurs beside him.

“That's, um.” Steve licks his lips. “Wow.”

“No question of paternity,” Fury agrees. “Either paternity, I guess.”

“It's like someone melted our faces together,” Steve says, awed.

“Nah, just our DNA,” Bucky chuckles. “I'm not calling him Shyest. That's a number. He's not—he's a person. A tiny person, but a person. He needs a name.”

“I know, Buck,” Steve says softly. “But he may not react well to being called something else.”

“If I know HYDRA.” Bucky has to stop for a second and Steve squeezes his hand. “They probably didn't call him much of anything.”

The kid looks over toward where they're all congregated and Steve thinks his heart stops beating at how solemn those big blue eyes are. His lower lip is trembling a little, but his back is completely straight.

“He looks terrified,” Bucky whispers. “Hey,” he raises his voice to address the agent. “Is anyone telling him what's going on?”

“He's three,” the agent says skeptically. “He wouldn't understand.”

“Fuck that,” Bucky spits, and before anyone can stop him, he's stormed into the room. It's not like Steve can blame him—one, Bucky went through enough without being told what was happening, and two, Steve's hot on his heels.

“You can't be in here,” the doctor says without looking up from whatever he's writing.

“You can't treat him like he's not a person,” Bucky snaps. The doctor starts and looks up, eyes widening when he sees Steve and Bucky.

“Um—”

“And since this is our child,” Steve picks up Bucky's train of thought. “Shouldn't you be running all procedures by us?”

Bucky gives him a look that says nice one and Steve shrugs a little sheepishly. He'll use any card he has in his deck to stop someone from being mistreated.

“You're not his legal guardians,” the doctor says hesitantly.

“They are now.” Fury comes in behind them, dramatic entrance as ever.

“Hi.” Bucky kneels in front of the table so he's at eye level with the kid. “My name is Bucky.”

“I'm Steve,” Steve adds, bending down too. The kid's eyes dart between them but he doesn't say anything. “Can he talk?” Steve asks the doctor, who shrugs.

“Developmentally, he should be able to, but we haven't heard him say anything.”

“Have you only been speaking English?” Bucky's tone indicates he highly doubts the doctor's intelligence.

“No, Barnes,” Fury pipes up sarcastically behind them. “We're a highly classified intelligence agency, and we only tried one language, a language that isn't the one his name is in.”

Bucky mutters something about intelligence agency and infiltrated but switches to Russian to address the kid. The boy's eyes widen a fraction, so he clearly understands, but he still doesn't say anything.

“Can we get him out of this damn lab?” Steve asks. He remembers too well hospital stays as a child and being surrounded by the smell of antiseptic and scary machines.

“You can take him home. We've expedited the necessary paperwork,” Fury says.

“Expedited?” Steve asks, eyebrow raised. Fury shrugs.

“Kid didn't even officially exist until two days ago. Not hard to fix. For an intelligence agency.” He says the last part with a little glare in Bucky's direction. Bucky rolls his eyes but doesn't take the bait.

“Do you want to leave?” Steve asks the boy, trying to make his voice gentle. The boy's shoulders shake a little but he doesn't respond. Bucky says something in Russian, voice soothing, and the kid takes a shaky breath. He still doesn't talk. Steve stands up, because he may be a supersoldier but his knees still don't like being bent in a crouch for too long.

“Come on,” he says, extending a hand for Bucky to stand, too. “Shyest?” He asks uncertainly. The boy flinches a little but otherwise doesn't react and Steve can't decide if it's a good thing or not.

“How 'bout some ice cream?” Bucky suggests. Blank stare. Steve and Bucky look at one another, no idea how to respond.

“Oh, just pick him up,” the doctor says irritably. “He's not big enough to fight you.”

Bucky goes completely still except for his hands, which are balling into fists. “How scared he is doesn't matter, huh?”

“Buck.” Steve puts a hand on Bucky's shoulder and Bucky unclenches his hands. Steve turns to glare at the doctor. “What kind of doctor are you, anyway? What about first do no harm?”

Bucky sits down on the table beside the kid. “Hey, kid,” he says. “We're not going to hurt you, okay? I'm guessing you haven't had a life that lets you believe that, or really even understand what that means.” He breathes hard through his nose a few times, trying to steady himself. “But we want to take you home.”

The little boy eyes Bucky warily for a minute, then points at Steve. He still hasn't made a sound. “Yeah, me too,” Steve says. “I promise I won't hurt you, either.” The little boy tilts his head to the side and Bucky sucks in a breath.

“That's all you, Stevie,” he murmurs. “You always used to tip your head like that.” Finally, hesitantly, the boy puts his arms around Bucky's neck and allows himself to be carried, but as soon as Bucky stands up he squirms to be put down. He walks to the door and looks back at them.

“He wants to walk,” Steve says with a shrug. He and Bucky follow him. He's still silent all the way to the car waiting for them and doesn't even look at the driver who's offering him a piece of candy. They get home and Steve unlocks the door. The little boy walks inside and then stands just inside the door, back straight and chin up. He's standing at attention and Steve feels a rush of anger in the pit of his stomach. A three-year-old standing at attention. It makes him want to punch something.

“Well.” Bucky blows out a breath. “What the hell do we do now?”

Chapter 2

Notes:

There's some implied violence against animals in this chapter, but it's like...way, way implied/hypothetical and the animal in question is a drawing, not real. But still, head's up if you think that might bother you.

Steve slips into their bedroom and calls Sam. Sam has a niece and two nephews, which officially makes him the only person Steve knows with any kind of experience with children. Dr. Banner helps kids in poor countries, but as far as Steve knows, he does medical treatment and then leaves.

“A kid?” Sam echoes faintly. “You have a kid?”

“It's a long story.” Steve pinches the bridge of his nose. “He's three. He hasn't said a word. He doesn't even have a real name.”

“Okay, look. I don't know anything about child therapy, but I'll see if I can get someone to cover group for me for the next few days and come help out.”

“Thank you, Sam. Seriously. You are my lifesaver every time.” Steve sags against the wall a little in relief. He'd been prepared to beg, but Sam never makes him beg.

“I know, I know. Super Falcon to the rescue,” Sam laughs. “Look, man, I'll come out tomorrow. For tonight...” He blows out a breath. “I don't really know what to tell you. You got that spare room—I don't know if he'll sleep there or not. He's probably scared out of his mind.”

“I'm sure he is,” Steve agrees. “But I get the feeling he'll do anything we order him to.”

Sam sums up Steve's feelings perfectly by growling, “Fuck HYDRA.”

When Steve goes back out to the living room, Bucky has coaxed the kid (who really needs a name) onto the couch. They're staring at one another and Steve can't help but find it absolutely adorable. There's no mistaking the kid as Bucky's; he's got the same sharp cheekbones and the bow of his mouth perfectly matches Bucky's.

“Sam's going to come tomorrow,” Steve says.

“Thank God,” Bucky mutters. “Steve, we don't have anything for a kid. What do kids eat? He doesn't even have any...you know, like, tiny clothes.”

“I'm pretty sure kids eat what adults eat, Buck.” Steve can't help but laugh a little and Bucky flips him off before realizing what he'd done and glancing guilty at the little boy. Their little boy, a voice reminds Steve. It sounds disbelieving, like the rest of him. Fury sent the file with them, so they'll go through it to figure out if there are any clues about the boy's mother.

“Should we order a pizza?” Steve asks. Bucky gives him a disapproving look.

“Pizza's not good for kids. Right? I mean, shouldn't he be eating vegetables?”

Steve shrugs. “I didn't eat that many vegetables and I sure grew up big and strong.”

Bucky snorts and rolls his eyes. “Let's hope he gets my sense of humor.”

“Oh, yeah right,” Steve scoffs. “We'd only hope that if we want to curse him for the rest of his life.”

“Damn, Stevie, this is our kid.” They both look at him. He's picking his nose. “Well, your kid,” Bucky amends with a grin.

“We need to call him something, Buck,” Steve reminds him. They sort of stare and shrug at one another.

“Let's see if there's anything in the file,” Bucky suggests. It takes them under two minutes to go through the whole thing, because it's a whopping three pages long. There's nothing about a mother, but it does reveal his birthday (the file calls it “experiment phase two commencement” and Bucky almost tears the paper) is June 14. It's July 12.

“What do you think the chances are he had a birthday party?” Steve asks darkly.

“Well, you could consider his present was not being murdered,” Bucky answers bitterly. Steve sighs. The kid's just sitting there, totally silent. Steve doesn't know much about kids, but he knows they're supposed to move around or at least wriggle or something.

“Alex?” Steve tries. They decided to just say names until the kid gives them a sign. Nothing.

“Should we try Russian?” Bucky wonders. “Alex isn't Russian for Alexander. Sasha?” Nothing.

No reaction for Vlad or Alexei. He makes a face at Anton and even makes a little scoffing sound at Boris, which makes Steve and Bucky both grin like dopes. Nothing for Ivan or Yasha.

“Well, maybe not Russian.” Bucky shrugs. “Mike?”

“Roger?”

Bucky sighs loudly. He'd been force-taught patience, but now that he's been making his own decisions for close to a year, his natural impatience has started creeping back in. Steve snorts at him—it hasn't even been five minutes.

“Don't you sass me, Steven Grant Rogers.”

The boy's head snaps toward Bucky. “Are you serious?” Bucky asks. “Grant?” The boy's lips turn up in what could almost be a smile and Bucky whoops. Steve's throat suddenly feels a little tight as he watches Bucky chant, “Grant, Grant, Grant!” and the boy ducks his head shyly, fully smiling now, peeking up at Bucky through long, thick eyelashes.

“We gotta figure out a whole name to give Fury for the birth certificate,” Steve says, managing to make his voice mostly normal. “I think his middle name should be James.”

Bucky rolls his eyes, but he's smiling. “Not Buchanan?” Steve elbows him.

“Let's call him Barnes.”

“Why not Rogers?” Bucky counters.

“Well, if we're calling him Grant, that's already from me, and people probably won't use his middle name much. That way when he gets to school and everything he has both of us in his name.” Steve shrugs and Bucky slips an arm around his shoulders.

“We could hyphenate,” he says. “Rogers-Barnes?”

“Grant James Rogers-Barnes?” Steve tries skeptically. “Hell of a mouthful.”

“You're saying this to a guy named James Buchanan Barnes,” Bucky reminds him.

“Grant James Barnes-Rogers,” Steve experiments. He looks at Grant. “Which one do you like?” He gets a blank look. “Barnes-Rogers or Rogers-Barnes?” Grant wrinkles his brow in confusion and Bucky makes a helpless little sound.

“He looks so much like you,” he says.

“I think he looks like you,” Steve shoots back.

“Alright, kid, one or two?” Bucky asks. He repeats the sentence in Russian, then says, “Barnes-Rogers,” and holds up one finger, “or Rogers-Barnes.” He looks like he's making a peace sign and Steve laughs a little.

Grant stares for a minute, then holds up one finger. “Good choice.” Bucky nods.

“I'll tell Fury,” Steve says. “But really, what should we eat for dinner?”

“Let me guess, you're starving?” Bucky teases. “What about—remember that cooking show? Rice and chicken and vegetables? With the sauce?”

“It didn't look too hard,” Steve agrees cautiously.

The rice ends up a little crunchy, the vegetables a little limp, but the sauce tastes good and the chicken's not too dry. After a google search for how much a three-year-old should eat for dinner (“That's too specific, Buck,” Steve says, but he's proven wrong when they get results and a whole suggested meal plan), they settle in to eat. Grant watches them start to eat before he picks up his own fork (“Can three-year-olds even feed themselves?” Bucky wonders, going back to google) and they try not to read too much into that.

He eats everything on his plate without protest—except the peppers. Every single chopped pepper in the sauce gets set aside.

“You don't like peppers?” Steve asks. He doesn't get a response, but Grant watches tensely when Steve picks up his plate. “Do you want more?” Steve guesses. Nothing.

“I think he's worried what's going to happen to him for not eating the peppers,” Bucky says softly. Steve has to close his eyes for a second. He sets the plates back on the table and crouches beside Grant's chair.

“Grant,” he says, and is rewarded by the boy meeting his eyes. “You don't have to eat anything you don't want to. You're not going to get in trouble.” Grant makes no sign he understands. “Are these yucky?” Steve points to the peppers. Grant's head moves.

“Was that a nod?” Bucky yelps. “Did he nod?”

“I think he nodded!” Steve realizes it's probably a little weird to get so excited over a nod, but that and the smile at his name are the only responses they've gotten out of him.

“Peppers are yucky!” Bucky yells. He pauses after he says it. “Wow. I haven't been this excited in a long time.”

“I'm wounded,” Steve teases as he takes the plates to the sink. “I thought you were pretty excited last night.”

Bucky tips his head back and laughs hard, an infrequent occurrence this past year. It goes straight to Steve's heart. “Steven Grant Rogers, that is inappropriate with a child present,” Bucky scolds. Grant perks up at the sound of his name. “Yeah, you were named after that lug. Sorry, kid.” He holds a hand out and Grant stares at it. “Come on, we're going to help do the dishes.”

Grant looks suspicious but he takes Bucky's hand and allows himself to be led to the sink. He cranes his neck up, but he's tiny. Steve crouches down. “Can I pick you up?” He asks. Grant chews his lip for a second, then latches onto Steve's neck.

Steve's breath hitches a little. He's never held a kid before. He's bent down to take pictures with kids at their parents' requests, but this is totally different. When he stands up, Bucky's got a sweet little smile twisting his lips before he turns to the sink.

“You look good with him,” he says softly.

“So do you,” Steve responds, just as soft. They smile dopily at one another for a second before getting to business with the dishes. Steve shifts Grant to his hip to free one arm. Bucky washes and they dry. Grant still doesn't make a sound, but he dutifully rubs the towel across the dishes. He's not great at it, but Steve and Bucky can't stop grinning at his efforts.

“We are so gone on this kid,” Bucky declares, shaking his head, and Steve has to agree.

They're at a loss again about what to do with him. Normally, they'd finish the dinner dishes and watch TV, but they both feel kind of bad just sticking the kid in front of the TV when they haven't gotten him to talk yet. Steve brings out his sketchbook and finds some colored pencils. Grant pulls out the black and immediately sets to work.

“Oh, he must like art,” Bucky says. “That makes sense.”

But when they look at his drawing, it's a floor plan of their kitchen and living room. There are little X's in some places.

“What are the X's?” Steve wonders aloud. As he says it, he realizes Bucky's jaw is clenched tightly.

“They're blind spots, Steve. The best places for an intruder to hide, or where a sniper wouldn't be able to get a shot.”

“They were training him to be an assassin.” It takes every ounce of self-control Steve possesses not to put his fist through the wall. Bucky just looks like he's going to puke.

“Hey, Grant?” Bucky tries to keep his voice calm but it wobbles slightly, so he clears his throat. “That's a great floor plan, kid. How about, uh...draw anything you want to draw. A puppy or something.”

Grant's brow wrinkles and Steve figures that's probably going to be his go-to response for their requests. “Want me to show you?” Steve asks. Grant, of course, says nothing, but he relinquishes the pencil without argument. Steve sketches out a quick drawing of a puppy, a happy dog-smile on its face and its tongue hanging out. Grant stares for a minute, eyebrows drawn together.

“Guess you don't have much experience with puppies,” Steve murmurs. Grant opens his hand. Surprised, Steve gives him the pencil. He dots the puppy with X's, just like the floor plan. Steve has to stand up and walk away, because each X corresponds to an internal organ. He blinks back tears and listens to Bucky murmuring to Grant in Russian. It's only been a few hours, but he already feels an overwhelming need to protect Grant. The fact that he only sees a puppy and assesses where to shoot it—Steve desperately wants to find the people responsible and line up some X's of his own.

Chapter 3

Notes:

This chapter is like 3x longer than any of the others because I couldn't decide on a good place to break it up. Also, I (creepily) put photos of Sebastian Stan and Chris Evans into a baby picture generator. Sadly, it didn't give me an option for an age so this is a baby but picture this face as a three-year-old and you've got Grant

They get Grant to brush his teeth with an extra toothbrush they found in a cabinet, but it's way too big in his mouth and he grimaces while they do it. He even draws his head back and away from the brush when Bucky goes to brush the roof of his mouth, then tenses and watches Bucky with wide, scared eyes.

“It's okay,” Bucky soothes him. “I ain't gonna hurt you, kid. I promise.”

They change him into the smallest T-shirt they can find. It still hangs past his knees and slips off his shoulders and Steve surreptitiously snaps a photo because it might be the most adorable thing he's ever seen—a familiar Bucky-like pout as he tugs at the neck of the shirt, hair messy from dragging his shirt over it, tiny little feet bare and chubby.

Steve sends the photo to Sam, who replies that kid is damn cute

Good genes ;) Steve replies.

“He doesn't have a teddy bear,” Bucky fusses.

“Bucky, you really think he ever had one before?” Steve asks gently. Bucky puts his hands on his hips and Steve hold up his hands placatingly. “Hang on.” He comes back with a Bucky Bear he'd bought soon after he woke, the one that sat on the other side of his bed for an embarrassingly long time while he ached with missing Bucky. Bucky stares at it and then raises an eyebrow at Steve.

“Bucky Bear, huh?”

Steve blushes a little. “I missed you.” He shrugs, and Bucky's face softens.

“Alright, kid, here's a teddy bear,” Bucky says, pulling back the covers and sticking the bear in the bed. Grant looks at it lying there in the bed and then drops to the ground and curls into a ball.

“Hey, what are you doing?” Steve asks. “On the bed.” Grant's little head pops up, brow wrinkled, and Steve has to stifle a laugh because that kid is adorable. Steve gestures toward the bed and Grant gestures toward the bear.

“With it,” Bucky clarifies. “Like this.” He climbs into the bed and sticks the bear under his arm, then leaves it there and stands up. “See? You do it.”

Grant obediently clambers up into the bed—he needs a little help and this time Steve doesn't fight the grin when Bucky pushes on the kid's butt to help him—and snuggles up to the bear, just the way Bucky had. Steve and Bucky stare at one another for a minute.

“Do we read him a story?”

“We don't have any kids' books. Sing him a song?”

“Do you remember any nursery rhymes?”

“Not any you can sing to a three-year-old. There is the one about the girl from Nantucket...”

They end up singing the Itsy Bitsy Spider because it's the only one they can think of off the top of their heads. Bucky adds it to their google list, along with things like “do three-year-olds have to take a bath every day” and “what time do kids go to bed.” Grant stares at them the whole time, that familiar wrinkle in his brow. Steve's starting to think the kid thinks they're nuts.

It's a learning experience for everyone.

They turn off the light but leave the door open a crack and leave the hall light on. It's only eight o'clock, but they're both wrung out. They leave their door half-way open, too, just in case. They don't talk much as they get ready for bed, but once they get situated, all cuddled up and warm, Bucky lets out a long sigh.

“Yeah,” Steve agrees.

“We don't even know what they did to him.” Bucky's voice is muffled from where his face is pressed into Steve's neck. Steve runs his hands up and down Bucky's back.

“Are you doing alright with all this?” He asks cautiously.

Bucky huffs out a bitter laugh. “No. But neither are you.”

“Yeah, not really.”

They're quiet for a minute. “It's not, you know, giving me flashbacks or anything. Just makes me want to kill HYDRA even more.”

“I'll second that,” Steve mutters. “Had no idea why I would draw a puppy except...”

“We gotta get him in therapy,” Bucky interrupts him before they can take too dark a turn. “I know I sorta turned up my nose at the therapists at first—” Steve snorts, because in actuality Bucky had broken a table and dislocated a therapist's arm—“but it really did help me, you know? And I don't want this kid—our kid—to not get help.”

Steve kisses the top of Bucky's head. “I'm glad we have a kid. Even though it's not really the best circumstances.”

Bucky doesn't say anything for a little while and Steve's ready to let it go when Bucky whispers, “I don't know if I can do this, Steve.”

“Buck, you're great with him. Better than I am.”

“It's been like four hours,” Bucky points out. “I'm just saying, this long-term thing? I mean, what if he has a nightmare and comes in here and wakes me up and I freak out and hurt him?”

“You won't,” Steve says firmly, even though it's completely baseless. Bucky's lashed out at Steve more than once before he's fully awake. Bucky shakes his head but doesn't say anything. Steve's almost asleep when Bucky murmurs,

“Well, if I had to take care of a kid, I'm glad he's part you.”

“Love you, Buck,” Steve whispers.

“Love you, too, Stevie.”

 

Bucky snaps awake. It's still dark outside and he cranes his neck, squinting at the clock. 3:48. He doesn't remember having a nightmare. Then he hears what must've woken him up—a soft sniffling sound. Coming from Grant's room. As soon as he starts slipping out of Steve's arms, Steve wakes up. They're both so ingrained with military training that there's no sleepy confusion; Steve was asleep, and now he's awake.

“Nightmare?” He asks, but before Bucky can answer, there's another sniffle. The look on Steve's face breaks Bucky's heart a little more.

“Come on.” Bucky leans in and pecks him on the lips. “I bet no one's comforted him in the middle of the night before.”

It doesn't exactly fix the sad look on Steve's face.

Bucky eases the door open slowly, not wanting to scare the kid anymore, but it must not have been slow enough, because as soon as the door starts opening, Grant starts to sob. Steve looks like he's about to follow suit. Bucky flips on the light.

“Hey, kid, you're safe,” he promises. He doesn't say it's okay because he has no idea what happened with HYDRA but it's probably very much not okay. Grant gets up on his hands and knees and crawls across the bed, as far as he can get away from the door, casting terrified backward glances at them over his shoulder. Bucky clenches his jaw so tightly he worries about his teeth breaking.

“He got punished for his nightmares before.” Steve's voice is cold and there's murder in his eyes. Bucky can only nod. He holds his breath and counts to ten, willing his voice to come out even.

“Grant,” he says softly, remembering how much it helped when he first came back to hear Steve say his name in a gentle voice. “Grant, we're not going to hurt you. I promise.” They don't come any closer to the bed and Bucky holds up his hands, palms forward. Steve copies him.

Grant peeks back at them, shuddering with the force of his cries, and Bucky can't breathe for a second because he remembers seeing a face looking just like that, tear-streaks and all, in about 1923, after a big, mean fifth-grader shoved Steve hard into a wall. Bucky doesn't remember seeing Steve cry all that much, but he'd knocked his head and the bricks had left him reeling.

Grant makes a little grabbing motion with his hand and Steve's the first to realize the Bucky Bear fell off the bed in Grant's hasty getaway. He picks it up and hands it to Grant, all his movements slow. Grant clutches the bear to his chest and buries his face into its head. Bucky rakes his fingers through his hair.

“Grant,” he calls softly. The boy's stopped sobbing and is just doing that hitched gasp kind of breathing that comes from crying so hard. “Do you want a hug?” As expected, the kid just stares, so Bucky opens his arms and he and Steve demonstrate. Grant watches intently. They both face him and spread their arms and he shrinks farther back.

“Okay,” Steve says. “It's okay.” He lowers his arms and sighs, rubbing the back of his neck. “I don't know what to do.”

“Me neither, but I don't think I can handle leaving him like that,” Bucky admits.

“Definitely not,” Steve agrees. He backs up so he's against the wall and slides down. Bucky follows him. Hesitantly, Grant crawls back toward the center of the bed, watching them closely to examine their reactions. Bucky has no idea what his face is doing, but it must encouraging enough that Grant doesn't stop. He eventually goes back to the edge of the bed close to the door, where he started out. He's facing them, staring at them with those huge eyes. There are still tears clinging to his eyelashes. He sticks his thumb in his mouth with an almost defiant look on his face, so Bucky figures he must not have been allowed to suck his thumb.

Eventually, Grant's eyelids start to droop, though he keeps jerking awake to stare at them some more. Bucky can't tell if he wants to make sure they're still there or keep watch in case they hurt him. Steve rests his head on Bucky's shoulder and Bucky rests his head on top of Steve's. He thinks they'll just stay there until Grant falls asleep all the way, then they'll go back to bed. But every time he thinks Grant's finally asleep, the little boy gives a full-body twitch and looks at them with wide, scared eyes.

Bucky wakes up with a terrible crick in his neck, but Grant's sprawled star-fish style across the bed, open-mouthed and drooling into Bucky Bear's ear, so he counts it as a win. Bucky and Steve help each other up, keeping their grunts from sleeping all night sitting upright against the wall as quiet as possible. They sneak out to the kitchen and discover it's only six am.

“That website said he'd probably wake up around 6:30,” Steve reminds Bucky.

“Will he still when he was up so much in the night?”

“No clue.” Steve shrugs. “I'll get some oatmeal going.”

“We should buy that dinosaur egg kind,” Bucky suggests. “Since we got a kid now.”

“Bucky, I know you've had your eye on that for months. Don't use the kid as an excuse,” Steve teases as he gets out the oatmeal. Bucky shrugs, unabashed.

“Just curious,” he says, only a tiny bit defensive. They hear a little scuffling sound down the hall and both peek around the corner to find Grant standing in his doorway, peeking around the door. Steve snorts in Bucky's ear.

“This looks like some weird hide-and-seek gone wrong,” he whispers. “Grant,” he says louder, making the kid's eyes go wide. “Are you hungry?”

Grant doesn't say anything, but he walks out to the kitchen. He's still holding the Bucky Bear. Bucky helps him into a chair and he rubs his eyes with his chubby little fists and yawns and Bucky thinks he might burst with how cute it is. Really, it's a shame he and Steve can't make more, because they make some seriously good-looking babies. Although they still don't know who the mystery woman on the other side of the equation is.

Grant wrinkles his nose only a tiny bit at the oatmeal placed in front of him, but Bucky adds brown sugar and milk and Grant obediently eats every bite. He leaves the walnuts Steve added behind and Bucky sticks out his tongue triumphantly at Steve because he told Steve kids didn't like nuts. Then, of course, they'd both giggled, because they're twenty-eight-year-old grown men who have gone through war and death but still laugh at the word “nuts” like they're twelve.

Steve slips into the shower while Bucky and Grant dry the dishes. When he picks Grant up to hold him above the sink, Grant looks curiously at Bucky's left arm. He knocks on it, eyes widening at the sound of his fist on the metal, and then looks worriedly up at Bucky.

“It's okay," Bucky tells him. “You can look all you want.” Grant runs a finger over the star and then reaches for the dish towel so they can get back to work.

Bucky trades Steve places when Steve gets out of the shower. When Bucky comes out of the bathroom, he can hear Steve chattering away, so he pauses in the hallway to eavesdrop. He's nosy. He's gotten over his qualms about it.

“And when we were nine, I got real sick, almost died, and Bucky sneaked into the hospital to bring me his favorite blanket his ma knitted him, because he knew I was scared there and they wouldn't let my ma stay with me overnight. So I'm just saying, you got nothing to worry about, because he's going to take such good care of you.” Bucky's starting to come out when the next part stops him in his tracks. “Your daddy's a great guy.”

Daddy. Bucky reels a little. He's a daddy. He's a father. He thinks about his own father and immediately grimaces. He won't be that kind of father. Steve doesn't even remember his dad. Bucky can feel himself starting to panic. How are they supposed to be fathers when they didn't see anyone do it well?

Steve looks up when he wanders in, looking dazed, and gives him a look. “What kind of shower did you take?” He teases.

“Daddy,” Bucky echoes. Steve flushes a little.

“Well. You are,” he defends himself.

“So are you,” Bucky points out. The flush vanishes and Steve pales.

“Oh, man,” he breathes. “We don't know how to be dads.”

“We have no idea,” Bucky agrees. They both look down at Grant. He's scribbling in the sketchbook, just a bunch of black swirls. The whole box of colored pencils is tipped out on the table, but he'll only use black.

“Are we supposed to give him a bath?” Bucky asks.

“I think we're supposed to do that at night. Before bed.”

“I don't remember taking a lot of baths.” Bucky scrunches up his forehead in thought and Steve cracks up.

“No question where Grant got that expression,” he says.

“What? He got that from you, old man worrywart.”

Steve rolls his eyes. “We can't give him a bath if we don't have any clothes to change him into.”

“Do we dare venture into public?” Bucky wonders.

“We won't know how bad it is until we try, right?” Steve reasons.

The answer is very bad.

Grant brings Bucky Bear, which is fine. He changes back into his clothes from the day before without a fight. He refuses to take the hand that's offered, from Steve or Bucky. Steve demonstrates by holding Bucky's hand, and then Grant takes Steve's other hand. As soon as Steve lets go of Bucky, Grant lets go of Steve. So they engage in PDA for the second day in a row. But that's not so bad. Bucky kind of likes the feeling of people seeing them walking down the street holding hands, their new little family of three.

They get to a Baby Gap they only know exists because it's on their running route. One of the teenage girls hanging up shirts gasps at Grant and makes cooing sounds at him. He gives her his now-familiar wrinkled brow and she squeals even more over how cute he is and he's so uncomfortable he actually leans into Bucky's legs and then Bucky wants to squeal.

He doesn't, though.

They look around a bit helplessly and the same teenage girl leads them around the store. This is when they learn Steve has a fascination with baby overalls. He picks four different colors, and refuses to put any back, no matter how much Bucky makes fun of him.

Bucky can't laugh long, though, because he discovers a whole section of clothes with dinosaurs on them and suddenly understands Steve's overall thing. There's also a pair of overalls covered in dinosaurs, which is the jackpot of the day. They keep holding things up for Grant to assess, but of course he doesn't let them in on his opinion.

They get a few pairs of shoes and socks and pajamas and stare at bibs for a long time before the girl tells them Grant's probably old enough that he doesn't really need a bib anymore.

“Did you just adopt him?” She asks. “He just looks so much like you I assumed he was yours.”

“Uh...” Steve squirms a little and she holds up her hands.

“Sorry. Too nosy.” Bucky's respect for her skyrockets.

They get everything boxed up and because they're rich now they get it delivered to their house so they don't have to walk around with all those bags, which is good because they go to a department store the girl suggested to buy little baby bowls and plates and forks and something called a “sippy cup” and a baby toothbrush, which leads them to baby toothpaste.

“This is exhausting,” Steve moans as he grabs No-More-Tears shampoo and throws it in the cart. Bucky murmurs his agreement but is distracted by the fact that someone is following them. The back of his neck had been prickling since they entered the store, and he knows it's not a worker.

Steve asks Grant if he'd rather have a yellow duck bath toy or a green one, but ends up putting both in the cart because Grant doesn't say anything. He's riding in the front of the cart, in the child seat, and every so often he kicks Steve just to see how he'll react. Steve keeps pretending not to notice, because he doesn't know what he's supposed to do. He's too afraid of scaring Grant to even speak sharply to him.

“Hey, remember Versailles?” Bucky asks casually. Steve's shoulders tighten but otherwise he stays calm.

“Yeah, first time or second?” Steve asks. When Bucky had first come back, he'd insisted on emergency protocols. Versailles is their code that means someone is following them, because the Howling Commandos had been followed through Versailles during the War. Steve's question meant is it HYDRA or someone else.

“Hmm, first?” Bucky pretends to be thinking. He doesn't know for sure it's HYDRA, but he assumes based on Grant. Steve's hands tighten on the handle of the cart.

Bucky snaps his fingers. “You know what, we forgot to get the little guy some underwear. I'll go grab it, you head for the books.”

“Good plan.” Steve blows a kiss and Bucky actually laughs for real.

He turns around and strides purposefully for the socks and underwear section, directly behind them. Whoever's following them ducked behind a shelf, but Bucky's no amateur. It takes him about four seconds to determine who it is based on the shoes people in the aisle are wearing and the tread he heard in the footsteps. It's a guy, late twenties, baseball cap, kinda scrawny, truth be told, and Bucky can't see any weapons on him. He's confused. Why is this guy following them around? He pretends to be examining some Iron Man underwear—not a chance in hell—while a very pregnant woman makes her way out of the aisle, then he grabs the guy and spins him around.

“Who are you working for?” Bucky growls. The guy yelps.

“The Enquirer,” he gulps. Bucky's taken aback.

“What?” He asks.

The guy pulls out his iPhone and Bucky can see his camera's open. “I'm a reporter.”

Bucky has to take a deep breath. He'd been tense, ready to fight, when he thought this guy was HYDRA, but now he knows he's some creep paparazzi snapping pictures of Steve and Grant while they're out shopping, and his blood's boiling. He snatches the phone out of the guy's hand.

“Hey!” The guy protests, but stops when Bucky gives him his best Winter Soldier murder stare. Bucky goes through the camera roll—twenty pictures of them, including one of him and Steve holding hands. Grant's hidden in that one. He deletes every photo with Grant in it and hands the phone back.

“You can sell the ones I left,” Bucky tells him, then leans closer. “But if you tell anyone you saw the kid, or you ever, ever take photos of a kid without permission again, I will find out. And I will deal with you. Understand?”

“Yes, sir.” The guy's eyes are terrified and Bucky feels a little bit bad.

“But hey, you can break the big gay love story of Captain America and Bucky Barnes, eh?”

The guy's look is almost pitying. “That story doesn't really need to be broken,” he says, looking like he wants to roll his eyes. “Everyone knows that.”

Bucky lets go of the guy and yanks a package of Captain America underwear off the hook, then grabs one with dinosaurs for good measure. Kids can't have too much underwear, right? (He'll learn later, of course, that two packages is barely enough, let alone too much.)

He gets back to Steve and Steve raises an eyebrow. “Good?”

“Paparazzi.” Bucky shakes his head angrily. “Deleted all the pictures of Grant. I left some of us and told him he could break the story of us being together and you know what he told me? Everyone knows that.”

“What? They do?” Steve looks comically surprised. “How?”

“No idea, pal. Guess I lost him his rent money or whatever.” Bucky shrugs. “Can't find it in me to feel too bad, considering who's probably on the lookout for the kid.”

“Do you think we should increase our security?” Steve asks. He catches sight of the Captain America underwear and rolls his eyes.

“Steve, no security system in the world is better than me,” Bucky reminds him. Maybe he's bragging a little. The little half-smile Steve gives him makes bragging worth it.

“It's pretty hot,” Steve says quietly, leaning in closer. “My big strong protector.”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Keeping me safe.”

“That's my job.”

“Throwing knives through the kitchen floor to kill all those spiders.”

Bucky shoves him away. “That was one time and it was dark and it caught me off guard, okay?”

“Buck, it's fine, no shame in being scared of a tiny insect. Plenty of people suffer from arachnophobia. I don't think any of them are prolific assassins, but, you know, everyone has a weakness. I'm surprised you're not more jumpy around Natasha.” Steve's cracking himself up over there.

They're almost done checking out when Grant starts kicking Steve again. Hard. And okay, it's not like it hurts the guy, probably, but still. Bucky's never really been able to handle seeing someone hitting Steve. Steve tries to laugh it off, but Grant won't quit.

“Hey, buddy, can you quit kicking me?” Steve asks brightly. Grant narrows his eyes and kicks him again. The guy says the total and snaps his gum as he waits for Steve to swipe the card. Bucky's loading bags into the cart.

“You have to turn the card the other way,” the guy says, bored. Oof. Grant kicks Steve again.

“Sorry, I thought I did it both ways.” Steve's wearing his confused-grandpa face that is a complete and total farce but Steve uses it because people find it endearing and Steve's never been above playing people a little. Whack. Another kick. He flips the card. Kick. It says it's processing. Kick. The receipt starts printing. Kick. Steve's leaning away from the cart but he wants to keep holding onto the cart so it doesn't run away because he's paranoid. Kick.

“Grant!” Bucky finally snaps angrily. “Do not kick him again.”

Grant's whole body goes still, except his arms, which he tightens around Bucky Bear. His eyes are wide as he stares at Bucky, and then his lower lip starts to wobble. They're almost to the door when he starts sobbing.

“Hey, hey, Grant,” Bucky tries, and Grant sobs harder and twists away from him. Steve gives him a helpless look.

“Grant, he's not going to hurt you,” Steve assures him. Grant reaches out and wraps the arm not clinging to Bucky Bear around Steve's neck and buries his face in Steve's shoulder. At least it muffles his sobs.

Bucky grabs the bags, feeling like someone kicked him in the stomach. How many times had his own father screamed at him? Bucky didn't want to be like that.

“Stop,” Steve admonishes once they're outside. Grant's calmed down, but he's still letting Steve carry him. He hasn't let anyone carry him the whole time they've had him. Which, okay, is under 24 hours. “You weren't too hard on him.”

“You see his face?” Bucky asks, dejected. “He's terrified of me.”

“Buck, he's terrified of everything. I bet he's never once in his entire life been scolded about something without getting hit. It's going to take some time to build up trust, but we can't just let him run wild until then. He was kicking me the whole time and I didn't say anything. This is my fault.”

Bucky manages a small smile and lets his arm brush against Steve's. “Have you been reading some more of those parenting articles behind my back?”

“Yep,” Steve admits right away. “You have a jump on me because of the girls.”

Bucky feels that familiar twist in his stomach at the mention of his sisters. “I sure wish Becca was here,” he says wistfully. “She's so great with kids. Was.”

“Yeah, and she'd tell us exactly what we're supposed to do.” Steve rolls his eyes fondly and Bucky laughs.

“She was real bossy.”

“Wonder which big brother taught her that,” Steve teases.

Grant's asleep on Steve's shoulder by the time they get home, and Bucky can't decide what's cuter, Grant's face scrunched against Steve's shoulder or Steve's slightly-incredulous joy at Grant cuddling close to him. Bucky snaps a picture for good measure. They start putting things away, even though Bucky really just wants to sit on the couch for a while.

But Grant doesn't stay asleep long, and this time he tiptoes into the hallway before freezing, so they're making progress. They eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch and Steve pulls out some dinosaur-shaped cookie cutters. When he puts the plate in front of Grant, they don't expect anything to happen; he hasn't showed much reaction to anything so far. But his whole body does this weird shaking thing and Bucky thinks, shit, he's afraid of it. But then Grant looks up through those lashes and his lips are ticking upward and they both inhale sharply because they realize what's happening.

Grant's laughing.

He's looking down at his dinosaur-shaped sandwich and laughing at it. It's a silent laugh, sure, but it's a laugh. Bucky feels tears in his eyes and he's not even embarrassed. Steve's in the same boat; Bucky knows without even having to look. It feels like a monumental thing.

Bucky laughs through his tears. “Is that funny?” He asks and Grant looks at him and his smile doesn't fall away and Bucky's breath catches a little with how beautiful that shy little smile is. It doesn't even matter that he doesn't eat the whole sandwich. (Steve finishes it for him, plus two of his own and all the scraps cut off from the cookie cutter.)

When they all finish eating, Grant gets up and stands dutifully by the sink, already expecting to do dishes. They finish them quickly and decide to change him into some new clothes. Bucky's patting himself on the back for the dinosaur stuff, because obviously Grant likes dinosaurs. They're trying to see if he'll choose anything when there's a knock at the door.

“Is that Sam?” Bucky asks. Steve glances at his watch and shrugs.

“I didn't expect him so early.”

“I'll get it,” Bucky says, waving Steve off before he can stand up. He's got a pair of overalls resting on one leg and a pair of shorts on the other, hoping Grant will pick one. Bucky glances through the peep hole, keeping his body to the side. Just because they had a false alarm at the store doesn't mean they can get complacent. But it's Sam, and he breathes easier.

“Sam!” Bucky hugs him once he opens the door. For almost the whole first month after Bucky came back, Sam was the only person Bucky would let touch him besides Steve.

“Hey, man.” Sam hugs him back tightly, the way he always does. Once upon a time, Bucky was awkward about hugs. His sisters, sure, he could hug them easily, but hugging another man who wasn't Steve (and in broad daylight) didn't come naturally to him. Now, though, Bucky craves touch from people he loves. He helps Sam bring in his bag and leads him to Grant's room.

“Hey, Sam.” Steve's smile takes up his whole face with how happy he is to see Sam.

“And this must be Grant,” Sam says warmly. Grant leans a little closer. “Hi. I'm Sam.” He holds out a hand and the look Grant shoots at Bucky is almost accusing.

“He's our friend,” Bucky assures Grant. The look doesn't change.

“We're going to stay here,” Sam says carefully, because of course he'd figure out what the problem is before Steve or Bucky. “We're not going to leave.”

Grant's posture relaxes and he goes back to idly chewing on Bucky Bear's ear. Steve looks up from the two different shirts in his lap (either he or Grant had chosen the overalls, and Bucky has a suspicion as to which one that is) to look at Sam questioningly.

“I think he thought I was going to take him away,” Sam explains.

“He has been shuffled around a lot the past few days.” Steve's forehead creases with concern. He reaches out a tentative hand and rubs Grant's back. Grant's eyes fly open wide and he looks at Steve. Steve stops moving his hand but doesn't take it off Grant's back and Bucky holds his breath. And then Grant smiles a little and leans into Steve's touch.

“Buck, did you see that?” Steve asks excitedly.

“I saw it,” Bucky confirms just as excitedly.

Sam laughs at them. “You guys are like every stereotype of new parents ever.” Bucky elbows him.

“Hey, that's a breakthrough,” he says. “And you just missed it—he laughed.”

“He did!” Steve almost squeals, though he'll never admit to it. “We had dinosaur sandwiches and he liked it so much he laughed!”

“Dinosaur sandwiches? Do I want to know?”

“Shapes like dinosaurs,” Bucky clarifies. “We'd never eat a dinosaur.”

“Well, we would if we lived in the same time as them," Steve says.

“That's true,” Bucky agrees. “Gotta hunt something.”

“Natasha will be so bummed she missed the opportunity for a cannibal joke. Can I take a look at his file?” Sam asks. “I got a friend in DC who's a child psychiatrist and asked her for a lead on someone out here, but she needs a little more info about what type of trauma he went through.”

“We don't know,” Bucky admits grimly as he leads Sam back to the living room. “SHIELD's got almost nothing on him and he's certainly not talking.”

“He still hasn't said anything?” Sam winces.

“The only sounds we've heard him make are when he's crying, and even then it's just the crying, no actual noises.”

Sam swears and Bucky nods. “Do you think he can't make sounds? He's a mute or whatever?” Sam asks.

Bucky shrugs. “I think it's going to take a while before we could even test for that. And we probably need to get his ears checked, too, because before the serum Steve was deaf in one ear.”

“Whoa, seriously? I swear, I find out another problem he had before the issue every day. How was he even alive?”

“Too stubborn to die.” Bucky grins. Sam flips through the file, looking grim, and then Steve and Grant come out of the bedroom, Grant in his green overalls with a white shirt underneath.

“Okay, I gotta admit, that kid is something else.” Sam shakes his head. “Who knew you two had such good genes?” Bucky opens his mouth, smirking, and Sam points at him. “Nope. No jokes about Steve looking good in his jeans.”

Sam goes off to call his child therapist friend and Steve and Bucky try to get Grant to play with some toys. He's dragging Bucky Bear around with him everywhere he goes, but he just seems confused by the cars they lay out for him. Steve and Bucky start demonstrating, since that seems to be the best way to teach him things, and soon find themselves so engrossed in racing their toy cars they don't notice Sam returning to the room.

“Can you believe these two, Grant?” Sam asks, rolling his eyes and shaking his head. “Total weirdos.”

And Grant laughs.

Steve and Bucky get as excited as the first time, and Sam can deny it all he wants, but Steve sees his eyes bug out a little. Grant's smile shows off two little dimples and his eyes crinkle up. It's impossibly adorable. Steve knows he might be a little biased, but he also thinks it's got to be an objective fact.

There's another knock on the door, and all three adults look at the door. They're not expecting anyone else. Bucky repeats the routine of standing to the side. It's Natasha.

“Natalia?” He asks, confused.

“Natasha, now, remember?” She raises an eyebrow at him. “I've got some intel on your kid.”

Steve scrambles up. “I didn't know you were back in the country!” He exclaims. “How do you know about Grant?”

Grant, looking up at the sound of his name, looks wary at two strangers in less than an hour, but he stands up and stands at attention again. Sam swears under his breath and Steve gets the kicked-puppy look on his face again.

“You don't have to do that, kid,” Bucky tells him, going back over to him and sitting down. Grant watches him drop to the floor and hesitantly follows suit, keeping his eyes on Natasha the whole time. He leans into Bucky a little.

“She's another friend, Grant,” Steve explains. “She's not taking you anywhere. We're staying here.”

He relaxes more and rubs his head against Bucky's arm a little. Surprised, Bucky raises the arm and rubs Grant's back. He's rewarded with that dimpled smile.

“He looks like he got some intensive training,” Natasha comments. Her face is soft, though, and Bucky knows she's not as cold-hearted as she sometimes acts. Steve makes an angry sound and Natasha holds up a hand. “I don't know much. But I found out some things about his birth mother.”

“Oh.” Steve sits down heavily next to Bucky. Bucky uses his free hand to grab Steve's.

“She was HYDRA. She knew exactly what the child was supposed to be and who the father was. Fathers, I guess, since they combined your DNA.”

“Can I butt in here for a second?” Sam raises his hand like he's in school. “How is combining DNA like that possible?”

“Do you expect me to know the answer to that?” Natasha laughs a little. “Ask Stark. Or probably Banner, actually. Anyway, she must have been very committed to the cause, to donate storage space in her uterus for nine months. But once he was born, she apparently couldn't resist maternal instincts”—she grimaces a little—“and she took him. They were on the run, and did pretty well, but HYDRA caught up to them about a year ago.”

“And she's dead,” Bucky guesses sadly.

“She is,” Natasha confirms. “It happened in front of him. HYDRA took him. His training was similar to the Red Room.” She says it with a steady voice, chin held high, and Steve's sad face deepens.

“No wonder the kid won't talk.” Sam shakes his head. “Even if he hadn't gotten some kind of scary assassin training, that's some major trauma.”

Bucky keeps rubbing Grant's back. He's playing now, driving the cars up and down the length of Bucky's leg, and Bucky suddenly feels his throat tighten. It's been under a day, but he's already completely sold on the kid. He wishes he could go back in time and protect him.

Steve rubs a hand over his eyes. “I really hate HYDRA,” he mutters venomously.

“But this intel gives a starting point in his therapy,” Sam points out.

“Thank you, Natasha. Really. We didn't know anything, really, so this means a lot.” Steve watches Grant for a minute, his silent trek of the cars across Bucky's leg. “Should we be worried about HYDRA coming back for him?”

“Probably,” Natasha and Bucky say at the same time.

“They didn't exactly give James up without a fight,” Natasha points out, and Steve makes a face.

“I really hate HYDRA,” he repeats. Bucky manages a small chuckle because Steve's kind of cute when he's pissed at someone else.

Natasha doesn't stay long, but she does take a picture of Steve and Bucky with Grant because “Stark didn't believe anyone would trust you two with a kid.”

Sam clues them in to some educational shows for kids, and they only feel a little guilty about turning on the TV while they catch up with Sam. The characters on the show keep pausing for responses, but Grant stays silent. His brow is wrinkled the entire time, and he keeps shooting little looks over at Steve and Bucky.

The eat spaghetti for dinner and make Grant laugh some more by slurping up the noodles. Sam suggests they make cookies, because it eats up some time and kids love it. They let him crack the eggs and laugh at the horrified look on his face when some of the egg gets on his hand. He's delighted by the dinosaur shapes and eats spoonfuls of frosting plain.

It's a good thing they bought bath supplies, because the cookies leave him covered in flour and frosting and crumbs. He submits to his bath dutifully, but Bucky catches him playing with the duck toy when he thinks no one's watching. He stares at the pajamas they bought for him and then points to the laundry basket, where they'd tossed the shirt he wore the night before.

“You want that one?” Steve asks. “But you've got these cute train pajamas.” Grant doesn't respond and doesn't point again, but Steve relents because how on earth could he not? The shirt is Bucky's, faded and soft, with Steve's shield on the front. It matches Grant's underwear.

“Okay, want to read a book?” Bucky asks, holding up their choices. There's a book about farm animals or some Bernstein Bears books, which the website had deemed “classic” for children. Grant looks down at Bucky Bear and then points at the bears.

“Maybe I chose the wrong animal,” Bucky says. “Should've gone with bears instead of dinosaurs.”

“Nah, he likes dinosaurs fine,” Steve reassures him. They each take a seat on either side of the bed and Grant looks slightly alarmed. They settle back against the headboard, legs stretched out in front of them, and Grant watches carefully before mimicking.

Sam comes in during their third read of the book—each time Bucky finishes, Grant flips back to the first page, and Steve and Bucky are powerless to deny him.

“This is the cutest damn thing I've ever seen,” Sam mutters. “Don't move a muscle.” He fishes his phone out of his pocket and snaps a picture. “Magazine worthy, I swear.”

“We're always magazine worthy,” Bucky jokes. Grant points at the book. “Oh, sorry,” Bucky laughs. “Well, at least we know he likes the book.”

“This is too sweet for me,” Sam declares. “I'll be in the living room when you guys are done.”

Grant flips to the first page again when they reach the end and Steve shakes his head. “We'll read it again tomorrow,” he promises in response to Grant's slumped shoulders. “How 'bout a song?”

Steve gets out of the bed and starts up the kids' lullabies CD they bought. Grant reaches out an arm and makes a grabbing motion, the same he made the night before after Bucky Bear fell.

“I think he wants you to come back, Steve,” Bucky says, grinning wide.

“I'm glad he's starting to trust us.” Steve's got a huge smile on his face, too. They both feel a little rush of pride. This is their kid and he likes them.

When they wake up in the middle of the night to sounds of his quiet crying, he doesn't freak out when they come in the room, and even reaches for them. He nestles in between them on the bed, thumb in his mouth and Bucky Bear resting against his chest, and quiets down much faster than the night before.

It's even worth the elbow in the kidney Bucky wakes up to the next morning.

Chapter 4

“Holy shit, this is your kid?” Tony blurts out when he sees Grant. Steve gives him a dirty look.

“Tony, he's three. Can you not swear in front of him?”

“Oh my God, you're a dad. You're a grumpy, protective father. Not the kind I have any experience with, of course, but like a TV dad.”

“That is where we're getting most of our ideas,” Bucky admits. “That and google.”

“I'm sure you're great with him,” Pepper cuts in smoothly. Grant is holding Bucky's hand and leaning against Steve's legs, hiding his face in Steve's thigh. Bucky crouches down.

“It's alright, kid. They're our friends.” When he says friends, Grant stops hiding. He's getting used to meeting friends now, instead of assuming everyone's going to cart him off somewhere, and by the end of Sam's stay Grant was smiling every time he saw Sam and gave him a hug goodbye. After Sam left, Grant kept looking at the door and then back at Steve and Bucky, like he was wondering when Sam was going to come back. Steve and Bucky can't even be too jealous about it, because Sam's steady, soothing presence is easy to get attached to.

“Fury told us what happened to him,” Pepper says, making a sad face at Grant. He hides again when he sees her looking at him.

“We're going to kill HYDRA when we get our hands on them,” Bucky growls. Grant looks up at him quickly and he rearranges his face into a smile. “I'm not mad,” he assures Grant. Just then, DUM-E comes zooming around the corner, making excited little humming sounds. Grant practically climbs up Steve's leg to get away, and that's when they finally hear a sound from him—he squeals.

“Did you hear that?” Bucky demands excitedly.

“He definitely just squealed!” Steve is equally as excited.

“Um, we're excited about this?” Tony asks.

“He hasn't made a peep in four days,” Steve says grimly, patting Grant's back as he looks down at DUM-E mistrustfully.

“Oh, poor thing,” Pepper says. “He's too scared to make a sound?”

“That's the theory we're going on, but we're not ruling out that he can't.” Steve shifts his hold as Grant leans far over his shoulder to look at DUM-E better. Finally Steve just kneels down so Grant can examine the robot from the safety of Steve's arms. It is, Bucky thinks dopily to himself, a very safe vantage point.

“JARVIS, are you getting this? I'm going to need a still of how lovesick Barnes is just watching Steve with that kid.” Tony rolls his eyes.

“And that, of course, is Tony's way of saying we'll help any way we can,” Pepper says with a disapproving little look at Tony.

“Yes, ma'am.” Tony salutes.

DUM-E extends his arm thing toward Grant and Grant squeals again and buries his face in Steve's shoulder, but he's doing his silent shaking laugh this time.

“He's playing,” Steve sounds choked up and Bucky shoots Tony a quelling look before he can make a joke.

“We came to see if you have any info on any of the child psychologists Sam's friend told us about,” Bucky tells Tony and Pepper. Steve's too engrossed in helping Grant play to be useful in this conversation, though Bucky can't pretend he doesn't keep getting distracted by watching.

“You mean can we look up some info and run background checks?” Tony asks. Bucky shrugs.

“And make sure the one we pick doesn't talk.”

“Of course,” Pepper says. “We'll draw up a gag order.”

The doors to Tony's lab whoosh open and Barton steps in. “Hey, Stark, did you—oh, hi, Cap. Barnes.” He catches sight of Grant and pauses. “Who's that?”

“That's their kid.” Tony points at Steve and Bucky. Barton looks from Steve to Bucky and back a few times.

“When did you have a kid?”

“Three years ago, apparently,” Bucky says.

“How did you have a kid?” Barton asks.

“Well, remember all that time I wouldn't see any of you?” Bucky jokes. Steve rolls his eyes at Bucky.

“It was HYDRA,” He tells Barton. “We, uh, weren't informed of what was happening.”

“Oh, you mean HYDRA doesn't clue people in to their practices?” Barton jokes. “Well, that's...yeah, I don't really know how to finish that sentence. What's his name?”

“Grant James Barnes-Rogers,” Steve smiles proudly and Tony makes a face.

“What a name,” he mutters.

“You guys hyphenated?” Barton asks incredulously. “Are you getting married?”

“Can it,” Bucky says good-naturedly. “We just got him a few days ago and he didn't even have a name. Well, that we knew. Someone else named him Grant, not us. I just guessed right.”

“He doesn't talk,” Pepper explains. Barton tilts his head to look at Grant.

“Do you know if he's deaf?” He asks, tapping his hearing aid.

“We can't figure out how to test it,” Steve admits. “It's definitely a possibility, because I was partially deaf before the serum, but he's pretty traumatized and sometimes he responds and sometimes he doesn't.”

“There are tests they can do without him having to respond to sounds,” Tony cuts in. “I'll see if I can get certified to do that.”

“We'll see if any of our doctors on staff can do it,” Pepper corrects with an eye roll.

“Although,” Bucky starts slowly, shooting Steve a look. “Sam suggested sign language, even if he isn't deaf.”

“Oh!” Steve looks at Barton. “Would you be willing to help us out? Do you know of good ways to learn sign language?”

“Um, how about the best way, which is I'll teach you,” Barton suggests. “All three of you, because you guys will have to work with him at home, too.”

“Of course!” Steve promises. “And we'll practice.”

“Thanks, Barton,” Bucky says softly. They'd tossed around the idea of teaching Bucky sign language when he first got back, because he wouldn't talk to anyone who wasn't Steve, but he hadn't been very open to it and hadn't exactly been nice to Barton. The problem hadn't been finding a way to communicate but rather finding the desire to communicate, which Bucky had not had at the time.

Barton crouches down next to Steve, who's still holding Grant. “Hey, little guy,” Barton says. “I'm Clint. Want to hang out with me?” He holds out a hand and, to everyone's surprise, Grant shakes it.

“He just shook your hand!” Steve says incredulously.

“Is that new?” Barton asks.

“So new,” Bucky says. “First time ever.”

“Well.” Barton shrugs. “He must have good taste.” He looks down and notices he'd knelt in a spot of grease. “Aw, grease? Tony, really?”

“It's a lab, Barton,” Tony points out.

They spend an hour with Barton, learning some sign language. It takes Grant half the time to stop clinging to Bucky and even look at Barton, and even then he doesn't repeat any of the signs, but he watches Steve and Bucky mimicking Barton's signs carefully.

“I think he's getting more than he's letting on,” Steve assures Barton. “He's really smart, but I think he might be shy besides having terrible things happen to him.”

He's proven right later that night when they get home and start making dinner, when Grant makes the sign for “drink.” He doesn't do it perfectly, but it's clear enough that Bucky and Steve both whoop so excitedly he gets scared and hides his face in the couch cushions.

The first time they get him to laugh with sound, it's a complete accident. They're watching Lilo and Stitch, Grant's face as solemn as ever, and Steve ruffles Bucky's hair at some comment Bucky made. It covers Bucky's face and Bucky blows out a breath to raise it, and Grant laughs out loud. Then, of course, they do it three more times, just to keep hearing him laugh. Steve even records it once so they have evidence and sends it to everyone. Sam texts back a bunch of emoticons, Barton congratulates them, and Natasha doesn't answer. Tony, of course, tells them they're disgustingly proud of their child. Steve knows that's Tony's way of being supportive.

They get the child psychiatrist to agree to meet with Grant at Stark Tower. It's a good, controlled environment, Grant's already been there, and Steve gets to catch up on paperwork while Bucky hangs out with the other Avengers. Plus, she's Gabe's granddaughter and knows all about HYDRA and SHIELD, so she was quick to agree to security protocols. They've met her before this and were surprised to see her name on Sam's list. Steve suspects Sam knew they'd pick her but didn't want to push.

“Grant, can you stay here with the nice woman?” Steve says as he and Bucky get up to leave. Grant's eyes go wide and his body goes rigid.

“We can't leave,” Bucky protests. “This is—he's scared. That's what he does when he's scared,” he tells the therapist. Steve's already moved back to Grant's chair and is rubbing his back.

“It may be best for you to stay this first time so he can get used to me,” Dr. Jones agrees.

Grant relaxes when Steve and Bucky sit back down.

“How long has he been with you?” Dr. Jones asks.

“Almost a week.”

“And he still hasn't spoken?”

“Not yet.” Bucky shrugs. “He uses sign language, though. He's a fast learner.”

“Faster than us,” Steve admits with a laugh. “He remembers what Clint teaches him way better than we do. We've had to look up some of the signs he's using.”

“And he's started making noise,” Bucky continues. “He didn't do that at first. But he'll squeal sometimes, and he makes sounds when he laughs now.”

“Oh, and he's making noise when he cries now, too,” Steve winces. “I mean, I wish he didn't cry, but. At least he does it louder now.”

“I'd be more worried if he didn't cry,” Dr. Jones assures them. “Since he did have two years with a mother we can assume loved him, that's probably helping. He has the foundation to understand trust and love, and he's starting to build that with you. Does he sleep through the night?”

“Not really,” Steve says. “Sometimes he cries without waking up, but most nights he has nightmares.”

“What does he do when he has nightmares?” Dr. Jones asks.

“He just cries.”

“He doesn't get out of his bed?”

They shake their heads. “I don't think he was allowed to,” Bucky says softly, running a hand through Grant's hair. “Before. But he doesn't get scared when we come in anymore, and he cuddles with us afterward until he falls asleep.”

“That's good.” Dr. Jones nods. “And in just under a week? That's great.”

She spends the rest of the time trying to get Grant to play with toys, but he just clutches his Bucky Bear and won't touch anything else. They leave the office Tony set up for Dr. Jones at the end of the hour and see Bruce walking down the hall.

“Bruce!” Steve calls. “This is Grant.” It's possible Steve wants to show him off to everyone in the whole world. Bruce turns with a smile.

“Hi, Grant,” he says in his gentle voice. “I've heard a lot about you.” Grant shakes his hand, used to it now, but sticks close to Steve's leg.

“I think he might be a little extra scared right now from meeting the therapist,” Bucky says apologetically.

“I know how you feel.” Bruce nods sympathetically. “Therapists can be scary.” He doesn't get a reaction from Grant.

“Are you living here now?” Steve asks. “I know Clint is, and Natasha stays here when she's in New York.”

“I finally gave in.” Bruce rolls his eyes. “Tony wouldn't stop badgering me about it.”

“And he gave you a lab?” Steve guesses. Bruce laughs.

“Well, how could I resist?”

They talk a little longer until Grant starts getting fidgety. When they're saying their goodbyes, Bruce crouches down beside Grant and says, “I hear you're a very brave boy, Grant. I'm glad we get to be friends.”

Steve and Bucky watch proudly as Grant graces Bruce with a shy smile. Bruce shakes his head when he stands back up. “Well, Clint was right. That is one cute kid.”

“Are you cute, Grant?” Bucky asks. To their surprise, Grant laughs and nods. They all laugh, too, and Bucky squeezes Grant's hand. “Yeah, you're pretty cute.”

That night, Bucky wakes up from his own nightmare, where he's back in the bank vault but Steve's in the chair getting his mind wiped. It's not the first time he's had that dream. He winds himself closer to Steve and presses his face against Steve's neck. Steve wakes up and tightens his arms around Bucky.

“It's alright, Buck,” Steve murmurs. “We're fine. I'm right here. I'm not hurt.” He's all too familiar with what happens in Bucky's nightmares. He doesn't try to say anything else, and he doesn't comment on the tears he can feel against his neck. He just holds Bucky tight and lets him breathe in the safety of their bed.

By the time Bucky's calmed down, they can hear Grant moving around in his room and get up to go check on him. “Good thing we don't need as much sleep as normal people,” Bucky mutters. “Between me and the kid, we'd be zombies.”

“I have nightmares, too,” Steve reminds him. It's a familiar argument, whenever Bucky feels he's being a burden on Steve. Before Bucky can respond, they hear something from Grant's room they've never heard before—his voice.

“Be quiet, be quiet,” he's repeating, his voice the high pitch of childhood and trembling with fear. “Keep hiding.”

“Shit,” Bucky breathes. “He's probably dreaming about the night they killed his mom.”

They open his door slowly, the way they always do, but find him sitting up, his knees tucked up to his chest and his head resting on his knees. As soon as the door opens, his head snaps up, eyes wide and scared. When he sees them, he closes his mouth and starts to cry silently.

“Oh, Grant.” Steve's got tears in his eyes, too. They wait until he reaches for them to rush to the bed. They've heard his voice now, but he still won't talk to them.

Chapter 5

Notes:

Some brief mentions of past child abuse and implied non-con situation, but nothing more than a passing reference to either.

It only takes another week before Grant will laugh around Clint the way he does around Steve and Bucky. He seems to like Clint; he sees him the most of anyone besides Steve and Bucky, since they go to the Tower every day to learn more sign language. He'll submit to smiling at Sam on a video call and sometimes holds up his toys to show off. He'll sit quietly beside Bruce, relaxed and calm, but he's still hesitant about Tony. Steve can't blame him. He knows Tony is a good man who cares about the people around him, but Tony just talks so much and sometimes it can be overwhelming.

Natasha joins them for their sign language lessons one day when they've had Grant for about three weeks. She pulls them aside while Clint and Grant giggle over the sign for toilet for the hundredth time and Steve hears her mutter something about boys and their lowbrow sense of humor.

“I've got more,” she says. “And it's not pleasant.”

“Less pleasant than the news that he saw his mother murdered in front of him?” Steve asks with a raised eyebrow.

“I'm not sure if it's less pleasant than that.” Natasha shrugs. “But it's certainly not great. They gave him weapons training.”

“Weapons training?” Bucky echoes. “He's three.”

“I learned knife skills at three,” Natasha says evenly.

Steve blows out a long breath. “Training of what kind? Has he hurt a real person?”

“I don't know, but I'd guess not. He didn't try to fight back when SHIELD took him, and he hasn't tried hurting either of you. From what my source says...” She hesitates. “Their original plan was to have him trained by the Winter Soldier.”

Bucky rubs his face. “I thought they gave up on me—him—whatever—training anyone after the problems with the Red Room.”

“That was the KGB. HYDRA believed they'd fixed the malfunction.”

“Emotions,” Steve breaks in harshly. “Human attachments. He's not a machine; he doesn't malfunction.”

“Steve.” Bucky puts a hand on Steve's back and Steve immediately apologizes to Natasha.

“I think after they lost their asset, HYDRA redoubled their efforts to find the child so they could train a new one.” Natasha stares at them for a minute before continuing, “If it comes down to it, they'll probably try to capture one of you to arrange a trade. See who you'll give up.”

“Neither,” Steve insists roughly. Natasha nods thoughtfully. Steve and Bucky turn their attention to the other side of the room when they hear a squeal.

Clint has Grant standing on his shoulders and Grant is laughing harder than they've ever heard him laugh. And then Thor walks in. Grant sees a stranger and clings to Clint's head with one hand, reaching toward Steve and Bucky with the other, making a little whimpering sound. They rush to him and save Clint's hair from his clutches.

“It's okay, Grant,” Steve says for what feels like the ten millionth time. “He's a friend.”

“Captain!” Thor booms. “Is this your child that Tony told me about?” Grant whimpers and Thor immediately lowers his voice. “Forgive me, little one,” he says soothingly. “I should have realized you would be skittish after all you've been through.”

“Skittish, yeah, that's one word for it,” Bucky says, wincing at Grant's little fingernails digging into his neck. Thor puts out a hand for Grant to shake and Grant looks over at Steve.

“Go ahead,” Steve says reassuringly. Grant shakes Thor's hand and Thor pretends Grant hurt his hand.

“Goodness me!” He exclaims, but quietly. “What a strong warrior you are.” Grant giggles and ducks his head shyly into Bucky's neck.

“Wow, that's the fastest he's warmed up to anyone besides Sam,” Bucky congratulates Thor. “I think he already likes you more than he likes Tony.”

“Oh, ha ha, Barnes,” Tony says from behind them. Steve jumps, but of course Bucky already knew he was there. “Not like I'm bankrolling your kid's therapy or anything.”

“You are?” Steve and Bucky ask at the same time.

“Well, SHIELD is. Who do you think bankrolls SHIELD these days?” Tony huffs. “That's right, I'm your boss now. All of you. Show me some respect.”

“Shall we wrestle for it?” Thor teases.

“God, no.” Tony shudders. Grant points at Thor.

“That's Thor,” Bucky tells him. “Do you like him?” Grant nods and points at him again, then points at Clint. “I don't know what you're saying, kid.” Grant signs something and Bucky looks at Clint for clarification.

“He wants to play with me and Thor,” Clint laughs. “Quit cramping his style, Dad.”

Bucky rolls his eyes and puts Grant down so he can take Thor's hand and run over to Clint. “Well, it didn't take him long to get sick of us,” Steve jokes.

“I blame you,” Bucky says, leaning into Steve. Steve slips an arm around his waist.

“Our little baby's growing up.” Steve pretends to wipe away a tear.

“You guys are giving me a stomachache,” Tony declares. “Too much happiness over here. You know how that makes me ill.”

“Aw, Tony, are you feeling left out?” Bucky teases. “If you go over and play I'm sure Grant will be your friend.”

Tony flips him off just as Natasha goes over to join Clint and Thor with Grant, and that's when their game really gets going. She knows sign language almost as well as Clint, and she and Grant team up in hide-and-seek against Thor and Clint. But of course this is Avengers hide-and-seek, so Clint takes to the air ducts and Thor starts moving the furniture to create an adequate hiding place.

“Just bring him back if he gets scared,” Steve calls as Natasha slips into the air vent behind Clint, Grant riding on her back and giggling madly. At the sound of Steve's voice, Grant lets go with one hand and waves as they disappear into the ceiling. Steve and Bucky both wince at the sight of him only holding on with one hand.

But Tony wins Grant over eventually; it's a combination of his robots who will chase Grant around but not knock him over and the fact that Tony orders pizza and ice cream for dinner. Grant goes around the table to beg for bites off everyone's plate. After his third bite of Clint's pizza, Clint complains,

“Look, man, your kid's great, but pizza is sacred!”

Bruce feeds Grant his whole dish of ice cream and Grant stays in his lap the rest of the night as a thank you. Steve sits back in his chair contentedly, his arm around Bucky, and watches his little family in motion. When Bruce breaks out “this little piggy” on Grant's toes and gets him to scream with laughter, Steve takes a video and sends it to Sam. He sighs happily and Bucky catches his eye. They smile at each other, and Steve's not sure he's ever been happier.

But of course, it can't last. Grant has a terrible night, crying out and murmuring at himself to be quiet and hide, and when they go into his room, his sheets are wet and he cries when he sees them like he hasn't since that first night.

“You're not in trouble,” Bucky reassures him. “It was an accident.”

Grant sobs harder, scooting away when Bucky and Steve come closer. They stop immediately, because he hasn't done that in weeks. He's shaking his head, crying so hard he's barely breathing, and Steve's stomach is clenching painfully because whatever punishment he'd gotten for wetting the bed before must have been bad.

“Grant,” Steve says, voice a little shaky with emotion. Grant shudders at the sound of his name, hiccuping. Bucky says something in Russian and Grant gives a tiny nod.

“What'd you say?” Steve asks, though the look on Bucky's face tells him he might not want to know.

“I asked him if they hit him when this happened before.” Bucky sounds sick. “Fuck, Steve, I don't know how much more of this I can take,” Bucky admits, his right hand shaking as he brings it up to push through his hair. “I just keep thinking of the damn chair, that chair, Stevie, that's what I got when I was bad and what if they—” He stops, breathing hard.

Steve runs his hand over his face. He wants to reassure Bucky, tell him of course they didn't do that to a kid, but how can he possibly say that? Nothing about HYDRA indicates they wouldn't, and Steve's pretty sure Natasha is glaring evidence to the contrary, even if that wasn't HDYRA. Instead of saying anything, he just wraps an arm around Bucky's waist. Steve feels stretched thin. He's got not one but two trauma victims living in his house, and he's not exactly a brick house of mental health.

“You need to sit this out?” He asks Bucky softly. “Get out of here for a few days? You can always go stay at the Tower or with Sam.”

“I'm not leaving,” Bucky retorts hotly. “You think I'm just gonna walk out on you? On the kid? It sucks, Steve, but this is our life now. I'm here for it all. I'm not my father.” He practically whispers the last part and Steve holds him tighter.

“I know you're not, Buck. But you have to take care of yourself before you can take care of anyone else.”

“Like you are?” Bucky shoots back. “Besides, I think I'm in a unique position to understand what he's going through.” His voice is bitter. They're keeping their voices down, even in an argument, because Grant's less than three feet away. Arguing with the soundtrack of a sobbing child isn't exactly easy, anyway.

“We'll talk about this later,” Bucky mutters. “I can't—I can't think about myself when he's freaking out like this.” Steve nods, resting his head against Bucky's for a second before pushing back and approaching the bed cautiously.

“Grant,” Steve repeats softly, and this time Grant looks up. “We're never going to hurt you, okay? This was an accident and it's not your fault. It's okay.” Grant's breathing is still hitched, tears still clinging to his lashes and on his face. Bucky steps up beside Steve.

“It's alright, kid,” he promises. “Why don't we clean you up?” Grant looks at them for another minute, eyes painfully wide, chewing on his lower lip, before he nods almost imperceptibly and stands up obediently. Bucky takes bath duty while Steve handles the sheets, and once Grant's all clean they bring him into their bed because they don't have any more sheets.

“I guess we should buy extra sheets,” Steve says as Grant inspects the room.

“I sure hope he doesn't pee in here,” Bucky responds. “Joanna did that to me once when she was a kid and I screamed so much I got the belt.”

“I promise I won't whup you with a belt like your dad did,” Steve says solemnly. It's a sad testament to what Bucky's gone through that it's only half-joking. Once Grant's finished his perimeter check of the room, he allows Bucky to pick him up and set him in the middle of the bed. He immediately cuddles into Bucky's side and reaches for Steve's hand, Bucky Bear nestled between him and Steve's chest, and sighs a little. Bucky reaches over Grant and wraps his arm around Steve's waist, and Grant makes a happy sound at being smooshed between them.

“Love you, Buck,” Steve murmurs sleepily, reaching clumsily behind him for Bucky's hand and giving it a tight squeeze.

“Love you, too, Stevie. And we love you, kid.” Bucky nuzzles against Grant's hair.

“We love you a lot,” Steve agrees. Grant doesn't say anything.

 

Natasha calls the next day. “Got more on the mother,” she says without preamble as soon as Steve picks up.

“Wha—okay.”

“Ekaterina Babicheva.”

“Well that's a Russian name if I ever heard one," Steve jokes lightly. Bucky and Grant are on the balcony feeding the pigeons. Every so often Steve can hear Grant screeching when the pigeons get too close and he even hears Bucky startle once. If Bucky hadn't already been aware of the pigeons, Steve's sure there would be a dead pigeon out there right now.

“Former KGB,” Natasha continues crisply. Her cool tone is a huge hint that she's incredibly uncomfortable with the topic. She's usually warmer with Steve. “Went HYDRA after the KGB fell. Maybe before. Very well trained. Very well...” She pauses for a second, clears her throat. “Indoctrinated.”

Steve doesn't want to think too long about what kind of indoctrination she likely underwent. Something in Natasha's voice makes Steve hesitate to ask his next question. “Did you know her?”

There's a long pause. “Yes,” Natasha admits. “She wasn't harsh, but she wasn't overly affectionate. I can't imagine he got many hugs or kisses on his scraped knees.”

Steve's heart aches a little, both for Grant and for the little Natasha he sees in his head. He doesn't have to ask to know Natasha didn't have anyone kissing her scraped knees, either. Steve grew up wanting for much, but never for affection or comfort. He had a mother who made him her whole world, and if she was at work, he and Bucky always had one another to lean on.

“Hey,” he says somewhat suddenly. “You're being careful, right? Getting this intel isn't putting you in any danger, is it?”

Natasha huffs a laugh. “I'm always in danger,” she says dryly. “But this isn't terribly dangerous.”

“You're sure?” Steve checks. “I mean, we appreciate it a lot, but I don't want you getting—”

“Steve,” Natasha breaks in, and her tone indicates she's about to say something that will show her heart, something she won't want him to repeat. “I know what that kid went through. And I don't want him to go through any more.”

Steve has to close to his eyes for a second as he breaths out. “I'm sorry, Natasha,” he says in a rush. “I'm sorry your life was awful for so long.”

She doesn't say anything for a minute. “I'm glad that kid's got you,” she tells him softly, then abruptly goes back to her business tone. “Babicheva was not Grant's mother. Biologically, he doesn't have a mother. He is a complete product of you and James.”

“Uh,” Steve sputters for a second. “I mean, maybe things changed while I was on ice, but, um, how...?”

“HYDRA had private funding, Steve; their technology is years ahead of the mainstream public's. They fertilized an egg that was full of either yours or James's DNA. I don't know which DNA went where, and frankly, I don't want to know.” She's lightly joking now, and Steve smiles until he remembers how HYDRA got Bucky's DNA, and then he has to breathe deeply for a few seconds while his vision threatens to blink out on him.

“Babicheva was the surrogate mother, but she's not biologically linked to Grant in any way. She took him and ran and did her best to protect him; I know he got weapons training from HYDRA, but I think she trained him in some light espionage.”

“Like staying quiet and hiding,” Steve says grimly.

“Right. And languages. James said he knows Russian as well as English.”

“We're guessing.” Steve shrugs. “He never talks, so we don't know exactly what he understands, but he responds to both languages.”

“I bet he's great at hide-and-seek,” Natasha says wryly.

“Yeah, great.” Steve can't help how dejected he sounds. He wishes he could stop learning what horrors his son had to go through. How many more people he loves can HYDRA hurt?

“It's going to be okay, Steve,” Natasha tells him softly. “He's a little fighter. He has to be. He's made of tough stuff.” She laughs a little at her own joke, like she always does, and Steve groans at her.

“Steve!” Bucky hollers from the balcony. “He's signing something but I don't know what. Can you bring the book?”

“Thanks, Natasha,” Steve says sincerely. “I gotta go.”

“Take care of him,” she says. “Both of them.”

It's the easiest promise to make in the world.

Chapter 6

Notes:

Wooo, this one is full of ~action~ finally.

It's a Wednesday afternoon. Grant's jumping up and down on the couch in his underwear, some Disney movie playing, while Steve does laundry and Bucky makes lunch, when Bucky feels eyes on the back of his head and an internal warning siren blaring. He doesn't stop to think—he vaults over the couch and grabs Grant, dragging him down, seconds before a bullet whizzes through the window and lodges itself in the wall beside the fridge. Grant screams.

“What's happening?” Steve starts thundering down the hall.

“Stay there!” Bucky yells. “There's a sniper in the building next to us.”

It's totally surreal, Bucky thinks to himself. He's army crawling through his living room, carrying his son beneath him, while some princess is singing a song about finding her true love. If he wasn't trained better, he'd probably start laughing hysterically. Instead, all he can focus on is getting Grant to the hallway, where there are thick walls and no windows. Bucky suddenly remembers Grant's floor plan. He'd marked the hallway with one of his X's.

“Grant, it's okay,” he keeps repeating. “I'm not going to let anyone hurt you.” He's not sure the reassurance isn't actually for himself; Grant is holding his entire body completely still and he's deathly silent. Bucky only knows he's breathing because he can feel the kid's chest move under his hand. They get to the hall and Steve grabs Bucky's shoulders and yanks him the last few inches to safety. He runs a hand over Bucky's shoulders, up and down his back, over Grant's head, checking for injuries, while he holds his phone to his ear with his other hand.

“We're fine,” Bucky assures him. “Grant's just scared.”

Scared is a bit of an understatement. He isn't crying, which is actually worse. He's clinging to Bucky and he's trembling so badly his teeth are rattling together.

“Nat! We've got a sniper in the building next to ours. Yeah, he shot through our damn window.”

They spend the fifteen minutes until Natasha shows up huddled together. Steve wraps his arms around Bucky so they sandwich Grant between them, they way they've been doing in bed since the night he wet the bed. Gradually, he starts breathing more normally, but he's still clinging tightly to Bucky's neck and whimpers whenever he's afraid Steve's going to move away. Natasha doesn't knock; she slips in the front door, whistles in a special signal Bucky insisted everyone employ in cases of emergency, and walks in a crouch to the hallway.

“Stark and Barton are checking the other building,” she reports. “No one's hurt?”

“No, but that bullet would have hit Grant,” Bucky says quietly.

“They're not trying to recapture him.” Steve swallows hard. “Why wouldn't they be trying to recapture him?” He cautiously moves away from Grant and this time Grant pulls a little away from Bucky to look at Natasha. She pats his little hand, fisted in Bucky's shirt.

“With SHIELD going after them, HYDRA's tying up loose ends right now,” Natasha says slowly. “They don't have the resources to cover their tracks and...train him.”

Steve lets out a long string of swear words. “I hope they get the sniper,” he spits. “I want to tear him limb from limb.”

Natasha raises an eyebrow. “I've only ever heard you say you wanted to kill people one other time.” She cocks her head to the side. “Protective papa bear.”

“We have to leave,” Bucky interrupts her slight teasing. “We're obviously not safe enough here.”

“Safehouse?” Steve asks. Natasha shakes her head.

“We can't be sure which SHIELD safehouses are compromised. The Tower's probably your best bet. And Stark's already got a floor for you. He's been doing renovations up there. Pretty sure it's even kid friendly now.”

Bucky rakes a hand through his hair. “We just got him settled here,” he mutters. “This is not going to be good for his sense of security.” He's not sure if he's trying to make a joke. Dr. Jones has told them multiple times how important building a sense of security is to his recovery.

Tony and Clint don't find anything, but Tony tells them to pack the essentials and make a list of what they want some of “his guys” to come back for later. For a tense two minutes, they can't find Bucky Bear, but he turns out to be under the couch. Bucky had kicked him under there when he grabbed Grant.

As they could have guessed, Grant's scared and clingy for the rest of the day. Even when they get to the Tower and he sees the rest of the team, who he usually loves to play with, he insists on holding onto some part of either Steve or Bucky at all times. Neither of them are complaining, because they don't want to let him out of their sight, either. Steve does slip away to call Sam, who promises to come visit that weekend.

“I can't believe someone tried to hurt my third nephew,” Sam says, livid, and Steve enjoys a little warmth in his chest at the idea of Sam considering Grant his nephew.

“Poor little guy,” Bruce murmurs when he sees Grant's face screw up in protest when Steve tries to untangle himself from the mass of limbs on the couch so he can stand up.

“It's time for a bath, Grant.” Steve holds out his arms and Grant obediently jumps into them, but he immediately looks questioningly at Bucky.

“Yep, I'm coming,” Bucky promises, picking up Bucky Bear and handing him to Grant. Grant does manage to wave at everyone as they leave the room.

His bath is short and subdued; besides his terror, they didn't pack his bath toys in their bag of essentials. After so much adrenaline in one day, his eyelids are drooping by the time they get him dried off and into his pajamas.

“We had a scary day,” Steve says to Grant once they get into the bedroom that's been repainted from the neutral cream walls of the rest of the apartment to a sunny yellow, with the alphabet along the top of the room and animals painted throughout. The parenting blog they've subscribed to says to discuss changes and emotions with kids, but Steve doesn't think the blog has many suggestions for how to talk your kid through an assassination attempt. Grant nods.

“But we're safe now,” Bucky adds. Grant tilts his head to the side.

Still scared, he signs. They're a little surprised; even after just over a month, he usually only signs requests. Since he's signing, they switch to sign language, too, though it's harder for them. They're both smart and have better-than-average memories, but they haven't been practicing as much as they should be and Grant's like a little sponge when it comes to learning sign language. Steve wonders if already knowing two languages helps him there, though Bucky still hasn't found a spoken language he isn't at least conversational in.

We'll never let anything happen to you, Steve promises. Grant looks at Bucky, who nods his agreement.

We're hiding here? Grant gestures around the room. Bucky looks at Steve.

“Do we tell him we're not hiding?”

“We kind of are.” Steve shrugs, so they tell him yes.

Stay quiet, Grant affirms.

You don't have to, Bucky tells him.

We like when you're not quiet, Steve agrees.

Grant seems to be tired of the discussion. His only other sign is a request for his Bernstein Bears book. Steve reads it four times before they tell Grant it's time for bed.

“Do you remember where our room is?” Steve asks, saying it aloud and signing at the same time. Clint had suggested they do that in case he's not deaf and just needs to know he's allowed to talk or if he's only partially deaf. Grant nods sleepily. They sing him two of the lullabies from his CD before turning off the light. There's a built-in nightlight in the room. It's the shape of Steve's shield and Bucky laughs a little.

“Goodnight, Grant,” Steve whispers.

“We love you,” Bucky adds.

Grant raises up one arm. In the light spilling in from the hallway and the nightlight, they can see his thumb, pointer finger, and pink are extended and the other two fingers are down: the sign for I love you.

They manage to get out of sight before they both break down a little. They cling together as they walk down the hallway to their room, and then Steve leans against the wall and Bucky leans against Steve. They're both crying.

“What a day,” Bucky laughs, wiping at the tears on his face.

“God, Buck, if you weren't...you.” Steve shakes his head, dropping his face to the crook of Bucky's neck. “I just keep thinking about if you hadn't been there.”

“I keep thinking about if I was a second later,” Bucky admits. They breathe together for a minute, just resting there.

“We're all safe,” Steve says firmly, standing up straight. “And now we know for sure they're going to try to come for him. We're ready.”

“We're not ready,” Bucky counters. “But we'll get ready.”

Grant's already crying by the time they finish brushing their teeth. Bucky sighs a little. “I had plans for some we're-still-alive sex,” he complains mildly, already moving to the door.

“Tomorrow,” Steve promises. “Somehow.”

They bring Grant into their bed, since his new bed—in the shape of a race car, and Steve's wondering whose fantasies that bed's really fulfilling—isn't big enough for all three of them. Steve asks JARVIS if he can play some kids' lullabies, and he manages to play the exact CD they've been playing for Grant for the past month.

Bad scary men came, Grant signs. His signs are getting sloppy because he's so tired.

“Yeah, they did,” Bucky answers softly.

Hurt my sister.

“Your sister?” Steve asks. It must have been what Ekaterina told Grant to call her.

We hide. She shut the door and I heard the boom and her head was red and she didn't pick me up.

“And the bad men took you away?” Bucky asks. His voice is completely monotone and Steve knows he's drawing on the Winter Soldier to keep it that way.

No talking. Eat the food. No crying. Hold the knife. Hit me. Scary.

Bucky's not even trying to not let Grant see his tears. It's dark except for the lights in the hallway, but it's enough to see the shine in his eyes. He glances at Steve and sees tears in his eyes, too. They've wanted to know what happened to Grant the whole time they've had him, but it's not easy to swallow, especially not when it's coming out in confused jumbles.

“Grant, we're not going to let them get you again,” Steve promises, voice choked. “You're going to stay with us.”

“We've got you now,” Bucky confirms. “And we'll keep you safe.”

They keep murmuring assurances to him, signing the word safe over and over, until he falls asleep, and then they stare at one another around his head.

“What are we going to do, Stevie?” Bucky asks helplessly. Steve doesn't have an answer.

 

They decide to take a break on the sign language lessons the next day, just because Grant's had such a crazy few days. Sam comes into town and suggests they take Grant to the park.

“He can run around, get some fresh air, just be a kid,” Sam says.

Bucky's tense. “The park is really...open.” He bites at his thumbnail, a habit he'd only just begun to pick back up. He did it all the time when they were kids, but in the year he's been back Steve's only seen him do it a few times. One more thing HYDRA took.

“But it's also full of civilians who could see something,” Sam points out. “You've already beat their sniper once. Are they going to risk witnesses seeing them? They can't shoot everyone in the park.”

“We can try it,” Steve says, though his mouth's a thin line of worry. “An hour.”

“It'll be good for Grant.” Sam knows the right buttons to push and it works; both Steve and Bucky reluctantly agree.

Grant stares at the playground like he's never seen one before, which, Steve realizes with a sinking heart, he probably hasn't. There are kids all over it, bouncing on one of those bridge things, swinging, chasing one another. Bucky's shoulders are so tight it looks painful.

“One of those kids could be a mole,” he mutters, and Sam actually laughs at him.

“You think one of those kids is secretly HYDRA?” He asks incredulously. He points at a kid eating sand and another picking his nose. “HYDRA's crack team, right there.” He can't stop laughing and Bucky looks decidedly disgruntled.

“Thought you knew a thing or two about child soldiers,” Bucky says harshly. “There's no age limit to being used for evil. I've seen kids with bombs strapped to them and I know you have, too.”

Sam immediately stops laughing. He can tell Bucky's having an off day; he was tense even before the park idea, and he'd done four perimeter checks of their floor before they'd even had breakfast.

“Hey,” Sam says gently. “You're right. It's good to stay cautious. But you're letting it take over your life, man. You're letting it take over your kid's life.”

“I'm trying to save my kid's life,” Bucky shoots back.

“How much of a life is it if he can't live it?” Sam asks. Bucky runs a hand through his hair and Steve can see little tremors running down his back. Steve reaches out and settles a hand on the back of Bucky's neck, ready to pull it back if Bucky tenses further, but instead Bucky's shoulders drop and he sighs.

“Sorry,” he murmurs to Sam. “I'm just...”

“I know.” Sam smiles. “You're worried about your boy.”

“Both of 'em,” Bucky admits gruffly, scuffing a shoe in the dirt. Steve rubs at Bucky's neck, trying to ease some more tension out of it. Grant wiggles out of Steve's arms and takes Bucky's hand. Bucky looks down at him, surprised, and Grant points toward the playground.

“Oh, I have to come with you?” Bucky asks, bemused. Grant points again.

“You can keep him safe,” Steve says with a grin that doesn't totally reach his eyes, since he's not totally kidding.

“Keep your eyes open,” Bucky admonishes. “They're not going to worry about casualties.” Grant tugs a little at Bucky's hand and then freezes, looking up at Bucky worriedly. As cute as the furrowed eyebrow look is, Steve wishes they didn't see it so often. “Yeah, kid, I'm coming.” Bucky smiles and Grant relaxes enough to smile back. Steve and Sam settle onto a bench and Steve sighs a little.

“So, things seem tense.” Sam doesn't even pretend he's not digging.

“Yeah.” Steve watches as Grant stands completely still at the edge of the wood chips, head tipped to the side as he observes the kids playing.

“This is hard on your boy, huh? Seeing that what he went through happened to Grant, too.”

“It's like he thinks it's his fault,” Steve says softly. “I think he thinks if he'd stayed none of that would have happened to Grant. But they were already looking for him when Bucky got away from them.”

“A lot happened to him,” Sam says with a nod. “Sometimes that makes it hard not to blame yourself for every single thing.” He gives Steve a significant look. “Think you know what I'm talking about.”

Steve rubs his forehead. “I should have gotten more information about what was happening with my DNA samples. I didn't even question it. I just let them take whatever samples they wanted.”

“Steve,” Sam says seriously. “There is absolutely no way this is your fault. I know you think you need to be responsible for the whole damn world, but it's killing you. You need to accept that it isn't your fault. You know what you're responsible for? That right there.” He points to Bucky and Grant. Bucky's holding Grant up and Grant's crossing the monkey bars with surprising skill for a kid his age. They're both laughing.

“You got both of them out of bad situations, Steve, and you're taking care of both of them. But are you letting them take care of you? Barnes is so damn worried about you. All the time, Cap. I'm getting texts from him every day asking what he can do for you.”

Steve looks at Sam quickly, surprised. “Really?”

“Really. I should start making you two pay my phone bills.” Sam shakes his head. Steve flushes guiltily. He texts Sam a lot; mostly about Grant, now, but before he was always asking what he should do for Bucky. He'd had no idea Bucky was doing the same about him. He makes a mental note to ask Stark about paying other people's phone bills.

“No.” Sam points at him. “I was kidding. You do not need to pay my phone bill.” They both know Steve's going to anyway. “I'm just saying,” Sam goes on, more gently. “Lean on him. He's stronger than you think.”

“I know he's strong,” Steve protests. “Hell of a lot stronger than I am.”

“Hmm.” Sam doesn't comment on that. Grant runs over, smiling wider than Steve's seen in a few days. He reaches for Steve's hand and Steve goes willingly, shooting an apologetic smile at Sam, who just laughs and waves him away. Bucky takes Steve's place on the bench. Steve glances at them every so often, and he can tell by the contemplative look on Bucky's face he's getting the same lecture Steve had. And then, Grant trades Steve out for Sam and Steve and Bucky sit on the bench, leaning their shoulders into one another, and watch as Sam chases Grant around the playground.

“Sam's better'n we deserve,” Bucky says with a little smile as Grant screams and runs away from Sam.

“No argument here,” Steve agrees. “He should move out here. Stark's working on a floor for him in the Tower.”

“Seriously?” Bucky snorts. “Guy needs a hobby.”

“No, he needs fewer hobbies,” Steve argues. They both laugh when Grant hides in a tunnel that's too small for Sam to get into. “We should run a background check on that girl he's seeing,” Steve adds. “Just to be sure she's not evil.”

“Please,” Bucky scoffs. “I did that last week when he first told us her name. She's clean.”

“We still need to meet her,” Steve says. “I don't know how anyone could be good enough for him.”

“You, maybe.” Bucky shrugs. “Too bad I'm selfish and keeping you all to myself.”

Steve laughs. “Who'd I piss off in a past life for that?”

“Seriously?” Bucky elbows him. “Your attitude? Who haven't you pissed off in a past life?”

They nudge each other for a few seconds, like they're nine and fighting for bed space again, and when they settle down Bucky's arm is draped loosely across the back of the bench and when Steve shifts just right he can rub against it with the back of his neck, and they sit together and watch Grant run around and just be a normal kid for a little while.

Chapter 7

Dr. Jones agrees to an emergency meeting. She sits gravely while they tell her, in halting, shaky voices everything Grant told them about his “sister” and the bad men. Grant is waiting outside with Sam and every once in a while they can hear him laugh. And then comes the hardest part—she meets with Grant and makes them wait outside.

“It's all going to be okay,” Sam says soothingly. “Kids are so resilient. And now he's got a good home, you've got him in therapy—I'm not saying it's going to be easy, or it'll get fixed just like that, you know that with Barnes here. But look how much progress he's made in just a month.”

“I thought we had most of HYDRA captured,” Bucky says, eyes unfocused. “But someone tried to shoot him. I'm going to find that sniper. And I'm going to kill him.” The slow and painful part is unspoken but Steve knows he means it. That's how Steve feels, too.

“Don't focus too much on revenge,” Sam cautions. “You need to look out for that little boy in there. Your number one priority has to be helping him heal.”

“You're right, Sam.” Steve shakes his head. “Of course you are. You're always right.”

“Lay it on me, lay it on me,” Sam laughs. “Totally serious though: you guys are doing a great job. Loving him's going to do so much for him. Really.”

They're still standing outside the door waiting when Thor comes in. He's got two women with him that Steve doesn't know, but he recognizes Dr. Foster, Thor's girlfriend, from the pictures Thor's shown them. He doesn't know the other woman.

“Friends!” Thor calls out. “At last you can meet my Jane and her Darcy.”

“And her Darcy is very ready to meet you,” the second woman says with a raised eyebrow and a pointed up-and-down sweep of Steve's body. Steve sputters a little uncomfortably, but Bucky laughs and gives her a little wink that settles Steve down. He doesn't get jealous when Bucky acts like this; Bucky's always been a shameless flirt, and Steve's happy to see it coming back to him.

They shake hands and do introductions, and then the door opens behind them and Steve and Bucky can't spare any politeness for small talk. They wheel around to face the door.

“He did wonderfully today,” Dr. Jones says. “He showed me some art.” Grant pushes past her and grabs the first leg he finds, which turns out to be Bucky's. Bucky lifts him up and he snuggles into Bucky's neck, hand tracing idly over the red star on Bucky's arm.

“Hey, kid, you okay?” Bucky asks. Grant pulls back enough to sign tired.

“What kind of art?” Steve asks cautiously. He hopes it's not more internal organs.

“I think it was scenes of what happened to him,” she says softly. “But that's what we want him to draw. He told you about it, and he's drawing it, and that means he feels safe enough to tell us.”

They thank her and Steve takes the hand Grant holds out to him from his perch in Bucky's arms.

“Who's the tiny human?” Darcy asks.

“This is Grant.” Bucky looks down at him. “I'm not sure he's up to meeting anyone. He's had a rough few days.”

“Tony relayed it to us,” Thor says gravely. He bends a little so he can see Grant's eyes over Bucky's shoulder. “Our little warrior shows more bravery.” Grant nods against Bucky's shoulder but doesn't raise his head.

“Wait, Captain America has a kid?” Darcy asks.

“And so does Bucky Barnes. He's both of ours,” Steve confirms.

It's quiet for a second and then Jane says in a forcibly casual voice, “So, do you know the science behind it?”

“No,” Bucky responds. She looks disappointed and Steve remembers the story of her breaking Thor out of SHIELD custody to save her research. She might be more manic about science than Tony. “Hey, Grant, you want to meet some new friends?” Bucky asks softly. Grant sighs but pulls his face from Bucky's shoulder and gives the crowd a long-suffering look.

“Oh, man,” Sam laughs. “We don't even have to wonder where he got that sass because he got it from both of you.”

“It's probably learned,” Steve protests. “Sass is not genetic.”

“I'm a scientist's intern and I can confirm sass is definitely genetic,” Darcy says seriously.

“Genetics don't...” Jane stops and just shrugs. “Never mind. I'm not getting into this discussion again.”

“You want to take a nap?” Steve asks Grant. Grant signs ice cream.

“Ice cream?” Bucky asks. “I thought you were tired.” He just signs it again.

“You haven't had any lunch yet,” Steve says. Ice cream. Then he adds please for good measure. Bucky sighs. It would probably be hard to resist even if a sniper hadn't recently tried to kill him; the kid's got dimples and giant blue eyes and Steve's chin, for crying out loud. Bucky doesn't stand a chance.

“How about lunch first and then ice cream?” He suggests. Grand nods his assent and Bucky feels distinctly like he just got played. Sam can't stop laughing at them.

“Amateurs,” he teases. He goes off to Tony's lab to test-drive some new wings while they head upstairs.

Grant perks up a little when they go to the communal floor for lunch and Clint and Bruce are there. He signs through the alphabet with Clint while Steve makes him a sandwich and Bucky digs around in the fridge for some grapes.

But then there's no ice cream in the freezer, and they know they don't have any upstairs on their floor, either. Grant's head keeps dipping right there at the counter, even though he stubbornly pulls it back up every time it starts to tip down.

“Hey, bud.” Steve crouches by Grant's chair and Grant rests his tired head on Steve's shoulder. “How about a nap and then some ice cream?”

Grant, predictably, signs ice cream, but it looks almost half-hearted; his eyes aren't even all the way open. “Yeah,” Bucky says. “You'll get some ice cream, I promise, but you're going to fall asleep in it if you don't take a nap first.”

Tired, Grant signs.

“Why don't you put him on the couch in here?” Bruce suggests. “I can stay with him and you two can go out for some ice cream.”

“Oh—no, it's okay,” Steve protests. “We can just go get it when he wakes up.”

“You know, a lot of couples struggle with finding time to be alone after having kids,” Bruce says mildly. Steve finds he doesn't have a response to that. He looks at Bucky, who shrugs.

“Well. Can't pretend that's not true. If you're sure, Bruce.”

“I'm definitely sure. And if I need a break, there are about six other responsible adults in this building.” Bruce grins. “Don't worry, I'm not counting Tony in that number.”

“I'm just not sure...” Bucky bites his lip. “I mean, he has nightmares.”

“He doesn't nap long,” Steve agrees.

“You guys gotta get out of here,” Clint breaks in. “You're afraid to leave him, sure, but do you really think there's a safer place than the Tower?”

They can't pretend they wouldn't like some time alone. So they explain to Grant that he's going to sleep on the couch and stay with Bruce and Clint.

You leave? He asks, lower lip starting to wobble. Before Steve and Bucky can change their minds, Clint comes to their rescue, throwing out a long string of signs neither of them can follow but Grant seems to understand perfectly. He waves tiredly and lies down.

It's incredibly strange to be outside together without Grant. It's only been five weeks, but they can hardly remember what it's like to not be worried about losing him in the crowd if he lets go of someone's hand. They're holding hands, because they've gotten in the habit.

“I almost feel guilty,” Steve confesses. “Like, I love Grant, but it feels really nice to be alone with you.”

Bucky laughs at him, because he's Bucky. “You're sick of the kid already? I guess we could try to convince Clint to take him.”

“See, now I changed my mind. I'd rather be alone with Grant.” Steve sticks his tongue out at Bucky.

“Aw, Stevie, I'm sorry I teased you. Come on, one little kiss.” Bucky puckers his lips at Steve and Steve has to admit, even as playful as it is, his mouth goes a little dry. Bucky's got nice lips. Always has. Probably always will. They'll be ninety someday (well, their bodies will be), old and worn-down, and Bucky's lips will probably still be full and red and pouty.

“I ain't kissing you in public, jerk.”

“But Steeeeeeve,” Bucky fake whines. “That reporter said everyone already knew all about our big gay love.” He's getting a real kick out of flustering Steve, so Steve fights back—he waits for a gap in the crowd and pushes Bucky up against a brick wall. He kisses him fast and dirty and then pulls away and keeps walking.

“Shit, Steve, that's not fair!” Bucky says.

“Sound a little breathless, Buck, you alright?” Steve teases. Bucky speeds up, tugging Steve along with him.

“Hurry up,” he says. “Maybe if we go fast enough Grant'll still be asleep and we can have some alone time not in public.”

They only stop to duck into an alley and make out for a little while once on their way back, but when they get back Grant's already awake. His hair's sticking up in every direction and when he sees them he starts bouncing up and down on the couch.

You came back, he signs excitedly.

“Hey, we promised, didn't we?” Bucky says with a grin. “And look what we brought you.”

Ice cream!

He jumps off the couch, clapping his hands, and runs over. He grabs one of Steve's legs and one of Bucky's and hugs them both. After getting over the initial hurdle, they're able to leave him with the other Avengers more often. Every time they come back, he's less and less surprised.

Grant even starts taking “trips” by himself; of course he's never actually by himself, considering he's three, but he sometimes gets to ride the elevator two floors down to Clint's floor with only JARVIS as company (keeping Steve and Bucky updated the whole way) so he can play with the dog. He gets to go on outings with the other members of the team and without Steve and Bucky, and they start taking him down to the SHIELD daycare twice a week so he can play with other kids his age and make some friends.

“He doesn't speak,” Steve explains to the head daycare worker. Pepper had assured them everyone was very qualified, with everyone holding at least a bachelor's degree in a child-related field. Bucky jokes that the daycare staff is better equipped to be parents than he or Steve.

“I know ASL,” the man reassures him. “And if there's anything I'm unsure of, I'm sure JARVIS can help out.”

“Certainly, sirs,” JARVIS agrees, and several children light up and start bombarding the AI with questions.

Grant only clings to them the first time they drop him off; the second time, he's still hesitant and holding their hands, but by the third, he runs into the room with only one backward glance and a wave. It's a bittersweet feeling.

“Sense of security,” Bucky murmurs sleepily to Steve one night as they're all falling asleep to Peter Pan in their living room.

“Him or us?” Steve responds with a little smile. Bucky can't find the energy to raise his arm to elbow Steve so he headbutts him gently, though it's really not a bad point. Grant's sprawled across both their laps, drooling on Bucky's leg and holding onto the hem of Steve's shirt, Bucky Bear clutched firmly in his other hand that's dangling off the edge.

“I guess for all of us,” Bucky says. Steve rubs their noses together and they enjoy a few lazy kisses before Grant shifts around, murmuring. They wait and watch, wondering if they should wake him up. His brow's wrinkled the same way Steve's always is in sleep. He unconsciously tugs at Steve's shirt a few times.

“Daddy,” He murmurs, then sighs and settles back down.

“Sense of security,” Steve echoes with a smile.

Chapter 8

Notes:

This is the last bit of fluffiness for a while, so enjoy it while you can. ;)

“Captain. Sergeant.” Thor sounds incredibly grave, and Bucky looks up, surprised. In general, Thor's a pretty easy-going guy; it takes a lot to make him sound like that.

“What's up?” Steve asks cautiously.

“I assume you have not seen the news? My Jane and I were on a morning stroll and passed a stand selling your news. Is news not free? Everyone does not have access to the world's events?”

“Um...”

Thor shakes his head. “That is not important. For now. Jane informs me you wished to keep the young warrior a secret.”

Bucky tenses. “What's going on?”

Thor slides a magazine across the table, open to the “celebrity baby gossip” page. There's really no mistaking the picture—they're walking down the sidewalk, Grant in the middle, and Steve and Bucky are each holding one of his hands. The caption asks Did Captain America and his long-time BFF adopt? Bucky snorts a little at the BFF part.

Steve lets out a long breath. “Yeah, we wanted to keep that quiet for a while,” he murmurs. Bucky's mouth is a thin line.

“Can't believe I didn't notice someone taking our picture,” he berates himself.

“It's pretty blurry,” Steve points out. “They were probably really far away.”

“I'm getting sloppy,” Bucky mutters angrily. “We're lucky it was just a picture this time.”

Steve thinks of what Sam said about Bucky blaming himself for everything. “Well, I didn't notice either.”

“It's my job to notice things like that.”

“No, it's not,” Steve protests. “You have two jobs, as far as I see it: love me and Grant, and get better. You're doing both of them.”

“Can't love you if you're dead.” Bucky's staring down at the photo, whole body tense. He pushes back from the table and stands up, but Grant runs out just then.

“Hi!” He waves at Thor. Everyone gapes at him. He's never spoken aloud while fully awake.

“Hello,” Thor responds, shooting a quick, surprised look at Steve and Bucky. They're both grinning like their kid just cured cancer.

Here to play? Grant signs.

“Sadly, no,” Thor says apologetically. “I have business in Tony's lab. He wants me to help him move some heavy objects. I suspect he will be secretly filming me again.”

Steve laughs a little, despite the anger of the paparazzi photo and the shock of Grant speaking. Tony acts like Thor is some kind of technological baby, and Thor plays along because he gets a kick out of messing with Tony.

“Bye!” Grant says as Thor leaves. Steve and Bucky don't want to make a big deal out of the talking in case they scare it away.

“Should we talk to Pepper?” Steve asks Bucky, gesturing toward the magazine.

“Can she stop HYDRA from finding him?” Bucky shoots back. Steve shrugs.

“She handles the PR stuff. Actually, she probably already knows.” As if called by their concerns, Pepper click-clacks into the room, not quite running (that would be undignified and it's not technically an emergency) but faster than she'd normally walk.

“Oh,” she says when she spots the magazine. “I'm so sorry, I can't believe this got out—someone will definitely be losing their job over this.”

“Losing their job?” Steve cringes.

“Better than what I'd do to 'em,” Bucky says darkly.

“Bucky, let's just stay calm and try to think—”

“Hi,” Grant interrupts, smiling sweetly at Pepper. She falters.

“Hi,” she says, brow wrinkled. “Grant's—talking now?”

Here to play? Grant signs hopefully again. Two visitors in one morning? He seems to think that means someone ought to be playing with him. Even Bucky laughs.

“She's gotta do some work, kid,” Bucky tells him, and Grant frowns. “But let's make a deal. You eat your breakfast while we work, and then we'll go to the playground again.”

Grant lights up and yells something in Russian. Steve knows enough to recognize the word park and yes and he laughs at Grant's enthusiasm. He's bunny-hopping to his seat at the table, where his oatmeal's already waiting for him, dinosaur eggs not quite hatched yet. (The first time they'd used the dinosaur egg oatmeal, all three of them had watched incredibly intently and there had been a lot of excited yelling as the hot water melted the eggs into dinosaurs. The excitement had dwindled far more quickly than their supply of dinosaur egg oatmeal.)

“Do you want to put out a statement?” Pepper asks.

“Will that make people more or less likely to take his picture without permission?” Bucky, for obvious reasons, is really concerned with permission these days. He'd gotten over the paparazzi invading their privacy relatively quickly, though he was still annoyed by it, but apparently they've crossed a line with Grant.

“I think they're going to want pictures either way.” Pepper makes a face. “If it's still speculation, they'll want pictures to examine and see if he looks like one of you. Once you confirm the rumors, they'll want pictures of Captain America's son.”

“Can we put out a statement that says he's our kid and we'll hunt down anyone who takes his picture?” Steve suggests, then guffaws at the shit-eating grin Bucky flashes him.

“We could say he's been through some traumatizing experiences in his short life and ask the public to value his privacy. People know what happened to you, James, and they were sad enough about that, but something bad happening to a kid that young and that adorable?” Pepper shrugs. “The general public will probably take out the paparazzi themselves.”

Grant is banging his spoon against his bowl to a rhythm only he recognizes and bobbing his head. More oatmeal is landing on the table than in his mouth, but he sure seems to be enjoying himself.

“If we include a picture of him looking real sad, will that help?” Bucky asks. Steve raises his eyebrows.

“I thought our goal was to not let him be photographed.”

“Well, by the paparazzi, sure. Look, there's no way HYDRA doesn't know we're in the Tower, so it's not a matter of keeping our location secret. We're just going to have to protect him when they come.”

“When?” Pepper asks. “Not if?”

She's met by two grim faces. “There's not really an if,” Steve says quietly. He jumps a little when he feels Grant's hand on his elbow, leaving a streak of oatmeal behind. Banana, please, he signs.

“You done with your oatmeal?”

He nods. Eggs gone.

“Did you eat any of the oatmeal besides just the eggs?” Bucky asks accusingly. Grant looks shifty as he nods.

“Oh, yeah, I believe that,” Steve mutters, but he gets up to get Grant a banana. At least he's asking for things. It had taken Bucky three months to make a request. Maybe it's by nature of him being three, but Grant had jumped into asking for things (demanding, sort of) with both feet.

“Do you have a picture of him looking particularly sad?” Pepper asks dubiously.

“All the pictures of him when he first got here were really sad,” Bucky admits, wincing a little. He pulls out his phone and scrolls through. “Oh, check that out.”

In the photo, Grant is sitting on the floor in his giant Captain America shirt, hugging his knees to his chest and looking up at the camera with wide, terrified eyes. To really cement the scene, he's got peanut butter smeared all over his chin.

Pepper makes a little sound in the back of her throat, like she wants to aww but won't let herself. “Anyone who can resist this picture has no heart,” she declares. “Even Tony would admit that's tragic. It's perfect. Emotional manipulation is the key to public relations.” She sends the picture to herself and heads out.

“Dasvidania!” Grant calls.

“That means goodbye, ma'am,” JARVIS says helpfully. Pepper smiles and waves. Grant crams the last of the banana into his mouth quickly.

Park? He signs hopefully.

“Yeah, yeah.” Bucky shakes his head, but he can't stop the little smile forcing his lips up in one corner. “Park.”

 

Steve and Bucky are sitting on opposite ends of the couch, their legs tangled in the middle, when Steve suddenly realizes two things: one, Grant went off to Clint's to play with the Pizza Dog (a name Steve hasn't bothered to clarify with Clint) so they're alone in the apartment, and two, they're still watching Team Umizoomi even though Grant's not there. Bucky's in a half-doze down at his end of the couch, but he wakes right up when Steve slides up his body.

“Whoa, hello.” Bucky slurs a little when he's tired. Steve sets to work on Bucky's collarbone.

“Grant's with Clint,” he says. Bucky blinks for a second and then lights up with a wicked grin.

“Well, then,” Bucky murmurs before dipping his head and stealing Steve's lips away from his neck. “Hello,” he repeats.

But before it can really progress into anything more than making out like teenagers, Bucky blows out a frustrated breath and scoots away from Steve, rooting around under the couch for the remote.

“I can't have sex with you with a fucking kid's show on in the background,” he says, and Steve looks up just in time for Millie to look directly at the camera and wait for a response to her question, a vacant smile on her animated face. He shudders a little.

“Now I just feel dirty,” Steve admits.

“Good.” Bucky wiggles his eyebrows and Steve snorts. They dive back under, but the couch, as large as it is, isn't the best venue, so they move to their bedroom.

“Can't wait to get you in that bed,” Bucky pants between kisses as they stumble down the hallway. “Get you naked.”

“God, Buck.” Steve sucks at Bucky's neck they have to stop so Bucky can tip his head back. And then they start walking again, but they're not watching where they're going, and Steve suddenly feels his legs tangling all over something and he yelps, barely managing to stop himself from falling and probably breaking his neck.

“What the hell?” He asks breathlessly as Bucky cracks up. He looks down to see Grant's mechanical toy truck, the one big enough for him to ride and everything, and curses again. “I could've died,” he says sourly to Bucky, who's still laughing at him.

“Well, at least you'd go happily,” Bucky murmurs as he grabs Steve in a kiss and they keep walking. Later, after they've cleaned up and gotten dressed again and Grant's back and Steve watches him climb all over the back of the couch and around Bucky's head and at one point sits on Bucky's shoulder while Bucky's trying to read, Steve laughs a little to himself. Yeah, he would go happily.

Chapter 9

Notes:

Welp, this is the last real chapter and next we have the epilogue. Thanks for coming along, everyone! I foresee more about little Grant and their ragtag family. :)

They go down to the labs so Bruce can put Grant's hearing aid in. The ear tests revealed he's deaf in one ear—the right ear, same as Steve had been before the serum. Bruce has given out a few hearing aids in third-world countries, and Steve and Bucky know Grant would feel more comfortable with Bruce than any other doctor. He'll use a typical hearing aid for now, because he can't get the necessary bone-anchored implant until he's older and his skull is thick enough. They can't tell if his speech is impaired, because he doesn't talk enough—those few words the other day, a few murmurs in his sleep every night, and the one time they heard him singing to himself when they left him alone in the bathtub for a few minutes—but they decide to enroll him in speech therapy once things are a little more settled. Or, as Bucky says, “once we've killed everyone who ever thought about joining HYDRA.”

Grant's been very good at holding still throughout multiple examinations, despite his distrust of doctors, and Sam comes into town with a balloon for the momentous occasion. The whole team gathers in the the lab for moral support and Grant keeps looking at them all huddled up in the corner and laughing, his nose scrunching up adorably. Steve and Bucky get to stand right next to the table he's sitting on, even though Bucky's still a little leery of examination tables and chairs. Holding Grant's hand is as much for his own benefit as Grant's. Sam's recording the whole thing on his phone.

“Okay,” Bruce says, standing on Grant's left. “I'm going to turn it on now and you'll be able to hear things on that side. Ready, Grant?”

Clint signs here we go, buddy to Grant and then shoots him a thumb's up. Bruce flips on the hearing aid and backs off. Grant looks to his right, forehead wrinkled in confusion.

“Hey, Grant,” Steve's on the right side. “Can you hear on this side now?”

Grant nods, face still screwed up. Loud, he signs, looking slightly betrayed.

“You'll get used to it,” Clint promises. He and Grant have grown even closer since the diagnosis; Clint's spent a lot of time explaining the hearing aid to Grant and letting Grant touch and examine his hearing aids.

Grant signs thank you to Bruce without being prompted and Steve and Bucky high-five over their parenting skills. Unfortunately, they high-five to Grant's right side, and he jumps at the sound.

“Wow, fathers of the year,” Sam teases.

“He can take it out on a bad day, if he's feeling overwhelmed,” Bruce says. “It shouldn't take too long to adjust since he's already been hearing with the other ear. It'll also improve his balance.”

“We haven't seen any issues with his balance,” Bucky says. “Not like Steve before the serum—when he got tired he could hardly walk straight.”

“Part of that was my aching bones, too,” Steve reminds him. “Modern medicine, though.”

“Miracle,” Bucky agrees.

Sam and Natasha drift to Grant's right side and whisper at him and he turns delightedly, laughing when he sees them over there.

“Sir,” JARVIS cuts in urgently. “There is a situation in the lobby.”

“A situation?” Tony asks.

“Stark Tower has been infiltrated.” Everyone snaps to attention at those words. “Approximately twenty-five HYDRA agents have entered through the main public doors and are attempting to enter the elevator. Three are staying in the lobby with their hostages.”

“How many hostages?” Steve asks.

“Four. They've already shot Ms. Yentz at the front desk, but she is still conscious.”

“Shot her where?” Tony snaps, already doing his weird air-computer thing and pulling up the lobby camera feeds.

“The shin, sir. To incapacitate and send you a message.”

“Shit.” Bucky's breathing speeds up. “They're here for Grant.” Grant looks over, his blue eyes huge with fear, and Bucky scoops him up. “We're going to keep you safe,” he promises. Steve comes over and Bucky passes Grant to him for a tight hug.

“We're going to have to go fight some bad guys, Grant,” Steve explains while Bucky says it in Russian and Clint signs it for good measure. They've been covering all their language bases for really important things, just to make sure they're hitting whichever one is his best language. “I don't want to leave him in the panic room alone.”

“I'll go with him,” Darcy volunteers, hand raised. “I can fight if I have to, but all I have is my taser and my feminine wiles.”

“The taser is a formidable weapon,” Thor says.

“The panic room is safe,” Bucky reassures her, so worried about Grant he doesn't even crack a joke about her feminine wiles. “Reinforced walls, food and water, and JARVIS won't open the doors for anyone who's not programmed in.”

“I will certainly not let in any HYDRA agents.” JARVIS almost sounds insulted anyone would hypothetically think it. Darcy sticks out a hand for Grant to take and he looks at Steve and Bucky.

“Go with Darcy, Grant,” Bucky says gently, bending down and hugging Grant again. “You're going to wait in a special room.”

Steve hugs him too. “You'll be safe.” Grant nods and takes Darcy's hand, waving as they hurry down the hall and into the panic room.

“Jane, would you accompany them?” Thor asks. “I know you fought on Asgard, but if there is an option for safety...”

Jane purses her lips. “I don't want to leave you out there in danger while I hide.”

“HYDRA's not going to worry about collateral damage,” Tony tells her. “They're very shoot-first-ask-questions-later types.”

“Give me a gun,” Jane commands. “I'll stay outside the panic room and guard it.”

“My lady Jane has been practicing her marksmanship,” Thor says proudly. He sticks out a hand for mjolnir while everyone starts gathering weapons and passing out ear pieces. As soon as he gets a comm, Clint slips into the air vent.

“I'm going to get eyes on,” he says. “And take out as many in the lobby as I can.”

“I'll go in from the south side,” Bucky says, not taking weapons from Tony's stock because he's already got two handguns and a knife on him.

“I will go to the lobby and assist with civilians.” Thor takes off.

“I have to go get my shield,” Steve worries.

“Okay. I'll go with you and cover you and then I'll go in from the south side.” Bucky slips an extra magazine into his pocket and practically pushes Steve out of the room.

“JARVIS, are they in the elevators yet?” Steve asks as they run up the stairs.

“No, Captain Rogers. I have not opened the doors for them. They're currently attempting to break down the door to the stairs by force, and I'm afraid that's not something I can stop.”

“Clint should be able to start picking them off soon,” Steve says.

“It won't take too long before they go into the vents, too,” Bucky responds grimly as they spiral around to another floor. “He can't get all twenty-five at once.”

“Go help him right now, then,” Steve says. “I can get to our floor on my own.”

“Not happening,” Bucky snaps. “I know Grant's safe. You're my number one priority.”

“Oh, Buck,” Steve laughs as they reach the floor just below theirs. “Ever the romantic.”

He breaks down the door at the top of the stairs so they can run up the last flight. Bucky gives him a look. “You trying to impress me?”

“Oh, yeah, I read it in a magazine. Ten ways to keep your guy interested. Brute strength was number three.”

They get to their floor and Steve scoops up his shield while Bucky grabs a rifle and a bandolier. He gives Steve a handgun from their stockpile, which is much larger than Steve remembers it being. Steve knocks the grate off the vent with his shield and Bucky raises an eyebrow.

“I could have stood on the couch to do that,” he says. “Now it's broken and we're going to have to go to Home Depot to get a new one. You know I fucking hate Home Depot.”

“We're in a hurry here, Bucky,” Steve points out.

“I think you were just showing off again. What was that, number eight on your list?”

“Shut up and go kill some bad guys, jerk.”

“You know I'll get more than you, punk.”

They grin at one another, the adrenaline rush of heading into battle together familiar and welcome. Bucky hauls Steve in for a kiss.

“For good luck,” he says as he leaps from the couch and catches the vent, pulling himself up with arm strength alone.

“What a view!” Steve calls, wolf-whistling as he rushes out the door.

“I've taken out the three guarding the hostages,” Clint says over the comm. “Plus two others, but now I'm trying to get the hostages taken care of. Thor's working on the injured one.”

“Get them outside,” Steve orders. “Bucky's on his way. Are they in the vents now?”

“Two of them went up into the vents, the rest got the door to the stairs open. Half are going up, half are going down.”

“Heading up?” Natasha asks. The labs are below ground. The only things on the upper floors are their apartments.

“Yeah, I guess they want to see if anyone's home for dinner.” Clint's eye-roll is audible.

“Hear that, Buck?” Steve asks. “Two in the vents.”

“Copy.”

Steve suddenly sees black helmets coming up the stairs. “I've got enemy on the stairs,” he reports. “Floor...” He squints for a minute. “twenty-two.”

“On my way," Natasha says.

“Wilson and I are staying on the lower levels for the ones coming down,” Tony says.

“One agent has reached Ms. Potts's office,” JARVIS reports.

“Is she in there?” Tony demands.

“She is.” JARVIS pauses. “She has neutralized the agent.”

“Whoa, what? That fast?” Sam says. Steve stops listening.

Steve hurls the shield and pulls out his gun while it does its job. He gets two more agents with bullets and blocks a few shots with the shield. There are still four left when Natasha comes up the stairs. She makes short work of it—a bullet through the head of each agent. Steve usually doesn't like killing and would rather capture them alive, but he can't find it in him to feel too badly. These guys came here to murder a child. His child.

“You're lucky I let you die quickly,” he snarls at their fallen bodies. Natasha grabs his arm and they head back down the stairs.

“You're still on the comm, Cap,” Tony says cheerfully. “You sound a little super-villainy.”

“That's my job,” Bucky jokes. “Got the two in the vents.”

“You're not seeing any down below, Tony? Sam?”

“They're sure taking their time.”

“Sir,” JARVIS interrupts. If he had lungs, it sounds like he'd be panting. “They have found a computer and are...attempting to infiltrate my system.”

“They're trying to hack us?” Tony sounds outraged.

“It is a virus. I'm cleaning it off the systems, but I'm having a great deal of difficulty fighting the virus and keeping the panic room doors locked.”

“Fuck,” Bucky says succinctly.

“Look, if they get into JARVIS—” Tony starts, but Steve cuts him off.

“There's only nine of them left,” he says. “We're all heading down. Fight the virus, JARVIS. We'll handle the rest of them.”

He runs faster, reminding himself Tony, Sam, and Jane are armed and protecting the door. Bruce generally tries not to hulk out indoors, especially on the lower levels, in case of structural damage to the building.

“Sir, I made a mistake,” JARVIS suddenly says desperately. “There weren't twenty-five, there were twenty-six. One is already in the labs. Covertly—the one who uploaded the virus. A SHIELD agent.”

“I'm down here,” Tony says. “He wouldn't happen to be wearing a HYDRA t-shirt, would he?”

“No, sir,” JARVIS answers, too distracted fighting the virus to handle jokes. “The employee login he used on the computer identifies him as Nathaniel Davis.”

“Well, that doesn't help me,” Tony mutters. “I have no idea what Nathaniel Davis looks like.”

“A wise man once told me,” Sam cuts in. “If they're shooting at you, they're bad guys.”

“But he's a science nerd!” Clint says. “He's probably trying to geek his way about it.”

“Sometime when we're not in the middle of certain death, I'll take offense to that comment,” Bruce says mildly. “Cap, I'm in the panic room with Darcy and Grant. If it looks bad, I'll bring out the Other Guy. Carefully.”

“Reassuring,” Natasha says dryly.

“And we've got HYDRA,” Sam reports. “West side of the building. Banner's lab.”

“No, no, no.” Bucky curses. The panic room is two doors down from Bruce's lab.

“I mean, I'm shooting,” Sam's panting. “But I could use some back up, Stark. I'm more of an air man!”

“So am I!” Tony protests, but the shortness of his breath suggests he's on the move.

“I'm overhead,” Bucky says. “You're a good shot for Air Force, Sam.”

“Man, fuck you,” Sam gasps. “I am sick of kicking HYDRA ass for you.”

“Do a better job of it and get them all, then!” Tony says.

“'Bout time you got here!” Sam shoots back.

Steve and Natasha vault the rest of the stairs and tear toward Bruce's lab, the sound of gunfire greeting them. By the time they reach the fray, there are only two HYDRA agents still standing. Natasha shoots one while Steve takes the other one out with a punch.

“Really, Steve?” Bucky scoffs as he drops to the ground to bind the guy's arms and legs. “You have a shield in one hand and a gun on you and you decide to clock the guy.”

“It was number two on the list.” Steve shrugs with a smirk. Bucky rolls his eyes.

“Hey guys?” Bruce interrupts over the comm. “Rambling mad scientist outside the panic room. He's got a hostage.”

Steve and Bucky don't waste time with words; they sprint down the hall. Steve recognizes the woman with the gun pressed to her temple. She's an assistant to one of the therapists on the team of psychiatric workers who helped Bucky. Bucky recognizes her, too, and makes a distressed sound.

“Just give me the kid,” the guy with the gun demands. Jane's got her gun trained on him, but he's holding the woman's head against his and covering his body with hers. The door to the panic room is open, but Darcy and Bruce are standing in the doorway and Grant's out of sight. There's no room for Bruce to get out of the panic room fully to bring out the Hulk, and the panic room definitely isn't big enough for him to go Hulk inside it.

“Nathaniel Davis?” Steve guesses.

“Captain Rogers. So glad you could join us,” Davis says bitterly. “You have a penchant for stealing HYDRA's tech.”

If there's one thing Steve can't deal with, it's Bucky being treated like machinery, and now Grant's being lumped in there, too. “Back away from her,” he orders.

“Yeah, right, my insurance policy?” Davis laughs. “C'mon, Cap, you're smarter than that.”

Bucky's starting to inch to the side and Davis presses the gun harder into the woman's head. “Don't move!” He commands. “You think I don't see you trying to circle around and shoot me in the back?” He's standing sideways so he can keep both the panic room and the gathered Avengers in sight.

“Shoot through me,” the woman says urgently.

“Shut up!” His finger twitches on the gun but there's no danger he'll shoot her; if he did, he'd have no leverage and they could easily take him out.

“We're not going to do that,” Steve tells her firmly.

“What's this about, huh?” Tony butts in. “You don't like your salary? I know Pepper drives a hard bargain but was a Nazi offshoot really your next best option?”

“Don't get cute with me, Stark,” Davis demands.

“Um, sorry, but I'm cute at all times. It is simply my natural state.”

“Give me the kid!” Davis yells again. “Or the Asset. Either one will do.”

“Oh, you want me?” Bucky grins wickedly and spreads his arms. “You can absolutely have me.”

“Dead, imbecile. I'm taking back a head on a platter and I don't care if it's baby or DNA specimen number one.”

“Come kill me, then,” Bucky challenges.

“Shoot him, Cap. Shoot him or I shoot the girl.”

“Do you really think this plan's going to work?” Darcy asks incredulously. “Man, I thought all scientists were supposed to be geniuses. This plan sucks balls. Extra props to you for your genius skills, Jane. I just assumed all scientists were like that but now I see—”

“Shut up!” He's getting frantic now.

“We seem to be at an impasse,” Steve says calmly. “What do you suggest we do?”

“I suggest you shoot him!”

“Do you have a suggestion that we're actually going to consider?” Natasha cuts in. She's taking tiny little steps toward him, barely more than a shift of her weight each time. Steve has no doubt if she gets close enough without him noticing, she won't need a weapon to take him down without hurting the hostage.

“Give me the kid.”

“No, see, that's the opposite of what she just said.” Sam rolls his eyes. “You're right, Darcy, how'd this guy get a job?”

“You should definitely give strategy tests when you do job interviews,” Darcy tells Tony.

“I think that's the least of your screening issues,” Bruce mutters.

And then Steve's heart stops, because he sees Grant's head poke out between Darcy's and Bruce's legs. So far Davis isn't paying attention. Bucky tenses beside Steve so Steve knows he sees it too. Grant's face is tear-streaked. Steve wants to yell at him to go back to hiding but doesn't want to draw Davis's attention to Grant.

“Who ordered the hit, Davis?” Steve asks, mouth dry. Keep him talking, don't let him see...

“Daddy?” Grant's voice, used so little, comes to him at the worst time possible. Steve can't even be excited to hear him say the word while awake because of the circumstances. Bruce pushes Grant back and Darcy curses.

“You have to hide, sweetie," she tells Grant.

“Dad!” Grant sobs.

“Grant, please.” Steve's not even sure what he's begging Grant to do.

“We're going to save you, kid, I promise.” Bucky's all choked up. “But stay down, okay?”

“Isn't this sweet?” Davis sneers. “The Asset's developed feelings. Grant, is that the experiment's name? Grant, come out here if you want to save your daddy.”

Blood is pounding in Steve's ears. “Don't come out, Grant. Daddy's okay.”

“Both daddies,” Bucky adds. He shrugs a little. “This is confusing. We gotta work out a system later.”

“Daddy okay?” They can't see his face anymore but they can still hear his shuddering breaths. He keeps trying to poke his head out again and Bruce and Darcy are pushing closer together to keep him back.

“Shoot through me,” the woman taken hostage insists again.

“I told you to shut up!” Davis growls.

They hear a whirring sound and there's DUM-E, escaped from Tony's lab without JARVIS manning the doors and rushing over with a fire extinguisher. Davis yelps and everything seems to go in slow motion—he moves the gun from the woman's head and Grant peeks out between Darcy and Bruce again and Steve feels Bucky's muscles tense and coil and Davis pulls the trigger and Steve hears himself scream at Grant to get down and then DUM-E's arm extends and the bullet pings off of it and Steve whips his shield up to stop it.

“And someone should've told you not to be evil,” Clint's voice comes from the ceiling seconds before an arrow goes through Davis's windpipe. He staggers backward and the woman runs away from him. Jane shoots him straight through the heart. And then she shoots him twice more.

“Just making sure he's really dead,” she says grimly. “You guys want a turn?” Steve and Bucky aren't listening. As soon as they see Davis is down, they rush forward. Darcy and Bruce get out of the way and Grant jumps at them. The three of them sink to the ground in a tangle of limbs.

“Oh, no,” Grant says. “DUM-E.”

DUM-E is screeching and the end of his arm has been severed. Tony, for all his bluster and insults to the robot, is also sort of screeching as he runs to DUM-E.

“He's going to make it!” He shouts triumphantly after a .2 second examination. “Just needs a new arm.”

“Daddy okay. Dad okay. DUM-E okay,” Grant murmurs. Steve thinks, somewhat hysterically, it's almost a little insulting to be on the same list as a non-sentient robot.

“Are you okay, Grant? Look at me,” Bucky instructs. Grant obeys and Bucky and Steve both check him over.

“Clint save me!” Grant squeals.

“Anytime, kid.” Clint shrugs.

“Everybody helped save you,” Steve tells him. “Everybody loves you so much.”

“Not me,” Tony protests, still holding DUM-E in his arms. “I hate children.”

No one pays him any attention.

Sam goes to talk to the woman who'd been taken hostage, making sure she's alright and calming her down as she starts to have a panic attack. Steve and Bucky are sandwiching Grant between them the way he likes and Steve can't stop running his hands up and down Bucky's back. Some we're-still-alive-and-so-is-our-kid sex is definitely in order this time.

“Is Thor still in the lobby?” Jane asks.

“Oh.” Clint looks sheepish. “He's keeping the hostages calm. He has a really soothing effect on civilians. Also he couldn't fit his shoulders in the vent.”

Pepper walks in just then and assesses the room, only the tips of her fingers still glowing, her suit jacket singed. “Tony, would you like to explain to me why I had to kill a HYDRA agent in my office? My new carpet is ruined.”

“Sweetheart, we just saved a poor orphan child," Tony says. “Okay, he's not an orphan, and they're not really poor, but you get the point.”

Pepper just nods, as if this kind of thing happens all the time. “Well, at least I got one.”

“You are so hot.” The comment comes, surprisingly, not from Tony but from Darcy.

“None of the property damage was my fault,” Bruce says. “I just wanted to get that on record.”

“Well, you're not naked, so that's fairly clear,” Natasha points out.

“And the building's still standing,” Tony adds.

“Very funny.”

Steve rests his head on top of Bucky's, Grant breathing between them, and closes his eyes, the sound of his team safe and wisecracking all around him and his family alive. There's nowhere else he'd rather be, or anyone else he'd rather be with.

Chapter 10

Notes:

Thank you everyone for reading and leaving kudos and commenting and bookmarking! There will definitely be some more in this little verse, so if you want more Steve and Bucky dealing with a kid hijinks, keep an eye out.

“Dad! Daaaaaaad!” The little voice coming from the bouncy castle refuses to be ignored. “DAD, LOOK!”

“Which dad?” Bucky asks without turning around.

“Both dads! Look at me! Look! Hurry!”

Steve and Bucky obediently turn and look and immediately sort of wish they hadn't. Grant is jumping in the air and shooting arrows between his legs from the toy bow Clint bought him. Every time he lands, he comes closer to poking himself or one of the other kids in the eye.

“Look at their twin cringes,” Bruce teases.

Natasha snaps a photo. “Worried dinosaurs watching their young.”

Everyone laughs while Steve and Bucky roll their eyes. “Grant, be careful,” Steve calls. “Don't poke anyone's eye out.”

“And don't shoot a hole in the bouncy castle,” Bucky adds.

“And don't shoot any people.”

“Too many don'ts!” Grant yells cheerfully, still bouncing.

“Just enough don'ts,” Bucky counters.

“Whatever!”

“Which one of you taught him that?” Steve demands. Everyone looks equally guilty, except Natasha, who doesn't count because her poker face is too good.

“Okay, time for cake and presents,” Bucky says, mostly to get Grant to stop almost accidentally killing his friends. All the kids scream excitedly and race to exit the castle. Once everyone's situated, they light the candles and sing and then everyone urges Grant to make a wish. He wrinkles his forehead in confusion.

“A wish?” He asks.

“Something you want,” Bucky explains.

“I want a puppy!”

“Uh...” Steve looks worried and Bucky shoots Clint a disapproving look. He's been letting Grant spend too much time with his dog.

“Well, you said it out loud so now it can't come true,” Sam saves them. “Pick a different one and keep it a secret.”

Grant only misses one candle, which Thor, who's closest to it, surreptitiously blows out before Grant can notice he missed it. Everyone cheers and Grant bounces up and down in his seat.

“Am I four now?” He asks.

“You're four now!”

He claps excitedly. He ends up looking like he got more of the cake in his hair and on his shirt than in his mouth, but he doesn't seem to be too bothered by it. The group around the table is a mix of kids from Grant's SHIELD sponsored gymnastics class (taught by that kid Peter Parker, who calls himself Spiderman and is a little too hyperactive and twitchy for Bucky to love handing his kid over, but he does have that web thing that comes in handy when the kids are falling off things and he reassured them Grant's reduced balance from his bad ear wouldn't be too big of a problem) and Avengers, plus Dr. Jones and Ms. Lydia, Grant's speech therapist.

When they handed out invitations, Tony had scoffed, “What's the point in celebrating a little kid's birthday?” and then had reserved the park and blocked off the street so paparazzi couldn't crash the party and a crew showed up with a bouncy castle and he bought a giant cake they would be eating for the next week.

“Should we open presents?” Steve asks.

“I don't know,” Bucky pretends to think. “Does Grant even want presents?”

“I do!” He squeals, accidentally switching to Russian in his excitement. “Presents!”

He gets the usual mix of kid stuff—coloring books and crayons and toy cars and puzzles. Bruce gives him a science set that makes him bounce up and down (the box promises to make “smelly slime” and Steve grimaces). He gets some more arrows from Clint (“Wow, thanks,” Bucky says, not excited because the arrows have suction tips and Grant's favorite target happens to be Bucky's metal arm—it turns out Grant's a really good shot and Bucky's too proud to be mad about it) and a toy train from Sam and some books from Natasha.

“Books?” Steve asks, kind of surprised.

“I thought about getting him a 'My First Knife' set, but I figured he's earned some time to just be a kid,” she says. Steve grins about it until he realizes the books are all about Captain America and Grant is looking curiously between the drawing of Steve on the front and the Steve sitting beside him.

Thor and Jane get him a stuffed dinosaur ("Jane tells me this animal no longer roams Midgard," Thor says solemnly, "so I think it is noble you memorialize it so."), which he plops onto the bench beside Bucky Bear. Poor Bucky Bear looks a little worse for wear thanks to a year of continuous use. Darcy, thinking she's funny, bought him a tiny Captain America toy shield.

“My dad has one of these!” Grant exclaims. “I need a metal arm.”

“Let's hold off on that,” Bucky mutters.

But Tony, of course, overshadows everyone when he says, “Mine's in the car.” Pepper looks at the sky and sighs in a long-suffering kind of way.

“It's a big one,” she confirms, rolling her eyes.

He comes back with a box that is only actually medium sized, but Steve knows Tony enough to feel incredibly wary.

“Here you go, kid.” Tony sets it in front of Grant. Grant looks at Steve and Bucky for confirmation before opening it, the way he has with every single present. But he's also thanked whoever gave him each present without prompting, so they call it a draw.

Grant tears off the wrapping paper. “A box!” He cries excitedly, clapping his hands.

“Are you kidding me?” Tony says. “I could have just gotten him a box and he'd be happy?”

“You want to open the box?” Bucky asks.

“Something's inside?” Grant's eyes go wide and even Tony has to cover a laugh with a cough. They lift off the lid and Tony springs forward, pressing a button before Grant can peer in, and then out of the box pops...

“Robot!” Grant shrieks. “Just like DUM-E!”

“It's Min-E,” Tony explains. “For the mini-me. Well, mini-you guys.” One arm has a red star painted onto it and the other ends in a shield.

Steve lifts the robot out of the box and puts it on the ground, where it immediately starts zooming around. Grant's screaming with delight and all his friends jump from the table to start swarming the thing.

“Wow, Tony. You built him a robot? You must really love him,” Bucky says with a grin.

“I didn't—no. It wasn't even a big project,” Tony protests. “I literally slapped some scrap metal together. It's not a big thing. Although it did take almost twelve hours. I just had to give the best present, you understand. I detest children.”

“Thank you, Uncle Tony!” Grant pauses his game with Min-E to run and give Tony a hug and for a second Tony is actually speechless.

“He just detests children,” Pepper says sarcastically, smiling softly.

“That wasn't my choice.” Tony sounds faint. “He just hugged me of his own accord.”

“Yeah, that Grant.” Clint shakes his head. “What a menace. Always running around touching people.” Grant does love having his back rubbed or his hair played with, but he has very specific parameters—namely, only Steve and Bucky get to rub his back. He'll sit in Sam, Clint, or Bruce's lap or on Thor's shoulders, and he'll occasionally let Natasha play with his hair, but he doesn't get affectionate with anyone else.

“We do have one more present,” Pepper says. “It's from all of us.”

“It's mostly from Pepper,” Jane counters. “She just doesn't want to take all the credit.”

“She'll take twelve percent of the credit.” Tony gets an elbow jab for his troubles.

“Well, Sam did contribute an awful lot,” Pepper says, and Sam grins in triumph.

"Remember that." Sam points a finger at them. "Don't ever say I never do anything for you." A ridiculous statement; Steve is almost embarrassingly grateful for everything Sam does for them.

It takes a few minutes to get all the kids gathered back around the table, because they're all running and chasing each other and Min-E. There's an awful lot of screaming going on.

“Remember when Grant didn't make noise?” Bucky jokes ruefully.

Ripping off the wrapping paper is Grant's favorite part. “That's us!” He cries once he sees the picture on the front. Steve feels his throat tighten automatically. It's a photo album, and the picture on the front cover is of the three of them sprawled across the couch, all fast asleep.

“We're sleeping,” Grant laughs. He flips the book open and gasps because each page is full of pictures—some of Steve, some of Bucky, some of Grant, but mostly of all three of them together. There's a picture of Grant on Bucky's shoulders ("Wouldn't mind that spot," Darcy stage-whispers, wiggling her eyebrows, and Bucky barks out a laugh and throws her a wink), a picture of Steve and Grant drawing together (they're drawing the Hulk, as Bruce points out, half self-deprecating and half flattered), a picture of all three of them sledding on Steve's shield (“Super expensive, super rare metal,” Tony shakes his head, “and this is how you use it”), a picture of Steve and Bucky cuddled together on the couch (“Where's James's other hand?” Natasha asks wryly, and Steve blushes furiously).

There are also pictures of Grant with the rest of the team, including one of him flying with Sam on an instance Steve and Bucky hadn't previously known about. ("What you didn't know didn't hurt you," Sam points out.) Grant at gymnastics, Grant playing T-ball, Grant and Clint signing together ("What's he saying?" Jane asks, and Clint laughs, "You do not want to know."). It's a year summed up in pictures, and they left half the book blank, to be filled in with new pictures.

“This is...” Steve trails off, shaking his head.

“Amazing,” Bucky finishes. “More than that, but...yeah. Thank you, Pepper. Thanks to all of you.”

“We don't have a lot of pictures of our families or us as kids,” Steve murmurs, looking at a picture of Steve, Bucky, and Grant with the whole team.

“We love it,” Bucky confirms.

Later, they go home and Grant is cranky from too much sugar and so tired he's signing instead of talking and there are still breakfast dishes in the sink. But before he falls asleep, Grant asks for the photo album and the three of them look through it together and Steve tucks the picture of Ekaterina that had mysteriously shown up in their apartment one day onto one of the blank pages. He knows Natasha got it for them somehow, but she won't admit to it and Steve won't push. He's just grateful they have the picture; he doesn't want them to forget the woman who sacrificed herself so Grant would have a chance to get away form HYDRA.

Bucky catches Steve's eye and winks and that right there tells Steve they have plans for after Grant falls asleep. They walk down the hall back to their room with Bucky already letting his hands wander until he trips over Min-E, and Steve realizes he could never have planned for any of this—waking up in the future or finding Bucky or meeting Grant—but he wouldn't change a second.

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 1 of Two Supersoldiers and a Toddler