Nurture

Bucky looks over towards Steve nervously as the quinjet approaches the Avengers compound. Very soon they'll be face to face with the rest of the Avengers after not seeing any of them in five years.

Obviously he's afraid of what they'll say and do as soon as they see him. Especially once Tony Stark sees him again.

He's afraid of Tony's reaction the most. Especially so when taking into consideration that Tony's parents were killed by his hands.

Bucky's never been able to forgive himself for that, along with everything else Hydra had made him do. He'll never forgive himself for any of that.

Steve - who's sitting right next to Bucky with their two year old son Francis on his other side - notices Bucky's distress straight away, and takes his flesh hand in his, squeezing it gently in reassurance that everything's going to be okay.

Unfortunately it barely helps Bucky to calm his nerves. He's fucking terrified to face the people that Steve basically turned his back on for him.

He's beginning to wonder why he even let Steve go to Tony Stark and ask if they can stay in the compound until they've found a place of their own.

"Why did I even allow you to ask Stark if we can stay here?" He mutters. "I killed the guys parents after all."

"Everything's going to be okay, Buck." Steve assures him, giving him a quick kiss on the side of his head. "And you know it wasn't your fault what happened to Tony's parents."

"It was still by my own hands." Bucky sighs.

He knows its not his fault for the death of Howard and Maria Stark, but he blames himself regardless. He may not have had control of his own mind, but he still did it.

Steve sighs, shaking his head. "I know, Buck." He says. "But what happened happened. There's nothing we can do about it."

Bucky sighs, resting his head on Steve's shoulder. Steve's right. There's nothing that they can do to change what happened, no matter how much they may want to.

"Daddy? Are we there yet?" Francis asks, tugging on Steve's shirt to get his father's attention. "I wanna see uncle Sam."

"Don't worry, we'll be there soon, bud." Steve assures the two year old, wrapping an arm around his son's shoulders. "And you'll get to meet all of daddy's other friends."

Bucky can't help but smile as he watches Steve and their son. He loves them both very much, and he'll do whatever it takes to keep them both safe, along with their unborn child.

He rests a hand on his stomach, rubbing around as he feels a sharp kick from their son inside of him, hissing a little as he kicks a little too rough. Yep. Definitely the child of two super soldiers. This second kid can kick awfully hard when he wants to.

"You okay?" Steve asks, noticing Bucky's discomfort.

"I'm fine." Bucky assures him. "Just this kid kicks way too hard."

"Guess we have a little fighter." Steve says, trying to lighten the mood.

"I want to be a fighter, daddy!" Francis exclaims. "I want to fight bad guys like how you and mommy did!"

Bucky smiles at that. He's glad that their son finds some enjoyment out of his and Steve's tales of way back in the war, but in no way does he want any of their kids to have to do any fighting.

"Well, you're a little too young to do that right now." Steve laughs, shaking his head.

He goes to say more, but is interrupted as T'Challa and Shuri walk over to them.

"Rogers." T'Challa nods. "We've almost reached the Avengers compound. We'll be landing soon."

Steve nods. "Thank you, T'Challa. For everything."

Both he and Bucky will be forever grateful for everything that T'Challa and Shuri have done for them. For removing all of Hydra's programming from Bucky, for allowing them to stay in Wakanda for as long as they needed, and for helping Bucky throughout the pregnancy with Francis.

"It was my pleasure." T'Challa says. "And if you ever need to, you're welcome to return back to Wakanda."

"Thank you, T'Challa." Bucky says, before turning to Shuri. "Thank you, Shuri."

"Hey, it was nothing, puppy." Shuri says, before she's going over to entertain Francis.

Bucky laughs a little, shaking his head at her nickname for him. He loves that little shit like a sister, and he'll be forever grateful for what she and T'Challa have done for him.

T'Challa nods, before he's moving back to the front of the quinjet. Shuri however stays down near Steve and Bucky for a bit longer, before she retakes her place at the front near T'Challa, before they begin to land.

As the quinjet begins to land, Bucky feels himself becoming even more nervous with every passing second, and he feels as though he may throw up. Here it goes... he's about to face all of the Avengers. Most of them who he's sure don't particularly like him.

At least he has a friend in Sam Wilson, as annoying as that fucking guy can be. There's also Wanda Maximoff, she's been nothing but kind to him, same with Clint. It's mostly the ones who had fought on the side of Tony Stark five years ago after Steve had basically broken up the Avengers that Bucky is nervous about seeing again.

Steve helps Bucky up out of his seat as soon as the jet has landed, and Bucky goes straight over to Francis, and helps him out of his seat.

"Maybe you should go out there first, Steve." Bucky says, picking Francis up in his arms. "You've not told them about Francis yet, or about the pregnancy."

This is what Bucky's most worried about. He's afraid of what the other's reactions towards Francis will be, and towards the fact that he's currently six months pregnant. Though Sam and Wanda know about Francis, they don't know about the second child that he's carrying.

Steve looks over at him, before nodding. "Okay." He says, kissing Bucky on his forehead, then doing the same to Francis.

Bucky follows behind Steve slowly, but stops a little way out of view of the other Avengers as soon as he spots them all waiting outside the quinjet. He's almost positive that they can't see him and Francis from where he's standing.

He watches as Steve walks down the ramp of the quinjet and over towards the others with T'Challa at his side.

"Mommy, we going out?" Francis asks, pointing over towards Steve. "I want to go with daddy!"

Bucky holds Francis close to him as much as he can manage without causing discomfort to his stomach. "Soon, baby." He assures him, kissing his forehead. "We'll go to daddy soon."

Outside the quinjet, Steve looks behind him back towards the inside. He can only just manage to see Bucky standing up in there with Francis.

He knows that Bucky is afraid about all of this, but they had no other choice. They had no one else they could turn to except Tony. They no longer have any living relatives that'll help them.

"Hey, man." Sam says, being the first one to approach Steve.

Steve has to admit, he's glad that Sam is the first to approach him.

"Hey." Steve says, pulling him in for a hug. "It's good to see you."

"It's good to see you too." Sam says, once they've pulled out of the hug. "How's Bucky and the kid?"

Steve smiles. "They're both fine." He says. "Well, aside from Buck being afraid the whole jet ride over."

Sam laughs a little at that. "I don't blame him." He says, before he's standing back out of the way a little, looking behind him as Tony approaches.

Steve finds himself tensing up a little as he sees Tony approaching him. They never exactly parted ways on very good terms. Tony had tried to kill Bucky after all. But he's willing to forgive and forget if Tony is too.

"Hey, Tony." Steve says, making no move to get any closer to him. "Thank you for allowing Bucky and I to stay here until we find a place of our own once Bucky's trial is over."

Tony nods. "And where is Barnes?" He asks, looking around. "I don't see him anywhere."

Steve looks back towards the quinjet. He can't quite see Bucky anymore from where he's standing, but Shuri is now standing at the bottom of the ramp. Steve guesses that she's trying to encourage Bucky to come out.

"He's still in the jet." Steve says, turning back to Tony. He glances over to the others, before back to Tony. "There's something I have to mention first though."

"Well then spit it out, Rogers." Tony says.

Steve takes a deep breath, before he speaks. "While we've been gone, we've kind of started our own family." He says. "Buck and I have a two year old son. And Bucky's six months pregnant with our second."

Tony grows silent at the news, and Steve isn't sure how to take that reaction. Is he going to go back on his promise because of it?

Maybe it would've been better to tell Tony about it beforehand....

"So... you and Barnes, have a kid?" Tony finally asks, looking rather confused. "Steve, is it such a good idea to keep a brainwashed murderer around kids?"

Steve has to stop himself from punching Tony in the face at that. However, he gets where Tony is coming from, as that's the only way he knows Bucky as. But Bucky's not like that at all.

Bucky is wonderful around their son, and would never do anything to hurt him.

"Tony." Steve sighs, shaking his head. "All of Hydra's programming has been removed from Bucky's head." He says. "He's not a threat to anyone."

"What Captain Rogers says is true, Mr. Stark." T'Challa says. "Barnes is free from everything Hydra did to him, and is a threat to no one."

"Except the ones who threaten to harm my children or tries to take them away from me."

Steve turns around to find Bucky standing behind him, staring at Tony, as he holds Francis close to him. Shuri stands next to him, a hand on his shoulder.

"And they'd have good reason to try to take them away from you." Tony says, looking over towards him. "You shouldn't be around children. It's a wonder why they've not been taken off you yet."

Steve turns to glare at Tony, a growl rising in his throat. He could punch Tony right now. In fact, he would if it weren't for the fact that Bucky has beaten him to it already.

"Careful, Tony." Steve sighs, helping him up off the ground. "Bucky is fiercely protective over our children."

Tony doesn't reply, just shakes Steve's hand off his arm, and glares at Bucky, who in turn glares right back at him.

"Don't think for a second that I won't break you if you try to take my children away from me, Stark." Bucky growls.

"Buck." Steve says, setting a hand on his shoulder. "That's enough."

He doesn't want a fight to break out, especially not when Bucky is six months pregnant.

Bucky looks over to Steve, his eyes instantly softening as soon as he turns to him, but he doesn't relax completely. He doesn't want a fight, and he knows that Steve doesn't either, but if Tony tries anything, then that's exactly what's going to happen.

Turning to Tony once more, he growls, before turning back to where Shuri is standing. He takes Francis from her, and stands back as he let's Steve do the talking with the others.

Steve looks behind him over at Bucky, finding that he's still staring at Tony. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all. Maybe he should've just tried to find a place for them instead of turning to Tony. Though, he had no idea that it would turn out like this.

"Tony, can't we just put what happened in the past behind us and start over?" He sighs, turning to Tony.

"Depends what the psycho wants." Tony says, looking from Bucky to Steve. "Do you think you can keep your psychotic omega down, Rogers?" He asks. "Or is our best course of action going to be locking him up so he doesn't harm anyone?"

Steve has to hold back his growl. He wasn't expecting Tony to be this hostile towards Bucky. He had a feeling that Tony wouldn't be very kind to Bucky, but he wasn't expecting this.

"I have no need to do that, Stark." Steve says. "Nor does he need to be behind bars. He's no threat to anyone."

"Yeah? Well I see different, Rogers." Tony says. "Barnes clearly isn't free from whatever the fuck it is that Hydra did to him."

"What part of him being fiercely protective of his children don't you understand?" Sam asks. "Of course he's going to lash out at you if you say that his children need to be taken away from him, or if you threaten to take them away from him."

Tony just huffs in frustration, shaking his head, before he's turning around and making his way back towards the compound, without saying another word.

Steve looks on after him, before he's turning to Sam. "You'll be sure to tell me if Tony tries anything, right?"

"Of course, man." Sam nods. "Anything you need."

Steve nods, before looking out towards the others who are just standing there watching them. Though, as soon as Tony is out of sight, Wanda comes running up and over to Bucky, while everyone else heads on back towards the compound aside from Vision.

"Hey, Bucky." Wanda says.

"Hey, Wanda." Bucky says, brightening up as Wanda reaches him, and pulls him in for a hug.

Steve is glad that Bucky has a friend in both Wanda and Sam. He's not sure about any if the others, but at least there's a few here that like him, and will be there for him.

"Sam, can you help me take our stuff inside?" Steve asks.

Sam nods. "I'll show you to your room while I'm at it, as I doubt Stark will be willing to do so."

"Shuri and I'll help you too Steve." T'Challa says. "But we must be heading back to Wakanda soon after."

"Thank you, T'Challa." Steve nods, before looking over at Sam. "Come on. We don't have much stuff to take inside."