Steve grinned a bit and kept hold of her hand, walking with her out of the apartment and heading for the tower.

Alissa snorted and shook her head. "Alright, out, so I can lock up."

Taylor squeezed his hand gently as they walked out of the apartment.

"Are we taking a train?" she asked him as they walked. "Or is there a car, or something?"

"Yes, ma'am," Bucky said, grinning. He stepped out of the apartment door and waited for her to lock everything up.

"Whatever you prefer," Steve told her. "It's not a bad walk, but there's always the subway, and Tony would be thrilled to send a car. I'm pretty sure he has one loitering around here already anyway."

Alissa snorted at him and locked up the apartment before slipping her arm through his. "You are absolutely incorrigible."

"Doesn't matter to me," Taylor said. She grinned a bit. "Is it like him to just send a car even if you don't ask for it?"

"But you love it," Bucky pointed out, giving her that easy grin. He leaned down to give her a kiss. "Come on, let's see if we can find Stark's car. I'm about eighty-eight percent sure he sent one already."

"Yes," Steve said with a bit of a grin. "Yes it is. That is Tony."

Alissa blinked at that. "Is this a normal thing? This sounds like a normal thing."

"Sounds interesting," Taylor said. "Does he just kind of throw money around like Howard did?"

"It's definitely a normal thing," Bucky said. He grinned. "Happy's a good guy, though, so I don't mind finding him following us in the car occasionally. Sometimes I even take him up on the ride."

"Yes and no," Steve said after a moment. "Tony tends to throw money at his work and his machines, and at people. Howard threw money into very specific projects and neglected other things."

Alissa chuckled and shook her head. "Well, if you don't mind, I suppose that's fine," she teased. "If he makes a habit of following us on dates, though, I might draw a line."

"Interesting," Taylor said. She paused for a moment. "Is... Is Howard still around? And Maria?"

Bucky grinned.

"I'll make sure it doesn't happen," he said. "Promise."

"No," Steve said quietly. "They're not." He shook his head a bit. "Still haven't found out who did it, either."

"Alright, good." Alissa shook her head a bit when she spotted the black SUV waiting for them, the driver trying to look like he wasn't waiting for them.

"The Winter Soldier," Taylor said, looking at him. "At least, that's what I remember. It still might be worth looking into."

Bucky grinned when he spotted the SUV, and he pulled out his phone.

We can see you there, Happy.

"Do you want to walk, or catch a ride with Stark's driver?" he asked Alissa.

Steve frowned a little. "The Winter Soldier? I've never heard that name before," he mused. "I guess I'll look into it."

"Up to you, I don't care either way," Alissa said, shrugging. She did grin a bit when Happy grinned rather abashedly, though.

Taylor nodded.

"I don't know who it is now, if he even exists anymore," she said. Then she hesitated. "But in the history I remember, the Winter Soldier was--" She nibbled her lip a bit, still hesitating. "It was Bucky." The rest of it came out in a rush. "I mean, obviously it's not him now, he never fell off that train in the Alps, never got picked up by Hydra again, so it can't be him, but I don't know if it ended up being someone else?"

Bucky gave her a quick kiss.

"It's up to you, actually," he said. "I don't mind either way, I'm good with both. So pick one."

Steve actually stopped cold at that and gaped at her for several moments. "What?" he asked, sounding rather gob-smacked still.

Alissa huffed. "Walk. Gives me more time to calm down and not overthink and completely panic."

Taylor cautiously nodded.

"He was supposed to fall off that train into a ravine and get picked up by the Russians," she said. "That's the history I remember. Obviously, that's not what happened, so that's about the point that things all changed."

Bucky grinned.

"Alright," he said, putting an arm around her waist. He shot Happy a quick message saying that they were going to walk. "Let's go, then."

Steve went through the events of that day that he remembered happening. "When we got back, you were both surprised, you and Alissa," he said quietly. "She looked almost upset. Is that why...? Because he didn't fall? Because things changed?" He looked kind of disturbed.

Alissa kept her walking to a nice pace, not rushing. Which was a little hard, especially since she needed to bring up a hard subject.

"So, haven't heard any yelling or swearing yet," she said cautiously. "Because of her." She knew that he'd know who she meant.

"I knew you were coming back," Taylor said, just as quietly. "Alissa wasn't as sure. She told him to practice with the shield, because she didn't want him to fall, but she still wasn't sure he would come back."

Bucky was quiet for a moment.

"Kathy and I haven't been on good terms for a while," he admitted. "We don't interact much. Lately it's all been about the divorce, and now that that's done with, I don't expect to hear from her again." He looked at Alissa. "And honestly, I expected you to be much angrier about this. Or, I guess, more expressive about it."

Steve shook his head and tugged her into his side. "That's... I can't even imagine." He slanted a look at her. "I mean, I lost you for a long time, but it's... different." And he really hoped she wasn't offended at that.

"Clearly you haven't seen the mountain of baked goods on the counter at my place," Alissa said, her voice dry. "I'm not okay with it, not yet, but I'm not about to yell at you, either."

"Because you knew I'd be on the other end of the wait," Taylor pointed out. She cuddled into the embrace. "You didn't have any doubt about that."

It would almost be easier if she'd yell at him, but Bucky wasn't about to admit that out loud.

"You know I'll give you all the time you need," he told her instead.

"No, I didn't," Steve said. "I knew I'd find you." He grinned a bit. "I did manage to wait, though, until after I knew you'd know me."

"I know." Alissa shook her head a bit. "Just don't expect me to ever be nice to her, if I do ever meet her."

"Because I told you the date we left on," Taylor replied teasingly, grinning back.

"I'm actually hoping you never have to meet her," Bucky admitted. And he planned on actively making sure it didn't happen.

"Yes you did, and it's a good thing you did," Steve said with a grin. "Otherwise I might not'a been able to convince Buck to wait. Hell, I might not have waited myself."

"I'm glad you waited," Taylor said, cuddling closer to him. She didn't care that they were in public, she liked being in his arms.

"Me too," Steve said, holding her. He didn't even care that they were in public, not for this. He'd gotten used to modern things, after all, since he had been around for all the changes.

"That would probably be best," Alissa agreed. "Just to be on the safe side."

"We should go," Taylor murmured after a moment. "The plan was to go to the tower, right?"

"Trust me, that's the plan," Bucky said. He held her tight for a moment. "Come on, let's head towards the tower, the others are expecting us to actually show up."

"Yeah." Steve shook his head a bit but let go of most of her, keeping hold of her hand. "They might come looking if we don't show up eventually."

"Yeah, yeah." Alissa stiffened just a little at the reminder but gamely started walking again.