Sorry, this chapter took a little while longer than I hoped. I recently watched all of The Witcher on Netflix and I'm obsessed. I really need those books now. Well, enjoy the chapter. I'll see you at the end!

Life was nice for a little while. Bucky, Rhodey, and Tony. The tower was finished and they'd moved in. All they had to do was get it connected to the arc reactor. Rhodey was sad he was missing that. He was needed at school to give his last presentation before his Ph.D. dissertation. He was so close to getting it and Tony was really proud of his boyfriend. Bucky was too for that matter. Rhodey had been working so hard. He deserved this.

The night Tony got the arc reactor connected should have been a night for celebration. Instead, it was a night that changed everything. Just was Bucky and Tony were gearing up to celebrate with some cupcakes and bad movies, Agent Coulson showed up with a whole wack of digital files and a worried expression.

"We're calling you guys in. The information is in the packet. We'll pick you up first thing in the morning. Be prepared." Spoke the agent as he surveyed the room.

"What's going on?" asked Bucky as Tony eagerly opened up the files and started going over all the information.

"All of this is in the packet. Fury will explain things when you meet up tomorrow." Spoke Coulson.

Second later Tony opened up a file that caught everyone's attention. The file had personnel information on everyone in the Avengers. Some were for people that Bucky knew such as Barton and Romanov. Others were for unknowns that were intriguing on their own. And one… well, one, in particular, caught Bucky's eye.

"Wait… Is that… Steve?" asked Bucky. He couldn't tear his eyes off of the information in front of him.

"It is. We found him about a month ago."

"Why wasn't I told!"

"We weren't sure if he'd survive the defrosting. We didn't want to give you false hope."

Bucky stood there in disbelief. His best friend was alive! He couldn't believe it. Bucky actually had to sit down as Coulson left the room and Tony ran to his dad's side.

The rest of the night was spent trying to calm Bucky down and going through all the information.

Arriving at SHIELD the next morning was strange. Bucky had gone on his own to the carrier because Loki had been spotted in Germany and Tony had been called in for aerial support. Bucky worried about him the entire time he was getting his gear in check. It didn't take long before Bucky was given all the news of what had happened. They'd caught Loki, had a scuffle with his brother and were now back on the carrier. Bucky knew that Tony would take a little bit to get out of his suit and to do any medical checks so he decided to head to the bridge to see what was going on there.

Once he got there he was immediately greeted by the sight of a familiar souped-up blond punk.

"Bucky…?"

"Hey, punk." Smiled Bucky as he walked over and gave his friend a hug.

"I thought… I thought you died."

"A lots happened since you went down. I'll tell it all to you later."

After a few minutes of hugging Fury came in and started giving everyone the rundown of what they knew. There were a lot of unanswered questions. Just as Fury was getting into something else Tony finally made it over. He was dressed in an old shirt that Peggy had given him, some ripped jeans that Bucky hated, and his Iron Man boots up past his knees. He often used the armour as leg braces so he didn't have to change.

"Nice of you to finally join us." Snarked Fury.

"I got lost." Spoke Tony distractedly as he looked over the bridge.

Fury continued on with his little spiel now that everyone was present. Everyone was paying attention. Everyone except Tony. He was distracted by everything in the room. Tony had always had trouble focusing when it came to things that weren't interesting to him, and the fact that the bridge was bustling with noise and activity wasn't helping at all. Bucky just knew this was going to get him into trouble.

"That guy is playing Galaga!" shouted Tony, interrupting Fury and causing everyone's eyes to turn to him.

"Stark!" snapped Fury as he looked over at the young man.

"Jesus Christ. How many times do I have to tell you people? It's not Stark, it's Barnes. I was adopted and was given my Dad's last name. Just because Howard's last name was Stark doesn't mean it's mine. How many times do I need to repeat myself?! Also, it's Dr. Barnes if it's all the same to you. I didn't bust my ass at school for nothing. Repeat after me. My name isn't Anthony Edward Stark, it's Dr. Anthony Steven Barnes. Get it right or stop talking to me." Snapped Tony. He was at the end of his rope with everyone's bullshit at this point.

"I don't care. Go with Banner and start looking for the cube. Between the two of you, you should be able to get it done before the world ends."

Tony huffed but walked out with Dr. Banner. The two started talking science right away and Bucky just knew that Banner would be making a visit to the tower to see Tony and Rhodey's lab. As for everyone else, they were given their orders and quickly dismissed.

"What just happened?" asked Steve as he and Bucky started walking together towards the weapons hanger to gather some new gear.

"Tony's been a bit stressed lately. We just moved, he and Rhodey haven't seen each other in a few days, and he just started some new medication and it's throwing him off." Explained Bucky and Steve stopped to stare at him.

"And you know this how?"

"Because Tony's my son."

"…WHAT!?"

"I adopted him when he was just 7 months old. He's my baby boy. Howard Stark may be his biological father, but I raised him."

Steve stopped and started for a second and Bucky kept walking. He had work to do and he could catch up with Steve later.

Bucky went to the weapons hanger to go stalk up on some essentials. When he'd first arrived on the carrier Bucky hadn't had the chance to get everything ready. He was more worried about Tony's fight than getting himself ready. He knew Steve was probably shocked at the news but Bucky didn't pay that much mind.

After a few minutes, Bucky decided that it was time to head back to the main labs of the carrier. He was supposed to get his gear ready and then help Tony in the lab with any heavy lifting he and Bruce may need. It should have been simple. Unfortunately, once he arrived at the lab he was met with the sounds of yelling. Bucky had obviously walked in on the tail end of the conversation because Tony was already twitchy and agitated and Steve looked like he wanted to punch something.

"Who here is wearing a spangly outfit and is not of use."

"You're one to talk. You've still got the leg pieces of your armour on. Talk about a hypocrite."

"For your information, the leg pieces of the armour double as leg braces for me because I have nerve problems and stuff. I have normal braces I wear at home but my armour acts as a brace when I'm in it. My get up is useful. Yours is not."

"Alright! Stop!" shouted Bucky as he got closer. Bruce was just doing his own thing and didn't pay the others any mind.

"Steve, stop bullying my kid. And Tony, you're grounded."

"You can't ground me. I'm an adult!" spoke Tony indignantly. Bruce just laughed a bit in the corner.

"You still live with me."

"Only because you won't let Rhodey and I live unsupervised."

"If I left you two alone the apocalypse would start."

"Bucky, explain to your kid that he should be doing work and not messing around." Snarked Steve as he glared back at Tony.

"Tony knows that. If he's doing something else then so what. He knows what he's going." Explained Bucky. "Speaking of which, what have you found Tones?"

"I just finished installing JARVIS. SHIELD is hiding something. They're doing something with the cube thingy. I want to know what they're doing. SHIELD is a defence organization, what are they doing looking into the energy field? That's my work."

"Look, Cap, you can't tell me something fishy isn't happening here." Spoke up, Bruce. Bucky nodded along. Things had changed withing SHIELD since Fury took charge from Peggy when she retired. He had no clue what was going through his and the council's heads.

"Just find the cube." Snapped Steve as he stormed out of the room.

Bucky gave Tony a hug and a small pack of blueberries he'd picked up before following after his friend. He knew that Steve was probably having a hard time adjusting to being in the future but he didn't have to take it out on Tony. Sure, Tony was a bit more animated than the normal person now that he had some stability in his life and people to protect him, but that wasn't an excuse for Steve to get mad at him.

"He's nothing like Howard was back in the day. I'd have thought he'd be like him because he was his father." Grumbled Steve once Bucky caught up with him just down the hall.

"Well be bloody well better not! That man was a monster who neglected his baby. I know for a fact that I raised Tony better than that." Snapped Bucky. And Steve took a step back. Bucky was a total mama bear when it came to his kid. He took a moment to control himself before continuing.

"Look, I'm not going to go into the details of how I got Tony. That's a long story, but Howard was not the kind of man who should have been a father. Tony was malnourished, he already had knee problems from Howard twisting them. It was awful."

"So you adopted him?"

"Yeah. I did. I adopted him and changed his name so we could purge Howard Stark from his life. Although that didn't stop that asshole Stane from using his old name to spread rumours."

"What rumours? You mean all the things I saw in the papers and stuff? All the things on the computer? Those are all lies? There were pictures and evidence. You're telling me that they're all fake?"

"Steve all those stories are false. When Tony was at MIT he lived with me. He was still a kid. Of course, he stayed with me. I'm his Dad for fuck's sake. And when he made his first real friend he lived with us too so both of them had a safe place to eat and work. All of that partying crap is a lie. Stane made it up and fed it to the media because he thought that Tony should behave like Howard, who, once again, was a right bastard. So, stop picking on my kid!"

Steve just nodded along before the two went to go searching for what SHIELD was using the cube for. Steve knew that Bucky was protective of those he cared about. The two managed to sneak into a locked weapons hanger despite their bulky physique. Once they were in they started looking though containers to see if they could find anything.

Although, after opening up one container they very quickly knew what was happening.

"These look like HYDRA weapons." Spoke Steve as he carefully picked on up.

"I thought I got rid of them all within SHIELD. Peggy and I worked for years weeding them all out." Whispered Bucky as he took a step back. Steve looked over at his friend. He was sure there was a story there but now wasn't the time.

"We need to go tell the other Avengers. They need to know." Spoke Steve and the two started running back towards the lab were Tony and Bruce were working.

They arrived just in time for Tony and Bruce to start interrogating Fury about what Phase 2 was. Steve interjected and tossed the weapon on the table. Bucky noticed Tony flinch at the weapon being thrown and he went to his son's side to make sure he was alright. He knew a moment like this would probably remind him of Afghanistan.

From there, things just escalated. There was yelling and fighting. Romanov showed up along with Thor and things just got louder. Bucky noticed that Tony was starting to space out with everything going on. He'd been like that when confronted with loud noises and conflict since being kidnapped. Bucky tried to get everyone to calm down, but it was Bruce picking up the sceptre that did it.

It was only seconds after that they got a ping on the location of the cube and all hell broke loose. The carrier was bombed and the floor beneath them crumbled. The others fell to the floor below while Bucky, Steve, and Tony were lucky enough to stay on the floor they were on.

"Tony! Go put on your suit!" shouted Bucky and Tony ran off as fast as his busted knees and tattered lungs could carry him. Steve and Bucky followed behind and went where Fury ordered them to. They made their way to one of the broken propellers where Tony was already waiting. Their task was to fix it while keeping the agents Loki brainwashed away from everything. Not so hard, right?

Wrong.

Bucky and Steve got knocked down and Tony almost got shredded by the moving propellers. Bucky was so scared when he heard Tony scream and get stuck. Luckily they were able to get the blades stalled long enough for Tony to get out.

And that wasn't the only bad part. Agent Phil Coulson had been killed by Loki. That news hit Bucky, Romanov, and a no longer brainwashed Barton pretty hard. They'd know Coulson for a long time. Bucky couldn't stay in the room as Fury gave his little teamwork speech. He left the room pretty quick with Tony following behind. They ended up in the room where Coulson died. Neither really said much, they just looked out over the void and thought.

"Dad… are we going to get through this?" asked Tony. Even though he was almost 21 years old he sounded like a little kid when he asked.

"I don't know Tones. I don't know. But I can promise you that I'll do everything in my power to make sure we both get back home at the end of the day."

Tony nodded and stayed silent for a second. He seemed lost in thought for a little bit before he got a notification from JARVIS that something was wrong.

"Dad! Loki's at the tower. JARVIS said he's using the arc reactor to power something holding the cube!" shouted Tony and the two of them went running to go find the other Avengers still on the carrier. Bucky was quick to start giving order and soon enough everyone was preparing to head out to Loki's location.

Tony flew ahead to go check out the situation at the tower while Bucky and the others boarded the jet and raced to catch up. By the time they'd arrived all hell had already broken loose. The portal had been opened and Chitauri soldiers were raining down upon the citizens of New York. Tony was doing all he could to contain the fight as Bucky and the others arrived to help.

Bucky and Steve started quickly shouting orders while everyone else listened. All the aerial and long-range fighters were tasked with keeping the steady flow of Chitauri under control while everyone else focused on helping civilians.

Chaos was the only word any of them could use to describe the situation. It was pure, unadulterated chaos. People were screaming and running in the streets. There were aliens all over the place. Thor was shooting lightning everywhere. It was horrible. In all of Bucky's years, he'd never seen anything like this.

Nobody was sure how long the battle actually lasted. It could have been minutes. It could have been hours. All that they knew was that they were running out of steam and the Chitauri were still coming. There were so many close calls before they got lucky. Or… not so lucky.

"I can close it! Can anyone hear me? I can close it!" called Natasha over the coms.

"Do it!" shouted Steve and Bucky started to smile. This could finally be over!

"No! Don't!" shouted Tony and Bucky's smile dropped.

"Barnes. These things are still coming." Spoke Steve as he looked to the sky.

"I've got a nuke incoming, and I know just where to put it."

"Tony… don't you dare! That's a one-way trip!" screamed Bucky as he watched his son fly closer to the open portal.

"I'm sorry Dad. I love you. Tell Rhodey that too."

"Tony. Please." Cried Bucky. There were tears falling from his eyes.

"I'm so sorry."

"TONY! TONY! NO!" screamed Bucky as he watched his son disappear into the open portal with a nuke on his back.

Everyone waited to see if Tony would come back through. He must have been successful in moving the nuke because seconds later the Chitauri started dropping like flies. Steve eventually gave the order to Natasha to close the portal. Bucky wanted to scream to leave it open but he found that he couldn't voice anything other than crying. But all hope wasn't lost. As Natasha closed the portal, Tony fell through at the last second.

"Son of a bitch." Whispered Steve.

"He's not slowing down!" worried Thor as he started to run over to the falling young man.

Thor wasn't fast enough, but Hulk was on the case. He caught Tony in his arms and placed him on the ground once they had landed. Bucky went sprinting to his son's side. He ripped his faceplate off with his metal arm. His hands were shaking and tears fell from his eyes as he hoped and prayed that his son was alive.

Bucky looked down at his son's face. There was a crack in his glasses and multiple still bleeding cuts covering the left side of his face. His eyes were closed and his mouth slack. He looked almost… peaceful. Bucky rested his hand over the reactor in his son's chest. The light was out and the glass was cracked. A few tears began to fall from his eyes as it hit him. His son was pretty much dead and he could do nothing to help him.

In a moment of grief, Hulk let out a mighty roar that rivalled Bucky's own crying. In seconds Tony's eyes shot open and the arc reactor flickered back to life. Bucky sat in amazement for a second before he pulled his baby into his arms. Almost instantly Tony began coughing and sputtering. Bucky fished a miraculously still intact inhaler out of one of his many pockets and helped Tony take his medication. Steve ran over to help with removing Tony's armour and Clint called for a SHIELD evac. Loki was under control for now. Thor would see to that. But right then, all Bucky cared about was his son.

"Don't worry Bub. We'll get you to medical. You'll be alright." Soothed Bucky as he finished stripping Tony of his suit and pulled him into his arms.

"ok…"

Nobody was really sure what allowed Tony to live that day, but nobody cared. Those close to Tony were just glad that he was alive. Rhodey came a few days later to visit Tony as he recovered. Bucky wasn't allowed in the room with them while they were together. He'd learned that the hard way long ago.

Slowly, things got back to normal. Bruce and Steve came to live in the tower with Bucky, Tony, and Rhodey. Bruce was even offered a job with SI that he gladly took. Bucky got around to telling Steve everything that had happened to him since falling off that train. There were tears. Manley tears, but still tears. Both were just happy to have each other back after all the shit they'd been through.

So, that was the story of how a brainwashed super-soldier adopted a little baby. That was the story about how family is so much more than blood. That was the story about how the bonds we choose to form are the most important of them all. Yes, there were hardships, but in the end, peace was found along with love. And that's really what matters in the end. Love.

So… what did everyone think of this one. I'm sad to see it done. I've had this idea for a while and I'm really happy with how it turned out. Keep your eyes open for a Stuckony fic of mine coming out in the near future. In the meantime, you can take a look at all my other amazing fics. I've got loads for you to choose from. I'll see you all soon! -Shadows