Later that day, Tony and Steve found a bug behind the screen on the wall, like a shortened version of a usb stick. Tony and Nat looked into it over the next week, and found that it had been recording and transmitting wirelessly for weeks. They couldn't trace where it was transmitting to, but they could see that there were hundreds of audio files that had been sent. It had recorded every single thing that they had planned and discussed since just before they went to investigate the Peru base. You asked to borrow it after they'd done all the diagnostics they could.

You spent those few days thinking over everything two, three times in your head. Replaying memories, conversations, coincidences. Bucky could tell that something was on your mind, but he chalked it down to your last conversation about you not knowing what exactly was going on between the two of you. He didn't push it. He didn't question it when you switched from being silent for hours to ripping his clothes off.

He also didn't show his anger when Nick turned up at the compound two days later.

You'd acted just as you had last time he was here, spending your days with him instead of Bucky, joking around with your old friend, while Bucky watched from the sidelines. You stopped staying in Bucky's room at night. You stopped kissing him, touching him, all the things he had been slowly getting used to. Gone.

He was angry at you, at Nick, and at himself. He thought he'd made progress with you. That you were finally getting to the point that you could admit the truth of how you felt about Bucky. He'd held off telling you how he felt because he knew it would push you into getting defensive again. But everytime he saw you, he wanted to tell you. And everytime he saw you with Nick, he just wanted to say he was done with the whole thing.

One the third day of Nick's presence in the building, you knew what you had to do. And you put your plan into motion.

You had talked Tony into giving you access to one specific room on the second floor of the building, a room that you and the team had previously been restricted from. Tony had a lot of hesitation, a lot of protests about it, but he eventually gave in once you told him that it would end all of this, and he just had to trust you.

Just before dinner, you were walking around with Nick, and passed the lounge, where half the team were relaxing in, Bucky included. Bucky instantly looked up at you, watching you walk over to the kitchen to get yourself and Nick a drink, and head back out.

When you passed him, you threw him a piece of paper behind you. You didn't look at him, or acknowledge anyone else - you just left the room with Nick.

Bucky frowned at your retreating figure as he picked the paper off his stomach where it fell. He unfolded it, and read your scribbled writing;

Interrogation observation room, 5 mins. Bring everyone.

He looked back up at the door you just exited out of, his mind running fast. He showed Steve, who was sitting next to him, who shared an equally confused expression to Bucky's. Steve took the lead in rounding up the team, and they headed to the room as instructed.

It was a smaller room than the actual interrogation room, and it felt even smaller with the whole team packed in, staring through the glass and just seeing an empty table and chairs.

"What are we supposed to be doing here?" Sam asked.

"She didn't exactly lay out her intricate plan of a bit of scrap paper Sam." Bucky snapped back, his jaw tense as he, like everyone, waited for you to appear.

"I know but surely she told you-"

Sam shut his mouth quickly as the door to the room they were watching opened. Yours and Nick's figures appeared, both laughing at something, which made Bucky's blood boil. Steve put a comforting hand on his friend's shoulder.

"I'm so glad I didn't join the Navy with you, if that's how you treat each other!" You laughed as you gestured for Nick to take the seat facing the observation glass. Not that he would know that, seeing as it was a two way mirror.

"We gotta pass the time somehow babe, sometimes shaving each other's eyebrows is the only entertainment we have!" He replied with a grin. You both shared another laugh, then you walked round to the back of the chair opposite him, across the other side of the table, and rested your hands on the back.

"God," You sighed, ready for your dramatic scene. "How long have we actually known each other now Nick?"

"Ooft," He sighed, leaning back in his chair and putting his hands behind his head, his elbows sticking out. The epitome of testosterone, supposedly. "Must be...13 years? 14 maybe? We met at that tiny little bar in Brooklyn." He smiled at you.

"Right," You nodded, pushing off the chair and starting to pace the room. "It was like a year before that first...outburst of mine." You added, with a slightly chuckle to keep the tone lighthearted. "Still don't know why you wanted to stick around after that."

"Well, I was already all in. The fact that you could turn lights off without leaving the bed was an added bonus." He smiled at you, and you smiled back. Your stomach flipped in a funny way.

"Just can't imagine how surprising that would have been. Thinking you had a normal girlfriend, then seeing me self-destruct and blow up your coffee machine. Must have been so hard for you."

In the observation room, Bucky was getting more and more angry.

"I don't think I can watch this." He growled, going to turn to the door, when Sam put his hands on his shoulders, and stopped him.

"We gotta see where this is going."

"So I've just gotta watch them reminisce about their relationship? No thanks."

"Buck," Steve said, in his stern voice. "She asked us to be here."

Bucky didn't look at Steve. But he nodded all the same. Sam took his hands off his shoulders.

"I mean," Nick said, taking his hands off the back of his head, and using one to scratch his chin as you watched him intently. "I'm not gonna lie, it was surprising. But like I said, I was all in. I'm just glad I could get you to Stark and he could help you."

"Speaking of that, you know that Tony is my dad right?" You asked, in a perfectly innocent way.

"Yeah," He chuckled back. "I think after all we've been through, it would be weird if I didn't know that." You nodded at his response. "Does your new boyfriend not know?" He added with a sinister smirk. You decided to gloss over that.

"See, I knew that you knew that. But lately I've just, well I guess realised something. And I don't think I remember us talking about Tony being my dad. You just always knew." You explained, planting the first seed in your plan. You saw Nick's face stutter. For a . But it was enough.

"No, we did talk about it. I remember the conversation babe." He said, plastering another smile on his face. But this was one fake. "After I called him to take you, you told me."

"Right!" You said with enthusiasm, pointing your finger at him briefly. "So I told you after my outburst that Tony was my dad. See I thought that might have been the case. But then that got me thinking. And I don't quite understand something."

"What's that?"

"Well...I don't quite understand how you knew to call Tony, when that was before I told you that he was my dad."

The room was silent for a second. Nick folded his arms across his chest.

"I don't think I know what you're asking me Luka." He said quietly. You stopped your pacing, and resumed your position leaning on the back of the chair as you stared at him.

"What I'm asking you Nick, is how did you know to call Tony, before I'd told you about Tony?"

"This is ridiculous." He scoffed. "I probably remembered it wrong, you obviously told me about him before it-"

"No, I didn't. I didn't tell you about him at all." You kept his gaze as he fell silent. "The next time I saw you, you were calling him my dad, saying you were so happy you got hold of my dad, how my dad can protect me properly. And we spoke about the fact you couldn't tell anyone. He's not even in my phone under 'Dad', so you can't blag that either. So I'll ask you again, Nick, how did you know?"

Nick stayed silent.

Steve suddenly gasped and stepped forward.

"What?" Tony asked as they all looked at him.

"It was him." Steve whispered.

"What was him?"

"Tony, it was him."