Chapter 4
Sam trusted Steve, of course he did. You couldn't work side by side with a man in the conditions that they did if you did not trust him with your life completely. But Steve, despite every good quality he possessed, was chucked full of bad ones as well, like continuing to maintain his wardrobe as if he was still in the 1940's and having the tendency to have no self preservation what so ever. Normally, with something involving Steve, he might call up Natasha but in this case, with her already salty on the subject, he called his second choice, Bruce Banner. Ironically, Banner was probably the only team mate to always maintain a calm head about things, unless of course the other guy showed up then you just had a giant green wrecking ball. It was already late but he knew he and Tony had a habit of not sleeping for days when Pepper wasn't in for science-y stuff. In that was probably Bruce's largest flaw, easily influenced by Tony Stark's bad behavior. Sam's foot bounced rapidly as he hit the call button. The phone rang four times and half way through the fifth ring, a voice answered on the other end.
"Hello?" Sam's foot slowed as he heard a loud crash in the background and then some shuffling.
"Dr. Banner, it's Sam Wilson." The clatter and voice in the background faded away as, Sam assumed, Bruce stepped into another room.
"Sam, hi. I doubt you just called to chat." And there was that knowing voice that the Doctor used when he cut straight to it.
"Yeah. It's about Steve."
"Is he okay?" Concern immediately coloring his tone.
"Yeah, I just left his house and he was in one piece."
"I would hope so." Sam grinned at the dry humor.
"Well, Stark isn't there right, he can't hear me."
"JARVIS," Bruce spoke out, "Can you make sure that Tony can't hear my conversation or tap into my phone at anytime?"
"Of course, Dr. Banner," Sam heard the faint reply of the AI.
"Okay," he said speaking back into the phone. "It's just me."
"Nat, Clint and I were at Steve's for a movie and we were interrupted by a visitor. The Winter Soldier to be exact." There was a small surprised noise on the other end.
"Was there a scene?"
"No."
"How did Steve take it," Bruce asked, voice dipping into the graver spectrum.
"He took it as great as any guy would if his best friend who died 70 years ago but not really because he was actually being manipulated into a weapon by Nazis and who he only found out was alive and had spend over a year searching for suddenly appeared on his balcony."
"That bad, huh?"
"He made it seem like it wasn't a big deal but I've never seen him like that, Bruce. I mean he was happy, they hugged and cried and everything, but he just looked so... raw."
"I would expect nothing less then a major reaction on both their parts."
"It was more than that. He handled Barnes as if the Winter Soldier was a fragile piece of glass but, to me, he looked like anything could have broken him."
"I've only known Steve for a few years, which is just as long as most other members of the team but I've only heard him speak about Bucky a hand full of times and when he does, you can tell how much he cares for him. This is a big deal." Sam agreed. With all their time searching, Bucky was still a sore spot, a completely understandable sore spot though.
"Would you mind going over to check him out?"
"I'm no psychiatrist."
"Do you know one?" Bruce seemed to contemplate this for a moment.
"I do. I'll make some calls, see what i can do." There was a pause. "Is Steve okay with this?"
"I haven't really asked him yet, but I'll work it out. He asked if I trust him and I do. I just want to make sure Steve's own trust is not placed in the wrong hands." Sam heard the empty unease on Bruce's end. He wasn't a fan of doing things behind people's backs but if he knew it would probably help he was willing. "And no telling Stark."
"Agreed. I'll get back to you as soon as I can."
"Thank you, Bruce."
"No problem, Sam." He ended the call and tossed his phone to the other side of his bed and sighed.