The Bridge Between Them
Sam knew that Avery’s training session was up and thought he would be going to an empty gym. He was wrong. He caught the end of the conversation between her and Bucky. Avery stormed past him without even noticing he was there.
"Bucky? That was a bit of a different situation than I was expecting between you two," Sam said, raising an eyebrow. He had expected them to be lovebirds, after spending the night together. Everything should have been good, but clearly not.
"Can it, Sam! I’m not in the mood to talk," Bucky grumbled. Of course, he wasn’t, but Sam wasn’t going to let him mess this up. Steve needed someone to help with Bucky.
"Sit down, scary. You can’t mess this up," Sam said, firmly.
"Yeah, I already have. It’s probably for the best I let my guard down. I shouldn’t have stayed with her last night." Bucky moved toward the door, but Sam blocked his way.
"Why is that? Come on, talk about it, so I can tell you that you’re being stupid." Sam was right—Bucky was being stupid.
"My nightmares, the night terrors. I could’ve hurt her. You should’ve seen her training with Nat. She’s not like us. She can’t defend herself," Bucky admitted, at least being honest with Sam. "Also, I thought she was flirting with everyone."
"That’s why she’s here—to learn. We need her. Nat’s got a plan for that mission because of her. Both you and Steve got a full night’s sleep because of her. That girl is golden. The team needs someone like her. You’re an idiot if you think she’s interested in anyone else here," Sam replied. He and Steve had talked about Avery last night, and they both agreed she was invaluable. Steve hoped that, after reading her file, Avery could be a good friend to Bucky. Since she’d arrived, the mood had lifted, and it wasn’t just Bucky who was benefiting from her presence—it was the whole team.
"I can see she’s valuable to the team, but I can’t use her like that. I’ve told Steve to just ignore me if he can hear me in the night. We should move rooms before she hears me shouting at night." Bucky’s voice was heavy with guilt. Sam really wished Steve was the one having this conversation, but he wasn’t going to give up just yet.
"I get your scared, man, but she isn’t scared of you. Nervous around you? Definitely. Wanda can confirm if you need that, but she just told you her feelings, and you let her leave the room?" Sam’s tone was sharp, mixed with frustration.
"Yeah, I wasn’t expecting her to say that. I kind of got caught up in jealousy." Bucky admitted, feeling like an idiot.
"You need to fix this. We need her on this team. I won’t have her leaving and going back to Spider Boy and Stark because you have no emotional control." Sam was right—this wasn’t just about Bucky.
"I don’t know how to fix it, Sam," Bucky said, his voice filled with uncertainty.
"You do know how to fix it, you’re just scared." Sam’s voice softened, but the urgency remained.
"Apologize, and hopefully, she’ll let you back in her bed. Tomorrow, we’re back out. Nat believes the women are being moved to the warehouse tomorrow. We’re going to get them on the move. We need both you and Steve in top form." Sam’s tone was serious.
Bad guys didn’t just stop committing crimes because Bucky was bad at relationships.