Dance partner
They spent the afternoon watching all the Captain America movies. He laughed at how cheesy they all were. As hard as it seemed to be they just got worse. "Wow these are garbage." Sam laughed "yea they are but only if you know the man himself. I loved these as a kid."
Gina came into the room "get ready to go to the fair. Ma's coming with us. We'll just eat there tonight." They nodded and got up from the couch. Gina quickly stopped Bucky "James….I'm sorry for what I said. I just worry about Sam. He sometimes gets himself hurt trying to save others. I hope you can forgive me." He nodded "You didn't say anything untrue. Besides, I know what it's like to protect someone. If we don't look out for them who will."
They got in the car and headed through the small little town and then down a dirt road where they came to a clearing. There were stalls and rides set up and a few tents. They got out and walked around the 4-H booths and looked at the petting zoo. Something made Bucky look over towards the carnival area. They had some clowns wandering around and balloon animal artists. Something about one of the clowns just bothered him but he was just standing around so he just assumed his general dislike of clowns was the cause.
He was currently walking with Bea’s arm linked with his. She was pulling him all over to see things. Finally when it came time for dinner she led him over to a stall. “You have to try the Catfish my church makes.” Sam shot him a look and he frowned. “I can’t. Fish makes me sick.” She patted his arm. “That’s fine we have plenty to choose from.” He nodded “I’m kinda thinking about a corn dog.” He walked toward a booth and Gina stopped him. “NOT from them. See if someone else has it.” He cocked his head “Something wrong? Old ex you want to avoid?” He now noticed none of them were laughing. Sam gestured to the sign “Read the group name and google it bro. You don’t want to give them your money.”
He settled on a burger from another booth and sat down with everyone pulling his phone out to google the group. He paused as he scanned the page. “Sam….you telling me a neo nazi group is just casually selling corndogs at a fair and no ones got beef with that?” They looked around. “The people that do are….a minority. Dad learned the hard way to just deal with it quietly. So we don’t buy from them and we encourage others not to as well. Everyone knows but it's one of those “They don’t do anything mean to me” problems and no matter how many times you tell them well duh you are their favorite color it doesn't stick. People are Idiots.” He nodded in agreement. Despite that they enjoyed their food. He reached over and grabbed some of Sam’s fries mostly to see what he would do. He laughed when he practically squawked at him. “Calm down Sammy I’ll get some more later and you can share. Want to play some games? I bet I can smoke you at a few of them.” Gina Smiled. “Ma and I will wait here for you guys ,go have some fun.”
After Bucky had won his third goldfish and handed it off to some random little kid Sam decided it was time to pick a different game. They tried the water gun race. Bucky had been watching that one and saw that the same station won every time meaning it wasn;t the players ability it was who ever was lucky enough to get that spot. He walked over with Sam and took a seat and shrugged. “Not sure how good I will be at this. Never played it before. They waited as the seats filled up for the next game and Sam had a smug look on his face as he felt he would win this for sure. Bucky grinned when his bell sounded first and he picked out a large teddy bear. He got up and walked over to Bea and gave it to her. Sam glared “You knew you were gonna win didn’t you?” He held his hands up “Nope I guess I just got lucky.”
“Why don’t you kids go on some rides? It’s a pretty night for the ferris wheel.” Sam looked at his mom with a softened expression “Only if you and Gina ride too. Come on, it will be fun.” Bucky purchased some tickets for the ride and they got on. Sam and him in one car and Gina and Bea in the other. They stopped at the top and he looked over the fair. Something by the carnival tent caught his eye. It was the creepy clown from earlier. He was pressed against a trailer with a small struggling body. The car moved forward enough and he could make out what looked to be a barely 14 year old girl. “Sam...I gotta get off.” He looked at him “In a minute dude. I thought you were ok with heights.” He shook his head, eyes locked on the scene. “No I gotta go NOW.” before Sam could stop him he had dropped down onto the car below him and then onto the ticket booth and was bolting across the grounds.
He grabbed the clown around the throat with his left hand holding him up against the trailer as the small girl scrambled to cover herself eyes wide with fear. “dayte mne odnu veskuyu prichinu, po kotoroy ya ne dolzhen potroshit' vas, kak rybu, i natyanut' u dereva kishki.” He heard people behind him “Hey, put the clown down.” He glanced back to see Sam standing there. He tossed the clown against the trailer and let him go. He then took off his jacket and offered it to the little girl. A police officer had finally pushed through the crowd. “Sir I’m gonna need you to come with me.” Bucky planted himself. “Take him first. He needs to keep his filthy hands off children or have them cut off.” Sam cringed as he could hear the heavy Rusian accent that came from Bucky. The cop now put the scene together and nodded. “Well, I’m gonna need all three of you to come then.” He took the little girl by her hand as the Cop cuffed the clown and drug him to his feet. He looked over at Sam. “Sorry. I’ll call you when they are done with me.”
They rode in a car seperate from the clown to the station. The little girl sat in the front seat while Bucky sat in the back. She hadn’t spoken a word the entire time. When they arrived at the station the girl's parents were waiting at the desk for her. Bucky smiled at the thought of a happy reunion but was greeted by her parents exchanging frustrated glances. “We told you NOT to wear that skirt to the carnival. Look what happens when you don’t listen to your father and I.”
“HEY! Skirt or not she's a child NO ONE has the right or invitation to her body.” They looked over at him. “I’m sorry do we know you?” He shook his head “No but she could have been a lot worse off if I hadn’t jumped in. Clothes are NOT an open invite. If you firmly believe that you are no better than the clown I tore off her.Hold her close then tell her how thankful you are she’s safe. Tell her it's going to be ok but for the love of god DON’T EVER say she did it to herself because no one ever does.” The cop quickly ushered him into another room to get his statement leaving the girl with her parents.
“So you’re not from around here. What brings you to town?” He took a deep breath “I’m here with my friend. We are visiting his mother and sister.” He nodded “Ok , who is this friend?”
“Sam Wilson. I..I don’t know the address of the house we are staying at but I can call him up here.” He shook his head “No..no that’s not necessary we know the Wilsons. You caused quite a panic jumping off the ferris wheel.” He shrugged “I couldn’t wait for us to hit the ground. He would have gotten a lot farther in that time. As it stands he got further than he should have.” The cop nodded “well that’s why we are hired to keep an eye on things. Next time call for help don;t take matters into your own hands.” He chewed the inside of his cheek to keep from mouthing off. There was a knock on the door and the girl poked her head in. “I wanted to return his jacket.” Bucky looked at her still in the torn shirt. “Do you have something else to cover up with? If not keep it. It’s not a big deal.” She hesitated “My parents said to give it to you.” She hung it on the door knob and left. “She has nothing to be ashamed of.” The cop looked at him but said nothing. After a few minutes he stood up. “Your ride is waiting for you, let's go.” He was relieved to see Sam waiting at the desk for him.
The ride home was quiet. Gina had taken them home and Sam got his car to come get him. “Man, I was sure you were gonna be spending the night in jail. Mom was ready to collect money for your bail.” He laid back in the seat. “Not gonna lie I was thinking that too. They seemed perfectly content to let that little girl get assaulted.” Sam shook his head “Sleepy place like this they don;t appreciate someone coming in and doing their job better than them. I uh.. Couldn't help notice you kinda slipped into…”
“Kill mode. I know. I couldn’t help it. Thank you for stopping me. I did almost kill him.” Sam was quiet for a while. “What did you tell him?” Bucky chuckled as he thought about it. “I said give me one good reason I shouldn't gut you like a fish and string you up by your intestines from a tree.” Sam laughed “Yea we had a feeling it was something like that.”
When they got back to the house Bea and Gina were sitting on the porch waiting for them. “Thank goodness they didn’t keep you. They were more upset when you stepped in than about what happened to the poor little girl. Come on let’s go inside and have some tea.” Bea put on some old records and they sat and talked for a while. Bucky was learning some rather unsavory things about the people Sam's mother lived around. “Why do you tolerate this?” She shrugged “Honey it’s everywhere I’ve been. We learn how to deal with it.” He frowned. “That's not right Steve and I fought and died fighting shit like this and to see it still happening right under everyone's noses every damn day.” She placed a hand on his. “We don’t let them get what they want. We keep living and thriving and doing right by everyone no matter who they are. No it’s not a damn bit fair but it’s better knowing that we can make things better.” She stood up and took his hand. “Do you dance Sergeant?” Gina rolled her eyes. “Not in a long time Ma’am.” She grinned and pulled him close. “It’s just like breathing. Come here.” She wrapped an arm around his waist as they swayed to a song he didn’t know. He closed his eyes as she hummed along to the melody.
Gina leaned over and whispered to Sam “Is he that touch starved?” He let out a sigh. And gestured to the porch so they could talk. “It’s been a long time since he’s known a caring touch and he just went through a kinda rough breakup. He is a mess. I mean he’s come really far in the last year alone but he’s still struggling with people.” She looked up at the stars “Who was she?” He paused “the break up? That’s complicated. She..they...are Thor’s sibling. Someone who is just as damaged in the people and emotions department. Seemed like they hit it off well too but some kind of misunderstanding happened and they responded the only way they knew-”
“They ran.” He nodded “Yup. Loki ran all the way to New mexico.” She shook her head “Jeez. Sorry I was so mean to him yesterday.I should have thought before I spoke.” He wrapped an arm around her. “Its ok. We are all human. Just, cut him some slack. How about we take him on a picnic tomorrow. He likes to be outside. It will be nice. We can go to that place that you like." She smiled "that would be nice. We have to go to the grocery store too. Perhaps he and Ma can pack up a picnic and you and I can go to the store. I don't think he should be in town tomorrow after all the excitement tonight."
"Yea that sounds like a good plan. Man it's weird going this long with him and not havin Steve check in. I mean it's good to give him some more independence but it's still strange."
They moved back inside to see Bucky and Bea dancing. Bucky was now swinging Bea around like they were a couple kids and not a woman in her 70's and a 100 some year old soldier. When the music stopped Bucky was drenched in sweat and Bae dropped onto the couch panting. Sam grabbed two glasses of water and brought them over. "Don't break my mama, she's the only one I got."
He smiled as he joined her on the couch. "She's a good partner. Haven't done that in almost a hundred years." He patted her thigh and looked over at her. "Thanks for the dance doll." Bea began to giggle as she playfully swatted at him. "Sam you have been holdin out on me,are all your other friends this charming?" Sam rolled his eyes "I can't say for sure. Steve's a perfect gentleman though."
"Stevie would like your mom Sam. Course I think she'd like me more than him by comparison." She grinned "what are we using for scale?" She slid her hand further up his leg and he blushed a bit.
Gina sighed "ok you two need to simmer down before Sam has a stroke." This elicited giggling from both of them as they made several comments about why she would like him better than Steve. She got up and kissed his cheek. "Good night Jimmy. I think you've worn me out for the night." Sam smirked at him "jimmy? She just called you Jimmy. You almost put a knife in Clint when he called you that." Bucky shrugged and said with a smirk "with an ass like hers she can call me fido for all I care."
"I swear you are doing this to bother me."
"I was this morning but now it's kinda genuine. I'm not talkin' anything serious. I just…..like her company. She gets that I think." Sam sat down with him. "Just don't go doing something neither of you are ready for."
"I'll do my best with that."