Maya Stark

Chapter 86: Deep Conversations

I woke up early the next morning. Flashbacks plagued my sleep this time. I tried to shake the empty feeling off and walk quietly into the kitchen as to not wake up Bucky. Sam was already there drinking a cup of coffee.

'What are you doing up?' I asked, surprised.

'I could ask you the same thing,' he said.

'Touché,' I say, grabbing water from the fridge.

Sam set his mug in the sink. 'You want to come out early and help with that stupid engine?'

I consider for a small moment before nodding. We work for a little while, getting pretty close to finishing when Bucky shows up and starts helping out as well.

'Okay, so there should be a three-sixteenths bolt that goes in the big gear,' Sam said.

I roll my eyes. Sam and Bucky were trying to figure out the water pump and I was staying out of the way. Not because I couldn't help, but because I didn't want to get in trouble with Sarah.

'Nope,' Bucky said.

'Uh-huh. No. No.' Sarah's voice said. I looked behind me and saw her marching up towards us.

'You didn't even look,' Sam said.

'I didn't have to,' Bucky said. Sarah got up to the boat and Bucky waved at her. 'Hi, Sarah.'

I laughed, shaking my head, and standing up from my seat on the boat.

'I told you specifically that the water pump was not the problem, and yet, here you are,' Sarah said.

'Yep, Samuel,' Bucky said. I let out a loud laugh and quickly cover my mouth with my hand as Sam glares at me.

'In our defense, we were supposed to be done long before you woke up,' Sam said.

'In my defense,' I add, 'I didn't help them because I knew you told them not to.'

'I don't come up to the sky to tell you how to barrel roll, so don't come down here and mess around with things you don't understand,' Sarah said.

'Wow. Wow,' Sam said standing.

'Bye. Off. Thank you, gentlemen. Maya. Appreciate you.' We walk off the boat. 'I love you, bro.'

'She's a very mean person,' Sam said as we walk up the docks.

'It's tough love,' Bucky said.

'No. If you did what I told you to do, we would have been done before any of this took place.'

'There is no such thing,' I said, shaking my head.

'There's a prowess that goes into my madness,' Sam said.

'Sure there is, birdie,' I said, shaking my head, smiling.

Like any depressed trio would, we took out the shield and went outside. The boys threw it at the trees, and I leaned on a tree behind them. I didn't want to hold the shield, and despite them trying, they respected that. I appreciated it. They took turns using it.

'Feels weird...' Sam said, catching the shield. 'Picking it up again.' Sam throws the shield and Bucky catches it. 'The legacy of that shield is complicated, to say the least.'

'When Steve told me what he was planning, and what Maya had told him, I don't think any of us understood what it felt like for a black man to be handed the shield. How could we?' Bucky said. He offered the shield to Sam who took it. 'I owe you an apology. I'm sorry.'