Do You Trust Me? // Bucky Barnes

29

Sam

She had been quiet for the whole drive, never looking away from the winding roads and eventual highways that blurred past the windows, and he had let her sit in her thoughts. There were things Sam Wilson wanted to say to this woman sitting beside him: warnings he wanted to give and apologies he should probably make. There were hours of conversations that should have happened before they slipped into the truck that had lead them to Torres, and switched to the Chevrolet Corvette Stingray that had been tucked away in a unit somewhere for years now. But he didn't know where to start.

His fingers gripped the steering wheel tightly as he blinked away exhaustion and Ava shifted in her seat.

"Where did you get this car?" Her voice was quieter than he'd grown used to and there was a sadness beneath it that was scratching at the surface and demanding his attention.

"Would you believe me if I say it's Steves?"

She laughed at that and Sam grinned over at her for a moment before returning his eyes to the road.

"He pays to keep it close by, safe and well-looked after, because of its history," he clarified.

"History?" She twisted slightly now, her body turning to face him as she rest her head against the seat.

He could see it in the false smile that sat on her lips and the moisture that had pooled in her eyes: Ava Hall was terrified and she didn't know how to behave.

"You know Talia had a sister, right?" Sam's voice was soft and low as he slowed to a crawl, where city lights loomed in the nearby distance and the roads began to open into sprawling neighbourhoods. He flicked on the blinker and slowly took the next right, turning onto a dark street with empty lots and abandoned houses.

"Natasha Romanoff. Also known as Black Widow." She nodded thoughtfully as her brow furrowed.

"Before Nat... Before she died, she was probably Steve's best friend - Bucky not included - and this was her baby. Her pride and joy. Bruce would have kept it, but..."

"He couldn't?"

Sam shook his head as he pulled onto a dark driveway and clicked a button, idling in the night as the garage door opened and he waited to pull inside. "He buried himself in science. He calls in every few months. Sees the kids. Checks on Talia. But he's not who he was before, you know?"

Ava nodded silently as she looked out of the window once more as the walls of the garage surrounded them and Sam sighed with his own realisation. Of course she knew. She knew too well what it was to lose the people you love. Samuel Thomas Wilson felt like an asshole.

"Shit, I'm sorry, Hall." He cut the engine and ran a hand over his face. "Of course you do. I didn't think... I'm sorry."

"No need to apologise, Eagle." She smiled softly as she opened the car door. "You know, it's okay to be sad about it too, right?"

He frowned deeply and she shook her head as she stepped out of the car, before turning back to him and leaning into the still dark car.

"You lost her too, and Bruce I guess. You're allowed to be sad about it, even when it feels like it's not your grief." She nodded her head to the open door leading into the little house he kept for missions like this. "So, are we heading inside?"

***

Ava

The safe house was quiet and she hated it. She missed the chaos of dinner time, when Steve and Talia would sit too close and stare at each other with so much adoration that it almost felt like they'd just met, and when Jamie would sneak her phone under the table - turning it to Ava beneath the cover of a napkin to show her another funny video - and when Bucky's hand would rest easily against her neck, toying with her hair and stroking her skin as he leant back and laughed loudly at some silly story Steve would share. She missed the comfort of it all. She missed the routine she had fallen into. And she missed Bucky. She missed him so damn much.