Death Where is Your Sting? - B. Barnes

Chapter 6

"I come bearing gifts!"

Bucky sat up from the couch, seeing Sam walk through the door of his apartment, closing it with his foot as his hands were full of coffee and donuts.

"My hero," Bucky chuckled as he rose and pulled on a shirt. "I still think the hotel was unnecessary. You could've taken the couch, I sleep fine on the floor."

Sam put the coffees down and started pulling the donuts out of the bag. "It was good to have my own space. Quiet. No damsels in distress or dinosaurs to watch out for." He eyed Bucky as he strode over to the table. "You look like hell."

"Good to see you too, Sam." Bucky rolled his eyes at him, reaching for the coffees. His hand hovered over the cups, looking to Sam for instruction on which on was his.

"The one on the left - black coffee for your black soul." Bucky looked blankly at Sam, who chuckled at his annoyance. "Nightmare?"

"Actually...yes." He looked Sam in the eye. "But not mine."

"Really?! I guess I shouldn't be surprised. She tell you what it was?"

Bucky shook his head as he chewed his food, the corner of his mouth twitching upward into a small crooked smile. "She yelled at me, though." Sam laughed before sipping his coffee. Bucky knew he'd like that. Then Bucky's face went serious. "She told me not to touch her, not to call her Raven. That it was all too much."

Sam hummed in response. "Makes sense. You know what that's like."

"Yeah, I do. But what else am I supposed to call her? She's not the Reaper, I'm not calling her that." Bucky punctuated his statement by pointing his cup forward before taking another sip.

"Maybe let her decide."

Bucky scrunched his face, disliking the idea. She was Raven - though, he didn't know if that had always been her name or not. He didn't know anything about her before Hydra. He took a sip of coffee while he thought. "I, uh - I told her I could be Steve."

Sam choked on his coffee and sputtered. "What?" he asked, chuckling.

Bucky laughed, too. "I know. I offered to help her with her memory, like Steve did for me. He knew me before Hydra, I knew her before - well, not before Hydra but before they - " Bucky tapped his head.

Sam shook his head. "You are something else, man. What did she say?"

"She thanked me for getting her backpack and that was that."

"I'm proud of you, man. That's a big deal for you."

"I'm a very helpful guy, Sam."

"Oh, really?"

"I seem to recall a certain boat that I helped - "

"You're gonna do me like that, huh?" Sam shook his head. "Speaking of, I've got to head out today. Sarah was expecting me two days ago, I was supposed to head back right after the warehouse. She needs me to help out with some business stuff, and the boys have been asking to see their favorite uncle."

"So they have been asking about me."

Sam glared at Bucky, as Bucky smirked at Sam.

"You want to dish it out, you have to be able to take it, Sam."

"Steve would have never-"

Bucky let out real belly laugh at that. Sam was right - Steve would have never. "Alright, alright. But seriously, thank you. This was - " He let out a breath.

"Yeah. It was. But I have to go, my flight's in -" Sam checked his watch.

"So Captain America was just going to leave without saying goodbye?"