Before the Morning // TFATWS

19

Bucky, Josiah and Dorothy, after a brief stop in Wakanda, boarded a plane.

---

Their plane landed in Delacroix, Louisiana.

They arrived at the docks and saw people unloading things, putting them close to the boat.

Jace looked around for Sam and heard him say, "Tommy, Carlos, man, this is amazing." He chuckled. "Thanks so much, man."

"Look..." Carlos began.

"Thanks, y'all."

"Hey, look, word goes out the Wilson family needs help?"

"Yes, sir," a man said.

"We still got a bit of usefulness in us."

"How do we get it off the truck?"

Bucky grabbed a crate from the back and a man cried, "Oh!"

As Bucky set the crate down, he said, "You're welcome."

Sam glanced at Dorothy. "Did someone call you three?"

Dorothy shook her head as Bucky said, "Nah, we're just dropping something off."

Bucky placed the case on the back of the truck. "You can sign for it and we'll go. I called in a favor from the Wakandans."

Before Sam could say anything, a hose came loose on the boat and a loud hissing sounded.

Sarah quickly made her way to her brother and called, "Sam!"

Sam ran to the boat and grabbed a wrench, trying to tighten the hose.

"Hi," Bucky greeted, waving to Sarah.

"Hi," Sarah replied in a bright tone.

Dorothy looked between her father and Sarah with a light smirk.

Bucky walked up to Sam as he said, "Hold on, hold on. You gotta go up." He grabbed the wrench from Sam and tightened the hose.

As soon as the hissing stopped, Bucky dropped the wrench to his side and Josiah walked onto the boat.

Sam looked between Bucky and the hose before asking, "Why didn't you use the metal arm?"

Dorothy laughed and walked up as she said, "Well... Dad is right-handed."

Bucky looked at his left hand and added, "I don't always think of it immediately." Sam chuckled and Dorothy smiled lightly. "So, this is the boat, huh?"

"This is it." Sam leaned against the box below the hose.

Bucky nodded and looked around again. "It's nice."

"You want any help?" Dorothy asked. "From each of us? I mean, Josiah and I can do what we can."

"Yeah," Sam replied as he walked to the front of the boat.

Sarah walked up to the boat and Bucky smiled before saying, "I'm Bucky." He gestured to his daughter. "This is Dorothy." He gestured to Josiah. "This is Josiah."

"Ah, Sarah," Sam's sister replied with a smile.

Dorothy smiled. "Hi. It's nice to meet you, Sarah."

Bucky nodded. "Sarah."

Josiah waved. "Hi, Sarah."

Bucky began sanding wood while Dorothy and Josiah cleaned the deck. Sam tried to get some metal siding off the boat and yelled, "Shit!" Bucky went up to him, pulled off the metal piece, and put it to the side. "Thanks."

As Dorothy set something down, she glanced at her father who was messing with his knife. She caught sight of Josiah who was putting something away. She smiled as she moved a box. Josiah caught her eye and smiled back. Bucky looked between them with a small frown, but didn't seem too much in protective dad mode.

Bucky finished what he was doing and he and Josiah went to help Sam with the engine, finding they had to move water from the boat.

As they did so, Bucky handed Sam full buckets before asking, "Think Karli's gonna throw in the towel?"

Bucky shook his head. "I doubt it. I think she's gonna double down and lay low."

"Any ideas on how to stop her?"

"I got Joaquin working on something," Sam replied.

"Well, Zemo says there's only one way."

The four sat in the rear of the boat with beers and sodas.

Bucky stood and said, "Well..." He clinked bottles with Sam. "Gotta catch our flight tomorrow. Get a couple hotel rooms for the night. Crash, you know?"

"You're just gonna set me up like that?"

Dorothy glanced at Sam as she stood and shook her head. "We don't want to make it weird for your family."

"Just stay here; the three of you. The people in this town are the most welcoming people in the world. They don't care if you wear small T-shirts or if you have six toes or if your mom's your aunt."

Bucky chuckled before he replied, "Okay, we get it. I mean, you know, the people are nice."

Sam laughed. "But don't flirt with my sister."

"No."

"'Cause if you do, I'll have Carlos cut you up, feed you to the fish."

---

Bucky crashed on Sam's couch. Bucky was asleep on his back. He slept without waking, far better than he had in a long while.

Dorothy and Josiah were asleep on beds in other rooms.

Bucky woke, hearing whooshing and grunting. He lifted his head to see Sarah's boys and his son playing with the shield. "Hey," he called softly with a small wave.

"Put it back," the older boy ordered. "Hurry, hurry!"

The younger boy tried to put it back in the case and propped it up, but it fell over as they ran off. Bucky smiled as they did so.

He got up and walked out to the boat.

Sam waved and said, "Hey. Sleep well?"

Bucky walked out to the boat. "Thanks for letting me, Josiah and Dorothy crash."

"Don't mention it. Push the stopper." Bucky did so. "Thanks. Hey. Start loosening those bolts. Dorothy still asleep? I saw Josiah around outside."

"Got it. She probably is. She definitely likes her sleep."

"Okay, so..."

"Excuse me. No!" Sarah cried.

"There should be a three-sixteenths bolt that goes in the big gear."

Bucky shook his head. "Nope."

"Uh-huh," Sarah said. "No. No."

Sam looked at Bucky. "You didn't even look."

"I didn't have to."

Dorothy walked up with a cup of coffee and said, "Hi, Sarah."

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

"Yep, Samuel," Bucky replied.

"In our defense," Sam began, looking between Bucky, Dorothy, Josiah, who walked up, and Sarah, "we were supposed to be done long before you woke up."

Sarah shook her head. "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."

"Wow. Wow."

"Bye. Off. Thank you, gentlemen. Appreciate you. I love you, bro."

Sam, Dorothy, Josiah and Bucky started to leave and Sam said, "She's a very mean person."

"It's tough love," Bucky replied with a chuckle.

"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."

"There's a prowess that goes into my madness."

Dorothy smiled lightly. "Oh yeah, I'm sure there is."