Sunrise Serenade

20

Later that day, the four made their way to a field surrounded by trees.

Sam took a deep breath before throwing the shield to one of the trees. It bounced off and returned to him.

"Feels weird... Picking it up again," Sam said as he tossed the shield again. It bounced off a couple trees before Bucky caught it. "The legacy of that shield is complicated, to say the least."

Bea nodded. "That's understandable."

Bucky let out a sigh. "When Steve told me, Phillip and Bea what he was planning, I don't think either of us understood what it felt like for a black man to be handed the shield."

"How could we?" Bea added. "I'm sorry. Steve was right to have chosen you."

"Phillip and I owe you an apology, Sam. I'm sorry." He handed the shield to Sam.

Phillip nodded. "I'm sorry too."

Sam took the shield and replied, "Thank you."

"Whatever happened with Walker, it wasn't your fault. I get it. It's just that shield is the closest thing I've got to family excluding Bucky and Bea. So when you retired it, it made us feel like we had nothing left."

Bea took Phillip's hand, running a thumb in circles on the back of it.

Phillip smiled at her before he continued. "Made me question everything. You, Steve, Bucky, Bea, me. You know, I've got his, uh... I've got his book. And, uh... I just figured if it worked for him, then it'd work for me."

"I understand, man," Sam said. "But Steve is gone." He sighed, as did Bucky and Phillip. "And this might be a surprise, but it doesn't matter what Steve thought." He threw the shield and caught it when it came back to him. "You gotta stop looking to other people to tell you who you are." He threw the shield again, but when it came back, Phillip caught it. "Let me ask you. You still having nightmares?"

Phillip nodded and said, "All the time. It means I remember. Which means a part of the Winter Soldier's still in me." He threw the shield and Sam caught it.

"You up for a little tough love?" Phillip nodded. "You want to climb out of the hell you're in, do the work. Do it."

"I've been making amends."

"Nah. You weren't amending, you were avenging. You were stopping all the wrongdoers you enabled as the Winter Soldier because you thought it would bring you closure. You go to these people and say "sorry," because you think it'll make you feel better, right? But you gotta make them feel better. You gotta go to them and be of service. I'm sure there's at least one person in that book who needs closure about something, and you're the only one who can give it to 'em."

"Probably a dozen."

"That's cool. Start with one."

Bea glanced at her husband and said, "And I know just the person to start with."

Bucky and Phillip nodded. "Good talk." They and Sam did a high-five handshake and Sam hugged Bea.

"You three know Karli isn't going to quit, right?" Sam said.

Bucky smacked his lips. "Ah. You call us when you have a lead, and Phillip, Bea and I'll be there. Not necessarily as a team."

"Nope."

"We're not that good."

"Definitely not."

"We're professionals."

"Definitely."

"And, uh, we're partners."

"Co-workers."

Bea rolled her eyes. "That's enough, boys."

"But we're also a couple of guys with a couple mutual friends," Phillip said, gesturing to his brother and wife.

"One of which is gone," Sam added. "Slash wife and brother for you."

"So we're a couple of guys."

"I can live with that."

"Perfect," the brothers said.

"Thanks for the help, guys. Meant a lot."

Bea nodded and smiled. "Of course."

"Of course," Bucky and Phillip replied, clapping Sam on the shoulders.

---

"There's only one last thing to do," Sam said.

Let's do it," Sarah replied.

---

Sarah walked up to Sam who was at the boat. "Stop. Don't... We can't sell it. I know, I know the speech, it's not smart, but... I just can't."

"Sarah, I'm so happy to hear you say that," Sam said. "We have to preserve this. If there's one thing I've learned, it's that I can't win every fight. And that's cool, I'm okay with that. But this... This is our history. We can't lose this fight. All our struggles as a people, I used to think, "I'mma show them, I'mma go out and change the world." Yeah, silly, I know, but... When I'd look in your eyes, I could tell you were always thinking that I was running away."

"Sam, listen to me. At no point in my life did I ever think you were running away from anything. Not even when I was lighting your ass up at the bank. Who knew you were so sensitive? God, I missed you so much... There's a fight out there and then there's our fight here. And, bro, you have taken them both on. So you really gonna let Isaiah Bradley get in your head? You gonna let him decide what you do next?"

"Isaiah's been to hell and back. If I were in his shoes, I'd probably feel the exact same way. But what would be the point of all the pain and sacrifice if I wasn't willing to stand up and keep fighting?"

The next day, Sam began practicing throwing the shield. He failed to catch the shield a couple times, but picked it up and continued practicing.

"All day, baby!" Sam cried as he jogged.

"Uncle Sam!" AJ and Cass called, running after their uncle.

"Get him, AJ," Cass said.

Sam stood on the dock, holding the shield. He threw it and caught it when it returned to him.

He practiced flips and catching the shield, successfully doing so each time.

Cass fingered the star on the shield and Sam smiled.

That night, Sam was watching the news.

A female news anchor said, "In New York, where the GRC is voting on the controversial Patch Act, which would move upwards of twenty million refugees back home to their countries of origin. It's coming during these difficult times of international politics."

Sam's phone rang and he answered.

Torres, on the other end, said, "Sorry this took so long. Spare you the technical details, but I finally got results for the scans you asked for, and I think we're onto something." Sam looked at a map with various places lit up. "When we look back, all these pings, they're from places just before the Flag Smashers hit, clearly, they're all over Europe. Earlier today, we got one from New York. Now, I can't promise you they're not using a VPN or masking their location, but..."

"Great work, Joaquin," Sam said. "I'll take it from here."

Sam looked at the briefcase Bucky, Phillip and Bea had brought and opened it. He swallowed, staring at the contents inside.