Hello Sergeant (Bucky Barnes)

Good morning

Sarah's POV

I woke up a couple hours later snuggled between two large, warm, frames. At some time last night, James had joined us in the bed, one arm thrown across me and Steve. I looked around and saw Natasha taking pictures of us with a grin on her face.

"Put your head back down and close your eyes," she ordered. "You moved too quickly for me to get a good picture."

I rolled my eyes at her but did as she said. I waited a bit before opening my eyes again. "Hi. Come to check in on us?"

"Yup. How are you feeling today? You look a lot better."

I did a quick inventory of myself. My soreness was almost gone and my ribs felt a lot better. "I certainly feel a lot better. I think I've had enough excitement for a while. What time is it?"

"6:25."

"So is everything okay with you and Clint? What didn't you tell me yesterday?"

She hesitated before answering."I don't know. He's said he understands how... unstable... James' memory is – especially since his reset a couple weeks ago – but Clint was just far enough behind me when we got to your place that by the time he walked in, James was already kissing me."

"I take it that it wasn't a peck on the cheek, then?"

"It wasn't anything more than what I normally get from him when he hasn't seen me in a while."

I blinked, processing that; there was no way to not take it wrong if you didn't know the circumstances. "Oh – that kind of kiss. I can see why Clint would be upset about it."

"We talked for a while after we got back to our place last night."

"And?" I asked when she didn't say anything.

"He said he needs some time to think about it."

"I suppose my little stunt yesterday probably didn't help matters." I shook my head slowly, considering that. "He was still kinda shook up when I talked to him later. Strike that – really shook up. We kissed, Nat, like when we were in Brazil."

"I'm not surprised, and I certainly don't hold that against him seeing as you almost died yesterday." She gave me a small half smile. "He didn't like seeing you in pain like that - when you were in labor earlier. I know you're close, but it hit him a lot harder than he thought it would. I thought we were going to have to sedate both him and James for a bit there."

I winced. "I'm sorry?"

She shrugged. "You couldn't have known how they'd react, Sarah. I didn't even know they'd react like that." She gave me a self depreciating smile. "Look at me, I broke five of your ribs trying to restart your heart and I know exactly how much force is required to do that. I could have crushed your chest."

"Good thing I'm not the average human, then." I licked my lips and looked over at her. "I know Clint doesn't talk about his feelings much, but he has some pretty strong ones for you, Nat. I've seen how he looks at you." I felt Steve starting to stir, but James was still out cold. I never knew an assassin that could sleep like he did, dead to the world like that.

"I'm not capable of returning them to that extent, Sarah. I don't feel things like you do."

I stared at the redhead. "Bullshit. You just like to pretend you don't because it's easier to push people away so they don't get too close to you. If they get close, then they can hurt you. Clint's not like that, Nat, you know that better than I do."

"He's one of my few good friends. I don't want to lose that."

"Then start by letting him know how important he is to you. If you keep him at arm's length all the time like you have been, eventually he's going to stop trying to stay close to you." She looked away from me and I knew she understood what I meant. There was a distance between them now that hadn't always been there.