The Falcon, the Winter Soldier, and Lady America

Chapter 48: Tough Love

The two went to the boat and saw Sam working on the engine. So Bucky went to help him while Y/N did some lighter work.

"Push the stopper," Bucky told him as held the crowbar in place.

"Oh, in there," Sam clarified, fixed it, then said as Bucky handed the crowbar back to him, "Thanks."

"Yep," Bucky nodded, going to the other side of the engine.

"Hey. Start loosening those bolts," Sam told him, handing him a wrench.

"Got it," Bucky nodded and began working.

Then the guys went to work on the water pump for a while. And when Sarah and Y/N noticed, they went to them.

"Okay, so..." Sam started.

"Excuse me. No!" Sarah said.

"They're in trouble I'm guessing," Y/N said.

"Oh yeah," Sarah answered.

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

"Nope," Bucky said.

"Uh-huh. No. No," Sarah told them.

"You didn't even look," Sam pointed out.

"I didn't have to," Bucky objected.

"Calm down, children," Y/N said jokingly.

"Really, Y/N?" Sam asked.

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

"Yep, Samuel," Bucky said, making Y/N snicker.

"In our defense, we were supposed to be done long before you woke up," Sam replied.

"That turned out well, didn't it?" Y/N laughed lightly.

"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," Sarah remarked.

"Wow," Sam said.

"Bye. Off. Thank you, gentlemen. Appreciate you. I love you, bro," Sarah replied as she shooed them away.

Y/N waved bye to Sarah as she left with the men.

"She's a very mean person," Sam said.

"I've met meaner. And she's cool," Y/N replied.

"And it's tough love," Bucky added.

"No. If you did what I told you to do, we would have been done before any of this took place," Sam said.

"There is no such thing," Bucky remarked.

"There's a prowess that goes into my madness," Sam told them.

"You two are getting into my madness," Y/N told them, to which they chuckled.

They went back to Sarah's place and Y/N watched the kids, who were playing with her shield since she let them, while Bucky and Sam practiced throwing the other shield.

"Feels weird...Picking it up again," Sam said, threw the shield, Bucky caught it, then Sam finished, "The legacy of that shield is complicated, to say the least."

"When Steve told me what he was planning, I don't think we understood what it felt like for a Black man to be handed the shield. How could we? I owe you an apology. I'm sorry," Bucky told him, giving him back the shield.

"Thank you," Sam thanked.

"Whatever happened with Walker, it wasn't your fault. I get it. It's just, that shield's one of the closest things I've got left to a family, so when you retired it, it made me feel like I had almost nothing left. Made me question everything. You, Steve, Y/N, 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," Bucky explained.