Chapter Text
Sarah had a free evening. It came sudden and unexpected, Sam offering to take the boys to the movies to see the new ‘teen hero saves the world’ flick that came out. Now that their uncle was Captain America, it was hero everything. But kids were like that, and Sarah was happy to see Sam getting the attention he deserved. Taking his nephews to the movies? Well, couldn’t hurt Sam to have his ego kept honest.
“You deserve a night to yourself, Sarah,” Sam said pointedly, patting AJ’s shoulders and hurrying Cass to find his shoes. “When was the last time you did something for yourself? Go do something fun. You know Tatianna can get you into some trouble.”
That boy didn’t know what kind of trouble Tatianna could get her into. Or had. After TJ passed, it was two years with a cold bed and no help, with two babies that needed food and new clothes they just grew out of. Tatianna? That was just the kind of friend she was. They knew each other since grade school and what they did under covers was just… comfort, grief. But if she went to Tatianna now, she’d think it was something else… and that was something Sarah wasn’t tryin’ to start.
So she went to the business. The air was sticky and heavy to breathe, another record breaking evening in NOLA, but there wasn’t nothing like the smell of the docks: brine and salt. She threw her leg over the railing, waving to the few folks out fishing and tending their own boats. The sun still had a few hours left. She was grateful no one stopped her tonight to catch up, swap stories and gossip. She’d never fix that leaking sink otherwise. She touched her fingers to her lips and pressed them to her daddy’s photo before heading down, wrench in hand.
Sam came here fussin’ and hollerin’ at her about this damn boat like she didn’t love it the way he did. Like it wasn’t the only place she could cry without her babies watching on. Like it didn’t keep her close to their parents or put food on tables across Delacroix. She loved Sam more than life, but he was as hard headed as she was when he thought somebody needed saving. She knew it was love, that old savior complex he got from their momma and daddy... But he never quite got what it meant for Paul’s daughter to take over a small-time fishery. How many old white men cut her nets over the years or tried to bully her off the same spots her daddy and granddaddy fished? Those men saw a Black woman on that boat and decided to make it the end of an era. Sam saw the house tangled up and selling the boat like it wasn’t cutting out her own heart. Like she just didn’t try hard enough.
She hated that she needed the help, glad as she was to receive it. It had been a long time since anyone showed up for her. It had been longer since she asked.
Sarah ran her fingers over her favorite photo of TJ, the one in those goofy jean shorts he insisted were in style while he smiled, holding AJ in his arms. He was so proud of his boys. They were high school sweethearts, thick as thieves since junior year, but TJ had sickle cell. They always knew the risks. It’s why they put off kids so long, until Sarah begged him to do a little living.
Sarah shook her head out the clouds. Momma would put her ear against my heart and say, ‘Just making sure you still tickin’, girl.’
With a sigh, she tossed the wrench on the table top. No matter what she did, the damn sink would not stop. The heat was making her skin itch and she pulled off her button down top.
“Did you need some help?” a voice behind her said.
Sarah was not one to startle easily or to be caught off guard, but Lord take her soul if she did not scream and throw a punch the moment some damn fool thought he could walk onto her boat unannounced.
Her fist stopped moving instantly, locked in Bucky Barnes’ fingers while a sheepish look flashed across his face. “Hi, Sarah…”
Sarah’s cheeks felt hot as she sucked in air. “Didn’t your momma teach you not to go sneaking up on a woman like that!”
“Sorry, sorry, you’re right,” he said quickly, running a hand through his hair. He backed up to give her space. She hushed her heart. It was just Sam’s… coworker or whatever they were calling themselves now. The newest white boy he brought home, who took up residence on her couch and helped her boys with their homework. Another body fixing this boat. “Can I try again?”
“So you don’t look like a Dateline special? Please, go ahead,” she said, hands on her hips.
“Guessing that ain’t good,” he replied, brow furrowed. She had to remember this pretty fool was from the 1940s… and that was a real thing that could actually happen to people. Bucky pointed at the wrench on the edge of the sink. “Just thought it must’ve been serious if it brought you out here on your big night out. Thought you could use a hand.”
Sarah looked him up and down. She wondered if she was supposed to be more concerned, alone on the docks with a man famous for killing a bunch of people. Only thing he seemed good at killing was Sam’s bad mood and more pancakes than could possibly be good for a man. Didn’t hurt the way she noticed his eyes on her or how she’d playfully whack him with a towel while he helped her with the dishes. What was he doing out on the docks, anyway? “Sam told you?”
She handed him the wrench, watched him slide easily to his knees, that tight shirt he wore sneaking up his back. Sarah folded her arms over her breast and looked away. It was hot enough in here already.
“Hope it wasn’t a secret,” he murmured. She quickly pointed to the one joint she couldn’t get enough leverage to budge. Having a super soldier around wasn’t awful for home and business repair. There was a time she had someone for that… but those days were long over.
When the social worker at Tulane stopped calling, Sarah’s fear that TJ’s care team had disappeared in The Blip came true. The hematologist was gone. Primary care was gone. It was a 35 minute drive to the parish hospital before half the drivers in the world disappeared and crashed cars blocked the roadways for months on end. If pain meds were hard to get before, they were damn near impossible after. Ain’t nobody alive to refill his prescriptions. The way he suffered was something Sarah would never forget a day in her life. But in the end, it was a lung infection that got him. The ambulance couldn’t make it out; just weren’t enough EMTs or intact vehicles left. She had to drive him herself, sweat pouring down his brown cheeks and his body shaking with chill, only to find there was one ER doctor left to staff the whole place.
When The Avengers brought half the world back, they didn’t bring back everyone who died in the aftermath of the vanished. They couldn’t bring Sarah’s husband back, but they brought her Sam. That would have to be enough. Sarah always made do with whatever the world sent her. She could get by with half. She really could.
Bucky’s shifting position broke her thoughts, and he held up a cracked gasket. “Think we found the leak.”
She held out her hand, thought she should say something clever but wasn’t sure why that mattered… why she wanted to have the upper hand. “You learn how to do that in super soldier school?”
He dropped it, standing to his full height, a step too close. Sarah’s heart started skipping. “Odd jobs were kind of my thing, before the, uh, super soldier stuff. Easy way to win over a pretty girl.”
Sarah’s jaw dropped and she disliked how easy he made her smile. It was unnerving. Sarah was supposed to be pleasant but aloof. That’s how she liked it. Friendly, but at a distance. Here this man was making her smile for real. “Sure that wasn’t just ego?”
“Oof,” he said, a mockery of a wounded expression on his face before that charmer grin was back. “She strikes. I’m in trouble now.”
She shook her head, that stupid high school girl laugh comin’ out of her right now was embarrassing, but it had been so long. “Guess you better call Captain America. Heard he likes to rescue little lost white boys.”
“Beautiful and lethal. Finish me, darlin’.” He was leaning on his right arm, shifting his weight forward, head ducked to look up at her dark eyes. His teeth bit into his bottom lip and Sarah was thinking, Sam told me to have fun.
She tried to remember she was playing it cool, her fingertips brushing along his arm. His tongue snuck out over his lip and her stomach flipped like it did that first roller coaster at Jazzland when she was nineteen and stupid and happy.
Don’t ask her how it happened, but she blinked her eyes and suddenly she was kissing him. Who moved first? She couldn’t say. She wanted to think it was him so she had an out when this fizzled into the aftermath, but if she was being honest…
She was painfully, achingly lonely.
Sarah closed her eyes and let her fingers slip into his hair. He opened to her when she nibbled at his bottom lip and his tongue slid over hers, shy and begging her sweetly for more. He was tender in a way she didn’t expect, but once she had a taste, she realized how hungry she had been. She pulled him close and he obliged, his hands on her hips pulling her against him. He bit her lip gently, their teeth clacked as she ran her hands over the back of his head. That metal palm was hard on her lower back, strong. A sigh escaped her and his hands tucked under her thighs, lifting her onto the table top. Her head fell back as he licked down her neck, his hands gently running down her back as he pressed between her thighs.
It felt good. Good in a way Sarah hadn’t felt in years and damn if she didn’t want more. Even as his teeth grazed over her skin, he was oddly… a gentleman. He avoided her breasts, her ass. He was aggressive and shy in a way that made no goddamn sense. When his mouth found hers again, he lost the hesitation, deepening the kiss and she pressed against him, desperate for more.
It had been years since she’d been with a man.
What will the boys think? Sam’s gonna lose it.
And it was over, like that. Just as confused as she was over who started the whole thing, she couldn’t tell who ended it first. He looked just as shocked as she felt. He was panting and so was she. She shifted on the table, feeling her panties slick with want. Not tonight.
What had she done? The boat suddenly seemed too small to breathe; she needed air. Sarah hopped down from the table, straightening her shirt, and pushed past him. “I, uh… gotta get back to the house. Thanks for the help.”
She made her escape and bless him, he did not follow.