Chapter Text

Chapter One

Steve

It was a gloomy day; gray clouds swirled in the sky above him. Steve felt a little gray himself as he walked down the grimy streets of New York City. Once again, he had to push down a deep sense of bitterness as he rounded a corner and the streets became brighter. Yesterday’s scraps weren’t thrown on the pavement. This week’s laundry didn’t hang from lines on this street. No, they were beaten and scrubbed by maids in the back of impressive row houses. He knew this was a bad idea, but his pockets and stomach were empty. 

He rang the bell. He straightened his tie as he waited for someone to answer. A stout fellow snatched the door open. “It’s you,” He greeted. “He’s been waiting on you.” He followed the man through the house. The walls were dressed in hand painted wallpaper, the wood panels dark and polished. There were trinkets and portraits worth more than all of his belongings sitting and hanging about. Finally, they reached a study deep in the house. Astounded, he drew in a breath glancing around at the floor to ceiling shelves stuffed with leather bound books. There were globes and brass implements, and he believed that was a telescope.

“I messaged you a week ago.” Anthony Stark was fiddling with a small gold watch. Stark was always tinkering with something.

“Good Morning, Mr. Stark. I wasn’t sure if I was cut out for the job.”

“You're perfect for the job, that's why I messaged you. Let’s just put all the stuff with my father behind us. I need those fists and the Romanian too.”

“Bucky? You didn’t say anything-”

“I got hired to do a job, and if I pull it off I’m going to get a lot of business from the government. I’m not going to lie, it’s going to be a bitch. We need a crackerjack shot.”

“For what, exactly?”

“I’ve been hired to bring in Snap Wilson and his gang.”

He surprised himself when he chuckled. He grinned at Anthony, and then Happy, Stark’s body man. Laughter bubbled up in his chest, erupted, and bent him over.  Sure, Stark was real smart and had all kinds of contraptions and gadgets, but Snap Wilson was terrorizing the wild west. He robbed banks and trains. He laid siege to towns. He was also a legendary shot. “Do you know why they call him Snap?”

“Because he can kill you before you can snap your fingers. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah. That’s not possible, and we’ve got our own guy.”

“We’ve? I haven’t agreed to this, and Bucky isn’t-”

“He owes $300 to the gambling dens and $150 to the whore houses. I’ll pay all his debts and give him $2,050. I’ll pay you $2,500 and give you a job-”

“I don’t-” He tried to object.

“After this little soiree, you won’t have to deal with me. I hired a new secretary, and I guarantee you’ll be happy to see Pepper every payday.”

“Twenty-five hundred?” He would like to refuse, but the truth was he had no other options and that was a life changing amount of money. He spent the inheritance money from the senior Mr. Stark on the physicians. They took his life savings, and she died anyway. After, no one wanted to hire him because they thought he was contagious staying by her side like he did. She was his mother, for god sakes. Did they expect him to put her out? 

“Five hundred dollars once you board the train with Barnes, and $2,000 once Wilson, The Dame, and Tiny Torres are in cuffs.”

“Me, you, and Bucky are supposed to catch Snap Wilson and The Dame?”

“Happy’s coming too.”

“No offense, Mr. Stark, you’re a businessman, an academic, not a law man. Why’d they hire you?”

“I have a new device I have been wanting to try out. Wilson killed a sheriff, they’re finally motivated to pay my rates. Train leaves tomorrow at eight am.”

“Eight am? So, you’re not serious about Bucky coming?”

“That’s your problem. See you at eight.”

-o0o-

He was furious. He had been tracing around the bars, gambling dens, and gentlemen clubs in Williamsburg all day looking for his best mate. One time he found him at the opium den. Maybe, he should try there. Steve was about to head back up town when a paddy wagon rolled up to a building and barged in. Steve watched like most of the people milling about on the streets. Steve thought he knew where all the hideouts were in this neighborhood. 

“What’s that place, Dugan?” Steve asked, putting down a dime on the baker’s cart for a fresh roll. 

“The Fairy Den,” Dugan whispered.

“In this neighborhood?” Steve asked. Dugan nodded. A line of men was being carried out of the building in varying stages of undress. They were thrown into the back of the wagon. Some wore wigs and rouge. Steve narrowed his eyes as a few men were escorted out and let go. He got a closer look, and their finely tailored suits told Steve all he needed to know. The rest of the men were locked into the back of the wagon while the police ran back into the building looking for more “criminals”. He shook his head and was about to head off, but Dugan grabbed him. 

“What is it?” Steve asked his friend.

There was a crash. Broken glass rained down from a third-floor window. Bucky, in just his knickers and gun holster, scrambled through a window and out on a fire escape. Steve groaned. A portly cop was trying to follow. Bucky hopped off the fire escape to a ladder on the opposite building. The crowd gasped, but Bucky grabbed the metal with ease and hung off the side of the building like a monkey. Everyone could hear the cops thundering down the tenement’s stairs. 

Dugan winked at Jacques Dernier, and the bookseller’s cart got away from him and lodged itself in front of the tenement door. The wheel popped off. Dernier was having real trouble moving the wooden vehicle loaded with his new inventory of books despite the officer’s pounding from the inside. 

Dugan nodded to Jones, the clockmaker. The man coughed, covering his mouth with a fist, and then the paddy wagon driver slumped over in his seat. Juniper, the shoe shine, went to go check on the officer, and somehow the wagon’s horse got loose. A loud pop tore through the noise and chaos. Onlookers scattered. The padlock on the wagon fell to the ground with a clang as Bucky disappeared over the rooftop. 

Steve snickered and walked over to help Juniper see about the fine officer who appears to have been darted. Steve watched Juniper pluck the dart from the officer’s neck and slip it in his pocket. Steve tripped on a cobblestone. He grabbed the wagon to steady himself. He rocked the vehicle in the process and the back door eased open. Men scurried out of the back of the wagon in a blur of color and perfume. They disappeared down the alleys and into the crowds of Brooklyn.

-o0o-

For once Steve found Bucky in the small room he rented, having secured proper clothing. His place was in disarray much like the man in front of him. Before the war, Bucky was neat and tidy. He had always liked the fast life, but after the war he threw himself into it. His ma died while he was on a drunken binder, and he went further into the void. Bucky wanted to be a literature professor once upon a time. Mr. Stark had actually talked to some of his university friends about Bucky at Steve’s request, and then the war came.

“To what do I owe this pleasure?” Bucky said, drinking what smelled like coffee. He offered some browned water to Steve, but he declined.

“You taking up with fellas that wear dresses now?” Steve sat in one of the chairs Bucky had built out of scrap. It was sturdy, comfortable, and so ugly it was beautiful.

“Yes, and why is that any of your business?”

“I guess it isn’t,” Steve admitted. Bucky nodded. “We were offered a job.”

“I don’t kill for money anymore,” Bucky said before Steve could explain.

“No killing, just arresting.”

“What part of this morning-” Bucky began.

“It was 2pm,” Steve pointed out.

“Makes you think I want to be a copper?”

“It’s more like a marshal or private detective.”

“Marshal?” Bucky stopped crunching on his toast. It was dry and in desperate need of some butter or jam. Steve could see from the bare cabinets Bucky had neither. He did have stacks of books lined up against the walls and several piles of newspapers and penny comics. The man rather read than eat. “You got us tickets out west?”

“They’re willing to pay all your debts and give you $2,000.”

Bucky laughed. “Do you know how much-”

“$500,” Steve said.

“Who the hell-” Bucky paused and sighed, “Anthony Stark. For a guy you hate, you sure do end up in the same place a lot.  What’s he want us to do guard one of his contraptions?”

“He wants us to-” Steve hesitated. It was batshit crazy. Bucky was walking chaos, but he wasn’t crazy. 

Bucky stared up at him through his unkempt hair. “That bad, huh.”

“He wants us to arrest Snap Wilson and The Dame.”

“Snap Wilson? The greatest shot west of the Mississippi, Snap Wilson?”

“Yes,” Steve fretted.

“When do we leave?” Bucky grinned.  

Bucky 

He kissed the man one last time and rolled off of him. He popped up out of the bed and went over to the wash basin. He washed up looking in the mirror. He took out his knife and trimmed his beard a bit so it didn’t look so ragged. He even lopped off the ragged ends of his hair, not too much though. He had a reputation to maintain.

“You seem happy,” Pinky said.

“Really? I guess I’m looking forward to heading out west.” Bucky inspected his profile, and then slid into his shirt, buttoning it up.

“How long will you be gone?”

“I don’t know,” Bucky said, pulling on his trousers. “Until we catch him.”

“That may take a while-” Pinky trailed off. 

Bucky leaned over and kissed the man again. “Hey Doll, you know you're my best girl, but I told you not to get sweet on me.”

“That’s easy for you to say,” Pinky huffed. Bucky grimaced. Pinky kissed him again.  “You want me to make you breakfast?”

“Stark is loaded. I’m sure he has a spread on the train,” Bucky said, getting off the bed and grabbing the case with his guns. He stuck the rucksack over his shoulder as well. “I’ll be seeing ya.”

“I hope so,” Pinky smiled from the bed.

Bucky opened the door. Rumlow and his goons were on the other side. “For Heaven’s Sake,” Bucky sighed. I just did this yesterday. He swung his case at Rumlow’s head. The man ducked, but Bucky caught one of his sidekicks in the noggin. Bucky closed the door, blocked it with the dresser and went over to wrench open the window. “Be a doll and throw my stuff down. Guns first.” 

Pinky nodded and climbed out of the bed, his feathered lingerie floating around him. Bucky climbed on the fire escape. There were two bozos waiting on the ground for him.  Bucky dropped the brick Pinky used for a doorstop on one guy’s head. He collapsed in a heap. Pinky threw one of his daggers just as the other goon grabbed for his gun. He ended up grabbing his gushing neck instead. Bucky dropped off the fire escape railing and quickly grabbed onto the balcony three floors below. He yelped, his arm being yanked as he snatched the metal. He swung and dropped safely on the ground in a crouch. 

“Here, Darling,” Pinky yelled as he dropped the case. Bucky scrambled forward with a cart of potatoes to break its fall. “I love you!” Pinky yelled as his small bag of clothes came next.

“You’re the best, Doll,” Bucky yelled back. Pinky was pulled back through the window. There was a giant racket. “Pinky?” Bucky yelled.  Bucky smirked when a man flew through the window with a dagger in his eye. The door on the bottom floor of the building burst open. “Oh shit,” Bucky said, taking off towards the train station.

The merchants were out setting up and that’s about it. Bucky could really use a crowd to shake Rumlow and the two men chasing him. He turned over barrels as he ran. He bounced off the side of businesses and swung around lamp posts, but they still came. He threw his rucksack at one of his pursuers’ heads, and the nitwit panicked and got run over by a cart. Too bad it wasn’t that prick Rumlow. 

So, he owed Pierce a few bucks? That was no reason to let his dog off the leash. If Bucky didn’t have a train to catch, he might consider taking the man out. He knew he promised Becca, but filth like that, men like Rumlow just added to people’s misery in an already shit world. 

Bucky was worried because Rumlow had disappeared while this one last guy chased him. Bucky could take care of the guy easily with the help of his Eloise, but there were kids out here selling papers and a few on their way to school or work. Bucky smiled when he saw the train station up ahead. He could see Steve pacing at the gate.  Bucky sped up, but a shadow came over him, and he was tackled to the ground. 

Rumlow straddled him, his meaty hands around his neck. Bucky beat into the man’s arm, but Rumlow hated him too much to let go. How was Bucky supposed to know she was his wife? She certainly didn’t tell him. Bucky was about to lose consciousness when Rumlow was ripped off of him. 

Bucky coughed for air as he watched Rumlow and Steve circle one another. “Well if it isn’t his babysitter? How long are you going to wipe his ass?” 

“You should be worried about who's going to wipe yours,” Steve said, rushing the man. Rumlow threw a punch. Steve dodged it and grabbed Rumlow’s head. He brought it down to his knee. The thug stumbled back. Steve's eyes got wide. That usually knocked most people out. Steve glanced down at Bucky. Bucky shrugged. Steve threw an uppercut. It connected with Rumlow’s jaw, and the man flew back into a pile of hay. Steve exhaled.

“I had it in hand,” Bucky grumbled, getting up off the ground.

“You were about to die.”

“No, he was,” Bucky said, producing a knife. “I was trying to find another way.”

“Bucky, you could have stabbed him in a number of places that weren’t lethal to get him off of you. You have to stop-”

“It’s 8:00am.” Bucky interrupted, strolling through the gates of the train station. Steve was looking for the number Happy had given them. Bucky tipped his hat to a few ladies. They finally spotted Happy on a deserted platform.

“Holy fuck, I thought you guys weren’t coming,” Happy said, climbing aboard the train.

“Is he even here yet?” Bucky asked.

“Uhh-” Happy hedged.

Bucky rolled his eyes and looked at Steve. Happy led them through the cars. There was no ticket taker. From what Bucky could see all the cars were empty. Happy pointed out where they would be sleeping. They each had private cabins. Stark’s assistant was very vague about the giant crates in one car, and then led them into the dining car. As expected it was loaded with food. Unexpectedly, Happy handed them money. Bucky looked at his stack compared to Steve’s.

“Why is his stack bigger than mine?” Bucky growled, reaching over and flipping through Steve’s bundle.

“Because I didn’t have to bribe a police chief, prosecutor, and judge to drop various charges against you before we left the state. Be glad you got a hundred dollars,” Stark said, boarding the train.

“Are we the only passengers on this train?” Steve asked.

“I like quiet when I travel,” Stark said, sitting to eat.

“If it’s only us, why does the train have so many cars?” Steve asked again.

“Camouflage,” Bucky said, opening a hot roll and stuffing ham in it. He scarfed it down before he could taste it. He moaned when a porter poured the coffee. He grabbed a plate and started piling it high with food. Steve grabbed a plate also, but only got a few scoops of food. Bucky guessed if he wasn’t starving he wouldn’t eat a thing. 

Stark ignored them while porters and maids fluttered around him. He was too busy rifling through a briefcase. Happy smiled and thanked everyone, tipping them for their service. Steve immediately pulled out his bundle of cash and tried to do the same. Bucky grumbled thanks around a sausage and added to Steve’s tip. Stark snatched it off the table and handed it back to Steve. “I got it, Big Spender,” Stark said, nodding to Happy to give the servers more money. Bucky immediately took his money back. He was happy to let Stark foot the bill. Steve was pissed. The millionaire pulled out a bunch of papers and pushed them towards Bucky and Steve as they sat. 

“What’s this?” Bucky said, moving the papers out the way, so he could eat. Bucky noticed one of the maids peeking through a car door. Bucky winked at her. She disappeared. 

“It’s what we know about Wilson,” Stark informed them.

“Son of a preacher and freeman. Wilson fought in the war. Came home and his father’s church had been burned down because of his defiance. Now he is raising hell across Oklahoma to catch the bastards.”

“I see you’re reading the papers. Do you want an autograph or do you want to catch him?”

“Neither, I want to fight him.” Bucky smiled.

“Bucky?” Steve groaned. 

“No, I can work with that,” Stark said.

Chapter Text

Joaquin

He looked at the position of the sun in the sky. He needed to go, but Redwing never let him or Sam down before. He searched the skies and there was no sign of him. Joaquin rose, knocking the dust off his pants and a caw sounded out. His winged friend came streaking towards him. Joaquin put his arm and fingers out and the falcon grabbed on. “Hey big guy. How was your trip?”

The bird answered with a squawk. Joaquin fed the bird a mouse he saved for him, and then took the little tube off his feet. He read the note inside with dread. It was high noon. He had to go. He moved down the hill as fast as he could, almost taking a tumble. He jumped on his horse's back and sped towards town.  RedWing flew beside him.

“No big guy. You go home,” Joaquin said. The bird clicked at him, but turned heading South. He could hear the bullets pinging, and he wasn’t even in town yet. There was some cursing and screaming, but mostly only from the dirt bag mayor who was squeezing everyone in Green Ridge for money. “Kawa, left,” Joaquin said to his horse, letting go of the reins. He flipped, rolling to a stop. Kawa kept going. He ran, creeping into the town. He ducked when he heard the steady staccato of bullets firing. 

Mayor William Thanos had gotten his hands on a fancy gun from across the ocean. Too bad he didn’t have anyone smart enough on his team to optimally use it. From what Joaquin could see, everyone was pinned down dodging the big gun. It’s operator was firing all over the place, tearing up the town and wasting bullets. Joaquin listened to the rhythm of the gun. He counted down when the man reloaded. Two more shots, and he would need to reload again. If he knew that, Sam and Peg knew that. He heard it when Sam cocked his gun. One shot blasted through the air. Joaquin watched the bullet bounce off a sign, sparks raining down.

“You must be getting old, Wilson!” Thanos shouted with a laugh. “You need some specks, old man!” A second later the gunmen plummeted off the bank roof, a bullet through his head. All hell broke loose. Jimmy and M’Baku appeared on the street and started gunning down Thanos’s men. Joaquin kissed his pistols and joined the fray. 

“Ya!” Peggy shouted, and her horse and wagon barreled down the road carrying Monica and Sam. Sam was picking people off from the back of the wagon. Monica was fiddling with chords.  A couple of men ran towards Peggy, but she kicked one and shot the other. She unleashed her horse from the carriage. Sam jumped and rolled right in front of a frantic Thanos. He had both his pistols trained on the man. Monica giggled like a school girl as she lit a fuse and abandoned the cart heading straight for the back of the bank. 

“You will not-” Thanos began, but Sam’s bullet finished him. The cart exploded, taking the back wall of the bank and vault with it. Once the smoke cleared, M’Baku and Jimmy ducked inside and pulled out four bags of the former mayor’s money. Thanos had looted and swindled his way across Oklahoma.

“Our fee,” Sam said to the villagers who had been hiding. They were slowly coming out of the buildings or standing after crouching under wagons and carts.

“We can’t thank you enough,” Claire said to Sam and his posse. 

Claire was the local school teacher and nurse. Her father started this town and was the mayor, but when he died Thanos showed up saying they needed protection. Of course, they did after he shot their sheriff. He started “taxing” them for his protection. He let his old posse do whatever they wanted in this town. The townspeople were desperate and no one in the neighboring settlements would help them. Claire was glad she listened to the old Odawa trader who had heard of their troubles and said she could trust Snap Wilson and his posse.

“I wouldn’t mind visiting to check on you from time to time,” M’Baku smiled. “Make sure everything is okay.”

Sam shook his head, looking back at the man. Joaquin wasn’t surprised at all Claire looked amenable to the idea. “Protect one another instead of listening to con man,” Sam said, whistling. Figaro came around the corner as did all the other horses when they were called. 

Joaquin climbed on Kawa. He tipped his hat to a little girl waving on their way out of town. Joaquin saw a flash. It was the sunlight gleaming off of William Thanos’s spurs. “You killed another man in cold blood. A mayor this time.”

“I killed another member of the most dangerous posse in Oklahoma. He helped burn my daddy’s church. You heard what Karli said he and The Preacher did to her parents.”

“You know they not going to see it like that. You used to be a law man,” Joaquin said.

“I’m still a law man. I’m operating under what’s right and what’s wrong” 

“That’s usually when things go to hell. When one man gets to decide what’s right and wrong,” Peggy said.

“Y’all want to cry for Thanos?” Sam asked.

“Hell, I would have carved out his heart, myself, and five years ago, you would have put me in jail for it. I got a message from my cousin. Howard Stark’s son is coming to kill you.”

“I remember reading about Anthony Stark during the war. That wasn’t his style.”

“Is it the Winter Soldier’s? Cause he’s coming too.”

Sam

Home sweet home, Sam thought. Looking at the unkempt fields outside the dilapidated ranch. Another ghost left by the lawless men across the wild west. He imagined Rhodey’s ranch would be beautiful if he ever got the chance to fix it up right again. It’s what Sam was fighting for: Rhodey’s ranch, Karli’s dream of being a teacher, Elijah’s bank, Riri and Peter’s education, and justice for everyone else. Nah , Sam thought. He’d have a little revenge for himself.

He hadn’t sat in his chair and got his boots off good before he was surrounded by excited teenagers. Elijah wanted to know how it went. Karli was pissed off because she was a woman now and should be allowed to come. Riri and Peter were arguing over if they should put the gun back together or study it’s components first. Sam pulled out his gun, the peacemaker, and they all scattered. Too bad The Deac wasn’t scared of guns or much of anything.

The old man walked into the room and the floor shook. He pulled up a stool with a scrape and handed Sam a metal cup. Sam could smell Monica’s Rainbow Juice from here. That girl loved messing with chemicals and things that went boom. He didn’t think they should be drinking them. He grabbed the cup from the old man and shot it back. 

“Tiny says they hired a gun to kill you. Says he’s good, might be the best,” Isaiah said.

“We’ll see when he gets here. Besides, look what they say about me in the papers,” Sam returned.

“Yeah, but they get a lot of it right.”

“Snap Wilson?” Sam laughed. “Besides, we knew it was coming eventually.” He closed his eyes and sunk into his father’s chair. He needed to move up his time table. He needed to find them someplace safe. He needed- Sam, Stop Panicking. That’s how you make mistakes. Take one issue at a time. Focus on moving forward. “We got Thanos today,” Sam said, grasping for the good.

“God, I wish I could be out there with you.” Isaiah rasped. He coughed a little looking down into his cup.

“You are, every time I pick up my gun. Daddy too.”

“I know you don’t think it, but he was proud of you.”

“You right. I don’t think it,” Sam said, going into his bedroom to wash the blood off his face and hands.

Sam’s father was born a slave, but was freed when the plantation owner almost died of tuberculosis and became an abolitionist after his brush with death. Paul made his way up north, no stranger to working hard to survive. He always loved the hymnals in church and decided he wanted to learn to read, so he could read the bible that inspired them. He met a school teacher in New York who helped him and two years later he married her. 

He grew tired of the city life and longed for a slower pace. He packed up his wife and his newborn son and headed west. He eventually became a preacher and had a sizable congregation. There were talks of a war brewing. Paul knew how cruel the white man’s lash could be and mostly kept out of it, but his son was born a freeman and had been educated by his very smart mama. He read Thomas Paine and Benjamin Franklin and their treatises on freedom. He read notes from the Women’s Rights Convention in Ohio.

Sam didn’t understand why his father, a leader in their community, wasn’t speaking out more like Frederick Douglas. When the war came Sam signed up to fight for the north, and a few people didn’t take too kindly to that in Oklahoma. When the war was done and the slaves ordered free, white folks were real upset. By then Sam was a US Marshal out in Arizona. 

One night they broke into Paul’s church, burned it to the ground, and almost beat Paul and two of his deacons to death. The only reason Paul lived was he was smart enough to play dead before they slipped a noose around his neck and dragged him out into the night. Isaiah Bradley was one of those Deacons, but before that he was one of the best shots in the west. He taught Sam everything he knew to Paul’s disappointment. 

When Sam tried to help his father rebuild the church, Paul said he was too old. Darlene, Sam’s mother, had died a few years earlier from the flu. Sarah, Sam’s sister, had got married and moved to Chicago. Paul said he wanted to live out his life in peace. He died a year later. Sam was forever changed the day he buried his father in the dirt where his church once stood. 

Peggy

“Eight down, three to go,” Peggy said, marking a line through Thanos' name on their hit list.

“Say, Peg, where’s your bad guy?” Jimmy asked, eating scrambled eggs and beans.

“Hell,” Peggy said. Joaquin got up and grabbed the chalk from Peggy and added a new name to the list. Everyone quieted in the room, watching.

“Who’s the Winter Soldier?” Karli asked.

“Bloody hell, is he here?” Peggy asked.

“My sources say he’s on his way,” Joaquin said, sitting back in his chair to finish his meal.

Peggy swallowed. Just when things were going their way. This life really never stopped, did it? 

“Who’s the Winter Soldier?” Karli asked again.

“The scariest motherfucker fighting in the war,” Bak said.

“He’s a ghost story they told soldiers to keep them entertained,” Sam said, coming in and grabbing a plate. He scooped beans and a fried egg on his dish. He snatched the biscuit M’Baku had in his hand and sat.

“They said he can kill a man from ten miles away,” Bak continued, grabbing another biscuit.

“That’s not possible,” Riri and Peter said at the same time.

“See. Our resident geniuses say it’s impossible,” Sam said.

“They're just kids that haven’t seen the real world. They do math all day.”

“When you shoot your gun it’s math,” Riri said.

“The money you steal, math,” Peter said.

“When we redesign your weapons to make them faster, that’s science and say it with me,” Riri directed.

“Math,” Everyone, but Bak said.

Peggy smirked. If it’s the last thing she did. She would make sure Peter, Riri, and Karli went to college. She had a friend who worked at Cambridge, a cousin at Columbia, and an old suitor at Harvard. Sam had been corresponding with an old army buddy who had ties to both Howard and Hampton College. They already had enough for Elijah’s bank, but they had some unfinished business to handle first- justice.

Peter’s parents were killed in a robbery on their way to California. He was starving to death when Peggy, Monica, and Jimmy found him in the overturned wagon. Karli’s parents were killed because a Jewish man dared to love a Negro woman. They thought they would be safe in the wilderness, and for a little while they were safe and happy. Riri’s parents died from sickness, but no one wanted an orphan. Which is ridiculous because she’s brilliant. She looked around the room. They were a hodgepodge of orphans, outlaws, and criminals, and Sam Wilson took them all in.

Like Peter’s parents, Peggy wanted to try her fortune in California. She was tired of polite English society and being a secondhand citizen. Peggy always thought of herself as a smart woman, but she fell for the fairy tales Americans were spinning about the west and freedom. She had a considerable fortune from her inheritance; she had even more with her cousin Sharon’s inheritance. They decided to take a grand adventure together, and if it didn’t work, Peggy could always go home and accept Harold’s proposal. 

They spent a month in New York, a week in Chicago, and then they were off. How foolish they had been. She survived the ambush because her father took her on fox hunts as a girl. Her cousin Percy taught her a few of his boxing moves. She survived the wilderness by sheer dumb luck. She survived the fur trader because the infamous Snap Wilson came to kill the man that had locked her in a cage. He freed her before he left. It took her three weeks to find him again. A month to convince him to let her join his posse. Another month to track down and kill her betrayer. And now she had a giant family, where she used to be an only child. She would kill for her family. If this Winter Soldier wanted Sam Wilson, they were going to have to go through her, and she would wager ten other people. 

“We need more information. Me and Jimmy can ride over to the saloon,” Peggy declared.

Isaiah put a yellowed sun burnt piece of paper in front of her. Peggy smirked down at the caricature of herself. Her hair was wild and loose. Her breasts were four times their actual size. Her eyes were large and unfocused like some lunatic. Of course, she was mad; she was a woman with a gun!

THE GRAND DAME

WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE

$500

“Oh fun, they went up $100 dollars. What’s your bounty, Sam? $2,000?” Peggy said, balling the paper up and brushing it on the floor. Isaiah glared at her. She scowled back, and then chortled when the old man turned, grumbling. He was a gentleman and a sweet old man that believed women shouldn’t have to fire a gun or break a nail for that matter. He spoiled all the women and young ladies here and was determined to make real men out of all the boys. Karli and Isaiah argued almost as much as they loved one another.

“He has a point,” Sam said.

“Screw you,” Peggy exclaimed. Karli and Riri giggled. Monica smirked. “I know how to stay out of sight. Jimmy, will be there to back me up.”

“I wanna go,” Karli said.

“No,” Peggy said. Karli had a temper.

“Yes,” Sam said. “She’s a young woman now and who better to teach her than you?” Sam said, leaving the room. 

Peggy got up and followed him. “What’s this bollocks?”

“What’s what?”

“A week ago, we agreed she was going to school.”

“She doesn’t want to go to school because her heroes are gunslingers. Maybe, if she sees what it’s really like,” Sam said.

“We can pack up. We can all go-”

“Go where, Peg? Stark is from New York. They know you in Chicago. Where else can we all live under one roof except out here?”

“You sound like you're giving up.”

“I have a date with the devil. I need to make sure you got this if-”

“He’s just a man.”

“It’s going to be him or someone else. I need to know you guys are going to be alright. Joaquin is ready. Karli’s faster than me, and with Riri and Peter’s adjustments she could be even faster. We need to trust her.”

“I’m going to the saloon to find out all I can. I will take her, but she is going to college next year.”

Chapter Text

Bucky

Bucky startled awake when he heard a tap on his door. It took him several minutes to figure out where he was. When it finally clicked, he had a hankering for that amazing coffee they served on the train. There was another tap. Bucky went to open the door, but realized the train had stopped. He looked outside the windows, went over to his case and grabbed his guns. He yanked open the compartment door prepared to shoot, but it was Steve.

“Why has the train stopped?” Bucky asked, walking into the hall, looking both ways.

“The porter said something about rocks,” Steve yawned.

“Rocks? Are you kidding me? This is flat land. It’s an ambush,” Bucky said, running into the next cart. “Get ready.”

They ran through the empty car. Bucky heard voices in the next one over. He signaled Steve to get down as he peeked through the door. A goon had grabbed a maid and was trying to slobber all over her. Bucky pointed to Steve and made a fist.  Bucky slung the door open. Steve bounded into the car, took in the scene, and snapped the guy’s neck. The woman was about to scream, but Steve covered her mouth. She had tears in her eyes. “We’re with Mr. Stark, we’re not going to hurt you.”

She calmed down and nodded. “Find someplace to hide,” Bucky whispered, moving to the next door. They rushed through another empty car and hit the deck when they saw movement in the next car over. Bucky counted to three before he burst into the next car and pistol whipped a guy while Steve knocked out two. “Tie them up,” he said to the porters and maids that had been held hostage in the room.  

The next car was empty as well, but they could see the guys were tearing through the car with Stark’s stash. Half of it was missing. Bucky looked to Steve. Bucky didn’t care about Stark’s possessions, but he wanted to be paid and to get the train started. Steve clearly felt the same way. Bucky could also tell Steve was worried about Stark. They were godbrothers even if they didn’t claim one another. They needed to get rid of these guys to find Stark. There went their element of surprise. 

Bucky shot the nearest man from his position inside the car door. Next, he killed an idiot on the ground who ran towards him with his gun out. By that time, he had to duck from the return fire. If it took these yahoos a minute to get their guns out in Oklahoma, he was going to run this place. 

A bullet lodged itself in the wood paneling above his head. It was close, but not as close as his return fire that shot the gunman’s nose off. Bucky fired a second shot at his heart because he was turning over a new leaf. Also, he couldn’t stand all that screaming. 

He doesn’t remember much after that. Sometimes, he went into what he called the quiet space. There was only him, Eloise and Sadie, dancing and talking to one another. When he came back to himself he had killed twelve men, and Happy was crouching behind him with a shotgun. He looked at Steve who always looked a little worried after seeing Bucky in a gunfight. Bucky put away Sadie, so Steve would stop looking at him like that. It worked. Apparently, one-gun Bucky was okay, two-gun Bucky was the devil incarnate.

“Where’s Mr. Stark?” Steve asked Happy, watching a few men scramble for their horses and take off in the night. Their wagon was half-full, but at least they were alive.

“He’s not in his room,” Happy said.

“Okay,” Bucky said as he moved into the next car. Steve moved to the window as Bucky made sure all the men were dead. 

“Buck,” Steve said. His voice was frosty. Bucky got up and moved to the window. Some asshole had a gun to Stark’s Head. The gunman was clearly afraid, but Stark looked calm. No , Bucky thought. He looked fucking pissed.

“Tell him to give me the plans, or I will paint his brains all over this fine train!” the man demanded. He was sweating, face red. He was also filthy. His face smeared with dirt. Bucky could smell the cheap liquor and piss from here.

“Sir-” Happy pleaded with his boss. Bucky could see Happy was a loyal man. He was worried for his employer.

“I’m not giving him shit,” Stark said with more fire than Bucky had seen from him. He kind of liked Stark. He smirked at the man’s rebelliousness. “You have no idea what you're dealing with. You idiots are going to blow up half of Oklahoma.”

“Fine, I’ll just have to take you-”

The man didn’t get to finish that statement. Turns out Eloise was in the painting mood herself. “Ooh, is that coffee?” Bucky said, stepping over the corpse he just fell to get to the buffet.

“Yeah,” Stark said, trying not to throw up while flicking brain fragments off his robe.

“Me and the porters will get the rocks off the track and get the train started,” Happy said.

“I’ll help,” Steve added. Happy and Steve halted when they turned and a bandit was holding a gun on them. Bucky whipped his hand in an arc and fired a bullet. It curved around Steve and Happy and dropped the man where he stood.

“I think I should be allowed to keep all their weapons. This is a lot of killing I’m having to do.” Bucky ate another roll even though it was cold. From what he could see Stark had been up working on some kind of sketches.

“They’re yours,” Stark gulped, staring at the man.

“Buck, what do you need all these guns for?” Steve asked, helping Happy throw bodies from the dining car.

“Snap Wilson’s posse?” Bucky returned. He could see the maids and porters were starting to come out and clean up as well.

“Actually, the mission has changed,” Stark said from the door, surveying his cargo car.

“What do you mean?” Steve asked.

“The only reason I’m on this train is to fight Snap Wilson,” Bucky proclaimed.

“I get that, but Snap Wilson isn’t the most dangerous man in Oklahoma anymore, it's whoever just rode off with my prototype. We need to get it back, and then Wilson.”

“Stark, do you even know where we are and who those people were?” Bucky said.

“We’re in Oklahoma.”

“And?” Bucky prompted.

Stark sat in one of the dining chairs, looking tired. He was probably coming down from an adrenaline high.  He glared down at the blood on the mahogany floors. “It’s my life’s work and can hurt a lot of innocent people.”

“Mm,” Steve uttered. He and a few maids were turning chairs back over. Removing ones ruined by bodily fluids. Bucky sipped his coffee and picked up the chair nearest to him. 

“And what does that mean?” Stark asked, turning to Steve. His fight had returned.

“Nothing,” Steve said like it was something.

“Oh, come on, Golden Boy. I’m sure you have something to say,” Stark needled. 

“You have been given everything, had access to the best schools and tutors, travelled extensively, and your life’s work is a weapon?” Steve indicted.

“You know that’s what your precious godfather did, right? When he wasn’t taking you to the circus while I was in boarding school and writing letters of recommendation for your schooling when he grudgingly helped me, he was building weapons. That’s why we’re so rich. That’s what paid for your inheritance. Even your buddy knows this. He’s carrying Stark pistols right now.”

If looks could kill, Stark would be dead. Steve left the car before they had to clean pieces of Stark off the train. Those bandits better be glad they didn’t attack right now. Being killed by a bullet is a fast death, a kind one. Having your head ripped from your shoulders might take a while longer and hurt like a bitch.

Bucky smirked when the horn sounded on the train. Happy and the porters worked fast. They all climbed back aboard. Bucky nodded when Happy set a few shotguns on the table Bucky was sitting at. He saw that the bandits left a lot of stuff trying to get away. The porters brought saddle bags and harnesses on the train. “You keep what you find, except the guns,” Happy shouted. 

They freed the abandoned horses. They were meant to be wild anyway. Any gun they found they put it on Bucky’s table. The maid who had been accosted came up with a pistol. Bucky heard someone call her Delphine. “You keep that, Sweetheart,” Bucky said, jumping up. He showed her how to hold it and put a bullet in the firing pen. He gave her five bullets. “My ma was the best shot in my family. She taught me everything I know.” 

Delphine smiled and loaded the gun like Bucky showed her. “Thank you,” she said. 

“Thank you for taking care of me and all of my guests,” Anthony muttered from across the room. “I know they're annoying.” He reached into his robe and pulled out a wad of bills. Bucky shook his head. These train robbers were idiots. Stark pulled three bills off the top and handed it to Delphine. She smirked and went back to her duties. Stark looked like someone had kicked his dog.

“Stark, we have no idea who stole your loot. We need to find Snap, capture him, and then I’m sure some locals will be grateful and maybe they will know something about the robbery, and if not, we can see what Snap knows.”

“It’s worth a try, Sir.” Happy agreed, trying to scrub blood out of the carpet runner. A maid came with hot soapy water to help.

“Fine. We’re headed to Carolina City. There’s a saloon there that both marshals and outlaws frequent. It’s neutral territory. Paul Wilson’s church was about 45 miles away.”

Bucky didn’t know why that name felt right. Like Carolina City was his destiny. He had been reading about Snap Wilson for two years now. He would scrape up whatever money he had when Wilson’s name was on the cover of a paper. He felt like he was being pulled towards him. Like all his years in the war and after were just build up to the showdown waiting to happen. 

Personally, he didn’t want to kill Wilson or capture him for that matter. He really just wanted to see if he was as fast as they said he was. There’s no way to tell unless- he had gone off the deep end after his mom passed, so he knew what grief could do to a man, but if he was hurting innocent people, if he was anything like these thugs tonight, Bucky would have no qualms putting a bullet between his eyes. And there was the matter of that $2,000 owed to him and maybe a fourth of the reward money. Maybe he'd stay out here, build a house, become a school teacher, or maybe Snap would drop him where he stood.

Stark

Carolina City was more like Carolina Street or Carolina Block. He hated to be exactly who Steve thought he was, but his summer house had more land than this so-called town. Everything was dusty. At least, it was a change from the endless sea of green grass outside their windows on the train. He had sweat pouring down his back.  The coach carrying them smelt like some animal died in it, and the seats hardly had any cushion. Stark, you're throwing a tantrum. You're upset you lost your prototype and now you are worried it can fall into the wrong hands.  He didn’t know what to do but to go with Barnes’s plan. Barnes was smart, self-destructive but smart.  

The carriage came to a stop in front of a building. Bucky hopped down from the top of the vehicle while Happy opened the door. Steve climbed out. Stark sighed. He went too far with the big lug. Steve hadn’t spoken to him since last night. Steve was a good kid that turned into a good man. 

As an adult Stark understood why his father took time with him. Steve’s father was their driver and died fairly young, leaving a widow and a small son. The neighborhood Steve was from, Bucky was from, was pretty bad. Stark’s father respected Joseph Rogers and felt like he should look after Steve. He took him as his godson. Steve didn’t have much, but it felt like he had everything to a twelve-year-old Stark who wanted his father’s attention more than anything.

Stark got out and looked around. A few houses, a church, a butcher, general store, Sheriff’s Office, and the saloon. This is what they called a city in Oklahoma? He climbed the stairs of the saloon porch with Barnes and Steve in front of him and Happy at his back. Walking into the dark space was a balm to his feverish skin. It was at least 15 degrees cooler inside the building. Stark was surprised by the fans turning in the ceiling. He didn’t see any belts or rotors. He was positive they didn’t have the water to spare. The nearest river was miles away according to the maps he had been pouring over. That meant they were mechanical. Someone here knew basic mechanics fairly well. He would love to get up into the ceiling to see the mechanisms and power sources they were using. 

The saloon was pretty full for it to be the middle of the day. Then again what else was there to be doing in this rinky dink town? Stark snorted as Bucky immediately went over to the bar. Happy went over as well as Stark sat at one of the empty tables near the door. Steve smiled at the people in the room who were gawking and sat as well. Stark narrowed his eyes at the young girl collecting glasses. Not the best place for a young lady, but everyone seemed to leave her alone.

Despite the heat. The men all had on long sleeves, leather, and hats even in the building. The women, god bless them, had on layers of cloth, well at least the ladies on the first floor. There were some lookers upstairs advertising their lovely goods. Some handsome fellas too. Stark was less concerned with the looky loos. He scanned the room for someone who didn’t want to be seen. That certainly wasn’t the Asian man playing cards at the back of the room. He was rubbing his winnings in his mates faces.

Happy came back with three glasses. Stark drank a shot and frowned into the glass. He got up and walked to the bar. “Listen, Friend. I’ve had a really hard day and would really appreciate it if you served us real alcohol instead of this swill.”

“You got money for real alcohol?” The man asked. 

Stark smirked. He knows they were in the sticks, but they surely got papers out here. He was on the cover of the Chicago Times three times last year. The man blinked at him unimpressed.  “Do you kno-” Stark began.

Bucky put his hand on Stark’s shoulder. “Forgive my friend here,” Bucky smiled. “We’re just riding through to California. My friend the lawyer is a bit hoity toity, but he’s good for the money until we get ready to board the train tomorrow,” Bucky said, slipping a bill in the Bartender’s hand. The man nodded and took down a real bottle of whiskey. “Say, you wouldn’t have any rooms to rent. Our train is stuck on the track.”

“We got three rooms left. Two of yous will have to share.”

Bucky and Stark looked at one another, and then up at the beautiful redhead smiling down from the balcony. “Steve and Happy can share,” Stark said. Bucky and Stark toasted one another. “This is a nice place. I noticed your fans. I don’t see a rotor. Who owns the place?” Stark asked, looking around. Sure, there was dust on everything, but the craftsmanship on the furniture was beautiful. The architecture wasn’t to his taste, but solid. Although, the clientele left a lot to be desired.

“I do,” the bartender said. Bucky had to nudge Stark, so he could close his mouth. He was surprised. Sure, there were Negro businessman in New York, but- The bartender's face went from amused to annoyed. “And unfortunately, looking at my ledger, my last three rooms were booked up this morning. My mistake.”

Stark sighed. Bucky narrowed his eyes at him in warning. He mouthed ‘apologize’. Stark was about to speak when a bell rang above the bar. The bartender waved the Asian card shark over while he stepped through a door. Stark huffed into his glass. This day was getting better and better. He looked over to Bucky, but he was watching the redhead slip through the same door. Stark doesn’t even remember seeing her come down stairs.

Rhodey

That guy was an asshole. He had met many rich assholes who blew through the bar, but for some dumb reason he thought this guy would be cooler, smarter. Like he wouldn’t see the color of a man’s skin first. He thought he was right when he called him friend. Rhodey could tell he was uncomfortable, but he didn’t seem put off by the people per se. The saloon served people from all walks of life. Rhodey saw the man watching Karli, but he was more curious than shocked that she was cleaning tables there. The asshole spent most of his time gawking at the fans. Rhodey prided himself on having a sense about people. Well Rhodey was wrong this time, and it was disappointing. 

When Rhodey got deep in the back of the storage room, Peggy was peeking through the spy holes. Sam had installed the spy and bell system when they built this bar together. He needed dirt on his enemies. A bar and whore house was the easiest way to get it. Rhodey did the bartending, and Nat and Misty did the seducing or rather drugging. Their resident Madams were actually a gifted former nurse and apothecary. Together they could come up with all kinds of concoctions including a knockout agent and truth serum. Most people woke up the next morning thinking he or she had the wildest night of their life, meanwhile Nat was the only one doing the probing. 

Of course, they had some real workers, men and women, to keep up the front. The best around, if he listened to the patrons. That happens when you protect your people and make them feel safe. It also happens when Misty barely charges anything for rent. Nat, Monica, and Peggy backed her up, so he and Sam were overruled. As good as his strumpets were, most folks still went for Natasha, Misty, and Clint, and got robbed, extorted, or murdered in the process.

“Who are they?” Peggy asked. She, Karli, and Jimmy had been there all day. She had to stay out of sight, but Jimmy hadn’t been caught yet, and this was Karli’s first job.

“The bushy one says the big shot is a lawyer. He certainly looks like money. Acts like it too.”

“Money, yes, but that doesn’t mean lawyer. What else did he say?” If Peggy peered through those holes any closer her eyeballs were going to get stuck.

“He was going on and on about the place. He likes the fans.” Rhodey liked them too. The kids heard him complaining about the heat and surprised him. 

“The fans?” Peggy honed in on.

“The whiz kid technology that Riri and Peter designed from old sewing machine parts?” Nat said.

“It’s Stark,” Peggy said, looking out the peep holes again. “I wonder which one is the Winter Soldier? I bet it’s that big dope, smiling at everyone.”

“It’s the one at the bar,” Nat countered.

“Care for a friendly wager?” Peggy asked, striping off her shirt and slipping the feather boa off Nat’s neck. Give me a vial.”

“Peg, don’t do anything stupid,” Rhodey tried. “They’re gunning for you.”

“One vial of belladonna extract,” Nat said, placing the bottle in Peggy’s hand. She took a bobby pin out of her hair and pinned Peggy’s just so.

“I’m not helping Sam bust either of you out of jail,” Rhodey said.

“And if we’re right?” Peggy asked, shoving her breast up and adjusting her belt to accentuate her waist. Nat pulled one of the straps on Peggy’s camisole down. The redhead smiled as all that creamy skin turned red.

“If you’re right, and you get the chance, you kill them,” Rhodey responded.

Nat peaked through the wall holes. “Fuck, my mark is gone. I guess I’ll chat up Stark.”

Peggy peeped through the holes again. The blonde man was still at the table slowly sipping Rhodey’s watered down whiskey. Jimmy was at the bar where Rhodey left him and-

“Dammit! Where is Karli?” Peggy growled.

Bucky

Bucky had a hunch about that back room, but he couldn’t just barge into rooms of a saloon uninvited when this town was supposed to be neutral territory. He was new in town, and he knew some folks didn’t take kindly to strangers. If he was wrong, he was surely going to jail. He didn’t mind that too much, but it would put him off his search. If Stark had to pay more money it was coming out of his salary, so he did the best next thing. He decided to case the joint. 

His father built tenements for a living. It was why Bucky was so good with a hammer. It was why Bucky refused to make his living using a hammer, but he had a knack about construction. Bucky walked outside the saloon to look at the dimensions, windows, exits. He immediately saw a cellar and a back door. The building was also bigger than he originally thought. There was significant space behind the bar. It might even be a living quarter. He glanced around and noticed most of the buildings in this town had an entrance outside to the cellar. They were good places to hide. 

He decided to map the town in his head. It wouldn’t take very long. When he was finished he walked to the church. Bucky understood from the outside he looked like a heathen, but truth be told he still very much believed in his Catholic faith. What could he say? His life was a contradiction; life was fucking messy.  

He was in a new town, a new place, and would feel better if he talked to God and lit a candle for his ma. He noticed he had a tail. She was a young girl- red hair, cute as a button. God, he hoped she didn’t ‘work’ upstairs at the saloon. He ignored her on his way to the Church. He went inside and said a few Hail Mary’s for all the things he had done this week, and all the things he was about to do. He lit a candle for his ma, and prayed for his sister’s happiness and safety. When he walked out of the church, she was waiting.

“You don’t look like the worshipping type,” she said, picking at a wildflower in her hand.

“And what type do I look like?” Bucky asked. 

“The wild type.”

“That’s good, Kid. That’s exactly who I am. You stay away from my kind.”

“What’s your name?” she asked.

“What did I just say?” Bucky growled, trying to put some menace in his voice.

“My name’s Ophelia.” 

This little girl was fearless or just stupid. “Say Ophelia, you ever heard of Snap Wilson?” Bucky pivoted.

“Everybody’s heard of Snap. Why you ask?”

“I write for the Chicago Times. I wanted to know more about him. How he’s hurting and terrorizing good folks like you.”

“Sam Wilson is a hero, and you reporters don’t know what the hell you're talking about. There’s scarier things out here in these fields than a Negro with a gun,” she hissed. Bucky realized that she may be older than he originally thought.

“Mm,” Bucky uttered. “Ophelia, why don’t you head back to the saloon,” Bucky tried. The girl smiled at him, but it wasn’t warm, in fact it was a dare, a threat. Her hand twitched. Bucky had to fight to not reach for a gun.

“That’s a good idea,” a man said behind him. Bucky turned on his heel and looked between the girl and the man. She was pissed, looked like she wanted to object, but headed down the street after taking in the man’s resolute expression. 

“Ophelia’s had a hard life. She doesn’t trust strangers much. I’m Thomas,” the man said, sticking out his hand. He smiled, and Bucky tried not to blush. Thomas was good looking. Steve said he was a sex fiend once, and Bucky laughed at him, but now looking at this hard-bodied cowboy had him yearning for a little comfort. Between Pinky and the night flowers, Bucky never went long without sex. He guessed the search for Snap Wilson kept him occupied, but Jesus, he was only a man, and Thomas was awfully tempting.

“Name’s James. It’s nice to meet you, Thomas. You the pastor here?”

“No,” the man laughed. “I just fix things up and keep it clean. We lost our last Pastor seven years ago. Now, we mostly gather on holidays, take turns reading scriptures from the bible, pray together, and sing a few hymns.”

“Lost? Did he die from sickness?”

“No, he was killed in a robbery.”

“Geez, the Pastor? It’s a rough life out here.”

“It is that, not too kind to strangers. I’ve heard Chicago can be a tough town, but at least you got laws,” Thomas said.

“There are sheriff’s out here, right? That’s the sheriff’s station,” Bucky pointed.

“If you say so, the sheriff was killed about five years ago now.”

“No one else wanted the job?”

“Plenty of people,” the man smiled. This guy was interesting. Bucky found himself smiling back. Thomas went around the church yard and started fixing a few broken pieces on the gate. Bucky doesn’t know what came over him, but he picked up a hammer in the tool box and started helping to patch the fence. “You're pretty good at that.”

“My father was a carpenter,” Bucky told him, cursing himself internally. Why did he say that?

“My father was a sharecropper,” Thomas returned.

“You got a homestead around here?” Bucky asked. “A little lady?” he asked before he could stop himself. He had no idea why he was talking like this, talking this much.

“Cabin ‘bout a mile out, a small garden. Haven’t found a little lady yet, though.”

“That’s-” Bucky trailed off. He was nervous. Bucky had never believed in love at first sight. He didn’t even think he believed in love. Which was funny because he read the classics and a boat load of poems. They were always about death, war, and love. He was seriously imagining his life in a cabin with Thomas and a giant book collection. He was beginning to understand why so many poets wrote their flowered stanzas. 

There was a scream. “Karli,” Thomas said, dropping his tools and running down the street.

“Karli?” Bucky repeated, putting down the hammer. It occurred to him that this Karli sounded a lot like Ophelia. He pulled his guns from their holsters. 

Chapter Text

Sam

Peggy was going to kill him, and yet he still rode into town about an hour after Peggy, Jimmy, and Karli had left Rhodey’s ranch. Karli would be upset too, but she looked up to him. This was her first mission, and he just wanted to hang around to make sure everything went smoothly. This was about safety not because he didn’t trust her. She had done the work, and he had every confidence in her. 

Sam had on his work clothes. He was going to do some work at the church at the other end of the street. He had recreated his father’s church in Carolina City because sometimes you need to believe in a higher power, especially out here. He needed some connection to who he used to be, or he was afraid he would lose himself more than he already had.

Sam was clearing up the garden when a stagecoach rolled in town. It was fancier than they had seen in a while, but that didn’t mean anything. They had too many travelers passing through from Chicago, Boston, and New York. Most came and left without any problems, and some left the mortal coil altogether.

Sam watched a man jump down from the top of the carriage. Sam tried to get a good look at him. He needed a shave and a haircut, but there was something about this man that Sam felt drawn to. Sam shook it off, watching the party enter the saloon. Here we go , Sam thought, fighting the urge to use the tunnels to get to the bar. He had to trust them. He went into the church to dust.

Sam had actually forgotten about the strangers until one was walking through the church doors. It was him. He sat down, mumbled his prayers, and then started talking to the ceiling. Sam watched him from the shadows. When Sam figured out the stranger was talking to his mother, he went out the back door. That’s why he built this place. He was around back getting his tool box when he heard Karli out front. What the hell was she doing with this strange man alone? He could hear when she snapped. Either she or the unkempt man were going to be dead in a few minutes. 

He knew Karli was pissed. She was betrayed when he told her to leave. He could live with her having hurt feelings over her being dead. He would talk to her at home or try to at least.

Sam went back and forward about this stranger being the Winter Soldier. It could be him or one of his travelling companions. The thing about legends is they took on a life of their own. This fellow wasn’t dressed in black leather. He didn’t have a metal arm or a metal faceplate covering his mouth. Just like Sam wasn’t a two-hundred-pound muscled brute robbing hardworking people. 

James seemed kind. He was also a cocky motherfucker. Sam wasn’t stupid. He had his gun at the ready, but as they worked in the hot sun fixing the shrine he made to his father, the shrine James used for his mother, Sam had never felt more drawn to a stranger in his life. He felt like destiny was at play here. 

Sam thought about why he didn’t have a little lady when James asked. There were drop dead gorgeous women all around him, and he never thought of any of them in that way. Technically, he had two little ladies at home and two at the saloon. They would boil him in hot water if they ever heard him describe them that way. He was about to ask where James and his friends were headed when he heard Karli scream. He didn’t even think; he just tore down the street.

And here it was, the situation they had all been afraid of. Karli was volatile. Sometimes she was withdrawn and other times fiery, but she was always dangerous. They had been trying to channel her anger. Karli was a witness to something no one should ever have to see and when it was your parents being- Sam could hardly think of it without wanting to kill everyone involved, let alone watch it as a child.

“Hey fella,” Sam said, his gun drawn. “Let her go.” She had gone inside of herself. They should all be afraid of what emerged.

“It’s her fault. I tried to pay her good money, and this little bitch thinks she’s better than me. Like my money don’t spend.”

“I’m going to tell you one more time-” Sam warned. The truth was Sam would have laid the man flat, but he was trying to see what Karli would do. 

A bullet tore past Sam. He could feel the heat against his ear and cheek. The bullet went in Karli’s attacker's eye and out the back of his head. The man toppled over in the dust in a pool of his own blood. Karli lost her lunch. Sam looked back at the Winter Soldier. He hadn’t dropped his gun. Sam watched him, but Karli whimpered. Sam went over to her, his eyes trained on James. She pulled away and pulled out her gun. James raised another pistol on them. “Hey,” Sam warned, raising his gun. 

James looked him in the eye. Sam could tell he was trying to gauge the situation just like him. Sam looked at him, calmly. Sam thought an understanding passed between them. That’s when Karli shot up the corpse until her pistol was empty. She burst into tears, “I panicked.” 

Sam grabbed and hugged her, his gun still raised. “It’s okay. You don’t have to do this. You shouldn’t have to do this.”

“I want to go to school,” Karli said into his chest.

“You're going to get there,” Sam said. “Go on to the saloon. I got some business to attend to,” Sam said. 

Karli shook her head, looking up at James through her tears. “He’s a good man. And I know you know that too.” She walked right up to the Winter Soldier’s guns. “I know what bad men talk like, act like, and you ain’t one of them,” Karli said. “I also know that if you kill him. I will hunt you down.”

“Where was that fight 10 minutes ago, Kid?” James asked.

“You didn’t hesitate to save me, but you are hesitating now, because you know I’m right,” Karli argued.

“I need the money,” James said, cocking his guns. 

Karli didn’t move. “You don’t look like you care about money.”

The Winter Soldier grimaced at her comment and then glanced at Sam. “I have to know-”

“Know who's the best?” Sam interjected. So many people had died at Sam’s hand for the same reason. “That’s easy. It’s Karli.”

Sam could tell he believed him. James narrowed his eyes at the girl. He looked back up at the infamous Snap Wilson. “I did enjoy our conversation.”

“Me too,” Sam said, smiling. James grinned back. They eyed one another. Sam grabbed Karli, fired a shot, and hit the deck just as Barnes got off two rounds.

“You missed,” Barnes shouted from behind a crate. “I think you like me.”

“You had two guns and free hands. I think you like me.”

Bucky fired, arcing his arm on release. A bullet went around the wagon Sam and Karli were behind and punched a hole in the water bucket on the well. It was directly in front of Sam’s head. “Cool,” Karli gushed. 

“He’s trying to kill me,” Sam grumbled.

“He’s trying to impress you and establish dominance,” Karli said.

“Establish dominance?” Sam didn’t like the sound of that.

“Primate mating ritual. Peter told me all about it in a book he was reading.”

Sam shook his head. That was just like Peter and maybe it was time for the birds and bees talk again. God, when did this become his life. He put his fingers to his lips as he listened for James. The city slicker boots gave him away especially on the wood plank walkways lining the streets. Misty saw it in a big town in Colorado and wanted to do it here. Sam popped up, spotted James crouching in the dirt behind a crate, and fired a shot. It pinged off a pole, milk jug, and then sliced through the material in James’s slacks, right in the man’s crotch.

“Did you just try to shoot my dick off?” James screeched.

“If I tried you wouldn’t have one,” Sam yelled back.

“So, this is your way of trying to get my pants off.”

“Hey man, there’s a young lady-” Sam growled. He was interrupted.

“You're not dead yet, so I think you have a chance of that happening,” Karli remarked. Sam gently bonked her on top of her head. Maybe raising traumatized kids around bank robbers, outlaws, degenerates, and working girls and boys wasn’t his greatest plan.

“Good to know. It’s your turn,” Bucky returned.

“My?” Karli said, shocked.

Sam smiled and handed her his pistol. She took a bullet out of the chamber and handed it back. She loaded one of her revolvers as Sam smirked at her. He watched her line up her shot. It looked like… She fired her pistol and James yelped.

“You shot me,” Barnes cried.

“It’s a graze and proof that you guys are flirting instead of fighting.”

“Flirting?” Sam whispered.

“I’ve never seen you look at anyone the way you looked at Will Riley. And Misty, Peg, Monica, and Nat are really pretty.”

“Whose Will Riley?” Bucky said, coming around the wagon holding his arm. He glared at Karli, and she scrambled off, laughing. He flopped in the dirt by Sam.

“You ever heard of Wichita Will?” Sam said, holstering his gun and trying to move James’s hand off his wound. The man tried to pull away, but Sam smacked his hand, playfully. James pouted, but let go. Sam was proud when he looked at the wound. It really was just a tiny graze. That girl was good, and the Winter Soldier was a big baby.

“The trick rider? Sammy, say it isn’t so?”

“It ain’t so, not anymore at least. Never really was. We just went riding a lot.”

Bucky frowned. Sam laughed. “Not like that. On horses, and then he had to move on to do another show.”

“Well, he’s dumber than I thought,” James commented. 

Sam smiled. “Surprised a Chicago man like yourself would know travelling shows.”

“New York man, actually. I like to read. Read all about him and you, Snap.”

“And then the Winter Soldier decided to pay me a visit.” 

“Couldn’t help it. Been kind of feeling like my destiny lied with you.”

“Killing me?” Sam clarified

“Yes, if we're being honest, but now, I know I was wrong.”

“Maybe not, when my spies told me you were coming it felt like it was fated.”

“So, it is destiny, a rose wan as moonlight, a flower on a flower.”

“Aldrich?” Sam snorted. James was surprised. “My mother was an English teacher and journalist. This isn’t a love story, James. This may be rose number three.”

“Bucky,” James said.

“Whaty?” Sam replied.

“My friends call me Bucky. And why can’t this be the first flower?”

A blonde man slid around the wagon and yanked Bucky up. Peggy flew over the top of the wagon, and tackled the giant man. Sam heard a gun cock. He turned and a chubby man had his shotgun pointed at Peg. “I’m warning you, Lady.”

Misty ran out of the saloon and kicked the gunman in the balls, and then punched him. He fell back into another man, who happened to be Anthony Stark. Rhodey walked out of the saloon and fired a pistol in the air. “This is neutral territory. We all agreed on that. Stop your fighting or take it out of town before we get attention we don’t want.” Everyone straightened up. Peggy climbed off the big guy with a blush. Interesting.

Sam smiled at his partner, and then looked up at Bucky. “This is why.”

“Oh Doll, that was just a friendly scrap amongst friends.”

“Friends!?” Peggy and Stark said together. Steve shook his head and Misty snorted.

“You’ve adopted the Winter Soldier, Sam?” She fixed her skirt looking over at Happy. Who was still cupping his privates. “Sorry,” she said and walked away.

Peggy

She didn’t know where Karli got off to, but she had to trust her. Karli had been arguing for more responsibilities since her eighteenth birthday. Now that she was nineteen and started to take an interest in what they did beyond target practice, they had to give her a shot. Karli had just as many rights to her justice as anyone. They got Thanos, but The Preacher was still out there, not to mention Big Red.

Meanwhile, Peggy had some bad guys right in front of her. She would eliminate this threat for her family. When she walked into the bar, Jimmy glanced at her and dropped a bottle of liquor. Peggy smirked knowing Rhodey wanted to kill him, but couldn’t because of the rules he made up. All eyes were on her which was a feat with Misty and Natasha in the room. Most folks were taking in her cleavage, but the blonde stranger was doing his best to look her in the eyes. Curious.

Maybe he was like Sam and Clint, or maybe… No, this man was here to kill her friend, her brother. She sauntered over to the table he and a stout fellow were sitting at. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Anthony Stark start to head back for the table, but Nat intercepted him. One quick smile and Stark was a fly in the Black Widow’s web.

“Can I get you gentlemen anything else?” Peggy smiled down at him. He smiled back, a deer in headlights.

“No, Ma’am. We're all good here.”

“So polite. A lady could get used to that. Where you fellas headed?”

“California. Thinking of trying our luck in gold mining,” the man stammered. 

“With big strong arms like those, I’m positive you’ll strike it big. You know I have a cousin out in California. She writes to me about all the goings on. I can show you some of her letters. They’re upstairs in my room, if you want to come up and take a look.”

The man had the audacity to turn red. “Gee, that’s nice. You know we don’t have to look at them upstairs, you can bring them down here.” 

Peggy was thrown for a moment. Am I losing my touch? This man couldn’t be...this ‘howdy folks’ act was real? Nevertheless, he had no qualms about killing an innocent man, so he could drop the noble act. “Some of the particulars of the letters are private. Besides, they are better read in a quiet place.” Peggy sunk sultriness into her voice. 

“Yeah, me and Happy can-” the man began.

“Is that your name, Big Fella?” Misty purred behind them. “I was hoping Happy would join me for a dance.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” Happy said, hopping up and going over to the piano with Misty.

“See, Happy is busy,” Peggy smiled. “I’m Eliza by the way.” She stuck out her hand and tried not to blush when he kissed it.

“Grant,” he returned, following her across the bar and up the stairs. 

Peggy took him into Misty’s room. It was a lovely room and more importantly unoccupied. It was for show anyway. Misty shared a room, bed, and life with Nat. They firebombed Nat’s Apothecary when they found out she was helping the north in the war. It was a family affair. Nat’s parents were abolitionists and their apothecary was a stop on the underground railroad. Misty was a nurse during the war. Her and Nat worked together to heal a lot of folks, and then they fell in love. Peggy didn’t know why she was thinking about grand love stories right now.

“Let me get you a drink,” she said, going over to the bottle and glasses on the dresser. She poured some of Monica’s Rainbow Juice and then the belladonna extract into a glass. This man was going to be so dizzy he would probably tell her all his secrets. She turned around to hand him a cup, and he kissed her.

Whew boy. Peggy felt like she had a sip of their house elixir. He pulled away and she pulled him back biting at his lips. She finally let him go because she needed to breathe and oh yeah, she had a job to do. “Oh, I’m sorry. Do I pay you now or?” Grant asked, fumbling with a wad of cash.

Jesus, Peg thought. She was instantly struck by the wonderful naivety of this man. He was her seven years ago. You weren’t supposed to want to protect the man you were trying to poison and interrogate. This is for Sam. “We’ll worry about that later,” Peggy smiled, handing him a glass. She watched him raise it to his lips and then gunshots went off.

“Bucky,” He said, dropping the glass. He reached for the door. 

“Don’t worry about that sweetheart. They are always shooting guns off around here,” Peggy said, grabbing his hand.

“No, that was Eloise, my friend’s gun.”

“Was it?” Peggy asked, smashing the glass into his beautiful face. God, she hoped it didn’t cut him. He reared back, shocked, and then stopped himself from hitting her. He turned and made for the door. Peggy tried to kick him, but he turned quickly, grabbed her leg. She was pulled into the hard plains of his chest and then thrown across the room. She panicked, but then hit the bed with a bounce. 

He was on the bottom floor when she emerged from the room. She jumped from the balcony unto the chandelier swung and landed, her feet planted on a table. She rolled off of it and jumped up and tried to choke the man, her body dangling against his back. He kept moving, working to detach her in the process. She felt her hold slipping and had to let go to keep from being dumped on the ground. His friend Happy tried to grab her and she turned and socked him in the nose. She kept moving.

He moved quickly off the porch towards two figures on the ground. No , Peggy thought. Was that Sam? She took off in a run and launched herself over the wagon. He caught her, and they both tumbled to the ground. They were a tangle of limbs. Peggy was trying to keep him from helping his friend until she heard the gunshot.

She felt like a fool. She had gotten carried away. She didn’t usually behave like this, but neither did Sam. He called a truce with Stark and the Winter Soldier? It could be a double-cross, but “Bucky” was looking at her partner like he hung the moon. And despite her antics and his company, Steve was being gracious. As for Stark, he did look pretty haunted about the ramifications of this contraption falling into the wrong hands.

They were all in the storage room of the bar listening to them recount the train robbery. “Sounds like Beck,” Sam said.

“It’s a twofer. We take him out and get Stark’s stuff back,” Misty said.

“No offense, to our friends. How do we know this isn’t a double cross? ” Rhodey asked.

“I put my hand on the Bible,” Steve said.

“Yeah, we are going to need more assurances than that,” Jimmy said. 

“I trust the Winter Soldier,” Karli said. Everyone looked at the girl. 

“Really?” Peggy asked her. She nodded.

“Good enough for me,” Misty said, hugging Karli.

“Me too,” Peggy agreed. 

“Don’t make me a liar in front of my bosses,” Karli threatened.

“I won’t,” the man said. That’s when Nat and Jimmy agreed.

“So, the assassin stands down and the boy scout, well, is a boy scout, but they're not the one funding this venture,” Rhodey reminded everyone. Everyone turned to Stark.

Stark sighed. “I needed Steve and Bucky for my plan to work. Without them or the device I don’t have any way to put you all away. If you really are telling the truth about some of the officials in this state, then I wouldn’t have gone through with it anyway.”

“I know my word isn’t much, but Mr. Stark is a good man deep down,” Steve said.

“I think it means more than you think,” Sam smirked, winking at Peggy. Sam Wilson was infuriating. “I’ve heard everyone’s thoughts and this is happening. Rhodey, we have to get this machine out of Beck’s hands. You know what he’ll do with it,” Sam said.

“I agree,” Peggy said.

“Fine. If we’re providing quarters, I think they should be split up,” Rhodey said.

“We’re not prisoners. Are we?” Happy asked.

“No, not prisoners. We’ll host Steve and Bucky at the cabin. Stark and Happy can stay here. Peg can help me keep watch at the cabin. Jimmy and Karli,” Sam said. Jimmy and Karli waved goodbye and left the room. “Misty you too.” She nodded and followed Jimmy and Karli.

“I thought I would be better-” Peggy interrupted.

“I need my right hand,” Sam smirked. She knew that smirk. He was teasing her. She knew why when it was the four of them riding into the sunset, and she couldn’t help but steal glances at the blonde man riding beside her.

Sam

It had been a long while since he was in this cabin. He thought he was going to retire here. He mostly used it to store stuff now. Like the church, he came around and fixed things here and there. Most folks ‘round these parts knew the house was off limits, but every once in a while, he’s had to move a few creatures out, a few people out. One couple was desperate, the wife pregnant, so he set them up in a neighboring town, if not, the bandits would have come eventually.

Sam climbed the porch stairs in the dark, Bucky and his friend behind him. Peggy was vigilant and not ready to fully trust them yet, so she brought up the rear. Sam put the key in the lock and pushed on the door. It was stuck. He had to put his shoulder in it. The door gave with a groan. They all peered in the dark looking for any movement. Sam saw a flicker of movement in the corner. Bucky whipped out one of his pistols and shot into the house.  “Hey,” Sam fussed. He lit the lantern by the door. Bucky had killed a rattlesnake. His guest smiled at him. Sam ignored him in favor of looking around and lighting the house. It had been longer than he thought since he was last here by the look of the layer of dust on the furniture. Sam pulled out his pistol, nodded to Peg, and she and he went from room to room looking for trouble. The rattlesnake was the only squatter. 

“So, you don’t live here?” Bucky said, blowing dust off Sam’s mama’s copy of Frankenstein. Sam narrowed his eyes at the man. He sounded disappointed. 

“I said I had a cabin. I didn’t say I lived there,” Sam said.

“You're very interested in where he lives,” Peggy commented.

“Like you were interested in where we are headed,” Steve pointed out.

“Either we have a truce or not,” Sam warned.

“We have a truce,” Bucky said. “I just wanted to see where Snap Wilson lived.”

“I don’t know where Snap lives, but this is Sam Wilson’s cabin. Says so on the land deed,” Sam said. “Let me show you where you and Steve will be sleeping. 

When he first came back from Arizona, he used his savings from the Marshal service to build a cabin with three bedrooms. His mama and daddy’s cabin had three bedrooms, one for them, one for the kids, and one for family and friends who were visiting or needed a place to stay. Sam figured it worked for them, why not him. 

He made a bigger kitchen area, though, that was closed off to the house. His Mama loved to sing while she cooked, but she always had to keep it down when one of them was sleeping. He wanted his future wife to enjoy her space. He made the fireplace bigger which meant the main room had to be bigger and he attached a covered walkway to the outhouse on the back of the house.

He was proud of it when he, Rhodey, Monica, and Bak finished it, but this life he led meant he couldn’t stay.  After a while, he couldn’t fit his posse and the kids in it. He needed about five more bedrooms. Rhodey had wanted to start a giant homestead and bring his extended family out from Alabama, but once he got out here and saw the rampant violence, he changed his mind. His homestead was way out in the boonies and large enough for their brood. It was also on highland surrounded by woods. They could see their enemies coming from miles away. 

Sam took Bucky to the guest room and opened the door. He looked around at all of his father’s belongings that he didn’t take out to the ranch. “Maybe I can squeeze in here, but Steve and I aren't going to fit. You probably don’t want to leave him alone with your partner. He’s quite the lady’s man.”

“She can handle herself, and there’s no way in hell blondie is a lady’s man.”

“Don’t underestimate him,” Bucky said. “He suckers most folks with his polite manners. It’s his hands you got to watch out for.”

“So, what do you suggest?” Sam crossed his arms. He knew when he was being conned. 

“I can sleep with you in your room.” Bucky shrugged. “You're supposed to be guarding me according to the bartender. I thought you were calling the shots.”

“His name is Rhodey and that’s the problem, you think you know me because of the papers, but they get some things wrong.”

“And some things, right. I still don’t know if I can beat you in a firefight, and I have never doubted my abilities before.”

“You’re that sure of your abilities?” Sam asked.

“Yes. All of them.” Bucky purred, stepping close to Sam. 

Sam took a step back. “I don’t know, Bucky. I mean, yeah, we had a connection back in town, but you can see where this could be a setup right?”

“Sweetheart, I’m not trying to kill you. I’m trying to fuck you,” Bucky stated.

“We just met. I got people I need to think about.”

“Fine,” Bucky said, pulling out his guns. Sam reached for his, but Bucky walked out of the guest bedroom into the living room. Sam followed. Peggy saw him coming and pulled her guns. Bucky walked right up to her and opened his revolver. He dumped the bullets in his hands and gave one gun to Peg. He did the same with the other gun. 

“Buck-” Steve said horrified. From what Sam could see Steve didn’t carry a gun. He looked like a bruiser though. If that was the case, he probably didn’t need them.

Peg blinked at Bucky, and then looked at Sam. She shrugged and took both guns. Bucky marched back down the hall. “So which one is our room?” Bucky called back. Sam looked at Steve who rolled his eyes. He checked in with Peggy. 

“I’m fine,” she smirked. “Have a good night.”

“ You too ,” Sam smirked back. He headed back down the hall. Bucky had found his bedroom and was currently removing the dusty bedding. Sam went into the dresser and got another blanket. And handed it to the man. Bucky took it, spread the blanket out, and then grabbed the pitcher off the wash basin.

“Do you even know where you’re going?” Sam asked. 

“I saw the well and the outhouse through the window.”

Sam nodded, so Bucky was observant. He didn’t even see him scoping the place out. Sam sighed and sat down on his bed. He needed his head in the game, but he was letting some sweet talk cloud his judgement. He was leaning down to take off his boots when Bucky came back in the room, pitcher full. He set it on the basin and kneeled in front of Sam. He moved Sam’s hand out of the way as he unlaced his boots and slid Sam's boot off, and set it neatly by the bed. Bucky took the other boot off. He started rubbing Sam’s feet and the cowboy had to stifle a moan. “What are you doing?” Sam asked, his voice rough.

“Trying to get you to relax. Pretend I’m your little lady.” Sam’s eyes bugged out of his head. “Hey, Doll. I don’t want anything you're not ready to give. I just think we can have a good time.”

“A good time,” Sam repeated. “So, rose number two.”

“No, number one. We make our own destiny,” Bucky said. He got up and proceeded to strip and wash up for the night. He certainly took his time running the rag over his tight body. Sam would turn away, but it was obvious Barnes wanted him to look. He went and got into the bed like he wasn’t naked in front of a stranger. Bucky opened Sam’s Mama’s book and started to read.

“Your so-” Sam began.

“What? We’ve decided it’s fate.”

“You thought you were meant to kill me a day ago.”

“I didn’t want to. They said you were a terror. I used to kill bad men for money.”

“And now?”

“Well, you said this Beck guy is on your hit list which would make him bad. So, I guess I still kill bad men but for... kisses.”

“Kisses?” Sam snorted.

“Yeah, kisses. You seem reluctant to hop in bed. We’ll sleep tonight, but for every bad guy I kill tomorrow I want a kiss for my trouble when you decide you want to kiss me. I’m giving up a lot of money.”

“And what about the ones I kill?”

“I’ll give you all the kisses you want.”

“You just say that so freely.”

“Well, Sam, I used to spend my life worrying about what people thought, but then they took me out of school, taught me to shoot, and then stuck me on a battlefield. It didn’t matter what I wanted. Now, they can’t stop me. I do what I want.”

“Must be nice.”

“Sometimes. You going to sit there all night?”

“No,” Sam said, getting up and taking off his clothes. He kept his draws on while he washed up. He glanced back and Bucky was looking, but he pretended he was reading. Sam got in the bed stowing his guns under his pillow. He left a sizable gap between him and the man. Sam picked up his copy of Othello. The bed squeaked. Sam looked over and Bucky had inched towards him. He went back to his book. The Winter Soldier yawned and stretched beside him. Now, Sam could feel his body heat. 

“Does this act work with other people,” Sam asked, rereading the same line 20 times.  

“What other people?”

“Mm hmm,” Sam uttered. “You said we were going to sleep.”

“And you believed me?”

“We’re supposed to be trusting each other. If you lied about that then…”

“That’s not fair,” Bucky grumbled, going back to his side of the bed.

“Life’s not fair, especially out here,” Sam blew out the candle. He lay in the dark, looking out his windows at the stars. 

Bucky yelped when Sam pulled him over to his side of the bed. “What the?”

The cowboy wrapped around the man who came to kill him, “you said pretend you're my little lady.” Sam said in his ear, getting comfortable. He went to sleep.

Chapter Text

Steve

She was beautiful, and he was in trouble. She shocked the hell out of him yesterday. She fought as hard as a man, but geez, she was all woman. He felt how soft she was when he had pulled her against him to throw her on the bed. At the bar, she was a flirt. Last night, she was all business and very suspicious of him and Bucky. Today she was resolute.

As far as he could tell they weren’t headed back to Carolina City. They were riding painfully slow through a lush wooded area. He had heard about the beautiful plains out west, but this forest was serene. Steve’s stomach dropped when they were met by a group of men and women in the woods far away from any civilization. Stark and Happy were with them. They looked no worse for wear, so Steve calmed down until they got off their horses in front of a cave.

“What’s this?” he asked. Usually Bucky was the one asking questions, but his best friend was completely besotted with Sam Wilson. Steve had never seen him like this. Bucky was the one with adoring fans, but Steve couldn’t necessarily blame him. Wilson’s posse was a tribe of good-looking folks. He wished he had the luxury to check out and make googly eyes at Peggy all day, but Stark was worried, Happy a bit clueless, and Bucky was in love with the most dangerous man in the wild west, which was bananas because Bucky was the most dangerous man on the east coast. Jesus . The two of them together.

“We need to plan our attack. We’re not going to hit Beck, and his boys without a plan. He has too many sycophants for that,” Peggy said, getting off her horse. He watched her go over and check in with her posse.

Steve climbed off the horse provided to him and went over to Stark. “How are you?”

“I’m...optimistic. This crew seems to know what they’re doing. What about you? Did you make it with The Dame?”

“No!” Steve objected too loudly. Everyone glanced at him. He lowered his voice, “Did you make it with anyone?”

“No, but I was seriously thinking about it,” Stark answered.

“This could be a trap,” Steve whispered.

“Yeah, I don’t think so. Rhodey and Nat explained a lot last night,” Stark said. Steve wanted him to continue. There was a sharp whistle. 

“Everyone inside,” Sam said.  Steve watched everyone make for the entrance to the cave. He grabbed Stark.

“This doesn’t concern you?” 

“No, not anymore.” Stark walked into the cave. Steve followed, shaking his head. If they could be trusted, why was The Dame so suspicious. Steve watched her talk with Sam in hushed tones. They were surrounded. A big dark-skinned man was behind him, so was a blonde man with a bow and arrow. Steve narrowed his eyes at the man walking in front of him with a falcon on his shoulder. 

The legend was that Snap could talk to and command birds. Steve had never believed in any of that crap. He thought the editors of the paper were making it up, but damn if he wasn’t surrounded by Wilson’s posse in the dark. He could see light in the tunnel up ahead though. The narrow passage opened into a sizable den. A small opening in the cave ceiling rained down sunlight. 

The cavern was chock full of weapons and supplies. There was a giant wooden table at the center and a map of Oklahoma. The sun beamed directly down on the table. It was a war room. Steve walked near the cache of guns and explosives. He was trying to see if he spotted any of Stark’s crates in the loot.    

“Can I help you?” Peggy asked behind him. 

“Just looking around,” Steve said. 

“We need you at the table,” she said, gesturing. He nodded, looking at Bucky who was practically under Wilson he was so close. Steve eyed him, glancing at the stash. Bucky nodded, but went back to his fawning. Steve looked at Stark, and he was asking Rhodey a bunch of questions. Happy was helping Misty and the other two women who had joined the group. It seemed he was overruled. Steve walked up to the table and stood beside Peggy.

“So, Beck and company have completely taken over Riverton,” the blonde archer reported. “Word is they’re using the bank as their personal vault.”

“I thought he was still running with Big Red,” Sam said.

“No, Beck is charming and good looking. Some of the men started looking up to him,” Nat added.

“Red can’t have that,” Sam said.

“Nope,” the blonde said. Now that Steve got a good look at him he realized he was one of the workers upstairs at the saloon. “Beck was kicked out about three months ago. Been trying to build up his own reputation. He’s a ham so all of his hits have been flashy. Robbing Stark was like chum in the waters. Beck couldn’t resist.”

“Beck?” Steve asked.

“Broadway Beck?” Bucky added, smiling at Sam.

Sam rolled his eyes and looked at Bucky. It was a fond look that passed between them. 

“He was an actor before he made his way out west. He was going to California, but like the con artist he is, he saw an opportunity with Big Red’s daughter, Thea. He has been running with them ever since, well, until recently,” Peggy said.

“So, he’s not a real player,” Bucky said. “That explains a lot. His men were not very good at...anything.”

“Yeah, be glad it was him or you all would be dead,” Rhodes said.

“I wouldn’t count Beck out. He’s as cruel as he is arrogant and vindictive. He’s smart. A few of my cousins lost their land, cattle, and livelihoods to that asshole,” Joaquin said.

“Well, now he has a mechatronic reactor, so he’s got firepower.”

“Firepower?” a woman with curly hair asked. She had been digging through crates the whole conversation.

“Stark, Bucky, Steve, Happy, this is Monica. She makes things go boom. Her father was an inventor and chemist,” Sam said.

“What kind of firepower?” She asked Stark.

“Subatomic,” Stark returned.

“Impossible,” Monica said.

Stark took the quill on the table and started scribbling numbers, symbols and letters on an old wanted poster of Joaquin. Monica watched it intently. “It’s beautiful... and pretty fucking awful. Why would you invent something like that?”

“They wanted something to slay a giant,” Stark said, glancing at Sam. 

“The assassin wasn’t enough?” Monica said, pacing. “This is overkill.”

“Look, they told me he was some kind of boogie man. If the Winter Soldier failed... They don’t have all the pieces,” Stark informed her because everyone else looked just as clueless as Steve felt.

“Good, so you still have all the raw materials?” Monica asked.

“No, they have those.”

Monica frowned and gave Sam a look. “How bad?” Sam asked.

“Remember that time I blew up the train?”

“Which one?” the whole crew asked.

“Wells-Fargo.”

“Really?” Peggy asked, glaring at Stark. Rhodey’s mouth hung open. 

“Times five,” Monica added.

“Shit. We’re going tonight,” Sam said, taking charge. “Rhodey, Misty, Clint you open the bar as usual. We need this to be stealthy. Nat you’re with me. I need those sneaking skills. You, Joaquin, and Stark are going after the loot. Bak, I need you to evacuate the nearest settlement. Monica, I need something that gets me in that vault, and then I want you to help Bak. Happy, you’re with Bak. Bucky, I need a sniper. Steve, what’s your expertise?”

“He’s a boxer,” Stark said.

“So, you’re with me.”

“Wait, I want to be on the assault team. You’re going in. I’m going in. Are you trying to stiff me on my payment?”

“What payment?” Steve asked. They ignored him.

“You’re the most talented sniper here, Winter Soldier. I need you in the hills. My sniper is a decoy at the bar. I can’t have two workers out at the same time. Someone will notice. Then our whole jig is up. I got Jimmy One Shot, The Dame, and the Orphan to back me up. Not to mention the Brooklyn Bruiser.”

Everyone turned to Steve. “How?” Steve uttered.

“I thought it was you, but didn’t know for sure. Until now,” Sam smirked. 

Steve watched Bucky turn to Karli. “You’re the Orphan.”

“I told you those newspapers don’t know what they're talking about,” the redhead said.

She was right. According to the papers she was an urban legend, a demented little redheaded white girl that killed families on their way out west. She was a vampire-zombie-demon depending on what paper you were reading. Bucky loved that crap. Steve didn’t care for it. He looked at the young woman too, wondering how that tale got started.

“Sometimes to escape our monsters we become them,” Peggy said beside him.

He turned to her. She really was lovely. His mind flashed back to his lips on hers. His hands at her waist. Her chest against his. “You don’t look like a monster,” Steve flirted.

“I shot my cousin through the heart, burned a man alive and left a man to die in the brutal cold.”

“Why?” Steve asked, aghast.

“To survive,” Peggy said. 

“Don’t let her fool you, Bruiser,” Bak said. 

“They all had it coming,” Jimmy finished.

“I would have chopped that bitches head off,” Karli growled. 

“Much too messy, My Darling,” Peggy said, turning back to their plans.

Karli

She smacked his hands away from her horse. “I’m not a kid anymore. You're only two years older than me.”

“Well stop acting like an amateur and fasten your saddle right,” Joaquin said.

“Who says your way is right? Just because you’re taking care of RedWing doesn’t make you Sam.” 

“Alright, you two,” Sam warned. “You want to be treated like adults, but you're still fighting like cats and dogs. Karli, is your saddle secure?”

“Yes,” Karli grumbled, tightening the belt.

“Joaquin, your riding point. Why are you in the back bothering her? You and RedWing ready?”

“Yes,” He said, sticking his tongue out at Karli and riding to the front of the group. She flipped him off. 

“That’s not lady like,” he said, moving to the front of the line.

“I’m not a lady,” she hissed and climbed aboard her horse. She narrowed her eyes at the Winter Soldier who was grinning at her. He glanced at Joaquin and wiggled his eyebrows. He was weird, but she liked him. She checked the bullets in her gun and put them back in her holster. 

“You ready for this kid?” Nat asked.

“Yeah,” She said, despite her stomach doing somersaults. Joaquin riding point meant the ride was going to be fast and brutal. Him and Sam could practically fly on a horse and they thought everyone else could keep up or at least try. She was used to it, but she guessed the bruiser wasn’t used to horseback riding. Peggy had reached over more than once to steer his horse through the dark.

Right outside of Riverton, RedWing landed on Joaquin’s left shoulder, which meant Beck and his boys were down for the night. Karli pulled her knife from her boot like everyone else in the posse. Steve and Bucky eyed one another. 

It was a massacre. They moved through the town going from house to house, slitting the throats of every one of Beck’s members they could find. They saved the saloon for last. They crouched in the shadows waiting for a signal. A quick flash of light came from the hill, and Sam rushed the door. They ran in behind him, fearless. 

Bartholomew Grimby’s face was blown off before Sam was fully in the door. He beat Jimmy’s brother to death in a racist tirade against the Asian workers building the railroads. Cornelius Webb was shot in the back trying to flee like the coward he was. He was a sheriff, but instead of protecting the town in his charge, he cut a deal with Fisk and Monica’s Father’s school was blown up with her father in it. They got Fisk last year.

Karli wasn’t like Sam and Peg, no matter how much they tried. She didn’t flinch when her bullets found a home in flesh. Corpses didn’t bother her. She stayed with her mother and father until the smell was unbearable. She didn’t hesitate. She aimed her gun and rid the world of bad men and women who had given into their baser selves. She started up the stairs.

“No,” Peggy said, grabbing her. 

“I can do it,” Karli said. 

“I know you can,” Peggy smiled. “I don’t want you to.”

Sam holstered his gun. A man ran out on the balcony from the rooms, his pistol raised. Karli moved with lightning precision. The man fell from the second floor, a whole in his face. 

“I’m going upstairs,” Sam said. “Me, Steve, and Jimmy got this.”

“So, the women are too delicate for fornicating?” Karli asked.

“I’ll stay too,” Steve said.

“You know they’ve heard us by now, and you know-”

“I get it,” Karli mumbled. She didn’t understand how she was supposed to face her demons if everyone wanted to protect her from them. Peggy wanted her to go to school and have a normal life. A normal life meant marriage. And marriage meant- Sometimes she wished she liked girls like Misty and Nat.

“You did good. Let’s look for loot,” Peggy said.

Karli was digging through pockets when a man ran out onto the upper floor landing holding his chest. He fell down the stairs. Steve went over to him, the man socked him in the jaw, and Steve fell back. The outlaw jumped up, slipping past the bruiser. Karli pulled the trigger, but it just clicked. She was out. Peggy pulled her gun, but the man was already out the door. Both women ran after him, but as soon as his feet touched the dirt a bullet tore through his body. He fell over in the moonlight.

“How far is he away?” Peggy gasped. 

“I would wager quarter of a mile,” Steve said, adding a few gold coins to the stash.

“Jesus,” Peggy exclaimed.  

Sam walked out on the balcony with Beck stuffed in a dress, probably for my benefit , Karli thought. Jimmy was behind him with a bag of cash. 

“Did Bucky just kill a man?” Sam asked.

“Yep,” Karli said.

“How did he get past you?” Sam asked.

“I’m out,” Karli returned.

“Karli, what have I told you about counting your bullets? What if you needed your gun?” Sam fussed. 

“I’m sorry. I would have refilled before I went upstairs, but you all stopped me, and I forgot.”

“Do it now,” Sam said.

“They're all dead,” Karli said. 

“You don’t know that.” 

Sam took the panty hose out of Beck’s mouth. “What do you want, Wilson?”

“I want the layout of the fort.”

“I’m not suicidal.” Beck laughed.

“Apparently, you are,” Peggy said.

“A bullet to the head is a nicer death than being dipped in acid.”

“We got acid. Kid Dynamite got all kinds of chemicals,” Karli said. “Or we can beat you to death. This is Bruiser. He’s from Brooklyn and your boys stole his loot,” Karli looked back at the blonde man, and like she thought, he cracked his knuckles and imitated someone that looked like they could beat you to death. Peggy turned her head to hide her smirk.

Beck swallowed watching Steve. “I heard half of your squad didn’t come back that night,” Karli said, repeating what she heard Clint tell Misty.

“Wilson, your demented. You got little girls doing your dirty work,” Beck said. 

“I won’t stop at anything to get the men who killed my father.”

“I heard he lived.”

“His spirit died that day.”

“I was there, but I didn’t do anything.”

“Exactly,” Sam said. Beck drew a map of the fort and told Sam everything he knew. Sam rolled up the map when he was finished. “Get the loot,” Sam said, throwing pillow cases at them.

Karli went over to the table and pushed coins, jewels, and money into the bag. Sam grabbed some top shelf whiskey. Jimmy came out of the store room with a crate full of food. Peggy grabbed a few things from him.

“What about me?” Beck asked. 

“What about you?” Sam asked, picking up guns, knives and anything valuable, sticking them in pillow cases

“I promise I won’t tell anybody. I can go to California. You won’t ever hear from me again.”

“Bye,” Sam said. Beck backed his way to the door, watching everyone. Sam ignored him. Beck wrenched the door open and ran down the stairs. POW! Another name off their hit list.

“You killed a lot of people tonight,” Steve said. “Was that necessary?” He asked, looking between Sam and Peggy. 

A man burst from the storage room and grabbed Jimmy. “I’m going to kill all you niggers and bitches. You first race traitor,” the man said, aiming his gun at Steve. A bullet bounced off the pan in Jimmy’s hand and went clean through the man’s mouth. Karli’s bullet went through his skull and made a mess.

“Karli,” Jimmy groaned. It wasn’t her fault. Who wears their favorite shirt to a gunfight? Maybe Monica had something to clean the gore out of the cotton.  

“I told you they weren’t all dead,” Sam said.

Joaquin

Sam was his hero. Always had been to Joaquin since he helped save his village out in Arizona. The elders trusted him because Sam had a pet falcon, and they thought it was a sign from the gods. When Sam said he was leaving, Joaquin asked to go with him. Sam had shown him how to shoot, but Joaquin wanted to learn more. His grandfather said he could. Sam said no, that he was going to stir up trouble. It sounded like an adventure to Joaquin, so he followed him. Sam was pissed and promised he was taking him back after he dealt with his father, but that day never came. 

He followed Sam’s lead blindly until he wanted to bring home the devil girl. Sam and Peg had seen her out in the wild several times, but they figured she had a family. That’s until they rode up on her cabin one day. Joaquin had seen her too. He thought she was possessed and steered clear. It was the first time he and Sam disagreed on anything. 

Karli was weird, wild, and dangerous. Most people would have given up on her, but Sam was patient, Peggy, stubborn. Joaquin tried to give her a wide berth, but she stole his food, hid his boots, and sabotaged his saddle. When he went to Sam about it, he said try talking to her. He did, and it did nothing, until he started stealing the books and ink Sam brought her, and then they were in a turf war to sneak and steal each other's things. After that it was a competition to be the favorite. Peggy insisted there were no favorites. Everyone knew Peter and Riri were her favorites. Sam said Joaquin got his riding skills, Karli got his shooting skills, Peter got his problem-solving skills, and Riri got his confidence. He couldn’t be prouder.

As he got older, Joaquin understood why Karli needed more help and attention. As he got older, he wanted her protected as much as anyone out here. That’s why he didn’t think she should be on missions. Yeah, she was good with a gun, but killing did something to the soul. He never wanted to see that wild phantom roaming the woods again. Karli wanted to go to school like Peg and Sam’s mom. Sam told stories about her all the time. Joaquin just wanted her to be happy.

“Quin, you okay?” Nat asked.

“What?” Joaquin responded.

“She can handle herself,” Nat responded.

“I don’t know what you're talking about.”

“Well, when I’m out on a mission and I start to worry about Misty, I make myself focus because getting home to her is my first priority. Revenge, money, adventure is a pale comparison to her smile.”

“That’s lovely? Are all of you shacked up?” Stark asked.

“Rhodey and Clint broke up. Rhodey is more of a diplomat, and Clint is like us, loves the action.”

“Why’d you bring up Rhodey? I could have been asking about Wilson, The Dame.”

“Sure,” Nat said.

“You don’t think Sam ever...with the bartender or archer?” Bucky asked.

“No. Sam and Rhodey are brothers. Clint wouldn’t mind, but Sam is a long-term kind of guy. He was stuck on this trick rider.”

“Wichita Will, I know,” Bucky grumbled. “I hope he breaks his legs.”

“Monica is smart, beautiful,” Stark said.

“Jimmy sure thinks so,” Nat cautioned.

“Let’s focus,” Joaquin said. “Barnes, this is your position. Stark, Nat let’s head for the bank.” Joaquin said, watching Karli sneak into the first house below in town. He inhaled and exhaled. He focused on getting the job done and moved towards the bank. Beck may look like an idiot, but he had guards outside the bank doors.

“You’re up, Widow,” He said when he spotted the men.

“Wait, you’re going to send her in by herself?” Stark asked. 

“She’s going to send herself in,” Nat says. She emerged from the shadows in between the Sheriff’s Office and Post Office. “Good evening, fellas.”

“Well, my my, what’s a pretty little thing like you doing out here late at night?” one of Beck’s cronies asked.

“Looking for a little fun,” Nat responded.

“Fun?” another gang member said, grinning. He walked up to her leering. 

Here it comes , Joaquin thought. 

Nat flipped and landed on the man’s shoulders, spun herself around him and pulled him to the ground. He tried to get up, but her legs were vice grips. It happened so fast his friend was stunned and took a while to move forward. Joaquin’s knife sliced through the air and buried itself in his chest. Nat’s victim stopped moving. She slit his throat as she was getting up. 

They went inside the bank. Another goon was sleeping in a chair. Joaquin snapped his neck and moved towards the vault. He pulled the metal tube from inside his coat pocket. He poured Monica’s concoction on the hinges and stepped back. Nat poured the vial she was given in the same place and moved away quickly. They both kind of ducked, but nothing happened. 

“You said this woman was some kind of chemist?” Stark said, pulling out his glasses to look at the door. He was going to have to come up with something. Suddenly a spark ignited and the hinges turned molten where the liquid was poured. Metal dripped on the floor and cooled. Finally, the metal turned gray again. 

“Yeah, she’s a chemist,” Joaquin told the inventor.  

“She’s good,” Stark said. “Not bad.”

Nat smirked and helped Joaquin wrench the door open. Stark whistled looking at all the loot in the vault.

“Looks like Beck has been busy,” Nat said. “I bet he was stealing from Big Red.”

“Stark, do you see your stuff?” Joaquin asked the scientist who was deep in the vault now. 

“Yes,” he sighed. “It’s all here.”

“Good,” Nat said.

“Take all we can carry?” Joaquin asked.

“Take all we can carry,” Nat responded.

“Or, you know, we can use that wheelbarrow by the general store outside,” Stark said.

“You're already rich,” Joaquin commented.

“Yeah, because I take what I need and ask questions later.” 

“And your daddy was rich,” Nat said.

“That too,” Stark said.

“You three hold it right there,” A man with a gun sneered. Joaquin whistled and RedWing flew down from the ceiling and attacked the man. Nat flipped and knocked the gun out of the man’s hand. Joaquin put him out of his misery.

“That was neat. You guys are kind of like the stories,” Stark said. “So, loot?”

“Loot,” Joaquin agreed. Nat was already out the door headed towards the wheelbarrow. 

Chapter Text

Bucky

His eyes bulged when he saw the three of them struggling to get the loot up the hill. He looked down into the cart. Even in the moonlight he could see the gold bars. Nat combined two chemicals in a vial and shook it up. It turned bright green. She held it up in the air, and then the shooting started. He wanted nothing more than to run down the hill, but Wilson asked him to stay here. He was trying to get him to trust him, so for once, Bucky did what he was told. 

It occurred to him, from this position, and going by the plan, he may not have to kill anyone tonight. That little sneak. Bucky was disappointed. He thought they had a connection. That Sam- he saw some movement. He pushed Stark out of his sightlines and fired his gun. A man fell in the center of town. Ha! 

It seemed like a year later when another man scurried out of the saloon and into the night. Bucky put him in the dust. Two. Two miserable kisses. Well, Wilson thought he was smart. He was going to make them count.

They were riding towards Carolina City, everyone reunited. Joaquin was just ahead of them. Karli just behind. Bucky couldn’t hold his tongue any longer. “You cheated me, tonight.”

“I needed a sniper,” Sam said, not hiding his smile.

“Two. Two?” Bucky complained.

Sam laughed. Bucky glared at him. A thought occurred to him. “How many men did you kill?” He was going to find a way around this.

“I don’t remember,” Sam was clearly lying.

“You’re a liar. What about being honest, building trust?”

“Are you two playing a game?” Karli asked. He and Sam looked at one another in the moonlight. “Can I play?”

“No,” they both answered.

“He killed three men in front of me,” Karli volunteered.

“Six upstairs,” Jimmy said from the back. Bucky smiled as Sam groaned. They all loved him and wanted to defend him. They thought he was being humble and were helping him win. They were walking him right into his trap.

“I did not kill three men in front of you,” Sam said to Karli.

“So, you do remember?” Bucky asked.

“You did, actually. Two ambushes, and Beck. You sent him into the street knowing Bucky would end him,” Steve said.

“Really?” Bucky snorted. Sam would not look at him.

“Shut up,” Sam said. “And everyone mind your business.” 

Bucky laughed. He was happy and filled with joy. He felt like he could fucking fly right now. Sam shook his head. “Everyone can go home. Peg, I want you with the loot until we can distribute it. You’ll have the gang there to back you up. Steve, you’ll help her keep watch at the saloon?”

“If he’s too tired, I’m sure Happy or Clint-” Peggy tried, not very convincingly.

“Sure, I can help,” Steve said. “How much of a cut does everyone get?”

“The money goes to the eight towns under our protection,” Peggy explained.

“You're giving all that money away?” Bucky asked, alarmed.

“We’re not saints, we get a small cut. The four of you will too, but this is money that has been looted from townspeople. We’re just giving it back. They need supplies to feed their families,” Sam said. He looked over at Bucky “You know I could pay you for-”

“I like our original agreement, plus I can play Robin Hood. What about you Stevie?”

“I love it. I may not agree with all your methods, but at least you're helping people.”

“I guess no one wants to hear what I think,” Stark said.

“That’s right. You got your goods back. You guys could be on your way tomorrow,” Sam trailed off.

“I kind of want to meet this Big Red character you guys keep talking about. Eloise and Sadie want to go dancing. Also, you still need to pay up, Doll.”

“If he has occupied an abandoned Fort, it seems like a big job. You guys might need some help,” Steve said, looking at Peg.

“I have a bomb that will turn his fort into toothpicks,” Stark said. “I also still want to meet the person who designed the fans in the saloon.  I wouldn’t mind a chit chat with Monica.”

“Just say when, Stark,” Monica said.

“How about everyone go home and get some rest? We’ll regroup tomorrow.”

He and Sam veered off from the group. He noticed again a third of them went in a completely different direction. They were making progress, but Sam still didn’t completely trust him. He also realized that they would be alone all night. “We need to sweep the cabin again,” Sam said. “People get lost looking for a place to stay. People get lost looking for a place to hide out.”

“Okay,” Bucky said as the house came into view.  

They moved through the cabin, guns raised, looking for any sign of trouble. Everything was just as they left it. Bucky wanted to wash up. He had cleaned out and filled the stove this morning while Sam and Peggy were secretly meeting outside. Did he think Sam was capable of a double-cross, hell yeah, but it wasn’t something that came natural to him. Bucky had done nothing wrong to warrant it, so he felt safe. He trusted Sam. The minute he fucked up though, Bucky had no doubt Wilson would end him and not cry too much about it. Maybe a little, Bucky had a great ass. 

He lit the stove while Sam was tending to the horses. He went outside and got two buckets of water. One for some tea and breakfast tomorrow, and one for them to wash up tonight. He poured about a quarter of the water into a pot and placed it on the stove. He also put on a kettle. He needed to wash his clothes again too. Sam needed to burn his with all the blood on it. Bucky didn’t sleep much. He would get up early and take care of that and try to come up with some breakfast.

Sam had been watching him in the doorway for a few minutes. He let him while he poured two cups of tea and toasted bread. He slathered pear preserves on both sides of the bread and set the table for their dinner. Sam walked fully into the kitchen and took down a tin. It had jerky in it. He left and came back cleaner with a new shirt. They ate in silence. Bucky cleaned the kitchen while Sam got the heater going in the bedroom. Bucky brought in the warm bathing water and used half of it to wash up. Sam undressed. 

Sam was tall and toned. His leg muscles were really defined, probably because he rode horses all day. Bucky had strong arms because he needed to carry his rifles and every other week it seemed like he was hanging off a fire escape. No fire escapes here though. Just a grieving man trying to get justice for his family. A man from what Bucky could tell tried to do everything right, but this life, this world wouldn’t let him be.

Sam got in the bed. He leaned over and planted two kisses on Bucky’s cheeks. “What the hell was that?” Bucky asked.

“Your payment.”

“I don’t think so, Pal.”

“You said two kisses. Those were kisses.”

“Your lips barely touched my cheek, and I want tongue.”

“Well, you should have stipulated that.”

“You know damn well what I meant, Sam Wilson. That’s twice you’ve tried to stiff me.”

Sam huffed and leaned in again, his mouth hovering over Bucky’s. Bucky’s brow rose. Sam pressed their lips together and tried to move away. “Not so fast,” Bucky said, wrapping around him. He teased his mouth open, tasting him for the first time. He tasted like chamomile, preserves, and the rest of Bucky’s life. It was hot and sweet and fuck he hadn’t had sex in a week. Sam pulled away.

“That was a good one,” Bucky muttered.

“One?” Sam exclaimed. “That was like five kisses.”

“Speaking of nine kisses. You ready for your payment?”

“Fine,” Sam said, closing his eyes and puckering his lips. Bucky snickered when Sam squeaked. He didn’t stipulate where he wanted to be kissed. So, Bucky started with his ear and then trailed his tongue down his jaw. He spent two on his neck. One on both nipples. He took his time on his belly button and then looked up at him and finally kissed his mouth. 

“You have three left. Where do you want them?” Bucky asked, straddling him. Sam swallowed.

“You choose,” Sam said, his voice filled with lust. Bucky grinned, scooting back down the bed.

“I’m going to take your shorts off,” Bucky said, lifting the cotton from his skin. Bucky leaned down to place a small kiss on Sam’s dick, and the bedroom door burst open. Before he could turn he heard a gun cock.

“You’re disgusting. You just can’t help yourself, can you?” Rumlow sneered.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Bucky growled, rolling over. He inched towards the pillows and his gun. Rumlow hated him and was arrogant. He just needed to keep him talking. 

“Pearce wants Stark’s stash.”

“It’s not here,” Bucky said. “Bye Bye, Now.”

“I know, you're going to take me to it.”

“I take it you know this gentleman,” Sam said, pulling his shorts up.

“Don’t talk to me, disgusting punk. You know he’s a whore. He’s got another one of you sick fucks crying in Brooklyn right now. I told my wife what kind of man you are. You're depraved.” 

Sam whistled and Joaquin’s falcon flew into the room towards Rumlow’s face. The man dropped his gun and Sam put a bullet in his throat. “Good job, Big Guy,” Sam said, getting up out of the bed. A goon rushed into the room, and Eloise introduced herself. Sam caught another asshole trying to run out of the cabin. Bucky picked up Lulu out of her case. 

It was such a pretty night. There were millions of stars in the inky night sky. Even his gun fire looked pretty. The orange glow lit up the field as Bucky killed the rest of Rumlow’s men. The horses made a racket as they ran away. Bucky got up from the window. He went over to Rumlow, and yeah, he was dead this time. He stepped over the next body. That fellow was shot in the chest. Bucky slit his throat just to make sure. After two more bodies, he got a little nervous when he didn’t see Sam. He found him in the kitchen washing blood off his hands in their breakfast water.

Bucky watched him. He was pissed. Maybe hurt? “They found my cabin. They know where I live.”

“Rumlow was after me. He isn’t from around here. He just followed me.”

“How long has he been following you? Could he have followed the others?”

“They're capable, right? They can take care of themselves.”

“Bucky, I have more to worry about than just myself!” Sam yelled.

“So, who do you have at this secret house that you don’t want to take me to?” Bucky returned.

“My fucking kids,” Sam growled.

“How many kids?” Bucky said, alarmed, thinking back to the two bedrooms.

“None of your fucking business,” Sam said, opening a cupboard in the kitchen. He pulled a contraption off the wall and punched into a device. He glared at Bucky with the bell to his ear. “It took you forever!” Sam growled into the horn on the wall. 

“It’s after midnight,” a voice said into the bell. Bucky eyes went wide.

Who the fuck was he talking to? He walked over closer to Sam, trying to stick his ear in the bell. Sam pushed him back, gently.

“I was just ambushed. Bak, I want everyone up and the place locked down. You, Jimmy, and Joaquin are on patrol. Monica and Karli need to pull everyone into my den. It’s the most defensible position. Let the kids do their science thing.”

“Got it. Have you talked to-”

“I’m calling them now,” Sam said, pressing a silver bar on the device. Bucky reached up to touch it. Sam smacked his hand away, and pressed buttons. He waited again and Bucky heard Rhodey say hello. They had communication between hideouts?

“We were hit,” Rhodey said.

“Us too. How’s it looking?”

“Clint, Misty, Nat, and Bobbi made quick work of them. They never got to the vault.”

“Good. Wait, Bobbi? Good for her,” Sam said.

“Sam, I don’t know who this new posse was. Our spies didn’t either.”

“Good,” Sam sighed.

“Good?” Rhodey asked.

“They came to rob Stark and kill the Winter Soldier.”

“City boys?”

“City boys,” Sam said, looking at Bucky.

Sam

Sam was tired, and Bucky was relentless. They spent half the night digging a giant hole out in a field and burning bodies in it. Sam wanted to crash on the settee, but Bucky wiped him down and made him get back in the bed. When Sam woke up Bucky had breakfast ready. He had no idea where he got eggs from until he heard Karli and Joaquin out back.

Sam wrenched the back door open. “What are you two doing here?”

“We didn’t have anything to eat. You were tired and needed to rest. I pressed buttons on your contraption until I got Rhodey.”

“Did I ask you to do that?”

“You didn’t have to. They already ate. I waited for you. Sit down,” Bucky said. 

Sam glared at him. He really did whatever he fucking wanted to do. Was this a mistake? Was this the temptation of the flesh his father had preached so vehemently against?

“Sam, you need to eat,” Bucky said. 

“Who exactly was that last night?”

“My bad guy. I owed his boss some money. I accidentally slept with his wife.”

“Accidently? Are you sure you're not his bad guy?”

“Of course, I am, that’s why he followed me here. She didn’t tell me she was married, you know. Rumlow was a known philanderer and creep. She wanted to embarrass him. He couldn’t punish her because her father is an important man, so he wanted to take it out on me.”

“So, you- with women too.”

“Yeah, but mostly men. And before you ask, his name was Pinky. I told him I was no good, and he didn’t listen.”

“Really? You haven’t told me-”

“I’m turning over a new leaf for you.”

“You haven’t told me that either.”

“I didn’t want to bore you with the details. You're already skittish.”

Sam glared at him and ate his eggs on toast. There were apples from his trees on the table too. He hadn’t been home in days. It was no telling what his garden looked like. Joaquin liked to help, but he had been gone almost just as much as he had. Sam looked at the man in front of him. Bucky Barnes was handsome even with that bush under his chin.

Sam knew he was different growing up. He actually thought he was devout and pious because he never had any of the bad thoughts about women his father talked about, and then he went to war with other men. He won’t no virgin. He tried to keep up with the guys in his unit, but he was just going through the motions. When he was in the big cities he had heard of some men who took up with one another, but he tried not to think about it until Will Riley. 

He never had met anyone like him as far as he knew, and Riley was good looking and liked the things Sam liked. Sam was a cowboy through and through. Riley understood that, but he was only passing through. He met Rhodey a week after he had been raided out on the homestead. His best friend was already taking up with Clint. It was fine, great even because at least he had friends who understood him now. Then Rhodey introduced him to Misty and Nat. It’s their love that inspired him. He didn’t think he would find love, but now, there was the Winter Soldier, cooking and cleaning, talking about being his old lady.

“My father was a preacher,” Sam started.

“I know, and a sharecropper.”

“This sort of thing is in the bible,” Sam clarified. 

“So is eating pork, but no one ever remembers that,” Bucky grumbled. 

“You know the bible?”

“My mother was catholic and devout. She’s my hero.”

“Mm,” Sam uttered. They didn’t have time for this. He didn’t have time for this, and yet, “So what happens when we take the fort and get The Preacher, Thea, and Big Red. Stark will have his stash, and you will have helped me bring justice to this part of Oklahoma.”

“Seems like bad guys are shipping in every day. Eloise, Sadie, and Lulu like their dancing cards full. I like to make them happy.”

“So, a city boy like you is going to take up with me in Oklahoma.”

“It’s the wild west, Wilson. It’s a grand adventure,” Bucky smiled.

“I’m trying to end the adventure for me and mine.”

“If you say so, but you aren’t the type to sit on the sidelines if any of these people that look up to you need help.”

“My kids want to do big things. Safe things.”

“Well, I know the richest man in America. And he owes me a few favors.”

“You’d do that for me?” Sam asked, taken aback.

“For a price,” Bucky said smiling. “I believe I owe you eight kisses now. You owe me fifteen. It should be sixteen because I made sure one of your bodies was dead.”

“Y’all is killing folks for kisses?” Joaquin asked horrified in the door of the kitchen.

“That’s some good sneaking kid,” Bucky said.

“I think it’s romantic,” Karli said.

“Romantic?” Sam and Joaquin gasped. 

“Thank you,” Bucky said.

“Go get that map of the fort out of my bedroom and head to the saloon. We’ll be on.”

Bucky perked up. Sam realized he thought Sam was trying to be alone. “Your payment will have to wait. We have a lot to do today.”

“I figured as much,” Bucky pouted. Sam watched him watch Karli and Joaquin out the window. “She’s nineteen right. He’s twenty-one.”

Sam eyed him confused. It dawned on him. “No,” Sam threatened, pointing at Bucky. 

“They're both good-looking kids.”

“She has issues,” Sam whispered.

“Don’t we all,” Bucky said, drinking his coffee.

“They grew up together.”

“So, she trusts him?” Bucky said. Sam got up and put his plate in the sink to wash. He went to get ready.  “Are those your kids because I still haven’t heard a number,” Bucky called after him.

They spent the day delivering money and goods to their people in settlements across the state. The funds would help them by food, seed, books, medicine and other items to help them. Of course, the townspeople felt the need to give them produce, eggs, and goods back. Sam was waiting to tease M’Baku when he got an extra special gift from Claire. “Now that’s a kiss,” Bucky said beside him as they watched the couple. 

Sam ignored him and loaded up a few chickens to take home. The butcher gave them a bunch of dried and salted meat as well. Bucky flinched ever so slightly when RedWing landed on his shoulder. “Whose bird is this exactly?”

“Mine. He and Joaquin are partners in the field. RedWing is training him.”

“RedWing is training him ?”

“He wanted to learn how to work with falcons.”

“I’m training RedWing’s son for him when I’m at home.”

“It sounds like you need to get back there.”

“I really do,” Sam said.

“I can go to the saloon,” Bucky mumbled.

“You would just trail me, or try to at least, and then get lost.”

“I’m learning these parts,” Bucky said.

“Which way is Carolina City?”

“It’s a lot of green, brown and orange. I thought the point of this was to settle the Wild West.”

“It was already settled by the Natives, but you yankees want it to be like New York and London, huh?”

When they got back into town, instead of going to the saloon with everyone else, Sam, Peggy and Joaquin went to the church. Of course, Bucky followed.  Sam hesitated for a second, but then went into a store room and revealed an opening in the floor to a cellar. There was a tunnel in the back of the basement that connected to every public building in town. They walked past a giant vault and climbed a ladder and were back in the store room of the saloon. Sam watched Bucky realize Carolina City was Sam’s Posse town and a front to keep an eye on their enemies. 

The hand drawn map of the fort was on the table. Sam’s posse was surrounding it. “I’m looking to close out our unfinished business and slow down a bit. Most of y’all came out here with a dream. This is my home. These men are hurdles we need to leap. We built a community and network, and now it’s time to execute the final portion of our plan. Monica, how long do you need?”

“A week,” She said. 

“Joaquin, what did the kids say?”

“It’s about time, and they can be ready in three days.”

“Stark, you got everything you need for your bomb?”

“I could use a space to work and testing site.”

“We got all of that,” Monica said. “And some kids are dying to help-” she added, looking at Peggy and Sam.

“I say yes,” Peggy said. “They’ve proven themselves, and if not, we outnumber them three to one.”

You didn’t watch the Winter Soldier kill fifteen people in the dark at midnight , Sam thought. Sam looked at Bucky.

“Me and Steve can stay here,” Bucky grumbled.

“Hey, speak for yourself, Bub,” Steve said. Sam just noticed Steve and Peg were awfully close. He eyed Peggy. She blinked at him.

“What do you think?” Sam said to his saloon crew.

“Yes,” Misty said. “Happy’s a good dude, and I don’t see him getting mixed up with riff raff.”

“I want to see what this thing Stark’s got can do,” Clint said. 

Of course, Clint wanted fireworks , Sam thought.

Rhodey sighed, “Me too.”

“I don’t think they’ll be a problem.” Nat smirked.

“Alright, let’s pack it in. We’re headed to the ranch,” Sam said looking over at the Winter Soldier.

Chapter Text

Steve

He had his suspicions, but Wilson’s gang showed him they were good people, well, honest people- they weren’t a danger to him and his friends. Rhodey took him into the storage room behind the bar when he they returned from the heist. There was a trap door in the back of the massive room that led into an underground tunnel. Everything about these people was more than what meets the eye. He climbed down the ladder and Peg was waiting in front of a vault. The best Steve could tell, this whole town was built on an abandoned mine. 

Peggy had changed out of her blood-stained clothing and was wearing a dress. It was very proper looking. She looked like she belonged in Stark’s world, not out here in the wilderness. And lo and behold, after the boredom set in from standing guard all night, he learned that she was raised a wealthy socialite. When she asked about his family, he wasn’t ashamed of his upbringing, quite the opposite, but he wished he had more to show for himself. He realized that was crazy because his life choices led him to this exact moment with her.

He told her before the war he wanted to sit with the masters as a young man. They spent hours discussing art. They moved to music next, and then dancing, and then somehow, she was in his arms. Her head was against his chest as she hummed her favorite melody. It didn’t take much to bend down and capture her lips when she looked up at him with those deep brown eyes. He heard real music then, saw paint colors exploding behind his eyelids. He could almost swear he heard fireworks going off. She pulled away from him in panic.

“We’re under attack,” Peggy said, pulling out two pistols from under her skirt. She stationed herself at the ladder, ready to shoot anyone who didn’t knock three times before they descended.

“You’re not going up?”

“We have enough shooters and muscle upstairs. My job is to guard our livelihood.”

“Should I?” Steve asked as someone screamed.

“No, someone might see you and find the vault. It’s best to stay put. Our gang will handle it.”

Sure enough, a half an hour later, there were three knocks. Misty stuck her head down the hatch. “All clear. Sam called. He was hit too, but everything was alright at the cabin and at home.”

“Good. Was it Red?”

“No, some folks we never seen, but Sam says they are old friends of the Winter Soldier.”

“Old friends?” Steve asked.

“Pearce is the name the guy gave Clint upstairs. Pearce and Runlow.”

“Rumlow?” Steve asked. He should have snapped his neck when he had the chance. 

“Sure. Don’t matter much now. Sam sent him home to his maker. Y’all okay?”

“We’re good. How is everyone upstairs?” Peggy said. 

“Stark had a scare. He has a little scratch,” Misty reported. 

Oh shit , Steve thought. He moved towards the ladder.  

“He’s fine, Big Man. Rhodey took care of it. Happy is holding his hand. In other news, Bobbi stabbed a man in the eye with a fork.” Misty chuckled. Steve could see the woman was proud.

“Good for her. I knew she had potential.”

“See you in the morning,” she said.

“Thanks, Misty,” Peg said.

It took a while for them to settle back down. Steve explained Bucky, Pearce and Rumlow. He also explained his connection to Mr. Stark. Peggy explained exactly what a call was. Truth be told he still didn’t get it, but this posse had a lot of technology, weaponry, and infrastructure he had only imagined Stark could come up with. He was clearly wrong.

What wasn’t wrong was Peggy in his arms, her lips against his, the sound she made when she was under him. They woke up the next morning when three taps sounded on the door. A basket of food was lowered to the ground. They ate their biscuits and fruit, and then he left to wash up. When he got back Clint was guarding the vault while Peggy took a break.

Steve was angry. It was criminal to paint Sam, Joaquin, and Peggy as terrorists in the newspapers when they were heroes. The people in these towns loved them. Steve had tasted three pies today made by grateful men and women. He helped hand out supplies and load a few back up. He helped Peggy load a bunch of books, building materials, and metals into the cart Joaquin was driving. The books were far beyond his understanding. Maybe they were for Stark?

They weren’t for Stark. They were for the three children he was about to meet. Three of the five children that looked up to Sam and Peggy. On top of everything else, Snap Wilson’s posse had taken in orphans and raised them for the last few years. Karli was the oldest of these children. Steve didn’t take this lightly. He understood he was being trusted enough to be invited into their home. Bucky was damn near vibrating. His best friend didn’t do anything halfway. Stark was curious. The technology was a beacon to him, but Steve had the feeling a part of him would rather be back at the saloon. Rhodey was steady, fair, and wise. Steve always said Stark was a genius. 

They were riding uphill at sunset, and it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen, especially with The Dame beside him. The trees were thick here, but the further they went the more they thinned until the land plateaued. Steve could see a house through the trees. It looked run down. He actually could see several buildings now. A large main house, a few cabins, and a stable and barn. They had a small village on a hill. Steve could see an orchard and garden. The perimeter looked grown up and unkempt, but now that they were trodding on the grounds he could see that was intentional. The garden had neat rows, but the plants looked like they needed watering. A smattering of weeds needed to be pulled. The trees in the orchard were weighed down with fruit ready to be picked or else it would rot.

A screen door banged open on the main house and three teenagers ran out and surrounded Sam and Bucky. For the first time, the Winter Soldier looked afraid for his life. Sam listened to their chatter for a moment. “Let the man breathe,” Sam chided as they asked Buck millions of questions about his guns, hair, and stories they heard. Bucky just kind of stared at them, wide-eyed, his mouth open. 

“I’m glad you’re here. You guys can help unload the wagon,” Sam interrupted. The kids immediately abandoned Wilson for Peggy. They swarmed her, asking a barrage of questions.

“What books did you bring me?” the younger boy asked.

“Did you really tackle the Brooklyn Bruiser?” the older boy asked.

“I want to cut my hair, but Isaiah says it’s not ladylike,” the girl said.

“Are you the Brooklyn Bruiser?” the older boy threatened.

“Is it true there is a giant alligator in the tunnels under New York City?” the younger boy asked.

“Karli says you don’t use a gun? What do you do when they're firing at you?” the girl asked.

“I duck,” Steve said, smiling. The girl wasn’t impressed.

Sam whistled, and they all groaned, but went over and helped him, Bucky, and M’Baku unload.

“So, that’s them,” Steve said.

“That’s them,” Peggy answered, getting off her horse. An old man walked out of the main house and looked Steve over. Steve knew a father figure when he saw one. He looked him in the eye and nodded. The man nodded back and took Peggy’s, Karli’s, and Monica’s horse by the reins. 

“That’s Isaiah,” Peggy volunteered. Steve noticed Isaiah did not come back for any of the men’s horses.

“I don’t think he liked me.” Steve whispered.

“He’s not fond of strangers,” Peggy said.

“Did he design the ceiling fans and telephone system?” Stark said, straightening his clothes. Stark and horseback riding didn’t agree. He was used to coaches. It’s not like Steve had room to talk; his legs and ass were killing him.

“Riri, Peter come here please,” Peggy shouted.

Steve and Stark watched the two teenagers happily escape their chores. “Mr. Stark would like to talk to you about science.”

They both gasped, their eyes saucers. “Mr. Stark!” they both shouted.

Stark

He hated feeling like this. He felt like he was being pulled in two directions. He had to know about the phone system. He was interested in the fans, but the long-distance communication was cutting edge technology. Technology that was supposed to be a few years away. His brain wouldn’t let him stay at the saloon no matter how bad his libido wanted him too. Okay, so he was infatuated with Rhodey. He apologized to the man and he was gracious enough to accept it. A few days with the man revealed that he was smart and well respected by not only his staff but lawmen and outlaws alike.

So, it wasn’t his fault he had a minor crush. The guy literally saved his life for God’s sake. Stark was in bed, and he heard some commotion downstairs. He walked out on the landing overlooking the bar, and the first floor of the saloon was in complete chaos. Misty was pummeling someone with brass knuckles by the piano. Nat was on some guy's shoulders, beating into his head. Clint had a sword! He was running people through. Happy had a pistol, but he was mostly using it to knock people out. Even one of the working girls, Bobbi, had just stabbed some guy with a fork because he tried to ambush Clint. Two guys had Rhodey pinned down.

Stark ran down the stairs as the working girls were running up to find safety in their rooms.  He picked up a chair and smashed it into one of the attackers’ back. The guy crumpled in a heap. Rhodey drove the butt of his shotgun in the other man’s face and then swung it like a bat at his head. He heard a nasty crunch. Stark didn’t think that guy was getting back up. He could tell they were trying not to kill people. He guessed because of the neutral territory rule.  

“Stark,” He heard someone growl. He felt metal at the base of his skull. “Call your friends off.”

“They're not my friends. They're just really good at customer service. They have a money back guarantee and everything.”

“You're such an ass. Where’s your stash?”

This again , Stark thought. He turned to face the man, angry. “Pearce?” he asked, surprised. “What the hell are you doing here? You're a little on in age to make this trip aren’t you, Old Timer?”

“Fuck you,” Pearce said, cocking his gun. “Tell me where the stash is, or I’m going to blow your head off.”

“I don’t know. Snap Wilson has it,” Stark said, blinking at the man. Pearce put the gun to Stark’s head, his finger on the trigger. Stark heard a bang, his head exploded with pain. I’m dead. When he didn’t see the white light, he opened his eyes. Pearce’s brains were on the floor. He felt faint. Rhodey grabbed him. He noticed Rhodey had a pistol in his hand, and it was still smoking. He also noticed blood on Rhodey’s shoulder. “You’re bleeding,” Stark mumbled.

“No, you are. I’m no Snap Wilson.” Stark could feel it now the right side of his head was on fire. 

“Nobody’s Snap, but that was a damn good shot, Rhodey,” Misty said, coming over with a rag and a bottle of vodka. “Let me see,” She said. 

Rhodey helped Stark sit as Misty cleaned his face. It hurt like hell. He only screamed a bit in a manly kind of way. Happy rushed over and hovered by his side, fretting. Holy fuck! I have a hole in my head. I’m disfigured. I’m scarred, and I am going to need a glass eye. It's fine because at least I’m alive and have my faculties. Rhodey saved my life.

“You need stitches in your ear, but you should be fine. Cartilage in ears grows pretty fast. I’ll sew you up after we clean up. Keep this cloth on your ear. The pressure will help slow the bleeding.”

“Sew me up? What does she mean?” Stark asked.

“In another life, Misty was a nurse. She has the medical knowledge to be a doctor. You're not going to feel it any way. Between Monica’s Rainbow Juice and Nat’s coca extract. You’ll be feeling better than everyone here.”

“I don’t know how to thank you, Rhodey.”

“It’s fine, Mr. Stark.”

“I do have some ideas though. And call me Anthony.”

“Can I call you, Tony?”

“Yeah, I’d like that.”

After his medicine, he and Rhodey had some fun. He read an article by a Dr. Gaye on sexual healing once. Look, they weren't the only ones shacking up. Barnes looked like he was ready to put down roots. He actually had stars in his eyes before they left New York. Steve and The Dame were getting friendlier and friendlier. Even Happy and Misty had some weird friendship going on at the saloon. They hung out, drank, and talked guns. Happy stayed behind at the bar with his new best mate and her paramour. If Misty wasn’t with Nat, maybe Happy would have a chance.

Bucky’s chances had been looking pretty great until three kids rushed out of Wilson’s hideout and started asking questions. Sam Wilson was a good-looking guy. He was kind, just, and fucking badass with a pistol. He bet Barnes didn’t think he would have a boatload of kids squirreled away while he was dreaming about him in New York and making strap books. Stark laughed to himself. Never meet your heroes. 

He got off his horse. He didn’t understand why he couldn’t ride on the cart. The kids were harassing Steve now, but he looked like he could handle it.  The buff old dude not so much.

Stark wondered if the old man was the genius inventor and went over to ask Peggy. Next thing he knew, he was looking down at two eager kids. He looked at Peg to see if this was a joke, but then they started asking questions- smart questions. 

They pulled him into a small building that was clearly their laboratory and workshop. It was organized and well stocked. Stark did a double take when he saw the automatic weapon in the corner and what they were doing with it.

“Finally, people who speak my language,” Stark said.

“Karli said Rhodey speaks your language,” Riri sang with a smile.

“Ri, you're not supposed to tell him that,” Peter hissed. She rolled her eyes.

“You're right, Kid. He does. What are you doing to the gun?”

“Increasing its range and speed,” Peter answered.

“Making it smaller and quieter,” Riri said.  

“Smaller? You’ve reversed engineered it?”

“Yeah, that was the first step,” Peter said.

“Remind me to never take you to my workshops.”

“That hardly seems fair seeing you’re in our workshop,” Riri returned.

“Can’t argue with that. Show me the phone system.”

“We would love to, Mr. Stark. After you show us the plans for the subatomic mechatronic bomb,” Peter said.

Stark sighed. He was going to have to hire these asshole kids. “Deal.”

Sam

Sam had to stop more than once and look at Bucky. This was not the man he had been dealing with over the last few days. Bucky was quiet as he helped Sam take things into the house. The kids were...super smart and energetic. That was a lot to get used to. From what Sam could tell Bucky was a bachelor having the time of his life. Sam had never really thought about it, but he was basically a family man with a lot of responsibilities. Their time in the cabin had been quiet and yeah, sweet. They were alone and got to know one another or more aptly, experience one another. Bucky was hooked on this outlaw fantasy version of Snap Wilson that the powers that be cooked up to scare white citizens. That wasn’t Sam, and it was time Bucky figured that out. He would probably be moving on soon anyway.

Sam took a box of pies into the kitchen. Isaiah was in there seasoning meat. From the looks of it, he had got a boar. Sam smiled at the old man. They were going to have a pig roast for their guests. Sam clapped him on the back. “How have they been?”

“Terrible. You know how they get when one of you don’t come home. They were ready to ride out. I thought I was going to have to tie Elijah down,” Isaiah complained.

“Your grandboy is almost as big as you. You're going to throw your back out again.”

“Big don’t mean grown. I’m glad you're back to wrangle all of them.”

“You need some help in here?” Sam asked.

“Monica is going to make the beans for me, and Jimmy is going to make that cucumber salad I like.”

“Well, we got plenty of pie to go with.”

Sam turned when Bucky walked into the kitchen. He looked around. Sam saw surprise in his eyes. It was a large room and the center of their home. They had two giant hutches filled with goods on one wall. A large kitchen table and a settee on the other side of the room. A hearth, the wood stove, an ice box, a basin on the other. A giant work table stood in the center. Isaiah had pots, garlic, and drying spices hanging on the wall. It was pretty grand, and the only kitchen that was bigger around these parts was at the saloon. Both were designed by Rhodey. Sam could tell Bucky liked it, but the cat still had the man’s tongue.

“Well, who is this?” Isaiah asked like he didn’t know.

“Isaiah, this is James Barnes, the Winter Soldier,” Sam said.

“Is that so? You shoot as well as they say you do?” Isaiah asked, getting to the gist of things.

“I’m pretty good,” Bucky said. Sam sighed. Bucky was being bashful. Bucky had been acting strange ever since the kids came out and said hello.

“We’ll have to do some target practice after dinner,” Isaiah suggested.

“Sure,” Bucky said, relaxing a little. Sam shook his head. Of course, guns and bullets brought him to life.

“This is Isaiah Bradley, The Deac,” Sam introduced. Bucky’s eyes popped open. “Yeah,” Sam said. “He taught me everything I know. Bucky’s a fan of all that crap they put in the papers and the penny comics.”

“Don’t believe everything you read,” Isaiah said.

“I try not to. Is that a pig?” Bucky asked. 

That’s right. The city boy probably got his cuts from the butcher , Sam thought.

“More or less, a boar. We have a lot of mouths to feed, so me and the kids went out this morning.”

“Can I help with anything?” Bucky asked.

“Nah. Monica and Jimmy’s going to fix us up some sides.”

“What about bread? I know how to make rolls,” Bucky suggested. 

That piqued Isaiah’s interest. “Cornbread?”

“Oh, I don’t know how to make cornbread,” Bucky deflated.

Sam recognized Bucky was trying. “I can show you when it’s closer to dinner. I’m going to take a nap.”

Sam left the kitchen with Bucky following him like a ghost. “I can show you to you and Steve’s room.” Sam said, sitting in his chair and pulling off his boots. 

“So, we’re back to that,” Bucky mumbled.

Sam was about to answer him when Riri shot into the den. Peter was chasing her. “Give it back!” he yelled.

“You’re going to ruin the integrity, and we only got one left. Can you just listen?” she said, circling the settee. 

“No.” Peter lunged for her. She dodged and ran out of the room as Peter fell over the arms of the settee he landed at Bucky’s feet. “Sorry,” Peter said, getting up and chasing after Riri.

“Are you going to do something?” Bucky asked, bewildered.

“I am doing something. I’m letting them sort it out. It’s their process. They’ll fight and bicker over the science, math, and logic. Then something will click, one of them will have a genius idea, and the other one will help them realize it. They're in the thinking stage. It’s very loud, but productive. I’m having a nap before dinner.”

“I want a nap too,” Bucky said.

“Let me show you to your room,” Sam said.

“Is this going to be a thing? I didn’t take you as a back-alley kind of guy.”

“I don’t know what that means, but Buck, I met you days ago. This is my home. Those are my kids. This is my life. I like you, but you’re on a job that ended yesterday. Sure, Stark is interested in the kid’s projects and Big Red, but what happens after? He’s your ticket home.”

“I can find my own way home, Pal,” Bucky growled.

“And that’s just it. If you're going to leave, I prefer you do it sooner than later. We had our fun, but this is my real life. I don’t bring people in and out of their lives. They lost too many folks already. If you’re just a guest, helping take down Big Red, that’s one thing.”

“I didn’t say I was leaving, you said that.”

“Bucky, you said it yourself, it’s an adventure for you. You're going to get bored. I can tell you're uncomfortable around them. Maybe we can spend some alone time before you leave.”

“Oh, you’ll see if you can sneak off to the cabin with me again. Don’t do me any favors, Sam. I’ll ask Peggy where the guest room is,” Bucky said, turning to leave the room.

“Hey, I didn’t mean it like that,” Sam said. He felt bad. He did, but he had to tell Bucky the truth. 

Sam went and took his nap. When he woke up, it was pitch black out, and suspiciously quiet. He could hear crickets singing and critters moving. He walked into the kitchen. Monica was teaching Bucky how to make cornbread. Jimmy and M’Baku were playing cards. He grabbed an apple off the table and went through the den. 

Joaquin, Isaiah, and Steve were out on the back-porch rearranging furniture to make a table large enough to hold all of them. Karli was sticking wildflowers into jars for the table. Peggy was lighting candles. He went across the yard to the shed that was the kid’s lab.

Peter and Riri had their heads together bent over the thing they were fighting about earlier. He didn’t know how they could see in that dim lantern light. Elijah and Stark were talking as Stark fiddled with the automatic gun. Sam listened for a while eating his apple. Elijah was pitching his bank ideas to Stark.

“I got to tell you, kid. I’m an inventor. I hire people like you to deal with my money. Have you asked Rhodey? He’s the businessman.”

“Yeah, and he gave me a lot of good ideas.”

“Well, there you go. Sounds good, but I’m not an expert. I was born with money, an accountant, and a lawyer. I mean, I work my ass off-”

“Language,” Sam grumbled. 

“Sorry, I work hard, but I had a giant leg up. Rhodey built his place from the ground up.”

“You seem impressed by Rhodey’s business acumen and work ethic,” Sam smirked. 

“Look who’s talking. You seem impressed by Bucky’s-” Stark started. Peter and Riri eyed each other and looked up at Stark. Elijah was hanging off Stark’s words.

“Anyway-” Sam interjected. “It looks like dinner is almost ready. Y’all need to wrap whatever that is up,” Sam said. 

Peggy walked into the room. “Oh, I didn’t realize you were up. I was coming to get them for dinner.” Steve walked in behind her. 

“Mr. Rogers, will you show me a few of your punches?” Elijah asked.

Steve looked at Sam, and then Peggy. Sam shrugged. Peggy pursed her lips, but didn’t say anything. “Sure. It’s great calisthenics,” Steve said.

“After dinner, and after you finish your chores,” Sam said, leaving the shed. Peggy followed him, putting her arm through his. “They seem to be taking to Steve.”

“Yes, and your point is?” Peggy asked.

“I don’t want them getting attached.”

“Well, I do. They need connections in New York when they go off to school. I wish someone had come to kill us from Boston, Atlanta, and Chicago. You could charm them with your man on a mission shtick.”

“I don’t think the Brooklyn Bruiser was charmed by me, Beautiful.”

“Barnes certainly was- is,” Peggy snorted.

“Was probably is the correct word,” Sam said.

“What did you do?”

“I told him the truth. I have too many responsibilities.”

Peggy stopped before they got up to the house all the way. “Sam, you're a good man. No one here is expecting you to sacrifice your happiness for everyone else. I thought the whole point of this is to find some peace, safety, and yes, happiness.”

“It is,” Sam said, quietly. 

“The kids are almost grown, and even if they weren’t, you're not a monk or priest.”

“Not this again.” Sam had heard this speech hundreds of times.

“Yes, this again. Stop punishing yourself for something you had no control over. The Preacher and Big Red burned down your father’s church. It had everything to do with racism and greed and nothing to do with you trying to help your community. You deserve happiness and love.”

Sam shook his head, Peggy continued, “And while I’m pissing you off, trying to be the man your father wants, this paragon of virtue, is not going to bring him back. It’s also making you miserable.”

“What are you talking about? I love you guys.”

“You do. And we love you Sam Wilson. That’s why we want you to be happy. I want you to be happy,” Peggy said.

“It doesn't matter. They are going to leave.”

“Probably, but are you going to spin another five years pining over some traveler or actually ride something more than horses this time?”

Sam snickered. “Peg.” He looked back across the yard for the kids. They still had not come out for dinner. “Are you riding horses with Steve?” Sam whispered.

“I don’t kiss and tell,” Peggy said, smiling. She let him go to rush over and take half the plates out of Monica’s arms and help her set the table.

“That’s a yes,” Sam called after her. He watched Bucky and Isaiah come from around the side of the main house with the pig.  Sam tried to think of something to say to Buck when he was tackled from behind by Joaquin. Of course, the other kids were coming out of the workshop at the time. They thought it was funny and immediately ran over and piled on top of him. He got Joaquin in a headlock and Karli decided to help Sam. They wrestled around laughing until Peggy cleared her throat. They all got up, washed their hands in the water bucket, and went over to eat the feast Isaiah and company had prepared.

Sam sat in his seat at the head of the table. Peggy usually sat at the end of the table with him, but she took a seat by Jimmy and Monica. Bak came from washing up, and Sam waved him over. His friend smiled at him and went to the other end of the table.  Sam groaned. Isaiah and Bucky got the pig situated to carve. Bucky turned to sit, but all the seats were taken except two. He looked at the open chair at the far end. “That’s your seat isn’t it?” Bucky asked Isaiah.

“You’re smarter than you look,” Isaiah said, carving into the pig and placing the juicy meat on a platter. Bucky came and sat down without looking at Sam. Peggy silently egged Sam on from her traitor seat. 

“Hey, about earlier,” he tried.

“Don’t worry about it,” Bucky said. Sam shrugged and took the bowl of cucumber salad he was being offered. He scooped some on his plate. When the cornbread came around he was impressed. It looked damn good.

“Good googly moogly! This cornbread good,” Bak said. He turned to Karli, “Short fry, go get the honey.” She sighed. 

“I’ll go get it,” Joaquin said. Sam eyed his mentee. Holy shit. Bucky was right .

“Bring a few cloth napkins, too, please,” Peggy said.

“Salt too,” Monica said.

“And the other pitcher of lemonade,” Jimmy said.

“I’ll help,” Karli said, getting up.

“No,” Sam said, hopping up. Everyone looked at Sam. Bucky shook his head.

“I’ll help Joaquin. You eat,” Bucky said, slipping away before Sam took a step. 

Him and Peggy shared another glance. That was something they were going to have to deal with. He had given Joaquin the birds and bees talk a long time ago. Joaquin’s grandpa had too before Joaquin followed him to Oklahoma. Monica and Misty had sat Karli and Riri down last year. He thought Riri was still too young, but he was overruled by every woman in the posse. Isaiah took it upon himself to talk to Peter and Elijah. Sam had to answer several questions from the two boys after that talk.

Joaquin and Karli were both good kids. He loved them. He wanted to see them flourish. He didn’t want to see hormones get in their way. Holy fuck this was going to be a nightmare. They were grown, and told everyone so every ten minutes. He and Peggy wanted Karli in school. They would just talk to them and check in. Really that’s all they could do. He would remind both of them that the other kids looked up to them. That Karli had goals. He would get Peg, Misty, and the girls to talk to Karli again about woman stuff and her difficulties. He should pull Joaquin aside and remind him too. It was a good plan. Right now, though, he was hungry.

Sam scooped some beans on Bucky’s plate, and then put some on his and passed it to Peter. Stark handed him a bowl of green goo. Sam stared down into the bowl. He looked back up. No one had taken any. “It’s a Romanian dish that Bucky’s mom liked to make. It’s spinach and cream sauce, basically,” Steve offered.

Sam looked at the door leading into the house, and then at Steve’s plate. “You didn’t get any,” Sam whispered.

“I don’t like spinach,” Steve said.

Sam pursed his lips as everyone smiled at him. He scooped some on his plate and on Bucky’s. 

“Taste it,” Bak said. “I want to know if I should get some.”

“Why me?” Sam hissed. He had planned on just moving it around on his plate to make it look like he ate some.

Bak blinked at him. Sam narrowed his eyes and ate a spoonful. “It’s good,” Sam said, cleaning his spoon. Peter put some on his plate, and passed it. So did Karli and Riri. Isaiah declined. Peggy tried, Steve passed, and Bak took half the bowl. When Stark set the bowl back down, Sam scooped more on his plate. That’s when Bucky and Joaquin came out with lemonade and two pies.

“Between this cornbread and spinach stuff, the Winter Soldier seems like he can really burn,” Bak commented.

“I helped my mom in the kitchen a lot,” Bucky said, sitting down.

“Where’d you learn to shoot?” Peter asked.

“His mom,” Karli answered. 

“She seems like my kind of lady,” Bak said.

“I thought Claire was your kind of lady,” Riri said.

“She is,” Bak said back.

“Your guns are Stark, but they have been altered,” Riri said to Bucky.

“Yeah,” Bucky said. Riri waited for him to say more. Sam smiled at her. Bucky glanced at Sam. He paused. “I had them specially made. A guy I served with in the war was a great blacksmith, T’Challa. He was like you guys, good with technology and science. He studied the way I shot and offered his services. He owns a blacksmith in Harlem.”

“Are you talking about Prince Smiths?” Stark asked.

“Yes,” Bucky returned. 

“He stole my customer base in Harlem.”

“I like him even more,” Bucky teased. The kids liked that joke and smiled.

“Your guns are already top of the line Mr. Stark, but this prince guy took it to another level,” Peter said.

“I’m man enough to admit he did a good job,” Stark sniffed. “I’ve seen what they can do.”

“What do you do for a living?” Elijah asked, looking at Bucky. Sam put his fork down to properly scowl at the boy. “What? Bruiser’s a boxer, Stark’s a businessman, and your-”

“I work at the library,” Bucky said. Steve snorted. “No, I really do,” Bucky admitted. 

“You’re a librarian?” Karli asked, just as shocked as Sam. Steve looked curious too.

“Technically, I move furniture around and put books back. It’s a job. Closer to what I dreamt of being. I wanted to be a college professor.”

“What happened?” Peter asked.

“Well, you all are certainly on a roll,” Peggy said.

“Let the man eat,” Sam said, backing her up.

“It’s fine. The war happened,” Bucky said. “I hounded the real librarian until he gave me a shot. I’ve been wanting to slow down for a while now.”

“Don’t we all,” Peggy said, smiling at Sam.

After dinner, they set up a few targets and brought out lanterns to have a shooting contest. Sam watched Bucky, Karli, Jimmy, and  try to outdo one another. Bucky won in the end, only because Karli got distracted by the boxing lessons Steve was doing with the other kids. Even though The Deac was well past his prime, he was still the fourth best shot here. Jimmy was way better than most.

“Sam, get on out here and defend our title,” Isaiah commanded. 

“You guys got it,” Sam said, sipping on Monica’s new batch of Rainbow Juice.

“Ah Ah, Sam. You need to let these yankees know what time it is,” Monica said.

“Come on Sam,” Bak said, eating pie.

Sam got up and pulled out his gun while Bucky reloaded Eloise. Isaiah set up six new targets. “Bucky’s on the left. Sam is on the right. Let’s see which bottle breaks first.” Peggy ran off the porch and made a line in the dirt. Monica walked over and took a ribbon from Riri’s hair.

“Hey,” the girl pouted.

“I’ll get you more,” Monica said, handing the ribbon to Isaiah.

“Thank you, ladies, for the help,” Sam snarked.

“Your welcome, Darling,” Peggy said, moving out of the way. Monica just grinned. Steve and the kids had stopped playing to watch the fight. Even Stark sat up. He and Bak had been enjoying dessert and a nightcap. Isaiah raised his arms, the ribbon blowing in the breeze. He let it go and two bottles exploded across the yard.

“Gahtdamn. I didn’t even see it,” Bak said.

“Language,” the kids teased. They were making fun of Peg and Sam.

“Nice Shot,” Sam said to Buck.

“I know,” Bucky returned.

“Oh, okay,” Sam said. “You’re still mad at me.”

Bucky swung his arm and pulled the trigger; his bullet curved hitting the first bottle from the side, and then shattered the rest. “Yeah, I am,” Bucky said in Sam’s face as everyone cheered. 

Isaiah lined up six more bottles. Sam shot at his cultivator in the garden. The bullet ricocheted off the metal and travelled through all the bottles breaking them. “I didn’t mean to make you mad. I want us to be real with one another and enjoy the time we have left.”

“I was trying to enjoy spending time with you,” Bucky whispered.

“I don’t want to give the kids any ideas. You're right. Joaquin and Karli are circling one another.”

“They’re adults. That’s usually what happens. And you know as well as I do, it has nothing to do with them. You didn’t even believe me this morning,” Bucky said, aiming and firing at the cultivator. The bullet bounced off and broke the first four bottles, but went wide on the last two. Sam fired and broke the last two and waited while Isaiah set up bottles. “I’m not ashamed of who I am, Sam,” Bucky declared.

“I never said you should be, but who you are doesn’t exactly line up with Oklahoma living.”

“Do you know that?” Bucky asked.

“No, I don’t because again I just met you.”

“So, instead of trying to get to know me, you push me away?”

“I don’t want to get to know you if you're just going to leave,” Sam admitted.

“You keep assuming things about me, and it’s not fair.”

“Mr. I’m here to kill the outlaw Snap Wilson?” Sam snorted.

Sam tried to arc his arm like Bucky does and fired his gun. The bullet turned too early, missing the first bottle; it got the rest of them though. Truthfully, the last one broke because a piece of shrapnel hit it. 

“Damn, y’all really are evenly matched.” Isaiah said, setting up the next set. Before Bucky could fire Karli pulled the trigger, her arm thrown out. Her bullet curved and broke all the bottles from four paces behind them. 

Bucky kept looking between Karli and the broken bottles. “Like I said. She’s better than both of us,” Sam said.

“She didn’t do the trick shot,” Bucky argued.

“Baby girl can do that in her sleep,” Monica said.

“And we’re out of bottles,” Isaiah added. “Y’all kids get over here and help me clean this mess up.” The kids groaned. 

“I’ll do it. I made the mess,” Sam said.

“I’ll help,” Bucky mumbled.

Riri and Peter tried to sneak back into their workshop. Sam pointed to the main house, and they went inside for bed. They would work all night if Sam didn’t say anything and be worthless tomorrow for chores. They needed to get that garden together. Elijah was already half asleep, helping Peggy and Monica carry stuff in the house. Jimmy offered to show Steve and Stark their sleeping quarters on the side of the main house. Bak helped Isaiah get the furniture back in the house, and then went to him and Jimmy’s quarters. Karli and Joaquin were pretending like they were cleaning up.

“Karli,” Peggy called from the kitchen window. “I need you, My Love.”

Sam thanked God for Peggy every day. He didn’t want to say anything, but he was about to say something. He loved those kids and didn’t want to hurt their feelings, but absolutely would to protect them or help them. He and Bucky were alone again, raking and shoveling glass into a bucket. When they were done he put the bucket in the kids’ workshop. They use the glass for their experiments.

“Which one is the guest house?” Bucky asked. Sam could see lantern light in two of the three small buildings.

“The one in the middle,” Sam said. Bucky turned to go. “Hey,” Sam said, grabbing his hand. “I think it’s admirable trying to move closer to your dreams.”

“I think what you're trying to do here is pretty special.”

Sam glanced at the kid’s bedrooms. They were dark. Bucky looked at the building. “Sam, I don’t want you to do anything you are going to regret. I get it. They’re great kids, and they do deserve stability and peace.”

“They do, but it sounds crazy when you realize we rob and kill bad guys for a living.”

“You also take care and love them. I don’t want to mess that up. Good night,” Bucky said, heading towards his bunk.

Sam went to his bedroom. His bed felt pretty big and cold after two nights of sleeping with Bucky. He tried to get comfortable and go to sleep, but he heard a noise in the hall. He got up and opened the door, and Jimmy was going into Peggy and Monica’s room.

“What are you doing?” Sam hissed.

“Do I have to spell it out?” Jimmy asked. 

What the hell was in the water around here? “Peg’s-” Sam tried.

“In the guest house. I passed her on the way in.”

“Where’s-” Sam uttered.

“Stark’s in my bed. Bucky is in the den on the settee. We walked over together,” Jimmy said, opening the door, smiling, and locking the door behind him.

Sam huffed. He could just go back to bed. He could. A thought occurred to him. He opened the door across from Peggy’s and Monica’s. Joaquin, Peter, and Elijah were knocked out. 

He was thirsty. He walked quietly past the den and into the kitchen. Bucky looked like he was asleep. He got a glass of water as quietly as he could. He jumped when Bucky brushed past him and filled his own cup. They watched each other.

“You can sleep with me if the settee is uncomfortable,” Sam said.

“What if it’s comfortable?” Bucky asked.

“I offered,” Sam said, putting his glass in the basin to wash in the morning. He walked back up the hall to his room. He turned to close the door, and Bucky was there with a pillow and blanket.

“I’ll sleep in here, but no funny business,” Bucky said. 

“I’ll try my best,” Sam got in bed, amused.

Chapter Text

Bucky

He knew this was hypocritical, but Sam needed to shave. His fuzz was tickling Bucky’s skin as they lay there wrapped around one another. Bucky left on his shorts to sleep in because he was trying to be good, but Sam’s hands were inside them, on Bucky’s ass. It was morning and Bucky could feel every inch of Sam against his thigh.

He wanted Sam in his mouth and in his ass, but he couldn’t say that. In fact, he was trying not to breathe, or Sam might wake up and pull away from him. It wasn’t sustainable though because Bucky had to piss. He also had the urge to get up and make breakfast. For what, twelve people? Sam lived with nine plus people.

He knew Sam was religious and loved his preacher father, so getting him in bed was going to take work. Work he was willing to put in for the man. He was smart, good, and handsome. He fucked up yesterday though, and that was enough for Sam to retreat into his stoic bullshit. 

Bucky had issues sometimes with large groups of people, only sometimes, but especially when he didn’t know them. It was worse yesterday because he was trying to impress them. They were important to the man he planned on spending the rest of his life with. Those kids were so smart and so full of life, and Bak, Monica, Jimmy, and Isaiah were great. Even still, Bucky just kind of shutdown in the beginning. 

Sam thought he was another Wichita Will. That all of this was too much for him. It was going to take some getting used to, but Bucky was willing. After dinner, most of Bucky’s anxieties had calmed. He knew he wanted Sam Wilson, not Snap, Sam. And this brood was a part of him. Besides, Sam’s posse reminded him of his crazy extended family anyway. It was a comfort.

Sam shifted against him. His dick sliding across Bucky’s. Bucky narrowed his eyes. He leaned forward and kissed Sam on his neck. Sam shifted against him again. Their hips perfectly aligned. Bucky moved against and Sam squeezed his ass. Bucky bit Sam’s ear. “Don’t think I’m not counting,” Sam rasped. He rolled into Bucky again.

“I’m not worried about it. You’re going to owe me so much after we hit the fort. There’s not going to be an inch of your skin my lips haven’t touched,” Bucky said, kissing him again. Sam pinned Bucky into the bed and rocked into him at a steady pace. Bucky groaned. “You know you can take my shorts off. Yours too.”

Sam quickly leaned over to get Bucky’s underwear down. Bucky stroked himself. Sam pulled his shorts down just enough for skin on skin contact. He rolled on top of him and went back to thrusting against Bucky. The sniper met Sam’s hips with equal pressure. Pretty soon they were grinding into one another lost in the sensation. Bucky chased his orgasm like he chased Sam’s mouth. He came, gently biting at Sam’s lips. Bucky had to cover Sam’s mouth with his own when he came. He wanted nothing more than to pull that sound from him again while Sam was inside of him. They would have to work up to that.

Bucky whipped up some flapjacks, and poached some eggs. He got some coffee going and put a kettle on for tea. Isaiah shuffled into the room once the coffee was ready and poured himself a cup. The old man pulled leftover ham out of the ice box. There wasn’t any ice in it. Bucky was going to ask how they kept it cool, and then he remembered Sam had adopted two baby Starks. Isaiah put the meat on a tray and put it in the oven to warm and then set down at the table to read the bible.

Peggy showed up and pulled down the fanciest tea cup Bucky had ever seen. She also pulled down a tin of flowery smelling tea and made herself a cup. “Can I make you all a cup?” Peggy asked. 

“You know I only drink chamomile and ginger.”

“I wouldn’t mind some if you're willing to share.”

“Of course,” Peggy said, pulling down another teacup for Bucky. She held the cup out to him, and he reached to take it. She did not let go and gazed at him.

“Is this where we threaten each other over our best mates?” Bucky asked.

“I don’t know. Is there a reason too?” Peggy returned.

“No,” Bucky said and meant it.

“Splendid. Do you want sugar or honey?” Peggy went over to the hutch filled with jars and metal canisters.

“Neither. I want to taste it fully first.”

“A man after my own heart.” Peggy smiled and sipped her tea.

Bucky pulled the meat out of the oven and had a platter of flapjacks warming too. The eggs were done. Peggy surveyed his handiwork. “Looks delicious,” she said. She went over to the window and opened the shutters and rang a giant bell. Bucky fought the anxiety as everyone rushed into the room. Sam was the last to enter dressed for a day of work. He sat at the head of the table. 

Bucky was surprised the mornings at the ranch were a quiet affair. The kids were half asleep, stuffing food in their mouths. Peggy and Isaiah read and drink their beverages. Bak and Steve ate with fervor. Monica was doing complex equations and occasionally chewing on ham. Jimmy beside her was thoughtful. Stark again was fiddling around with his papers.

“We’re going to eat, do our chores, and then this afternoon we are going to go over the assault plan,” Sam announced. “Monica, how much more time?”

“I can finish today if I get some help bottling. Stark and Jimmy helped me mix last night.”

“Great. Thank you, Mr. Stark, Jimmy.”

“Anthony,” Stark said, folding a flapjack around a piece of ham. He was reading what looked like Peter’s writing and Riri’s diagrams. Bucky had looked around the place while everyone was sleeping except Isaiah. He was out smoking a pipe on the back porch. The workshop was covered with schematics and diagrams the kids had come up with. It looked like professional stuff he had seen in the war. 

“I can help,” Steve said. 

“You know I’ll help,” Jimmy said. 

“Great. Bak thanks for volunteering as well,” Sam said. Bak nodded. Sam turned to the kids. “How much more time do you all need?”

“We’re done,” Riri said.

“We’re helping Anthony with the bomb now,” Peter said.

“Mr. Stark,” Peggy and Sam corrected.

“Joaquin, I want you and RedWing to scout.”

“Elijah and Karli, you're on horse and bullet duty. Make sure everyone’s saddle is loaded with what they need.”

“You’re sending Joaquin out alone against The Preacher and Big Red?” Karli asked. 

Sam inhaled slowly. “He’s only scouting. Joaquin can handle himself. There’s a reason Tiny Torres is a wanted man. You know that.”

“I’ll go with him,” Peggy said. Sam eyed her. 

Peggy knew Karli was going to ask to go to back him up if she didn’t volunteer. Sam knew it too. Sam didn’t mind being the bad guy if it was to protect his people. Bucky could see Sam going back and forth about the kid’s budding relationship. Peggy was trying to provide a third option to stave off the argument that was surely coming. Bucky knew how it felt to be angry at the person you looked up to the most. He had no idea what it felt like to piss your kid off or make them sad trying to protect them. 

“I need you here to plan,” Sam said to Peggy.

“I’ll go,” Bucky said. “I want to see the sightlines anyway and learn the layout of the land a little bit more.”

Sam glared at Bucky. Bucky glared back, cutting into his flapjack. “Okay,” Sam said. “I need everyone back by the evening. We ride at dawn.”

“Dawn?” Steve asked.

“They're expecting a night attack like Beck, and if we hit them before shift change the guards will be asleep or tired and make stupid mistakes,” Bucky said. Sam smirked at him. He looked up and everyone else was looking at him. “What? Don’t let this apron fool you.” Sam rolled his eyes and went back to his breakfast. Everyone else did the same.

Bucky was surprised when Sam had Karli saddle Figaro for him to ride. “You’re not going to be able to keep up with Joaquin and Kawa without my good boy,” Sam said, butting his forehead gently against his pet. Bucky checked the bullets in Eloise and Sadie. He strapped Lulu to his back. “Bucky it’s just recon. Let Joaquin do his thing.”

“I’ll be good,” Bucky said, and he would because Sam was trusting him with the kid and his horse.

It was hard though when Bucky got a look at the fort and all the idiots walking about with no protection. Stupidity like that came from arrogance. These men corrupted the law and terrorized the people they were supposed to be serving. They took over a fort to protect the money they had stolen. They thought these walls and their reputations were going to save them. Eloise and Sadie felt heavy against his hips. They were ready for the dance tomorrow.

Joaquin was good at his job. They circled the whole fort moving from one location with cover to the next. Bucky was building a map in his head. He guessed Joaquin was too. The young man watched intently, especially when the guards changed their shifts. Bucky wanted to move closer to get a look at the cannons on top of the fort, but Joaquin pointed out a guard tower without any guards in it. It was a trap. The guards were hidden around the fort. Joaquin pointed them out silently. The young man must have been watching the fort for weeks.

They rode back in silence. Bucky was enjoying himself. It was weird. He loved the hustle and bustle of New York, but sometimes he felt like he didn’t have space to think. Out here, with no one for miles, all you had was you and your thoughts. Sometimes that wasn’t a good thing, especially for him when he started thinking about all the death he had wrought, but quiet could be calm. He had been yearning for a little calm for the past few years now, but he always found some trouble. It’s a shame there were assholes who took advantage of people wanting a better life, a different life out here. He was going to help these people get their calm and then try to enjoy the stillness himself. Well, with Wilson of course, and his family.  “Are you going to leave?” Joaquin asked.

“Not planning on it,” Bucky said.

“Good,” Joaquin said.

“Are you going to leave?” Bucky asked.

“No,” Joaquin responded. “Everyone I love is here.”

“What happens when that’s not true?”

“What do you mean?”

“Just making conversation.”

Instead of going back to the house. They went to the hidden headquarters in the mine. Everyone was there waiting, everyone, even the crew from the saloon. They all seemed anxious to Bucky. He got it. Tomorrow would wipe the last names off their hit list. If Clint and Natasha’s intel was correct the loot would feed all the communities under their protection for months, maybe years. Sam looked determined. He hoped tomorrow helped the man find some peace. Joaquin and Bucky relayed what they found, and Sam, Peggy, and Rhodey laid out the plan.  

Rhodey

The sun was just starting to stretch its arms over the horizon. They looked down on the fort. God, this was beautiful country. The ancient trees towered in the sky. The sea of grass swayed in the wind. The wildflowers came in every color imaginable. It was views like this that tricked him into thinking this place was a place where he could be free, where he could start a family. He looked around at the people surrounding him and realized maybe it wasn’t a trick. 

Joaquin, Nat and Clint walk back up the hill, their clothes blood-splattered. “We got all the guards,” Joaquin said, mounting his horse. Clint and Nat did the same. 

Sam nodded, grabbed Figaro’s reins and yelled, “Ya!” Sam tore down the hill while the group split into thirds. Rhodey was with Sam and the east wall breaching team.

The ride was brutal. Him and Sam went riding all the time, so Rhodey was good, but Sam was flying down the hill. Joaquin and surprisingly Barnes, not far behind. They were nearing the fort wall. RedWing and Quetzal took off in the air. The winged beasts were carrying jars. They let them go as they flew over the walls. The jars crashed into the wood and exploded. 

Rhodey watched Figaro, Kawa, and Daisy jump the rubble and disappear into the fort with their riders. Two more explosions went off around the fort. Rhodey swallowed and squeezed Buddy’s sides to get him to run faster. When Rhodey cleared the wall, he thanked God. He only felt mild shame when he had to shoot someone in the chest a second later. 

Joaquin was off his horse, running along the walls. He had jars tied to him and was lighting up every structure he saw. Rhodey could see Nat was doing the same on the opposite side of the fort. A guy tried to tackle her, and she scaled and slid around him like a boa constrictor. Her fangs were daggers that buried themselves in the man’s heart. She flipped off his corpse and continued her work.

Jimmy, Monica and Bak were on treasure duty. The guards were trying to hold them off with gunfire. Jimmy and Bak shot back, slowly but surely thinning the herd. Monica pulled two canisters off her horse and rolled the two milk jugs towards Big Red’s men.  Jimmy shot the containers once they were close enough. Their path to the vault was free and clear now. 

Peggy and Thea, Big Red’s daughter, were locked in battle. Their feud ran deep. Steve tried to jump in and was told to stay out of it while Peggy punched the woman in the stomach. He had his hands full anyway with two guys with chains. They kept trying to wrap his hands and one succeeded, but he got snatched towards Steve and his fist. The guy's neck broke from the sheer force. The other guy understandably pulled a gun. The Dame’s bullet tore through his temples. Thea tried to get the drop on Peg while she was distracted, but The Dame whipped around and shot her too.  

Bucky was unreal. He too was on foot. Shooting everyone he saw. He single-handedly took down the men on the wall with his shotgun, Lulu. Sometimes he shot around their team for a kill. He was out of bullets and before he could reload someone rushed him. Bucky’s knife lodged in his attacker's throat before the man touched him. Someone was dumb enough to try to tackle Sam Wilson. The Winter Soldier’s bullet sailed from across the yard around Happy and into the man’s heart.

Rhodey was a little worried when twenty men emerged from a cabin Joaquin and Nat hadn’t got to yet, but bullets rained down on the square at alarming speed and accuracy. Rhodey smiled up at Clint, but Stark was up there with him too to keep the bullets flowing and contraption going. Stark should have stayed at the ranch. Rhodey sighed. He didn’t know how that fucker had charmed him. He was pretentious and arrogant but also really smart and kind. He was starting to feel like family, and Rhodey didn’t want anything to happen to him, anyone else out there, or Misty, Isaiah, and the kids back home.

There was one kid that wouldn’t take no for an answer. Rhodey didn’t know who was scarier, Barnes or Karli. Sam was amazing with a gun, but he didn’t like the killing. Rhodey didn’t think Karli and Barnes necessarily enjoyed it, but they weren’t too bothered about it either. At times they were cavalier, like now. The Preacher had bullets in both legs, palms and one in his stomach. Every time he moved, Karli shot the dirt. The bullets were so close the man had burns on his cheeks. Any one of his men that tried to save him met a quick merciful death, but not The Preacher. 

Rhodey didn’t understand a man with a name like that doing the things he did, especially to Karli’s real family, a lot of family’s if the rumors were correct. Karli only survived because her parents were smart and hid her when they saw the men coming. Rhodey doesn’t know if he could live with pain like that. She was a wonder. It’s why no one stopped her. It’s why no one probably could stop her. Karli shot out the man’s kneecaps. The Preacher wailed in pain. “Please,” he blubbered. 

“My mama and daddy begged you, but you wouldn’t stop either,” Karli said, shooting the ground when he shifted. The fire fight had died down. Karli cocked her gun again to take another piece of the man. He howled out in pain, and she smirked. It was frightening. That’s when a bullet tore through his head. Karli screamed and turned. Joaquin was standing behind her, his gun smoking. 

“What did you do?” Karli screamed.

“I killed him,” Joaquin said, holstering his gun.

“You show a man like that mercy?”

“I don’t care about his mercy, but I do care about you. You're better than him,” Joaquin said. “The buzzards will finish him off.”

Karli ran at Joaquin. Peggy rushed forward, but Joaquin waved her off. Karli swung the butt of her gun at him, but he easily dodged. She pushed him. He stood his ground. She swung again with her fist. He caught her arm and pulled her into a hug. She struggled at first and then collapsed into him crying.

Rhodey wiped the tears from his eyes and then turned to Sam. He was covered in blood, a gun in his hand and staring at the man who burnt his father’s church to the ground. Big Red put together a gang of degenerates that had pillaged, raped and killed across this land. The Wild West was supposed to be an adventure, a promised land. First, they destroyed the natives who lived here to take what was theirs, and then the innocent and gullible. They took the sacred and defiled it. Even now with Big Red’s men dying around him, his riches being packed away in Monica’s cart, he stood in the square spitting mad and incredulous. His sneer read how dare they.

No one thought of killing Big Red, they all stood around waiting for Sam to do it. Sam was content in this moment to let him watch his kingdom crumble. When it was just them and him, the fort burning around them, Sam spoke, “Pick up your gun.”

The ruddy man was redder than usual, but did what he was told. The cheat that he was took a shot at Sam before he had straightened up. Sam was hit in the side, and the Winter Soldier raised his guns, but Joaquin stopped him. Sam stumbled back for a second, but planted his feet. 

“You have no honor at all do you?” Sam asked. Snap Wilson wavered. Bucky and Peggy stepped forward. “Stay back,” Sam commanded.

“Get on with it, ni-”

The first bullet bounced off the water tower and severed his tongue.”

Big Red screamed and raised his pistol. The second bullet pinged off a flag pole and tore through his wrist. His gun fell with a clatter. The third bullet burrowed into his heart.  The man grabbed his chest. “That’s for my daddy,” Sam said. Blood was rushing down the man’s chin. He fell to his knees in the dirt. The forth bullet lodged itself between his eyes. “And that’s for the citizens of Oklahoma.”

The fifth bullet came from Rhodey’s gun to his surprise. It tore open the man’s head. “That’s for my ranch.” Rhodey shrugged when everyone grinned at him.

Sam arched his brow at his old friend and then fell over. Bucky, Joaquin, Peggy and Karli rushed to his side. Monica and Bak drove over with the cart and loaded him up. Joaquin jumped in the driver seat, Bucky got in back with him as they rushed to get him back to Misty.  

When everyone was at the top of the hill, there was a giant boom and the burning fort imploded. Nothing was left except the need to get Sam to Misty.

Chapter Text

Sam

“You’re an idiot!” Peggy yelled. Sam hissed as Misty pulled the thread and needle through his flesh. Nat was acting as Misty’s assistant.

“I had a job to do,” Sam slurred.

“She’s not wrong,” Misty huffed. Apparently, it was the third wound she was patching up on him. Big Red’s bullet had grazed him. It mostly got skin and muscle, but he had been stabbed. That was the wound she was worried about. He had been out for the first two surgeries and had just woken up. He thinks he remembered being stabbed, but really, he was trying to get to Big Red when he saw Karli had The Preacher pinned down.

Sam looked at Bucky who was white as a ghost. He was mostly hovering and wiping his brow every two minutes. He kept trying to run ice over his lips. Okay, that part helped. The kids were outside his bedroom door. “I’m fine,” Sam said because Riri looked like she was about to cry. “Peggy?” Sam said, gesturing to the kids. The Dame narrowed her eyes at him, her hands on his lips. 

“I got it,” Nat said, handing Bucky the supplies. “Come on guys, let’s help Monica and Jimmy put everything away. Karli didn’t move when the others were shuffled away.

“You too,” Sam said. 

“You can’t die,” Karli whimpered.

“I’m fine. Go help with the chores,” Sam said. After she left, and he heard the door bang closed, Sam asked, “I’m fine right?”

“If your stab wound doesn’t get infected, and you haven't lost too much blood,” Misty returned.

“I’ll keep it clean,” Bucky said.

“Good,” Misty said. “Did you really shoot out his tongue?” 

“Yep,” Sam smiled, relaxing into the pillow.

“My man,” Misty smiled. Sam yelped when she poured vodka on his wound.

He didn’t die, but he was about to commit murder. He asked Karli to bring him his guns, but she refused with a snicker. Bucky was hovering. He bathed him, fed him, changed his dressings, gave him his medicine, and read to him. When Misty was checking his wound, Bucky was over her shoulder. 

Nat’s coca extract was finally kicking in, and Sam was having a good nap. He woke up to Bucky using a mirror to see if he was still alive. Sam kicked him out. Peggy and Karli played nurse for a while. They said Bucky was sleeping. Sam was happy Barnes listened to him, but Steve told him Nat drugged The Winter Soldier so he could sleep. Bucky didn’t eat or drink anything he didn’t fix himself for the next week. He also didn’t leave Sam’s side.

After two weeks, Sam was stir crazy. Bucky went to fix his lunch, so Sam went out the back door and made his escape. He was standing in his garden amazed. They had kept it up. He didn’t see any weeds. The soil was moist, and he had peanut plants in the ground. He never got a chance to plant them. It was Isaiah who found him. Everyone yelled at him for a while, but it felt good to have some sun on his skin.

Misty and Bucky relented, and he was allowed to take walks around the ranch. Riri usually walked with him, and then Peter and Elijah started coming. Of course, the wonder twins were pointing out all the plant and animal species. Karli, Joaquin, and Bucky trailed them every afternoon. Bucky was trying to be stealthy at first, but Joaquin sniffed him out. 

He started sitting in the den in the mornings before the saloon opened so he, Peggy, Misty, and Rhodey could discuss their next steps. The money had been doled out to all the towns minus their cut. They had enough money now for everyone’s plans. Things were coming together.

A week later, they all quieted when Bucky helped him out on the back porch, and he took his seat one night for supper. “He lives,” Sam said, and they all snorted and went back to sharing their feast. Sam looked around the table at his family and smiled. When Bucky was done fussing around him and fixing his plate, Sam reached up and kissed.

“Ooh,” Riri said as everyone teased. 

Sam shook his head and said, “Eat your food.”

Weeks passed, and Sam was back to 100% and working in the garden when Bucky came out of the house with a devious smile on his face. “Do you know what today is?”

“Tuesday?” Sam said, picking a weed and throwing it on the wheelbarrow to burn later.

“Our three-month anniversary,” Bucky said.

“Is it?” Sam laughed. Bucky scowled at him. “I’m sorry,” Sam said, leaning over and kissing him.

“So, go wash up so we can go,” Bucky said.

“Go?” Sam asked. “Buck, I got so many things-”

“Peggy and Isaiah said they would handle it.”

Sam sighed. He narrowed his eyes, “Is this about kisses?”

“You owe me 22 kisses.”

“There weren’t even twenty-two men at the fort,” Sam fussed.

“There were over 100 from my count. Clint mowed down at least 20. Joaquin and Nat got thirty or so in their sleep. The posse gunned down the rest. So, my 22 plus the five I saw you kill. Unless you want to give me your real number,” Bucky said. Sam pursed his lips. “Be ready in thirty minutes.”

“I’m subtracting all those kisses you snuck when you thought I was sleeping or unconscious.”

“We’ll see, Sweetheart.”

Later in the day, He and Bucky were riding in Monica’s cart. Bucky had Figaro’s reigns. Sam was confused when Bucky missed the trail to town. “Do you know where you're going, City Slicker?”

“Yes,” Bucky said.

“I don’t think you d-” Sam’s thought was cut off as his cabin came into view. There were rocking chairs on the porch. Flowers planted out front. They were going to die soon because they were planted in sand, but still beautiful right now.

“So, this is where you’ve been sneaking off to after breakfast,” Sam said, kissing his cheek. Bucky tried to help him down from the wagon out of habit, but Sam got down himself. Bucky pouted until Sam laced their hands to walk up on the porch. The railing had been fixed. The paint on the door and trim touched up. The door didn’t stick when he went inside. Sam smiled. The place was spotless. There was a fire going. All of his stuff was still here, but rearranged. It looked better. He noticed a flicker in the kitchen and the table was set with his mama’s good china and there were candles lit in her candelabra. The food smelled heavenly.

Sam ate Bucky’s delicious cooking while the man told Sam about fixing up the place with help of course. “I figured we could sneak off together when we want some alone time,” Bucky said.

“Yeah, and after the kids move out, I can move back in.”

“What about Isaiah? Jimmy and Monica. M’Baku?”

“Isaiah owns the biggest house in Carolina City. He moved in with me for protection. He doesn’t need it anymore. Jimmy and Monica are ready to add to our family. They need alone time to do that. I have a feeling M’Baku is moving pretty soon, but I will be lonely out here,” Sam sighed. “I sure could use a little lady.”

After dinner, they had lost count of kisses ages ago as Sam lay on top of the man. When Sam started grinding against him, Bucky pushed him away and reached for a tube.

“What’s KY Jelly?” Sam asked.

“Misty was using it to patch you up.”

“Are you about to perform surgery?”

“No, but this stuff is better than the olive oil I usually use.”

“Use for what?” Sam’s eyes popped open when Bucky covered his finger in the stuff and inserted it in his ass. “What are you doing?” Sam watched transfixed. 

“Getting ready for you,” Bucky said, groaning. 

“You want me inside of you?”

“Very much,” Bucky moaned again.

Sam did as he was instructed because Bucky looked uncomfortable stuffed to the hilt. That lasted about fifteen minutes, and then Bucky was begging for it. Sam could finally make Barnes his. He was half euphoric, sliding his cock in and out of his ass. It was so tight and slick. It felt better than anything he had ever experienced. More thrilling than a gun fight. More satisfying than saving the day and giving back, and deeper than any romantic love he had ever had before. This was rose wan in moonlight.

Peggy

A grand adventure. Well, she certainly got what she asked for, didn’t she? The price was steep, but she was still here, happy and in love. The truth be told, she didn’t think she was cut out for that sort of thing until she met Steve. She didn’t think she was the nurturing type until she met the kids. This life, this place took a lot from her, but it also gave her something very special, a place to belong. She never fit in with the socialites. She was more interested in politics than the fashions of the day. There is nothing wrong with that sort of thing. Navigating high society could be just as treacherous as politics, and required significant skill, but Peggy was drawn to the latter. Who knew she would find her true self amongst criminals and working girls and boys.  

Now, she was helping her kids realize their dreams. They officially opened Elijah’s bank three months after taking down Big Red. People came from miles around to put their money there because it was rumored the bank was protected by Snap Wilson, The Dame, and the Winter Soldier. Even Anthony Stark opened an account with Sunken Fort Savings to fund his new ventures in Oklahoma. He built a brand-new factory in the town of Carolina City. 

Peter and Riri got jobs at that new factory. Sam and Peggy only agreed to it as long as Stark paid for tutors. Stark shipped in a genius math and physics teacher by the name of Banner and his wife, Betty. Monica was hired as a chemistry teacher, and Bucky was hired as the English teacher. 

At Rhodey’s suggestion, Stark opened their services to any kids in Carolina City that wanted to attend their lessons. They eventually had to build a school house because the town was growing faster and faster every day. People flocked to the city, and its neighbors because they were the safest in the wild west. Bucky opened a library on the weekends and for two hours after school.

When it was time, Peter and Riri had paid patronages to a school of their choice. Howard, Harvard, Princeton, Cambridge, Oxford and Hampton all wanted them. When Peggy asked where they might want to go, they had no idea. They were still having a blast in Stark’s factory.

With a growing town with new job opportunities, the town needed a medical office and pharmacy. Misty and Nat, happily built an apothecary, with a small clinic in the back. Even though Misty didn’t have a piece of paper, everyone called her Doc Knight. A man that was board certified set up his shingle, but had to move on after a year or so because he couldn’t attract any patients. He sicced the medical board in Chicago on Misty. So, they all agreed to use some of their savings to send Misty to anatomical lectures she needed for certification. Stark had pulled a few strings.

It took some work, but Stark convinced Rhodey to travel with him amongst other things. Rhodey got to see places he had only dreamed of. In Stark and the posse, Rhodey got the big family he always wanted. Jimmy took over the bar with Clint helping him out. Bobbi and Clint have been engaged three times, but still haven't made it to the church down the street. Happy got married to Stark’s assistant, Pepper. Misty and Nat took the train to New York to attend the ceremony.  M’Baku also got married to Claire and is the sheriff in Green Ridge now. 

Sam says he isn’t the town sheriff, but he’s the town sheriff and unofficial mayor. If there is a problem at the saloon that Jimmy and Clint can’t handle, Sam takes care of it. A new family moved to town. The husband liked to get rough with his wife and kids, so Sam got rough with him. He left the next day without his wife or kids. Elijah hired the wife as a teller at the bank. 

Some new guy, desperate and down on his luck, tried to rob the bank. Elijah knocked him out, and Sam took care of the rest. The guy works as a farm hand now, so Sam’s the town sheriff. He just works out of the church. He let Bucky turn the sheriff’s office into his library. Only a mayor and sheriff can make that decision even if they don’t want to be called that. Bucky on the other hand doesn’t mind being called the mayor’s spouse.

Peggy and Steve talk about marriage all the time, but working for Stark has Steve travelling a lot. Peggy accompanies him sometimes, but she took over the general store when the Pyms retired. The store keeps her plenty busy as well. Isaiah is happy to watch it for her when she travels, but he is getting on in age. She had to shut the store down for a week when Karli got accepted to Howard College. In fact, most of the town shut down.

Karli

Everything was moving so fast. They defeated Big Red. They built up the town, and now, she had been accepted to school. Sam and Peggy sent off the money and rented her a small apartment. Her, by herself. She freaked out at the thought. 

When Sam and Peggy first took her in, she hid from everyone at the ranch. Riri kept trying to play with her. Peter asked her fifty questions a minute. Elijah was always trying to explain things to her like she was a dunce. There was too much noise all the time. Now, she never wanted to go back to the quiet which was ironic because Joaquin found her in the headquarters, alone crying. The next day he proposed at Sunday dinner. 

He had a ring and everything. She looked at Sam for him to tell her what to do. He just looked back at her. She thought about her father, her real father. He once told her that her mother made his insides squishy. That’s how he knew he loved her. That’s how she felt about Joaquin, but she wanted to go to school. If she said yes, would he want her to stay? 

He didn’t want her to stay. He wanted to go with her and get a job while she went to school. When she got her degree, they would move back home. And now, they were in a city miles away from home in front of a small church. They weren’t allowed to get married according to Oklahoma law. Joaquin was Nahuas and Mexican. She was Negro, even though her daddy was Jewish, so, they had to wait until they got to Washington, DC. Karli looked down at her hand again. 

“We don’t have to do this,” Joaquin said. 

“Are you trying to back out now?”

“No, I’m trying to give you an out,” Joaquin said.

“Well, you're not living together unless you're married,” Isaiah said. Misty smacked the old man on the arm.

“We’ve lived together for five years,” Karli pointed out. “And every other couple here.”

“It’s different here, My Darling,” Peggy said. “If Joaquin is going to live with you in Washington, D.C. while you go to school, in order to rent an apartment, you two have to be married. People can be cruel.”

“I’m not scared of a fight.”

“They cut you with their tongues, not knives in the big city,” Peggy warned.

“I don’t care what they say,” Karli returned.

“If you don’t want to get married,” Joaquin said again.

“I do,” Karli said.

“Good. Me too,” Joaquin said, kissing her.

“Just because you're married doesn’t mean-” Sam started. Bucky put his hand over Sam’s mouth. Sam bit it, gently. 

“Well then, let’s get this show on the road, so we can move y’all in,” Riri said. “I want to go to the museum.”

“And the Lincoln memorial,” Peter added.

“I’m getting hungry,” Elijah agreed.

Karli squared her shoulders and walked into the church with Joaquin by her side.

Tommy

Him, Alpine, and Figaro were picking up the pine cones like his granddad told him. He was almost done, and then he could have some of Pappy’s ice cream. He looked at the two cats playing in the pile he had made and sighed to himself. He was never going to get any desert. He shooed the cats away and started loading up his wagon. 

“Hey kid.” 

Tommy jumped, his hands going to the gun on his hip. It was some man with a camera around his neck.

“Yeah?” Tommy asked. Before the man could speak his granddaddy was in the yard by him, and his Pappy by the gate.

“I’m sorry to bother you. My name is Kenneth Rose. I’m writing a book about gunslingers in the wild west and someone told me that Snap Wilson’s posse used to run this town. Ms. Margaret and her husband Steve said you both were living here when they rode through. I heard he had a shootout with the Winter Soldier in the town square. Blew up a fort about twenty miles out.”

“Snap Wilson,” granddad said, searching his thoughts. “I ain’t never met the man myself. I’d have you know, Ms. Margie is a busy body. Lots of people make up stories when they get bored and ain’t much going on ‘round here, Son. Snap Wilson ain’t nothing but an urban legend,” he said, heading back into the house. “Good luck on your book.”

“Oh, I met him,” Pappy said once granddaddy was back in the house. “He was a stubborn asshole. Good man, though. Handsome. He brought justice to these parts.”

“Could I interview you-” 

“No,” Pappy said, grabbing Thomas by the hand and taking him into the house.

Thomas was eating his ice cream with his granddad, while Pappy washed dishes. “Grandad?”

“Yes,” the man said to his redheaded grandson.

“Isn’t your last name Wilson?”

Pappy giggled at the sink. “Eat your ice cream,” grandad said.