A/N:Thank you to everyone who reviewed, favourited or followed! Lots more Bucky and Steve this chapter, and the rest of the Commandos are there too! I hope you like it! x
Against All Odds: Chapter 9
Business As Usual
True to her word, Marilyn trudged into the mess hall at six AM sharp, despite her late night adventures. It wasn't hard to find Steve and Bucky – they sat in the exact same places they had the previous day, when they'd interrupted her breakfast with Peggy (not that she minded, of course). She didn't even bother going to grab food, and just dragged herself over to the chair she had sat in before and dropped unceremoniously into it with a loud groan. It drew a few glances from around the room, but she was too tired to care. The boys watched her curiously as she dropped her head and pressed it to the table beneath her.
"Rough night, doll?" Bucky's tone was light, but Marilyn could hear the worry laced into voice that he was trying to conceal. It had become quite obvious to her that the Sergeant was a bit of a worrier. It wasn't something Marilyn was used to (from anyone but Logan, that is), and she found she quite liked it. It was endearing, in a way,
"I got a lil lost now, didn't I?" She grumbled, rolling her head to the side so she could peek up over her lashes at the two men in front of her. "Didn't get back to my quarters until past two this mornin'." Bucky let out a low whistle, but couldn't quite manage to hide the concern that spread across his features. Steve didn't even try to hide it, and openly frowned at the woman.
"You should have slept in, Mari. We'd have understood if you didn't make it."
"Naw, I couldn't. I wake up naturally at oh-five-hundred anyhow. Habit from bein' in the army, I guess." She sat up now, stretching her arms high above her head before dropping them and grinning. "Besides, couldn't leave my two best guys waitin', huh?" And damn, the looks on Bucky and Steve's faces after she said that made up for any sleep she had lost from coming to meet them so early. Steve's face flushed bright crimson and his eyes darted around the room before finally falling down to his lap as he ducked his head, avoiding her eyes at all costs in hopes that she somehow wouldn't see how affected he was at her words – as if that were possible, he was practically glowing. Bucky, in contrast, maintained steady eye contact, tilting his head back ever so slightly and not even bothering to hide his widening grin, or the way his eyes softened and his body seemed to relax.
"Possessive, are we?" Bucky teased, though his voice was low and quiet, and he'd had to lean forward onto his elbows towards her to try to make sure she heard it – she'd yet to tell them the extents of her abilities, otherwise he would have known that her enhanced hearing would have picked it up regardless. She didn't bother telling him now, it was a conversation for another time, and instead frowned at his constant awareness of hiding their bond – both his and Steve's, and theirs and hers. Even so early in the morning, with only a few other people scattered around the mess hall, he still found the need to be cautious.
Ever since her words appeared, Marilyn knew that if she ever found her soulmates then they'd have to be quiet about their bond – there was a lot of hate out there towards folks with two soulmates, after all – but she had never imagined it would have to be hidden to such an extent. But Steve was America's golden child – no way could he have two soulmates, and no way could one of them be another man. That would 'ruin the dream', apparently. She supposed that was the downside of having God damn Captain America as your soulmate (it had taken her longer than she would like to admit to realise exactly who Steve was. In her defence, she was pretty out of it the first few times they'd met.)
"Very," she finally replied, nodding slightly almost as an afterthought. The words hung in the air for a few moments, until Steve cleared his throat, finally having managed to wrangle his blush down into a more manageable shade of pink.
"Peggy said you accepted the position?" His voice was nervous, as if just saying it out loud would make her change her mind. She smiled softly over at him, resting her head on her fist to support it as she peered over at him. The man was fascinating, to say the least. She had no doubt that he could hold his own in a battle situation – he was Captain America, after all – but from what she'd seen, put him in any kind of emotional or personal encounter and he was as skittish as a Chihuahua. It was pretty obvious that he was not used to sharing anything with anyone other than with the man sat next to him.
"Sure did, couldn't say no to such a pretty offer, could I?" Both Steve and Bucky started at the words, making Marilyn frown. It didn't hit her for a few moments, but when it did she shrugged apologetically. They were her words. Her words on Steve's body were very similar to the words she'd just spoken. She'd been drugged up on that HYDRA serum when she'd first said them to him and only vaguely remembered saying them (though, for reasons she couldn't explain, she remembered Steve saying his words just seconds before with perfect clarity), and perhaps it had been an automatic reflex then too. It definitely hadn't been the first time she'd said a similar phrase, and definitely wouldn't be the last. She hadn't considered it a problem, but judging by their reactions she would have to be more careful. "Ah, sorry fellas. I didn't think."
Bucky seemed to snap out of it first, throwing her a reassuring smile as he nudged Steve with his shoulder, as if to help him snap out of it– the closest he could get to actually comforting him in public, that is. It seemed to work though, and Steve shook himself before smiling shyly, the blush returning to his face. Bucky grinned. "No problem, doll. Just don't want anyone listening in, is all." His voice lowered now, leaning towards her again. "Everything is kept in the files, you never know who knows what." She nodded in understanding, and he leaned back into his seat. "We're glad you're coming with us though, doll." It was her turn to blush, much to the boys' delight. It gave Steve the courage to finally speak up again.
"Me and Buck are gonna be in overseeing your training." He shifted in his chair, eyes flicking up to meet hers briefly before falling back to the table. "Is that okay with you?"
"Of course, hon. Is it okay with you?" The super soldier didn't look particularly comfortable, and was squirming around in his chair as if he had ants in his pants. Bucky was frowning at him too, obviously as confused as Marilyn.
"I don't… I don't want to hurt you." She huffed out a breath, letting her eyes scan across the room quickly. The other inhabitants of the room had left, leaving the three soulmates to their own devices, so she whipped her hand out to grab Steve's where it laid clenched on the table. His head shot up, blue eyes wide as they locked onto her own – maintaining eye contact for possibly the first time since they had met. His hand slowly relaxed under her own, and she nodded in satisfaction before speaking, not removing her hand. She'd been around long enough to know when someone needed physical contact to be reassured, and everything she knew about Steve practically screamed it.
"Darlin', I'm tellin' ya: I'm tougher than I look. And if you do manage to hurt me, then it's fine. I'll heal right up. No harm done." Steve didn't look convinced, and fixed his eyes onto their hands. Her fingers were now unconsciously drawing patterns over his knuckles, a lot softer than how Bucky's often did (she'd later tell him that her hands couldn't get calloused, no matter how many guns she'd handled – that her healing factor didn't allow it).
"Okay, but you'll tell me? If I hurt you?" Her thumb brushed over his knuckles again once, twice, three times before she squeezed and finally let go of his hand and withdrew her own.
"I'll tell ya right away, sugar." Her head jerked to Bucky, who had been quietly listening the entire time, an amused little smile playing at his face. Steve was full of worries and insecurities and Marilyn had picked up on it and handled it exactly as Bucky himself would have (though, admittedly, if they weren't in public there would have been a hell of a lot more touching). If he had had any doubts that the woman would fit into their little group, then that would have blown them right out of the water. "And Bucky can tell ya if I'm lying, right?"
"I'll tell ya right away, punk." Bucky nodded, bumping their shoulders together again. Steve finally seemed to relax and nodded, and Bucky turned back to Marilyn. "The rest of the Commandos got back last night. You up to meeting them, doll?" He was still acutely aware that she'd only had a few hours of sleep – he could practically feel her exhaustion through the tie. She just nodded.
"We can do that, yeah. I'm gonna be savin' their asses soon enough, so may as well get it over with, right?" Her stomach growled loudly, and she frowned down at it, as if it had offended her, before looking back at the two. They couldn't quite hide their grins, but she decided to ignore it – for their sakes. "But I gotta grab food first, or else I might keel over on ya."
"Sure thing, doll, they can wait."
Okay, so maybe introducing Marilyn to all of the Commandos at once was a bad idea. She and Jacques Dernier had been arguing back and forth loudly in French for the better part of half an hour, ignoring everyone else around them. Bucky and Steve had thought themselves quite efficient in French from working with the man over the past couple of months, but the duo were talking so quickly it was practically impossible to keep up. The rest of the Commandos just watched in amusement from their seats (the two had stood up in the middle of the room when things had gotten heated, and were in the perfect position to put on a little show).
"You're impossible!" Marilyn finally yelled, in English. About God damn time. "Who in their right mind thinks liquorice is better than chocolate?" There was utter silence for a few moments before the rest of the Commandos burst out into laughter, besides Gabriel Jones who had known all along – he'd elected to stay quiet to see how long Marilyn could hold her own against someone as pig-headed as Dernier. Quite a while, it seemed.
"Doll, are you meaning to tell me you've been screaming at Dernier here because of his backward-ass taste in candy? I thought you were gonna lunge at the man." Bucky asked, an eyebrow raised at her, but a grin still plastered across his face. He had been genuinely worried for a while that the two had a history, and that it was going to cause some tension within the team (never even mind between him, Steve and Dernier – as much as he had teased Marilyn about being possessive, he was certainly not one to talk). Marilyn just grinned back at him.
"To be fair, Sergeant," Jones interrupted. "He was being ridiculous. Chocolate is far superior to liquorice." He threw a wink over at Marilyn, and almost simultaneously the three soulmates tensed. Bucky could have sworn he heard Steve growl, and proceeded to kick his shin slyly to remind him that no, they couldn't give do a damn thing about it. Even so, he wasn't sure how they were going to ignore that kind of behaviour towards his soulmate in the future – possessiveness was part of being soulmates, whether they were 'just friends' or not, it couldn't be helped, and it would only get stronger the longer they were around her. Thankfully, Dernier spoke up again before anyone could act on their annoyance – this time, to their relief, in much slower French.
"Jones, you traitor!" But there was no bite to his tone, and he sat back down next to the man with an easy grin on his face. He nodded towards Marilyn. "I like her." There was a general noise of agreement from the rest of the Commandos – anyone who could hold their own against Dernier was a worthy ally, after all. Dum Dum spoke up next.
"You ain't too bad, lass, but what are you going to be doing with us? We already have a medic." His head jerked towards James Morita – or Jim, as he'd introduced himself. The man himself didn't look too put out by the intrusion to his post, but he was definitely curious, and peered up at the woman in a silent question. Marilyn, for what it was worth, kept her cool remarkably well, but Bucky could feel the panic roll off her in waves. It was a rather new development to their tie (new as in he had only noticed it this morning). Before, he'd only ever been able to feel her when she was in extreme pain or grief, but all day he'd been getting spikes of her emotions trickling through their bond. He still only seemed to get it when the emotions were strong, but it was still more than he'd ever experienced from her. He wasn't sure if this new connection was just her because of her exhaustion and close physical proximity (well, closer than Japan, at least, which is where Marilyn had told him she had been before France), or if it was the tie starting to solidify properly now that they'd met. He was still young when the tie had fallen into place with Steve, too young to have really paid much attention to its growth, but he suddenly wished he had so that he would know what to expect over the coming weeks. It was a problem for later on, though, because Marilyn's discomfort was growing and she was squirming in her spot, and he wasn't having that.
"Mari has a certain skillset that will be helpful." He supplied, catching the woman's grateful look and returning it with an easy grin. There was no way the men would believe them without seeing it first-hand, and Mari was nowhere near comfortable enough to talk about her abilities so outright, so it was easiest to leave it up in the air until then. Steve picked up on this.
"You all will probably get to see it soon enough. Until then you're just going to have to trust us."
And, of course, because he was Steve 'Captain America' Rogers, they did.
A/N: Feedback is hugely appreciated: is the pace okay? Do you think everyone is in character? Length of chapters okay? Etc...
I'm also interested in what you think is going to happen with Marilyn when Bucky falls/Cap freezes. I have several ideas and I'm waiting to definitely decide on one until Civil War comes out, but I want to do something no one will expect.
Hope you liked the chapter! x
