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Chapter 4
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Steve doesn't talk to most of the team for a few days, and Darcy gears herself up for a brooding period, this one more than a little justified. For other things, like bouts of brooding over old army buddies, things that happened during the war he couldn't stop, even sadness now and then that he hadn't been around for Peggy when certain hard things had happened in her life, Darcy has found the balance of listening, but then also pushing him into other, positive things. She's become a pro at gauging Captain America, The Soldier Out of Time, at least until now.
Nothing prepares a girl, though, for comforting her future husband, right after he finds out that his dead best friend isn't actually dead, had been found and made into a super assassin for the Bad Guys, has a bionic arm now ('Oh yeah, he lost the arm to frostbite because his serum hadn't worked as well as yours did, had enough guilt tripping yet, Cap?'), and has spent most of the last few decades in and out of cryogenic sleep.
"Why didn't anyone tell me?" He'd grit his teeth in the briefing room, his hands in balled up fists on the table. Natasha had been the one to answer, her careful mask cracking a little. Seated next to her, Hawkeye was silent as the grave, eyes on the far wall.
"For one, until a week ago, we thought he was dead," She told Steve honestly, her voice level, "Winter Soldier was supposed to have died on the mission that...freed me of the hold they had on me." She paused to wet her lips, "And what would you have done in our place, Steve? Let you go on believing that James Barnes died a hero on a mission for his country, or tell you the truth? That he'd been a lab rat of Hydra, that the serum he was exposed to was just enough to keep him alive on ice, and that he was found, brainwashed, and made into a human weapon?"
"...The truth," Steve had replied at length, his voice cracking over the word, "I always want the goddamn -truth-." Then he'd gotten up, had a good and proper storm-out, and Darcy had followed, with an apologetic look at Nat. Because Black Widow didn't look like she was having the best time of her life over all of this, either.
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By the time a week has passed, though, Steve has calmed down plenty, deciding not to address the well-intentioned lie. Now he wants to rush off and start looking for Bucky right away, but even Darcy knows that's probably a bad idea. Once again, she's the only one who can talk that into him.
"There's the bigger mission, handsome. And besides, if he's brainwashed, it'll just end in a fight and I know you don't want that. Let them figure out how to get to him first, like they did with Nat, and then you'll be the first guy signed up, yeah?" Eventually he just nods, kissing her forehead, murmuring something about how she's too good to him, and going off to abuse the gym.
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"You know the other Agents call you a miracle worker," Jane notes later that day, as the two of them dart in and out of dress shops. The physicist has been invited to a science gala at the freaking White House, and has dragged Darcy out to assure a second, female opinion on her evening-wear. Not that Darcy's any expert on fashion, but one should never brave Michael Kors alone.
"I just know the man," Darcy shrugs, "You gotta admit though, it was a jerk thing for them not to tell him."
"I hear all the gossip," Jane nods, sighing, as they finally leave a boutique with a dress, and are now off to find shoes, "SHIELD really is still handling him with kid gloves, as if he'll snap at any time." Darcy downright growls.
"Hell, BRUCE doesn't even snap at any time!" She throws up her hands as they trudge down the sidewalk, startling a passing pedestrian, "Steve's a big boy, he can handle shit, it's the keeping secrets...keeping things from him in general, that makes him blow up." She sighs, "He's the biggest sweetheart in the world, and so god-damn GOOD, Jane. It's the goodness that makes him take things so hard."
"Trust me, I get it," Jane looks at her sideways, smiling a little, "He and Thor have a lot in common, there. Injustice really hits 'em hard."
"I just hope all of it doesn't break him," Darcy bites her lip, and Jane nudges her.
"This is why he's got you," She notes. "...And I guess why Thor's got me too," She smiles a little, "I mean, he's a little more accepting of weirdness than Steve, I know, but Earth can break his heart sometimes too."
"Thor's an eternal optimist though," Darcy chuckles, shaking off her annoyance at her employers for the moment, "He accepts your word readily. Steve...isn't the opposite, I think he's become a realist though, and given the way he was, a long time ago...it kinda breaks my heart." Jane shakes her head, reaching over and giving her a hug.
"Thor's had a few thousand years though, he's an optimist coming out on the other side," She explains, "Maybe it won't take Steve long to do the same. At all. I think, again, it's why he's got you," Jane smirks, "You may be a sarcastic, emotionally-crippled bitch, Darce, but you do keep reminding the man of the good in the world."
"There'd be a sainthood in there for me somewhere, if I weren't Jewish."
"...And you're engaged to him, I keep forgetting. My Darcy. Engaged."
"Yeah our celebratory period kinda got interrupted," Darcy shrugs, grinning, glancing around them, "But no big, it's not like we're tying the knot anytime soon. Which reminds me, Ms. I Totally Met My Alien-God-Boyfriend's Parents," Her smirk turns into a grin, "When's YOUR space-wedding, mmm? I seem to remember a hospital bedside promise that I'd be maid of honor." Jane laughs, tossing her head.
"Weird, yeah? But who knows," The scientist sighs, only a touch of melancholy to her voice. "He can't technically take a mortal as Queen and hey, I never wanted to get married anyway. He's sort-of immortal, at least compared to my puny lifetime, that isn't changing. But he says he doesn't care," She swallows, eyes just a touch misty, "Says he'll happily stay with me for the rest of it."
"...Gawd, gag me with a spoon." Darcy adds, in her best Valley Girl impression, even as she takes her turn to hug Jane back. "We're some lucky bitches, man.
"Damn right."
"Lucky bitches who's passed like, three shoe stores, fail...holdup." Darcy stops short, in front of a little boutique smashed in between all the big name designer stores. There are pink paper hearts in the windows, a cat curled up under a dress-form, and the most adorable little thing Darcy has ever seen in her life, on said dress-form.
"Hmm? Oh wow." Jane stops next to her, tilting her head, taking in the short, long-sleeved, white lace number. "...You were saying, about not tying the knot any time soon?" She smirks.
"I can manage not to lose or gain ten pounds for the next two to five years," Darcy states with conviction, diving into the shop.
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When Darcy returns home, it's to two muscly men sitting cross-legged on the living room floor of her studio apartment, playing a video game. Apparently while she was out, Clint had come over and taught Steve how to play Call of Duty. Darcy hurries to stash the frilly bag containing, yes, her future wedding dress, somewhere deep in the back of the closet, before wandering toward them, totally cool. Totally not embarrassed, at all, as she pushes off her coat.
"Hey kids, you kissed and made up I see," She grins, as two of the world's greatest heroes jump in surprise, "And are engaging in violence! So proud." Darcy bends down to drop a kiss on Steve's lips, and he tugs on her scarf to draw her in for another. Clint half-grins, half-winces.
"I figured why mope alone when I could shoot shit with Steve," He replies, his tone light, but Darcy wasn't born in the 21st century. Steve, however, is the one to elaborate.
"Natasha apparently dated Bucky," He says, as if the concept is still mind-boggling for him, the man who was frozen for 70 years. "Well. When they let him out of cryo, anyway. And before she got her proper head back."
"Thanks Steve. And all that's just fine," Hawkeye goes on evenly, poker-face back in place as they start up another game. Darcy curls up on the couch behind them, reaching out to play with Cap's hair. "...But she isn't talking to me. Nat...always talks to me." He presses his lips together again, tightly, and Darcy knows the moment of emotion honesty has passed. She just nods.
"What you boys need is a good movie," She notes at length.
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Darcy's never actually seen Saving Private Ryan before, so it's a bit of a learning experience for her as well. She knows the beach-storming scene is some legendary work of warfare cinema though, and that a lot of main characters die...at that news, Steve just kind of gives her a look that says 'really? Death in a movie about war?' She'd smacked him and gone to the kitchen for beers and candy.
As the movie goes on, however, Darcy does somewhat wince over the fact that she's put on a film about a bunch of dudes going into the thick of war to rescue one soldier. She knows very well that you can draw just about any parallel between all forms of entertainment and whatever happens to be going on in your life at a given time, but seriously. Her history of education-via-film with Steve is peppered with timely/painful allegory.
Her fiance (Woah, that word) seems to enjoy it though, holding her close to his side the whole way through. Eventually, Thor and Jane filter in, to cuddle by the other couch. Bruce isn't far behind, sprawling out by a coffee table with a tablet full of science! and a mug of Betty's coffee. Tony shows up half-way through the movie, wordlessly patting Steve on the shoulder before taking up the third couch all for himself. Not a lot of conversation happens, which is unusual, and before the movie's over half the room gets their memos from Fury on who they'll be tailing (Darcy, Tony, Bruce and Clint will be tracking down spies, the first three via internet and Jarvis' all-seeing systems, Clint actually out in the field. Steve and Thor aren't exactly computer savy or easily stealthy. They'll be doing their super-spy homework).
But the silence is companionable, and though Steve's eyes are fixed on the movie, like always, he's more relaxed than Darcy's seen him all week. This is a room full of grown ass adults, she reminds herself. They all know what's gone on, that it's gonna be rough, and whether they knew before Steve did or not, they've got their patriotic buddy's back. Steve took a blow last week, and now Darcy can practically see him easing, opening up, the room suddenly a comfortable place for him. The sadness is still there, but he's surrounded by friends. Steve Rogers, a guy with a room full of friends. She burrows in close to his side.
"...So wow, Lewis, way to make us all feel sad feelings," Tony finally pipes up, as the credits roll. Darcy sighs, rolling her eyes.
"Why does the abuse always land on me?" She grumbles, good-naturedly. Above her, Steve is grinning though. He had gotten misty there a few times, burying a hand in her hair when he did. But now he's just happy. Or as close to happy as a man who's been processing the news that his best friend is now a super-assassin for Bad Guys can be.
"Oh my god," Tony's voice tears her away from Steve's face for a moment, glancing over, to spot the genius billionaire staring, dumbfounded, at Clint, "Legolas was crying."
"Asshole," Clint grumbles, and yup, his eyes are red and he's mopping up his damp cheeks. Across the room, Jane makes some little sound of sympathy, and Hawkeye shoots her a glare, and then Tony, and then the room at large. "...Just. Fuck Tom Hanks, man, seriously."
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