A/N: Wow this chapter got away from me. It was originally written as about 3 paragraphs. … And then…

(Slow updates are slow.)

"Whatever they've told you... you don't have to come to London with the unit, Sergeant."

Agent Carter is leaned in close to his ear. He's proud that he doesn't startle, though it's a very near thing. Steve is across the mess talking to Jones and a couple of Jones' buddies - just distracted enough not to be paying attention to what's going on in this (formerly) quiet corner of the tent. The others all got called out for duty 20 minutes ago. He seems to be one of the few with nothing better to do than sit and graze on the remains of a stale slice of bread until Steve is ready to go back to their tent.
… Or, he supposes, get cornered by the one woman in this camp that could whip his ass with one hand behind her back. He's not scared of her exactly... but he recognizes a tough woman when he sees one. His ma and Mrs. Rogers both knew how to put the fear of god into him as a kid, and he's never forgotten.
This Carter dame's sharp, he'll give her that. He hadn't even realized she was sliding onto the bench beside him until she was in spitting distance.

"Pretty sure I do, ma'am." he replies when he's sure his voice won't waver, just as quietly. He shoots her a calculating sidelong look. What's she playing at here? Trying to see if he'll spill so she can tell Phillips? Spying for Steve?

"If I may be blunt, Sergeant Barnes: you've been tortured. Rather intensely as I recall - the details of which you have repeatedly recounted to us." Carter says calmly, her posture completely casual, as if they were chatting over tea. " You are the only surviving man in your immediate family. You meet any and all requirements for honorable discharge." She pauses a moment to study him. Her voice is softer when she continues. "You can go home if you like, Sergeant. You only have to ask."

He lets the weight of that settle over him. He's not naive enough to think the army wouldn't bend the rules to keep him where they want him… but he could probably kick up enough fuss to get out if he wanted to push it. Thing is, he doesn't. Not bad enough to risk the potential consequences...

"Y'can call me Bucky, ma'am - I ain't on duty right now. And I ain't goin' home, thanks." He doesn't bother to specify 'right now' for that part. Let her take whatever meaning she likes. He stopped believing he'd ever see Brooklyn again when his unit was captured. He's no more convinced of it now. Whatever assurances he's been offered, every minute he's alive and not strapped to that table still feels like borrowed time. He wonders how long it takes for that to go away.
Maybe it never does.
He glances at the back of Steve's head, and knows her eyes are following his. He looks away sharply. "C'n still serve just fine, if that's what you're worried about."

She ignores his comment neatly.
"He really is much tougher than you give him credit for." Carter's crimson lips quirk upward at the corners. She takes just a moment longer to pull her eyes away from Steve. "Even before the serum, he held his own remarkably well, in spite of his rather absurdly difficult circumstances." Bucky can feel her watching him, like she's waiting for an opening. "I understand you two have history, but there's hardly need for you to remain just to look after-"

"Look, ma'am." Bucky swivels his head to face her. He hears the bite in his tone, but he doesn't particularly care. He used up all his 'getting shit on by officers' patience this morning. He's done. No matter what everybody around here seems to think, nobody tells him his business with Steve. There's nobody got the right.
"I've known that guy since he was six years old. He'd punch out God himself if he was pissed off enough. Got no sense of proportion at all." Bucky grumbles, shaking his head. "He hasn't known how to stay outta trouble since the day he was born."
The first time he'd seen Steve, blazing with righteous fury, marching up to five guys that had to be easily triple his size apiece, that was when Bucky'd been sure Steve was going to die before he hit puberty.
It hadn't really gotten any better from there.
"He need's watchin' out for, alright - even if he is the size of'a bus now." He looks away and down, faltering for a moment. "Kid'll always need somebody watchin' his back."

"Does it have to be you?" She doesn't seem offended. "That is what soldiers do, is it not? Watch out for one another?"

He snorts, taking a long sip from the water glass in front of him. He wishes it were something stronger, but they don't give out booze at the mess. Damn shame.
It's almost hilarious, the idea of some average joe keeping up with this ridiculous super-Steve. If anything about this mess were funny, he'd be in stitches. Honestly, the idea of anybody keeping Steve in line, even when he was pint-sized? Completely laughable.
Steve doesn't listen to anybody. He just barely listened to his ma, and he only listens to Bucky when he feels like it, or Bucky strong-arms him with every trick he's ever learned to get through that thick little skull. ...And Carter thinks some Joe Army can keep Steve's stupid, stubborn, wanna-be-hero ass in one piece?
Right. That's adorable.
Bucky's had 20-something years to practice reigning in the little spitfire, and he's still only able to manage it about half the time. And that includes all the years when he could just chuck Steve over one shoulder and run for it, if he had to.

"What are you, tryin' to get rid of me?" He turns to look at her directly now. Her face is giving nothing away, though her eyes dart to Steve again briefly before settling on him. She seems to be gauging how long before he comes back.

"I'm trying to look out for you both, if you must know." She raises an immaculate eyebrow at him, and it's the first real hint of irritation he's seen her show yet. "I know you want to keep him safe, Barnes, as do I… Rogers inspires that in people. He's a good man. But he is also a soldier now. One who's been deathly concerned about the wellbeing of his best friend for some time, and who will take absolutely foolish risks for that man's sake." Carter's eyes are uncomfortably knowing and intent. He refuses to meet them. He's played that game once already today, and he's not gonna come apart in the mess, thanks. "I'm not so sure you're protecting him by placing yourself in further danger."
I'm not so sure you got any right to lecture me about puttin' people in danger, lady he thinks mutinously.
"-And you, if I may be frank, really ought to be recuperating somewhere quiet."

Bucky groans inwardly.
"Look ma'am-"

"I've seen your medical files, Barnes." She interrupts smoothly, not even raising her voice. He notices her neatly sidestepping his given name again, though. Apparently even the high and mighty Agent Carter can be pissy and childish if she puts her mind to it. Who'd've thought?
"I've read your interview records, so believe me: I'm quite well versed in your experiences while captured. I've also spoken to Colonel Phillips regarding your welfare, and quite honestly we don't agree." Bucky's not surprised to hear that. "You were traumatized, severely. It is entirely against your best interests to return to duty, Barnes. I was quite explicitly instructed not to bring any of this up to you, but it must be said, so here we are." She steeples her fingers in front of her.
"I was a nurse before I became an agent, and a damned fine one at that. Frankly, your health concerns me. Your body's healing is quite impressive, but what of your mental health?"

That remark hits a little close to home. He levels an icy glare in her direction, aborting a move to rise before it really gets started. He has the presence of mind not to try and raise a hand to a lady, especially not one who thoroughly outranks him. Not even if it'd be a fair fight.
"You callin' me a loon, Ms. Carter?" He hisses instead.

"I'm asking," she says pointedly, "if you're being honest with yourself about what's best for either of you." Her eyes cut away to Steve's back for half a second - who has yet to notice the conversation that's slowly growing more and more heated, going on behind him- but they return to his face an instant later. "I'm implying nothing against your intellect, nor your capabilities as a soldier, Barnes. That you are still capable of human interaction at all after what you have faced is a marvel in itself, and that speaks of great fortitude more than anything. ...I am however stating that weeks of intensive torture do not simply brush away like so much dried mud." She stares him down for a few moments as if waiting for a reaction, and he can see the suppressed irritation mixing with a deep, honest worry in her dark eyes. He turns his gaze down into the table-top to avoid her, only glancing up out of the corner of one eye when the silence stretches a little too long.

Finally, something shifts, the faintest hiss of a frustrated sigh, though her expression and her posture remain rigidly composed. She's had it with him, apparently. Good, he thinks.
She squares her shoulders near imperceptibly.
"I won't raise the issue again, Barnes… I just ask that you give it some serious thought." Her eyes cut back to Steve, who looks like he may be wrapping up, before returning to his face. "… For both your sakes."

"I know what I'm doin', Agent Carter." Bucky tells her gruffly, forcing his voice not to snarl and hating the way his shoulders hunch outside of his control. He probably looks like a sulky teenager. "I appreciate the concern, or... whatever this is… but I know what I'm doin' and I ain't leavin'."

Agent Carter just purses her lips.
"If you say so." She replies stiffly, then stands and walks briskly out of the mess.

"What was that?" He nearly jumps when Steve suddenly appears at his shoulder a few moments later. Bucky schools his face and forces his shoulders to loosen before he turns around. Steve is studying him. "You two arguing already?"
Steve's got that pensive crease between his eyebrows, the one that means he's worried and thinks he's doing a great job of hiding it. Steve always was a shitty liar.

Bucky makes himself grin. "Nah, just didn't think much'a her fancy English sports." he lies, hating how easy it is. "An' finer points'a baseball didn't go over."
That Steve's in deep for this Carter lady hasn't escaped his notice, and he's not about to get in the middle of that. He won't make Steve choose between his best friend and his girlfriend... and he's not entirely sure he wants to know which one the kid would pick if he did…
"Agent Carter's not much of a Dodger's fan, turns out."

Steve just shrugs, a sarcastic little smirk edging onto his face as he settles back onto the bench again. He turns and looks dreamily after Carter, though she's no longer in sight. "Nobody's perfect, Buck."

Bucky just rolls his eyes and gives Steve a half-hearted shove in the shoulder, stuffing the rest of his bread into his mouth in one bite.
He'd always said somebody, somewhere, would finally see puny Steve Rogers for what he was one of these days. Some girl would give him a chance and once she did, she'd be head over heels for the little pain in the ass … Of course, Bucky hadn't expected it to go quite like this, but when had they ever done things the easy way?
Maybe he'll even get to be Steve's best man after this shitstorm's over….

Though they pass each other now and then around the camp; true to her word, Agent Carter never mentions the conversation again.

-End of Plot Interlude-