Meanwhile (plot interlude):
There's a pall over the barracks' common room, even with all five of the remaining Commandos gathered in it. No one's laughing, no one's joking or teasing. There are no cards laid on the table, and the only drinking going on seems more out of a desperate desire not to think than anything else.
Mostly they sit in silence, staring at the empty seat at their table.
The Captain frequently joined them after missions. His absence is noticeable but not surprising.
Barnes, however, was a fixture. He never missed a gathering, even when it was obvious he wasn't feeling like himself.
His absence is unignorable.
Fallsworth stands up and paces for a while, then wanders over to a sagging bookcase and selects a scratchy record. Something slow and soothing; melancholy. He starts it playing, bracing both hands loosely on the table beneath the player, back to the rest of the room. He stays there a long time.
Jones stares down at the glass in his hands, taking a half-hearted sip now and then. He imagines he and Dugan are both thinking the same thing right now.
We should've said something…
The worst part is… he was going to. Right after this mission, in fact. Dum Dum had accidentally let slip that Barnes' episodes were getting worse and the kid just wouldn't fucking listen to him, and that had been the very last straw. Gabe had never liked keeping something this serious quiet, but he'd reluctantly agreed since it had seemed so damned important to Barnes… But that'd been before it escalated.
He was going to say something...
He'd been planning to take Steve aside, the very minute they were finished securing the train, and explain to him what had been happening. To demand that he do something about this before Sarge ended up- … well… dead.
His mind stutters on the word.
He supposes it's moot now. Way too late for it to make any difference. What's the point in telling the Captain after the fact? Why pour salt in the wound?
Barnes is gone, and Rogers doesn't need to hear about how miserable his last days were, on top of that.
He hears Morita snuffle loudly to his right, mostly covered with a sleeve. None of them say a word.