1598/A Defrosty Surprise

A Defrosty Surprise
Date of Scene:	10 May 2020
Location:	Triskelion, New York City
Synopsis:	Steve finds Bucky and Lili at the ball courts of the Triskelion. His news is enough to take out the knees of both men. Lili knows best and is a stalwart comfort. It turns out Peggy is alive. SURPRISE, BARNES.
Cast of Characters:	James Barnes, Steve Rogers

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James Barnes has posed:
So, Buck lives in ....well, seclusion isn't a bad word for it. He tends to keep aloof from most people, even those who live in the Triskelion. Not that he seems depressed or discontented, though. Far from it.

Especially not with his fuzzy ambassador to the modern world at large. At the moment, he's off to the side of one of the hangar buildings in the complex, playing handball with Lili. Namely, testing himself by volleying the ball against the building's wall...and when he misses, she gets to fetch it. At the moment, she's prancing back to him, tail and head up, in the classic "I have a ball and YOU don't!" pose.

Steve Rogers has posed:
Lili might catch the arrival of Steve before the dog's handler does. He's...frankly looking a little shellshocked, in the near-literal term of the word: pale around the lips, disconnected from the world, short of reeling but for super-serum influence on his inner ear and that eternal gumption to continue at the task of making it from one event to the next.

He looks up at the movement of the dog and there's a visible slumping sigh to his shoulders. "Buck." That's not a usual Steve Rogers greeting, not at that somewhat rusty volume. He's in his motorcycle jacket and jeans, a plain blue t-shirt beneath, and he runs a hand down his face as he turns compass-north towards his oldest friend.

James Barnes has posed:
Lili, of course, is delighted. Second best human has arrived. She deposits the slobbery ball in Buck's gloved metal hand, and goes prancing away to Steve....but her pace and posture change as she catches his distress. When she reaches him, she tucks her head confidingly under his big hand, noses his thigh. Trying to comfort him.

"Steve, what's wrong?" he says. Buck hurries over, puts his human hand lightly on the other supersoldier's shoulder. That furrow of worry knit between his brows. "What happened?" No wasting time on small talk or pleasantries.

Steve Rogers has posed:
Oh, there's a dog -- it's Lili -- the Captain distractedly tries petting at her velvety skull even as he looks from her to Bucky, the distancing in his eyes melting away a clearer focus with the pressure of his hand on Steve's shoulder.

"Buck, I...she..." Words are hard. They haven't been this hard since the loss of his mother. There's a bench by the court and it's this he wanders towards with that lost expression still pinching his lips thin. He sits almost awkwardly down on it. "You..." His hands upturn on his thighs as he looks down at them. "...Fury called me 'nd told me Peggy is alive."

AND ON THAT BOMBSHELL.

James Barnes has posed:
It's so much beyond him he literally can't take it in. There's no shock, no disbelief....honestly, it's perturbing, the *lack* of reaction. Buck just blinks at Steve, standing there. Steve paces over to sit down, and James is left like a garden gnome lost in an unmowed yard.

Lili gives Steve a last lick and goes over to nuzzle up to Bucky. "What did you just say?" His tone is flat. It's Winter's lack of intonation, dead as a computerized voice announcing the time.

Steve Rogers has posed:
Now the palm nest up into his hair as elbows anchor on his thighs. Those broad shoulders bend and slump. Steve's voice is hollowed by how he's speaking mostly to his bellybutton.

"Fury called me saying they found a cryotube from the eighties malfunctioning -- or the signal from its malfunctioning was detected." Slipping details: the blond super-soldier must be truly shaken. "Told me they'd brought somebody out, stabilized 'em. Said it was Peggy. Said he'd know that I'd be professional about it. Made it there in record time on m'bike, walked in, 'nd..." Lili can probably hear him swallow; maybe Bucky can.

"...she was there, Buck. There 'nd made of tissue paper 'nd life, so fragile after what they'd done to her..." A hard, rough sigh. "No -- what she'd chosen to do back when. She's mending, but 's'slow, Buck, 'nd...I dunno that she thought I was real."

James Barnes has posed:
Peggy. His lips form the name soundlessly.....and there it is, stealing across his face, slow as clouds over the moon. Real shock, something like grief. Subtle at first, and then it makes his face crumple. "Steve....'They' was *me*. They kept sending me after her. I thought I'd done it, the way she dropped out of the records....I couldn't ask, I didn't want to really *know*. I wanted to pretend....how could I tell you that?" His voice cracks, and then he's sinking to his knees, to put his arms around Lili, hide his face in her fur.

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve looks up as he sits up, his hands falling limply to hang off his thighs. He watches his friend collapse and cling to the German Shepherd. 'Good Lili girl,' his mouth moves but no sound comes out. Something strains in him -- it's a sob building up in his chest like a crackling foil-ball clawing up the insides of his lungs and stomach -- and he forces it down because there's always the next step. There's always the next good thing to do.

Gravel crunches and then there are quiet boot steps before the sound of rustling fabric. Steve sits down beside the dog and the Soldier on the court and stares at the middle of Lili's tail.

"Not you, Buck. She knows it wasn't you. Not James Barnes. She's alive." He names the recovery room. "Thing is, she's isolated. Process left her hurt. Gotta wear a smock...suit...'nd mask. Gloves. Not sure if Fury thought I'd tell you, but...you oughta know so you can go see her if you want. I can be there too if you want. Might...might think we're real if we're both there."

James Barnes has posed:
There's something strangely young, almost childish in the way, he huddles around the dog. But with her, well, this is what she was born to do, and she cuddles him back, draping a forepaw over his knee.

Even more so in the way Buck reaches out a human arm to grope blindly for Steve, and drag him in to the embrace. C'mon, Emotional Support Supersoldier, help out. He doesn't sob, but it's clear the way his breathing alters that there are tears. The episode doesn't last long, though, before he sits up a little and relinquishes his grip on Steve. Cuffing at eyes gone red-rimmed with his wrist. "I'm sure Fury knew you would." He sounds tired, a little resigned.

Steve Rogers has posed:
Immediately, Steve scoots over to plaster himself shoulder-to-shoulder with his fellow soldier and oldest friend. He throws an arm around him and leans hard, the better to be that stalwart presence in echo of the far more charming Lili. Hearing the hitching begin to settle and slow, he ends up nodding silently: yep, that's it, breathe and relax as you can. If only it worked for him too, his cheeks pinked from nothing near to embarrassment by the way he too takes a moment to rub at one eye with the heel of a hand.

"Man probably hedged on it," agrees the super-soldier in an equally tired tone. "Dunno how they'd react to you visiting, but...don't think anybody's gonna stop you if you try. 'sides, if they do, they'll deal with me.

James Barnes has posed:
Steve's one of so very few he'd permit that touch from. After all those years of abuse, of fearing any human hand. Buck remembers his handkerchief, after a moment, blue plaid, but hands it off to Steven, first. Still old-fashioned enough to carry one. He swallows hard, sniffs, sits up a little....and then he's settling down cross-legged,as Lili tries to climb into his lap. No need for a hankie, she'll lick his cheeks clean...and it leaves him laughing. "I can try," he says. "They can say no, or she can, if she's not up for it." Buck even hiccups, after a second, which earns him an indignant look from the dog.

Steve Rogers has posed:
The handkerchief is taken and held, not necessarily used. It still gives something for Steve's hands to work at, gently rolling and unrolling the fabric as he watches Lili console her handler. By the minute smile, he's pleased for the decision made so many months back to bring her into his life.

"'s'true. Seems like it'd be better to have one visitor at a time." His gaze falls again, down to the handkerchief, and he picks at one corner, not necessarily at a thread. "Dunno how stable she is. Couldn't tell. Still a chance..."

Unable to finish his thought, Steve simply swallows it down past the lump in his throat.

James Barnes has posed:
Even with the gift of Peggy restored to them....it dumps yet another dilemma in Steve's lap. It doesn't need to be spoken for Buck to realize it. "Aw, Steve," he says, unhappily. No question as to what Steve will do - it's always the rightest thing he *can* do. "But she's seen you, right?" he says. "She recognized you? She's....she's herself, right?" There's a kind of aching hopefulness in his voice.

Steve Rogers has posed:
"She's clear-headed." Steve clarifies this even as he does pick a thread loose at the corner of the handkerchief. He continues looking down, his lips wrinkled against what has to be rapid and swift emotional shifts. "She's herself. Seems well enough to..." His faint laugh is hardly even this, more a hard sigh. "...actually, can't tell you or she'll make me pay...'nd the shield won't hide me this time 'round."

And that sounds like Peggy.

"She asked me how...why 'm here. Told her about SHIELD finding me. Told her how I hate blowdryers now." It's humor half-heartedly shared, like a match in the dark -- only a little light, but light nonetheless.

James Barnes has posed:
"Make you pay? Pay for what?" Buck asks, dubiously. "C'mon, Steve, you can't just leave me hanging," he says. Lili's bundled herself into his lap and he's petting her with both hands. He blows out a breath. "Yeah, tell me about it, right? I....man, I used to look forward to being frozen, honestly." But then, he did undergo multiple cycles of it, didn't he? The pale eyes are level, as he gazes at Steven, full of sympathy.

Steve Rogers has posed:
"Couldn't look forward to that," mumbles the Captain, still looking down into his lap and providing only a profile to watch. A tug on the thread loosens it more and begins to scrunch up the fabric beneath it. "Too cold." There's a moment where he clearly fights with some bitter memory by the ferocious gathering of brows and clench of jaw, but again, he forces himself to a cool, almost numb neutrality.

"...don't tell her I told you. She'll be disappointed." It sounds like it might mean a great deal more to Steve now, this woman's disappointment, this woman who lives against odds and time. "...she cried when she saw me." His lips roll under now and hold, like the pressure of teeth against tender skin is keeping him focused.

James Barnes has posed:
His own mouth has that set that means he's fighting against memory, too. "It was always a relief," he says, and there's a kind of emptiness in his voice. "It didn't hurt. No one hurt me there, or made me do things I didn't wanna do. They really don't believe in positive reinforcement, HYDRA. It was all Winter ever had to look forward to...."

He sighs, puts his hand on Steve's shoulder. "'Course she cried, Steve. She thought you were dead all those years. Even a good shock is a hell of a shock, y'know?"

Steve Rogers has posed:
"Yeah, I know..."

Steve is trying to be convinced, but it's working in increments. He moves on to the next thread on the handkerchief now, fingernail methodically plucking at the anchored stitch rather than one loose. He doesn't move to shrug off the familiar weight of Bucky's hand on his shoulder.

"Thought she was dead too." A shake of his head and he briefly looks up, squinting at a crack on the court's surface.

"She's still got a bone to pick with HYDRA. Probably won't be able to resist diving right back into things. She'll wanna talk to you about it." The cryofreezing, he means -- the repeated attempts, he means -- why the young man in uniform she once knew has such shadows hanging about him, the Captain means as he risks glancing over. His own eyes are red about their edges as well, but Steve is still bottling it all up well enough.

James Barnes has posed:
He pats Steve again, gently, goes back to petting Lili, who is still sprawled across his lap. She's boneless and relaxed, a fuzzy weight over his knees. "We all thought it." His grin is mirthless. "Imagine that. All of us dead, all of us survived in ice, one way or another."

Then he snorts. "I know she will, I know she won't, and yeah, she will. I'll talk to her," he says, simply. "Hell, we all still gotta bone to pick with them. Look at what they did to us, what they're still trying to do."

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve nods agreement: yes, all of them survived in ice, somehow miracles of a bygone age with morals now far more nebulous in the modern world. He glances over after his friend's hand lifts away. His fingernails are pincered on a newly-loosened thread now, paused and lifted, the thin string taut.

"You remember what she was like in action." His smile is faint and he looks down at the handkerchief again, brows meeting harder. "World's gonna realize real fast that HYDRA's time is ticking down. You, me, 'nd her..." Again, he tries for a faltering foothold in humor as he looks over at Bucky: "Think we can show these whippersnappers how it's done?"

James Barnes has posed:
"We been showin' these pishers since 1943," And there's the Buck from long ago, nevermind the long hair and the pounds of muscle and alloy that weren't there then. It's in his face again, that cool bravado. "They ain't gonna know what hit 'em."

Only then does he look down at the handkerchief. "Jeez, Steve, how many boxes of hankies I gotta give you for Christmas before you stop destroyin' mine? Speakin' of things we been doin' since the 1940s. Hell, since the 1920s."

Steve Rogers has posed:
That flicker-flash of a man briefly outside of his hauntings evinces a quick little crooked grin from Steve in turn. It stings, this happiness in the face of such raw emotional innards, but then again, it also balms. "Never," he agrees.

Bucky brings his own attention back to the pocket-square and he lets out a halted sound very akin to a sheepish snort. "God...owe you another one. Sorry, Buck, wasn't thinking." He then makes to see about tying the loosened threads together, as if it might save the integrity of the handkerchief's stitching. "I'll get some made out of Kevlar next. Tougher stitching. That way, when you hand one over, it'll take me longer to pluck a thread." He offers out the hankie to Buck then pinched to hang between thumb and forefinger; the loosened threads are indeed tied into a bow-knot.