Love and War Aren't a Game

Steve drove us away from the burning barn long into the night until he could barely keep his eyes open and we were all complaining about him starving us to death. After Falsworth and Dugan performed a quick perimeter check, we set up camp and heated some canned vegetable stew over the fire and chewed on beef jerky.

Gabe was nursing a bump on his head from the Hydra loyalists who had attacked him on the way to the jeep and stolen his weapons before returning to attack Catherine and I, and the incident was clearly dampening everyone’s mood. I looked to my right at Steve, wondering if he was going to address the issue and smooth out the tension, but it was quite obvious that he was already drifting off to sleep even though he was sitting upright and occasionally eating.

“I’m just gonna say it, I’m sorry about earlier,” Gabe announced and all eyes fell on him. “I messed up and it interfered with the mission.”

“It was still a success, the barn is in smithereens,” Jacques reassured him with a smile.

“Yes, but they still attacked Bucky and Catherine,” Gabe reasoned, obviously ashamed about how Catherine and I had been caught off guard.

“We fought them off, it’s fine,” Catherine said, a hint of thrill from the incident still resonating in her voice.

“It was nothing, don’t feel bad about it,” I added in a more serious tone. Catherine glanced at me for a second before taking another bite of her jerky, eating almost as ungraciously as us men.

“A mistake was made and we’ve all learned from it. That’s all that matters,” Steve suddenly spoke up and his wise words silenced us all. Dugan topped up Gabe’s portion of stew with a kind smile and I noticed out of the corner of my eye Jacques giving Catherine a nudge with his elbow.

“So how did you fight those Hydra bastards off?” he asked her, encouraging her excitement about the combat. Catherine grinned and launched into an overly descriptive recounting of the attack, her passion making the assault seem far more dramatic than it actually was. I wanted to correct her and prove to the boys that it was actually a minor altercation, but it seemed to be brightening their moods so I remained quiet and settled for glaring at Catherine instead, not like she ever looked my way.

Halfway through her story, Steve shifted to stand and caught my eye.

“A word,” he muttered before walking off, so I set aside my stew and followed him. Steve didn’t need to walk far, just near the edge of the clearing, before we were out of earshot from the others who were watching Catherine’s wild gestures with great attentiveness. “What’s your problem with her?” I hesitated, not expecting that question at all. When Steve had met my gaze I had simply assumed that he wanted to discuss tactics for tomorrow.

“What?” was all that managed to stumble out of my mouth.

“What’s your problem with Catherine,” Steve repeated and my brow furrowed.

“You already know why I don’t think she should be here.”

“Don’t give me that crap about her being a woman. You’re fine with Carter going out in the field, so why not Harper?” Steve countered and I fell silent, glancing away to avoid his eyes. I cursed the treatment that made Steve taller than me, because his new stature made him too damn intimidating to stare down. A burst of laughter came from the campfire and I looked over, seeing that Falsworth was now telling a story and that Catherine was listening intently like the others. “I know that everyone doubted my decision to take her on board, but those men over there understood her worth earlier today. Catherine proved that she can carry her weight, but you refuse to see it. Why?” I sighed and tore my eyes away from the happy soldiers and looked back at my friend.

“Because she’s a sniper, and a good one at that. The second she has a better hit rate than me, you’re kicking me off the team and I’ll be sent back to the base-” I began to explain but I was cut short by Steve’s chuckle.

“You should know that I’d never get rid of you, pal,” he reassured me before clapping his hand on my shoulder. “Besides, Sergeant Bucky Barnes isn’t really letting a woman intimidate him, is he? The Bucky I know can make any woman weak at the knees for him.” I gave a short laugh.

“Yeah, but not this one,” I admitted with a defeated tight-lipped grin.

“Well at least throw away some of that tension. I’m not going to let the team crumble because you two are quarrelling,” Steve ordered in a more serious tone before returning to the campfire.

I followed in his footsteps and reheated my stew before joining in on the casual conversations the others were having, doing my best to not grimace whenever Catherine spoke and earned more laughs than my input did.

She was winning them all over. At this rate, I’d be off the Howling Commandos before I knew it.