![[I saw three ships]](../img/2009icon.png)
This was not a phone call Kate wanted to make. She and Clint hadn't talked in a while, not since their brief fling ended. Being with him had been…amazing, to say the least, but anything beyond great sex didn't seem like it was going to happen. So they had moved on, and she had found James. But something had happened a few days ago, and James didn't come home. She knew he had been meeting with Steve, sorting some things out after the return. But whatever had happened at that meeting had to have unnerved James. A lot. He was usually so cool, so collected. The fact that something had shaken him so much that he wouldn't come home for three days…Kate knew she needed to use any resource she could find to figure out where he was. And if that meant talking to the ex…
"Hello?"
Clint's voice was as cool and collected as it always was. If he was concerned, Kate thought, he wasn't showing it. "Hi, Clint…I was wondering if you'd heard from James in the last few days?"
"Nah, not since…"
"He talked to Steve, right?" Kate sighed. "So you see why I'm worried."
"Yeah, yeah." Clint said. "I'll be right over."
It was amazing just how easy it was to fall back into the old rhythm with Clint. If he held any grudges over the way things had ended between them, he sure wasn't showing it. But then, Clint rarely took things too seriously. Not like James.
"Okay, so we've checked the hideouts, his old haunts from before the Civil War, and the YA base." Clint said. "It's starting to look like our boy doesn't really want to be found."
"Yeah, probably. But that doesn't mean we have to listen to him, right?"
"Heh." Clint smirked. "You know, this is probably why things didn't work out with us. You never knew when to let a guy be a guy."
"If that means the time I tied you to the bed to keep you from going out with a gaping side wound, I make no apologies."
"See, my objection to that was more that you didn't take advantage of me being tied up. Really disappointing." Clint shook his head jokingly. "Okay, so what's our next move? I assume letting him come to us isn't an option?"
"He could be in trouble, Clint."
"Yeah, right. The day Bucky Barnes is in a situation he can't handle…"
"Well…probably, yeah. But just because he's probably not tied up on the railroad tracks somewhere…"
"Man, you've got a bit of a bondage theme going on, don't you, Hawkeye?"
"Har har, Ronin." Kate playfully punched Clint in the arm. "Think…where does he usually go? You've known him longer than I have."
Yeah, I sure have, Clint thought to himself. He was pretty sure Kate didn't know about the nights he and Bucky had shared during their times in the New Avengers, and that was the last thing he wanted to bring up right now. But the girl was right — he did know Bucky well, probably better than anyone besides Steve.
"He was always pretty interested in the old Avengers Mansion. He never got to see it in its old glory, so he liked to visit the ruins. It's an idea."
James paced up and down the grounds of the ruined mansion, running the corners of the shield across his gloved fingertips. He had been wielding it for months now, but it had never felt quite so heavy as it did today.
"Buck? That you, man?" Clint's voice came from the shadows.
"Yeah. It's me."
Clint and Kate walked out of the shadows, Kate making the first move and rushing forward to embrace James, planting a passionate kiss on him. "You had me so freaking worried! I mean, I know you're Captain America and you can take care of yourself, but — "
"Yeah…" James said with a faraway look in his eyes. "That is who I am, isn't it? Captain America."
"What's going on? You talked to Steve?"
"Yeah, I did. He's back…but he's not back. Not as Cap, at least. He told me…the shield's mine now."
"Wow." Clint said. "Didn't see that coming. But hey, you've been carrying it fine for a while now."
"Because I was the only one who could." James lifted the shield and looked it over for a minute. "I was carrying on his legacy. It was never about being as good as him. It was about making sure there was a Captain America, someone to remind everyone of what he stood for. I never felt like I was worthy, but I would do. But with Steve back…it's a lot of pressure. The original's here, watching me carry on for him. Why does he have this much faith in me?"
"Because you've earned it!" Clint cut in. "I mean, this is Steve Rogers we're talking about here, Buck. The guy lives and bleeds heroism. Do you really think he'd walk away if he wasn't 100% sure that the guy he was leaving it in the hands of could handle it?"
"I've made a lot of mistakes, Clint. I've done things that…"
"You do remember that the guy you're talking to is an ex-con, right?" Kate grinned as she poked Clint in the ribs. "Not that you really have anything to atone for — at least any more than Steve does for the time he was possessed by the Red Skull — but the Avengers have kind of always been about second chances."
James sat down on a fallen stone, from one of the old walls. "I won't pretend I understand Steve's plan here…but I'll do what I can. There always has to be a Captain America. He knew this from the start."
Kate reached out and put her hand on the shield. "And you won't have to do it alone. Steve had you…and you'll have us." She nodded meaningfully at Clint, who followed suit and put his hand on the shield too.
"You've made a hell of a name for yourself in only a little while, Buck. Hell, this last year or so has been a trial of fire. With the Civil War, the Skrulls, Osborn…and you've been leading the Avengers through all of it. You might not be the original, but you're making a pretty good case for being worthy of the name."
Kate watched as James and Clint locked eyes, and she wondered how she had missed the connection until now. She wished she could have been surprised, but really, it made sense. They were a lot more alike than they'd want to admit, and seeing Clint again had reminded her exactly what she saw in him. She had her own ideas for how to resolve this increasingly complex love triangle, but they would have to wait for another day. For today, they had found Captain America and reminded him that he had people who believed in him. The shield had its wielder, and they had their friend.
![[fin]](../img/2009banner.png){kind=small}