The Avenger, The Assassin, and The Vigilante || B. Barnes

Distractions

"Doesn't it bother you?" Allie questioned her brother.

It had been one week since Sam had given up the shield. He had attempted to reach out to both Allie and Bucky, but neither had any interest in speaking to him. Bucky didn't want to speak about it at all, Steve was tired of hearing it brought up, and Allie was persistent in how he should be angry over the entire ordeal.

"Allie, I've told you this every five minutes," Steve sighed as she angrily set the table for their weekly lunch. "It was his choice to make. I gave him the shield."

"Yes," she nodded. "You gave him the shield and then what happens? He gives it up. Puts it in a goddamn museum."

"He and I have already talked," he continued. "I understand why he did it."

"But doesn't it hurt?"

Looking at her, he narrowed his eyes slightly before sighing and shrugging.

"I suppose it's disappointing," he started and before Allie could interject he pointed a finger at her. "But it was still his choice to make. I'm retired and focusing on building the life I should have had in the 1940s."

"Well, I am too, but I'm still pissed at him," she scoffed.

"Why don't you talk to him? Hear him out?" Steve suggested.

"Because I have no desire to speak to someone that threw away something that's followed the three of us since our days in the Commandos."

"Is that what this attitude of yours is about?" Steve asked. "Allie, it's a shield."

Rolling her eyes, she sat down and began to eat what Steve had brought for lunch. She partially ate the food and partially poked it with her fork as she tried to piece together what she should say to him. It wasn't just a shield to her. It was protection. It was an object of defense. Her brother could have chosen any weapon and he chose a shield. He could have chosen any shield, Howard had even shown her the other designs one day before the Commandos left on their first mission. Out of all of them, he chose a simple round shield. It was more than just a piece of metal to her and she knew that Bucky felt the same.

"It's about principle, Steve," she sighed. "You don't just get rid of a gift you were given."

"You got rid of those flowers Gilbert Coon gave you in high school," Steve argued.

"That was different," she narrowed her eyes. "Besides that was Bucky. He'd said he overheard Gilbert making unsavory comments about how he intended a date with me to go and took the flowers from my hand almost instantly."

"Is that so?" Steve raised a brow.

"And I am not, under any circumstances, naming my child Gilbert," Allie shuddered. "That would be a punishment."

"Oh, but there were plenty of other good names," he teased as he took a bite of food. "Vernon. Horace. Wilfred."

"Please stop right there," she scrunched her nose. "I hate all of those. And we're getting off topic here."

"Allie, I'm not going to change my mind and you are just going to have to accept that," Steve stood his ground. "You have to start focusing on something else."