Steve's view
We were just crossing the border into Switzerland when Bucky's head fell on my shoulder. I smiled and realised that he had fallen asleep. I would have loved to pull him close to me, it was terrible to be close to him, but I just couldn't be. I was content to just watch him sleep.
"If you want to rest, I can go for a drive." I offered Tim, who was actually called Timothy but preferred to be called Tim.
"That's ok Cab. It's not that far now anyway."
Our car was the first in the long column. Not everyone rode in cars. Some men had hijacked a truck and some even rode in tanks. Suddenly Bucky started to move restlessly, I was about to wake him up, but he calmed down again and went back to sleep peacefully. "Do you know what the doctor did to him?" I asked Tim, maybe he had overheard something, because I had the feeling that Bucky would not tell me what had happened.
Tim looked thoughtfully down the road "All I know is that so far no one has come back from where he was."
I nodded at him gratefully, though his wisdom didn't get me anywhere.
Hour after hour passed, slowly the sun rose and we reached the coast of France. The men stretched and Bucky slowly woke up too. "God I'm hungry!" he muttered. As if in confirmation, his stomach growled.
I had already noticed with concern how emaciated he was, but now we all needed food and I had no idea where I was going to pull food out of a hat for two hundred hungry soldiers.
"Okay first we need a ship," I thought. "Alright people listen up!" I raised my voice to draw attention to myself. Immediately all eyes were on me. "Who speaks French?" Several men raised their hands in response to my question.
"All right you" I pointed to five men "try to find out if there is a ship leaving here for England soon. And we" I pointed to Gabe, Jaques and myself "try to find some food somewhere" the prospect of food and an imminent crossing made the men cheer.
Before I left with Bucky, Gabe and Jaques I quickly took Tim aside " Ask around if there are any medics, if there are they should set up an infirmary with what we have and treat injuries. I'll be back as soon as I can." Tim nodded at me and I set off.
We entered the first restaurant we could find, as France was also fighting the Hydra I hoped the owner would help us. Jaques started to discuss with the owner in French. I didn't understand a word, of course. "What's he saying?" I murmured to Gabe, who seemed to be having trouble following the conversation himself.
"He says he can't possibly give two hundred men a free meal."
I was about to tell Gabe to tell Jaques to stop bothering, but suddenly the middle-aged man pointed at me and rattled off something in French. "What's he saying now?" I thought it was creepy the way the man was staring at me, apparently Bucky was too because he was clutching his machine gun tighter.
Gabe started laughing "He says everyone gets all the food they want if you take a picture with him and sign it."
I was gobsmacked. The man was going to close his whole shop for a few hours and give us his food just for a photo and a signature. I just nodded and the man ran to get his camera.
"Don't look so puzzled, you're famous." Gabe laughed.
I joined in the laughter, but only because I was happy to be able to keep my promise to the men two hundred metres away. Just then the slightly older man came running back down the stairs, an instant camera in his hand. He said something to Jaques, who passed it on to Gabe. "He says he wants to take the picture in front of the fireplace." Gabe translated.
I smiled kindly at the man, nodded and gestured to him to go to the fireplace, where I followed. He pushed the camera into Jaques' hand and stood next to me where he casually saluted. Smiling, I did the same. I heard the click of the camera and released my tense smile, let him hand me a pen and scribbled my signature on the photo.
The owner held up the photo as if it were the Bible. Then he walked to the shop door and turned the sign to closed.
"Merci, merci!" I thanked him with the only word of French I spoke.
"De rien." after these words the man ran off into the kitchen, probably to urge the cooks on.
"You hollow out the others, I'll stay here and set the tables with Bucky." I asked Gabe. In truth, even if it was only a few minutes, I wanted some time alone with Bucky. I had watched with concern as he leaned against a table and had a vacant look in his eyes. Gabe and Jaques nodded at me and left the shop with a jingle.
As soon as they were gone I went to Bucky who had sunk down on an armchair, knelt down in front of him and took his hands in mine "Buck what's wrong?"
He tried to smile but failed miserably "Nothing, I just haven't eaten in days."
"Buck you know I can tell when you're lying to me. What happened in that camp?" I asked him gently. But immediately regretted my question, because there was such panic in his eyes that I would kill that doctor if I ever saw him again.
"It's okay, you don't have to talk, but I'm always here. You know that don't you?" I quickly looked around to make sure no one was watching us anyway and then blew a kiss on his hands.
I started pushing the tables together. After a short time Bucky helped me and so we had three long tables, each reaching from one end of the diner to the other. The smell of bacon, egg dish, crepes and much more was already drifting to my nose from the kitchen. Bucky had been so uncharacteristically quiet all this time and was now back in an armchair brooding away. I dropped down next to him and just sat there. I could already hear the footsteps of the men on their way to the diner. Then the door was pushed open and a pack of talking, laughing men rushed in. I tried to block out as much of the noise as I could, but still my head seemed to explode with all the different voices. It had to be the time when my senses intensified even more, Dr Erskine had warned me that my senses could intensify even later. I massaged my temples to drive away the stinging headache.
"Hey what's going on?" Bucking's question made my ears explode.
I concentrated for a second and waited for my ears to adjust back to normal human hearing. "Everything's fine."
Bucky looked at me doubtfully.
I rolled my eyes "Really, my ears just picked the worst possible moment to get stronger." I reassured Bucky.
Before he could reply anything else Tim, Jim, Gabe and Jaques dropped down beside us.
"I've got some good news. A ship is leaving the port for England in three hours." Tim took off his bowler hat and deftly tossed it onto the hat rack two feet away.
"That's really good news." Before I could say or do anything else, a door flew open and three men and four women carried in a plethora of food. Behind them, the owner of the diner pushed in a trolley with plates, cutlery and cups. Quickly the plates were distributed and the food, vast quantities of coffee and water were placed on the tables. Like hyenas, the men pounced on the food, and I was no exception. I scooped bacon, eggs, a croissant and a piece of baguette onto my plate. Then I poured myself a cup of coffee.
For a moment all was well, Bucky even regained some colour, laughed a genuine laugh when Jim made a joke but then the corners of Tim's mouth slipped down and he started staring out the window. I followed his gaze and didn't like what I saw. There were dozens of people outside the diner looking at us like we were animals in a zoo. When one hit the window, Bucky next to me and about half the men around me flinched, as the sound was not at all different from the sound of a gunshot. "Come with me!" I demanded of Gabe, and walked to the door of the diner, trembling with rage. If I spoke French myself I would shout at the crowd if they had no decency.
As I stepped through the door everyone was shouting in confusion, most of the people had to be from some newspapers, some were just onlookers.
"Silencieux!" yelled Gabe over the crowd.
I didn't know what he was yelling, but it was instantly silent. Afterwards, he looked at me almost desperately.
"Tell them all to get the hell out of here if they have any sense of decency!"
"Si vous avez même un soupcon de décence, allez-y maintenant!"
But not one of the people besieging the diner moved a bit. "Heartless monsters!" with the words I tore open the door and went back into the diner.
"Monstres sans coeur!" I heard Gabe's translation.
Without further ado, I simply dropped the shutters down, blocking the gawkers' view of the diner's interior. Gabe locked the door as he closed it, just to be on the safe side. I dropped back down next to Bucky and only then noticed how all two hundred men looked at me expectantly.
"They'll go away again." I assured them confidently. But I wasn't so sure myself. Would they. But the men should be able to enjoy a meal in peace. I turned back to my richly filled plate and set about devouring the food.