Stay With Me

7. Interrogation

Defenders Bar. Philadelphia, PA. July 12, 2018

Hours later, after repeating their story a dozen times, a brutal phone call to the insurance company, the police hauled away Landon and the two men responsible for fight away. Juliette stands just inside the doors of her bar, surveying the damage.

She stares at the mess, the broken belongings of the people who used to be her friends, pictures and new paper articles depicting old missions.

The furniture and pool tables are replaceable, the booths will take time replace but it's doable. The bar is going to be a bitch to fix. The glass shelving and up lighting alone will cost a fortune, not to mention all the bottles that were destroyed. Some of cost $150 or more.

Although money isn't an issue, the bar will have to be closed for a while. The mural depicting the original 6 has to be touched up and some of the custom light fixtures, each one honoring an Avenger will need to be remade.

Glass lay everywhere. Pools of blood stain the concrete and the place smells likes stale beer. She sighs.

Steve comes up behind her and wraps his arms around her shoulders, pulling her into him. He kisses the top of her head, giving her his strength.

Loui stands near by, arms crossed over her chest. "You're going to press charges right?"

Juliette nods.

"She already spoke to the police." Steve answers for her.

Her eyes fall on the broken display case, and finally the tears come. Her lip trembles while tears blur her vision. Steve feels her body shake and holds her tighter.

"Why don't you guys head home. I'll clean this up." Juliette suggests, her voice broken.

Loui shakes her head. "We aren't leaving you Julie."

"It's ok, I need to do this on my own. But be back early for inventory. The insurance company wants an itemized list. We have to go through everything. We have to call the man who made the table lights," She points to Natasha's themed light which barely still hanging. "And the booths will need to be replaced, and I need to find the number for that artist."

"We'll help you take care of all it Sweetheart." Steve's hands slide up and down her arms. "Are you sure you want to clean tonight? It's already 3 in the morning. We can go home for a few hours get some sleep then come at it in the morning."

Her eyes fall back on the display case. The only things she has left of some of the people who meant the world to her. "I need to do this."

"If you stay, I stay." Loui insists and walks across the floor to the backroom for the brooms and mops. She comes back with a hand full of cleaning supplies. "Where do you want me to start?"

Juliette turns around and looks at Steve. "I'm staying too." He states and grabs a broom from Loui. He kisses Juliette once, a reminder that no matter how hard things get or what obstacles life throws at them, he's with her. Always.

She nods and walks towards the back, grabbing two boxes. One for her to put the broken pieces her friends in and one for Loui to put the salvageable bottles from behind the bar in.

Kneeling in the glass, which cuts into her knees she gingerly picks up Redwing's prototype, one of the wings dangles from a wire. If Sam were alive he might be able to fix it, but he vanished. She cries quietly as she places it in the box. The glass on Tony's old arc reactor sits cracked in it's casing. Natasha's old Widow Bite bracelets appear to be in ok condition. Steve's old journal, which was open to a drawing of a monkey dressed in his stealth suit riding a unicycle, lay face down in a pool of beer. The pages wet and sticking together.