I Will Always Come Back for You

Chapter 27: Sorry!

"Again?!" Steve exclaimed. He smacked his palm onto the table, causing the pieces on the game board to shift slightly. "Seriously?"

"Careful, you're gonna knock the pieces over," Lily warned through her laughter.

The two were nearing the end of their game of 'Sorry!', with both of them having three pieces in their home territories. Lily's remaining piece had been in its starting spot, while Steve's last one was only five spaces behind the entrance to Lily's safety zone. Of course, Lily had flipped a Sorry card (for about the sixth time this game, while Steve had only flipped two).

A small smirk played on Steve's face, despite his annoyance. With a shake of his head, he reached for Lily's piece, moved it out of its starting position, knocked over his own piece, and sent his piece back to its starting place.

"I hate this game," he muttered. "Next time we run out of cards, I'm shuffling."

Lily's laughter faded to a soft chuckle and she wiped tears from her eyes as she sat up straighter in her seat. "I don't know if there will be a next time with how close that puts me to home."

"Yeah, well, next game is my choice, so I bet you won't be laughing so hard when I kick your butt at Monopoly for the hundredth time," Steve said.

"Monopoly?" Lily sighed. "Look, as much as I'd love to get my butt kicked for the next four hours, I can't play something that long. I have plans at three."

"Do you really have plans or are you just avoiding the inevitable?"

"Maybe a little bit of both," she joked. "But really, I do have to stop around a quarter to three. We can start with Monopoly next time, though, I promise."

"Even if that means I end up picking two in a row? Because next game is still my pick," Steve wondered aloud.

Lily nodded. "Yes, even if that means you pick two in a row."

Steve smiled and shifted in his seat. "Great," he said. He reached over, pulled a card off the top of the deck, and placed it face-up on the discard pile. Because it read 'five', he could do nothing, so he gestured for Lily to take her turn. "So, what kind of plans do you have at three? Anything interesting?"

"Not really," she answered. She pulled a card from the deck and saw that it read "six" before moving her last piece six spaces - one space into her safety zone. "At least, not more so than game day with my best friend."

"And you can't skip it?"

Lily shrugged. "I mean, technically I could, but it's probably best that I don't. I've finally started making progress on...this thing...and skipping it could cause some setbacks."

"And this thing is...?" Steve asked, encouraging her to continue. He picked up another card and immediately tossed it into the discard pile. Again, he could do nothing with his turn.

Lily shrugged as she picked her next card. "It's just a thing." She placed the number three card down and moved her piece forward three spaces. "Nothing special."

"Is it something SHIELD related?" Steve asked. He picked up and put down yet another useless card.

"No," she answered. This time, Lily picked up a card that she could do nothing with.

Steve picked up another card and quickly discarded it. "If you don't want to tell me about it, that's fine, but...is everything okay?"

Lily's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Yeah? Why wouldn't it be?"

"Nothing, it's just...you don't usually keep things that aren't confidential to SHIELD from me. It's fine if you do - you're allowed to have things that I don't know - I just wanted to make sure that you're alright."