Together Tomorrow

Chapter One: Surprise Neighbor

Blackness. That was all she could see; utter and complete blackness. The suffocation effect of the muggy and stuffy air clouded her lungs as her head continued to pound. Her ears picked up on the scrapping from the outside of the shipping pod. Terror ripped through her. Even though the prospect of the door opening meant sun light to ease the pure darkness around her, it meant something worse than the dark was coming. She couldn't escape from the cage, she had lost track of how long, exactly, she had in the pod. They had taken everything from her, far more than just her wallet and phone. Just as the terror and feeling of suffocation was about to explode her heart, her eyes snapped open.

She sat up in her bed screaming, whimpering, and shaking head to toe. It took her a moment to recognize that she was in her bed at home. Her breath came in ragged desperate gasps as the panic ebbed away. She slowly got up and fumbled for the light switch. When her room was suddenly flooded with light all she saw was a mattress on the floor, an open suitcase, and packed cardboard boxes. She methodically steadied her breathing. It was only a flash back, she was fine. It had been five years, and tomorrow she was moving to Washington DC.

6 days later....

The elevator quietly dinged and the doors slid open smoothly. The new, strawberry blond tenant carefully steadied the immensely tall load of her things that she carried stacked above her head, and stepped out. She got half way down the hall when the topmost things on her pile began to tilt, threatening to fall to the floor.

"Come on, come on, come on. You made it all the way up here! Don't fall now!" She muttered to herself, taking a haphazard step sideways to maintain the balance of her overflowing armful. From around the lower side of her pile she saw the boots of someone walking towards her.

"Excuse me. Sorry." She chirped, blowing a corkscrew curl out of her face, and stepping sideways out of the way.

"Do you need a hand with that?" The stranger asked kindly. He had a deep but spirited tone, with a faint New York accent.

"No, I think I've-" Lea started, but before she could finish the top half of her stack toppled sideways, tumbling unhelpfully to the floor. "-got it." She finished with tight lips, staring down at her three notebooks, sketch pad, and colorful pillow now on the ground around her feet.

"Here, let me." The stranger chuckled and bent down to pick up her things.

"Thanks." Lea muttered trying not to drop more, she didn't get a good look at the man helping her but there was something oddly familiar about him. But when he straightened up, she felt a jolt of shock root her to the spot. She blinked quickly and hid her surprise as she recognized Steve Rogers.

Captain America was standing in front of her with her notebooks in hand, her bright girly pillow under his arm, and her old sketch pad open as he tried to get the pages to lay smoothly again.

Lea blinked again before he looked up at her with a small smile.

"That's quite the pile you've got there." He nodded towards the two boxes, blanket and purse she still carried.

"Yeah, this is only part of it." She laughed lightly. "Thanks for getting those. Could you just-?" She pointed to the top of her armload with her chin.

"I can carry it for you. Where are you headed?" Steve Rogers offered.

"Um, Room 2B." She squinted her eyes as she tried to remember her new apartment number.

"Oh, so you're the new neighbor." He grinned at her. "That's just down the hall from me."

"Oh, cool." Lea really had no idea what to say. She was moving in to her uncle's complex because he gave her a good deal on the rent, and he had never mentioned that Steve Rogers was going to be her neighbor. Needless to say, she was a little flabbergasted, but did her best to hide it.