Even if the stars don't shine

Lili

  She walked down the street slowly, taking in the people around her carefully. She was currently out of work and any shop window signs proved to be very helpful, at the moment none showed themselves. With just a High School diploma, and even then not very high achieving, it was difficult to find a well paying job for more than two months.

  Most of the shops around her neighbourhood hardly knew that they could post listings online and so it was pointless to check, unless she wanted an hour commute every morning. She sighed as she got to the end of her seventh street search. Without warning something grabbed her arm and pulled her into a side street.

  "The fu-!" she started and pulled out a knife from her book, she pushed the person against the brick wall and stuck her knife against his throat.

  "Still got it, huh?" came a voice underneath the hood.

  She recognized it immediately and used her barring hand to instead pull off the hood and reveal the childhood friend. "You prick, Sam..." she cursed and stepped back, slowly concealing her knife back in her boot. "You're gonna get yourself killed around here, pulling people into alleys," she warned him.

  He grinned and shrugged. "Lucky I got you then, Lili," his grin widened and he lurched forward as she opened her arms to him.

  "God, only Ellie calls me that now," she hugged him tightly and stepped back, "what're you doing around here?"

  Sam shrugged. "I heard you're in need of a job?"

  "I don't know if I'm that desperate, Sam-"

  He laughed and punched her in the arm. "I've got someone I want you to meet, Lana, good friend of mine..." his face turned earnest again.

  She eyed him carefully. "Since when did you get good friends?"

  He smiled and pulled her out the alley by her shoulder. "Oh, I think you're really gonna like this one..." he said and took her in the direction of an old coffee shop she'd frequently visit when she had cash for luxuries like coffee.

  "So... what's the situation, Sam?" she asked as they reached the entrance, stopping him from opening the door. "A money kind of deal...?" she trailed off as his face screwed up.

  "No, you know it's not like that anymore, come on you'll have fun with this one," he took her hand and opened the door.

  "Oh, you always used to say that..." she groaned and followed him toward a table at the back with a man sipping on a takeaway cup hiding some blonde tufts of hair underneath a blue plain baseball cap. She watched him carefully as Sam sat her down opposite him then joined them.

  "Lana, this is Steve," he introduced as the man removed his sunglasses.

  She gasped loudly then waved away the onlookers who she startled. She put her hand over her mouth as she studied his face.

  "It's nice to meet you-" Steve offered.

  "You're Captain America..." she gaped and blinked a few times.

  Sam kicked her under the table. "Be cool, damn..." he warned her and met Steve's unsure blue eyes. "She's fine, promise... Do you want to explain or should I?"

  Steve watched her carefully as she held her hand firmer over her mouth. "I probably should..." he sighed. "A couple weeks ago in Germany-"

"You fought Iron Man... the Avengers were split up on either side- yeah, um, I know..." she pursed her lips as her hand fell.

  "Yes... it sprung up because of a friend of mine that, uh, went bad a while ago but he's- he's better now so we had a disagreement... At the end of it, it was agreed he couldn't stay here anymore," he looked down and took a breath, "we sent him to Wakanda to be looked after but they came under political siege recently and we had to get him out..."

  "Wakanda? Isn't that-" she started.

  "Oh yeah, no," Sam chuckled, "it's fucking amazing, I'll tell you about it later," he grinned and looked back to Steve who furrowed his brows at him.

  "Anyway, we uh- we..."

  Sam looked between them. "We need a safe house to keep him in..."

  "Safe house?" she thought aloud. "I wish I could say I knew any but most storage places I know are for drugs..." she shrugged.

  Steve further furrowed his brows. He questioned this woman for a second but Sam's eyes quietly reassured him. She looked normal enough, dark brown hair that slightly waved above her shoulders with grey-blue eyes and simple features. She looked innocent enough... but there was an underlying edge to those grey eyes. "We were hoping... you'd be able to look after him for a while..."

  She widened her eyes and paused for a moment, she opened her mouth to say something then closed it again. "Sam... do you have like seven dollars?" she asked suddenly.

  He hesitated then checked his wallet and handed her ten dollars. "Sure..."

  She nodded and walked to the counter, she smiled to the barista and made polite, cheery conversation as Steve and Sam watched her. She waited a moment and received her cup, sitting back down in front of them and handing Sam his change. "Needed tea for this..." she explained. "Go on."

  Sam cleared his throat and glanced at Steve. "Uh... I'm guessing you want some information on him before you consider this?"

  Lana nodded.

  "Okay... um, he was with Steve in the Howling Commandos during World War II, he got cut down by HYDRA and-"

  She had pieced it together now. "Bucky Barnes right?"

  Steve went pale. "Yes... How'd-"

  "I know? Well, it's not that hard right? I've been to the Museum, every kid has... My sister was obsessed with you and I'd hear all about what she could find so I knew about him, then in the news it comes up that the Winter Soldier wasn't quite what he seemed? It mentioned Bucky in a few articles..." she shrugged.

  Steve and Sam exchanged quiet looks. They didn't know which of them should proceed from here. Steve took a shot at it. "He's been through some difficult things..." he started.

  "With all that Black Widow released on HYDRA and SHIELD, yeah I can hardly imagine," she took a sip of her tea. She looked at Sam's eyes for a moment then turned back to Steve. "He's still dangerous, I'm guessing?"

  "Yeah... he's not exactly..." he looked for the right term, "of sound mind," he said honestly. "But he's still got a good heart and he's trying to- to get all that stuff out of his head. From what I know, he hasn't been having any explosive switch backs... lately," he tried to explain.

  She nodded slowly and took another gulp of tea. "I mean... Sam has probably told you I'm jobless, it's not like I have a lot to keep me busy."

  Steve raised his brows. "Does that mean you'll take him in?" he glanced between Sam and Lana.

  Sam inclined forward. "We can pay you for a couple weeks, small stuff of course cause we're not exactly rich ourselves at the moment, you know how it is."

  She weighed her head from side to side and nodded. "Yes... I'll take him."