Even if the stars don't shine

Angel

  It had been four days since the break in and Lana wouldn't talk about it anymore. She'd since gotten over her shock and returned to her normal demeanour. Bucky was watching her even more so than usual though, seeing how she'd react to things, how her face would change or what she'd say. She didn't mention anything about her past again, nothing even about Sam or her sister.

  She was bringing out more crafts to keep them busy and movies in the evenings until they went to bed- together. He was finding it bizarre how he was actually sleeping, on average he woke up twice in the last four nights and the dreams seemed to already be getting further away. He supposed it was knowing she was there, she was set in reality and his dreams were in the past- they weren't real right now, they had been once but not anymore. She was grounding him.

  She was also getting much closer to him, sitting against him on the couch and beside him at the kitchen island for breakfast. He didn't mind- he didn't mind at all.

                                       **

  One day, she'd gone out in the evening to fetch something, she was cryptic about it and told him she'd be about an hour. After two hours, he was pacing the living room. He heard a bang at the door and lowered to the couch, not sitting, reaching for something. The door opened and he saw Lana struggling with a large box.

  He abandoned the couch and went over to pick it up for her, she told him to set it on the coffee table. She took a sharp breath and locked the door behind her. She put her hands on her hips and sighed. "I want to show you something..." she walked toward the box and smiled.

  He watched her rip off the tape keeping it closed and pulled out a heavy silver container. She laid it next to the first box and grinned at him as she saw him recognise it. "A phonograph?"

  "The portable Special Model K electric phonograph, thank you very much," she specified. He raised his brows as she retrieved more things from the box, records in sheaths, each different. "My grandma was really into records, way after it stopped being popular, she kept a lot of her collectibles from the thirties and bought some more later, I inherited it all after she died, having taken more interest in it than my sister."

  He stared at them.

  "We've got Ted Lewis," she started, "Raymond Scott, and my ultimate favourite- Vera Lynn," she grinned and opened the top of the phonograph then looked at him.

  "This is amazing..." he scoffed with a smile.

  She unsheathed the Raymond Scott album and set it up, sitting down on the couch in the process. He joined her as she flicked on the necessary switches. "Come on," she encouraged him.

  He slowly sat down next to her, somewhat shell-shocked at this. The music began playing and he recognised the sound immediately, thinking back to all the times he'd heard it in bars and clubs and the newly made car radios. He breathed out slowly, sitting forward.

  She smiled watching him, the acknowledgement flickered in his eyes as the music played. "It's not fair to expect you and Steve to just adjust so easily to the future... no one should make you forget the past," she sat back and closed her eyes, crossing her arms.

  After a few minutes, she changed it to the Vera Lynn record and sat back again. He joined her, watching her face after she'd closed her eyes. He remembered Vera well, her radio programme was popular with the British troops he met, they all loved her. She even played outdoor concerts. Every soldier he met loved Vera.

  She started humming softly to the beat, tapping her foot and smiling until she felt him rest his head on her shoulder. He had to slouch some way down the couch to reach her shoulder. She grinned and let her head fall onto his, gently sitting there until she noticed the sun was setting. She looked up and patted his arm. "Have to see if we have electricity."