Lithium couldn’t help but smile as she worked through her next set, trying to ignore the men in the room the best she could. While she appreciated them, and greatly enjoyed their company, after the kiss in the woods, she wanted to keep to herself a bit, even if she had enjoyed it. Truthfully, she was trying to keep from laughing in front of them. The kiss had been a spontaneous, short-lived but passionate encounter.

        When Lithium let her gaze drift over to Steve, her smile began to fade. He looked as sober as he’d ever been, and compared to him, Celeste felt like she’d been drunk. But seeing him as upset as he was, her expression quickly faded to utter seriousness. As the minutes ticked on, Lithium found her gaze frequently flicking over to Steve and his almost pained eyes.

        Even though Lithium had no ties to either man other than their friendship, she was concerned about him on a level that perhaps she shouldn’t have been. It was saddening to see him as less than the enthusiastic, albeit a bit strict, man she’d come to know. The one she’d spent years idolizing and months training with.

        It took a while for Sam and Bucky to leave, but once they had, Lithium ignored her obligation to Natasha and their secondary training session, striding over to Steve. Even though he was making work out of straightening up the weight room, Lithium didn’t believe that anything needed to be straightened further. Everyone knew how to put things away. Steve was waiting to be alone.

        Lithium refused to leave him alone like this.

        “Steve,” she called out, firmly, but quietly, her voice laced with worry. “Are you okay?” While she knew it was a ridiculous question to ask, that he was certainly, decidedly, not ‘okay’, she felt obligated to at least ask before delving deeper into his problems.

        “I’m fine,” Steve told her simply, shifting some of the weights around, aligning their numbers of all things. It only confirmed Lithium’s suspicions further. She wanted to give Steve space if he wanted it, but at the same time, she more than wanted to help him. All Lithium wanted was to help people. It was what drove her in life. If she couldn’t help people, she didn’t want to exist.

        “Steve,” she insisted gently. “Please talk to me. I’m here for you. You’ve been there for me. What’s the big deal about just sitting down and talking for a little while? You really look like you need it.”

        “You need to go to your training session with Agent Romanoff,” Steve replied evenly, still not looking at her. “She’ll be furious if you skip out just to chat.”

        “She can wait ten minutes if it means you’ll be okay, Steve.” Lithium reached out, grabbing his hand, her gray-blue eyes pleading with him. “Please, Steve. Just talk to me. I don’t want you to hurt like this.”

        When she tugged at his wrist, Steve glanced at her, briefly, but it was enough to see the genuine worry etched along the lines of her face. “There’s nothing to talk about, Lithium. Just go to your training.”

        “Steve,” Lithium insisted again, sitting down on the bench press. “Please. I’m worried about you. You just . . . You don’t seem like you, Steve . . . Please talk to me . . .” Again, she tugged at his wrist, wanting him to sit next to her, at the very least, near her. Knowing him the way she did, and seeing him so obviously thrown off, it upset Lithium that he was acting so odd.

        “Romanoff isn’t going to be happy that you’re late,” Steve told her evenly, trying to pull his himself from her grip. At the slight movement, the metal in Lithium’s skin shifted, her grip becoming solid and immovable.

        “Why don’t you like me anymore, Steve?” Lithium asked quietly, a bit of pain creeping into her tone. Her heart began to beat a little bit faster, her breath becoming shorter. The thought that the captain, her captain, no longer trusted her, no longer had use of her . . .

        The tears sprung into her eyes at the vast amount of possibilities. Lithium wanted to cry. She wanted to so, so badly, But she was afraid if she let the tears out, then Steve would care even less for her. How had this happened? How had she slipped herself out of Captain America’s good graces?

        “I-I’m sorry,” she whispered, her lower lip wavering. “For whatever I did . . .” Still, she bit back the tears, forcing them to stay in place, as she let go of Steve’s wrist and let her hair down so it would hide her face. “I’m so sorry, Steve . . .”

        Genuinely stunned, Steve watched as Lithium stood and turned to walk out of the room, to leave him alone like he’d originally wanted. But he wouldn’t let her go. Not like this. Steve grabbed her wrist and sat her back down on the bench, sitting next to her as he took both her hands in his own. “Why would you think you’ve done anything wrong, ‘Leste?” Steve asked, watching her expression and the way her face was beginning to redden.

        “B-Because you . . . You’re mad, Steve, and you won’t talk to me and I just want to help and you won’t . . . You won’t let me. And you have before. And that makes me think something serious is wrong. It makes me think that I did something seriously wrong and that scares me because I don’t want to hurt you, Steve! I never, ever want to hurt you, I mean, you’re amazing. You’re, well, fun, in a way . . . A weird way, but I kinda like it because I know that even though I probably drive you crazy, especially when I blather on like this, you still . . . You still tolerate me and you still train me and that means the world to me because I like being around you, Steve . . . I like knowing that someone cares about what happens to me, even if I haven’t always been on the side of good and justice and righteousness and-.”

        Steve gently pressed his index finger to her lips, shushing her quietly. “ ‘Leste,” he called out softly. “That’s enough. I understand. You don’t need to activate the chemicals any more than you already have. It’s okay. You didn’t do anything wrong. I’m just a bit stressed is all. All right? You haven’t done anything wrong. If anything, you’re helping with these moments when you ‘blather on’. It’s a blip of normal at this point. Considering what we’ll be going up against at some point, I’ll take what I can get while I can get it.”

        “Do you think we’ll lose against Hydra . . . ?” Lithium asked, her voice a quiet murmur. “Do you think we’ll make it out of there . . . ?”

        “I think we’ll make it out,” Steve assured her, daring for a moment to pull her smaller form closer to his, trying to quell her fears. Her head rested gingerly against his sternum, her breathing beginning to slow “So long as we remain a team, we’ll be all right.”

        “I don’t want to lose anyone else,” Lithium told him slowly. “Loss is hard . . .”

        “I know,” Steve murmured in a low voice, a deep-set pain aching across his expression as he recalled everyone he’d lost. Even now, it seemed Bucky was still lost to him. “I know,” he repeated.

         ~~~

        A/N: So sorry about the long wait and short chapter, but I swear I didn't mean it. I may have gotten caught up in a new mmorpg . . . >.< Oops . . . I'll be trying to update a bit more soon.