“Girl, that is it! You’re driving me crazy! Speak up, would you?”

        “Sam,” the captain warned firmly. He knew their friend meant well, he always did, but to burst on Lithium like that when she was feeling vulnerable? It was unacceptable.

        “No, Cap!” Sam argued, Lithium watching him with silent, wide eyes looking very much like a doe. “I have tried playing nice with this girl! She’s stricken with grief, all right? I get that! But for shit’s sake, Girl, come on! You’re holding it all in! That shit ain’t healthy! You can be sad and mad and pissed off and devastated all you damn well want, but if you do not get your shit together and start talking, it’s never gonna get any better! We’re your team, all right? That means you come to us with your shit! I don’t care if it’s some crazy ass shit that a therapist would freak if they hear, you come to us. We are your team.

        “You know what happened to me my junior year of high school? I got stood up at Prom. That’s right, sexy Sam got stood up. I wore braces for most of high school. I wet the bed a few years ago because of the war. I don’t care, because you’re my team and I know you’re there for me. Now open your damn mouth and talk to me already! I am sick of the silent treatment. You wanna feel better? Then stop holding it in and talk to me!”

        Slowly, the medicine ball Lithium was holding slid out of her hands, hitting the floor with a ‘thud’ and narrowly missing her toes. She stood there, staring at Sam shocked to her core over his outburst.

        “Sam,” Steve growled in a low voice.

        “What?” Sam snapped, turning to face Rogers.

        Before Steve could say anything, Lithium stepped forward, wrapping her arms around Sam tightly, the sobs already shaking her body as she buried her face in his chest. Both Steve and Sam looked at her in shock, but Sam reacted quickly, wrapping his arms around her in return.

        “I lost her twice,” she choked out slowly. “I missed her so much and she came back, but it’s not . . . It’s not really her and it hurts so bad. I want her to be okay but,” Lithium drew in a sharp breath. “But she’ll never be okay when Hydra has their hands around her throat!”

        Sam took a deep breath, steadying himself and calming down. “Girl, it sucks. I know that. Cap knows that. We all know it. We can’t feel it for you, but we know it hurts. And we’re here for you. Don’t reject the people who care for you. We want to help you so it doesn’t hurt so much. And I’m sorry but you may have to put that pain aside at any moment. If the enemy bears down on us, you have to be able to fight. If we’re not all on the same page, we might not make it out alive. You know that, don’t you?”

        Lithium gave a strained nod.

        “What did I say about speaking?”

        “I-I kn-ow,” she said, forcing the words out.

        “Good,” Sam answered. “We’re going to be okay. All of us. You’re going to recover from this. I promise you will recover. It will always hurt at least a little. But it will be okay. Not today. Not tomorrow. Probably not a month from now. Maybe not a year from now. But it will be okay someday. I promise you that. We are your team. We will make sure you recover. Do you understand?”

        “I-I do,” she answered.

        “Good,” Sam told her before patting the top of her head and sitting down with her on the bench press. “Now tell me about the seventh grade.”

        “What?” Lithium asked, puzzled.

        “Did I stutter?” Sam asked skeptically. “I said tell me about the seventh grade and work your way up to today. Tell me everything you remember. Crushes, embarrassing moments, crappy teachers, awesome classes, everything. I swear by the end of this, you will feel better. Spending hours talking about all the dumb things you’ve forgotten will always help.”

        “So why seventh grade?” Lithium asked softly, wiping her eyes, chest still hiccuping with the occasional sob.

        “I don’t know!” Sam exclaimed dramatically, throwing his arms in the air. “It sounded good, you know?” Lithium laughed a little, a small smile creeping across her face. The first one she’d worn in days. Steve was in awe, but smiled at the fact that she felt well enough to smile, if only a little. “Fine,” Sam relented. “Start at the very beginning. Start with your first memory.”

        So she did. No one bothered to mention that they’d completely stopped with today’s training to go over Lithium’s life story. They were only a few moments into it when Bucky joined them silently. Without a word, he stood near Steve, watching Sam and Celeste interact.

        “I met Iris in second grade,” she told him sadly, a bit of a happy glimmer in her eyes even though it was surrounded by sorrow. “We had the same teacher that year. And then we got paired up for making paper mache animals. We did a liger.” Lithium laughed softly, the sound abrupt. “She wanted a lion and I wanted a tiger so we were told to compromise and we made a liger. We didn’t even really know what a liger even was at the time so it pretty much looked like a tiger with a funny tail and a mane, you know? We got a good grade for creativity and we just kinda . . . became inseparable.

        “And there was this time in third grade, oh my God, I farted and Iris noticed, and instead of ratting me out when the teacher asked who did it, Iris stood up, pointed at Kevin, pointed her finger and told him he was a disgusting, gross boy. I thanked her for days. No one even gave me a second thought, but Iris got detention for being crude.” Lithium laughed again. “Third grade and she was already watching my back.”

        After a while, Natasha and Clint came looking for Lithium. It wasn’t like her to be late for target practice. However, rather than pulling her away, the pair paused and listened as Celeste continued spewing her life story to Sam.

        Including every little detail that had to do with Iris.

        “In fifth grade, this girl, this absolutely insane girl, spent all of that year, and the next and the one after, trying to get me to go out with this cute kid name Grant.” Lithium laughed quietly, sadly, wiping her eyes. “It never worked. I was way too shy to ask him out, and he was too shy to ask me out. I begged her not to be too direct with him because I was so scared of rejection. She obliged me, thankfully. It was one of the only times she listened to me about being subtle. The girl is crazy, you know? A beautiful sort of crazy. I love her so much. I wish I had her back the way things used to be. I know I can’t, but it’d be so nice to just go back for a day when things weren’t so complicated, you know?”

        Sam tilted her head back up to keep her from staring at the floor. “Look at me and keep talking, Lith. What else?”

        With a small smile, she continued her random string of stories up until shortly after her senior year when she joined Hydra. From Prom to finals, she told him everything she could remember.

        When she finished, the sun had set quite a while ago. Lithium’s words were occasionally interrupted by yawns as she struggled to finish each small tale, especially the larger ones. But it was okay, because she wasn’t alone.

        For the first time since Copper’s ‘death’, Lithium didn’t feel those walls between herself and everyone else. Everything she felt was utterly raw, and her team felt it with her. Resting her head on Sam’s shoulder as she tried to remember more and more, her well of information dwindling with each sentence.

        “Um . . . Hydra . . . Hydra . . .” She smiled a bit. “I bet Hydra had no idea what I’d find when they sent me to track down Bucky. I wouldn’t trade it for the world, you know that? I love Iris so much . . . She’s the best . . . But nothing could change what Hydra did . . . She was too smart for them . . . And too upfront about it . . .” Celeste yawned again. “I’m glad you’re here . . . I’m glad I have all of you . . .”

        Sam gave a nod. “I’m glad we have you, too.” Celeste yawned again before going limp against him, crashing into a deep sleep. Sam glanced back at Bucky and Steve. “One of you wanna take her back to her room?”

        Steve and Bucky met each other’s gaze for a moment before Bucky relented. “You can take her, Steve. I think I’ll crash as soon as I get anywhere near a bed. Took night shift guard duty last night. I need some rest pronto.”

        Steve gave a nod before walking over to where Lithium sat, scooping her off the bench. “Come on, Beautiful,” he whispered gently, taking her from the room as the others cleared out. It took only a few minutes before he was sliding her into her bed, wondering what to do about her clothes. They stunk of the day’s workout, and weren’t suitable for sleeping. With a frown, he considered calling Widow to the room, or perhaps just waking Lithium, when she began to stir.

        “Cap’n,” she muttered, rolling onto her side. “That you?”

        “It’s me, Celeste. I’m afraid you must wake and change yourself.”

        She gave a small nod, letting out a long breath. “I’m tired, Cap’n . . . Must I?”

        He gave a nod, even though her eyes were closed. “I’m afraid so, ‘Leste. The clothes you’re wearing are coated in sweat.”

        “Serves me right,” she muttered. “Being a hard worker and all. The fuck was I thinking?”

        With a small smile, Steve brushed a lock of hair behind her ear. “If I get you something to wear, can you manage to change yourself?”

        She gave a small nod. “Mmhm. I have a nightshirt in the middle left drawer that’ll be easy to get into . . . Undergarments are in the top right . . .”

        “Undergarments?” Steve asked slowly. “Aren’t you . . . wearing those?”

        Lithium nodded and yawned. “Yeah, but those are just as sweaty,” she muttered. “Don’t be a wuss, Cap’n, I’m too tired to get up right now. Besides, you already heard all my dirty laundry, I think you can handle the clean stuff.”

        With a small laugh, he conceded, though still uncomfortable with the prospect of it all. Fishing out the nightshirt, Steve turned his attention to the drawer filled with . . . unmentionables. Carefully, he slipped his hand inside, fishing out a bra and a pair of panties. Or at least, what he theorized was what she wanted. He hadn’t seen things this colorful and frankly, small, for what they were meant to cover. Carefully, he returned to the bed and laid them down for her, trying to ignore the small flashes of lightning that were beginning to fill the bedroom.

        Forcing her eyes open, Lithium took the clothing and began stripping off the dirty cloth that clung to her skin. Steve immediately averted his eyes and turned himself away.

        “Will you be all right if I leave you?” He asked, hating that he felt so awkward when it didn’t seem to bother Lithium at all. Of course, she was used to baring her body, wasn’t she? Lithium had never given the hint that she’d given her body away for her job. Not completely. But she was used to the exposure. Steve was far from used to any woman being bare in his presence.

        Carefully, Lithium continued sliding out of her clothes, pulling on the red, cotton panties. “But . . . I don’t want you to leave,” she told him, stopping in her task. “Steve, you won’t even look at me . . . Don’t you think I’m beautiful?”

        With a deep breath, Steve turned around to look at her. “I think you are far more than beautiful,” he told her steadily. “But I believe your beauty lies beneath your skin. And I don’t mean the metal.”

        Lithium smiled softly, rubbing her eyes. “Stay with me tonight, Steve . . . Please.”

        He gave a small nod. “Do you mind if I leave briefly to change? . . . And if you put on the remainder of your clothing?”

        She laughed softly, still tired. “I’ll put on my clothes if you promise to come back.”

        He gave a small nod, a gentle smile etched on his face. “I promise to come back.”

        “Good,” she answered quietly, starting to pull on her bra and nightshirt as he left. It wasn’t too long before her returned, and she still sat upright in her bed, afraid to fall asleep before he’d returned. Sliding onto the mattress next to her, Steve wrapped an arm around her, pulling her close as he laid down with her at his side, as she curled into his chest.

        She was not alone. She was safe.