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Lily waited patiently for James to get back from the market. When an hour passed she began getting increasingly anxious. Although she had only ever tried it once before, Lily tried reaching out for James' emotions. She got frustrated when she couldn't sense him and she began shaking.
James, where are you?
A pounding on her door startled her. The first thought that came to her head was James, but his knocking was gentler. Her thoughts were confirmed when a voice called through her door.
"Police! Open up!" Lily's breathing became faster and her trembling got worse. Mid-way through debating on whether or not to open, her door burst open. The shock made her let out a scream and she stumbled into the wall. The first thing she saw was the guns. Her hands raised in surrender, her trembling noticed. Her senses were so disoriented that she couldn't quite pinpoint their emotions.
"Stand down." A feminine voice called. The voice was strong but had a fatigue to it. The voice spoke in German, of course to the German police, but because Lily's father knew a little German and growing up with it, she got a basic understanding of the what the woman said. The woman came into view and Lily immediately became slightly more relaxed. Her presence was soothing, or at least more soothing than the rest of the agents.
"Are you Lillian Kane?" The woman switched into Romanian easily. Lily didn't know how to speak at first so she just nodded. "Sorry about all of this, but we need to take you in and ask you some questions." Lily took a deep, shaky breath.
"A-About what?" Her voice was small and shook along with her hands that she had put down by then.
"You're relationship with Mr. Barnes." Although it was strange to hear James' last name, she understood.
"O-Okay." Lily shifted her shoulders uncomfortably as the emotions crowding the room became clearer to her and prodded at her thoughts.
—
Lily rode in a van with two guards with her, unfortunately the woman was on the other side of the van so Lily wasn't as comfortable. Lily kept her eyes on the ground, but felt curious gazes if those around her. She didn't exactly blame them. She was a small, defenseless, and relatively unstable, but sweet girl. How'd she end up with the Winter Soldier, the world's most wanted criminal?
Upon arriving, Lily was helped out of the van by the woman from earlier, who she now knew as Natasha, but the guards still stood by her side. Lily glanced around anxiously seeing agents running around in the spacious area. To her far right, Lily saw three men get out of another van first, then her eyes spotted him.
James.
She nearly gasped when she saw the state he was in. She almost ran towards him but was stopped by the Natasha. She gave a sympathetic look, but shook her head either way. James and Lily made eyes contact, James' eyes widening. He mouthed the words, "I'm sorry." and averted his gaze to the ground. Lily was led to stand beside the three men and in front of guards and officials.
"I better not look out the window and see anybody flying around in that." The dark skinned man beside her mumbled grouchily.
"Ah, Miss Kane. Nice to meet you." The blonde man in front of her greeted, ignoring the bitter comment. The three men beside her glanced her way, and became sympathetic upon seeing her anxious figure. Lily was never good at English, but she understood minimally what he was saying. She nodded and tried giving a smile.
"Is James alright? Where are you taking him? Can I see him?" Lily's tone was urgent and she didn't even bother trying to speak English. The man looked at the woman beside Lily questioningly.
"She's asking about him."
"What about him." His eyes narrowed.
"I-I need to see James." Lily managed to get out, her accent so heavy that she was surprised they even understood.
"I'm afraid that's not possible Miss. He's a criminal." Steve's eyebrows creased at the exchange. Natasha repeated the words in Romanian to Lily and Lily's eyes widened.
"N-No! I was with him. He didn't do anything I swear! He didn't- he wouldn't-" her words were shaky and the redhead beside her put an arm around her to calm her down. Taking a deep breath, Lily repeated her words in English. "He would not-"
"But he did. We have evidence." The red-head once again repeated the words in Romanian, but openly glared at the man as she did.
"But-" Lily was cut off again.
"Just take her with the others. We'll question her later." He said in an uninterested and angry tone, and with that, he spun on his heels with the others and led the way for the three men and herself. "You'll be provided with an office instead of a cell. Now, do me a favor and stay in it?" The man said snarkily as they walked. Lily didn't quite understand but knew better than to say anything about the subject.
"I don't intend on going anywhere." The other dark-skinned man said, but this time with an accent that was hypnotic. Natasha spoke to the blonde man walking beside them. His expression was stoic and defensive, but his emotions radiated defeat and sadness.
"For the record, this is what making things worse looks like." The blonde man didn't bother glancing at her.
"He's alive." That, Lily understood.
The red-head broke from Lily's side and Lily didn't bother listening to the conversations near her as she was incredibly distracted by the environment she was in. Everything was glowing with the light of technology. Silver decals ran through everything in the room, sparkling from the glow. Glass surrounded offices and aided in the technology that had been created. It was so modern and it was nothing Lily had ever seen before, she barely knew how to describe it. Lily was led to an office with the two other American men. They all sat in silence for a while before Steve finally spoke up.
"You know Bucky?" Lily looked at him and only barely understood. The name was strange to her but she had heard it before when James was explaining his past.
"James?" She responded. He blinked in surprise at her response, then chuckled slightly.
"No one ever calls him James. He didn't like it. Made him sound too formal." She cocked her head and studied him, intrigued by his solemn and nostalgic tone. Then it clicked. She remembered the picture of the soldier, Captain America, that James showed her. Then he told her that he only barely remembered him but he knew that they were best friends, basically brothers.
"Steve?" She pointed at him and once again he blinked in surprise.
"Yeah. That's me."
"H-He talk about you."
"Really?" His voice was hopeful and that was the moment that Lily tuned more deeply into his emotions. Tiredness, sadness, anger, frustration, but an unwavering hope. She nodded and smiled lightly at him.
"I'm sorry, what's your name again?" Steve asked after a moment.
"Lily."
"Lily, this is Sam." Steve pointed to the man beside him who was watching the conversation with a curious gaze. She gave him the same gentle smile and nodded her head as he didn't the same.
"So, how do you know Bu- I mean James?" Steve asked with a relatively slower pace so she could understand and she was entirely grateful.
"We met in the market. He helped me when I got hurt. We live together." She summarized as best as she could. Before any of them could say any more, a man came in and requested to talk to Steve, making him stand and follow reluctantly.
As Lily sat in that office, she could only think of how scared James looked and how anxious he must be. He didn't deserve this. None of this was his fault.
