Chapter 2

Ever get side-tracked?

Yeah, that happened to me.

I got into New York City at midnight. I knew I should've found a motel or something to rest up at, but an all-night little coffee shop was calling my name. I landed in an alleyway just next to it, shielded my wings, and headed over.

"Welcome to NYCA," the man at the counter said when I entered, grinning. He had close-cropped blond hair with sparkling green eyes. "What can I get for you?" I paused to think.

"Could I have an almond hot chocolate with chocolate whipped cream?" The man raised an eyebrow and asked, "Preference or allergy?"

"Preference," I said. "My dad used to order that drink too many times to count." He laughed and asked, "Name?"

"Just use Salgado," I said, nodding. He nodded back and scribbled the name down on a cup before being cheery to the person behind me. I took a seat at one of the tables and surveyed the coffee shop. Everyone looked normal, but one man looked too tense. He sat on the edge of his seat, like he was waiting for someone to call him out. A shiver hit me, but it was unlike one I had ever gotten before. This wasn't a shiver to predict mutant abilities or when something was off. It felt…nice.

The man up front called out my name and sat my drink down on the counter. I got up, retrieved my drink and walked over to the guy who was tense.

"Hey," I said quietly, and the man's head flung up.

Whoa.

He wasn't that bad looking. He had ear-length dark brown hair with brown eyes that I could just drown in. I gulped and continued, "Is anyone sitting here?" He shook his head and I took a seat across from him. Things were quiet for a second, and it was only when I took a sip of my drink that he spoke.

"Why an almond hot chocolate?" he asked suddenly, tilting his head. A full on Brooklyn accent hit me. "A dame like yourself doesn't look like she needs to lose the weight…" I blushed at being called a dame. No one really complimented me back at Buffalo Valley. It was usually just Lizzy and my dad before he disappeared.

"My father's favorite drink," I answered smoothly. I mentally high-fived myself for not acting like an idiot in front of him. "We used to come to New York City for holidays, and when my mom wasn't looking, my dad and I would try to visit all the coffee shops in the city, ordering the same thing: almond hot chocolate with chocolate whipped cream. We got up to twelve coffee shops before one, I was sick of hot chocolate overdose, and two, my mom figured out and stopped his credit card." The man smiled and glanced around the coffee shop.

"I was here when they built this shop," he commented, his eyes full of remembrance. "Biggest thing that happened in the neighborhood at the time." He sighed and shook his head. "How New York has changed."

I nodded and said, "My name's Emily." I held a hand out over the table and the man grabbed it, giving it one firm shake.

"The name's James," he said, nodding in return. "You can call me Bucky."

"Nickname?" I teased, and he nodded again. We smiled and talked for a while before we both finished our drinks.

"Well, I better get going," I yawned, grabbing my bag. I stood up wearily and Bucky followed suit. "I'm hopefully going to get a new job that fits my…attributes, and I want to make sure I can get there in time before registration closes."

Bucky nodded and ran his fingers through his hair awkwardly, before he whispered, "I could take you to your job, if you'd like." I nodded and smiled.

"Always nice to have a friendly face in the crowd of people," I told him. "Especially when it's midnight." He chuckled at my joke and my chest filled with warmth. We left NYCA (I gave them a good tip) and we slipped outside and walked along the road. Bucky seemed really cool. He was a total gentleman around me, and he didn't seem to know a ton about most movies and such, so I gladly filled him in on everything he apparently missed out on. As we chatted, we crossed one of the main intersections. I laughed at something he said and turned to tell him another corny joke (literally) when my a terrible shiver ran down my spine. My eyes flipped over to where the large metal truck was heading straight for an unsuspecting Bucky.

:/:\:

[Bucky's POV]

Had to say, Emily was like no one I had ever met before. We laughed at almost anything we said.

It was…different.

We crossed one of the major intersections and I followed behind her skipping self. It wasn't until I heard a loud honk that my senses went crazy. I turned to see what it was and my eyes widen with disbelief. A large semi-truck was heading straight towards me, lights and horn ablaze. The man behind the wheel seemed intoxicated, and was unable to get out of the way. No time to move. I braced myself for the collision, but something rammed into me from the side, causing me to tumble away. I skidded painfully on the road, hitting my head on a rogue piece of asphalt. I groggily pushed myself onto my elbows, trying to see who had pushed me out of the way. A broken form lay in front of the truck. I pushed myself onto my knees to get a better view of them.

Beautiful blond-brown hair with silvery blue eyes, a kind smile not turned to pain.

It was Emily.

I dove over to her and carefully brushed her hair out of her face. She was so broken. She had a long cut on her forehead, and her wrist was twisted at a weird angle. The drunk, fat man tumbled out of the truck and started spewing curse words at us for stopping his delivery. In return, I glared at him and he instantly backed off.

I grabbed my phone and in the voice activated part, I yelled, "Call Steve!" The computers worked and put me on.

"Hello?" a warm, familiar voice asked. "This is Steve Rogers."

"Bucky," I answered simply, brushing Emily's hair away from her forehead.

"What do you need, when, where, and why?"

"I need the medical team a few blocks away from the NYCA café. Civilian was hit by a semi-truck protecting me, broken wrist, cut on forehead which might cause a concussion, and Steve, I need them here now!"

:/:\:

[Steve's POV]

I ended my phone call with Bucky and Clint asked wearily from where he laid half-asleep on the couch, "First off, why the heck are you talking to any idiot at midnight and second off, what does Bucky need?"

I rolled my eyes and said, "Where's Banner?"

"He went with Stark to some fancy-smancy convention in Cleveland, I believe," Clint yawned, rubbing his eyes. He sat up and asked, "What, do you want me to call him?"

"I need a med team, now," I answered simply and Clint leapt up, going to give Dr. Cho a call. "Tell Hill to get the Quinjet ready for take-off. We're going to be landing a block or two north of NYCA café."

A/N:

Wow! I may be overreacting with this, but thank you (Peter Pan-Once Upon A Time) for reviewing it so fast! I didn't expect it to start happening :). Hope you all enjoy this chapter and more will be coming soon!

-BecomingFearless1F