"You defied the United States government and the accords to protect this man, this murderer two years ago, is that correct?"

"I did what I had to do to protect an innocent man." Steve stood in the docket, as calm and visually unbothered as he'd been for his testimony to the defense. He cut an incredibly solid figure in the dock, reliable, unswerving and consistent.

"By fighting against the government that you once swore to serve?"

"I did what I had to do." Steve's hands tightened in the clasp behind his back, but he didn't let it show on his face.

The prosecutor smirked, going in for the kill.

"What you had to do? You had to help him escape justice? You had to break your accomplices out of a top secret, high security prison?"

"They were innocent-"

The defense attorney cut off Steve's impassioned words with a swift shake of the head. "Objection, your honor, relevance?"

"Objection sustained." The Judge at the center of the panel answered in a monotone voice.

"No further questions."

The prosecutor had done what she had wanted, gotten under Steve's skin, needled him until he showed emotion.

They had been prepared for this. Steve was too steady under cross examination. The prosecution wouldn't waste time asking questions that would only further cement his testimony, instead they'd try to provoke him, try to get the poster boy to crack just a little.

A pillow fwapped across Shay's face, pulling her out of a dead sleep with a sharp intake of breath and a burst of green light as she wrestled the offending cushion into a head lock.

When her brain caught up with her situation, she slumped back against the wall and huffed, "seriously Steve?" she threw the pillow back at the shadow on the bed above her but he merely grunted in his sleep and rolled over again, tucking it under his arm like a teddy.

"It wasn't that bad Shay."

Bucky patted Pippin's grey head once more and pushed to his feet to go see what had the two friends arguing so early in the morning. Shay's teasing continued as he opened the door into the little bungalow.

"There I was, dreaming that a hole in the floor was swallowing you alive, trying to save you, and you go and throw a pillow in my face." Rolling her eyes at her opponent, she turned to Bucky. "Your best friend is a menace in his sleep, you know that?"

"Oh, I know, did I ever tell you about the time he stayed over?"

There was a wicked gleam in Bucky's eye and it made Shay smile to see the first hint of mischief in him since the trial began.

"That's really not necessary Buck." Steve pleaded.

Shay nodded fixedly, "very necessary, please, go on."

"I must have been, what twelve? So, Steve would have been ten, and he stayed with us because-" he glanced at Steve and hesitation stayed his tongue.

"Mum was in the hospital, some sort of overnight treatment I think."

"Right, well Steve was tiny then, so we laid a few couch cushions on the floor in my room and gave him an extra quilt. But I guess he got cold in his sleep." There was mirth dancing in the corners of his eyes and Steve was nodding and chuckling at the memory. "My Nan made my blanket a bit oversized, and it hung nearly to the floor… by the time I woke up shivering, he'd already wrapped himself up tighter than a cigar."

"In my defence it was a lovely quilt. All bright colours and tiny hand stitched animals, not to mention warm." Steve's grin faded as the mist descended over Bucky's face like a slow sorrowing note in a song nearly forgotten. "But if you two just want to gang up on me, Bucky can take my spot and see how he likes being half paralysed in the middle of the night."

"Hey, I said sorry." Shay objected, smiling still, "besides, that wasn't the deal Steve, you bested me in a fight, not him."

"Well Buck," Steve clapped him forcefully on the shoulder and walked backwards out the door giving him a thumbs up. "You've got until three to make it happen."

The door shut out his smirk with a gentle click. Bucky shook his head at his friend's unsubtle hints.

"Tell her, Bucky."

"If I'm convicted…"

"You won't be."

Damn Steve and his impenetrable optimism.

Shay's attention was on some distant plane beyond the flecks of plaster on the wall as Bucky watched her rubbing her fingernails absently against the pad of her thumb. An ordinarily rare moment for the woman who was obsessively vigilant, this was the fifth time in three days that Bucky had caught her lapsing into thought.

"You, okay?" Bucky asked softly, trying not to startle her and failing as she flinched.

"Hmm?" Shay turned to him; her expression unguarded, empty, her eyebrows raised in surprise. "Oh. Yeah. Fine."

"Green." Bucky gestured at the pale flicker in her palm. "You don't have to do this you know."

"Do what?" She shook her head and refocused with a slight grin, "I'm not afraid to fight you James, not afraid to beat you, either."

"You don't have to testify. I'll ask the lawyer and-"

"No." She shook her head sharply, whipping herself with the beaded ends of her braids and wincing. "No, we talked about this with Fredricks, you know that he wants me on the stand. This afternoon is just a trial run. No big deal."

Bucky watched her lie, and noticed the moment she caught the still-green glow of her palms.

"Fine, I'm not looking forward to it, but I do want to testify." she clutched her hands to quench the flame and lifted her eyes in challenge to his. "I can help. Please, don't ask me to walk away from this."

"Ok." he shook his head at her. "I let you testify, you let me keep watch, deal?"

"What? No." Shay laughed and some of the tension melted from her face as she raised a hand in objection. "No. Steve had to fight me for that privilege, I can't just go giving it away like some sort of Able-Grable now."

"You spend too much time with Steve." Though Bucky shook his head in disappointment, a smile snuck into the creases in the corners of his eyes.

"You sit, ok?" Mama Anhi pointed to a secluded corner of the market booth beside the large loom.

Shay nodded and obeyed, not commenting on being seated in the one place that would block her completely from street view.

"Good child, I missed you. Now you sit, talk to Mama."

"I love you too." Shay smiled, taking the shuttle she was handed and obeying Anhi's simple instructions to get the tension right.

The market was busiest in the morning and Shay allowed the sounds of chattering Aunties to sooth her nerves, returning their smiles as they passed through the back of the stall to collect bolts of cloth for customers.

Mama worked in determined silence, pausing only to ask the occasional question. Are you eating enough? Go tie that line there, not that knot, yes, looser, good. Resting? getting enough sleep? Are those men you are living with, behaving themselves?

"Mama, they are perfect gentlemen." Shay laid a gentle hand on the surprisingly heavy wooden spool Anhi had raised.

"Are both of them dim?"

"Why would you think that?"

"Living with a beautiful woman and not liking her enough to marry?"

"Oh, no Mama, it's not like that, Steve is like my little brother."

"A *little* uhbuti?" Anhi laughed at her own joke and continued probing, "what about the other one? The White Wolf? Do you not like him well enough to marry?"

"Oh, no, I mean…" Shay stammered, flushing, only to be saved by the blinking Kimoyo bead on the chain around her neck. "I uh, I have to go. Sorry Mama." She kissed the older woman and blushed again at the wicked grin Anhi wore.

"Ok, daughter. You be well."

Shay ate quickly and met with Shuri to test some upgrades to the gloves she was working on. A short and frenetic afternoon of ignoring the sense of impending doom building in her chest, interrupted by a soft knock.

Steve stood at the door, looking apologetic. "It's time Shay."

"Right." Shay nodded and turned to Shuri with a short bow. "A pleasure as always Princess."

"Will I see you later? I should be able to rework the triggers in an hour or so."

Shay shook her head as Steve checked his watch again. "Sorry, another time?"

"Of course." Shuri reached out and squeezed Shay's arm gently. "Anything you need, call."