Chicago - The Crooked Leprechaun
Evening

Standing just inside of the pub's door holding Sam's hand, Teagan took a moment to close her eyes and just inhale the scent of the place. The combined smell of all the ales and beers was the most noticeable. Next was the human scents, sweat and body odors mixed with colognes to disguise it. In the background, very faint, was a touch of the polish used on the long wooden bar.

It was enough of a combination that she was able to feel a familiarity from so long ago come over her.

"Are you alright?" Sam asked her since she had stopped moving.

With a smile she couldn't hide, she looked at him, nodding, "Yes, it almost smells like my family's pub back home."

Sam gave her a smile that told her he was glad to hear the comment.

"Then let's go get something to drink," he told her.

The place wasn't too crowded yet, but being a weekday, there was a chance that it might not get too bad tonight. Hopefully if more people showed up, that she might be able to handle being in the crowd. All she had to do was think about how she used to be at times like this, just enjoying the comradery. Between the baseball game and the skyscraper, Teagan knew that she had done very well with not letting those surrounding her become overwhelming.

Keep it up, she encouraged herself. You can do this. Its just like back home.

Sam led her to a table near the back corner away from the door. It was secluded so that nobody should disturb them, and give them a bit of privacy to talk. Sam held a chair out for her and she noticed that the one he took allowed him to keep an eye on the door.

A female server brought over two menus and placed them on the table before them.

"Welcome to The Crooked Leprechaun, I'm Emma," she told them with a very slight Irish accent. She guessed that the girl was actually American raised by Irish parents. She placed two menus on the table then asked, "Is there anything I can get you to start off with?"

"Two Guinness pints, please," Teagan automatically answered for them, before turning to smile wide at Sam. "Did'ya want something too?"

Sam rolled his eyes at her but he couldn't hide the smile on his face at her jest.

"I'll have the same," he told the girl. "I can't have her out drink me."

"I'll be right back with 'em," she told them sounding amused herself.

They both took off their ball caps, hanging them on the hooks mounted to the wall next to the table. Glancing down, she saw that all the tables had hooks that could be used for hats, coats, or umbrellas. Taking her hand, she fluffed out her hair which had been squashed down all day. She had just re-shaved and trimmed it a few days ago. There were a couple of other patrons with red hair so she didn't even stand out in here.

"Sure you can handle two pints?" she casually asked him picking up the menu to see what they had.

"In case you've forgotten your birthday party, I think I did fine that night. And if I can't, we'll have to call Nat to come and get us."

"Not Steve?"

"Steve will never know that I've ever been drunk under the table. I'd never hear the end of it," he told her. "The group will happily drag out a joke for years if it's good enough."

When the waitress returned, she had only one pint for each of them, saying that she'd automatically bring the other when they started to get low.

"Decide what to eat?" Emma asked them.

"We'll both have the fish and chips, and a basket of the beer battered onion rings," Teagan then ordered for them, earning another look from Sam, his eyebrows raised. "Did'ya actually expect to come to an Irish pub and not get fish and chips?"

"I guess not," he told her smiling as they handed over the menus as Emma walked away. "You did notice that both of those items were cooked in Guinness beer, right?"

"Of course I did. I wouldn't have ordered them otherwise," she grinned while taking a sip of her pint.

"Not only are you trying to get me drunk, you're increasing the chances with more alcohol in the food."

"Ah, don't be a stuttle, the alcohol mostly cooks off," she told him.

"Now I'm a stuttle, whatever that is," he glared at her with his head cocked. "I know that one was an insult. You realize that I'm an easy date. You don't have to get me drunk to take advantage of me."

Sam gave her a knowing wink and smile.

Picking up her pint, Teagan grinned as she held it up so they could knock glass. Sam held his as they toasted to each other.

"Here's to getting lashed tonight," she informed him.

"Now that I can agree with, as long as that means what I think."

Barely half way through their pints, their food was delivered. Ripping off a large chunk of the fish, she took her first bite hoping for the best. Closing her eyes, she would almost swear that it was her aunt's recipe.

"Oh, fecking hell, this is good," she told Sam with her mouth full.

He was nodding his head in agreement since his own mouth was also full. As they made their way through the meals and onion rings, she noticed that a group had gathered up on a small raised platform off to the side of the room. Watching them carefully, she could barely contain her excitement as she saw them finally bring out their instruments. Sam must have been curious as to what she was so focused on as he finally turned the other direction to see them too.

"Is that what you used to do?" he asked her taking a drink.

"Yeah. Just after the dinner rush, we would gather and play for a few hours, maybe two or three if we had tha' time. Sometimes a work schedule only gave us an hour, but we did'na care as long as we could play."

A few minutes later, they had warmed up and started to play, bringing back a heavy feeling of nostalgia. They sat and finished off the dinners and pints, the next round being delivered just like Emma said she would. A few songs in, one of the men from the bar who must be a regular, stood up and walked over to them to probably request a song. But when the band started to play, the man joined along as he sang the lyrics to Biddy Mulligan.

She watched as a few others scattered around the bar joined in, and it really began to remind her of home. He sang two more songs before returning to his seat, the bartender putting a fresh pint down in front of him as an offering for his contribution. More people had been filtering into the pub since they started playing but it still didn't seem crowded to her even with the growing numbers.

"Why don't you go up and sing a song?" Sam then asked her.

Teagan felt a nervousness encompass her very quickly. She couldn't remember a time she ever felt like this.

"I donna really sing," she told him, eyeing the man with the fiddle. Sam must have seen who she was focusing in on.

"Do you think he'd let you play if you asked? Do you remember any songs?"

"I think I do," she told him, as she watched his fingers gliding over the strings.

Teagan glanced down at her hands and fingers. Since leaving Wakanda, she'd not had a single problem with them. Everyday acts such as holding a glass, fork, or even opening a door no longer caused the radiating pain to turn into shooting stings. But playing would require a level of dexterity that she had not yet tested. Flexing her fingers, she began to wonder if she really could play a fiddle once again.

During her imprisonment, there had been times where she would play the song in her mind while mimicking the movements of the notes with her fingers. She was sure that there were still a few songs that remained memorized even if it had been a long time since she played them.

"Teagan, how are your hands doing?"

She looked up at Sam who was sitting there with a worried expression, knowing exactly what she had been considering. The smile she gave him was weak but honest.

"They're still good, they have been since…the injections," she told him, glancing over at the band that was taking a break.

"It couldn't hurt to at least go and chat with them for a few minutes," he told her. "Even if you don't play, you have something in common…music. Why not go over and request a song maybe for when they start again?"

Sam watched as Teagan slowly and nervously made her way through the pub to where the four musicians were sitting at the far end of the bar, close to their instruments. Three of them were guys but she made her way to stand next to the female that had sung a lot of the songs. After talking for only a few moments, he noticed the tenseness in her shoulders begin to fade.

They were a strange looking assortment, looking more like they were ready to fight more than play instruments. One of the young guys was wearing a wool cap that he'd only seen old men wear while wearing very casual clothing that didn't fit the tailored hat. Another with such a large beard that it reminded him of a hipster was dressed like a lumberjack. The other male had stark reddish orange hair, leaving to doubt as to his Irish heritage as it rested all the way to his shoulders, especially with the green shamrock tattoos lining both of his forearms. Even the female was wearing a beaten up black top hat and a ruffled red skirt.

Drinking more of his second pint, Sam still found the strong taste very bracing but there was something about it that he liked. Picking up one of the last onion rings, he nibbled on it as he watched the five of them begin to chat as if they were old friends. At one point Teagan turned to glance over at him, and she had a beautiful smile on her face. He was glad that she had taken the chance to talk with them. There was not a sign of fear at being surrounded by the pub's crowd.

One of the guys bent over and Sam watched as he pulled out a second fiddle, probably a backup one in case something happened to the one he favored. He offered it to Teagan who looked very hesitant about actually holding it. The two of them sat down on a pair of stools next to the stage. Sam could see her place the fiddle under her chin and begin to stroke the bow over the strings, but due to the noise from the numerous patrons talking, he was not able to hear anything.

As he watched, he saw her body begin to slowly sway with the song that she was playing, the effect a bit strange with no music to his ears to accompany it. But then, as he continued to watch, Sam noticed that the overall noise of the pub began to gradually die down. One by one, the patrons stopped their conversations to listen to the newcomer in their midst playing.

Eventually the mournful melody that Teagan was playing finally reached him.

Sam didn't know if the song would have sounded the same if he didn't know that she was putting her pent-up emotions into playing. All of the loss that she had just finally revealed to him earlier today seemed to pour out with each sorrowful note. Even from across the room, he could see that she had closed her eyes to block out all of the faces now intently watching and listening to what she was creating.

Then as she reached the final long note, he saw a single tear roll down her cheek.

The moment that she stopped playing, the entire place was bombarded with an uproar of applause for her performance. He had not been the only one impressed with her song it seemed.

The rest of the band quickly made their way from the bar back to their seats after quickly downing their pints, picking up their instruments: a flute, an accordion, a banjo, and a hand-held drum that he figured was the same one Teagan had described playing to him.

With a couple of starting beats on the drum, the entire group then began to play a much happier, lighter song that had a couple of the older, white bearded guys stomping their feet and clapping their hands. Sam sat back in his chair as he watched the merriment and overall cheer of the pub multiply with the upbeat tempo music. Teagan played a couple of songs with them before the guy who had handed her his fiddle picked up his own and the two of them began a type of dueling song. They would play a piece of song, earning applause from the audience before the other would take over, trying to outdo what they had just heard played.

Emma came over to their table, depositing two more stout ales onto it.

"On the house," she told him before he could point out they hadn't ordered more. "She's going to be thirsty when they're done."

She then removed their empty food plates, disappearing back into the rambunctious crowd.

A couple of songs later, the band took another break and after talking with them for a few moments, Teagan slowly made her way through the pub. If every patron didn't want to stop and shake her hand, she would have already made it to the table. Once she finally did, her hand reached automatically for the glass as she then began to try downing the entire pint without pausing.

"At that rate, I'm going to be the one carrying you back home tonight," he told her as she then slammed the half empty glass onto the table.

"Last one, I swear," her grin was ear to ear.

That was when Sam noticed a slight commotion from near the front of the pub. He could only watch as a guy made a bee-line for their table, his glare focused directly on Teagan. The only description would be that he looked like a hooligan...one that almost seemed familiar. He sported short, side-shaved hair that looked like it hadn't been washed in a week. Tattooed on his chin was a prominent green four-leaf clover, but his neck also sported a couple of tattoos. Those seemed more mob oriented, as if they marked his rank.

Sam stiffened a bit in his seat as he prepared for the possible upcoming confrontation.

Seeing the change in him, Teagan turned her now worried gaze to see what had drawn his attention and as she saw the guy still heading towards them she gave a hard, quick gasp of air. Sam had a strong suspicion that she recognized the guy.

Upon reaching their table, his eyes began to scan over Teagan's bare arms that exposed some of her tattoos. His wide green eyes met hers and then his hands formed a cross over his chest, as if needing that spiritual boost.

"Teagan! Wha' tha' bloody fuckin' hell are ya do'in 'ere alive?"

"Liam!" her voice was full of shock as the guy bent over to crush her into his arms in a tight hug. Her own arms wrapped around his thin waist.

"Ya're suppose ta' be dead. How the feck did'ya end up in 'merica?"

Teagan managed to extract herself from his arms while looking over at Sam for help with that answer. Seeing where she was looking the guys eyes narrowed onto him and Sam knew that there was a good chance that a fight was about to start.

"Who tha' fuck are ya'!? Wha' did he do ta' ya', Teagan?" he angrily spit out while taking a single threatening step towards him, his arm raising up to strike without waiting for an answer.

"Liam!" Teagan reached up and grabbed a hold of his bare arm, making him turn to face her. That was when Sam saw her eyes begin to sparkle, telling him that she was using her powers. "Don't hit him. I need you to calm down."

Sam was amazed at the sudden change in his demeanor with the command. Liam lowered his arm back to his side and his fighting stance became one more casual, as if just standing to talk with friends.

"Wha' th'a feck?" Liam calmly asked knowing that she'd done something to him.

Keeping her hand on him, "Liam, I need you to not freak out. Don't speak. Pull up an empty chair and sit with us so that we can explain."

Liam instantly turned and reached over to an empty chair a table away. He turned it around so that the back was against his chest as he sat down between them at the table. He could tell from his expression that he was afraid over the way that Teagan had taken control of him.

"I need you to listen to what I have to tell you," she told him, placing her hand atop of his on the table. "Will you promise not to scream or call for help until you hear us out?"

Liam looked between the two of them before nodding. Sam knew that she had given him this bit of self-control back.

"As long as you keep your promise, you can talk freely."

"Wha' did'ya do ta' me?" he simply started off.

"That's the reason that everyone thinks that I'm dead," she told him while Sam glanced to the rest of the bar to see if they had noticed their confrontation. None of the other patrons seemed to be worried about Liam joining them, maybe thanks to him giving her a hug initially. Maybe they had not seen the threat of a punch from him. Or didn't care.

For the next few minutes, Teagan gave a very simple explanation of what had happened with her faked death, telling him that she had been held prisoner for years before his group had freed her from Hydra. She did not go into detail about the Raft or Ross and left out who she was actually traveling with.

"Where tha' feck are tha' guys tha' did that to ya'? I'll make a few calls an' get them taken out. Nobody messes with our own," Liam firmly told the both of them. His body was calm but there was a menacing tone to his steady voice. The control that Teagan had was still working on him.

"Liam, you'll do no such a thing," she firmly stated. "It's not for you to do. I'm away from them now and Sam is one of the people helping to keep me safe."

"He doesn't look like much," Liam smirked at him.

Turning back to Teagan, he spoke a couple of sentences in Irish to her.

Gritting her teeth, Teagan responded in Irish to him in hushed angry tones, an angry finger poking at his shoulder hard enough to shove it, all while Sam had no idea what they were talking about.

"I'm sorry," Liam turned to Sam and then suddenly apologized. "I'll not be insulting ya' again."

Sam turned to her, "You don't have to stand up for me like that."

"Considering the rude things he just said, I absolutely have to," she told him with a scowl on her face.

"Do ya' parents know?" Liam asked her.

"No. Nobody knows that I'm still alive. It's not safe for them to know. So that means that you cannot tell anyone that you saw me."

Sam could see that Liam was a bit crestfallen with that admission.

"They weren't tha' same after they thought ya' died," he told her.

"I know. And maybe one day I can go back home. But right now, there is always a chance that the guys that took me would go there looking for me again."

"Then ya' need to talk with Quinn. He'll keep ya' safe."

"Quinn?" she said, Sam recalling that being the name of her cousin. "How would he keep me safe?"

"Quinn's made a name for 'imself back 'ome We all 'ave. He's over in Galway now, workin' for the boss," he told her a bit proudly. "We've shown our loyalty an' moved up the ranks."

Teagan gave a hard, sad sigh before firmly smacking his arm.

"Ya joined the mob? Didn'I tell tha' lot o' ya ta stay out'a trouble?"

"Did'ya ever know us ta' be listenin' ta' anyone tha' well?" Liam grinned at her.

Seeing a couple of the other patrons casually watching their talk, Sam began to think that they may need to get out of here before anyone else recognized Teagan or someone from the Irish mob came looking for Liam.

"Teagan, I think we need to head on," he told her, hoping that she understood his reasoning without having to say them.

"Alright," she said looking around the room just as he had. "I think it would be better to make him forget about seeing us."

"You can do that?" Sam was curious as to the extent of her powers.

"Yes," she told him before turning to Liam. With her hand on his arm, her eyes caught his as her voice commanded, "Liam, after we walk out of that door, you will forget that you saw me here, and believe that I was a stranger. If anyone questions why you were talking with me, just tell them that we were talking about how I played. If they ask, my name is Moira and I'm from Dublin here on holiday. The guy I was with was a local and you didn't catch his name. You will never speak or write of me being alive to anyone."

Sam could see the depressed look on his face as Liam began to understand that he was about to forget seeing his old friend alive and well. He hoped that the specific worded commands held up so that they were able to get out of Chicago without anyone being put onto alert and starting to look for them. Once out of here, he would talk with Steve and Nat about whether or not they needed to start to packing.

"Come on, Teagan," Sam told her taking their hats from the hooks and handing hers over. Speaking to Liam, "It was a pleasure meeting you, Liam."

Teagan put the hat on her head, tucking the longer red strands up under it to help with her disguise. Just as she started to stand up, she stopped.

"Liam, what is your phone number?" she then asked him.

He rattled off a series of numbers that she wrote onto the back of the receipt for their food that Sam had paid for while she was playing earlier.

Keeping her touch on him, "If you ever get a call from me, only by hearing my voice say the phrase 'Liam, remember our time in Chicago' will you be able to recall all that really happened here tonight. Do you understand?"

"Yeah, Teagan," he told her sounding a bit happier knowing that she hoped to be able to at least talk with him again in the future.

"Liam, stay in that seat without speaking until we walk through the door," she then stood, removing her hand from Liam's arm. "Come on, Sam."

They then moved together as one through the crowd, with him glancing over his shoulders to see that Liam was still sitting but had turned to watch them leave, raising his hand to gesture goodbye. Passing through the door, they paused long enough for a glance through the pub's windows to see that Liam stood up and looked around, as if trying to recall something. He looked lost as to why he was sitting at a table alone.

"That's some power that you have," he told her as her friend headed over to the bar and ordered a pint.

"I hate having to do that to him, but Liam, Quinn, and Sean were always looking for trouble. If I didn't make him forget, he would tell the others what had happened to me and they would go after Hydra, not understanding the real trouble they would be getting into."

He wrapped his arm around her shoulder so that he could lead her away from the pub.

"I understand. What you did, it was to keep him, and them, safe. I can't fault you on that. It's good to see that you still have such devoted friends even after all this time," he told her making their way to the nearest elevated train platform.

"Are we going to leave Chicago?"

Sam shrugged his shoulders to her question, making her look a bit sad. That decision would be up to Steve and Nat after they had been told what had happened.

"We had a lot of fun today. I really enjoyed our Day Off."

Leaning over without stopping, Sam gave her forehead a simple kiss.

"So did I. Now let's get to the train and get home. Steve and Nat hopefully will still be awake."

Looking over at Nat, Steve digested the story they had just been told by Sam and Teagan about running into her old friend.

"And you're sure that you command of forgetting running into you, especially since he thought you were dead, will hold up?" Nat asked Teagan for clarification.

"Yes, I think so," she told her. "With all the experiments that Keeling did, never once was anyone every able to break a command."

"And nobody else in the bar recognized you?" he asked.

Teagan shook her head, "No. I didn't spot anyone and if they had known me, I would think that they would have said something too."

Nat then turned to look at him for the final decision.

"If it helps," Sam broke in, "We'll make sure to stay out of that area and restrict our movements to the local neighborhood."

"If anything, I would like to stay here for a while so that Nat can monitor Liam just to make sure that the command holds up," Steve told them, getting an approving nod from Nat with the idea.

They had never really requested Teagan to show such a display of her powers, but since it had happened, it would be interesting to see what happened.

"I can do that," Nat simply stated.

"So then we don't have to leave?" Teagan still looked a worried, maybe even afraid of them being upset with her.

"No, not right now. Besides, we usually have a few months at a safe house without ever being noticed," Nat pointed out. "And I just sent out some false information that Ross will eventually find stating that we are actually in a rundown hotel in Eastern Europe right now. So, staying put far away from there is a good option."

After Teagan and Sam had gone upstairs to bed, he and Nat headed outside to the back patio that overlooked the river to talk privately.

"Are you upset with her?" Nat started off.

"No, I'm not. She did the right thing, making someone forget seeing her," he told her. "If we are spotted anywhere while out, her powers could come in very useful."

"I can think of a few times when I wish I could have done something like that."

"I'm sure you can," he gave her a wiry grin, knowing how much more dangerous Nat would have been. "Are you comfortable with trailing this Liam somehow for a week or two?"

"Not a problem. I'll set something up in the morning since he's probably still drinking at the pub and will have a hangover, if my guess is correct."

"Let me know if anything happens," he told her. "Any information yet on Keeling?"

Steve knew that Nat kept putting out feelers about once a month to some of her more underground contacts. He was sure that if she had heard something that she would have told him before now.

"No, nothing yet," she sounded a bit disappointed. "But eventually he'll have to stick his head out of whatever slimy hole he's been hiding himself in for the past few years."

"I hope so," he told her, feeling a cold chill run down his spine.

He didn't think that was a good sign.