Chapter 2

Jacklyn had been in Brooklyn all of four months. She had first arrived in July, it had been beautifully warm, and people had been friendly, in a good mood from the gorgeous weather. Now as the weather grew cool, people tended to bustle past her, purposefully looking in the other direction as if she would not notice. She had eyes, she noticed. She had started to spend more time at a local homeless shelter. It was getting chilly outside and soon it would be very dangerous to sleep outside. They also had small amounts of food that would stop her from starving to death. A painful experience she did not want to relive. Jacklyn had never frozen to death in her sleep either and she would prefer if that did not happen. The only problem was no one was allowed to spend more than a week at a time in the shelter, meaning that Jacklyn would soon have to sleep outside in her measly sleeping bag and blankets every once in a while.

During these 4 months, Jacklyn sat in the same spot, a street corner by a small grocery store. Most days, a few people would put change in her cup, some would give her a small amount of food, she was really grateful for anything they would give her. While most people she saw once and then never again, there was a kind young man who worked at the grocery store who would stop by most days to offer her food. They never said more than a few words to each other, she was quite shy and very unsure of how to talk to people, but she could tell that he was kind and someone she would love to get to know. The only thing she knew about him was that his name was Steve Rogers, as it said so on his name tag, and he had a deep, attractive voice. He had the most beautiful blue eyes, and light blonde hair. He may have been small but Jacklyn did not care, he treated her like a person and that was something you would never forget.

One day in early December Steve was leaving the grocery store after work, a sandwich in hand. He spotted her in her usual spot, a few meters away from the door and came over.

"Here." Steve said, handing her the sandwich.

"Thank you." Jacklyn said with a smile. Normally this is where their conversation would end, however, Steve had decided he wanted to know more about this mystery girl who had been outside his work for months now.

"What's your name?" Steve asked. Jacklyn paused. Should she tell him, he seemed trustworthy, but she really knew nothing about him. Yet, she could not help but feel safe under his warm gaze.

"Jacklyn." She said, giving him a soft smile.

"It's nice to meet you, Jacklyn, I'm Steve, Steve Rogers." He said bending over slightly and extending his hand. Jacklyn was pretty sure this meant she was supposed to give him her hand to shake. She had seen people on the street do it, it seemed to be some sort of greeting. She reached her hand out tentatively, hoping she was acting correctly. Their hands clasped, his hands were smooth and soft, hers callused and rough. Jacklyn thought, even though it was a small touch, it was still enjoyable.

The handshake made Jacklyn realize that she had not received a friendly touch since she was with her parents. The thought of her parents made her cringe, pulling her hand back like she had been stung. There was a slight bit of concern in Steve's eyes, but he did not push her on it.

"It's getting cold," Steve said. "Do you have anywhere to stay? It isn't safe out here in the winter." His eyes looked worried, like he cared about what happened to her. Jacklyn thought that was strange as she had only really just met him now.

"There's a shelter down the road." She said, offering up as little information as possible. Why did Steve care anyways? He did not know what she actually looked like. She bet that if he saw her as she actually was, he would run away in fear and never turn back.

"That's good." Steve said with a smile. "If you ever need anything let me know, I hate to think of you all alone on the streets in winter."

"Thanks." Jacklyn said, unsure of what to make of his offer. As badly as she wanted to trust him, she was not sure if she could, he could be a Hydra agent for all she knew.

"Alright, I'll see you later." Steve said with a wave as he walked off.

"Bye." Jacklyn said, a confused look on her face, what an odd encounter.

Jacklyn would think about that interaction for the days and weeks that followed. She would smile at Steve every time that she saw him, and Steve would give a wave. Every once in a while he would bring her some food, they did not have any more conversations, but Jacklyn appreciated their small hellos all the same.

When it started to snow in late December, and Jacklyn had spent Christmas alone once more, her time in the shelter was up, she had to spend a few nights elsewhere. Having nowhere else to go, she decided to go back to her favourite street corner. However this time she would sleep under the entryway canopy of the grocery store to shelter herself from the snow. She made sure to sleep with her cloaking device under her head so no one would take it off of her, and her body scrunched up in a ball to conserve heat in the freezing cold temperatures. She burrowed under her blankets trying to feel warm. Slowly, exhaustion came, it was late and Jacklyn was oh so tired. She felt a calm wash over her, and she quietly fell into a frozen sleep, filled with strange dreams of a familiar deep voice calling her name.

Steve could not believe that Bucky had dragged him out to another dance hall and convinced him that this time it would actually be fun. Yet there he was, sitting in a corner, drinking a beer, and wishing he were somewhere else. It was not entirely Bucky's fault, maybe if Steve tried to dance he would have fun, but he knew that his awkward movements and lack of rhythm would most likely scare everyone else off the dance floor. Bucky, seeing Steve's moping attitude, left the girls he was dancing with in favour of cheering his friend up.

"Come on Stevie, you should let loose, dance a little!" Bucky said exaggeratedly, having had a few drinks himself.

"I'm not really feeling it tonight, Buck, I think I'm gonna head home." Steve said. "You stay here, I'll see you at the house." He said, standing up to leave.

"Wait," Bucky said, grabbing his coat off the chair opposite Steve. "It's freezing out, you shouldn't be walking home alone in this weather."

Steve sighed, "You don't gotta take care of me, Buck, I can handle myself."

"But I enjoy you're company! What would I do if you froze out there, you ain't gonna leave me all on my own are you?" Bucky said with a cheeky smile on his face.

Steve shook his head and let out a small laugh. "Whatever you want, Bucky."

The two friends started their walk home. They joked, throwing snow balls and horsing around, until they walked by the grocery store where Steve worked. On the awning Steve spotted a bundle of blankets, seeming to form the vague shape of a sleeping person. Steve wondered for a minute who it could be until he recognized the beat up backpack sitting among the blankets. It was Jacklyn, the woman he had befriended earlier that month. He did not know much about her, when he had asked about her she gave him very little information, he did not even know her last name. Yet, in this freezing weather, he felt compelled to check on her and make sure she was okay.

"I know her." Steve said, pointing to the bundle of blankets.

"Stevie if I didn't know any better I'd say you need glasses if you think that bunch of cloth is a woman!" Bucky said, snorting at his own joke.

"Buck, I'm serious, she has been on this corner a lot, I've talked to her a few times. I'm gonna go and check to make sure she is okay." Steve said, walking towards Jacklyn's sleeping form. Bucky reached out quickly and grabbed Steve's arm, stopping him in his tracks.

"Steve, are you nuts! You can't just go around helping every bum you ever talked to, let's go." Bucky hissed. Steve yanked his arm out of Bucky's grasp.

"It'll only take a second." Steve said and continued to walk over, Bucky close behind him. As he walked over, the mound of blankets did not stir, oblivious to his arrival.

"Jacklyn?" He called softly. No response. Maybe she was just sleeping and Steve was about to interrupt a perfectly good night's rest, yet he just could not risk it. When he got to her, he could see strands of her dark blonde hair, poking out of the small sleeping back she was huddled in.

"Jacklyn." Steve said again, this time gently shaking her. Again, no response. He moved the blankets away from her face, her lips were tinged blue and her skin an icy pale colour.

"Jacklyn!" Steve said, urgently this time, shaking her harder. Still, there was no response. Steve's heart was beating in his throat, was she dead? He put his hand in front of her mouth, hoping, praying to feel her breathing. He waited, feeling nothing at first, then, when he had almost given up hope, he felt a small amount of air pass through her lips.

"Thank god." Steve breathed. He turned to Bucky. "We have to bring her back, she won't last much longer out here, come look."

"Steve – " Bucky trailed off in his argument against bringing Jacklyn back to their apartment when he saw her ashen face. He looked at Jacklyn in dismay, he could not leave her out here to die. He felt sober quite quickly.

He grabbed the sleeping stranger in his arms and started walking as fast as he could on the slippery sidewalk.

"Grab her backpack." He said to Steve, who was doing his best to keep in stride with Bucky.

It was only a few minutes before they got back to their apartment, running up the stairs and unlocking the door. Steve bolted in to the washroom, running a warm bath. Bucky took Jacklyn out of her sleeping bag and placed her gently in the tub, they were waiting for it to fill up, there may not have been much water but at least it was warm.

They took of most of Jacklyn's heavy clothes, leaving her in tight stockings and a thin undershirt. They noticed the shiny bracelet on her wrist, they tried to take it off as it seemed to be valuable, and would most likely not do well under water. However, they could not figure out how to take it off, and decided to leave it on as warming her up was more of a priority.

Her ribs were frightfully apparent when her shirt clung to her chest. She looked sickly as she lay in the water, her pale skin and blue lips giving her the appearance of a corpse. Steve and Bucky sat there, occasionally adding more warm water, waiting for Jacklyn to wake up. She slowly started to regain colour and began breathing normally. It took around and hour and a half before she started to show any signs of life. Bucky had gone to start a fire in the living room, leaving Steve to watch over Jacklyn on his own. Steve had started to dose off, the exhaustion finally hitting him, when all of a sudden he heard a quiet voice call out.

"Steve?"