DISCLAIMER: This fanfiction will follow its timeline, however, I've tried to stick to the movie timeline as much as possible. It must be noted that this story is rated M as there will be some explicit content mentioned later in the story (depictions of sexual intimacy, and also mentions of rape and abuse) but forewarnings will be provided at the beginning of the respective chapter.

It must be noted that I don't own any of the Marvel characters or anything affiliated with the Marvel Universe. However, all OC and original content have been created by me.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

"The One with the Ice Breaker"

"You guys were fantastic!" Holly squealed with delight as the three of them approached the bar. She threw her arms up in the air and gathered them into a great hug, "I can't believe you guys went through all that trouble just for little ol' me!" She added. "Well, we wanted this birthday to be one for the books," Sophia announced, gesturing grandeur with both her hands, "and let me tell you – it damn well was! Everyone is going to be talkin' about this for a long time!" Holly finished with absolute glee and looked to Lilah, "And you, my sweet Nightingale," Taking Lilah and spinning her around to face the three of them, "I knew you could sing, but I didn't know you could sing like that! You are a God damn powerhouse, chicken!" Lilah quickly hid her smile and grumble of embarrassment in her palms – she could never take compliments well, "I second that!" echoed Elton from behind Holly, coming through with a tray of shooters filled to the brim with tequila for each of them, "Let's cheers, Ladies!". Downing the tequila after all that singing was like swallowing fire spiked with sandpaper. Lilah sputtered a cough and quickly turned to the barman asking for a glass of water and her safe order of gin and tonic. With her back turned to her friends and her cheeks now ballooned with water, Lilah felt the brush of Holly breezing passed her as she yelled out, "James!" Lilah's eyes snapped open wide from the glass of water in her hand and immediately turned to her left, searching for Sophia.

Elton, being the social butterfly that he was, was already gone from their circle, but Sophia was still there, standing and staring ahead of her, obviously in the direction that Holly had walked off into, a smile now slowly growing on her face. Locking her glare onto Sophia's face, Lilah's swollen cheeks depressed as she swallowed the water and found her voice, "Sophia? Who exactly is Holly talking to?" Lilah whispered with a snarl as she turned and strolled closer to her friend. Sophia's stare moved from Holly's interaction to Lilah and taking a great breath, she prepared to give her explanation, "Argh, you have got to be fucking joking," Lilah said with an exasperated roll of her eyes and turned back to the bar, exchanging her water glass for the gin and tonic that the barman set down. "I didn't even say anything!" Sophia exclaimed with a cheeky smile, wary that Holly, James, and some other hunk were just a few paces away. "Okay, so you didn't invite James without asking me first, right?" she asked her friend with a subtle 'matter-of-fact' tone in her voice. With a slight tilt of her head in humour, Sophia looked at Lilah, and could think of no other response but, "Well I wouldn't want to lie to you now, would I?" Lilah's mouth dropped a little, incredulously surprised at Sophia's response. Reverting to a voice of seriousness and reason, Sophia held Lilah by the arm, "Hey, need I remind you, that just less than an hour ago it was you who that was telling me that you wanted to give James more of a chance to talk, because you thought he had more to say?" Lilah pondered on Sophia's words. She hated it when she started using her own words against her. Sophia's voice became soft and caring as she came closer to Lilah, with her next sentence, "I'm not saying to start a relationship with the guy Lilah, all I'm saying is to just talk to him," she paused, and before leaving Lilah to join Holly, she finished by saying, "talk to him so that you can start moving forward and stop living in the past".

[Bucky POV]

Holly cradled the bouquet that Bucky had just given her arm and lifted her head from a deep inhale, "Honestly, these are so beautiful, thank you so much, James," She said with a bright smile, "and thank you both for coming, I hope you guys caught the performance," she said, lifting her eyebrows suggestively. Before Bucky or Sam could even respond, Sophia appeared next to Holly, "Am I just in time for a critique?" She draped an arm around Holly and looked Sam dead in the eyes. Bucky could smell the pheromones oozing off Sophia. It was clear that she was trying to get Sam's attention and Sophia wasn't being subtle about it. From the second she spotted them talking to Holly, to the moment she left Lilah alone at the bar, her walk over to them and even her posture screamed that she was attracted to Sam. "I wouldn't call it a critique at all," Bucky listened as Sam responded to Sophia in a smoother and calmer voice. Bewildered, he realised that he and Holly were watching their interaction very intently. Sam's body language became oddly different very quickly. Bucky observed hilariously as Sam smoothly slid his hands into his pants pockets and, what was that thing he was doing with his mouth? It wasn't a smile. "You guys were fantastic," Sam said with a new coolness to the tone in his voice. Bucky looked down at his shoes and pinched the tip of his nose to hide his grimace, I can't believe Sam is flirting with Sophia, he said to himself. "Hey, hey," the gentle voice came from in front of Bucky, "what's going on here?" Bucky looked up from the ground and, just like it had happened at the medical and at the hospital lobby earlier today, it was as if time began to slow down and the world went into a deafening silence.

Bucky watched as Lilah's lips soundlessly moved, as she continued to converse with Holly, Sam and Sophia and took advantage of the opportunity, in the slow-motioned haze, to drink in every inch of her at that moment. Every time they had met thus far, Lilah's figure had been drenched in an oversized doctor's coat but now, Bucky studied her carefully as the black slacks and short-sleeved, dull gold satin blouse hugged her curves in all the right places. Somehow, even with her delicate–looking figure Bucky could tell that there was an underlying strength and resilience to this woman. It didn't go unnoticed to Bucky that from their time at the hospital, Lilah was distinctly taller this evening. Ah the heels, he noted the black pointed shoes as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other. The shoes were not very high, but Bucky could see she was still not completely comfortable in them. He was about to continue his assessment when he was interrupted by a hard nudge on his left side from Sam, "What?" Bucky snapped in a shock reflex and turned to Sam in response. "Lilah said hi to you," Sam said cocking an eyebrow at him. Bucky whipped his head back in Lilah's direction. Embarrassment flooded his body and most likely his face too. Lilah had stopped talking and there was now a shy smile on her face as she held Bucky's gaze, "I – I am so sorry, Dr Novak… Hi," he managed to spill out, feeling like a kid that got caught with his hand in the cookie jar, "I completely blanked out there," but Lilah brushed it off with a visible inhale, "No problem, oh, and please, call me Lilah," she added, to which Bucky just nodded. Shit, I hope she didn't see me staring at her, Bucky thought to himself. Who am I kidding, of course, she did! They all did.

Before Bucky could even attempt to fill the settling awkward quietness, Holly held out her bouquet to Lilah, "Look at what James got me," she said with an air of pride. Lilah gleamed brightly at the flowers. "I was just admiring them, they're absolutely beautiful" she exhaled gently, looking from the flowers to Holly, "for an equally stunning birthday girl," Lilah said, lightly squeezing Holly in for a hug. On the other side of them, Sophia suddenly chimed in, "They're peonies, Lilah," looking over Holly's head, Sophia made the statement intentionally and caught Lilah's stare, "I know that, Sophia." In that blink of a moment, there was an evident silent message through a fleeting glance that passed between the two women. Sophia rolled her eyes and continued her sultry side conversation with Sam. Lilah, on the other hand, turned to Bucky to not make it seem like Sophia's statement made a difference to her, "Thank you, James, these were very thoughtful of you," she said gently to him. Still reeling from his earlier shame, all Bucky could do was offer a sheepish smile. At this, Holly reached into the bouquet, pulled out a single peony stem, and handed it to Lilah, "Want you to have this," she said, Lilah looked back at her with a quizzical stare, but Holly already had her 'don't-argue-with-me' index finger pointed at Lilah. She had no option but to take the flower. Bucky watched as Lilah held the flower to her nose, waiting for her to smell it, but simply dragged it along the tip of her nose. While Holly became absorbed in Sam and Sophia's conversation, Bucky watched carefully from the corner of his eye as Lilah stared down at the flower and was amazed when he saw her face soften from the irritated glare she had given Holly, to a tender smile that was now clearly recalling a memory associated with the flower. At this sight, something fluttered in the pit of Bucky's stomach. It was similar to the feeling he had back at the gym but this was … Bucky just couldn't put his finger on it.

"Are you telling me you guys have had no training whatsoever?" Sam exclaimed, pulling Lilah back into the conversation. Lilah dropped the flower from her face and turned to Sam, "Singing training? Oh definitely not … Actually if I can avoid singing in public, I do it at all costs," Lilah noted defiantly, "Today was just a special occasion," she added with a wink in Holly's direction. "I really can't believe it, because you guys were truly amazing," Sam said incredulously, "I mean for Doctors and Nurses, you guys were just incredible," he finished. Bucky heard it as soon as Sam said it. Squeezing his eyes shut tightly, he slowly turned his face away from the group as if he had just been slapped. Because even being from the 1940s and having been brainwashed countless times, Bucky knew what Sam had just said the one line that was a massive strike against a man. What a rookie mistake. Undermining a woman's career and intelligence in one fell swoop? Sam had just dug himself a grave. He knew that Sam didn't mean what he said and that it was being taken out of context, but Sophia was going to pull his leg nonetheless. From the corner of his eye, daring to look back, Bucky caught a glance at Lilah who had also turned away from the inner circle but was able to strategically use the peony to hide her impending laughter. That feeling surged in his stomach again. It felt like heading down a deep plunge on a roller coaster. Who is this woman and what is she doing to me?

Sophia immediately stepped in, "Excuse me," she said, stopping Sam from continuing with this so-called praise, "Are you saying that Doctors and Nurses can't be singers and dancers too?" the tone of flirtation was gone from Sophia's voice now and replaced with disgust and impending loathing. Sam scrambled for the right words to save the situation, "No, no, no," he said with a laugh, "That's not what I meant at -," Sam tried to continue with his explanation, but was stopped again abruptly by Sophia, "Then what did you mean, huh?" She asked him, craning her neck to the side. Bucky could feel the ice cracking under Sam as this woman's wrath was about to swallow him whole. Sophia took a short daring step toward Sam, "Because let me tell you something you should already know, Birdman, yes we can – we can do it all, sing, dance, save lives, and still have time to put dinner on the table," Sophia waved four fingers an inch away from Sam's face as she rattled off the list and then continued her rant, "and then sometimes work another job, so don't be tellin' me that you're surprised Doctors and Nurses can do more than one thing!" Sam stood in his place completely dumbfounded and speechless. Both of them stared at each other for a moment. Bucky saw Lilah begin to move toward them, possibly to diffuse to tension, but Sophia broke strain first, "I need a fucking drink," she mumbled under her breath as she made a sharp turn and headed straight for the bar, "Lilah, you want something?" she shouted as she passed by, "No thanks," Lilah chimed after her, watching Sophia leave them behind.

Sam blinked hastily, once and then a second time. He looked both confused and gobsmacked at what had just taken place. "You're not going to go after?" he inquired, giving Lilah a raised eyebrow and a side look, "Nope," Lilah replied with a shake of her head, "When she gets like this, I like to give her some space to cool off and I think you should too, Sam." Bucky watched as Sam considered Lilah's advice for a moment with a nod and what looked like a downward smile but it turned into him shaking his head. "Nah, I am going to take my chances," He said turning to the three of them, "I have to apologise to her, I'm not one for waiting, unfortunately," Bucky was just about to deter Sam from the idea and to try and make him see it from Lilah's understanding and that maybe giving Sophia a little bit of space would be best, especially having just met her a few minutes ago. However, Lilah chipped in, "Be my guest," and with a thumbs up for good luck from Holly, Sam left them and headed off to Sophia. "He's going to get slaughtered, isn't he?" Bucky asked the girls, as the three of them watched Sam approach Sophia at the bar, "Some people just can't be told, James," Lilah stated. Holly looked on, "He'll never be the same again," and with a sigh, she turned back to Lilah and Bucky "And with that, I need to continue my Birthday rounds. James once again thank you so much for the flowers and for coming, seriously – eat, drink, and stay as long as you want." She leaned in and hugged Bucky. Something he wasn't expecting, having just met the girl a few hours ago, but the gesture was sweet, inviting, and almost sisterly. After she hugged Lilah, Bucky waited for Lilah to create some excuse to leave, but to his surprise, she stayed. Holding onto her peony…

It was just the two of them…

This was his chance …

"I can't believe Sam stepped into that," he said, running his hand over his jawline, unsure of what to do with his hands. Lilah grimaced, "Yeah and Sophia's been drinking too, which is never a good combination," she joked in an almost wincing tone. "Believe it or not, just before you came over here, Sam was doing some - what I am hoping was - flirting with Sophia," Bucky stated with a little laugh. Lilah's eyes lit up and she gleamed, "Really? Aw, poor guy, so he really did just get tongue-tied then," a sympathetic hand shot over her chest. Thinking quickly, Bucky decided to use this moment to his advantage, "Speaking of getting tongue-tied," he looked up at her, watching as the light in her hazel eyes contrasted against the white of the peony, which brought out an innocence in her that Bucky couldn't stand. Why are you so gripping to me? He asked her silently. "Would you mind if we … spoke? We didn't get a chance to chat earlier and there is something I would like to … worry your mind about?" Bucky tried to speak calmly and cautiously.

He had given careful thought to this a few times over and about how he was going to explain this to her since Sophia and Holly invited him. But now, seeing the sunny disposition dull from Lilah's eyes ever so slightly at his request to just talk; it broke him a little. She knew what he wanted to talk about and, while he didn't want to cause her pain, he could tell that this was going to be painful for her. "S-sure, of course," she nodded slightly, the hesitation causing her voice to waver just a fraction. Lilah looked around to an empty cocktail table that was at the rooftop edge to her left, "let's go over there, it's a little quieter," she said, coming closer and gesturing over to the spot. She leaned in so close to him to point out the table that Bucky could smell the jasmine scent swirling off her. It was oddly intoxicating. He promptly realised that she was waiting for him to respond and, quickly followed with a nod. Stepping back from her a little, he motioned with his hand for her to walk first and lead the way, but truly, it was just so that he could have a moment to gather his thoughts.

Author's Note:

A little longer chapter this time around ... Hope you guys enjoy it!

Please review!