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[with_diamonds]

These days, having time to herself was something of a rarity. Lucy could be nothing but grateful for whatever impulse had made her decide not to run for Council again; there was no way she'd have been able to handle it, and for her to say so as someone in the habit of pushing herself to the breaking point, taking on as much as she could, was no

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[onlyapassenger]

"Last one for the semester," says Bucky, dropping an armful of handmade buoys down onto the sand. Their design could stand for some improvement, he has to admit, and with the class over for at least a little while, he sees no need to keep them out in the water; the ITF won't keep him so busy, and he'll be in need of more distractions soon enough. Lifting a still-dripping hand to shield his eyes from the bright sun of the afternoon, he squints as he looks over to Lucy, a smile touching the corners of his mouth; he hasn't seen her much lately, though he knows her life's been about as eventful as his own, albeit in wildly different ways

[with_diamonds]

It was only when she got a little closer that Lucy's smile faded slightly, gaze wandering from the bruise on his jaw down to the ones on his chest. While she didn't know what they were from and there was nothing too bad, the fact that they were there at all couldn't have signified anything good; illogical though it may have been, she found herself thinking that she should have known sooner, should have been able to divide her attention more evenly. This was the way things always went, though, and seeing it now, all she could do was try to find out what had caused it.

At the very least, if there was anyone she knew she didn't have to worry too much about, it was him. He was, probably more than anyone else she knew, ridiculously capable, and the fact that he was smiling, too, could only be a good sign. "They'll miss you soon enough," she said lightly, mostly teasing, then decided there was no sense in putting anything off. "What happened?"

[onlyapassenger]

Jason's asked him the same question enough times since the fight happened that Bucky barely registers it when it comes from Lucy, though it's not accompanied by the same annoyance. If she asks again, it'll be a different story, of course, but for now Bucky's able to keep his expression lighthearted and nonplussed, dropping down on one knee in the sand to start untangling the handmade rope.

"Ah, you know how it is -- boys'll be boys," he says easily, glancing back up at her from his position on the ground. It's the sort of defense the brass used to enact whenever he picked a fight with an older soldier back in Camp Lehigh, and he almost laughs for using it about himself, now. "I'm fine. He's fine. Nothing to worry about, Lucy."

[with_diamonds]

"Alright," Lucy said after a moment, sighing exaggeratedly. There was a touch of reluctance in her voice that couldn't be helped, but she was still inclined to believe what he was telling her; he did seem fine, after all, even the response itself lighthearted enough, and she'd seen firsthand how well he could take care of himself (though she didn't often think about that while in his presence. It was over, it was done, they were all fine; there was no need to dwell on it). She knew what boys were like, anyway, even if Max had never been all that physically capable before he'd been drafted.

Shifting her weight in the sand, she tipped her head down towards him. "Just as long as you're okay. I don't wanna find out all this time after the fact about something happening to you."

[onlyapassenger]

"I could be doing a lot worse," he says, which is the honest-to-God's truth, shared of his own will, and not through any compulsion. Barring the weekend he spent in jungle, there's been more good than bad; the fight with Steve had been a necessary evil, a hurdle, Bucky realizes, they needed to cross, and while some part of him wishes he hadn't given in to his baser nature, had managed to keep his fists to himself, he knows they're better off now than they were a month ago. Natalia's arrival, too, is a check for the positive, though he knows this place will chafe her as much as it does him. At the very least, he thinks, they have each other, though for how long that will last until one of them disappears, he can't possibly know.

"How are you holding up?" he asks. Of the two of them, he can't help but think she's been treated more harshly in the past few weeks; he'd rather focus on her problems than his own.

[with_diamonds]

"I'm okay," Lucy said slowly after a moment's pause, nodding. Okay was relative, of course, but she had survived and would continue doing so; that was all that really mattered. It was easy, anyway, not to focus on the loss of Veronica when she had so much else to be thinking about, Sam to take care of, so little time of her own. As it was, there was just a dull, low-level sting, and while it was one that came back to the forefront when asked about herself, there was no reason to dwell on that now. "Pretty exhausted, I mean, helping to look out for an almost four year old was not something I ever really saw coming for myself, but, you know, Sam's a good kid. I'd do anything for her."

[onlyapassenger]

"If you ever need help..." says Bucky, because he's unable not to. Children, in a word, aren't his thing; his experience is limited to his kid sister and, to a lesser extent, a short while with Dani Cage under his roof, and he never really had to take care of either. He's not about to offer babysitting, wouldn't trust himself to know what to do, but chances are he can lessen the burden in other ways. "I'm around."

[with_diamonds]

"Thank you," Lucy said, a response that she knew was fairly generic -- this wasn't the first offer of help, after all -- but that, in this case, was entirely genuine. While she wasn't sure what there really was to be done, there was bound to be something, and when the number of people near to her here seemed to consistently dwindle, a presence alone could go a long way. Somehow, between holding a knife to her back and killing her in some weird dream-memory thing, Bucky had become one of her closest friends. "I'll let you know. Because I probably will."

[onlyapassenger]

"It takes a village," he says, parroting something he heard once. God only knows he hadn't had the most conventional of childhoods, first moving around the country with his parents and kid sister until he was orphaned, and adopted by the state. How it is he got to stay at Camp Lehigh while his Rebecca ended up at boarding school, he'll never know. Even so, he knows, firsthand, just how true the statement is; he doesn't even want to think about how he would've turned out with the military to guide him in his more formative years, the older soldiers watching his back. Maybe they weren't parents, but they were still family.

[with_diamonds]

"So they say," Lucy replied, what might as well have been an agreement. She had no experience with the philosophy herself, not even around here, when children disappeared with their parents more often than not, but the idea itself - and the sense of community inherent in it - appealed to her. Fiercely independent though she liked to fancy herself, she still enjoyed the idea of a group of people coming together to accomplish something, especially when it was so positive, circumstances aside, as raising a child here. They weren't Jim and Pam, they weren't Veronica, but Samantha had a family, she was loved. It could go a long way. "Or an island, in this case."