Star Dust (A Paladin Adventure)

Getting to know you

We got into a new schedule. We'd get up, spend some time with the small dogs, go for a walk, then go home and I'd do whatever I needed to around the house, and go to the tower. Then Bucky would work with me with my new pistol, after which we'd get a snack with Steve, and I'd go to work. After work, I got some dinner, and we'd start our patrol.

One morning, I was jogging with the little dogs as they frisked ahead and I ran into Steve, heading out early. He started to laugh. "Emma..." Wallace started to get tired and Torburn gently picked him up by the scruff.

"What? I can't just leave the pups alone all the time." He picked up Daf, who was chugging along gamely.

"For one thing, I'm worried that you're exerting yourself too much. Running in the morning with the dogs, patrolling later. Look. I'll take them into the tower with me, they can be walked, be around people. Bucky and I can bring them back with us."

And so we added a wrinkle for the schedule. Steve and/or Bucky would stop by in the morning and pick up the little dogs, and the big dogs and I would go in with them. This was the bright spot of the day,  because not much progress was being made. We managed to capture a few Skrulls, but the Kree were out of sight.

Everybody was wound tightly. My idea about the little blood draws was really popular--so popular that people's fingers were covered with bandaids. I had a homemade lancet that I carried in a little vial of alcohol and didn't have to worry about carrying the alcohol wipes. I didn't get a lot of requests for proof of humanity, though. The heroes didn't, in general. But with no new information, people were getting restless and I'd seen a few people breaking the curfew the night before. The Guard had picked up one, lectured the guy sternly, and had the cops take him home. I'd caught a couple of teenagers who were sneaking out to have sex. I'd returned each one to their parents at their homes.

After eight days of this, I was getting a little blase myself. I knew a significant threat was out there, but without seeing any proof, I was settling into a routine. Bucky, Steve and I quickly established that if my lights were on when they got back on the street, they'd return the dogs; otherwise, they spent the night at Bucky's. It had only been a few days, but it was working out pretty well. And we'd decided to identify ourselves with a mention of something that only we would know, since Bucky only had one hand to do the proof of humanity thing with. Most of the population were still too in awe of him to ask, but the other Avengers, particularly Sam and Tony, made up for it to tease him. Always in public, so he couldn't refuse.

I had just gotten home when a knock on the door announced Bucky. The little dogs scampered in and ran to find the big dogs, who were having a snack in the kitchen. He mentioned a thing I'd said when I was helping Samuel to update his arm, and I replied with something he'd said in return. He came in and we followed the dogs to the kitchen to start some decaf. We were chatting about our nights when there was another knock.

"Must be Steve," I said, and left Bucky to supervise the French press while I answered the door. "The Star Spangled Man with a Plan," I said, quoting the song he'd heard ad nauseum when promoting war bond sales before he became a battlefield hero. Usually he rolled his eyes when somebody teased him with that, but tonight he just leaned in for a kiss. And not the usual kiss on the cheek; this was a sort of an I'm-a-half-inch-from-taking-you-hard-on-the-floor kind of plunder of my mouth. Bucky yelled a hello from the kitchen.

"So is this a night for a threesome?" Steve said, reaching for my breast. Which is when I clocked him with the collapsed staff from my utility belt.

"What the hell?" Bucky said, charging in.

"This isn't Steve," I said grimly, and startled, Bucky held off the questions until we had the individual restrained to a kitchen chair. Then I explained what 'Steve' had said. Bucky actually blushed. We leaned against the kitchen counter, sipping our coffee and waiting for the imposter to wake up. "That's another thing," I said suddenly. "Look at his fingers."