Humming quietly to herself, Lydia walked to James’ front door, carrying several bags of groceries. She paused for a moment, wondering if her brother was going to open the door before she even got to it like usual out she was going to have to let herself in. When the door didn't open, she walked up and put her hand on the handle.

“Little bird, ” she said flatly before feeling the lock disengage. She turned the handle and let herself in. She paused in the doorway, looking at the absolute mess and sighed. With all of the time he had spent here the past few weeks, she would think it would look better than the Death Star after Luke fired proton torpedoes in the exhaust port.

“Just like shooting womp rats in my T-16 back home…” she muttered to herself as she walked in, letting the door close on its own. She made a beeline for the kitchen, thinking James was either out, or asleep. But asleep would mean he would have come to the door. Because sleep was a mythical creature that didn't seem to want to be caught by either of them lately. So she put away what she could, and went to work.

Having a speedster for a friend did come in handy. She didn't move nearly as fast as Walt could but she could still move faster than someone could blink. And he'd taught her more than a few tricks to get through doing chores. She started tidying up in sections while the coffee was brewing, using that as her timer. In about five minutes, she'd put a sizable dent in his mess, sure to leave the maps and notes and sketches alone lest she upset his work flow. But she had gotten all the garbage and dishes and discarded things out of the way by the time the coffee was done.

“In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun.” she grinned to herself, pulling out a cup for her coffee and humming quietly to herself as she went about trying to at least make him food that he could heat up later instead of the TV dinners and Chinese take out he was currently subsisting on.

She had just started to pull out get ingredients when she heard movement from the other end of the apartment. “You want breakfast? I can do pancakes. And bacon. Maybe waffles? There is also coffee since you somehow managed to sleep the sleep of the dead and are just now getting up.”

Here's to being human and taking it for granted

There is always that moment of momentary confusion and subtle panic when waking up in a place you're not used to, no matter how comforting the person beside you might be. The moment Ginnie's eyes had first opened that next morning, that small amount of panic hit. She sat up just a tad bit too quickly to look around. Before she could actually ask herself where she was, she realized that she wasn't alone. Her hands gripped the covers to pull them up a bit over herself as she looked beside her. It was James. A part of her already wanted to freak out, just the smallest bit. She had one rule in her head about the team, and this made it officially broken. And yet, as absolutely terrifying and panic inducing the idea that it had actually happened wasn't effecting her nearly as, well, awkwardly as she had initially thought it would.

A soft sigh escaped her as she went to lay back down, trying to get herself relaxed as she moved closer to the super soldier. "Morning," she said softly, trying to let her eyes close again. A few moments of laying there, just trying to relax, hoping for once to get back to sleep was interrupted, however, when she heard someone out in the living area. Her eyes snapped open again as she listened, getting on high alert. Someone was here, someone was moving around the apartment. Doing what? She wasn't entirely sure. She took a moment to listen before sliding off of the bed. Her body was tense as she moved through the bedroom, trying to be as quiet as possible. She could have easily just grabbed her shirt from yesterday but that would involve getting completely dressed and, well... she knew she could move faster in something looser. So she slipped into her underwear (though personally wishing she had a clean pair with her) before rooting around to steal a shirt from James. No matter how quiet she tried to be, she was almost certain that if he wasn't awake already, he'd be awake now. No matter, finding what she wanted, she slipped into it and went to open the door when she heard a very familiar voice.

"Shit," she cursed, keeping her voice a whisper. What was Lydia doing here? She knew the blonde was his sister but still, that didn't change the inner turmoil of someone else actually being here put her in. Her eyes shifted towards the bed a moment. She could go back in there, simply curl up and go back to sleep. And yet at the same time, she didn't like the idea of simply hiding out back here in some hope that Lyds goes away. Decisions, decisions. She thought to at least peek out the door. A small yawn escaped her as she opened the door to do just that. The scent of coffee wafting through the apartment was rather refreshing and the want for it was definitely gripping her. Did she go out or did she wait for James, that was the question?

The idea of moving to make James go out there first was strong but she knew two things for certain. One, no matter what, this was going to be awkward. And two... there was coffee. Oh screw it, like she said, it was going to be awkward either way. After a deep breathe, she moved out of his room to the kitchen, trying to walk as if there was absolutely nothing wrong with her being here at the moment. As if this wasn't going to be awkward whatsoever. Moving towards the kitchen like that went fine, it was when she got to the kitchen itself to see Lydia there that made her divert her eyes away. She muttered a quiet, "morning," before getting herself a cup of the coffee. She remained quiet as she did that, waiting until after it was ready and she'd taken a sip to look over towards the blonde. "There is a perfectly good explanation for this."

676	James Barnes Jr Helen Danvers
let the awkwardness commence. also, hope this is okay, if you need anything changed, just let me know ^^

The highs and lows of living, to getting second chances

✿

The sun shining through the window woke James up. He reached over and snuggled closer to Ginnie. Last night had been somewhat of a shock to the two of them (probably not to anyone else though). He heard Ginnie mumble good morning. James kissed the top of her head and mumbled a reply.

"Morning." He rolled over and fell back asleep for awhile longer. When James woke up again, he rolled over and noticed that Ginnie was missing. James grabbed a pair of pajama pants and his gun off the night stand. He checked to make sure that it was loaded and then set it on his desk after smelling coffee.

The logical thought was that Ginnie was making breakfast. Then he paused. Did Ginnie know how to cook? The phone on James' desk blinked at him and James heard Ginnie talking to someone. A quick consult of the phone showed he had missed calls from Lydia. Oh. Crap.

James sighed and put on a poker face. He walked out and saw Ginnie in her panties and one of his shirts. This was going to be a hard yarn to spin. He sighed and went for the coffee. "Training and planning session went late." Perfectly reasonable explanation... if Lydia was 5.

"Don't suppose that I could just say 'this isn't what it looks like' and be done with it?"

Pausing in what she was doing, her hands slowly putting down the ingredients she had in her hands, Lydia's eyes tracked Ginnie after she said "morning", blinking a few times as the older woman grabbed a cup and made herself some coffee. She looked only slightly confused to see Ginnie in her brother's apartment, in nothing but one of his shirts and her underwear. She pursed her lips for a moment, a million different questions on the tip of her tongue but none of them she felt like really asking Ginnie. Were it any other woman, Lydia might be snarky or overly inquisitive. But no, it was Virginia Stark, someone she'd known practically all her life. And she could see the awkwardness radiating off her. So, she opted for a simple question, waving off her attempt at explaining.

"Ginnie...pancakes or waffles? And no, you can't have just coffee. Your eating habits are as bad as my brothers." She started to pull a completely different set of ingredients out to make either offered breakfast food as well as bacon, eggs and some bread for toast. She turned back, trying to hide a small smirk that was growing on her face. This was ridiculous. Of course she knew it was also a high possibility if she kept coming over like this, it was bound to happen. Just...Ginnie was a surprise.

She spotted James finally deciding to join them out of the corner of her eye and turned to look at him with a bemused smirk. "Oh...no. Not a chance. Though, I suppose if you're going to do this, a..." she waved her hand in the air, trying to find the right euphemism. "Sock on the door might help?"

Here's to being human and taking it for granted

Already, Ginnie was trying to mentally prepare herself for pretty much anything Lydia might say. Honestly, she was expecting the worst. This was someone she'd known for years, a girl she remembered flying around Stark Tower when Ginnie herself was still, for all intents and purposes, a child. I suppose technically a teenager but in the minds of many, those were still children. The obvious awkwardness of the situation was enough for anyone to give some sort of condescending tone or some form of snark, especially when that person was related to the other party (and blood or not, there was no denying that James and Lydia were siblings). That was made it all the weirder for her personally at least. She wouldn't mind Lydia knowing, not in the slightest... after it was all properly figured out at least. But like this? This was very different and it was putting things out on the table not even Ginnie was sure should be out there when so little about what any of this really was was known to even the pair yet.

She tried to push that all from her mind, though, as she took a sip from her coffee. She kept her eyes trained on the blonde a moment, waiting for a response, anticipating several possible outcomes and hoping she had good enough answers. She'd do anything to try and explain all of this away as easily as possible. And yet she knew that would work. However the question that was asked did come to a small surprise to her. The most obvious, possible, and it wasn't one that she personally anticipated. She almost wanted to argue that coffee could easily be enough but she wasn't awake enough for that. No, not at all. "I personally prefer pancakes," she said before finally diverting her eyes away again. She tried focusing them on the steam from the coffee.

A small smirk came to her own lips when she heard James speak, trying to hide it by taking another sip from the coffee. Training and planning. Yes, because that sounded oh so believable. She almost wanted to shake her head at it but that took a tad bit more effort than she really had care for at the moment. She waited to speak for after Lydia was done talking. "Jimmy, I'm almost certain any chance of that being believable flew out the window when I came out like this." She used one hand to gesture down towards herself. Perhaps she should have tried to find her own pants instead of this. But at least this was quite comfortable.

436	James Barnes Jr Helen Danvers
she's trying not to be awkward but i don't think it's working too well xD

The highs and lows of living, to getting second chances

✿

The situation was getting more awkward by the minute. James wondered if there was an alien invasion somewhere that he could single handedly try to throw himself in front of. Maybe Blue Bat had something he could escape.

James sipped his coffee and ate a piece of bacon. "I forgot that you are a laugh riot." James said deadpan."Also, I don't have any clean socks left." He added quietly. He wanted to say something about his sister walking into his place, but she tidied up and made him breakfast. James couldn't exactly be mad at her for doing nice things. That and being home with Phil was probably driving her mad.

"I'd also like pancakes. If anyone was,curious." He sipped his coffee again, looking at Ginnie. This might be the only time he wished that she was wearing pants. At least she wasn't wearing anything see through.

"Yeah. Probably didn't help. I probably shouldn't have kept my phone on silent. That would have solved the whole problem." James snagged another piece of bacon.

“No, I wasn't curious. I know you want pancakes, you big oaf.” Lydia smacked his hand as he went in for another piece of bacon. She turned on the burner and heated up the pan while making the batter, before turning to watch the awkward shuffle between two people she loved. She had been very bored as of late, nothing much happening at school or home. And a distinct lack of shenanigans from the other two amigos to get her into any trouble had left her with Phil, hovering. When he was home.

But this, this was far more entertaining. She watched them for a moment over the room of her own cup of coffee, paying particular attention to James. He was, of course, suitably embarrassed about the whole situation. She thought that was telling. He never really even let them stay the night, that she knew of. But it was Ginnie, and she was different. And not only that he'd have to see her every day, he'd have to (not really) follow her orders.

And she was just so very glad it was her turn to make him squirm. All those years of interrogating her admittedly crappy boyfriends and it was her turn. “Oh my, you? Put your phone on silent? Stop the presses! Captain America ignores the world for one night and it didn't explode! Should have just put a ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign on your door.” she plated a few pancakes and put them down for Ginnie, waving her spatula at her brother threateningly.

“Ladies first. Be a gracious host.” Lydia pulled the syrup out of the microwave and put it down as she smiled at Ginnie. Then she went back to make more pancakes for both her and James.

“You want eggs too while I'm at it?” she said, flipping a pancake.

Here's to being human and taking it for granted

She tried to keep her focus on her coffee as she went back to taking small sips from it. Her eyes kept shifting just slightly from Lydia to James. She almost wondered if she should try to find some reason to get out of here, try to abandon the situation. At this point, that was very unlikely, but it was still a thought. There were plenty of things she could probably do. Like... work. Yes, maybe work needed her. Oh, who was she kidding, she knew any attempt would likely be derailed by either Lydia or James here.

She shook her head lightly when she heard that James had no clean socks. As much as she would have loved to stay back in that bed, laundry was clearly on the list of things to try and help with. She didn't say anything, though. No matter what words tried to filter into her head, nothing seemed suitable to say. When she really thought about it, what was there to say? Aside from, perhaps, a thank you for the coffee. Coffee she was slowly running out of with her attempt to use it as a reason to not have to speak. She turned around again, pretty thankful to be able to keep her face away from the both of them as she filled her cup back to the top and added what little sugar it might still need. For a brief moment while she stirred it, she looked over to James. There were a couple of things she thought she could mouth to him. Like 'This is awkward' or 'Why couldn't it be aliens' but neither seemed to properly form. Oh well.

Turning back, she heard the plate get set down and decided to head over to it, taking a proper seat. She took a few more sips of coffee before setting the cup down by the plate. "You shouldn't jinx him, Lydia. Now something terrible is bound to happen," she joked. Funny, she was using a tactic she knew Aileen used constantly. Try to make terrible jokes during uncomfortable situations. She was quickly realizing that it didn't actually work as well as her friend made it seem to. "I suppose if there's an offer for eggs, I could go for a couple. Sunny side up, please." She reached for the syrup to pour it on the pancakes.

She didn't start eating anything just yet, a part of her wanting to simply wait for the other two to have food first at least so she opted for watching them. There had to be something she could say, try to make a conversation to distract from the weirdness of the situation. But nothing came to mind. Absolutely nothing. What could she say, really? She supposed she could still try at least. "So... Lydia, how was your morning?" She threw another glance with a small shrug to James before smiling and focusing on the other blonde in the room.

495	James Barnes Jr Helen Danvers
soooo awkwardddddd

The highs and lows of living, to getting second chances

✿

His hand pulled back as Lydia slapped it. James looked up at Lydia and shrugged. They were his favorite. It figured she would know what he wanted. They grew up together. James looked over to Ginnie. His eyes communicated the same sentiments of awkwardness and an alien invasion. This was going about as well as James thought it could be. For someone who hadn't exactly had time to figure out whatever this was, James was sure watching it unfold rather quickly before his eyes.

"Not entirely sure that it isn't currently happening." James took another sip of his coffee. "The one time I forget to turn it on in... well, ever and I get mocked. Especially since i tried to give you your space yesterday." After a few moments, he reached over and grabbed his data pad off the counter, tapping it a bit. He'd had a few files set aside. He was a little shocked to see his sister here this morning, considering yesterday's activities. James gave Ginnie a smile. The tables were about to turn.

"I imagine her day must be quieter than yesterday." James looked over at Lydia. "Noticed you and Flash committed a minor act of war against a parallel universe yesterday, squirt. Superboy was an accessory or a means, I assume." He sipped his coffee, tone never changing. "Just tell me one thing: Did you get him back?"

James and Blue Bat had been keeping an eye on the Titans after the incident, in order to make sure that they were okay. They had put some minor surveillance on them just to make sure that no one was a danger and scheduled therapy sessions with Nightwing for them all. James gave Ginnie another smile. He knew about their operation, but had chosen not to say anything. That was something he wanted to give Lydia.

"I'll have some scrambled eggs. You can make mine last. They'll make a mess of the pan."

"The morning has been...ok. It's morning. No one ever has a 'good' morning. Unless they're one of those weird morning people, which I am convinced are something from space." Lydia said, trying to think of when her morning actually started. She tried to think of when she'd last gotten actual sleep, though she knew she could subsist on minimal rest for awhile. Didn't necessarily mean she needed to, but she had been. She definitely hadn't really stopped to sleep in the last 24 hours, but that's what the coffee was for. She knew James practically lived off the stuff, and so, it seemed, did Ginnie.She poured herself another cup, trying not to contemplate too hard on her own growing addiction to the stuff. She plated a few more pancakes for her brother before going back to start the eggs.

She turned her head slighting toward James as he mentioned something about giving her space yesterday, tension suddenly griping her spine as she made Ginnie's eggs. He couldn't possibly know...Walt had said no one else knew, because it was a crazy thing to do. And it could possibly start a war. The spatula in her hand snapped in surprise when he started talking about it. She snatched the broken piece out of the air so it didn't ruin Ginnie's eggs and grimaced. Of course he could know all about it; he was a spy, just like Phil had trained him to be. And he always seemed to know everything.

"Yep. Mission successful." She said in a clipped tone. She was still slightly mad at herself she'd wasted a perfectly good opportunity to tell Marty something she'd been wanting to tell him for what seemed like forever. She'd totally caved and simply said it was good to have him back. Which, it was, but that was not at all what she had intended to say. But she'd have plenty of chances to do so. "And just FYI, Walt is the reason why I'm here and not at the Tower, making sure you weren't a complete disaster. Which, I guess you don't really need anymore. Ginne seems perfectly capable of making sure you don't fall apart." She glanced at his new hand as she put down a plate in front of him and gave Ginnie her eggs.

Walt said he would call if anything came up, and she resisted the urge, time and again, to look at her phone. But still, it was nice to actually see some light back in her brother's eyes. Even if the rest of him looked like crap. Of course that did not stop her from giving him quite the devious smirk as she gave him his scrambled eggs and sat down.

"So, Ginnie..." she smiled sweetly. "What are your intentions toward my brother?" she said calmly, sipping out of her mug, looking as innocent as possible. She had lost count of how many times she'd heard that exact same question come from James' mouth, though he was usually cleaning a gun when he asked it. Turnabout was fair play.

Here's to being human and taking it for granted

Virginia wouldn't say she was happy that he seemed to feel the same as her about all of this at the moment, but it felt a little better knowing she wasn't the only one. She didn't know what made that fact so comforting but it brought the smallest amounts of comfort to her. She couldn't seem to bring herself to many words, so rather, she opted to listen and occasionally sip on her coffee. She probably would have responded to something if James hadn't gone in with his giving Lydia space, however. That seemed vaguely interesting. What had Captain Marvel been up to that James and JJ had actually gotten along for more than five minutes in order to agree on watching the girl and her friends? She couldn't help but wonder, but she didn't ask any questions. Not if it meant keeping any sort of attention off of her at the moment. As someone who loved the limelight, she couldn't seem to stand it at the moment.

Listening and staying quiet gave her a moment to try and think about all of this. Last night, they said they'd think about what all of this was later, that they'd figure that out when they got to it. But it didn't really seem like they had very long to figure it out. Not when the sister was standing so close. She tried to smile but nervousness was welling inside her more and more as she sipped on the coffee. It didn't mean anything, right? This was just... piles of emotions and a sort of need for someone else in order to get over everything else... right? Probably not. She knew better than to think it was just nothing. It'd never been just nothing. Perhaps Aileen had been right, but saying such would never happen. She squeezed her eyes shut a moment in order to try and clear her thoughts. She didn't need to think about this right now, no sirree.

As she opened her eyes again, she looked to Lydia, hearing her speak to her. She'd been in the middle of a sip of coffee when the question hit her ears and almost immediately, she choked on it. The cup went down as fast as she could manage so she could cover her mother and make sure the coffee didn't spew everywhere. Swallowing hard, she coughed a moment before looking from James to Lydia. "E-excuse me? What?" That innocent look wasn't fooling anyone, Lydia. The question rang in Ginnie's ears a few more times. What were her intentions with James... She didn't even know, how the hell was she meant to answer that? She coughed again, turning slightly to look away. There was a moment of silence from her as she tried to pull words together. "I... I'm going to be honest here and say I'm not entirely sure?" The words came off as more of a question than she had wanted them to, however.

494	James Barnes Jr Helen Danvers
she really didn't want to answer that question... hopefully this post is okay, though. a bit rushed probably, sorry about that.

The highs and lows of living, to getting second chances

✿

As the spatula snapped, James watched Lydia catch the broken piece. He spoke up rather calmly. "Two more spares in the drawer to your left." He'd snapped a few every so often. It was the primary reason he didn't watch the news while making breakfast anymore. He gotten tired of replacing his implements in the kitchen. That had only gotten worse while he tried to get used to the new hand Ginie had made him. It was a great job, but a little on the strong side. James nodded. "Good. I'm glad you two found Marty." His sister's body language said that there was more she wanted to say, but James didn't push. Maybe she didn't want to talk in front of Ginnie. Or more likely, maybe she didn't want to say things to Ginnie in front of him.

"No, I'm only three quarters of a disaster. Ms. Stark will attest to that for me. She came by and made sure the place wasn't radioactive and that I didn't take too many rads from the devastation that was the battle of Pizza Box mountain."

James started cutting into his pancakes, pouring some syrup on them. He took the small plate of eggs and then saw the smirk. He'd seen that smirk once or twice before in a situation like this. No good would come of this. Though in his experience, no good ever came of that smirk in any situation. James closed his eyes and took a breath. He counted and got to four. There it was. The question he was waiting for. She'd done this at least two other times over the years. Revenge for his doing it to her.

Ginnie's answer made him smile. "I don't think we know yet, Princess Sparklefists. Though your questioning is noted for the record. Glad to see you're not moping anymore and can once again take delight in the suffering of others." He ate a few bites of pancakes and nodded.

Pulling another spatula out of the drawer, Lydia went about making food for herself. She calmed down a bit with the action, trying to rid her mind of her disappointment in her inaction after rescuing Marty. That wasn't why she was here. She was here for James...and apparently Ginnie. "Well...it was more than two of us, but the mission was a success and now, hopefully, everything can just...go back to normal."

She hoped that was the case. That was always a hope. They were all back now, everything would be fine. And she could go back to making sure everyone else was ok. People like James, who had apparently scaled Pizza Mountain and proclaimed himself king of all he surveyed. Well, she'd knocked over Pizza Mountain so he could actually live in his apartment without lots of little uninvited guests. And hopefully it would stay that way.

"Me? Mope? Never. I just really liked ice cream for awhile." She sat down and gave Ginnie a real smile before taking the syrup for her pancakes. "And it's ok to not know, Ginnie. Figuring out feelings and whatever is...complicated. I just want you to know, that if you need someone to smack him around for being an idiot, you have my number." She gave Ginnie a wink and James a knowing look before digging into her food.

Here's to being human and taking it for granted

Yes, she would certainly rather think of the Battle of Pizza Box Mountain than a decent answer to the question she'd been asked. As honest as she'd been, she still sort of wanted to give more of an answer. Something concrete. However, concrete ideas and early mornings didn't always go hand in hand with Miss Stark. She would likely need another few cups of coffee before she was able to be of any sort of contribution to anything, really. It didn't seem to matter how well she had finally slept, either. If anything, the sleep was messing with her just a little. It wasn't something she was necessarily used to, after all. No, what she was used to was staying up to heavens knew what time working on something or drinking something until she inevitably passed out for two or three hours, usually at her desk in her room or at the office. She was usually a firm believer that she didn't need sleep. She could work just fine as she was. However, actually sleeping and then waking up like that? It was going to take a lot to jump start her mind.

Taking a sip from her coffee, she glanced away from them. She barely noted the smile on James' lips. It was simply better to focus on food and, well, anything else. She should have gotten up so much earlier than she had. At least then she might have been able to escape before this sort of weirdness happened. And what were the real likelihoods that less than twenty for hours after she spent over at James', Lydia would just show up? She still wasn't sure what made it stranger: that fact that it was James' adoptive sister or the fact that she'd known Lydia most of her life. Quite honestly, they both seemed equally as worrisome. She would have preferred Aileen walking in than- no, that was a lie... That was a terrible, horrible lie.

Her sights flicked back towards Lydia, though, as she spoke directly to her. The small smile on the blonde's face was a bit encouraging. Ginnie wouldn't lie, she thought that this would turn out much, much worse. She wouldn't put it past Lydia either. But that smile, it sort of made it seem like all of this was going to be alright. She hoped that there wasn't going to be any further questioning, at least. She smiled a bit more as she glanced over towards James. "I like to think I can handle him if he acts to much like an idiot but I'll keep you in mind if I need the help."

xxx	James Barnes Jr Helen Danvers
okay, this is sucky, i know. i'm sorry ^^; if you need me to add to it, i'll try my best to!

The highs and lows of living, to getting second chances

✿

James ate a bite of his pancakes. "Oh, I know. There were four of you total. Interesting mix of people, Walt puts together." He swallowed the fluffy cake and then took a sip of his coffee. "Maybe they shouldn't go back to normal. Sometimes, talking is prudent course of action." He popped a piece of bacon in his mouth and crunched on it. That was the end of his lecture. Lydia would do what she wanted in the end, but she deserved to be happy. And if Marty made her happy... Well, he'd cope with that.

"This is pretty intense conversation for a bunch of people that just woke up." James said, trying to diffuse some of the tension in the room. "Ginnie... How's work going? I hear there's a few projects that are coming along nicely." He asked, listening for a bit. The question would let Ginnie's brain switch back into work mode and jump start her thoughts, hopefully.

After a bit, he turned to Lydia. "How's it going getting caught up with school stuff? How're the Titans after everything?" James had been talking to JJ and had an idea to pitch to them both, since they were both here he'd make his pitch and see if they bought into it. He'd wait until they were both up to speed and then hope that he could change the subject completely on to that. Maybe they'd like it.