"Where exactly are we, Doll?" Bucky asked as they stepped out of the borrowed car, Lana locking it behind them.

"Our new office. They're delivering the desks today so I need to be there to sign for them," she explained, looking at the red brick building in front of them before stepping to the entrance, unlocking it with a key she'd gotten from the realtor. Turning on the light switch next to the door, a few bare bulbs blinked before turning on, illuminating (however poorly) the large, open space. The only thing that broke the room's emptiness was the occasional supporting columns carrying the beams.

"This kind of looks like somewhere I've seen before," Bucky pondered out loud, looking around them at the dirty 'office'.

"Really? Where?" Lana asked curiously, pulling off her bag and placing it on the dusty floor.

"A horror movie," Bucky replied flatly, making Lana snort at his attempt of a joke.

"Don't worry, I'm planning on cleaning it," she assured him.

"You're gonna clean this?" Bucky asked in disbelief, looking around them again.

"Yes, we are," Lana confirmed; "I have buckets and everything in the car, so today we'll be cleaning and getting it ready, because tomorrow, this becomes the official office of Mateo Security Systems."

Lana had spent what felt like a good couple of hours vacuuming before giving up, deciding that the amount of debris left on the floor was actually the exact amount she'd strived for.

"We need to buy a Roomba," she sighed, leaving the vacuum cleaner she'd borrowed from the tower stranded.

"Why?"

"So I don't get lonely. I thought it could be a sort of mascot," Lana told sarcastically; "So it can vacuum, obviously."

"Oh, it's a vacuum cleaner," Bucky realised, making Lana laugh slightly.

"It's a vacuum cleaner, but it's automatic. It has a little station plugged into the wall, then you make a schedule for it and when it's time to clean it does so and then it drives back to its little charging spot," Lana explained it, grabbing one of the water bottles from her bag and tossing it to Bucky, who elegantly caught it.

"That's amazing," Bucky admitted, twisting the lid off the water bottle.

"And, they're adorable. But we probably need to hire someone to clean regularly," Lana admitted, grabbing a water for herself.

"I thought it was a vacuum cleaner?" Bucky asked confused.

"It is," Lana told.

"A vacuum cleaner can't be adorable," Bucky argued, and Lana was just about to initiate an argument when she heard the beeping of a reversing truck, excitedly running to the door and opening it in time to see the two men getting out of the vehicle.

"Mateo Security Systems?" one of them asked her, slamming the door behind him and shielding his eyes from the sun.

"Exactly," she agreed, opening both doors to ease their jobs. The one who'd confirmed they were at the right place went up to her with a clipboard, quickly explaining where she needed to sign while the other opened the back of the truck, revealing the fully loaded space, every piece of furniture positioned to save as much space as possible and wrapped in a protective layer of wrap so it wouldn't get scratched on the drive here.

With a few instructions, they began unloading, the room slowly appearing more and more like somewhere you wouldn't kill someone. Bucky stood next to a square column, his arms crossed and carefully eyeing the newcomers, not happy about the fact that Lana hadn't asked for any ID but just accepted their shirts with logos as enough.

"You can just put the shelves over there," Lana told them as they came carrying a big metal shelf system before walking over to Bucky.

"Do you mind helping them put everything in the right place? You know the general idea, don't you?" she asked, accepting his curt nod.

"What are you gonna do?" he asked, not letting his eyes leave the movers walking in with another shelf.

"Well, apparently, the furniture is assembled, which is a good part of the reason I chose this firm at all, it's not like we have time to assemble everything, but installation of the lamps isn't included. I need to call an electrician, we'll just have to pay them extra so they'll come right away," she explained.

"Hang the lamps yourself," Bucky disagreed, twisting his head slightly to the side to follow the men leave the room and go back to the truck with his eyes.

"It's like fifty lamps, I can't get that many done by tomorrow," Lana told.

"I'll help," Bucky offered quickly.

"Do you know how to hang lamps?" she asked slightly surprised.

"I can manage a lamp, doll," he told her with an eye roll.

"That should be the last of it," one of the movers told. Lana sent Bucky a last smile before walking over to the mover, walking them out while getting the last things settled.

"There's something wrong with this lamp," Bucky told Lana unhappily, holding up the separated wires for her to see.

"I don't see the problem," she told confused, letting her plier lie on the desk and looking at Bucky's lamp.

"This green wire? It's not supposed to be there, there's too many wires," he explained to her, holding it up higher for her to see.

"That's just the protective conductor," she explained to him.

"What? That's not a thing!" Bucky claimed unhappily.

"Of course it's a thing! You can see that it's a thing, it's right there!" Lana disagreed.

"Lamps need two wires to install! This one, right here? It's not supposed to be there," he told her seriously.

"When did you last install a lamp?" she asked, narrowing her eyes in suspicion.

"Late thirties, I think. Why do you ask?" Bucky replied confused. Lana smiled slightly at him.

"And you didn't think to mention that you haven't touched a wire for nearly a century?" she asked sweetly.

"You didn't think to mention that they apparently decided to change what was already perfectly fine?" he retorted.

"It wasn't perfectly fine, it was dangerous, James, that's why they added the protective conductor! It's in the name, it's protective!" Lana argued, shushing Bucky's response as her phone rang. Immediately upon answering she put it on speakerphone.

"William, how many wires are there when you install a lamp?" she asked right away.

"What?" William replied confused.

"Answer the question," Bucky chimed in.

"Uh, N, L and ground wire, so three," he replied.

"Ha!" Lana exclaimed loudly at Bucky before turning the speaker off and bringing the phone to her ear.

"What was that about?" William asked in amused confusion.

"We're hanging lamps. Or I am, I've hung three, Bucky is still arguing about whether they're hangable," Lana told; "Anyway, why'd you call?"

"Just wanted to check in. Sent everybody home for the day so we can start early tomorrow, I was thinking about bringing over the tools and computers now if you're still there," he explained, rattling with something in the background.

"Yeah, we'll be here for another 47 lamps time," Lana told, ignoring Bucky's cursing beside her.

"Leave the lamps, I'll hang them once I get there," he promised with a laugh.

"Hey! I can hang lamps!" Lana told offendedly; "Bucky can't, but he's Bucky."

"Hey!" Bucky exclaimed loudly, Lana just waving him off.

"Yes, but you have a million things to do and if we're being entirely honest, I think I might be a tad faster than you are," William pointed out.

"Is this some stupid guy-thing?" Lana said annoyed.

"No, it's a mechanical engineer kind of thing, love," William replied with a slight laugh.

"Fine. See you soon."

"Bye," he said before hanging up, leaving Lana to turn to Bucky.

"Hey, I know wires aren't your strongest side, but you do know what pizza is, right?" she checked.

"I know what wires are," Bucky claimed sourly, still struggling with preparing his lamp for hanging.

"Really? What's this then?" Lana asked teasingly, leaning over his shoulder to point to a little green wire, the copper exposed at the end.

"It's a symbol of a never-satisfied society, Doll. Electricity was just fine in my days," he told her annoyed.

"You're right, improvement sucks," Lana agreed sarcastically, looking up pizza places nearby.

"You suck," Bucky told her in a mutter.

"Mh, maybe after pizza," Lana decided, not noticing Bucky's hands freezing in spite of the fact that he knew she was joking.

Pressing the number on the website, Lana talked to the pizza place, allowing Bucky a second to calm himself. He stood up and grabbed his water bottle, easily chugging it. He noticed how she absentmindedly placed a hand above her wound, continuing the order and giving the address.

"How the hell are you paying for all of this?" Bucky asked when she hung up, looking around the big space, only halfway filled. Besides the twenty desks placed in neat lines, there was a shelf system for products and one for everything to do with shipping, the entire thing only filling about half the room, even with lots of air.

"I got a loan from the bank," Lana admitted, sitting down on the desk she'd been working by.

"Was that a good idea?" he mused, raising his eyebrows at her.

"Probably not," she admitted with a shrug. Bucky couldn't help the smile appearing on his lips.

"I know it's probably dumb, and I'm young and inexperienced, I just... I don't know, I have a feeling this could be really good, you know?" she explained it.

"I don't," Bucky admitted; "But as long as you do."

Lana smiled softly at him, suddenly thankful for all he had done for her.

"How's the wound?" he asked, glancing at her stomach. Lana grimaced as she looked down.

"I think it's alright. Loki healed it, right?" she reminded him.

"Mh, right," he agreed; "Can I take a look?"

Lana shrugged, pulling her shirt up. Bucky swallowed the lump in his throat before standing up, walking over to her and standing in front of him, forcing his eyes away from hers and to the wound.

"It doesn't look worse than it did this morning," he told her, letting his eyes run over it carefully.

"Well, Loki healed it," she repeated.

"Loki also caused it," Bucky reminded her, straightening his back. He hadn't noticed until then that he was standing between her legs, and he was suddenly painfully aware that her lips were covered with a thin layer of balm, giving them a shine that was difficult to ignore.

"You don't like Loki," Lana accused softly, not moving away. Bucky didn't reply, instead, he placed a gentle hand on her knee, not entirely sure why.

"Why don't you like Loki?" she asked.

"He's done bad things," Bucky reminded her, his voice coming out almost a hum.

"So have Natasha," Lana pointed out.

"Not to you," Bucky explained shortly. Lana blinked quickly.

"That's what this is about? Me?" she asked in a breathy voice.

"It's always about you, doll," Bucky muttered, leaning slightly closer to her. Lana closed her eyes, not able to explain her reasoning to the disagreeing voice in her head, instead just parting her lips slightly.

"Hey, guys!"

By the sound of Willliam's voice, Bucky quickly stepped away, his jaw tense as he shot daggers at the newcomer. Luckily, thanks to Bucky's general way of behaving, William didn't notice the change.

"Wow, this is really looking nice," he complimented happily. Lana cleared her throat before sliding down from the table.

"Yeah, thanks, it's, um, it is, isn't it?" she agreed shakily. William paused, looking at her weirdly.

"You alright, love?" he asked oddly, making Lana nod quickly.

"I'm alright, yeah, I'm just tired. Been a long few days," she explained it away, laughing slightly.

"Tell me about it," William agreed with a heavy sigh; "And to think, those students? They're just so happy to get a chance at making some money, they actually suggested coming in at six tomorrow! That means I have to come in at six!"

"Oh, you poor sod," Lana sympathised, grinning slightly as William rolled his eyes.

"Let me guess, I don't even want to know when you're coming in," he guessed.

"Probably not," she admitted with a sly grin, trying to ignore Bucky's eyes watching her every move.