Hey guys! Firstly, to the readers of my Bucky/OC fanfic "The Agent and the Soldier" I promise I will be posting Chapter 12 soon - I'm still travelling New Zealand and each Chapter is roughly 4000+ words - I'm slowly getting there, but I'm 57,000 words into that fanfic, so I need to read it through again to remind me of the smaller details! But I promise, I will update this week!

On another note, I've been toying with the idea of doing a Steve/OC fanfic for a very long time and after seeing Endgame I knew exactly where I wanted to take that story - so here it is! I won't say much more, I just hope that you enjoy it! Guys, meet Lena Clairmont - my new OC :) (pronounced Lee-nah)

~Ladieesailor

Chapter 1

.*.

"Lena." he stopped her in her tracks as he gently nudged her arm, forcing her to face him. "How many did you lose?"

.*.

"Hey, watch where you're going Lady!"

Lena grimaced as the stranger's shoulder collided with her own; it took every morsel of her own energy just to keep herself upright, ignoring the fowl obscenities trailing away behind her from the man that had nearly barged her into the road - not that it mattered, there wasn't much traffic anymore on the streets of New York. A year ago she would have reciprocated with a flip of the finger or some obscene word in return if someone barged her like that, but these were different times, and she had learned rather quickly that it was best for her own safety to remain as invisible as possible to what was left of the human population. The past year since The Vanished had all disappeared had been tough on Lena, but she had done her best to get by, believing that there had to be something left for her in the world – some reason why she was spared. Otherwise, what was the point?

Pulling her jacket tight against her skin she hurried on, ignoring the ache of hunger in her stomach. By her own reckoning it had been nearly three days since her last meal, but she chose keeping a roof over her head as the more imperative objective than a decent feed - despite the drop in population, jobs were still hard to come by. The nights were getting colder in New York and Lena dreaded the fact that soon enough she would be prioritising her small, mould filled room over warm clothes as well as food. The only thing of value from her life before The Snap was her brothers denim jacket, too large for her skinny frame but it was all that she managed to grab as looters ransacked her house and tossed her out onto the street's with nothing but the clothes on her back. She still had some fight left in her back then, but she was no match for four guys with baseball bats, so she had left her home behind - finding refuge in a building on the other side of town, where her landlord took advantage of her situation and charged her an extortionate amount for a crappy bed in a room with two others. It had been a while since she had met a kind, honest soul; she craved it more than food, she would happily starve just to feel safe and wanted. But mostly just safe.

"Excuse me?"

Lena jumped at the voice behind her as a hand brushed her arm, catching her off-guard. She plunged her own hand into the deep pockets of her jacket and grabbed the empty bottle of pepper spray, aiming it with a shaky hand towards the hunched man before her. He didn't have to know it was empty.

"Do-don't come any closer, I'm not afraid to use it!" she stammered as she backed away.

The figure before her took off a worn cap revealing an aged face, Lena cursed as the old man before her blinked back tears.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you." he put his hands up as he backed away, wearily glancing at the pepper spray - his feeble shuffling broke her heart.

Fumbling to shove the can back into her pocket she inched closer, hoping her face conveyed her sincerity. "No no, I'm sorry, you just gave me a fright was all - can I help you?"

His face softened ever so slightly when she held both hands up to prove they were empty. "I'm looking for 221 Parkville Avenue but I can't seem to find it, I've been wandering around for the last twenty minutes - there's a meeting starting soon and I don't want to be late." he fidgeted with his hat as she stepped closer, eyeing her pocket with tired eye's.

"It's your lucky day that I know these street's like the back of my hand." she forced a smile as she offered her arm out to him, noticing how unsteady he was on his feet. "It's just a little further up the street, I can help you if you like?"

"That would be splendid dear," he linked his arm with her own as he beamed up at her in relief, holding on tightly as he replaced his cap. "I did have a walker, but apparently some young hooligans needed it more than me."

Lena could only frown in sympathy, patting his hand as they walked on up the street, her eye's on the lookout for any unsavoury characters roaming about - but thankfully all was quiet. They walked in peace for a few minutes, Lena savoured the feeling of having both the company and human touch of the old man, a small moment of respite. The old man seemed to enjoy the silent company too as he remained quiet for the entire journey, until she finally came to a stop in front of a despondent red door that had a tatty '221' etched into it.

"Well... we're here," she smiled meekly, signalling towards the door before them. "I hope you enjoy your meeting, have a lovely night and get someone to help you home if they can." she went to move away but he tightened his grip on her arm.

"My old eye's may fail me when it comes to directions, but I can tell that you're too young to be walking these street's alone at night dear." she blinked back frustrated tears as he patted her arm and pulled her closer - and here it was, the sympathy that didn't help her in any way other than reminding her how shit her life had become.

"Hey! Frank! You made it!" a stream of dazzling light blinded her as a younger man appeared in the open doorway of the red door, cutting the old man – apparently called Frank – off from whatever he was about to say. "We were beginning to worry that you were lost again."

"Oh you know me Cap, can't tell my arse from my elbow on these streets - but thankfully I met this lovely young lady who saved the day." Lena weakly resisted as Frank nudged her forward towards the man, she barely had enough energy left in her body to stand let alone resist. "You up for taking another stray in Cap."

"Look, I don't want any bother, I really need to be getting back to my room it's getting late and-" she stopped herself from continuing, avoiding going down the path of feeling sorry for herself as she told them her sob story, instead she took a deep breath. "I just need to get home - it was nice meeting you Frank, I'm glad I could help."

She spun out of his grip before he could say another word and hurried off down the street, taking the next sharp left onto an open, well lit street - her fears subsided as she watched a healthy number of people walking around minding their own business, if she was quick enough she wouldn't have any problem crossing town to get home that night.

"Hey, wait up!" she turned to see the man from the doorway jogging up to her, on closer inspection now that she could see his face in better lighting she realised why Frank had called him Cap - Captain America was stood before her, with his hand extended out towards her. "I didn't get a chance to introduce myself, I'm Steve."

"Lena." she shook his hand quickly before dropping it. "Look, I really need to-"

"Eat." he cut her off. "That oversized jacket doesn't hide the fact that your malnourished, and to be honest if I don't bring you back I won't hear the end of it from Frank - so what do you say we kill two birds with one stone and you come eat some food and I get to live another day?" he stepped aside and signalled for her to walk with him, cocking his eyebrow as if to dare her to refuse. "It's okay to accept help sometimes, it's not much but you can take as much as you want back home to your family too, there's plenty to go around."

Fatigued creeped over her body, her stomach rumbling once more as if she needed reminding on how hungry she was. Deciding not to argue and take advantage of the situation she nodded as she fell in step beside him. At one time in her life she would have freaked out at the chance to speak to thee Captain America, but that was another life entirely, trivial things like that didn't matter to her anymore.

"So, I'm guessing this is one of those grief groups that are cropping up everywhere nowadays?" she asked, trying to fill the awkward silence between them.

"I suppose you could call it that, although most people just come for the company." he smiled down at her. "So, what's got you out on a night like this alone Lena?"

"Just trying to get by the best that I can, unfortunately that means a lot of hours at work to cover the rent - I take what I can get, I'm in the same boat as everyone else so I can't really complain." the cold air nipped at her skin, reminding her to pull the jacket tighter against her once more.

"Do you live by yourself?" his eyebrows raised in surprise. "But you're so young-"

"I'm 26, don't let my baby face fool you into thinking I'm some young girl who can't take care of herself Captain." She cut him off; she wasn't capable of physically standing up for herself but she could certainly refuse peoples pity - she had survived the last year alone after all.

"I'm sure you are more than capable Lena." He smiled warmly at her once more as he stuck his hands in his pockets, she had no doubt that even super soldiers felt the cold. "And Steve is just fine, I don't really go by Captain anymore."

The hunger in her stomach turned to a pang of grief as she reminded herself that he was suffering just like the rest of them, although he hid it much better – but then, his story was worse than the rest of them. Deciding to steer them clear of talking about The Vanished she answered his question.

"I share a room in a flat with two other people, it's not pretty but at least it keeps me off the street's." she avoided his eyes, knowing he would only be giving her the same sympathetic frown she gets from anyone who finds out she's basically broke and alone.

"Lena." he stopped her in her tracks as he gently nudged her arm, forcing her to face him. "How many did you lose?"

"Excuse me?" she gritted her teeth to bite back the string of swear words crawling up her throat. "Is that any of your business?"

"Whoever you lost Lena, you lost because I couldn't stop Thanos. I can't help but ask everyone I speak too - it sounds crazy but I'm trying to find a way to fix this and hearing about everyone's losses keeps me going." he looked away from her as they arrived back at the red door, the shame etched across his face.

The tears she had been forcibly holding back snuck to the surface no matter how hard she tried to supress them, closing her eyes she turned away as she answered him. "Everyone. I lost everyone."