Chapter Text
I woke up in our creaking old house in the country. I sat up in bed and peered next to me. Jesse was still sleeping. I didn’t want to wake him, so I gently slipped out of bed and walked to the door. I opened it slightly and peered into the dark hallway. I couldn’t hear anyone else awake. Jimmy and Ronny’s door was still shut. I stepped out of my bedroom and started down the hallway to the kitchen. I couldn’t think in the morning without coffee. I remember when my mother would shake her head at me, as I sat on the barstool in the kitchen sipping coffee and watching the news. She always told me it wasn’t proper for young ladies. But my mother was a spy. What did she know about being a good and proper lady?
I sighed as I put my hand to my necklace, the engraved locket that I had worn around my neck since I was a child. Dad had bought it for me when I turned eight. That was a long time ago. Longer than most people could remember. But thanks to my father’s genetics and an experiment during the Vietnam War, I was still young and spry, even at the ripe old age of seventy-five. It wasn’t quite my father’s record of one hundred and eighty-three, if you count every year he lived, not by the years since he was born.
I reached the kitchen and flicked on the light, finally getting my robe over my shoulders. I tied it around my waist, as I walked across the room to the coffee pot. I had set it up in a dainty coffee bar. If there was one girly skill that I’d retained from those my mother tried to teach me, making a home was one of them. I always made sure that the houses we stayed in were neat and tidy. That was the only way to live, wasn’t it?
I filled the coffee filter and brewed a proper pot. I took a deep breath as the coffeepot worked its magic. I couldn’t wait to take a drink. My mother had called me a traitor for preferring coffee to tea. But what could I say? I was raised in New York, not London.
Once the coffee was done, I poured a cup for myself and added cream and sugar. As much as I loved living with Ronny, Jimmy, and Jesse, it was nice to have a quiet moment to myself every once in a while. Just time to think...even about the things I didn’t want to think about.
I took my coffee cup out onto the porch, opening the front door so I could sit down on a rocking chair. Call me old-fashioned, but I loved to sit in a rocking chair and watch the sunrise. It reminded me of quiet mornings with Dad, in our little house in the suburbs of Manhattan. Dad had insisted we live near the city, as much as Mom didn’t want us to. But Dad wanted the three of us to have a normal life...too bad that expectation was shattered when I was sixteen.
“Stop it,” I whispered to myself. I had told myself a long time ago that I wouldn’t focus on the past any longer. There was nothing that I could do about it, so there was no reason to dwell on the things that had happened. Especially not that night. I was sixteen and there was nothing that I could have done to stop them. There was nothing that I could do to stop H.Y.D.R.A. from taking my sister.
I heard footsteps in the kitchen behind me. I perked up, trying to figure out who it was. The door opened, and Jesse stepped out onto the porch.
“You’re up early,” I said. Jesse was one to sleep in whenever he got a chance to. But he just sighed, stretching. He always slept shirtless, so I watch his abs ripple as he held his arms above his head. He smiled at me and winked.
“Should I pose for you?” He asked with a smirk.
“Easy tiger,” I said, smirking. “You never know when Jimmy will wake up. And he’d kick your ass.”
“I could take him,” Jesse said with a shrug. He ducked back into the house and pulled one of his hoodies from behind the door, where it hung on a peg. He joined me, by sitting in the rocking chair to my side, but not before he kissed me on the head.
Jesse eased into his chair, and I held out my coffee cup. He took a sip from it before handing it back.
“What were you thinking about?” He asked.
I looked at him as if I didn’t know what he was talking about. He raised an eyebrow at me and I knew he didn’t believe me. So I sighed and ran a hand along my neck.
“I was thinking about Sarah,” I said.
Jes looked at me.
“Why?” He asked. “It’s been sixty years.”
“Sixty years that I have no idea what happened to her,” I said. “Not to mention, I promised Dad and…”
I didn’t have to finish the sentence for Jes to know how it ended. I promised my dad that I would find my sister, no matter how long it took. I had hoped that I’d find her before Dad died...but that didn’t happen.
I shut my eyes. I knew that I was going to remember that night, but I still shivered. I took a deep breath.
I ran down the stairs, trying to mask the sound of my thundering footsteps with the carpet on them. Mom would scold me for being so loud. Then she’d blame Dad for me not acting ladylike.
Once I got to the bottom, I stopped and smoothed out my skirt with my fingers. I checked to make sure that my sweater was neat looking and my curls were still in place above my ears. Luckily, everything seemed to be in order.
I stepped into the dining room to see that Sarah, Jimmy, Mom, and Dad were already at the table. I ducked my head and hurried to my seat between Dad and Jimmy. Once there, I settled, slipped my napkin into my lap, and crossed my ankles. I looked up to see Mom lift her fork, slipping a bite of mashed potatoes into her mouth. That was the signal that the rest of us could begin. I reached for my steak and cut off a small bite. I wanted a larger bite, but I knew Mom would disapprove. And I did everything I could so that Mom would approve of me.
Mom cleared her throat and I looked up at her.
“Maggie?” She asked. “Where did your earrings go?”
I put my hand up to my ear. Sure enough, my pearl earrings were missing. Oops. I gave Dad a guilty look.
Dad cleared his throat. “Well,” He said. “Maggie and I just went to the office to practice. She must have forgotten to put her earrings back in.”
Mom nodded solemnly at Dad.
“I thought you two only went to practice on Saturdays, Steven,” She said. “Like we agreed?”
I bit my lip. Mom only called Dad Steven when she was angry. I sighed.
“Peg,” Dad said. “Look, if she’s going to work with me…”
“I thought she wasn’t going to work with you.” Mom said. “Also like we agreed.”
I looked at Dad, desperation in my eyes. Dad knew how much I wanted to be a hero, like him. And now that I was sixteen, we were sparring a lot more often, so I could learn how to be just like him. But Mom didn’t approve. She didn’t like that I wanted to be like Dad. She thought I should be like her, more subtle in the ways that I went about being a hero. But I wasn’t good at being a spy like Mom was. I was better suited to fight out in the open, like Dad. Shield and all.
From then on, we ate in silence. Mom seemed to think that the argument was over, but I was going to be the one to win it. I didn’t care if she liked it or not. I was going to be the next Captain America.
That’s when it happened. Sarah looked up at the window and wordlessly pointed. She was only ten. I looked up to see what she did. A grenade, spinning in the air. It was almost in slow motion.
Dad’s eyes bugged out, and Mom pulled Sarah to her chest.
“Everyone down!” Dad screamed. He reached out and snatched his shield from the side of the buffet table, where he always kept it hidden. He held it up in front of him, as the rest of us crowded behind him. Jimmy held my head down, as the world seemed to catch fire around us.
The fireball of the explosion faded until there were small fires all over our dining room. The table was on fire, and Dad smashed it, to put out as much of the fire as possible. The fire smoldered out of the cinders of the table. Jimmy and I jumped up.
“James, Maggie,” Mom said. “Take Sarah up…”
Before she could finish her sentence, ten soldiers burst through the wall. Dad stared, before reacting. He fought off three at once, while Mom took out her pistol and fired on the others. I ducked, as one fired at me, and slid across the wood floor. After getting to the feet of one soldier, I twirled my body, knocking his legs out from under him. He clattered to the floor.
Two of the men got close to Mom. She struggled to hold off both of them at once. Another one rushed me, so I had my own two to deal with. I followed the first rule that Dad told me about fighting. Always take the guns out of commission.
I heard Jimmy yell something at Sarah, but I couldn’t make out what it was. Within a moment, a blur of blonde hair moved past the door. Sarah must be trying to run away.
I lost myself in the motions, as I punched and kicked at my assailants. One of them managed to land a solid blow to my jaw. I clenched my teeth, as I reared back and knocked him out of the hole that they’d come through.
However, someone hit me over the head with something. I stumbled and ended up leaning against the wall. James blocked the three others from getting to me. I looked around for Sarah. That’s when I noticed that one of Dad’s attackers had been knocked away from him, and was standing up. He had been sprawled on the kitchen floor but he jumped up and moved into the living room.
I heard a scream, as he picked up Sarah. She struggled, pounding her fists against his back. Her super strength hadn’t come in yet, she was too young.
“Dad!” I screamed as I tried to stand up. I tried to clear the fog from my head. I stumbled toward my sister, calling out as I tried to get to her.
“Sarah!” Mom called out. “No!”
I fell before I could get to the door, and the last thing I saw was Sarah reaching out for me. I called out to her before my eyes fluttered shut.
I leaned against the back of my chair, taking slow and deep breaths. Jes sprang to his feet and ran over to join me.
“Hey,” He said. “Hey, hey.” His hand was on the side of my face, and he was looking into my eyes. “Maggie...you’re ok. You’re ok.”
I took a long and shuddery breath. We heard the door creaking and someone walked outside to join us on the porch. It was Jimmy, who was looking at me.
“Mags?” He asked.
“Hey,” Jes said to him, quietly. He stood up and walked over to Jimmy, before whispering in his ear. Jimmy nodded, then ducked back into the house. I watched him leave, as Jes came back over to me and placed a hand on mine, and crouching in front of me.
“I’m ok, Jes,” I said. “I promise.”
Jesse looked at me. “You say that a lot,” He said. “I’m not always so sure that it’s true.”
I stared into his eyes, placing a hand on his shoulder. I sighed as I said, “I love you, James Barnes Martin. No matter how much you annoy me.”
Jes chuckled. “Yeah,” He said. “And I love you, Antonia Margaret Rogers-Martin. Even if you lie to me.”
I smiled, then leaned forward and kissed him. Jes wrapped a hand in my hair as he held me close. Once we pulled apart, he stood, pulled me to my feet, and held me to his chest.
“You’re the best part of me,” He said.
“And you’re the better part of me.”