Chris Evans/Sebastian Stan Characters One-Shots and Imagines

I Promise (A.B.)

You had known from the beginning that he had done it.

It ate away at your soul every day, the instinct within you that told you Jacob did it. Naturally, you tried to push it away and conceal that instinct deep within you. You were his stepmom, you had lived with him almost every day since he was six.

And yet here you stood in the kitchen doing the dishes and trying to occupy your mind with something other than that truth. Anything to drag away from the pain that you were enduring, one far too deep for you to actually deal with. "Hey, honey." You heard Andy's soft voice and touch on your arm, you jumped just a little with a small gasp.

"Jeez, And," You sighed and he lightly chuckled, "You scared me."

"Sorry, didn't mean to." He leaned on the black marble counter next to you, those gorgeous blue eyes looking down to where you were putting plates away, "Here, let me do it. You cooked."

"No, I'm good." You softly smiled, knowing that usually, you would happily accept his offer. But nothing about your life right now was usual, and even small things like doing the dishes was an escape for your mind.

"You sure?" He asked again and you nodded.

You really wanted to tell Andy about what you thought, how you knew he did it. But a part of your mind was insisting the young boy with who you celebrated birthdays, and took to t-ball games, and would have family dinners with could be a murderer. And telling Andy would be like committing suicide within your relationship. Despite you being with him for eight years, married for five, you knew if it was between you and Jacob, it would be Jacob. But you knew as his stepmom you would do the same for the boy you called your son.

Once you finished, you looked back up to where your husband was still admiring you and gave him a peck on the cheek before going to your office. Naturally, overworking yourself was an easy way to get out of the chaos of your mind and the world outside.

You had hoped that Andy wouldn't notice your new tendency to lock yourself away in your office, considering you were always one to have a great work ethic. But of course, he did. Andy was by no means dumb, and he caught on pretty quickly to your new habit of working too much. Naturally, he associated the growing bags under your eyes and newly quiet personality to just overworking yourself, when it really had to deal with the truth you had deep down about Jacob.

"Hey, sweetheart," He knocked on your office door letting himself in to find you hunched over your desk, going between files and typing out a motion that wasn't due for another three weeks. But you were just that far ahead now. He took a slight sigh, as you refused to move your gaze and instead just replied with a hum. "Jake and I are gonna watch a movie, wanna come join us?"

"Um," You pondered aloud, still doing your work, "Yeah, sure, I'll be out in a few." You flashed him a quick smile. He didn't want to fight and argue more, even though he did want you to come out just then because getting you out of your office at this point was a victory within itself. He nodded before leaving.

You took a silent sigh of relief. It took your everything to put on a fake mask for Jacob and Andy when you were absolutely miserable in the situation. You felt bad for Jake, having to be so young and go through it, but that feeling that he did it always diminished your sympathy reminding you that he was a murderer.

No one knew about this, no one but your mom. She asked you to have lunch with her a few weeks back, which you agreed to. It was at her house, out of fear that anywhere in public you would receive countless nasty looks and even be turned away from some places out of fear of bad press. And you spilled everything to her.

"Mom, I just- I know he did it." You took a heavy sigh of shame as tears began falling down your cheeks and sobs erupted from your mouth. She grabbed onto you tightly, holding you and cooing you down from your breakdown.