The Number One Rule

Chapter Seventeen

"Steven Rogers, you are not canceling on me again. I've seen you a total of 3 times in the past two week," Sarah scolded into the phone.

There was a pause as Steve talked on the other line. Y/N watching from the side. Her teeth nervously biting her thumb nail waiting to see if their plan would work.

"No, your sister has something planned. Something about going up to see Wanda and helping her with nursery decorating," Sarah lied effortlessly. She really had planned this all out. Turning to her daughter she saw her nervous nail biting and swiped at her hand, giving her an eye.

Y/N frowned at the movement and moved to cross her arms tightly around her.

"Ok, good. I'll see you at six tonight then. Don't be late," the older blonde nodded. "Hm mm, I love you too, Sweetheart... Ok, bye." Pressing the red button, ending the call, she turned to her daughter. "He's not getting out of this one. We're fixing this mess."

"I hope so..." Y/N sighed.

A wave of relief came over at finally being able to talk this out with Steve, but with it a wave of anxiety hit too. As much as she was upset with Steve for acting the way he was, she understood that in the end, they had hurt his feelings. He was upset and disheartened that two of the closest people in his life, hid such a big thing from him and didn't feel comfortable enough to tell him first hand.

"Hey, don't overthink it. You two are family. Family that has been through thick and thin. If he isn't ok with you being happy, then I'll give him a nice smack on the back of the head to knock some sense into him," Sarah reassured, placing a hand on Y/N's shoulder. "I raised him better than to act like this."

"I know... It's just-," she paused.

"You feel bad," Sarah finished for her. "And in a sense you should."

"Mom!"

"Hey, I never said I was picking sides. The way I see it, you both didn't handle this situation well," she shrugged, moving to the kitchen to make some tea. Y/N following slowly behind her. "You and Bucky should have just talked with Steve about things to begin with."

"But-"

"I wasn't done," she stopped her, raising a finger. Y/N sighing and nodded her on as she sat at the kitchen table. "But, I understand where both of you were coming from. You were worried about his reaction, and from what I heard how it did ended up playing out, I understand why you were worried. However," she continued, pouring the water from the kettle into two ceramic mugs with tea bags. "I think if you brought it up and had an actual sit down conversation, things wouldn't have escalated how they did."

"We were worried that if things didn't work out with us, then Steve would have that weird gap to work between us and it would just make things more awkward in the future. We thought it better to leave him out of it until we were further into the relationship ourselves," Y/N defended.

"And I see your reasoning there. Which is what you need to tell Steve. He needs to realize what you thought you guys were doing, was to keep him safe and not that you didn't trust him," Sarah nodded, bringing the two mugs over to the table and giving Y/N one. "But you know Steve. He has a big heart just like your father. One that holds a lot of love for those around him, and given what's happened, that heart that sits on his sleeve was wounded."

"I know, Ma. I'm not happy with myself either. Bucky and I both feel shitty," she sighed, stirring some honey into the tea, but never actually taking a sip.

"Have you told Bucky about our little plan?"

"Um, to an extent. I just let him know that I was going to talk to him. Bucky asked if I wanted him to join because he wanted to talk to Steve too, but I think I need to talk to him first as his sister."