Red Shadow~ Steve Rogers

Chapter 3: Keep it Short and Sweet

The small raindrops patter and chase each other down the window intertwining and harmonizing like a song. The sun, which hung lazily in the sky started to break through the thick clouds on the horizon. A pink and yellow watercolor painted the sky in small patches of color, staining the dark backdrop. Elara stirred in her sleep. The Gray silk sheets rumpled over her limp form, and her long hair was splayed out among the pillows on which she rested.

Laughter filled the courtyard, as a young Ryker and his toddler sister played around the fountain. The spring air brought in new beginnings as did the announcement of the arrival of the couple's third child. A heavily pregnant woman with hair the color of sandpaper and ivory skin wore a light sage green dress with a flowery pattern that just brushed her ankles. A man sat beside her, joyful, although his face didn't show it very much, he was dressed in a plain suit and a green tie, to most it would look fancy, but to him it was his lazy day clothes. Ryker chanted the toddler on as it took a few steps. The fumbling toddler held out her hands for balance and tried to step towards her brother. She took a few steps before her legs gave out, unable to support the weight of her small but fast growing body. The child let out a wail as it fell to the ground.

"Awe it's okay Lari, you'll get it soon" Ryker encouraged the toddler as he put his hands on his knees and peered over to look at the child. The toddler however, didn't understand the words or the tone in which he spoke, so she began to cry harder in the presence of her older brother.

"Wald, dear can you please get Elara for me" The heavily pregnant woman requests the man sitting beside her. The man stands up from his cushioned chair and strides towards his crying daughter. He bends down to reach for the child when she looks into his eyes and stops crying and holds her hands out to match her fathers. The man picks up and cradles the child and strides back towards his seated wife. The wife eagerly takes the toddler from her husband's arms and begins to comfort her. The toddler's nose is filled with the scent of rose and honeysuckle and she begins to gnaw on her mothers hair. Before long she falls asleep in the safe arms of her mother.

The scene in which Elara wakes up is not as peaceful, banging on her door lets her know she slept well past breakfast and in turn the meeting with her father. Elara leaps out of her bed and swings open her bedroom door.

"You slept well past lunch milady, but don't freight, I knew you needed the sleep so I informed your father of your extended fatigue, but someone is here to see you and they are very insistent" Belworth, the family butler for as long as she can remember has always been keen on watching over her and her well-being, Elara greatly appreciated it, but she hated sleeping in, it took away precious time she could be using to train for missions or learning more complex studies. Belworth was a round shorter man with gray hair and a small beard to match, although in the more recent years with age he had begun to thin out some.

"Would this insistent guest somehow be the computer wiz?" Elara says with a playful tone. In response she is given a smile and a curt- get freshened up.

After Elara is done dressing she begins to make her way through the hall and down the stairs.

"I called it" she shouts when she is greeted by the familiar face of Everett.

"Hey Elara," he smiles. Elara notes that he's wearing a nicely tailored navy blue suit accompanied with a white handkerchief in his breast pocket. His wrist is donned by an expensive watch and his hair is gelled back with what she guessed was an expensive hair gel. "I heard you were going to visit your father, I'm here to escort you"

"I don't need an escort Ev"

"Yes, but I wanted to see you, and be there for moral support- ya know- after you tell him how you royally messed up on a simple mission" Everett crosses his arms in front of his suit, his sleeves pulling at the action.