Come Back With Me

How Much Did You Read?

After Bucky finishes the letter to Elizabeth. He decides to take a shower. He knows Steve was up late and is still asleep.

He hears the front door open and quickly finishes his shower. He can't help the paranoia that still pops up after all his time on the run.

He walks out to see Sam sitting at the table.

"Oh hi Buck," Sam says nervously.

Sam is still cautious around the ex-assassin. That tends to happen after he attempt to kill you multiple times.

"It's Bucky," he grumbles back.

Sam holds his hands up in defense.

"Okay, okay. Bucky then." Sam says.

Bucky turns away from Sam to begin making some coffee.

"Why are you here?" Bucky asks gruffly.

"I was waiting for Steve. We're going to work a little more on construction," Sam says.

Bucky doesn't respond and continues making his coffee.

"Well I guess I'll just entertain myself until he's up," Sam says.

Bucky continues to ignore Sam. It is too early to be dealing with him. He can hear Sam rustling behind him.

"Who's Elizabeth?" Sam asks.

Bucky's spine stiffens and he quickly turns around to face Sam. He sees that Sam has Steve's notebook open to Bucky's letter with his feet up on the table. He is smiling at Bucky teasingly. He stalks over to Sam and rips the notebook out of his hand.

"How much did you read?" He growls.

Sam keeps his feet on the table and looks at Bucky condescendingly.

"Awe, is Bucky upset that I found his love letter," he coos.

Bucky's flesh hand pushes Sam's legs off the table while his metal one wraps around Sam's throat.

"How much did you read?" Bucky asks angrily.

Sam finally realizes how sensitive a nerve he just touched.

"Just her name and the way you signed your name at the bottom," Sam stutters out.

Bucky knows he completed the letter with Yours forever, Jamie

He is about to break Sam's nose when Steve storms into the room.

"What is going on?" Steve yells.

He obviously just got out of bed as his hair is sticking in all directions and the sleep is still in his eyes.

Bucky released his grip on Sam as he stalks out of the room.

He knows Steve will tell Sam about Elizabeth. She belongs to Steve just as much as she belongs to Bucky and Steve is not one to lie when he is asked a direct question.

Steve walks over to Sam who is still recovering from the Vibranium crushing his windpipe. Instead of responding, Sam instead points to the notebook on the ground. Steve doubts there's anything in there that would trigger Bucky but then he finds the letter.

He knows that he was meant to find this particular letter a long way down the road. It was the goodbye he never got to have with her.

Steve sighs as he sits across from Sam.

"You know your best friend is a little crazy?" Sam rasped out.

"He is when it comes to her. How much did you read?" Steve asks.

"That's the question that led to him chocking me," Sam says.

Steve sighs again. He's upset that Bucky hurt Sam but he knows that his sister is a weakness he doesn't want anyone to know.

"I only know her name and how he signed his name. I'm guessing whoever she is, he loved her," he says.

"She was my sister," Steve reveals.

Sam's jaw drops. He felt that Captain America's sister should be common knowledge.

"She was my twin. My better half and his better half," Steve says.

"She must have been something special if she was your better half. It doesn't take much to be chokey-Mcgee's better half," Sam says.

Steve has a little smile as he thinks of her.

"She made him better. She made him want to be better. She was the best of us. Her heart was the best I've ever seen. She was a nurse like my mom. She was also a little spitfire who was always putting us in our place. She was my best friend and the love of his life and now she's gone," Steve explains.

Sam has pity in his eyes. He wishes he could meet Elizabeth Rogers.

"Would she have been able to lift Thor's hammer?" Sam asks.

Steve throws his head back and laughs.

"Undoubtedly" Steve says proudly.

"What happened to her?" Sam questions.

Steve becomes pensive again as he stares out the window. He can see people make there way out of the trailers and knows they should join everyone else soon. He also knows that Bucky won't appreciate him telling Sam too much about her but he selfishly wants to tell him everything about her.

He's hidden her away for so long but he knows that he will see her soon. The pain of her gone is lessened because she is no longer gone to him. Now he just wants to share how amazing she was with someone. The only other person who he talked to about her was Natasha.

A few months after the blip, he got really low. Bucky was the last part of her memory around. He was able to talk to Peggy about her until she died and then at least Bucky was around as a reminder that she existed.

Natasha walked in as he was breaking down and he spilled every thing about Elizabeth to her. He thought that some of the Avengers had to know about her through SHIELD but apparently she wasn't really in any records. Peggy helped wipe the evidence of her existence in order to protect her from the public.

Natasha was definitely surprised when he dropped the twin bomb.

After he finished telling her everything He remembered about Lizzie. She said "I'll be your reminder that she existed. I am incredibly honored to know her through you. Now there's two people who know that Captain America had a twin and she was an amazing woman. Now no matter what happens, one of us will be there to share her story when you're ready."

Now Natasha was gone and he was leaving. Bucky was left to carry her memory. Hopefully Sam will be able to remember with him now that he won't be able to anymore. Even if Bucky never talks about her with Sam, he knows Bucky well enough to know that he will be comforted knowing that someone else knows about her.

Steve was so deep in thought he forgot to answer Sam's question.

"She got married in a double ceremony with her best friend. She ironically had twin boys named James and Steven. She worked as a nurse until she retired. She died a few days after I got out of the ice" Steve says.

"Did you get to see her before she went" Sam asks.

"Once. She said 'she was meant to leave the world as she entered it,' with me. We reminisced for hours and she told me all about the amazing life she got to live. She said Bucky and I left holes in her but she was able to live through our memory. She specialized in nursing for veterans and even spent a stint as a trauma nurse during the Vietnam War. She died the next day," Steve said.

"Good hearts must be a Rogers' trait," Sam replies.

"Must be," Steve responds with a smile.

"Now let's go help out with the rebuild or everyone will think we are slacking off," Steve says.

Sam and Steve walk out the door.

"I can guarantee that no one will ever think that Steve Rogers as a slacker," Sam says with a laugh.

Steve can only think that Lizzie would of liked to have Sam as a friend.