𝐆𝐎𝐋𝐃𝐄𝐍━︎━︎P. Carter ✓︎

𝐓𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲-𝐎𝐧𝐞

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE:
THE GOLDEN SOLO

MOVING ON WITHOUT STEVE WAS something Evelyn didn't think she could do. She seemed to cry for him every single night, and no matter how much Peggy tried to comfort the woman, Evelyn only continued to mourn her brother, even if it had been a year since his passing. Staring blankly at the wall, the sound of the tea kettle going off barely made her blink. Living with Peggy was something that Evelyn had tried to fight off, but Peggy was right to believe that the woman shouldn't be left alone.

     "Hey." Peggy whispered, walking over to the bed where Evelyn sat, two cups of tea in the brunette's hands. Evelyn turned her head to look at the woman, watching as she sat down beside of her, handing her the cup of tea which Evelyn carefully took. "How are you feeling?"

      "Thanks for the tea." Evelyn whispered, sipping it before standing up and getting dressed before walking out of the place. Peggy watched the woman leave with a soft sigh. She knew how much Evelyn was struggling, and her brother dying meant she was the last of the Rogers family. She knew Evelyn was still crying for him, even if the blonde tried to hide it from her.

Evelyn walked down the streets of New York, her head hung low as her blonde curls bounced off her shoulders. It was true that the woman had been struggling to get into the swing of things once again, and even if she hadn't quit her job―︎she and Peggy working with the SSR after the army―︎she knew that if she didn't pull herself together she was going to lose her job. But she had never expected for her grief to hit her so hard. She had never expected to lose everyone all in the same week.

She entered a diner, smiling gently at the waitress as she sat down, ordering herself her usual breakfast even though she found herself never eating all of it. Her eyes glanced towards a left over newspaper, reaching over and grabbing it when she saw Howard Stark's face plastered on the front cover. She softly sighed, shaking her head. He was being accused of selling weapons to the enemy. Stark may be a smart narcissistic cocky asshole, but Evelyn didn't believe he would ever go so far as to doing something like that.

After eating and paying, Evelyn found herself walking through the streets without any particular place in mind. When she found her feet hitting grass, she stopped in her tracks, looking up and around at her surrounding only for her breath to hitch in her throat. She stood there in the graveyard, the same one in which her whole family was buried in, even if one of those graves were empty. She stood there for a moment, tears coming to her eyes as she bit her lips in hopes of keeping the tears from falling.

Letting a harsh breath leave her lips, Evelyn carefully strolled through the graveyard. Her eyes trailed over every grave she passed, her heart seeming to break with each passing one. She found herself abruptly stopping upon seeing the grave of a five year old girl by the name of Lauren Anderson. Suddenly the tears seemed to become harder to control. She let out a shaky breath before continuing through the graveyard until she found that of her mothers, fathers, and brothers graves.

     "Hey guys." Evelyn whispered, looking at her parents graves before her eyes moved to Steve's. "Hey, Stevie." Her voice cracked as she kneeled down in front of the grave. "Are you okay, up there? Do you miss me? I know I miss you. God, I miss you like hell." She nodded, swallowing thickly as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "It's, uh, it's been a year now. Well, almost. And yet, it still feels like it was yesterday when you went under."

     "I'm mad at you, you know?" She clenched her jaw. "I'm mad that you didn't warn me, that-that you didn't tell me what you were going to do. I'm so mad at you because of that―︎even if I know that it wasn't fully under your control." Angry and hurt tears rolled down her cheeks. "We were the golden duo, the golden siblings that lost both of their parents. And now I'm the golden solo that's missing her other half. And I don't know what to do. I don't know how to live without my brother. I don't know how to accept that I'll never see you again―︎I don't know if I can accept that I'll never see you again."

     She closed her eyes for a moment, shaking her head slightly before opening them again as she pressed two fingers to her lips before placing them on her brother's grave. "I love you, Steve." She did the same thing to her mother and fathers graves before forcing herself to stand up. She took a moment, stuffing her hands in her coat pockets as her eyes scanned over the three graves, allowing one last tear to slip from her eye as she whispered, "I miss you all so much." And then she turned on her heel and made her way out of the graveyard, and back home.