The White Queen (S.Rogers)

Chapter 36

September drained into October. With it came rain, wind, and leaves falling everywhere. Steve enjoyed the crisp cool air in the mornings, the heat finally broken. He also enjoyed coming back to the apartment, finding Brooklyn dressed in warmer clothing. It wasn't that he hadn't enjoyed watching her run around in shorts and tank tops, her skin bare for his hands, but at the same time, watching her start to add more comfortable clothing, ones that hid a wandering hand or two.

He was currently going over papers recently decoded, from ones Nat had dumped on the internet, the day they shut down SHIELD and took down HYDRA, at the table in the dining nook, while Brooklyn was in the kitchen, making a soup.

Well, she said she was going to attempt a soup.

Her cooking skills still needed a lot of work, but she was at least experimenting more, beyond the box or frozen meals she usually served when it was her night to feed the household. From where he sat, he could smell the chicken stock, as she added the chopped vegetables.

"Onion." He called out, after a moment, as a reminder.

"I already put it in." She called back, her tone slightly irritated. "Leave me alone, Rogers. Do your homework."

He snorted, looking over the papers in his hand, at Juliana, who was sitting across from him, pencil in hand, tongue pinched between her lips, as she focused on her homework.

It was now a full month of schooling under her belt. She was still under the impression that school was an adventure, and one she had thrown herself in, fullheartedly She was, right now, working on her numbers, and basic addition. Juliana had really bloomed, each morning jumping on the bed to wake them, when he spent the night, and excited to get out the door for the walk to the school, sometimes impatient for them, as she stood, backpack on, jumping up and down.

Her teacher, Mr. Blackwell, sent home glowing reports every week. Other than the small hiccup, the first week, she had been going with out any incident, save one. And even that one, Steve couldn't be really upset at her.

They had been called in, after school when picking her up, one day to be informed that there had been an altercation, between Juliana and another student. The other student had, it seemed, been picking on Juliana's friend Carrie. Juliana, in a stunning display of being her father's daughter, had stepped in, and pushed the other student. The other student had not been prepared for that, and fell backwards into a puddle left by the rain from that day, soaking the seat of his pants.

The student's parents had come in, making a stink, and since he was both from another class as well as being older, it had been kicked up to the Headmistress, Ms. Crocker.

The pinch faced biddy had taken great pleasure in threatening to expel Juliana for fighting, of which the school had a no tolerance policy. Steve had pulled his Captain tone and face, informing the sour woman that if she pursued that course of action, that they, as Juliana's guardians, would also expect the other student to be expelled as well. Seeing as the student was both older, and male, his actions towards two five year old girls was above the pale. And seeing as how Juliana had been standing up for her friend, if she was being punished, the boy who started the whole thing should be as well.

Ms Crocker, her face flushed with anger, realizing she was backed into a corner, seeing as how the boy's parents were rather large contributors of donations, had to back down. And after a quick talk with the boy's parents, himself, they all agreed to let sleeping dogs lie, as long as the boy had a stern talking to about how bullying little girls was not acceptable.

Brooklyn and Steve had, of course, sat down with her when they were home, and had a long talk about how fighting, no matter the circumstances was not the first resort when it came to conflict. Both had left that talk feeling like hypocrites, they admitted to each other.