All I Want Is Everything

Exposition

On disco lights, your name will be seen
You can fulfill all your dreams
Party here, party there, everywhere
This is your night, baby, you've got to be there

Kool & the Gang, Ladies' Night

After this last triumph, Ella retreated backstage, met with the press, then found a phone in a fairly secluded area. She called the number on her letter, which she'd memorized, and found that it rang to a Motel 6. She left a message for the clerk, saying that she'd be traveling but desperately wanted to talk, and gave him Loki's number in case she missed him. Plus the agency would lean on contacts if they were worried about a client

Then she left a message on Loki's answering machine at work asking him to give her tour information to a man identifying as Thomas Murray. Then she had to hurry. She gave her precious statuettes back to the Grammy reps so that their plates could be engraved, the earrings back to the Winston guard, then collected Sam. They had to race for the limo to get to the airport on time. She fretted all the way back to her tour.

***

"I want to talk to this guy," Steve muttered to Bucky after Sam had briefly said goodbye and headed off for the airport with Ella. "Make sure it's not some weirdo with a strange resemblance who's going to try to take advantage of Ella. Manipulate her."

Nat laughed. "Ella's no fool, Steve. She's smart, and while she might have been shocked, she'll recover fast. After what we did, she's very untrusting. And I highly doubt that she'd appreciate the protective brother routine." Steve glared at her, but she was right, he knew it, it was just... it seemed a little too coincidental. Ella hits it big, all of a sudden there's a long-lost uncle or whatever? It might be sinister.

"He might be the real deal," Bucky said. "It would be good for you to understand about your father, why he cut his family off. I know you guys missed having grandparents, maybe cousins. Mrs Rogers didn't have anybody left."

"No," Steve admitted as they walked out of the auditorium. He'd wanted to take his trophy with him, but he knew that the Grammy would be returned to him soon. "Her dad deserted them, her grandpa died while she was in high school, her mom died when she was getting her RN, and her grandma died right after graduation."

"You guys don't have a lot of luck with family," Nat observed, then shut up when the boys stared at her. They went to the lobby of the auditorium, where there was a bank of payphones, and he called the number on the letter.

"Ella?" a voice asked, and Steve's stomach tied itself up in knots. He knew that voice.

"No, it's Steve," he managed. "She showed me your letter."

"Apparently I missed your sister's call," the voice mused. "She left a number for me."

"I'd like to meet you too."

"That can be arranged. When and where?"

"As soon as possible?" Steve was a little surprised to find that his palms were sweating.

"All right, then. I'm at a Motel 6, just east of your celebration. You can come here, or if you like, there's a diner on the corner." They agreed to meet at the diner.

"You guys don't have to come," Steve said.

"I'm here for you, punk," Bucky said affectionately.

"Jerk," Steve said automatically.

"I think I'll skip this," Nat said unexpectedly. "What?" she asked, as the others looked at her, surprised. "He reached out to Ella, and I'm pretty sure that if you weren't right there and she was shook up, she wouldn't have told you about this right away. And she won't appreciate me getting into her business."