Stay With Me

25. The Mark Of A Hero

Rogers Residence, New York. October 2023

Juliette does the best she can to stay busy after Steve left. Her heart broke for him, he wasn't able to say goodbye to his little girl before she woke up. She prays with every ounce of her body that he comes home tonight.

She spent the morning cleaning the kitchen three times before she even realized she'd washed the same dish for the last 10 minutes. Her afternoon was spent rocking Rosie as the toddler slept. Her fingers curling around her daughters blonde hair as she stared into her face. Rosie may only be three but she has her father's cupid bow and mouth.

Her heart breaks more seeing the resemblance between Rosie and Steven.

As the sun sinks lower in the sky, Juliette realized she hadn't heard from Steven yet. He told her he would call when the jump was over, before they used the stones to undo the Snap. She checks her phone for the thousandth time, nothing from Steve or the others.

Juliette chews on her lip, deciding to call Steve. If nothing else she can leave a voicemail reminding him to call her back. She glances down at Rosie, playing with a puzzle on the floor and presses Call on Steven's contact. Her husband's face shines up at her briefly before the call connects.

"Sweetheart?" Steve answers on the first ring, as if he was expecting her call. A flock of birds catches her attention from the window, she ducks lower to watch them fly over the house. She hasn't seen that many birds in the sky at once since... Thanos snapped his fingers five years ago.

"Baby. Oh thank God." She breathes a sigh of relief, like a weight was lifted off her chest.

"Oh my God, did it work?"

Juliette hears a voice in the background, followed by the sound of another phone ringing.

"Steven?"

"I'm here baby. I think..." His voice full of surprise as he chuckles, "I think it worked."

"It did?" Juliette can't help but feel a surge a joy. This means Sam will be back. Alive. He can meet Rosie and be apart of the family. And Bucky! Juliette feels another surge. She finally gets to meet her husband's best friend. Her mom! Rosie's grandma is back.

Her joy however is short lived. As Steve begins to tell her that he will be home in a few hours the phone abruptly goes dead.

"Baby?" Julie looks down at her phone confused.

Call Failed.

She feels the explosion before she hears it, the house shakes and the windows rattle, like a freight train is hurtling straight for them. Pictures fall off the walls while glasses break inside the cabinets. Rosie cries from the floor. Julie scoops her daughter up off the floor and runs outside.

She inhales sharply, her eyes immediately finding the enormous spaceship hovering above the trees in the direction of the Compound and of Steven.

"Oh... my God." Julie struggles to breathe as another round of missiles shoot out of the ship and rock the earth. Juliette knows, without a shadow of a doubt those missiles were aimed at the Compound.

Her heart beats too fast, her racing pulse makes her dizzy as she watches the smoke cloud rise into the sky. Her world tilts, the ground coming too close, too fast. The earth shakes again as the aftershocks from the explosion reach her.

Her skin bleed against the rocks under them after falling to her knees. Juliette realizes she can't sit here and watch her husband, her family die before her eyes. She has to do something.

Standing and turning around she sees her elderly neighbor — Marie is standing in her backyard too, forced out of her house from the explosions.

"Julie!" She calls and runs over to her. The older woman hugs her, her frail body trembling. "What's happening?"