Wildfire (Steve Rogers AU)

2

"Where's your brother?" Sarah Rogers rolled her eyes as her son came in from letting the horses out and washed up for breakfast. As the kind of matriarch of the family, she'd had to help her son keep the ranch going after her husbands sudden death.

Thankfully Steve's head was screwed on more so than his brother's.

Sarah had always treated Johnny fairly, even after his mother had died and he'd been sent to live with them. She'd never quite forgiven her husband for his infidelity, however she was prepared to overlook it considering the boy was so young. She'd fed him, clothed him, raised him like her own in the hope that he'd turn out like her eldest. Unfortunately Johnny was a little more wayward - obviously a trait that had come from her husband and his roaming eye.

"Probably lying in a ditch somewhere coughing up last nights whiskey". Steve replied, drying his hands and giving his mother a peck on the cheek. "He's a big boy, he can hold his own".

"I know, but he's my responsibility..."

"Mom, Johnny's in his damn twenties , if he's anyones responsibility then he's his own".

Sometimes Steve felt that he was his though. There was a good five to six years between the pair, but he could still remember the day that he'd been left on their porch with a note that claimed his father had fathered another son. Upon hearing the deceased mother's name, Joe Rogers face had turned white. Steve remembered all the shouting, the yelling and crashing between his parents downstairs whist he and his new brother hid upstairs, the eldest child covering the boy's ears so that he wouldn't have to hear it.

But Steve had...

His mother had simply swallowed her pride, held her head high in the midst of scandal and treated Johnny just as she would Steve.

The relationship between his parents had never fully recovered though, but at least it was amicable enough for them all to live with.

Sarah now sighed as she put the plate in front of her son and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I know...and I know you've had to bail him outta trouble a good few times..."

"Too many to count" Steve muttered.

It was a wonder that his brother hadn't been shot yet. They'd soon know the answer if he didn't come home within a few hours, although he always did. There was always a woman involved as well.

Like father like son.

"Morning pal" Bucky walked into the kitchen and grinned at Sarah. "Ma"

"Oh shut up and sit your ass down" she laughed and put the plate in front of him. "Where've you been anyway?"

"General store, new face in town has arrived"

Sarah's face changed in recollected. "Mary's niece? The really rich one? She told me about her last week - poor girl and with a young child too..."

Steve frowned. "Who's this?"

"Mary's niece, husband was a railroad developer but died. Left her wi5 nothing but the clothes on her back apparently. Think he owed a substantial amount of debts. Anyway, she's now come here to live with her".

"Got a little boy too, can only be about a year old at he least" Bucky replied. "I gave her a ride to the store. She certainly is gonna have heads turning".

Steve rolled his eyes, "yours I imagine". He knew that his best friend was like if his history with women was anything to go by.
He himself had never really bothered hunting for a wife. He was too busy running the ranch for a start as well as trying to ensure that Johnny did nothing stupid. Women did try and turn his head. The ranch was the largest and most profitable in terms of income other than mining, so mothers would encourage their daughters to all but throw themselves under Steve's nose. He wasn't rich by any means, but their livelihood was enough to keep them afloat.

"Not in that way. Think she was in shock coming from the city to here".

"Probably looking down her nose at us already". Steve replied, taking a sip of his water.
Sarah whacked her son round the back of his head. "Ow!"

"Don't judge her before you even met her - poor girls been handed misfortune, having to come here with her baby and knowing no one other than Mary. Poor thing must be scared to death".

The sound of the chair scraping back on the kitchen floor sounded as Steve got up and began to clean his plate. "I'm sure in no time we'll find out just what she's like - ready Buck?" He asked as his friend stuffed the last of his bread into his mouth and muffled a "yeah".

Sarah shook her head. "Go on, out with the both of you, and if you see Johnny then you tell him I want words, otherwise they're gonna be finding him at the bottom of Red Skull Pass".

"Will do, see you at lunch". Steve told her and headed out with Bucky to start the days work. "So what's this niece of Mary's called?"

"Aaaah, so now you're interested" Bucky smirked.

Mounting their horses, the pair began to trot out of the ranch. "It's for future reference, nothing else". All he knew for certain is that this girl was going to be in for a shock. This wasn't city living, nor was it for the faint hearted.

"Hadley"