As Tess prepared breakfast, Sarah emerged from her room and seemed a little surprised that she was there and already up.
"Morning..." she said, coming over to the stove. "Heard a bit of a ruckus between you and Steve last night, you alright?"
Tess nodded. "He came home after a few drinks, nothing I couldn't handle".
"Didn't sound like nothing to me..." she looked at Tess a little too pitifully for her liking, but the younger Rogers woman said nothing. "I'll speak with him".
"It's fine Sarah. Like I said, I can handle him".
Sarah nodded and began to help. "You're up early".
"Couldn't sleep, plus I needed some air, so I went for a walk. The sheriff decided to come say hi". She rolled her eyes.
"What did he say to you?" Sarah looked a little cautiously at her.
"Nothing that I didn't already know about myself. I think he thinks that he may be able to use me to get to Steve, what with our past feuding and all that - current if you count our 'happy marriage'". She explained, "I said nothing that would incriminate us or your son".
Sarah smiled, "well I know you ain't stupid".
"And I think Walker now knows that too".
"He won't touch ya, man's too scared to even throw the drunks in the cells - this town? You may think it's perfect but it ain't, we've got just as much shit to deal with as the next one".
Tess snorted, "he wants to get himself over to Red Skull Creek then, our boys would eat him alive".
Sarah now went and hammered her fist in the door to Steve and Tess's bedroom. "Rise and shine son!"
"He won't be happy with you".
"I don't care". Sarah smirked, knowing her son say anything to her. She bashed her fist against the wood again. "Come on now! Workshop needs firing up, and we got breakfast on the table!"
They heard Steve from inside. "Sure thing Ma". Tess now feeling the satisfaction that he was probably suffering from a sore head.
He emerged looking dishevelled, blue eyes carrying the weight of sleep still, and then noticed his wife. "You're up then".
"Your stupid ass snoring or the fact that you threatened to force yourself on me didn't help".
Sarah's head snapped up. "Steven!"
"She was pushing it Ma". He glared at his wife, "just like a Rumlow always does".
"And as you can see it's damn well effective".
Sarah now came between them to shut down the eruption of words that were about to leave her sons mouth. "I think you two need to spend more time together to actually understand one another - and that doesn't mean that you can start a shoot out in this house. Everyone thinks that your feud is over. So make 'em believe it. We don't want Walker on our tail anymore than he already is".
"Can I shoot her and claim it was an accident". Steve's cold stare pierced her own
"Just you try" Tess challenged
"Both of you are spending the day in the workshop, if I hear so much as a peep from ya then I'll shoot you both, and at this point I'm beyond caring. I'll just get Barnes to take over the after hours business we got going". She sighed and slowly sat down on a chair, feeling the energy drain from her.
"Ma? You ok?" Steve was now by her side.
She smiled and nodded. "I'm fine, but I need you two to at least be civil".
"Let me get you some water". Tess now went to fill up a cup.
"I may go lie down for a while". Sarah announced and got up, before walking in the direction of her room.
Tess heard Steve and then a thud, turning and seeing that her mother in law was on the floor with him by her side. "Tessie, go get Doctor Banner - NOW!" He ordered with panic to his voice, picking up Sarah and taking her through to her room.
She nodded quickly and hurried from the house, running in the direction of the town and bursting into the saloon. Bucky was at the bar prepping for the days trade but now looked up as he saw her. "Bucky! I need to find Doctor Banner but I don't know where he lives! Sarah's collapsed!"
"Shit! C'mon! I'll take you!" He said, and she followed and they made for the direction of Doctor Banner's home.
"This is all my fault, it's all my damn fault". Tess said as they hurried along. "I pushed Steve too far and now it's affecting her".
"I'm sure there's another reason. Don't blame yourself yet, it could be anything". Bucky told her, going to get Bruce before they all returned to the Rogers home.
If anything happened to Sarah? Then Steve would lay the blame with Tess for sure.
YOU ARE READING
Tess (A Dark!SteveRogers AU)
Fanfic"You can't seriously expect me to marry that man - he's just as bad as the rest of 'em, some say worse." "Well then you'll have no trouble taming him then". It's 1883 Tess Rumlow hails from a notorious gang feared by all throughout the old west. R...
