How do you heal?

Chapter 15: Meet The Eastons

An hour later Sam sat in the passenger seat of Annie's parents car, her mom choosing to sit in the back with her, as they pulled into their driveway. When they had been introduced at the house Ferris and April had greeted him with hugs and thank yous for taking the time to check in on their daughter and seemed genuinely excited to meet him.

Annie pointed to her parents. Her father was slender and tan with graying dark hair, and had Annie's eyes. Meanwhile her mother, also tan, had blonde hair that was nearly white and dark brown eyes. Both were shorter, which Sam found strange as Annie was taller than the average woman. "Mom, dad, this is my friend, Sam Wilson. Sam, these are my parents, April and Ferris Ea..." Annie had stopped mid sentence and her face dropped as she looked between Sam and her parents.

Ferris seemed to understand his daughter's strange pause and stepped in. "Sam, it's so nice to meet you. Annie has told us so much about you. Thank you so much for coming to look in on her, it means a lot to us."

"No problem, Mr. Gardner. Banannie is the second best cook I know and my favorite part of visiting the compound is getting to eat her food so I had to make sure she's coming back."

April looked confused for a moment and went to speak before she was cut off by her husband, who had locked eyes with his daughter. "Please, Sam. No formalities here, Ferris and April are just fine."

"Well, we should get going, honey. We don't want the others to beat us back to the house. Sam I want to hear all about yours and Annie's time in New York, she barely tells us anything!" April said, taking Sam's arm and leading him to the car.

As they exited the vehicle Annie and her mother went into the house quickly and Ferris walked with Sam. Before they could reach the door though several other cars pulled in. "Look at that timing! All the kids here at once." Sam watched as from the vehicles more than a dozen adults and children spilled out. Some of the older kids recognized him and began to pepper him with questions while Ferris greeted the others and ushered everyone forward. "Inside gremlins!!! Grammy and Aunt Annie are inside waiting for you! The faster we eat dinner the faster you can have cake!"

Once they were inside Ferris introduced the rest of his children to Sam properly. He had learned all their names from Annie but it helped to see faces. "This is my oldest, Fletcher and his wife Kelly. My second, Finch and his husband John. Annie would be next of course then last but not least, Amelia and Auden with their husbands Lee and Mark. I'd introduce you to the kids but honestly there are so many I can barely keep them straight!"

Sam shook everyone's hands and greeted them. As he did so he noticed that Annie's brothers looked just like their father and her sisters, just like their mother. All slender with tan skin, dark hair for the men and blonde for the women. "Wow, you guys are like carbon copies of your parents. Is Banannie like a red headed step child or something?" He joked as looked around the room.

Confused looks crossed most of their faces before Ferris cut in. "Well my children, come on in. Let's say hello to your sister and get to eating and remind your offspring not to stare or ask about her bruises, it is her birthday and we are just happy she is here."

Alex had arrived near the end of dinner in her scrubs and plopped down next to Sam in a seat one of Annie's siblings had vacated. "Easton family, your favorite adopted member has arrived. No need for applause but I would appreciate it if you would pass me all the food immediately. I am starving!"

Annie, sitting on Sam's other side rocking one of her younger nieces, flinched and leaned forward. Her tone menacing she said, "Alexandra, this is Sam Wilson. Sam, this is my best friend, Alex."

Alex had turned her head sharply towards Annie before looking Sam up and down. Her wide gray eyes changed from shocked to approving as one eyebrow raised and she put on a cocky grin. "Honey cakes, you said we were alike but I didn't think that meant he was as attractive as I am."

Sam smiled at Alex as he reciprocated her assessing glance before a thought struck him. He held up a finger to Alex. "Excuse me, just one second." Then he turned to Annie and asked "I thought your last name was Gardner?"

She looked down at the sleeping baby in her arms. "It is." She replied with a sigh.

"So who are the Eastons?"

"It's a long story. I will tell you on the way back to the house."

A few hours later Alex quietly drove the trio home. Sam sat in the front, nearly turned all the way around to question Annie. "You were MARRIED?"

"Yes." Annie said simply. "My husband's name was Charlie Gardner. Hence Annie Gardner."

"So when I called your dad Mr. Gardner?"

"He covered for me. Being a widow is not exactly a thing I like to talk about."

Sam softened his tone. "Banannie, I'm sorry. I didn't know. It just caught me off guard." Annie just shrugged and Sam asked, "Does anyone else know? At the compound I mean. I don't want to slip up and say something I shouldn't if no one else knows."

Annie took a deep breath and wrinkled her nose as she met his gaze. "Tony, of course...and...and Bucky."

Sam's jaw dropped. "Anna Jane. You opened up and told grumpy ass Bucky Barnes before me!" He placed his hand on his chest in mock pain. "Yet you still had the balls to look me in the eyes this afternoon and claim it wasn't like that with him. I knew it and I called it and you lied to me."

Annie shook her head and placed a hand on Sam's arm. "No, no. I didn't just randomly tell him. Bucky and I ran into each other in the kitchen one night and I was a mess because it was Charlie's birthday and he didn't know why I was crying but he was nice enough to offer to keep me company and when we went into my room to watch a movie he saw a wedding photo, which is now put away but couldn't exactly hide it anymore and I was an emotional wreck so I info dumped. Honestly I am surprised my ugly crying did not freak him out but seriously, Sam. it is not like you think, it's nothing like that."

"But she definitely wants it to be like that." Alex chirped, speaking for the first time since they got into the car.

"You are so dead." Annie called out over Sam's laughter.