Brooklyn - Steve Rogers X OC Spinoff

9 - Maddison

Maddison heard a gentle knock at the door, but she didn't look up. She knew Emilia was coming to take Avery away so she could rest. But she just missed her so much, she didn't want to let her go. When she did look up, she saw Steve standing in the doorway with what looked like a sad smile.

"How are you feeling?" Steve asked. Maddison simply shrugged. She made herself sit up on the bed, holding Avery in her lap while she held her finger in her tiny hands. "Better." She simply answered. She didn't, but she didn't want to worry anyone. She was still exhausted, she was also starving, her head was throbbing and she missed her girl. But none of that was anything anyone could help her with, not that she'd accept anyone's help anyway. It took years of friendship before she was willing to let Jackson and Scott help her. But she did love the evenings this week when she'd get home to Scott claiming he made too much dinner and couldn't possibly finish it all. She knew it was a lie, that they made extra so Maddison could have a meal. They did that all the time, especially after hearing about any rough patches Maddison would go through.

Steve sighed, sitting down on the bed beside her and letting Avery grab one of his fingers in her free hand. "I know that's not true, why didn't you tell me? I'm here to make your life easier." He reminded her.

Maddison sighed, her eyes staying on Avery. "I told you, Steve. It's not your job to make my life easier, I'm a big girl, I can do this." She defended herself. As much as she so badly wanted him to swoop in and fix her life, she couldn't depend on him. She couldn't depend on anyone. Letting yourself depend on someone else just led to being let down.

"You can, you've done an amazing job. But you don't have to do it alone." Steve told her. Maddison picked her head up, sighing at Steve. "We're not together, Steve. You can't talk like that." She reminded him.

Steve just shrugged again, smiling down at Avery in Maddison's lap. "Sure I can. I told you, I'm in this. I understand that you're hesitant to believe that and probably more hesitant to trust me. I'll do what it takes to get there. But I need you to have a little faith in me, even the tiniest bit." He said calmly.

Maddison sighed, looking up at him. "I do trust you, I've given you faith. You've been alone with my daughter for christ sake, Steve." She argued calmly. It was the best she could give him right now, she didn't know how to trust anyone new. She was usually let down, her being let down was fine..but now she had Avery to think about.

"I'm not saying you need to give me your bank info and a key to your house. I'm just saying, talk to me when you're struggling. Please." Steve said in what sounded like a desperate voice. It broke Maddison's heart that she was hurting him. "What could you have done to help? My schedule is just too tight this week, it's not something you can fix." She mentioned.

Steve simply shrugged again, making a face at Avery that had her squeal with laughter. "You spend an hour between the subway and the walk home. I could've driven you to work and class. That could be saving you like 3 hours a day." He mentioned. Maddison hated that he was right, but she couldn't lean that heavily on someone. The extra sleep would be nice, but asking for help was out of the question. "I know what you're thinking, I know you don't want to ask me for anything. But I want you to. Okay, how about we make a deal? I won't drive you around, but you should borrow my car. I have the bike anyway, so I don't really need the car." He suggested.

"I didn't know you had a car." Maddison pointed out.

"I bought one today." Steve said with a shrug as if it was no big deal. But it was, to her. "Why? When?" She asked.

"So that I could insist you drive my car." Steve said so casually that it almost pissed her off. He bought a car just so that she could borrow it? Did he not hear how insane that sounded? It made her want to push him away even more, clearly they're in a different tax bracket, how do you even date someone with so much more money than you? That's just...embarrassing. She was sure he was laughing as she cried to Emilia about how pathetic her life was and about how she hadn't had an actual meal that didn't come from Scott in like two weeks. But he didn't look like he was laughing, he looked dead serious as he casually confessed to buying a car just for her to drive.

"I needed a car anyway, for when I'm with you and Avery." Steve added with a shrug. "I don't want my girls on the subway all the time anyway." He mentioned.

Maddison sighed, she wished that were true. He called herself and Avery "his girls" and it sounded so sweet coming from him. But they weren't his, she knew that. She knew soon he'd get tired of her prioritizing Avery and give up, the one man that actually said he didn't care that she was a single mom only lasted about a week or two. He got tired of not being her sole focus and bailed after insisting she hire a babysitter for the weekend to go party with him. Like she could've even afforded that if she had wanted to. "We're not yours, Steve." She reminded him again.

"Are you telling me or yourself?" Steve said, she could hear the teasing in his voice. "Don't think about it now, I was only sent up here to grab Avery so you could sleep. But you're off tomorrow after class, so how about you catch up on sleep tomorrow and Saturday I'll take the two of you out?" He offered.

Maddison smiled over at him, she didn't have to think about it. A date sounded nice, and he wanted to include Charlotte? Even better. "That sounds nice." She answered honestly.

The smile Steve awarded her with at her answer, it soaked her panties. Damn. "Perfect. Okay, if I don't kidnap Avery soon, Buck's going to come up here and do it himself. Who knew he'd be such a baby hog?" He said with a laugh. She could tell there was something to that, that Steve seemed genuinely surprised that Bucky wanted to be around her daughter so much, but she didn't push for an explanation.

"She seems to like him." Maddison said. She kissed Avery several times, making her giggle excitedly before handing her to Steve with a sad sigh.

"And he loves her, we all do. I think you've gain 3 more people who would fight to watch her at the drop of a hat." Steve said with another genuine smile. He stood up, walking backwards towards the door to leave and waved bye-bye at Maddison, making Avery mimic him and wave at her mom.

"Bye baby!" Maddison said cheerfully to Avery, who giggled as she waved back. When the door clicked shut behind Steve and Avery and she was finally alone again, she flopped down on the bed with a sigh. She knew if she didn't lay back down for a nap, Emilia would have her head, so she curled up under the covers again and made herself drift back to sleep for a few more hours.