We Can't Go Back

The Cards They Were Dealt

A/N: hey, y'all! It's been awhile since I've posted. I hadn't been feeling up to writing for a while but I started back up and I realized how much I missed it. I'm planning on posting chapters one to two times a week instead of daily like I used to but hopefully you'll continue to tag along for the ride! I hope you enjoy!

She is nervous and it's so irrational. It's just her
brother for crying out loud! She's known him since she was born. They shared a room for 16 years even! So why is she so nervous to see him for the first time since they woke up?

Maybe she is worried because she has changed so much since the last time he saw her. He saw her grief before but he hasn't yet seen what the grief had hardened her in to. She worries that he won't recognize her when he sees her. She worries that he'll be disappointed in what he sees.

Tony had told Steve that the reason he couldn't see Lizzie was because she was stuck in customs because he sent her to Canada during the attack in New York. It was a good enough excuse because it was true that citizens were having a hard time getting back in to the country after what happened. Tony actually flew her to Canada to make the excuse more believable and now Steve is meeting her at the airport.

She sees him before he sees her. He has a hat on and she knows he is trying to be incognito. However, one girl recognized him and asked for a photo. He is too nice to say no and suddenly he is swarmed. She herself is trying to not make a spectacle so she patiently waits for his fan club to disappear. That is thrown out the window though when he sees her.

A blinding smile is plastered on his face and he completely ignores the person in front of him. He gently pushes past them and then he's running. She doesn't even realize that she's ran to meet him until she's in his arms.

He squeezes her tighter than he ever has and it's hard to breathe but she doesn't care. Her brother is really here and is hugging her when she thought he never would again.

Suddenly all the emotions that she's repressing by working and deflecting overcomes her and she begins to cry. Everything that is bad in this world suddenly becomes better because Steve is here. He will help her carry this burden. They lived through losing both parents together. They lived through war together. The lived through all the ups and downs of their lives together. They will somehow make it through this too.

"I thought you were dead," he whispers in to her hair.

She can hear the clicking of cameras and she knows that they will be all over the internet. Her period of anonymity will be over now but she can't find it in herself to care. She knows Tony and Pepper will come up with a story for the press.

"I want to go home," she says.

He knows she doesn't mean home as in to Brooklyn. She means home in 1945. She means home where Bucky was still alive and life was simple. He wonders if she hates this time as much as he does. He would do anything to go back but now they had to play the cards they were dealt. They'll just have to make the best of their situation but at least they were together.

"Let's get out of here," he says.

He looks up and finally sees all the eyes and lenses that are on them. The lights are so bright and the crowds are surrounding them. He pulls Lizzie to his side and throws in arm around her shoulder. Both of them lower their heads and Steve uses his size to protect her against the people who were now swarming them. As they got to outside the airport, he found news reporters and more cameras shoved in their face.

"Captain Rogers! Who is this!?"

"Is she your girlfriend?!"

"Were you two together since the clean up in New York?!"