Chasing Shadows ;; Steve Rogers

epilogue.

"You're hurting me," Ana said, sighing as Yelena applied eyeshadow to her closed lids.

"Don't be such a baby," Yelena said. "I'm barely touching you."

"You're stabbing me in the eye with an eyeshadow brush," Ana said.

"I know your pain tolerance is much higher than this. Stop complaining."

"I'm going to cut off all your hair when you're sleeping," Ana said.

"Bold of you to threaten the person who could presently stab you in the eye with an eyeshadow brush," Yelena said. "I'm done, by the way. You can open your eyes."

Ana complied. "What is the point of all this? He's seen me before."

"He's seen you in bloody suits and ill fitting prisoner wardrobes," Natasha walked out of the closet with a short dark green dress. "Put this on."

Her sisters were helping her prepare for her first date with Steve. He had asked her yesterday. He had been so nervous doing it, reminding her of Bucky telling her he was still a scrawny 90 pound boy under all that serum. It had made her smile when his eyes lit up at her acceptance. She probably wouldn't have agreed if she'd known it would lead to her being poked and prodded by her sisters.

"And yet he still likes me," she said even as she obeyed and took off her robe to put the dress on.

"Clearly there's something wrong with his brain," Yelena said and Ana glared at her. 

Natasha had told her this was a rite of passage, older sisters helping their younger sister get ready for her first date. Yelena had said they were worried her years of living with supervillains and psychopaths probably stunted her social growth. Natasha had to hold Ana back from jumping on Yelena at that. 

She wondered if this is what her life would have always been like, if Ohio was real. If they hadn't lost it so suddenly. If she hadn't lost her sisters. Perhaps they would have helped her get ready for her first date then too. With some small town boy who would have picked her up in his truck and crumbled under Alexei's protective stare. Perhaps they could have been happy. She thought they would have been. Now that she knew the truth, the pain of those memories wasn't there anymore. She didn't block out those days in Ohio with them.

It surprised her how easily the three of them were able to ease back into this role, into being sisters. Perhaps it was because even underneath all the hate, all the anger, their bond had never truly been destroyed. It was clouded and filled with lies, but it was shining bright now, free from the darkness Madame B had tried to spin.

Natasha zipped up her dress for her and she turned around. "What do you think?" she asked.

Yelena whistled. "My baby sister is hot."

"You're not that much older than me," Ana rolled her eyes with a smile.

"And yet, still older," Yelena said.

"You look beautiful," Natasha said. "You're gonna knock him dead."

"Not literally, of course," Yelena said. "But perhaps we should had a thigh holster for a knife in case he tries any funny business."

"No need," Ana said nonchalantly. "This dress has pockets."

Yelena grinned as Natasha rolled her eyes.

----

Bucky was in the elevator when she stepped in to meet Steve at the entrance. "Wow, you're gonna knock him dead," Bucky whistled.

"Natasha said the same thing," Ana said. "I take it this is an American idiom?"

"Yeah, you look beautiful," he said.