Love Without End

Chapter Thirty Eight

Several Years Ago

"Amy?" Fury asked when he showed up at my door.
"Yeah?" I asked, not commenting on the fact that it was three in the morning.
"I need your help with something for work."
"Yeah, sure. What is it?"
"You remember what I told you about Captain America?"
"Yes sir."
"Well, he's back. It's hard to explain, but he's been... Frozen... For the past seventy years, and he's back now."
"I don't understand what you need me to do."
"I need you to go with me to talk to him."
"Why do you want me to go?"
"I think you'll be a soothing presence. Captain Rogers will surely be freaked out by all the new stuff."
"You want me to go with you to talk to a superhero?"
"Yes."
"Okay."

"All right, what do I do?" I asked in the car.
"Just talk to him. Hang on." Mr. Fury said, just as the car lurched.
The tires squealed and the driver made a sharp turn, then slammed on the brakes.
"Get out." Nick said.
I got out.
"At ease, soldier!" Nick called.
There was a man in the middle of the circle of cars. He looked maybe twenty-five, and very freaked. There were a bunch of people with guns, and I didn't want to talk loud, so I walked up to Captain America and held out my hand. "Hello, I'm Amelia Jones." I smiled.
"Steve. Steve Rogers." Captain America panted, staring at my hand for a minute before shaking it.
I made a motion for the guns pointed at Captain America's chest to be lowered.
"I know this must be a lot to take in right now, but if you come with us, everything will be explained." I held out my hand.
Again, he stared at my hand for a minute before taking it. I led him over to Nick. "This is Nick Fury. He's not as scary as he looks." I smiled at Nick.
We climbed back in the car. "We'll drop you off at home on the way." Nick told me.
"I want her to stay with me." Captain Rogers said.
"I'm sorry, Captain, but that wasn't in the plans--"
"I want her to stay with me."
"I'll stay." I said.
I sat beside Captain Rogers as he was briefed on everything, but I wasn't really listening.
"What about Agent Carter?" Captain Rogers asked. "Peggy Carter?"
Aunt Peggy?
Nick looked at the man beside him, then back to the Captain. "Amelia, if I give you an address, can you take Captain Rogers to it?"
"Yes sir."
I didn't know why I was taking a stranger to see Aunt Peggy, but I got him there. "Aunt Peggy?" I asked quietly as we walked inside. "Hi, it's Amy. I'm here with Steve Rogers."
"Steve?" She said quietly, opening her eyes. "Steve?"
"I'll wait outside." I told him quietly. "I'm sorry." I said in advance, and walked out.
About an hour later, he came out, looking relatively distressed. "Nobody told me she was like that." He said cooly.
"I'm sorry."
He looked down. "She's your aunt?" He looked back up.
"We aren't actually related, no sir. I've just always called her that."
"Oh."
"Do you want to go get lunch?" I tried.
"Sure."
"This must be hard." I told him over burgers.
"Yeah. But the food's better."
I smiled. "This is the best place around."
"What else did I miss?"
"Nirvana."
"What's that?"
"A band. They're good. Also the Beatles, B-E-A-T-L-E-S."
"Another band?"
"Yes sir."
"What else?" He smiled a little bit.
"Howard and Maria Stark were killed in a car accident."
"Oh God.."
"Yes sir. But Mr. Stark had owned a weapons industry. His son Tony ran it after he died, but then he got kidnapped by a terrorist group, and has converted his company to different things."
"He got married?"
"Tony Stark?"
"Howard."
"Yes sir."
He gave a little smile. "Well I'll be damned."
"From what I hear, his son's just like him. I met him a couple times, though, and he's nice enough. He's just like his father, but he doesn't like to hear that."

Fury had me waiting for him in England, but Natasha told me what was happening at home. I was fairly certain that Nick was just keeping me "safe" even though I was a trained assassin. When he finally joined me, and I confronted him, he admitted to it. "Your father would kill me if I let you get involved in that. It was dangerous. Even Captain Rogers was injured badly."
"Is he okay?"
"Yes."
"And Natasha?"
"She's also okay. As is Tony. Shall we get started?"

Present Day

I heard Bucky scream. It was the scream of the tortured. Not that I had tortured people often, but in the cases that I had been required to, I had, and that's how they sounded. I got out of bed and ran in there. I didn't even know where Tony was.
When I got there, the door was already open, and Angela was in there with her arm around him. She stroked his hair. "It's okay." She whispered.
"I'm sorry." He said.
"Don't worry about it. Momma and Daddy do it a lot. Uncle Bruce too, but Mom doesn't want us to go in there when that happens."
Bucky didn't say anything, and she continued stroking his hair. I stood in the doorway, smiling a little bit, heart still hammering.
Tony, Bruce and Imani came behind me, and I put my finger to my lips and pointed. Tony squeezed my shoulder with a small smile and walked away, and Bruce followed. Imani watched for a second, then followed them.
When Angela saw me, she got up. I hugged her and kissed her forehead, and she walked out. I took a seat beside Bucky on the bed. "Hey." I said.
"I'm sorry. Did I wake you?"
"No."
"I woke Angela."
"She was probably already awake."
"I didn't mean to get her involved."
"She's okay, don't worry."
"I'm sorry."
"It's okay, Bucky."
"I shouldn't have come to you guys. I'm sorry."
"No, no. You're fine, Bucky. Don't worry. Honestly, we all do it. They're used to it."
"I'm sorry."
"You wanna tell me what's wrong?"
"I just don't understand."
"What don't you understand?"
"How that could have been."
"Steve?"
"Yeah. He fought Hydra. He wasn't Hydra."
"I know. I don't understand either." Tears welled in my eyes.
I miss him so much. Not Hydra Steve, my Steve. And Rhodey. My God, I missed Rhodey. I fucking missed Rhodey.
Now I was crying, and Bucky awkwardly put his arm around me. "Sorry." He said. "I didn't mean to upset you."
"No, no. You're fine." I stopped crying. "I'm sorry. Okay. You now. Spill."
"Nothing. I'm sorry. I'll leave."
"No, Bucky. No. Stay."
He nodded.