Love Without End

Chapter Fifty Nine

I went to go get Imani and Angela from Mandy's. I cried the whole way there, so I had to drive around the block for a little while before actually going inside.
"Hey, Mrs. Stark. Is everything okay?" Mandy asked me.
"Yeah, it's fine." I hugged her as she threw her arms around me. "Turns out Uncle Steve and Uncle Rhodey aren't actually dead."
"Oh." She said, accustomed to our strange lives. "Well that's good." Tears were in her eyes too.
"Are Imani and Angela here?"
"Yeah. Angela's in my room crying and Imani's talking to my mom in the kitchen. I'll go get Angie."
I walked into the kitchen to see Imani swiping away tears. I came up behind him and put my arm around him, kissing his head. "Hey, baby. You okay?"
"Yeah." He said quickly, standing up and acting like nothing happened.
I hugged him, forbidding myself to cry.
"Are you okay, Mom?" He asked.
"Yeah. Are you?"
He nodded. "Is Dad?"
"Yeah."
"Is Bucky?"
"Yeah."
"And Uncle Sam?"
"He's fine. Everyone's okay."
"Hey, Amelia. Is everything okay?" Mandy's mother put her hand on my arm.
"Yeah, it's fine. Just hectic. It's a long story." I probably sounded exhausted.
"Do you need me to do anything?"
"No, I think we're good. Thanks, though."
"Okay, honey. Let me know if you change your mind."
"Yes ma'am."
"Momma?" Angela asked, coming in the room with her arm through Mandy's. "I don't wanna go home. I don't, Momma. Please." She put her hands over her face, breathing like you do when you're starting to have an anxiety attack.
"Okay, sweetie." I said gently. "It's okay."
She broke away from Mandy and ran to me, throwing her arms around me and sobbing. "This is insane, Momma. It's fucking insane. I can't..."
"I know, baby." I hugged her back, stroking her hair. Amanda brought Imani and Mandy out of the room. "I know. It's okay."
"I can't breathe, Momma." She said quickly, pulling away and covering her face with her hands. "I can't breathe." She sat down in a chair. "Why can't I breathe? What's wrong with me?" She was hyperventilating.
"Angela." I said sternly, pulling a chair beside hers. "Look at me. You're okay. You know how your father and I have anxiety attacks sometimes? That's what this is."
"I don't want it. Make it stop. How do I make it stop?!"
"Take a deep breath, Angela. Look at me. Take a deep breath and hold it for a second."
She did as I said.
"Okay. Let it out."
She exhaled.
"There you go. Deep breaths."
"Better?" I asked after a minute.
She nodded, but started to cry again.
Fuck. "No, no, Angela. It's okay."
"Is that how you guys feel all the time? How can you stand it?" She put her face in her hands and pulled her knees up to his chest, sobbing again. "How do you do that? You go in your room and freak out, and then you come back out and fix everything. How can you do that?"
"It's okay, Angie. We're used to it. We're fine. Calm down, okay? It's okay."
"It isn't fair." She cried.
"What isn't fair?"
"That you guys have to do that all the time. I'm so sorry."
I had, of course, hoped that this would be something she wouldn't understand. I wanted to cry too, but I couldn't now. "It's okay, Angela. We're fine."
"How are Uncle Steve and Uncle Rhodey alive? I saw them dead. They can't be alive." She started to breathe faster again.
"Calm down, Angela. Deep breaths."
She did as I said.
"Let's go in there with everybody else." I said, not wanting to have to tell it more than necessary.
I didn't tell them Steve was Hydra, or that he killed Rhodey, or that we killed him. I only explained how they managed to not be dead, and took the kids home.
We walked in and Steve and Rhodey were sitting on the couch with everyone else.
"Fuck." Imani said, and I turned to see why he said it. Angela had passed out. He caught her, of course.
"Language." Tony said as he came up and scooped his daughter up in his arms. Everyone cleared the couch and he laid her down.
"Go get a glass of water." Natasha told Imani, and he did.
Angela was already awake when Imani came back. She tried to sit up, but Natasha stopped her. "No, honey, stay down for a minute." She took the glass from Imani and offered it to Angela, but she shook her head.
"Where's Uncle Rhodey?" She asked, trying to sit up again.
"Stay down, Ange." Natasha said.
Rhodey came and sat on the edge of the couch. "Hey, Angie." He smiled and kissed her forehead. She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him, not letting him up.
"I missed you so much." She cried.
"I missed you too, sweetie." He said. "I'm sorry."
"Yeah, you should be." She let him go and sat up before any of us could stop her. "Uncle Steve?"
"Here." He said from across the room.
"Come here."
He looked at me, and I nodded my assent, so he went over and sat beside her.
We all stayed up late, but I eventually told everyone it was time for bed.
"But Mom--" Angela said.
"Bed."
"Amy, wait." Bucky said. "I need to talk to you."
Sam and Steve were in the kitchen talking, and Rhodey and Tony had gone out, so I took Bucky into Tony's lair. "What's up?" I asked.
"How are we supposed to believe this?"
"It's not the weirdest thing that's happened." I shrugged.
"This is bullshit." He said, tears in his eyes.
"At least now you know Steve wasn't behind what happened to you." I tried.
"How can we be sure, though, Amelia? How do we know we can trust them?"
"Well, I've trusted Nick since I was a kid, and he's always been trustworthy. I wouldn't believe any of this if it weren't for him. Just trust him."
"Why should I?"
"Do you have any reason not to?"
"He didn't tell us in the first place."
"He probably had good reason. I'm not gonna ask, and he's not gonna tell. I'm sure if you ask he'll tell you though."
"I'm trusting you here." He said.
"You'd think you would after all these years." I smiled. "Why don't you go hang out with Steve and Sam? They'd probably love for you to join them."
"I don't want to."
"Steve's your best friend. You don't trust him?"
"Wouldn't you be a bit skeptical if Tony turned out to be Hydra and was dead, and then came back and said everything was cool?"
"Maybe for a few minutes. Just give them a chance."
"You're gonna let them stay here and risk your kids' lives?"
"I wouldn't let them if I thought it dangerous. You've got some major trust issues, Buck." I smiled.
"Wonder why." He smiled a little bit.