The Child of Winter ~ Book 1

7. Old Skeletons

Objective: Stay alive.

Date: 15 December 2016

Steven dreaded getting out of his bed on that beautiful winter morning. First, it was his birthday today and everyone wanted to throw him a party. Secondly, his training regime was tougher than the one he had had to complete in Hydra!

His father pushed him to the limits of his endurance each and every day, asking for more and more when Steven was ready to collapse. Bucky told him over and over again that he'd thank him one day; however, that day seemed to be years away at this point because Steven hated it.

He buried himself under his bed covers and sighed as the warmth lulled his body back towards sleep, but a knock on the door shattered his hopes of being left alone. His voice sounded scratchy as he threw the covers off of himself and yelled, "Be just a moment!" Steven clambered into some jeans and a t-shirt that had the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo on it before opening the door.

Peggy literally tackled him to the floor as she yelled, "Happy seventeenth birthday, Steven!!"

Steven chuckled as he gently tried to get free of her grip, "Thanks for the happy birthday wishes, Peggy. Could you please let me sit up now?"

"Oh! Of course," she said, scrambling off of him and shoving a beautifully wrapped box into his chest. Her eyes glittered in the light of the hallway as she exclaimed, "Open it!"

A yawn prevented Steven from responding right away as he took the box from her and looked it over carefully. He then gently began to remove the wrapping paper and raised an eyebrow at the plain cardboard box, "Is this a bomb?"

Peggy laughed and shook her head, "No, silly! Open it already, I want to see your expression!"

"You're not inspiring much confidence, Peggy," Steven said as he gingerly opened the box. His breath caught in his throat as he saw what lay inside: His very own I.D. card.

All the Avengers had their own I.D. cards to access the elevators and to get into the room where the weapons were kept; however, Tony had been reluctant for Steven to be in possession of one due to his past. Now, here was his with a photo of him in the upper right hand corner on it and everything.

"Well? Are you surprised?" Peggy inquired after a moment of silence.

All Steven could do was nod slowly. He gingerly placed it in his new wallet, given to him by Bucky, and marveled at it. His eyes met Peggy's after a moment as he whispered, "Thank you."

She waved off his thanks, "It's Tony who you should be thanking. He was the one who programmed your card to grant you the ability to leave the tower, access the weaponry, and also to allow you access to the garage."

"What kind of vehicles are available for regular use?" Steven asked as he stood, helping Peggy up as well, before heading into the bathroom to brush his teeth and fix his rowdy hair.

Peggy stood in the doorway and began to rattle off the specific vehicles they were allowed to use, "Well, there's of course regular cars, a few motorcycles, and the limos that Tony uses. One of the motorcycles belongs to my dad, so that one is off limits... So, yeah. Nothing all that special."

"Back in Hydra, I normally used a motorcycle to get around," Steven said as he battled his hair with a comb. He finally gave up and put it up in a little ponytail before quickly brushing his teeth. Once he had deemed himself presentable, he faced Peggy and said, "Well, let's go see what today has planned for us, hmm?"

A gentle blush colored Peggy's cheeks as she followed him into the main living room... only to slam into Steven's back when he stopped dead in his tracks, "Ow! Why'd you stop?"