The Captain And The Black Widow(Next Avengers/MCU)

A Good Man + Family Hopes

***VA, New York***

The day went on and the time came for Sam, Steve, and Bucky to head the VA. Jamie joined them while Nikki stayed home with Natasha. Having missed her so much over the course of the past ten years, Nikki was taking every opportunity to have some "girl time" with her mom.

So, the three men and the teen arrived at the building and were greeted by Ray who was already there, and were introduced his father, John. Though to them, John seemed a bit...stoic. But they brushed it off.

Also there was Sam's sister, Sarah Wilson. Along with her sons, Sam's nephews, Cass and AJ. They had come to visit Sam for the weekend and also oversee the distribution of free meals from their family business. After the sessions, Sam had arranged for the vets to take precooked meals home, should they want them. A courtesy/token of appreciation so to speak.

It was a nice session, though. Many veterans vented, spoke their piece, shared their tragic memories and experiences. And when it was time, Sam spoke up and shared his philosophy. He sympathized with them that "it is hard to deal with the future when something from the past was so terrible, it threatens to chain us and hold us back forever." But he also mentioned how it's not impossible to move on.

"We all have recently experienced trauma on a global scale thanks to the Snap. For some of us, we were caught in it, and for others, you lost your family members." There was silent agreement in the room as they all listened to the hero, Falcon speak on, "But most of you are aware that a miracle happened that brought us all back. A group of young heroes, who too had lost greatly, rose up and found a way to bring us back. Despite how badly down they had been beaten. And these are kids, and two of them were actually my niece and nephew."

When Sam said that, he looked to said "nephew" and saw him smile. Jamie couldn't help but do so at hearing his Uncle Sam speak positively about what the Next Avengers had done. Some people didn't see it that way, but he knew his uncle was proud. So was his father who playfully nudged Jamie with his elbow, earning an even bigger smile from the teen.

"Now if these kids, at the most impressionable and vulnerable stages of their lives could rise up and carry on the good fight despite what had happened to them when they were just babies, then there is definitely hope for us older ones. No matter what your age, or how heavy the trauma you've suffered, there's always hope for you to come back from it and endure."

Mutterings and whispers could be heard within the audience, most of them in agreement with what Sam had just said. One in particular was really touched. He was a young kid, same as Jamie, who wanted to help people. Just like Jamie. That kid was none other than Rayshaun Lucas.

Having heard Sam's speech and how he spoke highly of the Young Avengers, he felt inspired. And a thought came to him in the form of a question; could he do what those other youths did? Could he possibly do acts of heroism?

These were on Shaun's mind the rest of the session.

When it was finally over, everyone got a Wilson Family meal and began to head out. 

Except Shaun, he held back and thanked Sam for giving a good speech. This soon led to them chatting with Steve and Jamie.

But Sam had to go check on his family and left them to continue the chat.

"Hey, what're you doing tomorrow?" Jamie asked Shaun.

The dark teen thought for a moment before replying.  "Tomorrow? Uh...nothing that I know of just yet."