Miss America: The Daughter of Steve Rogers

Chapter 16

Before I realize it, I'm standing outside the Parker residence. Slowly raising my fist to knock on the door.

A few seconds go by, and the door opens. It's May.

"Hi! It's Emerson, right?" She greets me with a warm smile.

"Yes ma'am." I smile back.

"You here to see Peter?" She then leans her head back and calls for him. "Peter!"

"Yeah, May?" I make out his voice.

"Someone's here to see you!" She turns back around with a big smile and opens the door for me to step in. I chuckle and walk into the apartment.

"May, who's at the-" Peter stops what he's doing and widens his eyes. Dropping his controller, he then speaks into the microphone of us headset. "Ned, I'm gonna have to sign off for a second."

"Wait, Peter-" I hear from the headphones, but the voice is cut off when Peter disconnects it.

"Emerson?" He questions. He then crosses his arms. "What, what are you doing here?"

"Can we talk?" I ask. He smiles and nods. I follow him back to his bedroom.

"So, what do you need?" He asks, quickly picking up his dirty laundry from the floor and throwing it in his closet.

"I actually wanted to talk about school." I tell him. He looks slightly confused as to why I came all the way here to talk about school.

"School?" He asks. "What about school?"

"Well, I've been thinking a lot about this, and I decided to enroll." I tell him, taking a seat on his bed that's half made.

"You came all the way here to tell me you're enrolling in a school?" He asks, still confused.

"Not just any school." I tell him. "Your school. Midtown High."

His eyes widen. "Oh." He takes a seat in his desk chair, looking almost discouraged.

"If you think it's a bad idea or you don't want me to go to the same school as you, that's totally fine..." I begin to ramble.

"No, I think it's a great idea." He tells me.

"You do?" I ask.

"Yeah, I mean think about how much fun we'd have!" He says. "And if people saw I was friends with Captain America's daughter, I would..." he trails off, noticing the look on my face after he mentioned my father.

It does still hurt when I think about him. I treasure the time I had with him, I just wish I had more.

"Em, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to-" I cut him off.

"No, Pete, it's okay. Really." I reassure him. "I just still miss him, that's all."

He gives me an apologetic look. "Sorry."

"Anyways..." I say, trying to change the subject. "I probably won't tell people I'm his daughter. That would be too overwhelming."

"You're right." He says. "Sorry."

"You gotta stop doing that." I chuckle.

"Doing what?"

"Apologizing." I tell him.

"Right, sorry." Then he realizes he said it again. "Sorry."

"You sound just like Bucky and Wanda." I sigh. "They think I'm some ticking time bomb of emotion that's just gonna blow at any moment."

"It's not that they expect you to, they just want to be there for you if you do." He tells me. "To let you know you're not alone."

"I've always done better on my own." I look him in the eyes.

"Is that really the case? Or were you never offered help when you needed it the most?" His words take me back.

Is he right? Is that why I've been trying to deal with all of my emotions myself instead of accepting the help I've been offered? Because for the longest time I was isolated from the world until needed.

Sure I had Bucky, but we were never kept in the same cell. And when we were together, it was usually under the control of Hydra.

"You're really out here asking the deep questions, aren't you?" I smirk at him to try and lighten the mood.

"May read a psychology book a few weeks back and it's all she's been talking about." He laughs.

"Oh..." I laugh. "So it's her fault your so wise."

"She is to blame." He shrugs his shoulders and laughs. "So are you moving to the city? Cause that would be a long commute from upstate to Midtown."

"Probably." I reply. "I'll have to figure that out. I would just get an apartment for myself, but my ID says I'm 16..."

Then May bursts into Peters room.

"Oh, we have an extra bedroom. You can just move in here!"

"May!" Peter exclaims. "Were you listening in on our conversation?"

"I couldn't help it." She shrugs. "So?" She looks to me, putting me on the spot.

"You're too kind, ma'am." I tell her. "But I can't ask that of you."

"Oh, nonsense." She seats her hand in my direction. "It's the least I could do after you helped save the world."

"I don't know...." I trail off.

"Please let us help!" She leans in. "Plus, it's so boring here with just Peter and I. He never wants to watch soap operas with me anymore."

I raise my eyebrows and look at Peter. "Anymore?"

"I never watched soap operas..." he tries to sound manly.

"Oh, sure you did." May says. "He loved the drama."

"May, I swear..." he puts his hands to his temples.

"Well, when you put it that way..." I trail off, looking at both of them. "How could I refuse?"

"Oh, this is going to be so wonderful! We can go to the boutique around the corner and decorate the guest bedroom however you want and..." she stops herself. She sees Peters wide eyes and he's mouthing the words 'get out' to her. "Oh, alright." She giggles. "We can talk about that later. You kids have fun." She goes to close the door, but then opens it back up slightly. "But not to much fun."

"Okay, that's enough May!" Peter is fed up with his obnoxious aunt, but I love it. I burst out laughing.

"I love her."

"You won't be saying that after a few days."