Until the End (Just a Nurse Sequel)

//6//

Good morning my lovelies,

I hope your all well and staying safe. Just because I love you: here's an update :)

Love

E x

Published 20/01/21 @ early as fuck in the morning (actually it's nearly 10 lol)

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"Liv, Phillips wants to speak to you." Peggy gave up trying to reason with her best friend and just delivered the message she was sent with. Liv barely had it in her to get up, but she knew deep down that she had to be stronger than that. She was stronger than that. It was a fifteen-minute walk back to the office. Fifteen minutes of complete peace. The city sounds were drowned out by the plans being made in her mind. Plans to find a way to live without Bucky. She didn't even notice the rain soaking into her hair and clothes.

It was times like these when Liv missed the docks the most. All she wanted was to sit on her favourite deck, away from the flood of boats creating chaos in the main harbour. She wanted to sit and read and imagine Bucky wrapped around her, supporting her. Her feet were soaked by the time she rounded the corner to the road where the office was. She scarcely registered the frost forming about her toes. Her eyes were far too focused on the building she was supposed to be entering. Philips was waiting just past the doors, pretending to choose between two shoes.

Pausing to brace herself, Liv hesitated before the building. A firm hand gripped her arm abruptly and pulled her into the alley separating the Office from the department store beside it. The small woman's heart pounded. Peggy had taken her gun. She was practically defenceless. Charlie had just lost one parent. She couldn't risk him losing another. Muscle memory kicked into her defence as her back hit the wall. There was no force behind it, a mistake on her attackers part. Her knee instinctively connected with the man's crotch and her fist caught his throat as the man doubled over in pain. These were basic self-defence techniques any professional should have been able to overpower, yet her attacker wasn't even fighting back. Clearly, he was a mugging the wrong person. 

Liv grabbed the hand that reached to cup his neck, twisting it behind him and trapping him against the opposite wall to the one she'd hit.

"Liv, stop!" The man croaked out- his voice box having taken quite the hit. She furrowed her brow, recognising Steve's voice. That wasn't possible, she'd been with him only moments ago, he had been dressed in uniform and drowning his sorrows in the remains of a pub. This man was wearing civvies. She leant against the back of his knee to further her dominant position before relaxing, slightly, her death grip on the man's wrist and knocking his hat off his head. The man turned his head, displaying the profile of his face.

She jumped back in shock. Releasing her hold on the super-soldier.

"Steve?" she whispered as he turned to face her. He just nodded, giving her a minute to adjust herself to his presence. It was definitely Steve, but also somehow looked nothing like him. His hair, his skin, his jaw, it was all so different. His appearance wasn't the only unusual one, however, Liv too didn't look like herself. Instead, she looked a wreck, her clothes were dripping wet and her make up was smudged around her face. "I just saw you in other clothes-" she spluttered, still tipsy and very confused.

"I know you've had a lot to drink but I need you to focus. I have a lot to say but in a few moments the me you just saw is going to walk past this alley and I need to be gone when he does. Listen, meet me at your house as soon as you can. Go talk to Colonel Philips, then say you're going home for the day. I'll get Charlie from the nursery. Just get home as soon as you can. I can explain everything there."

"How drunk am I?" she whispered, staring at this Steve like he'd grown a new head.

"I need you to trust me- please. Don't tell anyone you saw me." His face was fierce with a desperate and yet serious expression. "I'll pick up Charlie and they'll call the office and give you a message and you'll know it's me." He didn't wait for her to reply, he just turned and walked away, lowering his hat and walking away quickly, but casually. She watched for a moment as he left as quickly as he'd appeared.

She had not planned on staying quiet about Steve acting strange until Philips directed her into a meeting room where Steve and Peggy were sat gloomily waiting with the other commandoes. Already in a daze, seeing Steve dressed in uniform, with his usual short hair cut, leaving her staring blankly at him for most of the meeting. Liv couldn't help herself from looking for the light wrinkles that Steve-with-the-hat had around his eyes. She opened her mouth to announce the encounter when Alice entered the room.

"Urgent phone call for Agent Barnes." Eyes shifted between the assistant and the agent and the phone by the door that was waiting for Liv. She cleared her throat, excusing herself in a mumble.

"This is Mrs Barnes?" she answered the phone, her eyes glancing across the numbers on the phone, mindlessly.

"Mrs Barnes, there's a Mr Rogers here collecting Charlie with a message for you." She turned, looking at Steve, who was looking back at her numbly.

"Alright," she breathed watching Steve, who wasn't used to her giving one-word answers.

"Liv," Steve's voice came down the phone, but the Steve she had eyes on hadn't moved a muscle. "I can take you to the docks."

"That's fine," she responded. She couldn't understand why she was trusting this man, who looked and sounded and claimed to be Steve Rogers, but she couldn't help it. "I'll come and collect him as soon as I can." She added, for the benefit of the waiting room.

"I'll see you at home." The line went dead and she listened to the long beep for a moment before putting the phone back down.

"Is everything alright, Liv?" Steve questioned. Concern so eloquently painted on her face that she almost came clean immediately.

"Charlie has a bug." She lied easily. "If it's alright with everyone, I'd like to excuse myself from the rest of the day." She didn't actually wait for anyone to respond before turning on her heels, just as casually as she'd seen mystery Steve do earlier. She left her car at the office, not trusting herself to drive. Instead, she sat silently in a taxi, squeezing her eyes closed to try and dampen the infestation of assumptions that were flying through her head.