Found Him
"Little Helper, are you ready?" Dr. Erskine asks from the doorway.
Luna looks up from her journal and gives the doctor a small smile, nodding her head. She had warmed up to the doctor a lot after their first meeting six months ago, she trusted him now knowing that he won't hurt her. She gets up from her spot on her bed, smoothing down her pale blue dress, then walks to the doctor and grabs his outstretched hand.
Dr. Erskine and Luna were in New York City, looking for the perfect person that is willing to take the Super Soldier serum that Dr. Erskine was creating to help the Alliance win the war against Germany and to talk with Howard Stark, to see how far he was at building the machine that would be used for the transformation for the super soldier. They were heading to one of the recruiting centers that was near the World Exposition of Tomorrow, since Howard was presenting to the public.
After taking a taxi to the recruiting center, they walk into the back that was their work room. Now the World Exposition of Tomorrow wasn't going to start for a few more hours, so not a lot of people were around.
"Little Helper, will you please sit up on the bed. I'm going to take another blood sample." Dr. Erskine said once they we're in the room.
Silently Luna hops onto the bed and waits patiently for him to bring the supplies over. While waiting she starts to play around with the locket that was around her neck. The locket is made of gold and silver metal wrapping around each other shaping into a heart. On the side of it was a key hole in the shape of a fancy 'S'.
After Dr. Erskine had gathered the supplies he would need, he walks over to the table that Luna was sitting on. He sees her playing with the locket again and knows that she is nervous, as she always get when he has to take some of her blood or anything really dealing with needles.
"Little Helper, would you tell me about your locket?" he asks her.
Luna looks up from her locket to the doctor with a knowing look, "I have already told you about my locket," she said in her soft voice.
"Yes you have, Little Helper. But I like when you tell me the story about your locket," he replies as he starts to clear a spot on her arm.
"Very well, if you want to hear it again," Luna said with a small smile.
Before she stared to tell the story again, a man she has never seen before walked into the room. The man had short dark brown hair and a mustache. He was in an expensive suit. Luna went stiff at the sight of the man since she had no idea who he was, but something about him seemed familiar to her. Dr. Erskine noticed her reaction and looks to where she was looking. Once he sees the man he understands her reaction. Gentle he places a hand on her shoulder to let her know that he was there.
"Ah, you must be Mr. Stark I presume." Dr. Erskine said as he faces the man.
The man smiles and walks over to the doctor, shaking his hand. "Yes I am but please call me Howard. I'm guessing that your Dr. Erskine."
"Yes, it is a pleasure to finally meet you." Dr. Erskine said. The he turns to Luna, "Little Helper, this is Howard Stark. Howard, this is my friend and Agent Carter's daughter."
Howard looks to the young girl, seeing the cautious look she gives him. Luna looks at Howard for a second then looks up at the doctor, searching his face to see if she was safe with this new man. After a few seconds of silent, Luna turns back to Howard and sticks her hand out to him.
"My name is Luna," she softly tells him as he gently shakes her hand.
"A beautiful name for a beautiful girl," he said with a kind smile as he gently kisses the back of her hand.
Luna was shock by his action but she could tell that he meant no harm to her. She giggled quietly as she took her hand back, instantly grabbing her locket again. Dr. Erskine smiled when he saw Luna and Howard interact together.
"Howard, I'm sure you are here with some of the plans for Project: Rebirth, yes?" the doctor asked as he looked to Howard.
"Yes, I am," Howard replies.
"Very well, we will discuss in a few minutes. I just need to finish my check up with Luna," he tells Howard.
Howard nods his head and steps to the side, saying, "Alright, would you like me to step out?"
Before the doctor could reply back Luna beats him, "No you can stay," she softly replies.
Dr. Erskine looks shocked at Luna's answer but doesn't voice it. Howard nods, smiling at Luna, then walks over to another table in the room, taking out stuff dealing with Project: Rebirth. Luna was surprised by her reaction to the idea of Howard leaving. She didn't understand why, but she felt safe with him here and terrified at the thought of him leaving.
Dr. Erskine grabbed the needle that he was going to use to draw some of her blood. Looking at Luna, he decided to distanced her again as he was trying to do before Howard showed up.
"Little Helper, will you still tell me the story of your locket again, please?" he asks her.
Luna looked at the doctor then glancing over to Howard to see him looking at some papers, but she could tell he was listening. Looking back to the doctor, she nodded.
"My locket once was my mother's. She had told me that my father made it for her and that it was one of a kind," Luna started to tell the story, looking at the locket in her hand. Dr. Erskine placed the needle into her arm and stared to pull some of her blood.
"This locket was the only thing my mother had of my father that they didn't take from her. When she gave me the locket, she told me that she was going to be forced to leave me. She said that if she could, she would stay with me and get us free but she was not strong enough. She had told me that my father was in the free land and that he didn't know about me but the locket he would recognize," Luna continued. Dr. Erskine pulled the needle out of her arm and Howard looks over to Luna and her locket listening to her story.
"She told me that he would have known about me if she had not gone to visit family after their honeymoon. She hadn't known that she was caring me until after she was taken by them. My mother believed that I would one day be free and go to the free land. With her locket, I will hopefully find my father." Luna finishes. She looks up from her locket to Dr. Erskine to see him putting her blood sample in a case. She glances over to Howard to see him already looking thoughtfully at her or really her locket.
Howard feels Luna's eyes on him and he looks up at her. After a few seconds of silent, Howard asks, "Luna, could I ask you a few questions about your locket?" Dr. Erskine looks up to Howard with curiosity and then his eyes widen when Luna nods her head.
"Does your locket have a photo of your parents?" Howard asks gently.
"My mother said that there is a photo of my father and her at their wedding, but I have never seen it." She replies softly.
"Why have you not seen the photo?" he asks next.
Luna is quite for a few seconds thinking if she should tell him. Her gut was telling her that she could trust Howard and Dr. Erskine with the knowledge she had on her locket. "My father made the locket and with it he made a key. A key that is as one of a kind as the locket is and my father has that key. That is how I'll know it is my father, when he can open my locket," she replies.
Howard pulls out his pocket watch and Luna see something dangling from the chain the watch was connected to. After a second, she realized that it was a little gold and silver key. She glances up at Howards face to see him looking thoughtfully at the key. She looks to Dr. Erskine and tilts her head to the door. Dr. Erskine realized that she was asking him silently to leave them alone.
"Howard, Little Helper, I will be back in a few minutes. I need to check on the people that enlisted so far for the Project: Rebirth," he makes up a reason to leave the room.
Once Dr. Erskine had left the room, Luna looks back at Howard. She was curious about the key that was hanging off the chain to his watch. She started studying Howards appearance and started to see similarities between them. They both had almost the same color hair, with Luna's being only a few shades lighter. Their noses were the same, as well as their skin color. She had a gut feeling that Howard was someone that was going to be very important to her and one thing Luna knows was that she could always trust her gut feeling.
"Howard?" Luna asks.
"Yes, Luna." Howard replies, looking up from the key to Luna.
"Where did you get that key?" she softly asks.
Howard looks down at the key again and replies, "I made this key. I made it with another piece. A locket that I had made for someone very special to me."
Luna stares at him, not really believing what she was hearing. There are only two reason why he would say that, one was that he was lying to her. He did hear her just tell her story about her locket. The second reason would be that he is telling the truth. If he was, then there is a possibility that he could be her father.
"Could I see your key?" she asks politely.
Howard is quiet for a few seconds, thinking if he should let her see his key. After a few more seconds, he walks over to where Luna is sitting. He takes the key off his watch chain and gently places the key in her hands. Luna turns the key around in her hands, studying it. The key was about the size of her pinky, it was made of gold and silver metal wrapped around each other. The end of the key wasn't jagged like others keys, but was shaped like a fancy 'S'.
Luna's breathe caught in her throat, as she looks between the key and her locket. Howard watches her quietly, wondering if it could be possible what he was thinking.
Luna slowly takes off her locket. Then after a second of hesitation, she slowly put the key into the locket. After another second of hesitation she tried to turn the key and it turn with the locket unlocking for the first time in almost 10 years.
Both Luna and Howard freeze when the locket clicks open, both from shock. Luna slowly opens the locket and see a little black and white photo of a man and woman. The woman she recognized was her mother, the man next to her, Luna knew was her father. The man looked like a younger version of Howard. Luna looks at the photo for a few more seconds before she lifts her head up to look at Howard.
"Are you my father?" she whispers.