"James stop!" Lucy Rogers screamed from the basement of her house. She and her twin brother, James, were playing a game in their playroom. As usual, their game of "good guy vs. bad guy" turned violent. James currently had his sister pinned down on the floor. "Get off of me James!" Lucy continued to scream.
"No way, you said that I wasn't stronger than you. How about now?" the boy teased.
"You're still not as strong as me James. I'm as strong as Mama," Lucy retorted.
"Yeah well I'm as strong as Daddy, and he's stronger than Mama," James said, sticking his tongue out at his sister.
"Don't let your mother hear you say that," an alien voice said from behind the wrestling ten-year olds. Both children turned their heads to look at their father. "And what did I tell you two about being violent?" Steve warned as he moved to pull his son off of his daughter.
"Sorry Daddy, but James started it. He was teasing me," Lucy said through puppy dog eyes as she stood up and met her father's gaze.
"Is this true James?" Steve said sternly, shifting his gaze to the blond-haired boy.
"Yes Daddy, it's true. I guess I started it, I'm sorry," James said, casting his gaze to the floor.
"James, go to your room, you and I need to have a talk. Lucy, your mother just came home with groceries, go help her put them away," Steve instructed.
"Yes Sir," James and Lucy said in unison as they went off, obeying their father.
James sat with his feet dangling over the edge of his bed. His attention was pulled to his bedroom door as it opened and his father appeared. Steve approached his son and took a seat next to him on the bed.
"Are you mad at me Daddy?" James asked innocently, avoiding his father's eyes.
"No James, I'm not mad at you," Steve started, placing an arm around his son's shoulders. "We just need to have a chat, man to man," Steve said softly as he met his son's gaze. The resemblance between James and Steve was striking, as many have pointed out. James had the same glacier-blue eyes as his father, with similar light blond hair. Steve was also surprised to find that James' hair didn't have any traces of Natasha's red in it.
"Okay," the boy replied, smiling slightly.
"James, I know that you would never intentionally hurt your sister, right?"
"No Daddy, I would never mean to hurt Lucy. Not really hurt her, just play."
"Good. Listen, I know that right now you and Lucy are just playing, but one day, you're going to be bigger than her. Not necessarily stronger than her—but you need to be careful."
"What do you mean," James questioned, his brow furrowing like his mother's.
"James, I want you to make me a promise. This is what I'm asking of you."
"Okay, what?"
"Promise me that you'll always protect your sister," Steve said seriously.
"I will Daddy, but why? Lucy doesn't need my help."
"James, please just promise me. You're Lucy's brother. You need to look out for her and be the man that I know you are. Stand up for her because trust me, your sister is just like your mother. She may look tough on the outside, but you'll never know how badly she's hurting on the inside. Do you understand now?" Steve said sincerely.
"Yes I understand Sir. And I promise, that I will always look out for Lucy. I will always protect her," James said honestly, looking into his father's eyes.
"Good," Steve replied, ruffling his son's hair. "Now go and help your mother with those groceries."
"But I don't want to go Mama," Lucy complained from the backseat of the SUV.
"I don't want to go either," James added. "You should listen to us Mama, we're actually agreeing on something."
"Sorry guys, you're going to school," Natasha Romanoff said from the driver's seat. This warranted two loud groans from the backseat. "Do you two know what? School is important. If you want to be successful, you're going to need a good education. Trust me. Lucy do you want to be a good spy one day? And James do you want to be a good soldier?"
"Yes Mama," the twins replied at the same time.
"Then you need to use your intelligence to be good. There's no getting out of it. Understand?"
"Yes," the two ten-year olds groaned at the same time.
"Mama, what did you learn in school when you lived in Russia?" Lucy innocently asked.
Natasha's eyes widened at her daughter's question as memories came flooding back into her head. Of course, she hasn't explained much of her past to her children. They weren't prepared for that. "I'll explain it to you another time sweetheart," Natasha said dismissively as she pulled up in front of the private elementary school that her children attended.
"Okay, I guess," Lucy said as she and James began to exit the car.
"Have a good day you two! I love you guys," Natasha said with a wave as she watched her children disappear into the building. "Be careful, please," she said to herself as she pulled away and off to the Triskelion.
"Hey gorgeous," Steve said as he entered the conference room where his wife was waiting. He strolled over to her and took her slender form in his arms.
"Hey there soldier," she said playfully, placing a tender kiss on his lips. "What's on our agenda today? "
"The usual file sorting. Fury doesn't have any missions currently—" Steve was abruptly cut off as Natasha's phone started ringing. She checked the caller ID to see that it was James and Lucy's school calling. She showed Steve the screen then walked to the corner of the room to take the call.
"Hello?"
"Hi, is this Mrs. Rogers? I'm calling on behalf of you children," the receptionist informed.
"Yes this is she. Is something wrong? Are James and Lucy okay?" Natasha asked, suddenly concerned.
"They're alright, it's just that they were involved in a fight with a few other students. Well, mainly your daughter was involved. I need you to come in to the school and discuss this with the principal."
"What? Okay, I'll be there with my husband as soon as I can," Natasha cut off the receptionist sharply. Before she could blink, Steve was at her side.
"What's the matter? Are the kids okay?" Steve questioned hurriedly, worry embedded in his voice.
"I don't know Steve. All she said was that James and Lucy—mainly Lucy—were involved in some sort of fight. We have to get down there right away. Come on, let's go tell Fury."
Steve and Natasha were directed to the nurse's office and all but ran there. Natasha was the first to burst through the doors.
"Mama!" Lucy said, jumping up from the bench she sat on and into her mother's arms.
"What happened дорогой," Natasha said empathetically, using her daughter's childhood nickname. "Are you alright? Where's James?" Natasha spat out all at once.
"James is still with the nurse, they won't let me in," Lucy began with a pout that was an exact replica of her mother's.
"Lucy, tell us what happened," Steve said softly as he sat down on the bench and pulled his daughter into his lap.
"Some boys at lunch were making fun of James because they didn't believe that Captain America is our dad. And these boys named Jack and Hunter wouldn't stop teasing him about it. So I went over to make them stop. But then Hunter started making fun of James even worse, saying that he needed his sister to defend him. The Jack pushed James to the ground, and James didn't even try to fight back! So then I sort of punched Jack in the face," she paused to take a breath. "And then I punched Hunter in the nose and they still wouldn't leave us alone, so I didn't stop hitting them. I didn't hurt them too badly."
"Okay Lucy we are going to talk about this more at home. But thank you for being honest," Steve said.
Natasha, upon observing her daughter, couldn't find any visible injuries, but was still concerned all the same. "Are you hurt sweetheart? It looks like you have blood on your shirt," the spy asked tenderly.
"I'm fine Mama, that's Jack's blood. I just hurt my knuckles, but besides that I'm fine," Lucy said, holding up the backs of her hands. True to her word, her knuckles were red and swollen. They would definitely turn into bruises by tomorrow. Just then, the door to the nurse's office swung open and James emerged.
"James!" Natasha exclaimed as she practically ran towards her son. He was silent, but met his mother's embrace, burying his head into her clothes and latching on.
"I patched him up for now," the nurse began, "but he split his chin open pretty good. That's going to need a couple of stiches so I would take him to get those after you're done here. Besides that, he just has some cuts and bruises. And you can go in to see the principal now, he's waiting. "
"Okay, thank you nurse," Steve said politely as he guided his family to the principal's office.
The family of four sat in chairs in front of Principal Richmond's desk as they awaited his arrival. James was silent, and still practically clinging to Natasha. Lucy sat next to Steve as he triple checked that she didn't need any medical attention. Everyone's attention was drawn towards the door as it opened. In walked Principal Richmond, two boys who had to be Jack and Hunter, and four more parents. The principal took a seat behind his desk to address his audience.
"I understand that the Rogers children here have had an incident with Jack and Hunter," he began. "Hunter, will you please explain to me what happened?"
"Yeah, sure. Jack and I went to ask James to play with us during recess. But then he started making fun of us and calling us names. He was saying that he could beat anyone up. Then he called his sister over and they started attacking us!" the ten year old explained. "Lucy broke my nose in one punch, and then took out Jack's knees after she punched him in the face," Natasha applauded her daughter internally.
"That's not true! I did break his nose and everything, but the reason he gave is a lie." Lucy exclaimed passionately.
"Okay Miss. Rogers, calm down please. Now tell me your side of the story.
Lucy retold the story that she had told her parents minutes before—almost word for word.
"I have come to a decision," Principal Richmond began. "Since none of these children here have a history of bad behavior, I'm going to let this little scuffle slide. But if anything like this ever happens again, there will be big consequences. Am I making myself clear?" The children all (begrudgingly) apologized to each other and were sent home for the weekend.
The family arrived home after a quick trip to the hospital so James could get his chin stitched up.
"Lucy, please go and wait in your room. Your mother and I need to discuss a few things and decide on your punishment.
Lucy knew better than to argue with her father, so she mumbled a quick "Yes Sir," before stalking off to her room. James hadn't said a word to his parents the entire time, and wasn't looking forward to the proximate conversation.
"James, why didn't you fight back?" both Natasha and James were taken aback by Steve's first question.
"Because I didn't want to be the bad guy. I just want to get along with everyone. But I didn't want to back down and walk away either. That's not what you guys would do," the blond replied solemnly.
"James, I understand where you're coming from. But sometimes, you have to sick up for yourself," Steve replied, feeling bad for his son.
"Is that why you're mad at Lucy?" Natasha cut in.
"How do you know that I'm mad at her," James asked in a surprised tone.
"Honey, I'm a spy. I can read you like an open book. Now tell me please, why are you mad at Lucy?"
"Because I'm supposed to protect her! She's my little sister, if only by six minutes. She shouldn't be the one that needs to defend me; I'm the one that's supposed to stick up for her. I made Daddy a promise that I would!" James said fervently as tears began to fall from his eyes.
"James, you have to realize that you were protecting Lucy. You made it so that she didn't get in trouble. She's not hurt and you did your job. And remember that your sister is exactly like your mother. She's tough, and she can take care of herself if she needs to," Steve replied, stroking his son's hair. "Now I want you to go get your sister and go play okay? We're not going to punish you this time, but I don't want any more phone calls home from school, understand?"
"Yes Daddy, I understand. Thank you for understanding and believing us. Lucy and I are telling the truth," James said pointedly, wiping his wet cheeks.
"I know, and we believe you. Now go play with your sister...gently," the spy added.
Natasha spoke to her husband when James was out of earshot. "Well, I'm glad that they have an uncontrollable urge for honesty like you," she said, wrapping her arms around Steve's waist.
"Me too," he replied, planting a kiss on her head. "But how about Lucy, breaking that kid's nose in one shot! We'll have to give her credit for that one, it's pretty impressive," Steve said with a boyish smile.
"Oh Rogers," Natasha sighed, leaning her head against her husband's chest. "What are we going to do with the two of them?"
