Peggy woke up in the hospital. She saw Steve at her bedside preying that she would be okay.
Peggy reached for his hand slowly, then patted his hand gently. He looked up at her.
"You're okay?" he said as if he didn't believe what he was seeing.
She nodded.
"They didn't think you were gana make it. You lost a lot of blood from the gun shots, and you hit your head."
"i`m fine, steve. i`m okay."
He hugged her.
"Where is Amelia?" Peggy asked.
"She is completely unharmed. After you passed out the hydra agents fled. Howard, who apparently was hiding in his office the whole time, called me and I brought Amelia back home. Adam is watching her now at our house. I wish I could have been there I would have protected you."
"I don't need you to protect me, I can do that on my own." Peggy told Steve.
Steve sighed.
"I know you can. But you know you're getting older and-"
"Excuses me? I'm the same age as you are!"
"No I didn't mean it in a bad way! It's just…you know the serum keeps me…able to handle bad guys and wounds but you're getting older so your body can't handle the same things it did when you were 20, you know it's like-"
"You better stop talking now, before I make you sleep on the couch tonight."
He laughed.
"I'm sorry."
"You still don't know a bloody thing about women."
"Well I know I love you, Peggy."
She smiled at him and looked into his blue eyes.
"I love you too." She caressed his cheek. Then he kissed her.
A week later. That same year.
"I`m telling you I know what I saw!" Peggy argued.
"Well I'm telling you your wrong!" Steve replied. "Bucky is dead. I saw him fall to his death! There was nothing left of him…and you think he`s walking around fighting for Hydra?"
"Don't you think it's weird that they never found his body?"
"oh so then the conclusion must be that he fell from 100 hundred feet, lived and got right up and signed up for Hydra!" he replied sarcastically.
"Look I don't know why or how he is a part of Hydra…but I know what I saw! It was him!"
"You hit your head when you passed out, maybe it made you see things that weren't there."
She shook her head in disapproval. Then took her car keys.
"I'm going to work." Peggy said.
Steve plopped onto the couch. His brother was at the house watching some documentary on the Civil War.
"You agree with me, right?" Steve asked Adam.
"Agree with you on what? Is the `perfect couple` finally fighting?"
He rolled his eyes.
"She thinks she saw Bucky attack her, that day at shield. She says he was the one who shot her, that he took Amelia as a hostage."
"That impossible, Bucky's dead."
"That's what I told her!"
"Unless…" Adam said slowly.
"Unless what?" Steve asked curiously.
"well in science fiction stories they always have tales of people achieving the impossible and these hydra guys have a lot of crazy technology, so maybe they brought him back somehow and brainwashed him."
"Adam, those are fiction."
"It could happen! I mean and why Peggy would lie about something like this, she knows Bucky was your best friend. I mean it's worth looking into."
Steve nodded.
"I guess you're right."
Steve began to walk away.
"Steve." Adam called.
He turned toward his brother.
"Yeah?"
"This is kind of hard for me to say. You know me I don't like to be a Burdon…but I lost my job. They replaced me with a very skilled and more intelligent teacher and now…I don't have any money and I don't have a place to stay. So I was kind of hoping-"
"You can stay here." Steve said instantly.
"Are you sure? You don't want to think it over? I mean you got a family to worry about too."
"I know, but your my brother and no matter what I'm going to be here for you and protect you."
Adam smiled.
"Thanks."
Steve went into Amelia`s room to wake her up. He saw her tossing and turning frantically. Steve gently shook her awake. She screamed in terror from her nightmare. Then hugged her father, crying onto his shoulder.
"You're okay, don't worry. It was just a nightmare." Steve assured her.
"No it wasn't, daddy!" Amelia shouted. "Every time I close my eyes I see that man`s face, The one who tried to kill me! Mommy told me nothing bad would happen! She said I'd be safe! But she lied to me!"
"Amy, she didn't lie to you. She told you to stay in the room and you would be safe-"
"And that's what I did! I opened the door but I didn't come out! I did what she told me and I almost got killed. How can I trust her now?"
"Amy, you just got to. She`s your mom, she doesn't want you to get hurt. She loves you very much."
"She lied to me and when I needed her most she couldn't protect me."
"Amy! Those aren't nice things to say! She did what she could to protect you. Go get ready for school." Steve told her.
Steve started to walk away. Amelia ran over to Steve and held onto his leg.
"Daddy! No please don't leave me!" Amy shouted as tears came down her face.
"Amy! You have to go back to school this week, and I have to go to work."
"Daddy! I don't want to be by myself what if the man comes and tries to hurt me again! I need you to protect me! I need you with me!" she sat on the floor. "Don't you care about me, daddy?"
Steve hugged his daughter.
"Amy, of course I care about you." He told her.
"Then stay with me."
"okay." He replied. He kissed her head. "I promise I won't let anyone hurt you."
Amy ran into the living room with her favorite teddy bear and began to have a tea party with invisible cups and tea pots.
Steve sat on the couch. Adam doesn't even notice Steve he is too into watching the Twilight Zone.
"Amy doesn't want me to leave because she is scaried and she doesn't trust Peggy anymore." Steve told Adam.
"That's rough, man."
"Seriously that's all you can give me?"
"I gave you advice on the Bucky issue, I`m not a walking advice machine. So solve your own problems for once."
Meanwhile, Peggy decided to go snooping around at a Hydra base for proof that Bucky was alive. She entered the base disguised as one of the hydra agent. It was a new invention Howard had made but the change would only last for 30 minutes, so she had to be quick. She quickly found a room labeled "file room". She entered and saw a whole room filled with filling cabinets. She looked through the cabinets and found one that was label A-E. she looked for Bucky`s file, as she found it she grabbed it and hid it under her jacket. She looked at her watch she had less than a minute. She ran out of the room and suddenly she turned back.
"Somebody get her!" an agent yelled.
"Oh damn it!" Peggy murmured. As the agents came toward her she kicked on in the jaw. Another one she punch in the gut. Then she took out her gun and shot a few of them. She kept fighting until she was near an exit. She ran out and quickly got herself back to shield.