It's night now. Steve went straight to touch base with Lys about Evynne's condition, so I haven't been able to talk to him. Jason is asleep in my arms, the two of us in the room Artie gave him. He'll be okay, thankfully. Steve opens the door, leaning against the door frame. "Are you going to let him be alone?" he chuckles. I look back at him.
"I'm afraid that he won't be here in the morning. I'm afraid it's all some crazy dream," I sigh.
"We should talk. Let him sleep," Steve reminds me. I kiss Jason's forehead and reluctantly leave the room, following Steve to my room which is right across from Jason's. I shut the door behind us so we can have some privacy. "The board has changed, Annie," he remarks.
"I know that," I agree. "They lied to me. They let me believe this nightmare my head concocted. Even when I was stable they didn't bother telling me the truth."
"Lys told me it was Fury's orders," Steve points out. I nod, biting my lip.
"Does that do anything? He's playing us all. He has me keeping secrets and he's keeping the most important one from me. That drove us apart, Steve," I cry. He rests his hands on my arms.
"So what are you going to do now?" Steve asks. "This is your decision now, not anyone else's. If you want to leave and take care of Jason, I will understand."
"I want to help you, Steve. I want to be there, for you. I want to be there for Jason too, but… You know I never got to have both my parents be a family. Jason should have that change," I explain. Steve rests his forehead against mine.
"If you stay, I can't guarantee that it won't drive me crazy. I meant what I said the other day, Annie. I love you," Steve mutters. I close my eyes, leaning up to press my lips against his.
"This is my choice then," I whisper as I pull back slightly. He wraps his arms around me, pressing his lips back against mine more desperately than I did. We make out for a while like we can't breathe without the other near us. Finally Steve pulls back.
"I'm stopping here, Annie. It's been a long day. You need to get some rest," he pants. I nod, going to change into my pajamas. When I return, Steve is sitting in a chair looking at the picture I gave him. I crawl into bed quietly, and Steve gets up to join me. I don't even remember falling asleep.
In the morning we all sit in the dining room for breakfast. Jason is picking at his food, Wanda more quiet than normal. I guess she didn't think she'd be right back here. Mia is trying to get Jason to eat, but he just pouts. Steve sits next to me, staring at Nat and Sam. "We have our answer," Steve remarks.
"What are we going to do about it?" I ask, turning over to Jason. "Jasie, eat your food," I mutter. The boy looks up at me and finally complies. I look back over at the others.
"We need to get him," Steve replies.
"When do we leave?" Nat asks.
"The plane needs to be refueled before we do that," Sam adds. Steve thinks for a moment.
"We'll leave when we feel we should. I want to make sure Carper is relatively stable before we go. We need her ready to see Bucky," Steve explains.
"Would you guys mind if I stayed here?" I ask. "I can help with Evynne. She's trusting me. I can work with that."
"I have to say I agree. If Evynne trusts Annie, then we need to let them work together. Otherwise she won't get stable," Lys agrees. I raise an eyebrow at Steve.
"It's your call, Captain," I remind him.
"You should stay," he sighs. He looks over at Mia. "Can you join us?" he asks her. She looks up.
"I haven't been in the field for a while, but I should be able to help," she remarks.
"Go with him, Mia. It'll give you something to do," Lys orders. "Artie, make sure their plane is fueled. Carper is fairly stable right now. She needs a lot of rest, and a lot of nutrients. I have her on an IV at the moment. Annie can keep talking to her and maybe coax her to actually try and eat on her own. I think that she won't improve psychologically until Barnes gets her."
"Then it's settled. We'll leave tomorrow morning," Steve sighs. He gets up and stretches. I can see his shirt strain against his muscles. Damn, sometimes I wish I could just tear off all his clothes. I avoid these thoughts and look back down at Jason. He's actually eating now, which is good. I'm going to be cutting and fixing his hair after breakfast.
After taking care of Jason, I go to see Evynne. She's awake now, and very quiet. She looks at me. "They're going to leave tomorrow to get Barnes," I tell her. She smiles.
"I want to s-see the boy," she tells me. I bite my lip.
"If you eat some toast I can bring him in later. He's playing outside right now with his father. He needs the exercise. When you get a bit better you can go outside too," I explain, sitting next to the bed with a plate of toast in my lap.
"T-Toast?" she asks. I smile.
"You need to eat. Your body is a bit sick because they wouldn't give you enough food where you were. We can help with that. The IV there is helping some, but it's better if you can actually eat something," I reply. She nods slowly and then quickly. Her brow furrows as she looks at me.
"Do… D-Do you know my name?" she inquires softly. "Th-they wouldn't tell me. I-I've forgotten." I frown. She's been through more than I thought.
"Evynne Carper," I tell her. She mouths it and I hand her a piece of toast. "You've been with them for years, most of your life. You were younger than the boy, Jason, when they took you in." She holds the toast in her shaking hand. Hesitantly, she takes a bite. I rest a hand on her knee.
"I-I need J-James," she cries. Her breathing quickens and I try and hush her down.
"It's okay, Evynne. They're going to get him. It's all going to be okay," I assure. She takes another bite of toast, sniffling as she quiets down. It's going to be a long road, but I think it may be a bit easier than we originally thought. I leave shortly after she eats to go call Dad. I let him know what's going on and explain what we found out about Jason.
"I want to meet him," he announces.
"They're all leaving to find Barnes tomorrow. Steve will be gone for a bit. That's your best chance," I explain.
"Then I'll come tomorrow evening. How's Carper?" Dad asks.
"She's getting there slowly. I don't think it'll be easy, but it won't be hard either. She needs constant assuring just to get her to eat, but she's calmed down a lot," I answer.
"That's good. I'll see you soon," he sighs, hanging up.
"Was that your dad?" Artie asks. I nod. "How's he holding up?"
"He sounds fine," I reply with a sigh. "Evynne ate some toast. She wants to see Jason. I'm guessing that whatever Hydra did they at least let these two see each other."
"It'll be good then. She has some foundation to work with," Artie muses. He looks outside. "Go out with them. You have a chance to be a family. Enjoy it," he winks. I smile, walking out into the backyard. Steve is teaching Jason how to throw a ball. I almost wish this moment could last forever, but I know it never can.
A/N: I swear it's when the month changes I can best see what stories are most popular. This is one of them. So, we update. We have a lot of stuff in this chapter... Steve and Annie are slowly making up (which is adorable), and they finally get to get ready to save Bucky, plus Evynne is finally showing her tragic side (expect a lot of character growth with her. I swear it). Oh, and COULSON IS COMING! I'm excited. I am so excited. Next chapter has its witty moments and is one of my favorites. It does hold my favorite scene. On a side note, yes I adored the Civil War trailer and yes the Captain America side poster is my current phone background. Back to plot. Artie and Annie is my topic of choice this time. I love them as friends, but they aren't anything more and never will be. Just to get it out there, Artie does actually have a love interest. I'm not saying who but it's a thing. Trust me. I adore them. Now let's look ahead. Aside from Coulson, the team will be going to get Bucky (I will say that I cringe at realizing how this will differ from movie canon but hey what's done is done and I will eventually get things a little bit more on track). There will be reunions both expected and unexpected actually, but I'll leave that there. So, I hope you all enjoy this chapter and I really hope some of you decide to leave a review! Thanks!