Sam Wilson had just gotten back from his evening run and was currently draped over the counter gasping for breath when his phone rang. He pulled the device from his pocket and, upon seeing his sister's name on the caller ID, answered with a raspy, "Yell-o."
"Sam," was all Shauna managed before Sam straightened up, the hairs on the back of his neck rising as he heard the slight wobble in her voice.
"What's wrong?" he demanded.
"Marcus fell off the ladder trying to clean the rain gutter and broke his arm. We have to go get it set and I can't get a hold of the babysitter—"
Sam leaned his head all the way back and stared at the ceiling in relief. He barely managed to refrain from saying, Is that all?, since, for his sister, this was a huge deal but it wasn't nearly as bad as the situations he had been imagining. "What do you need me to do?"
"I know you don't set bones anymore," she began and, although she was miles away, Sam nodded. While he could do it in an emergency, there were others far better equipped to do it properly not far from Shauna's house. "So can you come sit with Nina for a few hours? We checked online and it doesn't look like ER wait times are too long. You'd really be helping us out."
"I'm on my way," Sam promised, grabbing his keys and heading for the door.
Thirty minutes later, he pulled up to his sister's house in Arlington, parking on the street and sliding the pass Shauna had given him last year onto his rearview mirror so he wouldn't get ticketed. He grabbed his go-bag out of the trunk, locked the car, then walked quickly to the old-fashioned mahogany door.
Before he could knock, the door swung open and he was pulled into a large hug. "You're the best big brother ever," Shauna muttered into his shoulder, her voice thick with repressed emotion.
"Tell me something I don't know," he said in an attempt to lighten the mood. Sure enough, as his sister pulled away, he saw the corner of her mouth lift ever so slightly.
"Hey Sam," Marcus said from further inside the house. He was standing in the center of the entryway, cradling his right arm against his chest. It was already in a sling that had seen better days with a large ice pack sitting on top of his forearm.
"Hey yourself," Sam shot back, walking over to where Marcus was standing and squeezing his good shoulder in lieu of a handshake. "Don't you know you're not supposed to fall off those things?"
Marcus shrugged, then winced as the motion jarred his arm. "I tried man. That only made it worse."
Before Marcus could explain all the details, Sam asked, "Where's Nina?"
Marcus tilted his head back slightly to indicate she was standing behind him. Sam nodded and took another step forward, now able to see a little girl in purple pajamas holding on to the back of her dad's leg.
"Say hi to Uncle Sam, sweetie," Shauna coached.
Nina rolled her head in Sam's direction without it ever losing contact with Marcus' leg. From this angle, Sam could see her red-rimmed eyes as well as the stuffed animal, whose exact species had been lost many washes ago, tucked under her arm. "Hi," she mumbled before burying her face back into her dad's pant leg.
Knowing he had to act quickly, Sam whistled through the gap in his teeth. "Look at you," he began, dropping to his knees. "Last time I saw you, you were only about this tall." He held his hand up about a foot and a half off the ground, expecting the girl to react by vivaciously declaring she had never been that short but she didn't so much as look over to see how high up his hand was.
Sam looked over at Shauna who mouthed "she's tired". Sam just nodded then motioned that his sister should probably get going, as the situation wasn't looking like it was going to get any better.
It was Shauna's turn to nod before she knelt down beside her daughter and tapped her fingers under Nina's chin to get her to look toward her mother.
"Daddy and I have to go to the grown-up doctor now," Shauna told her daughter who shook her head and shifted further behind Marcus.
"Don't go, daddy," she muttered.
"We talked about this sweetie. We'll be back before you know it."
"No!" she exclaimed with the first real emotion Sam had seen all night. She then wrapped her arms around Marcus' leg, interlacing her hands on the other side so her grip couldn't be broken.
The corner of Shauna's mouth quirked slightly with mild annoyance as she looked up at Marcus and motioned for him to give it his best shot.
"Daddy has an owie, Nina," Marcus said slowly, twisting his neck so he could look down at her. "The doctor is going to make it better. You want daddy to get better don't you?"
"Yes," Nina ground out after a long moment though her tone suggested otherwise.
"Then you stay here with Uncle Sam and I'll be back in no time."
"When's 'no time'?" Nina asked.
"As soon as I can, baby," he replied, reaching down with his good hand and flicking her pigtails. She stared up at her father for a long moment then detached herself from his leg.
"I love you Neens." Marcus said, kissing his hand then resting it on her cheek.
As he grabbed his jacket, Shauna gave her daughter a quick hug then stood and said to Sam, "She's already had dinner but there's snacks on the counter if she gets hungry. Don't worry about a bath tonight. Just get her to bed by eight."
"No problem Shauna," Sam replied, following them to the door and locking it behind them.
He then turned back to Nina, who hadn't moved from the center of the room, one arm still wrapped tightly around her stuffed animal. Her chin began to quiver and Sam knew he only had a moment before the waterworks started.
"So what do you want to do kiddo?" he asked, gesturing widely with his hands to symbolize the many possibilities. "We could watch a movie, or play a game, or read a book?"
As much as she obviously didn't want to, her eyes lit up at the promise of a book. Sam latched onto that and continued, "I think we should read a book. What about you?"
The girl considered this for a long and dramatic moment then nodded. "Okay, I go get one."
Nina tossed Sam the stuffed animal then sprinted upstairs, holding on tightly to the handrail. Less than a minute later, she was back, walking down the stairs much more slowly since she was holding a large leather-bound book with two hands. She didn't even pause when she hit the first floor, instead heading straight for the living room where two large stuffed recliners sat facing a television. She launched the book onto the seat then climbed up herself, patting the area beside her for Sam to sit.
There wasn't enough room for the two of them despite Nina's small frame, so Sam effortlessly picked her and the book up, sat down first and settled his niece into his lap, sliding the stuffed animal back under one of Nina's arms. She immediately hugged it and dropped a kiss on its greyish head.
"Once Upon A Time?" he asked, taking his first good look at the reddish book.
Nina nodded, bouncing up and down, showing excitement for the first time since Sam had arrived. To avoid a groin injury, Sam shifted her onto one leg, then opened the thick book cover.
"Once upon a time, there was a little girl. She had lips red as the rose, hair black as ebony and skin white as snow."
"Snow White!" Nina cheered, jabbing a finger at the full page picture opposite the text.
"That's right," Sam praised. He then proceeded to read about Snow White's early years, including her friendship with Johanna and her losing her mother on her birthday. This incredibly sad start initially gave Sam pause until he realized that this happened in the Disney movie as well, which he was sure Nina had seen, so, after ensuring his niece wasn't the least bit upset, he mentally shrugged and kept going.
From there, the story continued as Sam expected with Snow's father taking The Evil Queen's hand in marriage, but he was surprised by some of the added details such as the fact that this engagement had occurred after Regina saved Snow from a wild horse, that Regina was already engaged to a stable boy named Daniel, and that Snow excitedly shared this news with Cora, Regina's mother, who proceeded to have Daniel killed in order to have her daughter marry royalty.
"What kind of book is this?" Sam asked in concern, flipping to the opening pages to read the publisher's information and possibly any author's notes warning small children away from this dark tale.
"A good one!" Nina said, bouncing wildly until Sam tightened his grip on her middle and brought her to a stop.
She glared at him over her shoulder and must have seen his concerned expression, for she turned completely around and cupped her hands around his face. "Don't worry Uncle Sammy," she said seriously. "Snow and Regina become bestest friends in Storybrooke. They gots Henry to look after."
Sam flipped back to the page he had just read aloud and scanned it quickly. "Who is Henry?"
"You'll find out." Nina giggled. "Keep reading! Keep reading!"
Sam reluctantly did as she asked and learned how Regina then vowed to ruin Snow who, many years later, had fallen in love with Prince Charming and was expecting a child: The Savior, the author called her. On the day the child was born and subsequently sent through a wardrobe to another world, Regina cast a curse sending the entire Enchanted Forest to a town in Maine called Storybrooke where the characters lived in a time warp, not knowing who they truly were, until The Savior returned to the town to make things right. After that, it was a lot of 'good triumphs over evil' with the not-really-that-evil switching to the right side in the end to protect the town against the other villains that lived in Storybrooke.
"The end?" Sam read when he came to the last page of the first chapter, saying it as more of a question than a statement.
"Next chapter please," Nina encouraged, flipping the page and pointing excitedly at the title. "Read about Emma."
Even though he was concerned about the unpleasant arc this chapter might take, Sam knew this was better than Nina's tears. Mentally justifying it with the fact that his sister must have bought the book and had therefore okayed its content, he proceeded to read chapter after chapter of fairy tale characters, all of which followed the same pattern: after a brief origin story in the Forest, the majority of the chapter was spent depicting their struggles living in modern-day Storybrooke. While Nina had initially been very excited and alert, with every page she sagged more and more against his chest until Sam was sure she was asleep.
He had closed the book less than halfway when he heard Nina drowsily mumble, "Keep...going…" Before she could wake up further, Sam quickly threw the book back open and continued reading about Little Red Riding Hood whose alter-ego was a werewolf named Ruby, Jiminy Cricket who was a psychologist named Archie, and Cinderella who was a "Mommy and Me" yoga instructor named Ashley, happily married to none other than Prince Thomas.
He heard Nina's breathing steady out but, not wanting to risk her waking fully, flipped to the next chapter to find a full-page picture of a father and daughter playing in the woods. Sam did a double take as he squinted at the father's face. While he read the intro to Jefferson and Grace's tale, he managed to pull out his phone with his left hand and snap a picture, captioning it, Found this in a weird-ass children's book. Look familiar? He grinned then sent the message in the Avengers' group chat.
He was about to continue the story when he heard a faint snoring coming from his chest and looked down to Nina officially conked out. He left his phone on the chair and slowly carried Nina up to her room, laying her down in her bed and arranging the stuffed animal right beside her.
"Good night sweetie," he whispered as he pulled the covers up to her shoulders and kissed her on her forehead.
After leaving the door cracked slightly open so he could hear if Nina got restless, Sam headed back downstairs and checked his phone to find a text from Bucky. The message itself was filled with profanity but the gist of it was, What the hell?
I know right? Sam sent back with a 'laughing so hard I'm crying' emoji.
Where did you find that? Steve asked a second later.
One of Nina's storybooks. Looks just like Bucky, doesn't it?
If we fluffed out his hair, Natasha replied with a laughing emoji of her own. I think we should try it...for an accurate comparison.
Stop it, all of you, Bucky responded, followed by a knife emoji.
You love us, Bucky, Natasha was bold enough to say.
Sam sat back in the chair and quickly skimmed the rest of Jefferson and Grace's origin story.
Apparently you're the Mad Hatter who uses his hat to ferry people between worlds. Yes, worlds, plural. You read that correctly. This book is weird, Sam typed out. He'd originally wanted to add the Storybrook component before sending but, after reading the rest of the chapter and discovering how Jefferson was cursed with remembering their old life while his daughter lived on with another family, oblivious of his existence, he decided against it since Jefferson's story hit a little too close to home.
He thumbed the Send button, then, since his curiosity was piqued, scanned the rest of the book to see what other fairy tales had been modified. He made it about another fourth of the way through the book when he spotted another familiar face.
There's one of you too, Clint, Sam wrote, snapping a picture of the illustration of Clint and a deadly-looking woman, each with an assortment of guns and knives strapped to their bodies. The woman had a crossbow draped easily over her shoulder which was supposed to give the reader the impression she was comfortable using it. Sam quickly perused that chapter then added to the image: Looks like Hansel and Gretel grew up to be Witch Hunters.
What the heck are you reading your niece? Clint was quick to respond.
I don't know, man. She loves it though. She's out like a light.
I want to know why you're not carrying the crossbow, Bucky helpfully wrote.
I don't know. Ask Sam, he's the expert in all of this...Maybe in that universe the crossbow is an inferior weapon, Clint replied.
Sam winced as he read, knowing Clint had set himself up for a very particular response, all the while hoping no one would rise to the bait.
Unfortunately Bucky did: Or she's better than you.
Clint's response consisted of a lot of swear words and a graphic description of what Bucky should do next.
Sounds like some full-on Grimms shit, Clint added a second later, his words obviously directed at Sam. You sure she likes it?
Cross my heart. The sad part is, I haven't even told you the 'best' parts. Sam then summarized the death and rezombification of Daniel and the tragic life of Neil, father of Emma's son, Henry.
You read this to her as a bedtime story? Steve chimed in, using asterisks to emphasis the word 'bedtime'.
I mean, I glossed over the worst of it. I'm not an idiot.
I'd still keep an eye out for nightmares, Clint wrote. Cooper insisted he was old enough to read Goosebumps when he was six and he was up for days afterwards.
I'm on it.
He waited a moment for another response but when none came, he put the phone down and turned on the television. While he made due with network television at his place, Shauna and Marcus paid for the full cable package so, after kicking the footrest up, he scrolled through their 200+ channels and settled on a March Madness game.
At the start of the fourth quarter, Sam heard a key in the lock. He instantly tensed, shifting his grip on the remote so he could throw it if need be, but relaxed when he saw his sister.
"How'd it go?" he asked, rising to his feet and stretching his arms over his head.
In lieu of response, Marcus held up his arm to reveal the baby blue cast. "They ran out of all the decent colors."
"Poor baby," Shauna drawled as she patted his shoulder in mock sympathy. Her serious face lasted for a split second before both she and her husband burst into laughter.
"Good to hear," Sam said, reaching for his duffel. "I'll be on my way then."
Shauna quickly walked over and laid her hand on his so he couldn't move the bag. "It's late. Why don't you stay? Guest room is all made up."
Sam considered this for a long moment since he didn't want to be an imposition but when he saw Shauna's expression, he sighed. "If you're sure."
"We're sure." Shauna picked up his bag and marched him into the guest bedroom, depositing the bag on the bed. "You know where the bathroom is. There's extra toiletries under the sink and more blankets in the cabinet. Do you need anything else?"
"No. I'm good. You guys get some sleep," Sam quickly replied, seeing the exhausted expression on his sister's face.
Instead of walking out the door, Shauna stepped closer to Sam and rested her hand on his shoulder. "Thanks so much for helping out."
"Not a problem." Sam had been content to leave it at that, but realized this was his opening to bring up the book. "We just read Once Upon A Time until she fell asleep."
Shauna's eyes widened slightly but she fought to kept the rest of her expression level. "What did you think?"
Sam tilted his head indecisively, realizing this was a test of sorts. "I mean, it's a little weird," he said noncommittally.
That must have been the right answer for Shauna's face lit up and she dropped into the chair by the reading nook. "Thank goodness you think so too. Marcus and I are on the same page about it but it's all the kids at school talk about apparently. Nina begged for weeks for a copy."
"There's just a lot of death and unhappiness."
"I know. We try to skip over some of it—not the concepts you know, cos it's important she learns about that stuff and feels comfortable talking to us about it—but the semi-graphic detail, like how Cora rips out Daniel's heart Aztec-style."
"That's probably a good idea," Sam said, glad he'd done that as well. "She hasn't had any nightmares or anything?"
"Not a one. I guess she really is growing up," Shauna finished, almost sadly.
"She's five."
"Yeah but it was just yesterday that I could hold her in my arms." Shauna went on to cradle an imaginary child in her arms, looking up sadly at her brother.
Sam bit back a laugh at her expression and made himself say, "Good night Shauna," in a level tone, before his sister could continue her antics.
"Good night Sam," she said, hopping to her feet and smiling widely as she left the guest bedroom.
Sam quickly did his usual nighttime workout and stretching routine, ending with 50 push-ups and 100 sit-ups, before he crawled under the covers of the incredibly soft guest bed. He didn't bother to set an alarm, knowing Nina would wake him up long before then, and drifted off to a sleep filled with the fairy tale characters he knew and loved adjusting to living in Storybrooke.
Thanks for reading! Hope everyone has a great Steve Rogers' birthday on Monday!