Author's Note: Well, this wraps up Part 1! Now the question is, do you guys want a Part 2? I've got some plans, and if anyone is interested I'll get to writing right away! Leave me a review letting me know if you want me to continue this story! Thank you to everyone who's followed and favorited, I'm glad you like reading it!
Sandra Ellis sat next to the hospital bed, a weak smile on her face as she watched the news. Her eyes were bloodshot, she hadn't left that spot in two days. She rubbed her face wearily as the doctor walked into.
"The surgery went well, you are recovering slowly, but you are very lucky to have survived at all. We'll keep you here for a week or so, just to make sure you are healing properly, but then you should be good to go. You are very lucky Miss, to have such friends in high places." The doctor motioned to Sandra with skeptical eyes.
The little brunette smiled as best she could, tubes finally removed from her mouth. "Thank you, Mrs. Ellis. You know you don't need to stay with me." She whispered, eyes moving towards the tv above her bed. The news helicopters showed footage of the hellicarriers destroying each other and taking the Triskelion into the Potomac.
"Shhh, of course, I need to be here Tiffany. Somebody has to watch out for you after everything that's happened. Your mother would have never forgiven me for leaving you here alone."
"I miss her," Tiffany muttered sadly, eyes trained on the television.
"Me too Tiff. Me too."
"Do you think they are okay?" Tiffany asked, slowly turning her head to meet the First Lady's gaze. She had informed Sandra everything she knew about Hydra as soon as she was conscious and able to speak. Hours later the hellicarriers started shooting at each other and now SHIELD was nothing but debris in a river.
"I don't know," Sandra admitted, tears welling in her eyes.
Nick Fury landed the helicopter on the roof of the hospital, but he had no intention of staying long.
"I'd appreciate if you keep the knowledge of me being alive between you and me. There's a still a lot of bad guys out there and I'll be able to take them out easier if I'm a ghost." Fury requested as Sam helped the President out of the helicopter.
"Your secret is safe with me Nick. Thank you, for saving my life."
"I'm sorry for your loss Mr. President. Good luck telling the missus." Nick nodded as he lifted the helicopter up and flew away before any of the medics could realize who's rogue helicopter had landed.
"President Ellis!" Some doctors called out, alerting others of his presence as he walked inside the building escorted by Sam Wilson. Before they even made it to the elevators the secret servicemen were at his side, trying to push Sam away.
"It's alright boys, he's with me. Please take me to my wife."
Sandra looked towards the window, seeing the guard salute as the door was opened and her husband filed in with Sam.
"Matt!" Sandra cried out as she leaped from her chair beside the girl. She hugged him desperately, then looked around, noticing only Sam. "Matt...Matt where is she? Where is Kayla?"
Matt hung his head, shaking his head woefully. He couldn't say the words. He couldn't tell his wife.
She gasped and a silent sob wretched through her body as she fell back into her husband's arms. "No no no. It can't be true! It can't be true! How could this happen?"
Tiffany began to cry, and Sam went to her side, taking her hand gently. "I'm sorry Miss. She-she was struck with the anti-serum. It was meant for Steve."
Sandra turned to Sam, eye's wide. "What did you say?"
"Kayla was trying to save Steve so he could stop the hellicarriers from activating Project Insight. There were twenty million targets, including yourself and your family. She died so he could save everyone." Sam explained quietly, trying to show the weeping mother her daughter's sacrifice was more than lust for the soldier.
"Where is Captain Rogers now?" Sandra asked voice somewhere between anger and devastation. She wanted Steve to face the consequences of her daughter's death, even if he wasn't directly to blame.
"He went down with the hellicarrier ma'am. We weren't able to find him when the ship went down." Sam answered, voice breaking.
"Sandy, she knew she had to go. There's nothing any of them could have done." Mathew explained, holding his wife as she nodded vigorously.
"I know, I know but that doesn't make it any easier." She sobbed, falling to her knees as the secret servicemen blocked the hospital room window, trying to keep the paparazzi away who tried to get photos of the weeping first family.
Hours later there was a commotion outside the hospital room, doctors running past Tiffany's room. Sam and Mathew had left. Mathew had to deal with the White House media team and fire Travis's ass. Sam left to help the search teams looking for survivors in the wreckage. Sandra stayed by Tiffany's bedside as she had promised the brunette's mother years ago. Taking care of her friend's daughter helped her deal with the grief of losing her own. Tiffany was in a daze, unbelieving that all of this chaos had lead to the death of her best friend, while she narrowly escaped with her life.
"We need a doctor here now!" One of the nurses called as a man was brought in on a stretcher.
"Captain America!"
"It's Captain Rogers!"
Sandra and Tiffany could hear the babbling nurses outside the door as the medic team rushed Steve past towards the emergency room. Sandra rose from her chair to peak outside the door. The secret serviceman stationed outside her door turned to her, knowing her question. "It's Captain Rogers Mrs. President. They found him on the bank of the river. Multiple gunshot and stab wounds."
"Thank you, Roberts. Keep me posted if you hear anything else."
"Of course Madam."
Steve Rogers awoke to Trouble Man playing next to his hospital bed. Sam read a book while keeping watching watch over the injured Captain. "On your left." Steve muttered, causing Sam to turn to him and smile.
"How ya doing champ?" Sam asked as he set down his book to get a better look at his friend.
"Sore. Everything hurts." Steve answered, eyes working to open fully.
"The doctors think you'll be able to go home in a day or two. You are healing fast."
"It's a symptom of the serum." The blonde man mumbled, moving his head to look at Sam. "Did anyone find her body?"
"Cap, there wasn't a whole lot left to find." Sam grabbed his friend's shoulder comfortingly before continuing, "I went back to try to bring it, but then the carrier crashed into the building. I'm really sorry man."
"You did everything you could. And we stopped Hydra."
"Steve, there's something you should know-"
"Captain Rogers, you have a visitor who would like to speak to you. Alone." The guard informed, eyes moving from Steve to Sam.
"I'm gonna get some food, want anything Cap?" Sam asked as he rose from his seat, leaving his book on the table and music playing.
"No, I'm not hungry," Steve answered, fighting back tears as he was finally able to accept what the cost of freedom had been. When he gave that speech to the SHIELD agents, he was referring to his own life, not his girlfriend's.
A secret serviceman walked in, scanned the room before nodding out the door, signaling the First Lady to enter. Once she was seated beside Steve the guard left and closed the door.
"Mrs. Ellis, I can't apologize enough. I take full responsibility for what happened to your daughter, and I'm willing to accept any punishment you see fit. Captain America couldn't save the most important person in his life, and I don't think I can continue carrying the shield knowing what I've caused."
"Shush Steve." Sandra chastised the injured soldier, shaking her head, "I know my- I knew my daughter. She did what she wanted, with who she wanted, and despite our attempts, she was terrible at following directions. I know that there's nothing you could have done to stop her from saving you because she loved you. She loved you so much and we should have let you two be together." Tears filled the woman's eyes and Steve reached out for her hand to comfort her.
"Ma'am, I loved your daughter," Steve responded tearfully, letting go of the Frist Lady's hand to wipe his tears away. "I wish there was something I could do."
"Avenge my daughter Steve." Sandra said sternly as she stood, sniffling back her tears. Her eyes were a cold grey as she met Steve's blue, "She died for you and for your cause because she thought you were worth it."
"What did you just say?" Steve's mind flashed back to 1945, hearing Peggy say the same thing after Bucky fell off the train.
"Get your team, Captain Rogers. My daughter believed in people, not organizations. She believed in you, not SHIELD. The President doesn't need the FBI, CIA, SHIELD or anyone else to destroy Hydra. We need the Avengers Steve. Avenge Kayla. She died so you could save the world. It's not safe quite yet." Sandra Ellis walked out of the hospital room, looking over her shoulder as she did to add, "It would have been an honor to have you date Kayla. You are the best thing being the President's Daughter ever brought her."
Sandra Ellis walked out, and Steven Rogers wouldn't see her again.
Steve was released on the day before Kayla's funeral, but he couldn't go. He couldn't face an empty tombstone again. He'd met Fury along with Sam and Natasha to say goodbye at Nick's grave. Nat had brought him information on Bucky, and Sam had agreed to help him track down his old friend. But before they began their search, he had to reunite the team.
So Steve went home and turned to pack up his things. Stark had offered him a floor all to himself in Avenger's Tower until he found a place, and he was moving back to New York permanently.
When he opened the old brown door to the apartment, Zawadi charged him, almost knocking him to the floor with his force. The large chestnut dog licked the large man's face and Steve allowed it, after all the poor dog had been locked up alone for days. He found the dog had made a mess of his bathroom rug and had ripped a hole in his own dog food. Steve was just thankful Zawadi was okay, because he couldn't bear to lose someone else he cared about.
Bucky had disappeared.
Kayla had died.
He wanted to cling to what he had left of her. He found one of the t-shirts she'd claimed as her own and smelled it. Her perfume lingered on the green shirt and it brought tears to Steve's eyes. Zawadi bumped the television remote and it buzzed to life, the channel on the news. Steve wanted to rush to turn it off, needing to pack and leave quickly, but he stopped in his tracks when he saw Kayla's funeral playing.
President Ellis stood at a podium, microphone waiting as news crews filmed the proceedings. His eyes were red, and Sandra couldn't speak. She stood off to the side with Tiffany, who looked worse for wear but wanted to be at the funeral.
Seeing Tiffany made Steve feel guilty for not going, but he had somewhere he needed to be. He needed to go home to New York. To be with the Avengers, his family. Clint was bringing the quinjet to pick him up in an hour. As he packed what few belongings mattered to him, he heard his girlfriend's father speaking from the television.
"Today is a devastating day, as my wife and I bury our only daughter. Kayla Dawn Ellis was a lot of things: she was brilliant, strong, beautiful, and brave. She died to save the man she loved, Captain Steven Rogers. She died to save his life, so he could save all of ours. My daughter believed in heroes. The idea that a good person could overcome a bad institution, even when everyone said they were wrong. She trusted her gut, and I only wish we had trusted her judgment enough to follow her lead. Because we were too focused on what we were told was right, we allowed a rogue organization to threatened the lives of millions. And it cost us our daughter. So please, listen to your kids. Trust their judgment. Nobody will keep you honest like your family. Hold them tight, I only wish I had." President Ellis stepped down from the podium and Steve smashed the remote control into the tv. Zawadi scampered until Steve's table whimpering, scared of the noise.
"I'm sorry Zadi." Steve mumbled as he grabbed his duffle bag. He was leaving almost everything except his clothes. He didn't want to be reminded of this home. He wanted to start over fresh.
With a click of his tongue, Steve summoned the dog and left the apartment, closing the door for the last time. He walked several blocks to the open park where he often walked Zadi while Kayla was away. He looked at his phone expectantly, then felt a whoosh from the air as the quinjet landed.
"Stay." Steve ordered Zawadi when he started to back away, and Steve scratched the dog behind the ears to comfort him from the noise.
One landed, Clint opened the back door to allow Steve entry. He walked over and greeted his Captain with a hug, "Steve. I'm so sorry for your loss."
"Thanks Clint," The two looked to the dog expectantly, "This is Zawadi. He was Kayla's dog."
"Hey buddy!" Clint exclaimed as he kneeled down to play with the dog. Zawadi responded by trying to chew on his hair, causing the archer to laugh.
"We should get going, we have a lot of work to do." Steve stated as he set down his duffle back in the jet, "Come Zadi." The dog trotted away from Clint to Steve, laying down as the soldier's feet.
"You know you can take some time off, after everything that's happened." Clint prodded, worried about his friend. It had only been five days since the fall of SHIELD, and Steve was trying to ignore what he lost. Not only did he lose the woman he loved, but he also lost the life he knew. His trust in the system had been shattered. All he could trust was himself, and the team he led.
"The sooner we wipe away Hydra, the better," Steve muttered as Clint closed the quinjet and took off towards Manhattan.
A mysterious figure in a hoodie watched the plane take off. Once out of sight, they found their way back toward Steve's apartment. Outside was his Harley, with the keys in the ignition and a note that said 'For Free'. They turned the key and revved the engine, taking off quickly towards the highway that would lead them to New York City.