Hello everyone! Thanks for all the great reviews and comments, there was a surprising amount last update and I loved reading your reactions to the story! Let me know what you think about this one too! As always, if there are any questions, feel free to ask away. To those of you who just got here, welcome. Hope you're enjoying it so far. To those who are sticking with it, thank you so much!

Slowly, Eve opened the door to the bedroom, slipping in like she'd done every night since the first time she'd ended up in bed in Steve's room. He was there, waiting, his head coming up with a soft smile when he saw her, the book open in front of him laid down on his lap as she took a few steps closer, eyeing him. He looked relaxed and inviting, not like he was about to kick her out or anything, which she had been worried about since the first time she'd asked to stay with him. It wasn't that she didn't think that Steve liked having her there- he seemed to sleep better as well- but a woman staying in a man's bedroom out of wedlock wasn't considered respectable back when he grew up. Then again, he'd had a serious girlfriend in this era already.

Sharon Carter wasn't someone that Eve liked to think about. They'd met multiple times. Sharon was Peggy's grand-niece and they'd ended up at a few of the Dugan family gatherings over the years, but Sharon was everything Eve wasn't. Beautiful, tall, statuesque, blonde. And she didn't have a scar in sight. She probably had a few, somewhere, but they weren't as extensive as Eve's scars. Not only that, but Sharon was a specialist. She was the solution to the problems that Eve found. How Steve could go from dating someone like Sharon Carter to liking someone like Eve, she had no idea.

Keeping her mouth shut over her insecurities, Eve crawled into the bed, over Steve's legs. He held still for her, waiting until she was tucked under the covers to put his book on the side table and turn out the lights. She had a feeling he wasn't really ready to go to sleep, but it didn't matter. It was easier to talk if he couldn't see her face. If he said it was a mistake or that he hadn't meant anything by kissing her, it was easier to hide her disappointment if he couldn't see her.

"How was the rest of Natasha's session?" Steve asked in opening. She could feel him laying back, tucking his hands behind his head while Eve rolled to look at him, curling up on her side so that her knees just brushed his side. Having him within touching distance was comforting and Eve felt a little more in control with him right there.

"She mentioned something I hadn't really thought about," Eve started. She could practically feel Steve's attention centering on her and she wished she hadn't said anything. Now she had to tell him about Nova. About the Dugans. "You know my friend, Nova, right? She works as my assistant communications specialist?"

"Yes, you've talked about her before. It's hard to forget her; she's really loud," Steve informed her. Eve smiled a little. Being loud was the only way that someone could be heard over the sound of the rest of her family.

"She grew up in a big family. If she wasn't loud, she got lost in the chaos. Anyway, I'm really close with her family. Her parents have done a lot for Elise and I and the rest of the family just kind of adopted us into the fold after they met us," Eve explained, trying to figure out the best way to bring this up. It wasn't that she'd been lying to him, per se. She'd just been withholding information. That she hadn't even really known that she had.

"That's really great of them," Steve offered. He sounded sincere, though a little unsure. Obviously, he was wondering why she was telling him about Nova now, when there were more important things to worry about. Soon, he wouldn't be thinking about their kiss either.

"Her mom, Mama Mags, married Gregory Maddox, who was a SHIELD engineer. That's where Nova gets her tech knowledge from- well, partly. Mags was a SHIELD specialist. I told you Nova was a legacy. Well, her mom was too," Eve continued. She heard a rustle and assumed that he'd turned his head to look at her, contemplating this.

"Does that mean that Nova's grandparents were around when SHIELD was created?" His interest was definitely peaked.

"Nova's grandfather is Timothy Dugan," Eve finally spit it out, nibbling on her bottom lip as she waited for a reaction. She blinked rapidly when the light suddenly came on, blinding her for a moment.

"Dum Dum Dugan?" Steve asked, turning to look at her, his eyes wide.

"Yes. The Howling Commando," Eve nodded, still chewing on her bottom lip nervously. He didn't look upset, his lips pulled into a small frown and a wrinkle appearing between his eyebrows as he thought this over quickly. "Steve. He's alive."

"Nick Fury said that my old team was dead," Steve bit out, his jaw clenching rapidly.

"When I started working with you, I was brought into Nick's office in the Triskelion and told that I wasn't allowed to let you know any information about your old team. That you couldn't know Nova is a Dugan. He told us that telling you would put back your recovery. I've known them all for so long, it never crossed my mind after SHIELD fell. I would have told you sooner, but I honestly didn't think of it. They're just family to me," Eve explained quickly, not wanting him to think she'd kept Grandpa Dugan from him on purpose.

"You're on a first name basis with Nick Fury?" Steve raised an eyebrow at her and she almost flinched when his expression changed just slightly. Guarding himself. From her.

"It comes with working closely with Maria. He trusts me enough to let me work with his high profile agents and we had a lot of meetings before SHIELD fell," Eve informed Steve, pushing up into a sitting position. Steve was on the edge of the bed, looking ready to run at a moment's notice. Instead of moving closer, Eve curled up where she sat, wrapping her own arms around her waist. If this was going to be the end of their relationship, or whatever their friendship counted as, she wanted to be able to catch the pieces when they fell.

"Do you trust him?" It seemed like a loaded question, though Eve wasn't quite sure what the right answer was. So she gave the honest one.

"Nick Fury is a lot of things. He's a great colonel, was a kickass director of SHIELD, and honestly wants to make the world a better, safer place. He gave me a place to live when I was seventeen and had no one in the world and he helped me get custody of Elise. He also faked his death, knowingly left me with HYDRA, and has since avoided contacting me, even though he's had multiple opportunities. I trust that he wants to take down HYDRA and I trust that he cares about world security and wants to keep people safe. But if it was between me and someone like Natasha or me and a boat full of people, I'm smart enough to realize that he wouldn't choose me." It was something she'd thought about a lot in her time at SHIELD. She'd made her peace with her place a long time ago. Her worth was measured by how well she could keep her mouth shut and how efficient her work was. Nick knew she wouldn't tell anyone the information she held and he had left her with HYDRA because of that. But that didn't mean she could just forgive him. When she'd thought he was dead, it wasn't so bad. Now, she wondered if he would have ever gotten her out.

"Honestly, his version of world security isn't the same as mine." Steve rubbed a hand through his hair, sighing as though the weight of the world was on his shoulders once again. Eve twisted her fingers into her tank top so she wouldn't reach out to touch him.

"After HYDRA, I don't think anyone likes the idea of world security," Eve shrugged a little, scrunching up her nose. She hadn't been privy to Project: INSIGHT, but it was obviously a very terrible idea. And she could have told him that long before he'd built them if he'd told her what he was planning. Yet another chink in the armor that had crumbled under the weight of everything Nick had done.

"They should have never recruited HYDRA scientists into SHIELD," Steve shook his head and Eve had to agree. It wasn't their greatest idea ever. Recruiting crazy Nazi scientists who craved world domination probably wasn't the wisest decision when they were about to hand them the tools to create that world domination scheme. It was luck alone that Steve had figured it out before the helicarriers came online. Eve would have been one of the many who died that day. Most of the people she knew would have been dead too.

"Mistakes were made. That wasn't their intention and you know it. Grandpa Dugan would be on the front lines if he could be. Or if they'd let him out of the house long enough for him to sneak away…" Eve offered. Steve turned slightly to be able to see her and Eve met his curious gaze, concern melting through her.

He had a look in his eyes that she couldn't name. Heavy and tired, as if he'd been in the world far too long. For someone who was only technically in his early thirties, it was a terrible thing to see. She'd seen Grandpa Dugan with the same look in his eye and he was ninety seven. It seemed more at home in his eyes than in Steve's. He just looked so tired suddenly. Like he could lay down and never get up. Like maybe he wanted to.

"How is he?" Steve finally asked.

"Grandpa Dugan? He's great. Still just as excitable as any of his grandchildren. Honestly, he has more energy than I do most of the time. His days of building bombs are past, but that's mostly because Mama Mags put a stop to it when he almost blew himself up a few years back. The shed was in pieces, but he was out in the yard laughing when Mags got outside. Lost his eyebrows and a hearing aid, but the rest of him was intact, thank god," Eve smiled at the memory of Nova answering that phone call. She'd asked how he'd made the bomb and gotten her own lecture about Grandpa Dugan being too old to blow shit up anymore. Eve had a sneaking suspicion that Nova was still smuggling him materials. They were just better at keeping it secret now.

"He had a good life?" Steve prompted. Eve slowly uncurled herself just enough to reach out and take his hand, his warmth sneaking into her fingers.

"He married a woman named Angela Cartinelli, a friend of Peggy Carter's. Both Grandma Angie and Grandpa Dugan worked at SHIELD as some of the first agents after Grandpa Dugan came home from Europe and the Howling Commandos retired to the States. They actually met in SHIELD. Married in his early thirties and had children soon after. Grandma Angie retired from SHIELD to take care of the kids and Grandpa Dugan worked as a specialist, or whatever they called it back then, for almost ten years before he retired to building bombs for a living. He built a lot of SHIELD tech that we still use today. His oldest son died on a SHIELD mission in his early twenties and he had a daughter that died right after she was born. They named her Angie too. Mags is actually named after Peggy Carter. So is Maggie, Nova's older sister. Right now, Grandpa Dugan has two children, Mags and Gabriel. They're both married. He's got ten grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren," Eve recited from memory, dragging up as many of the stories she could remember, trying to figure out what else he'd done in his lifetime. "He's very happy. And was really happy to hear that they found you. Nova went to the stronghold to tell him as soon as she heard."

"He knows?" Steve's head snapped up and Eve nodded, his fingers tightening around hers. She was pretty sure he didn't even know he was doing it, but she didn't mind.

"All of the families that were connected to the Howling Commandos know about you. When you were brought out of the ice, they were notified in case they heard about it later. He was the first to find out, though. He knows about James, too. They were all happy to hear you two were alive." Eve kept the emotions out of it, knowing that it wouldn't help to hear about how Grandpa Dugan had cried when Nova had gone home to inform him that Steve was awake. Eve had been there. It was the first time she'd seen him cry. The last time was when his wife passed away.

"Why didn't they tell me?" Steve demanded, his other fist clenching.

"I don't know. I wasn't let in on that decision. You're mental health was something they never let me have jurisdiction over. I would have told you sooner if I had known that they weren't going to." Eve was tempted to curl up again, but knew he needed support more. Knowing about the Howling Commandos wasn't easy for him. Knowing that they'd known he was alive, known that he was working for SHIELD, and yet still hadn't contacted him probably ate at him just as much as anything else that had happened over the years he was in the ice.

"You'd have gotten in trouble," Steve shook his head at the thought and Eve snorted slightly, freezing when he stared at her like she was crazy.

"What?"

"What was that about?" he asked.

"What? You think I've never gotten into trouble over you before?" At his completely blank look, Eve pursed her lips and stared at him, raising her eyebrows before deciding that maybe telling him how often he'd gotten her into trouble would lighten the mood a little bit. "You, sir, were a pain in my ass the entire time we worked together. It wasn't until after the battle in DC that I stopped getting in trouble every time you decided to go off mission. Seriously. I'm not kidding. I almost got fired because of you multiple times."

"Why would they fire you?" He looked a little horrified by the thought.

"Well, they couldn't fire Captain America, that would be a media fiasco. Not to mention that you're a good public face for SHIELD. At least, you were. If they needed public favor, they'd just throw out that you were working with them and people would fall all over themselves because Captain America couldn't possibly do anything wrong. They forgot to mention that Steve Rogers is a little shit." Eve let her pretend anger fade off her face when he shot her a fairly sheepish grin. "So, if you got into something deep, I was the fall guy. The only reason I wasn't fired immediately was because Maria had me trained to deal with your bullshit. I don't think she anticipated the level of trouble you could get into, but I was trained by the best to be the best. So, she fought the system and made Nick appear with me before the Council whenever you were doing something stupid. Luckily, they were impressed by my technical knowledge and I can spin almost anything to sound pleasant enough to keep my job."

"You went before the World Security Council?" Steve sounded a little upset by that thought. "Wasn't Pierce on that council?"

"Yes. Alexander Pierce was on the Council. But he didn't know my name. Just Seraphim. Nick warned me not to answer to anything else and I didn't. It was easier to let him think I was a codename and not important. He knew I worked with you, but finding me in a SHIELD database is damn near impossible. Obviously, Natasha was able to and James too, I assume, but my files were buried as soon as they went online. Tony Stark and Nova made sure of it," Eve shrugged, not too concerned about Alexander Pierce. She hadn't liked him when they'd met and he hadn't liked her. He wasn't stupid enough to try and fire her, though. It soon became common knowledge that she was the only one that Steve would answer to and they needed Captain America on their side.

"Nova is how you know Tony?" Steve asked, reverting back to their original discussion.

"Tony was at the Dugan house a lot. He was with Peggy a lot too when his dad was busy or not around. Tony is still invited to all the reunions and family dinners and holidays at the Dugan stronghold. Grandpa Dugan, Mama Mags, and Gregory all live in the stronghold now. After Grandma Angie died, Mags didn't want him alone, so they moved back home. That's where Nova and Elise are at now, along with the rest of the Dugan clan. I wouldn't be surprised if Tony went out there soon. Just to make sure everyone is safe." Tony had a habit of showing up when they least expected him. He didn't come to all the family functions (he didn't want to seem like he cared too much) but he made an effort to go at least three times a year to visit everyone. Nova had mentioned he was going more often now that Grandpa Dugan was getting older.

Eve knew how scared he was because she felt it too. They weren't really her family, not by blood, but Grandpa Dugan was one of those people who was a grandpa to everyone. And she loved him, just like she would love her own grandparents if she had any. And losing him would cut the head off of the Dugan clan. She didn't know what she would do when he passed away. She didn't know what any of them would do.

"You didn't have to tell me," Steve suddenly announced, blue eyes finding hers. They were sparkling in the low light and Eve sent him a gentle smile.

"You deserve to know. If you want to visit, I can set it up. They'd be more than happy to have you." Eve didn't include herself in the first plan that spun in her mind. If he wanted to go see his old friend, she would get him there, even if he didn't want her there as well. Tony would fly him out if asked; he wasn't really shy about throwing his money or jets around and he owed Eve for a few times she'd gotten him out of trouble with Maria. Not only that, but he owed Steve so much more.

The second plan, if he did want her to go, was to call Nova and ask if she could set up her room. She wouldn't be surprised if the room was already waiting for her. They'd given her an honorary room in the stronghold during holidays and vacations, keeping it open for her whenever she wanted to come back. Nova would be ecstatic that she was coming home, especially if she was bringing Steve with her.

The third plan involved Natasha and James too, considering she didn't want to just leave them. Not to mention that everyone would be just as excited to see James as well, if he was up for introductions.

"Let me think about it?" he asked, looking down at the bedspread.

"Of course. Whenever you're ready. It'll only take a phone call or two," Eve nodded, knowing that it was a lot to take in. She was surprised when Steve moved suddenly, climbing farther into the bed and pulling her into his chest.

She caught herself before she face planted into him, but he didn't seem deterred as he wrapped an arm around her back and slid his fingers into her hair, just holding her. Eve wrapped her arms around his waist, burying her face in his chest now that she knew that they were still alright.

Sighing deeply, Eve breathed in deeply and just soaked in his warmth.