PART 2

Late October 2012

"Agent Hayes." Fury greeted and Brooklyn puffed out her chest, looking to the side out the picture windows. This caused Fury to chuckle and she snapped her head back to him, finding him smiling, "You've only been back a week, but you can't keep your mind on training. I'm scared to send you out on any missions." The Director sat in his chair and gestured for her to take a seat across from him, "What's on your mind, Agent?"

She crossed one ankle over the other and pursed her lips, looking out the window again. "I- I'm struggling. After the incident. I messed up my mission and… Steve- Captain Rogers… he did a number on me."

Fury stared at her with a mix of pity and sadness that made Brooklyn squirm. He didn't say anything for a long while, until he asked quietly, "Are you okay?"

She looked up, drawing her brows at how worried he sounded. "Yeah… yeah." She looked down at her hands, "It wasn't his fault, and he feels terrible, but, I…"

Fury raised his brow, and Brooklyn knew what she needed to do "Sir," Brooklyn said quietly, lifting her gaze to Director Fury, "I need some time away."

The man nodded, considering this for a moment before raising his voice, "Please lock down the room. Turn off all audio and video surveillance."

Thin black panels slid down over the windows overlooking D.C. and the sound of the security cameras shutting down alerted Brooklyn to how serious Fury was taking her request. He leaned forward against his desk, staring her down with his dark eye, "Why do you need time away?"

"Because I'm pregnant."

Apparently Fury wasn't expecting that because his expression was pure shock, "You're pregnant? Is it Cap's?"

"Yes, Sir." Brooklyn said coolly, "I believe it happened when he snapped my IUD."

"You had it replaced just a few months ago. Those are supposed to last years."

"I know, Sir. But he's a super soldier. I was also on the pill, but clearly that didn't stop him from, uh-"

Fury raised his hand and shook his head, "I don't need the details of your relations with Captain America, Hayes. I just need to know what you want to do about it."

Brooklyn twisted her lips, wondering if Fury knew about them sending her home with drugs. He clearly didn't know about her being pregnant, but the doctors clearly did. After some digging, Brooklyn realized Dallas had put it nicely calling them 'Plan B pills'. They were used to stimulate abortions. If Fury didn't put the kill order out on her unborn child, Pierce must have. "I want some time away, Sir. If possible."

"That I can do. Maternity leave isn't uncommon."

"It's more complicated than that." Brooklyn said slowly, meeting Fury's eye, "With your permission, I'd like to go off grid for a while. I don't want anyone to know I'm pregnant, not even Steve."

Fury leaned back in his chair, considering her request. She knew he wanted to know why, but he didn't ask. "Alright. I'll see what I can do."

Her brows almost shot straight to her hairline, "Really?"

"I read the briefings from Cap and Romanoff about the incident. I'm aware that this wasn't planned and probably isn't wanted, but if you want to have the kid, that's your decision. If you want to have the kid in secret and then decide what you want, that's reasonable. I have a few ideas. I got a long-term undercover op that needs to be filled. I could move a few pieces around, make it appear that I'm sending you."

"Belarus." Brooklyn said and Fury nodded, opening up a notepad and writing something down. "You'll send someone else?"

"I'll send Jasmine, she's just as good as you. Tell everyone she's undercover somewhere else, once she's gone, we'll tell everyone you're undercover in Belarus, let the word of mouth validate your story. You'll have until she finishes the mission." Fury ripped the piece of paper and handed it to her, "Give me a few days and we'll put things in motion. Sound good?"

Brooklyn stared at the piece of paper, seeing a phone number on it, "Sir?"

"Get a new phone. Text me on that so I have your number. I'll call you when we need you to come home. I'd expect the mission to take at least a year."

"A year?" Brooklyn swallowed hard, then looked down at her stomach. She was about a month along, meaning she'd have a four-month-old in a year. She wasn't sure if a year was too little time to have her baby, or too long to be away from Steve. "Thank you. I really appreciate this."

Fury nodded, the corner of his mouth turning up in a slight smile, "Where will you go?"

Brooklyn snorted, not about to tell Fury about her plans. She just needed help disappearing, but she knew exactly where to go, and she wasn't about to share that with anybody, even the person who she planned to take her in. She shrugged, looking out the window through the dark panel, "Probably out west. I got family in Denver."

Steve agreed to have Dallas bring Denver over to his hotel, because once he told her he'd read Brooklyn's journal, she knew they'd have to talk in private. Plus, she wanted to see the Winter Soldier up close again.

When she arrived with Denver holding her hand tightly, Dallas stiffened when she saw Steve and Bucky sitting in the room adjacent to the lobby, eating the continental breakfast casually. She narrowed her eyes at the men, realizing just how massive the soldiers were compared to all the normal humans around them.

Steve stood quickly when he saw them, smiling from ear to ear as he knelt down. Denver bopped up and down quickly before tugging on Dallas's hand, silently asking for permission to let go. Once Dallas released her, she squealed, "Daddy!" and charged at Steve before jumping into his arms.

"She's warming up to you." Dallas said dully as she reached them, setting down the large diaper bag that hung from her shoulder. She smoothed down her black blouse covered in pink polka-dots as she rolled back her shoulders to loosen them up "I don't know if you guys have suits, but, I told her we could maybe go to the p-o-o-l later. She's never been to one, but she's seen them on the television."

"We can get some if that's what she wants to do." Steve said firmly as he hoisted his daughter up in his arms. He gazed at her lovingly as she grabbed his face between her hands and planted a slobbery kiss right on his lips, causing him to somehow grin wider. Dallas blushed at how happy he looked, wondering if the last person he kissed was her sister.

She lingered next to the table for a few moments until Bucky gestured to the seat beside him for Dallas to join them, and she eyed it warily before plopping down and looking up at Steve and Denver with a content smile, "We talked about you last night. She had lots of questions about Daddy."

"Oh yeah?" Steve asked as Denver turned her attention from his face to play with the collar of his button-down shirt, "Like what?"

"Well, she wanted to know what a Daddy was." Dallas squinted up at the ceiling, "She wanted to know the difference between Mommy and Daddy, and she also wanted to know how you're related because she understands that you're family, like how Mommy was Mommy and I'm Aunt Dallas." She pursed her lips and hummed as she spared a glance at Bucky, "It was a very interesting conversation. Aunt Jenna was cracking up."

Bucky managed a weak smile and Dallas ran her eyes over him quickly, taking in his unkempt hair and baggy maroon Henley before her eyes dropped to his dark wash jeans, "You look a lot less… lethal, like this."

"Thanks?" Bucky muttered questioningly, ducking his head as he stabbed his fork into his pile of waffles. His bright eyes darted between his food and his best friend, who had sat across from him with Denver still in his arms. Bucky noticed that she was staring at him and stopped eating. He sat straighter, watching the child warily as she tilted her head, as if the side view would help answer whatever questions were running through her mind.

"Are you hungry?" Steve asked Dallas and the grown woman cleared her throat, looking back to the buffet curiously, "Help yourself. Has she eaten?"

"I'm hungwy." Denver whined as she stuck her bottom lip out to pout.

Steve was on his feet in an instant to take Denver for food, ignoring Dallas as she attempted to explain that they'd already had breakfast. Her words fell on deaf ears though, because Steve was far too entranced by his daughter to listen to Dallas, "He's on a different planet right now." She grumbled, turning to Bucky, "How are you doing with everything?"

Bucky wasn't expecting her to speak to him again, and he opened his mouth to answer, but wasn't sure what to say. "I- I'm okay. It's weird. I don't remember him."

Dallas turned to watch Steve stack a plate full of everything Denver pointed at. She took in a sharp breath and murmured, "I kinda think her plan was always to get you out. She just had to get through Insight first. She said that a lot."

"What?" Bucky asked quietly as he carefully lifted his ceramic mug to his lips with his left hand, his brows drawing in confusion as he sipped his coffee.

"She had a lot of plans for after Insight." Dallas clarified, looking to her left to see Steve approaching with Denver, "She always said after Insight launched, she'd tell Steve about Denny if he survived. If Steve survived, she said she was gonna tell him the truth and make things right. At the time I assumed she was just talking about Denver, but now I think she was talking about you, too."

Bucky sighed, choosing not to say anything about it as Steve sat down Denver's plate piled with enough food to feed them all. He gave one of the hotel employees a million dollar smile as they brought out a highchair for him to put her into, and Dallas dug through her diaper bag to pull out a reusable mat for her to put her food on, "Do you find your daughter too skinny, Steve? Is there a reason you're stuffing her like a Thanksgiving turkey?" Dallas teased as she grabbed the plate and sat it on the highchair tray, along with a set of dull plastic utensils for the child to use.

Steve clipped the strap, trapping Denver into her chair and she glared at him before grabbing her knife and stabbing it into her pancakes. Steve smiled lovingly at his little girl, sighing dreamily, as if this were a fleeting thing, "She wanted a little bit of everything."

"Just because she wants it doesn't mean she needs it." Dallas said pointedly to the child, but Denver was already happily eating a donut on the side of her plate. She poked at her scrambled eggs with her fingers, deciding they were more fun to play with than to eat, and Steve realized what Dallas meant.

"After brunch I was thinking we could go back to the hotel room for a while. Talk through some things." Steve said quietly as he watched Denver eat, "I'd like to speak somewhere private."

"Understandable." Dallas murmured, "Brooklyn went through a lot of trouble to keep her hidden. I suggest you try to follow her lead. At least for a little while."

"Everyone saw her at the funeral."

"That was a small group. She came with me and Aunt Jenna. From the outside she looks like my child, not yours." Dallas answered, but Bucky just snorted, causing Dallas to glare at him.

Bucky cleared his throat when he realized he'd offended her and amended his reaction by explaining, "She looks like Steve. The eyes. The hair. No offense, but she's clearly Steve's kid."

Dallas sighed and looked down at Denver. Her stomach churned at the realization that nobody would be able to look at Denver and see how much she looked like her mother. "I see Brooklyn in her every day." She whispered, but Denver looked up at her aunt with big eyes, as if she somehow understood why Aunt Dallas was upset. Dallas fought back tears as she cried, "She loved her so much. I was in the room when she made the decision to stop you." She turned to Bucky, her lip quivering, "She said she was the only one who could, and she told me she'd see me after."

"Hey, hey, it's okay." Steve reached across the table to take her hand, rubbing her knuckles as she began to blubber incoherently into her other hand. Steve looked around as people began to stare and whisper and he quickly shushed Dallas, "Let's take her food back to the room. Let's talk, I think we need to talk."

"I'm sorry, it's just hard. It's hard because she's gonna fade away, and I have to see her in you and Denny every day, but I'll never have my sister again."

Denver reached as far as she could towards her aunt, trying to pat her hand. "Is okay, Aunt Dee. Mommy will come back soon."

Steve's heart broke at his daughter's words, and he looked to Dallas to see what she wanted him to do, but she just shook her head and leaned in close to the child, whispering, "Mommy went to Heaven, remember? She's going to be gone a really, really long time. We aren't gonna see her until we go to Heaven someday."

"How long is that?"

"A long time. Like, a billion days."

"That's so many days!" Denver squeaked, raising both of her hands to her face, "I don't want her to be gone that long."

"Well, tough luck kid, that's how long she's gotta go." Dallas said with a sad smile, "But it's okay. She's having lots of fun in Heaven. And whenever you miss her, you can always look at your locket, remember?"

Denver pulled the chain out from underneath her little romper, holding it sadly, "What about snuggles?"

"I can give snuggles." Dallas said, but Denver squished her face together unhappily, causing Dallas to laugh, "What? Do I give bad snuggles?"

"Yours aren't good as Mommy's." Denver huffed, then looked over at Steve, "Auntie Dallie says your snuggles are the best, and that's why Mommy had me!"

Steve raised his brow at Dallas, but she just put her hands up in front of her, "Don't look at me. You try explaining sex to a rapidly developing infant. She's very inquisitive."

Denver reached out for Steve and he offered her his hand. She grabbed onto his finger and used her other hand to run along his palm, "You so big."

"Mommy said that, too."

"Dallas!" Steve growled and Denver laughed, seeming to find his frustration funny. He smiled down at her as she clenched his hand a little tighter, showing off her little super soldier strength. "How about we go back to Daddy's hotel room. You can watch tv and play on the bed while Aunt Dallas and I talk about you."

The little girl rocked back and forth, bobbing her head up and down until her face squished uncomfortably. Dallas groaned as she stood and grabbed the diaper bag, heaving it onto her shoulder until Bucky reached out and grabbed the little straps, "Let me get that for you."

"Really?" She asked gently, and Bucky was hurt that she was so surprised.

"Yeah. It's the least I can do." His voice cracked and Dallas let the strap slide off her arm so he could carry it for her. She watched as he started to walk away, his back hunched dejectedly. Dallas turned to Steve and asked, "You got her, right?"

"Yeah?" Steve phrased it as a question, but Dallas trusted him enough to leave him behind, choosing to jog after Bucky until she found him standing in front of the elevator.

She sidled up next to him and he barely looked at her, but she grabbed his left arm tightly despite feeling the metal plates beneath his shirt, "Hey. It wasn't your fault."

"I shot her."

"Steve could have just as easily shot her." Dallas argued, but Bucky's expression stayed hard. "Did you mean to?"

"No."

"Then it was an accident." Dallas argued, looking over her shoulder to see Denver toddling along beside Steve. When she saw the glass door leading to the pool, she stopped and pulled on his arm, wanting to investigate further. This gave Dallas a little more time alone with the Winter Soldier. "I saw you two in the bank. I saw the way you looked at her, you cared about her. You didn't mean to hurt her. I can see that right now on your face."

"She's like a hazy memory to me. It's been a week and I can barely remember what she looks like." Bucky admitted as the panel above dinged and the doors slid open. He stepped into the elevator and Dallas noticed how it visibly shifted under his weight. "I pulled the trigger. I killed her. The reason Denver doesn't have her mother, and you don't have your sister, is because of me."

"That's not what the coroner said." Dallas argued as she stood in front of him, placing her hands firmly on her hips, "She died from falling. That wasn't your fault."

"Well if I hadn't shot her, she probably would have been able to grab onto something." Bucky grumbled as the elevator rose to their floor before releasing them into the hallway. Bucky sidestepped Dallas and mumbled, "I should have grabbed her instead of Steve."

"Maybe." Dallas shrugged, struggling to keep up with his long strides, "Steve regrets not being able to catch her, but he couldn't, and she's gone, and we have to move on." Dallas grabbed his arm, this time attaching herself to his flesh one and he paused and turned, looking down at her with bright, curious eyes. She swallowed down her fear and added, "I forgive you, for your part in her death. And I apologize for her part in your suffering. Call it even?"

Bucky shook his head, but the sound of childish laughter warned him that Steve was approaching with Denver, so he looked down, "We aren't even, but thank you."

Dallas sighed heavily as he walked away from her, leaving her standing like an idiot in the middle of the hallway as Steve appeared with Denver on his shoulders, laughing as she tugged on his hair. A small smile grew on Dallas's face as she watched Steve with Denver, knowing her sister wanted nothing more than for her daughter to meet Steve. She wished she was here to see it.

Early November 2012

Dallas was coming home from a graveyard shift in the maternity ward around one in the afternoon. It had been a long, hard night. Another stillborn child of a first responder from the Battle of New York. She just wanted to go home and pour herself a drink and go to bed so she could do it all over again at eleven.

However, that wasn't in the cards for the young doctor. When she reached her apartment, she stopped, seeing a slumped figure on her doorstep, wrapped in a heavy winter coat with a rolling suitcase beside them. Dallas took a few steps closer, ducking her head to get a better view of the person, "Hello?"

Brooklyn raised her head and beamed at her little sister. Her hood covered her hair, and her makeup was dark, shielding her identity from the world, but Dallas wasn't so easily fooled.

"What are you doing here?" Dallas asked as she approached, pulling her key out of her pocket, "You alone?"

"I am." Brooklyn answered, looking over her shoulder to make sure she was telling the truth, "I need your help."

Dallas tossed her head from side to side as she shoved open her sticky front door, "Okay. What kind of help?" Dallas asked as she closed the door behind her sister. When she looked up, she saw Brooklyn peeling off her layers, before starting to unbutton her plaid shirt, "Okay, sure, get naked in my apartment. I don't have roommates."

"You don't, right?" Brooklyn paused before she reached the midpoint of her shirt. She looked deeper into the apartment as Dallas told her, "No. I live alone."

"Good." Brooklyn grumbled before reaching behind her back and pulling out a gun.

Dallas widened her eyes and took a step back, "Whoa, there, what's the fire power for?"

Brooklyn chuckled, "I don't go anywhere without it. It's fine." She set the gun down on the table and continued to unbutton her shirt.

"Bee, what are you doing here?" Dallas asked as her sister pulled her shirt open, revealing thick gauze wrapped around her torso from her hips to just under her bra. It was then Dallas realized her sister was bigger, "Oh."

"Yeah. Oh." Brooklyn grumbled as she unwrapped the gauze, eventually freeing her growing stomach, "Somebody at SHIELD tried to kill my baby. I need to have it somewhere safe. I can't think of a safer place than here, with my baby sister, who is an OBGYN."

"Brooklyn." Dallas groaned in exasperation as her older sister buttoned her shirt back up, "Bee, I'm still in my residency."

"So? You know what you're doing." Brooklyn scooped up the gauze and wandered over to the kitchen, looking through the lower cabinets until she found the trash. "I trust you. I need to hide out until after the baby is born. Then go from there. I just have to get past the Insight launch."

"I don't know what that means, but you're asking to stay here?" Dallas reaffirmed with a sigh as she rubbed her eyes, "I work the night shift. I need to go to bed."

"You won't know I'm here. I'll just be sitting around. I'll cook. I'll clean. I have money to help with rent." Brooklyn said as she dropped herself onto the couch and placed her hands on her stomach. "Nobody knows where I'm at. Not even Steve."

"Does he know you're pregnant?" Dallas droned, already seeing a mess in her sister's future.

"No." Brooklyn answered sadly, "He doesn't. After Insight, then I'll tell him."

"Okay, whatever. It's your life." Dallas yawned as she stretched her arms above her head, "I love you Bee, but I just worked a fourteen-hour shift and have another one in ten hours. Make yourself at home."

Brooklyn watched her sister head down the hallway towards her bedroom. Once alone, Brooklyn looked down at her stomach, rubbing it fondly for the first time, "We're gonna be okay. We're safe now, and nobody is gonna hurt us here."