Alice wiped her hands on the dishcloth and rested against the counter in the kitchen. She'd insisted on washing the dishes and clearing up after everybody when they had eaten lunch. Laura had initially refused but when Alice had told her to go be with her Husband she couldn't refuse. Standing in the farm house, full of family heirlooms and children's toys Alice smiled, it felt so comforting and reminded her of her own childhood. Since she'd arrived it had brought to mind thoughts Alice had let go of some time ago, thoughts of having a family and a home she could share with the one she loved. She loved her work and the friends she had, she loved her early morning walks and the disastrous dates she'd been set up on but since meeting Steve a little voice in the back of her head that had gone quiet had reminded her of what she'd dreamed of when she was a child.
"Will you draw with me please?" breaking from her thoughts and looking down at Lila Alice smiled.
"Of course," she answered as she was led by the hand to the dining table. "What are we drawing?" she asked as crayons and paper were put out in front of her. Pulling her jumper sleeves up and pushing her glasses up her nose Alice helped Lila set out the paper and crayons in front of them.
"Birds," Lila told her.
"Birds! And Butterflies maybe? Do you like butterflies?" Alice asked and Lila nodded enthusiastically. "Fantastic, let's go do some drawing. Perhaps you could draw a picture for Aunt Nat?" Laura grinned from the living room where she had walked in to find her Daughter and Alice sat together, turning to see Steve walking back into the house she put her finger up to her lips.
"She's lovely," she told Steve as he caught sight of Alice at the table. Steve allowed himself to smile, seeing Alice sat there drawing made him love her even more.
"She is, thank you for having us here." Laura waved her hand between them.
"I have enough fire wood to last me the year, you're more than welcome! Do you want some more lemonade? I have nothing to do, Alice insisted on clearing up and Mister Stark is fixing the tractor. I'm sorry I interrupted earlier."
"That's alright," he replied. Laura saw the melancholy on his features, her hand instinctively rested on his forearm and when he looked at her she smiled warmly.
"You know, it's possible to have a life outside of what you do. If you want?" she whispered. Steve nodded slowly. "And I know I've only just met you and it might not mean much but I couldn't think of anyone better!" Laura walked away leaving Steve watching Alice and Lila laugh amongst themselves.
Later that evening Alice stepped from the shower and took the towel Steve offered her, wrapping it around herself she pushed her wet hair off of her forehead and reached for her glasses.
"Anybody ever tell you you have beautiful eyes," Steve told her as he grabbed her glasses before she could. Alice laughed and tried to reach round him.
"All the better for seeing you with!" she answered in her best fairy tale evil voice. Steve grinned and held her glasses higher as she stepped on her tip toes to reach them. "And I have bad eyes, I can barely see anything!" she added. Steve stepped closer to her, his bare chest and towelled hips coming into Alice's focus. "Well, what do we have here?!" Alice teased as she crossed her eyes on purpose and pretended to ogle Steve. Steve, laughing heartily gave Alice her glasses and kissed the top of your head.
"I think we used all the hot water?" Steve said to Alice as she combed her hair and looked at him through steamed up spectacles.
"You can chop some more wood to make up for it," Alice quipped as she offered her comb to Steve. "Plus I'm pretty certain Stark took a bubble bath rather than a shower," Steve screwed up his face and pretended to shiver at the thought. "My first apartment didn't have a shower, I swore I'd never take a bath again after that place!" Steve grinned, he liked it when Alice told him little titbits of her life.
"Are you two done in there?!" they heard Natasha shout from the other side of the door.
"I need to get you some pyjamas or something…" Alice mumbled as she opened the door and slid by Natasha shyly. Natasha cocked her brow at Steve who was watching after Alice.
"You look like the cat who got the cream," she said as Steve walked by her also.
"Watch it Romanoff," he threw over his shoulder as he followed Alice into their room.
Steve's arm hung over Alice's shoulders as they sat at the dinner table, she'd been quiet for most of the meal letting the team talk to one another and Clint catch up with Laura and his children. When they had left to put the kids to bed Alice had rested her hand on Steve's knee under the table and continued to listen to the group talk amongst themselves. When Fury started to speak but glanced her way Alice shifted in her seat.
"I'm going to let you talk," Alice stood from the table and picked up her plate.
"You don't have to go," Steve said quickly as he held her arm. Alice smiled warmly at him but pulled from his grasp.
"It's alright, I have some work to do. I'll be outside." Steve watched her leave and then turned to Fury.
"Well, this is good times, boss, but I was kind of hoping when I saw you, you'd have more than that." Natasha said to Fury as she sat at the table.
"I do, I have you. Back in the day, I had eyes everywhere. Ears, everywhere else. You kids had all the tech you could dream up. Here we all are, back on Earth, with nothing but our wit and our will to save the world. Ultron says the Avengers are the only thing between him and his mission and whether or not he admits it, his mission is global destruction. All this, laid in a grave. So stand, outwit the platinum bastard."
"Steve doesn't like that kind of talk," Natasha quipped.
"You know what, Romanoff?" Steve lowered his head and stared at Natasha.
"So, what does he want?" Fury asked the team.
"To become better," Steve replied. "Better than us, he keeps building bodies."
"Person bodies," Stark said. "The human form is inefficient, biologically speaking, we're outmoded. But he keeps coming back to it."
"When you two programmed him to protect the human race, you amazingly failed." Natasha said as she looked to the table.
"They don't need to be protected, they need to evolve." Banner answered. "Ultron's going to evolve."
Alice sat on the porch with her laptop perched on her legs, typing away she looked up suddenly when she heard the screen door open and close.
"Hey," she greeted Stark as he took the seat beside her and set a bottle of beer down on the table. That hadn't said more than two words to each other but Alice was far beyond trying to figure out what was happening right in that moment. "Thank you," she said as she picked up the bottle and took a long swig.
"I'm not interrupting am I?" he asked as he had a mouthful of his own beer. Alice shook her head and typed out the last of her sentence. "You working?" he said as Alice pushed her glasses up her nose. "I could get you a better laptop, if you wanted…?" he trailed off.
"Yeah, I'm just finishing up. Steve gave me enough time to grab some clothes and my laptop, I messaged my friend… I wanted to tell her to go somewhere safe but, there isn't anywhere safe right now is there?" Stark looked down and closed his eyes.
"We're working on it," he said quietly. "The old man and I… we have some stuff to work out. You're probably not aware but…"
"You and Steve…" Alice interrupted. "You and Steve need to work as a team. You know, of all the obituaries I've written, the people that had a team mate, a Wife or Husband or friend. They were the ones that had full lives, achieved their dreams and made a difference. You and Steve and the rest, you need to make a difference right now. That will be your legacy," Stark raised his brow.
"My what?" Stark asked, shocked at the use of the word that had been haunting him since the Maximoff girl had filled his mind with heartache. Alice shifted her weight and inhaled slowly unaware of what he was thinking.
"I apologise, it's an occupational hazard to speak so dramatically about people's lives, please don't take it personally. When you've spent your career listening to people recant the achievements and failures of their loved ones it makes you appreciate the time we have on this Earth." Stark looked at Alice and grinned.
"I wondered if the woman dating Cap was a lunatic. I mean to put up…" Alice cleared her throat and Stark stopped talking. "What I meant to say was he's lucky to have you," Alice laughed.
"Thank you for saying that, and he's lucky to have you too." Closing her laptop she sat it on the table and stared out into the night. "I'm not sure he needs me though," wiping the tear from her cheek she took a deep breath and looked to the sky. "Sorry, I'm not sure where that came from?" she apologised as she tried to get her emotions in check.
"I have this effect on women," Stark joked and Alice couldn't help but splutter a laugh.
"I've written my own obituary, it's something we do in my line of work…" she told him.
"You haven't written mine have you?" Stark asked but Alice didn't bite.
"When I met Steve I thought about changing it… but I didn't." she whispered as she started peeling the label from the beer bottle.
"First, that's a little dark," Stark replied. "Second, why didn't you?" he asked softly but Alice didn't answer. "I have seen my legacy Alice, all of us were shown… something. I don't know what Steve was shown but I'm sure you were…"
"He saw Peggy Carter, his life. The life he should have had…" Alice interrupted and Stark didn't know what to say. "His obituary was already written," she added quietly. Stark thought back to his conversation with Steve, when he had told him he didn't trust him. It now made sense.
"That's not his life Alice," Stark replied quickly. The screen door opening and Steve appearing stopped him from saying any more. Standing Stark finished his beer and slapped Steve on the back, "I don't know how she puts up with you," he said as he went back into the house, not before giving Alice a wink behind Steve's back. Steve took Stark's seat and let out a long slow breath.
"What are you thinking about?" he asked her. Alice paused and then shifted in her own seat before answering.
"Nothing, I've just finished some work that's all." She lied.
"What did Stark want?" Steve couldn't help but ask.
"He was just blowing his own trumpet about fixing the tractor," she told him quickly. "It's not good is it?" Alice asked as Steve stood and leant against the porch as she went to be by his side. As his arms wrapped round her Alice closed her eyes and breathed in slowly, looking up as he looked down at her she felt tears in her eyes once more. "I remember when I first noticed you running, you'd run and run and run and never stop. I wondered who this man with seemingly unlimited energy was and from time to time would stop and look like he was somewhere else, or at least wanted to be somewhere else. I couldn't help but laugh when you pretended to get cramp just so you could stop in front of me…"
"How did you know?" Steve exclaimed.
"You ran for miles without breaking a sweat, do you think for one second I thought you had cramp!" she replied laughing. "And then when you fell from the sky… I didn't want to let you go." Alice added sadly. "You've been so giving Steve, I can't remember before you. The way you make me feel, like I'm the only one in the room… you're a very special person Steve Rogers."
"Alice…" Steve's hands cupped her cheeks softly.
"I don't think you need me Steve," she started as she pulled away from him. Steve's eyes went wide, he could see the look on her face, he'd seen it before. She was determined, he knew it.
"Alice! You're wrong," he told her.
"I don't think so Steve," she answered shaking her head. "I think this is too much," she whispered as she grabbed her glasses from her face and pinched the bridge of her nose.
"I need you Alice, you've given me something I didn't have. You've given me a home, a reason to come home! You've given me a reason to fight. You're extraordinary…" Alice pressed her lips together and looked down at their hands, their fingers intertwined. She knew of his brute strength but all he had ever shown her was gentleness and kindness.
"No, I haven't." she replied. "You don't need me as a reason, you have all the reasons in the world and you had them long before you met me. I'm just a distraction, you said so yourself. I'm not extraordinary Steve, in fact I'm pretty ordinary and I'm alright with that." She smiled at him, trying to make him feel better but the smile didn't reach her eyes and Steve creased his brow in anguish, as she started for the screen door he pulled her towards him. "Go save the world Steve…"
"You know I didn't mean it like that," he told her quickly and full of anguish. "We don't need to do this right now…"
"Please Steve!" Alice cried. "Don't, don't follow me." Steve watched as she went into the house, staring after her he wanted to follow but his feet wouldn't move.
Alice dropped her bag and coat in her hallway and let out the breath she'd been holding, looking around her home it felt empty all of a sudden. Her eyes fell on her coat rack where Steve's jacket still hung, letting her fingers fall over the fabric she struggled to keep the tears from swelling and dropping down her cheeks. Seeing her post and papers piled up behind the door she spotted Steve's eyes peaking from the front cover of the newspaper. Slowing picking it up Alice unfolded the page and stared at the picture of Captain America himself, seeing the headline her heart broke.
'Who protects us from them?'
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