"But Moooom, I don't want to go to Europe. I was gonna hang out with my friends and play video games all summer. Now I have to study? And read?" James moaned as he leaned his forehead against the wall. The eight-year-old was being extremely dramatic about his summer plans being snatched away in favor of an 'educational' vacation with his family. His voice came muffled from the wall as he added, "This is so lame."
"Get your face off the wall and help me pack! What do you want to take?" Kayla ordered with a snap of her fingers from her seated place on James' bed. "I'm only packing sweater vests unless you tell me otherwise."
"No, I'll look like a loser. The only good thing about this trip is that my social media presence can thrive in the glow of famous landmarks."
Kayla lifted her head from the pair of shorts she was packing to look at her young son. "No. Absolutely not. How do you have a social media presence? You don't even have a phone."
"I created an Instagram on my tablet. Zawadi's account has over three thousand followers. I'm surprised you haven't heard of Zaddi the Ridgeback." James shrugged, yanking several t-shirts from his closet to pass to his mom. "I want my own phone."
"No. And why is my dog Instagram famous?" Kayla asked dully, leaning her head to the side in annoyance as James sat the pile of clothes on her lap.
"Because people love dogs. I'm slowly working my way up to having my own account, but Dad said no. So I just post photos of Zaddi." James shrugged, pulling a pair of Nikes from his closet. "Seriously, you haven't heard of Zaddi the Ridgeback?"
"I'm going to have a long talk with your father about your computer usage. This trip is not for you to get internet famous." Kayla scolded, folding up the shirts before adding, "This is really important for your father and Uncle Bucky. No phones. Ipads are only for homework, alright?"
"It's summer, I shouldn't have to do homework," James grumbled as he crossed his arms, sitting on his bed beside his mother. She wrapped her arm around her son and hugged him tightly, giving him a strong squeeze that his sister wouldn't have been able to endure.
"I love you, you know that?" Kayla asked as she pressed a kiss to her son's head. "I love you and Sarah so, so much and the only reason your father decided to go into business with Uncle Bucky is because it'll make a better life for you and your sister. This summer will be fun. Full of adventures." The auburn-haired Kayla reached behind her back and pulled out an old film camera. "Just because something's old doesn't mean it isn't still good. I found this at a thrift store last week, thought it might be fun for you. I'll have Uncle Tony develop the film when we get back from our trip."
James flipped the camera over, studying it carefully, "Wouldn't it be easier to buy me a cell phone?"
Kayla shrugged, bopping her head from side to side, "Maybe. But that's not nearly as much fun. For me." Kayla chuckled, patting James on the back. "I'm gonna go help your sister. Zip up your suitcase and take it downstairs, please."
James slung the camera strap around his neck, looking down at it with curious green eyes. "Sure thing, Mom."
Kayla walked through the connecting bathroom into Sarah's sky blue bedroom, finding her daughter rifling through her dresser drawers for outfits. Sarah looked over her shoulder when her mother entered, offering a sweet smile, "Hey Mom. I'm almost done packing."
"Yeah, do you have enough clothes for ten weeks?" Kayla asked, peeking into the almost empty suitcase. "I think you could use a little help."
Sarah grinned, plopping several shirts onto the bed beside her suitcase. "I wouldn't say no."
"Are you excited about this summer?" Kayla asked easily as she looked through her daughter's closet. "Get out and see the world. Hang out with Aunt Tess and your brother."
Sarah looked over her shoulder with narrowed eyes, "Sounds like a dream, Mom. Yeah, I guess I'm excited. James said that I've been nominated to be his Instagram photographer all summer."
"Well, that's not happening. Zawadi's fifteen minutes of fame are over. I think this will be good for you and your brother. You're so... sheltered here. There's such a big world out there! I want you to experience it. Your father and I both got to travel when we were younger. I want that for you too." Kayla brought a heap of rompers to the bed and deposited them before brushing back Sarah's shoulder-length blonde hair. "What do you want to see?"
"The Louvre." Sarah hummed nonchalantly, catching her mother's attention. Sarah shrugged, "I've heard it's interesting."
"Well, it's on the list!" Kayla bopped Sarah on the nose, then continued to pull the clothes off the hangers. "Think you can finish up. I need to check on your father. You and your brother are much better at packing than your dad." Kayla winked and left the pile of clothes for her daughter to finish up alone.
Crossing the hall, Kayla wandered into the master bedroom, finding it empty aside from Zawadi resting on the bed with sad eyes looking up at her. "Hey, handsome. Where's Daddy?"
"Is he doing something cute? I need a new Instagram post!" James called from his room, easily hearing his mother's cooing with his super-hearing.
"No. No, you don't, finish packing!" Kayla yelled back loudly, turning to Zawadi with her hands on her hips. "You're a superstar, apparently. Hopefully, your legion of followers don't notice how you look so handsome after thirteen years." Kayla pressed a kiss to the dog's large snout, emitting a low whine from his mouth. "I know, I know, you're sad you don't get to come have adventures in Europe, but Tessa is already going to have her hands full with the two little hooligans. But you'll have tons of fun with Tony and your pups. You'll have to play nice though, they're getting old." Kayla scratched Zaddi behind the ears and moved around the king-sized bed to look for her husband. "Steve?"
Kayla peeked into the bathroom, finding it empty. The suitcase was full, but Steve was nowhere to be found. She ran her fingers along the casual clothes packed away, feeling a tinge of excitement burning in her chest. The promise of adventures beside Steve Rogers once again.
The woman's eyes rose to the ceiling as the sound of heavy footsteps clunked above her from the attic.
Steve Rogers looked around the attic of his home at the relics that lived there. It was the one place that was truly his, somewhere his kids weren't allowed and couldn't get to. He had his sketchpad set up facing away from the window, so he could come up and paint alone with the natural light streaming onto his canvas. Inside a dark wooden wardrobe hung his Captain America uniforms, with his shattered shield sitting below them. Kayla's blue stealth suit was displayed next to the open wardrobe to the left of Steve's chair. The afternoon sun was filtering through the windows, but they were dusty after not being cleaned for several months. The attic hadn't seen much of Steve Rogers since the incident in Seattle.
The man now sat in his chair with his pencil in his mouth, using his finger to smear the pencil markings on the paper just the way he wanted them. He was vaguely aware of Kayla climbing the stairs from their walk-in closet to join him in the attic. Steve's mind was focused on his drawing.
"What are you working on?" Kayla asked nonchalantly as she pulled the stairs up behind her, effectively making sure their kids couldn't follow her. She wiped her hands on her jeans and looked around the dusty attic around her husband, "How long have you been up here?"
"An hour." Steve mumbled through the pencil before grabbing it with his hand and looking at his watch, "Maybe three."
"How's it coming?" Kayla inquired as she approached, peering past the drawing pad to see Steve's determined expression as he added more lines to his drawing. His wife wrapped her arms around Steve and leaned in to watch him draw. "Ahhh, someone's feeling nostalgic."
Steve continued to sketch away at the drawing of his shield, whole again in black and white. He shaded away at the stripes around the star, his lips curving up into a small smile. "Maybe a little. I'm not going out there as him though. I don't know who I'm fighting as."
"I fought by your side for years with no name. You don't need an identity to do what's right. Now, if you're done being sentimental about something long gone, I've already packed our new suits out of sight. Nano-tech from Stark. Just bring the underclothes. We've got to get moving darling." Kayla pressed a firm kiss to Steve's cheekbone, letting her fingers trail along his shoulder for a moment as she walked away, looking back over her shoulder at the broken shield.
Alone, Steve pressed his pencil to his lips, staring at the broken shield, still covered in dust and blood from fighting Thanos and his army. The end of Captain America. Well, the end of his tenure as Captain America. He ripped the drawing from his pad, discarding it bitterly on the floor as he looked out the window, seeing his wife carrying the kid's suitcases in each hand to the car. He had to go.
"I've never been on a plane before!"
"Please, Sarah, stop touching everything. I don't want you to get sick." Kayla grumbled as she held her daughter's hand in the airport security line. "James, James make sure your tablet is out of your backpack. Steve? Steve, do you have our passports?"
"Here." Steve stretched around James to hand his wife their passports as he held his son's shoulder, keeping him focused as he dug into his backpack for his tablet. "You heard from Tessa?"
"They flew out yesterday darling, they're meeting us there." Kayla sighed, finally reaching the ticket counter with her family's passports and tickets. "Hi. Sorry, first-time fliers here." Kayla chuckled nervously to the security guard checking her passport for validity. There was no way to explain a quinjet, so the Carters were flying coach.
The guard looked Kayla up and down, scrunching her nose as she studied the photo. "Kathryn Maria Carter. You look familiar, you know."
"I get that a lot. Common features." Kayla shrugged off the assumption as Sarah looked up at her mom nervously.
The guard nodded staring at the children's passports, "You don't have freckles. I take it you're a blonde like your kids?"
"They get the blonde from their father- Steven." Kayla gestured back to Steve, who adjusted his glasses and smiled. The woman nodded amicably toward Steve, studying his license and passport alongside his wife's. Kayla waited patiently, tapping her foot against the carpet at the base of the podium as the woman investigated her family. "Is there a problem?"
"No problem. Everything checks out. Have a nice flight, Mrs. Carter." The woman handed Kayla back the passports with a professional grin. Steve shuffled the kids forward into the security checkpoint as Kayla brought up the rear, looking over her shoulder as the security guard did the same, meeting her gaze.
James looked all around as he entered the security scanner, "This is SO WILD! Can you see inside me? Can you see my guts?" James hollered at the security tech watching him. The man groaned and hit the button, allowing James to come out on the other side of the tube. "What did you see inside me?"
"Your bones and no weapons. Next!" The man called toward Kayla while Steve wrangled his son who bumped into the conveyer belt to grab his backpack, inadvertently bending it when he leaned too far to get his sister's bag.
Steve's eyes widened, smiling widely at the security team as he led his son away, "James, sit. Stay. Wait for your mother. I'm going to see where our gate is." Steve wandered off, leaving his two kids on a seat by themselves in the LaGuardia Airport.
"I'm hungry," James whined, leaning over his sister to look toward the food court. "Want to go get food?"
"We have to wait for Mom. Your stomach can wait for a few minutes." Sarah grunted, pushing her brother away roughly. "Mom's almost back."
"You're no fun." James crossed his arms and pouted, side-eyeing his sister as Kayla arrived, looking at her cell phone.
"Come on, we've got to go, where's your father?" Kayla asked, looking around before rolling her eyes. James pulled on her jean jacket, trying to get her attention. When she looked down at her son, he opened his mouth wide and pointed inside it. He made a gagging sound, signaling that he was hungry. "Alright, let's get food. I'm sure that's where your father is anyway. I don't know who eats more, you or him."