Tessa paced back and forth in Kayla and Steve's bedroom, waiting for the group to return. She shoved her fingers through her thick brown hair as she looked at the ground, trying to convince herself everything was okay. Any second they'd all walk through the door like everything was fine. They'd walk in and freak out about their children being at the Colosseum during the battle. They'd tell the kids some story about how they were worried sick but couldn't get out of their meetings. Any minute now they'd be back.

Tessa looked at the clock between the beds, seeing it had been five hours since the standoff ended and they still hadn't returned.

"Where's Mom and Dad?" Sarah asked quietly, curled up in her parent's bed with the covers pulled up to her chin. James sat on the kids' bed, occasionally looking up from his summer reading to check on his sister. He hadn't said much since they'd returned, which Tessa noted was very uncharacteristic of the boy.

"They should be here soon." Tessa sighed, looking at her watch even though she already knew what time it was. "I'm sure they are just running late."

"Are they okay?" Sarah asked again, and James shot her a dirty look as he clenched and unclenched his fist.

Tessa forced a confident smile to the little girl, "Of course they are. Why wouldn't they be?"

Sarah shrugged, digging herself deeper into the covers, "Today was really scary. I just have this feeling that they aren't okay."

Tessa's eyes widened and she puffed out her cheeks, trying to figure out how to answer the child. "I- I don't know."

"Can you not be such a downer all the time, Sarah? They are fine. I know it." James snapped, slamming his book closed and sitting up straight to face his sister. "They are fine. They'll be here any second. They weren't there today."

"How do you know?"

"Because they weren't. Mom and Dad are lame. They are just in meetings, they wouldn't dump us off with Aunt Tess just to show up at the same place as us anyway." James barked back, but Sarah just raised her nose defiantly as she looked up to the ceiling.

"They could have seen the fight on the news and come looking for us. You don't know. There could have been more fights. They are late. They should have been back by now!" Sarah fought back and the boy stood up, but Tessa intercepted him with a commanding frown. She pointed back at the bed, telling the boy to get back to work. He clenched is jaw angrily, and Tessa couldn't help but think he looked like a little Captain America preparing to fight.

Suddenly the door began to unlock and Tessa darted to the side to see who was coming in. It was Bucky who pushed the door open and entered, and Tessa couldn't help herself from jumping into his arms and pressing a kiss to his lips as he bent down to reach her. "Where have you been? We've been worried sick!"

"Where's Mom and Dad?" James asked cooly, pushing himself out of the bed to approach the man. Bucky looked showered and clean in his business suit; clearly he had been in meetings all day. But Steve and Kayla were still missing.

"Uh-" Bucky started, looking nervously between Tessa and the boy as Sarah crawled to the edge of the bed to peek around the corner at her Uncle Bucky. Tessa's eyes widened at his need to come up with an explanation, and her legs felt weak.

Bucky didn't have a chance to answer because Steve pushed open the door, followed closely by Kayla. James darted to his mother, throwing his arms around her as she doubled over to press a kiss to his head, opening her other arm to receive Sarah.

"I was so worried about you guys!" Kayla cooed as she ruffled her son's hair, "You guys weren't at the Colosseum when it was overtaken were you?"

"We were! We were there and it was so scary!" Sarah whimpered and James stayed silent, which only confirmed Kayla's suspicion that her son was just as shaken as his younger sister. She tightened her grip on her kids, looking up to meet Steve's eyes. He dropped his head shamefully and Kayla reached up and grabbed his face. Sarah released her mother and darted to her father, but when she wrapped her arms around him, she scowled. "Daddy?"

"Yes, Honey?" Steve answered as he knelt down to be at eye level with the girl. His muscles ached as he moved, and Kayla's eyes softened at the pained look on his face. Sarah pressed one small hand against Steve's chest, looking up at him sadly. She didn't answer her question, only backed away slowly and looked up at her mother.

Kayla looked between Sarah and Steve, then down at James who still held her tightly, "How about we order some pizza for dinner. Then you guys can go swimming with Auntie Tess and Uncle Bucky, sound good? Your Dad and I are going to go on a date tonight."

"I guess," James mumbled, pressing his face to the side of Kayla's ribcage. She was confused by his behavior, but she didn't know exactly how much he'd seen. "Sarah was worried that you guys came to the Colosseum... when you saw the news. She was so worried about you guys."

Kayla nodded thoughtfully, scratching James's neck beneath his blonde hair, "We would have, but we didn't even see what had happened until after it was over. No phones allowed at the conference. We didn't even realize how late it had gotten until it ended."

James finally pulled away, seeming happy with his mother's answer. "Alright, we'll forgive you. This time. Right, Sarah?" The little blonde girl nodded, but she didn't seem to understand what she was agreeing to. James straightened up and wandered over to the hotel phone, "Pizza? you said we could get pizza. The sooner we get it, the sooner we go swimming right?"

"Right," Kayla answered happily, beaming at Tessa. "I'll put the order in. Should be here soon. Think you two can handle these two hooligans for a few hours?"

Tessa opened her mouth to answer but Bucky cut her off, "Of course! I feel like I've barely seen them this week. What if we have the pizza delivered to the pool?"

"Yes. Let's do that. Sarah! Sarah get your suit on!" James yelled at his sister and Sarah released a long breath, padding her way into the bathroom to grab her drying swimsuit from the night before. Kayla followed her to help her get situated while James flipped through the menu for the pizza restaurant downstairs. Steve, however, sat on his bed without saying anything. He stared at the wall blankly, but neither Bucky nor Kayla paid any attention to him.

"We should go get our suits from the other room," Tessa said awkwardly, pointing over her shoulder to the adjoining room with her thumb. Bucky smiled softly and nodded, leading her into the room next door to change. Tessa quietly closed the door and looked around before hissing loudly, "What the hell happened today? If I'd have known you'd start a battle royale at the Colosseum I would have taken them to gladiator school like James wanted."

"Steve and Kay got captured. Contini wanted the audience. We didn't know you guys would be there still, not that we had much of a choice." Bucky answered easily, going into the bathroom to grab his swim trunks. "Things took a turn for the worse. Luckily an old friend helped me catch the shipment of weapons before it got out of town- but Contini got away."

"So it was all for nothing?" Tessa asked quietly, grabbing her own bikini off the towel rack. She pulled her shirt over her head and Bucky grabbed her, pulling her close to him. He massaged her hips with his thumbs, then flipped over his metal arm to tap away at the keypad that appeared. Tessa watched as the metal turned to flesh-colored plastic. She raised her brow, but Bucky just ignored her surprise.

"I wasn't there," Bucky said as he looked into Tessa's chocolate eyes, "Contini put Steve in a hard spot. He had one bullet. Contini had one foot out the door, but his son had Kayla in a death grip. Steve chose to save Kay." Bucky shrugged as Tessa wiggled into her swim bottoms, looking up at him when he paused, "Not that anyone is surprised about that."

"Would you have done things differently?" Tessa pressed nervously, reading from the tone of Bucky's voice that he thought Steve should have made the other choice.

But Bucky just shook his head, "No. I wouldn't have. We can track down Contini again. But Steve's very shaken. That man was a father, a husband, and Steve took his life with a bullet to the skull." Tessa shook at Bucky's words, but he continued casually, "They aren't going on a date tonight, Steve just needs some time alone to decompress. I said we'd keep the kids busy for a few hours. He needs it."

Tessa finished tying the front of her top and put her hands on her hips, "Sounds like a plan to me. I could go for some pizza and a swim. But you are head babysitter. Those kids are exhausting."

Bucky pulled her close and kissed her, smirking as he pulled away slightly, "Have you met their parents?"

It only took about forty-five seconds after the kids left with Bucky and Tessa for Steve Rogers to completely break down from the day's events. Kayla darted to his side, kneeling on the floor by the bed to look up at her husband as he cried into his hands, "Steve? Baby... it's okay. Everything's fine. We'll catch Contini. We'll set this right."

Steve sniffled loudly, rubbing his eyes as Kayla rubbed his cheeks, "I killed a man today. An innocent man. He was just trying to protect his father, and I killed him. He had a wife and kids and they'll never see him again... because of me. I should have taken out Leonardo when I had the chance, but I wanted to find a peaceful way out." Steve chuckled darkly as he pushed back his hair, "I think I forgot that I was created for war."

"I don't like that kind of talk." Kayla chastised as she moved to sit beside Steve on the edge of the bed, "There's nothing wrong with wanting to spare someone's life, Steve. It's what I love about you. You're good. I'm sorry that I'm the reason you had to make that call today. I would have understood if you made the other one..."

"No. I'd never," Steve replied quickly, grabbing Kayla's left hand and kissing it tenderly. He used his free hand to brush her auburn hair behind her ear, "I'll always choose you. I should have kept you closer. Then perhaps the man working for Hydra would be dead instead of his carpenter son."

"He made his choice. They both did. And so did you. All we can do now is to move on from it. Can you do that?" Kayla asked as she leaned forward and pressed her forehead to Steve's. He breathed her in, shifting in an attempt to ease the pain in his back.

"Yes." He kissed Kayla softly, then sighed, keeping his head pressed to hers as he added, "I'm getting too old for this, Kay."

She pulled away and grabbed Steve's face, studying it. The scientist in her wanted to run some tests, to see why Steve would say such a blasphemous thing, but his wife could see that he was right. The lines around his eyes never quite went away when he stopped smiling, and his jaw didn't look as defined as it once did. His metabolism was slowing down, and he wasn't eating as much. He also didn't have the stamina he used to have. Steve Rogers was getting older and that scared the shit out of his wife.

"Shhh, none of that." Kayla hushed, but the way she swallowed hard told Steve that she knew he was right. "We're almost done. It's almost over. Two more targets."

"Three. Contini got away." Steve grumbled, leaning back onto the bed. Kayla groaned and laid beside him, cuddling up into the crook of his arm as he wrapped it around her.

"Fine, three, but then we'll enjoy an easy retirement," Kayla promised and Steve pressed a kiss to her head. They both laid there in silence for a while, thinking about what the future held. All Kayla knew was that she wouldn't let her husband die. Not by bullet, by cyanide, and sure as hell not by old age.