About twenty minutes later, Steve came back into the house, panting and drenched in sweat. Kayla had moved from the kitchen to the living room, laying across the couch with a piece of paper in her hand. Steve pulled his shirt up to wipe the sweat off his face, breathing rapidly as he kicked off his tennis shoes before approaching his wife, "What'cha working on?"
"Something's going on with Sarah."
Steve smoothed down his shirt and huffed at his wife, "What makes you say that?"
"Because she drew this after seeing it in her mind." Kayla presented the somewhat crumpled sketch. Steve studied Kayla as he took the paper, watching his wife's weary expression for a moment before looking down at the drawing. Steve's jaw slackened as he realized what he was looking at. Kayla stared up at Steve as he studied their daughter's good work. "Steve?"
"What do you think this means? Do we have photos she's maybe seen? Does she know?" Steve breathed and Kayla shook her head, looking up the stairs to make sure the kids weren't listening. Kayla stood quickly and shushed Steve, pressing her finger to his lips.
"She doesn't know. There are no pictures. We've been careful, and we haven't been there in over twenty years. This- this is a coincidence. There's probably photos on the internet, they've probably talked about it in school. Wakanda being rebuilt after being wiped out is a huge part of history, and they are out of the shadows... there's a thousand ways she could have seen that city." Kayla assured Steve, keeping her voice low and her eyes raised to the upper level of their house.
Steve set the drawing down on the end table and scratched the back of his neck uncomfortably. "I don't know, Kay. I don't believe that."
"I don't either, but I was trying." Kayla deadpanned and Steve followed her gaze upstairs, "There's been a few instances-"
"Weird things-"
"Yeah. Things that don't quite make sense, but I brushed them under the rug. We're not quite normal. I thought maybe it was a response to that."
"Coincidence?" Steve offered and the pair looked at each other.
"Coincidence." Kayla repeated. She looked down, drawing her eyebrows, "But she said she cried. Like, out of nowhere."
"Why? Is she okay?" Steve questioned and Kayla shot him a warning looking, telling him more with her emerald eyes than her voice ever could. "Right. Don't know."
"What do you want to do about this?" Kayla scooped up the drawing and clenched it tightly, adding a few more crinkles. Steve hadn't seen Kayla this scared in a long time, but she was that kind of quiet nervous that told Steve she didn't know how to fix the problem. Kayla loved fixing problems, and she didn't have all the variables.
Steve pulled his wife to his chest, and she rested her head against him, ignoring the sweat that still drenched his shirt. He stroked her hair gently with one hand and caressed her back with the other, trying to bring some comfort while trying to figure out a real answer, "We just have to be there for her, for whatever she needs. We'll help her through whatever's going on..."
Kayla nodded, "Yup. So basically what we've always done. Great. Great plan, Cap." Kayla murmured with a weak grin as she pulled away from Steve, "Take a shower. Take Zaddi with you, I don't know who smells worse." She teased, clicking her tongue to summon the dog and Steve groaned, leading the dog upstairs.
Before Steve reached the fourth step, he looked back, "Did James ever come down for breakfast?"
"Yeah. He had some eggs. He's lifting in his room. Something about leg day?" Kayla lied easily, and Steve raised his brow questioningly. After holding his gaze for a moment, she broke and shrugged. "Boys will be boys?"
Steve grunted and turned to go shower, letting his son off the hook for whatever he'd done this time. He closed his bedroom door and made his way to the bathroom, setting his phone on the bathroom counter and turning on the water. He left the shower door open a bit, allowing Zawadi to run ahead into the water while Steve got undressed. He pulled off his sweaty shirt and tossed it into the hamper, preparing to take off his sweats until he heard a buzzing coming from next to the sink.
He eyed his phone, preparing to let it go to voicemail until he saw the name on the screen. Steve scrambled to answer, sliding his finger across the screen and shoving the phone to his ear, "Tony? How are you-"
"She's gone Cap. Passed early this morning."
Steve's stomach dropped at the words and he stumbled back a step, leaning against the wall, "I'm so sorry, Tony. Is there anything we can do?"
"Not really. Nobody could. She didn't want help, she didn't want to live as something she wasn't... in the end it got so bad, we tried anyway." Tony's voice cracked as he admitted to ignoring his wife's wishes, but he was too selfish to let her die without exhausting every possible solution. "We, uh, we're in Wakanda now. Thought maybe the most technological country in the world would have figured out a way to fix heart failure. Honestly though, I kinda think our best option would have been to come back to your wife."
"I'm sorry. I really am. I can't imagine what you're going through." Steve murmured into the phone as he rubbed his eyelids.
Tony scoffed through the phone, "You never will. You'll live forever if she has her way. How's the wife and kids anyway?" Steve opened his mouth to answer, but Tony interrupted him, "Listen, I gotta go. Morgan's working on setting up the service. It'll be out at the lake in a few days."
"Tony, you know how much we'd want to be there but we've worked so hard to stay under the radar." Steve looked to his left to see his dog sitting in the shower with the water dripping down his head. Zawadi barked at Steve and the man put his finger to his lips to shush him as Tony spoke again.
"Oh I wasn't expecting you guys to show up. I'm not even going to be there. I was wondering if you wanted to keep me company while I lay low. I'd rather not be alone during my wife's funeral."
Steve smiled to himself, "Sure. You got it. We'll be there."
"I'll text you the details. See you soon, Steve."
"Bye, Tony."
Steve dropped his phone back onto the counter and leaned against the edge. There were two things that Stark said that bothered him, but the thing he couldn't shake was where Pepper died.
"Steve? You still in the shower?" Kayla called as she entered the bedroom. At the sound of her voice, Zawadi came barreling out into the adjoining bedroom to his mom. He leapt into her arms, soaking her before running his tongue across her face. "Zaddi!" She yelped, closing her mouth quickly so as to not get slobber in her mouth. She deposited the Rhodesian onto the carpet before flinging her arms out to dry off, "Steve?" She turned the corner and saw Steve, quickly grabbing his cheeks as he stared in the mirror with a haunted expression. Kayla held his cheek in one hand and scratched the back of his neck with the other, trying to pull him back to her, "Steve, darling, what's wrong?"
"Pepper's gone." Steve whispered, letting out a heavy sigh. Kayla's eyes widened and she leaned against Steve's bare chest, trying to comprehend what was happening. "She passed in Wakanda."
At that, Kayla lifted her head to look at Steve, "Why?"
"They thought maybe Wakanda would have the advancements to help. Tony said he wishes they'd have come to you instead." Steve explained quickly, but Kayla just shook her head, holding up an accusatory finger to Steve.
"Wakanda?"
Steve nodded, "Do you think Sarah knew? Could she sense it?"
Kayla's expression to his proposition was cold. She set her jaw and turned away, fidgeting a bit before turning off the shower water. Steve took a step closer and she whipped around to face him with her jaw tight, "Don't. Don't repeat yourself, I heard you the first time. Sarah... our Sarah, our non-super-soldier child can't 'sense' things like this. It was a coincidence."
"She woke up with a vision of Wakanda and an unexplainable sense of grief, and you don't think the two things are connected?" Steve challenged, placing his hands on his hips. A low growl emitted from Kayla's throat as she kept Steve's gaze, but her watery eyes betrayed her. Steve raised his brow and broke Kayla's spell.
"I don't want to believe they are." She croaked, swallowing back her tears, "Because if I start considering that, I have to start considering that she's special... and we know a lot of special people Steve, they wind up in terrifying spots."
Steve wavered a bit, lost in this idea of his daughter having some sort of magical powers. "We'll let it go. We aren't going to bring it up. And we sure as hell aren't going to run any tests."
"I wasn't going to suggest that." Kayla muttered under her breath, folding her fingers together and breathing into her fist, "Alright. So... is there a memorial?"
"Tony asked if you and I would come be with him while it happens. He can't be there." Steve answered and Kayla dropped her hands to hold in front of her stomach.
"Alright. Take a shower. I'll let the kids know what's happened." Kayla ordered before closing their bedroom door and walking across the hall to her kids' rooms. She knocked on Sarah's door first, then walked to her son's room to summon him.
As expected, Sarah revealed herself quickly as Kayla continued to pound on James's door. Sarah waited patiently, placing her hands on either side of her doorframe as she leaned forward to see her mother's vain attempts to be heard over the teen's loud music.
"James! Open the door!" Kayla yelled, but her voice was drowned out by the rock music blasting through the door. She stared at the 'Keep Out' sign bitterly before turning to her daughter.
Sarah fully emerged through her door to put up her hands defensively, "Don't look at me. He wouldn't listen to me if his life depended on it."
Kayla grunted and turned back to her son's room. She pounded her fist against the door, careful not to break it as he patience began to thin, "I know you can hear me. Open the door!"
Through the pounding of the drums, Kayla heard James groan loudly and his heavy footsteps approached until the door flew open, "What? What do you want?"
Kayla raised her brows questioningly and crossed her arms, threatening her son without a word. He stood up straighter so he was taller than his mom, pushing back his messy blonde hair before flipping a remote over his shoulder and silencing his music. Kayla tapped her foot anxiously as she began running through her next words carefully in her mind. "Your father just got a call from Uncle Tony... Aunt Pepper passed away last night." Kayla looked to Sarah, seeing the girl's face fall as she leaned against the wall. Kayla looked back to James, sizing the young man up before adding, "I thought maybe you'd want to know. If it isn't too much of an inconvenience for you to listen."
"Is Morgan okay?" James asked quickly as he surged out of his room, causing Kayla to take a quick step back.
"I don't know. He didn't say-"
"Are they coming home?" James asked softly, and Kayla recognized that look in his eyes. He tried not to smile, knowing it wasn't the right time, but it bloomed on his face anyway, "Can we see them?"
Kayla opened her mouth to answer, but was cut off by Steve emerging from their room to face his children, "The service is Thursday morning, sadly you guys will be at school. Maybe we can run up to the cabin this weekend if they are up for company. We need to give them time- they're hurting. They've been traveling."
"Where were they when she passed?" Sarah asked quietly, trying to be sensitive about the subject, unlike her brother.
Kayla looked up to Steve for an answer and he answered his daughter truthfully, "An African nation called Wakanda. They are very technologically advanced in every field. I guess they hoped for a miracle."
"I've heard of Wakanda. They were wiped out by Hydra. Rebuilt from scratch." James mumbled as he leaned against the wall, causing the concrete within it to creak under his weight. He crossed his arms and lifted his chin curiously, "Not really a vacation destination. How'd they get in?"
"I don't know James." Steve moaned in frustration, looking to his wife to deal with their son. Kayla just smirked and grabbed Steve's hand, giving it a soft tug as she took a step toward the stairs. Steve looked from his wife to his son, "I'm sorry." He turned to Sarah, studying her thoughtful blue eyes, "Try not to think about it. Please." Steve allowed Kayla to lead him away, and the two kids shared a glance before going back into their rooms.