Peter pulled up to a small house in Queens with a red swing on the front porch and a couple of bicycles parked to the side of the garage. Sarah felt a sense of peace wash over her for the first time in days. She couldn't decide if her newfound powers were telling her the home was safe, or if she was just happy to be promised somewhere to rest without fear for a while.
"Thank you, Peter. We really appreciate this." Kayla said, leaning to her left to face the man in the driver's seat, "We won't stay long."
"I'd say you could stay as long as you wanted, but I can't risk it. Ben gets back from his grandparents' house tomorrow night and I don't want him around all this. I'm sorry." Peter told Kayla, looking her up and down with familiar bright eyes. "You haven't changed a bit."
Kayla shrugged a bit as she exhaled loudly, "Not on the outside maybe. But it isn't natural."
Peter tilted his head, but didn't press her any further, turning off the van instead and hitting the button on the console to open the back door. Wanda and Tessa scrambled out with Zawadi, the dog pulling the small brunette toward the grass so he could relieve herself while Tessa told Kayla she needed a break from dog duty. Wanda looked back to see Sarah hop onto the asphalt, emitting a sound almost like a wheeze.
Wanda wiggled her fingers down by her side, pulling the girl's thoughts and finding nothing but exhaustion on her mind. It made the Scarlet Witch squeamish, knowing she'd witnessed the girl lose what strength she'd been promised from her parent's decisions to become science experiments. Wanda had never known Kayla or Steve without the serum. Seeing Sarah as a seventeen-year-old who looked fourteen and pulling out an inhaler just to catch her breath from nerves made Wanda sad. It said so much about who Kayla and Steve once were, and why they made the decisions they did.
If Wanda struggled so much just to exist, she thought she might just take experimental drugs for enhanced physicality, too.
"We've only got one extra bedroom, but I had MJ put the blow up mattress in there so at least everyone will have a place to sleep." Peter Parker explained as he held open the front door. He looked up past Kayla, Tessa, Wanda, and Sarah, noticing two were missing, "Where's Morgan?"
Kayla looked over her shoulder, seeing slight movement from the backseat of the van, "They'll come when they're ready. If you don't mind, I'd love to get washed up. It's been a long couple of days."
Peter guided them into the house, looking over his shoulder one last time to see if the woman he thought of as a younger sister was coming. She wasn't.
As the front door to the house closed, James looked back to Morgan with a sly smirk, then pressed his lips to hers gently as she scooted closer to him, sitting on her left thigh to get better balance as she held the back of his neck with both hands. He confidently pushed his tongue into her mouth and she moaned into him as she ran her fingers through his messy blonde hair.
"My father is going to kill you." She murmured as he pulled away slightly and pressed soft kisses to her jaw, "I really don't care though." She moaned quietly as she tugged his chin up to her lips so she could capture him in another kiss.
He hummed as she bit his lip, responding by diving back in for another, more passionate, kiss. "I don't care either." He whispered, pushing a chunk of hair back from her face, "You are the most beautiful woman I've ever seen."
"I'm hoping you haven't been with too many older women." Morgan chuckled and he pressed his forehead to hers and sucked in the shallow breaths she released. "Even now I feel a little weird. You're still in high school."
"Does it help that I would have been older than you if I hadn't been eradicated from existence by a mad titan?" James pressed a short kiss to her lips, his cheeky smile willing Morgan to put her caution to the wind, "Don't make it weird. Everything in my life is weird. My dad is like, sixty, seventy years older than my mom apparently? That shit's really weird."
Morgan laughed and pulled his lips back to hers, smacking against them until his lips were the same shade of pink as her cheeks. She needed air, realizing quickly that his lungs were clearly and unsurprisingly better than hers.
As Morgan caught her breath, biting her lower lip and looking at James with a lack of confidence he felt endearing, James considered the idea that she'd never slept with anyone. She'd never kissed anyone before him, and he'd happily be her first for other things as well...
The electric whir of a machine booting up caught their attention and Morgan wiped her lip as she turned toward the open door with a grimace. James placed both hands in the air, as if he was preparing to be arrested. "I'm sorry Uncle-"
"My God, I wish we were actually related so you'd detach yourself from my daughter. You just can't stay away, can you?" Tony sneered, powering down the repulser glove he'd had aimed at the boy's head. "You are literally the worst of both of your parents. You have no regard for orders like your father, and you're horny as hell like your mother." He growled in disgust, staring James up and down like he was atrocious. "Get your ass out of the backseat!"
"Yes, sir." James muttered as he scrambled forward and out the door, practically sprinting to the house before pausing in the doorway. Tony revved up the glove and lifted it toward him and he dove through the door somewhere safe.
Tony huffed, turning back to his daughter as the gauntlet retracted back into his watch. Morgan rested her elbow against the side window, then pressed her curled fist against her cheek as she deflated. Tony smirked, "Don't look at me like that."
"Dad, I'm not a child anymore, I am an actual adult. And as much as you hate to admit it, so is James. We are both adults."
"He's in high school, Morgan, it's practically illegal." Tony replied but his daughter just rolled her eyes, "You could have any man in the world. Literally any person, why him? What makes him so special? You don't even know him."
"Did you know every woman's credit score who you bedded before Mom?" Morgan snapped and Tony faked shame as his daughter stared daggers into him, "I want to get to know him again. You love his parents."
"Yeah, but I also hate his parents. I love them because of the shared history we have together, but they are two of the most difficult human beings on Earth. That boy is trouble, and I don't trust him to not hurt you. I won't let him break your heart."
Morgan sighed, climbing forward from the backseat to stand face to face with Tony Stark, "There comes a point where you have to trust me and trust my own judgment. You can't control me, Dad. You can't keep me in a glass box. I'm not nearly as breakable as you think I am."
Tony relented, slinging his arm around Morgan's shoulders and pressing a kiss to her hair, "I know. But we shouldn't be here right now. Your mother is gone. I was brought back from the dead. I can't risk anything happening to you." She smiled up at him as he led her into Peter's house, letting the conversation rest for now. She was so thankful for the most difficult woman on Earth and her inability to let things be.
MJ ordered pizza for her husband's guests, and despite Peter's best efforts, no one aside from Tony and occasionally Wanda would participate in conversation. A tension hung in the air over the band of refugees. Homeless, scared, running for their lives. Even James, who usually finished a whole pizza by himself, poked away at only three slices, but Kayla gathered from the way Tony glared at her son that James wasn't sad about losing his home or regular life.
Kayla eyed Tony as he laughed boisterously with Peter, noticing the way Morgan would smile weakly at James when her father wasn't looking. Tony caught Kayla's gaze and barked, "What?"
"You know what." Kayla challenged, leaning her chin on her fist as a sly grin broke across her features, "Any resentment, any wrongdoings you think you can bring up to defend your disdain for-" Kayla stopped, closing her mouth and choosing not to bring her thoughts to light in front of the table as she folded her hands together and rested her index fingers against her lips, "Remember that one time that I was punished for something that Hydra did? Because you responded to a secret with a lie that left me broken and then you took advantage of my devastation."
"Really, Kay? You wanna have this conversation now? In front of the kids?" Tony snapped back, pounding his hand on the table.
"Does Morgan know?" Kayla bit back, looking to Stark's daughter, who just held her temple with the tips of her fingers. Her eyes were wide but not surprised, telling Kayla that Morgan did in fact know about their tryst. "You owe me for Siberia, and everything it caused. I found out I was pregnant with James in some run down roach motel because I couldn't come home. Because you held a grudge. For something none of us had control over." Kayla chuckled, looking over to her children to see the horrified looks on their faces. She turned back to Stark with her teeth clenched angrily, "I wonder so often, how things might have been different if you'd made a different call. Hell, if you had told me the truth. Maybe we would have already been back together when Thanos came, maybe we would have been able to stop the snap from happening in the first place-"
"I paid with my life!" He yelled back, but Kayla wasn't about to be undone, determined to give her son a chance with the girl he'd pined over for most of his teenage years.
"I made sure you got a refund." Kayla answered, leaning back to show she was done fighting, already having said her peace, "I'm scared, Tony. I'm scared because this is all my fault, and no matter what happens, every outcome is still my fault. So give me this. Stop looking at my son the same way you stared at my husband that day when Carol brought you back from space. He hasn't done anything wrong."
James chewed on his top lip, staring down at his pizza with wide, stunned emerald eyes. The last thing he was expecting was for his mom to go to bat for him at the dinner table. It was quite embarrassing.
I think you two are cute together.
James's head snapped up, unsure if someone had actually said that or if he was imagining it, but when he saw the Scarlet Witch's eyes simmer back to their normal color from red, he understood and awkwardly mouthed 'thanks'. James scratched his forehead under his shaggy hair, noticing that Morgan was smiling softly at him and he blushed a little under her gaze.
Tony noticed and stood quickly, storming away, but Kayla didn't let up on her gaze. She crossed one leg over the other as she looked to Peter and MJ, "Sorry. He's being unreasonable."
Peter snorted as he shoved another piece of pizza into his mouth, a wide grin saying he agreed, but the words would never leave his lips. MJ nodded a little, "I made brownies, anyone want dessert?"
Tony moved the blow up mattress into the guest bedroom, offering to spend the night on the fold out couch in the den. James, not to be outdone by Morgan's father, offered to sleep on the couch in the living room. Tony kept his gaze away from the boy, knowing he'd caused more trouble than he'd saved, so he brought the extra pillows from the den out for James when he inevitably ended up sleeping on the floor. The couch was too small for a man of his stature. At eighteen, he looked like his father had at twenty-two, reminding Tony that not only was he enhanced, he'd been deprived of five years. He still didn't want James banging his daughter, though.
Sarah and Morgan were out cold on the blow up mattress by the window, and Wanda slept lightly on the far edge of the queen-sized bed. Tessa leaned against the wall near the guest bathroom, waiting for Kayla to come to bed, but Kayla had locked herself away an hour ago and hadn't returned. The shower had been running for at least twenty minutes, and Tess was beginning to worry.
"What are you doing?" Tessa finally asked as she gently pried open the bathroom door, instantly being met by the intense smell of bleach, "Kay?"
Kayla turned off the shower and pulled a towel off the rack from behind the curtain as Tessa looked around the steamy bathroom, finding the box of hair dye next to some blonde extensions. She looked to the shower, but Kayla remained behind the curtain, so she asked, "What is all this?"
Finally Kayla pulled the curtain aside, and carefully stepped out of the shower, holding the sky blue towel around her bosom tightly. Tessa noticed her damp hair was bleach blonde, the same color she'd seen in all the old photographs of Kayla Ellis. Tessa also noticed how tired she looked and how red her eyes were from crying. She opened her mouth to speak, but Kayla cut her off quickly, "I just wanted a change."
"You sure? It kinda looks like you want to go back to your roots before the change." Tess replied quietly, picking up the extensions, "You regretting the short 'do?"
"Yeah. I miss my long hair." Kayla admitted, brushing out the tangles from her newly colored locks. "I miss a lot of things."
Tess nodded, understanding where Kayla's head was going, "Getting back into battle really took you back, didn't it? Going to the tower, seeing people again. You're not doing well with it all."
"Can you blame me?" Kayla laughed, shushing herself as she raised her shoulders, "I know you feel the same way..."
"Yeah, but it's different for you. I can tell." Tessa lowered her head, staring at Kayla curiously as the woman fought to keep up her front, "You're upset because the kids just found out about you and Steve, and now they're walking into a fight again. You've waited almost twenty years for this moment, and it's here, and now you can't even enjoy it."
Kayla's lip wobbled and she plopped down on the toilet seat. Tess pulled the bathroom door closed so her crying wouldn't wake the others, but Kayla's heaving sobs stirred her son awake downstairs.
James looked up, rubbing his eyes as he sat up on the couch, feeling an ache in his back from bending uncomfortably. He swung his legs off and slowly crept up the stairs, being cautious not to make a sound. He didn't dare give Tony any reason to believe he was sneaking up to see Morgan, but he was too curious to just let the sobbing be.
When he reached the room, he leaned against the wall, listening to the faint voices on the other side.
Tess held Kayla's shoulders as the woman sobbed into her chest, trying hard to stay quiet but unable to hold in her tears, "I just wanted to have this moment with Steve, you know? He's waited so long, we've waited so long. We thought we were past all this, but I set the Red Skull free, and Steve has to go clean it up."
"Shhh, I know. Bucky's there, he'll protect Steve-"
"Bucky needs to protect himself so he can come home to you. Steve doesn't understand self-preservation very well, and with the kids grown... he's going to finish the job this time, whatever the cost." Kayla wheezed as she held her forehead by her fingertips. James felt his stomach clench at the words, remembering what his father said to him before he left.
If I don't come back, look after your mom and sister.
Yesterday James thought his parents were boring. That they worked boring jobs and had boring friends and that they'd harass him until they were grey and old. Suddenly, everything James thought he knew about his family, and about himself, was turned on its head, and he was expected to be the man of the house because neither of his parents expected his dad to come back.
"Kay, why did you pick a fight with Tony today? At dinner?" Tess asked sincerely, and James pressed his ear against the wall to hear his mother's answer.
Kayla's breath stuck in her throat, and her jaw wavered as it hung open, a sob trying to escape, but she shoved it back down. She wheezed a little, her whole chest shaking as she cried. "I just want to make sure he's taken care of, that's all."
"Why?" Tess pressed, kneeling down so she could look up at Kayla while she hid her face, "You'll be here to take care of them."
Kayla raised her head, and looked at Tessa. The silence was almost more deafening than the pounding of James's heart. He held his breath as he waited for his mother to answer. He was starting to get an idea of who his mother was.
"I'm going after them." Kayla answered quietly, and James felt his world come crashing down, shaking his head back and forth quickly as he silently pleaded his mom not to go. Tess slowly shook her head, preparing to tell her no, but Kayla stopped her, "If I don't go, who will?"
"Nobody will. That's the point, that's why they went alone. And it's a damn good thing considering Hydra was infiltrating SHIELD. Kayla, you need to let them do this. Steve and Bucky can handle it-"
"And if they can't?" Kayla asked, shaking her head as she began to hyperventilate, "What if they can't? Then what?"
Tessa swallowed hard, taking Kayla's hands in her own and staring at them as her eyes welled up, "Then we call somebody else to finish the job-"
"No." Kayla stood quickly and Tessa fell onto her ass to stare up at the blonde. Kayla shook from head to toe, from fear and from the cold of the bathroom, "I caused this. I set him free. I need to go. And if it comes down to it, I'll be the one to-"
The sound of the door opening cut Kayla off, and she turned to the bathroom door in sync with Tessa. Tessa quickly stood and cracked the door a bit, addressing whoever was on the other side in a hushed voice. Kayla picked up the clothes she'd set out for herself and began to dress as Tess turned around to face her, "It's your son."
"Is he okay?" Kayla asked quickly as she pulled yoga pants over her muscular thighs.
Tess shook her head back and forth, "No. He heard our conversation. The end of it at least."
Kayla sighed loudly and pulled a black tank top over her bra, "Shit." She tip-toed past Tess and met her son at the door, "James, why are you up?"
"I heard someone crying." He said simply, his expression a mix of hurt and confusion, "I came to see who it was and realized it was you. I wasn't going to say anything but I heard you talking and-"
"Shh, let's go talk downstairs." Kayla told him, grabbing his hand and quietly closing the door behind them. He led her down the stairs and sat on the couch while she stood in front of him. He could see her hair had lost the last of it's red, and in the tank top he could see how defined his mom's muscles were. James swallowed, his own lip beginning to quiver as he waited for his mother to address him.
She sighed, "What did you hear?"
"You're going after Dad and Uncle Bucky, and you aren't planning on coming back." He said boldly, clenching and releasing his fist to relieve some of the anger that was bubbling up inside him, "So you're just going to leave Sarah and I? Because you'd rather die than live without Dad? Let me guess, it's because I look just like him and it drives you crazy. That seems to be everybody else's problem."
"No, Honey, no." Kayla sat down beside her son and grabbed his shoulder. "Baby, I would do anything for you two. This isn't about bringing your dad home, it's about cleaning up the mess I made..." She stroked James's cheek and he lowered his eyes, "Honey, you aren't your father. You are your own person, and you can be whoever you want to be. Remember that your dad and I made a big mess and a lot of people are suddenly realizing we're still around. James Rogers was said to have died years ago, but James Carter has been living a wonderful, normal life ever since." Kayla gave him a one armed hug and leaned her cheek against his shoulder, "I love you so much, James. You and your sister are my everything, but-"
"But what? If you mean that, then there is no but." James spat back, finally turning to look at his mother again. Where everyone else saw Steve, she saw herself, in his defiant eyes and sly grin and bubbly personality. James was her baby boy, the one she mourned for half a decade, the one she risked her life for in a battle she had no business being in. And he was asking her to stay.
"You're right." Kayla conceded and felt the need to cry by how surprised her son looked, "You are right, I can't go. My children need me."
James saw she was on the verge of tears and pulled her into a proper hug, squeezing her tightly, but she didn't seem to mind. "I love you, Mom."
"I love you too, James."