"I can't believe our luck." Bill smiled when Sam and Betsy walked into the private garage that morning. "Miss Ellie visiting up twice in one week!"
"I really missed you all while I was a camp." Betsy explained. "It's like, meeting you all for the first time." Sam laughed at their inside joke.
"Say Ellie, how would you like some drafting paper, you could practice your own motorcycle designs." Sam suggested.
"You think that'd be okay?" Betsy asked him, unable to contain her excitement.
"I think your Dad will appreciate it." Sam nodded. "I'll set you up in my office, it'll be just like when you were little."
Sam sat a stack of paper on his desk. He presented Betsy a box of colored pencils and a second box of markers. He explained that when Ellie was little she used to love sitting in his office coloring and doodling for hours at a time.
"Crayola was the best babysitter your Dad could have asked for." Sam remembered. "We'd come in and check on her every once and awhile, and she'd still be there shading in the petals of a flower with her tongue between her teeth as she concentrated. Then she convinced your Dad to get her an iPad and she hardly looks up from the thing."
"She still draws." Betsy told him. She reached into her purse and pulled out Ellie's iPad. She opened the drawing app and showed Sam some of the sketches her sister had done. "I found some old sketchbooks of my Dad's once, He used to draw during the war. He's going to love Ellie when he meets her for real, she's everything he ever wanted in a daughter. But it seems like Bucky and El were happy together here."
"Betsy, you know your dad is going to love you when he meets you for real too. Yeah he and Ellie are close, but I'm sure you know things about Steve that Ellie doesn't. You're still young, there's plenty of time for you two to get to know each other." Sam said.
"Time together! You just have me a great idea Sam!" Betsy grabbed a pencil and started sketching.
"Well, I think that's the last of it!" Sharon huffed as she placed the final load of shopping bags on Betsy's bedroom floor. "Thanks for sharing your dad with me today, Betsy. I know you just got back from camp and I'm sure you were looking forward to having him all to yourself."
"Actually, it was nice to have some help." Ellie smiled. "Dad has no clue what teenage girls like." She rolled her eyes.
"Well, if you need help putting some of this stuff up, I'm supposed to swing by again tomorrow. Your dad said he has some stuff he wants to talk to me about. So I can help you out when I 'm done."
"Sounds great, Sharon." Ellie smiled. "Thanks again for all your help!" Sharon left, probably to say goodbye to Steve.
Left alone for the first time since that morning, Ellie set to work redecorating Betsy's room. First she peeled away all the plastic on the mattress and put on the new sheets that she and Sharon had picked out earlier. She found the large, fluffy black duvet and covered the bed with it. She was craftily rearranging the mountain of pillows on the bed, when Steve knocked on the door.
"Come in!" Ellie invited him inside. She sat cross-legged on the bed.
"So, what do you think?" Steve asked.
"I forgot how exhausting shopping can be." Ellie giggled.
"I meant about Sharon." Steve smirked. "But the two of you did do some serious shipping today."
"Sharon seems great, Dad." Ellie said. She'd meant it too.
"Yeah?" Steve tilted his head to the side. He reminded Ellie of a golden retriever. "That's great!" He smiled, seeming to remember something suddenly. "Because I was thinking it might be nice to have Sharon around more often."
"She said she'll be back tomorrow." Ellie shrugged. "How much more can you see a person?"
"It's like you're six years old again." Bucky smiled from the door of Sam's office. Betsy looked up from her sketch. "I've been working on some design ideas."
"Oh yeah? Thinking of taking over your old man's business some day?" He asked, walking closer to Sam's desk.
"Not exactly." Betsy shook her head as she gathered her papers together. "Sam and I were talking on the ride over and it got me thinking about how I wish we could spend more time together. I was also thinking about how El…I mean I don't like riding on the back of the motorcycle. So I was thinking maybe a sidecar?" She presented the sketches to Bucky.
"A sidecar, huh?" Bucky took the drawings from her and looked them over. They were a little cruder than the flowers and fashion designs he was used to seeing from his daughter, but he was pretty sure this was the first time Ellie had tried to draw a motorcycle.
"Yeah I mean there has to be other parents out there who don't want their kids riding on the backs of motorcycles. Or maybe just people who are afraid to ride them. I know Sidecars aren't really a common thing anymore but…" As Betsy explained herself, she noticed Ellie's phone vibrating.
"Aren't you going to answer that?" Bucky asked, looking up from the drawings.
"I-um…" Betsy glanced at the caller ID that flashed on the screen. It was her own name blinking back. Betsy Rogers. Ellie couldn't have picked a worst time to call. If Betsy ignored the call it might make Bucky suspicious, but if she did answer he might hear Ellie on the other end. A beat passed. Bucky and Betsy both stared at the phone. When she knew too much time had passed, she reached for the phone, making her decision.
"Hello?" She greeted her sister.
"Finally!" Ellie huffed on the other end. "Bets we've got a big problem!"
"You already said that!" Betsy couldn't help but roll her eyes. "Listen, now's not a great time can I call you back…"
"No!" Ellie practically shouted. "I'm sorry, Betsy but you can't call me back. You have to come home."
Betsy could sense the urgency in here sisters voice. She was suddenly very aware that while she'd been play acting as her twin sister the last few days, her dad, her real dad was still on the other side of the country. Leaving him behind to get to know Bucky didn't change the fact that her dad was Captain America. He put himself in danger on a daily basis. Had something happened to him while she'd been away?
"Did someone get hurt?" Betsy demanded impatiently. "Is it Dad? Is he okay?"
"He's fine, he's fine." Ellie assured her. "But he's getting married."
"Married?" Betsy repeated incredulously. "To who? That Sharon woman? He's seriously going to marry herwhen I, you, have only known her for what, like day? Absolutely not! Put him on the phone!"
"I can't." Ellie sighed. "He's taken her out to dinner."
"Well then put Uncle Tony on the phone!" Betsy huffed.
"There's nothing he can do, Bets." Ellie explained. "You have to tell Pop and you have to come home."
"Alright fine." Betsy agreed begrudgingly. "I'll tell him,and I'll text you later, once we've sorted everything out. Love you El."
"Love you too, Bets. See you soon." The phone called ended. Betsy looked up at Bucky, who'd been listening to her end of the conversation with interested ever since he'd heard her say the word "Dad."
"What is it you have to tell me, El?" He asked.
"I'm not exactly who you think I am." Betsy sighed.