Hey all just wanted to say thank for being so patient and for all the messages I've gotten. Finals are finally over and lets just say I'm pretty sure things went badly so I decided to vent my feelings into my writing so if it gets angsty or kind of emotional that might be why. Anyway that's enough about me. Here's the next chapter let me know what you think.
When the light finally died down, I noticed I wasn't in any of the other usual places I normally end up. The alley I was in was dark but judging by the amount of sunlight I'm guessing it was sometime around noon. I definitely wasn't in Asgard. There was a homeless man sleeping on the floor and judging by the dirty jeans he was wearing I was not in the 1940's anymore either. I decided to walk out of the alley and have a look around. As I was walking I nearly tripped on a soda can but I managed to grab on to the side of a dumpster. On the plus side I found a twenty-dollar bill on the ground which means I'm in the US, that's something.
I walked around the street looking at the stores and the clothes were different than what I wore in 2011. I'd guess somewhere in the late 1980's maybe early 1990's. I walked to the corner of the street and found the newsstand. I grabbed one of the newspapers that had a picture of dad when he was younger and right next to it a picture of Gramps. The headline read, "TONY STARK TO INHERIT FATHER'S FORTUNE AND COMPANY" the date below was January 7th, 1992. A few weeks after the deaths of Edwin Jarvis and Howard and Maria Stark. Roughly ten months before I was born. I used to hear about Gramp's dying and it didn't bug me since I never met him, but now I just feel horrible.
"Hey Lady you want to keep reading, buy it." The owner of the stand called out.
"Sorry," I said putting the paper back and walking down the street. I was looking for anything that could tell me where I was. I stopped at a crosswalk and read the name of the street, Wilshire Boulevard and under it, in smaller letters Westwood California. Out of all the places I could have ended up, why here and why now. They're all completely random and unrelated. I needed a break from walking so I walked into a small coffee shop and bought myself a coffee with the money I found.
The cappuccino really hit the spot. I was zoning out watching people walking on the street when someone came up to me. It was a girl with long light brown hair and slightly tanned skin. She was carrying a textbook that had to be at least 800 pages long and what looked to be a very heavy backpack.
"Hi, I'm sorry but all the other seats are taken, would you mind sharing the table." She asked politely.
"Um, Sure." I said giving a small smile.
"I don't know what's going on lately this place is usually empty so early in the semester." She said.
"What school do you go to?" I ask trying to distract myself.
"UCLA, I live close by but my roommate wanted some alone time with her boyfriend so I came here." She said opening her textbook. I read the cover, Comparative Politics and International Relations. I'm going out on a limb here and guess she's a Political Science major
"What's your major?" I ask a bit curious to see if my hunch was right.
"I'm a double major in Political Science and International Studies." She says proudly.
"Wow, so future lawyer?" I said.
"Hopefully one day," She says with a smile.
"I'm sure you'll get there one day. Any particular specialty?" I ask.
"I'm not sure yet. I'm kind of stuck between Civil Rights, Human Rights, and Environmental Law. I'm still undecided." So she wants to change the world. She seems very optimistic and hopeful.
"Those are all really great fields. I'm sure you'll be great no matter which one you pick." I say.
"Thanks, Oh where are my manners, I'm Eliana Martell, but my friends call me Ellie, nice to meet you." She says sticking her hand out to shake mine. My eyes are wide open and I can't help but stare. Oh Crap I'm sitting in front of my mom. The woman that in about a month will hook up with my dad and get pregnant and in ten months will give birth to me and die because of it. I can't help but feel my chest tighten and I have to hold back tears. There weren't any pictures of her anywhere. Nana told me that after I was born dad got rid of them all when he was mourning. I never bothered to ask him since every time I brought mom up he would just get really upset and change the subject.
I can't help but notice some of the similarities between us. We have the same nose and I can tell I got my dimple from her.
"Are you okay?" She says looking concerned.
"Oh uh sorry, zoned out a bit. Déjà vu. I'm…" I freeze a bit. I shouldn't give her my real name. I say the first thing that comes to me. "Anna Carter, nice to meet you Ellie." I said giving her a small smile.
"Nice to meet you Anna, I love your outfit my the way, very 40's chic and where did you get those cute shoes?" She says.
I look at my outfit. I was wearing a red wine colored skirt that accentuated my hourglass figure and a sleeveless cream-colored button down. I had a simple matching red cardigan draped on the back of the chair. My shoes were simple tan leather heels with a small black bow on them.
"The whole outfit was a gift. A friend wanted to go swing dancing later at this 40's swing club and I thought I should start breaking them in now so they won't bother me later." I'm a little scared at how easy it was to come up with that entire lie. I've been spending way too much time with Gramps and Peggy.
"Oh Swing Dancing, My grandma taught me how, I haven't had the chance to do it in a while though. Where is this place?" She asks curiously.
"I think she said somewhere on the Sunset Strip." I said hoping she buys it.
"Really, that's really close by. I should check it out sometime. Is it twenty one and over or anything goes?" Mom asks. Why does she keep asking so many questions?
"Not really sure, my friend just told me what to wear and at what time to meet her at my apartment." I said with a shrug.
"Your friend sounds a lot like my roommate." He says laughing. Holy crap we even have the same laugh.
"They sure do." I say letting out a nervous laugh. At that moment I start to get the chills again. I need to get out of here now. I look at the clock in the corner of the shop. "Oh wow look at the time," I say. "I gotta run. It was nice meeting you Ellie." I say grabbing my sweater and standing up. She gets up and hugs me.
"It was nice meeting you two Anna. We should totally hang out sometime. I'm normally here every afternoon after 4 if you want to stop by." She says letting me go but I pull her back in.
"Take care Ellie, and good luck with the studying. The world needs more lawyers who want to stick up for the little guy." I said letting her go and give her a smile before walking away. I need to get as far away as possible before I go back in there and prevent myself from every being born. I can barely contain the tears that want to come out.
As I'm walking the chills get even worse. I found an alley behind a pizzeria and I take a deep breath. I close my eyes and focus. 1944, London, the kitchen where I left Gramps with the cake and pot roast in the oven. I start to glow and the light gets really bright. I wait for it to stop before opening my eyes.
"Thank god you're back." I hear Gramps practically yell in relief.
I open my eyes and see Gramps standing in the kitchen. At that moment I just couldn't hold it in anymore. I started crying, sad that I just left my Mom to die, Happy that Gramps is here and still alive, relieved I made it back to where I wanted to be and not some Hydra base or the Middle Ages.
"Kid you Okay?" He said walking towards me.
"uh.. yeah.. just…" I started sobbing again. Gramps came over and hugged me trying to get me to calm down.
"Want to talk about it?" He asked once I managed to clam down a bit.
I can't tell him I went to 1992, two weeks after he died and how it was the front page of the news. So I go with the next best thing. "I went back to before I was born but still in the future. And I met my Mom, months before I was born, hell before she even met Dad. Growing up, I never got to see any pictures of her because there weren't any. I never realized how much I looked like her." I said. 'Maybe that's part of the reason dad stayed away when I was growing up' I thought to myself. "We talked, apparently she wanted to be a lawyer, fight for the little guy. She was so optimistic and hopeful. I wanted to tell her," I started before choking on another sob.
"Wanted to tell her what?" Gramps asked concerned. I couldn't bring myself to tell him or look him in the eyes.
"What were you going to tell her Nora?" He asked again. I looked at him and he realized what I meant. "You wanted to tell her to avoid meeting your dad or to have you." He said in a low voice.
I just closed my eyes and tried to contain my sobs.
"But you didn't right?" He asked. I couldn't speak so I just shook my head.
"I wanted to, but I couldn't do it." I finally managed to say.
"Why?" Gramps asked.
"Why what?" I said wiping tears off my cheek.
"Why would you even consider doing something like that?" He yells out.
"You wouldn't understand." I say standing up and going to check the pot roast.
"What wouldn't I understand?" He asks getting really upset.
"Growing up knowing you're the reason someone died so you could live." I say looking him straight in the eye. The anger in Gramps' eyes disappeared and all I saw was sadness.
"How long was I gone for?" I ask trying to change the subject.
"Uh, A little over an hour." He answers.
"Good, I still have time to decorate the cake and make some rolls." I said putting on an apron.
"Nora, " He called out to me. He looked like he wanted to say something but decided against it or maybe just didn't know what the right thing to say was. "I basted the roast about fifteen minutes ago." He says.
"Okay thanks Gramps." I said forcing myself to smile.
"I have to go, but if you need anything you know where I'll be." He says walking to the door.
"I do. Thanks for everything and I'm sorry for," I said not knowing what to say.
"Don't worry kid, sore subject, I get it." He said giving me a smile and then leaving.
I close my eyes and take a deep breath. I need to pull myself together. Shit happens, deal with it. I open my eyes and get back to work. The roast would still be a while longer so I decided to start decorating the cake. I still had a few hours before the guys would get back as long as there aren't anymore unplanned interruptions I should get everything done on time.
Later That Day-
"No Steve, I think we've seen enough of the city. I want to check up on Nora. We shouldn't have left her all alone today especially if she wasn't feeling well." I could hear Bucky-telling Steve as they climbed up the stairs.
"Oh come on Buck, you know how stubborn Nora can be. Besides she wouldn't have told you to go if she didn't mean it." Steve argued.
"I still feel guilty." I heard him say as they pulled out the key to the apartment.
"She wanted you to enjoy your birthday." Steve said as the door opened.
"I know but…" Bucky started before I interrupted him.
"SURPRISE!" I shouted as he walked in.
"What?" He said surprised. His eyes were wide open as he looked around and looked at the table I had set with all of his favorite foods.
"Happy Birthday." I said walking over to him and kissing his cheek and giving him a hug.
"What is all of this?" He asked as he hugged me.
"You really thought a visit to London's first rope factory was the real plan for your birthday?" Steve asked.
"You took him to a rope factory?" I asked giving him a look.
"The theater wasn't open and he kept trying to come back early." Steve defended.
"So this morning, you weren't sick?" He asked.
"Nope, we had to stick to the schedule," I said pulling away to greet Steve.
"I hope you're hungry, We've got, pot roast, masked potatoes, salad, and…" I was interrupted by the timer ringing. "Dinner rolls fresh from the oven." I said going to put on some oven mitts and pulling the tray out of the oven. "Go wash up." I told them.
I hadn't even finished moving the rolls from the tray to the plate when both of them were already back.
We sat down at the table and ate. Bucky and Steve could not stop shoveling food into their mouths.
"Guys, slow down, there's plenty to go around." I said with a giggle.
"But it's so good." Bucky said practically moaning.
"Why is this the first time we try your cooking?" Steve says grabbing his third dinner roll. I forgot about his super soldier appetite. There probably wont' be any left overs after all.
"I don't know. We've been busy, so I guess I just never had the chance to cook." I say.
"The roast is so juicy," Bucky said in between bites.
"Glad you like it sweetie," I said smiling "But try to save room for desert." I said casually.
"There's desert?" Bucky said.
"Of course there is, you can't celebrate a birthday without cake."
"I love you." He said giving me the most adoring look I've ever seen.
I just smiled again.
After dinner, Bucky and Steve somehow still had room for desert so I brought the cake out of the fridge.
"I can't believe you had time to go buy me a cake." Bucky said. He was salivating when he saw me pull it out of the fridge.
I couldn't help but laugh. "I didn't buy the cake I made it." I said turning around to get the candles and matches.
"You know how to make a cake from scratch?" Steve asked.
"Yeah, its pretty easy. I also know how to make cheesecake, brownies, chocolate chip cookies and apple pie." I said lighting the candles on the cake.
"Apple Pie?" Steve said giving me the cute puppy eyes.
"Mhm." I said grabbing the plates.
"My birthdays in July…" He said casually.
"I know." I said with a small smile.
I lit the candle and said, "Make a wish." I whispered into Bucky's ear.
"Don't have to," He blew out the candle and said, "I have everything I want right here." He said looking at Steve and I. It was so corny but so sweet. He pulled me to sit his lap and kissed me. Then as Steve moved to cut the cake Bucky grabbed him and kissed him. "I love you two. Thank you for a great birthday."
"You still have to open presents?" Steve reminded him.
"Presents?" He asked.
"Of course there are gifts, I'll bring them out." I said getting off his lap and walking to the room.
I had managed to wrap both gifts before the guys showed up. I placed the framed picture Steve made in a gift bag while mine just had a bow on it. When I came out both of them were sitting on the couch waiting for me. I placed the gifts on the coffee table and sat on the armrest. He reached for the gift bag first. He pulled out the framed drawing of the three of us.
"Did you…?" He asked Steve.
"Yeah, There aren't any photos of the three of us so I thought why not draw one." He explained.
"This is amazing, why the hell did you drop out of art school again?" Bucky said sarcastically.
"You know why jerk." Steve said sternly even thought I could tell from the look in his eye he didn't mean it.
"Yeah yeah," He leaned over and kissed Steve, "Thank you."
He leaned over and reached for the next gift. He opened it and saw that it was a record. "I did mention we needed a radio since I didn't have any records." He said casually. "What songs are on it?" He asked.
"Play it and find out." I said with a smile.
He went over to the record player and set everything up. The recording of my voice started.
"Hey Bucky just wanted to say Happy Birthday. I love you." I kept it short since there wasn't enough room for the rest of the songs. That and it felt weird to talk about how much I love him in front of gramps when he started fake gagging anytime I got to corny.
Then the first song started.
"You recorded your voice onto the record?" He said.
"Yeah, I also included all your favorite songs." I mentioned casually.
That's when a Bing Crosby song started playing. "May I have this dance?" He said offering me his hand.
"You sure I might step on your toes?" I said.
"I'll take my chances." He helped me up and put his hands on my waist and pulled me close. I put my hands on his shoulders and he started to lead. We were mostly just swaying side to side.
"See, not so hard is it?" He said.
"That's cuz I'm dragging my feet." I retorted.
"Really, then lets get moving." He said with a smirk before spinning me and dipping me. Only for me to trip and fall on the ground pulling Bucky down with me.
"Told you," I said looking up at him. He was supporting himself with his arms and just looking down at me.
"You lasted longer than Steve, though." He said with a smile. I had to laugh at that.
"You picked a fast song to start with, it was not my fault." Steve said as he finished washing the dishes.
"You were the one who picked the song not me." Bucky argued before leaning down to kiss me and then helping me up.
"I'm beat." He said stretching.
"Really that's too bad." I said.
"Why's that doll?" Bucky asked.
"I was gonna ask for that rain check but if your too tired…" I said before I could say anything else Bucky lifted me up over his shoulder and started carrying me to the bedroom.
"You coming Steve?" He called over his shoulder. Steve through the dishrag on the counter and followed us.