Thank you to Hollaugh for my lovely new cover! XD

After The Events of Age of Ultron...

Brenna's POV:

The atmosphere on the hellicarrier was tense enough to choak the air out of my lungs. My breathing was shallow as it was, between silent sobs. Sokovia had fallen. Quite literally. The only survivors sat in silence around me, they too sitting in silence and mourning their lost loved ones.

But the one man among us that didn't belong, was the Captain Rogers that had rescued me from the rubble. He sat beside me, also in silence. But I think that was to respect my silence.

Steve glanced at me with sad eyes. He had found me after the hellicarrier had departed. At that point I had been in a bad way. I had a head wound, and my leg was partially fractured from the beam crushing it. In short I was a crying, dust/blood covered mess.

And then, Steve took pity on me I guess because he took me, cleaned me up and had a medic take care of my head and leg. I wasn't bothered about my injuries but Steve was insistent.

He hadn't left my side at all since he found me again. We hadn't spoken much, except brief mumbles, telling each other our names. He looked concerned, but I didn't question him. All I could think about was my family. The family I'd failed to save.

Steve sighed softly as he looked at Brenna. He knew how broken she was feeling but knew there was little he could do to comfort her. All he could really do is.. Care for her.

He bit his lip slightly as he glanced over at the young girl again, feeling a strange sense of protectiveness over her. He couldn't explain it. Steve just felt that he had to look after her.

Maybe it was his morals? Or his sense of gentlemanly duty?

Whatever it was, Steve was now determined to look after young Brenna. And he knew if he was going to do it he was going to do it properly.

Getting up, careful not to disturb Bree, Steve slipped out to make arrangements.

Brenna's POV:

Steve had been gone for a while.

He didn't say where he was going or why, he'd just walked away.

Shaking gently, I glanced around the room full of Sokovian survivors blankly. Then I felt a gentle hand on my shoulder. Looking to see, I found that Steve had returned.

"Come with me." He said softly and lead me out of the room. I followed silently, moderately confused but still numb to emotion. The Captain took me to a office, greeting a official looking man who wore all black and donned an eyepatch. This man eyed me purposefully.

"Hello Brenna. My name is Director Fury." He said in greeting, not nicely but not nastily. Just generally.

"Hi." I muttered back quietly in response. Steve was observing and positioned himself between myself and Fury, crossing his arms as he stood.

Fury offered for me to take a seat, which I silently declined. I knew what he would most likely talk about and it wasn't something I wanted to think about. Foster care.

"First off, I'm very sorry for your loss." Fury said out of courtesy, not actually meaning it. People you've just met rarely mean it when they say that, its just polite. I nodded in response.

Fury leant against the front of his desk, facing me and Steve, who continued to glance at me with his never ending concern. It made me slightly uncomfortable having both men stare at me.

"Brenna, unfortunately we couldn't find any record of family for you outside of Sokovia." Fury stated, which made me assume that is what Steve had come to him about, to check. "Do you have any other relatives you know of anywhere?"

"No." I sighed, not wanting to talk about this at all. "No more family.."

Steve's already concerned expression became even more saddened and Fury nodded in understanding.

"Alright." Fury said nodding, shifting in position slightly. I grimaced, guessing what his next words would be.

"Then I'm afraid you'll have to be placed into foster care."

Sighing shakily, I wiped a sneaky tear from my cheek. I'd just lost my family and they wanted to spring another on me like this?! It was the last thing I wanted.

But then, Fury said something that surprised me.

"Or." He began suddenly, looking to Steve as he spoke. "Captain Rogers has offered to take you in."

I froze in surprise before slowly looking around at Steve, blinking. "W-what?"

The Captain smiled slightly and bent down so he could look me in the eyes better. "I'd like you to come live with me.. If you're okay with that, that is."

Raising an eyebrow, I asked "why would you want me to live with you? You don't know me.."

Steve gave me a kind smile in response with a small shrug. "I want to make sure you have a good home."

I frowned at that. Why would he care what happens to me?

"Why me though? There's hundreds of orphans you could choose from. Why would you want me?"

Now that question made Steve pause.

"I.. I honestly can't explain it." He answered finally, not really having a straight answer. "I just.. feel like I have to protect you. I don't know why, I just do."

That confused me. I'd literally just met this guy and now he wanted to protect me?

"So... you want to.. foster me?"

Steve shook his head. "I'd like to adopt you, Brenna."

Almost choking on thin air in shock and making Steve look yet even more concerned, I stuttered "what?!"

Steve gently patted my back to try to settle me down and nodded. "I want to adopt you, but only if you want me to. It's your decision."

"But we need it now." Fury cut in, seemingly itching to wrap this up. "So we can make arrangements and sign paperwork."

Going silent I went over the options in my head. Be sent God knows where to strangers, or go live with a superhero that I'd only just met.

I played with the gold heart locket that hung around my neck and somehow hadn't gotten lost during the chaos. My grip on it tightened slightly, reliazing it was now my only possession and contained the only thing I had left of my family: a group photo of my parents, my twin older brothers, me, and my 7 year old sister.

Nobody could replace them. Not even Captain America.

But he was still my best option.

With a sigh, I nodded to Steve, holding the locket close to my chest. "Alright."

Steve gave me another kind smile and started signing paperwork with Fury. When he was done, we went back to where we were sitting until the hellicarrier docked somewhere in Europe. From there, he and I were escorted to a private plane that would fly us to New York, where Steve told me he lived. He told me all about America on the flight there and promised he would look after me. He even said.. I could call him "dad" if I wanted.

I didn't.

My dad was dead. Steve wasn't him, so I wouldn't call him that.

My name may now be Brenna Rogers, but I still longed for my real family.

Nathan Stark (who belongs to Ice-Ninja ) and Elizabeth Barnes (who belongs to SN_supernova ) will appear in the next chapter alongside the other Avengers! XD