-In Earth 1, in Paris, several hours later-
At the front door, Colonel Phillips was there to talk to Steve, "We're burying Erskine in three days. And Stark has to be taken back to the USA for his safety, plus there's better stuff for him to figure out the bigger things about that lab if that mind of his is good at remembering...Steve, I'm really sorry...As you know, that far in to return for that lab and that portal, even with winter approaching even deeper and earlier there, the best bet I can see is spring or summer when things are better off, and if the missions go successful, we can end the war sooner..".
Steve sighed deeply, "Colonel, I appreciate the honesty...Thank you at least for today even with the fact that we lost Erskine and now Susan...", closing his eyes in pain, "Can you spare us a few days to grieve? We will go back into fighting...Erskine would've wanted it, and Susan...despite being young, she deserved to have a life of freedom and peace...".
Phillips nodded, "I can spare you a couple of days, but even with Schimdt and his goons dead, there will be reactions by the Third Reich sooner or later. And Steve, don't push yourself too far...Peggy needs you, and vice versa, okay?", with a small, sharp frown.
Steve nodded, "Yes, sir...Thank you for coming by.", and Phillips pat his shoulder before turning around and replacing his cap hat, heading back to the car as Steve closed the door, and walked deeper into the house, hearing the creaks of the rocking chair in the nursery-bedroom, and opened the door to see Peggy standing by the rocking chair, holding the wolf stuffy, having a thousand-yard stare upon Susan's bed-crib.
"Phillips is giving us some time off the front... try to at least maybe get our heads back on straight.", Steve told her as he sighed. "Not that it matters, I guess. Only way we'd probably be fine is if Bucky and Susan were right back here with us...".
"Do you think he's right...?", Peggy asked as she continued to stare. "Stark... about Susan and Bucky maybe being alright?".
"We have to hold onto some hope, Peggy...", Steve said. "If not... what's the point us still going?". The depression of the complex chambers hitting them both again hard. Once the shock and still having to get back to friendly lines died down, all that was left was their thoughts and it just hit hard once more.
Operation Mobius would be deemed a success in terms of the overall strategic mindset; with Schmidt and his lab all but destroyed and not likely to pose any more threat to the advancing Allied armies in any way. The 101st paratroopers that took part took minor casualties as no major force was rallied by the Germans to counter the invaders before they retreated back to friendly lines. But the personal objectives... it was basically a failure.
Peggy whispered softly, "Our Susan said her first words...She called me Muma...", before giving out a sob as she turned around into Steve's chest as Steve held her tight, closing his eyes, whispering, "I know...She called me Dada...We have to keep going for her...for Bucky...for us...".
Peggy sobbed into his chest, "I'm a bad mother! I'm so sorry, Steve! You wouldn't want to see me again; you don't want to marry me as I suck at being a mother...I would suck as a wife too.".
"Peggy...", Steve said as he wrapped his arms around her tight. "Please don't say that... you're a fantastic mother and a brilliant to-be-wife... this isn't your fault, none of us could see this coming.", he tried to assure her. He held plenty of blame for himself but knew that at the end of the day, this was all Schmidt's fault, and he would've pursued Susan to the ends of the Earth if he had to in order to get back at Steve and Peggy.
Peggy closed her eyes, not bothering to respond as she cried to sleep, so exhausted and wrought out, and Steve sighed heavily as he picked her up, carrying her to bed...It was a difficult night for both of them as they tried to sleep properly...
Habitually, like the past few months, Steve woke up first, sleepily walking to the nursery to see if his daughter is up, and once seeing the empty crib-bed, memories returned, and Steve finally broke down, screaming and sobbing as Peggy had broken down yesterday, and it all caught up as it's his turn now, the dam breaking through all the faces he tried to keep up yesterday.
"Steve...", Steve quickly heard Peggy's voice from behind him, but he continued to sob. She obviously heard his breakdown and quickly got up to try to comfort him, at least be there for him today.
Peggy sat down next to him on the rug, holding into his leg as she rested her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes, just trying to be physically close to him as much as possible as it's a triple-header for him; Erskine, Bucky, and Susan...Peggy wasn't as close to Erskine or Bucky, but with Susan...She may not have known that she was carrying, but God, the day she met her daughter...it was like her heart and soul doubled together, it was like Susan was part of her, and she was part of Susan...
Even the pain of giving birth didn't compare to losing her...It was even worse than losing her brother, Michael...Peggy whispered softly, "Do you want to say a prayer?".
Steve slowly turned his head, staring at Peggy with shock and surprise, "But I thought you weren't Christian...", and Peggy smiled bittersweetly, "I'm not, but I'm willing to say a prayer with you, Steve...I love you...I know it cannot make you feel all better, but if it makes you a tiny bit better, it's a win for me...".
"I can say the same for you, Peggy... I'll do whatever it takes to at least help any bit to make you feel better.", Steve kissed her lips as he rubbed his arms against her back.
Peggy smiled a bit bigger, "I know...", before grabbing his hands into hers, and looked at him, "Can you teach me?".
Steve smiled tearfully, and took a deep breath, "Okay...Repeat after me. Dear Jesus and the Father of Jesus, God. Today, we are in pain over our family, Bucky and Susan. Please, in your power and love, give us a sign, to let us know that they are alive, well, and safe. Protect them with faith and strength. Bless us all with a miracle. Thank you for listening. Amen.", hearing Peggy repeat every word with nervous confidence, and his heart swelled happily to have Peggy doing something like this for him when she isn't a Christian...
Then his Quantonium gave a huge buzz inside himself, surprising him, seeming to tug him, and Peggy replied, "Is your Quantonium tugging you too? Mine is.".
Steve nodded, "Yeah. It's really trying to tell us something, feeling like I have to dig something out...Wait, the stone! The stone under the shed!".
"But... why?", Peggy asked in confusion. "I don't understand...", frowning. "Only one way to find out then.", Steve said since he didn't really know himself why the Quantonium was acting that way, but he certainly was going to follow it for sure.
Steve and Peggy got out of the nursery-bedroom, heading to the backyard, to the shed, shifting a bit bigger to create shovel hands, to dig under the shed, to the deep spot where Steve and Bucky had buried the empty, black stone.
They uncovered it quickly, recovered the dirt back in, and headed back inside, to the nursery-bedroom, feeling like they have to put the wolf stuffy atop the stone, and the Quantonium buzzed in them, with them feeling a tiny bit dizzy as 1 percent each of Quantonium left them, heading into the stone, infusing with the wolf stuffy.
Suddenly, like with the vision of T, there are side by side visions of Susan and Bucky, with the time of a week later for them while it's only the first day without them for the couple. Peggy gasped, "It's like a movie reel!".
"I don't... I don't get it... how is this possible?", Steve asked as Peggy shook him. "I don't know myself, but look, Steve... they're alive!", Peggy could feel her heart swelling, knowing that at least Bucky and Susan made it to where every they ended up alive.
Steve nodded numbly, "Oh, thank you, Lord...", before frowning, "But they're not together...Look at Bucky...He looks like he's wearing a prison suit...And Susan, she's somehow a normal baby...".
"Something must have happened...", Peggy started to feel worried again before the two of them noticed the company that was with Bucky. "Are those monsters?".
"Do you... do you think Bucky may have been mistaken for those things?", Steve asked in concern and anxiety. Peggy blinked, "Well, he's technically a werewolf, but not really as he can do it willingly unlike those werewolves in the stories who goes by the full moon. And those monsters look like they're actually interacting with Bucky...like friends...".
Steve exhaled, "Yeah...They're smiling, laughing with him...And Susan, she's with a couple of parents and a little girl...She looks like she's healthy and safe...Do. do you think she's going to forget us?".
Peggy started to tear up, "I... I don't know... I fear she might... she seems so... normal now. Like something happened with that portal that crippled her Quantonium and Serum...".
Steve began to hold her into his side as they kept watching, "Well, you remember the explosion. That would have been part of it...But Peggy, we won't forget her...After all, we are her parents, and if she thinks that we're dead or something, she will still think we're watching over her which we technically are.".
Peggy smiled tearfully, "That may be true, but I will be a bit jealous and sad that I am not in that woman's place...", and Steve sighed, "Same here, but we must remember that they have given Susan a home under a roof, food, clothes, safety and freedom, and most of all, their love...Think of it as a second family for her...".
Peggy nodded. "And it might not be long... just a little time with them and then hopefully Stark can get us to her... and Bucky... and then everything will be okay for the most part.", she smiled.
Steve smiled, kissing her on the forehead, and they watched over Bucky and Susan for the next hour, reassuring themselves that Susan and Bucky are safe and happy which is what they want for them, deciding to check on them occasionally every day for however long it takes for Stark to get the portal up, taking the stone and wolf stuffy with them on person, unknowing that every day for them is a week for Susan and Bucky, and of course, soon to find out that it's far more longer for them as they saw Susan changing far more as she grew older, with Bucky remaining as young as he is, maybe growing out his hair, but nothing more...
Back in the other Earth, things were slowly setting into a normality for both parties. Bucky was slowly, if not reluctantly, getting used to his imprisoned predicament. He was only glad that he had the other monsters to at least keep him company or he probably would've lost it. And Monger was, at least, keeping to his word for the most part and allowing the certain privileges such as keeping some tabs on the Murphys and of course, how Susan was doing.
Susan herself was settling to her new family fairly well, though she would babble for some time with a few words that Carl and Wendy could understand but not fully get in terms of context. Unknowingly to them, Susan still partially remembered her real parents and her Uncle Bucky, even if most of those memories were starting to fade into the crevasses of her brain. But some things still wouldn't change despite her lost powers as Wendy and Carl noticed when they brought a few stuffed toys for the baby; she instinctually went right for the wolf.
Back in Earth 1, it was a bittersweet moment for Steve and Peggy when they watched that day, and they were partly relieved that Susan remembers in some way, if only on a subconscious level. All the same, after having the two days off, they went back to work, with a temporary morning ceremony for Erskine's burial, and Steve was sad, but he somehow knew that Erskine is watching over Susan and Bucky like they are, just in a different way.
Of course, that was the sad truth about the war. There was little time to truly grieve for friends or family as battles were still raging across Europe.
On October 25th, Vienna fell to the British 8th Army while elements of the 2nd New Zealand Armor and 2 Free Polish divisions helped achieve large bridgeheads along the Danube and were poised to push into former borders of Czechoslovakia and the major Czech regions of Bohemia and Morava.
The US 5th Army in the former Yugoslavia helped close the path of retreat for any German forces still in the country but was at a bit of tense standoff with Jozef Tito and his communist partisans who Stalin would probably support, even if Tito claimed his partisans helped liberate their nation themselves. However, the Allies and the Soviets started linking up in Hungary, but their offensives ran out of steam and would have to spend the winter months digging in and building up supplies for the next push come spring while other fronts would get higher supply priority.
Such was the case in Northwestern Europe as the Allied armies kept their push into Germany. While the Canadian 1st finished liberating the rest of western Netherlands, the British 2nd kept up their Market Garden push and crossed the IJssel river and pushed for the cities of Rheine and Munster on the Ems River, preparing to sweep south across the Lippe River and assault the industrial heartland cities of the Ruhr Valley; hopefully what would be the crippling blow to the Nazi war machine.
Cortney Hodges US 1st Army would be the first to take a major German city at Aachen and push through the Hurtgen Forest and the Rur Dams before reaching their Rhine River objectives of Cologne and Bonn, capturing a critical railway at Remagen before orders would come to slow down and wait for more supplies.
Further south, Peggy and Steve once more would assist the 3rd Army on its drive to the Rhine, breaking any German defenses that tried to slow Patton's advance with the cities of Mainz and Koblenz as their targets, and hopefully an intact bridge across the Rhine. The same could be said for the US 7th as they were close to liberate the final major French city under Nazi control of Strasbourg while the French took Freiburg at the far south of the broad front before they were ordered to hold before the Black Forest.
Of course, secrets couldn't stay close-lipped for long as word about Schimdt's fortress, himself, and his people is rumored around, with technical lies that Schimdt killed Susan, unknowing that she's alive, just somewhere else in peace and freedom, only assuming that she's dead for Steve and Peggy acts like furious, grieving soldiers with determination and strength, yet Steve and Peggy know the truth, with only one change. They are actually grieving about the fact that they couldn't actually be with Susan as she grows up, having watched over her on the movie reel stone every afternoon/night when they are temporarily off work.
Those reels were what pushed Peggy and Steve to try to end the war faster, to get back to Schimdt's fortress and try to gather anything they left behind in order to hopefully get to Susan and Bucky faster. All the while, the young girl was unaware as she continued to sleep and wake comfortably at the Murphy household.
"Where's Wolfy?", Carl teased as he was hiding the stuffed animal behind his back while Susan was trying to reach at him and the toy in turn. "Where is he?", he smiled as she giggled.
Susan is already getting close to being a year old as she crawled from edge to edge in her crib as Carl walked back and forth, and Susan narrowed her eyes stubbornly as she then grabbed into the bars as she sat up, trying to stand up, and stuck her tongue out in focus as she wobblily stood up before smiling with teeth showing, seeing Carl stare at her, "Oh, oh, you're standing, Susie-V! Wendy, Tara! Susan's standing!".
The six-month trial went well with Social Services, and they told the family that she's officially theirs, with her birthday being June 6, with her original full name, and her adopted family name, now being Susan Viola Murphy...Of course, Carl and Wendy kept the original family documents and all in case if Susan asks when she gets older, and well, seeing is believing.
Wendy quickly ran into the living room as she tried to shush Carl. "Tara just started to nap.", she loudly whispered as Carl blushed and put his finger to his mouth as he chuckled.
"Sorry, I was just so excited.", Carl apologized as Susan fell over. "There we go... you'll start getting the hang of it. Soon, you'll be walking too. See, Wolfy's happy for you!". He gave her back her beloved stuffed animal as Wendy sat down next to Carl. "She's moving a bit faster than Tara did.".