"The sooner it's over, hopefully the sooner we can get back to them. I know.", Steve game a small smile as he looked up. "Hopefully the weather stays somewhat nice for us for the rest of the day. Don't want to be slowed down again...".
Peggy nodded as they saw the shell craters alongside the road, the scars of Market Garden that they helped succeed, "Better get some rest now, Steve... I get the feeling we're probably not going to get as much again for the time being.".
Steve blinked, and nodded, "I have the same feeling too...But I am glad you're with me, my queen.", kissing her on the lips gently before moving slightly and wrapped his arm around her as he leaned back against the truck wall that is between the vehicle and the storage wagon cover-up. Peggy smiled softly as she rested her head on his shoulder/chest, and closed her eyes, falling asleep to his heartbeat, with Steve soon asleep, somehow ignoring the truck motions yet still on guard a bit as they aren't in deep sleep mode.
"HEADS DOWN!", Peggy, Steve, and the members of the US 101st and 1st Polish Armor once more took cover as heavy artillery shells started to land around their positions. The Germans moved fast on the 12th while the Allies moved as fast as they could in turn to tighten the line and have the Germans run into a brick wall with their offensive. It had been five days since the offensive began and the defenses at Enschede were still holding. The plan now was to exhaust the Germans before the armored divisions of the British 2nd and US 9th could swing around and entrap many of the German divisions in a pincer.
It was easier said than done as the weather had been dreadful for days with brief openings which lead to attacks by the Luftwaffe. The only good news with that was that fewer and fewer German planes were in the air each time while more and more Allied fighters could be seen; signaling that the Luftwaffe was losing control of the skies.
Peggy muttered, "Why do I have to be right all the time? This is insane!", taking cover behind a wall as Steve joined her, "At least they're running out of artillery up there. And if you think about it, they're focused on this city, not on innocent villages and all.".
"I think they're just taking it out on us, 17 attacks and they still haven't broken through. Certainly made those butchers of the 1st SS angry.", Peggy gave a small scoff as another shell landed nearby. "Plus, this isn't a German city, it's Dutch, they have less hesitation in flattening it and us.".
"I'm really starting to get sick and tired of those guns...", a captain in the 101st near them growled. "Next lull in the fighting, you two up for a little raid?"
Steve and Peggy nodded. "Certainly would make the day a whole lot easier.", Steve said as another shell hit a ruined townhouse that they were nearby. "We're nearly cut off; they've pushed us back in the north and south of city... we're nearly cut off, but it also does go both ways since we're trying to surround them too... just depends on who gets surrounded first.".
Peggy nodded, "Then when that lull comes, we will do our favorite tactic.", with a grin. Steve smiled, "Divide and conquer. Brilliant, Captain Britain.".
"Thank you, Captain America.", Peggy slyly chuckled, and glanced at the 101st captain, "Will you see to distract them?".
"That depends.", the captain smirked. "Think a full-on counterattack straight at them is a good distraction?".
"That'll work. Just try not to get yourselves killed.", Steve said. "Eh, I think they'll be more distracted with you two charging than the rest of us.", the captain replied.
Steve chuckled, "Touche.", and Peggy smiled, "Okay. You take the left; I take the right. The first explosion of the distraction, we attack.", with a nod.
Steve kissed her on the lips, "Give them some hellfire, my queen.", and Peggy giggled, "And you, give them some damn clobbering in the face, my king.", before patting his shoulder as she watched for some clearance, looking back and forth as she got up, and then headed for the east side at full speed.
"She got you on the ropes, eh, mate?", chuckled the captain, and Steve grinned, "Love is a two-way rope, and it never breaks as long as it lasts, believe me.", before heading out for the west side, watching as he ran at full speed.
The German troops that were holding the frontline expected to, once more, charge into the breach once the bombardment stopped from their guns. Several Panthers and Panzers were all ready to push forward with the infantry but quickly realized the plan changed when they saw Steve and Peggy at their towering heights, charging forward through the muddy snow that recently began to fall. Shells and small arms fire ripped towards the giants but the two of them easily resisted most of them before they crashed right into the line.
The defense didn't last long. The tanks were unable to retreat as much of the mud they were in was to the back of their treads, meaning they only could've moved if they went forward. It left them as sitting ducks as Steve stomped down on a Panther tank and kicked a StuG IV assault gun, collapsing it in on itself.
Peggy shot off fireballs at the rest of the Panther tanks, destroying them as Steve kept stomping and kicking the rest of the Panzer tanks, hearing the Allied planes take down the remaining German planes.
"Looks like the skies might be finally ours!", Steve shouted as the allied infantry gave out a hoorah. The 101st and a few Polish crewed Sherman tanks moved forward from their positions and now launched their attack as Steve and Peggy moved forward, breaking what was left in the way before dashing across the field towards the large caliber artillery guns that were raining down on the city.
Peggy grinned, and jumped, creating a crater as she destroyed three large artillery guns at once, with Steve laughing, "Show-off!", as he then cartwheeled, destroying two artillery guns, a German camp, and a reserve Panther tank.
"Who's the showoff?", Peggy raised an eyebrow as she crushed another gun, the crews all ran as fast as they could and abandoned them as soon as they saw giants coming. After a few more seconds, most of the artillery base was destroyed, leaving a huge hole in the German lines at this part of the city.
Several P-47 Thunderbolts zoomed overhead, their machineguns and rockets tearing into any German forces further ahead as the tanks and paratroopers finally caught up to Peggy and Steve.
"Captain, I think we just bought ourselves some breathing room.", Steve chuckled. "That's what I like to see... they fled fast...", the captain panted.
"I think we might have finally broken them. The Luftwaffe seems to have now abandoned the infantry and any moment the armored spearheads had was wasted in the early advance we gave them.", Peggy crossed her arms.
"I just got some good news from those Polish tankers too... the furthest progress of the Germans, an armored Kampfgruppe of some of their best tankers just got encircled at Ruurlo and destroyed.", the captain responded, grinning.
Steve grinned, "That's fantastic news. Well, Peggy, we have been staying under cover in the last five days. Shall we change that to five hours of damage and chaos for the Germans today? I can do this all day.".
"You want to drive back across the border back into Germany? Sounds great to me." Peggy smirked as the two did just that. That day was the start of the counterattack across the frontlines that would slowly start to push the Germans back towards their start lines over the next few weeks, reversing all the gains the Germans had made and making Herbstnebel a complete and total failure.
Of course, on their nights off, or even a rare afternoon, they always got a chance to check on Bucky and Susan. On their latest check, upon the second to final December night, long after Herbstnebel failed, Bucky was pretty much the same, maybe gaining some experience from the spars and getting a bit defined in his body...But Susan...to the couple's shock and despair, she's already 3 years old, and was in preschool...
"Is she aging rapidly again?", Steve asked as Peggy shook her head. "No... I think... I think it's just time changing again, not moving at the pace we were thinking before...", Peggy said as she was starting to have some tears in her eyes at her little girl slowly growing up already.
With amazement and love, they watched Susan enjoy pre-school, learning things with excitement and curiosity, having fun and making friends, and of course, experience recess time.
Steve smiled wistfully, hugging Peggy as she cried happily, relieved to see Susan laughing as she played on the jungle gym, learned how to be patient with shorter kids her age as she taught them to play hopscotch, and even stood up to an older kid in an upper grade who was bullying one of her classmates, having glasses.
Susan glared at the bully, "Give those glasses back! He needs them to see better!", and the bully taunted, "These? Try to get them back. Oh, wait, you're puny, and I'm big.".
"Puny, really? Classic, coming from a bully. I hate bullies. And you're not big. Your boots are making you look big, and oh, they're untied.", Susan snorted and smirked, and the bully looked down in confusion as Susan jumped, grabbing the glasses in one swipe, and grinned as she walked to the poor boy, "There you go, Chris.", handing his glasses to him.
"Gee, thanks, Susan!", Chris smiled happily before gasping, "Susan, look out!", causing Susan to look back, and shout as she was pushed into the ground by the bully.
Susan was kept pinned on the ground for a few moments as she looked the bully square in the eyes. "You'd beat up a girl?", she asked him.
"Yeah, what's it to you?", the bully asked as Susan quickly turned the tables on him fast and surprised him when she kneed him in the stomach. The boy suddenly had all the breath leave him as she pushed him right off of her before she stood up and dusted herself off.
"Then I have no problem hitting a boy.", Susan smirked as the bully groaned. "Ha! You got beat up by a three-year-old!", one of his buddies teased him.
"Three and a half!", Susan countered as she posed heroically, proud of herself for standing up to the bully.
An adult voice pierced the air, "What's going on here?!", and Susan yelped as she instinctively wished she would not be seen, but she couldn't as she looked back to see her homeroom teacher coming, and relaxed as it wasn't the mean man...not knowing that she had subconscious nightmares of Schimdt hurting her in the container.
Chris started to explain, "I was checking out some sparkly rocks when he came, calling me names and took off my glasses. Susan came to help save me. I didn't see it clearly, but I heard her and him talk, and there was like a jump, and Susan got my glasses, and handed them back to me. And then he went to push Susan to the floor, keeping her down. They talked a bit more, and Susan defended herself. Ask his buddies, they saw it!".
His buddies quickly backed off as they didn't want to get in trouble before the bully was left with the glare of the teacher. "Are you alright, Susan?", he asked as she nodded. "Good. Now as for you, young man...", he grabbed the bully and started taking him away. That boy certainly wasn't going to be doing any sort of bullying for the next few weeks, for sure.
Chris looked at Susan with a grin, "That was cool! How did you know to do that?", and Susan chuckled, "Believe it or not, but it was from a dream. I just did it like the two people did it.", not knowing that it was a memory of Steve and Peggy having a fun spar for the heck of it in the backyard.
"Well, thanks for saving me, Susan! You're a hero.", Chris smiled gratefully, and Susan waved a hand, "Nah, I think I just like helping people. And besides, like I told him, I hate bullies.", with a shrug and a smile, not knowing that she remembered Steve's one of his favorite phrases.
Chris nodded, "Fair enough. Hey, wanna trade on snacks? I got chocolate pudding again, and I hate it.", and Susan smiled as they walked back to the classroom when the recess bell rang, "You're on. Do you like yogurt? My sister tricked me again with switching her yogurt with my vanilla pudding this morning.".
Susan's day went fairly normal after that, unaware that something certainly big was coming the moment she got home. As usual, Wendy picked her and Tara up from their schools before they finally got home and waited on Carl for a little bit before he arrived.
"How's my favorite girls?", Carl asked as he walked into which his two daughters quicky ran up and hugged him.
"Hi, Daddy! Hi, Papa!", two twin cries of happiness and joy as the girls hugged him, and Carl chuckled, "I see that both of you had a good day. Wanna tell me while you two help Mom with setting the table?".
5 and a half years old Tara giggled, "Me first! I and my class learned about families! I got to draw a picture, and my teacher said it was real good. She was a bit curious why Susan had really bright blue eyes when Mommy had dark blue eyes.".
Susan tilted her head, "You got teal eyes, and Grandma had green eyes and Grandpa had the brown eyes, and you got the green part into your blue part, and they're real pretty.". Tara nodded, "I told her the same thing, but she was still confused as Daddy's eyes are brown, and she said that 50% of a parent is able to be into kids, maybe skip a generation or double the genes. So, she thought you were supposed to have brown eyes.".
Susan snorted, "That's crazy, and besides, I look better with my bright deep blue eyes, right, Papa?", with a look at Carl.
"That's right.", Carl chuckled as he rubbed Susan's hair as he looked to Wendy; both obviously were having a silent conversation with each other, wondering if perhaps if it's time to finally tell Susan the truth about herself. "They certainly make you 'you', for sure.".
Susan had a wide smile. "What about you, honey? Anything happen at your school?", Wendy asked warmly as she got the cookbook ready, swiping through dinner recipes.
Susan smiled, "We learned about how the rain makes rainbows, I made a new friend again, and I stood up to a bully by myself!". Both parents looked at each other for a moment "Uh, what do you mean?", Wendy asked.
"He was picking on my new friend, took his glasses away, I got them back, he tackled me and then I threw him off!", Susan had a prideful smile.
"You didn't get in trouble, did you?", Carl asked. Susan shook her head, "No, but the other boy did.".
Tara blinked, "Whoa...My little sister...But you never saw Mommy and Daddy's adult shows about fighting.", and Susan smiled, "It was actually a dream...I saw two people playing spar with each other, and the woman did it to the man...It's funny...I felt like I knew them...".
Carl knew that now probably was the proper moment; even if he had several questions of his own that Susan probably couldn't answer. "Um, Susan, listen... there's something we've been needing to tell for some time, but just couldn't think of the right time to say it.". Susan looked at Carl for a moment before he took a deep breath. "Susan, you need to know the truth and we thought it's better you know now rather than so many years down the road.".
Susan tilted her head, blinked, "Know what, Papa?", and Carl glanced at Wendy who gave him a little nod, and Carl looked at Susan, "You remember when Tara asked for a puppy, and we told both of you about adoption?".
Susan nodded, "Yeah, adoption means giving someone a home, a family, food, and lots of love.", and Carl exhaled, "Exactly...Susan, you weren't exactly a Murphy all this time...We adopted you when you were a baby.".
Both Susan as well as Tara were surprised by this news. Was it almost mind shattering? Shaking one to their very core? Perhaps if told at a later date, but for a young girl who still could only just count to 10... it wasn't as shocking as one might expect.
"You mean... you're not my real Mama and Papa?", Susan asked as Carl shook his head, "No, Tara is our true daughter... flesh and blood. You, on the other hand, were someone else's. But, before you say anything, you must know that doesn't matter to us. We love you as much as Tara, we love you as if your mother carried you in her stomach, we love you as our daughter no matter what.".
Susan looked at him and Wendy as she joined them, and Wendy caressed her hair, "Your Papa's right. Think of us as your second set of parents, like I'm your second mother, and Papa is your second father...You occasionally missed them when you were a baby, often calling them Muma and Dada..".
Susan blinked as she recalled a faint memory of crying out for them when she was trying to stand...She looked at them, "They loved me very much?".