Chapter 20

January 11, 11:30 a.m.

It had been hard to find a car with a baby seat, which made Stevie feel even guiltier about taking it. She had made a note of the license plate number so she could pay the person back later. If there was a later. If what they found on the thumb drive could be believed – and Stevie couldn't see a reason not to – then Hydra would try to murder several thousand people within days, and probably seize control of the government soon after. She couldn't think about it – at least not while negotiating the Anacostia Freeway.

"It's 11 on a Wednesday, why are there so many cars on the road?" Stevie muttered as Natasha opened the glove compartment.

"Yes!" Natasha exclaimed triumphantly. "Thank heavens this is a mom car – look, it's full of snacks!"

Natasha turned around to talk to Maggie, who was having fun kicking the back of Stevie's seat.

"Goldfish or fruit snacks, kiska?"

"Ga! Ga!" Maggie reached for the crackers.

"Good choice." Natasha opened the pack for her. "Now I get the fruit snacks."

She tore open the pack with her teeth while she continued poking through the van.

"CD's? Who has those anymore? Oooh, she has a Disney collection – Frozen?"

"Not Frozen." Stevie didn't think she could ever listen to "Let It Go" again.

"Lion King it is."

Natasha leaned back and put her feet up. Not for the first time, Stevie wondered how the woman could be so relaxed no matter what else was happening around her. Was it all a front? Or was it her way of whistling in the dark? Natasha tossed a fruit snack into the air and caught it in her mouth.

"Maybe we should have stolen one of those cars with built in televisions," she said, chewing. "Where did Captain America learn to hotwire a car, anyway?"

Peggy. "Nazi Germany. And we're borrowing, so get your feet off the dash."

Natasha smiled as she obediently took her sneakered feet off the dashboard, sitting cross-legged in the passenger seat. She leaned her head back and tapped one hand in time to "Circle of Life."

"What was Fury to you?" Stevie asked.

Natasha went very still. When she looked at Stevie, her smile was gone.

"You know who I used to work for," she said.

Stevie nodded.

"After that," she continued. "When I defected, after the things I had done, the only people who believed in me were Clint and Nick. And nothing against Clint, but Nick was the only one whose opinion meant a damn. He really stuck his neck out for me."

She popped another fruit gummie into her mouth.

"Fury and Clint aren't the only ones who believe in you," Stevie said. "I do."

Natasha turned to her, eyes wide. Her short hair and dramatic eyeliner made them look huge in her pale face.

"Why?" She asked.

Stevie had wondered that herself. Maybe it was the look she'd seen in the other woman's eyes when Fury was dying, and when she saw him again on that laptop screen. A girl who'd lost her father. Stevie had been that girl. You couldn't fake that. Or maybe it was just an act of faith.

"I don't know," she replied. "Call it instinct."

"That's a really stupid reason," Natasha said, her quirky smile coming back, almost in spite of itself.

"Well," Stevie shrugged. "It's all I've got."

Natasha nodded, as if she understood everything. She looked out the window, singing along to "Hakuna Matata" under her breath. In the back, Maggie chattered and dumped orange Goldfish crumbs all over the floor. Over the road, a green sign proclaimed that they were on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, heading north. In a few hours they would be with Tony.

Natasha sat forward and frowned.

"I've seen that truck before," she said. "Twice."

"Coincidence?"

"Or it's looping around. Can we get off the road?"

"I'll see," Stevie replied. They were on an overpass, but she thought there was a ramp coming. "Where -"

Bam!

Something heavy hit the roof, and before Stevie could finish her question, a metal fist punched through it right in front of her, seized the steering wheel, and ripped it right out of the car. Stevie took her foot off the gas pedal, but it was too late. The car spun out of control.

Maggie!

Stevie tore off her seatbelt, prepared to shield Maggie with her body, but the car smashed into the concrete guard rail and ricocheted across the highway. As Stevie was launched through the window, she saw Natasha dive into the backseat and curl around Maggie, broken glass filling the car like snow.

Stevie managed to tuck and roll as she hit the road, but she still scraped the hell out of her right elbow as she landed. She came to her feet just in time to see the Winter Soldier stalking toward the car, where Natasha was trying to unbuckle a screaming Maggie from her car seat. She saw him walking in slow motion, like a monster in a nightmare. He pulled a gun from a holster on his back.

Stevie didn't even decide to move consciously. She launched herself across the street and tackled the man, taking him over the rail and off the bridge in a tangle of limbs. They hit the windshield of a car on the street below, caving it in. Even as the car spun, Stevie was on top of the man, clawing at his face, at his eyes. The car's spin was interrupted by a concrete pillar, and Stevie was flung into the road.

She stumbled to her feet. Car horns blared. A truck swerved, so close she felt the wind of it shake her body. The man stood, wiping blood from his eyes.

His eyes. Green. Like her daughter's. His dark hair was long. It hung straight to his chin, shadowed by stubble no one had cared to shave off. But his face...his face...she knew it better than her own.

"Bucky."

It was a breath. But the man heard it. He frowned. And spoke.

"Who the hell is Bucky?"

Stevie felt like she had come unglued from her body and was floating above herself, like she had in Stark Tower when she had first woken up in this strange future that was her life. Now it all made sense. Fury wasn't dead. Hydra wasn't back from the hell she'd sent them to in 1945. This was all a dream. It had to be. Because Bucky was dead. There was a hissing noise in her ears. The Winter Soldier was drawing another gun from a holster on his thigh, and all she could do was stare. He was going to shoot her. He's dead, he's dead…

Bucky raised the gun – and something hit her like a speeding car.

I know you've been looking forward to this chapter - and I hope I did it justice. Let me know what you think.