braveclementine

[braveclementine]

Chapter 17

Copyright: I do not own any Marvel characters or locations. However, I do own my OCs: Ellie White along with her friends Allie, Abi, Malcolm, Reece, Anthony, Elijah, etc. I do not condone any copying of this

"I don't trust this guy." Loki stated flatly, playing with Selene on the floor with Ellie. 

"Loki!" Ellie whined. "You don't trust anyone!" 

"I trust you. Stephen. Rogers. Selene." Loki cooed to the baby, the little girl looking up at him, letting out a giggly squeal at her name. "And somewhat the archer, widow, and beast." 

"Loki!" Ellie scolded him at his moniker for Bruce. "Besides, you haven't even met him. Sam is sweet. You guys will get along just fine, I'm sure of it." 

"Are you going to make fried chicken and watermelon for him?" Loki asked curiously. 

Ellie looked at Loki in shock, "Loki! You can't say things like that?" 

"Why not?" Loki frowned, "That joke person on the TV said it many times. You were the one who made me watch the silly picture box show." 

"First off," Ellie started, "He's a comedian and what he was saying was a joke. Second off, he was also an African American comedian which makes it non-racist. You saying it makes it racist." 

Loki rolled his eyes, "How? I'm literally blue." 

Ellie shook her head, "Loki you're killing me. It's not socially appropriate here. Or anywhere really. It's offensive." 

Loki titled his head and then started to grin, "Can I at least ask if he likes Watermelon?" 

"NO!" Ellie groaned. "Loki! Now I just know you're pushing my buttons." 

Loki chuckled, watching her get up, heading into the kitchen. He loved riling her up and had known exactly what he was doing. "Your mommy is so funny when she gets teased." He whispered to Selene. "What should we do next?" 

Selene proceeded to knock the block tower they had been building over, the wooden blocks crumbling around them. 

"Hmmm, take over the world and completely annihilate it?" Loki teased, rolling over onto his back, lifting her above his head. "You're cute enough to be a partner in crime I think." 

Loki was just wondering how long Steve was going to be gone for when the door slammed open. "Daddys ho-" Loki cut off what he was saying to the girl, sitting up instead when he saw someone else running in. "Stephen?" 

"Where's Ellie?" Stephen asked, his face flushed as though he'd run here. Loki was on his feet in an instance, pulling the baby closer to his body. "ELLIE!" 

"Stephen what's going on?" Loki demanded immediately, grabbing his soulmates arm. "What happened?" 

"Turn on the TV." Stephen demanded, "Now! ELLIE!" 

"Stephen?" Ellie called back in confusion while Loki headed to the incessantly noisy picture box, turning it on just as she came into the room. Ellie put her hands to her mouth as they were immediately greeted with grim news casters and Steves photo up on the screen. 

"-the run now." The male newscaster said, stacking his papers. "Earlier today, S.H.I.E.L.D. President Alexander Pierce released that the once beloved Captain, a symbol of patriotic love for America, murdered the other head of S.H.I.E.L.D.- Nicholas Fury." 

"No!" Ellie cried out, "He wouldn't!" 

"Ellie. . ." Stephen turned towards her with worried eyes but Loki beat him to it. 

"We need to hide you." Loki stated. 

"What?" Ellie asked, "But Steve-" 

"There's no way Steven murdered Fury." Loki said sharply. "They're pinning it on him. They'll come after-" 

*BANG BANG BANG*

Ellie gasped and Loki grabbed Stephens' arm as his stupid, lovable doctor went to answer the door. "Stephen." His doctor looked back at him while Loki shook his head. "Trust me." Stephen nodded once, and Loki pulled them away into a corner just as the door was kicked down. 

S.H.I.E.L.D. agents swarmed the house, guns out as though there was a threat here. Loki mentally counted them, knowing they were completely outnumbered, even if he wouldn't be the only one fighting. 

Ellie was hugging Selene to her chest while Loki kept an arm pressed against Stephens' chest to the wall, his other arm holding Ellie to him while he kept them invisible, along with a sound barrier so they could talk without them hearing. 

"We can't stay here forever." Stephen murmured. 

"Our house. . ." Ellie whispered, watching as they knocked over furniture. Ellie flinched as the wedding photo of her and Steve was knocked to the mantel. Brock Rumlow stepped into the living room, motioning for the others to move on, before connecting to some sort of communications device. 

"We're still searching the house for them Sir." Rumlow said sharply. "But it seems the woman and child aren't here." He paused and then said, "Understood Sir. I'll relay the message." 

He motioned to one of the other agents while they could hear doors being banged upstairs and the sound of basement steps being pounded on as the house continued to be searched. "Put out a missing report for Ellie Rogers and Selene Rogers." Rumlow ordered. "Flush her and the child out, make sure everyone knows that she's being looked for. I don't want her to be able to hide. Don't make her guilty. Make people care about her well being. When we get her hands on her and the child we use them to lure Rogers in." 

"Got it Sir." The lackey said, running off to perform his duties. Loki held Ellie tighter in his arm, feeling Stephens' heart beating faster against his shoulder. They were in danger and Loki wasn't sure he could protect all of them. 

Rumlow was standing in the living room by himself, looking at the photo of Ellie and Steve on the ground. He grinned as he picked it up, pulling the picture from it's frame. Loki could feel Ellie shaking. 

"I can't wait to see your face when you find out I've got your girl Cap." Rumlow grinned, putting the frame back on the mantel. "Oh the things I'm going to do to her. . ." Loki could feel the fear skyrocket in Ellie, but felt the disgust and anger rise up in Stephen. 

Loki would never be certain, but he would always believe that in that moment, Stephen could have killed Brock Rumlow. 

And he wouldn't have felt any guilt. 

｡ ★ • * ｡

Though Stephen wasn't happy about it, Loki convinced him to return to work a few hours later, and if anyone inquired after Ellie, to tell them that Loki was on Asgard and had been there for two weeks now. In the meantime, Loki kept Ellie, Selene, and himself disguised as a normal family, holding Ellies' hand tightly in his own as they hurried down the busy streets of New York. 

"Loki something is wrong." Ellie whispered, squeezing his hand. 

Loki knew it. People were streaming in the opposite direction that they were going- to a small house he'd bought off the grid for cases like this. There wasn't extreme worry, but there was an excited longing to go back to whatever was causing a scene. 

Loki turned them invisible to make it past the police barricades, hurrying Ellie along as fast as they could go without running, which would jostle Selene and wake her up. Loki could mute most sounds, but Selene had lungs on her. 

"Loki I feel something." Ellie gasped, looking up at him, "But. . . it can't be possible." 

"What?" Loki demanded. 

"I- I feel a warmth." Ellie whispered, looking around wildly. "But I only have three. . . Steve who accepted me, Tony rejected me, and Bucky is dead. . . how can I feel this?" 

"A relative of Sergeant Barnes?" Loki asked hesitantly. He jolted as Ellies' hand left his, heading off in a different direction, "ELLIE!" She was running now and he raced after her until they arrived to a street that was completely torn up. 

There was a bus on its side, bullet holes had ripped through it. There was a car hanging over a bridge and several fires had been set. And ahead of them on the street was Steve, fighting a masked man with long brown hair. 

Ellie stopped, staring at the scene with wide eyes. "That man fighting Steve. He's my soulmate- I can feel it. The warmth is to hot for him not to be. Maybe. . . maybe Bucky was never my soulmate?" Ellie turned to Loki, pushing Selene into his arms and Loki hurried to take her, biting his tongue as Ellie ran towards them. Loki groaned and then lifted the invisibility spell that hung around her. 

｡ ★ • * ｡

Steve sparred the man in front of him, wanting all of this to end so he could get back to Ellie and Selene. But so far, life wasn't giving him what he wanted. At least-

"STEVE!" 

What?

Steve went to duck the metal fist of the other man when he suddenly froze completely. Steve took advantage of this, kicking him in the stomach so that he skidded across the ground. "What the hell are you doing here Ellie?" Steve thundered, fear flooding through him. He was shocked when she placed herself between him and the other man. 

"Steve wait. This man, he's my soulmate." Ellie said, her eyes wide with pleading. 

What? That wasn't possible. Bucky was her other soulmate. . . wasn't he? 

"Ellie-" Steve started but Ellie had already turned around, looking down at the man. All they could see were blue eyes that stared up at her through the mask. 

"Um." Ellie stuttered. "I- who are you? And can you stop fighting my soulmate please?" 

"Is that actually going to work?" Natasha's voice intruded behind Steve, holding her hand against her bullet wound, "and how they hell is this guy her soulmate?" 

"I have no idea." Steve whispered. 

The masked man reached up slowly, pulling the mask off and Steve flinched back. "Bucky?" 

Bucky held his gaze for a second, sorrow, fear, anguish, terror, and recognition reigned prominently in his eyes. "Steve. . ." 

Sirens were sounding around them and the brunette leapt to his feet, backing away with Ellie, "You. . . you broke my mind control." 

Ellie hesitated and then said softly, "The soulmate bond can break mind control. It's happened before." 

"I know. . ." Bucky drifted off, looking past her, past Steve. "You did it before. In a hospital. But I got. . ." He frowned, "I don't remember now." 

"We need to go." Natasha warned, pointing at the S.H.I.E.L.D. trucks that were driving that way. Steve looked back at Bucky. 

"Bucky, come with us." Steve begged. 

"I-I can't." Bucky whispered, "Go. Before it's to late. I know you'll find me again." 

"Let's go." Lokis voice whispered in Ellie's ear. "They're not getting out of this and you need to be able to break him of his mind control again. If they get ahold of you, they'll force you to touch him, break the bond, and then put him back under." 

Ellie ran over to Steve without answering, kissing him. "Stay safe Steve, please." 

"Go. Protect Selene." Steve said as Brock Rumlow hoped out of the car. Bucky had melted away, somewhere none of them knew. Loki grabbed Ellie by the shoulder, the two of them disappearing and Brocks' eyes narrowed. 

"Spread out!" He ordered. "Find her now!" 

Steve closed his eyes as Rumlow forced him to his knees. Bucky was alive. Ellie had escaped. His daughter was with her. Tony was safe too. Once he got out of this. . . he'd get his entire family back. 

Whatever it took. 

｡ ★ • * ｡

Ellie paced the small hideaway cabin floors while Loki cooked in the kitchen. Everything was starting to come together now. 

Bucky had always been alive. How? No idea. Why had no one known? No clue. But he was. He was alive. Steves love and her third soulmate. 

"It makes so much sense now." She murmured out loud while Loki listened in silently, stirring the macaroni and cheese. "They said they've been tracking me since the hospital and here Steve and I were wondering if it was something in my family. But Bucky must've been in the hospital at the same time and sensed me. The soulmate bond is supposed to be strong at birth after all. So whoever he's working for. . . who is he working for? It can't possibly be S.H.I.E.L.D. right? Fury wouldn't keep him from me and Steve would he? Does that mean Fury was evil too. . . I don't want to believe that I thought he was a good man." 

She was silent for a moment, "Better than Pierce anyways." 

"Bunny you're going to stress yourself out." Loki said gently as he put the mac and cheese on the table. 

"Do you think Steve will be okay?" Ellie asked him. Loki watched the way she held herself tightly, how her throat swallowed harshly. Her eyes seemed strained like she was trying not to cry. 

Loki sighed, walking over to her, wrapping his arms around her like he would Stephen when his doctor was upset. "He is and you know he is." 

"I know he's not dead." Ellie whimpered, tears forming in her eyes. "I don't know what torture they're doing to him." 

"They wanted him to kill him." Loki reminded her, though he knew it wasn't a nice reminder. "Which means if he's not dead yet, he's escaped which is the more likely possibility, or they've suddenly realized they need him for something." 

"Me?" Ellie whispered, looking up at him while Loki pulled away. 

"They'll never touch you or Selene." Loki swore. 

Ellie was silent as she walked over to the small oak table that furnished the middle of the kitchen. "Loki. . . I think I need to go to Steve. Bucky will have to be hanging around him and I will need to trigger him again. So you need to stay here and take care of Selene." 

"I don't like that." Loki frowned. 

"You don't like anything." Ellie tried to tease, her lips quivering as she tried to smile. "Loki, trust me." 

Loki groaned. "Fine." 

｡ ★ • * ｡

"What was that soldat?" Rumlow sneered as Bucky stared dead past him, out of it completely while he was hooked up to the machine. 

His and Stevie's second soulmate. . . she was so beautiful. He had forgotten so many things but most prominently had been the feeling of being alive. He had forgotten that as he looked into her brown eyes. Her lovely long brown hair. That dress. Stevie had dolled her up good. Those hips. 

And Stevie. . . that still golden tousled hair and baby blue eyes. He looked like he hadn't aged a day and Bucky knew now that it had been years- decades. 

"You just stared at them soldat." Rumlow was furious. "And that girl-" 

"She kept saying I was 'her soulmate'." Bucky said, wanting to get himself out of trouble hoping that they wouldn't erase his mind again, hoping that it got Steve out of trouble wherever he was. Ellie would hopefully be seen as innocent, not knowing any better. "I don't know what that means, but I felt like I shouldn't hurt her." 

"You-!" Rumlow growled. 

"Rumlow." Pierce held up a hand from where he was leaning against the desk, surveying Bucky like he was just an object. Bucky hated these awareness moments more than anything. Playing along, playing stupid, just for a futile chance of escape on his next mission. 

It never worked. 

"Enough." Pierce sighed. "You and I both know the soulmate bond is a strong pull. I'm surprised it didn't completely bring him back, but they say it's stronger at birth and she was only a few minutes old at that time." 

"I've. . . met her before?" Bucky asked slowly. 'Get information, stay stupid.' 

"Oh yeah." Rumlow grinned, "And we've kept tabs on her ever since." Buckys' blood ran cold, imagining these people watching her grow up. "Every month of every year of her life." Rumlow leaned in further. "I think I even have some teen nudes." 

Bucky couldn't control himself, grabbing Rumlow around the throat, standing up at full force. "SHE'S MINE." Bucky snarled, slamming Rumlow down on the ground hard, his skull cracking against the concrete. Rumlow let out a grunt of pain while doctors pulled Bucky back, restraining him in the chair. "DON'T YOU EVER TOUCH HER!" 

Rumlow gripped his head as he stood up and Pierce stopped him from approaching Bucky to take a swing like Bucky knew Rumlow wanted. But Pierces' next words stopped Buckys' heart. 

"I think. . . we may have just found how to control our soldier." 

Rumlow grinned. 

[braveclementine]

Chapter 16

Copyright: I do not own any Marvel characters or locations. However, I do own my OCs: Ellie White along with her friends Allie, Abi, Malcolm, Reece, Anthony, Elijah, etc. I do not condone any copying of this

Ellie placed goldfish in her basket, having a craving for salty snacks at the moment. She also added cheezits and Saltine crackers for good measure, making a mental note to make sure they had peanut butter or cream cheese to put on the crackers. 

She turned, heading out of the grocery aisle to go to the chip aisle and grab some of Steves' favorites for their movie night. As she turned the corner, she slammed into a hard body. 

"Shit!" The voice shouted and then strong arms grabbed her before she could fall, wrapping around her and pulling her back up onto her feet, though she dropped the basket to grab him in return in her panic. 

"I am so sorry." The African American man said, his eyes wide in panic. He was probably 5'10 or 5'11 with short black hair. He was wearing a tight blue t-shirt and jeans. "Are you alright ma'am?" 

"Y-yeah." Ellie stuttered out, blushing. "I'm so sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going!" 

"No, it's my fault." The man insisted. "I was in a hurry, not watching where I was going." 

Ellie laughed and the man followed a second later. "Sorry." They said together. The man bent down, picking up her basket to hand it to her. "Really," He added, "Sorry about that. Are you okay?" 

"Yeah, I'm fine, thank you for catching me." Ellie smiled. 

"I'm Sam Wilson." The man said, sticking his hand out. "Figure you should know who I am after knocking you down. Just in case you want to press charges." 

Ellie giggled, shaking his hand, "I'm Ellie Rogers." 

"Like as in Steve Rogers soulmate?" Sams' eyes went wide, "Oh I'm so dead." 

Ellie laughed again. "No, he's a sweetheart. Besides, it was an accident." 

Sam grinned and then his look became more hesitant, "Hey, I know this could be overreaching, but could I ask you a question about him?" 

"Sure." Ellie said with a slight frown. 

"Well, first here." Sam said, digging in his pocket for his wallet, handing over a card of sorts. "This is where I work with vets, being ex-military myself." 

"Oh thank you for your service." Ellie immediately said, looking up at him with honest eyes. 

'Damn Captain America really hit the jackpot with this one.' Sam thought for a moment, before continuing. "Of course. But uh, I was asking because I wondered um how he was rehabilitating. I'm sure you would notice signs like sleeping on the floor instead of the bed or jumping at things." 

Ellie hesitated and then said, "He does sometimes although he's been working through them with me. I'll give him the card though. He's uh. . . not always the best about realizing he needs help. But I do my best." 

'Bet you do.' Sam thought. 'To bad you're taken.' Politely he said, "Well I'll let you continue shopping. It was very nice meeting you Ellie." 

"Hey wait." Ellie said, turning to him as he went to move past her in pursuit of the ingredients he was going to find to make Jambalaya. "Would you like to come to dinner this Saturday? You would be able to explain your job much better than I could. And Steve always appreciates meeting other military, ex or not." 

Sam was stunned as her request. "Yeah, sure, that'd be really cool." Ellie quickly wrote her address on a post-it note and also a time. "We're having spaghetti and meatballs." She smiled, handing it to him. Sam took the green paper. "Well now you'll never get rid of me." He joked. 

Ellie giggled. "Can't wait to see you there." She waved to him and headed towards the chip aisle that she had been her original target. Sam watched her go and then smiled to himself. 

'Finally something to do this Saturday.' Sam thought. 

｡ ★ • * ｡

"We're having a guest Saturday for dinner." Ellie sung happily as she sat down on the couch with Steve. Selene was sleeping in the nursery soundly, the baby monitor set up on the table in front of them so they could check on her. Ellie opened up her goldfish, popping some of the cheesy crackers into her mouth. 

"Lafueyson-Strange or Romanoff-Barton?" Steve asked, grabbing the package of Oreos off the counter to open them up. He eased one of the chocolate cookies off, popping it into his mouth. He did the same with a second one before pushing the white filling parts together, handing it over to Ellie who shoved the sugary treat into her mouth. 

"Neither." Ellie said, "His name is Sam Wilson. I met him today in the grocery store." 

This is why Steve needed to stop letting her out by herself. He never would of course, but it was things like this that gave him heart attacks. 

"You invited a stranger to dinner?" Steve asked, amused. 

"He helped me in the store." Ellie said as explanation. "He caught me instead of letting me fall. He was very nice. He's ex military too and he wants to talk to you. I thought you'd like him." 

"We'll see." Steve said easily, leaving the Oreos for her and grabbing the pretzels that he loved to dip in mustard. "What are we watching tonight?" 

"I was thinking The Sound of Music, but then I realized it might have some triggers because of the time period it takes place. So I thought it would be safer to settle with The Birds. It's a horror movie though so I might scream." Ellie answered thoughtfully and Steve softened at her thoughtfulness. 

Needless to say, Steve was intrigued to meet this 'Sam' and wondered exactly what he had in store for them. 

｡ ★ • * ｡

"On your left." Steve huffed out as he passed the African American man on his run. It wasn't long before he was passing him again, "On your left." 

"Uh-huh, on my left. Got it." He heard the man mutter behind him. 

Steve came up behind him once more and he shouted, "DON'T SAY IT! DON'T YOU SAY IT!" 

Steve smiled a little, "On your left." 

"Come on!" 

Steve finished off the lap to find that he was sitting under a tree in the shade, breathing heavily. "Need a medic?" 

"I need a new set of lungs. Dude, you just ran like 13 miles in 30 minutes."

"Guess I got a late start." Steve hummed, looking over his shoulder. He normally did 20. 

"Oh, really? You should be ashamed of yourself. You should take another lap." He said, gesturing with his hand. After a few seconds of Steve smiling he said, "Did you just take it? I assumed you just took it."

"What unit you with?" Steve asked, gesturing to the symbol on the front of the mans sweatshirt. 

"58, Pararescue. But now I'm working down at the VA." Sam said, getting off his butt to hold out his hand. "Sam Wilson." 

"Stev- hold on." Steve took another look at him, "'Sam Wilson' as in the same 'Sam Wilson' who my soulmate invited to dinner this weekend?" 

Sam scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Hey look man if you're not cool with that-" 

"Nah, it's not that." Steve shook his head. 

"Cause I mean I was shocked she made such an offer." Sam said, "I don't think most people invite people they just met into their homes." 

"She has good instinct." Steve smiled. 

Sam nodded for a moment and then asked, "Must have freaked you out coming home after the whole defrosting thing." 

"It takes some getting used to. It's good to meet you, Sam. I'll see you at dinner." Steve said, seconding Ellies' request. 

"It's your bed, right?" Sam asked suddenly as Steve had turned to leave and now he turned back. 

"What?" 

"Your bed, it's too soft. When I was over there I'd sleep on the ground and use rock for pillows, like a caveman. Now I'm home, lying in my bed, and it's like-"

"-Lying on a marshmallow. Feel like I'm gonna sink right to the floor." Steve answered. Some nights it was easier, especially if it was after him and Ellie had finished going a few rounds. But other nights he had to leave his wife in their bed so he could feel more comfortable on the floor of their daughters bedroom. 

He knew Ellie didn't mind, hell she understood and told him to do whatever he thought he needed to. He'd drawn the line though when he'd woken up one morning and she was laying next to him on the floor, goosebumps littering her body from how cold she was. She didn't need to do that for him. 

"How long?" Steve asked. 

"Two tours." Sam answered. "You must miss the good old days, huh?" 

Steve felt that pang of loss for Bucky, missing him with that question, but answered honestly, "Well, things aren't so bad. Food's a lot better, we used to boil everything. No polio is good. Internet, so helpful. I've been reading that a lot trying to catch up. Beautiful soulmate." 

Sam raised a finger and said, "Marvin Gaye, 1972, "Trouble Man" soundtrack. Everything you've missed jammed into one album." 

"I'll put it on the list." Steve said, pulling out the notebook he carried with him everywhere. There was plenty of other stuff on the list. I Love Lucy (Television); Moon Landing; Berlin Wall (Up + Down) Steve Jobs (Apple); Disco; Thai Food; Star Wars/Trek (with Star Wars crossed out, indicating that he has seen it); Nirvana (Band); Rocky (Rocky II), and Jurassic park just to name a few. 

Steve furrows his brow in irritation as he phone pings with a message that he's got a message. Of all the weeks! "I gotta get going Sam. I'll see you later." 

"See you." Sam waved and Steve went to get to the extraction point. 

｡ ★ • * ｡

Sam knocked on the dark blue door of the small house, nestled in a quiet suburb of a New York neighborhood. It was one of those houses you'd see in movies with brightly coloured shutters and a cottage yet also modern esque feel to it. 

Ellie opened the door, greeting him with a large smile, "Sam! Come on in!" 

The house was beautiful, while small, and Sam admired the pictures on the mantlepiece. A wedding picture and a few baby pictures of a little girl. Sam handed Ellie the red wine he'd brought. "I didn't know how fancy it would be tonight, but I brought this nevertheless." 

"Thank you." Ellie said, taking the gift and heading into the next adjoining room, putting it on the table. "Clint will like this." 

"Well hi there." Sam said sweetly to the little baby who was sitting in her highchair at the table. "What is your name cupcake?" 

"This is Selene." Ellie said, showing her daughter off proudly. "She's turning six months old very soon." 

"She's beautiful." Sam complimented. 

"Takes after Steve." Ellie laughed. 

"Where is Steve?" Sam asked, surprised that her husband wasn't down here with them. 

"Oh." Ellies' smile faltered a little, "He got called into a mission a few days overseas. So he's not going to be here tonight unfortunately. Loki, Stephen, and Natasha won't be making it either but Clint and Bruce will be here tonight. So a little smaller than normal but that's alright! More food for us!" 

Sam only recognized Lokis' name off the bat, "Whose Stephen, Natasha, Bruce, and uh. . . Clint?" 

"Oh." Ellie nodded, "Right. Well Stephen is a Doctor at the hospital but he's soulmates with Loki. Natasha, Bruce, and Clint are all soulmates as well but you'd more likely know them as Black Widow, Hulk, and Hawkeye respectively." 

Sam suddenly wished he'd dressed nicer in hindsight, realizing he could've had dinner with a God and the Avengers. He looked down at his clothes, which was a simple button up and slacks. Ellie laughed at his glance over, "You're fine Sam. Clint shows up in sweatpants half the time." 

Sam might've felt more reassured if Ellie herself wasn't wearing a green dress, though admittedly it wasn't fancy, but rather old-timey. 

"Do you need any help?" Sam offered. "I'm pretty good in the kitchen." 

"Oh?" Ellie questioned, "Maybe you'd like to help me cook next week then! But for now, no, I don't need any help. I already made everything. Oh unless you'd like to help me with these brownies." 

"You made brownies for dessert?" Sam asked with a grin, walking into the kitchen. He could smell salt, tomato sauce, the slight musk of spaghetti water, and yes the overwhelming scent of chocolate brownies. "What do you need help with?" 

"I wanted to use these Easter egg cookie cutters to shape them." Ellie said, gesturing to the said metal utensils. "And then frost them to look like Easter eggs, but I'm running short on time." 

"Well I'm not an artist, but I think I can manage that." Sam said, rolling his sleeves up. The two of them worked side by side, cutting the brownies into oval shapes with the cookie cutters, then frosting them with colourful squiggly lines or dots. 

The front door opened again and a male voice shouted, "Ellie?!" 

"In the kitchen Clint!" Ellie shouted back, putting the frosting utensil down and brushed her hands on the front of her apron.

"Hey look at you!" Sam heard another voice coo from the dining room, probably to the baby. Ellie went into the dining room with them and Sam transferred the brownies to the large platter Ellie had set out a few moments before. 

"Hi Clint, hi Bruce." Ellie chirped. "We've got another guest tonight." 

"Who?" Clint's voice asked. 

"Hi name is Sam." Ellie said, "Sam, I can handle everything from here, come mingle!" 

Sam, feel incredibly self-conscious, headed out to the living room, coming face to face with Bruce Banner and Hawkeye. 

"Hi, I'm Sam Wilson." Sam said, holding his hand out which Bruce shook first, then Clint. 

"Bruce Banner."

"Clint Barton. What do you do for work?" 

"I work in the VA hospitals and run therapy groups for returned Veterans." Sam answered. 

The three men talked while Ellie started to set the table and while they all offered to help she waved them off and soon the four- five if you counted Selene- of them were seated around the table. Bruce said prayers and then they dug in. 

Ellie had prepared a simple, yet delicious meal of spaghetti, meatballs, some sort of sausage hidden in the sauce (Bruce got a sausage free portion), garlic bread, and salad. By the time dinner had finished, Sam didn't feel out of place. 

"These are adorable." Clint chortled at the brownies. 

"Hey we put our blood, sweat, and tears into those!" Ellie giggled. 

"I hope not, then they'd be unsanitary to eat." Clint faked-gagged. 

Ellie just laughed at that, turning to Selene and feeding her another miniscule bite of meatball. Selene seemed to love them, demanding them whenever her mother tried to feed herself. Bruce had taken over, gently feeding her while Ellie finished eating. 

"Are you guys staying late or is it an early night?" Ellie asked as they stacked dishes  up to be taken to the sink. 

"With Nat out on mission its an early night." Bruce responded. "You know how it is."

"Of course!" Ellie responded. 

"Oh hey, Ellie, I gotta talk to you in private for a second." Clint said, pointing a finger at her. 

"Sure." Ellie said, the two of them getting up and leaving the room. "Is something wrong?" Ellie asked immediately, wondering if something had happened to Steve. 

"Nah, they should be home tomorrow afternoon." Clint waved his hand. "Actually, Natasha, Bruce, and I want you and Steve to uh. . . come somewhere with us." 

Ellie raised an eyebrow, "Sounds ominous. Plotting our deaths?" 

Clint snorted. "Funny." Ellie shrugged her shoulders. "I just don't want to say to much because there are ears everywhere and this is a secret place. We're asking that you also don't bring anything that could be tracked like a phone or even one of those electronic watches." 

"Sure Clint. . ." Ellie chewed on her bottom lip. "But is it something bad?" 

"No!" Clint said, "In fact we're hoping it'll be a really pleasant trip if everything goes well. I can tell you the reason for secrecy once we're there, okay? Hey and bring Selene, Natasha will love that and you guys will too." 

"Alright." Ellie said, still unsure, but Clint was done speaking so she followed them back into the house. "I'll see you guys next Saturday!" Ellie said, waving to Bruce and Clint as they headed to Clints' car. She shut the door and turned to Sam, who was clearing the table for her, wanting to be helpful. 

"You heading out too?" Ellie asked, picking up another piece of garlic bread to eat. 

"Yeah, I have early shifts tomorrow. Some of my Vets can't sleep." Sam sighed, putting the drained spaghetti in the fridge. "You sure you're going to be alright taking care of all of this?" 

"This is nothing." Ellie said. She grinned, "Wait till everyone is here for dinner." 

"Alright." Sam laughed, "Also, thanks." He paused, "Really. I- I wasn't sure what I was expecting but I had a really good time. I haven't really hung out with people like that in a long time." 

Ellie smiled, "Of course. You're welcome back every Saturday. Same time, same day. Although sometimes Loki and Stephen host. If you give me your phone number, I'll add you to the dinner chat so that you can be notified ahead of each other. I usually also announce what's for dinner so you can let me know if there's something you might be allergic to." 

"I don't have any, but thanks for the heads up." Sam said, quickly writing his phone number down for her, handing it to her. "And thanks for tonight again. Also," He picked up another brownie, "Taking this to go." 

Ellie giggled, "Please do! Then I won't eat it." She saw Sam out the door and Sam walked off, with a grin. He was going to be looking forwards to every Saturday night. 

[braveclementine]

Part 15

Copyright: I do not own any Marvel characters or locations. However, I do own my OCs: Ellie White along with her friends Allie, Abi, Malcolm, Reece, Anthony, Elijah, etc. I do not condone any copying of this

THREE MONTHS LATER

"Seriously, thank you so much." Ellie said gratefully, watching as Loki snapped his fingers, the crib unboxing itself and setting itself up in the corner of the room. Ellie smiled at the opulent, intricately carved crib that was purple and gold. It matched the rest of the room, with the walls being painted in sunset hues of pale gold, lavender, and celestial blue. 

Steve had painted the walls with clouds and stars with galaxies in between. Loki had done some magic to make it shimmer, giving it both a lifelike feeling while at the same time seeming very cartoony and childish. 

Stephen mostly helped Steve with the hard labor when he wasn't in the hospital taking care of patients. Loki just had a lot more free time on his hands. 

Loki and Stephen had become a large, integral part of their small family. Ever since Loki had taken the fire out of her body, they had all become closer. They were at their house almost once a week for dinner and vice versa. 

Natasha, Clint, and Bruce were a part of their life too, though more like twice a month. Natasha was very excited for her 'niece' but Ellie was just glad that the Avengers were excited to meet her. It made her feel like her daughter had a safe and secure future. 

"Well I know Rogers was forced on mission and I wasn't going to have you put this crib up." Loki answered matter of factly, looking around the room. The crib matched most of the other furniture in the room like the chest of drawers for the babies clothes, and the dressing table. There was a plush rocking chair in the corner that had a bookshelf next to it. Ellie was planning on getting baby books soon. 

Loki waved his hand at the windows, the plain blinds of the house changing into pale gold sheer curtains, hanging from the windows gracefully and delicately. Steve had bought the house after Ellie had gotten out of the hospital. He still had to stay at his apartment sometimes, especially around missions or training. But the house was for the three of them. 

"I thought everything you created was illusions." Ellie asked, gingerly lowering herself into the rocking chair, placing a protective hand over her large stomach. Being almost eight months along made everything harder. "Won't all of these additions disappear?" She watched as he produced a crib mobile with small jewels shaped like stars. 

"No." Loki answered simply, taking a step back to admire his handiwork. "It's all real after all, I'm simply putting them up. Regardless, it will all be here when your daughter is born." 

Ellie smiled happily. Loki snapped his fingers again, letting the bookcase become filled with baby books, many titles that Ellie recognized. On top of the bookcase however was a large, thick book. It was grand, the kind of book that you wanted to have with dusty pages that had that old book smell. The kind that made the wonderful crunchy noise as you turned them. Ones that you wanted to smooth your hands over. It was filled with all sorts of stories: fairy tales and myths, princess stories and stories stolen from the Starless Sea. It was a magical book, ready to take you in and steal your soul. 

"You'll never be short with a bedtime story with this." Loki said, placing his hand lightly on top of the book. "Now then, what do you and the little princess want for dinner?" 

"Oh Loki-" 

"Ah ah!" Loki stopped her immediately. "None of that protesting stuff now. Otherwise I'm giving you bread and water." 

Ellie giggled, "Alright, alright. Uh. . . can we do Pepperoni, black olive, and banana pepper pizza please?" 

"You are a bizarre Midgardian." Loki chuckled, "Very well. I'll go order that in." 

Ellie stayed in the nursery, mesmerized by how beautiful it was. She couldn't wait until her daughter got to see it for herself. Eventually she left the bedroom, making her way downstairs where she could smell not only fresh pizza but chicken wings as well. Loki had also gotten a salad with three breadsticks. 

Loki ate a majority of the salad and a few chicken wings, leaving the pizza and wings for Ellie, for the most part.

"Thank you for this Loki." Ellie said, sipping her milk as her mouth burned. 

"I know perfectly well you'd do the same. That's what friends are for." Loki answered nonchalantly. Ellie had done the same to an extent, when he'd caught some flu two months back. Her chicken noodle soup was almost to die for. Better than the nasty Midgardian medicine Stephen had implored him to take. 

The front door opened suddenly and Ellie heard the familiar sound of metal clunking as it was placed on the floor. Loki looked suspiciously in the direction of the noise. "Rogers?" 

"Loki." Steve greeted, exhaustion in his voice, "Where's Ellie?" 

"Right here Steve. There's still some pizza if you want it." Ellie said happily. Loki chuckled at that. She ate like a bird and had left almost the entire pizza behind. He knew that if Steve hadn't come home she could've lived on the pizza breakfast, lunch, and dinner for three days. 

Steve smiled as he came around the corner, still in his Captain America suit. He kissed Ellie passionately, before picking up a slice of pizza. "What have you two been up two?" He asked as he headed into the kitchen to grab himself a plate. 

"We- well Loki- finished setting up all the furniture in the nursery." Ellie said happily. "I can't wait for you to see it Steve! It looks so beautiful, especially with your paintings on the walls." 

Steve grinned, "I can't wait to see it baby. Thanks for helping out Loki, sorry I was gone so long." 

"Where'd they send you this time?" Loki asked, tossing the salad container into the trash. He didn't mind helping them out. It gave him something to do while Stephen was on long shifts at the hospital. 

Steve sighed. "I'm not actually allowed to say this time. Rumlow brought in orders from Pierce for secrecy." 

"I don't like either of them." Loki scowled. 

"You don't know either of them." Steve rolled his eyes. 

"I saw them at the wedding." Loki sniffed indifferently, "I don't like the looks of them. They're untrustworthy." 

Steve simply sighed, shaking his head as he sat down tearing into the pizza with famished, yet gentlemanly bites. 

"Since you're back I'll take my leave for the night." Loki stood, putting a hand on Ellies' head. He patted Steves' shoulder and the two of them said goodnight before he disappeared into a dramatic swirl of green clouds. 

Ellie turned to her husband, looking at him with concern. He looked exhausted. "Are you okay Steve?" 

Steve smiled at her, the tiredness not going away any. "Just exhausted baby. I'll be much better with some sleep and you by my side. Is the insomnia any better though?" 

"A bit." Ellie nodded. "Loki had Thor bring down this Asgardian concoction to help me sleep that wouldn't hurt the baby. But I've only had to take it two or three times." 

Steve smiled, glad that he had someone to take care of her while he was gone. Loki and Stephen had really become good friends with their family. 

Ellie took a moment, gathering herself as she stood up, carefully approaching Steve. She couldn't hug him from the front, so she simply twisted her body so that she was sitting gingerly on his lap, leaning into him from the side. "Sorry you're so tired. They're working you to hard." 

Steve abandoned the food on the table, wrapping both arms around her, burying his face into her delicate neck. "Could be worse." He whispered. "I could be coming home to an empty apartment instead of you. And I'm supported by a good team of people. I'm lucky to have people that got my back like this. And I can't wait to meet our little girl." 

"Me either." Ellie smiled, kissing Steve's jaw. "I'm going to head upstairs because it's going to take me a little longer to get ready. Finish eating and I'll be waiting in bed for you." 

"Deal." Steve said, kissing her temple. He finished eating quickly, listening to her footsteps as she headed upstairs. He always felt anxious when he was away from her and this mission had been no different. He was wondering if he needed to tell Fury to just retire him. And yet retiring felt selfish. How could he retire when he still had so much he could give the world for it's protection? There wasn't anyone who could do what he did. He would just have to bear it. 

He tossed the paper plate away, putting the leftover pizza and wings in the fridge before heading upstairs after his wife. 

Ellie was indeed waiting in bed for him, one of his large t-shirt all she was wearing as she curled up on her left side. Steve showered quickly, simply pulling on a pair of shorts as he climbed into bed. She had rolled over onto her right side now so that he could wrap his arms around her from behind. 

His hand rested on the baby bump, feeling the baby kick and he smiled into Ellie's neck in joy. "She's kicking." 

"She knows mommy is trying to sleep." Ellie giggled. "She's only like this when I'm trying to sleep I swear." 

Steve chuckled. "Go to sleep baby girl, mommy wants to sleep too." He moved a little lower so he could kiss the spot the baby kicked. It took a few minutes, but soon the baby was no longer kicking. Ellie hummed softly and Steve noted that she'd already fell asleep. Steve kissed her shoulder, before joining his girls in dreamland. 

｡ ★ • * ｡

"Look at her." Steve sighed, looking down at the newborn baby that was cradled in his arms. Loki was perched up on the counter nearby with a smile while Stephen discarded his bloody gloves, going into another room to get new scrubs. Ellie smiled tiredly up at Steve and their daughter. 

"She's beautiful." Ellie murmured. "Can we name her either Selene or Seraphina?" 

"Selene." Steve smiled, "Selene Rogers." Ellie grinned. 

"It's a beautiful name." Loki commented, hopping down from the counter. "Can I hold her?" 

"Of course you can." Ellie said, shifting so she could sit up further. She looked over at Steve, "Do you want to do the honors?" 

"When Steph-" Steve was interrupted as Natasha, Clint, and Bruce came into the room. 

Natasha squealed, "Oh my gosh! My baby!" 

Steve rolled his eyes as the red head ran over, looking into the little babies face. 

"I love her." Natasha promptly declared. 

"No fighting over our child." Ellie giggled, showing she didn't mind. Once again, the feeling of her child having a protective family to take care of her swelled inside of her. "Loki you can hold her first and then Natasha." 

Steve carefully handed their daughter over to Loki, who smiled down at the baby in his arms. The little girl reached up, her tiny fingers still clenched in a fist, but still attempting to touch his face. She let out a coo as her fingers brushed his long black hair, curling into his chest. 

"I'm going to melt out of cuteness." Natasha squealed. 

Loki whispered something to low for most of them to hear, but what Steve and Bruce caught with their super hearing was another language they didn't recognize. He reluctantly handed her over to Natasha, who was immediately tearing up as the little baby cooed up at her. 

"Does she have a name?" Bruce asked Steve as he stood nearby, smiling. He didn't want to hold her, afraid of hurting her, but he loved Natashas' reactions. He hated that neither he nor Clint could give her the children she wanted because of the red room. But their fourth soulmates children were enough to placate her. 

"Selene Rogers." Steve answered. "Although we're still thinking about a middle name." 

Stephen walked back into the room and paused at the large amount of people in it. "Um-" 

Loki waved a reassuring hand at him. "It's alright Stephen." 

"I think now would be a good time to announce our decision." Ellie reached over, squeezing Steves arm. 

"Right." Steve said, not tearing his gaze from his precious daughter. Natasha reached over, placing the baby girl back in Ellies' arms. 

"Steve and I talked it over and we agreed that. . . well we want you two to be the godfathers." Ellie smiled at Loki and Stephen. Both of their faces turned to shock, before settling into happiness. 

"I would be honored." Loki said, nearly bowing. His blue eyes sparkled, glad that he was to be trusted with such a task. 

"Of course we will." Stephen answered more diplomatically, though he was also smiling. 

"And we want you to be the Godmother." Steve said to Natasha. Natasha teared up while Clint wrapped his arm around her, kissing her temple, whispering something to her.

"Of course." Natasha sniffed. "I would protect this precious angel with my life." 

That was all Ellie had wanted. 

"That of course will make you two Godfathers as well." Ellie smiled at Clint and Bruce. 

"Honored." Clint teased Loki, bowing completely while the God rolled his eyes at the display. 

"Thank you." Bruce said softly from where he was now sitting. 

"Hey where's Thor and Stark?" Clint asked suddenly, looking around. "Has Fury come in already?" 

"Thor is in Asgard so he won't be down for a while." Loki answered easily before scratching the back of his head. "I sort've destroyed the path between Earth and Asgard. . ." Stephen squeezed his shoulder in comfort, knowing how much this decision agonized Loki. 

"Fury didn't want to come in today, he'll be here tomorrow." Steve answered though no one answered about Stark. It went unnoticed by Stephen and Clint, but not Loki (who had long figured it out), Bruce (who was curious but didn't think much about it), and Natasha (who had a suspicion but wasn't completely certain). 

"Well, we can see you're tired." Clint smiled at Ellie, who was indeed trying her best not to drift off in front of her f̶r̶i̶e̶n̶d̶s̶  family. "We'll let you get some rest but we've got to celebrate soon!" 

"As long as there are chicken wings I'm game." Ellie smiled while Steve helped her slip lower in the bed so she could get a comfortable sleep. Steve took Selene into his arms while the others filed out. 

Loki left as well to go get food while Stephen quietly jotted stuff down on his clipboard, pausing, "Did you come up with a full name for me to put down on the certificate?" 

"Yeah." Ellie whispered, looking up at Steve. 

"Selene Grace Rogers." 

[braveclementine]

Chapter 14

Copyright: I do not own any Marvel characters or locations. However, I do own my OCs: Ellie White along with her friends Allie, Abi, Malcolm, Reece, Anthony, Elijah, etc. I do not condone any copying of this

"I'm really sorry to drag you guys here, I forgot what time it was." Steve apologized while Ellie sat patiently on the bed. 

"Nonsense." Loki waved an uncaring hand at Steve. "This is important." 

Stephen stood nearby, his arms crossed over his chest, looking more at Loki than Ellie. 

"Can either of you do something about it?" Ellie asked quietly. 

"Didn't you say Tony Stark had a potential cure for this?" Stephen asked. Loki snorted. 

"Stephen, honey," Loki laughed, "That's not an option." Stephen raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything else about it. Loki reached out, touching Ellie's chin. "Hmm. You mind opening up your mind to me love?" 

"Um, I can try." Ellie said uncertainly. It was quiet for a moment, both her and Loki were still for a while until Loki pulled away slowly. 

Steve had never seen the mischief God without a smirk, but now his young face was deep in thought, gazing at Ellie who still seemed to be in a bit of a trance. 

"Bubs?" Stephen asked softly, hesitantly shifting forwards on his feet like he wanted to touch Loki, but refrained from doing so. 

Loki tilted his head to look at Stephen, silent communication seemingly taking place between the two of them. Ellie had come around again, looking between the two of them, then looked over Lokis' head to look at Steve. He gave her a stressed smile which did nothing to reassure her. 

"Loki?" Steve asked. "Can you fix her?" He didn't see Ellie flinch slightly at his words. Loki however, immediately heard her crippling thoughts from his words. 

Loki stood up, stalking up towards Steve until the Captain had no choice but to lean away. "Fix her?" Loki hissed, seething. Steve was startled at the sudden, unexplainable reaction. "Like there's something wrong with her? Did you ever think maybe it's become a part of her? It could be her magic." Lokis' normally blue yes were a dark, glowing green. 

"That's not what I meant!" Steve protested at the same time Stephen mumbled, "Bubs that's not what he meant." 

"Maybe not." Loki sneered. "But you didn't hear what Ellie thought with those words Rogers." Steve glanced around Loki to see Ellie look up at her name, cheeks flushed red as her eyes. 

"I- Loki. . ." Ellie whimpered. 

"You're to selfless Kit." Loki snapped. "What happens if I can't fix this Rogers? You going to reject her just cause she can't be fixed?"

"Loki!" Stephen snapped. "This isn't the point." 

"Of course not." Steve snarled, furious with Loki. "I brought her here because I thought you could help her faster than Stark could. All I was doing was trying to help her before you jumped to unnecessary, hurtful, unbased accusations. I love Ellie and nothing changes that." 

"Please stop." Ellies' voice begged behind them. "Please don't fight." 

Loki took a step back, turning his back on Steve to walk back over to her, sitting on the edge of the bed. 

"I'm sorry Steve." Ellie whispered out, tears in her eyes. "It was a momentary thought. What if I can't be fixed?" 

"We work through it." Steve said flatly. "Like everything else." He felt exhausted, feeling like he had to fight with everybody. He hadn't been in control all day from Fury dictating when he had to go in, to Tony just being there, to Ellie seeming not to care he was there at all and more worried about Tony, to Ellie apparently thinking he wouldn't love her if Loki couldn't help her, to Loki fighting on her behalf. He was tired and exhausted and he didn't need this. 

"Lucky for the Captain, I can fix you." Loki said. 

It was the last straw for Steve. He simply turned and walked out of the room, knowing that if he opened his mouth he would say something he regretted. 

"Bubs that was out of line." Stephen said softly, watching the Captain leave the room. It didn't help Ellie any as more tears spilled from her dull brown eyes. Stephen knew having an upset patient was worse than a calm patient. Loki wasn't doing him or herself any favors. 

"No one should feel bad for having powers they didn't ask for." Loki said darkly, putting his hand against Ellies' forehead. The brown-haired womans' eyes slid back into her head and Loki caught her and gently laid her in the bed. Stephen shook his head as he walked out of the room, closing the door behind him quietly. 

Loki getting personal certainly wouldn't help anything. 

The doctor walked off to go find the Captain. 

｡ ★ • * ｡

Steve had managed to grab sleep and felt a little better than he had the previous day. Loki had finished sometime in the late hours and had warned both him and Stephen she needed to be alone to recuperate. Loki had disappeared after that while Steve felt like he had made a mistake in this. Perhaps he should have trusted Tony to this instead. 

Loki eventually gave them the green light to go see her. Stephen used his doctoral authority to make sure he got the first visit so he could do preliminary checkups. Steve waited until Stephen came out, nodding to Steve. 

Ellie looked much better to Steves' eyes and she was even glowing in the cheeks. The glow diminished some as Steve sat down in the chair at her bedside table. 'Great.' He thought miserably. 'All I ever wanted was to keep a smile on her face and now I'm the reason she doesn't wear one.' 

They both sat in awkward silence, wondering what to say to the other. Steve wanted to apologize and defend himself at the same time. Yet he felt like anything he was going to say would either piss her off or set her off crying again. 

"I'm sorry." They said at the exact same time. Ellie smiled a little but let it drop. 

"I was unfair to you." Steve breathed out. "I was. . . jealous that you wanted to help Tony. My ego got in the way. And I think you know this but I'll say it anyways. I never meant fixing you in the sense of you were broken. I just used the word fix as to return you to normal, the way I know you wanted." 

"I know that Steve." Ellie said softly. "It was never something I really thought of you, but I'm feeling so many different emotions. It was a fleeting thought and I think it affected Loki. Honestly, it affected Loki more than me. But it wasn't fair to you for him to go off on you about that." 

Ellie reached her hand out halfway towards Steve and he didn't hesitate to take it, moving from the chair to her bed. She sniffed as she snuggled up close to him. "Steve, guess what Stephen said?" 

"Tell me." He whispered, petting her long hair back from her face. She looked up at him with shining eyes, the happiness back in her face. 

"I didn't lose the baby after all. Stephen said it's going to be a girl. We're going to have a daughter Steve." 

Steve couldn't say anything, simply leaning over and kissed her as passionately as he dared. Things were looking like they were back on track. 

｡ ★ • * ｡

"Tony can we talk?" Rhodey's voice infiltrated the office that he was working diligently in. He was using the card that Maya had given him from the one-night stand. Everything was starting to make more sense ever since he'd finally been able to focus on it. 

He wasn't sure where Pepper was, though he knew she was waiting nervously for him to fix it. Perhaps she was down in the pool, just in case. She still hadn't quite gotten control over it yet, though she was better at it then a few days before. 

"Are you sure whatever it is can't wait?" Tony asked without looking up, testing something with JARVIS to see if it was a possibility. 

Rhodey was quiet for a moment and Tony looked up to see his best friend leaning in the doorway, his arms crossed against his chest. He was watching Tony with a contemplative expression before he asked, "Are Steve and Ellie Rogers your soulmates?" 

Tony looked away from Rhodey, putting the tablet down and reached for his screwdriver. "Why would you ask that?" 

"Because the tension between you and the Captain was tense as hell." Rhodey said. "Neither of them could look at you and Pepper together. And I have never seen you act so awkward around someone before. The hell did you reject them for? I thought you and Pepper had an agreement for when you met your soulmates. Don't tell me she guilted you to stay in the relationship." 

"Look, Pepper doesn't even know-" 

"Holy shit Tony." Rhodey threw his hands up in the air. "You didn't tell Pepper you met your soulmates?" 

"Are you kidding?" Tony snapped, "Of course I haven't. How could I stay in a relationship with Pepper if she knew that?" 

"That's the whole point of temporary relationships." Rhodey huffed out. "You're hopeless, you know that Tony? Look, you know I like Pepper, but your soulmates were made for you and you chose her over them?" 

"It wasn't 'them' at the time." Tony finally spat out, slamming his fist on the table. Rhodeys' face relaxed a little in surprise. "It was just a suicidal soulmate who didn't want to live without his one true love and I didn't need someone like that in my life. What I did was thought out Rhodey. I didn't need to get hurt from his issues that he was to proud to work out with someone else." 

Rhodey snorted, "That is rich coming from you Tony." Tony threw him a withering look, picking the tablet back up to return to his work. "You're an alcoholic with PTSD that needs to talk to someone and isn't off his own pride horse." 

 "Are you going to leave me alone so I can figure this out?" Tony asked, gesturing to the tablet. 

"Yeah, sure." Rhodey sighed, getting up from where he was leaning. "By the way, Steve called earlier, letting us know that he figured out his own way to help Ellie with the fire problem." 

"I don't suppose he wants to share how?" Tony asked through gritted teeth in frustration. 

"He didn't." Rhodey paused and then turned to leave the room. "I just thought you should know- her baby survived. They're having a girl." Rhodey left the room after that. 

"A girl." Tony whispered, looking at the tablet in his hands. 

He smiled. 

[braveclementine]

Chapter 13

Copyright: I do not own any Marvel characters or locations. However, I do own my OCs: Ellie White along with her friends Allie, Abi, Malcolm, Reece, Anthony, Elijah, etc. I do not condone any copying of this

Ellie scrunched her face as she started to come around. Despite the sleep she was clearly waking up from, she felt a painful headache in her head. It felt like it was burning, but it felt like that everywhere. Like she was burning. . . burning. 

She opened her eyes, only to find that she was not laying down on a bed, but rather standing upright in some sort of metal contraption. Her thoughts jumped at first to Steve, wondering where he was and where she was, but then to her baby. Was she okay? Had she been hurt in the process? Granted, Ellie wasn't even certain that it was a girl, but she had a feeling. 

"Well look whose awake." Ellie found that she couldn't move her head, as it was to painful, so her eyes strained to take in the man in front of her. She didn't recognize him at first, as he was wearing a simple white button up shirt and brown khakis. But as he lifted his handkerchief from his pocket, she recognized him. 

"You're the man from the restaurant." She gasped out. 

"Aldrich Killian." The man introduced himself. "It's a pleasure to meet you Ellie White." He sat down on a stool that was placed in front of her. Vague details started to stick out to her, like the fact that the walls were metal and she could swear she could hear ocean waves. Were they still in Japan? Perhaps on a boat? 

She couldn't remember how she had been taken. She remembered setting the ingredients out, figuring she wouldn't take long in the shower. Then nothing. 

"It was a pain you didn't come back to the states, would've made this whole thing easier." Killian said, wiping his hands with the handkerchief and Ellie noticed that there was red amongst the dirt. Was it blood? It had to be, right?

"Steve?" Ellie coughed out. 

"You know, if I could've trusted my crew could bring in a Super Soldier, he'd be right next to you." Killian said in an easygoing voice. "But I wasn't sure and I couldn't take any chances. Perhaps if he comes to rescue you. But you're not really bait for him in the first place. Really, you're not bait at all." He touched something in the air Ellie couldn't see and soon there was a red light upon her face, making her wince. "I just want to know how Stark reacts when he sees this." 

"What?" Ellie groaned, feeling like she was on fire. She closed her eyes, scrunching them tightly. "What did you do to me?" 

She felt a hand on the side of her face and she flinched away from it, opening her eyes. If she could've, she would've ran in horror, the man in front of her lighting up like a glowstick. She swore she could see everything under his skin and it made her nauseous. 

"It's quite fancy isn't it?" He asked. "Usually, it's used for those who need to regrow something, usually a limb. I used it to correct my legs, my back. I was a very different man many years ago, when your soulmate Tony Stark forgot a meeting with me on the rooftop of a hotel." 

Ellie stayed silent, her mind trying to turn everything over while at the same time, trying not to faint from the pain. Killian must've seen her through the glass windows of the restaurant as she had talked to Tony. She couldn't remember her exact words to him as she ran into him as she left, but she was pretty sure one of them mentioned something about soulmates. 

"Tony doesn't care about me." She finally replied, wishing she could look more directly at the man in front of her. "He rejected me." The words still hurt to say after all of these months. They were forbidden words between her and Steve, never spoken about. 

"Oh I figured." Killian said in that same, uncaring voice. "I don't think soulmates usually cry when they're accepted." He grinned, "No, I think this is more just a little teaser. We'll see. The same is happening to Pepper, his current girlfriend. He may not care about you, or he might. But he isn't going to save either of you. Not until the fire either takes over your entire body or it adapts to you." 

Ellie now understood about the burning. Whatever he had inside of him, he'd put inside of her. A burning fire that conjured up images of Edward and Bella from Twilight and she'd never liked either of those characters and felt quite put out she couldn't at least imagine Carlisle. And then her mind leapt to the more important matter. 

"I'm pregnant!" She gasped out, the words leaving her mouth before she could stop them. But it was a violent realization as she wrenched her neck, trying to look down at the baby bump, letting out a cry of pain when her neck attempted to respond and wouldn't move. 

"Yes, I know." Killian replied, standing from his stool, lifting his hand up to the grab the ball floating in midair. The red light stopped and she assumed that he had turned it off. "It will be fascinating to see if it can survive. I'll come check on you later." He left the room, the metal door slamming shut. 

Ellie wasn't sure if she was trembling from the pain or the hurting realization that she could do nothing now to protect her baby. Heat was never good for a baby. You weren't supposed to take hot baths or even showers. Women had miscarried by going into hot springs. It cooked the baby and she was pretty sure having literal fire flowing through her veins was even more powerful. 

Ellie's eyes pooled with fiery tears as she realized the truth. 

She had lost her and Steves' baby. 

And it was all her fault. 

｡ ★ • * ｡

Tony strained against the tight plastic zip ties that were keeping him to what seemed like a metal bed frame, looking at the spot where Mayas' body had fallen what seemed like only five minutes ago. He heard the door open and heard the footsteps of Killian was the man entered the room. Tony had nothing to say, watching the man prop up two balls, which Tony assumed contained recording devices. 

"I have to go." Killian said. "I'm sorry our time together was so short." 

Tony hoped his suit was almost rebooted so he could blow his face off. Save the world. Get back to Pepper and let her know he was alive. 

"But I thought I'd leave you with a little gift." Killian said, motioning to the balls, which immediately produced holograms. Tonys gut churned when he saw them. 

One was Pepper and the other was a young girl Tony had never seen before. Both of them were strapped to metal contraptions and liquid fire was running through their vines. 

"Do you recognize this girl?" Killian asked, motioning to the one Tony didn't know. She was a pretty thing, with long brown hair and one of those heart shaped faces that usually only existed in book characters and not real life girls. 

Tony wanted to say no, he'd never seen this girl before. He certainly couldn't coherently remember her. But he felt like he'd seen her before, not coherently, but as though she starred in a dream. Like a whisp of memory. 

"No." He answered, because he wasn't sure. But he was certain of one thing- he'd have remembered if he'd ever talked to this girl. 

His eyes switched to Pepper, who seemed to be in the same amount of pain, her teeth gritted, head tossed back. Her pretty strawberry blonde hair was sticky and staticky around her face. How was she in danger? Had it been Maya? 

"I find it quite amusing that I've had a conversation with your soulmate before you have then." Killian said, Pepper blinking out of existence as he shut off the recording device, diverting Tonys' attention back to the other woman. 

"What do you mean?" Tony snapped. How would this man know who his other soulmate was? He would have thought Steve would have kept his mouth shut. 

"You should have seen her face as she ran from whatever hurtful words you said to her." Killian didn't answer his question but Tony felt his heart start to pound like a child whose been caught stealing candy from a teacher. "The shock, the hurt, looking like she wanted to jump off a bridge. What was it Tony? What did you say to reject your soulmate?" 

"I don't know." Tony said, wishing his answer came out stronger than the whisper it did. But he could remember something of that night. He couldn't remember any of it before, just the arrival of the airport. Now, he dimly remembers sitting in a restaurant, a bar really. Rhodey is across from him, blurry even in the vision. There's a heat he can feel, something he dreads, but there are no words, no girl in his memory. 

"Your drunkenness is a problem Stark. In fact, I believe that's the exact reason we're here. Because of promises you made to a hopeful fool while you were drunk." Killian said. "You create your own enemies." 

Killian got up from where he'd been leaning on the desk, lifting a recording ball separate from the other. "I'd thought I'd show you this first. Contains a little surprise." 

"Tony doesn't care about me." the girl said to whatever Killian had asked her. "He rejected me." 

"Oh I figured." Killian answered, "I don't think soulmates usually cry when they're accepted." He grinned, "No, I think this is more just a little teaser. We'll see. The same is happening to Pepper, his current girlfriend. He may not care about you, or he might. But he isn't going to save either of you. Not until the fire either takes over your entire body or it adapts to you."

"I'm pregnant!" She gasped out, her eyes going wide with panic. Tony winced himself as he watched her wrench her neck to look at her own stomach. He could see now that she was, indeed, pregnant, though not very far along. 

"Yes, I know." Killian replied.

Tonys' heart dropped as the recording stopped, his eyes moving over to the live of the girl. He cursed himself now for not accepting Steve. Steve had been a man of principle that would melt Tonys heart, which was why he'd made himself ice cold. But this girl. . . she had been made for him. Her luscious brown curls that though they were sticking to her now would probably feel like silk between his fingers. He could only imagine the curves, the way her body would feel against his. Her short stature, meaning he'd envelop her in his arms. Her large brown eyes that would captivate him in everyway. She was his soulmate, he didn't have to feel anything to know that. She was made for him. She was perfect. 

He was an idiot. 

He couldn't take it back. Not now. 

And she was pregnant. With his child. 

Not literally of course, but the child of a soulmate was the child of all the soulmates, rejected, dead, or accepted. It didn't matter. Whatever baby boy or girl she produced was part of Tonys' family. Not that he thought he'd see him or her of course. 

His baby. If he hadn't rejected Steve he would be holding a baby in his arms in nine months. 

"What's wrong Stark?" Killian asked softly, turning the final ball off so that it was just the two of them in the room. "You look like someone stabbed you in the heart. . ." 

"I'm going to escape." Tony said firmly, glaring at the man in front of him, "And then I'm going to kill you." 

Killian chuckled, lurching up from where he'd been leaning against the desks. "Sure you will Stark, sure you will." He walked out of the room and Tony rolled his neck. Time to see if the suit was up and working. 

｡ ★ • * ｡

Steve crept around the oil rig that Fury had dropped him too, having located Ellies tracker. Steve was annoyed that Fury had put a tracker on his wife without telling him, but at the same time was glad for it in this case. He was going to have a talk with Fury about it later however. 

Steve listened to footsteps and voices as they moved around, his eyes darting around the space. He hunched down behind one of the metal shipping containers, pulling up the device Fury had called a 'beacon translator'. Ellies tracker was a turquoise colour on the screen, approximately 20 feet to his northeast. 

Steve looked up again, peering over the blue metal. There was a building of sorts built in that direction with stairs leading into a gray cubicle shaped structure. He assumed that had to be where she was, although it was at least five stories tall with a conveyer belt coming out of one of the floors. 

"Cap?" 

Steve had heard the footsteps but hadn't realized they were on the same floor as him. He spun around, shield lifted, his gun resting on the edge of the shield. He saw it was Colonel Rhodes from his wedding and. . . shit. 

"Colonel Rhodes." He greeted under his breath with a nod. "Stark." He deadpanned. Tony had a look of guilt on his face and couldn't meet his eyes. Colonel Rhodes looked behind him at Tony and then sighed, shaking his head a little. 

"What are you doing here Captain?" Colonel Rhodes asked. 

"I'm looking for my wife." Steve answered, refusing to look at Tony. "And to arrest the Mandarin." 

"We're ahead of you there." the colonel responded. 

"You got the Mandarin?" Steve asked with narrowed eyes. 

"Turned out he was just the face of the Mandarin. An actor so to speak." Colonel Rhodes said, checking his gun. "The real Mandarin is a guy by the name of Aldrich Killian." 

"What do you have to do with this?" Steve demanded. 

"For me?" Colonel Rhodes raised an eyebrow. "Well he's sort've got the President of the United States." 

"He what?" Steve asked sharply, his attention deviating for a moment. His whole purpose was to protect the nation and now the leader was in danger. He mentally slapped himself, his thoughts returning to Ellie. Presidents were replaceable. He slapped himself mentally again for the blasphemy of his thoughts, feeling guilty and torn. 

"Right." Steve said quickly. "Well you two got the President and this Killian guy, right?" 

"Sure." Rhodes said. "If you see Pepper in there, get her out too while you're at it." 

"Pepper?" Steve questioned. 

Rhodes looked behind him, frowning at Tony who hadn't said a single thing the entire conversation. Rhodes looked back at Steve. "Another woman captive." 

Steve understood then what that meant. Tonys' woman. Steve sighed, "Got it." 

He turned and ducked away from them, feeling better with every step he took from Tony. 

｡ ★ • * ｡

The pain had subsided as Ellie stayed contained in her metal container. She had been moved beside a woman that she recognized as Pepper Potts, aka the woman that Tony Stark had rejected Steve for. But she didn't feel any animosity towards the woman who was going through the same pain as her. It wasn't her fault. She was gorgeous. 

What had caused Ellie fear now was the shooting from outside and how things seemed to be collapsing around them. A large blast into the building they were in had knocked Pepper flat to the ground, trapped under debris. Ellie was still upright, but no longer placed against the wall. She held stood as best she could, afraid any movement would tip the container in the wrong direction. 

The door flew off the hinges, flying past her line of vision. A vague, large figure stood in the doorway, the blinding lights from outside making her wince. 

"Ellie!" She recognized Steve's voice immediately and gasped aloud. 

"Steve!" 

Steve lunged in front of her, his eyes traveling all across the metal container before he made a series of precise smashes with his shield. Ellie fell out of the container, her limbs not wanting to work. Steve caught her, dropping his shield, his hands trying to brace her. 

"Are you okay? What happened?" Steve demanded, cupping her face in his hands. "Ellie what did he do to you?" 

Ellies' bottom lip trembled, her hand drifting down to her stomach where her baby once had been. "I. . . he. . ." 

"Baby please talk to me." Steve begged. 

"He injected me with some kind of fire." She whispered. "Our baby. . . Steve I'm so sorry-" Her voice cracked, tears spilling over her tired eyes. They made fresh tracks down her dirt stained face. 

Steves' heart broke at her words. He took a deep breath so he didn't start crying with her over the loss of their child. "Okay." He whispered. "It's going to be okay Ellie. We can mourn over them when we get out of here. I got to get you out of here alive okay?" 

Suddenly, another crash broke through the wall. Ellie flinched away and Steve stomped his foot down, his shield flying up to his hand, shielding the two of them. Tony didn't see them though as he bent over Pepper, trying to help her through the debris. 

"He's got her, come on." Steve mumbled, grabbing Ellies' hand, pulling her from the room. Ellie tripped over her feet in surprise, looking away from where Tony had been to Steve. 

"Wait what? We're not going to help him?" Ellie asked in surprise. 

Steve looked back at Ellie, "Tony can save his own girl." 

Ellie looked sadly at Steves' back, digging her heels into the metal the best she could. "Steven." 

Steve stopped completely, the two of them standing there as numerous iron man suits battled flaming people of fire. 

"Steve. . . you're Captain America." She whispered. "You help people, not just leave them to fend for themselves. I know Tony hurt both of us, but we can't just leave him to suffer. What if something happens to Pepper? I couldn't live with myself and I know you couldn't either." 

'Her selflessness is even greater than people claim mine is.' Steve thought. 'I suppose that is why Erskine chose me. . . she would've made an even better Super Soldier.' Steve sighed, letting go of Ellies' wrist. "You're right. I'll be right back." 

He hated leaving her side, feeling like it was the wrong move. He charged back up the stairs, bursting into the room to find Aldrich Killian (or so he assumed) on top of Tony, burning a hole through his armor. Steve threw his shield, taking the raised arm off the man, who howled in pain while Tony was able to escape. 

Killian looked up, meeting the eyes of Steve. "Oh Captain America. . . what a pleasure to meet you." 

Steve couldn't see any sign of Pepper, though there were several holes in the ground that certainly could've swallowed her up. 

"I'm surprised you left your girl out there alone." Killian said, standing up. "After all, Stark rigged all of his killer bots to eliminate anyone with a high heat signature." 

'He did what?' Steve thought dumbly. 

Killian was gone, leaping out the window after Tony. Steve, feeling frustrated with how things were going, retrieved his shield and hurried back to where he'd left Ellie. She was still there, hunkering down, watching with wide eyes at what was going on above her. 

"We need to go, now." Steve said, holding his hand out, which she took immediately. 

"Are they okay?" Ellie asked as they ran down the staircase, leaping over holes before they reached solid ground. 

"No idea, so far probably." Steve said. "But you're in dange-" He flung his shield at an iron man bot that was coming down towards Ellie. It didn't do as much as he'd hoped. He shoved Ellie out of the way, taking the brunt of the impact of the robot. He barely managed to grab the arm as it went for Ellie again, the laser beam shooting the building instead. Ellie scrabbled off the ground, throwing herself behind a metal container and the robot looked around in confusion. Steve punched its face in and then used his shield to go for the arc reactor in the middle before it was finally lights out for the animate technology. 

"Danger, right." Ellie said shakily, peering out from behind the shipping container. He could see how shaky and uncertain she looked as the two of them tried to find somewhere safe to go. Steve watched as the other fire people were taken down by multiple robots, but if it was one-on-one, they could usually melt the singular machine. 

"Steve!" Ellie grabbed his arm before he suggested that she try to heat up to defeat the robots that came near her. Steve looked over at her and then up towards where she was watching, just in time to see Pepper fall with Tony just barely missing her. She fell into the great blazing fire that they were to far away from to do anything. 

"Oh no. . ." Ellie whispered, the grip on his arm loosening. "Poor Tony. Steve we have to go help him!" She took off running, expecting him to follow. 

Steve watched her run towards their rejected soulmate, a pain in his heart. 

He wasn't enough for her. 

He couldn't really blame her. 

｡ ★ • * ｡

Ellie sat with her arms wrapped around her knees, which she had tucked up under her chin, watching everything unfold in front of her. Watching Tony embrace Pepper while Rhodey and the freaking President of the U.S. stood nearby. Steve was sitting next to her, quiet. She could tell she had upset him somehow, though he was saying nothing about himself, only being attentive over her. She still felt guilty. 

Steve stiffened next to her, but she didn't move as Tony walked hesitantly over to the two of them. 

"Stark." Steve said shortly. 

"Thanks for the rescue cap." Tony said in a strained voice. He didn't even look at Ellie, mostly looking at the empty space between the two of them. "It's going to take me some time but I can fix the fire problem. I almost did it before and I was drunk then. I have a place. . ." He hesitantly drifted off. "If you need somewhere to stay." He finished weakly. 

"Thanks Tony." Ellie said softly before Steve could interject coldly. "But I think we're okay." 

"Right." Tony said. "I'll, uh, let you know when we figure it out." 

Rhodey had his arms crossed over his chest as he observed the entire interaction, not to mention everything that had happened between them at this point. His suspicions were staring to become more clear cut. 

Steve suddenly perked up, looking over at Ellie. "I have an even better idea." 

Ellie looked over at Steve. "What?" 

Steve had already pulled out his phone, making the call. "We need to get to New York. Now." 

[braveclementine]

Chapter 12

Copyright: I do not own any Marvel characters or locations. However, I do own my OCs: Ellie White along with her friends Allie, Abi, Malcolm, Reece, Anthony, Elijah, etc. I do not condone any copying of this

Ellie stirred next to Steve, finding that she was finally in a bed. She had slept a large majority of the trip on the airplane, feeling tired from the sleepless night before the bonding ceremony, and the long, exhausting day of the actual ceremony. She couldn't even remember if Steve had said where they were going for their honeymoon. 

She sat up slowly, looking around. Steve was still fast asleep, looking exhausted even as he slept. He had dark circles under his eyes and so she carefully and slowly slipped from the bed so she didn't disturb him. 

The room wasn't much to go on for locations. The wall behind the bed was either a dark orange or a red-orange- it was hard to tell in the darkness of the room. All of the other walls were white. There was a set of matching white chairs and a table next to the closed window, with the same colour pillows as the wall. There was another table with a simple white chair that looked like it could be a desk. On the side of it closest to the wall was a small dresser with a coffee maker on it. And right in front of their bed was the standard wooden dresser with a large flat screen TV on it. 

Ellie pulled back the curtain to look out at what seemed to be a beautiful city, but nothing she recognized. The people were to far down to try and figure out ethnicity so she didn't try. 

She walked over to the small bedside dresser, finding the pad of paper that most hotels left. It read: Tokyo Prince Hotel. 

Ellie smiled, holding back a squeal. She had always wanted to see Japan although usually the country side of it than Tokyo. But she figured if they had a week here they could see a large majority of her bucket list stops unless Steve had other plans. 

She wanted to explore more of the hotel (and grab breakfast if possible) and quickly wrote out a note to Steve explaining where she went.

She dressed quickly, grabbed a card, and slipped out the door. 

｡ ★ • * ｡

Steve woke up to the smell of. . . was that pizza? Steve rolled over and saw Ellie sitting at the chairs in the corner. There was, indeed, a pizza in front of her and three glasses of some sort of red drink. 

"What time is it?" He mumbled, searching for the clock. 

"Nine in the morning." Ellies' voice greeted him, looking away from whatever she was doing at the computer. "Good morning Steve." 

"Morning Ellie." Steve said, getting out of bed and stretching. He padded over to her, noticing the YouTube video and looked at the food, "Pizza?" 

Ellie blushed, "They didn't have a breakfast bar like hotels back home. And I can't read Japanese. So uh, I ordered pizza and Shirley temples from a menu that I could read." 

"Sorry," Steve said, though he was thoroughly amused. At least she was resourceful. 

"Do you know Japanese?" She asked him, seeming a bit worried. 

"Not fluently, but enough to get us through our honeymoon, no matter where we are." Steve said, kissing the top of her head. "Edict memory and all. I watched a lot of tutorials and read a lot of books. Pronunciation is all we have to worry about." He teased. 

She laughed and gestured to the pizza, "Do you want some?" 

"Sure." Steve said, sitting opposite her, taking one of the slices. "What are you watching on there?" 

"Oh." She blushed. "Uh this YouTuber I like, Markiplier, just uploaded Surgeon Simulator. It's uh, a horror game of sorts." She slowly closed the laptop and ate more of her pizza. "Do we have any plans today Steve?" 

"Not strict plans if you have something in mind." Steve opened the floor for here. "I just have a list of top places to visit in Tokyo. I thought we could start with Ueno Park?" 

"Oh what's Ueno Park?" Ellie asked in interest. "To be honest the only thing I really knew about in Tokyo was the Pokémon centers. Whenever I looked into visiting Japan, it was more nature sites near the coast and Mount Fuji." 

"Well the touristy stuff says Ueno Park itself is just a spacious park, but within it can be found several museums and the Ueno Zoo." Steve offered, grabbing said tourist guide and handing it over to her. 

"Oh it looks beautiful." Ellie's eyes widened. "I'd love to do this Steve!" 

Steve smiled, just glad that she was happy again. 

｡ ★ • * ｡

"Steve that was amazing." Ellie gushed as the two of them left the zoo hand in hand, looking back as they left. "It was so quaint for a zoo and I loved seeing animals I've never seen before!" 

"It was." Steve smiled as they walked slowly along the path, deciding on where to go next. Steve was starting to get hungry and was wondering if there was somewhere they could get a light lunch when Ellie squeezed his hand. 

"Oh Steve do you think we could go there next?" He looked over to see her pointing at a large building he would have originally mistaken for some sort of business. The sign however spelled out 'Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum.' 

"Yeah, let's go." Steve said and the two of them headed up the stairs. It looked much larger from this angle and there was a single, reflective metal ball in front, making Steve tilt his head a little in confusion. 

"It's minimalistic." Ellie said as he opened the door for her, following a few other people inside.

"What is?" Steve asked. 

"The metal ball. It's minimalism. It's abstract art." Ellie said, her voice lowering automatically at the faint murmur inside the museum. 

He got another taste of what she was talking about as they came across a selection of art that didn't make any sense to him. It was just a bunch of colours, blobbed together with white and yellow and black lines scribbling all across the artwork. It looked like something a kindergartener would paint. What in the world was abstract art? 

"Do you. . . enjoy this sort of art?" Steve asked Ellie in confusion, looking over at her. She was looking at artwork on another wall, which was more familiar to Steve. It was an oil painting, clearly in a baroque style. Before Steve even looked at the artist he just knew it was Caravaggio, even though he'd never seen the art piece before. 

"This?" Ellie pointed to the Caravaggio. "Yes. I love Baroque and Rococo. Abstract? Not so much." 

"Do you have favorites?" Steve asked. He had never met someone with the same enthusiasm for art as him. He loved that he was learning more about Ellie, even after bonding with her. Just as it should be. 

Ellie contemplated it. "I think it's hard to have favorites in the art world. Because then you're comparing them. But, I do have a few I like more than others. Bernini's' statues of David and Apollo and Daphne for instance. A lot of sculpture though it fantastic. But also Reubens raising of the cross. I used to like 'The Swing' but after learning the backstory its' kind've not as appealing." Ellie giggled. 

"The Swing. . ." Steve murmured, thinking back but they hadn't been taught much about art in school. 

"It's the garden one with the girl in pink swinging on a swing." Ellie replied before laughing again, "Which sounds obvious. But it's quite crude really." 

"Ah yes." Steve murmured, the image popping vividly into his mind. He grinned, "Crude is certainly harsh don't you think? Most thought it playful and harmless." 

Ellie blushed, "Yes, maybe. But what if that girl was your daughter?" 

She gave him a teasing look as she said this and Steve frowned, "On second thought. . ." Ellie laughed and grabbed his hand, pulling him deeper into the art museum. 

They spent hours there, talking over artwork and technique. Ellie admitted that she couldn't paint or draw herself, but that she loved the history of it. "Plus I had an amazing art teacher." She acknowledged as they finally exited the museum. 

It wasn't quite dark yet, though much later than either of them had expected. They quickly stopped at the nearest restaurant where the menu luckily had an English section and they ate noodles and rice and sushi. Well, Steve ate the sushi, Ellie wasn't a fan of seafood. 

Afterwards they continued their walk through the park. They viewed a couple of shrines or temples but didn't go up to any of them. They came across the National Museum of Nature and Science, which Ellie exclaimed over, but it was already closed and Steve promised to come back the next day. 

The headed back to the hotel to change before going out again. They stopped at the infamous Pokémon Center which was more packed than any of the other places they had visited today. Ellie was just as knowledgeable about the Pokémon as she had been the art, though Steve was not a match for her conversation. He mostly listened as she talked about something yellow called a 'Pikachu' (which also seemed to be the main guy around Japan), a cute brown thing called an 'Eevee', and several others. 

They went up to a cafe where the yellow Pikachu was on the face of a cookie, a drink, and caramel candies. Steve assumed this creature was probably the main character in whatever the TV show or cartoon or. . . was it called an anime? 

Ellie ended up with a pack of collectible starter figure figurines. She was absolutely delighted with them and he vowed to learn at least their names. At least he could remember Pikachu. Ellie kept saying 'pika pika' so it really wasn't that hard. 

Ellie looked up at him as they prepared to head back to the hotel, beaming. "Thank you Steve. This has been the perfect day." 

"And I have so many more to give you." He whispered. 

｡ ★ • * ｡

They stayed for months. Even though Ellie could've sworn it was only supposed to be for two weeks originally, they continued to visit all sorts of places in Japan. They spent about a week in Tokyo, before going straight to Honshu to see Mount Fuji. After that, it was different sight seeing places that she had never really heard of before, no longer staying in large hotels but rather small villas right by the sea, or sometimes in the middle of the forest. 

It was about three months into their prolonged honeymoon that Ellie started to notice subtle differences. She usually slept really well, especially after marrying Steve. But now she seemed to have some form of insomnia, even though during the day she felt rather fatigued. And even though Steve had always been so gentle with her, her breasts felt tender as though they'd been beaten with rocks. 

Steve had looked at her one morning and tilted his head, a look of curiosity in his eyes. She'd felt like shit that morning and had shied away from him. An hour later he came to her and asked if she wanted to try a pregnancy test. 

Any crankiness she had originally had was gone in an instant, replaced by hope, nervousness, and fear. She'd been maternal from a young age, always wanting her own children (although she had originally started at the high number of wanting 24 children and had slowly throughout the years dwindled her hopes down to a more moderate 4-5). 

Steve had run to the nearest store to grab her a test and had come back with two types just to be sure. 

Both had turned positive and as they stayed another month and she started to show, they knew that the tests were right. Steve had tried to persuade her to see a doctor while they were in Japan, but she insisted on waiting until they got back home to the U.S., something neither of them were hurrying to do. 

They were by the sea right now and to be more technical, they were quite literally in the sea. Ellie was sitting out in the ocean, the waves lapping up on her body in gentle movements. Steve was sitting further up on shore, trying to get his phone to connect as Fury gave him a call. 

". . . terrorist. . ." Furys' words cut in and out like bees buzzing in Steves' ears. Not that he was listening much anyways as he watched his wifes' back as she rested in the water. ". . . multiple may- Bombs-" 

"Fury I can't hear you." Steve sighed. "The reception isn't great." 

His voice rose on the other side, "-tter recept-" 

Steve sighed as the call cut out. 

"Hey Ellie?" He asked, walking out to her. 

"Yeah Steve?" She asked, looking over her shoulder. 

"Fury gave me a call. Sounds like it's important. I'm going to head into the city and get a better signal. I shouldn't be gone long unless you want to come with me?" Steve asked. 

"That's alright." Ellie got out of the ocean, coming over to him to kiss him. "I'll make dinner while you're gone. Well, after a shower." 

"Alright. I'll be back soon." Steve smiled, kissing her one last time and then headed up to grab the rental car.

｡ ★ • * ｡

"The Mandarin?" Steve questioned as he tapped his fingers neatly along the desk he was sitting at in one of the public libraries. "Do we have an identity on him?" 

"Right now, he's willingly showing his face. I can show you the transcripts of the recordings when you get back to New York." Fury said. "But as for tracking it? No. Stark might've been able to, but there's rumors that he's dead. Not sure if that's true or not." 

Steve said nothing. He hadn't felt anything from his soulmate bond, but he wasn't sure if you could feel if a rejected soulmate died. Bucky and him hadn't been bonded and he hadn't felt any pain when he'd fallen from the train. 

"So what's our options?" Steve asked. 

"That shouldn't be discussed over the phone." Fury said, once again stressing the fact that Steve needed to come home, "Shouldn't you be home already anyways?" 

"Extended honeymoon, Ellie loves it here." Steve sighed, running a hand over his face. He knew he couldn't put this off. To many people were dying and he wouldn't be able to live with himself if he didn't do something to stop it. He could always bring Ellie back right after. "I'll get the next flight home. Don't know when that'll be though." 

"I can send Hill to come pick you up right now. Won't be for a few hours and you'll have to get back to Tokyo for the main airport, but it'll be faster." Fury said. "Safer too." 

"Sure. Send her now. We're only a few hours from Tokyo." Steve sighed. "I should get back to Ellie." 

"See you soon Captain." Fury said and ceremoniously hung up. 

｡ ★ • * ｡

"Ellie?" Steve called out with a sigh as he entered the house. Nothing had been cooked yet, although the supplies to make dinner was out on the counter. Steve paused, before hearing that the shower was running upstairs. Steve nodded once and then headed to their shared bedroom and started to pack. 

After he'd finished packing he put the suitcases in the car, realizing a little late that he probably should've left something for Ellie to put on. She probably still had the clothes she'd been wearing previously so that would probably be fine until they got to the airport. 

He waited in the living room of the small villa, looking up reports on the Mandarin, though it was very obscure coverage for now. The Mandarin was an older man with long brown hair and a pointed beard. Steve had a hard time telling his ethnicity, but settled for some sort of East Asian without knowing more. 

He noted the several locations of the bombings, while also noting that one of Tonys trusted men- a man by the name 'Happy Hogan' had been injured in the blast. That was when Steve decided to shut the computer, shoving it into his bag and headed to the kitchen to see if he could make something for Ellie and him. 

He paused as he placed the frypan down, looking over at the counter where the food was sitting out, realizing that nearly forty-five minutes had passed since he'd been home. 

The food was melting. The shower was still going. 

Steve walked over to the food slowly, realizing that the butter Ellie used for cooking was partially melted, a large puddle of it on the plate. Steve turned, racing through the house and up the stairs. He felt like he was in a dream, like his legs couldn't run fast enough. 

"Ellie!" He shouted, throwing the bathroom door open, pausing when he saw there was a vague figure in the shower. The room was heavily filled with steam from the heat of the water, making it seem like a larger room than it was. He hesitated, slowly pulling the curtain aside, before flinching back in shock. 

The dead body of a native Japanese woman fell forwards from where she'd been propped up in the shower, her wet hair matted to her bloody back, burns covering most of her skin. Steves' panic gripped him, wondering who had Ellie. He turned, looking for some sort of sign and found it amongst her clothes, purposefully placed against her bra. 

It wasn't any handwriting that Steve recognized, but the words read 'Borrowing your pet for a little game of mine. We'll see if Stark takes the bait. -The Mandarin' 

Steve crushed the note in his hand and marched from the room. The Mandarin was going to get his little game, just not in the way he expected. 

[braveclementine]

Chapter 11

Copyright: I do not own any Marvel characters or locations. However, I do own my OCs: Ellie White along with her friends Allie, Abi, Malcolm, Reece, Anthony, Elijah, etc. I do not condone any copying of this

Tony held Pepper in her arms while she lightly traced the spot his arc reactor was sitting. "Do you want to hear something exciting?" She asked. 

"You want to go for a fourth round?" Tony joked. 

She rolled her eyes. "S.H.I.E.L.D. sent out wedding invitations for an Avengers bonding. Should be exciting." 

Tony immediately thought of Steve and then pushed the thought away. Who would the icicle even get married to? "Banner is tying the knot with the spies? I would've thought he'd have told me by now." 

"No." Pepper said with a smile. "I heard because of the Hulk, they're holding off on anything where they need to bond right now. At least until that side of Bruce is in a more stable condition. No, it's Steve Rogers whose getting bonded. He found his second soulmate apparently." 

How? Tony thought bitterly. The shield carrying ice cube had been back for not even three years and he'd already found his- their- other soulmate? Someone Tony had searched for for nearly twenty years? Not that it mattered now. He was to happy with Pepper to give even the slightest damn about his last soulmate. 

"Really?" Was all Tony asked. "Would've thought they'd be old and gray." 

Maybe they were old and gray. 

"Actually, according to Natasha, she only just turned twenty-one." 

Well that would be why he could never have found her. And it gave him another reason to want to stay with Pepper. He'd feel like a pervert being with someone that young. She was basically a child. 

"Well that's nice I guess." Tony said, "When's the wedding?" 

"In two weeks." Pepper answered, "They already got their bonding rings so you know the clock starts ticking down." 

"And Capsicle invited me to the wedding? We barely get along." Tony snorted. 

"Well I think he handed the invitation process over to Natasha to speed things up." Pepper said, frowning a little now, "You don't want to go?" 

Hell no he didn't want to go. He didn't want to even know what his third soulmate looked like. He was sure by now Rogers had told her that he'd rejected him. Tony didn't want any part of that mess. And yet if he didn't show up, he'd look like a dick. 

"You know I barely drag myself out of the lab." Tony answered. "I don't really feel like flying across the country for a wedding of a colleague I barley know." 

"Yeah, but he's Captain America. And you're Iron Man." Pepper smiled, kissing him under the jaw, making him smile just a little. "And. . . I already sent in the RSVPs." 

Sometimes Tony regretted letting Pepper control his emails.

｡ ★ • * ｡

"Thank you very much." Ellie beamed at the cashier as she picked up the food she and Steve were going to have tonight. The following day was their bonding ceremony and she couldn't wait. 

She could smell the savory orange chicken wafting up from the bag and she turned to leave when she felt the warmth crawl up inside of her. Her smile dropped from her face and her heart started to pound as she slowly turned to survey the room. The restaurant and bar was full like it was most nights, but it didn't take long to spot Tony Stark, sitting at a table near the door. He was with an African American gentleman that Ellie didn't know. 

Ellie walked towards the door, the pit in her stomach turning before she paused, looking over at her other soulmate. 

She changed her mind, walking towards him hesitantly and touched his shoulder. Immediately the warmth disappeared as she met her soulmate. "Excuse me? Mr. Stark?" She asked quietly. As Tony turned his head to look at her she said, "I'm Ell-" 

"Wow you're so not my type." Tonys' words hit her hard and she could feel the rejection shatter her. The pain burned so badly she thought she'd pass out. It took every iota of control not to tear up in front of the men. 

"I- um-" Her throat was tight as she looked over at the African American man, mortified and feeling a little dizzy. Had Steve felt like this when Tony had rejected him? The African American man stood, looking apologetic. 

"Look I'm sorry ma'am." He said gently, his voice caring and regretful. "He's very drunk right now, but he is in a serious relation-" 

"I'm Ellie White." She managed to blurt out, watching the mans' face change with realization. "I- I'm marrying Steve Rogers. I just wanted to introduce myself." 

"I'm James Rhodey." The man introduced himself awkwardly. "And I'm really sorry about him. He is. . . well very drunk." 

"Yeah I can see that." Ellie said softly. She lifted her bag of food as an excuse, "I should get back home to Steve." 

"Yeah." He scratched the back of his head. "I uh- may keep him home from the bonding tomorrow. I'm sure you understand why." 

So this man was almost like Tonys' caretaker? 

"Uh, yeah whatever you think is best. It was nice meeting you." Ellie said, the lie heavy on her tongue. She stumbled out of the restaurant, feeling the tears already start to flow down her cheeks. It wasn't surprising to her that she immediately slammed into something, strong arms catching her before she hit the ground. 

"I'm sorry about that ma'am." A pleasant voice reached her ears. 

She quickly wiped her tears away, "I'm so sorry. I wasn't watching where I was going." 

"Here." The man said, handing her a handkerchief. He was fairly good looking, tall and slender with a muscular build. He had blond hair that was gelled back and wearing a fancy suit as though he'd just come from an important business meeting. "Soulmate trouble I presume?" 

"Something like that." Ellie mumbled, wiping her face. Her senses were going haywire and all she wanted to do was be in Steves' arms. "Thank you, but I need to get back home." 

"Of course, stay safe." The man said. 

Ellie hurried home, her throat still tight, but the dizziness gone. She ran up the apartment complex stairs and let herself into Steve's apartment. She could hear him in the kitchen and walked into the kitchen, putting the food down on the table. 

"Hey swee-" Steve turned around, the smile dropping off his face. "Ellie! What happened? Are you okay?" 

"No." She choked out and buried her face into his chest, hugging him tightly as she let the tears pour down her face, sobbing. 

"Ellie what happened?" Steve demanded, picking her up as though she was a feather, carrying her into the living room so he could cuddle her on the couch. "Ellie look at me. Who hurt you?" 

"I- I ran into Tony at the restaurant." She choked out and watched his concerned face harden. "I don't know what I was thinking. I t-thought maybe something would appeal to him and maybe he'd accept both of us. B-but he said. . . I'm not his type Steve. I never had a chance at all!" She burst into tears again at the realization that Tony would never have accepted her, even if he hadn't rejected Steve. "He was never going to accept me!" 

Steves' heart broke as he rocked his soulmate. Anger swelled at the thought of Tony hurting her in any way and he wished he could wring the mans' neck. Why couldn't he have just rejected her and left it that? Why did he have to include such cruel words and hurt her so badly? As though Ellie wasn't the most beautiful woman on this planet. 

Steve cupped her face, hating her red rimmed eyes and pale cheeks. It was the night before their bonding and it certainly wasn't supposed to have turned out like this. "You are, the most beautiful woman in the world Ellie." He said softly, hugging her so that his forehead rested against hers. "I want you to forget what Tony said. His words were said out of spite of the soulmate bond, that's all." 

Ellie sniffed, but her sobbing had subsided as she nodded, accepting his words. Steve gently let go of her, standing up. "Let me go get the food, I'll be back soon." He said. In the kitchen he made up the plates, topping hers with the orange chicken that she so loved. He came back, putting the plates down on the coffee table. 

She was sitting up now, her arms wrapped around one of his throw pillows, staring blankly at the TV which was off. It broke Steves' heart. He wanted to hunt Natasha down and lecture her about who she had invited to the ceremony. He wanted to hunt Tony down and knock his front teeth out for talking to her like that. But mostly he just wanted to stab himself in the heart for even letting her go out by herself to be hurt like that. It was his fault. If he'd been standing there with her she wouldn't have approached Tony. If he'd been with her she wouldn't have thought she needed to fix things. 

He knelt down in front of her, putting his head on his knees, "I'm sorry Ellie." 

"Why are you apologizing?" She asked, voice cracking through her confusion. Her fingers touched his face, trying to lift it up and he lifted his eyes to hers. 

"Because I said I wouldn't let anything hurt you and that included emotional. I'm sorry." Steve whispered. 

Ellie smiled sadly. "You can't protect me from everything Steve. It's not your fault. I'm sorry for ruining our pre-ceremony bonding night. I know it was supposed to be enjoyable. I feel like I've made a mess of everything. I- I don't even know how I'm supposed to smile at the altar tomorrow knowing he's there." 

"Oh Ellie." He mumbled sadly. 

She took a deep breath, grabbing the TV remote. "No, you know what Steve." Her eyes had hardened into determination. "This is our night. I'm not going to be sad anymore. Let's enjoy our night." 

"Anything you want Princess." Steve whispered softly. They watched Jack Hannah on the TV, ate their Chinese food, and then Steve scooped her up, took her into the bedroom, and they made love, all the while whispering how beautiful she was and what a lucky man he was. 

｡ ★ • * ｡

Tony groaned as he came around, wincing at the bright sunlight that was streaming in through the Stark tower window. He groaned, feeling the pounding in his head from the hangover of the night before. 

"Shit." He muttered, sliding out of bed and heading into the bathroom. He threw up in the toilet, before showering. He couldn't remember what day it was and he hoped he had absolutely nothing to do. 

Why was he even at Stark Tower to begin with? 

He headed to the kitchen in hopes of grabbing some Advil and found Pepper sitting at the island counter with a cup of coffee, scrolling on a tablet. 

"Morning Pep." He grumbled, grabbing the first headache medicine he could find out of the cabinet, popping three pills and downing it with a glass of water. 

"Tony do you know what day it is?" Pepper asked, sounding both sad and also exasperated. 

Tony massaged his temple as he turned to look at her, squinting his eyes. "Well it's not our anniversary or your birthday so unless it's my birthday I don't see what the day has to do with anything." 

"It's Captain Rogers bonding ceremony." Pepper sighed. "And you got wasted the night before, insulted his bride, and Rhodey had to go in your place because you are clearly still very hungover." 

Oh. Right. 

Shit. 

"Insulted his bride?" Tony scoffed, "I haven't even met her Pepper." 

"You did last night. And while I'm not sure what you said, Rhodey said it was bad enough that you shouldn't go today." Pepper sighed. 

Double shit. 

Tony ran a hand over his face. "Sorry Pepper." 

Pepper put her tablet down. "I don't think it's me you need to apologize to Tony. You're one of the Avengers and I'm pretty sure if you don't apologize to her and the Captain, that man is going to beat you up in sparring. I'd rather not see you get hurt." She got up and walked out of the room with her coffee and Tony turned to grab the closest alcohol. 

Triple shit. 

｡ ★ • * ｡

"You look stunning Ellie." Clint said with a grin on his face. Ellie blushed at the compliment, looking at herself in the mirror while Natasha continued to fix her hair, her mother doing her makeup. 

"Thanks Clint." She said softly, tracing the curves of her own face with her eyes. She couldn't help but wonder what it was that Tony didn't like. Was her face to round? She knew she needed to lose a few pounds after everything she'd eaten with Steve. But Steve had always made her feel special, like she didn't need to care if she put on a little weight. Maybe it was her nose? She knew it was a little big for a womans' face, especially with her other delicate features like her small lips and ears. 

"There, you're all ready." Natasha said with a smile, putting the last finishing touch of a pearl into her hair. Ellie managed to smile at her thankfully. 

"Can- can I have a few minutes alone?" She asked hesitantly. 

"Yeah." Natasha said, stepping away and Clint followed after her. 

"You look beautiful Ellie." Her mother said, kissing her temple, before also following the other two out of the room. 

Ellie stood there for a long moment, staring at herself in the reflection until all she could see were her imperfections instead of the fact that she quite literally was, for the moment, one of the most beautiful women on Earth. 

She stepped away, unable to look at herself any longer, fingers gracing the screen of her phone, watching it light up. A picture of herself and Steve was on the front. Steve deserved so much better than her. He was Captain America for crying out loud. He could've had any supermodel in the world and he got stuck with her. 

She took a deep breath before she cried and ruined her makeup. "I shouldn't do this." She muttered out loud, but picked the phone up anyways. Her thumb hit the Safari app and then hovered over the small digital letters before typing out 'Tony Stark Girlfriend'. 

A red head. 

That figures. 

｡ ★ • * ｡

Steve waited anxiously at the altar, trying not to appear anxious on the outside. The small church they were marrying in was beautiful, with stained glass windows and high wooden beams. The pastor was apparently a family friend of Ellies' family and he was talking to one of Ellies brothers at the moment. 

There were a lot of agents and family that Steve didn't know, and he surveyed the groups with a slight disinterest. If he'd had his way, the only people he would've invited would've been Natasha, Clint, and Bruce, with Clint being his best man. 

Fury was there with Maria Hill and Phil Coulson, something Steve didn't mind terribly, though he wished he could trust the director. Pierce was there as well, with a group of higher ups. Ellie's group of friends were there with a few extras, so he assumed maybe they were the soulmates he hadn't met originally. 

He was slightly surprised when Loki and the doctor he'd run into during the hospital walked in. Loki looked a little wary and when he realized Steve was looking at him, he looked away. Thor came around very soon with a woman on his arm that he didn't recognize. Loki looked even more uncomfortable and Steve looked away, surprised by Natashas' choice. 

It wasn't long after that, that people were settling into their chairs, music from the organ starting up. Clint was by his side very quickly, fixing his tie and giving Clint a smile. "Ready?" 

"Yeah." Steve breathed out. 

Neither of them had known anyone young enough to be flower girls, but several of Ellies' friends walked out as bridesmaids, their dark gold dresses glimmering against the ceiling lights. 

And then Ellie walked out and Steve suddenly couldn't breathe. 

She wore a gorgeous white dress with lots of lace, a tight corset around her waist. There weren't any real sleeves, but rather an intricate lace pattern material covering her arms. She was wearing a sheer veil that was pinned into her chocolate brown locks with the pearl pins that Steve had bought her for 'something new'. She was wearing a small blue necklace around her throat from Clint. It was also something borrowed, so she was two for one with it. Steve didn't know if she had anything old. 

Her father walked slowly on her other side, the two of them keeping in pace with the music as he walked his daughter down the aisle. Steve was smiling, though he noticed a slight red tint to her eyes. His heart panged though he kept his outer expression happy. She'd been crying again. There really couldn't have been a worse time for Tony to come into her life. 

"Take care of her Rogers." Her father said, looking him straight in the eye as he handed his little girls hand off to her future protector. Steve took Ellies hand, but looked at her father, "I will Sir." 

Her father stepped off to the side, going to sit with her mother and five brothers and their families. Steve looked at Ellie and whispered, "You look absolutely stunning Princess." 

Her lips turned up into a smile, a happy rosy colour coming to her cheeks. "Thank you." She whispered. 

The Pastor took a step forwards, placing his papers on the pedestal in front of him, looking down at her and Steve. 

"Dear friends, family, and all those gathered here in this sacred moment, We are brought together today to witness one of life's most extraordinary journeys—the coming together of two souls destined to walk side by side through the days that stretch before them. Steve Rogers and Ellie White, you stand here not because you've walked a lifetime together, but because your paths have led you to this very moment—a meeting, a connection, a choice to commit to exploring the depths of what you can become together."

Steve smiled at Ellie as she squeezed his hand lightly. 

"Soulmates are not always found in the way we expect. Sometimes they emerge with certainty and familiarity, a bond that feels like it was woven into the threads of your very being long before your paths crossed. Other times, they arrive as a surprise, a gentle whisper of a shared journey still waiting to be written. Today, you choose to embrace that journey, not because it is easy, but because you trust in what can come from choosing each other, every day. Steve, you bring your strength, your kindness, your understanding, and your experience into this union. Ellie, you bring your warmth, your laughter, your courage, and your joy. Together, you are creating a partnership that honors both your individualities and the promise of shared growth. You are learning the depths of connection, not from perfect understanding, but through patience, curiosity, and the willingness to see one another—to truly see one another—in every moment."

Ellie was crying now, but happy tears this time as she smiled up at him. He wanted nothing more now then to kiss them away and sweep the both of them out of here, to their honeymoon.

"This ceremony is not the conclusion of a story, but the beginning. A binding not of perfection but of commitment—to listen, to learn, to support, and to dream together. You are here to strengthen the connection between your souls, to acknowledge the gift of finding one another, and to step into the unknown with trust and faith."

The pastor lifted a silver goblet, adorned with green and yellow jewels. Something from them to drink from and finalize their bond forever. 

"Let this ceremony be a reminder that soul bonds are not merely predestined paths but agreements—agreements to nurture, to build, and to protect the connection you share. It is a pledge to choose one another in joy, in sorrow, in silence, and in celebration. Today, as you prepare to step into this sacred bond, let your hearts remember: bonding is not about finding someone to complete you but about building a partnership that allows you to become more fully yourselves together."

He offered the goblet to Steve first as the oldest and Steve tasted cinnamon honey, with a mix of nutmeg, yet it went down as smooth as water. He offered it to Ellie next, who tasted what seemed like liquid marshmallow, but with hints of caramel. 

"So, as we prepare to carry you through this ceremony, know that it is not the ceremony itself that creates your bond but the promises you make, the actions you commit to every day. This is a journey of choice and discovery, of shared laughter, dreams, and quiet mornings. May you always remember that the bond you forge today is one that grows stronger with time, with care, and with trust. Are you prepared, Steve and Ellie, to step into this union with open hearts, mutual respect, and the courage to explore this path as partners and soulmates?"

Steve looked down at Ellie, the two of them responding at the same time, "I do." 

"Then let us proceed, with joy, humility, and hope, as we celebrate the beginning of this sacred journey. May your paths always lead you back to each other."

｡ ★ • * ｡

Steve spun Ellie around on the dance floor, watching his footwork so he didn't step on her dress. She was smiling, a glow around her with the happiness of the bonding. Steves' heart was light as he kept his eyes on her, feeling like it was just the two of them dancing to the music. 

As the dance came to an end though, Clint stepped in for a dance and Steve took Natasha for a spin. 

"She was crying earlier." Natasha said. Well, she had never been one to beat around the bush. "And her ring has a bloodstone in it. What happened?" 

Yes. Steve had to go back and change her ring since she had met Tony. Replacing the white, shiny opal with a dark red bloodstone. Steve hated it. It would be a constant reminder of what Tony had said. 

"Her- our soulmate rejected her last night." Steve admitted. "can you not mention it?" He asked as he spun Natasha. 

"Of course." Natasha said and then promptly asked, "Who was it?" 

"No one important Nat." Steve said sternly, his voice subtly relaying that the conversation was over. He knew the red head wouldn't give up on trying to figure it out, but he didn't want to talk about it on his bonding day. 

"She'll be alright." Natasha finally said as the song came to an end. "She has you." 

Steve watched her walk away to Bruce, who was blushing profusely as she dragged him out onto the dance floor. 

Steve looked around for Ellie and saw she was dancing with Loki of all people. He wondered what they were talking about. But he didn't have to wonder long as when the dance ended, he kissed the back of her hand and then made a beeline for Steve. 

"Rogers." Loki said lightly while Ellies' father took his daughter for a spin, "Um- would you care for a dance?" The god held out his hand. Steve took it, neither of them taking control. 

"I'm surprised to see you here." Steve said, letting warmth fill his tone so that Loki didn't misunderstand. "But glad. How is everything?" 

"Better than when you last saw me, that's for sure." Loki said with a small smile. "Stephen has been welcoming. We butt heads quite a bit, I think sometimes our egos get in the way of each other. He's very much like Stark in that way." 

Steve said nothing, but nodded a little. Loki paused for a moment and then said, "I gifted her something old, I hope you don't mind. I was made aware she was lacking it for the bonding ceremony." 

"Oh?" Steve questioned in surprise, "What was it?" 

"It's an old brooch, perhaps five hundred years old?" Loki questioned, "My mother bought it and it's imbued with protective magic. I thought you would be reassured that she wears it." 

"I appreciate that a lot." Steve said sincerely. 

Loki nodded. "I also wanted to thank you." 

"What for?" Steve questioned. 

"For giving me a second chance." Loki said softly. "Letting me stay with my soulmate instead of sending me to rot in a Midgardian or Asgardian jail." 

"I would've wanted someone to do the same for me. And it wasn't you." Steve smiled gently as the song came to an end. Lokis' soulmate- Stephen- started to approach cautiously. "Always remember that it wasn't you." 

Steve ended up dancing with more people, but eventually came back to Ellie, the two of them dancing the rest of them together. 

At the end of the night, they said good-bye to everyone and climbed into Steve's car, driving away, the two of them holding hands over the console, rings winking in the moonlight. 

Ellie fell asleep in the car, a small smile on her face as he drove to the airport and he smiled himself. 

Things were looking up. 

[braveclementine]

Chapter 10

Warnings: 18+readersonly, sex, love making

Copyright: I do not own any Marvel characters or locations. However, I do own my OCs: Ellie White along with her friends Allie, Abi, Malcolm, Reece, Anthony, Elijah, etc. I do not condone any copying of this

Steve turned the air conditioning up in the car, looking over at Ellie, unable to keep his attention on the road for more than ten seconds. She was drop dead gorgeous, with her hair curled around her face, pulled back slightly with a white bandana dotted with strawberries. She was wearing a beautiful summer dress, with a light pink top that drew tight around her waist. She wore a fitted light maroon skirt to go with it, a belt of sorts around her waist to finish the look. 

He himself was wearing a simple light blue shirt tucked into his jeans and cowboy boots. She'd helped him pack the picnic basket and also chose the place for the picnic, which they were now driving to. 

"Is this it?" Steve asked as he pulled into a small parking lot, concrete turning to gravel. 

"Yes!" Ellies eyes lit up at seeing they'd arrived. Steve parked, trying to get out of the car quick enough to open her door for her, but she had already jumped out, meeting him behind the car to open the trunk and grab the picnic basket, which he lifted out to carry. 

"Lead the way," Steve said quietly, taking her hand in his empty one. She led the way under a small archway of sorts , which led them to an area with two paths. One towards another quaint, stone building, and one that seemed to lead out into great fields and woods. Ellie chose the second path. 

They walked for a while, before they left the open field behind, entering the woods. They stayed on the path for a while, before coming to a clearing that was off to the side and Ellie looked up at Steve, "How about here?" 

"Alright." Steve agreed, helping her over a log before tossing the blanket out to settle it over the slightly damp grass. Steve reached inside, pulling out the small glass jars that her mother had filled with ground bison, mixed with lots of spices. Ellie grabbed the cold apple juices that were also in glass jars, handing one to Steve. 

"This is really good." Steve complimented as he tried the bison for the first time. 

"Isn't it?" Ellie asked with a smile. "Oh! I'm really glad we came out here Steve, thank you." 

"I would've taken you to the moon for your birthday if you'd asked." Steve chuckled a little. Ellie giggled at that. 

"I know. I'm lucky to have a soulmate like you." Ellie said sweetly. She moved closer, scooting next to him. He dipped his head, kissing her sweetly. 

"I'm the lucky one." He whispered against her lips. "You have no idea how happy you make me feel." 

"Has to be somewhere near as happy as you make me." Ellie said softly, before connecting their lips again. Steves' hands went to her waist, pulling her into his lap, the food forgotten. Ellie's knees squeezed his sides tightly, holding herself as close as she could to him. His hands moved from her hips to her back, pressing her to him. Her small hands caressed his face as their lips danced together. 

Ellie slowly pulled away from his face, moving her hands around his neck. "I love you Steve." 

"I love you too Ellie." Steve said quietly, laying back, letting her lay on top of him. Hours passed, the two of them laying there in content, talking softly to each other. They told stories and laughed, before they finally grew hungry. 

"It still smells good." Steve said, taking a bite of the bison. Ellie giggled as Steve made a face of surprise at how good it was. "This is really good." 

"Yes it is." She laughed outright, opening up her own. After they were done eating, they put the containers away and got up, Steve taking her hand. They continued to walk until they were back to the main part. 

"I have to go to the bathroom before we leave, do you mind?" She asked sweetly. 

"Yeah, of course. I'll wait right here." Steve smiled back, letting go of her hand. She disappeared into the bathroom and he sat down on one of the decorative stone benches that was in this small courtyard. 

It was beautiful, with old stone architecture, luscious green ivy crawling up the sides of it, sprouting with yellow flowers. The field behind him was beautiful and the small building that he could see through the archway was quaint. His hand slipped into his pocket, touching the small black box that contained the simple band. 

He pulled the box out, holding it, and as Ellie returned, he got up from the bench, kneeling in front of her, opening the box. 

Ellies hands flew up to her mouth, covering it, her eyes widening. 

"Be mine, Ellie." Steve whispered, looking up at his beautiful soulmate. 

Ellie dropped her hands, moving forwards so she could place them over his, "I'm yours Steve." 

He took her hand, slipping the ring onto her finger. It was a simple, silver band. The bonding ring had to be forged with their souls at a specialty shop. 

"Ready to go home?" Steve asked quietly as he stood, twisting their fingers together. 

She tilted her head and blushed. "Could we. . . I mean. . . I know a small jewelry stop that can forge bonding rings. . . if you want to go now?" 

He grinned. "Lead the way." 

｡ ★ • * ｡

"Please place your hands here." The woman who was creating their rings said. They'd been brought back to a private room so it was just the three of them. Ellie placed her hand against the smaller of the black pads, which was meant for women and Steve joined in, placing his hand against the adjacent one. "Please leave them there until I tell you to, while you answer my questions." 

"Ellie, how many soulmates do you have?" The woman asked. Steve felt that grief well up inside of him again. 

"Three." Ellie answered softly. 

"But you are only bonding with Steven?" 

"Yes." 

"What happened to the other soulmates?" The woman asked. It wasn't with a tone of curiosity, just clerical. She had to ask these questions, so that the ring would be designed solely for Ellie. Her unique bonding ring. 

Ellie swallowed and then said, "One of them is no longer alive. The other I have not met yet." 

"What is your favorite colour?" 

Ellie thought about it for a moment and said, "I think green." The woman gave her a look, but didn't respond to that. 

The list continued on, likes and dislikes. Steve stored every answer away in his memory for future reference. Especially that she wanted to go to Japan one day. It would make a good honeymoon destination, he thought. 

And then it was his turn for questions. They were all the same, although when it was his turn to answer he had to respond that one of his soulmates had rejected him. Though Ellie didn't look at him throughout the process, he could tell she was recording his answers as he had recorded hers. 

"Thank you, you may both remove your hands now. You may wait here or come back. Your rings will be done in an hour." The woman said, taking her tablet and walking out of the room as they thanked her. 

"That was a lot more questions than I had thought." Ellie let out a soft laugh. "I hope we don't miss the dinner reservations you made." 

"It doesn't matter." Steve said softly, putting his arm over her shoulders and she snuggled into him. "I just want to spend time with you, I don't care where." 

An hour later, the woman returned, holding two boxes, handing them to each other. "These are each others rings." The woman said, giving them meaningful looks, "You should not see your own ring until the day of the bonding ceremony." 

Should not. Meaning they could if they wanted to. Steve suspected that most people didn't follow the rules anymore. But Ellie was sure to stick to them. 

"Remember now that the rings are made, you have exactly four weeks to complete your bonding ceremony." The woman said. There was a ping at her tablet and she looked down at it, "I have another customer coming in. Randy will take care of you at the front desk for your payment. I hope you have many happy days." 

"Thank you." They said quietly together and followed her out of the room, going up to the front desk. Steve took care of the payment easily although he could tell Ellie was worried about the money. 

"It's your birthday." He reassured her. "And it's my duty to take care of you. That includes monetary things as well." 

"I know." She said softly as they left the building. "I just feel bad they were so much money." 

Steve shrugged, "My job pays me well and I'd do anything for you. You know that." 

"I know." She said again, before stopping. He turned, worried, but she simply wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him down for a kiss. He wrapped his arms around her, lifting her up. She smiled against his lips, "Ready to go eat?" 

"Absolutely." He whispered. 

｡ ★ • * ｡

"Steve try this!" Ellie said, eyes wide. She lifted up a piece of the chicken she'd been trying, which she'd gotten one of the hottest sauces to go with. Steve leaned forwards, taking it off the fork. His eyes started watering immediately at the spiciness. 

"Wow." He choked out, grabbing his water and downing it in three whole gulps, the burning not going away. "That's-" *cough* "-strong." 

She giggled, "Sorry I didn't realize you didn't have a spice tolerance. Being a super soldier and all. These are a few decibels higher than the ones we had at the restaurant though and they are pretty hot. I'm glad I have milk. Here." She pushed her cup of milk towards him. 

"Milk?" He asked, taking a few sips of her milk. 

"That's what you're supposed to drink when you have spicy food. Water enhances the spice. Bread also helps." She added, tearing off a piece of the sourdough bread in front of them, lathering butter on it and eating it. 

"Also, to answer your question," Steve said, taking a piece of the bread as well, "I haven't had a lot of spicy food. There wasn't. . . uh that many tastes back in my time period. Mostly bland, canned food. This time period definitely has a lot more flavor. Spicy just isn't something I've really had to get used to. Neither is sour. Even salty is sometimes overwhelming. Especially as a super soldier when my sense are more enhanced." 

"Oops. Sorry." She apologized. 

"You don't have to apologize." Steve smiled at her over his steak. "You wouldn't have known. Besides, it was really good, just unexpected." 

"What about sweet?" She asked after a moment. "I know you've cake and funnel cake, but how is it normally for you?" 

Steve thought about it for a moment, "Well things are differently much sweeter than they used to be. Ice-cream for one thing is kind've to sweet. It's hard to eat now. Chocolate is way better though, I like that. It used to be incredibly bitter. Moreso than dark chocolate." 

Ellie made a face. "I hate dark chocolate." 

'Noted'. Steve thought immediately, adding it to his mental list. He chuckled, "I figured. You have quite the sweet tooth Princess." 

She blushed, sucking the sauce off her fingers so she didn't have to answer. Steve had picked up quickly that any sort of endearing pet name made her blush and become incredibly shy. She didn't seem to know how to respond to them either. 

"Is there anything else you want to do tonight after we finish eating?" Steve asked quietly, deciding to change the subject. 

But she hesitated instead of answering, looking down at her hand. Steve waited patiently as she seemed to contemplate something. She opened her mouth to form words a couple times, stopping herself each time. Steve reached over, putting his hand over hers. 

"Ellie," He said softly. "You can ask for or about anything." 

She looked up to meet his eyes. "It's sad." 

"That's okay." 

"I just. . . does Bucky have a grave?" She asked quietly. 

Steve felt like he'd been doused in cold water. He drew back like he'd been hit and watched the guilt increase on Ellies' face. Shit, he hadn't meant to react like that. 

He sighed and answered her. "Yes. He. . . we technically both do. The grave is completely empty according to Fury. They couldn't recover either of our bodies after all. But we share a gravestone. Why? Is that. . . do you want to see it? It's in New York." 

"I do." Ellie said quietly. "I. . . I know it would just by symbolic, but I want to. . ." She drifted off, searching for the words. "I know I'll never get to meet him but he's my soulmate too." 

"He would've loved you." Steve said softly. 

"He would've?" She blushed. 

Steve smiled, remembering the first day he'd met her. Neither of them had lost their insecurities yet. "Yeah. He would've absolutely adored you. Not to sound dramatic or anything," Steve laughed, "but whenever he described our dream soulmate, he always described you. You're everything he ever wanted." Ellies' eyes glistened with unshed tears, but she was smiling too. "Everything we ever wanted." Steve finished softly, taking her hand again. 

Ellie was quiet for a moment and then said, "Can we leave Steve? I want to go home with you." 

"Yeah, of course." Steve said, feeling as guilty as she looked. He waved down the waitress that had been serving them, her eyes eagerly watching them. He paid her, telling her to keep the change as a tip, and then led Ellie out of the restaurant. 

"I'm sorry." They said at the same time as they settled into the car, looking at each other. They chuckled together after that and Steve started up the car to drive them back to her house. 

"Really though," Ellie said quietly. "I didn't mean to hurt you." 

Steve sucked in breath and responded softly, "It's always going to hurt Ellie. He. . . Bucky. . . God I wish you could've met him. I loved him so much. But I don't want to not talk about him. I want to share stories about him. So don't shy away from the questions, please. I know you feel guilty, but talking about him. . . I like talking about him." Steve admitted. 

It was something he couldn't do with anyone else. Whenever he visited Peggy, he avoided talking about Bucky because with her dementia, sometimes she thought he was alive. And there was no one else to talk about him with. Maybe Tony if he hadn't rejected Steve. Ellie was all he had now. 

"Let's go home Steve." Ellie said softly, holding his hand over the middle of the seats. 

Steve drove them home and Ellie put a finger to her lips, leading him through the house, quiet as mice. She brought him up to her bedroom, closing the door behind her, turning to him with shining eyes. She pressed herself up on her toes, gently putting her lips to his. 

He understood immediately, wrapping his arms around her. His hand flipped the lights off, the two of them moving with quiet grace towards her bed. 

"Are you sure?" He whispered quietly. 

"It's our bonding night." She whispered softly. "I've never been more sure of anything Steve." 

He caught her lips again, his hands undoing the back of the corset she was wearing. Her fingers fumbled clumsily with the first button on his shirt, before finding a rhythm to quickly undo it. Her fingers ran up the front of his firm chest, following ridges of hard muscle. Steve nearly gasped as he suddenly felt her tongue on his skin. 

Her small hands grasped the loose parts of his shirt, tugging him forwards into the bed. He quickly undressed her, leaving her in just lacy underclothes that he could barely see from the silver light coming in through the cracks of the blinds. He hovered over her, kissing down her chest, teasing, sucking dark marks that would glow red tomorrow into her skin. 

"Steve~" She sighed, rolling her hips, missing him by miles. "Please give me what I want?" 

 "You should learn patience Princess." Steve teased, before ripping the lace away. He was not in any mood to keep depriving her, not after the day they'd had. He was ready to open her up with his tongue and fingers but she wiggled away, putting a hand in front of him. 

"Ellie?" He asked, partially worried, partially confused. 

"I want to lose my virginity on your cock Sir." She whispered and Steve hardened quickly, biting his tongue hard to stop anything from coming out. 

"Baby, you've got to let me warm you up." Steve said quietly. "It's going to hurt otherwise." 

"I can take it." She said stubbornly and then added, "I was made for you, wasn't I?" 

Steve huffed, heart throbbing. "You can't beg me like that sweetheart, I always give in." And he did, laying down on the bed, pulling her up so that she was on top. "Just take your time princess." 

He could feel her as she shifted above him, placing her hands on his chest. She was nervous, he could hear it in her breathing, feel the pulse rushing through the veins in her wrists. Finally, she started to sink down on him and he helped her along, holding her hips gently as she rocked back and forth, taking him deeper and deeper. 

"Oh fuck." They cursed together as she finally took all of him. Steve's hands were in tight fists, his self-control taking up everything as he tried hard not to simply grab her hips and start thrusting into her. Ellie was shaking, heating radiating from her. Her pussy clenched around him, getting used to his size. 

"Steve," Ellie whispered, "Can- um- do- can you be on top? I need you to take control." 

Steve was silent as he did as she requested, holding her tightly to him as they rolled over, switching positions. "Give me a word Ellie." He said softly. "Something that tells me you need to stop." 

Her sweet giggle echoed in the air before she said, "Gymnastics?" 

Considering they were surrounded by gymnastics medals, ribbons, and trophies, he couldn't have been that surprised. He laughed quietly too. "Gymnastics it is." 

He went as slow as he could, because she was tight and he was still worried about not warming her up. But it wasn't long before he was slicked enough that he could move faster without hurting her. Her breathing was quiet, her moans muffled as she did her best to keep quiet. He could feel her fingers reaching for his lips and realized his breathing was heavy. He almost laughed, knowing her parents were fast asleep and she had nothing to worry about. 

He wrapped his arms around her, thrusting into her faster. Her breathing grew as heavy as his, her fingers clutching at him. She clenched tightly around him as she came and he quickly clamped a hand down over her mouth as she nearly screamed from the pleasure. 

They made love passionately all throughout the night, falling asleep in each others embrace. Steve woke up around ten in the morning, finding the house quiet and empty, Ellie fast asleep by his side. He sat up in bed, picking up the box that contained the ring he would give Ellie at the bonding ceremony and opened the lid. 

Inside was a simple ring. It had a band of silver and had four cluster gems forming the stone in the middle. There was a green emerald for her, a blue sapphire for him. they touched at the corners, diagonal to each other. The other two gems however were sad ones. A black onyx for Bucky, for his death. And a white opal for never having met Tony. Steve snapped the box shut in anger, setting it aside. It didn't matter what the stone makers wanted to make of their bond. It was him and Ellie against the world. 

And he was going to love her until he died. 

[braveclementine]

Chapter 9

Copyright: I do not own any Marvel characters or locations. However, I do own my OCs: Ellie White along with her friends Allie, Abi, Malcolm, Reece, Anthony, Elijah, etc. I do not condone any copying of this

Steve was going to throw up. The quinjet flew along silently and swiftly, carrying them from Ghana to Ohio in one flight. Clint was flying, his hands on the controls as he checked the coordinates. Natasha was looking down at the small girl they had taken with them, her head in Nats' lap. 

She was still fast asleep, but Steve had decided to take her back home. Natasha and Clint were going to get her back to her parents while Steve went ahead to Ellies' house to find out when she had been taken and where. 

"This isn't your fault, Steve." Natasha spoke suddenly, looking up at him now. 

"Don't." Steve snapped, standing up and turning his back to her. How could she even suggest such a thing? Of course it was his fault! There were so many different paths, that were so obvious now in hindsight. He was an idiot. 

"Nats' right." Clint agreed.

"How?" Steve spat. "I left her. He probably took her right there at the airport-" 

"Did you see him at the airport?" Clint asked. 

Steve didn't answer because he hadn't. But his mind was running rampant. He had been so unobservant when it came to his soulmate, enticed only by her like she was the only human he could see. He hadn't noticed anything in the surroundings. 

"You're not bonded to her, Steve and she's still living with her parents." Natasha said, sounding like she was speaking reason but none of it made sense to Steve. He just shook his head, guilt and self-doubt raging in his head. 

He had never been good enough and he certainly still wasn't good enough. If he was Bucky. . . if Bucky had been alive. . . if him and Bucky had switched places. . . Tony would have accepted him. Ellie would be safe. He wasn't good enough, he wasn't Bucky. Tony had been right- everything special about him came out of a bottle. Deep inside, he would never be good enough for any of his soulmates. Bucky had probably just put up with him because he was the only soulmate at the moment. 

Ellie didn't deserve him. She deserved someone so much better than him. Someone like Bucky. Someone strong and could protect her. He was useless. 

"Steve." Natashas' voice was firm and Steve pulled himself out of his crippling thoughts. 

"What?" 

"Do you understand this isn't your fault? You couldn't have changed anything. We're going to find her, alright? But you've got to pull yourself together." Natasha ordered. 

Steve nodded once. "I know." 

It was two hours later that Clint announced they were landing at the Cincinnati airport. That was about thirty minutes away from Ellies' house. He gave Clint and Natasha the address in case they were done with the little girl before he had discovered everything about Ellie. 

He grabbed a taxi, giving the driver the address, and then sat tersely in the back of it, looking out the window like he would see her standing on the street. 

The taxi finally pulled into the neighborhood and Steve threw the money at him, jumping out of the car and hurried up the driveway. The familiar house was bright and colorful, welcoming, but Steves' heart was heavy. 

Suddenly, Steve heard the scraping of metal on metal, coming from the side of the house. He paused where he was standing in the middle of the driveway, listening. It was a rhythmic scraping, like a shovel hitting something over and over again. Feet shuffled in the grass, and he kept hearing the softest thuds like something was hitting the soil. 

He reached behind him, his fingers lightly grazing the handgun under his shirt. He'd brought it with him just in case someone was still lurking around. 

He crept over, peering around the side of the house and couldn't believe what he saw. 

She saw him immediately, a smile coming over her face. She put her pail and garden tool down, pulling her earbuds out. "Steve-" 

He was in front of her in seconds, his arms wrapping around her, crushing her to his chest. "Ellie." He whispered, burying his face into her hair. Her entire body was warm, probably from standing in the sun for a while. "Oh Ellie." 

"Steve, what's wrong?" She mumbled against his chest. She sounded sympathetic and sweet. Her voice. . . the scent of earth and roses and something uniquely her. . . 

He pulled back, cupping her face. Her cheeks were a little red and her arms were bronzed. She was beautiful and stunning and safe. 

"You're safe." He whispered and it finally kicked in. His heart was racing again, but in a good way. Elation and joy filled him and he swung her up into her arms, making her squeal slightly. He didn't want to let her go ever. He pressed his lips to hers, relishing in the taste of apple juice and fresh blackberries. 

"Yes? Steve?" She asked softly once he had put her down. "Steve what happened? Your face. . . you looked so. . . not scared but I can't think of a better word. . ." 

"Can we go inside?" He asked softly, touching her forehead. "I'll tell you everything." 

"Yeah, come on." She picked up the pail and small shovel, which showed him that there was rabbit pellets in the bucket, that she had been throwing into the soil as fertilizer. She left them by the side of the garage and led him in through the front door. "No one is home, by the way, would you like anything to drink?" 

"Ice water." He said, thinking more of her than him. In the back of his head, his inner self was telling him that he was being too overprotective and mother henning her. But the major part of him didn't care. He needed her safe and healthy and happy. 

She got them both ice water, sipping hers, then asked, "What happened?" 

So he explained. About what his mission had been about, how they had come upon the ship, and what he had found out. When he mentioned the man from the zoo, she paled just a little, her fingers tightening around her glass. He hesitantly showed her the picture when she asked and she stared at it for a long time. 

"That's so weird." She finally mumbled, tilting her head to the side, "It almost looks like it's from a play I did two years ago." 

"A play?" Steve questioned. 

"Yeah." She said slowly. "I mean, this is the dress I wore in one of the parts. I played a captive princess and the rope was real and I did cry. They were fake tears of course and they helped me win the best actress award from my school. . . but there was no duck tape over my mouth cause I had a speaking part." 

"So they took it off the internet and edited it?" Steve asked, not sure if that was possible. 

"Well that's the thing." She said, handing the photo back, "You can't find it online, it wasn't recorded. And no photography was allowed. So in order for this to be the photo. . . whoever took this had to be at the play and took it in secret. But if they were stalking me because you're my soulmate. . ." 

"We only met around a month ago and this was two years ago." Steve finished for her. "But. . ." 

Both of them sat in silence and she shivered. "Steve. . . I- I'm scared." 

Steve got up, moving to where she was sitting and wrapping his arms around her. "I won't let anything happen to you. I swear." 

She burrowed into him. "I. . . I mean there have been weird things in my life, but I never thought anything about them. I always thought it was my overactive imagination. But Steve. . . some of these things I remember from being six years old which means whoever these people are have watched me my entire life. What- Why- What do they want with me?" 

"I don't know." Steve said. "But I'm going to figure it out, alright?" 

"Okay." She murmured softly. "I trust you." 

｡ ★ • * ｡

Steve towered over the man who was restrained in a metal chair in an interrogation room. He was wearing his cocky smirk, watching Steve with amused eyes. Steve was not finding the situation as humorous, wanting to punch him every time he breathed. 

"How'd you like my joke?" the man finally asked. Despite his bravado attitude, his throat was hoarse, like he'd either spent a lot of time screaming or he hadn't had water in a while. Either was fine with Steve. 

"How'd you get that picture?" Steve countered, not playing around. "It's from two years ago and it's not on the computers. How did you get it?" 

"Well, I didn't take it." He breathed out. But he seemed a little nervous. 

"Then who did?" Steve asked calmly. 

"I don't know." He replied back, jutting his chin out just slightly. 

"Where did you get it?" 

"From a file of photos." 

"Of Ellie?" 

The man grinned, "Of course. Every month. . . every year. . . since the day she was born in the hospital." 

Steve felt that fist of fear clench around his heart again. "Why?" He barked out. "She has no powers, she's not from a powerful family. What do you want with her? What does she have?" 

"Technically, she has nothing." The man said, but Steve noted something in his eyes. 

"You don't actually know." Steve said with realization. "You have no idea why your boss is having you keep tabs on her." 

The man kept his mouth shut now, his eyes more angry than brave. Steve took a step forward, towering over him more. "Who is your boss?" 

The man shook his head. "I don't know." 

"What does that mean?" Steve pushed his chair back so that the man cracked his head against the wall, keeping the chair back on two legs. "Do I look like I'm playing around? Who do you work for? Who ordered you to keep tabs on Ellie." 

Suddenly, the door behind him opened and Steve heard Director Pierces' voice, "This interrogation is over Captain Rogers." 

"What?" Steve snapped, dropping the chair to turn and look at Pierce. "Sir-" 

"You're not an interrogator Captain and this is to close to home for you." Pierce said, cleaning his glasses. Like always, he had two body guards with him. "A professional will come in and get the answers we all want. Go tend to your soulmate." 

Steve was fuming as he left the room, heading upstairs to the main area. Ellie had come back to New York with him and she was talking with Natasha and Clint around one of the tables, the three of them sipping what smelled like hot chocolate. In July? 

"How was the interrogation?" Natasha asked Steve as he came over. 

"He gave me nothing." Steve said disgruntled, "Then Pierce shut me down and said a professional would take over." 

"Did you get anything?" Ellie asked quietly. 

Steve hesitated and then sighed, looking down at the ground, "Just that. . . they've been watching you since. . ." He glanced up at her face. He had sworn he would never lie to any of his soulmates but this felt so hard, so terrifying. 

"Steve?" She asked quietly. "I- I know I'll be scared but I have to know." 

"He said since the day you were born." Steve whispered. Natasha was dragging Clint away so that the two of them could talk privately. 

"Oh!" Ellie gasped, fear flooding across her entire face. She curled in on herself, wrapping her arms around her legs. "Oh. . . oh Steve. I- how- why?" 

He shook his head. "The man is a lackey. He doesn't know. My guess is his bosses didn't tell him for this exact reason." He paused, tentatively reaching out to place his hand on her knee. "Are you. . . okay?" 

"No, should I be?" She asked, her voice climbing octaves. She looked around and hunched down suddenly. "Steve. . . please take me back to your apartment. I don't feel safe. Please?" 

"Yeah, let's go." Steve said, standing. He led her out, keeping his arm tight around her, taking the two of them back to where he was staying. He locked the door behind them and she settled down on the couch. 

"Hey, hey it's okay." Steve said, really regretting his decision of truth as he felt her shaking against him. He was pretty sure she was hyperventilating. 

"No, no I know." She mumbled, pushing the heels of her palms against her eyes. "I don't know why. . . I mean. . . I don't even know how to explain what I'm feeling." Her eyes were wild and fearful as she lowered her hands into her lap. "Steve. . . what do I do? How do I protect myself? You can't be with me twenty-four seven, no matter how much we might both want that. What do I do?" 

A determined resolve was fixed in her eyes now as she looked at him. He knew she meant every word, but fear was creeping out of him at the thought of her fighting off anyone. He swallowed it down, knowing that his fear couldn't keep her from learning how to protect herself. 

"Natasha will train you." Steve said slowly, before pausing. "Actually, hold on." He got up, moving to the kitchen. He didn't have any food (a byproduct of being on mission for weeks) and he called Natasha. He quietly told her what he needed and she agreed and he hung up, coming back to the living room. 

Ellie looked much calmer, though she also looked deep in thought. Steve felt like he was treading on glass as he sat down gingerly next to her. She looked over at him. "I'm alright Steve. It was just. . . a lot to process, especially in such a loud, crowded room. I'm better now though. He's in custody so I shouldn't be in danger from him personally." 

"Right." Steve said softly. 

His door was knocked upon an hour later, by which time the two of them had relaxed for the most part, watching something Ellie called the 'Jack Hannah show' on the TV. He was learning incredibly interesting things about Anaconda snakes. He got up, letting Natasha, Clint, and surprisingly Bruce in along with three large pizzas, a box of wings, and something else that Steve didn't remember ordering. 

"Oh hey." Ellie said quietly as the four of them settled back around her. Steve sat next to her while Clint and Bruce sat together on his other small couch. Nat took the chair across from them. 

"We brought the food of the Gods." Clint said, opening up the pizza. Ellie leaned forwards, flicking open the chicken wings and smiled at Steve. 

"Pretty sure Thor would argue Poptarts are the food of the Gods." Bruce said, before reaching across the table, "I'm Bruce Banner." 

"Ellie White." She said softly as they shook hands. 

"So, I know you guys met on the Quinjet, but I was thinking we could do more formal introductions." Steve said softly. "Ellie this is Natasha Romanoff, Black Widow. She's the one whose going to be teaching you hand to hand combat." 

"Don't worry." Nat said, picking up her own piece of pizza. "I know you're thinking that it's going to be to hard to learn, and it is hard, but as long as you put your best effort into it, you're going to do fine." 

"And this is Clint Barton, he's going to teach you weaponry." Steve said, looking over at his soulmate with a heavy heart. He hadn't gotten over his worry of who was looking for her. But then he thought of how hot she was going to look in her agent uniform and he went silent, trying to get his thoughts under control. 

"I'd rather teach you how to use a bow, but I'm sure the Cap would rather you learn how to use a gun." Clint rolled his eyes and teased, "What a barbaric weapon." 

"Yes, because a primitive weapon like a bow that was used by barbarians is not barbaric at all." Ellie teased lightly. Now that she had chicken wings, her mood had been lifted. She looked at Bruce, "I don't suppose you could teach me to hulk out? I think that would solve all of my problems." 

Bruce smiled while Clint and Nat laughed, "No, I don't think I'm teaching you anything. I'm more of a scientist than a fighter, I work with Tony- uh Tony Stark that is- when Clint and Nat are on missions." 

Steve felt his body seize up and glanced over at Ellie to see her reaction. For the most part, she didn't seem fazed, responding lightly to Bruces' statement. "Oh, okay. So, are you also an inventor? Or more like. . . chemicals or biology?" 

"Well I can usually help Tony with his projects." Bruce answered. "But I do my own things. Mostly with, like you said, chemicals and biology. That's how I became the Hulk after all." Bruce suddenly blushed, "Uh I was actually trying to recreate the Super Soldier Serum that Howard Stark used on you Steve. I thought Gamma radiation was the key, but instead I became the Hulk." 

Steve wasn't sure what to say to that, although he was incredibly surprised. "Oh. . . wow." 

Bruce smiled sheepishly. "Stupid, I know." 

"Actually, it's kind've fascinating." Ellie said softly. 

"Yeah, I agree!" Clint exclaimed. 

Luckily, they turned away with that conversation, all of them watching the Jack Hannah Show now in silence, finishing off the pizza and wings. Eventually, the show ended and another animal show was put on. He had a feeling that many of his nights would consist watching this channel. He didn't mind one bit either. 

"Here, I brought dessert." Natasha said, sliding the other box onto the table. She opened it up to reveal what looked like a very large chocolate chip cookie, with one half having vanilla icing on it. 

"What is this?" Steve asked in confusion, watching Ellie suck the hot sauce off of her fingers. 

Ellie gasped, "You've never had cookie cake before?" 

"Ahem!" Clint coughed, "Correction! That is cookie pizza!" 

Ellie giggled, pulling the box towards her and pulled out a slice. It did indeed look exactly like a slice of pizza. "Basically, Steve, it's just a cookie. But much larger obviously. Pizza places like to make it look like this because they can look like pizzas. But there are cookies cakes for birthdays too! I think I had one for my twelfth. . ." 

"Here!" She said brightly, lifting it to his mouth. He didn't even think. He just leaned forwards right in front of everyone, biting into the cookie cake (or pizza), staring into her eyes the entire time, watching her blush. 

"That's really good." He said lowly. "Tastes just like my moms chocolate chip cookies." 

Natasha was smirking, making him look away from Ellie and her. 

"I know right!" Ellie said, not noticing at all. "Thank you for picking this up Nat!" 

"Oh no problem." Nat grinned. "Although we should probably get going. We'll see you guys later." She winked at Steve, before the two men followed her out of his apartment. Once they were gone, Steve smiled, picking up a small piece of the cookie. 

"Ellie." He said softly, watching her. She looked at him with a smile in her eyes. "Here." He took her chin in his hand, lifting the cookie up to her lips. Her blush made him happy, watching as she took the piece from his fingers. "Good girl." The words slipped from his mouth on accident, but she beamed like that was all she wanted to hear from him. 

"Have you ever had ice-cream cake?" She asked shyly. 

"No, what's that?" He asked, although he felt like it was a stupid question. 

"Well. . ." She hesitated and then got up, "One second." 

She went over to his kitchen and he could hear her opening up the freezer. It was only a few minutes later that she brought over a small, circular cake with a single candle in the middle, already lit. "Happy slightly belated birthday Steve." 

He smiled, blowing the candle out, making a simple wish. Only that she would say yes on the day he asked her to bond with him. 

She cut the cake, which revealed a two-part cake. The top part was vanilla, the bottom chocolate. 

"This is ice-cream cake." She said with a smile. "I know you don't look in your freezer much." 

He chuckled, taking a bite of the ice-cream cake. It was overly sweet at first, what with the icing and sprinkles. But then the cool vanilla took over, melting in his mouth. And there was the crunch of the chocolatey cookie crumble, and it took him a few moments to finish it, savoring everything. 

"That. . ." He said lowly when he was done, the icing still coating his mouth in a way that made his voice feel thick, "Is really good. That's way better than the cookie cake." 

"Yes!" Her eyes lit up again, "It's so good!" 

Steve watched her as she devoured her cake, finishing his slower. In honesty, everything was congealing in his stomach in one ball of nausea. He didn't want to lose her, he didn't want her to get hurt. He didn't want her to be worried about anything. He'd never imagined having to be so worried about a soulmate. Not when the war was over. 

"Steve?" She asked quietly, seeing the look on his face. He set the empty plate aside, pulling her into his arms. 

"I'm alright." Steve said quietly, closing his eyes, letting his arms stay loose so she wouldn't be hindered eating her cake. "As long as you're here, I'm okay." 

[braveclementine]

Chapter 8

Copyright: I do not own any Marvel characters or locations. However, I do own my OCs: Ellie White along with her friends Allie, Abi, Malcolm, Reece, Anthony, Elijah, etc. I do not condone any copying of this

Steve and Ellie were at the pool when Nick Fury called his phone. It was his birthday, the fourth of July, and two of them were sitting together under an umbrella table, watching kids splash and play in the pool. There were large floaties, colorful noodles, and lots of diving toys and water guns. 

There had been a buffet of food laid out of mostly fruits, chips, and desserts, but someone was also grilling hamburgers and hot dogs, charging a dollar for each one. Steve was sometimes surprised by how cheap the food was here in Ohio compared to New York. And gas too. 

They'd both already been in the pool at adult swim and she'd shown him how to go off the diving board properly. She had the most gorgeous dive he'd ever seen and he knew his was far clumsier, but the kids preferred it when he did cannonballs anyways. 

"Stevie, I think you're phone is ringing." Ellie said, looking up at him while she popped a Cheeto in her mouth. 

"Oh?" Steve asked, searching for his phone. Ellie smiled and found it for him, handing it over. Steve sighed, seeing it was from Fury. "Hold on, I'm sorry. It's work." He apologized, getting up. 

"It's okay, take your time." She said, turning back to her food. 

"Director Fury." Steve said as he opened the phone. 

"Captain Rogers, I hope you've enjoyed your vacation because we need you back." 

Steve closed his eyes in frustration. He wasn't supposed to leave until July 31 and Ellies' birthday was coming up. 

"When do you need me back and how long is the mission?" Steve asked. 

"I need you back in two days. And the mission will only be as long as you make it." Fury said.

Steve gritted his teeth, but simply said, "Yes sir, anything else?" 

"Just one thing, Happy Birthday Rogers." Fury said and then hung up. 

"Everything okay?" Ellie asked as he sat back down. 

"Fury wants me to leave tomorrow to come back in for work." Steve sighed, putting his phone back in his bag. "I'm sor-" 

"Hey, no." Ellie said softly, shaking her head. "Steve, you have such an important job. It's alright. I just want you to stay safe, okay?" 

"But I might miss your birthday." Steve murmured, taking her hand. 

Ellie smiled. "Steve, we can always celebrate my birthday after you get back. Besides, we have so many birthdays in the future." 

"I know but this is the first birthday-" 

She put a finger against his lips. "Don't think about  milestones Steve. We can have a beautiful relationship without hitting every milestone along the way. You don't have to worry about missing out about something because the beauty of life is that it comes around again. So if we miss a birthday or a Thanksgiving or a Valentines' day, it's alright. The only one you're not allowed to miss is our anniversary." She giggled, kissing his cheek. 

"Deal." He chuckled, kissing the back of her hand. 

"Now then," She stood up, "Let's go swimming again!" 

"After you." Steve stood up too and followed his soulmate into the cool water. 

｡ ★ • * ｡

Steve walked hand in hand with Ellie through the zoo, looking at all of the animals they had already stood and watched for long periods of time. She had helped him pack last night and then they'd gotten up early to go to the zoo before his plane left later that night. The zoo in question was only twenty minutes away from the airport since it was all in the city. 

"Those are interesting." Steve said, pausing as he looked over at the window shop. There were huge animals that were almost as tall as him. 

"Oh yeah." Ellie smiled, leading him into the store. There was plenty of zoo souvenirs in here. "I remember wanting one of these as a kid, but the thing about them is that they're not actually very comfortable. To stiff. I think they're more for display than anything else. Now these," Steve looked over at where she had gone, seeing smaller fluffier animals, "Are the best." 

Steve smiled, watching her huge a penguin stuffed animal to her chest, before putting it down. "Hey Steve they have a giraffe one for you!" She said excitedly. "Ooh I'm going to buy it for you for your birthday." She picked it up and attempted to make a run for the counter, but Steve wrapped an arm around her waist, plucking the animal out of her hand. 

"I don't think so." He chuckled into her ear. "What have we established about you paying for anything on a date?" 

"Yeah, but it's a gift for you." She suddenly turned her brown eyes on him, which were bigger than normal and shimmering. He felt like he was looking into the eyes of a begging puppy dog and he wordlessly handed the stuffed animal back to her. Her eyes turned back to normal, "Yay!" She skipped up to the counter to pay for it. 

He looked around a little longer, before spotting a medium sized red panda stuffed animal. Ellie was looking at something else and he bought the present for her, before walking over to her. "Here, this one is yours." 

"It's so cute!" Her eyes lit up. "And here is yours!" She gave him the giraffe and the two of them headed out of the shop. "Oh, so I was thinking-" 

"Hey, you're Captain America right?" They turned to see a group of high schoolers standing there. 

"Yes I am." Steve said firmly. They were looking at Ellie curiously and she had become rather shy again, tucking her head away. 

"Can we take some pictures?" They asked, starting to crowd. 

"I'll be over here." Ellie pointed over her shoulder with a smile and walked away. Didn't really leave him much of a choice. 

"Yeah, of course." He smiled gently. There were a lot of pictures because everyone wanted pictures on their individual phones, and they wanted to make sure each of them were next to Steve. Steve normally didn't mind pictures with fans, but today in particular when he had limited time with his soulmate, he felt stressed. 

When they were finally done and thanking him, he looked around for Ellie, but didn't see her. She wasn't anywhere in the nearby vicinity and his heart started to pound. He felt a panic rising up inside of him. 

Where was she? She had said she'd be right there. . . at that pole. It was to close to the exit for Steves' liking. He felt like his heart was going to burst right out of his chest. 

He turned around again and nearly collapsed with relief. Ellie was walking along happily, something in her hands that he couldn't see. But his heart rate spiked again, noticing a man following her closely, his eyes looking lower than Steve liked. 

"ELLIE!" Steve shouted, raising a hand. The man immediately left, heading into the nearby bathroom like that was always his destination. 

"Steve!" Ellie said happily, having no clue what had just happened. "Look, you should try this, it's really-" He pulled her into a hug, his arms tight around her, while he just breathed, calming his heart rate. "Steve?" She asked quietly. 

"I'm sorry." He murmured, but didn't let her go. "I- I admit I panicked a little when I didn't see you. And then there was a guy following you and I just. . ." 

"I'm okay." Ellie mumbled into his chest. "I'm alright Stevie." 

"Right." Steve breathed out, finally letting her go. "I'm sorry." 

"Don't apologize for protecting me." She smiled up at him. "Now, I'm alright, so you try this." They sat down and she showed him the funnel cake. It was covered with powdered sugar and chocolate sauce and was pretty good for cart funnel cake. Steve would always privately think the one the restaurant made was the best in the world. 

"So what do you think?" She asked, looking up at him. she had chocolate at the corner of her mouth and he gently wiped it away with his thumb. She was blushing profusely as she grabbed his hand and then sucked at his thumb, licking the chocolate off. 

"It was very good." He said roughly, his voice dropping octaves with lust. He had the strangest urge to take her right then and there, without care of who would see or watch. 

The two of them stared at each other, the energy between the two of them intense and suffocating- in a good way. Finally, Ellie looked away. "I should throw this away." She got up, walking over to the trashcan. Steve clenched his teeth as the man he'd seen earlier approached the trashcan as well, throwing away a waterbottle and started to engage his soulmate in small talk. 

"Um good?" Ellie sounded uncertain to whatever question Steve had missed. "Uh you?" 

"Great, talking to an angel like you." The mans' eyes were flickering down constantly and Steve got up, grabbing their animals and approached. He towered over the other man as he drew Ellie back to him. The man looked him up and down and took a step back. 

"Back off before I call the police." Steve warned him. "I'm sure my soulmate isn't the only girl you've preyed on today." 

The man flushed angrily but stalked off, leaving the zoo for good- hopefully. 

Ellie nestled into him. "I love you." 

"I love you." Steve kissed the top of her head. 

"Alright c'mon" Ellie said softly, taking his hand tightly. He could feel her pulse in her wrist, feeling how hard it was racing. She wasn't showing it, but she was scared. "We should get you to the airport on time. It would be just a tragedy if you had to stay an extra day." 

Even her smile was nervous as she tried to tease him. 

"Yeah." Steve said softly, "C'mon cookie, let's head out." 

She drove him to the airport and dropped him off. He hugged her for a really long time, before kissing her on the lips. "I'll be back as quickly as I can." He promised. 

He hated walking away, but he swore to himself that once it was her birthday, they'd bond. And they'd never have to be apart again. 

｡ ★ • * ｡

Steve hated human traffickers, and this opinion was only strengthened as he and Natasha crouched side by side, watching the men chain the girls together below deck. His blood boiled, wishing he could leap out and knock them out, but they needed to time this perfectly. 

Natasha was strangely quiet, instead of talking like normal. Her face had a strange shadow over it too and Steve wondered if this scene reminded her of something from her past. 

"Clint, you in position?" Steve asked quietly into the comms. This ship wasn't the last of his mission that Fury had put him on, but it would help the dominoes fall and he would be back home with Ellie by early August if luck was on his side. 

"I'm all set Cap." Clint said in his ear. "Waiting for Bravo team 6 to get into position." 

And then Steve saw him. 

It was the man from the zoo, in uniform now. He was carrying a girl under his arm who couldn't have been more than four or five. There was duck tape over her mouth and her shirt had the Cincinnati Zoo on it. 

Steves' blood boiled, his heart rate spiking. It had been a week since their date there. What if this girl had been taken on the same day he was there? How had he not prevented it? Why hadn't he beaten this guy to a pulp? 

Steve didn't even realize he was moving closer to the guy until he heard Clints' voice in his ear, "Cap, you've gotta wait." 

Steve froze where he was. But he couldn't help but bore holes into the mans' back as he carried the little girl down under the deck. He slowly put a finger to his comms, "Don't kill him Clint, I need him alive." 

"Cap that's not the informant." Nats' voice said into his ear. She'd moved up with him, her hand tight around her gun. "Pierce specifically told us which ones would break." 

"Fine." Steve snapped, terse and tense. "But I need him alive, understand?" 

"Sure Cap." Clints' voice was uncertain and Natasha was gazing at him with a complicated look in her eyes. 

"Bravo Team 6 in position." Clint informed him. 

"Go." Steve snarled, his mind no longer on the mission. He had a personal mission now and he wasn't going to let anything stop him. 

He ran across the deck, keeping to the shadows, leaving Natasha behind. He saw a man fall out of his peripheral, an arrow in his chest. Steve slid under a stack of boxes and then opened up the stairwell, creeping down the stairs, his gun hovering over his shield. 

"That's it. . ." He heard the mans' voice, almost in a coo as he spoke. A little girl whimpered somewhere to his left and Steve peered around the corner. There were cages of sorts, and lots of chains, which the children were connected to. The man pulled back his hand, showing he'd inserted a needle into the girls arm. Her head slumped, unconscious. "Sweet dreams." 

Steve stalked the man as he headed further back into the ship, opening a door to step into a room. Steve listened carefully, hearing only the shuffling of papers, but no voices or anything that indicated anyone else was in the room. 

"Cap, where are you?" Nats' voice was in his comm now. "I'm down here, but I don't know where you've gone. The girls-" He turned her off, listening. The room was mostly silent, the sound of plastic like a pen tapping against the wood of a desk was all he could hear now. 

Slowly, he stepped inside. The man had his back to him, tapping a pen against the desk just as Steve had predicted. Steve slammed the door shut and threw his shield at the same time. The man spun around in fright, before being slammed into the wall by Steve's shield. It came back to Steve while Steve lunged, pinning the man against the ground, raising his shield up. 

"Captain America." The man said slowly, a grin spreading across his face. "You know. . . as much as I didn't want this operation discovered. . . I was hoping you might come along. She's not here." 

"Who?" Steve demanded harshly, though he had a sinking suspicion he knew exactly who. 

"Oh that sweet soulmate of yours." The man said softly, taunting Steve. "So pretty. . .and innocent. . . she sounds so good when she screams-" 

Steve's fist slammed into his face while his heart raced. His entire body felt hot with rage, while also feeling extremely sick. He'd left her. He'd left her for this mission and this man had gotten his hands on his girl. . . Bucky would be so disappointed in him. He hadn't kept their girl safe. . . 

"Kill me and you'll never find her." The man said. "I know where she is." 

"How do I know you even have her." Steve snaped. 

"In my pocket." the man grinned. Steve was expecting tricks, but pulled out a photograph and opened it up. 

"No." The word slipped out of his mouth. His beautiful soulmate. . . the picture of her had shining silver duck tape over her mouth, her wrists bound tightly with rope. Tears tracked down her cheeks, her long brown hair around her. Steve's hands were shaking and all he wanted to do was punch the man until he was no longer breathing. 

"Steve." Natashas' voice was real, not in his ear, and he felt a soft hand on his shoulder. "Steve you can't kill him. We have to take him prisoner." 

The mans' eyes taunted him. Living was what this weasel wanted. And Ellie. . . 

"He has my soulmate." Steve whispered. 

"You can't kill him." Natasha warned, pulling the trigger on her gun. A sleep dart went into his neck, his eyes sliding shut but a taunting smile on his face all the same. "Let's go. Leave the others to deal with him." 

"Where are we going?" Steve demanded, trying to pull his head out of his fog. 

"We start at the beginning." Natasha said firmly. "We're going straight to Ohio." 

[braveclementine]

Chapter 7

Copyright: I do not own any Marvel characters or locations. However, I do own my OCs: Ellie White along with her friends Allie, Abi, Malcolm, Reece, Anthony, Elijah, etc. I do not condone any copying of this

"So what'd you do on your two weeks off?" Romanoff was grilling Steve as he unwrapped his hands. He usually worked out at the apartment gym, but today had started even earlier so he'd worked out after work. "You don't usually take time off." 

"Nothing much." Steve said casually. He wasn't really sure that Romanoff was a friend and his soulmate, his Ellie, seemed like a dream still. 

"You asked for two weeks off for nothing?" Romanoff was to observant for her own good really. 

He shrugged, "I met someone, alright?" 

"Your soulmate." Romanoff said after a moment. "Boy or girl?" 

"A woman." He answered, shoving the wrappings back into his bag. 

"What's her name?" 

Steve glanced up at Romanoff, "Why?" 

She crossed her arms over her chest, "Steven. You know my soulmates and I only know one of yours. Come on, tell me!" 

He sighed, "Her name is Ellie. She doesn't live in New York though. She turns twenty-one in two months and she's. . . she's perfect." 

"Whose perfect?" Barton dropped down from a vent above the benches and Romanoff rolled her eyes. 

"Clint, what are you doing?"

"Hey!" Barton held his hands up in defense. "I wasn't spying. I was exploring. Doing my job, you know? Anyways, Bruce wants to know if we're going out to the country this weekend." 

"Maybe." Romanoff said with the slightest of frowns. "I'd love to but I got to clear it with Fur- Steven don't you dare take another step." 

He had been trying to leave while the two agents talked and sighed, knowing it was no good to run from the fearsome widow. "What now?" 

"Well," Romanoff put her hands on her hips now. "For starters, what are you going to be doing on bonding night when it comes around?" 

Steve went red. "What- that's none-" 

"You've been watching the videos I send, right?" Barton grinned, having figured out who they were talking about now. 

"Of course not!" Steve went redder still, "They. . ." But he couldn't explain it, because neither of them were Bucky. He couldn't talk about this stuff with anyone but Bucky. 

"Made you feel weird?" Barton asked but Steve didn't answer, "Hey look man, we're not going to judge. Hell, Bruce can't even have sex cause of the green guy so we get creative. We're not going to pry, just help you out." 

Steve sighed, scratching the back of his head. He supposed getting advice from them wouldn't be the worst. . . "We went out to a restaurant." He said slowly. "And. . . oh I don't know." He shook his head. 

"What did you eat?" It wasn't the question Steve was expecting to be asked, but he answered it anyways. 

"Pizza, breadsticks, funnel cake bites, hot wings-" 

"With sauce on them?" Romanoff asked. 

"Um yeah-" 

"And did she eat them?" 

"Yes, but-" 

"And when she was licking her fingers, I bet that made you feel a certain way." Barton finished it off for Romanoff instead. 

Steve frowned a little, "Yes but-" 

"Food play." Romanoff stated. 

"I'm sorry, what?" Steve asked, shifting on his feet. He was starting to feel completely uncomfortable, despite the fact he was getting answers. 

"Food play." Barton said simply. "It's basically where you are aroused by using food in sometimes sexual, sometimes non-sexual scenarios. Um. . . like most people use chocolate syrup or honey or whip cream. You've gotta mind allergies after all. But sometimes it's as simple as dripping some on your lovers back or stomach and licking it from there. Some go kinkier as in toes or fingers. And some go very sexual and will drip it on their breasts or cock, you get the idea." 

"We did it once." Nat motioned between herself and Clint and by now, though Steve was glad for the information and knowing that it wasn't as unusual as he thought, he was bright red. "We've tried a little bit of everything. It was sort've fun, not our thing, but every couple or group has something they like." 

"I see." Steve said softly. "Um, thanks." 

"So what else?" Nat crossed her arms over her chest. "I mean that you noticed. Was it just the food?" 

"Oh." Steve really wanted to leave, but so far they hadn't judged either. "Well. . . there were a few instances where I. . . I guess I. . . like my intention was to simply ask her to do something, but sometimes it came out more as a command I suppose. But she would follow it immediately. And that was. . . I liked that." 

"Go figure." Clint nodded. "You're just a dom, that's all. And she's clearly a sub." 

Steve didn't ask questions, but the confusion was on his face. "A dom is a dominant." Natasha explained, "You're in charge in the bedroom and depending on if she wanted to be a 24/7 submissive, it could be in normal life as well. She does seem to be a natural submissive without trying, but you're going to have to explore with her to see if she's a switch. And a switch is someone who can be both submissive and dominant." 

"But what do I do?" Steve asked. But agents were starting to file into the gym and he immediately wanted to run. Suddenly, he felt exposed and sinful. 

"Look, I'll send you some videos tonight with examples and scenes." Clint said, unhooking his bow. 

"And I'll send you articles to read." Natasha supplied more helpfully. "But it's going to be up to the two of you really. You can like something, but she might not. And she could like something you're uncomfortable with. You two need to communicate." 

"Thanks, both of you." Steve nodded, and then practically fled the gym. 

｡ ★ • * ｡

Steve stepped out of the taxi that had taken him from the airport to Ellies' house. He checked the address one last time, before looking up at the two-story house. 

It was made of brick and the shutters and door were painted a dark blue. Unlike the other houses in the cul-di-sac, it had a small porch with two chairs and a small table between them. There was a narrow sidewalk, lined with bushes that Steve couldn't name, and purple flowers, and black-eyed Susie's. There was a small red Japanese tree bush, and a bird flew away from the door as he approached it, alerting him to the fact that a nest had been built on the decorative reef that sat on the door. 

He dropped his bag on the concrete porch and rang the doorbell. He could hear all sorts of noises from inside. Voices yelling and then the sound of a door creaking open and a face appeared behind the glass of the front door. 

The older woman pointed to the birds nest and then disappeared. Steve was perplexed, but waited until the garage door was opened and the older woman came around front. 

"Hi, you must be Steve." She was in her sixties at the latest, with red-brown hair that was graying. She wore glasses that framed blue-grey eyes and she had many wrinkles and freckles. He noticed that her smile was lopsided, a scar at the corner of her mouth keeping it permanently downturned. 

"And you must be Mrs. White." Steve shook her hand. 

"Yes, I'm Ellie's mom." Mrs. White said, ushering for him to follow her. "But you can call me Lucille." 

The garage was cluttered with a lot of different items, including a KIA SUV, a teal coloured Harley Davidson, and a bright yellow riding mower. There were basketballs and hockey sticks and tennis rackets and roller skates. There was a large freezer on the other side with lots of boxes both empty and full around it. Rakes, shoves, and a leaf blower were cluttered around as well. 

"I'm sorry for the mess in here." Mrs. White apologized. "I promise the rest of the house is much cleaner." 

"It's no bother." Steve promised, following her into the kitchen. It was tiled, but cramped as there were several cages with beautiful rabbits. Pets weren't something Steve had thought about with Ellie, but he decided he wouldn't mind a bunny at all. He reached down, petting a large one that had stood up on its hind legs as he came near. 

"I'm afraid Ellie isn't home." Mrs. White said in a scolding voice that told Steve she had disapproved of Ellie leaving today. "She always volunteers at Matthew 25 every Saturday, but I told her that if she went today you would come early. And here you are!" 

Steve smiled, "That's alright. What's Matthew 25?" 

"It's a Christian volunteering place. She sorts clothes, medical supplies, books, things like that to be shipped out across the world for the poor people." Mrs. White led him upstairs now. There were photos on the walls. One of Mrs. White and Mr. Whites' wedding. And another was of Ellie and a much younger girl in gymnastics leotards. And another of Ellie and three young boys in swimming suits at a pool. 

The bedroom that Mrs. White led him in had three beds. Two beds that were some feet apart and facing the same way. A bunk bed went over the second bed. 

"My sons cleaned the room up for you, they'll be sleeping downstairs while you're staying." Mrs. White said, observing him. "You'll have to tell me if the bed is big enough for you, Ellie mentioned we might have difficulty fitting you." 

"I'm sure there won't be any problems, thank you." Steve said, observing the room a little more. In the far corner of the room were several white cubicles, stacked up with many, many books shoved into them. The walls were painted a baby blue and there wasn't much on the walls. There were two posters, one of Spider-man and the other of Batman in comic book form. There were a few Tae Kwon Do plaques and a singular cross. 

"Where is this Matthew 25?" Steve asked, "When does Ellie get off?" 

"Not for another hour and a half." Mrs. White clucked her tongue. "I should give her a call-" 

"Oh, no, please don't." Steve said. "I would like to go there and surprise her instead." 

"Oh well, I'll go and print off the directions for you." And she bustled out of the room, leaving Steve to his own devices. 

Steve didn't bother unpacking, but he changed into a simple t-shirt and jeans, before heading downstairs. Mrs. White handed him directions to Matthew 25 Ministries and also the keys to her car surprisingly. But he thanked her and headed out. 

Since it was his first time driving through Ellie's town, he drove slowly and was able to take in the surrounding area. It was beautiful and very different from the city. A slower drive and more open green areas. He couldn't help but imagine kids running across the green lawns or playing upon the swings and slides. 

The building that he arrived at was only one story by the looks of it. It was long in the front and extended pretty far. The entrance he supposed he was supposed to go through was called the Servants Entrance with the following quote underneath: 

'He who is greatest among you shall be your servant' Matthew 23: 11

He opened the double doors before finding himself in a quiet hallway. There was an elderly policeman at the front of the room, sitting at a table looking at paperwork. They nodded to each other, but Steve knew the man didn't recognize him until Steve was already past him, hearing a small gasp of exclamation though, credit to the man, he didn't call after him. 

Unfortunately, the woman who was standing at the back of the room singing people in was far more observant. 

"Oh Captain America!" She beamed, her voice carrying through the echoey halls. Steve just smiled. "How can I help you?" 

"I was hoping to surprise a volunteer." Steve said quietly. "Her mother told me she was here today. Ellie White?" He watched the womans' eyes flash with something like a mixture of jealousy and annoyance. 

"Yes, of course. She's in the very back working with the paint." The woman said in a slightly less enthusiastic voice. 

"Thank you." Steve said politely. 

The warehouse was larger, with several different volunteer groups doing different things. There was one group he passed that was sorting donated books between paperback, hardcover, and religious texts. He frowned a little as he watched a volunteer toss a Bible into one of the boxes with no care at all to how it landed. 

He paused as he came to the very back of the room, the smell of paint slightly overwhelming. He spotted Ellie immediately, with a hammer in her hand, standing next to a tall African American boy who was talking to her, waving a screwdriver around. 

"-after this." The boy was saying now before Ellie slammer her hammer against the top of a paint can. 

"Sorry Michael, I can't." Ellie said apologetically. "My soulmate is flying in today-" 

"You met him?" The boy sounded astounded. 

"Yeah." Ellie beamed, picking up a screwdriver and stripping the paper that had encased the paint can away, tossing the wrapping in the trash. "He should be here in two hours. I gotta make sure I look presentable when he gets here." 

Steve smiled, taking in her appearance. She was wearing a scrapped periwinkle t-shirt and black leggings that were splattered with paint. Her normally shiny perfect hair was frizzy around her head because of the humidity in the building. She was sweating, her cheeks a rosy natural pink. She had paint on her face and hands and she looked beautiful. 

"You always look good." Michael said smoothly. "And if you're soulmate doesn't think that, then you know you could always have me." 

Ellie laughed, picking up the paint can and carrying it away. She clearly thought this Michael was joking with her, but it was obvious with the way he watched her walk away longingly that it wasn't a joke to him. 

Ellie was halfway to putting the paint can away when she met his eyes. Steve felt a little guilty at getting caught, but Ellie was far more embarrassed. She paused mid-step, nearly tripping over her own two feet. She almost dropped the paint can, which she quickly put into the basket at the front, walking over to him. "Steve?" 

"Hey." He said softly. 

"What- wha- when did you land? How are you here? Oh why didn't you tell me you had landed?" Ellie panicked, running her hands through her hair as though trying to smooth it back. Then she caught sight of how much paint was dried along her hands and ducked her head away. "Oh I don't look good at all. I'm so sorry." 

Steve just smiled, letting her rant and rave and when she finally stopped, he pulled her close to him as though it was just the two of them and no one else was around. "I had meant to surprise you, although I had expected to surprise you at your house. Your mother gave me the keys to her car. And you look beautiful. I quite like this look on you actually. Are you going to paint the kitchen of wherever we live?" 

Ellie was still blushing, but she wasn't hiding her face from him anymore which he appreciated. "Easy for you to say, you always look gorgeous." She grumbled. "Some of us have to work to look pretty you know." 

Steve fake pouted, "I'm pretty? I don't like that at all. I was hoping at least for somewhat handsome." 

Ellie giggled and then pulled away. "Hey so I still have like an hour left for the volunteer work-" 

"Put me to work." Steve declared simply. Ellie made a face of surprise and then smiled and blushed. 

"Do you want anything to put over your clothes?" Ellie asked, going over to a counter of supplies. She took her own paint splattered gloves off, pulling on a new pair of gloves. "Here, these are the biggest." She handed him a large pair of orange latex gloves, "You're not allergic to latex, are you?" 

"Not allergic to anything cookie, I'm a Super Soldier." Steve pulled the gloves on carefully. Despite being the biggest size, they were still tight around his hands. His fingers fit, funnily enough since they were still rather thin. 

Ellie led him over to her previous workspace while Michael gave him a look. He said nothing, but it was clear from his glare that they weren't going to be friends anytime soon. 

Ellie, of course, didn't notice at all and introduced them happily, before going to grab another can of paint. 

"Soulmate huh?" Michael asked as Steve watched Ellie bend over the large cardboard box, her feet almost leaving the ground as she tried to grab another can of paint. "You bonded yet?" 

"No." Steve said, biting back the fact that it wasn't his business. 

Ellie came back with her paint can and showed Steve the steps. First prying the top of the paint off with a small tool, before checking the paint consistency. If the paint was liquid enough that you could swirl your testing stick (which rather looked more like a ruler) around without resistance. If it was hard, dry, chunky, or of marshmallow consistency, you had to put it in another box. Once you knew you had good paint, you had to hammer the top of the paint can back on and then use the screwdriver to get the paper off of the cans. 

The  two of them worked easily. There were a few times that he had to help her pry her lid cans off, which just made Michael jealous and he was soon gone without a word. It took Ellie a good ten minutes to realize he had even left. 

"Did he say anything?" She asked, bewildered. 

"I don't think so." Steve said. 

"Oh." She was sad about it, but soon the two of them were laughing again. Once their shift was done, Ellie had to sign out and mark her hours and then the two of them headed outside into the hot sun. 

"I think New York was a little cooler." Steve commented. The warehouse had been humid and this wasn't helping. He didn't like how flushed Ellie looked and wanted to get water into her soon. 

"Oh this isn't really hot." Ellie commented. "It's only eighty-seven. Wait till July comes around and early August." 

"Do you have water in your car?" Steve asked. "You looked rather flushed." 

"Oh." She put a hand to her head. "No, but I drank some water inside. I'll be good until we get home. Speaking of, where did you park the car?" 

"Over here." Steve said, pointing to the SUV. "But didn't you drive your own car?" 

"Normally I would have, but we only have two cars and my dad takes one of them to work. So in case I wasn't going to be back in time, my mom needed the car to pick you up from the airport." 

"And what about you? Wouldn't that have meant you would have been stranded here?" 

"Oh, well Michael probably would have given me a ride." Ellie commented. Steve handed her the car keys and she got into the drivers seat while he got into the passengers. Steve didn't like his imagination when he started picturing her and Michael in a car alone. 

He sighed, putting his head in his hands. 

"Are you okay?" Ellie asked softly. 

"Yeah, um, it's hard to explain." Steve said and then paused, "Well, no, not hard it's. . ." 

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want." Ellie said, squeezing his hand gently. "You do barely know me after all. But I am always here if you do want to tell me what's bothering you. But don't stress yourself out, okay?" 

Steve was quiet for a moment as she pulled out of the parking lot and then said, "I think I've found myself. . . um jealous and protective. The idea of you being alone in a car with Michael is painful to think about. But I also don't want you to think I want you to cut your friendship off with him nor do I want to lie to you either. I find myself in a. . . strange situation." 

"Oh, Steve, you have nothing to worry about." Ellie said sweetly. "I never thought of how my soulmates might feel about me having so many guy friends. But you really don't have to worry about any of them, they're just friends. But I won't be hanging out with them much anymore now that I have you." 

"Wait, no, that's not what-" Steve immediately felt guilty and wondered if he should've lied instead. 

"Oh no, not because of you per se." Ellie reassured him. "It was something I was always going to do. I think for a relationship to be important, you have to put your soulmate first. So that doesn't leave time for my friends anyways, especially guy friends. I admit, the thought of you being surrounded by lots of female friends makes me quite jealous too. But, I trust you." 

Steve still felt rather guilty. "If that's what you want to do, but I don't mind you having friends, truly. And don't worry, the only friends I have are a soulmated pair together so you don't have to worry about women." 

Ellie giggled and the two of them switched to easier conversations as she drove home. 

[braveclementine]

Part 54

Warnings: None.

Copyright: I do not own any Wizarding World characters that J.K. Rowling wrote. I do however own Elizabeth Kane (main character) and Trang Nyguen (best friend). There should be no use of these two names without my permission. Also, all of Severus and Elizabeths' childrens names are mine and mine alone. I also do not condone any copying of this.

PRINCE MANOR- BEDROOM

🩶🩶🩶🩶🩶🩶🩶🩶

Severus feigned sleep as he listened to his wife move around the bedroom. The back of his eyelids were red as she had the light on, zipping things up in suitcases quietly, sneaking about. 

He was afraid she was leaving. 

He debated between revealing he was awake or letting her do her thing. But she had been sneaking around for what felt like weeks. Mysterious phone calls that ended abruptly when he walked into the room, and he had found travel books for different places far away from London in the closet, stacked up in the corner with a blanket over them. 

He didn't want to lose her. He had thought he had finally convinced her that he wanted her to stay. Especially after they'd made love so passionately. . . He didn't want her to leave him, leave them. The family needed her. 

It didn't help that they had lost their daughter on top of it all. It took months for her not to cry herself to sleep, though she clung to him in a way that made him not realize she was thinking about leaving. 

"Tomorrow. I'll do it tomorrow." He heard Elizabeth whisper and the light turned off as the closet door slid shut with a small thud. He relaxed a little, feeling her climb into bed. His confusion mounted as he felt her arms wrap around his upper body. Why would she hold him in such a way if she wanted to leave him? 

He woke up early the next morning, slipping out of bed and heading downstairs to make breakfast. He wouldn't let her leave without a fight. 

It was only about thirty minutes later that he could hear her moving around upstairs, drawers and dressers opening and closing before her soft footsteps padded down the carpeted stairs. Severus was tense, waiting until she came through the kitchen doors. 

"Wha-" He stuttered upon seeing her walk into the room. She was blushing slightly as she wore a dark, yet bright blue bikini, showing off her curves and figure. The top cupping her large breasts, the thin strings of her bottoms showing off her thighs. Severus swallowed his tongue as she approached him, a blush in her cheeks as she straddled him. 

"What did I do to deserve this?" He breathed out, wrapping his arms around her waist, wondering what the hell was going on. All of his current, pre-thought thoughts were gone, no longer applying to this scenario. 

"I was thinking. . ." Elizabeth started out slowly, "We never really had a honeymoon. We always had a child and we never really got to be the two of us after our wedding." Severus rubbed her back gently, knowing where her thoughts were. "And so I was thinking the two of us could take a trip, just the two of us." 

"And where do you have planned darling?" Severus asked, letting out a breath of laughter in his relief. That was what all the secretive planning had been. 

"The Bahamas." Elizabeth answered with a small smile. "I've heard it's really beautiful. And warm." She tilted her head, "You're laughing." 

"Sorry darling." Severus said quietly, pulling her closer. "I admit. . . I thought you were planning to leave." 

Her smile fell and she ducked her head, "I'm sorry I kept it a secret for so long Severus. I just. . . I mean I'm from a different world. I thought maybe it would cause a rift. But I caused a rift anyways by not telling you." 

"You are the most beautiful, intelligent, funny, smart-ass woman in the world." Severus whispered softly, moving his hands up to cup her face. "Not to mention very sexy. I am a blessed man to have you in my life. Nothing changes that, nothing. I love you so much." 

Elizabeth wrapped her hands around him tightly. "I love you too." 

They sat there in content silence until Severus asked, "So when are we taking a portkey?" 

"Oh." Elizabeth sat back and grinned evilly. "We're not taking a portkey. We're flying." 

Severus paled, "Oh we're going to die." 

🩶🩶🩶🩶🩶🩶🩶🩶

BAHAMAS- ATLANTIS (PARADISE) ISLAND

"We didn't die!" Elizabeth sang as the two of them walked along the beach, the moon shining down on them. The beach was empty as most vacationers were either asleep or up in the hotels attending one of the many parties. 

The two of them walked hand-in-hand along the edge of the water as it lapped calmly at the sandy beach. 

"We can watch the stars here." Severus said, coming to a stop as they came upon a spot that had some cliffs behind them, casting long shadows across the sand. Severus sat down while his wife took a seat next to him, laying down in the sand, curling into him. He put his arms around her, holding her close. 

"I have something I want to show you." They said at the same time, turning their heads to look at each other. They laughed together and Elizabeth nestled closer to him. "Go ahead Sev, show me." 

"Ladies first." He whispered. 

She smiled a little, though her eyes were cautious. "It's. . . well I don't know how you'll react but here." She lifted her wand, pointing it to her stomach, whispering under her breath a spell that Severus knew well. In fact, he'd taught her the spell in her sixth year. 

Severus inhaled, seeing the three glowing blobs that were forming in her womb, three new little ones to welcome to their family. "Oh Elizabeth." He breathed out, putting his hand on her stomach, covering them, protecting them. 

"You're okay with them?" Elizabeth breathed out with relief. 

"Merlin Elizabeth!" Severus exclaimed, kissing her cheek. "Of course I'm alright with them. I've always been okay with kids. I'm sorry I've made you think otherwise." 

Elizabeth beamed up at him, the two of them locking lips passionately. She pulled away and whispered, "Oh and Minerva wants me to come and work at Hogwarts as the new Professor for Care of Magical Creatures. What do you think?" 

"I think that's perfect." Severus whispered. "She offered me a position as Potions Professor as Slughorn retires." 

Elizabeth grinned. "What did you want to show me?" 

Severus lifted his wand, pointing it towards the shadows. "Expecto Patronum!" He exclaimed, thinking about the triplets that him and Elizabeth would be having soon. A wildcat burst forth, pouncing on the seaweed clump that it saw, rolling over in the sand. 

"Oh Severus." Elizabeth smiled. She looked up at him, "I love you." 

"I love you." Severus said softly, leaning down and kissing her again while a second wildcat joined his in the sky, dancing upwards and exploding in a burst of silver stars. 

To new Beginnings and new stories.

And for the first time in her life, she would start an unknown path in her story.  

[braveclementine]

Part 53

Warnings: None. However, future chapters will contain sexual content so readers that are under the age of 18 may have to skip those chapters (However they are very few so those under the age of 18 can still read a majority of this book. However please keep note of the warnings).

Copyright: I do not own any Wizarding World characters that J.K. Rowling wrote. I do however own Elizabeth Kane (main character) and Trang Nyguen (best friend). There should be no use of these two names without my permission. Also, all of Severus and Elizabeths' childrens names are mine and mine alone. I also do not condone any copying of this.

A RANDOM PLAYGROUND

🩶🩶🩶🩶 🩶🩶🩶🩶

Trang sat on one of the swings of the abandoned Muggle playground. Bright yellow caution tape surrounded the entire thing as a warning to muggle children not to play on it. Some sort of flu pandemic had broken out across the world scaring the muggles into their houses. 

Trang twisted on the swing as she waited for her confidant to show up and felt a weight lift off her shoulders as she saw Kingsley appear out of the blue, ducking under the caution tape. 

"Another note?" Kingsley asked as he sat down on the swing next to her. 

"No." Trang answered simply. "Elizabeth is out of the hospital." 

"I heard, I'm glad." Kingsley said gently. Trang knew he had gone and visited her a few times in St. Mungos while she was in her coma. Trang closed her eyes, feeling overwhelmed with everything that she had discovered about herself. 

"Trang is something wrong?" Kingsley asked gently. 

Trang was silent for a long time, looking off into the distance. She had never seen the Muggle world so empty or devoid of people. This pandemic had really fucked people up. Finally, she started to speak, telling Kingsley every detail of what had happened. 

Kingsley, like always, listened. He did so without interrupting, taking in every word with obvious attentiveness. Only when she was done did he finally comment, "Well, I think we always knew Elizabeth was special. Being from another world definitely fits." He smiled gently. 

"She says she doesn't remember that world. Or at least, didn't remember that world until that awful doctor appeared to her. But. . . it's been making me doubt our entire friendship. Am I even real to her?" Trang asked with fear, her gut clenching so that she thought she'd throw up. 

"Trang." Kingsley sighed sadly. "Of course you're real to her. Think back to everything that the two of you have been through. I mean, her fifth year she broke into the Ministry of Magic to save you. She loves you, you're her best friend." 

Trang started to cry, wrapping her arms around her knees. "But she didn't tell me! She didn't tell me she was from another world Kingsley! Why didn't she trust me with that? Did I mean so little to her?" 

"Trang, that just means that you meant everything to her." Kingsley said, reaching out, placing his hand on her knee. Immediately, she felt warm. "She didn't want to risk losing you." 

Trang sniffed, nodding as she wiped her tears away. "I'm sorry for dragging you out here for this." 

"I'm always here for you." Kingsley smiled gently. "Are you feeling any better?" 

"Sort've." Trang sniffed. "I. . . I think I knew me and Elizabeth were friends anyways. It just always feels really nice to be reassured." 

"I can understand how you doubted it." Kingsley said gently. "It's not everyday that one sees themselves or finds out that there is another version of them in another world that their friend is from and that they were friends with them in that world too. I get it to an extent, at least from an outside point of view. Just hearing about it is strange enough, I can't imagine seeing it. But at the end of the day, this is a different world. You're a different Trang. And even though some might disagree with me, she's a different Elizabeth. The Elizabeth that she is in this world is not the same as the Elizabeth from the other world. And this version of Elizabeth wanted to be friends with this version of you. That's all." 

Trang nodded, almost smiling now. Kingsley just had this way about him to make one feel better, no matter the circumstance. 

"Thanks." Trang whispered. She was quiet for a moment and then said, "I wish I could talk about this stuff with Oliver. Is it bad that I can't?" 

Kingsley was silent for a moment and then asked, "Can you explain why you don't think you can talk to Oliver about this?" 

Trang thought about it, watching the sun disappear behind the grey clouds. "With Oliver. . . it's like a different life. When I'm with Oliver, there are no Death Eaters breaking into Hogwarts or children disappearing into time. It's just what a normal, simple life should be. But with the others. . . it's constant chaos and that's not necessarily a bad thing. It's just. . . sometimes when I try to talk about these problems with Oliver, it's like he doesn't understand. But with Harry and Hermione and Elizabeth, they were the center of everything. Maybe it's because you were in the Order. So you were also at the center of things in a way. With Oliver, even in the Battle of Hogwarts, he didn't fight he was a medic. But I don't know. . . it's just. . . you always know what to say to make me feel better. Sometimes Oliver doesn't." 

"Have you ever told Oliver any of this?" Kingsley inquired. 

"No. I've always thought it might hurt him." Trang frowned. "Or that maybe I'm judging him to harshly. Or that maybe I'm overthinking things and he's understood what I'm saying this entire time. I don't know." 

"Well if you want my advice," Kingsley started slowly to which Trang interrupted with "I do." Kingsley chuckled lowly. "Well, then tell him what you've told me today. All of it. Pretend for a moment that you're sitting down to tell me what you just did. I think you'll find him to be as understanding as I." 

Trang nodded, already thinking ahead to possibly making it a late date of theirs, especially with the kids off at school. She slowly got up off the swing as thunder roared overhead. "Thank you Kingsley. For everything." Kingsley stood up, towering over her like always as he nodded and smiled that warm smile of his. 

"You're welcome Trang. And you know I'm here for you whenever you need it." 

"Not going back to Jamaica?" Trang teased with a grin. 

Kingsley chuckled. "Oh my home definitely calls for me. But, I think I'll stick around at least through the anniversary ball. We'll see how things go from there." He became serious for a moment. "Have you heard from your mysterious pen pal anymore?" 

Trang frowned, "No. I'm desperately hoping it's a prank. We just got done dealing with the daughter of Voldemort. Do we really want to go up against the son of Greyback?" 

"Have you talked to Severus?" Kingsley asked. 

"With everything going on with Marinette and Elizabeth I haven't wanted to bother him with it." Trang frowned. "I'm meeting up with Draco next week to ask him about it. Maybe he knows." 

Kingsley nodded and looked up as thunder roared again. "Get home safely Trang." He said, nodding to her as he started to walk off. 

"I will." Trang nodded, watching until he was out of sight. She disapparated on the spot just as the clouds opened up to let the rain pour down, the entire time completely unaware that she had been watched. 

[braveclementine]

Part 52

Warnings: None. However, future chapters will contain sexual content so readers that are under the age of 18 may have to skip those chapters (However they are very few so those under the age of 18 can still read a majority of this book. However please keep note of the warnings).

Copyright: I do not own any Wizarding World characters that J.K. Rowling wrote. I do however own Elizabeth Kane (main character) and Trang Nyguen (best friend). There should be no use of these two names without my permission. Also, all of Severus and Elizabeths' childrens names are mine and mine alone. I also do not condone any copying of this.

A BEAUTIFUL HILL

🩶🩶🩶🩶🩶🩶🩶🩶

Harry and Albus walk up a hill on a beautiful summer's day, saying nothing but enjoying the sun on their faces as they climb. Although Harry was still slightly bogged down by worry of his sister. He hadn't heard from her or Severus after everything that had happened. He hoped she was alright, he needed to visit her soon. Wanted to reassure her that he loved her. 

"So are you ready?" Harry asked. 

"For what?" Albus asked. 

"Well, there's the fourth-year exams- and then the fifth year- big year- in my fifth year I did. . ." He hesitated, thinking about Ron and his accusation over Fred. He'd never been more pissed with his best friend. "I did a lot of stuff. Some of it good. Some of it bad. A lot of it quite confusing." 

"Good to know." Albus said. Harry smiled at that before Albus continued, "I got to watch them- you know- for a bit. Your mum and dad. They were- you had fun together. Your dad used to love to do this smoke ring with you and Aunt Elizabeth where you. . . well you two couldn't stop giggling." 

"Yeah?" Harry asked softly. 

"I think you'd have liked them. And I think me, Lily, and James would have liked them too." Albus continued, both of them feeling like there was still a brick wall between them. Maybe Harry should've visited Elizabeth and cleared his mind before the conversation. 

"You know, I thought I'd lost him. Voldemort. I thought I'd lost him, and then my scar started hurting again and I had dreams of him and I could even speak Parseltongue again and I started to feel like I'd not changed at all. That he'd never let me go-" 

"And had he?" Albus asked. 

"The part of me that was Voldemort died a long time ago, but it wasn't enough to be physically rid of him. I had to be mentally rid of him. And that- is a lot to learn for a forty-year-old man." Harry said. 'Or however old I am with being on the elixir.' "That thing I said to you- it was unforgivable, and I can't ask you to forget it but I can hope we move past it. I'm going to try to be a better dad for you, Albus. I am going to try and be honest with you and-" 

"Dad, you don't need to-" 

"You told me you don't think I'm scared of anything and that. . . I mean, I'm scared of everything. I mean, I'm afraid of the dark, did you know that?" Harry asked with a laugh. 

"Harry Potter is afraid of the dark?" Albus asked, astounded. 

"I don't like small spaces and- I've never told anyone this, but I don't much like. . ." Harry hesitated and then admitted it, "Pigeons." 

"You don't like pigeons?" Albus asked. 

Harry scrunched his face up, "Nasty, pecky, dirty things. They give me the creeps." Harry grinned, "Your Aunt Elizabeth is afraid of all birds, although that stems from a horror movie. She also hates small spaces and crowds." 

"Birds are harmless!" Albus cried exasperated. 

"I know. But the thing that scares me most, Albus Severus Potter, is being a dad to you. Because I'm operating without wires here. Most people at least have a dad to base themselves on- and either try to be or try not to be. I've got nothing, or very little. So I'm learning, okay? And I'm going to try with everything I've got to be a good dad for you." 

"And I'll try and be a better son. I know I'm not James, Dad, I'll never be like you two-" 

"James is nothing like me." Harry smiled. 

"Isn't he?" Albus asked, surprised. 

"Everything comes easy for James. James is more like Elizabeth in that way. My childhood was a constant struggle." 

"So was mine. So you're saying. . . am I. . . like you?" 

Harry smiles at his son, "Actually you're more like your mum- bold, fierce, funny- which I like. Which I think makes you a pretty great son." 

"I almost destroyed the world." Albus sighed. 

"Delphi wasn't going anywhere Albus. You just brought her out into the light and you found a way for us to fight her. You may not see it now, but you saved us." 

"But should I have done better?" Albus inquired. 

"You don't think Elizabeth and I ask ourselves the same questions?" Harry asked back. 

"And then. . " Albus said hesitantly, stomach sinking, "When we caught her, I wanted to kill her." 

"You'd watched her murder Craig, you were angry. And Albus, that's okay? You wouldn't have done it." 

"How do you know that? Maybe that's my Slytherin side. Maybe that's what the Sorting Hat saw in me." Albus worried. 

"I don't understand your head, Albus. Actually, you know what, you're a teenager. I shouldn't be able to understand your head. But I do understand your heart. I didn't, for a long time, but thanks to this 'escapade', I know what you got in there. Slytherin, Gryffindor, whatever label you've been given, I know that heart is a good one. Yeah, whether you like it or not, you're on your way to being some wizard." 

Albus put on a serious face and responded, "Oh I'm not going to be a wizard. I'm going into pigeon racing. I'm quite excited about it." 

Harry grinned, "Those names you have, they shouldn't be a burden. Dumbledore had his trials too, you know. And Severus? Well, you know all about him." 

"They were- and are- good men." Albus said softly, thinking about his Uncle and Aunt for a moment. 

"They were great men, with huge flaws, but you know what? Those flaws almost made them greater." Harry said softly. 

Albus looked around, realizing that they were in a cemetery, with rows of shiny white marble gravestones and blooming, colorful flowers everywhere. "Dad? Why are we here?" 

"This is where I often come." Harry said simply. 

"But this is a graveyard. . ." Albus frowned. 

Harry stopped walking, standing in front of a grave, squatting down in front of it. "And here is Cedric's grave." He picked up some dying Magnolia Elizabeth and Lilies. "Your Aunt was here some time ago I see. Elizabeth always leaves these, like a little sign of her love." Harry waved his wand, a bouquet of white lilies mixed with yellow roses appeared and he laid it down in front of the grave. "The boy who was killed- Craig Bowker- how well did you know him?" 

"Not well enough." Albus responded. 

"I didn't know Cedric well enough either, he was Elizabeths friend. He could have played Quidditch for England. Or been a brilliant Auror. He could have been anything. And Amos is right- he was stolen. So I come here. Just to say sorry. When I can." 

"That's a. . . good thing to do." Albus said quietly, wondering where Craig would be buried. He joined his father, squatting down in front of the grave. Harry smiled over at him, before looking up at the sky. 

"I think it's going to be a nice day." 

Albus smiled as his father touched his shoulder gently. "So do I." 

[braveclementine]

Part 51

Warnings: None. However, future chapters will contain sexual content so readers that are under the age of 18 may have to skip those chapters (However they are very few so those under the age of 18 can still read a majority of this book. However please keep note of the warnings).

Copyright: I do not own any Wizarding World characters that J.K. Rowling wrote. I do however own Elizabeth Kane (main character) and Trang Nyguen (best friend). There should be no use of these two names without my permission. Also, all of Severus and Elizabeths' childrens names are mine and mine alone. I also do not condone any copying of this.

Hogwarts, Classroom

🩶🩶🩶🩶🩶🩶🩶🩶

Mari looked up as Scorpius and Albus ran into the room, slamming the door closed behind them in excitement. They no longer were surprised to see her pop up in places they didn't even know they'd be in. 

"I can't quite believe I did that." Scorpius said excitedly. 

"I can't quite believe you did that either." Albus grinned. 

Mari had wanted to be here for the excitement. And yet now that her friends were here, she just wanted to be alone. She brought her legs up to hug them to her chest while they continued, flashes of her mother falling on the sticks, her scream filling the air haunting her mind. 

"Rose Granger-Weasley. I asked out Rose Granger-Weasley!!" Scorpius said, his brilliant eyes landing on Mari. 

"And she said no." Albus deadpanned. 

"But I asked her! I planted the acorn. The acorn that will grow into our eventual marriage!" 

"You are aware that you're an utter fantasist." 

"and I'd agree with you- only Polly Chapman did ask me to the school ball. . ." 

"In an alternate reality where you were significantly-really significantly more popular- a different girl asked you out- and that means-" 

"And yes, logic would dictate I should be pursuing Polly- or allowing her to pursue me-" Mari rolled her eyes at Scorpius' comment, "she's a notorious beauty, after all- but a Rose is a Rose." 

"You know logic would dictate that you're a freak? Rose hates you." 

"Correction, she used to hate me, but did you see the look in her eyes when I asked? That wasn't hate, that was pity." 

"And pity's good?" Albus and Mari asked at the same time. 

"Pity is a start, my friends, a foundation on which to build a palace- a palace of love!" Scorpius answered dreamily. 

"I honestly thought I'd be the first of us to get a girlfriend." Albus frowned. 

"Oh, you will, undoubtedly, probably that new smoky-eyed Astronomy Professor- she's old enough for you, right?" Scorpius teased. 

"I don't have a thing about older women!" 

"And you've got time- a lot of time- to seduce her. Because Rose is going to take years to persuade." Scorpius sighed. 

"I admire your confidence." Albus said. 

Suddenly, Rose walked past the three of them and looked at them. "Hi." 

"Hi." Mari was the only one to respond and so as such, Rose addressed Scorpius. 

"This is only going to be weird if you let it be weird." 

"Received and entirely understood." Scorpius responded. 

"Okay 'Scorpion King'." Rose teased, walking off with a smile which made Mari smile. She could see the future down the road after all. Scorpius would eventually get his wish. Albus would meet a young woman his first year into the Ministry. 

She wouldn't check her own future though. She didn't want to ruin it. she wanted to feel everything the way her parents had. Not sure if they're relationship would work out. The heartbreak but also the joy. The confusion and miscommunication but also the making up and the love. 

"Maybe you're right." Albus said as they watched Rose walk away. "Pity is a start." 

"Are you heading to Quidditch?" Scorpius asked as they continued to walk down the hall. "Slytherin are playing Hufflepuff- it's a big one." 

"I thought we hated Quidditch?" Albus asked. Mari rolled her eyes again, always having loved Quidditch. 

"People can change." Scorpius shrugged, turning down the hallway that would lead to the outdoors and the Quidditch pitch. "Besides, I've been practicing. I think I might make the team eventually. Come on." 

"I can't. My dad's arranged to come up-" Albus said apologetically. Maris' sadness came back to her. 

"He's taking time away from the Ministry?" 

"He wants to go on a walk. Something to show me, share with me. . . something." Albus frowned a little. 

"A walk?" Scorpius questioned while Mari shouldered him. 

"I know, I think it's a bond thing or something similarly vomiting-inducing. Still, you know, I think I'll go." Albus said nonchalantly. Scorpius pulled Albus into a hug, much to his surprise, "What's this? I thought we decided we don't hug." 

"I wasn't sure." Scorpius sighed as he pulled away. "Whether we should. In this new version of us- I had in my head." 

"It's fitting." Mari sighed softly, before stiffening a little as Scorpius hugged her from behind. She relaxed into it, before realizing it was her first hug that wasn't her parents. The thought made her a little sad inside. 

"Better ask Rose if it's the right thing to do." Albus teased with a smirk. 

"Ha! Yeah right." Scorpius scoffed, pulling away.

"I'll see you two at dinner." Albus said, walking away. 

"See you!" Scorpius and Mari said together before Scorpius looked over at Mari. "So. Quidditch?" 

"Quidditch." Mari nodded. 

[braveclementine]

Part 50

Warnings: 18+readers only, Severe trigger warnings of child loss/child murder/ pregnancy loss

Copyright: I do not own any Wizarding World characters that J.K. Rowling wrote. I do however own Elizabeth Kane (main character) and Trang Nyguen (best friend). There should be no use of these two names without my permission. Also, all of Severus and Elizabeths' childrens names are mine and mine alone. I also do not condone any copying of this.

PRINCE MANOR

🩶🩶🩶🩶🩶🩶🩶🩶

"𝖄𝖔𝖚'𝖗𝖊 𝖇𝖆𝖈𝖐!" 𝕿𝖔𝖓𝖐𝖘 exclaimed, leaping up from where she had been sitting on the steps of Prince Manor, Trang sitting next to her. Tonks threw herself into Remus arms, the two of them embracing tightly. 

"What are you doing here?" Remus asked as she pulled away. 

"Trang and I were looking for Elizabeth." Tonks admitted as Trang got to her own feet, moving forwards. "St. Mungos couldn't explain where she had gone."

"I'm sorry Tonks." Elizabeth apologized, letting her mother-figure of sorts pull her into a tight hug. "In all honesty, I'm not entirely sure what happened, everything is very. . . hazy. I'm definitely missing gaps in my memories of getting home." 

Severus looked down at her with worry while Trang hovered nearby. Elizabeth smiled at her best friend, "Hey." She walked over to her, the two of them embracing though Elizabeth was a little surprised at how tightly Trang hugged her. She smiled at that though. "I'm alright Trang." 

"I know." She whispered. 

Severus opened the door to the house, letting the others inside. He knew everyone wanted to talk about the other world with Elizabeth, but no one really knew how to approach the subject.

Elizabeth however looked more like she was trying to find an excuse to leave. She blushed when she saw Severus looking at her, shaking her head subtly. 

"Is something wrong?" Her father asked her kindly. 

"Um." She paused, looking at all of them and then said apologetically. "I will be back, I just need a moment to myself." She smiled and walked out of the room without any of them answering. Severus exchanged a look with Tonks when he missed Remus' eyes. 

"Where is she going?" Weasley frowned after Severus' wife. "We kind've have a lot to talk to her about." 

"She doesn't know that." Draco said, his tone rather kind as he started to lower himself into a chair, supposedly to wait. "And she hasn't been awake for that-" 

"Dad!" Marinette gasped, spinning from where she had been standing, interrupting Draco, to look at him. The fear in her voice made Severus call for Elizabeth immediately. 

"She's not in the house anymore." Marinette continued, her voice shaking. "Dad she's going to the woods behind the house to call for the doctor." 

"Why?" Remus and Harry demanded together. 

"I. . ." Marinette frowned, shaking her head, "I don't know. I just have a bad feeling." 

"Stay here." Severus ordered her, running out of the house, clutching his wand in his hand. The others followed after him quickly, their own wands drawn. Severus searched the forest until he heard Tonks call out. 

Elizabeth had apparently headed straight to the clearing where they had taught their children to fly. She was standing in the middle of it, her hands clenched at her sides, but otherwise seemed rather calm. "I know you're watching and listening." Elizabeth spat. "We need to talk. Now." 

Severus, wanting to be by his wifes side, moved forwards, only to find himself being stopped by a barrier he knew wasn't from a magic spell. They were being kept out by some force from the other world. He placed a hand against it, feeling the strange gel, watching the force ripple upwards. 

A white doorway seemed to appear, at least twenty feet away from Elizabeth, before the form of the doctor from her memories stepped out, still wearing his doctor coat, though he looked a little older than the memories had given. "It's been a while Miss Everdeen." 

"My last name is Snape." Elizabeth deadpanned. 

The man shrugged. "In this world." Severus gritted his teeth. Elizabeth scowled at him. 

"I want you out of my daughters head." Elizabeth snapped. Severus exchanged a look with Harry, noticing that Mari had indeed followed them, though Remus refused to let her get to close. 

"Whatever do you mean?" The doctor asked inquisitively. 

"You know full well what I mean." Elizabeth growled protectively. "Everyone thinks that she's inherited it from me, but you and I both know that I can't see the future. That what I saw was remembering the books I had read from the past world. How dare you go after my daughter!" 

"Mom it's different!" Mari shouted, lunging forwards and Harry caught her next, even though Severus was sure she couldn't get past the barrier either. Elizabeth didn't hear her however, the barrier seeming to block them from getting to her in any way. This realization made Severus' skin crawl. "Mom I can see the future!" 

"She can't hear you Mari." Ginny said gently. Trang punched the barrier in anger and frustration. 

"You're wrong, actually." The doctor said indifferently. "She really, truly can see the future. If you had stuck around to ask her about it, she could see you, she can see herself. She can see her family. She is a true seer. Happy?" 

Elizabeth was silent for a moment, clearly digesting his words. She curtly nodded once and then replied, "Stop watching me and my family." 

"And why should I do that?" The doctor asked, his tone bored now as though she had demanded something foolish. 

Elizabeth gritted her teeth. "Because it's creepy. And you're not being a silent spectator either. You're interfering in this world in awful ways that I'm pretty sure would break several codes in your world." 

"Our world." 

"No. Your world." Elizabeth said simply. "This is my world. Get. Out." 

"You truly cannot comprehend the force of my control do you?" the doctor asked softly. With a simple flick of his wrist, Elizabeth went flying across the clearing, smashing into one of the trees. All of them jolted forwards to defend her but crashed into the barrier, distorting their view as it rippled along the tree line. 

"Trang do something!" Mari begged, turning to her Aunt. 

Trang looked at them desperately. "What can I do? I'm not as good of a witch as they are? Why me?" 

"B- Because I see you in there." Mari said desperately. "You save her, but you only do it after-" 

"You think just because you succeeded in this world, that you can talk down to me." The doctor said calmly, holding his hand up. Elizabeth floated in mid air, unable to fight against him. "I have watched you, studied you, your entire life quietly behind the glass to see how you reacted to this world. You have succeeded more than any other test subject. But I learned something very important in how to bring you down. You can bounce back from anything physically, that I give you probs for." He lifted her higher in the air. "But emotionally? You don't survive there Miss Everdeen. You still beat yourself up for deaths that happened over two decades together. You haven't even told your family that you're from another world, afraid they'll reject you. Send you home. That would kill you emotionally." He sneered, "So survive this, Miss Everdeen." 

He let her drop and Severus cried out with the others, falling to his knees. He knew what would happen now, as she fell down towards the pile of sticks. Mari had predicted wrong. It wasn't the wood at the church, but the wood in the forest that would take their child away from them. 

Elizabeth's scream pierced the air and Trang screamed her name, slamming herself against the barrier to no avail. Ginny, Hermione, and Tonks were matching in horrified expressions with their hands clasped over their mouths. Ginny had tears in her eyes. Remus had pulled Marinette into him so that she wasn't looking. Ron looked stunned, comforting Hermione while Draco and Harry had matching looks of burning anger. 

Elizabeth stared up at the blue sky, pain radiating through her stomach, realizing immediately what had just happened. What- who- she had just lost. Her daughter. Severus' daughter. Their little girl. Gone. Forever. In a single instant. Because of her foolish tongue. By trying to protect her current family she had lost her future one. 

She breathed in shakily, every fiber of her being screaming in pain as she tried to do so. 

"Good-bye Miss Everdeen." Doctor Gates said. But he didn't get a chance to turn back into the portal as red appeared at the base of his throat. He frowned in confusion, his hand patting against his neck, before he fell to his knees. 

Trang stood- no floated- behind him, a large knife in her hand that she brought down again and again on the bleeding doctor until his heart no longer beat. 

She wasn't the current worlds Trang, but rather an apparition of the other worlds' Trang. She floated over to Elizabeth, lifting her off the sticks with a hand motion, healing her stomach wound with another so Elizabeth no longer felt anymore pain. But she could not give her daughter back and that would always leave a hole in her heart. 

"But-" Mari whispered in confusion, looking between the two Trangs. "I don't. . ." 

"None of us understand honey." Remus said softly, petting her hair back from her face while he tried to hide his red rimmed eyes. His daughter had just lost her daughter. And he had lost a granddaughter. Severus stayed kneeling at the barrier, his forehead leaning against it. Trang stared at her other self with an open mouth and teary eyes. 

"I'm sorry I was late." The other Trang whispered, kneeling down around her. "He's been trying to keep me out." 

Elizabeth stared at Trang. "What. . . What are you?" 

Trang smiled sadly. "A. . . version of my human self. My body is back in the real world but my mind is here. I can return to my body easily don't worry. But I watch over you when I can, trying to find proof for the jury to get Dr. Gates off of your case. Maybe even in jail. But I couldn't help it when I saw what he had done to you. My whole goal is to protect you and I failed." 

Elizabeth reached out, brushing her cheek softly with her fingers. "I. . . I don't remember everything about you." 

"I had to erase some of your memories." Trang whispered quietly. "When you woke up in the hospital, it was to much for you. It crippled you so that you couldn't find a point in living. I. . . I took over, suppressed them so you only remember some of them. But you don't need them. Just live your life here Elizabeth, it was the life you were always meant to live. Thrive, love, live." 

Elizabeth closed her eyes, "What if my family doesn't accept me for being from another world?" 

"They will, they love you." Trang whispered. 

"We- we need to go." Mari sniffed, shaking. "We have to go back to the house." 

They moved robotically to obey her except for Severus who stayed on his knees, overcome with grief. Harry, Remus, and Draco dragged him to his feet, helping him back to the house. 

They were silent in the living room while Mari watched out the window for her mother to come home. 

"Maybe it's time she returns to her world." Weasley suddenly suggested, looking highly uncomfortable. Every person in the room looked at him. 

"Ron!" Hermione hissed under her breath. 

"Well?" Weasley asked uncomfortably. "I mean. . . she doesn't belong here, does she? And clearly the bad thing about her world is now dead so. . ." 

"I don't want my-

"-wife"

"-daughter"

"-sister" 

"-to leave." Severus, Remus, and Harry all said together. 

"But that's the thing." Weasley said, exasperated as though they couldn't wrap their mind around a simple concept. "She isn't actually any of that, is she?" 

"She was born from my mothers womb." Harry shook his head with a sigh. "She was born with me. She's my sister." 

"I raised her since she was a baby." Remus said fiercely. "She may never have been mine biologically, but I love her like a daughter. She is my daughter as much as my twins and son." 

"I don't think I need to explain about me and her." Severus said dryly, his arms crossed tightly over his chest, trying to hold himself together. He wanted Elizabet home in his arms now. 

"I know I'm not as good of a friend with her as the rest of you." Draco started slowly, before glancing at Weasley. "Although perhaps more than some." Weasley rolled his eyes. "But Elizabeth. . . I mean she belongs to this world more than some wizards or witches deserve to. I mean, just look at what she's contributed to this world! There are things that exist in this world that wouldn't, maybe even wouldn't have been thought of, if she wasn't here." 

"And this is selfish." Tonks said quietly. "But Remus, Severus, and I wouldn't even be sitting here if it wasn't for her." 

"Fred isn't though." Weasley shrugged. "She couldn't save Fred." 

"Is that what this is about?" Ginny asked quietly, hurt in her voice. "Have we not already seen that for Fred to live, these three would have to have died? Elizabeth did her best to save Fred, Ron. We can't hold that over her." She glanced at her husband, "I don't think you still hold it over her for not saving Sirius?" 

"No, I don't." Harry said quietly, squeezing Ginnys' hand. 

"She's my best friend." Trang whispered quietly from the back of the room. "Dr. Gates might be dead, but did you not hear him? He called her a test subject, and that there are other test subjects in different worlds. Maybe that particular doctor won't be there if we sent her back to her world, but let's not pretend all of a sudden that world is safe for her." 

"I agree." Draco nodded, the two children of Death Eaters locking eyes in agreement. "It would be like sending her into the hands of a different sort of Dark Lord." 

"She's coming back." Mari announced. 

Severus shot to his feet as his wife entered the room, moving forwards and pulling her into his arms. She didn't say anything, wrapping her arms around him. "I'm sorry." She whispered with a choking voice, "I'm so sorry. I lost-" 

"It wasn't your fault." Severus whispered fiercely. "You don't have to explain yourself." 

Elizabeth drew away, looking up at him with fear in her eyes. "You- You know-" 

"We all saw it." Remus said gently, standing up and approaching his daughter slowly. Elizabeth took a step back and Remus paused, looking hurt. "Eliz-" 

"Nothing you say matters." Elizabeth mumbled, sinking into the dining room chair behind her, putting her face into her hands, "You'll never tell me the truth after what you saw." 

"The truth about what?" Draco demanded. 

"About whether you actually want me to go. . ." Elizabeth hesitated, tears stinging her eyes. "go back." 

"No, we don't." Everyone said in sync except for Weasley and Mari. 

"But you saw what he did to me and you're protectiveness-" Elizabeth started hotly but stopped as Mari wrapped her arms around her, hugging her tightly. 

"Mum we love you." Mari whispered quietly. "We don't want you to leave because we couldn't bear it if you left us. I don't think I could stand to see my father so distressed. And there's so much left for you in this world. And. . . I really don't want to lose my mum." 

"Can I ask, not because I want you to go, but because I'm confused about how it would work. . . where would you even go if we told you we didn't want you here?" Harry asked with a frown. 

Elizabeth looked down at the ground. "I wouldn't go back to my world, I'm to selfish for that. But I would stay away from all of you. I would watch you move on-" 

"Move on to who?" Severus demanded angrily, passionately, that need for her to be in his arms overwhelming and yet he understood she needed room right now. "There is no one but you! You're my life! I wouldn't be if you weren't here." 

Hermione stood up quickly, hugging Elizabeth tightly. "We love you Elizabeth. And as much as I want to stay here and prove it, I think it's something only Severus can prove to you. We'll come visit again soon, I promise." She dragged Ron out of the room with her, their voices raising slightly as the door closed behind them. 

One by one they hugged and kissed her (although Draco did so awkwardly), leaving until it was just her and Severus left. Severus looked at his wife while Mari made herself scarce upstairs. She looked so defeated as she stared down at the ground, her fingers absentmindedly running along her stomach for a kick that wouldn't come. 

She fell forwards out of her chair, succumbing to body-wracking tears at the reminder, wrapping her arms around herself as her forehead touched the carpeted ground. Severus couldn't offer anything, sinking to the ground as well, the two of them clinging to each other as they cried over a daughter they would never meet. 

[braveclementine]

Part 49

Warnings: None. However, future chapters will contain sexual content so readers that are under the age of 18 may have to skip those chapters (However they are very few so those under the age of 18 can still read a majority of this book. However please keep note of the warnings).

Copyright: I do not own any Wizarding World characters that J.K. Rowling wrote. I do however own Elizabeth Kane (main character) and Trang Nyguen (best friend). There should be no use of these two names without my permission. Also, all of Severus and Elizabeths' childrens names are mine and mine alone. I also do not condone any copying of this.

GODRIC'S HOLLOW, ST. JEROME'S CHURCH, 1981

🩶🩶🩶🩶🩶🩶🩶🩶

𝕾𝖊𝖛𝖊𝖗𝖚𝖘 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝕰𝖑𝖎𝖟𝖆𝖇𝖊𝖙𝖍 arrived back at the church to find the others in the middle of an argument. 

"You want to transfigure into Voldemort?" Ginny asked, looking around at the others, who were all awake and standing in a sort of makeshift circle. Except for Remus who was sitting down, listening to them. 

"How close can we get through Transfiguration?" Harry asked while Severus frowned, not sure what their plan was and not liking it regardless. 

"It's the only way." Albus interjected. 

"It is, isn't it?" Hermione asked with a sigh, glancing over at Elizabeth who said nothing. 

Ron stepped forward, almost eagerly. "Then I would like to- I think I should be him. I mean, it won't be- exactly nice being Voldemort- but without wishing to blow my own trumpet- I am probably the most chilled out of all of us and. . . so maybe transfiguring into him- into the Dark Lord- will do less damage to me than- any of you more- intense- people." 

Severus snorted. Remus shot him a look of both exasperation, but also slight humor. Harry stepped away, thinking. 

"Who are you calling intense?" Hermione questioned with a frown. 

"I'd also like to volunteer." Draco said, to which Severus replied, "Absolutely not." Draco glanced over at Severus but shrugged, "I think being him requires precision- no offense, Ron- and a knowledge of Dark Magic and-" 

"I said no." Severus snapped. 

"And I'd like to volunteer too." Hermione interjected, as she always had to. "As Minister for Magic I think it's my responsibility and right." 

"Maybe we should draw lots-" Scorpius said. 

"You're not volunteering, Scorpius." Draco said sharply, the way Severus had with him. Hypocrite. 

"Actually-" Albus started hopefully. 

"No, no way. I think you're all mad. I know what that voice is like inside your head- I won't have it in mine again-" Ginny said ferociously. 

"You're all idiots." Elizabeth sighed in a loving way. Everyone turned to look at where she was sitting in the windowsill, looking out the window instead of at them. At the silence, she turned to look at them. "What? What do you guys think the first test will be when Delphi meets this fake Voldemort?" 

"Parseltongue." Harry and Remus answered together immediately. 

"Exactly how many people in this room can understand and speak Parseltongue?" Elizabeth continued, raising an eyebrow. 

"Two." Marinette responded. "You and Uncle Harry." 

"And furthermore," Elizabeth said, swinging her legs down from the windowsill, standing up to approach them. "Exactly how many people in this room know what's it's like to be him?" 

"Two." Marinette responded. "Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny." 

Elizabeth placed a hand on Marinettes' head in love. "I think one of those people ticks off both boxes, don't you think?" 

"Rubbish. Beautifully put but beautiful rubbish." Weasley said. "No way is Harry-" 

"I'm afraid you're right, my old friend." Hermione sighed. 

Severus had to control himself from making some sort of comment. 'Old friend'? How old was Hermione? One hundred and thirty? 

"Hermione, Elizabeth, you're wrong. Voldemort is not something to be- Harry should not-" Ron stuttered over his words. 

"And I hate to agree with my brother, but-" 

"He could get stuck- as Voldemort- forever." Ron protested, which Severus was a stupid argument for a man who had volunteered for this stupid mission first. 

"So could any of you." Remus finally spoke up. "Your concerns are valid, but so are Elizabeths' points. Harry, however much we may dislike the idea, is the best person to become him." 

"Thank you Professor." Harry said, before turning to his wife, "Gin. I won't do it if you don't want me to. But it feels like the only way to me, am I wrong?" The stared at each other for a moment, as though they were reading each others souls. Severus looked away, understanding a private moment when he saw one. 

"You're right." Ginny finally admitted. 

"Then let's do this." Harry said firmly. 

"Don't we need to discuss the route you're taking- the-" Draco started. 

"She's watching for him- she'll come to me." Harry said. 

'I hope.' Severus thought. 

"And then what?" Draco demanded. "When she's with you. May I remind you this is a very powerful witch?" 

"Easy. He gets her in here. We zap her together." Ron said. 

Draco raised an eyebrow. "'Zap her'?"

"We'll hide behind these doors." Hermione said, pointing to the said doors at the end of the cathedral. "If we can get her to this point, Harry, then we come out and make sure she has no chance to escape." 

"And then we'll zap her." Ron said with a pointed look at Draco.

Severus turned from all of them and muttered under his breath, "I'm going to die surrounded by idiots." 

"Yeah." Remus breathed out. "I get how you're feeling." Elizabeth laughed lightly, winking at their daughter. 

"Harry, last chance, are you sure you can do this?" Hermione asked. 

Harry looked at Elizabeth, noting how carefree she seemed, here on the day their parents died. He wondered what she had experienced while she was in that coma. Had she spent the whole time with their parents? With Sirius and Fred and Cedric? Was that why she seemed so at ease? Or had she, like him, discovered a part of herself she hadn't known existed while she was in the afterlife? 

"Yes, I can do this." Harry said strongly. 

"No, there's too many what-ifs- too many things that can go wrong- the Transfiguration could not hold, she could see through it- if she escapes us now there's no telling the damage she can do- we need time to properly plan, to-" 

"Draco I'm offended, are you doubting my magical capabilities?" Elizabeth pouted, her wand drawn. "I'd like to think you think higher of me with my Transfiguration skills." 

Draco huffed, "When you put it like that, how could I not trust you?" He rolled his eyes. 

"Glad that's settled." Elizabeth said, lifting her wand higher, her chin lifted with a sense of purpose. "Wands." 

Severus drew his with reluctance, standing between Severus and Elizabeth. Mari, Albus, and Scorpius held back, watching as the adults created a vivid, powerful image of Voldemort right in front of them. Severus flinched back as he lowered his wand even, feeling like he needed to kneel before the man in front of him. He dropped his gaze as the black eyes swept over him. 

"Bloody hell." Ron whispered. 

"It worked, then?" Harry even sounded like him and Severus flinched again, grateful when Elizabeth slipped her hand into his. 

"Yes. It worked." Ginny said gravely. 

"I'm starting to wonder at what cost." Remus whispered next to him. 

🩶🩶🩶🩶🩶🩶🩶🩶

GODRIC'S HOLLOW, ST. JEROMES' CHURCH, 1981

"𝕯𝖆𝖉𝖉𝖞, 𝕴'𝖒 𝖜𝖔𝖗𝖗𝖎𝖊𝖉." Marinette whispered, causing Severus to look over at her. She hadn't called him that in a long time. 

"About what?" Severus asked. The others were waiting, looking out the church windows except for Ginny who was sitting further back with Albus. Remus was standing off to the side, somewhere between them. 

"Mommy." Marinette admitted, looking down at her hands. "I- I keep seeing this image in my head. A- a vision." Severus had figured she was having visions, perhaps the only child to have inherited them from Elizabeth. . . although he supposed if the memories he had seen were true, they were only reminding's of the books she had read. 

"What do you see?" He asked urgently. If Marinette could see Elizabeth where Elizabeth could not see herself or her children, then he figured she could actually see the future. 

"I keep seeing her flying in the air, coming down and landing on a pile of wood." Marinette whispered. "She turns out okay but. . . the little baby in her stomach doesn't make it. The wood pierces her through the back." 

Severus felt himself go cold, looking over at Elizabeth, who was tapping her fingers along her jeans impatiently. There was plenty of wood in the church to impale herself upon. 

"Are you sure that it's in here?" Severus asked urgently. 

"No." Mari shook her head, eyes large and wide. "But I have this feeling that its near. I can't explain it." 

"I'll take care of it." Severus promised, pressing his lips to her forehead and stood up, leaving her in the pews. 

He reached Elizabeth quickly, wondering how to explain it to her. "Elizabeth, darling." 

"Yeah?" She asked, looking over at him, "What's wrong?" 

He paused and then led her away from the others. "This is. . . hard to explain, but I want you to stay out of the fight." 

Elizabeth frowned, "Why?" 

He explained what Marinette had seen, which also included an explanation that Mari had just revealed to him that she could see the visions. For some reason though, this seemed to disturb her more than Maris vision, though she said nothing. 

"Please?" Severus begged her. "I just need you to be safe." 

Elizabeth held his gaze for a moment, but he could tell her mind was somewhere else as her gaze shifted to Marinette. "Alright Severus." 

Success one. 

"That's her. That's her. She's seen him." Scorpius announced, jumping away from the castle windows. 

Severus turned, Elizabeth following him as the two made their way towards Remus and their daughter. 

"Positions. Everybody. and remember, don't come out until he's got her in the light. We've only got one shot at this, we don't want to mess it up." Hermione ordered. 

"Hermione Granger," Draco said, with a smile in his voice. Severus looked at him questioningly. "I'm being bossed around by Hermione Granger. And I'm mildly enjoying it." 

"Dad. . . " Scorpius whined. 

"Go." Severus whispered. Elizabeth shrunk without a word, turning into a black cat and disappeared into the shadows until even he couldn't see her as hard as he tried to follow her. He and the others hid themselves behind two major doors. 

"Whichever witch or wizard is following me, I assure you, you will regret it." the cold voice of Voldemort filled the air, making Severus flinch again, despite Mari holding his hand tightly. 

"Lord Voldemort." Severus heard Delphis' voice for the first time, taking note. It didn't sound much like the Dark Lord or Bellatrix. And from what he could tell, he wouldn't have noted that she was either of their daughter from the start. But knowing it now, he could see it. She had the same haughtiness of her mother, but her eyes looked like her fathers. .  . before he'd changed. "It is me. I am following you." 

"I do not know you. Leave me." Voldemort demanded. 

"I am your daughter." Delphi said softly. 

"If you were my daughter, I'd know of you." 

Severus wondered how Voldemort had reacted when he'd discovered Delphi. She would have been born before the Battle of Hogwarts, just like Elijah Kingsley and Minerva. Had Voldemort spent every moment of her new life with her like he had them? Watched her precious face as she made adorable expressions to his? Or had he thought he would have all the time in the world after the Battle was won? 

Had he cared at all? 

It was strange to Severus to find something in common with the Dark Lord. 

"I am from the future. The child of Bellatrix Lestrange and you. I was born in Malfoy Manor before the Battle of Hogwarts." Why hadn't Lucius known of her daughter? Had Narcissa? "A battle you are going to lose. I have come to save you. It was Rodolphus Lestrange, Bellatrix's loyal husband, who on return from Azkaban told me who I was and revealed the prophecy he thought I was destined to fulfill. I am your daughter, sir." 

"I am familiar with Bellatrix and there are certain similarities in your face- though you haven't inherited the best of her. But without proof. . ." 

Parseltongue was spoken immediately and Severus heard the imitation of Voldemort laugh viciously. "That's your proof?" 

Severus peered through a crack in the door to see her rise effortlessly off of the floor. Severus remembered learning how to do that, a chill running down his spine. "I am the Augurey to your Dark Lord, and I am ready to give all that I have to serve you." 

"You learnt flight- from me?" Voldemort asked. 

"I have tried to follow the path you set." Delphi explained. 

"I have never met a witch or a wizard who's attempted to be my equal before. . ." The imitation of Voldemort mused. 

"Do not mistake!" Delphi protested immediately. "I would not claim to be worthy of you, Lord. But I have devoted my life to being a child you could be proud of-" 

"I see what you are, and I see what you could be. Daughter." Voldemorts' image said slowly, interrupting her. 

"Father?" 

"Together, the power we could wield." 

"Father. . ." 

"Come here, in the light, so I may examine what my blood made." Voldemort demanded. 

"Your mission is a mistake. Attacking Harry Potter is a mistake. He will destroy you." Delphi said desperately. 

"He is a baby." 

"He has his mother's love. Your spell will rebound, destroying you and making him too powerful and you too weak. You will recover to spend the next seventeen year consumed in a battle with him- a battle you will lose." 

'Pretty sure Elizabeth helped Harry out as much as Harry was powerful.' Severus thought sarcastically, still thinking her the superior of the Potter twins. 

"And then there is his sister." Delphi added quickly, almost as though she had read Severus' mind, though that was not the case. 

"There is no Potter sister." 

"Her parents have hidden her in the basement of the house. She will become almost as powerful as Harry. But she has the power to see the future. You should take her and use her." 

'It wouldn't work.' Severus winced, hearing Elizabeth's thoughts so near. He wasn't sure why her thoughts were so loud right now, though perhaps it was because he was keeping her so close after almost losing her. 'I would still only see what the books held.' 

"Then I won't attack him. You are right. We shall take the girl instead." 

"Father?" Delphi asked. Severus watched as the Voldemort turned his back on her, though Severus could see now that he was reverting back to himself. He clenched his wand tighter in his hand. They were running out of time. "Father?" 

"Your plan is a good one. The fight is off. You have served me well, now come here into the light so I may examine you." Harry said. 

At the same time, Weasley let the door almost open, pulling it shut tightly. Severus closed his eyes, frustration flowing through him. 

"Father. . ." 

"She knows." Severus whispered. 

"You are not Lord Voldemort." Delphi exclaimed. "Incendio!" 

Severus threw the door open, rushing into the room. Remus was on his heels, but both of them had to duck out of the way at the huge pillar of fire in the room. Delphi sent spells at their heads which Severus ducked, only to realize it hit the door, locking the rest of them in. 

"Three on one isn't really a fair fight now, is it?" Delphi sneered. 

"Oh would you like two of us to sit out then?" Remus asked, rolling his eyes. 

"Snape." Delphi sneered, still floating in the air. Severus stared at her coldly. "You betrayed my father." 

"Your father had his snake bite me to kill me because he was to much of a coward to kill me himself." Severus stated flatly. "As a loyal servant of his, I'd say he betrayed me first." 

Delphi snarled, "Loyal!" 

"Potter, Lupin, stand aside." Severus said, feeling much calmer than he had expected. His black eyes narrowed on Delphis' frame. "A duel if you shall?" 

Delphi didn't even wait, the blasts from her wands coming immediately. Severus deflected them effortlessly, though only he noted that he was a little rusty from dueling. He'd have to practice if dangerous beings were going to come back into their lives. He had a feeling this wouldn't be the last episode. 

The two of them battled ferociously while Harry and Remus hesitated on either side of them. Severus knew they wanted to join in, but it was going to help Severus any. 

Suddenly, Delphi let out a cry, nearly falling backwards as something black and fluffy landed on her head. The black cats claws dug into Delphis face, scratching and clawing. Delphi screamed in fury and pain, while Severus lashed out with another spell, effectively rendering her useless. The black cat leapt from her head, dashing under the pews as Delphi fell to the floor, blood streaming down her face. 

Severus was going to have a talk with Elizabeth later. 

Harry opened the doors, letting the others run in while Severus had his wand pointed at Delphi. Remus matched his pose on his other side. 

"Is everyone alrigh- my goodness." Hermione said, taking a look upon Delphi. "Sev-" 

"Don't start on me. It was Elizabeth." Severus grouched, not that he cared in the least. "And besides, she tried hurting my daughter." 

"I just wanted to know my father." Delphi said quietly. 

"You can't remake your life. You'll always ben an orphan." Harry said quietly. "That never leaves you." 

"Just let me- see him." Delphi asked. Severus heard a soft meow of pity somewhere below him. A tail curled around his leg. 

"I can't and I won't." Harry said. 

"Then kill me." Delphi said pitifully. 

"I can't do that either." Harry said after a moment. 

"What? Dad? She's dangerous." Albus protested in surprise. 

"No, Albus. . ." Harry sighed. 

"But she's a murderer- I've seen her murder-" Albus continued. 

"Yes, Albus, she's a murderer, and we're not." Harry said simply. Severus thought otherwise, but stayed quiet. 

"We have to be better than them." Hermione added. 

"Yeah, it's annoying but it's what we learnt." Ron sighed. Severus wanted to bang his head into a wall. 

"Take my mind. Take my memory. Make me forget who I am." Delphi begged. 

Severus and Ginny flinched just slightly as Elizabeth popped up between the two of them. She approached Delphi, putting her hand on her head. They watched silently, Delphis' eyes glassy until Elizabeth pulled away. "That's your father Delphi. I know it's not the same as seeing him in real life and it never will be. I also, wish I could see my father. To hug him, to hear him say things I can only dream up. Maybe one day you'll get that. But it's not today." 

Elizabeth stood up, moving to Remus' side as he pulled her into a hug. 

There's a hissing noise in the air that makes Severus truly freeze, his fingers clenching even tighter around his wand. Haaaarrry Pottttter. . . 

"What's that?" Scorpius asked. 

"No." Harry and Elizabeth said together, hearts breaking at the same time, "No. Not yet." 

"What?" Albus asked. 

"Voldemort." Remus whispered next to him. 

"Father?" Delphi asked. 

"Now? Here?" Hermione asked and Severus wanted to slap her for the stupidest question she'd ever asked in her entire life. 

"Father!" Delphi shouted. 

"Silencio!" Draco gaged her. "Wingardium Leviosa!" 

"He's coming. He's coming right now." Harry whispered. Elizabeth had her hands over her mouth, tears streaming down her face. "Voldemort is going to kill our mum and dad- and there's nothing I can do to stop him." 

"That's not true." Draco said quietly. 

"Dad, now is not the time. . ." 

"There is something you could do- to stop him." Remus said gently. "But you won't." 

"That's heroic." Draco said. 

"You don't have to watch Harry." Ginny said gently, taking Harry's hand. "We can go home." 

"I'm letting it happen. . . Of course I have to watch." Harry said thickly. Elizabeth took his other hand, the two of them leading them out of the church. 

"Then we'll all witness it." Hermione said quietly. 

"We'll all watch." Weasley said. 

Severus watched them as they walked ahead of them towards Lily and James house. He had been here that night as well, though he'd come in at a different part of Godric's Hollow. He had to see for himself if Lily was dead. Held her body against him as he sobbed like he had never cried before. 

"Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off. . ." Severus could hear a blast from inside and then the Dark Lords' merciless laugh echoed throughout the space. Elizabeth leaned into him and he held her tightly. Marinette reached up to grab both of them comfortingly. "You keep away, you understand- you keep away." 

Elizabeth flinched against him as The Dark Lord announced the killing words, green light flashing in the house. 

"It's okay." Marinette whispered to both of them. 

"That's our mum, at the window. I can see our mother, she looks beautiful." Harry whispered somewhere off to Severus' left. Elizabeth didn't answer verbally, but Severus could feel her nodding her head against his chest. He looked up into the window, watching how Lily shielded herself in front of Harry. The son she had always loved. 

She was begging and Severus closed his eyes, a radio silence covering him as he blocked everything else out. Elizabeth listened to her mother beg for her brothers' life, wondering not for the first time what would've happened if her mother had stepped aside and lived for her. 

"Avada Kedavra!" Elizabeth shivered as tears streamed down her cheeks in unstoppable rivers. Harry had fallen to the ground in his grief, Ginny crouched over him as she held him. Albus by his fathers side. Hermione and Ron stood solidly next to them, looking anguished. Remus stood the side, tears streaming down his own face as he looked at the house. 

It was full moon, he realized. They had died while he had run around as a werewolf, only to come home on a train some days later and have his elderly neighbor come over to his house with a baby girl wrapped in her arms. A baby girl that he would love as his own, touching his heart and keeping him the happiest man on the planet. He reached over, putting a hand on her head now as her body wracked with sobs. 

"Wait." She said hoarsely as Hermione lifted the time-turner to take them away. "There's something else I want to see." 

It wasn't long, the street filled with an unnatural stillness, before Hagrid appeared from somewhere, going into the house. At the same time, a flying motorcycle came down from the sky. Harrys' grief increased, watching their godfather swing himself off of it at the same time Hagrid moved out of the house, a small bundle that was Harry in his arms. 

"I am Harry's Godfather Hagrid, give Harry to me." He said, desperately. "Hagrid, please, give him to me. I can take care of him." 

Elizabeth sniffed, thankful for Severus' arms around her. 

"Is that Uncle Sirius?" Mari asked in a soft whisper. Elizabeth couldn't speak so Remus answered for her. 

"Yeah, that's him." Remus wiped his nose. He was going to bring Elizabeth to him. 

"Dumbledore's orders Sirius, sorry." Hagrid said gruffly. 

Sirius nearly pulled his hair out of his head, looking around wildly. "Take my bike then. I won't be needing it anymore." Sirius watched Hagrid as the giant took the motorcycle, taking off into the skies. Only then did Sirius bolt into the house. 

Severus glanced over to where he knew he was standing in the shadows. He could just barely make out his own outline, glaring after Sirius. A glare that would turn to surprise after Sirius emerged from the house, holding a baby girl in his arms. 

He felt Elizabeth sag in his arms. "I existed." She whispered. "I told you I existed." 

Severus pulled her even closer, nodding to Hermione as Sirius apparated into nothingness, not watching as he himself started to make his way into the house. They were gone none to late, gone just as past-Severus looked over his shoulder, feeling like he was being watched, completely unaware that this house had just held his future.