Chapter 2
It was past seven am when Natalia stirred awake. Steve had finished his mission planning. He sent it to Director Fury and asked for a briefing the next day. Steve rose from his seat and entered the living room.
“Hey, you need to change. I'll drive you and Michael to school," he told her. His daughter rose from the couch and brushed a strand of light brown hair out of her face. She still looked a little bit tired.
“Are you hungry?” He asked. She nodded. “I'm going to make breakfast. Can you wake up your siblings?”
Natalia walked away. Steve sighed and ran his hand over his face. It wasn't going to be pleasant to tell them that he was going on a mission soon. They never took it well.
Peggy entered the living room. She walked over to him and kissed him on the lips. He pulled away after a moment. She smiled at him sweetly. “How long have you been awake?" She asked as she took in his slightly tired expression.
“You should ask Rae the same question." He said. Her eyes flashed worriedly.
“I saw her in the floor. Did she have a nightmare again?”
“Yes." He said. “I let her watch a movie. She has gotten some sleep, don't worry, Pegs.”
Peggy sighed and leaned against him. She put her arms around his waist. “It's getting worse, Steve. I'm worried for her. I want to help her.”
“I know. I want to help her too." He said. She looked up at him, her face twisted in an expression of anguish on her face. “Is there anything we can do?”
“I don't know, Peggy." Steve answered. She sighed sadly. “We can only be there for her right now. She needs us.”
Peggy nodded. “You need to be there for her too," she said. He frowned. “What do you mean?”
Peggy pulled away from him and glared at him. “You're never really here. You always leave when you're needed the most. And don't say that's not true, you know it is true. We don't even know where you are going when you say you're out for a mission again. What missions? Why all this secrecy, Steve? What the hell are you hiding? I can't do this anymore. I can't live with you knowing you're away for missions that I don't know the full extend of! You came home with bullet wounds from one of this missions once. What do you think you're doing? You're putting yourself in danger and nobody knows why. You're hurting us – Don't you care about our children too? They want to know what you're doing too.” I He was stunned by her sudden outburst. He stared at her in shock.
“Peggy, what are you talking about? You know that if I could, I would tell you about-”
“Are we less important than you're job?” She interrupted him.
“What? No!” Steve blinked at her. He was confused. “Where is all of this coming from?”
“You say we need to be there for our daughter, and then you just leave." Peggy said.
His frown deepened. “I don't mean to hurt you-”
“Well, then maybe you should change something, 'cause you certainly are hurting us." Peggy interrupted again. She glared at him again and turned away to walk out of the room.
Steve didn't understand what just happened. How did she go from hugging him and telling him how concerned she was about their oldest daughter, to being angry at him in the matter of a second?
She hadn't said it, but Steve knew an ultimatum was hanging in the air: His job at Shield or his family.