Chapter 2
His car raced through the ebony roads only illuminated by the head lights of his car and the sparkle of the crescent moon. The cold winter air swooshes in through the small gap of Max’ window and Steve uses the button he has on his side to completely close the window.
The numbers on his speedometer rise to a limit he is not proud of especially because of the occupants of the back seat. But extreme times call for extreme measures. At least that’s what he tells himself.
He sighs as he takes a turn through the dark road, the way to Brooklyn city from his suburban house ingrained in his brain.
“This is only because we are getting late” He glances over at the two occupants of the back seat through his front mirror
“What?” Lana asks grumpily, still upset about being forced to sit on the back seat after a fight with her brother over who gets shot gun before Steve announced neither would
“The fast driving” He taps the steering wheel “I would never do that if it weren’t an emergency”
“You telling this to us or yourself dad?” Max asks from the back seat and Steve has to grit his teeth.
Why was it that his children needed to test every level of his patience? Couldn’t they just listen and nod their head in understanding? Is it too much to ask for people around him not to question everything that he does?
He curses those stupid Vitamins and Healthy food you serve these children so they have a stronger body and quicker brain. He really misses the time when Max didn’t in fact understand that that was exactly what Steve was doing. Telling himself that to throw away the guilt that homes itself in the crevices of his body, reminding him every careless second that goes by about his indiscretions as a responsible father.
He again sighs and slows down the car. Do hell with being late.
“Dad what are you doing?” Lana asks frantically as she realizes the car has decelerated its speed
“I’m slowing down the car” he replies, without even glancing her way once
“This is all your fault” Lana grits her teeth and turns towards her brother a punch landing on his shoulder “Why did you need to point it out? did you see me do that?”
Steve has a very strong urge to groan in frustration but refrains just like he refrains to acknowledge the fact that he just knows this girl has only just turned a teenager. He has a long road of arguments ahead of him.
“Dad” Max whines rubbing his shoulder “she’s hitting me"
“Lana”
“It was his fault!”
“Alahna"
“Fine. I’m sorry”
Before the smug, teasing look on Max’ face initiates a new argument that would result in Steve inevitably gaining more white hair he interrupts
“We would be in the city in 5 minutes” he says as the honking and car sounds start to sound indicating entry into the city
“I’m gonna drive to that small furniture store your Mom loves so much and get an exact copy of the glass”
“What if they don’t just sell a piece of glass?”
“You know son” he smiles and winks at his son through the rear view mirror “I don’t like to do it often but when you are who I am, its a little easier to convince people”
The tries not to smirk at the looks of shock that his kids project his way.
————
“So the shop is closed” Steve says with a groan as he places his hand on the wall and looks down with a sigh
“Its 8:30” Max says dejectedly “Shops like these close around 7”
“Yeah I guess so” Steve moves towards Max and ruffles his hair “Its okay, we tried, we will deal with Mom”
Max just nods his head, looking up at his father sadly and before Steve can go ahead and say something to his daughter, loud banging envelopes the area as said daughter bangs her hands through the closed gates of the shop
“Lana” Steve hisses angrily “What do you think you’re doing”
“Getting them to open the shop” She screams “HELLO IS ANYONE THERE??”
“Stop it” Steve whisper screams, looking around wildly in fear
“We came all the way over here dad” she says, still beating he door “Might as well try”
The thaak thaak of hand hitting glass door blurs into background, a car honking loudly passes from behind him and the night insect sings its song. The noises all seem to be mocking him and his predicament.
Now Steve was a good father. At least you assured him that he was. He had an authoritative stand and believed in disciplining his children along side letting them have some fun.
When you had come to him suggesting adoption and he had readily agreed to adopt Max and Lana after meeting them, he had made a decision to be the disciplinarian in the family. The one that could handle the kids when they have those rebellious moments because he was sure in your inability to discourage behavior you actively involved yourself in.
Steve never considered the possibility of how if he could not tame the craziness that was you, how was he supposed to do it with your children? Four of them. And well his elder daughter was learning very quickly how to break the very strict resolve he was previously proud of. Was there a way he could keep her away from her own mother? That would be cruel right? Right?
He shakes his head but lets his daughter continue her breaking of the door, with a stone in his heart and with high reluctance he mentally has to agree with her.
They came all the way here, might as well try.
Poor Max is crouching down, behind the car, far away from where his sister has gone crazy and decides to stay there, vigorously gesturing with his hands when Steve motions for him to come closer when the inside of the shop lights up.
Steve knows what he is gesturing.
‘I don’t wanna get killed.’
'Same here son’ he thinks to himself and shuts his eyes when keys jingle and the owner starts opening the shop from the inside, an angry scowl painting her dark face 'At least you are not the irresponsible father here.’
Lana turns to him, a smirk gracing her lips and a proud glint in her eyes
“I did it Dad” the girl exclaims proudly and Steve tries to give her a smile in which he fails miserably
“Dad don’t worry” she whispers coming closer to him as the angry woman pushes the door open, a baseball bat in her hands “I know you’re afraid she’s gonna be angry but I’ve got it covered”
Steve turns to his daughter, a look of confusion on his face as the young girl steps ahead towards the old, angry, scratch that, furious woman in front of her.
Now his strong dad instincts tell him to step in front of his daughter and shield her but a look at the old lady’s face tells him his daughter has a better chance and well if there is an attack, Steve knows he will be in front of Lana before the woman could even lift her bat up.
So for now he lets Lana take charge. She clearly knows what to say and do. Maybe she will do all the talking and Steve won’t have to do shit.
Lana steps forward confidently and looks over at the scowling lady’s bat
“We are here in peace” she says confidently “I’m Alahna Rogers, I was here with my Mother 6 months ago”
The old lady seems to not have let go of her anger as she initiates a staring match with the young lady who almost reaches her height. The young lady stares back and as several minutes pass by, Steve glances towards his car behind which his son peaks out, looking over in interest.
Its several moments before the old lady speaks
“Very well” her face is passive and Steve feels a bubble of hope “But why the fuck are you creating ruckus in my shop after closing hours?”
She angrily bangs her bat against a piece of showpiece table just on the entrance of her shop in annoyance and said piece of furniture breaks into several pieces
Steve has to gulp at that, not even caring about the kind of language being used in front of his kids. Bucky’s words bounce around his brain as reassurance
They will learn them eventually
All he cares for right now is getting away from this scary lady. With Adrenaline shooting through his vessels, his fight or flight response slanting more towards the flight, he steps ahead to scoop Lana up and make a run towards his car before the young girl raises a hand at him
“He’s the former Captain America” she says and then turns to him, winking “And he needs your help, Mam”
Lana proudly reaches for her father’s hand and pulls him close and he curses all those moments where he would boast about his reach in front of the kids. When he would talk about his alien fighting days and the super hero stuff while you would murmur about him being a showoff under your breath.
You did mention there was a reason you never showed off your skills in front of the children. You did warn him those would come back to hit him in the ass. And it clearly seems like the hit is gonna be from a baseball bat swung at him by an old Lady.
He clears his throat, trying to decide words that would suit the situation but words seem to have run away in fear too.
Sam once told him how he couldn’t just shut up even when there were literal aliens in the process of attack. Funny how all it took was an angry old lady with a baseball bat to Shut him up. Sam is gonna have a blast.
Steve makes a mental note to bribe the two witnesses not to utter a single word of this to either Sam or Bucky if he makes it out of here alive.
“We need the glass of the table we purchased from you” Lana takes charge when she realizes her father was no use at the moment. A feeling of embarrassment sweeps in when he realizes he was pushing his daughter ahead in the battle field but in this moment he was okay with that. The enemy seems to not interested in attacking her.
“What?”
“Maam” he clears his throat and steps forward, offering his hand to the old lady who does not take it, his hand keeps hanging in the air as he introduces himself “I’m Steve Rogers”
The old lady nods in acknowledgement before bringing her bat up and moving it towards Steve’s still out stretched hand. He winces, preparing himself for the blow and images of his 8th grade teacher using a scale to hit his hand as punishment for the fight he had with Alvin Matthews flashes through his brain
He flinches as the bat touches his hand but there is no attack, instead the lady uses the bat to make Steve put his hand back down on his side which he promptly does
“What'da ya want from me?”
She asks, her eyes narrowed as she crosses her arms, the bat still in her hand and Steve finds himself telling her the entire story. No details missed. By the time he is finished with his story, Max has made his way to stand besides his father and the old lady gestures for them to enter her shop
“Its cold outside”
Steve did not realize the existence of the cold pre-winter air that swooshes through the night until the lady mentions it and after that he can only look over at his children who have been wearing their coats and caps and feels a little relief. Only a little.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were cold” he fusses, rubbing his hands together and touching them on both the kids’ faces one by one to provide a little warmth
Both make faces and try to move away from his fussing self as they follow the lady deeper into the shop
“Stop it dad” Max whines as he continues to fuss “Its not even snowing, its not that cold”
Steve shakes his head but before he can say anything else the old lady comes back out from where she had gone somewhere inside the shop carrying three cups of something on her tray.
A closer look and a sniff through his nose and he knows its hot chocolate.
“Oh no no” Steve shakes his head “You didn’t have to do that”
The old lady turns to glare at Steve and he effectively shuts up as he watches Lana excitedly grab a cup and Max grabbing one too but not mirroring his sister’s excitement
He looks over at Steve in worry being smart enough to know taking things from strangers and drinking them is the stupidest thing you can do
His daughter on the other hand seems to have forgotten every single thing he had taught her and he grits his teeth before Lana can take a sip. Scary old Lady or not he is not gonna risk his children’s safety
“Lana” he says sternly warning her against going ahead and drinking the thing with his eyes but before he can say any further the old woman interrupts him
“I haven’t mixed anything in it but I get your concern” she picks up the third cup of hot chocolate and sits down on the antique looking chair behind her, taking a sip of the drink “That is why I didn’t bring you one”
She keeps sipping from her cup as Steve looks at her in shock, still not sure about what was going on
“Well your dear wife got the table custom made”
“What?”
“She could not decide on one so we sat together and browsed through designs before she chose one”
“Browsed through designs?” Steve is completely perplexed “I thought she found the perfect table here”
“That is what Mom told you” Lana mutters, still holding onto her cup to absorb its warmth in her hands “She said she didn’t want to have to deal with you telling her how expensive having custom made things is when you yourself have millions of updates developed into your car”
Steve stares at his daughter before turning to look at the old lady, then back to his daughter then to Max
“And you knew too?”
“Oh no no no” Max shakes his head vigorously then points at his sister “She did”
Steve turns back to his daughter
“I went with Mom to pick up the table, she tried to hide it from me but the tempo guy let it slip
"And you didn’t think to tell me” Steve finds himself growing more and more irritated with the situation at hand. It was seeming that his marriage had more secrets than he thought.
“I promised Mom not to tell”
“And?”
Lana looks down at the floor as she mumbles
“She bought me those blue tooth ear plugs for my silence”.
Max gasps as Steve just shakes his head. Why was he not shocked
“I knew it” Max points at his sister, his eyes wide “I knew she didn’t just buy you those, I had been asking her for them for months before she got a pair for me!”
“Well she did get you a pair” Lana crosses her arms
“After begging her for months!”
“Then start finding black mail material against them, its really effective, you know” Lana tells him proudly “Remember the expensive cover for my phone, I got it when dad dropped the box that contained the Expensive China and broke every single plate before going to the store and Buying the exact same plates”
Steve looks down at his feet as all eyes turn to him, Max’ wide with shock and the old lady’s shining in amusement. The old Lady lets out a laugh
“Great marriage you got going there”
Steve whips his head to look up at her and shakes his head
“No-No we don’t- Always-” Scary old lady or not he was not gonna let anyone say anything bad about his marriage or wife.
“I know” she nods her head in understanding, a smile still on her lips “Just little secrets, every marriage has them”
Steve nods hid head, trying not to thing about his daughter and the black mailing techniques they have unknowingly taught her. What the hell were they doing? Bribing a little girl with stuff she wanted to keep things from each other? That needed to stop. But how the hell was he gonna bring up the topic?
A thought flashes through his mind just then that has his entire body shaking, petrified.
Were you guys bad parents?
Was this the thing he was afraid of from the start? That he in fact was spoiling his daughter.
But before he could drown more and more in his thoughts, the old lady speaks again
“So yeah, I don’t got the glass you need, it was hand carved into. I myself delicately put it together, its gonna take me at least a few days to make an exact same one”
Steve shakes his head and shoots her a grateful smile. They did not have days, it was mere hours before you got home and found out.
He turns to look at his son who seems so dejected, Steve feels his heart sting from the pain of having hurt his son. He knows how much Max did not want to be the one that disappoints you and even though he knows you would never be disappointed in him he still wanted to be the one that found a solution. His son was like him in this matter. Even if you had found out it was a new piece of glass, it still would be after Max had found a solution.
Not wanting his son to feel this way was one of the major reason he even agreed to this operation
He moves to take Max in a hug before Lana pipes in again
“Uncle Tony has one”
“What?”
“When you decided to build the table yourself, uncle Tony came here to have an exact same designed piece made”
Steve”s eyes were wide as his lips pressed in a thin line. Who the hell did Tony think he was? Rage. Red hot rage was what he was felling right now and Tony better have his suit handy because Steve was in the mode to start another Civil war.
Max runs towards Lana in excitement, his father forgotten
“Seriously? Uncle Tony is the best!”
Steve grits his teeth and turns to the old lady who nods her head
“Tony Stark did come to my shop to get an exact replica made but I thought he wanted it for himself”
“Tony” Steve angrily whispers to himself, ignoring the celebration that his children were having “Where does he get off huh?”
“Uncle Tony saved us Dad” Max runs back to him and his jaw ticks “Now we can go and ask for his help”
Steve shakes his head but turns to the old lady
“I’m sorry for the trouble we caused you this time of the night” he digs in through his pocket and pulls out a twenty dollar bill, placing it on the table in front of him “We’ll see ourselfs out”
“Hey you didn’t but anything” the lady stands up “I can’t accept this”
“Please do, for the unwanted night duty and” turns nods towards the broken table by the entry gate “you know that-”
“No no, that is a fake”
Steve knits his eyebrows together
“I only have it for showpiece. Your wife said I could easily scare you the last time she was here so I was trying it out”
“She what?” Steve’s mouth is now wide open
“Yeah she told me next time she would bring you with her and that we would try this out”
Lana is laughing from where she is far left of him
“She did”
“I can’t believe this”
“Also I was the one that told your daughter to bang on my door whenever she needs me, I didn’t think she would actually do it but I was the one that told her that, I cannot accept this”.
Steve shakes his head at her before looking at his daughter who gives him a cheeky smile
God his children were gonna be the death of him
———————————————-
Procuring the perfect piece of glass this close to midnight was harder than Steve ever thought. One that was exactly the same as in the background of the picture of Aiden showing off his new shoes was even harder.
In Steve’s defense, there was not a single photo of only the table that he could find. This was the only picture that actually gave visibility to the table. What is with his family and covering up the entire frame while getting their pictures clicked? Can’t they just stand at a side so the furniture gets visibility too? And what kind of people don’t click pictures of their furniture? Especially the ones that are at risk of getting broken. Steve would have to remember all these points for the future.
The children trailing behind him as he embarks on his man hunt asking why they just couldn’t go to Uncle Tony was not making it any easier then it already was.
Fuck Uncle Tony
Steve was close. Very very close. Close to bust out and just say those words in front of his children after every:
“But Uncle Tony already has it”
“Why are we not going to Uncle Tony”
“Uncle Tony got the exact thing made”
That is why. He wanted to scream but would just shake his head and move forward, not letting his children see the angry look on his face and the clench of his jaw.
A part of him knew he would ultimately have to go to Tony. He was too deep in this now. Maybe if he had decided to tell you the truth you may have even laughed it off and gone to the old lady and ordered a new piece of glass.
But no. No no no. He had to be the hero. The savior for his kids. He wanted to fucking show them that their father knew how to get things done.
He wanted them to trust him with this so they could trust him in the future when they are in bigger problems. Was that so much to ask?
When the last shop that was open - because Steve refused to let Lana do the door beating thing again- said no. Steve knew there was no other choice.
And so here he was. All alone because he knew how this was gonna go and having Tony tease him was one thing. Having the kids watch Tony make fun of him was another. He was not gonna let that happen.
So with a promise to get the mission to completion at any condition to his hopeful children outside the door of his house he took another route.
He sighs as he stands outside Stark’s lab waiting for him to emerge out with what is needed.
Don’t get him wrong. Tony and him have long let go of all their differences and Tony was even the one who helped Steve get away with the Avenging life style and have a safe place for his and Sam and Bucky’s family near to where Tony lived close to the Avengers Compound.
It was more because of the memory where Tony had made fun of him when the The ex- Captain had declared he was very capable of building up the table from the pieces that came in a box without any help.
Tony had laughed while you had tried to control the smile from taking over as you tried to remind him how bad he was at these things.
Now Steve is not one of those people that lets his ego and superiority complex make his decisions. But Steve was also the person who gets his ego hurt easily. And so he had been the one to build the table.
Showing off was a huge thing he did after that and Tony had had enough of it. So him coming to Tony for help fixing said table that had in fact been defectively put together was something that was hitting hard at his ego.
But that’s what being a parent meant right? Making stupid compromises. Because those damn kids just put him in his place. Even though they may be doing it unknowingly. Which he seriously doubts.
Tony’s laugh sounds as he emerges out of his lab with a perfectly cut out piece of glass following after him on some robotic trolley or something.
“Well Cap” Tony says, dusting his hands together “You are lucky I had an inclination something like this would happen and had the exact piece of glass in my lab, just needed to resize it”
Steve takes a deep breath
You promised your son
He has to mentally remind himself why he had to do this
“So lets fix up your colossal screw up shall we?”
You love your children. You should not break promises you made to them. Max looks up to you as his father. You can’t let him down.
His jaw clenches as he just nods his head towards a smirking Tony and moves to pick the piece up.
“Wait Cap. My robo here will deliver it” Tony nods at the robotic trolley as it moves forward “I would be there myself to make sure you don’t screw it up again but its almost Morgan’s bedtime and I gotta read her a story, don’t want her to feel left out now that the new baby is here”
Steve nods his head, giving a small smile at the mention of the kids’ name but before he can ask about them or Pepper, Tony opens his obnoxious mouth
“Don’t worry, my robo is high tech. He will fix the table so you don’t cause a disaster again”
Lana would be so upset if you don’t do this
He closes his eyes and follows the robo as it proceeds towards Steve’s house.