Two months after Endgame/four months before The Falcon and the Winter Soldier
Nia glared at her brother as she said, "Jamie, you do that one more, I'll burn you to a crisp."
"You'd have to catch me first, Stephanie," Jamie taunted.
"Argh!" She lunged at him, causing both to fall to the ground.
Delia pulled Nia up and moved her back. "Nia, Jamie, that is enough! You two are adults! It's time for you to start behaving as such."
Nia scoffed. "I'm sorry we're not the perfect adults, mother. We were raised in Soviet captivity for almost 70 years and kept on ice for most of it, so you don't get to tell us how to act. You weren't fucking there to raise us!"
"No, I wasn't, and that's my biggest regret. If I could change what happened to any of us, I would. But things don't always-"
"Oh, don't give me the 'life isn't always fair' speech. I don't want to hear it."
"Nia, please."
"Mom, just don't, okay? I needed you and you weren't there!"
"I didn't have a choice, Stephanie!"
"That is bullshit! You left me and Jamie!"
"No, I didn't." Her voice wavered. "I didn't leave you or your brother."
Nia scoffed. "Yeah. Sure."
"I was on my way home to you two when I was captured by what I now know to be HYDRA."
Nia's gaze softened slightly. "What?"
"They followed me from where I was working and took me. I wanted to get back to you two. I didn't want to leave my nearly three-year-old son or my baby girl."
Nia's voice shook. "Why didn't you tell me or Jamie? Why didn't you fucking tell us?!"
Delia walked closer to Nia and hugged her. Nia returned her mother's hug, clinging desperately to her.
"I'm sorry, Mom," Nia whispered.
"You didn't know," Delia replied softly.
"I love you."
"I love you too."
Jamie smiled lightly and frowned as he looked at his hand. "You burned me, Nia."
Nia pursed her lips with an apologetic look before saying, "Sorry."
"Are we okay?" Delia asked.
Nia nodded. "Yeah, we're good. We're good."
YOU ARE READING
Begrudging Friends // TFATWS
ActionFive years and six months after everyone dusted returns, daily life is still trying to get back to normal. And a group of radicals who feel life was better during the Blip certainly doesn't help. One has yet to take up the mantle given by its pred...
