Legal Affairs [Steve Rogers x Reader]

Chapter XVIII: *Confrontation*

Steve can see you shutting down the moment you turn to look. Your whole body tenses, the hand he's holding onto feels clammy.

"Who is it, sweetheart?" he asks again, thumb drawing circles on the back of your hand in what he hopes is a soothing gesture.

Your turn to him, face paler, eyes wide, and stutter, "That's my mother."

The word surprises him. In all these months, you haven't mentioned her once. When Lucas once told you she'd called him, you'd changed the subject so quickly he had barely even thought about it. If you didn't want to talk about her, who was he to ask?

Now that she's here and you're frozen, he damns himself for never even trying to. If he'd asked, if he'd been a better partner, if he knew more, he would know what to do now. Instead, he just turns his head forward and parks the car, hoping that those few seconds will grant him the wisdom he lacks now.

There's a knock on the passenger's side window, and both of you snap out of your haze and turn towards it. The woman on the other side of the glass looks a lot like you. Steve doesn't know why it surprises him, but it does. Time hasn't been kind to her, with all the wrinkles on her forehead, and, when she tries to smile, he can see a few missing teeth, while the remaining ones are yellowish, but the similarities between your features is striking. Steve doesn't get much of a chance to look at her, because, in the blink of an eye, you forcefully open the car door, making her back up hastily.

He can only see the side of your face for a split moment, but your expression looks completely and unfamiliarly blank to him. He's known you for nine months, now, and has never once been fooled by your poker face. Despite who hard you try, you wear your heart on your sleeve. That's why watching your face morph into something so neutral has him quickly unbuckling his seatbelt and stepping out of the car.

The woman's voice is raspy when she calls your name and steps towards you with her arms open, but you're quick to step to the side and dodge her hug. "What are you doing here? I thought you were in Vegas?"

"Just visiting my kids." she shrugs, her tentative smile exposing a set of wrinkles that frame her mouth like gills. Now that he's closer, though still on his side of the car, he sees how pale her skin is even though the last bit of sunlight filtered by a cloudy sky. There's an almost yellow undertone to it, in fact. He's no expert, but he can guess what caused that. Still, he tries to keep his expression as neutral as possible as he stays firmly in his spot, just in case you should need him.

You, on the other hand, are doing nothing to conceal the bitterness on your face. "Is that so? Did it ever occur to you to do that in the past four years, or did your boyfriend run out of cash?" you tilt your head, a viciousness in your tone that Steve has never heard from you, "Is he still dealing, by the way? Or did you find someone else to leech off of, now?"

The forced smile on your mother's face wavers, then finally drops. In its place there's a vicious grin, and her eyelids drop in what is supposed to be a icy glare, but it looks more like a spasm. "You're one to talk."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Steve steps forward, placing a hand on your shoulder and taking a defensive stand that dares her to say one wrong word about you.

Either she's careless or stupid, because venom spits out her poisonous mouth. "I heard all about you." she hisses, "Whoreing yourself out to rich married men, you don't get to act all high and mighty with me. We're not so different now, are we?"

Before Steve can even think of how to react, you speak up. "I am nothing like you." you say in a bitter chuckle, "I worked my ass off when you left. I raised Luke when you-"

"I'm his mother!" she shrieks, her hand raised as she steps forward.

Steve's reflexes are fast enough to grab her hand before she can lay a finger on you. He might squeeze a little too hard, but he's seeing red. "Get out of here before I-" he growls, but you interrupt him.