Monica, My Dearest...

May 9, 2026

Monica, my dearest,

 Your charity Limbs of Love launched today. Your past half decade of work is finally going to start yielding results as the first candidates of the charity are beginning the process of receiving their own bionic prosthetic.

 Even though you have lacked the knowledge of your own prosthetic limb, you created your own to be able to give to children and adult amputees, which is probably a good thing. Your prosthetic isn't exactly the cheapest replacement and it would be unnecessary to give ordinary humans such a high-tech piece of equipment. Also, the operation that implants the base to the amputated limb is excruciatingly painful and almost cruel to offer that to children and victims. Your own base is quite simpler and won't require such a fusion to the body. Do not mistake my words here, just because your charitable version of the Bio-Pros is not as specialized as my own (the one made for you and Bucky) does not mean that it isn't nice. It is the most advanced prosthetic available for the general market today, decades ahead of the modern medical world's at least. You created your own patented layer of plastic and metal, making the prosthetic virtually indestructible and cutting the costs down to a fraction, meaning Limbs of Love will be able to stretch every dollar to cover more people in need.

 What you have done, what you are doing is truly incredible, Mon. You have taken a people group that truly struggles and is usually overlooked by the medical community and given them the opportunity to simply live better lives. You know better than anyone how inconvenient it is to not have a prosthetic you can rely on, and using that you have reached out to millions of people across the globe. You got your first taste of running a business and life outside of the world of a secret agent. You took on your first job in the business industry and it is a booming success. Whereas I hired a new staff to run my charity, you were involved in every step and continue to be the key spokesman of the organization. We had many talks about Limbs of Love, since I am the business expert here and you originally needed help starting and getting connections. Each time I would get a glimpse of just how passionate you are about the cause. I don't blame you; it's an issue very close to your heart and affects you every day. I am just so damn proud of you and I have earnestly enjoyed watching you and standing with you through every step of this journey.

 Other than me, Pep, and Alex, your other biggest supporter has been Bucky. Again, this isn't a surprise since he is just as close to the problem as you are. He has stayed up a few nights with you to be a second opinion when you had to pick out the web page, logo, and all the design artwork for your organization. He has kept you company in both the lab and office when you were trying to create your own bionic prosthetic (not as easy as I make it look, huh?) or replying to an inbox full of email. Bucky never let you become discouraged when you ran into a hiccup, for he understood how important what you were doing was and will be. He was fully aware that amputees are victims to an unfortunate fate outside of their fault. Since he personally lacked the ability to aid those people himself, he poured all of his support into helping you. You even got Bucky to give a small testimony at the opening/welcoming of the first wave of Limbs of love candidates today. I know I've said it before, but I guess with you as the new amputee and Bucky as the newly adjusting Winter Soldier set you two up with a bond no one else could of had.

 Sidetracking from Limbs of Love, you just past your 5 month mark! I go weeks without seeing you sometimes and each time I swear your stomach doubles in size each time. Oh, you also recently found out that little Baby Matthews is a girl! This also means I lost a bet with Natasha; I was so sure it was going to be a boy. You win some, you lose some, oh well. I think the three names circulating around are Louise, Jaime, and Aubrey. Jaime was Bucky's suggestion, but I think it's really only between Louise and Aubrey. I personally am rooting for Louise, but I already lost the gender contest, so what do I know?

 What I do know is that you are off to the races with Limbs of Love and you are healthily glowingly pregnant with a baby girl. To see you taking time away from the field and focusing on more domestic success makes me happier than seeing you thrive in the field. You are building up yourself, your own life. You are giving yourself a world outside of Iron Defender. As your father, I feared you would spend all of your years investing in the affairs of everyone else and lose the time to focus on your personal life. I know you won't be away from S.H.I.E.L.D. forever, but just long enough to remind yourself that you are more than an agent and that you are capable of helping people by ways other than putting your life on the line.