Lost at Sea ✔

Chapter 19

Lost at Sea

Chapter 19

Once Upon a December

     "Hold on, let me make sure I got everything," Clint ran a shaking hand through his hair. "You are telling me that Alene, your adopted sister, is Mariana Elizabeth Rogers? The daughter of our one and only Captain America," He gestured to Steve. "And you have known for a good week but didn't tell anybody? I don't know about you guys, but if I found out such important information such as that I would tell everyone as soon as possible, but you waited!"

     "She had a good reason," Tony defended Wanda. "We had more pressing matters to handle at the time and informing us of Alene's- eh...Mariana's identity could have jeopardized everything." 

     "What do we do now?" Natasha asked. No one answered, but at the same time that was an answer. No one knew what to do in this situation. There wasn't a handbook that gave them step-by-step instructions on how to deal with discovering a person you thought had died ten-years-ago is actually alive. And is currently staying in a room on the other side of the building. The ex-assassin directed her next question to the Sokovian sitting quietly in a seat. "Does she even know?"

     Wanda did not take her eyes off her hands that were fidgeting in her lap. "No, as far as I am concerned." Her voice was weak as she spoke. Vision patted the woman's forearm in an attempt to comfort her.

     "But shouldn't she be remembering soon?" Clint asked. "She is surrounded by people who watched her grow up in the short years we had her."

     "Not exactly," Vision spoke. "The human brain is a complex system. You beings have only grasped the surface of its capabilities and are nowhere near close to fully understanding how it works. And while you are thinking on the right track, in terms of triggering her memory by surrounding her in familiar surroundings or people, given her age when she was taken-"

     "She may not have any memories to remember." Sam finished his sentence. Understanding quickly dawned on the other Avengers.

     Tony took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes. "Well, poop,"

~{++}~

     It was somberly quiet in Steve Rogers' room. The only sounds were the low buzzing of the air conditioning and the sound of deep, heavy breathing. Elizabeth sat next to him on the bed, rubbing comforting circles into his back as the supersoldier held his head in his hands. The two were silently mourning. Mourning the loss they have suffered, and mourning the time they have lost with the living. His heart was squeezing and pulling. If it hurt, he didn't feel it. He couldn't, even if he wanted to. He couldn't feel anything. His whole body was numb; sparing him from feeling the ache of his broken heart.

     "There's no way you could have known it was her," Elizabeth softly said to him.

     "But I should have." His usually strong voice cracked like that of a twelve-year-old boy going through puberty. "I should have known she was my pumpkin; my precious daughter." As he spoke, his heart clenched painfully in his chest and this time he felt the pain. At that moment, he realized what his heart had known for ten long years; his daughter was alive. He now knew that every tight clench and throb of the muscle had been a signal; or a calling to him. A wrenched sob tore through his entire body like a bullet. "I abandoned her." He spoke so slowly Elizabeth barely heard him.

     "No!" The strawberry-blonde quickly said, "You did not abandon Mari."

     Steve shook his head, dismissing her words. "But I did. I didn't look for her."