"You're telling me that you got Captain America-the War Hero, Steve Rogers-to become best friends with a thirteen-year-old kid? What, is this supposed to slowly introduce him to how irritating Generation Z is? Project Training Wheels or something?"
...
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☆
Elizabeth Carter, for the first time ever, beat Sharon Carter in a race around National Mall, and she could not be more indifferent about it. The celebratory boasting that Sharon had been expecting never came, and Lizzie barely noticed that she'd even beat her sister until she glanced over her shoulder to see her falling behind. Cue hint number four-hundred and fifty-six that there was something going on with Lizzie, still. Sharon had tried everything, but there was still a little raining, dark cloud over her head. Her usual humor was just empty, sarcastic remarks and Sharon was unsure of what else she could do.
They were on their walk back to the apartment, the Monday morning bleary and slow to wake across the entire city. Their start time was later today―eight o'clock instead of five-thirty―because Sharon had decided to take a sick day for the two of them (no, S.H.I.E.L.D. did not exactly have 'sick' days unless you were shot or dying, but one short explanation to Fury and they were cleared). So they picked up the routine that Steve left Lizzie with―walk to the Mall, run, head to Liberty Cafe, and then head back to the apartment complex to get ready for their day. Except something threw a wrench in their already piss-poor day when Lizzie received a text message from their mother.
"I'm disgusted. I hate them."
"Lizzie, they're our family—"
"No, they're abominations to our bloodline. Why is Ma insisting that they come down here to D.C. too? I can guarantee you Aunt Peggy would rather deal with assassins than have them infest her sanitary air. You hate them. Dad hates them. Ma hates them. She called them Satan incarnates last Christmas, and now she wants us gather around a senior living home table and eat jello and dried turkey together? Absolutely not. I'd rather be burned at the stake. Let Tituba curse me. It's better than seeing the demon spawns awaken to burn Earth to the ground and use us as human piñata sticks to do it."
Lizzie loved her family. They were her favorite people on Earth, and there was absolutely nothing in the world that she would not do for them if they asked for it. At least, on her Dad's side. She had been blessed with a medium-size family thanks to her Aunt Peggy having two kids, both of whom gave Sharon and Lizzie a total of nine cousins altogether. All of them were spread across continents (besides Grandma Ruthie), so the only time that they really got to see each other was over FaceTime or at their annual family reunion every three years. Last year, it was in London. However, her love stopped on her dad's side.
