2018 ― Airborne
"Finally... I missed them being happy like that."

"Excited to see Uncle Bucky again?"

Katherine looked to her side to see her son had come to sit next to her on the jet. Sam was flying pilot again and everyone else was just hanging around the jet as they made their way back to Wakanda. Katherine was happy to see T'Challa again. She honestly missed him, when they met two years ago, under duress circumstances, she honestly thought the whole concept of the Black Panther and how he's the protector of a whole country was sweet, and she just wanted to learn more about the country where Steve's shield came from.

The shield he no longer had.

"Are you?" She asked him, and he nodded his head.

"Yeah, I missed him... I wonder if they gave him a new arm yet." Christian said, which made Katherine laugh.

"Well... guess we'll find out when we get there." She said, and then she smiled at her son and brought her hand up to run her fingers gently back through his hair. "You doing okay, bubba?" She asked, and he nodded his head.

"Are you?" He asked.

"Why does everyone keep asking me that?" She asked, laughing again.

"Mom... you've been alive for what, 98 years? You've been through a lot... I don't think anyone in your situation would be okay." He said, and she laughed.

"I guess you have a point. I did kill your grandfather at my own wedding... I'm sure not many moms can tell their kids that." She said, which made Christian laugh a little.

"I know you're worried about Uncle Tony... but we just have to believe he's going to be okay." He said, and Katherine smiled a little, moving her hand to rest on her cheek.

"How'd you get so wise beyond your years? You're four." She said, which made him laugh.

"I had the best parents to teach me." He said, smiling back at her. Christian leaned forward and kissed his mom on the forehead before he felt a hand on his shoulder. When they both looked up, Steve was standing there smiling at them both.

"Mind if I talk to your mom for a minute, buddy?" He asked him. Christian nodded his head, before smiling at his dad and standing up to walk away. Steve sat down where his son was and immediately grabbed his wife's hands, massaging her palms with his thumbs.

"If you're going to ask me if I'm okay, don't... because you'll be the fourth person to ask in less than a 24 hour period." She said, which made Steve laugh a little.

"Okay, then I won't ask. Are we okay?" He asked, and Katherine looked at him and frowned.

"Are we?" She asked back.

"I know the last two years have been... rough, and I'm so sorry for that." He said, and Katherine shook her head. They've just thrown themselves into doing missions, going out, and helping people to distract themselves from talking about what happened in Germany. They fought about it once, after it happened, and never brought it up again.

Everyone saw how much of a toll it took on them.

"You can't take all the blame and put it on you. I didn't have to fight." She said.

"And I could've stood down." He said.

"Maybe you just wanted to see if I really could kick your ass like I always say," Katherine said, with a small smirk on her face that made him laugh.

"I never apologized to you." He said.

"I'm the one who owes you an apology. Ultimatum's... they suck, and I shouldn't have given you one, for that, I'm so sorry." She whispered to him. Steve shook his head, bringing her hand up and kissing over her knuckles.

"I shouldn't have put you in a situation where you had to give me an ultimatum. That fight was mainly between Tony and Bucky...-" She cut him off.

"...-But I know why you stepped in. Tony would've killed him, well he would've tried. I was going to stay out of it... let Tony get his anger out, and if I was worried that he was going to get too close to killing Bucky, I would've stopped him." She said, and Steve nodded his head.

"I know... just..." Steve trailed, and Katherine nodded her head, before laying her hand down on her husband's bearded face, which she really loved.

"Even when you had no one, you had Bucky... I know. We had a lot of conversations without you between the years of 1943 and 1945." Katherine said, laughing a little, and Steve chuckled.

"Like what?" He asked.

"He just told me about your mom. You don't really talk about her, and that's fine... I never really talk about my mom either. He said after your mom died, you told him that you would be okay, you know, on your own and he told you that he knew that, but he still wasn't going to let you be alone, and that he was with you until the end of the line... just like I am." She said. Steve smiled a little at the memory before nodding his head.

"It was just hard, you know... to watch my mom die." He said, and Katherine nodded her head.

"I know the feeling." She said, and Steve nodded his head. "Listen to me, I'm not mad at you, I never was. I just...-" This time, Steve was the one who cut her off.

"...-I know... you made a promise to Howard, long before you made a promise to me, that no matter what happened, you'd always look after Tony." He said, and Katherine nodded her head, the tears coming to her eyes as she thought about Tony, lost who knows where in space.

"And now... he's stuck in space, and I don't know if I'll even get him back. He and Pepper are engaged, she's freaking out, I'm trying not to freak out. Maya's freaking out because Peter is stuck in space too. I just want everything to be okay again." She whispered. Steve pulled his wife up from her seat and brought her over to sit down on his lap so he could wrap his arms around her, and he kissed her forehead before she laid her head down on her shoulder.

"If it's one thing that we both know about Tony, it's that he can handle himself. He will be okay, and we will get him back. I'm making that promise to you. And we'll get Peter back too." He said, and Katherine nodded her head, before wrapping her arms around his torso.

"I'm sorry about your shield." She said. Tony had told Steve he didn't deserve the shield because his dad made it, so Steve left it behind. Now it was back in the government's control, as their property. Steve chuckled and shook his head, while one of his hands rubbed her back.

"I think I've done pretty well without it." He said, and Katherine shrugged her shoulders.

"Still... it was the completing asset. Hell, I miss fighting with it too." She said.

"Since when did Femme Fatales use shields?" He asked, and Katherine laughed before lifting her head so she could look at him.

"When they marry Captains who do," Katherine said back. Steve leaned in to give her a kiss, and Katherine laughed a little bit while kissing him back. She laid her hand down on his cheek, gently running her thumb across it. On the other side of the jet, Amaya saw and she nudged her brother with a smile on her face. Christian looked away from Wanda and looked at his parents with a smile on his face.

"Finally... I missed them being happy like that," Christian whispered, and Amaya nodded her head, and Wanda did too.

"Me too." She said.

"I think we all did," Natasha said to the kids, with a smile on her face.

"So, I take it this means we're good now?" Steve asked his wife, who still had a smile on her face as she ran her fingers back through his hair.

"We never stopped being good, handsome." She said, which made him smile.

"I love you, Katherine Rogers." He said. She leaned in and rested her forehead against his, a wider smile forming on his face.

"I love you too, Steve Rogers."

―

Aw how cute, don't you just love when our faves are on good terms?

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xoxo.