chapter nineteen
there will never be another you

𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐊 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐀 woman who let very few people into her life. Raised with an emotionally abusive father following her mother's death, she learned to keep her feelings and thoughts to herself. She never wanted to burden others with her thoughts, figuring they would have better things to do with their life than listen to her nonsense complaints.

But there were two people who always seemed able to make Grace say what was on her mind: Peggy Carter and Steve Rogers.

Peggy was standing outside of Grace's tent while the young brunette was working on one of her designs. She had been unnaturally quiet all day. She was always quiet, but she hardly talked to anybody, she only nodded when someone spoke to her and she avoided people at all costs.

"Has she spoken to you yet?" Peggy turned around and saw Steve and Bucky walking toward her. "She's still inside?"

"She hasn't left in hours," Peggy replied with a sigh, peeking inside the tent to see Grace sitting on her bed with her sketchbook open in front of her. "I thought she would have left to speak to Colonel Phillips by now, but he said she missed their meeting."

"Why are you both so concerned?" Bucky asked, furrowing his brow. "Maybe she's just not feeling very sociable today."

Peggy shook her head. "You don't understand, Gracie is the most punctual human being I've ever met. And this job is too important to her for her to miss a meeting with Colonel Phillips. Something's wrong."

"Have you asked Howard?" Steve asked, glancing at the brunette inside the tent. "Maybe he can try and talk to her."

"Do you really think that's a good idea?" Bucky replied with a frown. "Just yesterday she had a meltdown and was shouting at him."

Peggy nodded. "I agree with Sergeant Barnes," she said, letting out a breath. "Howard might just make matters worse." She looked at Steve. "You should talk to her."

"Why me?"

Bucky rolled his eyes. "Oh, I don't know," he said sarcastically. "Maybe because you like her and she trusts you. Don't argue with me, you know it's true. Now get in there and comfort the woman!"

"Geez... okay." Steve walked inside the tent, knocking on the table on the way and Grace looked up from her bed. "Hi."

Peggy and Bucky shared a smile before walking away. "That was easier than I thought it would be."

"Speak for yourself," Bucky contradicted, shaking his head. "I swear... I'm doing more of the work than he is sometimes."

"Hi," Grace replied, looking back down at her sketchbook. "Was there something you needed? Something wrong with some of the weapons?"

"Um, no," he said, sitting on the chair next to her bed while she continued her design. "You didn't show up for your meeting with Colonel Phillips and we were a little worried."

Grace shook her head. "That wasn't today." She looked up at him, eyes wide. "Was it today?" He nodded slowly and sighed. "Damn it..."

"Are you okay?" he asked and she glanced at him. "Nobody has seen you all day. Peggy hasn't stopped pacing out of worry."

"She doesn't need to worry," she said before getting off her bed and walking over to the table full of spare machinery. "Just not a lot on my mind."

"You know you can tell me anything that's bothering you, right?" Steve asked, following her over to the table. She looked over her shoulder at him and nodded with a soft smile.

"I know."

"Ma'am?"

Grace looked up from her computer and saw a man in a suit standing next to her table, looking at her.

"Um... hi?"

The man scratched the back of his neck. "I, uh, I noticed you from my table." She glanced behind him at the table where he was presumably with one of his friends. "I thought I would come and say hi."

Grace nodded, leaning forward on her elbows. "And how much did your friend dare you to come and talk to me?"

"Um..."

Grace pursed her lips just as her phone buzzed and she read a text from her nephew. "My word of advice is if you want a woman to be interested in you, you have to be interested in her first." She put away her computer in her bag and stood up. "And don't talk to them because of a dare. It's unattractive."

⸻ ~~~ ⸻

"𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐒 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐊, 𝐓𝐎𝐍𝐘 𝐈𝐒 downstairs in his lab," Pepper said once Grace had walked into the large house. "And he's been asking for you. Nonstop."

"I don't know whether to be honored or nervous," Grace chuckled before seeing the man in the living room. "Obadiah, I didn't know you would be here today. Did you just get back from New York? Did it go well with the board?"

"Just a few hours ago. It went as well as it could," he replied with a nod. "Should I save you some pizza?"

Grace nodded. "Of course you should. I thought you knew me better than to ask that question." She smiled softly before walking down the stairs toward her nephew's lab. "Okay, Tony, you summoned me. What is it?"

"Aunt Gracie!" he exclaimed and she turned to see him with parts of metal on his body making her narrow her eyes in confusion. "Look what I can do. I finally figured it out!"

"Figured what out?" she asked, crossing her arms. Before she could say or do anything else, Tony pressed a button on his suit and flew straight into the wall. Grace flinched at the impact just as his robot, Dummy, put out any flames.

Tony jumped up from the ground and looked at his aunt. "So... what do you think?" he asked and she pursed her lips.

"I think... that I am going to take back what I said last week. You are exactly like Howard," she said, walking over to him and looking him over for injuries. "What on earth are you doing? I thought you were done making weapons. You gave me a whole speech about how our company has been doing more harm than good."

"It isn't a weapon," he replied, shaking his head, feeling a little insulted. "It's a suit. And it's gonna fly."

Grace nodded slowly. "So... you're making a suit that has jets and can fly and crash into walls?"

"Well, the crashing into walls part shouldn't have happened," he muttered, scratching the back of his neck. "But what do you think?"

Grace sighed and shrugged. "I don't know what to think. I mean... you're trying to fly. All I've seen is you crash into walls. Is there an end goal for this?"

"I want to help people, Aunt Gracie," Tony said, starting to pace. "I'm not doing any good just sitting behind a desk at Stark Industries. I need to be out there... doing things." He turned to look at her. "You know how you and Dad would tell me stories about Steve Rogers?" She nodded, leaning against the desk. "Well, I don't want to be exactly like him. His suit was ridiculously patriotic."

"Hey!" Grace frowned. "I made that uniform. And that was the point."

"But anyway, I want to help people like he did," Tony continued and she let out a breath. "I just have to figure it out first."

Grace nodded. "I'm proud of you, little penguin. I just have two requests for you."

"Yeah?"

"Don't get yourself killed, and acknowledge that Pepper wants to come inside," she said, gesturing to the door of the lab before letting the strawberry-blonde woman inside. "If either of you need me, I will be eating the best pizza in this country while trying to forget about the man who was dared to ask me on a date."

"A what?" Tony asked, looking at her as she walked away. "What do you mean you were asked on a date? Aunt Gracie! I do not want an uncle this late in life!"

⸻ ~~~ ⸻

𝐇𝐎𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐃 𝐀𝐋𝐖𝐀𝐘𝐒 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐄𝐃 𝐇𝐈𝐌𝐒𝐄𝐋𝐅 that he would protect his little sister from any dangers the world threw at her and by the age of eighteen, he had broken his promise. Both to himself and to Grace. When Grace was sixteen years old, she watched with tearful eyes as her brother packed his suitcase and left their small apartment in the middle of the night. Despite her many pleas to take her with him to Europe, he closed the front door and never looked back.

As much as Grace wished she could forget the next two years of her life, she couldn't. Her father would come home late after a night of drinking and she often had to barricade her bedroom door to keep him from entering.

On the occasion that he was able to force open the door, Grace blacked out, trying to block out the horrors she faced at the hands of her father. Every letter sent to Howard, once again pleading with him to get her out of the house, was left unanswered and her hopes continued to disappear. As horrible as it sounded, the only way she would be free was when her father died which came when she was eighteen years old and by that point, Howard had finally replied to one of her letters and arranged for her to join in Europe. But it was too late by then.

Grace awoke with a start and looked around at her dark tent. The occasional bright light from a tank outside would illuminate the interior. She wrapped a shawl around her body and slipped on a pair of shoes, deciding to take a walk to try and fall back asleep. Usually whenever she woke up, she could never fall back asleep and she would often be found working on her inventions in the early hours of the morning.

She closed the tent behind her and tightened the shawl around her shoulders before looking around at the dark Army base. She walked in a random direction before realizing she was standing outside of Steve's tent.

Pursing her lips, she quietly opened the tent and heard soft snores from Bucky who was sprawled out on his bed. Across from him, Steve's back was turned from the entrance and she silently crept over to him.

He looked so peaceful, she thought to herself before figuring it was creepy to watch him sleep. She slipped off her shoes and laid down next to him, his slow breathing making her feel calm. When Steve turned over, he saw Grace sound asleep beside him. Without questioning it, he wrapped an arm around her waist and she shifted onto his chest.

It was the best night's sleep Grace had had in years.

⸻ ~~~ ⸻

an: I've missed my love bugs so
I had to do a flashback.

Anyways, I've been doing some
thinking and I want an opinion:
should I include a few characters
from Agents of SHIELD?

Because Grace was/is a founder
so I feel like she would know
the agents. They don't exactly
participate in Avengers activities
but I have in between the movies
to write too

Anyway, let me know your opinions <3