Steve Rogers has a little sister, Norma Grace Rogers, who became an Army nurse during the war. Captured in Italy, Grace is taken by HYDRA, unbeknownst to Steve and Bucky. They find her frozen in a forgotten HYDRA outpost 70 years later, her memory g...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
With everyone out enjoying their weekend, Steve and Bucky decided to introduce (well, reintroduce) Grace to movies. They started a favorite of Bucky's before the war, The Mark of Zorro, then they watched Steve's ever-popular The Wizard of Oz.
By then, it was nearly time for lunch, so Steve decided to reheat the spaghetti left over from the night before and gave his sister a generous portion, remembering she had hardly eaten anything last night or that morning. When he set a plate of steaming pasta in front of Grace, she just looked at it while Steve and Bucky began eating.
"It's okay; it's good," Bucky encouraged, covering for Grace because he knew HYDRA would have trained her not to touch any food until they gave her permission to eat, even if she was starving. Grace picked up her fork and tried to scoop some up, but the pasta slipped off her fork. She tried two more times, but the saucy noodles just kept sliding off.
"Stevie, how you eat this?" she finally asked in frustration. Buck had to chuckle at the look on her face. She appeared to be torn between annoyance at the slippery pasta and fascination with the unfamiliar food. Steve showed her how to twirl the noodles around her fork and eat the spaghetti properly. Grace picked up on it quickly and had no further mishaps. When she finally got a bite in her mouth, her eyes lit up with appreciation.
"Like it?" Steve asked, a barely noticeable note of nervousness in his voice. Grace had always been an amazing cook, so when he cooked for her, he always hoped he had not messed it up.
Grace enthusiastically nodded in answer to his question. Steve smiled in relief but had to blink back the tears pricking his eyes when he remembered she was the reason he had the spaghetti recipe in the first place. After seventy years, they were finally sitting down to their first homemade Italian dinner together. Their first meal together since Grace shipped out.
"You okay, Stevie?" Grace asked when he fell quiet.
"Yeah," he nodded. "I was just thinking."
"That's a dangerous pastime, Steve," Bucky quipped.
"I know," Steve shook his head. "I was just realizing that this is our first real meal together since the war."
"Steve, Schatten, and Bucky ate together?"
"Yeah." Steve's smile grew bittersweet; he was the only one who could really appreciate the moment. Bucky and Grace were still trying to remember.
"I came over a lot on weekends, right?" Bucky asked.
"That's right," Steve nodded.
"You cook often?" Grace asked.
"Actually, you did most of the cooking, Grace," he answered.
"I cook?"
"Yes, Ma taught you."
"Schatten not remember. Did I...do well?"
Steve reached over and squeezed her hand gently. "You were the best, Gracie."
Kudos to the person who catches the Disney reference in this chapter. ;) Please leave your thoughts and suggestions in the comment section; they are my inspiration!
