Exception to the rules // Steve Rogers // (1)

~ The lost love ~

I woke up screaming into my pillow gripping the blankets that were wrapped around me like a cocoon until I was sure my knuckles were white, every night since I woke up, nearly three months ago now I had been having these awful dreams, whether it was me back at war fighting alongside the howling commandos or situations that had never happened like the dream I had just had. The screamed subsided but My body was still shaking.

I was trapped in my own mind completely unaware of my surrounding just replaying the dream over and over again, that I didn't even realise someone enters my room not until I felt a hand on my shoulder. I jumped spinning around and consequently getting even more tangled up in the blankets, just to see Clint crouched down next to my bed his worried eyes searching mine "you alright Dorothy?" He was concerned.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine. Just a bad dream, don't want to talk about it" I untangled myself and stood up stretching "how do people even sleep in these beds anyway, there like marshmallows" I did changing the subject.

"Different from what you grew up with then?" Clint asked as we went into the kitchen, I was thankful he didn't push the subject of my bad dream any further.

"Completely, I might try and sleep on the floor with some blankets tonight see if that changes anything" I made myself and Clint a cup of coffee each before sitting opposite him on the island stool. As I looked around the apartment I noticed my firmed head friend missing "no nat today?"

"Not today, of for the next couple of weeks" I raised an eyebrow at him to explain further "nat got called away on a mission, she'll be gone a couple of months so you're stuck with me" he gave me the biggest shit-eating grin that I had ever seen.

"Lucky me."

We sat in comfortable silence for a while, I wasn't thinking about anything in particular while Clint looked deep in thought, after ten more minutes of silence Clint abruptly sorted up, from the force his chair toppled back onto the floor "get dressed."

"Excuse me?"

"Get dressed and meet me outside in like twenty minutes. Go" I eye him as he sped out the door only to then run back in a second later pulling the chair back in "Oh and pack a bag for a couple of weeks probably" he ran back outside looking incredibly excited. After a moment's confusion I complied.

Twenty minutes later I walked out of my house into the open courtyard surrounding the rest of the houses, there parked right in the middle was what looked like a plane but it was bigger and sleeker than any I had ever seen, with Clint leaning against it "what'd you think" he held his arms open looking proud of himself.

"I'm thinking where the hell are we going?"

"It's a surprise you'll see" he took my bag from me and showed me inside, it was surprisingly bigger with two benches of seats lining each wall, and what looked like parachutes above them, Clint after putting my bag safely away sat in the pilot seat.

Hesitantly approaching I asked, "please tell me you know how to fly this."

"Of course I do, I've never crashed either. Well apart from when I've been shot down and that's rare, very, very rare" he let out a nervous chuckle "anyway aren't you the one who got on a plane being piloted by Howard stark over enemy lines while being shot at and then proceeded to jump out of said plane never having done it before and then let's not forget what you did after."

"All right point proven" I mumbled sitting in the co-pilot seat.

********************

"Why are we here" the pair of us stood before the Smithsonian, I had read about this place when I was younger but had never actually been here before.

"There's an exhibit I think you should see, I was going to bring you here when you were. Ore settled but after this morning, not that anything bad happened nothing at all, anyway moving swiftly on I thought you could do with a little comfort."

I followed him into the ancient building, ogling at the structure and as we went deeper into the building at the different exhibits as well, I wanted to explore each one we passed we yet we kept moving not stopping until we got to the Captain America exhibit, the laughter and the smile on my lips died "what?"

"They put it here a couple of years ago. If it's too much we can leave-"

"No it's okay" I cut him off walking into the exhibit. I wandered around, it was lunchtime on a Wednesday so it wasn't too crowded also meaning that hopefully I wouldn't be recognised, not that I could imagine anyone ever recognising me. As we walked around I pointed out a few inaccuracies "liars, Steve didn't fight ten hydra men at once, it was four, I was there and I took two of em down" Clint would just laugh every time I made a comment like that.

But the laughing stopped when I approached the Barnes twins memorial. Two glass information boards stood next to each other, both had a picture of me and James and the way they were positioned was so that we were facing each other. James's had the title of the fallen hero while mine read the lost love. Was that all I was, all I am the girl who loves a boy.

Dorothy Rebecca Barnes

Born in 1917, Dorothy Barnes grew up the younger of the Barnes twins. Inseparable since birth, the pair looked after each other through their lives. Shortly after her brother was shipped off Dorothy joined the army. Partnered with Peggy Carter the two became friends, a friendship lasting until her untimely death. After her brother was rescued from Nazi experiments, the Barnes twins and Steve Rogers, Captain America were reunited. Shortly after Bucky Barnes died in the line of duty. A year later Steve Rogers, the love of Dorothy's life died protecting his country. In 1946 Dorothy Barnes went missing and was never found.

1917 - 1946

"They call me the lost love but yet I never even told Steve how I felt, I never told him I loved him, I never got the chance,," I told Clint who was standing next to me.

"But you did love him," he asked.

"Yes, more than anyone, well apart from James by default" I let out a little laugh "that's the first time I've admitted that aloud and he's not even here to hear it, I'll never get the chance to tell him and it kills me" I glanced over at Bucky's memorial his read about his life as well right up to his death, but my attention was diverted to a necklace, my necklace, the one I had given to James all those years ago before he went off to war. "How did they get this" my voice was just above a whisper.

"What-Oh the necklace, as you know they searched for your brother but never found anything, the year you were pronounced dead Peggy, er sorry director carter, and the rest of the howling commandoes searched the area again, they didn't find your brother but they did find that necklace, when they opened the exhibit it was the first thing donated." My eyes stayed glued to the necklace while my right hand clutched on the J resting on my chest, with my other hand I unhooked the necklace from its perch and pocketed it "I don't think you're meant to take things from the exhibits."

I looked back at Clint "it belongs to me so technically it's not stealing just taking back what's mine."

"I don't think the cops will see it that way, so let's move on before one of us, namely you, gets arrested" he gently grabbed my arm and lead me over to a different part of the exhibit.

We stayed at the exhibit until closing, everyone was being ushered out so with a last look at the image if Steve, Bucky and I, we left.

********************

"Where are we" after another short flight, the time it took I wasn't sure we had landed, I looked out the plane window, we were at a farm, a single house stood alone in a field, with only a barn close by.

"This is a place that only a handful of people know about, one of them being Natasha, I trust you but I need to know I can trust you with this" Clint looked at me completely serious, whatever this place was meant a lot to him.

"Of course Clint."

"Good. Well then come meet my family."