Skulls and Bones ° STEVE ROGERS

( chapter thirteen )

"I don't think so," Edith mumbled, meeting Francis' shark-like smile with her own, knowing what the girl was thinking. Now that Steve was bigger, he could have his pick. Women were now interested in him because he was beautiful. Tall, blonde, muscular, the perfect man. The all-American boy, with pretty blue eyes and the friendliest smile anyone could have. Plus, he was just good. But, of course, nobody had noticed that before, except Edith. And that's why Steve had married her. "I mean, I hope not, considering I've been Edith Rogers since the day before he left for Europe."

Francis paled. Edith took pleasure in watching the colour drain from her face. Colette snorted int her tea, Connie tried to cover her laughter by pursing her lips, and Dorothy was snickering, clearly not caring about whether Francis heard it or not.

"But, I don't take it personally that you're asking me if you can try to steal my husband. I understand, he's a very attractive man."

Edith took her tea in hand and sipped it, smiling pleasantly at Francis, whose body couldn't seem to chose between being pale or blushing from embarrassment. She was glad that Francis realized that she obviously made a mistake. Edith was still kinda surprised that Francis would actually ask her if Steve loved her enough to see if she could be a homewrecker.

Edith couldn't wait for Steve to write her so she could have the address to write to. She was going to tell him about this and then warn him what he could expect now that he was a hero.

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The letter came four days later. Edith read it. And read it. And then read it once more just to make sure she was actually reading it correctly. Then, she promptly ripped the letter. First in half, then again and again and again, until it was in small pieces and she couldn't rip it up anymore. The envelope was picked up and she stared at it, at the address in the corner where she could send letters to Steve and they would make their way to him, wherever he was.

Edith wasn't able to send a letter to Steve until a week later. Every time she had sat down and tried, an almost overwhelming rage would settle in her gut, the words another woman kissed me seared in her brain. Steve had apologized, explained how as soon as he was done fumbling to find words to get her to stop flirting with him and realized that oh, she was kissing him, he had gently pushed her away and told her he was married. And Edith forgave. Of course she did. She was just angry about the fact that another woman had kissed Steve.

The only up side of that week was the water pressure seemed to be better. Other than that, Edith was miserable because she wanted to talk to Steve and hold him and have this conversation in person because it was one of those conversations. But she couldn't and with everything that had happened with Francis (who was no longer invited to the weekly tea and gossip sessions), Edith was understandably a little on edge about the whole thing.

Plus, Colette's marriage didn't seem to be suffering from the distance. In fact, it was like the distance seemed to be bringing her and her husband closer together, the two of them able to write about everything and anything and were currently planning to try and have a baby together the next time he was able to get leave.

She knew Steve loved her. Was in love with her. He wouldn't have told her otherwise. And God, she loved him so much that it hurt sometimes.

The thing that chased the rage away and let her sit down to write to Steve was the letter from Bucky she received. Apparently, Steve was a mess. He was able to function for the Generals and for the mission they had been assigned, but whenever there was downtime, he always sat glumly in the group, not offering anything to the conversation and lost in his thoughts. He was also a little bit more brutal to the Nazis than he first was, which was okay, but he was being reckless. Knowing she had made Steve suffer, even if he did deserve it a little bit, hurt Edith too.