𝟭𝟵𝟰𝟱
"Congratulations Ms Carter. You are pregnant!" Peggy stared at the doctor blankly for a minute.
"N-no, no! That can't be right. I've just got a stomach bug, right?" She said, slightly panicked.
"No, dear. You're very much pregnant, in fact, you're five weeks along!" The doctor exclaimed. "I'll leave you alone for a minute to process the information."
As the doctor left Peggy places her hand on her stomach, tears appearing in her eyes. This wasn't how it was meant to go. She rubbed her thumb up and down, now noticing a slight bump.
"Why Steve? Why did it have to be this way?" She choked out to the empty and silent room.
𝟭𝟵𝟱𝟱 - 𝗧𝗲𝗻 𝗬𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗟𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿
"Uncle Howard!" A ten year old girl with dirty blonde hair and green-blue eyes makes her way towards the middle aged man.
"Hey my little Casserole!" Howard Stark opens his arms for a hug, pulling the soon-to-be ten year old closer. "Are you excited for your birthday tomorrow? Your mom said that you'll be spending the day with me and Maria, hope that's okay."
Cassie frowned at the fact that, once again, she would not be spending her birthday with her mother. "Not that I'm not happy to be spending time with you and auntie Maria but why can't mom make it this time?" Cassie asked a little sadly.
"She has a meeting. Sorry kiddo." Howard ruffled her hair slightly.
"Of course, is that another cover up for the fact that she is spending the day with Daniel again?" Howard frowned at the fact that Cassie, once again, wouldn't be with her mother because she had a date.
"Possibly, she wouldn't say." Cassie sighed. "Look on the bright side! Maybe I can convince Maria that we can take you to the carnival!" At that, Cassie's smile slowly crept up her face.
"Ooh! Really? Can you do that?!" Cassie squealed.
"I'll give it a go." Howard reassured her.
Cassie's eyes gleamed at the thought, maybe the day would go better than she thought.
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗡𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗗𝗮𝘆
The next day Cassie got up early and made her way downstairs in complete silence, her mother bidding her a quiet 'good morning'. Finally after what felt like forever, Cassie was on her way to her Uncle Howard's.
She was walking there because her mother had to speed off somewhere and her boyfriend, Daniel Sousa, was driving her. Apparently they didn't have time to drop her off.
In the end it had turned out to be the best birthday ever for Cassie. They had spent the morning doing one of her favourite things, spending time with Howard in the lab. And then in the afternoon she had spent time with Maria doing and talking about girly things. Then to end off the already perfect day, Howard and Maria has taken Cassie to the carnival.
Just as Howard and Maria we're tucking Cassie in, in her own bed although her mother wasn't home yet, she looked up at the adults and smiled.
"Thank you for such an amazing day." Cassie said through a yawn.
"It was our pleasure. You're like a daughter to us, we wanted to make this day as special as we could." Maria commented.
"I hope you know-" Cassie yawned again. "You guys are like parents to me. I love you guys." Cassie's eyes drooped and she fell asleep, leaving Howard and Maria to look at her fondly before each kissing her forehead and heading home.
A couple of hours later Cassie woke up. She looked outside the window that was next to her bed, wondering what in the world had woken her from such a peaceful sleep. Then she heard a noise. Footsteps getting closer to her bedroom door. She frowned. They didn't click like they would if they were here mothers high heels but they were too quiet to be her mothers boyfriend, Daniel's footfalls.
Just then her window smashed, sending glass flying everywhere as a man in all black comes shooting though. Cassie pushes herself as far away from the man as she could, he was, after all, holding a gun.
The door to her bedroom opened and two more men in black came through. The one who came through the window approached her, making her hunch even further back.
As he reaches out a hand to touch her cheek she bit down on it. Hard. The man scowled at her, slapping her on her cheek as a few droplets of blood dripped onto the floor. She whimpered, holding onto her stinging cheek.
"Who are you guys?" She whispered in slight fear.
Before she could react one of the other men plunged a needle into her arm, making her feel drowsy.
The last words she heard were, "Hail Hydra."