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Marlena rubbed the sleep from her eyes and stepped out of the shower, careful not to slip and fall in her tired state. It was nearing noon, but because of not falling asleep until five in the morning, she was absolutely exhausted. All she wanted was to spend the rest of the day sleeping, but she knew she needed to find Steve for Bucky.
Just thinking about Bucky was enough to make Marlena smile widely. She wasn't exactly sure what they were after yesterday's incident, but she knew enough to know that she definitely had feelings for him. They were strong feelings, feelings she was sure she had never felt before, and they were the reason why she was more than willing to put her negative feelings towards the Winter Soldier aside. She knew the risk she was taking by doing such a thing, but she didn't care. She would do absolutely anything for Bucky Barnes, just as he would do absolutely anything for her. They were a packaged deal now, and she refused to let anyone—even the government—take him away from her.
Once Marlena was finally dried off she wrapped her towel around her body and hurried into her bedroom. Bucky wasn't in his normal spot on the couch, so she assumed him to be downstairs, which was a good thing for her.
She threw her undergarments on and ran into her closet to search for a suitable outfit to wear to Steve's. She wanted to make an impression on him, one that didn't make her seem untrustworthy or just another one of his completely insane fans.
After rummaging through her closet for about three minutes, she finally found an outfit worth wearing. She threw on a pair of dark wash blue jeans, a teal-colored tank top with black detailing, a kimono-styled jacket, and her brown ankle boots.
She blow dried her medium-length hair and put on a bit of mascara and foundation before she was finally ready to go.
After grabbing her sunglasses, her purse, her phone, and her car keys, she took off down the stairs. Bucky was sitting on the couch watching I Love Lucy with a small smile on his face. She remembered him telling her that although it took place in the 1950's, watching it gave him a better sense of what his life was like before he fell off the train. It just made Marlena happy to see him regaining his old self back.
"Hey, loser," she greeted him as she sat down beside him on the couch.
He looked over and smiled at her. "Hey, doll."
"Do you think you could watch Mason for me?" she questioned, pursing her lips as a questioning look took over his features.
"Why? Where are you going?" he asked as he took notice of her purse and her keys. He didn't know that she had been planning to meet up with Steve, and she wanted to keep it that way. She wanted their meeting to be a surprise.
"To the Smithsonian," she said slowly, scratching the back of her head.
"Oh, can I come with?" Bucky smirked. He knew she was lying.
Marlena let out a huff and stood up. "Okay, I'm not going to the Smithsonian. I still need you to stay here and watch Mason. I have something really important I need to take care of."
"Okay, okay. I'll stay here and watch your brother," Bucky said with a sigh. He wanted to ask what it was she was going to do, but he refrained from doing so. There was a very slim chance in her actually telling him.
Marlena smiled and kissed him on the cheek. "Thanks, you're the best. When I get back we're watching Star Wars, okay?"
"Whatever you want, sweetheart," he chuckled.
Marlena just smiled at him and hurried out the front door. The moment she started her Jeep she took off down the street. She was more than excited to finally be able to meet Steve Rogers, although she'd been given many opportunities to do it. She could recall multiple times she'd seen him at the Smithsonian, but she never approached him because she could tell he was attempting to keep a low profile. It always shocked her that she was the only person to recognize him in the museum, and it was even more ironic because she only ever saw him in his exhibit.
It took Marlena about ten minutes to get to the other side of the city. It wasn't as familiar to her as her side of the city was, but she managed to find the building she had been looking for. She parked in front of the building and got out. She was excited to meet Steve, yet she was also nervous to meet him. She was afraid he wouldn't believe her and slam the door right in her face, but she hoped he would allow her to explain the situation.
She headed into the building and rushed up the stairs to the floor she recalled his apartment being on. She was faced with an issue, though, when she finally found herself at the top of the stairs. There were only two apartments on the floor, and she had no clue which one was his.
"Great," she mumbled as she eyed the two doors labeled 3 and 4. She let out a sigh and decided to head over to the one closest to her: apartment number 3.
She knocked on the door and waited for about ten seconds until she heard shuffling inside the apartment. Several seconds later the door was pulled open to reveal a blonde woman.
This definitely isn't Steve, Marlena thought as she looked at the woman.
"Hi, can I help you?" the woman smiled.
Marlena scratched the back of her head. "I'm so sorry to bother you. I was just looking for Steve Rogers," she chuckled.
The woman perked up at the sound of Steve's name and began to wonder why this random girl was looking for him. It was rare for his fans to actually come looking for him at his apartment, so she had absolutely no clue what she could possibly be doing here.
"Oh, why are you looking for Steve?" she asked Marlena with a skeptical tone in her voice. She was trying to assess whether or not she could be a potential threat to Steve. She may not have been working for S.H.I.E.L.D. anymore, but she still cared about Steve and would continue to do everything in her power to protect him.
"There's just something really important I need to talk to him about," Marlena answered.
"Oh, well, he's not home right now and probably won't be until tomorrow," the woman told her. "But I used to work with Steve. If you wanna come in I could maybe help you out?"
Marlena pursed her lips and nodded. The woman smiled and moved to allow Marlena access to her apartment. The woman was still skeptical about her reasoning for wanting to see Steve, but hopefully she'd manage to get something out of her while she was there.
"Okay, so I'm Sharon Carter," the woman introduced herself. "Who might you be?"
"I'm Marlena Claire," Marlena told her.
The moment Sharon heard the name Claire she snapped her head over to look at Marlena. She could recall the stories her aunt Peggy had told her about one of Steve's fellow Howling Commandos named Joseph Claire. She wandered if Marlena could possibly be related to him; it would begin to explain her need to see Steve.
"Are you related to Joseph Claire? Y'know, the Howling Commando Joseph Claire?" Sharon asked as she sat down on her couch.
Marlena sat down in the chair across from her and nodded. "He was my great grandfather. I assume you're of relation to Peggy Carter? I've heard many wonderful stories about her from Jo."
"Yes," Sharon chuckled. "She's my aunt, but is your grandfather the reason why you wanna see Steve?"
Marlena shrugged. "Not exactly. There's just someone I really want him to meet."
"Care to elaborate, sweetie?"
"Well, I can't go too much into detail about it, but it's really important that he meets this person," Marlena told her.
She had only just met this woman, and although she knew Steve and was related to Peggy, she couldn't trust her with information regarding Bucky. She had no clue where Sharon stood with the Winter Soldier matter, and she would not be risking Bucky's safety because of it.
"Okay. Well, I definitely understand your lack of trust in me, so I have a solution to this whole problem." She reached over to grab a small notepad and a pen off of the coffee table. She scribbled Marlena's name on top of the paper and handed it to her. "Just put your phone number down on the paper and I'll be sure to give it to Steve—I promise. I'm not exactly sure when he'll be able to get back to you, but I'm sure he won't wait too long because of who you are."
"What does who I am have to do with when he gets back to me?" Marlena chuckled as she jotted her cell phone number onto the slip of paper.
"Well, you're Joseph Claire's great granddaughter. I'm sure he'll assume the situation to be fairly important if you're attempting to get in touch with him," Sharon answered as she took the notepad back from Marlena.
"I honestly can't stress how important the situation really is," Marlena laughed as she stood up. "Thank you so much for being so understanding and helping me though. It really means a lot to me."
"It's no problem at all," Sharon assured her with a smile.
"I'm gonna head out now, though. I wouldn't want to overstay my unplanned welcome," Marlena said to Sharon as she inched towards the door.
"Don't worry about it, Marlena, honestly. Any descendant of my aunt's friends are friends of mine," Sharon said, laughing at her bad joke.
Marlena smiled at her and shook her head. She quite liked Sharon, despite having known her for only a few minutes. She reminded her of an older version of herself but with blonde hair and brown eyes, as well as an extensive amount of combatant and lethal skills.
"Well, if you ever wanna hang out or anything, you know where to reach me. I promise you I'm cool for a nineteen year old," Marlena joked.
"I'll take it into consideration," Sharon laughed. "I work with so many guys—it would be nice to actually have a friend that isn't a male."
Marlena laughed and opened up the apartment door. "Thank you again, Sharon!" she exclaimed happily before heading out of the apartment.
She took a deep breath and practically ran back down the stairs. Her only thoughts as she made her way out to her car had to do with Steve. She could only hope that Sharon would remember to hold up the end of her promise, otherwise she would come to find herself at a loss of what to do next.