---
I don't know--and honestly, I don't care--how long we were trapped in each other's embrace.
The both of us were completely broken down in tears. I just release all of the fear, sadness and stress of my life, and it felt better than anything I could ever imagine. I am finally reunited with my sister.
"Why did you leave us?" I ask after I am slightly recovered. The question that has haunted me since the second she left. "We needed you."
Diana's sobs just became more rapid and uncontrollable as she tried to reply.
"I don't know, Lilah! I don't know! I am so, so sorry. If I could, I would go back and stay just a little while longer, I would've done anything." Her voice escalated in regret and frustration. I pull away.
"It's okay, we are together again, and that's all that matters." I smile with which she returns.
"Alright, now let's take a look at you." She says giddily.
Diana takes a moment to examine my features.
"Of course, you still look like Dad, which means you still have his eyes, jerk." I laugh at her response. Diana has always been jealous of my eyes; I get that way too much. She takes after my mom 100%, while I take after my dad.
"Still looking like mom." I return, taking a look at her myself. A gasp escapes my lips, my eyes widen and I almost shout. "Oh my God! You're pregnant! And married!" Her left hand, which is adorned with a shiny wedding ring is resting on her enormous stomach.
"Everyone has to settle down at some point." She looks past my shoulder to Steve and Aurora. "Have you?"
"Well, not really... it's complicated." I sigh, also looking to Steve and Aurora, remembering they were there. "Oh! Where are my manners? Diana, this is my friend, Steve. Steve this is my sister, Diana. And this little bundle of joy is my daughter, Aurora."
Steve steps forward, holding out his free hand to her.
"Steve Rogers, it's a pleasure to finally meet you, Delilah talks about you all the time." Steve greets her politely. Diana's attention snaps to me, her mouth slightly opened.
"The pleasure is mine." She returns the shake, clearly impressed with his gentlemanlike manner. "Please! Come in!"
Steve nods in thanks and walked in without hesitation. Diana takes me by the arm and pulls me back.
"You're dating Captain America?" She whispers sharply between clenched teeth.
"Who said I was dating him?" I counter, slightly taken aback. She just gives me an "are you freaking kidding me?" look. I just blush and roll my eyes. I step into the house and right into the kitchen and dining room, beyond that opens up into the living room.
"Here," Diana says to Steve with outstretched arms, "I'll take her." Steve places his lips to Aurora's head, making me smile, and reluctantly hands her off to Diana who takes her up the stairs.
"I'll get the bags." Steve mumbles, brushing past me.
"I'll help you." I follow suit.
We grab the two bags we brought and lugged them back up to the house. Diana holds the screen door open for us and leads us up the steps to our room.
"Do you want to share a room?" She asks. I look down a few stairs at Steve, where I smile waiting for his approval.
"Yeah." I answer when he returns the smile.
She leads us down the hall and opens a closed door at the very end of it. She grabs a box off of the queen-sized bed and steps to the side, letting us in. It was a simple room with a single walk-in closet and an adjoined bathroom.
"I'll let you two rest, it must've been a long drive."
"I'm fine, but Steve will probably rest. Besides, we have 14 years of catching up to do." I smile lightly.
"Alright, I'll be down making coffee, come on down when you're ready." With that, Diana left the room, pulling the door closed behind her.
"I'm fine, Delilah." Steve revokes quietly, his words slightly slurred with exhaustion. His shoulders are slightly slouched, his bloodshot eyes drooping and his head is dipped down ever so slightly. He honestly looked like he was going to fall asleep on the spot.
"You can't see yourself, I can. Just get some sleep, everything is okay, for now." Steve smiles thankfully.
I move closer to him and rake my hand through his tousled hair, then pulling his down until his soft lips meet mine. I must've pulled away too soon for his liking, becuase he furrowed his eyebrows and stuck his bottom lip in a pout.
"Why so soon?" He whimpers.
"Because even super heroes need sleep."
"But-" He begins but is cut short of his words when I press my lips to his sweetly once again.
"You happy now?" I smirk after pulling away.
"Very." He admits. I then go to leave before he grabs my arm.
"Hang on." Steve pulls me to him to steal a kiss.
"That's enough now." I grin.
"Nope." He denies, popping the 'p' and pulling into yet another kiss.
"Ya done now?" I complain impatiently, even though I am enjoying this just as much as he is.
"Yeah, I think." I gradually step away from him, raising my eyebrows and slightly biting my lip.
"Positive?" I tease, dragging out my words, knowing he isn't done.
"Not when you do that." He sighs.
I advance over to him and wrap my arms around his neck, gently pulling and playing with the small hairs on the back of his head.
Steve's colossal hands engulf my cheeks as he tugs me toward him and gives me a preciously gentle kiss. He savored it as if it was the last one he would ever give me; I return it, just as desperate.
God knows how long we stood there until the kiss became a little too heated.
I got a little too bold for either of our likings. I pull myself closer to him, if that was even possible. My tongue gently brushed against Steve's bottom lip and I could tell he wasn't expecting it. I caught him off guard, making him tense up and remain as still as a statue. Realizing his hesitation, I immediately seperate from him, my cheeks turning a light pink.
"S-Sorry., you weren't quite expecting that..." I apologize sheepishly.
"Don't be sorry, Delilah. I just need some sleep is all." He quickly covers up.
"Okay." I simply reply, not wanting to push the matter further. I lift up to my tippy-toes and place my lips to his cheek. "Get some sleep." He nods in agreement and I exit the room, slowly shutting the door behind me.
I sneak quietly down the hallway and leap down the stairs to the kitchen to see Diana's back turned to me as she is pouring coffee. I casually enter and take a seat at the table.
"How do you like your coffee?" Diana asks, turning to place the steaming hot cup before me.
"Just a tad of cream and a dash of sugar." I reply.
"Just like dad." We both say simultaneously. Our eyes lock onto each other as we both chuckle faintly.
She places a container of sugar and a carton of French vanilla coffee creamer on the table, and I don't pause to treat my coffee with them.
We both sit in silence for a while, not knowing where to start.
"Why?" Diana's voice poisoned the once comfortable silence, it now being full of tension and awkwardness.
"Why what?" I ask absentmindedly.
"Why did you attempt to find me now? After all of those years wondering where I was and why I left, why did you wait and choose to track me down right now?" Her voice escalated slightly with every moment, obviously being offended.
Though she did have a good question, I don't have the best answer. I could counter her with a question along the same lines, but I don't want this to turn into a catfight. A deep sigh escaped my teeth.
"In all honesty, I didn't care to find you. I had such sour feelings toward you and... hated you for leaving us when we needed you the most. Of course, I forgave you when I got back on my feetm but I just didn't have the time to find you. I know that's not what you want to hear right-"
"What were you busy doing?" She blurted, delaying my sentence. I pause to gather the right words.
"I met a guy." I bluntly reply. She throws her head back in laughter.
"You hypocrite." I grin at her words.
"Yeah..." I confess, hanging my head in embarrassment.
"Continue, Delilah the Deceiver." She chortled. I roll my eyes, ending the entertaining moment.
"He seemed okay, ya know? He had a good job, was responsible and good to me."
"I have a feeling that this 'guy' isn't Steve." Diana declared.
"His name is Cole. We were reckless teenagers in love, and I had Aurora when I was 19. He stayed by my side tge entire time and wouldn't have left me for one second. He was truly faithful, until the alcohol problem came into the picture.
"It was bad. Cole's sanity dwindled with every passing moment. Even to this day, the reason why still eludes me. He lost his job because of it, then he felt like he had to take it all out on me. Cole physically, mentally and emotionally abused me.
"Don't worry, he didn't lay a finger on Aurora, only me. Though it did hurt and effected her just as much as it did me.
"I tried everything I could to get away from him, but the punish became more and more severe with every attempt; he always found us. So all I did was live through the pain and work my guts out to keep a roof over our heads and food on the table. Then I met Steve.
"He is the most kind, sweet, humble and chivalrous man I had ever met. Not to mention the most handsome. He would always come to the diner I worked at and we would talk for as long as possible. Little did I know, I was falling in love with him ever second I was around him.
"One day, Cole took it too far, so I went to Steve, and he saved me. Aurora and I have been staying with him for almost a month now.
"Cole--being the persistent bastard he is--he went searching for us, and like always, he found us. He sent me a note through Aurora, warning me he was closing in. I don't want him to hurt Aurora, so I brought her to you."
Diana stayed silent the entire time, and her silence scared me terribly, how will she react? Will she throw us out and never speak to me again?
"Diana," I say after a moment too long of quietness, "will you please hide Aurora for me? At least until Cole is found and his ass is thrown in a cage for the rest of his life?" Diana looked at me straight in the eyes and lightly smiled.
"Of course." She whispers. A wave of relief washed over me.
"Thank you so much." I stand and open my arms for an embrace, which she gladly returns, her bulging stomach pressing against my flat one.
"Anything for my baby sister." She breathed in my hair.
"So!" I cheered, changing the subject. "What has happened to the life of Diana Kingsley for the past 14 years?"
"It isn't Kingsley anymore," she corrected, "I now go by Diana Storm."
"Right, how did Diana Storm come to be?" I rephrase the question.
"Well, like you, I found a guy and "fell in love" with him and out into the sunset we rode. His name was James and we were happy druggies together.
"One day, I found out I was pregnant and of course, I was scared out of my mind. I told James and he was furious: he wanted me to get rid of the baby. When I disagreed with him, he hit me and that's when I realized that I had made a terrible mistake, so I left him.
"I went home to be with you and dad again, but when I got there, I found out that he had died and you were gone. I then got myself a job so I could fend for myself and prepare for this baby.
"Nine months later, out came Joseph Kingsley. But..." Her voice faltered, her hand covering her mouth as if to keep the sadness inside, tears streaming down her face. I grab her free hand and rubbed it in attempt to comfort her. After gathering herself, she continued.
"He had... defects... from those Godawful drugs I intoxicated myself with for the longest time. His small flame of life extinguished three days after he was born." Diana couldn't take it any longer and completely broke down, sobs racking her body.
"Oh, Diana." I coo, pulling her into yet another embrace.
"I-I killed him." She confessed.
"No, that wasn't you, Diana, that was James, he influenced you." I correct.
"But I let him do it!" She says angrily.
"Perhaps, but all of that is in the past now and there is nothing you can do to change that. All you can do is fine ways to cope with it and forget, to fix and learn from your mistakes."
"At least he got to feel the sun on his face, whether it matters or not. I'm glad I got to meet him." She sniffed. "So, I met another guy, a better one, and here I am."
"We've both been through hell and back." I chuckle, Diana joining in. "But we are both here, together, and that is all that matters now."
"Amen to that." Diana mumbles, taking a sip of her coffee.
"Mommy!" I turn around, expecting to see my five-year-old daughter, but instead being greeted by my niece.
Diana rose to her feet and approached the beaming little girl, swooping down to pick her up.
"Macy, this is Delilah, your aunt. Delilah, this is my daughter, Macy." My jaw dropped.
"Three?" I mouth to her, dumbfounded. She nods with a bright smile.
Macy buries her face into the crook of her mother's neck, obviously shy.
"Can you say: Hi Delilah?" Diana encourages.
"Hi, Delilah." Macy mutters, her voice muffled from Diana's hair.
"H-Hi Macy." I stutter, still stunned.
Suddenly, there is a ruckus coming from outsie.
I turn my head to the door to see a man walk in. He had dirty blond hair and was fairly attractive. Smoke was floating from his dark blue, skintight, full body suit, as if he just caught on fire and had a bucket of water dumped on him.
"Hey Di-" He is stopped of his words when his eyes meet mine.
"Baby, this is-" Diana goes to introduce me, but is also interrupted.
"Delilah." He finishes with a longing smile.
"H-How did you know?" I ask, astonished.
"I can just tell." He walks over to me and extends his hand out. That's when I realized exactly who he is. "My name is Johnny Storm."
This day couldn't get more unpredictable, could it?
---
Hello!! Here is a nice, long chapter for all you wonderfully patient humans out there!
I kind of just threw in that last part. XD I was going to have a made up character be Diana's husband, but this is much more fun!
Sorry for any gramatical or spelling mistaks in there, I didn't really edit it. (See what I did there? XD )
Anyways, thank you all for everything, expecially the 5,000 reads y'all gave me. ^.^
Please vote and comment or whatever you people do, it would be greatly appreciated!
FoxxyPenguin is outa here! ^.^