Who: Steve, Maryanne and Sookie Where: the streets somewhere between Mitchell's What: Steve has an episode and Maryanne gets broke When: Early morning hours Tuesday Warnings: PTSD, talk of war, language and blood/violence Status: closed/finished
Steve had fallen asleep watching tv. It’d been almost three days since he’d had more than a nap and it was bound to happen, but he still tried to ignore it. When he slept the nightmares came and he wanted to avoid it even more than he had trouble doing it. But eventually it always managed to catch up with him and somehow the dreams seemed worse, harsher, more vivid and harder to escape from. And somehow, when he jolted awake in the chair and looked around, the nightmares didn’t go away.
He was alone in the dark lower floor of the house, Peggy, the baby and Sarah all still asleep upstairs, but it didn’t look like his home. Not tonight. Steve didn’t know where he was, only that it was dark and smelled of gunpowder, dust and destruction. And it felt like war. But he was unarmed and unprepared. He didn’t have his suit or his shield, didn’t have the Commandos or the Avengers and didn’t even have a gun, or know where to get them. He needed to get out, find a weapon, find safety. It didn’t feel safe here.
He bolted, quietly and quickly out the back door, past the chicken coops then around the yard, woods on one side city on the other. There was a good chance the city could have enemies, could be dangerous, but there would be weapons, they were more important. If he got stranded in the woods with nothing to fight back he’d be a sitting duck. So he ran, hard and fast toward the city, sticking to the smaller roads, avoiding any lit up buildings, using alleys and back lots whenever he could.
But inevitably, because the serum may have fixed him, but not his luck, there was a figure approaching him before he knew it, dark and shadowed but looming and he knew it was enemy and braced himself for attack, ducking behind a corner and ready to jump as soon as he saw the man’s shadow.
~~~~~~
Maryanne was on cloud nine. Being a boy wasn’t so bad, not really. Sure it brought up really weird moments between certain individuals, but they weren’t that obviously weird. Though part of her (him) was hoping it wouldn’t last too long. To many people depended on her as a woman, to take a break from being one for too long.
She also decided giving Clint a break tonight would had been for the best. Even if she didn’t sleep as well, alone, as she did with him. She still felt the euphoria from the one night. Enough so that it dulled her senses. Or maybe it was more her mind. Because belatedly she picked up on a familiar scent, but it didn’t click in her mind. Or perhaps the scent didn’t ring with danger. Why would it?
Maryanne skipped a step as she rounded the corner, all but humming a tune to herself. She’d just finished what needed to be done at Mitchell’s, she’d be prepared for at least a few days now, in case she could find way to share a bed again, and she was on way back to the bed and breakfast she shared with her adopted family. A hand skirted over her chin, as she paid attention to little else, marking that she needed to figure out how to shave that scruff that was starting to build. Along with a million other little things that flitted through her mind.
~~~~~~
The movement was quick and fluid. As soon as the shadow reached where he knew it would his arm swung out straight, then up. He almost wished he had his shield but still didn’t throw his weight behind the blow-damage, incapacitate, only kill when there’s no other choice. Still, Steve was strong and he felt a distinct crunch when his forearm hit solid mass before he swung himself out of the shadows, facing the man, braced and ready for a fight if he hadn’t already knocked him out.
~~~~~~
Maryanne was used to hard knocks. It came from being an abused child. And then being an exiled mutant after. Things happened, and if you passed out from a broken nose then you were dead. Or beaten more while you lay unconscious. Her hands did instantly go up to cover the now gushing nose.
“Fuck, goddamnit, ouch.” She growled, the deeper voice strange, stuffed and somewhat muffled. Of course that had been the point. Right? People didn’t crack you in the face for it not to hurt. Her eyes were wild though when she found the culprit. She staggered back a bit so she could defend against anything else.
After the stars faded from her vision, she was able to make out who it was. And she was surprised she was still standing. She owed part of it to being a boy. Or hopefully that was the reason. Large hands were held out palm forward, surrendering. “Hey, soldier, I’m not looking for any trouble.” She was careful. Knowing Steve’s past. Who from their universe didn’t? Even if there were slight differences, they were only slight. And Steve was a good man. Men that weren’t such good men came back fucked up. So she knew it wasn’t far fetched to say he had a screw or two loose from it all. Besides, they had talked. And while he dodged, she knew the signs. She had a few herself.
~~~~~~
“Name und Allianz!” He demanded quickly still battle ready, staring through his eyes didn’t actually see the man in front of him, rather shadows of those he’d already fought, flickering between Nazi soldiers, Hydra soldiers, Chitari, Loki’s agents.... “Wo ist Loki?” he asked, his voice still strong, commanding and sounding almost too loud on the quiet streets.
~~~~~~
German? Really? “Steve, my name is Maryanne, I know I don’t look like a Maryanne right now, but I promise there’s boobs buried somewhere in here.” She pointed her fingers at her chest. Sure her voice was a lot deeper, but it was that slow southern touch that wasn’t something she would ever shake. Not that she wanted to. “If it helps my alliance is the United States.” She very nearly said Mutant Kind, but she didn’t want that to cause any trouble. Though she knew she was already elbows deep in it. And sinking fast.
“I don’t know where Loki is. I haven’t heard from him or seen him in a good long while.” It was a bit of a lie. But at the moment she couldn’t remember the last time she’d stopped to talk to Loki. The one that was here was a far stretch from the one she’d known on the trian.
Blue eyes were wild as she scanned him for any sign that he was picking up on what she was saying. There was no way in hell she could take on Captain America! She was sure of it. Breath whistled out of her nose as she panted for breath. “I brought you milk for Stevie, just Sunday morning. Five bottles, all should be in your freezer. I...” She thought furiously what time had it been? “Ten hundred hours.” Was that right? Was that military time? God she didn’t know!
She could feel the panic welling up. And fought to push it back down. She couldn’t fight him. She couldn’t the karma that would come back at her would never be worth it. Even if she wanted to! Which she didn’t. He was her friend. “Fucking penis.” She mumbled under her breath. Cursing the extra appendage.
~~~~~~
“Stevie?” he asked softly, all of a sudden everything about him changing; his voice went soft and almost scared, his posture shrinking down and curling in, eyes going soft and confused and upset. He stumbled back again until he hit a wall, his legs not quite wanting to hold him up “Who...” he whispered, starting to shake, “Is he okay?” he asked, finally looking up at the other man, who looked like a stranger but was covered in blood. And then he noticed his own arm was splashed with it too, and it didn’t look like his. “Oh god. I...I...” he tried but the words wouldn’t come, his breath wouldn’t come and he started to heave like he used to when he had his asthma attacks. He knew now that it wasn’t asthma, they called them panic attacks, but he still didn’t know how to make them stop and every time he looked at himself, or at the man in front of him it all got worse. He didn’t know where he was or how he got there, didn’t know what he’d done or why, just that he had attacked this man and hurt him. He wasn’t supposed to hurt people anymore. He fell to the ground, his back still against the wall, legs pulled up close, arms going to cover his head-making himself as small as possible as he shook and struggled to breathe.
~~~~~~
“Shit, Steve.” She whispered softly. Now that he was back to normal she could worry about the easy things. Now that he wasn’t going to hit her again she could set back to Maryanne mode. She knew it had to do with the blood, his freak out was definitely part of that. The thing was could she stop it on her own. Could she set her own nose? Settling her hands on either side. She pressed. “Ow Fuck!” She didn’t scream it. It was more like a shouted whisper, with a bit of a growl at the end.
No that wouldn’t work. Definitely wouldn’t work. If anything she made it bleed worse. She whimpered more out of the annoyance of it than the pain. Pain she could handle. Wiping her hands along her shirt. Grateful that it was black, and hiding most of the damage. “Hey, hey. Steve. Breathe. Listen, plant your feet, spread your knees, and get your hands off of your head. Hang it between your knees and breathe.” She was pretty sure there was no way she would be able to get him off of the ground on her own.
“It’ll be alright. It’s just a broke nose.” She tried. Making sure her hand was clean she carefully stroked his hair. “A mean bitch like me, is pretty used to broken noses by now.” She promised. There was no way she could leave him either. Her heart ached for this man. And the pain she knew he must be going through.
~~~~~~
He tried to do what she said but his body didn’t quite want to work right. He was still shaking and breathing hard but he managed to get his feet flat on the round and his head between his knees but it was resting there more than hanging and his arms were still covering it. “I’m sorry.” he babbled between gasping breaths “I’m so sorry. I’m sorry.” he kept repeating it, closing his eyes tightly and trying to force himself to stop shaking.
~~~~~~
“Come on, arms off. You’re closing yourself up too much.” She gave a shove to his arms. Swatting gently if she had too. “Put them on your knees if you have to put them somewhere.” Maryanne hated seeing him like this. Hated that she’d put him on the ground without so much a touch.
Making use of her big man hands, she began to lightly rub between his shoulders. “Don’t worry about being sorry. Worry about breathing. I’ve seen much much worse I promise.” She tried to make that damn deep voice as soothing as she could. “You can get me flowers later to make up.” She teased a little hoping it would calm him down.
Her nose hurt. Enough that her head was starting to ache. But it wasn’t time to worry about that. She’d worry about herself after. After he was at least okay enough to get home. She was pretty sure she knew somebody that could crack her nose back into place. At least she hadn’t run into a locked door this time.
~~~~~~
Sookie usually worked her station in silence this early in the morning, even though she was used to late nights and going to bed with the sun so it wasn’t much of a change when she opened the bakery, to stay up and work in silence with the machines. While the bread dough was prooving, she stood outside for fresh, cool air in the furnace of her bakery kitchen and heard something. Maybe it was Bill’s blood still in her system but in the distance she could hear voices and ruckus and she did not like the sound of it. Sook was programmed to stick her nose into people’s business and she grabbed her baseball bat that she kept in back for protection. She couldn’t rely on whatever light it was inside her that was a weapon.
She walked a couple of blocks towards the noise and her nose picked up a smell of… something. Maybe it was blood. She was a little weirded out at how much vampire blood affected her still. Maybe it was permanent here but right now, it was helping her. She saw a shadowed figure and heard voices she didn’t recognise but when she came closer and saw the damage to the face of one man, broken nose and a lot of blood, and the other crouched with his arm spattered in the red stuff. “Hey!” she called, drawing attention to herself, “Stay away from him!” Sookie brandished her bat, “I mean it, I’ve got a mean swing.”
~~~~~~
It was only after Maryanne actually moved his arms that he stopped covering his head and even then it was mostly because he couldn’t get them to move back. He really did try to listen but his mind was so jumbled and so overwhelmed that most of it didn’t seem to make through.
Steve normally would have noticed someone coming long before they could have seen him but he was far too focused on other things to sense anyone coming. But he heard her calling at them quick and it managed to focus him enough that he was able to stand again. Of course he assumed she was telling him to back away from Maryanne so he started to push himself away from her, his hands still shaking as he dragged himself along the wall, backing up and away.
~~~~~~
Maryanne held up her hands. “Chill Sookie. Everything is alright.” Sure it wasn’t really but she could pretend right? So long as Steve didn’t dive back into his waking nightmare then everything would be fine. Did she know who she was? The whole penis thing escaped her. Who had laughed who hadn’t. She sighed softly.
She looked the other woman over, just quick enough to assess that she didn’t have a purse. Again she wanted to whimper, but didn’t. She was seriously starting to feel it now. To the point that she wasn’t exactly thinking straight. “He needs somebody.”
~~~~~~
“Somebody to what, finish the job?” she relaxed a little and her eyes readjusted to the light around her. There was something familiar about the figure that she couldn’t put her finger on quite right. She was sure she’d never met him before, being as obviously muscle bound as he was, he was easy to identify. “You’re safe now, let’s get you to the hospital. Does the island have any police?” she asked, going over to the figure on the ground until it twigged. “Oh holy Christ on a cracker. You’re Steve, Peggy’s Steve…” Sookie dropped the bat, “You...you did this to him?” she asked, not believing that the stories Peggy told of her boyfriend could be the thug in front of her. “Shit, it was you wasn’t it? Who gave her those bruises I saw on her wrist.” She picked up the bat again, “You come near us and I swear I will hit you!”
~~~~~~
Steve started to panic a little bit when Sookie said his name. She knew who he was, she could tell what he’d done. But it was when he brought up Peggy’s wrist that he really got scared. “I-I didn’t mean to… I…” he stammered softly, eyes a little wild and nervous, though that was near impossible to see in the dark street. “I did…” he started one more time but he still couldn’t make it make sense. And he couldn’t lie. He had made those marks, he had broken Maryanne’s nose. He wasn’t safe, he couldn’t be here. So he left.
He turned quickly and ran, hard and fast. His legs were still a little shaky for a moment but by the time he reached the end of the road his adrenaline had kicked in and he was sprinting around the corner, headed for the woods.
~~~~~~
Maryanne actually groaned. Aloud. Long hard and more than obvious to anyone with decent hearing. Let alone super human. “I don’t suppose you have a pair of tampons on you, and know how to line up a broken nose.” She could feel the bruises then. There was no catching Steve. No way in hell she could like this anyway. If she could figure out how to go big yellow and fuzzy, while she had a penis, then that would be different. She’d tackle and lick his face until he relented.
She knew the pain was getting to her, when she chuckled softly. And felt it all in her face. “Owww fuck...” She groaned again, deepened by her natural long drawl. “Hi Sookie, I’m Maryanne and I have a penis.” She couldn’t have said that in front of Steve. How much guilt would that leave him with? “I can’t remember, at the moment. If I’ve said hi to you or if I’m remembering the Sookie off the train. My head hurts. And...” She paused again to groan when she remembered... “Shit. I can’t go home.” Mitchell, or Annie, or, hell, anyone under her roof would no doubt go after Steve in a bad way.
~~~~~~
Sook watched as Steve pelted away from her sight at a run and she knew it’d be useless to track him. Besides, the guy with the broken nose needed her help and Sook was always happy to provide it. “I don’t have anything on me but the bakery’s close by.” she shoved her bat under her arm, “I don’t think you and I have met, have we? I’m Sookie but y’all seem to know that already.” Sook held out her hand for him to shake, “If you don’t want to go home, how about a hospital or maybe come to mine? I can reset a nose fine, just ask my brother, but I can’t do it here. I need my first aid kit and a light source.”
She panted a little from the adrenaline rush, the warmth of victory in standing up to a bullying thug clear in her mind. Sook knew what had happened to Peggy from listening in to her thoughts but she wasn’t sure of who had hurt her until she saw Steve next to Maryanne with blood on his hands. “Come on. I’ll get you cleaned up.” she muttered, knowing she had to find some way to stop Steve from hurting anyone again. He had kids at home, and his girlfriend. Sook would not let anything happen to them.