The Beginning of the End (Party RP Thread)

[daughter_of_m]

Steve wanders the party in a daze. Everyone looks so happy here. People who have been dead for years, in his universe, are alive again. Hank and Jan are happily together (he never hit her in this universe, he remembers). Valeria Richards has grown up to be a lovely, polite, extraordinarily intelligent young woman, despite all of the danger

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[sal_starkrogers]

Sally sees her Dad come in, and gives Val a quick hug of good-luck. She dodges that Mike guy's photographers again, and dashes up to Steve.

"Happy Anniversary, Dad!" she says, jumping up on him in an over-enthusiastic hug. She hops back and grins from ear to ear. "Tommy and Billy have been monopolizing the music all night to impress the girls, but they have strict orders to play old stuff once you got here. So don't worry, I'm sure they'll be switching anytime now."

[starspangledcap]

Steve is so distracted by his reverie that he doesn't even notice Sally coming toward him until she's wrapped herself around him. His arms reach around her small body by instinct, and, as his mind processes exactly what's happening, he holds her even more tightly.

He's been avoiding Sally all day, but he knows now that it's been a mistake. This isn't about him. This is about his daughter, who he loves. He's been selfishly keeping his distance, too paralyzed by the idea of what he has to do to her. But if he's resigned himself to that terrible fact, the least he can do is make Sally's last hour on earth a happy one.

"Don't worry, Sally," he says, finally letting her go. "I think I can put up with the ruckus the boys call music for a little while longer. Are you enjoying the pary?"

[sal_starkrogers]

"Oh, yes," Sally says. "There are a lot of interesting people here, you know?" Sally steps closer and links her arm through his, walking him across the room. "I was thinking," she says thoughtfully, "about these people. The other teens and younger adults. About, how

[starspangledcap]

Steve has never been ashamed to cry. It is, he believes, a perfectly natural human reaction to emotional situations. But at the same time, he can't remember all that many times when he's actually shed tears. He's cried at a few funerals and other similarly high-stress situations. And then there was the time that Baron Zemo destroyed his army footlocker, the box that contained, among other things, the only remaining photograph of his mother. But, for the most part, Steve Rogers is not the crying type. So when the tears well up in his eyes at Sally's words, he realizes just how hard this is all hitting him

[sal_starkrogers]

"Of course," Sally says, smiling. Her father has always been one for the sentimental moments. "Don't worry, Daddy. I'm happy."

"Come on," she says, taking his hand. "Tommy's got the songs all figured out. Dance with me?"

[starspangledcap]

Steve swallows. At least she's happy. If nothing else, he and Tony have given a girl who never should have reached age three an extra fourteen years of happy existence. It's small comfort, but it's something.

Steve hears the song kicking up; he doesn't recognize it, but it definitely has father-daughter themes. "Of course," he replies, taking her hand and forcing himself to smile. "Anything for my little girl." And they begin to move across the dance floor.

[sal_starkrogers]

The song was perfect, and Sally winked around her father at Billy, who winked solemnly back.

Sally giggled. "Do you remember, Dad, when Billy thought only Tommy had powers and he was so upset he magically made Tommy invisible for a day? Accidentally? I mean, not that it was funny at the time, but, it seems pretty silly now."

[starspangledcap]

Steve smiles as the memory floats into his consciousness, every bit as real as any of his memories from the other timeline. "I guess it was a little funny, in retrospect," he says. "Tommy certainly took advantage of it, sneaking next door like that. I'm pretty sure he almost made it to Beatrice Howlett's bedroom before Logan tracked him down with that nose of his. As if Tommy didn't have enough to handle with me and his mothers, he had Wolverine reprimanding him, too. I don't think Tommy's ever really recovered." He laughs

[sal_starkrogers]

"I know," Sally said laughing. "But Tommy wasn't around that day and missed it, so I get to pretend it never happened."

As the song ended Sally hugged her dad tight. "This, though? This I'll remember. Thanks, Dad. For everything you are."

[starspangledcap]

Steve hugs his daughter more tightly than he's held anything in his entire life, then steps back, looking at her seriously. This is probably the last time he'll ever speak to her, and he fumbles for words to say. Finally, his anguished mind settles on cliches, old words imbued with new weight through the intensity of his feeling.

"Thank you, Sally," he says, his voice completely genuine and much stronger than he would have expected. "For being the best daughter a father could ever ask for. I love you more than words could possibly say. And in the long run, that's all I need you to remember."

He squeezes her hands, places a last kiss on her forehead, and lets her go.