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2. 𝘱𝘵𝘢 𝘮𝘰𝘮

The house was for myself. I paced around the room as I was on my meeting, having the camera follow me every step it took. The doorbell rang and I went to get it. As I opened the door, there was Bucky.

"I want those prototypes done by Friday. We got buyers in place and I don't wanna lose them." I signaled Bucky to enter. He steps in, carrying an envelope and waited for me to be done. "I need all hands on deck, we are booked all year."

"Yes Mrs. Rogers." The gentleman said. I gave Bucky to give me one more minute and he nods.

"I don't want any screw ups. I don't want Stark industry to go to shit because one of you didn't do your job. Report back to me tomorrow." I ended the call. Bucky smiles. "Sorry about that."

"You're good." He sits on the edge of the sofa.

"Want anything? Water?" I asked as I made my way to the kitchen.

"No I'm good thanks." I got myself a glass of water. Bucky hands me the envelope. "I did what you and Steve asked for."

"And?" I ripped the envelope. It was information about the bullets that were shot at the house. We begged Bucky to look into it and just now we got the results.

"The bullets, HYDRA made." My eyes slowly looked back at him. You got to be kidding me. "Whats HYDRA got to do with-"

"Me." I sighed. "Did you get anything else?"

"All I know is that when Pierce was down, someone new took over HYDRA. But since they went underground, I have no clue who it is. I heard rumors."

"What rumors?"

"Marco Ward is the head of HYDRA." I gulped at the name. At first, it was bound to happen, he's a full on HYDRA bitch, following his brother's footsteps and second, it was probably the only way to keep tabs on me if he did. "History im guessing."

"A whole lot of history."

"Crystal, promise me something." Bucky taps his metal hand on the marble table. "Don't go after this guy. Not alone." I stayed quiet. He shot me, shot my home with my kids and Steve inside. I didn't want him to get away with this. But I knew if I continued, things will get close.

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I stood outside of Tony's school, waiting for him to come out. I saw a bunch of the pta moms chatting and laughing, I didn't want them to see me so I hid away from them. Tony comes out, talking to his friends.

"Come on Tony, before they see me." I grabbed his backpack and sped to the car, but the moms saw us and stepped in front of me, we were so close. I groan and Tony huffs out.

"Crystal!" Alice, the head of the pta, forced a smile as she had her daughter by the neck. She was a stuck up woman, who thinks she's better than everyone, any mom here. Her daughter, Dani, is a lot nicer, shy, sometimes gets embarrassed by her. Dani and Tony are friends since they were babies, same preschool, elementary school, middle School and high school.

"Hello Alice." I wrinkled my nose, forced the same smile to her. Tony and Dani started to talk to each other, leaving us two here.

"Are you ready for tonight?" She clutched her purse as kids started to run around her. I hated this meetings. I barely go because all the moms get on my nerves. I had to make another excuse

"About that-"

"You do know that you're hosting at your home." My eyes widen. It was my turn. Shit. "Me and the other moms will be there around 6, okay!" She claps her hands. "Dani! Lets go!" Dani waves to Tony and joins her wicked mother to her car.

"Whats wrong mom? Alice said something about the way you smile?"

"Get in the car Tony." I threw my head back and Tony looked me.

"If you hate being in the pta, why join?" I got out of the school parking lot and started to drive to the store for todays disaster.

"See, I thought it would be nice to be involved with your school, be like the moms."

"But you're not like them. You're a lot cooler and beautiful." I place my hand on his cheek.

"I know baby, thank you. I really played myself here." Tony and I raced around the store, picking up food, snacks, drinks for tonight. Tony was pushing the cart as I placed 4 bottles of wine into the cart. He looks at me as if I was crazy.

Tony and I carried the bags into the house snd started on the food. I was running around the house, making it presentable. Even though it was all nice, cleaned and organized, I knew they would say something about my home, knowing them.

"Hey." Steve said as he came home, watching me organize the frames. He looks at Tony, who was doing his homework since he's still grounded. Tony mouths pta and Steve sighs. "Crystal, doll." He turns me around, placing his hands on my arms. "What can we do to help?"

"We?!" Tony stops writing and turns to us.

"Yes, we. You can text Natalie to come home, pick something up on her way." I nod my head, pulling out my phone and texted Nat. She responded quickly as said she's on her way. We started to do the snacks until she came home.

"Whats going on?" Natalie said as she puts her bag down on the table.

"Okay, we have a pta meeting in..." i looked at my watch. "3 hours. I need this house to be spotless, the food must be so good I want those moms to talk about it for the next meeting." Steve, Nat and Tony stood in a line. "Tony, start making ice."

"Cubes or sphere?"

"Spheres, they seem fancy." Tony nods and heads to the sink and started. I looked at Steve. "Honey, I need you to fix the living room, make it look like we dont use it and fix the frames please."

"Of course doll." He kisses my cheek and picked up a towel.

"Nat, imma need your help with the snacks."

"When you mean my help, you mean my powers." I nodded.

"Family...Assemble." We broke up and went to our duties. Natalie takes her bracelet off. "Okay, what do you need help on?" I started making a charcuterie board, Plates flying around the kitchen, music playing in the background. When Nat was done, she immediately put her bracelet on and helped me with the board.

"So, this Dean guy, he has a last name?" I bumped my arm to hers. She turned red.

"Mom."

"I'm just asking." I laughed. "Is he a nice guy?" She didn't say anything but eat the cheese. "Okay, ill stop asking."

"Thank you."

"Hey, you can invite him over. We're going to celebrate my birthday here, you can bring him. Grandma, Morgan and Happy are coming."

"Uncle Sam and uncle Bucky too?"

"Yes."

"Then no. You already know that dad and them are going to have a field day with him." True. "But I'll think about it, okay? I don't want to say something and have you tell everyone." The door bell rings. Our heads shot up. It was time. "Thats my cue." Nat grabbed a few more cheeses and headed to her home and Tony followed. I chugged the last of my wine and went to the door.

"Just tonight." I whispered to myself and opened the door. The moms stood outside, carrying folders, poster boards and notebooks. What was this, we taking a class? Rate my home? "Ladies! Come on in!" I used my fake voice. The entered one by one, looking around my place. I can see that Alice was trying to pin something about it but there was nothing to say.

"Crystal, you have a lovely home." One of the moms smiled. Alice shot a look at her and she shuts down, looking down at her feet. All of the sudden, all the mom stood up straight and smiled.

"Hello Steve." Alice flirts. I tilted my head to side, Steve held me back.

"Ladies, welcome. Excuse me, I have paperwork to do."

"What kind of paperwork? I think I can help you." Steve chuckled nervously, he was getting uncomfortable.

"Very kind of you but I can do it myself." Steve leans in and kisses me, making me feel better. "Behave." He whispers to me, giving me another kiss. "Enjoy." He heads upstairs and locks the door to my office. I clapped my hands to get their attention again. The moms followed me to the kitchen and were at aw as they saw how organized and put together everything was.

"Red or white wine?" I started to pour the drinks, handing it out. I handed one to Alice, who was upset and declined the glass.

"We need to take about the fundraiser this year." Alice clears her throat and starts putting her posters up. "We're still doing the bake sale."

"How about we change it up?" I said. The moms snapped their heads at me. "What? Do something more. The bake sale always are slow, and barely nobody comes, making it very difficult to reach our goal." I saw some of them nod their heads. "We can do a casino night or I can bring in one of my friends, Sam and Bruce if they want to take pictures." Alice's eyes twitched as I took control.

"She's right Alice. The kids would love to take pictures with Captain America and the Hulk, maybe we wont pay out of own pockets this year."

"I can give them a call. For the casino, my dad knew some people, I can also give them a call." I smiled.

"No!" She stomps her foot. Alice took a minute to get herself together. "The bake sale has been going on for years."

"Alice, maybe its time for a change. I cant keep paying whats left out of my pockets anymore." One of the moms told her.

"Then you shouldn't go-" she stops herself. "Fine, if Crystal came up with the idea, then you plan it." She drops her binder on the table.

"I can see if my brothers could use his bartender skills." One mom joined.

"Oh! I can ask my sister for taking the pictures with the men." Things were coming together. Seeing Alice mad was my favorite. Now I was on top. I still hate these meetings. I just wanted to see Alice mad.

Since we planned everything out, we all took a break. We sip on our wine, talked about our families, husbands, kids. We were talking about why we named our kids.

"I name Rose because Mike gave me roses for our first date." Kim smiles as she thought about it.

"I name both kids after Franks brothers."

"What about you Crystal?" Kim tells me. The moms turned to me, now on the spotlight.

"Oh uh..." i coughed, moving around in my seat. "Natalie was named after a friend of ours, she was in undercover and that was one of her allies she used when I met her, her real name was Natasha. And for Anthony-"

"Anthony is used too much." Alice chugged her drinks. "Sounds so old."

"Excuse me?" I frowned and sat up. "Anthony was named after my dad." The room went dead silent. "How dare you?" I spat. Alice didn't say a word after that. "Sorry that I didn't name my kids after flowers that Steve got me or named them something so ridiculous such as scrambling names of your mother and mother in law." I got red, heated from her comment. "I chose those names because those are the most important people in my life. I think its time for you to leave Alice." Alice had forced a laugh and gathered her things. The other moms got up, said their apologies and left. Steve came downstairs as I shut the door.

"She had no right." He said to me. I walked up to the shelf and picked up the picture frame of me and my dad. "Natalie and Anthony are beautiful names and were named after amazing people." I shed a tear.

"Im going to pick up the mess." I set the frame down and went to the kitchen. Steve walks in and helps me.

"You did put Alice in her place twice." He gently elbows me. "Your idea is a wonderful idea. The fundraiser is going to be a good one yet."

"Yeah mom." The kids came in. "You definitely had Alice quiet when your brought up uncle Sam." I chuckled lightly.

"Wait until they see uncle Bucky." The four of us stayed in the kitchen, eating the leftover cheese and talked about Alice some more.