It had only been a few weeks since Sokovia. Wanda was doing better- healing, smiling again, especially with Vision around. I didn't need to be a mind reader to see the way they looked at each other.
But me? I wasn't healing.

I'd never had a home before. Not a real one. Not one filled with warmth, or laughter, or people who actually cared if I came back.
For a hundred and six years, I'd only known pain. Cold rooms. Orders barked at me. Experiments that left my blood burning.
Now the world was quiet- and I didn't know how to live in quiet.

Everyone kept calling me a hero. But heroes didn't have blood on their hands.
Heroes didn't wake up hearing screams in their head.
They didn't kill innocent people.
I did.

Pietro's death had cracked something open inside me.
Maybe because it reminded me of him.
Alexander.
Both of them dying the same way- in my arms, with me powerless to stop it.

I sat in one of the compounds many living rooms, staring at nothing. The silence was deafening.
Then, without even realizing it, I started to hum.

"Lavender's blue, dilly dilly,
Lavender's green...."

My voice wavered, soft, almost childlike. The rest came out on instinct- every word a memory, every note a ghost.

"When you are King, dilly dilly,
I shall be Queen...."

By the time I finished, I was smiling. Then flashes of memory pass by- and my smile dropped once again.

"That's a old song"

I turned, startled, to see Steve standing behind me. His voice gentle, curious.
"Didn't think anyone remembered that song" he said, sitting across from me.
"Where'd you learn it?" He asks

"My brother used to sing it to me" I said quietly.

"You had a brother?" He asked

"Yeah." I looked down at my necklace, twisting it between my fingers.
"Three years older. His name was Alexander" I said

Steve nodded toward the chain.
"That his?" He asks

"Yeah. He never took it off. When he died, I thought I'd wear it for him" I said

His eyes softened.
"How did he die?" He asks

I froze. My throat closed. Steve caught it instantly.
"You don't have to tell me" he said

"No, it's okay." I swallowed hard.
"He was in Hydra with me. He died on a mission" I said

A pause. Then, quietly-
"Elizabeth....can I ask you a question?" He says

"You technically just did" I said, a half-smile tugging at my lips- trying to lighten the mood.

He chuckled.
"Fair. But I mean- What happened to you? How'd you end up there?" He asks

I started at him for a moment.
"You really want the whole story?" I asked

"If you're willing to share" he said

I took a deep breath.
And for the first time, I told someone everything.

"My parents worked for Hydra- my dad was an agent, my mom a scientist.
I was two. Alexander was five.
We didn't know what they really did.
Every night, my mom brought home these needles- some kind of serum- and told us it would make us smarter. Stronger.
But it just...burned. It aged our minds faster than our bodies.

When I was two, I could already think like a teenager.

One day, they said we were going to visit their workplace. We met Hydras leader. That's when I found out my parents sold us- their own kids. Hydra paid them every time we survived another experiment.

A few months later, Hydra found out my parents were stealing money from them. They handed Alexander and I a gun and told us to kill them.
We couldn't.
So they did it for us. Right in front of us.

After that, Hydra trained us. Broke us. Then they froze us.
When I woke up again, they gave us super soldier serum- it didn't work on Alexander. They tortured him instead.

On my tenth birthday, we went on a mission. It went wrong. He got shot in the stomach. I tried to save him, but..."

My voice cracked. The tears came fast, hot, uncontrollable.

"I watched him die in my arms. Just like Pietro"

I looked down at my hands.
"They sent me to the red room after that. Three years there, then back to Hydra. More tests. More pain. That's how I got these powers. After that, I was their weapon. Their ghost. Until Sokovia"

Silence.

Steve's eyes were glassy.
"Elizabeth....I know what you're thinking. You didn't choose that life. You didn't deserve it. You're not a monster." He said

I laughed bitterly through tears.
"Don't say that. You shouldn't be proud of me. You don't know what I've done" I said

"I know enough" he said softly
"And I know Alexander would be proud of who you are now. I am too." He said

Something snapped in me.
"No. You shouldn't be proud! I am a monster, Steve." My voice broke
"You can't just erase what I've done with a few kind words. I've killed too many people to be forgiven that easy!" I said

"Elizabeth, you're not-" he started

"Don't! Don't lie to me!" I yelled

And then I heard it. A sound behind me.

I turned- and froze.
Wanda. Tony. Nat. Clint. Sam. All standing there, silent.

"How much of that did you hear?" I whispered

Wanda stepped forward, her eyes soft and red-rimmed.
"We didn't hear it. We saw it. Your powers reacted to your emotions. You showed us your past." she said softly

I stopped breathing.

"I'm sorry." I whispered, falling to my knees.
"I'm so sorry for everything I've done-" I cried

And suddenly, arms were around me. I didn't know whose. Just warmth. Hands. Voices. They didn't let go.

"Steve's right" Nat murmured.
"You're not a monster. You may not see yourself as a hero, but we do" she said

"Second that" Wanda said softly

"Third" Tony added

"Fourth" Clint said

"Fifth" Sam adds.

"Sixth" Steve said, laughing through tears.
"even tho I technically said it first" he said

I laughed- really laughed- through my tears.
"Thank you, guys" I said

Wands helped me up, and before I could stop them, they all tackled me into one giant hug. For the first time, it didn't feel strange. It felt right.

When we pulled apart, Sam tilted his head.
"Serious question- how old are you, exactly?" He asks

I smiled.
"Technically.... Im a 100 hundred and seven year old stuck in a fifteen year old's body" I said

"A hundred and seven?!" Everyone shouted at once, except Wanda.

"Yes, a hundred and seven" I grinned.

Nat smirked.
"You've never looked better, honey" she said

Tony clapped his hands.
"Then it's settled. We celebrate" he said

"Celebrate what?" Nat asked

He gestured toward me.
"Elizabeth finally realizing we all love her?" He said

Everyone stared. I laughed.
"Why not" I said

Tony pointed dramatically.
"Pizza, dessert, drinks. Let's go!" He said

I watched them scatter- bickering, laughing, alive, for the first time, I didn't feel like an outsider watching through glass.

Maybe....maybe I really had found my family.