A/N:

Hi all,

It has been a long time since I've gotten to sit down and write, so to say I am rusty is a huge understatement. I do have an outline for this story and a direction that I want it to go, so I'm just really hoping that I can get my groove back and keep on top of all my deadlines so I still have time to write.

I plan for this to be almost two stories in one - one being about the present (with the characters I've introduced in this chapter) and the other about how it all came to be. So, at the moment, I'm planning to go for a one-to-one, meaning it could be slow to start, so if you're interested, please stick with me, cause I promise I am going somewhere with this, haha.

As I said, I am rusty, so any feedback is appreciated. Anyway, enough about me - hope you guys like it. :)

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It was with a heavy sigh that Allie finally mustered the courage to turn off her car and start getting her things together. She had been idling there in the abandoned parking lot for almost 2 hours, desperately trying to convince herself that this was still a good idea. That it was still the right thing to do.

It had taken a year and a half of searching, not to mention pleading, to get to this point and yet somehow she could barely believe that she had actually managed to achieve what she'd set out to do.

When she'd seen his picture plastered across the televisions almost two years ago, her heart had frozen in her chest. The media were quick to brand him as the culprit for those terrible bomb attacks on the UN, and as much as it killed her, she couldn't help but believe them.

After all, he was the Winter Soldier. There was nothing he couldn't do. Something she knew better than most.

And yet. She had been wrong. They all had. And to find out that he was innocent ignited a spark in her that she had long thought extinguished forever. It was impossible to think that maybe he was finally free. That maybe he had managed to escape from Hydra – that sort of thing just didn't happen. Not easily, at least. Once again, this was something that Allie knew better than most.

After months of arguing with herself and the constant back and forth, she did it. Going against her better judgement and every single instinct she had developed in the past 10 years, she went after him.

Finding out that he'd fled to Wakanda was no easy task, however, when compared to actually contacting the Prince of Wakanda… well, it may as well have been a walk in the park.

A year and a half. 18 months of searching, and calling, and convincing – all the while, still on the run. There were plenty of times when she had thought about quitting and just forgetting the whole thing, but somehow she had made it here.

Here. Where she was sitting in a car that she'd stolen maybe 100 miles back, in an empty carpark, just waiting for something that she was starting to fear might not happen. This could all be some elaborate trap – after all, Hydra could do just about anything.

She fidgeted with the keys in her hand, contemplating for the thousandth time if she should just restart the car and get as far away as possible. Lord knows she wanted to. Her hand itched above the gear shift, anticipating the motions of driving away.

But she couldn't do that. Not when she'd come this far. For the past ten years she had run from them, all the while learning to take care of herself and the thing most precious to her. She needed to do this, if not for herself then for him.

Not the soldier. No. For him.

Turning to face the backseat she couldn't help but smile at the peaceful expression on Maks' face. She'd always loved watching him sleep. For all he'd been through at such a young age, he never seemed to have nightmares – something for which she could not be more grateful. No, Maks' demons came for him when he was awake.

It was little pieces of everyday – like when he would struggle for control, or when he was so full of energy that his body itched all over. Things that, despite her best efforts, she could never truly help him with.

That's why she treasured his moments of sleep. It was one of the only times she didn't have to see worry or frustration etched on his young face.

Without warning, a sharp metallic noise broke the silence and Allie whipped around to see where it had come from, her right hand simultaneously flying to the knife strapped to her hip; she was always ready for a fight.

It took several moments for her to register the sight before her. It was a plane… or spaceship? She couldn't really decide. But regardless, she knew that it was the transport she had been waiting for. This was how they would get to Wakanda.

Turning to the backseat once more, she roused the sleeping child. "Maks, sweetie. Come on, it's time for us to go."

Somewhat reluctantly, she saw his eyes open and was instantly met with a shock of blue-grey; even after nearly ten years, she was still struck by the similarity.

Maks didn't need to be told twice to do anything and so it was, less than 5 minutes later, they had gathered all of their meagre belongings and approached the transport together; Allie's hand tightly clasped around Maks' smaller one.

As the doors opened to permit them, she was hit with a sudden clarity – one that had been dancing around her mind for the past year and a half.

This was it. Finally she would find a way to get Maks the help that he needed. Finally Maks would be able to know the truth about who he was and the things he could do.

Finally, the Winter Soldier would know his son.