I don't own Avengers or anything Marvel related!

Bracing herself against the cold, Evelyn stepped out of her car and shut the door behind her. She pulled her black peacoat closer around her and continued toward the sea of men and women clothed in black.

Each step she took was harder than the last.

It would be so easy to turn around and drive away. Easier to pretend none of this had ever happened and that Jackson was still overseas on a mission; that he would be coming home soon; that he was still safe, and happy, and healthy. But Evelyn knew she owed it to Jackson's memory to be brave today- so she kept walking.

As she approached the congregation, she slid on a pair of sunglasses. If she was going to cry here, she would be damned before she let Fury see her tears. She could see him now, standing to the left of her brother's casket, head bowed and trench coat blowing in the wind. As if he had any right to stand there and watch Jackson's funeral. Maria and Coulson were with Fury, but none of them had seen Evelyn yet.

She came to a stop beside her great-aunt and reached down to hold her hand. This was the woman who had raised Evelyn and Jackson, after their parents passed away, but she could never know the truth about his death. Technically, Evelyn wasn't supposed to know either- the comings and goings of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were usually closely guarded secrets- "Level 8 Stuff" as Fury liked to say. But working as a doctor at S.H.I.E.L.D had its perks at the time, it gave her a high enough clearance level to pry the details about Jackson's last mission out of Fury.

Fury had sent Jackson on what Evelyn considered a suicide mission, not that Jackson would have seen it that way. He was far too noble for that. If there was one thing she knew about Jackson, it was that he loved this world and all the people in it, starting with his family. He had been honored to have the opportunity to fight for, and defend the people he loved so much.

It seemed that the information she now knew about Jackson's death was not well known at S.H.I.E.L.D., but of course, the two people Evelyn still trusted at S.H.I.E.L.D. knew. Coulson and Maria Hill knew everything Fury knew, sometimes more. They were the ones who, when Evelyn demanded the truth from Fury, took her side and convinced him to hand over Jackson's file.

The file though, Evelyn wished she took Coulson's advice when he told her not to jump in and start digging. There were things in there, details and pictures that Evelyn still had nightmares about. She didn't know how Jackson had been able to act so carefree when he was around her after he had done everything in that file. But then again, that's what S.H.I.E.L.D did, they trained their agents in the arts of lies and deception.

None of that mattered to Evelyn now, all that mattered was that her brother was dead, the people who murdered him didn't pay for their crime and that her aunt would never know the truth about the man she raised.

Evelyn had been called to identify his body while their Aunt had been made to believe he was killed during a training exercise when his equipment malfunctioned. It was the perfect explanation for the closed casket funeral. S.H.I.E.L.D. had told her Great-Aunt Carolyn his body was so badly burned in the crash that he was unidentifiable. As any mother would, Carolyn wanted to see the boy she raised before he was taken away from her for good. But Evelyn had begged Carolyn to remember Jackson as he was when he was alive rather than a corpse at the funeral home. Eventually Carolyn, although heart broken,

Evelyn would never be able to tell her aunt that Jackson's body wasn't burned; it had been mutilated. He had been tortured for weeks before his captors had put him out of his misery. And it had taken nearly a week after that for S.H.I.E.L.D. to finally bring his body home. Evelyn couldn't bear the thought of letting her aunt know Jackson had suffered at all, and so that was a secret she would take to the grave. As per her SHIELD training, she deceived Carolyn, told her Jackson died doing what he loved.

Despite the atrocities Jackson had endured, he would still be buried among lies. He was a hero, and deserved to be remembered as one by his family, but S.H.I.E.L.D had taken that away from him when they locked up his mission file and threw away the key.

As the ceremony began, Evelyn gripped Carolyn's hand tighter and stood up straighter, now was not the time to show weakness. Evelyn had to put on a calm facade and be there in whatever way her great-aunt would need, that's what Jackson would do if he were still alive.

Authors Note: First time writing, let me know what you think!

1. And please tell me if you think Evelyn is a Mary-Sue! We definitely can't have that happening.

2. S/o to anyone who knows the songs my Title and Chapter titles come from

3. Also, I want to write this as a (Thor x Evelyn) or (Captain Rogers x Evelyn), who do you think Evelyn should be with?

I have a lot more planned out, hopefully I can crank out a chapter a week. Please stick with me!