Chapter one: Come and Knock On My Door

She grew up on stories of Captain America and his best friend Bucky Barnes. Her grandmother, the great Peggy Carter and founder of SHIELD, began telling her stories from the moment she was born and Emma never stopped listening. She pretty much knew everything there was to know from her grandmother's stories about Steve Rogers but Peggy had left out one major detail: that Emma was Steve's granddaughter as well.

When Emma was 9 years old, her parents died in a horrible car accident and she was sent off to live with her grandmother and when a year had passed Peggy had finally revealed the truth to Emma about her heritage. Emma was furious at first but she understood why Peggy felt the need to keep the secret: to protect the last trace of Captain America's blood and so she continued to keep that secret; not evening telling her closet friends.

11 years later and one job with SHIELD later, Emma found herself right outside Captain America's door. Not much time had passed since he was unfrozen but it was enough time for people to get used to him and Emma had spent the majority of that time making excuses to not go see him. Rejection by her own grandfather was something she feared greatly but she visited Peggy before coming here, who so happened to be lucid and demanded her to gather up her courage then practically pushed her out the door.

"You'll always be afraid, that's never going to go away, but what you do with that fear is what will make you brave. Now, go see your grandfather," Peggy told her smiling.

Emma yanked at her brown locks and bit her lip before raising her hand to knock on the door. She knocked timidly on the door and a moment later, the door opened. Standing before her was Captain America. He was taller than she thought he would be, towering over her in a non-threatening stance. She couldn't help but gape at him as she searched his face, trying to find any similarities between the two. They had the same piercing blue eyes and maybe even the same chin but the similarities ended there.

"Hello? May I help you?" Steve asked after a moment of silence.

"Um, um," Emma said, nervously then she coughed and straightened her shoulders up. "Hi, my name is Emma Carter and yes, I'm Peggy Carter's granddaughter. I understand you knew my grandmother well."

"Um, yes, ma'am, I did. Why don't you come on in?" Steve asked with raised eyebrows.

Emma stepped through the doorway and into the small but comfortable apartment. She twisted her hands nervously and turned around to face Steve.

"You have a lovely apartment," Emma said smiling at him, her heart pounding in her chest.

"Thank you, Pe - I mean, Emma," Steve said, shaking his head. "Would you like something to drink?"

Grinning at his slip-up, she declined the drink so he lead her to the couch where they sat rather uncomfortably.

"So, how are you adjusting to everything? I mean, it must be pretty strange," Emma said, making small talk.

"Yeah, it is pretty strange and to be honest, it is pretty difficult. It's hard getting used the different time period. Everything seems so. . . fast, if that makes any sense," Steve said with a chuckle.

"I know what you mean, I grew up in this era and I still have trouble getting used to it," Emma said with a chuckle. "My Gran always told me that I was born in the wrong time."

"Is that a good thing?" he asked.

"It's always good to be different and I'm as different as they come. For one, I have Peggy Carter as my grandmother and my grandfather is -," she stopped suddenly.

"What?" he asked and she blushed.

She couldn't say it so casually just as she was about to do so and she twitched nervously, remembering the real reason that she had come here.

"My grandfather is very special to my grandmother and I should say that she loves him very much. She continues to protect him just like he protected her, even though she was very capable of protecting herself," Emma said proudly.

"That does sound like Peggy. It sounds like you have amazing grandparents," Steve said stiffly. "I have to ask, why do you have Peggy's last name?"

"Well, my grandfather is a very important man and he went missing in action during the war but my grandmother had thought he had died. Shortly after he went missing, she found out she was pregnant with my father. She couldn't reveal who the father was because she couldn't bear the thought of the government getting their hands on her child," Emma told him slowly.

Steve looked at her, his brow furrowing as he put two and two together. He remained silent for a while, looking at her as if he were studying her.

"Your grandfather? What his name?" he asked.

"I think you know. I do have his eyes after all," she said, blinking at him.

Steve got up off the couch and began pacing around the room. Emma suddenly wished she had the ability to read minds because she desperately wanted to know what he was thinking. The thought of him sending her away was too much to bear.

"So I'm your - and you're my -" Steve said, unable to finish his sentence.

"Yep," she said popping the 'p' rather awkwardly.

Her glasses slipped down her nose and she swiftly pushed them back up in place as he slumped down into one of the sofa chairs. It seemed like several minutes passed by before Steve spoke again.

"D-did your father not want to see me?" he asked.

Emma looked at her hands sadly and her chest ached. 11 years later and it still hurt her as much as the day it happened.

"He passed away years ago along with my mother," she stated forlornly. "Gran took me in, of course."

"I'm sorry," Steve said.

"He wanted to meet you so badly but he had no clue that you were his father," Emma told him. "Gran had told him all about you and your friend, Bucky. That's who she named my dad after, actually. James Steven Carter."

He chuckled and she looked up, startled to see tears in his eyes. He was grinning from ear to ear and then the smile fell from his face as he thought about something.

"You said that your mother didn't want your father falling into the government's hands. Did he have the serum?" Steve asked.

"He didn't have as much as you did. It was diluted but he was strong," she paused for a moment and blinked rapidly at the sudden tears that she felt coming to her eyes. "But not strong enough."

"I'm sure he fought as hard as he could," Steve said.

"What? With the most stubborn parents in the world? Of course he did," Emma replied and Steve laughed.

"Yeah, I suppose so," he laughed.

Emma reached into her bag and pulled out her tablet.

"I have some pictures, if you want to see them, here on my tablet," she said.

He sat back down on the couch with his granddaughter and peered over her shoulder as she unlocked her tablet. She went to her photo gallery and found the folder containing the old family pictures she had downloaded to her tablet. Steve looked down at her and smiled.

"I'm really glad you decided to come find me," Steve replied.

"Me too. I was really nervous because I thought that you might not have wanted to see me or that you might not even believe me," Emma said.

"You've heard stories about me from Peggy?" Steve asked and she nodded. "Then you should know that I would have never turned you away. Besides you have my eyes."

"Thanks," she said smiling as she began flipping through the photos.

As she looked through old photos of her grandmother, she couldn't help but notice that she looked like Peggy as well. It was something she had never noticed before. That day was one of the best days of her life and she was glad that she knocked on his door.