nextgenerationmarvel | Moving In (Roxie)

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Moving In (Roxie)

The night after their discussion, Joe followed Roxie's instructions to get into the building and headed upstairs to the apartment to check it out. He politely declined the doorman's offer of assistance as he didn't want to frighten the poor guy with the weight of his bags or their contents. Between all the clothing and weapons, Joe knew Uncomfortable Questions might be asked so he avoid the whole situation by carrying his own things.

Once he got through the door, Joe turned on some lights and checked the place out. Roxie had really good taste; the place was furnished much better than the places he'd been in the last few years. He didn't even see any rats scurrying once the lights were on. The cleanliness of the place made him realize just what kind of dumps he'd been inflicting on himself since he left Colorado Springs.

He sought the nearest empty bedroom and found it, sitting his bags down and taking off his coat. He was about to figure out what he'd sleep on when he remembered something about a rooftop garden. Now, he had to see it.

He found the access to the rooftop and stepped out, looking around at the place. Whatever he'd expected this place to be, this was so much more. Joe simply walked around a bit, getting an idea of the space. He could put a heavy bag right over there, in the corner, if Roxie didn't mind...

for a moment, Joe let all of his worries and trepidations about the world fall away and he stood near the edge of the building with his head titled back, eyes closed and just enjoyed the sounds of New York by night.

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"I'm learning that change isn't such a horrible thing," Roxie admitted. "Sometimes it's not the most wonderful thing, its true, change is needed, otherwise...well, no one would have invented the wheel, and can you imagine life without your bike?" There was a thin thread of logic in there somewhere.

"Five years from now? I don't know. At one point, I thought I'd be working at my mother's magazine, possibly married to Vincent. Now? Everything's new and different and undecided." She smiled softly. "I kind of like not knowing what might come next."

"Yeah, I love my bike. Walking or running everywhere wouldn't be a lot fun. I'd have to learn to fly then." he said, digging into his food.

He nodded at her answer to his question. "Well, you seem like you've got the fashion thing covered. I haven't really ever known anyone more put-together, fashion-wise, than you." Joe said, after swallowing a bit of food.

"Am I doing all right with your questions so far?" he asked.

"Wonderfully," Roxie stated. "I hope I'm doing just as well though?" She stuck her fork into her food and pulled out a chunk of chicken covered in the tangy, spicy mango sauce, along with wisp-thin slivers of red onion and peppery shreds of arugula.

"I just feel as though there's so much about you that...well, when I was younger I'd sometime dream about how...you..." she twirled her fork around. "I'm trying so hard not to make things awkward," she finally said.

"You are doing great. I mean, I feel like I know a lot more about you than I ever did." Joe said.

Her aborted sentence piqued Joe's interest. Where was she going with this?

"Well, I don't want to make things awkward but...what do you mean? Wait. You don't have to answer that. I don't want to pry." he said, taking a drink of his water.

Edited 2012-11-22 04:08 (UTC)

"It's not important," Roxie said, waving her hand as though she was just waving the sentence away. "Just a little flustered for a moment, that's all." It was clear she wasn't being entirely honest. "As a kid, where did you think you'd be as an adult?"

Joe was sure she wasn't saying something but he'd just told her that he wouldn't pry into something she didn't want to talk about. Respecting boundaries was a part of respecting a person as well as friendship. He decided not to pursue it for now.

"When I was little, I wanted to be the next Captain America. I wanted to train with my dad every day so I could fit into the suit." Joe said with a laugh. "There are still days when I imagine that I could be him. Be Captain America. But then reality sets in." Joe said.

"Now I'm just a guy trying to help people wherever I can and make the world a better place each day." he told her.

There was something about that story that brought a piece of history forth in Roxie's mind. She tilted her head and studied Joe for a long moment. "You're calling yourself Nomad, aren't you?" she said suddenly. Given everything he'd told her, it would make sense if he did.

Joe nodded.

"Yeah, I'm Nomad. Honestly, I didn't pick the name. I just started helping people but a few of them heard of the original...my dad. Even when I'm not trying to be like him, I tend to end up being like him." Joe said.

"But it stuck. I don't wear a mask, though. Never really saw a point in it, personally, but I get why a lot of others do."

"To keep identities and loved ones safe," she nodded. "I've never worn one either," she admitted. She'd lived in Avengers Mansion more than she had at her mother's brownstone, and besides, for someone as photographed as Roxie, a simple mask really wouldn't hide anything. People would know by the curl of her hair or the curve of her jawline who it was behind the mask anyway, and so she'd embraced both sides of herself - superhero and supersocialite.

"That sort of thing runs in our blood, I suppose," Roxie nodded. "Besides, I like that you don't hide your face. It shouldn't be, you know, covered." She blinked. "This is really good food."

"My old man went public a long time ago. I caught some hell for it at Colorado Springs but I never asked for any special treatment or favors. Still, a lot people didn't like me for it." Joe said.

At some point in his teens, Joe became uncomfortable with the idea of being Captain America's son and chose to try being a normal guy. Or as normal as one could get when they had the super-soldier serum coursing through their veins. That alone separated him from most of humanity. He was one of two people in the world who was genetically perfect in all the ways that mattered. Sometimes it made him uncomfortable.

Right now, though, he didn't mind so much.

When she said she liked that he didn't hide his face, Joe smiled and pointed at his face. "This ugly mug?" he said with a chuckle. "You're way too nice to me, Roxanne. By the way...do you mind if I call you Roxanne? I just...I really like your name. But I get if you don't want me to. I'm touchy about people using my real name so I understand." he said.

"You, though, have a face that belongs on magazine covers, billboards and any other place it can get on. I swear I saw a billboard with you on it on the way into town." Joe said.

"And yes, the food is great. I love this place." he said, eating a bit more.

It always seemed to Roxie that the guys she liked most tended to use her full name. First there had been Vincent, and now there was Joe.

"No, it's fine," she said, nodding her head. "I like how you say it," she smiled.

"I think we're all scared of not being able to get out from underneath our parents' shadows," she admitted. "I mean, I took one of my mother's codenames, but given who my father was, the name had an entirely different meaning. But that hasn't stopped people from asking if I'd ever call myself Ms. Marvel one day." She wouldn't. Captain Marvel, maybe, if Bruce ever chose not to use that name, but she was happy being Warbird. It suited her well.

As for the ugly mug thing, she couldn't answer that without pointing out the obvious. Even when they were kids, Roxie had been taken aback by Joe's all-American good looks - that warm smile that seemed to lighten up a room, those beautiful eyes that, when they looked at you, made you wish that you were the only person that he would ever look at...

Breathe, Rox. Breathe.

"You might have seen me on a billboard," she nodded. "I've done some work here and there for some designer and photographer friends. I'd consider making a career out of it, but I'm fairly certain my mother would have a heart attack if I certainly became a Victoria's Secret Angel."

"I'm really, really sorry your mother's heart couldn't take you being a Victoria's Secret Angel." Joe said with honesty. "I think every man in America agrees with me in that respect."

The idea of Roxanne as a Victoria's Secret Angel brought a very dopey grin to Joe's face that Roxie could very much see. Why hadn't he seen how amazing she'd be when they were kids? Of course, he knew she'd be beautiful, but back then, he'd seen her a lot like a little sister, the same way he'd seen Sammy. Somewhere along the way, though, Sammy just kept being the kid sister he never had but always wanted and Roxie became...what?

He'd never thought it over too closely because the idea of making a pass at her seemed like he wasn't being fair to her. Of course, she'd never shown any interest in him, either. At least, not to Joe's knowledge.

"Okay, time for a personal question." Joe said.

He paused and hoped that he wasn't about to torpedo the night.

"How long were you and Vincent together?" he asked.

Edited 2012-11-22 05:50 (UTC)

Roxie had always respected Joe enough - and been self-aware enough of her own failings as a person - to have ever stayed away from hitting on Joe in too obvious a manner. It wouldn't have been fair to him, and the last thing she wanted was to ruin a good friendship.

But there was this question...

A new fire burned in Roxie's eyes for just a moment. That was certainly very unlike the questions he had asked her thus far. That question almost seemed to show...interest?

She tilted her head the other way, any number of coy remarks coming to mind, but she pushed them all away. That, too, wouldn't be fair to him, and if anything, Roxie wanted to be fair and honest to Joe. He deserved it.

"A couple of years," she admitted. "Long enough for him to have met my mother, long enough for us to have moved in together, and long enough for the break-up to have hurt like hell." She paused. "Though I kept him a secret from my mother for a very long while. You know his mother is the reason I exist, right? Well, a version of his mother, anyway. My mom wouldn't - didn't - take too kindly to the fact that my boyfriend was the son of...well, you know." She waved her hand. "Dr. Doom and Amora the Enchantress."

She had mentioned who Vincent's mother was, right?

Her lips twitched, then, and she raised her chin - and an eyebrow - just a little. "Inquiring minds want to know what brought this question on, though."

Joe nodded as Roxie told him a little bit about Vincent and how she'd kept him secret. It sounded to him like Vincent had a major piece of her heart and Joe understood that completely.

She could have avoided the question or not answered it, but she did. He respected that.

"That must have been tough, but you guys weathered it all right, it seems. The reason I asked is because you spoke about him a little earlier and...he had to be a good guy if you cared for him. I know the way the tabloids liked to paint you and I know you're still hurting in some ways but this is why I know you're worth way more than the Kree thought you were worth. It's also how I know you're going to get past all the anger and be stronger than ever on the other side of this.

You really cared about him, which is reminds me of the Roxanne that I grew up with. She cares about people a lot, even if she likes to go out and have a good time, too." Joe said.

"I really hope that didn't sound like a Hallmark card or really sappy."

"It's funny," Roxie said after a long moment. "I sometimes forget how perceptive you are. Usually I spend so much time looking at how beau - blue - your eyes are that I forget how much they notice."

So maybe it wasn't interest. Maybe he was just being a friend - that big brother that he'd been to her growing up. That was fine too, right?

Roxie tried to convince herself that it was.

"What about you?" she asked. "I know you mentioned something earlier, but I didn't want to pry." Pause. "I'd like to hear about her, though, if you don't mind telling me?"

Joe knew that she'd ask where the question came from and while he wasn't wholly comfortable talking about the story, he needed to start someday. That's what the SHIELD shrink said.

He took a deep breath and paused, recalling something that was obviously difficult for him.

"Her name is--her name was Melissa. Melissa Landon. I was in my second year at the Academy when I met her. The guys wanted to go out to a bar and usually, I said no that sort of thing. Drinking wasn't a big thing for me at the time but I went because a couple of the guys liked to get carried away and I figured they needed a designated driver." he said, smiling a little bit as he remembered those times.

Lake, Washington and Donovan were his best friends at the Academy, united in serving their country. Those days made Joe proud to be an American, even more proud than being the son of an American hero.

"Anyway, we get there and I decide to hang out for a bit. After about an hour, maybe two, Washington tells me that this girl in the corner has been watching me for awhile. I brushed it off because I thought he was kidding. I've never seen myself as the guy that a girl watches from across the room, you know? Anyway, finally, she gets up and comes over to our table." he said

"She starts talking to me, she tells me her name and it was nice. She was the first person I'd met that wanted to know me before she knew who my old man was. We hit it off pretty quickly. I don't dance and she got me to dance a few songs before the end of the night. We made a date for the weekend and things went really well from there.

Once she found out my dad was Captain America, she didn't look at me differently. I fell in love with her, Roxanne. She was my first in a lot of ways. I guess that's why I fell apart after she died. I didn't know you could really love someone like that. We were together for a year before everything went south."

"It's funny, how love can creep up on you when you least expect it, and how its intensity is never something that you can prepare for," Roxie replied. "I'm sorry about your loss, Joe. It must be terrible to go through a loss like that."

She set her fork down, her food only half-eaten, and stared at him for a moment. "Do you...do you go visit her?" Her grave is what Roxie meant.

"Thank you, Roxanne. I appreciate that." he said, feeling a little lighter with that telling of the story. It didn't come close to erasing the pain, but it lessened a little bit.

"I went once, after the funeral and was told by the parlor owner that I couldn't see her. He gave me a number to call so I called it and spoke to her brother. He blamed me for what happened to her, which is fine because I blame him and myself." Joe said.

"He had her plot moved somewhere I couldn't find it. He told me that he hoped I suffered the same pain he was in someday."

And I'm gonna make sure that happens, Rogers. I'm going to take everyone you love from you. Then I'm going to kill you.

Joe left that last part out of the story. Roxanne didn't need to know that.

"I'm sorry. I'm ruining dinner with this. I should be over it by now. It's been almost five years since then." he said, setting down his own food.

Edited 2012-11-22 17:11 (UTC)

"He was speaking out of loss and anger," Roxie said. "Her brother, I mean. While I'm sure he does blame you, I'm sure there's a rational part of him somewhere that realizes that everything that happened wasn't on your shoulders, Joe. And you shouldn't place all of the blame on yourself, either. It's unhealthy."

She wanted to reach out across the table and hug him, take his pain away, and protect him from all the pain that others could try to inflict on him. But the Joe Rogers she knew wouldn't let anyone else put themselves in that sort of a position - wouldn't let them take his pain away by taking it for themselves.

"If you want to go, we have magic users affiliated with the Avengers who can help you find her, you know," Roxie said. "Sofia Strange is a reservist, incidentally, if you're ever interested."

She waved away that last comment. "You're not ruining anything, so don't apologize. I wanted this, and I stand by that."

"Her brother was a criminal, Roxanne. A killer. Melissa would go out of town on these 'business trips' as she called them, and leave for weeks at a time. She'd always come back with some story about how her family was involved in the corporate world and how she had to help out." Joe said.

"One week in December someone tried to kill the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff when he visited the Academy. You might have read that headline a few years ago. What you didn't read was that I stopped the guy, though he about kicked my teeth down my throat. He escaped, though one of the MP's managed to shoot him on the way out. I was pretty banged up when my phone rang." Joe said, remembering the pain in his ribs and arms like it was yesterday.

He remembered what happened next as though it was happening in front of him.

"Melissa is on the other end of the line in a panic. She told me was out of town that weekend which was okay because I had a test on Monday. She says she in trouble and needs help. I wasn't allowed to leave campus but I did anyway. I got to her place and found her bandaging up the assassin, who turned out to be her big brother, Jason. Jason recognized me, too.

And that was when Melissa explained how her family made their money. She and her brother were spies and, when needed, assassins. She begged me to keep their secret and even asked me if I wanted to join up." Joe said.

He remembered how /insulted/ he'd been when they asked him. He also remembered how angry he was at the time.

"We got into a shouting match. I left. I couldn't take it. I sat on the information for two days before I turned him in. Even with a bullet in him, Jason Landon killed three cops before they brought him down. Melissa...she was so angry. She became someone else before my eyes. Told me that I was a liar for not telling her about my dad and that I'd ruined her family and her life by turning her brother in.

She left that night and I didn't see her again until they asked me to identify her body a month later. I guess the people they were working for didn't take kindly to failure." Joe told her.

"Because I didn't come forward with the info immediately, Commander Talbot, who hated my guts already, brought it up as an Honor Code violation. Immediate expulsion. Dad was furious, especially when I wouldn't tell him why I didn't come forward."

Edited 2012-11-22 17:33 (UTC)

"That can't have been easy for you," Roxie said softly. Sure, she'd long been in a relationship with the son of two well-known villains, but her romance had been fantastical. Joe's was more grounded in reality - visceral, terrifying in how much closer to mundane this tragedy was than any Roxie had ever experienced. She let out a low, soft breath. Suddenly, everything she'd ever been through - with the exception of the Kreenapping - paled in comparison to this very real thing that Joe had been forced to live through.

"Do you think you'll ever be able to tell Steve why you didn't come forward?" That was Roxie. Never with the Uncle this or Aunt that, or the Mr.-and-Mrs. Insert-Last-Name-Here.

"I'm pretty sure he already knows. He just wants me to come to him about it. But the moment I do, he'll try to fix it or get involved and it'll be my dad cleaning up my mess. Or my mother will call some of her old friends in the service and it'll all 'go away'." Joe said bitterly.

"I made these choices, Roxanne. I'm an adult and I've got to accept what comes with that." he said quietly. "My parents taught me that, too, and that's why I do what I do. We never think about the consequences of our choices to get involved in the lives of normal people. You, me, Bruce and everyone...we're taught that we're supposed to get involved when we see something wrong and we do." Joe said, his hand reaching out for his water glass and fumbling a bit because he was looking at Roxie.

"But we never consider what happens to those lives after we get involved. We think, we want to believe, that these people go on and live better lives and never have another problem but that's not how it is, is it? Sometimes people die even after we help them and...if I hadn't said anything, she might still be alive. And it would be hard to live with myself for helping a criminal but Melissa wouldn't be dead." Joe finished.

He'd had a few years and a lot of scotch to help him come to that conclusion. Never mind the people who'd told him he couldn't see the future or that it wasn't his fault. In his mind, it would always be his fault for doing the right thing.

"The sad thing is that I'd do it all again, Roxanne. That guy was an animal and he had to be stopped. I just wish I could have saved her."

"I'm sorry you weren't able to," Roxie said. "And it's tough that we can't go back and change the things we regret most about the past." Though a part of her was glad for that, because the chaos that could ensue with people having access to change the timeline like that would eventually result in a small group of morons trying to reset the universe every five years.

"But the thing is - and I learned this early, Joe - some things simply were meant to be, and no matter how much we want to change the circumstances surrounding the event in question, fate - or the Fates, if you're me - have something else planned, and sometimes, it's not for us to stop them." Which led back to what he said earlier, about people dying even after the heroes had saved them. "We can't save everyone, and unfortunately, that sometimes means the people we care about the most."

"You're probably right, Roxanne. But I'm glad I'm here now, with you. You've really helped tonight. I'm serious about that." Joe said.

There was so much more that Joe wanted to tell Roxie, to talk about, and things he wanted to know but he didn't want to make her uncomfortable.

"Is there anything else you want to know, Roxanne?" he asked, composing himself after all of the heavy discussion.

"Good," she smiled. "That makes me glad. Everyone needs someone to listen, someone who won't judge them for the things they've done or who they've been." If anything, Roxie, who had so been judged by others, understood that better than most.

Living up to the name that Carol Danvers was hard enough, but having to struggle with being Captain America's kid would be even worse, she felt.

"Everything else there is to know, but I feel as though there's time enough to discover more about you, Joe." She shrugged lightly and added, "I've never really taken the time to have a discussion with a guy before, you know? A guy that I was inter - intrigued by, I mean." Intrigued was more ambiguous than interested, right? "Usually - and this was true even with Vincent - we did other things before getting to know each other. This was a nice change of pace."

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