LANA SAT ON A PEW in a church. Steve had asked her to accompany him to Peggy's funeral and she quickly obliged. She knew how much Peggy meant to him. The woman was the first girl he had ever loved and he spoke very highly of her.

He walked down the aisle with some other men holding the coffin before he came and sat by her. She smiled sympathetically and took his hand in hers and kissed it.

The pastor finished giving his speech and it was now time for people to come up, "And now, I would like to invite Sharon Carter to some up and say a few words."

Sharon walked up and Sam nudged Steve. The blonde looked at him before looking at the alter in shock.

Steve's thoughts shouted at Lana and she shook her head.

"Margaret Carter was known to most as a founder of S.H.I.E.L.D... but I just knew her as Aunt Peggy," Sharon said. Steve looked at her in shock and Sam looked at him.

"She had a photograph in her office. Aunt Peggy standing next to JFK. As a kid that was pretty cool. But it was a lot to live up to. Which is why I never told anyone I was related," Sharon said staring at Steve.

"I asked her once how she managed to master diplomacy and espionage... in a time when no one wanted to see a woman succeed at either. And she said compromise where you can. Where you can't, don't. Even if everyone is telling you that something wrong is right. Even if the whole world is telling you to move... it is your duty to plant yourself like a tree... look them in the eye and say 'no, you move'."

➵

After the funeral, Natasha was talking to Steve whilst Lana was waiting for the car. When Natasha came out of the church Lana looked at her.

"He's not going to sign it," Natasha said.

"We can't force him."

"I know. What about you?"

"I don't know what I want to do. All these years I've wanted control over my life after Dreyov and if I sign this then I'm handing myself off to another person. But if I don't billions could get hurt, they could get hurt by my hands. And I don't want that. I don't want to feel that guilt again, that pain inside knowing what I've done," her voice broke as tears filled her eyes.

"I know and you've come so far," Natasha hugged her.

"I'll think about it Nat, it's been a long day."

"Okay, I'll be in Vienna," Natasha smiled and gave her a kiss to the forehead before getting into her own car.

Lana stared at the ground before footsteps walked towards, "Oh, you're still here." She turned finding Sharon pulling on her coat.

"Yeah, Steve's inside, I'm waiting. I'm sorry for your loss."

"Thank you."

The two women stood in silence. Lana knew Sharon was staring at her but she didn't care, she was too much in her own mind to think about the blonde.

"Are you and Steve...?"

Lana whirled to face her, "Excuse me?"

"Are you two a thing? You just seem pretty close," Sharon shrugged.

"Yeah. It's recent I guess," Lana replied. if you could even call almost a year and a half recent.

"So why would you come?"

"Steve loved Peggy. And I..." they hadn't really said the L-word yet, "I care about Steve. I'm here to support him."

Sharon nodded as Steve exited the church, "Hey."

"Hi," she smiled sympathetically, "Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah. Bye Sharon."

"It was nice to meet you," Lana said. She linked her arm with Steve's and they walked to the car. They sat in silence as they raced down the streets of London. Lana glanced at him discreetly but he was already watching her. She scooted over to him and he rest his head on her lap.

As Lana messed around with his golden hair, she wondered what small fragment of good had she done to deserve someone as pure-hearted as Steve.