May 5th, 2014.
S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters, Triskelion.
Washington, D.C.

IO, OPERATION RESCUE AT BAY: STRIKE Team: Alpha [Agent V. Carter and Agent (Captain America) S. Rogers] is to head out towards the Indian Ocean where the mobile satellite launch platform called the Lemurian Star has been taken by pirates led by the mercenary Georges Batroc. S.T.R.I.K.E. team lead by B. Rumlow to accompany Agent 14 and Captain Rogers on the mission.

· Operation details: Rescue hostages only with minor casualties. Apprehend the enemy or eliminate in extreme circumstances. HOSTAGES MUST BE THE PRIORITY.

• RESCUE AT BAY Operation Status: WAITING FOR COUNCIL APPROVAL.

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

Steve

  I got up at 5:00 am, as usual. The faint memory of the sound of cornets and trumpets waking me up. I ate a bowl of cereal as I watched the news, then got dressed with my running gear before brushing my teeth. I walked out of the apartment, locking the door before walking away.

  A blonde woman, Kate, walked out of the apartment next door, she's been my neighbour ever since I moved here. Given the looks of her clothes, I believe she's a nurse. At least that's what I've told Victoria.

We rarely see each other because of our work but we bump into each other in the morning or late at night every now and then when we return from our respective jobs. I nodded at her as a greeting and she smiled before each one of us made our way to the lobby, then left our separate ways.

  The sun was rising as I ran near the Lincoln Memorial. There was one guy that had been running since I started, and he's always here at the same time I am. I've seen him running at this time for the past couple of years. This was his second lap while I had given four laps already. "On your left." I said to him as I ran past him, running at max speed. "On your left." I said again as I ran past him once more.

"Uh-hun. On my left." He said to me. I smiled to myself and kept running. I kept that up as the sun rose in the sky, the morning light illuminating everything. "Don't say it." He warned when he heard me approaching. "Don't you say it."

"On your left." I said as I ran past him.

"Come on!" I heard him pressing the run but I was already too far from where he was. By eleven, I stopped running. After coming off the ice I'd run in the morning, stopping at eight, but for the past two years I run until the sun is well up in the sky, specially when there are no missions in my schedule.

At noon, I found my running friend sitting underneath a tree, his back pressed against the tree trunk, resting under the shadow the leaves provided. "Need a medic?" I asked and he laughed as I approached him, narrowing my eyes due to the bright sunlight.

"I need a new set of lungs." He sighed and I chuckled. "Dude, you just ran, like, 13 miles in 30 minutes."

"I guess I got a late start." He chuckled.

"Really? You should be ashamed of yourself." He mocked. "You should take another lap." He paused for a second and blinked. "Did you just take it? I assume you just took it." I chuckled.

"What unit you with?" I asked, pointing at the grey jersey he was wearing, spotting the army logo on the left side of his chest.

"58th Pararescue. But now I'm working down at the VA." I nodded and he extended a hand, asking me to pull him up. "Sam Wilson." I took his hand and helped him stand.

"Steve Rogers." He groaned once we was on his feet.

"I kind of put that together. Must've freaked you out, coming home after the whole...defrosting thing." I sighed.

"It takes some getting used to. It's good to meet you, Sam." I turned around, meaning to walk back to my apartment. It makes me feel sort of anxious talking about it, the defrosting, specially with strangers.

  One thing was talking about it with Vic, the person that I seem to trust almost entirely in this planet, or with Fury and he's a stretch. I figured that, were Coulson still alive, I'd talk to him about that moment, too.

  I go to the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. because he could explain to me every technicality about that incident. Victoria, as well. They know everything there is to know about it more than anyone else, before I even knew it myself. But it's a whole different story talking about it with strangers, it made me want to leave and get to the privacy of my house. The only one that made me feel safe and normal enough as to have a conversation regarding the subject is Tori. I sighed at the thought of her.

"It's your bed, right?" I turned back around when Sam spoke. He had a brotherly like smile on his face, which made me feel a little better, at ease. It reminded me of someone else's.

"What's that?" I asked, amused at the comment of the bed. Which was also a fact.

"Your bed, it's too soft." I approached him again. "When I was over there, I'd sleep on the ground, use rocks for pillows, like a caveman. Now I'm home, laying in my bed, and it's like..."

"Laying on a marshmallow. Feel like I'm gonna sink right to the floor." He nodded, both of us chuckling. It's interesting the things that can make soldiers bond with each other, like the food, the shocking softness of our beds...the trauma and loss. "How long?"

"Two tours." I nodded. "You must miss the good old days, huh?"

"Well, things aren't so bad. Food's a lot better. We used to boil everything. No polio is good. Internet, so helpful. I've been reading that a lot, trying to catch up." He smiled.

"Marvin Gaye, 1972, Trouble Man soundtrack." I nodded and pulled out a small journal I carry with me everywhere I go, where I write down a list of stuff I need to watch, listen, read. Anything pop culture related. Victoria had been very helpful with that. "Everything you missed jammed into one album." I wrote down the name and the artist.

"It's on the list." Right below the 'Rocky' films. That's when my phone beeped, the phone I use for work.

NEW MESSAGE FROM: TORI CARTER
mission alert. extraction imminent. meet at the curb.

  I sighed as nodded to myself and kept the phone in my pocket again, dreading the idea of going out on mission, but longing seeing Agent Carter's face. Being deployed is really the only way I see her now. Those texts used to be accompanied by smiley faces, but that stopped since I fucked up. Now, they were extremely direct and professionally-cold. "Alright, Sam. Duty calls." I looked up at him and shook his hand. "Thanks for the run. If that's what you wanna call running."

"Oh, that's how it is?" He asked with a smile.

"Oh, that's how it is." I assured with a teasing tone and we laughed together.

"Okay." I turned around and approached the sidewalk. "Any time you want to pop by the VA, make me look awesome in front of the girl at the front desk, just let me know." I chuckled and nodded.

"I'll keep it in mind." I heard the engine of a car roaring behind me, when I turned around, I saw the black AUDI TT Victoria drives parked by the sidewalk. She rolled the window down.

"Hey, fellas." She greeted, her sunglasses on, hair falling down her shoulders all the way to her chest. "Either one of know where the Smithsonian is? I'm here to pick up a fossil." I sighed, knowing she was still angry. Every time she's angry, I get called a fossil.

"That's hilarious." I said as I walked up to the car, she was smiling. Another good sign. I opened the door and got inside. Victoria pulled the glasses down her nose to look at Sam in the eye, he smiled at her, mischievously and flirtatiously.

"How you doing?" He greeted with a head nod. There was something about his tone that made me clench my jaw together.

"Hey." She said, smiling back. I clenched my jaw again and sighed.

"Can't run everywhere." I said and Sam laughed, still looking at Agent Carter beside me.

"No, you can't." I said as they waved goodbye at each other. Victoria pushed her glasses up again and I rolled the window up after a final wave, then, she began to drive us to Triskelion.

  She didn't say a word, though. She just drank from her coffee cup, leaving one of those chic lipstick stains over it. My eyes were pinned to the spot where her lips had met the cup, daydreaming about the taste they might have. Cherry flavoured lip balm, coffee with a hint of vanilla...I looked up to look at her face as I felt my cheeks red, her perfume noticeable. Vanilla and chocolate. I looked at her neck wondering if her skin would taste as sweet as her scent. Stop. I said to myself.

"What?" She asked and I blinked as I looked away towards my window.

"Hm? Nothing." Silence fell upon us.

  My eyes slowly drifted back towards her figure. Victoria's side profile was as beautiful as ever, serene, calm. But I've learned to read her. Even if her face was windless, the way she gripped the steering wheel let me know she wasn't that tranquil. I smiled to myself as I wondered what could be the effect I had on her, hoping it was the same effect she had on me. I cleared my throat and looked past the windshield as we stopped at a red light, taking a deep breath to keep my mind at ease. I pinned my eyes to the traffic light trying to focus on something else that wasn't her.

"How are you?" I asked.

"Good." Silence. I nodded, acknowledging the thick Russian accent in her voice and suddenly my smile dropped as easily as it had come to my lips. Over the years, I've learned that accent only slips out when she's pissed off and, even if she had spoken one word, I could hear it loud and clear. The light turned green and she kept on driving.

"I'm good, too. Thanks for asking."

"I didn't." Another sigh left my lips.

"C'mon, Vic. How long is this gonna go?" She shrugged. "It's been months."

"Maybe. But, you've done that shitty comparison stuff even after we broke up. Wait, no, that's not the right word. Split, I believe, is more like it, because you never actually asked me to date you." I sighed and looked out the window again. She's right. I hadn't been fair with her.

"Still. We're partners, we can't be angry at each other." She scoffed. "At least not all the time."

"If you hadn't said and done what you did, I wouldn't be angry at you."

"I know." More silence. "I'm sorry." She sighed as we got to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Headquarters.

"That coffee and half sandwich are yours, by the way." I smiled at her even if she didn't see me because she won't look my way.

"Thank you."

"Whatever. I wasn't going to let you starve. No matter how angry I might still feel." It was her way of saying 'I still care'. "I ate the other half, by the way." I smiled and nodded my head, knowingly.

  After two years of being partners on the field, going on missions —including undercover—, the dates and the hang-outs we've been on, we've gotten to know each other like the back of our hand. Better, even. I knew she'd always eat half of any food and leave the other half for me on special occasions. It's funny to think I know her better than I know myself. We got off the car and made our way up towards the lobby through the stairs.

"When are we leaving?"

"In ten."

"Towards?"

"The Indian Ocean. The moment the Council approved the mission Fury sent me out to get you."

"How'd you find me?"

"Your phone's GPS. Best way to track someone nowadays." She finally looked at me. "And I'm good at my job." She added with a smile. "Don't forget I spied on you for a very long time, I knew you wouldn't be at your apartment." I scoffed as we entered the building, she looked away.

"You forget you spied on me and leaned the routine I made while living in New York."

"I don't forget anything, Rogers."

"Are you spying on me again, Carter?" I asked, flirtatiously. Tori scoffed, the corner of her lips curling up.

"You wish." The teasing tone was right there in her voice. And I loved it. I had also missed it. "I'm not spying on you." She shrugged. "I have my ways of getting information." I chuckled.

  "We're going with S.T.R.I.K.E." Tori added with a sigh, returning to the matter at hand. I could bet she rolled her eyes under her sunglasses. "Rumlow's leading the team, obviously." I nodded. "He'll brief us with the details in the jet, all I know is that we're dealing with a hostage situation." We walked past the memorial wall and, as she does every time we walk into the building, Victoria patted twice Coulson's name on the wall. We walked further in and got into the elevator where we asked to be taken to the floor where our tactical suits and gear are.

  After New York, Vic and I went on that coffee date. We talked, got to know each other better, shared certain parts of ourselves and anecdotes. She had with herself the journal where she had sketched out ideas for the new suit meant for Captain America. I remember going through them and reading here and there stuff she had logged when she kept an eye on me.

  Vic showed me a version of the suit that resembled the first one I wore much better, the blue was darker, almost black and it looked more like a soldier suit instead of a parade suit. A brilliantly made Stealth suit with my last name printed on the sleeve, the star in the middle of the chest and the stripes to the sides of the star and over the sleeves. When I was asked to go back to the field as Agent Carter's partner, I asked for that stealth suit, thankfully, they had it already made.

  I got rid of my clothes and started to get dressed with the suit. I clipped the belt around my hips, put on the boots and slid over my shoulders the shield's holster, which was magnetic, Stark had designed it. I took said shield and attached it to my back as I grabbed the helmet from the locker with my name taped to its door before closing it.

"Ready?" Asked Vic when she had closed her locker. Her suit also changed, leaving behind the uniform-like tactical suit of S.H.I.E.L.D., now wearing her own stealth suit which was black with navy blue lines on the edges and unions of the fabric, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s eagle still on her shoulder and her last name printed on the sleeve as well.

She had the batons' holster clipped over her chest, her guns attached to her thighs, her belt around her hips, and she was powering up her bracelets, then she tied her hair up in a ponytail. Her sunglasses gone and kept in the locker she owns, as well as her formal clothes and boots. She tied the shoelaces of her combat boots and zipped them up as I nodded.

"Yeah." We walked out of the gear room and made our way to the lift, there, we met with Rumlow and his team. "Commander." I greeted.

"Captain Rogers, Agent Carter." Victoria nodded her head at him, not willing to look at him either. "Are you ready for this?"

"When aren't we?" Asked Vic, gaining a scoff from Rumlow as the doors closed.

"If we succeed on this mission, will you finally accept going out for that drink with me, Carter?" Victoria sighed, annoyed, and rolled her eyes. "It's been a while since we've done that." Rumlow laughed to himself while Victoria didn't even look at him, she kept her eyes locked at the front. I tightened the grip around the helmet, fighting the urge to punch this punk's face, square on the jaw. When we first met, he was also hitting on Vic in the elevator, and for the past two years, he keeps on trying to sleep with her even if she's told him to, and I quote, 'fuck off'. "I know you haven't gone on a good date." I fought the urge to scoff at his words. Ha! If he only knew. "At least not since you went out with me." He laughed to himself, his stupid buddies chuckling, too. I looked at Tori and found her looking at me, knowingly. We smiled at each other discreetly.

"Oh, my God. You're so funny." Vic said, her voice dripping sarcasm. Rumlow smiled anyway.

"I know." He said proudly.

"I missed the punchline, though." I said with honesty as I shrugged. Rumlow scoffed as he turned towards his right hand, Jack Rollins.

"You know what? I bet she dreams about me." Rumlow whispered, knowing damn well we could hear him.

"How could she?" I asked. "I don't even let her sleep the whole night." Victoria's eyes snapped towards me and I smiled to myself after I had looked over my shoulder and had seen the way Rumlow's idiotic grin had fallen to the ground, his face somber with jealousy.

"How 'bout you two stay focused, stop fighting and thirsting over me, and let me do my job in peace?" She said coldly.

"One day, Victoria. One day."

"It's Agent Carter for you, Commander." Rumlow sighed, stepping closer to her.

"Sure thing, Agent." He whispered into her ear as the elevator's doors slid open. She pushed him away with her elbow as he laughed and walked with quick steps away from him. I walked close to Victoria, pushing past Rumlow, and placing myself in between them to make sure he stays away.

"I swear to God, I'm gonna break his nose one day." She muttered through clenched teeth.

"Hopefully soon." I whispered back as we boarded the jet. I picked on the way she fought a smile by biting the corner of her lips.

"Why'd you say that, though? Now everyone's going to think I'm sleeping with my partner."

"Then, they should get their heads out of the gutter, 'cause I was talking about the last mission we went to. We didn't sleep at all and I had to keep you awake most of the time, just like you kept me awake." Rome, he city that changed everything. That mission, the intimacy we lived in for three months after she had decided to call it quits, made everything a lot different between us. It made me see her under a new light entirely. She smiled at me this time, but it was nostalgic.

"You're infuriating." She said and looked away as we took our seats on the jet.

"Since you say it to me very often lately, I'll take it as a compliment." She snorted a laugh as we clipped the seatbelts over our chests just to halt herself and go back to playing the stone-cold hearted and very serious poker face-like agent role. I smiled with triumph because I had made her laugh, though.

When the ramp closed, she held my hand discretely. She knows that I do feel anxious when boarding planes, something she figured out since day one but decided not to comment on. Something I thanked her for. 

  No one said a word the whole time we were in the air. Few hours went by when Tori let go of my hand to stand up and walk towards a distant corner of the Quinjet. I noticed how she picked up a call from H.Q. but decided not to think much about it. In a minute she returned to her seat beside me.

"Everything alright?" I asked.

"Yeah." She shrugged and kept the phone into its pocket on her belt. "Just Fury checking in, he asked how long before we make contact." I nodded.

We spent about three more hours submerged in silence and indistinct conversation between other operatives in the jet after that. Soon, the pilot informed we were about forty minutes away from the target, that's when Rumlow called us for the briefing and we all gathered around him in front of a screen.

"Target is a mobile satellite launch platform, the Lemurian Star." He informed as we saw the ship's scan on the screen. I folded my arms over my chest, same as Vic. She held her chin in between her index and thumb as she listened closely. "They were sending up their last payload when pirates took them 93 minutes ago."

"Any demands?" I asked.

"Billion and a half."

"Why so steep?"

"Because it's S.H.I.E.L.D.'s."

"So it's not off-course. It's trespassing." I said as my eyes met Victoria's side profile, she nodded.

"I'm sure they have a good reason." She said as her eyes studied the images before her. She fought looking back at me, but at the end, our eyes met.

"You know, I'm getting a little tired of being Fury's janitor."

"Don't we all?" I sighed. "Relax, it's not that complicated." She looked at Rumlow. "How many pirates?" 

"Twenty five. Top mercs led by this guy." He clicked the screen and the image of a guy popped up. "Georges Batroc. Ex-DGSE, Action Division. He's at the top of Interpol's Red Notice." I blinked as I wondered why had never heard of this guy before. "Before the French demobilised him, he had 36 kill missions. This guy's got a rep for maximum casualties." Tori whistled, surprised, while I sighed.

"Damn." She whispered and I nodded.

"Hostages?" I asked.

"Oh, mostly techs. One officer, Jasper Sitwell." I frowned, same as Victoria as we looked at Rumlow at the same time. "They're in the gallery."

"What the hell is Sitwell doing on a launch ship?" Asked Vic to herself, sighing and running her hands through her face, as we both knew there's no point in asking questions, almost no one had an answer most of the time.

"Alright," I called everyone's attention now that I had a plan in mind. "I'm gonna sweep the deck and find Batroc. Shadow, you kill the engines and wait for instructions. Rumlow, your team and yourself will sweep the upper level, get to the gallery, find the hostages and get them to the life-pods, get them out. Let's move."

"S.T.R.I.K.E., you heard the Cap. Gear up." I put on the earpiece and tapped it twice.

"Secure channel seven." I said to Victoria as she tapped her earpiece.

"Seven secure." She loaded one pocket of her belt with extra ammo in case she needed it. "How'd your Saturday night look like?"

"Finally, some conversation." She rolled her eyes, a small smile on her lips. "Well, since all the guys from my barbershop quartet are dead, it was boring." She chuckled. "How's Law school treating you?" She sighed.

"Good, I'll graduate in a month." I smiled.

"Sweet." Vic nodded. "I'm proud of you, Tori." She blinked and gulped. I could see a thin line of tears in her eyes, but I chose not to point it out.

"Thank you." She said to me, softly. "No one really says that to me at all often, so...I really appreciate it, Steve." I smiled at her and nodded.

"Of course. Anytime." Victoria smiled at me.

"Coming up on the drop zone, Cap." Said one of the agents over radio on channel six, Carter and I cleared our throats and looked away. I grabbed the helmet and opened the jet's hatch as I put it on.

"You know, if you asked Kristen out, from Statistics, she'd probably say yes." I put on the helmet, clipping it below my chin, furrowing my eyebrows at the abrupt change of subject.

"I don't get why you keep telling me about these women. I already told you, I don't care about them." I, initially, only cared about one girl only, but after knowing and accepting the situation I live in and knowing it was impossible for it to work out because she's too old now and had made a life for herself, someone else caught my eye.

The problem was that we haven't been in the best terms lately. Precisely because it had been hard for me to move on. And I'm a fucking stupid dumb idiot that compared the great-grandmother to the great-granddaughter...a lot. Dumb fucking idiot. The stupidest dick move I've ever made.

"Well, until you tell me why you don't care about them, I'll keep thinking you don't ask them out and pretend not to care because you're either too shy or too scared."

"Perhaps I'm too busy." I didn't let her answer or say anything else, I just jumped off the jet. I landed on the cold water and swam towards the anchor's chain, climbing up towards the ship through it.

"Show off." I heard Victoria's voice in my ear and smiled to myself.

  In minutes, I was sweeping the deck clean of those guys, pushing them off the ship and into the water or knocking them out. I was making sure no guns were fired, that no alarms blared so that we kept the element of surprise. I took out a few more men but stopped the second a gun clocked behind me.

"Ne bouge pas." Said the man and I remained still. When I turned to face him, my guardian angel flew down from the sky and knocked him out with one of the electric darts of her bracelets.

"Thank you." I said to her, nodding my head.

"You're welcome." Said Vic with a sigh as she took off her parachute. "You seemed pretty helpless without me." I scoffed as we started to walk down the ship.

"Twelve operatives in just seven minutes."

"What?" I nodded. "Dude, leave some fun for the rest of us." I smiled at her, receiving a faint version of that same gesture back. We kept on walking down the deck together, leaving Rumlow and his team behind knowing he'd follow the instructions I had given him. "How about the nurse that lives across the hall from you?" I sighed, regretting sharing with her how I thought my neighbour was good looking.

"No. She's not really my type, you know? I'm not really into blondes. Plus, I told you, I don't care about any girl in particular at the moment."

"Yeah, I've heard that one before. Have I told you how much you suck at lying?"

"Secure the engine room, then find me a date." I looked at her and she smirked at me.

"You know I can multi-taski." She impulsed herself with the white handrail and jumped off the deck to the lower part of the ship.

"Oh, I do." I heard her chuckle in my earpiece as I rushed to get near the bridge. When I got close, I fired a bug that got stuck to the glass of the window, which allowed me to listen to every word that was being said in that room on channel five. "Carter, once the engine room is secure, rendezvous with Rumlow to aid with the hostages."

"Copy that."

"Batroc said he doesn't like waiting and asked someone to call Durand. He wants the ship ready to move when the ransom got here." Said some guy in the bridge of the ship, his words reaching my ears through the microphone stuck to the glass of the bridge's window.

"I'll need you to hurry up with securing the engines, Vic. They're planning on moving soon." I informed.

"I'm on it." She added. "Hey, sailor." She said to someone, seductively. I heard Vic's voice through the earpiece and found myself suddenly jealous at the fact that her seductive tone of voice wasn't meant for me. Then, I heard grunts and gunshots and I knew she was making her way around the ship smoothly. I got to my position and waited to hear from the rest of the team as I watched Batroc sitting at the bridge.

"Status report?" I asked.

"Targets acquired." Said an agent.

"S.T.R.I.K.E. in position." Rumlow reported.

"Victoria, what's your status?" I whispered. Silence. My heart missed a beat when she didn't answer. "Victoria, status report."

"Hang on!" She screamed in the earpiece, her voice shaken, which meant she had been fighting off someone. I heard Vic grunting, then metal clattering and a sigh. "Engine room secure." She replied in a minute. I exhaled a breath I was holding.

"On my mark. Three. Two. One." I got up from my hiding spot and ran at the bridge. I threw the shield, breaking the window; I aimed for Batroc's head, but he dodged and the shield hit someone else. I jumped in through the window, being welcomed with a kick in the stomach. The french guy started running away and I chased behind him after acquiring the shield.

"Hostages in route to extraction." Rumlow informed after three minutes. "Carter missed the rendezvous point, Cap." He added as I got out of the bridge, looking for our bad guy, half of my mind worrying about Tori because she'd never miss the rendezvous on purpose. "Hostiles are still in play."

"Forget the life-pods, get the jet to land on the ship and take the hostages there." I commanded and switched to channel seven to communicate only with Victoria.

"Victoria, Batroc is on the move. Circle back to Rumlow and protect the hostages." She didn't answer. "Victoria." From the corner of my eye, I spotted Batroc rushing at me. I blocked with the shield and rolled over the ground. He kicked me again and made me fall, I moved back when his third kick almost hit my crotch. We engaged on a fight, rapid punches and kicks.

  The guy's agile, an acrobat, it wasn't precisely hard to keep up with his rhythm, but it wasn't easy to attack him. The speed of his punches forced me to block him and not attack, I was losing ground. I hit him with the shield, sending him to the opposite side of the deck we were at. He ran at me the second he found himself on his feet again and I blocked his punches and kicks again until I threw him away. The guy made three backflips in a row like a gymnast and looked at me dead in the eye.

"I thought you were more than just a shield." He said to me in french. I recovered my posture, attached the shield to it's holster on my back and took off the helmet, tossing it to the side.

"Let's see." I replied in french as the guy smiled at me. I blocked and dodged his punches and made sure to hit him hard whenever I could.

  I punched him back after his fist hit my left cheekbone, in a second, he threw himself at me and I kicked his knee, then his stomach and with a twisted kick, I got his face. The guy stood up and I ran at him, tackling him. We ran through a door and once we were on the ground I punched his face, knocking him out. 

"That was an impressive entrance." Said Vic to my left, taking me by surprise. "The judges give Captain Rogers a perfect ten." She was on the computer of the ship. I stood up, panting, and began to approach her.

"What the hell are you doing?" I asked.

"Backing up the hard drive. It's a good habit to get into." She looked at me, briefly, before looking back at the screen with a smirk on her lips. "I like your messy helmet hair, by the way. Looks nice."

"Not the time for flirting, Carter. Rumlow needed your help." She scoffed.

"As if."

"Look, I get it if you hate him, I do too, but he did need your help. I gave you the order to aid him with the hostages." Her brown eyes were glued to the computer. "What the hell are you doing here?" I looked at the big screen before us, which mirrored the screen of the station she was working at. "You're saving S.H.I.E.L.D. intel." I answered myself as the screen showed it was 82% done.

"Whatever I can get my hands on."

"Our mission is to rescue the hostages."

"No, that's your mission," she finished hacking the computer and pulled a USB drive from the computer's hard drive and kept it in her pocket, then, she turned to face me. "and you've done it beautifully." She gifted me an 'innocent' smile and tried to walk past me, but I gripped her arm, stopping her and pulling her close to me, her smile disappearing in the blink of an eye. Our faces inches away from each other. That vanilla perfume getting me drunk in an instant, and my drunken thought was to finally kiss her, but I had to fight the urge for the sake of this mission.

"You just jeopardised this whole operation." I said through clenched teeth.

"I think that's overstating things." She said, lowly. I heard footsteps behind me and turned around to find Batroc running away as I let go of Vic's arm due to the distraction, he unlocked a grenade and threw it at us. "Look out!"

  I pushed it away with the shield as Carter ran the opposite away, I turned towards Vic right after. She threw her left arm over my shoulders, my right arm wrapping her waist before I jumped over the desks and she shot the glass of an office twice. I jumped through it using the shield to cover ourselves from the glass and got us in the office by the time the grenade went off.

"Okay." She said as we groaned and panted against the wall a moment later. I looked over the window to find a side of the room burning and Batroc gone. "That one's on me."

"You're damn right." I stood up and ran out of the room, leaving her there. I got back to the deck, and found the hostages safe and sound in the Quinjet, Rumlow was guarding the entrance. I got on the jet and we started takeoff. "Hang on, we're missing Carter." Behind me, I heard quick steps and turned around. Victoria jumped and I let myself fall over the hatch, extending my hand for her to grab and pulled her up, the momentum throwing us back, she was laying on my chest while I was on the ground. "You okay?" We stood up as the hatch closed and she pushed me away, an angry frown on her face.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" She asked with her angry Russian accent.

"Hey!" I said to her, my eyebrows knitting together as well.

"One thing is me fucking up back there, and you can punish me for it, Captain. But it's low trying to leave me on board of that ship!" She pushed me again, but I held her wrists.

"If you hadn't missed the rendezvous point you would've been in the jet already. Knock it off!" She snatched her hands away from me after sending a zap of energy through her bracelets, making my palms tingle.

"So it's payback? You're trying to put me in my place, is that it?"

"Of course not. And for your information, I did tell them to hold on!"

"So that's really why you haven't gone out on a date with me." Rumlow tried to joke around. "You're with Cap." He laughed. "You know, I thought the comment you made in the elevator was just for laughs, but it makes sense if you've been fucking each other. That explains all the old-married-couple-like fights you get into lately." Rumlow kept on laughing bitterly. Victoria breathed in, clenched her jaw, and punched him on the nose before I could, the sound of bone cracking was accompanied by a groan of pain and a lot of blood. Rollins dragged out his gun and aimed at Vic, but she had her aim already locked on Jack's head. The hostages gasped and tensed.

"I fucking dare you." She told him, threateningly.

"Easy. Lower the weapons. Both of you." I said but none of them moved.

"Put the gun down, Rollins." Rumlow said as he held his nose, the blood staining his face. "You'd be dead before you can even pull the trigger." Jack kept the gun and Vic did the same slowly before turning to Rumlow.

"If I hear one word from you that's not related to the mission, if you do as much as breathe near me, I will kick you fucking teeth in. Understood?" She warned through tightened teeth.

"Yes."

"Yes, what?" Rumlow groaned, in pain and annoyed.

"Yes...Agent Carter." Victoria nodded and stepped away from him before she looked at me, then walked towards a corner of the jet, away from everyone else. I walked up to her.

  "I don't wanna talk to you." She said, harshly.

"But I do." Her eyes didn't meet mine. "First of all, that was amazing."

"I know. But I don't want your flattery, I'm very angry at you. I could punch your face, too if provoked." I placed my hands up.

"Alright." I sighed and placed my hands on my hips. "What's the matter with you?" I whispered, her eyes darting offended at me.

"It pissed me off you were taking off without me." I sighed. "You're the big man, you could've asked them to wait but you didn't."

"I did."

"But you didn't make them stop."

"You're right, I'm sorry."

"You don't have to be pissed off, by the way." I scoffed, my eyebrows shooting up.

"I actually do. You can't tell me not to be pissed off as well when the mission could've gone south because of that slip." She shook her head.

"It wasn't a slip."

"Then what was it?"

"I was on mission, alright?" She whispered, moving closer to me in order to keep it strictly between us. "That call from Fury earlier?" I nodded. "It wasn't him asking when we'd arrive, he was asking me to back up the hard drive."

"Why?"

"He didn't say. And I didn't ask. That dynamic is what makes this job easier. Doing as you're told and not ask questions."

"You could've told me about it, we could've made space for it in the plan."

"I wasn't supposed to tell you. He told me to keep it between him and I. That was my mission the very same way the hostages were your mission." She added, lowering her voice even more than it already was. I sighed.

"Is just...it's not easy to work like this."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"The Agent Carter I knew-"

"For God's sake." She raised her voice, looked around and lowered it again as her eyes locked with mine. Her brown eyes were covered by the shadow of anger, hurt and disappointment. I hated that sight. "That's the problem with you, Rogers. You think I'm like her, you think I'm an extension of Peggy Carter. Well, unfortunately, I am not Peggy, Steve. I wish I was like her because ever since I learned who she is, she's all I've ever aspired to be, but I am not her. Stop pretending that I am because that's fucking us up." I felt a lump in my throat as I looked into her eyes for forgiveness.

"It's hurting me, it's haunting you, and it's the exact reason why you and I didn't work out." I knew it was the reason she was angry at me. I noticed her voice breaking, the lump in her throat, the pain flooding it as tears flooded her eyes. I placed my hand on her arm, but she moved away, making me sigh.

"She moved on, Steve. You should try to do the same and stop trying to find her in me because I know I'm not half of the woman she is or was, alright?" Her lower lip trembled. I felt like shit. I wanted to hug her and comfort her as I felt my throat tightening. Victoria looked at the floor, her eyes pinned to our boots as she breathed in and out, placing her hands on her hips to calm herself. A hot minute later, she looked back up, the tears gone as she sniffed and looked at me. "Either you start seeing me for who I actually am instead of the perfect version of who you'd want me to be, or you find yourself another partner." She walked away from me and stood by the cockpit of the jet without looking at anybody else for the rest of the trip.

  We returned to D.C. rather quickly. When we found ourselves inside Triskelion, everyone left to make their reports and write down what had happened in the mission. I made my way towards Fury's office with quick and angry steps.

"You just can't stop yourself from lying, can you?" I asked him as I walked through the door, not bothering to knock.

"I didn't lie." Fury said as he looked at the window from his comfortable desk, not even turning around to face me. He had replaced the dramatic leather coat for a whole black suit. "Agent Carter had a different mission than yours." He said as if he was reading my mind, knowing very well why I had come here. I opened my mouth to ask, but he turned around to face me. "She came by already, told me everything."

"You sent her on an alternative operation, which you didn't feel obligated to share."

"I'm not obliged to do anything."

"Those hostages could've died, Nick. Or worse, something could've happened to her." Nick shoot up his eyebrows and I gulped. "To my team." He sat up straight and looked at me dead in the eye.

"I sent the greatest soldier in history to make sure that didn't happen." I gulped.

"Soldiers trust each other. That's what makes it an army. Not a bunch of guys running around shooting guns." He stood up.

"Last time I trusted someone, I lost an eye." I remained silent and placed my hands on my hips. "Look, I didn't want you doing anything you weren't comfortable with. Agent Carter is comfortable with everything."

"I know. But I can't lead a mission when the people I'm leading have missions of their own."

"It's called compartmentalisation. Nobody spills the secrets, because nobody knows them all." I scoffed and smiled at him.

"Except you, of course." He stepped back.

"You're wrong about me. I do share. I'm nice like that." He walked out of the office and I followed behind him. "Insight bay." He said as he crossed the elevator's doors, I walked in behind him, the security panel beeping behind me.

"Captain Rogers does not have clearance for Project Insight." Said the computer.

"Director override. Fury, Nicholas J."

"Confirmed." I reclined myself on the handrail on the right side of the glass box while Fury was resting to my left as the elevator went down, we spent a minute in awkward silence.

"You know, they used to play music."

"Yeah." He chuckled. "My grandfather operated one of these things for forty years. Granddad worked in a nice building, got good tips. He'd walk home every night, a roll of ones stuffed in his lunch bag. He'd say, 'hi'. People would say 'hi' back." A beat. "Time went on, the neighbourhood got rougher. He'd say 'hi', they'd say 'keep on steppin'." Fury shrugged. "Granddad got to gripping that lunch bag a little tighter."

"Did he ever get mugged?" Fury laughed.

"Every week some punk would say 'what's in the bag?'"

"What would he do?"

"He'd show them." The elevator lights turned on the second we entered the facility's lower levels, leaving sunshine behind. "Bunch of crumpled ones and a loaded .22 Magnum." I hummed as I nodded. Beyond the glass, I saw we had reached S.H.I.E.L.D.'s underground hangar. "Yeah, Granddad loved people. But he didn't trust them very much." I looked at my hands as I turned to face the glass, wondering if that's how he feels about people. However, all my thoughts were soon drifted from the conversation.

  I looked up and my mouth fell open at the sight of three Helicarriers being loaded with Quinjets and other transports. I noticed the nearest Helicarrier had big weapons, weapons I hadn't seen on the ship I boarded two years ago. I assumed the other two were geared up just the same. "Yeah, I know. They're a little bit bigger than a .22." I blinked as I looked at him and back at the carriers. "This is Project Insight." He began to explain when we had gotten off the lift and walked down the hangar. "Three next-generation Helicarriers synched to a network of targeting satellites."

"Launched from the Lemurian Star." I assured as we walked underneath the wing of one of those Helicarriers, tying the loose ends wasn't very difficult.

"Once we get them in the air, they never need to come down. Continuous sub-orbital flight, courtesy of our new repulsor engines."

"Stark?" Nick shrugged.

"Meh, he had a few suggestions once he got an up-close look at our old turbines." I nodded, remembering how he was the one to fix up the engines when Loki's strike happened in the air. Then, my eyes fixed on the guns. "These new long-range precision guns can eliminate 1,000 hostiles a minute." My eyebrows furrowed as I looked at him while we walked upstairs to stand on a bay facing the bridge of the ship. "The satellites can read a terrorist's DNA before he steps outside his spider hole. We're gonna neutralise a lot of threats before they even happen."

"Thought the punishment usually came after the crime."

"We can't afford to wait that long."

"Who's 'we'?" Nick sighed.

"After New York, I convinced the World Security Council we needed a quantum surge in threat analysis. For once, we're really ahead of the curve." I nodded.

"Sure. By holding a gun to everyone on Earth and calling it protection." Fury turned to me as I stared at the Helicarrier.

"You know, I read those SSR files." I looked at him. "Victoria got them from Peggy Carter when you were sleeping like a baby to get to know you. She studied you. And when she slept, I took the files to study you all as well. 'Greatest Generation'? You guys did some nasty stuff." My hands found my belt, gripping it strongly.

"Yeah, we compromised. Sometimes in ways that made us not sleep so well. But we did it so that the people could be free." I pointed at the ships. "This? This isn't freedom. This is fear."

"S.H.I.E.L.D. takes the world as it is, not as we'd like it to be. And it's getting damn near past time for you to get on with that program, Cap."

"Don't hold your breath." I walked away and downstairs to make my way towards the elevator. I asked the computer to take me to the gear room to change out of these clothes and head back home. The elevator stopped on the third floor. When the doors opened, they revealed Vic. I stood up straight as she walked in but neither of us said a thing.

  The doors closed and Victoria took a deep breath, which she held as she prepared herself for the sudden movement of the lift. Before I knew it, my hand found hers and I held it. Victoria released the breath she was holding as the elevator started going up and she squeezed my hand. A couple of minutes later, the doors opened and she let go of me before walking out of the lift. I sighed and looked at my boots before stepping outside.

  Each one of us got to our lockers, I took off the belt and my boots before I began to take off the suit. I sprayed deodorant on and slipped a white t-shirt over my torso.

"Are you heading out?" I asked as I removed my pants and slipped in a pair of jeans.

"Not yet. I have to sign my report and write down the ones I have lining up on my desk." Said Vic to my right, we couldn't see each other because the locker doors were open. I nodded to myself. "You?"

"Yeah." I slipped in my brown combat boots and tied the shoelaces. I grabbed a navy blue jacket I had apparently left here a while back. I sprayed the cologne I keep here on my neck before I put on the shield's holder over my shoulders again, attaching the shield to my back. I closed the door of the locker as the scent of her perfume filled the room after she had sprayed it over her neck.

"Have a good one, then." Victoria closed the door of her locker, she was now wearing a black dressing suit. She looked at me as she fixed the blazer over the white button up shirt she was wearing and walked out. I breathed in the stela of vanilla she was leaving behind and exhaled.

"You, too." I walked out of the room as well, but she was gone. I assumed she had taken the stairs. I stepped in the lift and asked the computer to take me to the parking lot, where I had left my motorbike. I rode out of the facility and got to my apartment. I just went there to leave the shield at home. I thought about what Vic had said earlier about the museum and decided to go there.

  Victoria and I went on a few dates over the past years and each date was an opportunity for me to catch up a little with the world, after all, Carter's been the one to teach me the modern stuff. Once, she suggested we went to the Smithsonian and we enjoyed a great time pacing down the hallways. It was a good way to share our knowledge, she'd tell me what she knew about contemporary history while I shared what I knew about the past. As we walked, we found out there was an expo about me, about Captain America.

"Do you want to go in?" She asked me back then.

"No. I know everything they'll splash on the walls and images. Why go in?" I told her, she shrugged with a tender smile.

"I don't know. You could learn about yourself, see how others see you. And then make fun of the historically inaccurate details they might give." I chuckled and looked at her. Her arm was hooked to mine.

"Some other time, maybe." She nodded and we kept on wandering around the museum until we headed out to eat ice-cream.

  Now, I found myself standing in front of the escalators that would take me to the expo. I stepped on it and got inside. I was received by a narrator's voice playing through the speakers. "A symbol to the nation." He stated. "A hero to the world. The story of Captain America is one of honour, bravery and sacrifice." I stood in front of a picture of my younger self, taken at camp. I was a tiny and skinny twenty two year old kid, pre-serum. "Denied enlistment due to poor health, Steven Rogers was chosen for a program unique in the annals of American warfare." I looked down and there was a picture of me post-serum, a lot taller and muscly.

  I watched a father carrying his son, who was wearing a Captain America costume, up for him to be as tall as I used to be. I chuckled to myself as I acknowledged Vic is an inch shorter as I once was. "One that would transform him into the world's first Super-Soldier." Then, the image shifted to the guy I am today and I walked a few steps away, suddenly not enjoying seeing myself.

I stopped walking when I felt a pair of eyes on me, looked to the right and found a kid wearing a t-shirt with my shield's symbol on the chest. I smiled at him and gestured to keep quiet, to which he nodded with a smile.

  I kept on walking, a small smile on my lips, watching screens with footage from the field. I was leading my men through a HYDRA base on a screen to the right, one of the many successful missions we had. "Battle tested, Captain America and his Howling Commandos quickly earned their stripes." I kept on walking and stopped at the sight of a poster where I was, standing with the boys, and below each one of our faces were the original suits we wore. My eyes fixed on Bucky's face, "Their mission: taking down HYDRA, the Nazi rogue science division." then his suit. That was the only replica because he had fallen to his death wearing those clothes. I turned around and found a panel with his information.

"Best friends since childhood, Bucky Barnes and Steven Rogers were inseparable on both schoolyard and battlefield. Barnes is the only Howling Commando to give his life in service of his country." I looked down from Buck's picture to watch footage of us on a screen below. Both of us laughing, planning the path to a mission with a map over the hood of a truck. I looked away and my eyes were caught by a beautiful woman whose lips were adorned with red paint. I dug my hand in my pocket and pulled out from it my compass.

"That was a difficult winter." Said Peggy as I played with the compass I had in hand. She was being interviewed at her house, in New York, 1953. "A blizzard had trapped half of our battalion behind the German line." I sat down and watched the video. "Steve...Captain Rogers, he fought his way through a HYDRA blockade that had pinned our allies down for months. He saved over a thousand men. Including the man who would become my husband, as it turned out." She chuckled in the video. "Even after he died, Steve was still changing my life." I opened the compass and looked at the picture I kept in it, then I looked up and saw the wedding ring around Peg's finger. She had a smile of genuine happiness on her face. Victoria's words echoed in my head.

"She moved on, you should try to do the same." I kept the compass in my pocket and stood up knowing that, in order to move on, I had to say goodbye first.

  Vic had given me Peggy's address at Columbia Hills, a small house she moved into after Daniel Sousa passed away in New York after almost fifty five years of marriage. I payed her a few visits every now and then, whenever I had time. I hopped on my bike after I had exited the museum and rode there. At my arrival, the woman that looks after Peggy, Lucy, let me in and informed me she was quite tired today. I promised I wouldn't be long.

"Steve." Said with surprise the second her eyes landed on me after I had opened the door to her bedroom. "You're alive, you came back!" She greeted me, the same way she always does.

"Of course I did, Peg. I couldn't leave, specially when you owe me a dance." She chuckled softly.

"You're the one who was late." I chuckled and sat beside her. As I did, I spotted the framed pictures on her nightstand, some others printed as polaroids with dates on them. I saw the one of her wedding day, Peggy sitting beside a little girl —her daughter—, Peggy with three children, her grandchildren. Two girls and one boy.

"You should be proud of yourself, Peggy." I said as I took the polaroids. One of them was a woman that looked a lot like Victoria only that she had dark red hair almost brown, I assumed it was her mother, and a blonde woman that resembled someone's face, although I didn't remember who's.

"I have lived a life." She said as I looked at another polaroid, it was a picture of Victoria and I wearing our tactical suits eating a hot dog, the guy of the cart had taken it for us. "My only regret is that you didn't get to live yours." I smiled at the picture, it was after a successful mission we went on to in Morocco, we went undercover as a married couple for almost two months, William and Alice Turner, and Tori had to wear a blonde wig every day. I mocked her for it and she mocked me for having natural blonde hair.

  It was painfully delightful to play pretend on that mission because I had thought the guy that wanted all of that had died in the ice, but I quickly found out that he was still alive, only searching for the right girl, not realising at the time that she was right in front of him. It was late at night when we returned to Triskelion from that mission, we were starving and the only place we could get food from was at a hot dog cart right outside of Headquarters. Street hot-dogs immediately became my favourite street food and they tasted better than they did in the past.

In the picture, both of us were biting the hot dogs with smiles as we laughed and looked at each other, the fake wedding bands still around our fingers. It had a note on the back that read 'Look who I bumped into. Miss you, granny. See you soon. Love, Vicky' in Tori's handwriting.

  The weight of my wallet made itself noticeable in my pocket because we had also taken polaroids of each other on another date we had after that mission. I have a picture of Vic biting a burger with a huge grin on her face, narrowed eyes and a scrunched nose. Just Tori being herself, the most beautiful and happy version of herself. I don't remember what I said, but I made her laugh as she took a bite of her food and snapped the picture in that second. I smiled at the picture in my hands and at the image in my head. 

"I'm trying to do it, though." I turned the picture for Peggy to see it and she smiled.

"She's a good girl that went through so much she didn't have to go through." I felt my eyebrows getting together in a questioning furrow as I didn't know what she meant. "Are you and her together?"

"Uh...no."

"Oh, I believed you were. The rings." I nodded, understanding her confusion.

"We had gone undercover as a marriage." She nodded. "If it had been real, she would've told you. And I would've asked for your blessing." She smiled, knowing I had thought about marrying her great-granddaughter.

"Why haven't you asked for it?"

"Because I messed up." She frowned, her eyes asking me to go on. "I hadn't been able to move on and I made the mistake of comparing her to...someone else."

"Ah." I nodded as Peggy acknowledged I was comparing Vic to herself. "You're an idiot."

"I know."

"You really are a daft prick." I scoffed.

"Keep 'em coming." I knew I deserved all of that.

"Screwed up. Big time, mister." I nodded.

"I know." I breathed in and out. "I really know." We spent a minute in reflective silence.

"I would give it to you."

"What thing?"

"My blessing." I felt my heart skipping a beat. "You know, I told her mother to introduce you two." I tilted my head, confused. "Valerie, she was the one to find you in the ice. She was here and told me she had found you alive. She also told me you were still very young, physically, you're just a year older than Vicky, and I told Val to introduce you to Victoria if she had the chance." I smiled and chuckled, acknowledging she had mistaken Tori with her mother when she came to ask for the files. "You must move on, Steve. And Vicky is the best girl you could ever meet."

"I know she is." I blinked. "She is my best girl." Peggy smiled, her eyes glistening with happy tears.

"For what I've heard of her, from herself and her mother...I realised she's just like you." My eyes asked her to describe to me how. "Back in the day, you were chosen not because you were a perfect soldier, but a good man. Vicky is not a perfect Agent, but she's a good woman." A pause.

    "She'll always try to do what's best because she knows the worst. She'll always try to make things right because she's done the worst. She's prideful and stubborn, but she'll always look out for those around her, specially those closest to her because those people are her world. She'll worry about the world like it's breathing because she's harmed it, she'll look after those she loves even if she doesn't say 'I love you' or 'I care' because she spent so much time not knowing what's love or care." A pause. "She's just like you because she has a good heart and will always try to do the right thing, although she doesn't believe she does."

"Why?" Peggy sighed.

"She's never told me. Every time I ask, she drifts the question. And even if I knew...it would not be my place to say." I realised I didn't know Vic the way I thought I did. There's always a part of her that I cannot reach, that she won't let me see and I knew that, I had felt it. But I didn't think she hid so much of herself from me...nor that she'd hide it from her family. "You'll have to ask her and hope she answers." I sighed and looked at the picture again. I knew Peggy was right, Vic and I are very similar, but we are also very different. I don't always think the ways justify the means, but she lives by that, hence what happened on our mission. However...those differences are what make us work. We see the whole picture, together.

"I know she'll always try to do what's right, just like me." I bit the inner corner of my lips.

"There's more to that, isn't it?" I looked at her, impressed at how good she remembered me. How good she knew me, still. "What is it?"

"For as long as I can remember, that's all I wanted to do but..." I looked up and left the picture on the nightstand. I shrugged as I reclined my back on the chair again. "I guess I'm not quite sure what that is anymore. Doing the right thing. I thought I could throw myself back in and follow orders. Serve. But it's just not the same. Not anymore." I looked at Peggy and she smiled at me before laughing.

"Oh, you're always so dramatic." I smiled and chuckled at her words as I nodded. "Look, you saved the world. We rather...mucked it up."

"You didn't. Knowing that you helped found S.H.I.E.L.D. is half the reason I stay."

"And the other half?" I looked at the picture on the nightstand again, Peggy's eyes following mine. "Then she's the one you should take dancing, Steve. I'm way too old for that and she's much better than me."

"She thinks she isn't, you know?"

"Because she's too blind to see it. You must be patient with her, let her know how good, kind and beautiful she is. That girl needs validation as much as she needs breathing from everyone and herself." She let out a breath as her left hand reached out for mine, the golden wedding ring around her finger. I took her hand into mine. "Listen, the world has changed, and none of us can go back. All we can do is our best. And sometimes the best that we can do is to start over." She began to cough and I let go of her hand to stand up and pour her a glass of water from the water jar that was near the window. I turned around and sat back down, offering the glass. She drank it up and sighed as I left it on the bedside table.

"You alright, Peg?" When her eyes locked with mine, surprise flooded them, as well as tears. Again.

"Steve?"

"Yeah?" She gasped.

"You're alive. You...you came back."

"Yeah, Peggy." I said softly with a smile.

"It's been so long. So long." I nodded with a lump in my throat.

"Yeah...I know." Peggy's smile faded as her eyes closed. My heart started beating faster at the sight, suddenly afraid and concerned. "Peggy?" I noticed she was still breathing, she had just fallen asleep all of the sudden, and my body relaxed as I exhaled a breath.

I sighed, kissed her knuckles and stood up before heading out of her bedroom. As I reached for the door I looked over my shoulder and found her peacefully sleeping, her white hair making contrast against the baby blue blankets. I pulled out the compass and took the picture out just to  set it on the counter before leaving the room. After thanking Lucy, I walked out of the house and approached my bike.

  I looked at my watch, it was half past six in the afternoon. I was hungry and decided to have some lunch by myself at a cafeteria that was nearby. When I had finished my second cup of coffee of the day and had eaten a very tasteful steak, I left towards the VA to pay a visit to my running buddy, suddenly wanting to be in the company of someone new.

  I arrived and listened to a conversation of the meeting by the door. "The thing is..." Said a woman. "I think it's getting worse. A cop pulled me over last week. He thought I was drunk." She paused and tightened her hands over her lap. "I swerved to miss a plastic bag. I thought it was an IED." I clenched my jaw at the thought.

"Some stuff you leave there. Some stuff you bring back." Said Sam. "It's our job to figure out how to carry it. Is it gonna be a big suitcase, or in a little man-purse? It's up to you." I breathed out thinking of the vintage luggage I carry with me, the stuff I don't let anyone see. I even hide it from myself but I can't seem to let go of it.

Eventually, the session ended and I walked away to give these soldiers space on their way out. After a few goodbyes and see you soon's, Sam approached me. "Look who it is, the running man." I smiled as I approached him, we shook hands as a greeting.

"Caught the last few minutes. It's pretty intense."

"Yeah, brother, we all got the same problems." I nodded as he began to arrange some papers on a table. "Guilt, regret." I nodded again, the image of Bucky's face in my head all of the sudden.

"You lose someone?" Sam sighed and nodded as he crossed his arms over his chest and I placed my hands in the pockets of my jeans.

"My wingman, Riley. Flying a night mission. Standard PJ rescue op. Nothing we hadn't done a thousand times before. Until a RPG knocked Riley's dumb ass out of the sky. Nothing I could do. It's like I was up there just to watch." I nodded knowing how watching without being able to do anything feels like, the memory of Bucky itching my brain as I suddenly saw the way he fell off the train in slow-motion in my head. I cleared my throat.

"I'm sorry."

"After that, I had a really hard time finding a reason for being over there, you know?" I nodded.

"But you're happy now, back in the world?"

"The number of people giving me orders is down about zero. So, hell yeah." We smiled at each other. "Are you thinking about getting out?"

"No." A pause. "I don't know. To be honest, I don't know what I would do with myself if I did."

"Ultimate fighting?" I laughed and looked away just to look back at him with a smile. "Just a great idea off the top of my head. Seriously, you could do whatever you want to do. What makes you happy?" I sighed. The pictures of the hot dog cart, the polaroids, the walk in the museum, the coffees and the ice-creams, all popped in my head.

"I don't know." Sam narrowed his eyes at me and had me hoping he didn't ask follow up questions for the lie I had just spoken. And he didn't ask anything, but I could see he knew I had lied to him. However, when he noticed I wasn't going to give in, he nodded.

"Well, I'm sure you could find something. Or someone." I smiled at the ground. There it is. "Like the lady who picked you up?" I chuckled.

"I see what you're doing." He laughed.

"Is she single?"

"She...is, yeah." He pointed at me as he grinned.

"Ah-ha! I saw how you didn't want to tell me." A nervous laugh left my lips. "Look, man, if you don't make a move, I will."

"What about the lady at the font desk?" Sam chuckled as we headed out. "I already talked wonders about you to her, made sure not to mention you're a slow runner."

"Yeah, sure thing." We laughed. "Wanna grab a beer?" Truth is, I have no plans at all. So why the hell not?

"Sure." Sam nodded and I followed him to a bar that was near his place, as the place got more and more crowded, we went to his house to talk in a more quiet place. He tried to help me out with some perspective, which I was very thankful for. We stayed there, drinking up the beers he had in his fridge as the night fell. Eventually and before it got too late, I drove my bike back home.

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