Brooklyn, New York
June 22, 1943

Mary and Steve sat in the backseat of a car with Peggy, on it's way to where her brother would be given the super solider serum.

Steve looks through the window, Peggy looks out the other, Mary in the middle between the two. "I know this neighborhood.." He trails off, Mary looks out the window, nodding.

"I remember, you got beat up in that alley. And that parking lot. And behind that diner." As she says this, Mary points to each place, gaining the attention of her friend. Steve sheepishly smiles back.

"Did you have something against running away?" Peggy asks Steve.

Steve shrugs, glancing at Mary briefly, then turns his head to look at Peggy, "You start running they'll never let you stop. You stand up, push back. Can't say no forever, right?"

The woman nods, "I know a little of what that's like. To have every door shut in your face." She comments, Mary sends Peggy a small smile, patting her hand in comfort.

"I guess I just don't see why you'd wanna join the army if you're a beautiful dame. Or a beautiful... a woman. An agent, not a dame! You are beautiful, but..." Steve sputters out, embarrassment written on his face, Mary stifles a small laugh.

"You have no idea how to talk to a woman, do you?" Peggy asks rather bluntly.

"No, he doesn't." Mary pipes in, "James did all the talking when we were kids."

Steve nods, chuckling at the memory, "This is the longest conversation I've had with one other than Mary. Women aren't exactly lining up to dance with a guy they might step on." He informs

Peggy raises an eyebrow at Steve's statement, "You must have danced?" She asks.

He shakes his head, "Well, asking a woman to dance always seems so terrifying. And the past few years just didn't seem to matter that much. Figured I'd wait." He explains.

"For what?" Asked Peggy.

"The right partner." Steve replies, looking at her.

Mary smiles a bit at their interaction, the car soon pulls to a stop, the three get out of the car. The nurse rushes to Steve, whispering in his ear, "You say talking to women is terrifying but you just did a swell job of talking to Peggy." She tells her brother, watching his eyes widen as he stares at Mary, his cheeks turning a shade of pink at the same time.

Peggy gestures the siblings into an old antique shop, "This way." She tells them.

"What are we doing here?" Steve asks.

"Follow me." Is all Peggy replies with, as they step inside, Mary becomes even more confused along with Steve. They stand behind Peggy slightly, letting her do the talking as she looks at the shopkeeper.

"Wonderful weather this morning isn't it?" The elderly shopkeeper asks.

"Yes, but I always carry an umbrella." Peggy answers back.

When she says this, a bookcase opens up to reveal a secret passage, Mary widens her eyes in disbelief, but follows behind Peggy, holding onto Steve's hand.

When they exit the hallway, they're left with a massive room, people rushing every which way, Mary spots Doctor Erskine near a pod like machine. The siblings walk down the stares, leading them towards the Doctor.

"Good morning." He greets both of them, shaking Steven's hand as a flash goes off from a photographer taking a picture, "Please, not now." He informs the the man.

He turns to Mary, "Go get ready." He tells her, Mary nods, understanding what he means, while Steve has his part to play in what happens today, Mary does also, she'll become Steve's nurse, making sure the serum is adjusting to his body once the procedure is over, but she is also the one who helps implant them into her brother.

The nurse nods, rushing off to do her work, she looks up to the room full of people come to watch, she sees Peggy take her seat next to Phillips, she waves up at the woman. Smiling when the older woman does the same. The two have become close friends over the short months the girl and her brother have been at Camp Lehigh.

"So how did you get into nursing? It couldn't have been easy." Peggy asks the small girl. The two women are in a diner close to Camp Lehigh, they decided that they wanted to get to know each other away from the testosterone infested Camp.

Mary nods, "it was always a dream of mine since i realized i was really good at caring for people, but Steve's health came first so i never pursued it. But when Steve said that he got accepted to join the Army, I felt like it was also my chance at what i've wanted since i was little. So i chose to join him as a nurse." The hazel eyed girl looks up into the deep brown ones of Peggy Carter, someone she's looked up to since Carter slammed her fist into Hodge's nose the first day at Lehigh. "Maybe one day i'll even be a doctor. Who knows!" She adds, smiling brightly.

Peggy nods taking a sip of her drink, "I think you would be an incredible doctor, Mary. Imagine it! Doctor Mary Rogers!" She exclaims, smiling back at the girl. "Who's this James you and your brother keep mentioning?" She asks.

Mary's face becomes hot as the older woman asks, Peggy smirks, "He's someone special then?"

The younger girl nods slowly, "He is, his name is James Buchanan Barnes, Steve and I have known him since we were kids." She explains

"Does he know you have feelings for him?" Peggy asks, "Because it's clear to me that you do, and it'd be a shame to see that wither."

Mary sighs, taking a sip of her mocktail, she was never one for standard alcohol, her and Steve's father was an alcoholic before he passed of Influenza, so she promised herself to never drink the burning liquid unless it was for an important occasion.

"I do have some kind of feelings for him, they see him as more than a friend.. but i don't think he feels the same, he probably just sees me as his little sister." She rambles, the full weight of Bucky not reciprocating her feelings hitting her for the first time, this was the first time she said those thoughts out loud.

"How can you possibly know if he doesn't see you as a sister, or a friend, or something more if you don't tell him?" Peggy questions, taking the small girls hand into her own. "You think it's easy trying to find a nice man to love and be with my whole life when they find out I wont just simply be a housewife?" She inquires, "They learn about my job and instantly they jump to ridiculous conclusions."

Mary nods, looking at Peggy, "But what if he doesn't feel the same? And i tell him but he doesn't have the same feelings, it makes our friendship awkward, putting Steve in a place that i wont let him be put in-"

"You will never know unless you go for it, and if it does end up not working out in your favor? Screw him, he doesn't deserve someone as special as you, Mary Rogers." Peggy cut the girl off, grabbing her face gently in her hands, "Sometimes it's up to the women to take the leap of faith."

Mary smiles at the memory, then proceeds get back to her work. She helps Steve into the pod, he smiles down at her, she squeezes his hand and smiles back.

"Comfortable?" She hears Erskine ask Steve.

"It's a little big. You save me any of that schnapps?" Steve asks, a teasing smile on his face, Mary shakes her head.

"Not as much as I should have. Sorry. Next time. Mr. Stark, how are your levels?" Erskine replies, asking Howard Stark, Mary had seen him once before, at the expo Bucky took the siblings on his last night.

"Levels at 100%." Howard replies, looking over, seeing Mary, he smirks at her then turns back to his work.

"Good." Erskine states.

"We may dim half the lights in Brooklyn, but we are ready as we'll ever be." Howard admits. Mary's eyes widen at that thought, but she quickly shakes her head, remembering that she has a job to do.

Doctor Erskine steps up, taking a microphone into his hands, flicking it to make sure it's on, "Do you hear me? is this on?" He says, looking up at the people overlooking the lab take their seats, "Ladies and gentlemen, today we take not another step towards annihilation, but the first step on the path to peace." Mary then steps towards Steve, lowering the plates onto his chest.

As Erskine continues to speak to the people up above, Mary takes the vials of the serum, placing them into their holes next to her brother, "We begin with a series of micro injections into the subjects major muscle groups. The serum infusion will cause immediate cellular change. And then to stimulate growth, the subject will be saturated with Vita-Rays."

Mary then swabs Steve's arm, injecting him with penicillin, her brother winces as Erskine comes over to them, "That wasn't so bad.." Steve murmurs.

Erskine makes a face briefly, "That was just the penicillin." He tells him, then he turns to the small crowd, "Serum infusion beginning in five,"

Mary looks at Steve, "you're gonna do great." She murmurs.

"Four."

She places her hand on Steve's shoulder, giving him a light squeeze as Erskine continues to countdown, "Three, two."

Erskine nods at Howard to move the lever, the sister removes her hand from her brother and stands by Erskine, he places his hand on her shoulder, "One." He says.

Howard controls the lever, moving it upwards, Mary watches as the serum begins to disappear from their vials and into Steve. She watches her brother wince in pain, grunting as the serum completely goes into his system.

Erskine looks to Howard, "Now Mr, Stark." He states, Howard then moves another lever, raising the pod and shutting the doors attached to it in the process.

Once the doors are shut, Mary walks up to the pod, knocking on the window, getting up on her tip toes to do so, "Stevie?" She asks, knocking on the window again, "Can you hear me?" She questions.

"Probably to late to go to the bathroom, huh, Sis?" Steve teases, Mary breathes a sigh of relief, turns to Erskine and nods.

"We will proceed." Erskine tells Howard

Howard then turns to the wheel, putting on a form of sunglasses, turning the wheel, "That's 10%." He states, Mary backs into Erskine, he holds her tight, his grip on her shoulders as bright light fills the room from Steve's pod.

Howard continues to climb the percentages, passing forty, another doctor looks over Steve's vitals, "Vital signs are normal." He tells them.

Howard continues to climb the percentages again, "That's 50%."

As Howard reaches seventy, Steve starts to scream in pain, Mary's eyes widen, "Steve?!" She exclaims, Erskine rushes to the window, "Steven?!" He shouts, pounding on the glass, trying to get his attention, "Steven?!"

Peggy races out to the railing up above the lab, "Shut it down!" She shouts, "Shout it down!" She shouts once more.

Erskine, wanting to save Steve's life, looks to Howard and yells, "Kill the reactor, Mr. Stark! Turn it off! Kill it! Kill the reactor!"

Mary's hazel eyes become clouded as her brother continues to scream in pain, but hesitates when he shouts, "No! Don't! I can do this!"

Mary turns to Erskine as he turns to Howard, the man then goes back to the wheel, turning it and proceeding with what Steve said, "Eighty. Ninety. That's 100%." He states.

As Howard says that, the light in the pod becomes brighter, and everything in the lab begins to overload, Mary looks up, seeing Peggy watching everything unfold, then the girl turns back to the pod.

The light in the pod her brother is in begins to fade, "Mr. Stark!" Erskine shouts, Howard opens the pod doors.

Mary's hazel eyes can't believe what she sees as the pod doors open, her older brother, who used to always be so short, sickly and skinny, now is tall, over 6 feet, he has muscles, and looks no where near sickly anymore.

She rushes over to Steve along with Erskine to help him out of the pod, her brother's breathing is heavy, she expected that due to the stress and change his body was put under.

She grips his arm with both her hands, one of her hands no longer able to fit around it entirely like before. Steve steps out of the pod, "I did it.." he mumbles, still getting his breathing under control.

Erskine nods to Mary and Howard, "Yeah. Yeah i think we did it."

Mary grins a bit, "We actually did it." She mutters, she watches Peggy rush over to Steve and her, her hands in front of his chest, she looks him over, "How do you feel?" She asks Steve.

"Taller." He breathes out, causing Mary to laugh, "You had to go and make me the smallest sibling now." She teases him, making him chuckle.

Peggy hands him a shirt, "You look taller." She states, glancing at Mary

"And I feel short now." The sister blurts out, causing Steve and Peggy to laugh briefly.

"I can think of some folks in Berlin who are about to get very nervous. Congratulations, Doctor." The Senator states, shaking Doctor Erskine's hand.

"Thank you, Sir." Erskine replies, he then turns his head to look at a man in the background, Mary turns to look as well, seeing the man pull out a lighter, Erskine moves closer to the girl.

The man clicks the lighter, setting off a bomb in the viewing room, Mary screams. Erskine's quick to cover her from the explosion and glass.

When they think it's safe to get up, Steve is at Mary's side instantly, checking her over, only seeing a few scratches on her hands and face.

Erskine stands up, seeing the man who set the bomb off steal the last vial of the serum, "Stop him!" He shouts, and in turn, the man shoots Erskine in the chest.

Mary screams, catching Erskine in her arms as they fall to the ground, Steve looks between the two, Peggy pulls out her gun and tries to shoot the man, missing, she chases after him.

Mary looks down at Erskine, "No. No you can't leave me, us.. Steve needs you, I- i need you, you promised you'd always be there." She stutters, hot tears falling from her hazel eyes, she watches as Erskine.

With what little strength he has left, points to Steve's chest, then to Mary's, "Be the best you can be, Kleine." The doctor stuttered out.

Steve and Mary watch as Erskine takes his last breath, the sister clutches the doctor, screaming once more as she buries her face into his shoulder. She's lost another person who took the time to care about her, Steve knows what he has to do, he grips Mary, trying to pry her off Erskine's body, but she wont let go.

"Mary.. please." He tries to plead, his sister feels broken, she wont leave him.

"No! He's not gone! I can bring him back!" She shouts, Steve taking this moment to finally pull her off the doctor, tears fall from his eyes as his sister screams to be put down, to be there for the doctor, to try and save him. But Steve knows that Erskine is already gone.

"Let me go, Steven Grant!" She screams to her brother, she fights his grip on her, kicking and failing her arms to try and get him to let her go back to the doctor.

He sets her down on a step, kissing her forehead gingerly, "I'll be back." He tells her quietly, rushing off to catch the man who took everything from his sister and him.

All Mary can do is nod, her hair has fallen out of the bun she had put it in hours before, falling past her shoulders and goes into her eyes. She pushes back her hair and tries to wipe her tears with her wrists, but they wont stop, the girl fears they'll never stop.

The doctor who put the time and effort into teaching her his ways of healing people, who put the time into caring for her, the man who trusted the serum's formula to her, her father figure. Is gone. And she'll never hear him call her his Kleine again.

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