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Chapter Text

As she climbed over the wreckage of what she was almost sure started its life as a sporty little two door coupe, Darcy had no problem admitting that this was easily in the top three of the most stupid things she had ever done. Which was admittedly impressive, as it was not what most people would consider a short list.

It didn’t take a genius to realize that sending Jane to Tromsø was a cover. Frankly, Darcy figured it out before they had even gotten on the plane to Norway. Seriously though, what did they need an astrophysicist for in the land of the midnight sun in the middle of summer? That being said, it also didn’t take a genius to realize that paid trips to exotic locales fall out of the sky about as often as Norse gods do, so Darcy knew this was a good time to employ that brain to mouth filter that she so often ignored and kept her head down and her mouth shut lest someone put her on a greyhound back to not so scenic Puente Antiguo. 

For all this talk about geniuses however, it took Jane almost forty-eight hours before she came to the conclusion that the only reason she would have been spirited off to this remote corner of the world, was because her boyfriend’s back and there’s going to be trouble. And so when Jane came knocking at the door of her rather dorm-like accommodations at two in the morning to let her assistant know that if she left right then, she could catch a flight to New York that would have her back on US soil in just a scant fourteen hours and forty five minutes, Darcy was shoving the clothes she had barely unpacked, back in her duffle before her eyes were even all the way open.

Darcy wasn’t about to let Jane go alone for multiple reasons.

One, that’s not the way Darcy Lewis rolled. Friends don’t let friends go on crazy late night escapades on their own. Some of her best bar stories started that way.

Two, Darcy wasn’t sure that Jane would be able to make the international flight with several transfers in foreign countries on her own. Her friend was, literally, the smartest person she knew, but Darcy often wondered if the human brain only had so much room and once it was filled to capacity, it started to push other things out. In Jane’s case, it was common sense and a sense of self-preservation that the hamster that ran the wheel in her brain decided wasn’t as important as quantum mechanics. Because really, she was working on a way to rip a hole through time and space to build a bridge to another realm, but she often forgot to eat, or to look both ways before crossing the street. Honestly, Darcy wasn’t entirely sure how Jane managed to survive without her this long.

Three, she did not want to be left behind when the suits who absolutely did not work for SHIELD and had never even heard of such an organization, because yeah, sure, Darcy totally believed that, woke up in the morning to find the scientist missing.

And four, she had heard rumors that they were having a traditional Norwegian breakfast the next day. Pickled herring? No thank you. 

It was by complete chance that when they finally touched down at LaGuardia in the early afternoon, that every single television in the airport was turned to the breaking news that aliens were attacking New York City. Darcy was just glad that the alien invaders had the decency to wait to attack until they were going through customs. Twenty minutes earlier and they would have still been in the air and who knows where they would have been rerouted. It would have been hard to get to Thor from Philadelphia or Boston or wherever they would have landed. For all Darcy knew, they could have been rerouted to New Jersey. And really, who wants to end up in New Jersey?

Despite the potential hostile alien takeover, all Darcy really wanted was to find the nearest dark corner to pass out in. She was exhausted from their marathon travel on three hours of sleep, but after a few minutes of watching the news coverage she knew that wasn’t going to happen for her.  She might have been able to keep Jane in one place even after they saw the Great Thunder Wonder on the news, but once the unmistakable image of Erik Selvig on top of StarkTowers flashed across the screen, she knew there was nothing that would stop the determined scientist from getting to her mentor.

And as much as she didn’t want to be for once, Darcy was right. She did her best to dissuade her friend, but there was nothing she could say or do, that would convince Jane that marching headlong into a warzone was not on the list of good ideas. It was that whole common sense thing again. Of course, Darcy agreed to go along for the ride, so maybe her survival instinct was lacking something crucial as well. But, if Jane wanted to get to Erik and Thor, Darcy sure as hell was going to get her there.

It took a huge wad of cash and a rather colorful and interesting blend of begging and threats from Darcy before they found a cab driver that was willing to take them over the Queensboro bridge and anywhere near midtown where the fight was playing out. They made it to 2^nd and 51^st before the gridlock of abandoned cars prevented them from going any further and they were forced to continue on foot with verbal directions from the cabbie who was convinced they were both certifiable. Darcy wasn’t sure he was wrong.

That led them to where they are now, running the last three quarters of a mile, directly into a battlefield that sane people were currently fleeing.  Jumping over what appeared to be a smoldering alien arm, Darcy really wished she had kept her New Years resolution about going to the gym, longer than a week and a half.

“Hey Jane?” Darcy huffed, checking out the abandoned storefronts and restaurants as they ran. “If we don’t die in the next twenty minutes, can we go to a pizzeria for lunch? I’ve always wanted to know if New York style pizza is as good as they say.”

“Sure Darcy,” Jane replied, trying not to look too hard at the carnage around them. “If we survive the next twenty minutes you can totally pick where we have lunch.”

“Score.”

They had just rounding the corner from 3^rd onto 45^th when the battle came to a literal crashing halt, the alien invaders falling out of the sky. The girls jumped through an already shattered plate glass window into the nearest storefront for cover.

“That’s a good sign right?” Jane asked peering out through what used to be a window at an unmoving alien.

“Well, it’s definitely a sign of something. And I’m thinking it’s not a bad one,” Darcy replied, looking around her for the first time and realizing they were in a T-Mobile store. “Hey didn’t you say you needed a new phone?”

“We’re not here to loot Darcy,” Jane replied with a disapproving frown. “Besides I have Verizon. T-Mobile doesn’t get service out in the desert.”

Darcy rolled her eyes and was about to reply with a snarky retort when a resounding roar echoed through the now eerily quiet New York streets. She was not ashamed to admit it made her jump. As far as signs went, that was a little more ambiguous. “I really hope that whatever made that noise is on our side.”

Jane looked at Darcy with wide eyes that then steeled with determination. “Come on, right now we have a clear shot up to Stark Towers, it’s only a few more blocks,” she said jumping back out onto the street, taking off at a brisk jog, their destination visible as the highly stylized tower rose above the rest of the skyline.

“Yeah, but they’re really long blocks,” Darcy grumbled, really thankful that she had thrown on her old beat up converse when she rolled out of bed, instead of the cute new boots she hadn’t had a chance to fully break in yet.

“Have I ever mentioned how sporty I’m not? My shapely hourglass figure is a god given gift!” Darcy called after Jane, doing everything she could to keep up as her friend wove easily through the wreckage and rubble, clearly more athletic than any previous experiences revealed. “I think my lungs are going to explode.”

“If you stop complaining you’ll conserve more oxygen,” Jane said over her shoulder, not slowing down in the least.

“When I stop complaining you’ll know I’ve lost the will to live and have joined the rest of the space invaders by lying down to die in the street,” Darcy retorted. She did stop complaining, however, because she really did need every bit of oxygen coming in and out her burning lungs, and because the closer they got to Stark Towers, the worse the condition the streets were in. She needed every bit of her concentration to keep from falling on her face. Road rash was not a good look on her.

When the miraculously intact lobby doors of StarkTower came into view, Jane took off at a sprint and although she kinda wanted to die a little, Darcy took off right after her.

“I swear to Thor’s Dad if you even suggest taking the stairs right now, I will hurt you,” Darcy wheezed when she caught Jane glancing between the elevator and the emergency stairs.

“You’re right, the elevator will be faster, as long as it’s working,” Jane agreed walking across the lobby and punching the up button a few times in rapid succession. As if that would make it come faster.

Darcy’s eyes widened when she realized that Jane was fully prepared to climb a thousand flights of stairs if that what it came down to and started praying that the elevator doors would open soon. She could have cried tears of relief and joy when those double doors slid open in front of them.

Dragging herself inside, she leaned against the wall and slid to the ground. She had to sit down, if even for a minute.

“How are we even going to get to the roof?” Darcy wheezed, trying to will her heart to slow to something resembling normal. “You know that the penthouse is Tony Stark’s personal living space right? Don’t you think he would really just let anyone press the right button and get off the elevator right into his apartment?”

“How do you know that?” Jane asked, hitting the button for the penthouse anyways.

“There was an article about it in Architectural Digest last month. What? I read!” she added at Jane’s dubious look.

“Yeah, but Architectural Digest?” Jane questioned.

“I’m a woman with depth and varied reading interests,” Darcy replied loftily. Well as lofty as one can be when slumped the corner of an elevator while taking huge heaving breaths.

Darcy would never know what Jane’s reply would have been as the elevator slowed to a stop and the doors slid open. Huh, she mused idly, Stark should really reconsider his security.

“If it’s all the same to you,” a voice trailed through the now open doors. “I’ll have that drink now.”

“Jane! Wait!” Darcy hissed, trying to climb to her feet with only moderate success. “You don’t know what’s happening in there.”

But the scientist didn’t listen, her thoughts wholly consumed with getting to the man who she saw as a father, and was out the door before Darcy was even up on her knees.

Meanwhile, Loki had accepted that he had lost, his army was defeated, and frankly he was tired and in no small amount of pain after being tossed around by that green brute. With the six members of the so called Avengers looming over him he knew it was time, as the Midgardians would say, to give up the ghost. At least, that’s what he thought until a lovely little distraction wrapped up in a petite brunette package came pouring out of the elevator.

“Lady Jane?!” Thor boomed.

It was only a second, but Loki, ever the opportunist, seized the moment when the ragtag band of superheroes took their collective attention off him. Before anyone even knew what happened, Loki was behind the astrophysicist using her as a human shield. Yes, he still had a few more tricks up his armored sleeve.

“This must be the dear Jane Foster,” Loki spat, pulling her close. “The woman who changed my brother so.”

He smirked, taking in the group. They all had their assorted weapons pointed in his direction, but he knew none of them would take the chance of the woman getting injured in the crossfire. That was one thing you could always count on the ‘good guys’ for. They didn’t understand the meaning of collateral damage. No matter, it was to be used to his advantage.

“Release her Loki!” Thor commanded, Mjölnir twitching in his hand.

“Don’t you remember? I did make promises to pay this one a visit,” he let out a barking laugh. He ran the back of his fingers down her cheek, “And in the end, she came right to me.”

“Let me go, you creep!” Jane struggled to break free of his grasp but his arm might as well have been steel around her torso. She thrashed and kicked, but it was no more useful than a fly struggling in a spider’s web.

“Hmm, maybe I’ll take her somewhere we can get better acquainted,” he mused thoughtfully as he worked to build his magic within him.

There were many doors between the worlds if you knew how to open them, and he did. As it turned out the day may not be a complete failure. So he may not have taken over Earth, ruling over the humans his brother seemed to care so much about. But what were all the humans when he could take the one who meant the most, right out from under him. When he saw several sets of eyes dart behind his shoulder, he knew his magic was working. He didn’t have to look himself to know what they were seeing, the air starting to ripple and swim like the air above an open fire. Soon it would start to go opaque, swirling flashes of images from fixed points of time and space, going by too quickly to be anything more than a riotous haze of light and color. While it wasn’t a portal he could bring an army through, it would be more than enough for him and his new pet to slip through.

What Loki did not account for, was the ex-intern who had been lurking in the elevator. So focused on the so-called heroes in front of him, the woman in his arms, and the rip in the space time continuum he was building, that he never noticed the girl with the modern art sculpture gripped in her hands like a baseball bat, creeping up behind him.

“I don’t think you want to do that Loki,” Tony said, taking a half step forward. He had no idea who this girl was, her hood pulled up around her face like that made her less conspicuous. But he knew exactly what she was planning on doing, and he realized that if she was to have any luck, he needed to keep Loki’s attention focused on them.

“Really? Because I think it’s a marvelous idea.”

“I don’t think I need to remind you that we have the Tesseract now and there is nowhere in the universe that you can hide where we won’t find you,” Tony replied.

“Maybe,” Loki shrugged, seemingly unconcerned. “But the universe is a big place, and just think of all the fun we can have until-”

“Hey AssButt!” THWAP!

The blow Darcy delivered to the back of Loki’s head wasn’t enough to do any sort of permanent damage, but it was enough to make Loki release Jane, which was all she had really concerned herself with before she decided to partake in some daring heroics. The distraction was enough to give the Avengers the opportunity to snap into action, as Captain America moved to get Jane out of the line of fire and Thor went after his brother. Unfortunately for Darcy, the Thunder God did not move fast enough for her to avoid the swinging blow the Trickster sent her way. As her feet left the ground and she felt herself getting sucked into the growing vortex, she wished that she could have gotten her taser through customs and realized that maybe it wasn’t just Jane with the self-preservation issues.

It all must have only taken seconds, but it felt like she flew through the air in slow motion, finding she had time to take in the room’s occupants for the first time, having been too focused on saving her friend to do it before.

Naturally her eye was first drawn to the giant green behemoth in the room, which some part of her brain registered was currently roaring. At least that solved the mystery of whom or what they were hearing earlier on the street. Darcy was glad - she disliked unanswered questions. Like, when you see an actor in a movie and you can’t place where you knew them from. She hated that.

Her eyes then flitted over to a pair in matching black jumpsuits. An archer, who she vaguely recognized as one of the jack-booted thugs from back in New Mexico. Standing next to him was a badass looking woman with an amazing hair color she would kill for.

Then there was the one and only Tony Stark outfitted in his Iron Man suit. She finally had the chance to meet a bona fide celebrity and she wouldn’t even get the chance to get her little brother an autograph. She regretted that.

Thor and Loki had both frozen to watch her descent with equally wide eyes. It was nice to see Thor again, even if she could honestly say she didn’t much care for his little brother at the moment. She did wish she had had the time to ask how his friends were. She liked them. They seemed like they knew how to party. 

Then there was Jane. Her best friend, who was looking on in complete horror. But she had followed her boss across the ocean to keep her safe, so Darcy was content that she had at least accomplished that. Even if she never did get try real New York style pizza.

Then she looked at the man who had dragged Jane out of harms way. Was that… Captain America? She had found a pile of Captain America comics in her Grandfather’s basement one summer, along with a whole pile of World War II memorabilia, but she had just assumed he was a character, a product of the war time propaganda machine. She never thought he actually existed.

And that was Darcy’s last thought as her world went black. 

Chapter Text

“Miss Lewis… Miss Lewis! Hey fathead, back up give her some air! Miss Lewis, are you alright?”

Darcy’s eyelashes fluttered rapidly, as the world rushed back to her. “What… what happened?” She asked the anxious, sweaty, balding man kneeling beside her. “Is Jane okay?”

“You fainted in the middle of the photo shoot, Miss Lewis,” he explained, using a cloth handkerchief to mop his brow. “Jane? You mean Janet? She’s at craft services. Someone get her assistant for her!”

“Photo shoot?” Darcy repeated, the confusion clear in her eyes. She sat up slightly and looked around, past the crowd that was circling her, finding she was in some sort of warehouse studio space filled with lights and cameras. “Where am I?”

“Brooklyn, ma’am,” a different man than the one who had been speaking before, supplied.

“New York?” she questioned, as if there was another.

“Are you feeling alright Miss Lewis?” the first man asked, his anxiety clearly growing by the minute. “Did you hit your head, do you need a doctor? I think she hit her head, someone get the dame a doctor!”

“Wait no! I don’t need a doctor,” Darcy called before anyone could spring into action. As the fog in her mind cleared she remembered. She had flown in from Los Angeles with her entourage just that morning. She had the New York premiere of her latest picture the following night, but she had volunteered to do a photo shoot for new propaganda posters this afternoon. “I was just a bit disoriented, I’m fine now.”

“If you're sure,” the man she now recognized as the shoot’s director assented hesitantly.

“Yes, I’m quite sure,” she nodded. “If I could just get some water?”

The words had barely left her mouth before three different people jumped at the chance to fulfill her request.

“I think I just need some air, it must have been the heat from the lights,” Darcy reasoned, shakily climbing to her feet, ignoring the hands that extended to help her up.

“Let’s take a twenty on Miss Lewis and reset!” the director shouted into the room sending everyone into a flurry of activity.

A glass of water was pressed into her hand and she made her way to a side door.

“Miss Lewis, should you really be going outside by yourself?” A small mousy voice interjected, halting her progress. “It’s just that Walter isn’t back yet,” she added, mentioning Darcy’s longtime driver and bodyguard whom had been sent out on a few errands while she was busy with the photo shoot.

“Janet, it’s an empty back alley, no one is going to bother me,” she sighed, annoyed with the new assistant the studio assigned to her. She was fresh off the bus from Spokane and had gotten a job with the studio hoping to break into the business. And while she did have the face for pictures, her voice was like nails on a chalk board and unfortunately for her the silent movie era was gone for good.

“It’s just Mr. Weitzman said that I- ”

“It doesn’t matter what Marty said,” Darcy cut off whatever Janet was going to say about her agent. She wasn’t usually so short with people but the young woman’s voice making her headache worse. “You’re my assistant now and what I really need you to do is make sure no one bothers me until I’m needed for the next set. Do you understand?”

“Yes Miss Lewis,” Janet nodded eager to please.

“Thank you,” Darcy replied. “Here take my water,” she added, handing the half-empty glass over before heading to the door, grateful when no one else tried to stop her from going outside by herself. Truthfully, she was glad Walter wasn’t back yet, because he never would have stood for it, and she really just needed to be alone for a few moments.

Sitting down on one of a couple over turned apple boxes, she set her elbows on her knees and cradled her head between her hands as she tried to recall the crazy dream she had managed to have while she was unconscious. But the harder she tried to recall the details, the more they slipped through her fingers. She had been running, she remembered that much. But what was she running from? Or was she running to something? And there were… aliens? She sighed and rubbed her temples. She didn’t think it was possible but it seemed like the more she thought about her dream, the worse her head throbbed.

Aliens, she shook her head at her own overactive imagination, that’s what she got for reading War of the Worlds on the transcontinental flight.

“Ma’am, are you alright?”

Darcy had been so lost in her own world that she hadn’t even noticed the man sitting on the ground against the wall just a bit further down the alley.

“Oh! I didn’t realize anyone else was out here,” she said placing a hand over her now racing heart.

“Miss Lewis!” the young man exclaimed, recognizing her immediately. “Did you want me to leave?”

“What?” Darcy was taken aback at the very idea that this was what he was expecting her to say. “No, of course not. That would hardly be fair considering you were here first. I just needed some air.” The truth of the matter was that she had come out here to be alone, but now she really wanted to just take her mind off what happened inside.

“Are you alright?” he asked again.

Darcy searched his face for a moment, looking for some ulterior motive for his interest. Previous experiences taught her to be guarded, but she found nothing but sincere concern and kindness. She prided herself on being able to read people, it was a part of what made her such a good actress after all, but sadly, it took her a moment to register what she found as it wasn’t something she was used to seeing anymore. Ever since she had become the studio’s number one draw at the box office she had become accustomed to having an entourage of people willing to cater to her every mood and whim. But she was aware that it was because to the people above her on the food chain, she was a money making commodity, and to those below her, it was their job. However, there was something about him, something in his eyes that told her he was trustworthy.

“I’m alright, thank you. Just a bit tired I suppose.” She paused for a moment before speaking again. “I’m sorry, but do I know you? You seem very familiar.”

“Know me?” his eyebrows practically disappeared into his hairline in surprise. “Oh no Ma’am.”

“Are you sure?” she asked again. It wasn’t that she thought he was lying, it was just that she couldn’t shake the feeling that she him from somewhere.

“I’m very sure,” he answered quickly. “I would certainly remember meeting you Miss Lewis. I’ve seen all your movies and I even went to your show when you were on tour selling War Bonds last year.”

“Well, it’s always nice to meet a fan,” Darcy smiled, making him blush when he realized he’d been gushing. “I’m afraid you have me at a disadvantage, you know my name, but I don’t know yours.”

The color in his cheeks deepened when she called him out on his lapse in manners. “Steve Rogers, ma’am,” he said pushing up off the wall to introduce himself properly, taking her soft warm hand in his rather shaky and clammy one.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you Mr. Rogers,” Darcy smiled, giving his hand a firm shake, taking no notice of the dampness of his palm.

“The pleasure is all mine, really,” he said breathlessly, finding the manners his mother instilled in him years ago. “And please call me Steve.”

“Only if you call me Darcy,” she returned, her grin widening.

“Yes ma’am,” he answered glancing repeatedly at his shoes, not able to look at the brightness of her smile for more than a moment at a time.

“And not ma’am either,” she added, the amusement clear in her voice

“Yes ma…. Miss… Darcy,” he fumbled, the pink creeping back into his cheeks.

Darcy bit down on her bottom lip to hold in her giggle, not wanting him to think she was laughing at him, but finding his bashfulness utterly charming.

“Are you alright, Steve? You were sitting out here all by yourself too,” she pointed out.

“I’m just fine, thank you ma’am. I mean Darcy,” Steve corrected himself.

Darcy reached out with one foot to tip over the other apple box and then gave it a quick pat, inviting him to join her. “Now why do I think you’re lying to me?”

His eyes widened even as he followed her instructions to sit. “I- I would never- ”

She gave him a disbelieving look. “I’m an actress Steve, I watch people lie for a living. Most of them are better at it than you.”

“Only most? Maybe my dreams of becoming an actor aren’t completely lost,” he joked wryly. Darcy laughed and it was the most beautiful sound he had ever heard. He just couldn’t believe he was the cause.

“I have some people I could introduce you too,” she replied still giggling.

“That’s kind, but I think it’s best if I just leave the acting to the professionals,” Steve said with a grin of his own, her amusement infectious. “Honestly just the idea of being in front of all those people with everyone watching me makes me want to throw up a little.”

“You stop thinking about it after awhile,” she said with a shrug. “You’re sure you’re alright though?” she couldn’t help but ask again.

“Well, let’s just say that meeting you has definitely been the high point in my day,” he admitted after a moment of hesitation, his shoulders caving in on themselves. “I mean, meeting you would be the high point of any day. Not just if I was having a bad day like today. Even if I was having a good day, meeting you would make it the best day. Are you here shooting a new war film?” he asked, gesturing at the uniform she wore in a not so subtle attempt at changing the subject.

Darcy once again had to bite down on her lip to keep her amusement in. She knew what he was doing, but didn’t mention it. She also resisted the temptation to ask him what had made his day so poor before now, even though she wanted too. She was a complete stranger to him, she wouldn’t expect him to spill his secrets. “No, I’m actually doing a photo shoot for some new War Bond posters and the like. The studio wont let me take the time off to do another tour like I did last year, but at least I can do this,” she explained. “My tour last year sold more bonds than any other the other stars’ have,” she added proudly, “hopefully these will help sell more.”

“They’d make me want to buy bonds,” Steve offered, more than a little awed by her.

“But Steve, you haven’t even seen them yet,” Darcy teased, unable to hold her giggle back this time.

The blush that had finally faded away returned with a vengeance as he stared at a scuff on his shoe trying to stutter out some sort of response. “It’s just… I uh… what I mean to say… um… I really admire everything you’ve done for the war effort, Miss Lewis,” he finally managed to spit out, running a flustered hand through his hair, only to nervously pat it back down.

“I’m just trying to do my part, I only wish I could do more,” she replied, believing a hundred percent in what she was saying. “What I’d really like to do is a USO tour overseas, but it’s a matter of the studio giving me the time to do it. I’m hopeful that after the next three pictures I’ve got on the calendar I’ll be able to go.”

“That’s real,” he paused trying to think of the proper word, “swell of you Darcy,” he settled on when he couldn’t come up with anything else.

“My little brother is overseas right now,” she told him, revealing a fact that wasn’t common knowledge to the public. “Enlisted on his 18th birthday. Broke my mother’s heart and made her proud all at once. He’s stationed in Africa right now. I just want to do everything in my power to do to make his, and all of our boys’ lives a little bit easier,” she gave a little shrug as if to say it was no less than what anyone would do, even though they both knew that wasn’t true.

“I would give anything to go overseas and fight,” Steve admitted his whole frame slumping in on itself, making himself look even smaller than he was. “My best buddy’s getting ready to ship out.”

She was about to ask him why he didn’t enlist when she noticed the crumpled cardstock in his hand for the first time. The telltale 4-F just distinguishable. She supposed that explained his why he was sitting in an alley by himself.

Darcy was about to reply when the warehouse door cracked open. “They need you in wardrobe so you can change for the next set Miss Lewis,” Janet squeaked.

“Thank you Janet, I’ll be right in,” Darcy sighed, using her hands on her knees to push herself upright. She looked down at Steve who was looking up at her from underneath lashes so long they should be illegal on a man, with wide guileless eyes. “Do you want to come in for a few minutes?” she offered on a whim, surprising both of them.

“I-in there?” he repeated.

“Well yes, would you like to come inside?” she repeated more surely this time. “I’m sure someone has a publicity still in there somewhere for me to sign. If you’d like one,” she added, not wanting to presume. But he did say that he had seen all her films.

“Yes!” Steve exclaimed a little more enthusiastically then he intended, embarrassing himself, but also making Darcy grace him with another one of her blinding smiles so he figured it was worth it. “I mean, that would be very kind of you Miss Lewis.”

“Darcy,” she reminded him.

“Darcy,” he repeated sheepishly.

She reached for the door handle, but he rushed forward to open if for her, receiving another smile for his troubles. Following Darcy into the warehouse where the studio space was set up, Steve looked around in awe, never having seen anything quite like it.

“Who’s the mook?” one of the PA’s asked when he noticed Steve’s presence.

“Mr. Rogers is my guest and I would expect you to treat him as such,” Darcy said sharply.

“I apologize, Miss Lewis,” the crewman apologized quickly.

From the moment they walked indoors Steve could see her transforming before his eyes, shifting from the friendly open young woman she was in the alley to someone harder and worldlier. He was far from an expert on women, that was Bucky’s territory, not his, but if he had to venture a guess, he would say that the woman he was speaking to outside was Darcy, the girl. The woman taking command of the room was Miss Lewis, the world renowned actress.

“Someone find me one of the new publicity stills, please,” she called to the room at large knowing that someone, it didn’t matter to her who, would jump on the task. “I have to go change, I’ll be right back,” she said turning to Steve. “There’s food over there if you're hungry,” she added pointing to the buffet table laden with snacks in the corner.

“Yes ma’am.” She gave him a look. “Darcy.”

He watched her disappear behind a curtain in the corner of the room, and he awkwardly wandered over to the food table attempting to look inconspicuous and trying not to touch anything. He was a bit astounded at the amount of food in the spread, most of it barely picked over. He wasn’t really sure if he should have anything, even though Miss Lewis did tell him to help himself, but when he saw bite sized apple tarts he couldn’t help himself. Apple pie was his favorite.

He had just picked up a second tart and had shoved about half of it in his mouth when Darcy reemerged from her dressing area in the white uniform of the Navy. He gasped at her beauty, which had the unpleasant side effect of him inhaling pastry, making him choke and cough bringing the room’s attention to him. Luckily it passed quickly and everyone returned to their respective jobs as Darcy crossed the room to meet him.

“I knew we could hunt one up for you,” she grinned as she handed over an 8x10 glossy photo of herself.

“Thank you,” he said smiling shyly back.

“You could stick around for awhile if you’d like,” she offered. “I can’t promise anything exciting though. To be honest it gets a bit dull after the first few frames.”

“Thank you for the offer, but I should really get going,” he replied. As much as he wanted to stay in her presence for as long as possible, he felt extraordinarily out of place and didn’t want to get in the way of her work. “I’m supposed to meet up with my friend Bucky soon,” he said as way of explanation, which was true.

“Alright,” she said, accepting his decline of her invitation, extending her hand in farewell. “It was very nice meeting you Steve Rogers.”

“It was an honor meeting you Miss Lewis,” he replied, wiping his palm on the front of his pants before he reached out to shake her hand one more time, committing the moment to memory.

Darcy watched Steve slip out the side door, unnoticed by anybody in the room but her. She believed him earlier when he said they had never met, but she still couldn’t shake the sense of instant familiarity she felt when they first spoke. There was just something that drew her to him. She wasn’t aware of how long she was standing there until Janet tapped her on her shoulder, letting her know that they were ready for her. She shook her head to clear her thoughts and got ready to go back to work.

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Steve left the warehouse in a daze, not quite able to comprehend the twist his day had taken. After his rejection at the enlistment office that morning he had cut down a random alley needing to sit and be alone for awhile. He had been about to get up and maybe go see a movie or something when his favorite movie star just happened to wander into the same alley. Things like that didn’t happen to him. He was so caught up in replaying their interaction that he didn’t even notice when he literally walked right past Bucky.

“Heya Steve, what’s got you looking so moony?” Bucky asked, making a quick U-turn and throwing his arm over his friend’s shoulders.

“You would not believe who I just talked to,” Steve said with wide eyes.

“Who? The dame from 3B?” Bucky asked, talking about the girl in their building who made Steve stutter every time she said hello when they passed in the stairwell.

“What? No,” Steve replied quickly, not even able to remember what their neighbor looked like after the afternoon he just had. “Darcy Lewis.”

“Darcy Lewis?” Bucky repeated unbelievingly. “The Darcy Lewis? You expect me to believe you ran into Darcy Lewis in Brooklyn and you actually spoke to her? I don’t believe it for a second.”

“I did,” Steve insisted. “And I have proof!”

He handed over the picture that he hadn’t even taken the time to read. Of course Bucky took care of that for him as he cleared his throat dramatically and read the inscription aloud.

To Steve,
Thanks for brightening my day.
Darcy Lewis

“So not only did you talk to Darcy Lewis, you brightened her day? I am so proud of you,” Bucky was practically beaming. “And look, she even drew a little heart after her name.”

Steve took the picture back to look for himself. There was his name written in her handwriting, and yes she really did add a little heart after her own signature. He actually felt a little light headed.

“Come on, it’s my last night before I ship out, and you actually talked to a woman. The most beautiful woman in America no less, we need to celebrate!” Bucky proclaimed.

“Where are we going?” Steve asked.

Bucky tossed him the newspaper he had tucked under his arm. “The future.”

Chapter Text

Darcy shook her head in wonder, watching from her spot in the wings of the Modern Marvels Pavilion as the car lifted off the ground. Howard Stark and his brilliant mind never ceased to amaze her, even if his grandstanding made her roll her eyes. Glancing out into the crowd to see their reaction to her friend’s genius, she was shocked to see a familiar face.

She squinted trying to get a better look. She really needed her glasses, but the studio didn’t like her wearing them in public. Yes, she was right - there was Steve Rogers from earlier that day. He was with a man in uniform, whom she assumed was the friend he had mentioned in the alley, and two women. She smiled, happy that he was clearly on a date. She was about to turn her attention back to the show when she saw his attempts at being a gentleman get rudely rebuffed by some chippy with the bad home perm.

Darcy Lewis was not about to stand for that. Backing away from the edge of the stage she quickly made her way out into the general fair populace. She sensed movement behind her, but knew it was just Walter following. She didn’t pay any attention - she was used to him being her shadow, secure in the knowledge that he would keep his distance unless she needed his assistance.

As she darted in and out of the crowd, grateful that everyone seemed too entranced by Howard’s vision of the future to pay two minds to the movie star moving through the crowd, she asked herself why she cared so much, but deep down she already knew why. It had been so long since she had met a man that didn’t look at her like she was piece of meat, or pander to her like she was a stupid, that she had immediately felt attached and protective of Steve Rogers. And how dare that hincty little girl give such a sweet man the brush off like he was dirt on her Sunday shoes.

Steve was slowly backing away from the pavilion and his painfully bad double date when Darcy came up behind him.

“If I didn’t know any better I would think you were following me,” she announced, from where she had stopped just behind his left shoulder.

Startled, Steve dropped the remnants of his bag of peanuts as he spun to face her. “I’m not, I would never,” he sputtered, when he confirmed against all odds that it was who he thought it was.

“I’m just teasing,” Darcy grinned. “If anyone’s following anyone it would be me following you, since it seems like you’re always somewhere first.”

“You can follow me anywhere you want,” Steve said breathlessly, before he could stop himself.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Darcy replied with a laugh.

“What are you doing here?” Steve asked, not sure himself if he was asking about the fair in general or right there talking to him.

“And here I thought we were becoming friends, are you not pleased to see me?” she asked with dramatic flair, pretending to be hurt. She continued before Steve could contest, knowing full well what he actually meant. “I’m here to see the show,” she answered his question with a careless shrug. “I saw you in the crowd and wanted to come over to say hello.”

“I didn’t see you,” he said the confusion clear in his voice. He wasn’t sure how he could have missed her. In a sea of sensible maroon, beige and grey - all colors not rationed due to the war - Darcy was dressed in a daring cobalt blue dress. She was stunning and stood out like a candle in a coal mine.

“I was backstage,” she explained. “Howard and I have late dinner plans at the New Yorker.”

Steve blinked several times. Of course he’d never personally been inside, but that didn’t mean that he hadn’t heard stories about the New Yorker Hotel. Anyone who was anyone has stayed there, or enjoyed the ballrooms and salons, including the roster of the Brooklyn Dodgers. It only made sense that Miss Lewis and Mr. Stark would be leaving the Expo together to have dinner at the infamous hotel. But that just made him question why she was standing there talking to him all the more.

“So are you and Mr. Stark…” he trailed off leadingly, already regretting the question as soon as it left his mouth. Really what business of it was his?

“….friends?” she finished in the same tone, amusement dancing in her eyes. “I met Howard back when I was still a day player. We’ve been friends for years and always try to at least have dinner when we’re in the same city. Which, admittedly isn’t that often, as we’re both very busy.” What she didn’t reveal was that they met at a Hollywood party where Howard tried and failed to seduce her. However, they discovered they had the same biting sense of humor and became fast friends instead, which never would have happened if she had fallen for his charms.

The blush which she had become so familiar with earlier that day blossomed over Steve’s face and she knew he was about to apologize for his insinuations when they were interrupted.

“Hey Steve, what do you say we treat these girls…?” Bucky trailed off when he saw just whom his friend was talking to. “Holy cow.”

Both Steve and Darcy looked up from their conversation, and from the corner of her eye Darcy saw Walter tense up, ready to make a move if need be.

“Sergeant James Barnes,” he swept up her hand and placed a suave kiss to the back of her hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Lewis.”

“It’s nice to meet you Sergeant Barnes,” Darcy replied politely, but wholly unimpressed. She could see where most girls would find his brand of charm attractive, but she was not most girls.

“Please, call me Bucky,” he said smoothly, with a rakish grin. “All my friends do.”

“And you can call me Miss Lewis, Sergeant Barnes,” she replied just as smoothly. Her retort pulled an amused snort from Steve, who was still standing beside her. He wasn’t used to seeing his best friend get shut down so casually.

“Ahem.”

All three of them turned to look at Bucky’s date who, was clearly not amused by his actions.

“I’m sorry, this is my date Connie, and her friend Bonnie,” Bucky introduced the girls.

Connie glared at Bucky again, but took a step forward to speak to Darcy. “I’m very excited to meet you Miss Lewis, I’m a big fan.”

“Thank you so much, that’s always nice to hear,” Darcy replied graciously, shaking the girl’s hand. She had nothing against Bucky’s date other than her choice of friends and their oddly rhyming names.

However, when said friend took a step forward to greet her, she made a very specific statement by looping one hand through Steve’s arm and placing the other on his elbow. Steve’s eyes went wide, but to his credit, he didn’t say anything about it. Although, that might have been because he had momentarily swallowed his tongue and couldn’t utter a sound if his life depended on it.

“How long have you known Steve?” Bonnie asked, clearly struggling to contain her envy.

Darcy knew the type, high school and Hollywood were filled with her kind. She cared more about outward appearances and others opinions than anything else and seeing that Darcy wanted Steve’s company would immediately make him ten times more desirable. “Oh, Steve and I are old friends.”

Bucky raised one eyebrow, knowing that they had only met that afternoon, but didn’t comment. For all his knowledge about women, he knew there was something else going on right now that was well beyond his comprehension. “We were about to go dancing. Would you care to join us Miss Lewis?” he invited with his most charming smile.

“I love dancing,” she replied with her own winning smile. “What do you say Steve?”

“I um, Darcy I…well,” he stuttered not sure how to explain that he didn’t dance.

Luckily, he was spared from continuing when Darcy’s bodyguard, who had been surreptitiously listening in the whole time, crossed over to the group and whispered into Darcy’s ear. Their hushed conversation lasted several moments before Darcy finally said, so everyone could hear, “No, you know as well as I do that Howard is going to spend twenty minutes making sure everything is packed up correctly and then another twenty minutes deciding which flavor of chorus girl he’s going home with tonight, especially if I’m not there to drag him out by his ear. I have plenty of time for a dance or two.”

Walter leaned in to whisper again, but Darcy just shook her head, clearly shutting the conversation down. “If you would please go tell Janet that we’ll be at the Dance Pavilion, and to come and get us when it looks like Howard is winding down and ready to go.” It was phrased as a request, but it was clearly an order, reminding the others that she was a powerful woman in her own right. He looked like he was going to protest again, but Darcy held one hand up, staying his complaint. “I will be fine here for five minutes.”

“Stay here,” Walter gave his own order, letting the others hear his deep gravely voice for the first time. He glared at Bucky and Steve, daring them to do anything he wouldn’t approve of while he was gone, and promising retribution if anything happened to his charge while left in their care.

Walter slipped away from the group far more stealthily than a six foot four, two hundred and fifty pound man should be able to move.

“So, he’s not at all intimidating,” Bucky deadpanned once the bodyguard was out of earshot.

“That’s the point,” Darcy shrugged, used to it. “But he’s a big teddy bear once you get to know him.”

“I’ll just take your word for that,” Steve said, finally releasing the breath he was holding.

“We should send him overseas, he’d just have to glare at the Nazi’s and they’d be surrendering,” Bucky joked.

“Wouldn’t that be a nice ending to the war, but he’s 4F,” Darcy mentioned, causing Steve’s eyes snap to hers. “Colorblind,” she explained succinctly as her bodyguard reappeared. He didn’t look happy, but he gave her a nod to let her know what she wanted was done.

“Let’s be off then,” Darcy announced cheerily, already dragging Steve off in the direction of the dance pavilion, leaving Bucky to follow with the Onnie girls, as she was mentally calling them.

Steve couldn’t recall later what he and Darcy talked about on their walk across the fairgrounds, his terror building as the sounds of the big band grew closer. It wasn’t until they had reached the edge of the dance floor and his feet rooted in place that he admitted what was at the forefront of his mind.

“I can’t dance,” he blurted, unable to meet Darcy’s gaze. Instead, he looked at Bucky who was already twirling his date around the floor.

“Oh everybody says that,” Darcy tsked, undeterred.

“No really,” Steve insisted. “I’ve never even tired before.”

“Not once?” Darcy asked, one sculpted brow arched in surprise.

“No,” he confirmed, his cheeks coloring with shame. “I guess asking a dame to dance has always been too intimidating for me.

“Well then it’s a good thing I’m a thoroughly modern woman, and I’m asking you to dance,” Darcy replied easily. “Don’t look so shocked Steve,” she grinned at the look on his face. “Women have had the vote for over twenty years now.”

“Oh I know they have! I didn’t mean to imply-”

“Breathe Steve and come dance with me,” she stopped and listened as the band moved into a new song, it only took a few chords before she recognized it as As Time Goes By, re-popularized by the recently released Casablanca. “They’re even playing something slow.”

Steve was still far from convinced that this was a good idea, but didn’t protest as she led him onto the crowded dance floor, full of couples gently swaying. Once she found a break in the crowd, Darcy wasted no time in taking his left hand in her right and placing his right hand on her hip, not giving him the chance to second-guess himself.

“No no, don’t look at your feet, look up at me,” Darcy instructed. “You’re supposed to be leading and you need to trust me to follow.”

Steve tried to do as she told him, but was distracted by how blue her eyes were, which in her modest heels were directly level with his own. So it was no surprise when he stepped on her toes. “I’m so sorry,” he apologized taking a step back.

“It’s alright, you’re doing fine,” she reassured him, grasping his hand tighter so he couldn’t go too far. “I would have loved to be in this movie,” Darcy said casually, having the feeling that part of the problem was that Steve was over thinking thing. “But no one could have been a better Isla than Ingrid. Although, I’m not sorry I didn’t have to deal with have to deal with Bogie’s harpy of a wife. I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before he divorces her too.”

Steve’s eyes widened slightly at the Hollywood gossip, and also that Darcy was speaking of something like divorce as if it was such a casual thing to do. But perhaps it was in Los Angeles, he wasn’t one to keep up with the movie magazines, but the Hollywood scandals managed to make their way even to his ears eventually.

“If I ever get married, I just want to do it the one time,” Steve ended up saying, at a loss for anything else to add.

“I think everybody does in theory, I know I do,” she agreed. “It just doesn’t always work out that way.”

“I guess you just have to make sure you wait for the right partner, even if it takes a while,” he responded.

“That’s sound advice Mr. Rogers,” Darcy said with a sweet smile as the song came to an end and she felt a tap on her shoulder.

“Can I help you?” she asked, a little annoyed at being interrupted but trying to be polite.

“I was standing over there with my friends, and we was debating on whether or not you was actually Darcy Lewis,” the man with a thick Jersey accent said, slowly looking the actress up and down.

“Well, now you know and you can return to them with your answer,” she replied, not so subtly suggesting he take his leave.

“Or, hows about you ditch the palooka and dance with a real man, Miss Lewis,” he suggested with a smarmy grin.

“No, thank you,” Darcy retorted with forced civility, not even bothering to look up at her would be suitor. “I already have a partner.”

“What, this dead hoofer? Did he win a contest out of Movie Life?” the intruder scoffed glancing over at Steve and clearly finding him lacking. “I can get rid of him no problem toots and then I can shows you a real good time,” he said suggestively.

“Hey!” Steve stepped in ready to defend her honor and probably get his ass kicked in front of a Hollywood icon in the process. He didn’t care what was said about him, but he wasn’t about to let Darcy be disrespected. “I believe the lady said no, and you need to respect that.”

“Oh yeah what are you going to do about it?” the bully asked, rounding on Steve, ready to make a grab for the much smaller man, before Darcy stepped between them.

“I think you need to worry about what I’m going to do about it,” Darcy interjected. “First off, call me toots again, I will knee you so hard your children will walk with a limp. Second, yes, he did win a contest,” she confirmed, looking up at him with dangerously narrowed eyes. “It was called, who can not be a rude son of a bitch and act like a gigantic donkey’s ass in public. So, I apologize, but you’ve been automatically disqualified. Since we already established that I will not be dancing with you, one of two things are going to happen now. One, since you're feeling angry and emasculated at being rejected for my friend Steve here, you can make a scene, which would draw attention to the fact that I’m Darcy Lewis, admittedly making my life harder, considering I’m just trying to have a nice quiet evening. But the other result of that option would be that my bodyguard over there,” she nodded over to where Walter was glowering at the edge of the dance floor, “who is already in a sour mood, would have to get involved, and everyone in the building will watch you very publically and painfully get rejected by America’s sweetheart. The other option is that you turn around and walk away and only have to explain to whoever you are here with tonight that my dance card was already full.”

Both men were looking at Darcy with wide eyes, they were already starting to garner some attention since the three of them were standing around in the middle of the dance floor, but the newcomer still didn’t seem inclined to get moving.

“This is the part where you go climb up your thumb before my man, who looks like he’s getting a little itchy, feels the need to come over here to have a little chat with you.” She said with a bright smile on her face, but it only took Walter cracking his knuckles when they looked over at him for the interloper to get the message and skedaddle without another word.

“Not that I’m not impressed,” Steve said with wide eyes, both shocked and awed by her handling of the situation, “but you didn’t have to do that. I would have understood if you had wanted to dance with him.”

“Why would I have wanted to dance with him?” Darcy asked, appalled at the very idea of it as she moved back into a dance position.

“Well maybe not him,” he conceded. “But I don’t even know why you want to dance with me,” Steve admitted as they picked up where they left off.

Darcy looked at Steve and saw that he truly believed that she would be off as soon as she got what he perceived to be a better offer. “I’m going to tell you something and I want you to believe me,” she said seriously, waiting for his nod of agreement before continuing. “There is no one at this fair I would rather be dancing with than you.”

“I just don’t understand why,” he said honestly.

“You don’t have to understand,” she replied enigmatically. “You just have to believe it.”

They danced for two more songs, and even though Steve was doing all right as long as he didn’t think too hard about what he was doing, both of them were grateful that the band seemed to be playing a slow set. The band just announced that they were going to take a break when Darcy noticed her assistant trying to wave her down from the entrance of the pavilion.

“Looks like its time for me to go,” she said as they migrated off the dance floor with the rest of the crowd.

Steve’s shoulders sagged, disappointed that his time with Miss Lewis was coming to a close. “Can I walk you back?” he asked impulsively, proud of, if not a little surprised at his own initiative.

“I would like that,” Darcy smiled as he offered her his arm as they made their way out of the pavilion her bodyguard and assistant trailing after them. “Do you want to tell Sergeant Barnes-”

“Bucky will figure it out,” Steve interjected quickly.

They walked back to the Modern Marvels Pavilion in companionable silence until Darcy easily read the look on Steve face when he noticed the recruitment center they were passing.

“You’re going to try to enlist tonight, aren’t you?” It was more of a statement than a question.

“Well it’s a fair. I’m gonna try my luck,” he replied casually, not even bothering to try to deny it. “It’s already been the luckiest night of my life, maybe it’ll hold out a little longer.”

Darcy smiled at that, but it didn’t reach her eyes, which were currently full of concern. She looked over her shoulder to give Walter a look that meant to give them some space and pulled Steve over to the side of the building, stopping just at the edge of the light that was pouring from the open doors. “Do you think you’ll get a different answer than you did this morning?” she asked gently.

“How did you-”

“I saw the form when we were sitting in the alley,” she admitted.

“Oh,” he said lowly, looking down at his shoes in embarrassment.

“There’s no shame in not going overseas,” she said kindly. “You don’t have to prove anything to anyone. There are a lot of important jobs right here at home.”

“What? Collecting scrap metal in my little red wagon?” he asked doubtfully, the self-derision thick in his voice.

“Don’t sell yourself short, Steve,” Darcy replied with a frown. “We all have to figure out the best way we can do our part. Not everyone can be a solider. I put on a sparkly dress and sing and dance while trying to convince people to buy war bonds. You just have to figure out where you can do the most good.”

“I don’t want to sit in a factory,” he said passionately, needing to make her understand why this was so important to him. “There are men laying down their lives, I got no right to do any less then them.”

Darcy gave him a long speculative look. “There’s a shortage of truly good men in this world, but you’re a good man Steve Rogers. Don’t let anyone tell you any different.”

“I don’t know about that,” he replied abashed. “I just want to help make the world a better place. No more than what anyone else wants.”

“And the fact that you don’t see how special that makes you just proves me right,” she smiled gently. “Now I know what rejection feels like-”

“Really?” Steve couldn’t help interjecting. Not able to imagine how anyone could ever say no to the woman in front of him.

“My real last isn’t Lewis,” she revealed conspiratorially. “It’s Lewinstein.”

“I didn’t know you were Jewish,” he admitted.

“That’s the point,” Darcy chuckled dryly. “It’s okay for the heads of the studios to be Children of Israel, but not their actresses.” She shook her head, realizing they had gotten off track. “What I mean to say is, it’s been my experience that if you keep knocking on doors, someone will eventually give you your big break.”

“Then it’s a good thing Bucky always tells me I don’t know how to give up, even when I should,” Steve joked lightly.

“It’s a very good thing,” Darcy agreed with a smile. She paused for a long moment before speaking again. “The premiere of my new movie is tomorrow night, I’ll leave a few tickets at will call in your name. I’d really like it if you’d come.”

“It’d be an honor,” Steve said, awed.

“Good,” she smiled. “I should go, Howard gets cranky if he doesn’t eat and trust me when I say nobody wants to deal with that.”

“Oh, of course,” Steve agreed quickly, already astounded that she had already allowed him to monopolize so much of her time.

Before he realized what was happening Darcy had closed the gap between them and was placing a soft kiss on his cheek, leaving the faintest trace of ruby red behind. “I wish you nothing but the best in life Steve Rogers,” she whispered with the utmost sincerity. “Good men go on to do great things and you are destined to do great things, I have a feeling.” And she did. She didn’t know where it came from and she had never been what she would call overly intuitive, but at that moment she just knew. “Good luck.” And with that, she turned on her heel and walked away before he could respond.

Steve watched her retreating form until she was lost in the crowd, headed back to her movie star life. Then he too turned and headed into the recruitment center. He idly wondered if he would get the chance to speak to her again tomorrow during the premiere, not knowing that fate was about to intervene and he wasn’t going to be able to make the movie. Because just deeper in the shadows of the building was a German scientist who had stepped out to get some air, and who had unintentionally overheard their entire conversation.

Steve was about to get his big break.

Chapter Text

 

Steve sighed as he stepped off stage, pulling the itchy wool ‘helmet’ over his head. Yes, he had gotten his big break, but despite the common connotation to the phrase, this was not what he had in mind.

He was surprised and grateful that he managed to get to his dressing room without incident. It was rare that he got a moment to himself these days, and he savored every one. Entering the dressing room that was assigned to him - the chalkboard on the door had his name written on it and everything - he shut the door and leaned against it, closing his eyes as the tension drained from his body.

“When I heard the name of the man who was managing to boost war bonds sales even more than I did on my record breaking tour last year, I assumed it had to be a coincidence. After all, a name like Steve Rogers surely can’t be too uncommon."

Jumping back to attention Steve whirled around to find the source of the voice. He was more than a little taken aback to find the one and only Darcy Lewis perched on the makeup table, casually flipping through a Captain America comic, presumably waiting for him. He blinked once, then twice, and for a third time, his mouth hanging comically open before he managed to react.

“Miss Lewis?” Steve asked not fully sure he could believe what he was seeing. If someone asked his to make a list of the three people he least expected to see in his dressing room, it wouldn’t even have occurred to him that she was an option for that list.

She was a vision in red, dressed in the color, literally, from head to toe. He idly wondered if it was hard to find both nail color and lipstick that matched the exact ruby of her dress, and then wondered if he had been spending to much time on the bus eavesdropping on the dancer’s conversations. Her hair was down in soft finger-waves and the light from the lit mirror she sat against reflected off her dark tresses, framing her face like a halo. But what stood out to him most was the way her eyes danced mischievously, clearing taking amusement in his shock.

“I’ve told you, it’s Darcy. I like the suit the by the way,” she said looking quite at home sitting in a dressing room in the back of the Pantages Theater.

“What are you doing here?” he asked disbelievingly.

“You always ask me that,” she pointed out. “A girl will start to get ideas.”

“No, it’s not that,” Steve fumbled. “I’m just surprised. I didn’t think I would ever see you again.”

“I came to see the show,” she replied with a Cheshire cat grin. There was the Steve she remembered. He had been so confident and charismatic on stage, and while it was a good look on him, she was glad to see flashes of the man she met in the alley through the new Adonis look he was sporting. “I told you I had to see the man who could inspire more patriotism then America’s Sweetheart. I liked the show by the way. The part where you lifted the motorcycle above your head while the girls were sitting on it was especially impressive. I would think it was a wire trick, but looking at you now I’m not about to discount anything. When did this,” she gestured with one hand in his general direction, “happen anyway?”

“I joined the army,” he shrugged as if they issued 10 inches and a hundred pounds of muscle to every solider that enlists along with their regulation combat boots.

“If you try to tell me that this is a result of vitamins in your rations I’m walking out this door right now,” she warned him. Darcy wasn’t an idiot and she didn’t want to be pandered to. 

“It was something a little stronger than vitamins,” he admitted, scratching at the back of his head. “It’s just…”

“I suppose its all hush hush, top secret and you’re not allowed to talk about it?” she finished for him. It was more of a statement then a question.

He nodded slowly. This was the first time he had encountered someone he knew pre-serum who wasn’t directly involved with the super soldier project. He had no idea how to go about explaining the drastic physical change to someone who didn’t have clearance.

Darcy just hummed, her lips pressed together as she took in Steve’s new form with speculative eyes. Despite the fact that he had been poked and prodded like a lab rat since his transformation, he couldn’t help but fidget under Darcy’s assessing gaze. For the first time since becoming Captain America, he was afraid he might come up lacking. He also had a feeling that whatever she said next would drastically affect they way the rest of his evening and any future interactions he might have with the movie star would go.

Finally, it seemed that Darcy came to a decision and relaxed, Steve unconsciously relaxing as well. Leaning back she propped herself up on the heels of her hands and crossed one leg over the other, letting a red pump dangle from her toes, drawing Steve’s attention to the black seam that ran up the back of her stockings.

“You know,” she started, Steve’s eyes snapping up to hers, “when I told you at the fair that we all have to find our niche where we can make the most difference, I didn’t mean to steal mine,” she teased, clearly joking. “If I recall, just the thought of being in front of crowds made you ill.”

Steve was honestly surprised that Darcy remembered his comments so exactly. It was true that he had personally replayed the memories of both of their encounters over and over in his now photographic memory during the past months, but he really didn’t expect her to remember him with any sort of clarity. He assumed that if she recalled him at all it would be the memory of meeting a fan and making his day, an encounter she was sure to have hundreds of.

“You were right,” he shrugged. “You stop thinking about it after a while. And if I had it my way, it would have stayed your niche,” he admitted. “But this is where the US Army feels I am of most use, so this is where I am.”

It was obviously a touchy subject, so Darcy didn’t press. “I’m hungry, are you hungry?” she announced instead, seemingly out of the blue.

“I could eat,” Steve admitted, although truth be told he was always hungry. It was a side effect of the serum and his super accelerated metabolism.

“Excellent,” Darcy clapped her hands and hopped off the table, picking up her coat and pocket book from where she left them on the coat rack by the door. “We’ll go to the Brown Derby. You change into something a little less attention grabbing then the stars and stripes and then we’ll go,” she ordered before she swept out of the room, allowing him to change.

It took a moment for Steve’s brain to catch up with what had just happened. She was such a force of nature that just being in her presence sent his head spinning. He wondered how she got into his dressing room, but then of course, she was Darcy Lewis. He doubted anyone would stop her. Realizing that he was staring at the closed door, Steve jumped into action, changing into his service uniform as quickly as he could, not wanting to leave her waiting in the hall a moment longer than necessary.

It was moments like these that he was grateful for his super soldier agility and flexibility, especially since his costume zipped up the back and he usually had someone to give him a hand. Changing into his service uniform faster than he thought possible, he left his Captain America costume hanging on the back of the door, confident that someone would be along to collect it for laundering before they moved on to the next the city. He then ran a comb through his hair, checked his gig line in the mirror, and took a deep breath. He hoped he looked more composed than he felt as he pulled open the dressing room door. He quickly spotted Darcy leaning against the opposite wall, already wearing her coat and pulling on her coordinating gloves. The bright smile she graced him with when she spotted him somehow managed to calm him and make his stomach turn circles all at the same time.

“Come on, it’s just around the corner, we’ll walk,” Darcy announced, heading to the back stage door of the theater, looping her hand in Steve’s elbow to lead the way.

Steve wondered if maybe he should find Martin and ask if it was all right that he leave, or at least to tell him he wouldn’t be on the bus back to the hotel. He had never not wanted to get on the bus and go back to the hotel as quickly as possible, so he wasn’t sure the proper protocol. But when he saw a couple of the dancers who were standing around chatting, stop and gape at the two of them as they walked by, he figured the news would trickle down. And, he was a grown man, he didn’t need permission to take a lady to dinner.

“So where’s Walter?” Steve asked looking around for the physically imposing body guard as they exited the theater through the side door and cut down the alley to Hollywood Boulevard.

“At home I assume,” Darcy shrugged. “Once he dropped me off after work, he was off for the night.”

“Then how did you get here?” Steve asked curiously.

“I drove,” Darcy replied, giving Steve a look that implied that was a silly question. “I do know how to drive,” she said wryly.

“Can you do that?” Steve questioned, concerned. Both times he had met her before she had had either her assistant or her bodyguard with her. “Be out without him?”

“I don’t need a babysitter to leave my home,” Darcy said a little more sharply than she intended.

“I didn’t mean it like that,” Steve backtracked quickly. “I was just concerned for your safety.”

“I don’t think anyone is going to try to mess with me when I’m on Captain America’s arm,” she said with a lopsided smile and a squeeze of his arm, silently apologizing for snapping before. “Besides, in this part of town, no one is going to blink twice at seeing me.” It was true, for the most part, the Los Angeles natives let her be when she was out by herself. It was the tourists she had to watch out for.

Steve returned her smile as they waited at the corner for the light to turn so they could cross the street and turn up Vine. The light changed, and they walked in silence for a few moments before Darcy spoke again.

“I always have Walter or Janet with me when I’m working or traveling on business. But, when I’m home I try to live my life just like everyone else,” Darcy said with a small sigh. “This is my town, I live here. I go to the store and buy my own groceries, I go out to eat with my friends, I go to the library to pay overdue book fines because I always forget to return them on time. I may have a famous face, but I’m still just Darcy.” They paused in front of the restaurant and Darcy looked up to meet Steve’s eyes, the light pouring out of the restaurant windows revealing just how blue they were. She didn’t know why it was so important to her, but she didn’t want Steve looking at her like Darcy Lewis movie star - she wanted him to look at her and see Darcy. “You may be Captain America,” she added, “but I still see Steve.”

Steve’s brow furrowed almost unnoticeably. It was strange - it wasn’t until the serum that he had ever felt like he finally had the potential to really be somebody. It didn’t stop him from trying, but he was always going to be that little guy from Brooklyn who guys used to beat up in alleys. He always tried to do more, to be more, because what he was wasn’t enough. Since the serum, though, he was surrounded by people who all told him what he was doing was important. He may not be on the front lines, but he was an inspiration at home and overseas. His face was on posters, he was in movies, they even made comics about his fictional adventures. Captain America was somebody.

But now Darcy was looking at him the exact same way she had that night all those months ago in front of the recruitment center. She was looking at him, but not seeing the super solider. She still saw the same Steve that she met that day in the alley. And, with her looking at him like that, he suddenly felt that he, Steve Rogers, was somebody. And if she could make him feel like that, how could he not see the girl beyond the characters she portrayed on screen, or the interviews given in Movie Life magazine? He could see Darcy, and she was a beautiful woman inside and out.

“I see you,” he said, reaching out to brush a lock of hair out of her face, tucking it behind her ear, his fingertips lingering at her jaw line. He would have been shocked by his own daring, if he had even realized what he was doing. “Well, maybe not at this moment, because you’re facing away from the window, so you’re completely backlit,” he joked.

 

Darcy threw her head back and laughed, grateful that Steve managed to lighten the mood. She hadn’t intended for their conversation to take such a serious turn. “Come on, let’s go inside. I’m starving and I’m craving their Cobb salad. You’ll have to try it, they’re famous for it.”

Darcy was right, no one in the restaurant seemed surprised to see either of them, but that didn’t stop them from being seated almost immediately at a quiet, out of the way booth in the back.

“I’m just glad I don’t see either Louella Parsons or Hedda Hopper here tonight. Those harpies would have a field day seeing the two of us here together,” Darcy mentioned, picking up her menu.

“Oh?” Steve couldn’t help be a little hurt at the implication that she didn’t want to be seen with her. It picked at old scabs despite the fact that it was at odds with everything she had said or done up to now.

“Yes, because I’m supposed to be going with Jimmy Bradford at the moment, at least until our new movies comes out,” she said leaning forward conspiratorially.

Steve nodded, he had read about that, the article had painted it as a whirlwind on set courtship between co-stars. “So, umm… that’s not true?” he asked cautiously.

“Oh goodness no,” Darcy confirmed quickly, sotto voce. Even if the gossip columnist queens weren’t in the building, she was still aware that walls often had ears. “It’s all for publicity. I hate it but the studio insists. See, we’re starring in two different pictures back to back, one that my studio borrowed him for, and the other I got lent to his for. So they’re playing up the whole studio star-crossed-lovers thing,” she explained with a roll of her eyes. “At least Jimmy is a good friend, so it’s not a hardship being seen out and about with him. But we’ve never been like that. I’m not really his type.”

“I can’t imagine you not being anyone’s type,” Steve muttered before he could stop himself. He blushed when Darcy laughed, not having realized he said it loud enough for her to hear.

“Let’s just say you’re more his type than I am,” Darcy said slyly, giggling harder when she saw the confusion on Steve’s face. “He likes blondes.”

Steve was still confused, having a feeling that there was more to it than hair color, but let it go.

They fell silent as they looked over their respective menus, and even though he should be deciding what he wanted to order, he couldn’t help but steal glances at Darcy from over his menu. He couldn’t believe that she had appeared in his life out of nowhere, again. The last time she did, his whole live turned upside down, and he had a feeling that she would do it again before the night was up. He just couldn’t figure out why she always seemed so eager to be in his company.

He was stealing another glance when Darcy looked over her menu as well, and his eyes quickly darted back to the menu, embarrassed at being caught out. He steeled himself to actually find something to eat, but his mind drifted back to a conversation he had had with Agent Carter on the drive into Brooklyn that turned him into what he was today.

“You have no idea how to talk to a woman, do you?” Peggy asked after he had made a social blunder.

“I think this is one of the longest conversations I’ve ever had with one,” he admitted. “Women aren’t exactly lining up to dance with a guy they might step on.”

“You must have danced?”

“Just once,” he said, thinking back to the night that changed his life forever, in more ways than one. It was only a few weeks prior, but it might as well have been a different lifetime. “And she had to ask me. Asking a woman to dance always seemed so terrifying. She was different though, but I think she was just being nice, took pity on me.”

“If she asked you to dance she must have seen something in you,” Peggy replied. “Most girls don’t dance on charity.”

“She wasn’t most girls, and if you knew her, you would know that she’s way out of my league,” he said without mentioning Darcy by name. No, he chose to play that close to his chest, not wanting to admit that a part of him would always pine after the movie star who gave him his first dance. And if anyone ever noticed that he kept an 8 x10 autographed picture of Darcy Lewis pressed between the pages of one of his books stashed in his footlocker, well, that he could explain that away.

“Or, perhaps she saw something in you that you can’t see,” Peggy suggested. “You’re a good man Steve Rogers.”

“Yeah, she said that too,” he said quietly, gazing out the window.

“See,” she said with a fond smile. “You should give her more credit. She clearly saw what we all see in you that made you get chosen for this program.”

“Maybe,” he said, not really believing it. “But it doesn’t matter, it’s not like I’ll ever see her again. It was worth it though.”

“What was?” Peggy questioned curiously.

“Waiting for the right partner.”

“What can I get you two?” the waitress announced herself, pulling Steve from his thoughts.

“Can I start with the Cobb salad and then get the roast beef sandwich au jus with a side of fries and a cup of coffee black with sugar. Oh and add on the seafood cocktail for us to share,” Darcy rattled off before closing the menu and handing it to the waitress, who had worked at the Hollywood hotspot long enough that Captain America and America’s Sweetheart catching a late supper together didn’t make her blink twice.

“Sure thing doll, and what about you?” the young girl asked Steve.

But Steve was too busy staring at Darcy a little taken aback at the sheer amount of food she had ordered, to realize that the attention was now on him.

“What? I’m hungry,” Darcy said unabashed, not about to apologize for not subsisting on water and cigarettes like so many of her fellow actresses. Besides her curvy figure was part of her appeal, everyone knew that.

“No! It’s good,” Steve said quickly not wanting to give the wrong impression of what he was thinking. “Usually when I eat with the dancers I feel like I’m the only one not eating rabbit food.”

“That’s nice Steve, but we’re still waiting for you to order,” Darcy smirked, amused.

“Oh, umm…” Steve realized he still hadn’t actually read the menu. “Actually what you ordered sounds good, just make that two,” he told the waitress, “but buttermilk instead of coffee please.”

“You got it honey,” she said scribbling something down in her notebook before disappearing.

“So tell me Steve,” she said once the waitress was out of earshot, “even with all of this,” she waved a hand in front of his chest, “you’re still you, right?”

“What do you mean?” he asked, not sure what she was getting at.

“I mean up here,” she tapped at her temple. “You're still the same.”

“Well my memory is better. And they say my reflexes are sharper and that my mental process is faster than most,” he informed her.

Darcy refrained from rolling her eyes, for all that, he was still a bit clueless.

“I’ll try this again, you’re still you here,” she reached across the table and rested her hand lightly over his heart.

Steve couldn’t help but think back to the last person who had made a similar gesture, remembering his talk with Dr. Erskine about not just being a good soldier, but being a good man. It was a conversation he carried with him every day - the faith the doctor put in him, something he tried to inject into everything he did.

“Yes,” he answered softly, his eyes a thousand miles away.

“Good,” Darcy said, pulling her hand back as the waitress arrived with their drinks and salads. She waited until they were alone again before continuing. “Because I have a proposition for you.”

Steve who had just taken a sip of his drink, choked on his milk.

“A business proposition,” Darcy clarified with wry amusement.

“I knew that,” Steve said coughing a couple of times to clear his windpipe. “I just swallowed wrong.”

“Of course.” Darcy hid her smile behind her coffee mug, not believing him for a minute.

“So you have a proposition,” Steve prompted, picking up his fork and spearing some baby corn.

“Remember when I told you that what I really wanted to do was to have a USO tour?” Darcy asked, calling back to their very first conversation in the alley.

“I do,” Steve confirmed. He remembered every word she ever spoke to him.

“Well I’m going to do it,” she grinned. “I have to wait until we’re done filming my last picture with Jimmy, which should wrap in October, but they’re going to give me seven months. That’s partly why they insisted on the staged relationship. They feel the publicity from that will compensate for me missing the press tour when the movie comes out.”

“Congratulations,” Steve said sincerely, completely understanding her desire to tour overseas.

“What do you think about making the show a double billing?” Darcy asked bluntly.

“What?”

“Come on tour with me,” Darcy said, with her most winning Hollywood smile. “I won’t lie, I had my people look into your tour schedule. Your last current theater booking is October 6^th. We could have time for a couple of weeks of rehearsals and then be overseas by Halloween.”

Steve blinked a couple times, her proposal taking him by complete surprise. He was also curious as to how she knew more about his schedule then he did.

“So what do you say?” she prompted.

“I would like that,” he answered honestly.

“Good, I’ll have my people call your people,” Darcy said decisively, considering the topic closed. She would make it happen.

Once that was out of the way, they spent the rest of their meal talking, both getting to know each other better and trading stories like old friends. Darcy revealed that she could not cook to save her life and Steve admitted that even with all the physical changes he still couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket with a lid on it. Steve talked about what it was like growing up in Brooklyn, and was shocked when Darcy revealed that growing up in New Mexico before moving to LA when she was sixteen meant she hadn’t seen snow for the first time until she nineteen and doing a press tour for her first big movie.

Steve also told her some of the funnier things that had happened on tour, like the fact that the only reason Captain America had a shield was because he needed somewhere to tape his lines so he could read them on stage. Or the time that “Hitler” got too close and Steve accidently tapped him, only to discover that the actor had a glass jaw and went down like a sack of bricks and two of the dancers had to drag him off stage.

Darcy talked about leaving home at fifteen to try to make it on her own in Los Angeles as an actress, getting a job at a dinner not unlike the one they were sitting in to support herself, all while knocking on doors and lying about her age until someone gave her a chance. And Steve confessed that that night at the fair wasn’t his second attempt at enlisting but actually his sixth.

They talked late into the night, long after their dinner plates had been cleared away, over cups of coffee – which Steve had also switched to drinking – that their waitress came by periodically to refill, not realizing how much time had passed since the diner was open 24 hours. Steve had just finished a story in which Bucky had forgotten he had scheduled two different dates for the same night, in the same place no less, which had them both laughing, when Darcy stifled a yawn. Looking down at her watch she was surprised to notice that it was already after 2 am.

“Oh hell, I have a 7 am call time,” she pouted. 

Steve looked down at his own watch his eyes widening when he realized that they had been sitting there talking for more than four hours. He quickly caught their waitress’s eye and signaled for the check.

The young woman crossed over to their table and pulled their bill out of her apron pocket, wishing them both a good night before moving off again. Darcy made to reach for the check, but Steve snagged it off the table before she got anywhere near it.

“I could write it off as a business dinner,” she said to his look of surprise.

Steve didn’t reply, but pulled a crisp five dollar bill out of his wallet, which more than covered their dinners as well as a sizable tip since they had kept the table so long. Sliding gracefully out of the booth, he offered his hand to help Darcy do the same. Darcy didn’t seem inclined to take her hand back, and Steve wasn’t exactly anxious to release hers either so they left the diner and walked down the quiet Hollywood street, hand in hand back to Darcy’s car.

Even if it hadn’t been the only car left in the lot, Steve was pretty sure he still would have been able to pick the white, two door, Buick Roadmaster convertible out as belonging to the young star.

Pulling open the car door for her while she dug through her purse for her keys, Steve prepared to say goodbye.

“Come on, I’ll drop you at your hotel,” Darcy offered, sliding into the driver seat as Steve closed the door behind her.

“Oh, it’s alright, I know you have to be up early,” Steve said quickly, not wanting to put her out. “I can find my own way back.”

“At this time of the night?” Darcy asked doubtfully. “In a city you’re not familiar with?”

“Yeah,” Steve shrugged. “I’ll be fine.” He could traverse the New York City public transportation system, LA couldn’t be any harder to navigate. Or, he could always just call a cab.

“Absolutely not,” she said decisively, “I’ll drop you off.”

“No, really-” he began again.

“Get. In. The. Car.”

“Yes Ma’am,” Steve replied quickly jogging around the front of the car to the passenger side and climbing in. 

“So, where are you staying?” Darcy asked as she pulled a scarf out of the glove compartment to cover her hair.

“The Biltmore,” he answered. “Do you know where it is?”

“Of course,” she replied, starting the car and pulling out into the street. “They hold the Oscars there. At this time of night I should have you in Pershing Square in ten, fifteen minutes max.”

“It’s not too far out of your way?” Steve asked concerned.

“No not at all,” she assured him with a smile, even though she lived in TolucaLake which was actually in the opposite direction of where they were currently headed. She was just glad that Steve didn’t know enough about LA to know that.

They didn’t speak on the drive downtown since the wind rushing past them from the top being down, would have made it hard to hear each other. But that didn’t stop Steve from sneaking glances at the movie star while she concentrated on her driving. Sooner than he would have liked, she was pulling up in front of the hotel. The doorman and the valet both made to approach the car, but a quick shake of Darcy’s head had them retreating back to their stations.

“So uh…” Steve started, not sure what to say now. “I’ll see you soon?” It was more of a question than a statement.

“Yes, you definitely will,” Darcy confirmed with a grin that Steve couldn’t help but return.

“Good… right… that’s good.” For lack of anything else to do, he extended his hand in farewell. “I’ll see you soon,” he repeated more confidently.

Darcy reached out and placed her hand in Steve’s much larger one. “I’ll see you soon,” she parroted back, her eyes lit up with amusement. “Tell your people to expect a call.”

“I will,” he answered, holding her hand in his for longer than was considered proper before giving himself a mental shake and reaching for the door handle. “Goodbye Miss Lewis.”

“Until next time, Captain Rogers.”

With one last shy smile, Steve turned away and got out of the car. He was halfway across the sidewalk when Darcy’s voice stopped him in his tracks.

“Wait!” she called before he could get too far. 

Jogging over to the driver’s side of the car, Steve’s brow furrowed in confusion as Darcy grabbed her purse from where it was sitting on the floorboard and started digging through it. With a soft exclamation of victory she pulled a fountain pen out of the bottom of her bag. Shifting around so that she was kneeling on the bench seat, she snatched Steve’s hand before he realized what was happening. He could only watch as she quickly scribbled something on his palm. When she gently blew on his hand to dry the ink, he had to force himself not to squirm at the sensation. Before he could look down to see what she had written, she’d released his hand and used the side of the car to boost herself up and placed a kiss right on the corner of his mouth.

“Don’t be a stranger,” she whispered before she pulled away and righted herself behind the steering wheel. Steve was still standing there in the street as she pulled away.

It wasn’t until a taxi drove up behind him and honked because he was standing in the middle of the street, that he finally went into the hotel. He wasn’t entirely surprised when he walked into the opulent lobby – which the art student in him recognized as an eclectic mix of Spanish, Italian, Moorish, and Mediterranean Revival styles – and found Martin laying in wait for him.

“And where have you been all night?!” the shorter man blustered, practically running across the lobby. “Do you know what I’ve been going through? I thought I was going to have to call the Senator and tell him I lost Captain America.”

“I was having supper with a friend,” Steve said, not slowing his stride to the elevator.

“With a friend?” Martin repeated doubtfully. “And who do you know in LA?”

“I don’t really think that’s any of your business,” Steve replied, instantly annoyed at his handler’s tone.

“It is if this is the same friend who left lipstick on your face and scribbled her phone number on your hand,” Martin said pointedly.

Steve looked down at his palm for the first time and saw that Darcy had indeed given him her phone number. A slow smile spread across his face as the elevator arrived and he stepped inside. He had Darcy Lewis’s phone number.

“If you want a girl, you just have to tell me and I’ll get you one all discrete like,” Martin said lowly when the doors closed, even though they were alone in the car. “But you shouldn’t be pickin’ up dames from the show, it’s not good for your image.”

Steve’s eyes went wide when he realized what the former senator’s aide was implying. “It wasn’t like that at all,” he said scandalized. “And frankly I don’t like you even implying that Darcy is anything but a lady,” he continued sternly as the double doors opened on his floor.

“Darcy? Wait Darcy Lewis?” Martin asked, struggling to keep up with Steve’s long strides. Only catching up when he had to stop to unlock his hotel room door. “I thought the girls were lying or that she was just a look alike and they got over excited like, what with us bein’ in Hollywood.”

“You should expect a business call from Miss Lewis’s people in the near future,” was all Steve said before entering his room and shutting the door in Martin’s face.

Quickly finding some hotel stationary, he transcribed the number from his hand before anything could happen to it. Sitting at the standard hotel desk, he stared at his hand. Now that he had her number, what was he supposed to do with it? Well, call her obviously, a voice in his head that sounded suspiciously like Bucky informed him.

Standing up he moved over to the bed and flopped backwards onto it with a groan. He wished his best friend were here right now, because this was definitely more Bucky’s area of expertise than his. He would know how long Steve should wait before calling, if he managed to gather the courage to call her at all.

No, he told himself sternly. He had to call her, she’s given him her number with the expectation he would call. It would be rude not to. He’s Captain America, he could certainly call a woman!

Except that when he was with Darcy, he didn’t feel very much like Captain America at all. He felt like more and less all at the same time. He felt like the little guy from Brooklyn and like he could take on the whole world single handedly at the same time. Around Darcy he was a better version of himself.

Now, if only that version of himself could get it together to pick up a phone in the next couple of days. He groaned again. He was pretty sure placing a call to the president himself would be less intimidating.

Chapter Text

Darcy stood at the edge of the stage, hidden in the makeshift wings as the dancers filed off after the big opening number. Her cue was still a ways off, but she wanted to be supportive and watch Steve’s portion of their first field show.

“Now, how many of you are ready to help me sock old Adolf on the jaw?” Steve asked the audience, receiving zero response.

She cringed at the chilled reception from the crowd. The men responded well to the dancers, as was to be expected, but Captain America was not receiving the same treatment.

“Okay… uh, I need a volunteer,” Steve said, continuing along with the script.

“I already volunteered. How do you think I got here?!” a soldier heckled.

Unable to watch him flounder on his own as things went south, Darcy grabbed Martin, who was flipping through some paperwork a few feet away.

“Go find Anna Louise, Janice, and Mary Beth,” she ordered, needing the three dancers who had been picked to also serve as her back up singers. “Tell them not to worry about changing their costumes right now, they’re fine in what they’re wearing, but I’m going to need them now.”

“Come on guys, we’re all on the same team here,” Steve was attempting to appeal to the crowd when Darcy walked on stage.

It was time to improvise.

“What if I asked for a volunteer?” Darcy asked, asked, shifting the attention from Steve to her, inspiring a round of hooting and hollering from the crowd. “You see, it’s a little known fact that I can actually read minds and I’m going to demonstrate that for you all right now. You there,” she said pointing out the soldier who had instigated the heckling, “stand up for me. Don’t be shy now,” she teased, waiting for him to stand as she asked. “Now I’m going to read you mind, so I want you to think directly at me okay?”

She raised her fingertips to her temples acting as if she was concentrating hard, before she let out a shocked gasp. “I can’t talk about that!” she exclaimed, making all the men in the audience laugh at the chagrined looking soldier. “And let’s get serious honey, both you and I know that would never happen, honestly I don’t think it’s even possible with the weaponry you’ve been issued, if you know what I saying.” She knew it was mean, but she was angry and as every soldier in the crowd laughed, she couldn’t help but feel a bit better. She never claimed to be a saint.

Steve, who was already inching his way off stage, was in awe at how quickly Darcy had the men eating out of the palm of her hand. Of course he shouldn’t have been since he knew better than anyone the mesmerizing effect Darcy Lewis could have on a man. He saw a couple of the dancers coming back on stage and realized this was a good time for him to take his exit. As he rushed off stage he was vaguely aware that Martin was there with some meaningless platitudes, but frankly he was just grateful it was over. At least for now.

Once the show was over and the crowd had dispersed back to their regular posts, Steve found himself on the stairs that led off the back of the stage staring out at nothing. He wasn’t sure how long he had been sitting there when his trench coat was draped over his shoulders, before two small arms, that he immediately knew belonged to Darcy, wrapped around his chest from behind.

“I brought you your coat,” she stated. “The mercury is starting to drop – I didn’t want you to catch a chill.”

“Thank you,” he said softly.

Steve closed his eyes and leaned back into her, breathing in deeply, taking in her soothing scent. He didn’t know how even in the middle of a war zone she still always managed to smell so good. He knew he shouldn’t be behaving so familiarly in such a public space, considering she was still contractually obligated to pretend she was in a relationship with another man, but right now he needed all the comfort he could get. Besides, the soldiers had bigger concerns then Hollywood gossip, and he was well aware the dancers were already whispering about them. Because despite the fact that they had an unspoken agreement to keep what was clearly developing between them quiet until after her ‘break-up’, he knew that they had left rehearsal together one to many times, that she had a habit of standing just a touch to close to him, and he could never stop himself from pushing that one lock of hair that always fell forward out of her eyes. 

“How you holding up sweetheart?” she asked, resting her chin on his shoulder.

He sighed heavily. “That was… rough,” he confessed.

She couldn’t deny that and wouldn’t insult him by trying. “But you handled yourself very well.”

“I didn’t handle anything,” he snorted. “You came to rescue me and I ran away with my tail tucked between my legs.”

Darcy shifted around so that she sat beside him rather than kneeling behind him. “You didn’t run away, you made a strategic retreat,” she joked in what even she knew was a lame attempt to lighten the mood.

“I still needed you to rescue me. I’m pretty sure they were getting ready to start throwing rotten fruit at me if you hadn’t come out,” he said darkly.

Darcy couldn’t help but flinch, even though she knew his anger was directed inwards and not towards her. There was a part of her that would have actually preferred if it was the other way around.

“That’s what I’m here for,” she replied, reaching over to take one of his large hands in her much smaller ones. Idly tracing the lines of his fingers, she couldn’t help but notice how warm and dry his hands were, despite the fact that it was November in Northern Italy and it looked like they skies were going to open up at any moment.

“Thank you for that by the way,” he said, giving her a weak smile that didn’t reach his eyes. And he was grateful that she had saved the show, even if he was upset that it was necessary, he really wasn’t sure what he would have done if she hadn’t been there.

“That’s what partners are for, right?” she smiled, giving his hand a squeeze. “We’re in this together.”

Steve smiled at her again, this time a bit more genuine.

“This was all partially my fault as well,” she admitted with a regretful frown.

“How could any of this possibly been your fault?” Steve asked, dismayed at the very idea that she could believe that any of the disaster that was his show could possibly lay at her feet.

“Because I’m the professional here,” she explained. “In the three weeks we were rehearsing in LA for this tour I should have realized at some point that your solo portion of the show wouldn’t work for this audience. I mean I’m certainly doing bits I wouldn’t be doing at home.”

Steve remembered the first time he had watched Darcy’s portion of the show. He had certainly been a bit, well, surprised by some of her bluer jokes and bits. But he also noticed that when they did a special one night only show in New York before heading abroad, that she left those portions out. And while he had recognized what she’d done, he hadn’t really taken to heart how important tailoring your material for your audience was.

“I was the one who said I didn’t need to rehearse my part,” Steve countered. While they had rehearsed the parts of the show they had planned to do together – Steve felt guilty about not coming back onstage for that portion of the show either – and he had always stayed to watch her rehearse her solo portion of the act, he had insisted he didn’t need rehearse his half since he had just finished his tour.

Darcy didn’t feel like this was entirely a valid excuse, since it wasn’t as if she hadn’t seen his show, but arguing who was more at fault wouldn’t solve anything.

“Well, welcome to show business,” Darcy shrugged pragmatically. “Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. The good thing about a live performance is that once it’s over, it’s just that, over. And the better thing is that we’re scheduled to go to London next to do a couple of shows for the public, which is more your normal audience. And, in the mean time, we can write you some new material before we head back on the road for the troops. What do you say?”

“That sounds real good Darcy,” Steve said, although she could tell that his heart wasn’t in it.

Darcy sighed and gave Steve’s hand another squeeze before letting it go so she could climb back to her feet. She knew there was nothing she could say to make things magically better. She could help make sure it didn’t happen again, but he was going to have to work through his feelings on his own, she understood that.

“Well I’m going to go to my tent and change out of this dress since I’ve practically forgotten what its like to breathe, and put on my new uniform before it starts to rain.”

Steve couldn’t help but muster a genuine grin at Darcy’s enthusiasm. He had actually been having dinner at Darcy’s home in Los Angeles when a courier arrived with the traditional WAC uniform sent over by the USO. Darcy took one look at the skirted uniform and deemed it unsuitable. And, in what he had come to learn was true Darcy fashion, she immediately got on the phone and made an appointment to have the men’s combat uniform tailored down to her frame. He wasn’t sure where she managed to find them, but she even managed to procure a pair of combat boots in her size. She was very proud of them.

Darcy descended the stairs and turned to face Steve so that they were eye level. “After I change, I’m going to go to the mess and have some dinner and socialize with the men. Then I’m going to go visit the wounded in the hospital tent,” she mentioned, apprising him of her plans. “You’re welcome to join me, but if you don’t, I understand that too.”

“Alright,” Steve replied giving no indication as to if he would be joining her or not.

Darcy brought one hand up to cup his jaw, running her thumb over the stubble that was already firmly entrenched on Steve’s cheek. She had noticed that he often shaved twice a day in order to keep his face smooth, something he had obviously not done today, but she personally didn’t mind the bit of roughness against her fingertips. “I know this isn’t how you expected things to go, but life has a funny way of working out the way you need it to.”

Steve made a noncommittal noise. She was right. This wasn’t at all what he wanted, but he wasn’t about to rub that in the face of the only person who made this whole thing bearable. “Life did keep bringing me to you,” he responded, wanting her to know that even if he was unhappy with his tenure as Captain America, he could never regret her coming into his life.

Darcy responded with a brilliant smile. “You’ll see Steve, it’ll get better,” she murmured, leaning down to place a tender kiss on his forehead. Her hand lingered against his cheek for another moment before she headed off to her tent.

Steve sat and watched her go until she was out of sight before properly shrugging on his coat. It started to rain like she had predicted. Reaching into one of the deep pockets, he pulled out a small sketchbook and pen that he knew was stashed there.

He wasn’t sure how long he sat listening to the rain and doodling until he heard the clicking of woman’s heels come up behind him. For a moment, he thought perhaps Darcy had come back until he realized he could sense that it wasn’t.

“Hello Steve,” Peggy greeted.

“Agent Carter, what are you doing here?” Steve asked, surprised to see her.

“Officially, I’m not here at all,” she responded succinctly. “You’ve got a bit of red,” she said pointing at her own forehead.

Steve chuckled lightly. “You know, I’m starting to think she does it on purpose,” he said rubbing away the lipstick mark away with one thumb. He managed to get the right spot on the first try, since he could still feel where Darcy’s lips had met his skin. “In all the time I’ve known her, I’ve never once seen her leave a mark on a glass, but on me, always.”

“I presume you mean Miss Lewis,” Peggy said, one corner of her mouth turned down.

“Yes, Miss Lewis,” Steve confirmed clearing his throat and trying to sound more professional, missing the slight frown on Peggy’s face as he was looking down to hide the grin on his.

“That was quite the performance,” Peggy continued, sitting down on an overturned box.

Steve didn’t have to worry about hiding his expression anymore as that pretty much killed any reason he had to smile. “Yeah, well we had to go a bit off script,” he sighed. “The crowds I’m used to are usually more… twelve.”

“Yes, well, Miss Lewis seemed to have it well in hand,” Peggy observed.

“Darcy’s a lot better at all of… this,” he waved his hand in the stage’s general direction, “than I am. I thought I was getting the hang of it, but she makes it all look so easy.”

“She is the actress,” Peggy said dismissively.

Steve’s eyes narrowed fractionally at Peggy’s heavily implied slight to Darcy. “She’s put a lot of effort into being able to do this tour, she had to fight to be here,” he informed her. “It means a lot to her to be able to do this.”

“And this is all well and good for her, it’s a great morale boost for the men to have her here, but you were made for more than this,” Peggy continued undeterred.

“Bond sales take a ten percent jump in every city I visit,” Steve said with a frown, parroting the words so often told to him whenever he began to question his effectiveness.

“Now that sounds like Senator Brandt.”

“Sure it isn’t my first choice,” Steve admitted, “but at least I’m doing some good. Phillips would have had me stuck in a lab.”

“And these are you only two choices?” the Agent continued to press, glancing down at the doodle in his hands. “A lab rat or a dancing monkey?”

“What do you want me to say?” Steve asked exasperated. “That all I wanted for so long was to do was come overseas and to help my country and I’m finally here and I’m wearing tights? That I don’t even know what I’m doing here? These men don’t want the propaganda, they’ve clearly been through hell.”

Peggy sighed, “These men more than most. Schmidt sent a force out to Azzano. Two hundred men went up against him, less than fifty returned. Your audience contained what is left of the 107^th. The rest were killed or captured.”

“The 107^th!” Steve exclaimed, jumping to his feet and running into the rain.

It was in a hazy blur that Steve soon found himself loading a bag into the back of a jeep after speaking to Colonel Phillips. He didn’t even have the beginnings of a plan, but all he knew was that he had to save Bucky, no matter what it took.

“What do you plan to do?” Peggy questioned. “Walk all the way to Austria?”

“If that’s what it takes,” he said, dogged determination written all over his face. “You said I was meant for more than this. Did you mean it?”

“Every word.”

“Then you have to let me go.”

“I can do one better than that,” Peggy grinned.

Steve went to hop into the jeep when he glanced across the compound and froze. Peggy looked over her shoulder and quickly spotted what was causing Steve’s hesitation. Darcy Lewis was visible through the open flaps of the mess tent, sitting on a table so that everyone could see her, surrounded by soldiers whose rapt attention she held in her dainty hands. She must have been regaling them with amusing stories as they could hear the laughter echoing from where they were standing in the motor pool. Looking back over at Steve, Peggy frowned at the torn expression on his face.

“Steve, we have to get going before anyone notices,” she prodded.

“I know,” he replied quickly, “I just wish…. Will you explain to her?” Steve looked at Peggy with hopeful eyes. “She’ll understand,” he added surely.

He knew she would be upset, mainly that he didn’t tell her himself, but he was completely confident that she would in fact understand that he was only doing what he felt like he had to do. He would’ve explained it to her if he could, in fact there was a lot of things he wished he could tell Darcy before he did what he was about to do, but he knew there wasn’t time.  He just really hoped he didn’t regret not making the time later.

“Sure, Steve,” she agreed. “But we have to go.”

Steve took one last longing look at the brunette in the mess tent, then ripped his gaze away and stuffed all those feelings deep down inside his chest. It was time to focus on his mission.

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Just like she had said, after eating dinner and socializing with the men, Darcy spent her evening in the hospital tent with the recovering soldiers who were too injured to be able to make it outside to watch her show that afternoon. But she hadn’t realized just how much time she had spent visiting until she went outside and discovered that night had fallen some time ago. Luckily for her, the rain had stopped sometime while she was inside and the moon was full and bright, lighting her way across the camp to her tent. She had her hand on the canvas flap before she changed her mind and kept going.

Darcy tapped lightly on the VIP tent just down from hers. “Steve,” she called in a shouted whisper. “Steve, are you still awake hon?” She waited a few more moments for a response, and frowned lightly when she didn’t get one.

Looking over her shoulder to see if anyone was in sight, she considered going inside to talk to him, but ultimately decided to let him sleep. Although it was still relatively early, she was aware that Steve slept so rarely, that she hated to wake him if he had managed to get some rest after his rough day. Placing her palm on the flap she whispered a soft goodnight before she went back to her own tent to what would be a restless night of sleep full of confusing dreams that would fade as soon as she woke.

Darcy woke the next day by an insistent rapping against the heavy canvas of her tent. Pulling on a robe that she clutched around her middle, she pushed aside the flap a crack to see who could want her attention to urgently.

“Martin?” she questioned, squinting against the morning light.

“Mornin’ Miss Lewis,” the handler greeted, his eyes shifting around uncomfortably. “I’m just here as your wake up call. And… uh…”

“Spit it out, Martin,” Darcy ordered, not yet awake enough to deal with this. She knew that, despite the fact that he had previously been an aide to Senator Brandt and had met his share of important politicians and diplomats, her presence for some reason made him nervous. 

“And uh, I was wonderin’ if you’d seen Rogers this morning,” he asked leadingly.

“You clearly just woke me up,” she pointed out. “When would I have seen him?”

“I’m not judging, ma’am,” Martin replied quickly, holding his hands up in front of him. “I just need to speak to the Captain.”

“I assure you he isn’t here,” Darcy responded, one eyebrow arched, daring him to call her a liar. “Did you try checking, oh I don’t know, his tent?”

Martin looked even more uncomfortable. “Yes ma’am, I just came from there. He wasn’t there and it doesn’t look like he slept there either. His bag’s been gone through, but it’s still in the same exact place on his bed that I left it yesterday. To be honest, I was actually hopin’ he was here since you both missed breakfast.”

“Well he’s not,” she reiterated, surprised to hear how late in the morning it was, but blaming it on her poor night’s sleep.

“That’s what I was afraid of,” Martin cringed.

“Why, what do you know?” she asked her eyes filled with concern and worry.

“I like you a lot Ms. Lewis, really I do,” the man said shifting awkwardly from one foot to the other. “That’s why I’m not sure I should tell you.”

“Oh, I think you should tell me,” Darcy replied no-nonsensely.

“Well, it’s just I saw Agent Carter around yesterday,” Martin admitted, knowing who the SSR agent was from his time at Brandt’s elbow. “So I guess that’s my next stop.”

Darcy’s eyes narrowed dangerously. She couldn’t stop her mind from going to the exact same space that she knew Martin’s currently inhabited, but she dismissed the thought just as quickly as it came. Steve wouldn’t do that to her, no matter how much admiration he had for the English Agent. But she also had a hunch that Martin was onto something in thinking that Carter’s appearance likely had something to do with Steve’s missing status.

“Wait here,” she ordered disappearing into her tent long enough to swap out her robe for  some pants. She tucked her nightgown into the waist and slipped her bare feet into the combat boots she was so excited about, and threw on her long wool coat. “Do you know where Agent Carter is now?” she asked, buttoning her coat up to her neck in order to cover up the lace of her sleepwear.

“I just saw her heading to speak to Colonel Philips,” he revealed apprehensively, not missing the fierce look in Darcy’s eyes.

“Perfect,” Darcy said with grim determination as she marched across the camp, the ground still muddy from the rainstorm the day before.

“Agent Carter, what are you doing here?”

“Colonel Philips, I’m afraid I have a confession to make.”

Darcy heard the exchange as it floated out through the open tent flap that she was currently barging through uninvited.

“Where’s Steve?” Darcy demanded.

“God, I hope your confession has nothing to do with her question,” Philips looked up from the paperwork, addressing his agent with a world-weary expression

Carter looked back and forth between the two sets of eyes focused on her, steeling her shoulders before admitting, “I’m afraid it does Sir.”

“Explain,” both the Colonel and Darcy barked at the same time.

“As you know, sir,” Carter began, pointedly speaking only to the Colonel. “Captain Rogers was not pleased to discover that there was no rescue mission planned to retrieve the men captured at Azzano, especially once he learned Sergeant Barnes was amongst the missing.”

“Bucky’s missing?!” Darcy exclaimed, all of this being new information to her.

Peggy frowned at Darcy’s interjection but continued on as if she had not been interrupted. “Captain Rogers was determined to mount his own rescue mission. He was prepared to go the thirty miles on foot, so I afforded him the aid I could, in that I recruited Mr. Stark to fly him in. We gave him a transponder to alert us to his location when he was ready for retrieval, but as to now it has not yet been activated.”

Sheer terror built up in Darcy’s chest at the idea of Steve marching into a war zone by himself. It was a sensation she did not enjoy or know quite how to deal with so she channeled it into anger instead, an emotion she was far more comfortable with. “Howard was in on this too?!” Darcy exclaimed again. “I’m going to kill him.”

Phillips threw the file he onto the desk muttering something that sounded suspiciously akin to, not if I get to him first.

“What are you going to do about it?” Darcy demanded. “How are we going to get Steve back?”

“We are not going to do anything about it,” Phillips returned brusquely. “Captain Rogers is currently AWOL. If I wasn’t willing to send a rescue mission after the men who were captured in the line of duty, what makes you think I’m going to risk more men’s lives going after a chorus girl who wandered off on his own?”

Darcy’s nostrils flared and her cheeks deepened with color. “Because that chorus girl is Captain Fucking America! Are you going to go back to the States and explain to the Senator– to the President, that you lost America’s New Hope!?”

“I wouldn’t tolerate that sort of language coming from one of my own soldiers, Miss Lewis,” Phillips ground out, a vein popping out on his forehead.

“Then it’s a good thing that I’m not one of your soldiers then, isn’t it!” she growled back. “Now what are you going to do about getting Captain Rogers back before your whole division gets shut down?!”

Colonel Phillips glowered at Darcy, leveling her with a glare that had reduced hardened soldiers to tears.

“You're not going to intimidate me Colonel,” Darcy said, not giving an inch. “I’m from Hollywood.”

Peggy watched the stand off between the gruff six-foot career military man and the fierce five foot four young actress and honestly had no idea who would win. She didn’t even realize she was holding her breath until she released it with a small gasp when Phillips barked at the young Private who was also currently in the tent clearly trying to disappear where he sat.

“I want aerial reconnaissance missions sent out every four hours until sundown in search for the wayward Captain America,” he ordered. The soldier jumped out of his chair and rushed out of the tent. “You, I will deal with later,” he said turning on Agent Carter. “And you,” he said pointing at Darcy, “just get out of my sight.”

“If anything happens to Steve, I am holding you personally responsible,” Darcy spat at Peggy as they both left the tent.

“The only thing I am responsible for is encouraging Captain Rogers to fulfill his potential,” Peggy shot back. “He was meant for more then that,” she pointed to the stage that was only now being disassembled and packed up to be taken to their next destination. The deconstruction being postponed by the weather the day before.

“You think I don’t know that,” Darcy replied brusquely. “I know that you people didn’t put in all that effort to do whatever you did to him to make him Mister Super Solider, just so that he could travel the country selling war bonds. But I also don’t think he was meant to be sent by himself into enemy territory without any back up, under armed and under trained, on what basically amounts to a suicide mission!”

“What do you know about that Miss Lewis?” Peggy asked eyes narrowed suspiciously, since the project was supposed to be top secret.

“Steve didn’t spill any government secrets, if that’s what you’re worried about. I may just be an actress and not in the military like you Agent Carter, but I’m not an idiot, so don’t presume to treat me as one,” Darcy seethed. “Anyone who knew Steve before he joined the army would know that you all did something experimental to change his physical appearance so drastically.” Also, Howard liked to brag, and after splitting a bottle of wine or two over dinner one night when she spent Labor Day weekend at his summer house in Long Island, he was more than happy to answer a couple questions of hers. But she wasn’t about to admit that, not wanting to get her friend in trouble, even if she wasn’t happy with him at the moment.

That stopped Carter short for a moment. “You knew Steve before he joined the Army?” she asked curtly.

“Not that it’s any business of yours,” Darcy said defensively, not sure what to make of Peggy’s sudden attitude change, “but I was actually with him that night at the fair when he enlisted.”

“You’re the one he danced with,” Peggy continued, her expression suddenly softening.

“What of it?” Darcy asked, still suspicious of the other woman’s probing.

“He told me about you once,” she admitted, “but he never mentioned your name. He just said that you were out of his league and he didn’t really understand why you wanted to dance with him.”

Darcy rolled her eyes, wholly unsurprised to hear this, but she couldn’t stop the fond smile from creeping around the corners of her mouth. “Of course he did. I think there are days where he still doesn’t understand what I see in him. It’s somehow both endearing and annoying. So much of his self-worth is still tied up in his memory of being that little guy who used to get beat up in back alleys,” she sighed. “He doesn’t realize what an amazing man he is, even before… well you know.”

Peggy just had one more question. “What about Jimmy Bradford?”

Darcy’s eyebrows shot up towards her hairline. “Now that is really none of your business. I didn’t take you to be the kind of woman who spends her free time reading movie magazines.” She gave the other woman a long evaluative stare, but when she didn’t seem to be backing down from her question, Darcy decided to tell the truth, it was becoming clear that she was only looking out for Steve’s feelings and she could respect that. “I suppose the allied forces trust you with their secrets; I should be able to trust you with one of mine. It’s a contractual obligation, it’s all publicity. Steve knows that. Actually, I introduced the two of them a couple of weeks ago. They got along famously,” she revealed plainly, clearly displeased at having to explain herself.

Peggy shook her head, realizing that perhaps she had gravely misjudged the young Hollywood star. She was annoyed with herself as a woman in an overwhelmingly male world, she should have known better than to judge someone on preconceived notions and stereotypes.

“Come, let’s go get a cup of coffee,” Peggy suggested, already headed towards the mess tent. Darcy following behind her, not exactly sure when they stopped fighting.

It only took them a few minutes to ensconce themselves at a table in the mostly empty room, it being past breakfast but well before lunch. The two women sat across from each other, each cradling a mug of admittedly disgusting coffee. It was at least effective in warming their chilled hands, even if it was hardly ingestible.

“Steve was confident that you would understand,” Peggy broached the silence. “His last thoughts before we left were of you. He wanted to explain it to you himself, but there wasn’t time. He asked that I explain instead.”

“Not enough time,” Darcy scoffed, “more like he knew I would never let him traipse into enemy territory half cocked and without a plan.” She let go of her mug to bring her fingers to her temples – a headache already building. She had scarcely been up for half an hour and she was already exhausted. “That’s not true,” she admitted to both herself and Peggy. “I do understand. This is who Steve is, he charges in headfirst giving no thought to his own personal welfare. I really wouldn’t have expected him to do anything less, especially when Bucky is concerned. But this isn’t some back alley bully, this is Hydra, and he isn’t exactly battle tested.”

If Peggy picked up on the fact that Darcy shouldn’t really be aware of the existence of the Schmidt’s personal army, she chose to ignore it.

“Yes, but what Captain Rogers lacks in experience he makes up in uniquely qualified to take on missions the average solider would not be able to handle,” Peggy reminded her, still delicately treading around using any of the classified terminology.

“Don’t forget heart,” Darcy said squeezing her eyes shut as she tried to force herself to think more positively. “He has the biggest heart of anyone I’ve ever met.” 

“Which is exactly why he was chosen for the program, and exactly what will give him the edge to win, even against seemingly insurmountable odds,” Peggy added.

“I’m just worried,” Darcy admitted.  “Terrified actually.”

“You just need to have faith,” Peggy said reaching across the table to lay a comforting hand on the other woman’s arm. “It’s still far too early to jump to conclusions, and Steve can do this,” she continued confidently, trying to convince both herself and Darcy. Because even though she was putting on a strong front for the actress, Peggy was also worried, and even though Darcy was seemingly softening on her ‘she would hold her personally responsible if anything happened to Steve’ stance, Peggy wasn’t. If Steve didn’t come back, she would always hold herself responsible. 

“I need him to come back,” Darcy whispered, “I never even got to tell him-” she cut herself off before she revealed anything she wasn’t ready to reveal, even to herself.

“He has to come back, because I’m confident he’ll want to tell you the same thing,” Peggy said knowingly, causing Darcy’s eyes to pop up from the knot in the table that she had been staring at. “When we were flying out Howard made a joke about coming back to pick you up and then taking a trip to France for fondue. You should have seen the look on his face. I think Steve was far more concerned about that actually happening, then the fact that he was about to jump out of a plane into enemy territory.”

Darcy bit down on her bottom lip, trying to hide the fact that this little bit of news clearly pleased her. “Ugh, Howard knows that I don’t like fondue, that much dairy makes my stomach ache.”

With a small smile, the agent picked up her coffee mug and stood, needing to get back to work, she was in enough trouble and she didn’t need to give the Colonel any more excuses to be upset with her. “Also I don’t know if anyone has told you yet but the storm yesterday washed the bridge out, there’s a detour but it would probably be safer if you postponed your departure until the men have it repaired. So, you’ll have to stick around for another day or two,” Peggy informed her with a wink.

“What a shame, that,” Darcy replied, grateful that she actually had an excuse to not leave the base, since she had no intention of going anywhere.

“When the recon planes return,” Peggy continued, “we’ll reevaluate the situation. Until then… faith.”

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Darcy lay on her cot, tears streaming down her face as silent sobs wracked her body, hugging the sketchbook she had taken from Steve’s belongings to her chest. It had been over ninety-six hours since Steve had gone missing, and air patrol after air patrol had all returned having reported no sign of activity. Her faith was rapidly dimming as the outlook for Steve coming back to her looked grimmer by the minute. She knew the amount of time before she was forced to leave was rapidly approaching.

There was a rap on her tent, but Darcy ignored it, in no shape for company.

“Lewis, I know you're in there. I talked to that little weasel Martin and he said you haven’t come out all day,” Howard called through the flap. He wasn’t entirely surprised when he didn’t receive a reply. “I’m coming in whether you're decent or not,” he warned. “And frankly, I’m hoping you’re not, just to let you know,” he said bluntly as he pushed his way inside of her tent, not caring if it was appropriate or not. He quickly spotted her lying on her side, facing the wall of the tent.

“Come on Lewis, you can’t be mad at me forever,” Howard said to her back.

“I’m not mad,” she whispered.

“You look pretty mad from where I’m standing,” Howard replied.

Darcy turned over revealing her tear tracked cheeks and red swollen eyes.

Howard sucked in air through his teeth. “Shit, Darcy. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you show unscripted emotion before.”

“What do you want, Stark?” she asked not allowing him to bait her, sitting upright and tucking her feet underneath her body.

Howard sat down on the edge of her cot, taking a moment to smooth his mustache before speaking. Darcy knew him well enough to know was a nervous habit, which did not bode well for whatever he was about to say.

“A little birdy told me that you might be in need of a friend,” he began vaguely.

“And you’re the best the bird could find?” she questioned, wiping the moisture on her cheeks away with the back of her hand.

“The little birdy union probably has regulations on travel time, and I was the closest,” Howard replied with a sardonic smirk.

Howard took Darcy’s amused scoff as a sign that he could continue with his real purpose for being there. “You can’t stay here forever, Darce,” he said gently. “Carter has stalled for you with Phillips as long as she can, considering she’s in hot water herself.”

“I know, I packed my things this morning,” Darcy whispered. That was actually what had caused the meltdown that Howard had walked in on. “It’s just… I feel like leaving is giving up on the hope that Steve will come back,” she admitted.

“You’re not giving up hope, it’s just,” Howard shrugged, “the show must go on.”

“I hate clichés,” Darcy muttered, picking Steve’s sketchbook up and reverently flipping through the pages. Looking at his drawings, created by his skilled hands made her feel better, made her feel like she still had part of him with her. She had caught him sketching the first time back when he was watching her during rehearsals back in LA, and had later strong-armed him into showing her. She was astounded by his talent and when he revealed it was a skill he possessed before the serum it just made it that much more special.

Howard watched Darcy’s face as she slowly turned the pages, he had never seen her act quite like this before and he knew she had dated some of the most desired men in Hollywood.

“You really love the Cap don’t you?”

Darcy looked up from the sketch of her sitting in the hammock in her backyard during the barbeque she had thrown before they left LA. She knew he didn’t have his sketchbook with him at the time so he must have done it later from memory. She looked over at Howard but didn’t speak. She didn’t really need too, it was written all over her face, but the revelation was fresh even to her, and she certainly wasn’t about to vocalize them to Howard Stark first. Before she knew her feelings for Steve strong, but over the past few days, she was forced into coming to terms with just how strong they were.

“I have to say, I never thought I’d see the day when Darcy Lewis would fall for someone’s charms so thoroughly.”

“Just because I didn’t fall for your charms, doesn’t mean I’m heartless,” Darcy snipped, “It just means you’re not nearly as charming as you think you are.”

 “Buck up, Lewis,” Howard ordered, trying to lighten the mood. “Rogers is fine, I know it.”

“Are you psychic now?” she asked one eyebrow raised incredulously. 

“No, but I am a genius,” he said without a shred of modesty. “And I practically invented Rogers and my inventions always work.”

Darcy opened her mouth for what was almost guaranteed to be a scathing reply when a general commotion sounded from outside her tent. In tandem they both rose from where they were sitting on her bed, and poked their heads out the tent to see what the ruckus was about.

“See, I told you, I’m brilliant,” Howard stated with a grin, spotting the cause of hubbub first.

Darcy didn’t reply, but she did gasp audibly when she saw whom everyone was running towards. Heedless of the fact that she wasn’t even wearing shoes, she took off at a sprint across the compound. Steve didn’t see her coming right away, first speaking to Colonel Phillips who was soon replaced by Agent Carter, but the moment he looked up and spotted her and his entire countenance lit up and the whole world disappeared except for the two of them. He only had the chance to take a couple steps towards her before she launched himself into his arms, his super solider strength and reflexes making her an easy catch. She could see Steve was about to speak, but she didn’t give him the chance, covering his lips with her own in a bruising kiss completely uncaring of their audience. She didn’t hear the hoots and hollers of the men around them, too busy pouring all of her feelings for the man who was holding her into that one kiss. Showing him all the things she wasn’t ready to tell in words. 

“Where are your shoes? It’s dangerous to be running around outside without them,” Steve asked when they finally broke for air.

Darcy let out a sound that was a cross between a sob and a laugh. “That’s what you choose to lead off with?” she questioned with an incredulous grin. “I don’t think you are exactly in a position to be telling anyone off for doing something dangerous.”

Steve flushed, knowing she wasn’t wrong about that one.

He looked so adorably scolded that Darcy couldn’t stop herself from pressing another quick kiss to his lips.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered against her mouth, both of them knowing he wasn’t just talking about his comment on her lack of proper footwear.

“Its fine, I understood, all that matters is that you’re here and in one piece,” she murmured back. “And you,” she said twisting around in Steve’s arms so that she was half facing his best friend. “I am so glad that you’re alright Sergeant Barnes,” she said sincerely, taking one hand from where it was still clasped behind Steve’s neck and extended it towards Bucky.

“Hydra’s going to have to work harder than that to take me down,” Bucky grinned, taking Darcy’s offered hand and giving it a gentle squeeze. “And please call me Bucky.”

“And you can call me Miss Lewis,” she replied with a clearly teasing grin, making all three of them laugh as they recalled the night of the fair that seemed so long ago that it was practically a different lifetime.

“Are you going to put me down?” Darcy asked, not that she was in a hurry to be out of Steve’s embrace.

“Not when you’re not wearing shoes,” he replied, it was a genuine response, but also a convenient excuse.

Darcy glanced down at her stocking clad feet and then back up at Steve with wide guileless eyes. “There was a tragic accident while you gone, all of my shoes were lost.”

Steve’s face split into a wide grin as he moved one hand up from where it was banded around Darcy’s thighs and buried it in her thick hair bringing her lips crashing back down to his. They were completely lost in each other, oblivious to their audience and the renewed cheering, whistles and catcalls.

And then of course there was Bucky. “Let’s hear it for Captain America!”

Chapter Text

“See? I told you, they’re all idiots.”

“How about you?” Steve asked, sliding onto the empty stool next to his best friend in the world. “Are you ready to follow Captain America into the jaws of death?”

Bucky scoffed. “Hell, no. That little guy from Brooklyn too dumb not to run away from a fight. I’m following him.” The men exchanged a look that only came from a lifetime of shared experiences. “But you’re keeping the outfit right?”

“You know, it’s kind of growing on me.”

A hush fell over the pub, made more noticeable by the sudden lack of boisterous singing previously coming from his newly formed team in the next room, and Steve had a feeling that he knew exactly why it had. Leaning back from the bar so that he had a clear line of sight to the entrance, his suspicions were confirmed. The two most beautiful women he knew had just walked in the front door. Peggy, for once not in uniform, was clad in a stunning red dress, and his Darcy was just as striking in a deep purple that made her normally blue eyes turn ice grey.

He wasn’t surprised to see them walk in together. Darcy, who had continued on with the London dates of the tour on her own, had her last show in town tonight and she had mentioned inviting Peggy to attend. He has wanted to go himself, but Darcy had insisted that finalizing his team took precedence and promised that she would meet up with him at the pub afterward.

The two women paid no mind to the fact that every eye in the building was fixed in their direction as they strode confidently across the room to where Steve and Bucky were rising to their feet in anticipation of their approach. 

“Darcy,” Steve greeted, his eyes visibly lighting up at the sight of her.

“Steve,” Darcy replied with a sweet smile, reaching up to brush an imaginary piece of lint off of his impeccable uniform, leaving her hand to rest against his chest as she turned to say her hellos to Bucky. “Sergeant Barnes.”

“Miss Lewis,” Bucky returned her greeting with a smirk, their continued formality a bit of a joke between them. “Ma’am,” he nodded in Peggy’s direction.

“Agent Carter,” Steve greeted the other woman, automatically bringing his hand up to cover Darcy’s where it sat, keeping it there as his thumb swept repeatedly over the back of her fingers.

“Captain,” Peggy replied, biting back a smile at the sweet and clearly unconscious gesture. “I see your top squad is prepping for duty.”

“Uh… yeah,” Steve didn’t really have an answer for what was going on in the next room. “How was the show?” he asked instead.

“Oh you know,” Darcy shrugged. “It went fine. Same old same old, nothing you haven’t seen before.”

“Don’t be so modest,” Peggy interjected. “It was quite the rousing display. By the end even I was contemplating what more I could do to better serve my country.”

“You were just excited that I introduced you to Viv and Larry,” Darcy teased.

“I suppose that didn’t hurt,” Peggy replied making them both laugh.

Steve was glad to see that the two women had managed to work past their initial dislike of each other. As Darcy had put it to him a few day’s prior, once Peggy got past her initial misconceptions about Darcy, and once Darcy got past being offended by Peggy’s misconceptions, the two women found they actually got on quite well.

“Yes, well, I’m going to go get to know the boys, make sure they get the Darcy Lewis stamp of approval,” she joked, standing on her toes to give Steve a kiss on the cheek. “I’ll leave you with Agent Carter, who I know is waiting for me to leave so she can talk to you about all the super secret things that I’m not supposed to know about,” she announced with a sassy wink before stepping gracefully into the other room.

“So, are there super secret things you need say that Miss Lewis can’t know about?” Steve asked, amused by his girl’s antics.

“There are lots of things Miss Lewis isn’t supposed to know about,” Peggy retorted with a smirk. “But that’s never seemed to stop her.”

“Maybe you should consider recruiting her for the cause,” Bucky interjected into the conversation, only half joking. “She does seem like she would be very effective in finding ways to make a man talk.”

Steve brow furrowed slightly, he didn’t like the sound of that at all.

“I have no doubts that Miss Lewis’s numerous attributes would make her uniquely qualified to be an effective covert agent,” Peggy agreed. "But I don’t believe that the SSR is recruiting in that particular field at the moment.”

Bucky chuckled, but Steve didn’t see the humor in it at all and instead steered the conversation back to its original course.

“There was something you needed to tell me?” he asked leadingly.

“Oh, yes,” Peggy replied. “But it’s nothing terribly clandestine. I just needed to let you know that Howard has some new equipment for you to try out. Tomorrow morning?”

“Sounds good,” Steve answered.

“Let’s say eight.” A round of laughter sounded from the next room, causing all three of them to glance over at where Darcy had already inserted herself and was socializing with the newly formed unit. “Actually, make it nine,” Peggy amended with a knowing smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. “Until then.”

“Leaving so soon Agent Carter?” Bucky questioned. “Why don’t you stay awhile, you never know, there might even be dancing later,” he tempted with his most charming grin.

Peggy gave Bucky a long speculative look. “Maybe when this is all over,” she finally said. “Someone once told me it was worth waiting for the right partner.” She turned to Steve with an enigmatic expression, “0900 Captain.”

“Yes Ma’am,” he answered as they both watched the Agent walk away.

“What just happened there?” Bucky asked genuinely perplexed. “Did she just tell me I wasn’t the right partner? I am an excellent partner.”

Steve clapped his friend on the shoulder. “I wouldn’t worry about it Bucky, I’m sure your perfect partner is out there somewhere.”

Bucky scoffed, taking a sip of his drink. “You’re the one who’s always been concerned with finding the ‘right’ partner. I’m perfectly content with someone for right now.”

“You know the Army has some films about the dangers of that kind of behavior,” Steve ribbed with a smirk.

Bucky chose to ignore that Steve had spoken at all, instead turning the conversation back on his best friend. “I can’t even believe I am saying this. But I think that in a world where you weren’t dating a movie star,” he said casually, leaning against the bar, “you would have been the one that had a shot with the Agent.”

“Agent Carter?” Steve asked as if Bucky could be talking about someone else. “You really think so?” he continued disbelievingly, his eyebrows climbing towards his hairline.

“Oh yeah,” Bucky nodded confidently. “Definitely. She’s classy, so she respects that you have something already going on. But I saw the way she looked at you.”

Steve screwed his mouth up as he tried and failed to envision it.

“Come on Steve,” Bucky cajoled. “I know you’re all moony for Darcy, but you have to admit Carter is a beautiful dame.”

“She is,” Steve agreed quickly, he wasn’t blind after all. “I guess I’ve just never thought of her that way.”

Bucky chuckled lowly. “Of course you haven’t. Steve, you are so upstanding that sometimes I don’t even know where you came from.”

“Brooklyn,” Steve supplied dryly.

“I don’t think Captain America is supposed to be a smart ass,” Bucky replied giving his friend a playful shove. “But I suppose if I had America’s Sweetheart keeping my home fires burning, my eyes wouldn’t be doing any wandering either.”

With some sort of unspoken signal they simultaneously leaned away from the bar to see what was happening in the other room while they were talking. It seemed that being a movie star got you a different level of service as the proprietor himself had actually come to the table to bring the men their next round.

“And what can I get for the lady?”

“Oh, I’ll just have whatever the boys are having,” Darcy replied with a sweet smile.

The barkeep looked surprised, but got Darcy a pint of the same lager the men were drinking.

She thanked him like the lady she was and then took several large gulps that had Steve’s newly formed team hooting and hollering in amusement and encouragement.

“That’s one hell of a woman,” Bucky said from where they were still eavesdropping in the next room.

“Yep,” Steve agreed, unable to keep the wide grin off his face as they watched her, not that he was even trying.

“And to think, she liked you even before you hit your growth spurt.”

“Yeah,” Steve agreed again. Still unsure as to why that was true, but grateful nonetheless.

Her ears must have been burning, because Darcy chose that moment to glance over her shoulder at the pair of them. She gave Steve a long smoldering look, before turning back to the table.

“Oh ho ho,” Bucky chuckled lowly.

“What?”

“I know what that look you just got means,” Bucky said taking a highly amused swig of drink.

“What, what look means?” Steve asked obliviously.

“Trust me, by the end of the night, I guarantee you’ll know what that look meant too,” Bucky said enigmatically, clapping Steve on the shoulder. “Come on, let’s join the party.”

Steve still honestly had no idea what Bucky was talking about, but followed his best friend over to the table without protest. 

“So there he was covered in marshmallow crème and I told him that his partridge could stay, but him and the pear tree had to take a hike,” Darcy finished to the uproarious laughter of the commandos. Steve made a mental note to remember to ask Darcy about that later, curious about any story that had a punch line like that.

Bucky quickly snagged the last empty chair at the already crowded table. “Looks like you’re going to have to stand Captain,” he told Steve, his face the very picture of innocence. “Unless you want to share.”

Confused, Steve was about to point out that he could just take an empty chair from another table, but Darcy, who knew exactly what Bucky was up to, gracefully stood, dragged Steve down and inserted herself down on his lap before he had any idea what was happening.

“Sorry Bucky, I know how much you wanted to sit on Steve’s lap,” she teased, making the whole table laugh.

“I dunno,” Bucky shrugged, keeping the joke going. “Steve has two knees, maybe we could share.”

Darcy called his bluff, shifting over so that she was situated on just one of Steve’s knees, her brows lifted in a silent challenge. Never one to back down from such a blatant dare, Bucky stood from his chair, but Steve was the one to shut that down by pulling Darcy back across his lap so that she was situated over both legs, wrapping an arm around her waist to keep her steady.

“Sorry Bucky, this is a one woman lap,” Steve announced.

“Shucks,” Bucky replied, snapping his fingers in faux disappointment, the table laughing at their antics once more.

 The ice more than effectively broken, banter flowed easily and Steve watched in fascination as Darcy held court from her perch on his knees. She was so good at keeping the conversation moving, all the while skillfully steering it so that everyone was included. He did notice however, that she was wearing what he considered to be her public persona. She was charming and witty, but revealed nothing substantial of herself even as she made it a point learn something about each member of his new team. He did learn something new about Darcy though, when a side conversation between herself, Jones, and Dernier broke out in French, a language he wasn’t aware she spoke.

Several more rounds seemed to magically appear at the table whenever the drinks began to run dry, but Darcy had placed every round after her first in Steve’s hand, only stealing the occasional sip. He hadn’t protested and didn’t draw attention to it since he knew that while she could hold her liquor, she didn’t like to drink too much when she was out in public.

It was after Dum Dum finished regaling them all with tales of his days as a circus strong man that had them all in stitches, that Darcy called an end to this portion of her evening.

“Well boys, I’m afraid that it’s time for all good little girls to be in bed,” she announced climbing to her feet, to the protests of the men at the table. “And even the not so good ones,” she added with a playful wink. “Walk me back to my hotel, soldier?” she said turning to Steve, as if there was actually a chance of him allowing her to walk through the dark London streets by herself.

“Of course, let me just go settle the tab,” he replied, also standing. “I’ll tell the bartender to add one more round, but after that you’re on your own men,” he informed them with a wry sort of grin, not sure he even wanted to know how bad the bill already was, or how many more rounds they would put away before they called an end to their evening.

“Before you go,” Morita began, turning to Darcy once Steve walked off, “would you mind me troubling you for an autograph for my wife?”

“And can I have one for my sister?” Gabe also requested. “She’s a big fan.”

“Oh, of course,” Darcy agreed without hesitation. “In fact any of you who want something, give names and addresses to Captain Rogers, he’ll be able to get them to me, and I will personally send out some letters.”

After saying her goodbyes, telling them all to keep safe and making them promise to take care of each other, Steve and Darcy left the pub hand in hand. There was really no point in them pretending that they were anything other than what they were at that point. Frankly, she thought as she dropped his hand in favor of winding an arm around his waist, smiling into his side as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders hugging her close as they walked down the quiet London streets to her hotel, even if reports of their relationship did manage to make its way back to Hollywood, she would rather deal with the fallout of her ‘infidelity’ than change this moment for anything.

Arriving at her hotel room, he didn’t resist when she opened the door and pulled him inside. Their relationship had taken a decidedly more physical turn since he returned from the rescue mission and the past week they had been in London had been full of stolen moments whenever they could find some time alone. Steve was aware that he was being given more freedom than the average soldier as he had spent every moment of free time he had since they arrived in England off-base with Darcy, but as long as he showed up when and where he was expected, no one was complaining. It was a perk of being Captain America that he wasn’t going to knock.

Darcy had barely turned on the side table lamp and taken off her coat and gloves before the restraint they had both been holding onto tightly all night snapped. The height difference made it awkward however, and it only took Steve a moment to take matters into his own hands, easily lifting Darcy and carrying her over to the sofa in her suite’s sitting room, sitting down with her in his lap, all the while his mouth never ceasing its movements against hers.

“I leave tomorrow,” Darcy whispered against his parted lips.

Steve’s Adams apple bobbed as he swallowed hard, it was the elephant in the room that neither one of them wanted to acknowledge. “I know.”

Pulling back slightly so she could search his eyes, she licked her lips and said, “Please don’t make me spend my last night here alone.” It somewhere between a plea and an order.

“How could I deny you anything,” he responded brushing her hair back off her face. Not that he wanted to leave, but when he she looked at him like he held her happiness in his hands, there was nothing he wouldn’t do not to let her down.

He couldn’t stop his eyes from widening though, when she wordlessly climbed off his lap, took him by the hand, and led him into her bedroom. Although they had never talked about it, Steve was aware that Darcy was more experienced than he was, but even so, he didn’t want her to feel like this was something he was expecting from her.

“Are you sure? We don’t have to-”

Darcy placed a single finger over his lips, halting him from saying anymore. “I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life,” she replied, her voice steady and even. “Steve, I love you, and I want to be with you in every way.”

“Oh Darcy,” he exhaled, completely in awe at the woman in front of him. In that moment it was more than her name, it was a benediction. “I love you, so much.”

“Then show me how much,” she said, no hesitation in her voice or her eyes.

“Darcy, I’ve never–”

She cut him off with a kiss. “Just do what feels right,” she murmured against his lips, before spinning around to present him with her back, pulling her hair over one shoulder in a silent request to unzip her.

Steve couldn’t help but be grateful that she was facing away from him at that moment so she couldn’t see the slight tremble of his hand as he slowly pulled the zipper that ran down the back of her dress, watching as the metal teeth parted to expose the smooth porcelain expanse of her back. Before he could stop himself, he was reaching out and trailing his finger tips down her spine, watching in fascination as goosebumps erupted in their wake.

He wasn’t sure what to do next, but her words to do whatever felt right echoed back in his mind, and right now all he wanted to do was to kiss the newly exposed skin. Leaning forward he pressed a kiss to the base of her neck, pulling back quickly when Darcy’s breath hitched with a small gasp.

“No, no, don’t stop,” Darcy encouraged, the tiniest bit of desperation leaking into her voice.

With slightly more confidence, Steve dipped his head back down to her shoulder, dragging his lips slowly up her neck, Darcy instantaneously tilting her head to the side to allow him more access. He drew a throaty moan when he nipped gently at the spot under her jaw that he had discovered just the night before in Darcy’s dressing room after the show in what had been their heaviest petting session to date.

Before he could talk himself out of it, he gently pushed the sleeves of her dress off her shoulders letting the garment fall to the floor and pool at her feet. As she turned back around to face him, Steve couldn’t help but swallow hard. He had seen her in less, the bathing suit she had donned at the pool party she had thrown back in LA was less modest than what she was covered by now. But this, seeing her clad only in panels of lace and satin, garters holding up silk stockings was so much more… intimate.

He knew he was staring, but if Darcy’s throaty chuckle was any indication, she didn’t mind.

“Your turn,” was all she said, before her nimble fingers made quick work of the buttons and buckles of his uniform. In no time at all he was kicking his trousers across the room, she had somehow managed to divest him of his coat, tie, shirt and pants, leaving him in only his undershirt and shorts without him even realizing it was happening. Of course the way she had captured his earlobe between her teeth might have had something to do with his inattention.

Both of them down to their undergarments the mood shifted slightly as Darcy took a few smooth steps backwards, Steve unconsciously matching her movements. In this moment she was in entire world and he was stuck in her orbit. When the back of her thighs hit the edge of the bed, she rose up on her toes for a kiss which Steve was only to glad to give. Winding the chain of his dog tags around her fingers, she eased herself down on the bed giving him no choice to but to follow her lead.

Steve settled between her hips, at first using his elbows to support himself, not wanting to crush her underneath his much larger frame. But Darcy was having none of that hooked her ankles behind his knees and her arms around his shoulders and pulled him down, wanting to feel his weight on top of her. But her hands didn’t stop there, sneaking underneath his t-shirt and raking her nails down his back and sending a shiver down his spine. Steve’s hands weren’t idle either and they didn’t some wandering of their own, first burying themselves in her thick hair, but gradually becoming more bold and traveling down, becoming familiar with the curves and contours of her body.

But when Darcy reached down to unclasp her stockings from her garters, Steve’s hand caught hers before they reached their destination. Her eyes snapped up to his questioningly, not sure what to make of the clear question in his eyes.

“Let me?” It was definitely a request, his eyes wide as if he truly believed she may say no.

Darcy couldn’t do anything but bite down on her bottom lip and nod soundlessly.

Steve slowly slid down her body, leaving small open mouthed kisses, first on her jaw, then her neck, the hollow of her throat and the valley between her breasts. His lips where brushing against the satin panel over her navel when he glanced up and met Darcy’s heated gaze.

“Breathe,” he said when he noticed that she wasn’t.

Darcy exhaled sharply, releasing the breath she hadn’t even realized she had been holding.

“Are you okay?” he asked slightly concerned, noting the slight trembling of her limbs. 

“So very, very okay,” she replied breathlessly.

Steve couldn’t help the small smirk that formed on his lips at Darcy’s responsiveness. It turned out that being a captive audience to tales of all of Bucky’s exploits, which he only pretended not to listen to, was actually paying off.

Sliding off the bed so that he was kneeling on the floor in front of her, maintaining eye contact as he let his fingertips trail from her slender ankle, along her calf, and up her thigh, careful not to let his callous roughened hands snag the delicate stockings. He broke their gaze in order to work the clasps of her garters and slowly rolled the silk down, his fingertips and lips acquainting themselves with the recently bared milky expanse of skin. Dropping the stocking negligently on the floor he began the whole process over on the other leg.

“I thought… you’d never… done this before,” Darcy said in short gasps, her hands fisting the sheets, unable to keep from squirming when his fingers brushed over the sensitive skin at the back of her knees.

“I haven’t,” he murmured, not ceasing his administrations. “But I might have thought about it once or twice.”

It was more often than that, but he wasn’t about to admit that she had been his favorite fantasy back when she was just his favorite actress. One that got replayed more often once he had met her and which had become an almost nightly affair once they had reconnected in LA. What Darcy didn’t know was that he was currently living out his favorite fantasy.

“Good imagination,” Darcy replied, back arching, her whole body aching for him. There was something to be said for the creative mind.

Once the second stocking dropped to the floor, Darcy’s patience snapped. “Need you,” she gasped, reaching out for him. His position kneeling at the end of the bed was to far away for her liking. “Now.”

That was all Steve needed to hear and it wasn’t long before what remained of their clothing disappeared. Although neither of them would remember exactly how that happened, there would be a couple of loose buttons and popped seams as casualties the next morning.

From there their whole world was reduced to a series of feelings. The all encompassing wet heat as he slowly worked himself inside of her for the first time. His warm breath against her neck when he needed to stop before things ended before they had even begun. Pain becoming pleasure where her nails dug into his shoulders as she held him tight. The sensation of skin sliding against skin, slick with sweat despite the chill in the room. And of course the delicious friction as they came together again and again. But most of all it was the emotions that was coursing through the both of them. The feelings of love, of belonging to one another. The feeling of home.

It was all so overwhelming that it was all Steve could do to keep from babbling a whole sting of incoherent nonsense, but Darcy had no such compunction. He didn’t know if she was always so vocal, or if it was for his benefit, but ether way he was grateful as she was letting him know with every moan, gasp and mutter exactly what was working for her and what wasn’t, allowing him to give her as much pleasure as she was bringing him.

And when her hand snaked between them to help bring herself over the cliff they were both rapidly approaching, Steve pushed her hand away wanting to do it himself. He knew he hit the right spot when practically her whole body arched off the bed and her inner walls clamped down around him. That was the final straw that pushed him over the edge and Steve came with a shout. His rhythm faltered as he had to lock both arms to keep from collapsing on top of her, but Darcy, not about to be left behind, simply resumed rubbing her button, bringing about her own climax just as Steve’s was ending, wringing a second wave of pleasure from his body that made his super strength for naught as his arms gave out and he flopped heavily on top of her.

Darcy couldn’t help the giddy giggle that passed her lips after a few minutes of rubbing her hands soothingly up and down Steve’s back while he came down from his high.

“What’s so funny?” he questioned, his voice muffled as he was still panting into her hair.

“I didn’t break you did I?” she asked, her smile audible in her voice. “That would be a really awkward conversation to have with Colonel Phillips.”

Steve groaned a little, the Colonel was the last person he wanted to be thinking about right now. “I’m not broken,” he replied. “I’m sure I’ll be able to feel my legs any minute now.”

“I hope so,” Darcy giggled again. “Because I love you, but you’re heavy,” she said wiggling underneath him.

A strangled moan escaped his throat at Darcy’s movements against his own still hypersensitive body, causing Darcy’s eyebrows to shoot up when felt Steve go half hard where he was still inside her.

“Already?” she asked unable to disguise her surprise. “You really are a super solider.”

Steve didn’t respond but did manage to get himself propped up on his elbows which only revealed the blush that was rising on his already flushed face. Darcy almost giggled again, finding his embarrassment both out of place and almost charming considering they were still so intimately joined, but when his shifting ground their pelvises together her amusement fled as a jolt of pleasure shot all the way down to her toes.

“Flip over,” she ordered, her eyes already half hooded with lust. “I wanna be on top this time.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

In the aftermath of their second round of love making, they lay sated and happy, their legs entwined beneath the sheets. They didn’t speak, they didn’t have to, their eyes and gentle caresses saying everything they needed too.

“You should get some rest,” Steve broke the silence when Darcy stifled the third yawn in as many minutes.

“No,” she replied contrarily. “I don’t want to sleep, I don’t want to miss a single minute I have let with you by sleeping.”

“You have a big day of travelling tomorrow,” he reminded her. It wasn’t that he disagreed with her sentiment, quite the opposite actually, but he just wanted what was best for her.

“Exactly, I can sleep on the plane.”

Steve just chuckled since he knew it to be true. Although she liked to deny it, he has quickly discovered that Darcy would fall asleep within the first 15 minutes of any long ride, whether it be by plane, bus or car. Usually with him as her pillow, not that he minded.

Darcy perked up as she was stuck by an idea. “I know!” she said slipping out of bed, snatching one of the blankets that had slid to the floor to wrap her around her body to ward off the winter chill.

Steve couldn’t stop the discontented noise that escaped his chest when she pulled out of his reach. “Where are you going?” he called after her, clearly confused since in his mind there wasn’t anything worth getting out of that bed for, except maybe to get Darcy back in it.

“I’m drawing us a bath!” she called back, her voice echoing slightly from inside the spacious bathroom.

Steve considered that statement as he heard the water turn on, hitting the bottom of the large cast iron soaking tub. It seemed that Darcy found something worth getting out of bed for. He wasn’t sure how long he lay there staring at the ceiling, preoccupied with thoughts of a wet naked Darcy, but it must have been long enough for her to get impatient.

“I’m getting awful lonely in here Captain!” she called from the bathroom.

Realizing he was fantasizing about something that was in the next the room, Steve jumped out of bed and quickly crossed the distance to the ensuite in a few long strides. He stopped cold in the doorway, the image she presented better than anything his imagination could have conjured.

He must have been day dreaming even longer than he initially thought, because she was already lounging inside the over half full tub. She had added bubble bath so most of her body was obscured except her bent knees and the tops of her creamy white breasts, her dusky nipples just peaking out above the water line as she breathed. She had taken the time to pin her hair up in a pile on the top of her head, a few tendrils escaping to frame her face, her natural curls tightening from the steam rising from the tub. She was a Gil Elvgren painting come to life and she positively took his breath away. He just couldn’t believe that this magnificent woman was waiting for him.

“Are you just going to stand there looking all night?” Darcy teased, a mischievous glint in her eyes. “I don’t mind, I have a pretty good view myself, but why just look when you can touch.”

Steve couldn’t help the blush that rose in his cheeks, he had been so taken with her, that he had completely forgotten his own state of undress. He didn’t bother trying to answer, knowing he would stumble over any response he could come up with and instead wordlessly crossed over to the tub. Darcy slid forward as he approached giving him room to slip in behind her. The amount of water he displaced meant the tub was pretty much full and she leaned forward to turn off the taps before settling back against his chest, resting her head against his shoulder.

“This is perfect,” she murmured, taking his hands and wrapping his arms around her torso. “How am I going to be able to go without seeing you every day?”

“We have been pretty inseparable the past couple of weeks,” Steve agreed. They had been spending the majority of their days together ever since Steve had arrived in Los Angeles at the beginning of October when they began rehearsals. And even before that they had been speaking almost nightly on the phone.

“We’ll still have mail,” Darcy said, trying to look on the bright side. “I’ll write you every day. Letters so long you’ll get tired of reading before you’re done.”

“That could never happen,” Steve replied, giving her a gentle squeeze. “And I’ll write as much as I can too,” he said honestly, not wanting to make promises he couldn’t keep. He was aware that there might be days that he simply wouldn’t be able to write. “It won’t be the same though,” he added with a sigh.

“All the more incentive to win the war quick and come home to me,” Darcy replied, he tone light even as her heart was heavy, agreeing with Steve completely. “And remember, I’ll be able to stage my break up with Jimmy before then, so we can really be together. Out in the open and everything.”

Steve felt a little weird talking about Darcy’s ‘boyfriend’ while they were in the bath together, but at the same time his heart swelled at her discussing their future together with such certainly. He had already learned that Darcy was very much an in the moment kind of woman, and they had been taking their relationship in the same day-to-day manner. He himself couldn’t imagine a future that didn’t have her in it, but he was hesitant to bring it up first.

“I’m looking forward to it,” Steve said, smiling into her hair as he dropped a kiss on her crown.

“Me too,” she agreed with a happy little sigh. “We’ll have to go dancing again, maybe this time I’ll even let you lead,” she teased.

Steve chuckled lightly at the memory of that night at the fair, it felt like a lifetime ago. “It’s a date.”

They fell into a comfortable silence, enjoying the steamy hot water and simply being with each other, the only sound being the fire crackling faintly in the next room, the water lapping against the sides of the cast iron tub and their soft breathing.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do without you,” Steve murmured breaking the silence and bringing the conversation back around to where it started.

“You going to lead your men against Hydra, take out Schmidt, and save the world,” she replied surely, as if it was as simple as going to the corner store to pick up a quart of milk and a half dozen eggs.

“I’m not sure I know how,” he said softly, admitting his worries and self doubts, telling Darcy what he never would have revealed to another soul. “Lead I mean. I’ve always been the last person anyone has looked to for leadership. What if I can’t do it?”  

Darcy spun around in the tub so that she was facing him kneeling between his bent knees. “Of course you can,” she replied, there never being any doubt in her mind.

“You have so much faith in me,” he said in awe of that being true.

She replied with an enigmatic Mona Lisa smile. “I told you once that you were destined for great things,” she said. “I think I knew it from the moment I first saw you.”

His hands moved of their own volition to rest on her hips as he recalled their first meeting in that dirty Brooklyn alley way. “I don’t know how that could be true.”

“Well it is,” she replied, her arched eyebrow almost daring him to contradict her again. “It was the same as the feeling that we had met before. I still feel that sometimes, like I knew you in a different life,” she trailed off, her gaze taking on a far away look.

“What, like reincarnation?” Steve questioned with only the smallest bit of doubt leaking through into his tone.

Darcy’s eyes refocused as she came back to the present conversation. “I don’t know, it’s just a feeling, but what’s important it that were meant for this. And there is nothing that will stand in your way.”

“Agent Carter said you were scared last week. That you were afraid I might not come back,” Steve mentioned his line of sight darting to the far corner of the room, not able to look her in the eye as he brought it up.

Darcy rolled her eyes at that, wanting to know to what purpose Peggy had decided to reveal that bit of information. She brought one hand that had been resting on his chest up to his face, gently guiding his gaze back to hers. She wanted his full attention for what she was about to say.

“Of course I was,” Darcy said, seeing no reason to deny it. “But that had more to do with the fact that you had just marched off to face a whole army you knew nothing about, entirely by yourself, with a prop shield and helmet. You were out manned, misinformed, and under armed. I would have been an idiot not to have been terrified. But it had nothing to do with my faith in you.”

Steve looked at her from underneath his impossibly long eyelashes. What she was saying made prefect sense. Even while he was doing it, he never questioned that it was the right thing to do, but he was aware that he was taking a stupid risk that could very likely get him killed.

“And even under those practically insurmountable odds you still came out on top. Now you’ve got a team you handpicked yourself, the full support of the SSR and you know exactly who and what you’re fighting against. It’s a whole new ball game and the other guy doesn’t stand a chance,” she said confidently. “Will I still worry about you? Of course I will, that’s what you do when you love someone. If ten years from now you were twenty minutes late getting home, I would worry,” she continued, Steve smiling spontaneously at that image. “But that has no bearings on the fact that I believe there is no better man to lead your team to victory against Hydra. And then once Schmidt’s taken care of, Hitler had better take note because you’ll be gunning for him next and after that Mussolini and the rest of the Axis Powers will be damned.”

“Damn straight,” Steve grinned, her complete conviction in him infectious.

“Excellent, now I want to hear you say it.”

“I’m going to lead my men against Hydra, destroying all of their factories, bringing Schmidt to his knees and then I’m going to go after Hitler until all of the Third Reich is in crumbles,” he said confidently.

“That a boy, soldier,” she said with a mischievous glint in her eyes. The hand that was still resting against his jaw, trailed lightly down his neck and then his torso before disappearing beneath the soapy water as it dipped between their bodies. “Now,” she continued with a devilish smirk when her hand reached its target and Steve’s eyes rolled back in his head. “Why don’t I remind you what you’ll be coming home to after you save the world, as an incentive to win the war quick.”

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Steve lay awake as the soft winter London sun broke over the horizon, filling the hotel room with a dreamy muted light. Despite her declarations to the contrary earlier in the night, Darcy did need to rest and had succumbed to slumber a few hours ago not long after they had gotten out of the tub. But Steve, who really could go days without needing to sleep, chose to stay awake and savor every last moment he could.

Darcy was laying on her stomach her hair falling in a riotous cascade of curls down her bare back. It was much longer that what the current styles dictated, but as he reached out to gently twine a few curls around his fingertips, being careful not to disturb her, he was grateful for more reasons than his love of her hair, that Darcy was not one to let popular opinion dictate any of her decisions. Her face was turned towards him with one small hand tucked beneath her chin. He couldn’t help but marvel at just how young she appeared in her sleep. She was so full of life, so savvy on the ways of the world, she carried herself with the wisdom and poise of a woman well beyond her years. With her wealth of life experience it was easy to forget that at twenty-two she was actually a few years younger than himself.

Steve could have watched her sleep forever, but a quick glance at the clock on the mantle told him that their night together was coming to a swift end. Sighing regretfully, he gently pushed her hair off her face and leaned down to place a kiss on her temple, then to jaw, and another to her shoulder, before Darcy began to stir with a discontented mewl and a half hearted attempt to bat him away which only made him chuckle lowly. 

“There’s my best girl,” Steve said fondly as Darcy’s eyes cracked open.

“Why’d you let me fall asleep?” she whined sleepily.

“You needed it,” he replied simply, leaning forward to press his lips to the tip of her nose.

“Did you get any rest?” she questioned nuzzling into the hollow of his throat, not quite ready to be awake.

Steve made an ambiguous sort of noise, unwilling to commit to any sort of admission one way or the other and instead changed the subject completely. “You talk in your sleep,” he mentioned amused.

“I’ve heard that before,” Darcy replied laughing lightly. “My younger bother used to talk to me while I was sleeping because apparently I answer back,” she added when she saw the small furrow form at Steve’s brow from the first half of her statement. “It was the easiest way for him to find out where I had hidden my Valomilk stash.”

“I’ll have to try that next time,” Steve chuckled.

“You gonna ask me where I keep my candy, Captain?” Darcy asked flirtatiously.

“Hmmm,” Steve pretended to consider this. “Maybe I want to discover all of your deep dark secrets.”

Darcy smiled since she had complete faith that Steve would never actually do that. “But you only need to ask, even when I’m awake,” she responded sincerely. “What did you want to know my love?”

Steve playfully scrunched up his face as if he was thinking incredibly hard. “I’ve got one,” he finally said. “How is it that you always smell so good?” he asked before burying his face in the crook of her neck, making her giggle as his morning stubble ticked her delicate skin.

“I don’t know,” she responded through her laughter. “I guess I’m just made of sugar and spice and everything nice.”

“Makes sense to me,” he replied with a grin.

“So what was I saying anyways?” Darcy asked curiously. She had always been simultaneously fascinated and horrified at the idea that she could hold entire conversations in her sleep that she would have no recollection of when she woke the next day.

“Not very much,” Steve informed her. “You said the name Jane a few times, but then there was the really strange one. You said something about hitting Thor with your car.”

Darcy just blinked at Steve a couple of times, unsure how to respond to that one. “Thor? As in the Norse God of Thunder?”

“Don’t ask me,” Steve laughed. “You’re the one who said it.”

Darcy laughed as well. “I never claimed that what I say while I’m dreaming makes any sense,” she shrugged. “My brother once told me that I yelled at him in my sleep for painting the tree purple.”

“Your brother painted a tree purple?”

“In my dream he did. And it was apparently highly offensive to dream Darcy.” She giggled again before falling quiet as she mused silently to herself for a moment. “I don’t even think I know anyone named Jane.”

“I also don’t think you know a Thor, so at least you’re batting a thousand,” Steve teased.

“Well I was also dreaming about you and you exist so there,” she countered, sticking her tongue out playfully.

“Oh were you?” he asked, his interest piqued.

“Mhmm,” she nodded. “At least I think I was. It’s all getting a little hazy now.”

“What do you remember?”

Darcy frowned as she tried to remember the dream she was having right before she woke up. “I was falling,” she began. “It felt like I was falling forever, but even as I fell all I could see where your eyes,” she murmured, reaching out with one hand to trace the lines of his eyebrows with her fingertips.

“Did I catch you?”

Darcy hummed to herself trying to remember, but at the point even the details she told him had faded away, and trying to remember them was starting to give her a headache. “I think that’s when I woke up,” she ended up answering. “But I trust that you’ll always catch me.”

“I will,” Steve responded, his eyes brimming with sincerity. “But right now I have to go,” he sighed.

“What? Why?” Darcy asked, stiffening with alarm as she glanced over her shoulder at the clock. “I thought that you didn’t have to meet up with Howard until nine.”

“I don’t, but I still have to go back to the barracks and change into a fresh uniform first,” he reminded her regretfully. Both of them turning to look at where the uniform he had worn the night before was laying on the floor in a crumpled wrinkled mess.

“I don’t want you to go,” Darcy whined, shifting so that she was laying half on top of Steve’s chest, as if she could physically restrain him from leaving.  

“I don’t want to go either,” he agreed truthfully. “But they’re expecting me.”

“Stupid responsibilities,” she grumbled.

Steve couldn’t help but chuckle at Darcy’s childlike petulance, even though he couldn’t disagree with her sentiments. His laughter died in his chest through, when a knock on the suite’s door captured both of their attentions.

“Did you order room service?” Darcy questioned as their heads turned in tandem towards the source of the interruption.

“No,” Steve responded with a frown.

“Well stay here, I’ll go see who it is,” she replied sliding out from underneath the covers and snagging her robe off the back of a chair on her way to the door. It was her room after all and while they hadn’t exactly been the picture of discretion when it came to their relationship since arriving in London, it would still be unseemly to let Steve answer her hotel room door so early in the morning.

Peeking through the peephole she was surprised to see the concierge himself outside her door holding a garment bag. Doubly so since she had already gotten all the laundry she had sent out for cleaning back yesterday.

“Hello?” she questioned opening the door.

“Good morning Miss Lewis,” he replied with a warm professional smile. “I trust you slept well. This was dropped off at the front desk this morning for you Ma’am.”

“Yes, thank you,” Darcy replied, her face the picture of polite confusion. “Please just leave it there,” she added pointing to the divan in the sitting room, once she looked back and saw that Steve was ensconced in the bedroom safely hidden from view.

“There was a letter as well,” the concierge added, pulling an envelope out of the inner pocket of his jacket, handing it over before taking his leave.  “Have a lovely day Miss Lewis.”

Darcy took the envelope, ripping it open the moment the door closed.

My Dearest Miss Lewis-

I happened to come across a spare uniform in my travels and I simply don’t have the space for it in my footlocker. And with the war teaching us the importance of not letting anything go to waste, I thought to myself, now who could possibly need such a uniform. Then like lightening sent from above, it struck me that you might possibly know of a soldier that could make use of it, so I sent it off first thing this morning. If I’m mistaken, I’m sure you could find someone that’s headed this way to return it.

Forever at your humble service,

Sergeant James Barnes

Darcy laughed out loud as she unzipped the garment bag to find that inside was indeed one of Steve’s uniforms. If Bucky had been in front of her right then, there was a high possibility that she would have kissed him.

“When you see Bucky, tell him he just earned the right to use my first name,” she announced reentering the bedroom with a giddy smile on her face.

“What?” Steve, his face the very picture of rumpled confusion, asked from where he sat in bed, the white sheet bunched around his waist.

“This is your uniform,” she explained, pausing to drape it over a chair before shrugging out of her robe and letting it pool on the floor. “And your best friend just bought us an extra hour,” she said before jumping onto the bed wearing nothing but a smile.

Chapter Text

It was a frigid night in early February that found Steve doing his best to overcome his improved metabolism by downing tumbler after tumbler of Irish whiskey in a bombed-out London pub. He had long since lost track of how much he had had to drink when he heard the tell tale clicks of a woman’s heels approaching him.

“Dr. Erskine said that the serum wouldn’t just affect my muscles, it would affect my cells. Create a protective system of regeneration and healing. Which means… I can’t get drunk.” He turned around expecting to see Agent Carter, his eyes widening when instead he spotted Darcy picking her way through the rubble. In his eyes she was a veritable angel delivered from heaven, dressed in sensible wool twill pants and a cream sweater underneath her heavy winter coat.

“What are you doing here?” he questioned with wide eyes. It had been three months almost to the day since he had seen her last, and he could scarcely believe she was here now. A fleeting thought that perhaps the drink was affecting him in ways he didn’t anticipate crossing his mind until she closed the distance between them and placed a palm against his cheek.

“Always with that question,” she replied with a sad smile, her thumb sweeping gently beneath his red rimmed eye. “Where else would I be right now?”

The lump in his throat made it impossible to respond verbally, so he just wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close, burying his face against her cashmere covered stomach. They stayed there like that for several long minutes, Darcy running her fingers through his hair and swaying them back and forth slightly until she realized his shoulders were shaking with silent sobs.

“It’s alright, I’m here, you can let it out,” she cooed softly.

With her permission, the dam broke and the tears came in earnest, Steve not saying anything more than a choked out Bucky before simply clutching Darcy to him tighter. The pads of his fingers digging into her skin as he grasped onto her like his only lifeline.

Darcy couldn’t stop the silent tears that fell down her own face as Steve let out his pent up emotions. She wept for them both, because while she knew her grief couldn’t possibly match Steve’s, she too, was heartbroken, having considered Bucky a friend in his own right.  

It had all started with an off hand joke she had made shortly after their involuntary separation. Although Steve was no longer playing an active roll in the propaganda machine, that didn’t stop the system from marching on without him and it certainly hadn’t stopped Senator Brandt from using his image. With Captain America’s popularity only continuing to grow regardless of his involvement, Darcy had jokingly suggested that she was lucky Steve had the time to write her the long letters that he did, in the free time he had after going after Hydra and answering all the fan mail he must be getting. And even though she’d only been teasing, he’d replied honestly that any and all Captain America fan mail got routed to someone at the Office of War Information where it was answered with a form letter that he didn’t write and a picture that he didn’t sign. He went on to admit that that if it hadn’t been for her steady stream of letters, he would never even have known what it was like to have his name announced at mail call, but that was just part and parcel of being an orphan like him and Bucky, they being each others only real family.

It was only then, that she realized that there was probably a good chance that Bucky wasn’t having his name called for mail either. For all of Steve’s stories about Bucky’s numerous conquests, she doubted that the different girl every week lifestyle really fostered any kind of relationship that would include weekly letters after months overseas. Frankly, she was ashamed of herself for this not having occurred to her before, but from then on out, she always made a point of making sure that there was a letter in the post for Bucky every time she sent one to Steve. He wasn’t as consistent as Steve at writing back, maybe one letter for every three or four of hers, but that wasn’t the point. The fact that he wrote back at all was just a bonus, it was more important to her that Bucky knew that he had someone out in the world who cared enough about him to take the time to write.

And it wasn’t as if the time the correspondence took was any sort of hardship on her part. In fact it was quite the opposite. They quickly discovered they had very similar senses of humor and Steve had mentioned good-naturedly in one of his letters to her, that with all the laughing Bucky did when he read the letters she wrote him, that it was going to be dangerous for him to be stuck between the two of them the next time they were all in the same room.

Of course, that wouldn’t be happening now.

“It wasn’t your fault,” Darcy told him, when it seemed he was calming down.

“You don’t know that,” he countered, raising his face to hers, his voice thick and raw.

“Yes, I do,” she said surely. “You did everything you could.”

“How do you know?” Steve asked. “Did someone show you the report?”

“No, no one needed to. I know you,” Darcy said simply, brushing a lock of hair that had fallen forward out of his eyes. “You don’t know how to do anything less. It’s one of the things I love most about you.”

Steve had nothing to say in reply, and just leaned heavier against her body, not anywhere near ready to let go of his guilt or belief in his culpability. “How did you know where to find me?” Steve asked, pulling away so he could really look at her, just now questioning her sudden appearance at the destroyed pub. “You walked here by yourself? It’s dangerous out there. The air raid sirens were going off earlier.”

“The all clear sirens went off about forty five minutes ago,” Darcy replied, one eyebrow cocked but giving Steve a pass on the hypocritical nature of his concern since she didn’t believe he was anymore bomb proof than she was. “I called Peggy as soon as I checked into my hotel. I figured it would be faster then if I had attempted going through official channels to hunt you down. She said you left the debriefing, saying that you needed a drink, and that no one had seen you since. This is the only bar in London that I know you know. You were also last here with Bucky.” She shrugged her shoulders lightly, “I took a chance.” 

Steve nodded, acknowledging she was correct in her line of reasoning, his eyes darting to the remains of the bar where he and his friend once sat, in what felt like a different lifetime, and then back to table where a carved ivory handled pocket knife was sitting next to the mostly empty bottle of whisky.

Darcy followed his line of sight, a small gasp escaping her throat, when she saw what had his attention.

“He said it was the nicest thing he’d ever been given, maybe even the nicest thing he’d ever owned,” he confided, running his finger lightly over the silver plate that forever held the engraved initials JBB. “He always made it a point to leave it in his footlocker when we went out on missions. Said Hydra wasn’t worth it getting lost or damaged.”

Darcy forced herself to swallow the lump building in her throat. “I’m glad he liked his gift.” She had found the pocket knife when she had been shopping for Steve’s Christmas present and had quickly added it to her order.

“I carry mine everywhere.”

She didn’t know what to make of his tone as she watched him pull the golden compass she had given him for the holiday, to replace the brass standard military issue one, out of his pocket. It was almost remorseful, if she had to define it, but she wasn’t sure what it was he apologizing for. 

“I meant for you to,” she replied simply as she watched him absently click open the case, noting that he had placed a picture of her within it. It covered the engraving, but she had no doubt that he had the inscription memorized.  “I haven’t taken off my necklace since it came in the mail.”

Steve glanced up and saw that she was indeed wearing the gold, heart shaped locket that he had found for her while the Commandos were in France. The cluster of amethyst that made up the shape of a flower in the center of the heart reminded him the dress she wore on that last night in London as soon as he saw it, and he knew he had to get it for her. He managed to muster a sad sort of half smile at the sight of it around her neck for the first time, before his gaze was invariably pulled back to the pocket knife on the table.

He remembered the delight on Bucky’s face when the package was handed over during mail call and the almost childish glee when he opened it. Bucky had always loved Christmas though, even the year that Steve had caught pneumonia and they had spent everything but the rent money on doctor’s visits, he’d managed to scrape something together to mark the holiday. Not this year though, he and the rest of the Howling Commandos spent Christmas Day camped out deep in the Black Forrest and other than Darcy’s gifts, which they had received the week before, the day passed with little fanfare. Bucky had declared over their cold and unappetizing c-ration dinners that they would have to make up for it next year. He’d gone on to suggest, while brushing snow off his shoulder, that maybe they could talk Darcy into hosting in sunny California and idly wondered if they put lights on palm trees in Hollywood instead of pines.

Steve was jolted out of his remembrances when the hand that was toying with the Damascus steel blade was covered by one of Darcy’s.  

“Your hands are like ice,” she murmured softly as she gently rubbed them between her own, able to feel the chill radiating from them through her lamb skin gloves.  “Come back to my hotel with me, I’m afraid if I let you stay out here any longer you’ll be frozen solid,” she teased gently.

Steve didn’t respond verbally, but allowed himself to be pulled from his seat and obediently followed her on the familiar route back to her hotel, the same she had resided in during her previous stay in London. But the streets that had been busy and full of life the last time they had taken this walk, were now quiet and empty, the dark bombed-out buildings mirroring the change in his mental state.

They silently entered Darcy’s hotel room and she dropped his hand to cross over to the ensuite. Steve absently noted that her room was the exact mirror image of the room she had stayed in the last time. It seemed fitting somehow, as he felt like his whole world was backwards and wrong from that night three months prior. The only thing that made any sense to him right now was the small woman who was coming back from the bathroom and leading him towards the sound of running water.

With a gentle but sure touch, she eased him out of his uniform and urged him into the tub, before stripping out of her own clothes and slipping into the steaming water behind him. Darcy didn’t try to make conversation, instead she wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms around his shoulders, pulling him close until his back was resting against her chest. She let her actions tell him more than what words could express, that he was loved and embraced.

The warm water did its work to bring up his body temperature, but it was Darcy’s presence that began to thaw the icy grip around his heart. Settling his head against the curve between her neck and her shoulder he fell into an almost trance like state as she ran her fingers soothingly through his damp hair.

“Bucky’s had my back since we were twelve,” Steve started after some time, making Darcy jump slightly at his sudden declaration. “I was in the Eighth Street Orphanage and there was some bullies who lived on Tenth who liked to give us all a hard time. I was standing up to them and getting beat up for my troubles, when Bucky intervened and sent them running right quick. They never bothered me again and he became my best friend in world. And ever since then he never let me down. Not once.”

“And now… he was counting on me to keep him safe… and I failed.” His shoulders slumped and the despondency practically poured out of him.

“How?"

“How what?”

“How did you fail?” Darcy challenged calmly.

Steve’s torso twisted sharply as he turned to face her, water sloshing carelessly onto the floor.

“Bucky is dead!” he exclaimed, his eyes flashing with a multitude of conflicting emotions.

“But how is that your fault?” she continued to push, refusing to back down.

“I should have been faster, been smarter. I should have seen it coming and done something to save him,” he insisted turning back around. 

Darcy maneuvered around his body so that she was sitting on his lap facing him. This wasn’t a conversation she wanted to have with the back of his head. “As far as I know your super soldier upgrades didn’t come with the ability to see the future, or travel through time. So ask yourself honestly, what could you have done?” she asked.

“I-” he choked on the words, his gaze shifted to the back wall over her shoulder, staring at nothing as he seriously contemplated her questions.

They were nothing he hadn’t already repeatedly asked himself over the course of the day and into the night. He played the incident on train over and over in his mind trying to decipher where it went wrong, what he could have done differently. But in the least emotional part of his brain, where he purely utilized the strategic mastery he had been gifted with by science, he couldn’t manage to save Bucky. Not once Bucky picked up his shield and faced off against the Hydra soldier.

“I told him to get down. Why did he have to get up?” Steve was asking pleadingly before he realized he was speaking. “I was fine, I could have handled it. I didn’t need him to protect me anymore.”

“Bucky didn’t know how to stay down anymore than you do,” Darcy said reaching up to brush a damp lock of hair off his face, the intensity in her gaze softening. “You’ll both do anything you can to protect the ones you care about, even at risk to yourself. It’s a shared quality that makes you both great men. But you can’t blame yourself for Bucky’s actions.”

Steve shook his head, even as he heard the truth in Darcy’s words, he wasn’t ready to let go of his self recrimination. “They’re my team,” he insisted. “Ultimately, it’s my responsibility to keep them safe. He wouldn’t have ever been there if it wasn’t for me.”

“Where, on the train or on your team?”

Steve shrugged not meeting her gaze, instead watching the tub faucet drip slowly.

“Where does your accountability begin? Where do you draw the line? Is it your fault because you enlisted and became Captain America? Bucky enlisted before you did, and by that logic he never would have made it out of that Hydra factory back in November,” Darcy pointed out gently. 

When Steve didn’t seem inclined to respond, Darcy sighed and tried one last tactic.

“Did Bucky know the risks of what you were doing?”

Steve nodded, still apparently entranced by the forming water droplets. 

“Do you think he thought the mission was worth the risks?” she asked again.

“We captured Dr. Zola,” he said softly, not caring that he was revealing classified information. “He’s Schmidt’s right hand man. Colonel Phillips is interrogating him right now to find our where HYDRA’s main base is.”

“Then you’re dishonoring him by blaming yourself,” she said bluntly.

Steve’s eyes snapped to hers, something akin to shock in his expression.

“Holding yourself responsible means that you don’t respect Bucky’s decisions as a man or a solider,” she declared frankly. “You can still miss him, and mourn him, and love him, without punishing yourself.”

Steve mulled this over for a long moment, and Darcy gave him the time, waiting patiently for how he would respond. “You're right.” he finally nodded. “You’re right.”

It still hurt, there was still a gaping hole in his chest that his best friend used to fill. He wasn’t sure if it would ever stop hurting, he couldn’t imagine that it would, but he knew he couldn’t shoulder the blame all by himself. No, he would place it on exactly who it belonged. Johan Schmidt and all of Hydra.

“I’m going after Schmidt. I’m not stopping until all of Hydra is dead or captured,” he stated with conviction.

“I don’t expect anything less,” she responded resolutely. “One more question for you and then I’ve said my peace.”

“Alright,” Steve nodded wondering what there was left to say.

“What do you think Bucky would say to you if he was here right now?” she posed.

Steve took a minute to consider her question before a wry grin tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Honestly, he would probably smack me upside the head and call me an idiot for having a gorgeous and naked dame on my lap and not doing anything about it.”

They both allowed themselves to laugh, grateful for the release of tension. It wasn’t the response she had been anticipating, but it was probably more beneficial then the one she was looking for.

The amusement left his eyes and was once again replaced with remorse. “I’m sorry sweetheart,” he apologized, reaching up to tuck a lock of hair behind her ear. “I haven’t seen you months and you show up right when I need you and I don’t even think I said hello.”

“Shh,” Darcy hushed him quickly. “I understand. It’s fine.”

“No, it’s not,” he said with a shake of his head. Closing the gap between them he placed a soft kiss against her lips. “I missed you, and I’m so grateful you’re here.”

Darcy smiled softly, “I missed you too. So much. And I already told you I wouldn’t be anywhere else right now. I love you Steve.”

“I love you Darcy,” he replied earnestly before capturing her mouth with his once more, kissing her in a manner more befitting of reuniting lovers.

It wasn’t long before they were out of the tub and tumbling onto the bed in a tangle of damp limbs not caring that they were soaking the sheets since drying off after their bath wasn’t on either of their priority lists.

It was different from when they were together last, where their first night together was about tentative explorations, tonight their movements were more primal, there was a desperation about him, to loose himself in her embrace. It was a reaffirmation that they were still living, still breathing, that they could still feel pleasure. And although she had no complaints there was little more that Darcy could do but go along for the ride.

After a vigorous round of grief fueled lovemaking followed by another softer round that was more about reconnection and comfort, Darcy fell asleep quickly, but Steve was not so lucky. Despite being physically, mentally and emotionally wrung, sleep eluded him. He lay in bed and watched her sleep for a while, but soon the impulse to do something refused to be ignored and he gingerly slid out from where Darcy was using his shoulder as her pillow, careful not to disturb her. Idly pacing around the room in search of a distraction, his gaze drifted to the unlit fireplace. It seemed as valid of an activity as any, and without much thought, he took the matches from the mantle and with a practiced hand quickly stoked the fire up to a roaring state.

For the lack of anything else to do, he sat heavily in the wingback chair that sat next to hearth and watched the flames flicker and burn for some indeterminable time. It wasn’t until the sound of rustling sheets caught his attention that he tore his gaze away from the fire to glance back towards the bed, but what he saw took his breath away. In his absence, Darcy had rolled onto her side facing towards him, one small hand curled beneath her chin, the other resting low on her belly just above where the white sheet was draped over her hips. Her only adornment was the heart shaped locket, which was resting in the hollow of her throat, the amethysts imbedded within it flashing in the low light. Her still damp curls fell gently over one shoulder obscuring one breast, but leaving the other bare to his gaze. Her long eyelashes were dark against her pale cheeks and her ever so slightly parted lips were still swollen from his earlier attentions. In the flicking firelight her porcelain skin glowed from the inside out and she was a vision of ethereal beauty.

The urge to draw her was too strong to deny and he stealthily moved through the suite, digging through the desk for supplies. Finding a piece of heavy cardstock and a pen amongst the hotel stationary he retuned to his previous position, pleased to find that she hadn’t moved while he was gone and began to draw.

Lost in his artist’s focus, Steve was unaware of how much time had passed until his drawing was almost done and Darcy beginning to stir pulled him out of his trance. Her arm reached across the bed searchingly, her brow furrowing when it came across nothing but cool sheets and an empty pillow. Her eyes cracked open slightly and quickly zeroed in on him sitting next to the dying fire.

“Sweetheart, come back to bed,” she mumbled sleepily.

“One minute,” he replied absently, wanting to put the finishing details on the highlights in her hair.

“What are you doing?” she asked, slightly more awake.

“I, umm…” he glanced down at the sketch in front of him and immediately started having second thoughts. He was afraid that she would be upset at him for drawing her in such a vulnerable state. She trusted him, he never wanted to break that and was worried that his drawing her partial nudity could make her feel violated.

Darcy sat up, pulling the blankets up to her chest to ward off the chill of the room that she now felt. Blinking several times to force her eyes to focus she noticed the pen and paper in Steve’s hands. “Were you drawing?”

“Yes?” he answered with a slight wince.

“You don’t sound too sure of that,” she replied with a bemused smile, unsure of where his hesitation was coming from. She had long since convinced him to show her his sketch books, and she had been awed by his talent. “Let me see?”

He cringed as he stood, but he couldn’t deny her anything. “I’ll burn it if you want,” he offered, his eyes darting quickly to the fireplace, “but I saw you in the firelight and I couldn’t resist.”

Her eyebrow arched with his admission that it was her visage he had been committing to paper, but still didn’t understand his uncertainty. He had drawn her before, and she had always been flattered and made sure to tell him so.

Steve watched Darcy’s face closely as she took the post card sized picture from him and held it up so she could see it in the firelight. Except for the squinting which was easily attributed to the low light, her expression was inscrutable and it was all he could do to keep from squirming restlessly while he waited for her reaction.

“Is this really how you see me?” she asked softly, her eyes still tracing her form as seen through his eyes and realized through his hands.

Steve just nodded, unsure of what to make of her question.

She brought one hand up and traced the line of his jaw from his temple to his chin. “You make me beautiful."

“You are beautiful.”

“I’ve had my picture taken or been filmed by dozens of men, but none of them see me the way you do. They wait to do their job until I’ve been primped and prodded and dolled up by dozens of make up artists and wardrobe people; transformed into who they want me to be. Whether that’s a character I’m playing, or simply Darcy Lewis, ‘America’s Sweetheart.’ But you see me,” she stressed, trying to make him understand how he made her feel. “Even while I’m asleep, completely stripped down of all of that, without any makeup, my hair a total mess and my mouth hanging open, you make me beautiful.”

Warmth blossomed in Steve’s chest at Darcy’s words, it meant more to him then he could ever express that she felt that way since her feelings so closely mirrored his own. Now that Bucky was gone, she was the only person in his world that truly saw him and loved him for that. Unwilling to pick at that wound again tonight before it had a chance to even begin scabbing over, he instead addressed another on of her statements.

“Your mouth was not hanging open. Your lips were parted,” he countered. “In a very attractive way.”

Even in the dim glow of the dying fire, Steve could see the shift in Darcy’s countenance, the mischievous twinkle flashing in her eyes.  

“An attractive way,” she parroted with a coquettish smirk.

“Mhmm,” he hummed, bringing a hand up to run his thumb lightly over her plump bottom lip, more than willing to play her game. “Very sexy.”

Her eyes managed to light up with mirth and darken with desire at the same time. “Sexy, huh?”

Steve simply nodded, his own eyes nearly black.

Darcy leaned forward until her lips ghosted against his. “I’ll show you sexy.”

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Steve was resting with his head on Darcy’s bare chest listening to her heartbeat while his fingertips traced random patterns against the skin on her stomach while she ran her fingers through his sweat damped hair. His hand stopped suddenly resting flatly against her belly and Darcy tensed slightly.

“What’s wrong?” she asked cautiously.

“I love you.”

“I love you too,” she responded without hesitation.

Steve propped himself up on one elbow so he was hovering above her slightly, looking her in the eye for what he was about to say next. “Marry me?”

“What?” Darcy asked completely blindsided.

“I love you. Marry me,” he repeated. “When this is all over and Hydra is gone and the war is over, let’s get married.”

“Steve, honey,” Darcy started cautiously. “I love you, so much, but you have had a really terrible day. Are you sure-”

“I’m more than sure,” Steve interrupted. “I can’t imagine spending the rest of my life with anyone else but you.”

“I love you and I’m not going anywhere. You don’t need to propose to guarantee that,” she continued gently.

“This has nothing to do with Bucky. This is just me wanting you to be my wife,” he replied agitation leaking into his tone.  

“Sweetheart, I know you're prone to being impulsive and you’ve had a streak of that working out for you, but we haven’t been together that long. We’ve only had a few weeks really. I’m still in a contractually obligated relationship with Jimmy Bradford. And the studio…” she trailed off, her mind going in several directions at once. She hadn’t told Steve yet, but she already had a meeting scheduled with her agent and publicist to apprise them to the changes in her personal life and was anxious for their reactions. Her star power afforded her some freedoms, but the studio still had so much power over all aspects of her life.

Steve was starting to second guess his spur of the moment proposal. Sure Darcy had mentioned their future together in the abstract, but she had never even hinted at marriage. She was a big movie star and he was just a guy from Brooklyn, even if he was Captain America. Also they did things differently in Hollywood, maybe she didn’t even want to get married. But didn’t all dames want to get married?

Or maybe it was the way he proposed. He shouldn’t have just blurted it out like that. She deserved more that that, she deserved a well thought out and planned proposal. Something she could tell her grandchildren about.

When Steve didn’t seem inclined to say anything, Darcy spoke again. “It’s just…” she trailed off trying to figure out how to put how she was feeling into words. “I don’t want you to feel like you have to ask, just in case. I don’t want to come out from the other side of this war only to find you have regrets from rash decisions. Not when you don’t have all the information.”

“What other information could I need?” Steve questioned impassionedly. “I love you, there is nothing that could make me regret being with you!”

The raw emotion in Steve's eyes brought a lump to Darcy’s throat that she had to force down so she could speak. “I’m flying to New York in the morning, but I can be back by the end of the week.” She stopped to clear her throat roughly. “You said it yourself, that you’re going after Schmidt soon, right?”

Steve nodded, his brow furrowing slightly at her announcement that she was going stateside. She hadn’t mentioned the trip before now and he knew she hadn’t finished the USO tour, but he mentally brushed it aside to focus on the more pressing matters at hand.

“Well, I’ll stay in London until then, and when it’s over we’ll talk about this again,” she said resolutely.

Steve sighed, but relented, he knew Darcy well enough that when she got that stubborn set to her jaw there was no dissuading her from whatever she set her mind on. “If it makes you feel better, once Schmidt is dead, I’ll ask you again and do it properly with a ring and everything.”

“If it makes you feel better,” Darcy parroted with a grin, “after we talk about it and if you still want to marry me, my answer will be yes.”

Steve just shook his head slightly, a soft smile lifting the corners of his mouth. He couldn’t imagine anything possibly changing his mind, but if it really made her feel more confident about it, he could ask her again once Hydra was wiped off the map. But in his mind they were already as good as engaged. Valentine’s Day was next week, and he pondered the odds him being able to take out Schmidt and procure a suitable ring by then.

Closing the gap between them, Steve planted a soft kiss on her forehead, then on the tip of her nose, and finally against her lips.

Breaking apart with a contented sigh, Darcy opened her eyes and searched Steve’s face, seeing the weariness he couldn’t hide from her. “Sweetheart, you need to get some sleep.”

“I don’t think I can,” Steve replied softly. Every time he closed his eyes all he could see was Bucky, his hand reaching out to him for help and then him slipping falling into the icy ravine. 

Darcy easily read the look in his eyes; they said the volumes that he couldn’t bring himself to verbalize.

“Come here,” she ordered him gently.

Taking his hand, she pulled him down so that he was lying down beside her, his head situated on her shoulder. Brushing the hair off his forehead she gently started running her fingers through his hair like she had in the tub. When she felt the tension begin to leave his body, she began to sing.

“Some day he'll come along, the man I love. And he'll be big and strong, the man I love. And when he comes my way, I'll do my best to make him stay” 

It was a song from her most recent picture, filmed right before they went on tour. The movie hadn’t even been released yet, but thinking back to the last time she sang this song, she couldn’t help but feel she was a different person and that was a different lifetime.

“He'll look at me and smile, I'll understand. And in a little while, he'll take my hand. And though it seems absurd, I know we both won't say a word….”

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

The shrill ringing of the phone jolted both of them out of their sleep. A glance toward the window alerted them that the sun hadn’t risen yet, which didn’t bode well. Pre-dawn phone calls rarely brought good news.

“Hello?” Darcy greeted cautiously, after scrambling for the phone.

“Good morning, Miss Lewis. This is Colonel Phillips, I need to speak to Captain Rogers.”

“I… umm… what?” Darcy stammered still half asleep, her brain trying to catch up to what her ears were hearing.

“Rogers,” Phillips repeated no-nonsense. “I need to speak to him.”

“How did you even know he was here?” she questioned, still not firing on all cylinders.

“Do I seem like a stupid man to you?” was the Colonel’s dry response to that. “It’s important Miss Lewis, now hand Rogers the phone.”

“It’s for you,” Darcy said with a yawn, handing over the phone to Steve who was looking far more alert than anyone should, considering the time and how little rest they’d gotten.

Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, Darcy tried to wake up enough to decipher Steve’s side of the conversation.

“Yes Sir… Already?... Today?!... Yes Sir, right away Sir…. I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”  Steve hung up the phone and jumped out of bed, hurrying into the bathroom to grab his clothes from where they were left the night before.

“Steve, honey, what’s going on?” Darcy called after him.

“Colonel Phillips got Schmidt’s location and plans from Zola, we’re going after him today!” he shouted from the next room.

Now Darcy was awake. She sat on the edge of the bed clutching the blankets to her chest as a terrible wave of foreboding washed over her.

Steve rushed out of the bathroom threading his belt through the loops in his trousers when he looked up to notice Darcy watching him with wide worried eyes. No, it was more than worry, she looked like she was on the verge of tears. “What’s wrong?”

“Just-” the words got stuck in her throat. “Just promise me you’ll come back.”

“I…” Steve trailed off, he didn’t want to make a promise he couldn’t keep, knowing all to well, especially after yesterday that there were no guarantees.

“Lie to me if you have to,” she practically begged, her eyes swirling with a wild desperation.

Steve quickly crossed over to the bed and sat down beside her, engulfing her in his strong arms. “I’ll come back. We’re going to go after Schmidt today and I’ll see you when you come back to London at the end of the week,” he assured her.

“Promise?” she asked into his chest. She was ashamed of herself for being so needy, when she knew she should be strong, Steve didn’t need to worry about her on top of everything else. But even calling on all of her acting abilities, she could barely keep it together over the anxiety that was washing over her.

“Promise,” he replied. “In fact,” he paused to pull Bucky’s knife out of his pocket and put it in the palm of her hand, closing her fingers around the ivory handle. “Bucky’d kill me if I lost it after he was so careful. So why don’t you hold onto this for me, and I’ll get it back from you when I see you next.”

Darcy simply nodded, knowing she wouldn’t be able to get any words past the lump in her throat, and watched Steve as he finished dressing so quickly it made her head spin. As soon as his shoes were tied he was back at her side kissing her gently.

“I have to go,” he breathed as soon as he pulled away.

“I know,” she whispered back. 

“You should try to get some more rest,” he was stalling and they both knew it. “What time is your flight?”

“Noon.” She wasn’t even going to pretend that she was going to be able to go back to sleep. “Send me a telegram when you get back to London? Let me know Schmidt’s taken care of and everyone is alright?”

“Are you staying at the New Yorker again?”

She nodded as Steve assured her he would do as she asked.

“I have to go,” he repeated, standing and checking his pockets that he had everything as he moved towards the door.

Darcy got up to follow him out of the bedroom, the sheet she pulled off the bed to cover herself, trailing behind her.

Steve paused with one hand on the doorknob to look back at Darcy. Standing there wrapped in nothing but a white sheet, Bucky’s pocket knife still clutched to her chest, her eyes wide and guileless, she was the image of the little girl lost. It only took two long strides to cover the distance between them and he was kissing her hard.

“I have to go,” he said for a third time. “I love you.” And he was gone without looking back. He couldn’t look back or he wouldn’t have the strength to leave her. It was time to go be Captain America.

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Darcy never did go back to bed, instead waiting until the sun was fully risen over the horizon before ordering a room service breakfast that she didn’t do much more than pick at. Finally giving up on the idea of eating she threw her napkin on the table in disgust, just in time for there to be a knock on the door. A small frown crossed her face since she had no idea who it could possibly be, and she tightened the sash on her robe as she moved across the room to see who was out in the hall. 

“Agent Carter?” she greeted, the surprise clear in her tone when she saw who was on the other side of the door. “I would have thought that you would be too busy today to stop by for a visit.”

“Good morning, Miss Lewis,” Peggy replied, stepping across the threshold, but making no move enter the room further. “You’re right I don’t have much time.” They were rolling out on the hour, but she had needed to pick something up from her flat and decided to stop by the hotel on her way back to base.

“What can I do for you Peggy?” Darcy asked curiously

“I didn’t think anything of it when you called me last night, to ask if Steve was in town or still in the field, since I assumed you got my telegram about Sergeant Barnes. But then I realized there was no way that my telegram could have reached you and then for you to reach London in the time that you had.” The way Darcy swallowed visibly told the agent that she was on to something. “On a hunch, I made a phone call to your tour manager and discovered that not only did you book your flight a week ago, but you also cancelled the North African portion of your tour.”

“Don’t tell Steve,” Darcy said pleadingly, her eyes wide.

“What-?”

“I just need you to promise me that you’ll have Steve’s back,” the young actress beseeched. “I know what you’re doing today and I need you to make sure he comes back.”

“Darcy, what’s going on?” Peggy asked her countenance awash with concern for the woman she considered a friend. In all of their interactions and correspondence she was always so confident and positive. And she had a feeling this was much more than just the loss of Sergeant Barnes. Something just wasn’t adding up.

“I can’t…. I just need him to come back,” she repeated, sounding much younger than her twenty two years.

“I need more than that Darcy,” Peggy said using the tone she usually saved for new recruits.  

Darcy wrung her hands in an uncharacteristic display of anxiety. “How much time do you have?”

“No more than ten minutes,” Peggy answered.

The actress sighed seemingly coming to some resolve. “Come in and shut the door. That’s enough time for a cup of coffee.”

Chapter Text

Schmidt was dead, but his job wasn’t done just yet. He still had a plane with enough firepower to take out the eastern seaboard to take care of. Running over to the flight chair, Steve took in the situation and started going over his options. None of them looked good.

“Come in this is Captain Rogers, do you read me?” He heard Morita reply only to be interrupted by Agent Carter.

“Steve is that you, are you alright?” she asked over the radio.

“Schmidt’s dead,” he informed her first.

“What about the plane?”

“That’s a little tougher to explain,” he admitted flipping switches, trying to get the plane’s autopilot to respond, to no avail. It seemed he only had rudimentary control, but nothing was going to divert the aircraft from its locked-in target.

“Give me your coordinates, I can find you a safe landing site.”

“There’s not going to be any safe landing. But I can try to force it down.”

“I’ll get Howard on the line, he’ll know what to do.”

“There’s not enough time. It’s moving too fast and headed straight for New York.” He sighed, wishing there was another way, but he could only see one option. “I got to put her in the water.”

“Please, don’t do this. We have time, we can work it out,” she tried to reason with him.

“Right now I’m in the middle of nowhere, if I wait any longer a lot of people are going to die,” he paused, he didn’t have to mention that Darcy would be in New York by now as well. “Peggy, this is my choice.”

“No, Steve, you can’t!” Peggy pleaded. “What about Darcy?!”

Steve’s heart clenched painfully as he pulled his compass out of his pocket. Pulling the picture away from the inside cover he read the engraving one last time.

Dearest-

They say that home is where the heart is.

Don’t get lost bringing mine back to me.

Yours always,

-Darcy

He said a silent apology, bringing the compass to his lips for a moment before tucking it into his uniform, close to his heart. Then he tucked the picture he had removed into the plane’s console, so he could see his love’s smiling face as he pushed the controls forward and began his downward decent. He was doing this for her. “Peggy, please tell Darcy that I love her and that I’m sorry, but this something that I had to do.”

“Steve you promised her you’d come back! I promised her you’d come back!”

“She’ll understand,” he said surely, he had to believe that, he wouldn’t be able to go through with this otherwise.

“No, you don’t understand!” Peggy shouted beseechingly into the com desperate to do anything to change Steve’s mind. “You have to come back because you’re going to be a father!”

“A FATH-”

And then everything went black.

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

 

The world came back to Steve slowly.

Curve ball, high and outside for ball one. So the Dodgers are tied, 4-4.

Sound was first. It started with an awareness of white noise that he was soon able to distinguish as the sound of a radio playing somewhere inside the room.

And the crowd knows that with one swing of his bat, this fellow’s capable of making it a brand-new game again.

Touch was next. He was on a bed in a cool room, the air circulating as if there was a window open with a gentle breeze.

Just an absolutely gorgeous day here at Ebbets Field. The Phillies have managed to tie it up at 4-4. But the Dodgers have three men on.

Opening his eyes was a little trickier. His eyelids were heavy, but after several failed attempts he forced them open. Blinking rapidly against the harsh light of the room, he took in his surroundings. On the surface everything appeared normal, but his instincts screamed to the contrary. Something was wrong. Very wrong.

Swinging his feet to the floor he sat up, his brow furrowing as took a moment to listen to the game.

Pearson beaned Reiser in Philadelphia last month. Wouldn’t the youngster like a hit here to return the favor? Pete leans in. Here’s the pitch. Swung on. A line to the right. And it gets past Rizzo. Three runs will score. Reiser heads to third, Durcher’s going to wave him in. Here comes the relay, but they won’t get to him.

His attention was pulled away from the broadcast when the door slowly cracked open admitting a young woman in a WAC uniform.

“Good morning, or should I say afternoon,” she greeted pleasantly.

“Where am I?” he asked suspiciously, his whole body tense and ready to make a move at any moment.

“You’re in a recovery room in New York City.”

The Dodgers take the lead, 8-4. Oh, Dodgers! Everyone is on their feet. What a game we have here today, folks. What a game, indeed.

“Where am I really?” He wanted to ask where Darcy was, and Agent Carter or Colonel Philips. If he was really in New York one of them would be on hand when he woke up, but since he didn’t believe that he was actually in New York for a minute, he didn’t want to give too much away.

“I’m afraid I don’t understand.”

“The game, it’s from May, 1941. I know because I was there.” The look on the woman’s face changed and Steve knew he had her. “Now, I’m gonna ask you again. Where am I?”

“Captain Rogers.”

“Who are you?” he demanded taking several steps towards the woman and the only way out of the room, only to have the doorway bottlenecked with men in black uniforms that didn’t resemble anything he had seen Hydra or the SS wear. He was prepared to fight his way out of the room, but when a well placed punch sent two of the mystery soldiers through a wall revealing that the so called recovery room was actually a carefully created set to make him believe he was back home in New York City. He took advantage of the hole in the flat and made a run for it. Without knowing who or what he was up against, he knew the best idea was make his escape and regroup.

“Captain Rogers! Wait!”

All Agents code 13. I repeat all Agents code 13.

With that one announcement over the PA system he had everyone in the building after him. But he was faster and stronger, and it didn’t take him long to fight his way out onto the rain soaked streets. But what he found out there didn’t help his confusion.  As he ran down the middle of the street, he was passed by cars unlike any he had ever seen, there were lights flashing everywhere and billboards with moving pictures. Everything was bright and loud, the cacophony assaulting his senses. At a complete loss of where he was and what he should do, he slowed to a stop and let the black cars surround him.

“At ease soldier!”  A man in a long black coat and an eye patch climbed out of one of the cars and approached him with the swagger of a man who held a position of power.

“Who are you?” he questioned, hoping for more answers than the woman inside had given. He may have been confused and backed against a wall, but he wasn’t about to give up.

“Colonel Nick Fury, Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. You would have known us as the Strategic Scientific Reserve.”

“Where am I?” he questioned again.

“46^th and Broadway,” Fury answered almost flippantly.

46^th and Broadway? Steve had been in Times Square, he was not in Times Square, but something told him that this man wasn’t lying to him. He couldn’t really be home in New York City. Could he?

“Look, I’m sorry about that little show back there,” Fury continued, “but we didn’t know what your mental state might be, so we thought it best to break it to you slowly.”

“Break what?”

“You’ve been asleep, Cap. For almost seventy years.”

He took a long beat to let that sink in as he looked around again. Seventy years. It was impossible, but it was also the only thing that made any sense. The cars, the lights, and the changes to Times Square which he now recognized in the bones of the buildings around him. “How am I alive?”

“Well to be honest with you, we don’t really know,” he told Steve frankly. “My docs say it was suspended animation. Could be Dr. Erskine’s formula, the extreme cold. I don’t know.”

“What about the war? Did we win?” He was grasping at straws trying to piece things together, asking the first questions that popped into his mind.

“Hell yes. Unconditional surrender. Taking down Hydra was a big part of that,” Fury assured him, knowing the sacrifice Steve had made. “But the world hasn’t changed all that much. There’s still a lot of work to be done. A soldier’s work. The world can still use a man like you, Cap."

Fury extended his arm, and Steve only hesitated for a moment before taking it in a firm hand shake.

“There’s a place here for you.” Fury assured him.

Steve wasn’t so sure, his mind spinning in a hundred different directions as he tried to reconcile everything he was just told.

“You gonna be okay?” the Colonel asked.

No, he was not okay. He wasn’t sure he would ever be okay again. “Yeah…” he muttered instead, “yeah, it’s just… I was going to be a father…”

“What was that Rogers?” Fury asked, sure he had heard him wrong.

“Nothing sir,” Steve said quickly, he wasn’t about to share any details about Darcy with these people when he didn’t even know who they were. 

“Let’s go back inside,” Fury replied, clapping Steve on the shoulder. “We have a lot to catch you up on.”

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

It was several days or maybe it was weeks, it all blended together in a haze, later, after endless tests, briefing and debriefings that Steve found himself wandering down the familiar yet unsettlingly foreign New York City streets.  SHIELD had released him until further notice, but that left him at a loose end. It was still early in the day, but Steve didn’t want to go back to his apartment just yet. It was only filled with ghosts that he wasn’t quite ready to face, the specters of his past. Unfortunately for him, fate had a cruel sense of humor and as he walked downtown, there in front of him was STARK, emblazoned on top of one of the ugliest buildings he had ever seen.

He had heard of the building before, there being a certain amount of buzz about it with the agents at SHIELD, something about being completely self sustaining and green (something Steve didn’t quite understand since looking at the structure now, there didn’t seem to be anything green on it). And through his eavesdropping, he had gathered that it did not belong to his old friend, but to his friend’s son. He wasn’t sure how long he was standing there before a young woman approached him.

“Did you need a table?” she asked with a friendly smile.

“What?”

“You waiting to be seated?” she asked again, one eyebrow quirked.

It was then that he realized he was standing next to a café, and that his rather unappetizing SHIELD cafeteria breakfast had been a long time ago.

“Yes, please,” he said politely. “Thank you, ma’am."

The waitress simply quirked her brow again and led him to a table. “You’ve still got a good view of the tower from here, if you’re waiting on the big guy,” she said misinterpreting his reason for staring at the building before. 

“Ma’am?”

“Iron Man,” she clarified leaving a menu on his table. “A lot of people eat here just to see him fly by.”

“Right,” he nodded taking his seat, letting her believe that was the reason the tower had captured his attention. “Maybe I’ll get lucky.”

“Alright then, can I get you started with something to drink?”

“Coffee’s fine, thank you.”

“You got it hon,” she said with a friendly smile. “If you have any questions my name is Beth and I’ll be back for your order in a bit.”

Looking over the menu he once again had to remind himself how dramatic inflation had been over the last seventy years, to keep himself from going into shock over the price of a club sandwich. A ceramic mug clinking against the stainless steel table top made him realize just how long he had been starring unseeingly at the list of lunch options.

“Did you decide or did you need another minute?”

“Oh, um…” Not wanting to make the waitress have to come back, he glanced down at the menu and ordered the first thing his eye landed on. “I’ll take the Cobb salad please.”

“You got it.”

She grinned again, taking the menu and walking towards the kitchen to put his order in. Leaving Steve to contemplate his twelve dollar salad, his thoughts going against his will to how much he paid for the last Cobb salad he ate, and of course who he shared that meal with.

Trying to keep his mind from going down that path, he pulled a ball point pen out of his pocket and started sketching StarkTower, which just like the waitress promised was still fully visible from where he was seated, in the upper right hand corner of his paper placemat. But after a moment, like his hand had a mind of its own, he shifted to the opposite corner and started sketching Darcy as he remembered her that night at the Brown Derby.

“Wow, you’re really talented,” Beth announced herself, looking over her his shoulder, salad in one hand, carafe of coffee ready to refill the mug he had been absently sipping from in the in the other.

Steve jolted slightly, having been lost in his own world, mentally scolding himself for allowing himself to be snuck up on. “Thank you ma’am,” he said graciously.

“Someone special?” she probed curiously, having noticed the intensity with which he was sketching, from across the patio.

“She is… was my girl,” he answered haltingly.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Beth apologized. “Bad breakup? I’ve been there,” she sympathized.

“No, we didn’t break up…” he cleared his throat. He didn’t know why he was correcting her. “I… lost her. There was a plane crash.” Of course he was the one on the plane, but there was no way to explain that without sounding like he needed to be sent out to Kings Park State Hospital.

“Oh my god,” Beth said, eyes wide, clearly horrified at herself for prying. “I am so sorry, I shouldn’t have said anything. My friends always tell me I talk too much.”

“It’s okay, you were just being friendly,” Steve assured her, equally as embarrassed at himself for saying more than he intended. “Actually, can I get this packed up to go?”

“Please don’t leave, I can get you another waitress if you’d like,” she offered.

“No, it’s not you,” Steve promised, already pulling his money clip out of his pocket. “I just… have to go.” He had completely lost his appetite, and the very sight of the Cobb salad was making him nauseous. “I’m sorry.”

Folding up the placemat and shoving it into his pocket, it didn’t seem right to leave it behind, he gulped down the rest of his coffee and threw a twenty down on the table as Beth practically came running back out from the kitchen with his meal in a plastic to go box. He barely remembered to thank her, and apologize again for his abruptness, before he was gone, walking down the street towards Grand Central. He needed to get out of midtown. Away from buildings that had his long deceased friend’s names plastered across the skyline. He only paused long enough to give his untouched lunch to a homeless man sitting outside the train station, before he was on the 5 on his way out to Brooklyn.

Normally on the ride out to Red Hook, he passed the time reading a newspaper in an attempt to catch up on current events. Sometimes he people watched, but quickly tired of the pastime after he discovered that most people these days spent their idle time focused on their phones and tablets. He wasn’t sure if he would ever get used to the fact that even groups that were clearly together chose to ignore each other in favor of the electronic devices in their hands. Frankly he found the lack of personal interaction appalling.

But today he didn’t pause to buy a two dollar paper and he couldn’t even muster a mild indignation at his fellow commuters’ blatant disregard of human contact. Instead he stared blankly at the bright yellow sign that demanded that if he should ‘see something’ he should ‘say something’. He made his connection on autopilot and his mind didn’t reengage until he was letting himself into the apartment SHIELD had procured for him. He tossed his keys into the bowl on the table by the door that he kept there for that reason.

He crossed directly to the cardboard file box he had brought home from SHIELD last week and then purposely ignored. The box full of information about everyone he had known and loved before he went into the ice. He had blatantly disregarded its existence up until now, some small illogical corner of his mind holding onto hope that maybe if he didn’t have any concrete facts, that just maybe he could still wake up one morning to discover that this had all been a terrible nightmare.

But now he had to know. It wasn’t a want, but a burning need.

Pulling the box out from underneath the coffee table, where he had stashed it out of sight and out of mind, he brought it over to the dining table and sat down. Taking a deep breath he lifted the top of the box and placed it on the chair next to him before reverently pulling the files and setting them on the table.

He took another moment to steel himself and then picked up the first aged manila folder, and began to read.

He took his time combing every word of every file of his old team, and was saddened, but not surprised to find that they had all passed away. He was grateful, however, to see that with the exception of Howard Stark, they all passed from natural causes. At least he knew that they had long, and he could only hope, fulfilling lives.

Peggy Carter was still alive, however, retired in her home country. He glanced at the phone number on the profile and then at the phone sitting in the corner, but ended up putting her file aside with the others for the time being. He continued to look through the files, until he realized there was no information on the person he wanted to know most about.

There was not a single mention of Darcy anywhere.

Snatching the box he peered inside to make sure there was nothing he had missed, his brow furrowing when he confirmed it was indeed empty. SHIELD had thought to include a dossier on Howard’s son, but didn’t bother to include anything on the love of his life and mother of his child?

He raked his hands through his hair in impotent frustration until he remembered the internet, an innovation he had just learned of the day before. Just like the junior agent had showed him, he opened up Google and typed her name into the search bar, on the hunt for any information on what became of her and the child that he didn’t even know existed until the moment before he plunged into the ice.

The first link was for an IMDb. Not knowing what that was, he moved on to the second, a Wikipedia page. Recognizing the site as the one the agent, who had explained how the internet worked to him, recommended as a good place to start when wanting to find out information on anything he didn’t understand. He clicked on the link. Steve’s breath hitched when the page loaded and there in the top right hand corner was the same publicity still that she had given him a copy of the day they met. Reaching out with a shaking hand he traced the lines of her face, snatching his fingers back when the image on the screen rippled from too much pressure. Ripping his gaze away from her image he began to read.

Date of Birth: December 21^st 1921

Date of Death: Unknown

Unknown? How could it be unknown? He continued to read, desperate for more answers. He skimmed past the sections discussing her early life and rise to fame, as well as her war efforts until he reached a section entitled disappearance. He read the section over and over again, but couldn’t seem to make sense of it. How could she have just disappeared? He closed the site and instead searched ‘Darcy Lewis disappearance’. He clicked on site after site, but there was never any new information. They all did seem to agree that her disappearance and presumed death was on the list of greatest Hollywood mysteries, along with women named Marilyn Monroe, Natalie Wood and someone called the Black Dahlia. He didn’t care about these women though, he just wanted to know what happened to his girl.

The prevailing theory on the sites he had read was that during her time on the USO tour she served as a spy for the allied forces and that she was discovered and captured by the Nazi’s. But he knew that wasn’t true. Bucky and Peggy might have joked about it, but for all that she was a great actress, she wasn’t a spy. He would have known if she was, he was Captain America after all. She would have told him, wouldn’t she? 

His head was spinning as he read all this information, so much of it contradictory, he didn’t know what to believe. Of course! He thought, as he looked at the file he had tossed aside earlier in the evening, there was one person who might have the answers he wanted, no, needed.

Getting up to grab the phone he glanced at the time, it was very late in New York, but through the grace of time zones it was already early in England. He knew he should probably wait a few more hours before calling, since it was on just the wrong side of polite to be calling at this time, but he couldn’t wait, and picked up the phone and dialed the seventeen digit phone number. It rang for what felt like an eternity, before a young female voice answered on the other end with a sharp hello in familiar crisp accent.

“Hi, yes, I’m looking for Peggy Carter."

“I’m sorry there’s no one- oh wait you mean grandmum, the last name threw me. If you would hold for a moment I’ll go see if she’s awake.”

Steve waited anxiously on his end of the line, unconsciously picking up a pencil and tapping it repeatedly on the table, a nervous habit he never managed to break. Of course she wouldn’t be Carter any more, she had moved on with her life, gotten married, had children and now grandchildren evidently. He was glad for that.

“Hello.”

His breath hitched in his chest, the voice was shaky and rougher than it once was, unavoidable damage caused by years of use, but it was still unmistakably Peggy.

“Hello, who’s there?” she repeated when Steve didn’t immediately reply.

“Hi, hello,” Steve stuttered finding his voice. “It’s Steve. Steve Rogers.”

“Is this some sort of joke?” Peggy asked, anger developing in her tone. “How did you get this number?”

“No, no joke Ma’am,” he assured her quickly. “I know how it sounds, but it’s really me. They got me out of the ice. SHIELD that is. They tell me you helped found it? You and Howard both.” He took her prolonged silence as continued disbelief and tried to think of something that would prove his identity. “You once asked me if I thought my only choices in life were to be a lab rat or a dancing monkey. Another time I told you that it was worth waiting for the right dance partner to come around. If you were to say ‘lovely weather we’re having today’ I might respond ‘that I always carry an umbrella,’” he added recalling the pass phrase from the old Brooklyn facility that hosted his transformation to Captain America. 

“Steve, is it really you?” Peggy asked breathlessly, once she began to get over her shock. “How is this possible?”

“The serum I guess,” he answered. “They were throwing the phrase suspended animation around a lot,” he shrugged, even though Peggy couldn’t see him.

“I don’t know what to say, I admit this is more than a bit of a shock. I’m so glad you’re alright. We looked for you, I hope you know that. Howard-”

“I know,” Steve interrupted, not needing to hear her explanations. “I know.” He was quiet for several long beats. “Peggy, I have to ask–” his voice cut off as his throat closed up.

“Darcy?” Peggy asked, knowing the brunette movie star would be at the forefront of his mind.

“What happened to her?” he practically pleaded. “There’s so much on the internet thing but…”

“Yes, I’ve heard the spy theory,” Peggy sighed deeply. Of all the things she regretted from her long life, she really regretted not having a different answer for the man on the other end of the line. Her memory of that time was still sharp despite the years that had passed. “The truth is, I don’t know, Steve. Howard and I travelled all the way to New York to tell her what happened to you in person, but we arrived to learn that she had never checked into her hotel. We investigated further and discovered she never even got on her flight back to the States. They…” her voice faded, not sure if she should tell him the rest.

“Please, tell me,” he prompted when he sensed her hesitation. “I have to know.”

“They found her handbag abandoned in the women’s powder room in the concourse, but no other trace of her. There was an investigation, but the final belief was that while we were in route to Hydra’s base in the alps, Schmidt…” she paused again not wanting to reveal information that she knew would hurt her long lost friend, but also aware that he wouldn’t stop until he get the information he was seeking. Knowing it would be best coming from her, she steeled herself and continued, “We believed that Schmidt discovered your relationship with Miss Lewis and sent Hydra operatives to abduct her, perhaps as leverage. After Hydra was decimated and you went into the water…” she trailed off again, not able to bring herself to finish her sentence. It didn’t matter since she knew that Steve would come to the same conclusion they did. She would have been a liability that they no longer had use for.

Steve didn’t say anything for a long time, squeezing his eyes shut and pinching the bridge of his nose as he processed what Peggy had just told him. The sound of his breathing was the only signal to Peggy that he was still on the line.

“One more question,” he finally said softly. “Why didn’t she tell me she was having a baby?”

“Oh Steve,” Peggy said mournfully. “She wanted to; it’s why she came to London. She didn’t know about Sergeant Barnes until she arrived. She had to leave the USO tour because she knew that she was going to start showing soon, and she wanted to tell you before she went to New York for a meeting with her agent and someone from the studio to discuss how they were going to handle the press fallout.”

“I would have done the right thing,” he interjected, more sharply than he intended.

“Of course you would have,” Peggy agreed immediately, not ever thinking he wouldn’t have.

“I asked her to marry me,” Steve revealed in a near whisper. “That last night in London. Why wouldn’t she have just told me then? Instead she put me off, said we’d talk about it when she was back in London.”

“When Darcy arrived in London and found out about Bucky, and learned that we were going after Schmidt the next day, she decided to wait to tell you about the baby. She didn’t want to distract you. At the time, I agreed with her decision,” she admitted.  “I couldn’t tell you her exact thought process because she didn’t tell me. But if I had to guess, knowing her, she didn’t want to accept your proposal before you knew. She truly loved you and would never have wanted you to feel trapped or tricked.”

“I wouldn’t have…” Steve grasped at words that escaped him. “She should have known…”

“Don’t be too hard on her Steve, it was a difficult and confusing time for everyone,” Peggy said gently.

She was right, he had gotten her pregnant and she had had to shoulder that burden alone, while traveling through war torn Europe no less. And not only had she needed to worry about telling him like any woman would have, but she was no doubt concerned how it would affect her professional life as well. 

“You’re right.” Steve said after a long pause. “Thank you for answering my questions,” he continued his voice thick with emotion. “I have to-”

“I’m so sorry Steve,” Peggy said, choked up herself. “Please don’t hesitate to call again. And know you are welcome in my home should you ever find yourself in Winchester,” she said, sincerely hoping he would take her up on both of her offers.

“Thank you, Peggy. Goodbye.”

“Goodbye Steve.”

 Steve hit the end button on the phone and placed it gently back on the cradle on auto pilot. It was his fault. Hydra went after Darcy because of him. He was responsible for her death and the death of their unborn child. Their deaths weighed even heavier on his soul than Bucky’s. At least Bucky was a soldier, he knew the risks he faced every time he went into the field. Darcy was not overseas to fight, she was an actress, she was there to bring joy to soldiers who had so little reason to smile. She was only guilty of being a kind and generous woman, who met a small and weak man in an alley one day and saw the best in him, in believing that he could change the world for the better. Her only crime was loving him.

The walls of his apartment were closing in on him and if he hadn’t known that it wasn’t physically possible for him anymore, he would have sworn he was having an asthma attack. Grabbing his keys and the small duffle bag he kept ready in the closet, Steve fled from his apartment, making his way to the small gym at the end of his block that allowed him to work out after hours.

Changing quickly, he hung a heavy bag from the rafters and tried to take the anger he felt at himself out on the bag. Hoping the sting in his knuckles would distract him from the pain that cut down to his very soul.

It didn’t work. He worked the bag for what must have been hours, the sun was most likely close to rising, but even as his arms ached and the sweat dripped off his body his mind refused to go blank. Instead it bombarded him with images from the war, memories of men getting shot and dying, Bucky falling from the train just out of his reach, watching the ice rapidly approaching as he forced the plane into a nose dive. But the worst weren’t memories; no, they were the images his imagination concocted of what Darcy must have gone through, each scenario more horrific than the last. The thought of Darcy begging not for her life, but the life of their unborn baby flashed before his eyes before he cocked his arm back and sent the heavy bag sailing across the room leaving a wave of sand in its wake.

He moved to replace the destroyed bag with another when a voice alerted him to the fact he was no longer alone.

“Trouble sleeping?” Nick Fury called across the gym.

“I slept for 70 years Sir, I think I’ve had my fill,” he replied, using his dry humor to deflect from the real reason he was there.

“Then you should be out, celebrating, seeing the world,” Fury said casually.

It took all of Steve’s self restraint not to punch the director in the face. To suggest that he had anything worth celebrating for was the dumbest thing he had ever heard. Clenching his jaw he began to unwrap his hands, “When I went under the world was at war. I wake up and they say we won. They didn’t say what we lost.” For him, the answer was everything.

“We’ve made some mistakes along the way, some very recently,” Fury admitted.

Steve managed to hold in a snort of derision, it didn’t matter when mistakes were made, the ones he made 70 years ago would haunt him for the rest of his life, however long it may be. “Are you here with a mission, sir?”

“I am,” the director confirmed.

He was glad to hear it. A mission meant focus. A mission meant he could be Captain America and turn off Steve Rogers, if only for awhile. “Trying to get me back in the world?”

“Trying to save it.” 

Chapter Text

The battle was won, half of midtown was in shambles as a result, but they had won. And as the newly formed Avengers stood over a defeated Loki, there was just one thing left to do. At least that’s what Captain America believed. However, if his past experiences had taught him nothing, it was that he should have known better than to assume anything.

“Lady Jane?!”

Steve looked over his shoulder, following Thor’s line of sight, to see the elevator door open and a small woman barrel out of it, heading directly towards them. It was only a moment, a few seconds at most, but it was this distraction along with the split second of inattention of his teammates, which gave the trickster his window of opportunity. Before anyone had a chance to react, the seemingly incapacitated Loki was on his feet and had grabbed the woman to use as a human shield.

“This must be the dear Jane Foster,” Loki spat, pulling her close. “The woman who changed my brother so.”

“Release her Loki!” Thor commanded, Mjölnir twitching in his hand.

“Don’t you remember? I did make promises to pay this one a visit.” He let out a barking laugh as he ran the back of his fingers down her cheek. “And in the end, she came right to me.”

As the Asgardian siblings exchanged words, the super soldier quickly went through their options. Unfortunately, none of readily available ones were currently very promising. The hostage was moving too much to give any of them a clean shot, and frankly none of their traditional firearms had yet to prove effective against the so called God of Mischief, and none of their more nontraditional weaponry could be used and still ensure the woman’s safety.

Steve could feel the change in the air, the hair on the back of his neck standing at attention as Loki started building his magic. He knew something was about to happen, but he just didn’t know what, until he saw the air in front of him begin to swirl. He knew time was of the essence as he saw another variable come into play in the form of a young woman, creep out of the elevator wielding a statue of some kind.

A quick exchange of glances with Tony told Steve that the billionaire saw her too, and Stark quickly began trading barbs with Loki to keep his attention focused on them and not the girl sneaking up behind him.

“I don’t think you want to do that Loki,” Tony said, taking a half step forward.

“Really? Because I think it’s a marvelous idea.”

Steve couldn’t get a good look at her face, obscured as it was by the hood she had pulled over her head and her long brunette hair, but her identity wasn’t of the utmost import right now. What was important was that she might be the only one to provide the distraction they desperately needed at the moment and he turned his full attention back to the woman his teammate had called Jane, waiting for his moment to strike.

“I don’t think I need to remind you that we have the Tesseract now and there is nowhere in the universe that you can hide where we won’t find you,” Tony replied.

“Maybe,” Loki shrugged, seemingly unconcerned. “But the universe is a big place, and just think of all the fun we can have until-”

And the moment Steve was waiting for was heralded by the most unusual of war cry of “Hey AssButt!” and that sickening hollow thud that came when a blunt object came in contact with someone’s, in this case a Norse deity’s, skull.

In that moment, time both speed up and slowed down as Steve launched into action. He quickly grabbed Jane as Thor went after his brother, but there was no one able to get to the mystery woman before she was knocked backwards into the Loki’s portal. Bright lights and sparks shot from it, the colors swirling faster for just a moment before it began to disappear right before their eyes.

“NO!” Jane wailed, struggling to be released from Steve’s grasp as the portal closed up, leaving no lasting trace of its existence.

Steve looked up from where he was shielding Jane’s body to see Thor gripping Loki by his lapels and giving him a mighty shake.

“What did you do with the Lady Darcy!” Thor bellowed at his brother.

Darcy! Steve’s mind shouted. Intellectually, he knew that his Darcy wasn’t the only person to ever lay claim to the name. However uncommon it was in his time didn’t mean it wasn’t more common now. But just hearing the name spoken out loud was a knife to his heart.

Loki laughed loud and hard as Thor continued to shake him roughly until he unexpectedly lost consciousness, the magic entailed in creating the portal sapping the last of his energy reserves.

With a snarl of disgust, Thor dropped his brother’s body like it was trash. “Do you have a facility secure enough to hold him while we do what we can to recover the Lady Darcy?” the God of Thunder asked Tony. “He has tapped out his magical reserves and it will take time to replenish. He will be easier to contain for the immediate future.”

“I have the Bad Baby vault,” Tony offered. “Stark Tower is so new that I haven’t actually moved anything into there yet.”

“The what?” Natasha asked incredulously.

“It’s something my Dad started to keep all the dangerous things he invented that he–” Tony cut himself off before he finished explaining. “You know what, it doesn’t matter. What is important is that I didn’t name it, and it exists.” He turned to Thor, “Is he’s going to be unconscious for a while?”

“It is most probable, yes. Why?” Thor asked in return.

“Excellent, because I’m still starving,” the billionaire answered. “So I vote we lock him away and then go get some grub. It’s not like we’re going to be able to do anything about getting whatshername—”

“Darcy,” Steve corrected.

Tony quirked an eyebrow in the Captain’s direction but kept speaking “—back before then anyways.”

Everyone glanced at each other, waiting for someone to protest Tony’s logic, but even Jane who wanted to demand that they start work on getting her friend back immediately, saw there was little they could do until the Trickster woke up.

“Awesome, it’s shawarma time.”

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Almost two weeks after what the press had already dubbed the Battle of New York, nearly 200 feet below the street where Stark Tower resided, deeper than any subway on the island, Loki was not enjoying his incarceration. He sat on a metal chair, chained to the floor with cuffs provided by Thor to inhibit any of the magical tricks that he might be able to conjure as his strength returned. Across the table from him sat Thor, who looked every inch the crowned Prince of Asgard and not a very happy one at that.

“I’m going to ask you again brother,” Thor said, his face carved from stone. “Where is the Lady Darcy? And do not lie to me.”

“That’s the beauty of it brother,” Loki replied amusement practically seeping from his pores. “I don’t know.”

“You opened that portal with the intention of kidnapping Lady Jane, where were you planning on taking her?”

“That hardly matters anymore. Your little human woman is upstairs right now trying to figure out how to use the Tesseract to send us home, is she not?”

This was not the first time they’d gone in circles, but Thor was not deterred. He was confident that it was only a matter of time before he or the Black Widow got the information they seek. “Then where did that portal send Darcy!?”

“And I told you I don’t know!”

 “It was your portal!”

“Oh my dear dear stupid brother. You really should have paid more attention to Mother’s lessons on magic. But no, you were more interested in being outside grunting and smashing things like an animal. Absolutely no patience for the intricacies of more refined pursuits.”

“You are trying that patience now Loki,” Thor said though grit teeth. “Tell me what I want to know, and I may speak to Father on your behalf.”

Loki didn’t believe that to be true for a minute. He knew from the moment his plot failed that he would be at the All Fathers mercy. But quite frankly he was bored sitting in this concrete cell for days on end, the daily ‘interrogations’ his only break from the monotony. 

“Opening the portal is only half the work,” he paused and leaned forward as if ready to reveal all the secrets of the universe.  “Then you have to step through it.”

Thor slapped an open palm on the metal table, the resounding noise reverberating through the room. “SPEAK PLAINLY.”

Loki was unimpressed by Thor’s ire. “You think too small brother. Unbefitting a future King. A portal is not a road, it’s not the Bifrost with a specific destination set each time you travel through it,” Loki began explaining to Thor as if he was speaking to a child. “A portal is the vehicle. Depending on the strength and knowledge of the creator it can take you anywhere, bypassing any of the conventionally known modes of travel between the realms. A true master of the magics,” he paused to let Thor know he was talking about himself, “isn’t even limited to the worlds as we know them today. A master can create a portal that he could take to other dimensions or even through time itself.”

Thor felt a stone form in the pit of his stomach. The fact that these powers existed in the universe and were completely unknown to him, and that his troubled brother possessed the skills to manipulate them did not sit well with him. He could already see the potential ramifications to the nine realms if they were abused.

Loki could see the turmoil in his brother’s eyes and delighted in it, spurning him to keep speaking. “But a ship is nothing without its captain. It’s the intent of the traveler that determines the destination. So you see, I had no control over where your little human pet ended up.”

When Thor did not readily respond, Loki continued to try to get a rise from Odin’s favorite son, it being the most fun he’d had in weeks. “Remember when we were young and Midgard was our playground,” he continued conversationally. “The humans worshiped us as Gods. Those were the good old days. Your woman would have made me a most lovely thrall. I had a delightful little dimension all picked out for us, she would have come through remembering nothing of you, knowing only a life of complete service to me.”

Thor ignored Loki’s baiting of what his plans had been for him and Jane. He knew she was safely ensconced upstairs with his new brothers in arms the Man of Iron and the Hulk. He needed to focus on Darcy.

“And what if the one traveling through the portal doesn’t know how to control it?” Thor asked knowing he wasn’t going to like the answer.

Loki sighed, exuding boredom, feeling that they had more than covered the topic. “How does a novice rider control a runaway stallion?” he posited in return. “You hold on tight and hope for best, maybe you get lucky and you don’t break your neck when you get bucked off.”

Thor pushed his chair back from the table, the metal screeching as it scraped across the concrete floors. 

“What, that’s it?” Loki called at Thor’s retreating back. “I give you what you want and you leave. The man you call Fury at least offered me a magazine.”

Not looking back or deigning to respond to his brother’s parting words, Thor left Loki’s cell and was greeted by Natasha and Clint, both of whom had been watching through the closed circuit video.

“What do you think?” Natasha asked as the three of them made the long elevator ride back towards the surface.

“I believe that for once Loki is telling the truth,” Thor admitted. “And if he is our troubles are only just beginning.”

“Because that means Darcy could be anywhere, at any time, in any realm, in any dimension,” Natasha said finishing Thor’s thought.

“That’s not just looking for a needle in a haystack,” Clint added, scratching at the back of his neck. “That’s looking for a grain of sand in the ocean that may or may not be on an earth in a parallel universe.”

“Indeed,” Thor agreed darkly.

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Steve felt like he was out of place. No, he knew he was out of place.

Half of his team spent their time either helping with or watching the daily interrogations of Loki. In the beginning he had tried to help with the prisoner, but cross-examinations had never been in his skill set. During the war he had been the on the front line, kick down doors and knock heads together kind of soldier, leaving the interrogations to Colonel Phillips and Agent Carter. And since Loki was hardly the type to be intimidated by him standing menacingly in the corner, he had no problem leaving that up to Natasha and the other professionals. That and it still hurt his heart to hear Darcy’s name thrown around so easily. So he quickly learned to stay out of the sub-basement.

Meanwhile, the science half of the group was working with the cube to try to send Thor and Loki home to Asgard, and the infernal glowing blue box off the planet for good.  And while Steve knew he was intelligent, the hard science that was happening between Bruce, Tony, Dr. Foster, and Dr. Selvig in the labs was over his head, so unless they needed help moving something heavy, he stayed out of their way as well.

He had taken to setting himself up in the kitchen for a large portion of the day, it was common enough ground with regular foot traffic from both halves of the team. That way he was able to keep tabs on how both projects were progressing without being overly involved in either one. Which is why he was currently sitting at the breakfast bar, a sketchbook and a tin of drawing pencils in hand.

He had been shocked when he found his old sketchbook at the bottom of the box of his personal effects from the war that had somehow made it into storage at SHIELD for the last 70 years. He assumed he had Peggy to thank for that, but he didn’t know for sure. The spine was becoming brittle and the edges of the pages were beginning to yellow, but that didn’t matter to him. The fact that Darcy had once held it in her hands made it all the more precious to him.

Reaching into his pocket he pulled out his other most treasured possession, the golden compass that he never went anywhere without. And though he had taken the picture from it and put it where he could see it as he crashed the plane into the water, every day he was grateful that he had tucked the compass back into his uniform, so that it was still on him when they found him in the ice. Thumbing it open, he reread the inscription he’d long since committed to memory.

They say that home is where the heart is.

Don’t get lost bringing mine back to me.

He couldn’t help but sigh deeply, if only she could have known that he was the one who’d be forever lost without her.

Hearing approaching footsteps, Steve clicked the gold case shut as Jane walked into the kitchen and immediately began rummaging through the cabinets. The astrophysicist had confided in him last week that her assistant always had to nag at her to eat, so she set an alarm on her watch to go off every five hours so she could at least remember to snack on something. Jane said that she didn’t want her to be disappointed in her when she got back if she didn’t take proper care of herself while she was gone. Steve wasn’t sure if it was a display of confidence that they would be able to rescue the girl, or a way to hold onto hope. Either way, he didn’t ask.

“Good afternoon, Dr. Foster,” he greeted amiably, as he slipped the compass back into his pocket and picked up his pencil. “How’s it going in the lab?”

“Afternoon Captain,” Jane said, as she pulled a bag of wasabi peas out of the pantry and started snacking. “There’s good news and bad news.”

“I could stand some good news,” he prompted as he began to fix a mistake on the sketch of Darcy he was working on.

“The good news is that I think we just about have the Einstein-Rosen Bridge figured out. Using the Tesseract to power it we will be able to create a temporary means to get Thor and Loki back to Asgard. And once the Tesseract is there they should be able to repair the Bifrost permanently.”

“That is good news,” Steve agreed. As far as he was concerned the sooner the Tesseract was gone, the better. “What’s the bad news?”

“Agents Romanoff and Barton just came upstairs with Thor,” Jane said, pausing as she tossed another handful of peas in her mouth. “Loki finally decided to talk.”

“Shouldn’t that also be good news?” Steve quirked an eyebrow in confusion.

“It should have been, except for what he said,” Jane replied with a frown, licking the green powder off her fingers. “We thought the hard part would be getting Darcy back from wherever Loki sent her. Turns out that’s the easy part since finding her is going to be virtually impossible since not even Loki has any idea where she ended up.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Steve said sincerely, for as much as he had been staying out of it, he knew how much her friend meant to her. “Are we sure that Loki was telling the truth when he said he didn’t know where she was?”

Jane sighed as she crossed over to the bar where Steve was sitting. “Thor seemed pretty confident and Agent Romanoff agreed. Our only hope is that we’re going to be able to use the trace readings from—” She cut herself off when she looked over Steve’s shoulder. “Hey, that’s really good. It looks exactly like her. Did you see a picture of her?”

“Don’t need one. I could never forget her face,” Steve said mournfully as he shaded what he called her ‘I have a secret’ smile.

“What are you talking about?” Jane asked completely confused.

“She was the love of my life,” he admitted for the first time aloud in this century.

“Huh?” it was an inelegant noise the completely described how she was feeling.

“We never made it public,” Steve sighed, figuring he might as well explain since she’d already seen the drawing, there didn’t seem to be much of a purpose in keeping it a secret anymore. “But we were together, before I went into the ice.”

“I’m so confused. Who were you with?” Jane asked, sure she had to be missing something.

“Darcy Lewis,” he tapped the sketchbook for emphasis, flipping through a couple of pages to show her all the different drawings he had of his girl. “You don’t have to look so shocked,” Steve said a little bit insulted at Jane’s agog expression. “I knew she was a movie star and completely out of my league, but she never seemed to think so.” Jane just continued to stare at him. “Also I’m Captain America, some people are impressed by that.”

Jane blinked slowly once, then twice, and a third time before she spoke. “Darcy is my assistant.”

“I know your assistant is named Darcy,” Steve knew that all too well, he had to suppress a wince every time someone said her name, the cold fist that encircled his heart tightened every time he heard it. “I don’t know what that has to do with it.”

“No, you don’t understand, didn’t you see her go into the portal?” Jane questioned, finally thinking to pull her phone out of her back pocket.

“Just for a split second, I was a little busy saving you,” Steve said brusquely, he was annoyed that he wasn’t understanding what Jane was all worked up about. 

“Darcy Lewis,” she shoved a picture of her and her friend in his face. “Is my assistant.”

Steve snatched the phone out of her hand, he would apologize later, but manners were currently last on his long list of concerns. Because there on the three inch screen was Darcy, his Darcy! She was dressed like he had never seen her before, since in all the time he had known her, she was never nothing less than impeccable even in the middle of a warzone. But even in an oversized sweater over a band t-shirt like the ones Tony seemed partial to, wearing a paper crown that declared her the Burger King on her head, it was unmistakably Darcy.

“Darcy is your assistant,” he said in a whisper. “Darcy is your assistant!” He jumped to his feet and took off at a dead sprint down the hall, running up the stairs taking them three at a time, feeling hope for the first time since he woke up in this century.

“I know where Darcy is!!” Steve shouted barreling into the lab where the rest of the Avengers were still discussing their options after their new information from Loki.

“What?” Selvig asked looking up from the simulation he was running.

“How?” Clint questioned incredulously, since they had literally just gotten done telling the others that is was going to be essentially impossible to figure out where the portal sent her.

“Where?” It was Bruce who actually thought to ask the most important question.

“In the ladies’ powder room at Croydon Airport in South London on February 8^th 1944, most likely between 11 and 11:30 am,” he said knowing that she had a 12 o clock flight and that she always liked to leave using the facilities till the last minute before boarding.

“Okay, hold up. I’m going to take it upon myself to say what we’re all thinking,” Tony announced. “That that answer is disturbingly specific.”

“Jane’s assistant is Darcy Lewis!” Steve exclaimed, as if that answered everything. He knew he wasn’t making sense to them, but in his excitement he couldn’t get his brain to slow down enough to explain properly. “We have to get her back.”

“Yeah, we know that Cap, we’re working on it,” Natasha said slowly, looking a little concerned at Steve’s manic reaction, especially since prior to now, he hadn’t really shown much personal interest in trying to get what happened out of Loki. 

“She’s my Darcy,” Steve stressed, he slapped the sketch book on the lab counter, already open to a picture of Darcy with victory rolls.

“Darcy is in the past with Steve,” Jane explained breathlessly as she entered the lab, finally catching up with the super solider. “They were together and apparently she was an actress?” she added as if those were the pertinent details.

“I knew there was something vaguely familiar about her when I saw her come off the elevator!” Tony exclaimed clapping his hands together. “My Dad had all her movies!” He shrugged, when everyone looked at him, “Had a shit ton of memorabilia of hers too. I always kinda assumed he had an affair with her or something and she actually got to him.”

Steve shook his head, “They were just friends, good friends, but it never went beyond that. Well, Howard did try to seduce her the first time they met apparently, but she shot him down which I don’t think he was used to and I think that’s why they became so close,” he explained far more animated then they had ever seen him before. “The second time Darcy and I met was actually when we ran into each other at Howard’s presentation at the world’s fair.”

Nobody said anything as they all took a long moment to process this new information.

“How did I not know my best friend was a dead ringer for a 1930s and 40s movie star that she happened to share the same name with?” Jane was the first to ask.

“Jane darling, you don’t even own a TV,” Erik reminded her of her complete lack of interest in pop culture recent or classic.

“I wonder why this didn’t red flag when we ran backgrounds of all of you in New Mexico last year,” Clint mused, since he had been on that team.

“Because there are lots of names that repeat through history,” Natasha reasoned sensibly. “And because even SHIELD doesn’t spend it’s time monitoring for potential time travelers. It’s like psychics, they’re not supposed to exist.”

“The way things have been around here lately maybe they should start,” Bruce joked dryly.

“That doesn’t matter,” Steve said impatiently, shutting down the sidebar conversations. Everything else could be figured out later, but right now they were just distractions from what was really important. “What matters is that we got her back, we just have to figure out how we did it.”

“I think you’ve got your tenses confused there, Capcicle,” Tony said idly, flipping through Steve’s sketchbook, Clint curiously looking over his shoulder.

“No, I don’t,” Steve replied quickly. “Darcy was supposed to get on a 12 pm flight to go back to New York on the same day I went into the ice. She never got on that plane. I spoke to Peggy Carter a couple weeks ago, and she said that the SSR thought Hydra got to her because of our relationship, but no, it was us! She disappeared because we brought her back to 2012!”

“Your reasoning is sound,” Thor said thinking it over. “From what Loki has described it is possible that you are the last she laid sights on before being pulled into the portal. If her thoughts were with you, the magic could have brought her into your life.”

“Yes, so how do we go get her?” Steve asked the Asgardian anxiously.

“That I do not know, but as you say, we shall endeavor to find the way we must have already employed to retrieve her from the past.” Thor reassured his teammate.

“All this time travel talk is already giving me a heada- whoa,” Clint whistled lowly when Tony flipped over a piece of loose leaf hotel stationary that slid out of the sketch book from where it had spent the last seventy years hidden between the pages. It was the drawing Steve did of Darcy while she was sleeping the last night they were together.

As soon as Steve glanced over to see what had tripped Clint up, he knew exactly what they were looking at. In his mind it was only a few weeks ago that he had arrived back at the barracks after spending the night with Darcy, and had quickly tucked the drawing inside the sketchbook that he buried at the bottom of his foot locker for safe keeping, before running off to join the meeting about how they were going to take down Hydra once and for all. Snatching both the drawing and the sketchbook from Tony’s hands, he glowered at the two of them, but he knew it was his own fault for handing the book over in the first place. Regardless, some things weren’t meant for anyone else’s eyes.

“You know,” Tony said casually, his eyes dancing mischievously, “with your whole wholesome, apple pie, Boy Scout image thing you’ve got going on, I just assumed you came to the future a 94 year old virgin. Good on you Cap, way to play against type.”

“I don’t really think that’s anyone business,” Steve said blushing just like the wholesome kid Tony was accusing him of being. “And I think everyone has a very skewed perception of what people were like in the 40s,” he muttered.

Jane came to Steve’s rescue and brought the conversation back around to its original topic, since she was just as anxious as Steve was to get her best friend back. “Okay, but now that we know where she is, how do we go get her?” she asked directing her question at Thor. 

The Asgardian took a moment to contemplate his lady’s question.  “Before we learned what kind of portal she went through I had assumed it would be as easy as repairing the Bifrost, asking Heimdall to sight her, and then going to rescue her,” Thor began, more thinking aloud than answering Jane’s question. “Today we learned it would not be as simple as even Heimdall cannot see and the Bifrost does not connect through time and other dimensions. The Captain has solved the half the problem, but that still leaves us with the second. I am confident that Loki is capable of retrieving her, but frankly I do not trust him to do so.”

There were assorted noises of agreements from the others in the room.

“However, I do not have a ready answer as to who else could. The practice of these sorts of magics are not condoned on Asgard or in any of the Nine Realms. Playing with the fabric of time is dangerous enough, but that reality itself was manipulated and the universe changed to give her a place and a history in the past makes the power extremely treacherous.”

“Are you saying we can’t bring her back?” Jane asked sparing a glance at Steve who looked like he might throw up.

“Not at all, my dear Jane,” Thor quickly assured her. “As the good Captain said, our future selves must find a way, and as long as we proceed cautiously and don’t disrupt the time line in which we currently reside, I see no reason as to why we cannot do the same.”

“Then what do we need to do?” Bruce asked.

“I need you to finish your work with the tesseract so you can send me and Loki home.”

“And then what?” Selvig questioned.

“I must speak with the one who taught Loki what he knows and pray that she can provide guidance,” Thor said. “I need have counsel with my mother.”

Jane looked at her fellow scientists, determination written all over her features. “You heard the man. Let’s get to work.”

Chapter Text

A singular intensity had swept over the tower and everyone in it.  

From the moment that they had discovered not just where, but when Darcy was stranded, Team Science! had gone into an all-out caffeine-fueled laboratory bender.  The first step in Operation Gotta Get Back In Time, as Tony had christened it, (and who had also taken to humming Huey Lewis under his breath while he worked) would be to send Thor and Loki back to Asgard. Thor’s mother was the obvious choice to enlist for help; and quite frankly, Earth had seen more than enough of his brother.  Loki and the Tesseract had made enough trouble for one millennium. It was past time for both of them to go.  

The Tesseract powered device that would be used to send Thor and Loki home to Asgard had to be completed, as quickly possible.  The project had already been the top priority of the tower’s scientists, but they had redoubled their efforts regardless.  

Steve certainly couldn’t fault them for their dedication; he’d unknowingly stepped into Darcy’s shoes, practically forcing them to take the occasional break to eat, and sleep.  He had to admit, if only to himself, that his motives weren’t entirely pure; it didn’t take a battle-hardened veteran to know that an army marched on its stomach, and science suffered from low blood sugar as well.  He would have assumed that most scientists, especially a group that included four of the brightest minds on the entire planet, knew enough about malnutrition and sleep-deprivation to avoid them, but he’d have been sadly mistaken with this lot.  

Some of them needed a fair amount of prodding in that general direction, actually, to keep them in peak mental condition. So even though there was a part of him which wanted to push them as hard as possible, for them to work non-stop until they figured it out, he refused to let mistakes be made because overly-focused scientists wouldn’t make the time to take care of themselves. He was happy to help with that much, at least, if there was nothing else he could do to take a more direct approach to helping rescue Darcy.

And when the breakthrough finally came, in the small hours of the morning on the fourth day, Steve could have cried with relief.  One step closer to getting to Darcy, to bringing her home.  One step closer to having the girl he loved, the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with, the future mother of his child, back in his arms.

And so the Avengers were duly assembled once more, this time in Central Park, to send the Asgardians back home. Once Thor and Loki had departed in a beam of light there had been nothing for the rest of the team to do but go back to the Tower and wait.

That had been two and a half weeks ago.

Steve was not handling it well.

He had learned all about the virtues of having to hurry up and wait during the war. It was the way the Army functioned most days. But he found his patience thinning and fraying around the edges almost immediately.

At first he’d tried to keep himself busy. Tony had given him full access to his personal gym, which had thankfully escaped damage during the battle, but there was only so many miles he could run on the treadmill before his shoes wore through and only so many punching bags he could destroy before he worried about Stark restricting his access.

Then he tried taking advantage of Stark’s state of the art media center to catch up on what he’d missed in the last 70 years, but he couldn’t stay focused on any one thing long enough to watch an entire movie or read an entire book.

Most days he had taken to wandering around the tower at loose ends; at a loss for what to do.

No one else seemed to have the same problem. The Science Squad, as Tony had quickly dubbed them, remained occupied up in his labs. Even though they had finished the device that sent Thor and Loki off-world, there was still much to learn from the data they had taken from both the tesseract and the Chitauri tech; enough to keep them occupied for quite some time.

Now that Loki was gone, Clint and Natasha would disappear for days at a time. Natasha had made some not so subtle overtures that SHIELD would like him to come in, but quite frankly he had no intentions of leaving Dr. Foster’s general vicinity. He saw the way the Thor looked at the astrophysicist and he knew that when Thor came back to Earth he would come back to her.  

Which is how he found himself sitting at Tony’s kitchen table drinking coffee with Jane, the two of them swapping stories about Darcy. It wasn’t the first time they had done it and it was probably the only time he felt any peace during his day. They had bonded quickly over their shared loss of the woman they both loved so much in their own respective ways, and found strength in the hope they both felt in getting her back.

He sat smiling as Jane retold the story of how Darcy managed to lock six SHIELD agents out of the dealership that they had used as their homebase in New Mexico when they wouldn’t stop getting in the way. He was about to reciprocate with a story about the barbecue Darcy had thrown before they had left Los Angeles to go overseas, when a clap of thunder on an otherwise cloudless day, had them both out of their chairs and heading for the balcony.

Steve had experienced a lot of strange things in his life; considerably more than his fair share. He’d even seen the Bifrost once before when they had sent Thor and Loki home, but the Einstein-Rosen bridge, as Dr. Foster called it, was something that had to be seen to be believed. As quickly as it appeared, it dissipated, leaving an intricate pattern scorched into Tony’s landing pad, and Thor, his cape billowing around him in a way that could only be called majestic, in its wake.  

He wanted to immediately ask the Asgardian what news he had returned with, but instead bit his tongue and politely averted his eyes, as Thor and Jane reaquainted themselves. After what seemed like an eternity to Steve, Thor finally broke away from the tiny astrophysicist and turned his attention towards him.

“Relax, friend Steven,” Thor greeted him with a wide grin, as he clasped the super soldier's forearm. “You look as if you’ve stumbled across the carcass of a rotting bilgesnipe! I come bearing glad tidings.”

The breath that he hadn’t even been aware he was holding, escaped Steve’s lungs in a rush. “We’re going to get Darcy back?”

“We are going to get Lady Darcy back,” Thor echoed reassuringly. “But first let us summon the others, so that I need only tell my tale once.”

“JARVIS?” Steve called towards the ceiling.

“I have already alerted the others, Captain Rogers,” the AI responded before Steve could voice his request. “They shall be here momentarily.”

The Tower’s other residents arrived in pairs; first Tony and Pepper, who had been in the penthouse going over the plans for the necessary renovations, then Clint and Natasha who had been working out in the gym, and finally, Bruce and Eric arrived from the labs, all of them eager for the news Thor brought from Asgard.

Thor waited for everyone to assemble and find a seat before speaking. Even Jane left his side to sit next to Steve, slipping her smaller hand into his. He wasn’t sure if it was supposed to be for his comfort or for her own, but he was grateful for the show of support either way.

“I apologize for the length of my absence,” Thor began, addressing Steve and Jane specifically. “While it did not take my mother and I long to convince the All Father that it was Asgard’s duty to correct the wrong perpetrated by Loki and return Lady Darcy to her correct time, it took longer for the Queen to find the best course of action. Journeying through time is a dangerous feat and not one condoned in any of the Nine Realms.

“But she did, right?” Tony interjected, not good at waiting for anyone to get around to the point. “Or else you wouldn’t be here right now.”

“You are correct, Stark,” Thor confirmed. “Mother was not able to find a way to simply pull Darcy back to her correct time, but she did discover how to create a portal to the past. Which means that I shall have to go back in time to retrieve Lady Darcy personally,” he revealed.

“When do we leave?” Steve asked, ready to go at that very moment if possible.

“This is not your journey to make, Steven,” Thor turned to the Captain apologetically. “You shall not come.”

“What?” Steve shot to his feet. “But I have to!”

“The time line is already too fragile as it is,” Thor explained sympathetically. “Your place in the universe is now here, there is too much at risk to allow you back to the time from which you came. But I assure you my friend, I will see her home.”  

“Okay, so what’s the holdup, then?” Clint asked. “Why are you here, and not going to get her already?”

“Because he doesn’t exactly blend in,” Natasha informed her partner before Thor could. “If the timeline really is that delicate, he’s going to need to be wearing something a little less conspicuous than a floor-length cape and Asgardian armor.”

“Precisely,” Thor said with a nod in Natasha’s direction.

“I’ll start making phone calls.”

And make phone calls she did, because a scant eighteen hours later they were once again gathered in the common room waiting for Thor to change into the uniform that Natasha had managed to procure on such short notice.

Clint whistled lowly when the God of Thunder emerged, a striking figure in a perfectly tailored blue RAF dress uniform.

“How on earth did you manage to find a period-accurate uniform that actually fits Thor in less than a day?” Bruce asked curiously.

“I have my ways,” Natasha said enigmatically.

“Good call making Shakespeare in the Park British,” Tony complimented.

“He’d blend in, in any of the Allied uniforms, but I figured this would be best in case he needed to speak to anyone,” Natasha replied.

“And RAF because….?” Selvig asked.

“Because he flies,” she said, as if it should be obvious, a smirk gracing the corners of her mouth.

“So what do you think, Cap?” Clint asked. “Is he going to pass muster?”

Steve looked Thor up and down with a critical eye, he was bound to attract some attention due to his sheer size, but there was nothing about his dress that would signal his displacement except for one thing. “The hair isn’t exactly regulation.”

Thor’s gaze snapped to Steve’s knowing exactly what the super solider was suggesting. “ No .”

“It’s okay,” Natasha interjected, before the conversation went any further. “We’ll tie it up and hide it under your hat. You shouldn’t be in the past long enough for it to be a problem.”

It was Pepper who managed to figure out the best way to disguise Thor’s shoulder-length hair, and before they knew it, he was as prepared for his visit to the past as he ever would be.

Steve approached Thor, moments before he was to leave.

“Here,” he said, swallowing hard, as he placed his golden compass into the Asgardian’s hand. “Take this.”

“What-”

“She doesn’t remember her life here,” he explained, “she’s not going to know who you are. Show her this, and she’ll know I sent you.”

Thor looked down at the item and flipped open the case, reading the inscription before he realized that it might be personal, and quickly clicking it shut again. He’d seen the Captain with it in his hands more times than he could recall, it obviously being a touchstone of importance.

“It was a gift,” Steve explained, his voice thick. “It was supposed to bring me home to her. Now you’ll use it to bring her home to me.”

“My friend,” Thor said sincerely, slipping the compass into his pocket and resting his hands on Steve’s shoulders. “I give you my word as the Prince of Asgard and guardian of the nine realms that I will guard your treasured item and see your Lady home to you whole and hale.”  

“I know you will, Thor.”

Thor turned to the rest of the group gathered. “When I return from my quest, I shall have the Lady Darcy in my care.” He looked to the sky. “Heimdall, open the bifrost!”

As Thor was once again whisked away in a beam of light, the Avengers left the landing pad in groups of two or three as they wandered back to their individual pursuits until all that was left was Steve and Jane.

“He’ll bring her back,” Jane said, stepping up to Steve’s side.

“I know he will,” he agreed, forcing the words past the lump that had settled in his throat.

“Until then, do you want to get ice cream wasted?”

“Ice cream what?”

“I take it that’s a 21st century Darcyism then,” Jane grinned.  “Instead of drinking straight from the bottle, you eat ice cream straight from the carton. Both can lead to throwing up and regrets about your life decisions, but ice cream causes less liver damage than alcohol and generally doesn’t come with a hangover.”

“I don’t know how to respond to that,” Steve replied honestly.

“Just tell me if you like butter pecan or cookies and cream better,” Jane responded, hooking a hand through his arm, leading him towards the kitchen.

 

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

 

London 1944

“Darcy, what’s going on?” Peggy asked, standing in the doorway of her hotel room, knowing there was something more at play here.

“I can’t….” Darcy began haltingly. “I just need him to come back.”

“I need more than that, Darcy.” She had come all this way when she should have been prepping for the mission with the others; she wasn’t going to leave without an answer.  

“How much time do you have?”

“No more than ten minutes,” Peggy answered.

“Come in and shut the door,” Darcy sighed defeatedly. “That’s enough time for a cup of coffee.”

“Okay, out with it,” Peggy said bluntly, no nonsense as always, once the two women had settled on the sofa with coffee cups in hand.

“I’m pregnant,” she blurted. It was the first time she’d said the words out loud.

Peggy froze, her drink halfway to her lips. “Steve is the father?” she couldn't help but question.

Darcy arched one eyebrow in an unimpressed glare. “Really, Peg?”

“I mean of course he is,” the agent quickly backtracked. “Who else would it be.”

She didn’t actually think that there could be anyone else, Peggy was well aware of how Darcy felt about Steve and that she would never betray him. It was just this was the last news she was prepared to hear. Quite frankly, she had thought that perhaps Darcy had gotten bad news about her younger brother, and had come to London to receive comfort from Steve; only to be confronted with his news about Bucky. Having lost Michael, her own brother, just a few years before, she had thought that she might be able to lend a shoulder to the other woman before she left for New York, if Steve’s had been too burdened.

But a baby… this was unexpected.

“November?” she asked, quickly doing the math.

Darcy just nodded.

“Would you like me to shoot him?” Peggy offered. After all, it wouldn’t be the first time she had taken a shot at Steve on the actress’s behalf.

“What? No!”

“Are you sure?” she offered again. “I mean, I wouldn’t do any actual damage to him. I’d make sure he had his shield. Perhaps he could use a small reminder of the importance of protection.”

That got a startled laugh out of Darcy. “I appreciate the offer, but it’s not just his fault. It takes two.”

“What are you going to do?” Peggy asked, concerned for her friend.

“I don't know,” she shrugged, with a sad little smile. “I’d really only thought as far as coming to London to tell Steve. I wanted him to be the first to know, but I didn’t want to tell him in a letter, But once I got here.... after I found out about Bucky,” she paused and sighed sadly. “It didn’t seem like the right time. I didn’t want to put one more thing on his mind right now when he needs to focus on Hydra.”

“I understand,” Peggy said genuinely, reaching across to lay a gentle hand on the younger woman’s arm.

“Do you?” Darcy asked. “I wasn’t sure if it was the right thing to do. But it felt like it was.”

“I do,” Peggy confirmed. “Our world is full of hard choices these days, and I think you made the best one you could, considering the circumstances.”

Darcy didn’t reply for a moment as she took a slow, steadying sip of her coffee. “Do you ever take a step back from your life and wonder how you got here?” she eventually asked. “We’ve both lived rather improbable lives. Do you ever wonder about all the things that had to happen and all the choices you had to make to lead you to this exact moment?”

Peggy laughed lightly. “You have no idea. A few years ago, I was working at Bletchley Park as a code breaker, engaged to a bore of a man, who thought fieldwork was something I wouldn’t be suited to, and that I should turn down the offer I received from the SOE. And I almost went along with all of it just to be the lady my mother wanted me to be,” she revealed. “So yes, I think about the importance of the choices we make a great deal. But I don't regret a single one of them, and I don't think you do either. We’re women of action, each in our own way, and we’re right where we’re meant to be.”

Peggy was right. Of course she was right. She was Agent Peggy Carter.

“I wouldn’t change a thing,” Darcy agreed with a gentle smile, one hand moving to rest on her stomach.

“That’s what I thought,” Peggy said primly, placing her cup back on the room service trolley and rising to her feet. “I need to go meet up with the others. I’ve been away too long already.”

“Of course,” Darcy nodded, standing as well, walking the Agent to the door.

Peggy paused with one hand on the knob. “Now you take care of yourself and that baby, you hear me?” she ordered.  “And when Howard finds out, promise me you won't let him talk you into naming it after him.”

“I promise,” Darcy laughed, before becoming serious once more. “And promise me you’ll look after the boys?” she requested, both of them knowing she was really talking about Steve. “They can get themselves into so much trouble,”

“As much as they’ll let me,” Peggy agreed, also talking about Steve.

“Go get ‘em.”

Peggy nodded.  “I’ll see you soon.”

At that, Darcy found herself once more alone in her hotel room. She crossed to the window, which overlooked the front of the hotel and waited until she saw Peggy exit the revolving door and walk down the street towards the nearest tube station; with a sigh, she continued to watch until her friend had turned the corner and was out of sight.

Glancing at the clock on the fireplace mantle, Darcy knew that she too needed to prepare to leave. By rote, she prepared for the day ahead. Wearing a fashion-forward pantsuit, makeup done to perfection, and not a hair out of place, she knew that despite the long day of travel, once she stepped back on American soil she would once again need to be Darcy Lewis, movie star and America’s Sweetheart.  She called the concierge, and had him send a porter up for her bags and made sure her car was ready to take her to the airport.  

Time seemed to speed up and slow down all at once and before she knew it she was in the back seat of a car headed across town towards Croydon Airport. She slipped her hand into her pocket, rubbing her fingers over the carved ivory handle of Bucky’s pocketknife like a worry stone, her heart heavy and a pit in her stomach, knowing the vague feeling of nausea that rolled through her had nothing to do with morning sickness. Staring idly out the window, watching the London streets pass, she hummed softly to herself, the lyrics to her song swimming through her thoughts.

Some day he'll come along, the man I love.
And he'll be big and strong, the man I love.
And when he comes my way,
I'll do my best to make him stay.

Darcy was so distracted that she never noticed the eyes that followed her through the airport. Of course, she was used to being noticed, it came with being a movie star. Nor did she notice when she got up to visit the powder room before her flight boarded, that the large blond soldier who had been quietly leaning up against the wall opposite, surreptitiously moved to follow her inside.

She did notice however, when he entered the room and locked the door behind him while she was touching up her lipstick.

“Excuse me, sir!  This is the ladies!” she scolded sharply.  

His eyes widened, but not for the reasons that Darcy thought. “You are with child,” Thor said surely, with the knowledge he possessed as the god of fertility.

Darcy’s hand flew to cover her stomach protectively. “How did you know that?! Who are you?!” she demanded.

“I am a friend, Lady Darcy,” Thor reassured her, taking a step towards her, hating the look of fear from the woman he considered a dear friend.

“Don’t come any closer!”

“I am not going to hurt you or the babe.” He remembered the compass in his pocket. “I am here on Steven’s behalf,” he tried again to soothe her, showing Darcy the item he possessed. “He bid me to return you to his side.”   

“How did you get that?!” She snatched it out of his hand before backing up against the wall. It didn’t take long for her to recognize it that it was, in fact, the compass she had given Steve for Christmas. But she also knew that Steve had had it with him when he’d left her hotel room that morning. She couldn’t believe he would have willingly given it to anyone, especially when he should be in the middle of a battle with Schmidt at this very moment. “Where is Steve?!”

“He is waiting for you, and I am going to take you to him.”

“I said don’t come any closer!” she shouted, one hand clutching the compass to her chest, the other protectively around her stomach.

Unfortunately, her screaming had garnered unwanted attention, and Thor could hear someone trying to gain entrance to the bathroom. He had hoped to calm her down before they proceeded, but they no longer had the luxury of time.

“I am sorry Lady Darcy, we must go now,” Thor said, closing the distance between them and easily drawing her into his arms, despite her best attempts to fight back.

Thor pulled the potion his mother had prepared and threw it against the wall.  From where it burst, a vortex began to form; the portal that would lead them back to Asgard and their proper time.

Darcy fell silent as the vortex grew, her fighting giving way to shock.

Right before he stepped into the portal, he heard a whisper escape Darcy’s lips. “Please don't hurt my baby.”

When Thor exited through the portal on the other side, Darcy now unconscious in his arms, his mother was waiting for them.

“Is she alright?” Thor asked, worried, as Frigga laid a gentle hand on Darcy’s forehead.

“She will be fine,” Frigga assured her son. “Midgardians are not made for traveling through such means, but she will regain consciousness in due time, no worse for it.”  

“She is with child,” he added, concerned.

“Yes, I see that,” Frigga agreed, placing her other hand on Darcy’s stomach. “The babe is also safe.”

“I am heartened to hear so.”

Frigga smiled at her son before turning her attention back to the woman in his arms. “Poor girl,” she said, brushing an escaped lock of hair off of her face. “She has a difficult path to walk yet. Your brother has much to answer for.”

Before Thor could ask his mother what she meant, what the Norns had showed her, Frigga spoke again.

“You should take her home now,” she told him, handing over mjolnir which he had left in her care while he traveled into the past. “It’s best she wake in a familiar setting, with those she knows.”

“Of course, Mother,” Thor obeyed, waiting for Heimdall to open the bifrost so he could finally return Darcy to where she truly belonged.

Thor had scarcely gained his footing on the landing pad of Stark Tower, before Steve was right in front of him, taking Darcy from his arms. He handed her over readily, completely understanding the Captain’s actions, as he would have done much in the same had the situations been reversed.

“What’s wrong with her?  Why is she unconscious?” Jane asked worried, as she followed Steve inside where he was now gently laying her on the couch.

“It’s a result of portal travel,” he explained. “Midgardians are not meant for it. But my Mother assured me she will soon wake.”

Kneeling at Darcy’s side, Steve couldn’t take his eyes off of her. He couldn’t believe that the woman he loved like no other was actually there, right in front of him. He had lost so much, but to have her back meant more than he could ever describe.

Placing one of his hands over hers, he realized that she was clutching his compass tight. A joyful smile crossed his face; it had worked, they were finally together, and nothing would tear them apart again. They were home .

Steve couldn’t help himself; leaning over her, he brushed the hair off of her face and bent down to place a soft kiss against her lips. As he pulled back, he grinned as he watched her eyelids flutter as she slowly regained consciousness.

“I thought it was supposed to be Prince Charming who wakes the girl with a kiss,” Darcy said weakly.

A bright smile spread across Steve’s face, and he wondered if his heart could actually burst from happiness. “Prince Charming couldn’t make it, but Captain America was happy to step in,” he teased, beaming down at her.

He leaned in to kiss the woman he loved again, but before he could, his blood ran cold and his heart stopped when her brow furrowed in confusion and she said one word.

“ Who ?”

The compass slipped from her hand and fell to the floor.

THE END