„Peggy…"
„I'm here."
„I'm gonna need a rain check on that dance."
„Alright. A week next Saturday at the Stork Club."
„You've got it."
„Eight o'clock on the dot. Don't you dare be late. Understood?"
„You know, I still don't know how to dance."
„I'll show you how. Just be there."
„You know, Steve, this place was demolished back in '66. I think I'll take my digital camera with me and make a couple of photos. Too bad I won't be able to show them to many people!", the older, silver-haired man said, cheerfully smiling. „Steve, everything all right?"
The tall and muscular Steve took up most of the place on the passenger seat. He had to be careful not to bump his head into the roof of the car. For a moment, he thought about how much better he would have fitted on that seat as his younger self.
„I never asked if she actually came here that night... this night", he said this out loud to himself, but then he turned to the car's driver and looked him in the eye. „Do you... do you think I'm doing the right thing?"
The older man pulled the car away to the side of the road, put the transmission in neutral and reached to his left to pull the parking brake.
„Steve, it's your call. After what you and Tony did for us, I felt I owed you this. Well... I would have never let Stark come with me, but I know you better than to do anything… stupid. Still, I cannot tell you what to do. You have to make up your own mind, make your own decisions. I always told Marty the same thing. Life is – well, originally – not meant to give us a chance to change the things we've done, it's meant to make us learn from them."
Silence fell upon them for a moment that seemed very long. After letting out a sigh, he lowered his head and finally made the decision:
„I'll go."
„Fine. I'll drop you off on Madison Avenue, one corner away from 53rd Street. It's better if nobody sees the car. I'll find a good place to park it and I'll look around a bit. We'll meet at exactly ten o'clock at the same place I drop you off." The older man pointed his index finger at his passenger. „Don't be late."
Steve nodded.
On Madison Ave, just around 53rd, the car stopped and the gullwing door opened up with a mechanical noise. Steve, after a moment of hestation, got out of the car, adjusted his tie, buttoned his suit and bent down a bit to give a last look at the driver before leaving. On the dashboard, a green LED clock over a line of text saying „PRESENT TIME" just changed from 07:54 to 07:55.
„You'd better not miss this. And for crying out loud, Steve, please don't slam the door! You'll ruin the torsion spring!", said the grey-haired man with an exaggerated „serious" look.
Steve laughed a bit. „I'll be careful!"
It was really only a few steps and he was already there, standing before The Stork Club. Steve felt that he got there too quick – he wished he would've walked slower. A taxi cab just stopped before the entrance. Steve's heartbeat skipped a bit when a brunette got out of the taxi in a nice dress; it wasn't anybody he knew. He already decided what he wanted to do, but his legs didn't move. After all he's been through, this will be the one he won't be able to do? The serum was supposed to turn him from weak to strong; he still felt he was never weaker than at that very moment. The fluttery feeling of the sudden release of adrenaline in his stomach was so strong that no amount of vibranium would have been able to have absorbed it.
„Just be there." He still heard her voice in his head. "I will be", he told himself.
He went to the door and entered.