There's always sadness when you loose everything you know. There's that heart renching moment when you realize that everything you ever knew is gone. Then there's the response. The mind and heart learn to cope. Friends are made, and relationships established. Some would say you adapt to the situation, but the memories are still there.
That was why, on the warm summer day in New York City, only days after the Chituari attack, Captain America found himself walking around Brooklyn, trying to find some semblance of the forties. The buildings were there, but none of the stores, the restaurants, or even the old haunts. They were gone. Forgotten. He found himself just wandering, and drifting. He had nothing to hold him down any more. He'd had a perpose, but even now, he knew there was nothing he could do to help S.H.I.E.L.D. or the Avengers. He might be the leader, but for now… the Tower was being rebuilt, S.H.I.E.L.D. was fixing what needed to be fixed and moving on with their lives, while he was stuck in one place.
"Hey there, why the long face?" A feminine voice brought the tall man out of his thoughts and into the real world. Before him was a young woman, maybe twenty five or twenty six, with dark brown hair, just a little past her shoulders, brown eyes, and glasses. She smiled at him a little as he ogled her. "Cat got your tongue?" Her voice was playful and he found himself smiling. Her accent wasn't from New York, but softer, with a bit of a twang. He wouldn't realize it, but it was a southwestern accent.
"No. Just didn't expect anyone to notice me." He hadn't realized his hands were in his pant pockets and quickly brought them to his sides. She shook her head.
"Not notice you? You're a good two inches taller then most men." She smiled at him, and he thought she might be flirting with me. He continued to analyze her as she spoke. Her height had to be about five six or seven, closer to seven, and the clothes were odd for him. Jeans, a shirt that showed a great deal of cleavage (for him anyways, for the modern day it was hardly anything), and no make up though two crystal studs were in her ears. She looked in control, with her heeled boots finishing off her look. "I'm Rowan Warren." She held out her hand, and with out thinking he took it. It was soft, and yet there was a strength to it that could only come from hard work.
"Steve. Rogers." Her eyes lit up for a moment, and it gave her face a glow, and she went from pretty to beautiful.
"Captain America!" She giggled and shook her head. "Sorry. Didn't mean to fan girl there. I grew up with Captain America stories, and he's my favorite superhero… or well you are." She blushed and looked down, her hand slipping to her hips to hook her thumbs into her pockets. It was a masculine gesture, but it didn't look that way on her.
"I guess." She was speaking about fan girling though. "What does it mean to 'fan girl'?" His blue eyes were curious and as she looked up she saw that.
"It means I uh… geeked out. Um… Got very excited. I am a big fan of Captain America, so meeting him is very exciting." He could tell she was having a hard time trying to figure out how to help him understand. The fact that he hadn't had to explain why he didn't know was endearing her to him. She'd just understood. He watched her as she looked around them. "Look. We can't stand here all day. Let's find a café, or maybe just a bench." She looked around, and spotted a café. "That place is really nice. Come on." She touched his hand before turning and heading towards the café. He found himself following. A direction, even if it was an odd one. Someone had shown him kindness in this odd world where no one spoke to one another as they hurried down the street. He let her guide him into a booth in the café and he sat down across from her, his eyes on her face as she smiled at the waiter, and ordered herself a hot chocolate with a cookie, and asked him what he wanted.
"Oh um… coffee… black?" He looked confused and she nodded to the waiter, who touched her shoulder for a second then walked off. "Who's he?" He asked seeing the gesture, as well as the quick smile she gave the man when he touched her.
"My friend, Allen." She looked at him again, and blushed again. He wondered why, and watched her. "So, before we go any farther, I do want to say I am S.H.I.E.L.D." She watched the odd mixed look on his face. "Just an agent. I don't do anything special, and I wasn't even dealing with the events of a few days ago. In fact I was on a completely different mission and barely got back in time to be shoved into another mission where I was going until early this morning. I literally woke up about twenty minutes ago." She watched him. He hadn't seen any sleep on her face, but then again, she could be the kind to wake up quickly.
"S.H.I.E.L.D. didn't send you?" He hated to be a burden on the agency that was taking care of him now. She shook her head. "I thought they said they were going to send me someone who would help me understand this new world." She smiled a little.
"I am not that person. Believe me. I wouldn't be that sneaky." She was truthful, he could feel that about her, his innate ability to understand people worked well for him.
"I am glad." He wasn't sure where to go from there, and was thankful when his coffee came, and took a gulp of it, burning his mouth. "Ah!" He managed to get the coffee back on the plate before he burnt himself worse. She was giggling.
"Careful, it's hot." Allen's voice was full of mirth as he put the hot chocolate in front of Rowan. The girl couldn't stop giggling as Steve glared at her. She finially got herself undercontrol.
"Sorry. Sorry. This just happens with everyone who comes here. I swear, it's a curse." She managed to keep giggling and it got a laugh out of him.
"It did hurt."
"I'm sure." She smirked at him as she drank her hot chocolate. He found himself wanting to be seen as very competent in her eyes. He deiced to just stare at his cup. Her giggle made him look up. "Relax, I haven't seen anyone look that lonely in a while." He frowned at her, unsure what she meant.
"I'm not lonely, I have Stark, Romanov and the others." She shook her head.
"Except why am I here, and not them? They all have lives outside of S.H.I.E.L.D. Iron Man is a billionaire, playboy, inventor with his own agenda, Hawkeye and Blackwidow are S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who have jobs outside the Avengers. Bannar is working with S.H.I.E.L.D. to understand genes better. Thor is off in Asgard being King or Prince or something. They are living their lives, while you are wondering around Brooklyn, wishing you were in 1945, when life was simpler." He stared at her. She looked down, and sighed.
"H... How did you know that?" She looked up.
"I'm an empath. Your emotions are fairly easy for me to read, but it's obvious all the same. You are Captain America, and your team has their own lives. Sure when the next big monsters come to attack earth, they'll be there, but you don't know what to do with yourself. Everything you are is in 1945, during World War Two." She watched him now, the brown eyes oddly intent. "I don't think you even realize that do you Captain?" He decided he'd had enough.
"Ma'am, I won't say this was a nice time, but I do believe I have places to be. Good bye." And with that he stood up, nodded to her, then the waiter, and walked out of the cafe, refraining from looking back. Something in what she had said had bothered him. She was an empath, but how could she put the emotions to thoughts? And she was S.H.I.E.L.D. For some reason that bothered him as well. He continued to walk, but this time with perpous. He made his way back to Avenger Tower, and back to his room, where he decided that he was going to catch up on history. Something he liked, and forget about the nosy S.H.I.E.L.D. agent.
