The ending scene and the way the nurse handled his questions about where he was always bothered me. It made for a dramatic ending, sure, but . . . Well, here's how I would have informed Steve he was more than half a century from when he was.
The door eased open, permitting a young woman to enter. "Good morning, Captain Rogers. Good afternoon, I should say. Awake at last, I see."
He took another look at his surroundings. Something was off.
"Where am I?"
"You're in a recovery room in New York City," she informed him softly.
The baseball game on the radio sounded familiar. Hadn't he gone to that game with a friend? "Where am I, really?"
The dark-haired woman cleared her throat uncomfortably and tugged at the collar of her uniform. "What do - What is the last thing you remember before waking up here, sir?"
His mind flashed back to that frantic moment. "I've got to put her in the water!"
"Cold. It was very cold. I had just fought with -" He shook his head. "Just tell me where I am. The truth."
She nodded. "You . . . piloted the craft carrying the bombs into Arctic water." She gazed out the window then turned to the radio and switched it off. "I told them to get a game from after the war," she murmured.
"That game was from 1941. I know because I was there."
She nodded again, sending her pincurls bobbing. "This room . . ." She took a deep breath. "It was our intention to ease you into . . ." She grimaced slightly.
"Ease me into what? What's going on here?"
She turned to face him. "The ice you plunged into preserved your body, held you in a state of suspended animation. Many years passed, and the world has changed from what you knew. It was our thought that familiar surroundings such as this radio, the game, and my uniform would keep the shock to a minimum while we attempted to get you up to speed."
His brow furrowed. "Suspen- How long?"
"Captain -"
"How long?" he asked again.
She closed her eyes briefly. "Seventy years," she admitted.
"Sev- Peggy," he lamented hoarsely.
"Sir?"
He sighed, suddenly feeling very tired. "I had a date."
"Oh." She cast a glance down before meeting his gaze again. "I can only imagine how difficult this must be, but I will answer any questions you might have, as well as I can answer them. Are you hungry? I can have -"
"First tell me your name."
She grinned self-consciously. "Of course. My name is Kate Carter; I'm a psychiatrist."
"Carter? You're not related to Peggy Carter, are you?"
"Peggy? No. No, it's merely a coincidence."
"The war? What happened?"
"Allies won," she assured him. "Not long after you - There are newsreels discussing the end of the war if you'd like to watch them, and I dug up some old newspapers to help you catch up on what's gone on since then."
He nodded. "Good. Thank you. And, yes, I am hungry. A burger and fries and a chocolate shake'd hit the spot."
"Of course. Cheeseburger?"
He smiled, relieved that some things hadn't changed. "Yes, please."
"Fine. There are a few newspapers in this cabinet, and the washroom is through that door. I'll be back in a few minutes."
As he splashed warm water on his face, he wondered just how much the world could've changed since he'd been gone. Had Peggy found happiness? Love? Did Howard manage to replicate the serum? And what had become of that tesseract? Had it stayed in the ocean, inert? Or had it found its way into a -
The knock at the door jarred him from his thoughts.
"Dr Carter," he greeted.
"Captain Rogers."
"That was fast."
"Was it? I was gone for twenty minutes."
"Twe- Huh. I guess I got lost in thought while I freshened up."
"It'll take you a while to acclimatise, I'm sure. We'll take things slowly."
I don't know if I'll ever do anything more with this; it was simply something I needed to get out of my system.