March 1945

Camp Lehigh, New Jersey

One kiss. As Peggy packed away Steve's file at the end of the war, she couldn't help but mourn the fact that she had only had that one shining moment with the love of her life. She looked at Steve's picture, the one taken of him during boot camp and thought about the wonderful person the war had taken from her. She remembered his shy smile, good nature and generous heart, and how even though his body had changed after the serum, he had remained the same. Now, almost a week later, she still couldn't believe he had crashed that plane, saving countless lives and taking his own in the process.

It had been the longest week of her life. Today was especially difficult: if things had been different, she would be heading home after work to get ready to go dancing with that sweet, quiet boy from Brooklyn. Instead, she knew a long and sleepless night awaited her.

Several hours later, Peggy stood outside the Stork Club, debating if she should go in or not. Ultimately, she turned and walked down the street until she saw a sign that said, "Pub." She walked in and saw a dark, dingy bar filled with questionable clientele. Not in the mood for conversation, Peggy found the spot to be quite perfect. She sat at the bar next to a man that had clearly seen better days. She resolved to breathe out of her mouth as she ordered a scotch and sipped it slowly.

As Peggy stared into the amber liquid in the middle of the derelict bar, she considered her options. As the radio in the corner played an indistinct victory song, Peggy resolved to move on from Captain America.

Somewhere off the coast of Greenland

Howard Stark had been looking for Steve for five days. As soon as he heard the ship had gone down, he gathered a crew and headed toward where he hoped the wreckage was. They had found the Tesseract 12 hours ago, but Howard insisted they keep looking. He was on the verge of telling the crew to turn around when one of the men shouted. He grabbed binoculars and looked ahead and saw a large, dark object protruding from the snow. Howard called to the crew and they prepared to board the ship.

Howard was frozen to the bone and running out of hope as he headed to the front of the ship. They had been searching outside and in the downed ship for nearly three hours and he no longer had feeling in his toes. His flash light was dying as something blue and red caught his eye. He called out as Steve's shield came fully into view, and rushed over to where it lay. Howard dislodged the shield and saw Steve's compass sitting under it, where it must have fallen during the crash.

One of the men shouted, and Howard turned to see Steve, slumped over in the chair, eyes closed and skin pale. "No, Steve. No, no, no." Howard muttered as he looked at the frozen soldier.

Two days later, Peggy had just gotten home from the new pub she was becoming a regular at when the phone started ringing.

"Peggy Carter."

"Peggy, its Howard."

"Howard? Of course, who else would call this late? Are you back?" Peggy looked at her red nail polish as she listened.

"We'll be back in the morning. Listen, can you come meet the ship, when we dock tomorrow?"

"Why?" Peggy focused back on her conversation when she heard Howard's serious tone.

"Peg, just be there. Please?"

"Howard, you better tell me-"

"Peggy I have to go. Just be there. 9 a.m. sharp." Howard hung up the phone before Peggy could get another word in.

Peggy hung up the phone and wondered why Howard wanted to meet her there. She had a bad feeling in the bottom of her stomach that she hoped was from the cheap scotch and decided not to worry until she saw Howard.

The sun was shining much too brightly as far as Peggy was concerned as she waited at the docks the next morning. Howard's ship was being tied down as she waited for him to appear. Men started coming off the ship as Peggy was beginning to grow impatient. Howard finally came down and Peggy was surprised to see his usually pristinely shaven face dark with stubble. He looked worn down and as he spotted her, Peggy felt the bad feeling in her stomach return.

Howard grabbed Peggy and pulled her off to the side before he said anything. When he was sure no one could hear them he let her go and then just looked at her. Peggy waited for him to say something before saying, "Howard, you're scaring me."

"We found… Peggy, we found him."

All the blood rushed out of Peggy's face as she realized what Howard was saying. "You found him? Where is he? I have to see-"

Howard grabbed her by the shoulders and held her in place as she tried to walk away. "No, Peggy. You can't."

She looked at Howard as a sense of dread overcame her. She didn't think she could stand losing Steve twice, but she had to ask. "Is he- Did he-" Peggy couldn't say out loud what she feared the most.

"No, he's alive."

Peggy let out the breath she didn't know she was holding and felt her knees go week with relief. She opened her mouth to yell at Howard for scaring her when he cut her off.

"But he's… I don't know Peggy. He was frozen when we found him. He's thawed out now, he just won't wake up."

"I don't understand."

"Look, I'm taking him to my house. I have a team of doctors already there waiting for us. They're going to figure out what's wrong with him, and they're going to get him back."

Peggy just nodded her head as Howard spoke, numb as she thought about how close she was to getting Steve back, and fearing that it may not happen after all.