I don't own the avengers, captain america etc etc so please do not sue me.
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Enjoy xx
Chapter One
"No. I won't do it. I can't do it. What on earth do you think you are going to achieve! If anything he'll get worse and then you'll loose him, forever" she practically yelled, big, fat, salty tears threatening to spill down her cheeks.
"I'm doing it because this is the only way to do it. It will ease him into it if he's got a friendly face to help him through. You are the only one for the job Sophie, you are the only one with ties to his past" Fury placated, to which the young woman just glared at him with fire burning in her coffee brown eyes.
Fury stood up to his full height, towering over the petite brunette, staring her down with his eye.
"The preparations have already been arranged. You're shipping out first thing in the morning. This is non-negotiable Agent" he said and stalked out of the library.
The young woman glared at the personnel file on the table with anger in her eyes and sadness in her heart.
Yelling in frustration, she swiped the file to the floor and stormed out of the room, not letting the tears fall.
The thin pieces of aged, yellow paper floated gracefully to the floor and landing on top, a black and white photo of a beautiful young woman.
"…...I had a date"
Steve Rogers woke with a heavy sigh, the early morning sunlight of a New York June streaming through the small gap in the curtains of his Brooklyn loft apartment.
It had been 2 weeks since he'd woken up in S.H.E.I.L.D's New York base but it all seemed like yesterday, all of it seemed like yesterday...the war, Hydra, Bucky...Peggy...
Steve closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to forget, but as soon as his eyelids closed, her face appeared, taunting him and he didn't want to open his eyes, to just keep them closed forever so that he could always see her face. To pretend none of this was real.
Opening his eyes meant having to understand and deal with what had happened to him, to her, to everyone. It almost made him wish he hadn't been found at all, to stay sleeping in a world where he and Peggy could be together forever, where his friends and everyone he knew were still alive.
"No".
Shaking his head in an attempt to lift the black mood that had settled over him (and had stayed for the last 2 weeks) he decided he should get ready for the day ahead...not that he actually did very much these days.
After a quick, hot shower he got dressed in his usual tan slacks and shirt and decided to fix himself some breakfast, which would only consist of cereal as he couldn't figure out how to work the modern kitchen appliances (yet), making him breathe another heavy sigh but before he could start down the slow spiral of depression, which usually ended up in several broken punch bags, his apartment buzzer sounded.
Wandering slowly to the intercom he pushed the little blue button, at least he knew how this piece of technology worked.
"Hello?" he asked
"Captain Rogers, its Agent Coulson"
"Hey Phil, come on up" Steve said with a small smile, buzzing the Agent into the lobby.
Steve liked Phil, he reminded him of his own time in a way he couldn't quite put his finger on.
A quiet knock came at the door and Agent Coulson entered the apartment and made his way over to the open plan kitchen where Steve sat, forcing himself to eat the cereal he'd poured.
S.H.E.I.L.D had arranged for the loft, it was close to Steve's old neighbourhood which they all thought would serve as some kind of roots for him. It was a nice apartment, minimalist but not modern with warm, walnut wood floors and large windows, making the place bright and cosy all at the same time. It even had a small roof terrace - Steve liked the apartment, he didn't like that it was so empty. He didn't have any stuff to fill it with...no one to share it with.
"Captain, Director Fury has a proposition I am to relay to you regarding your current situation" Coulson said with a smile. Steve looked up from his cereal with a slightly raised eyebrow, knowing that by proposition, what he meant was order.
"Director Fury feels that in order to re-establish yourself in the 21st Century, you will need as much support as you can." Coulson said, Steve gave him a small smile and put down the bowl of cereal, he really couldn't eat right now.
"So we have arranged a...assistant for you to help, bring you up to speed" he said with a smile.
"Is that really necessa..." Steve started.
"Agent Carter, you can come in now" Coulson said, looking toward the front door.
Steve's heart thudded painfully in his chest, why, of all of the Agents in the history of all S.H.E.I.L.D Agents did Fury have to pick one by the name of Carter!
He heard her high heels clicking quietly on the wooden floor even before she entered the apartment. As she entered, Steve's mouth went dry, his palms started to sweat and his brain felt like it had melted.
She was beautiful.
Her petite, slim frame seemed to glide over to them. Her chocolate coloured hair fell in waves to her shoulders and her warm, slightly sun kissed skin seemed to glow in the sun.
It was Peggy.
"Peggy?" Steve almost whispered. He didn't notice the sad look in her eyes as she looked up at Coulson.
"Captain, this is Agent Sophie Carter. She's our head of our History and Artefacts department in New York". Coulson said proudly.
"Nice to meet you Captain" she said and held out her hand. It took a while for the Captain to realise what was happening. She was the spitting image of Peggy, even right down to the English accent. After a pause, Agent Carter raised her eyebrow slightly which seemed to jolt him back to reality.
"Uh, hi, Steve Rogers...nice to meet you too" he said, taking her delicate hand in his, it was warm and soft like nothing he had ever known.
Agent Carter dropped her hand to her side quickly, feeling her cheeks warm a little.
"Well I'll let you two get acquainted. See you both later" Coulson said and exited the apartment.
An awkward, thick silence fell between the Captain and Agent Carter.
Agent Carter broke the silence first.
"Right, well, shall I sort some coffee and we can have a bit of a chat about all of this. Coulson didn't exactly explain very much did he".
Steve could see that her mouth was moving but all he could hear was the sound of his own heart beating so hard he thought it might burst out of his chest.
"Captain?" she asked, looking up at him through thick black eyelashes.
"Yeah, coffee sounds great" he said, finally pulling himself together, still unable to tear his eyes away from the woman who was Peggy incarnate.
He sat at the counter and tried hard not to watch her as Agent Carter busied herself around his kitchen making coffee for them. He envied the way she fiddled around with the various appliances like she'd known instinctively what to do with them.
His heart beat had become even again but every time he caught her big, brown doe eyes a crushing ache formed in his heart and he had to swallow hard to keep his composure.
"Here we go" Agent Carter said as she poured the steaming, hot black liquid into a mug for Steve and herself and she stood, leaning against the counter opposite Steve. He looked down into his coffee with an unbearably sad look on his handsome face.
Agent Carter sighed quietly, sadly. Knowing what she had to do and not wanting to do it.
"Captain, are you alright"? She asked softly, genuine concern written all of her beautiful features. Steve looked up at her with those steely blue eyes, and as he did she could feel her cheeks start to blush a little. Steve noticed and looked back down at his coffee, not wanting to embarrass her.
"Yeah, fine, sorry... you just remind me of someone" he said, taking a sip of the hot coffee.
Agent Carter felt like killing Fury. She was so angry, how could he do this to him. To torture the poor man with her own face when he had plenty of other Agents who would fight to the death to be given this opportunity! Hell, even Coulson would take it.
She had to close her eyes briefly to hold back the tears that she knew were ready to fall at a moments notice. She took a deep breath.
"Sorry Captain. If you want, we can discuss this all in tomorrow if you'd rather just take the day to you know, um, sort things out". She said clumsily, making his mouth curl up in a small smile.
"No, you came all the way to this part of town, we should get this done so I know what I'm letting myself in for" he said, standing up and gesturing for her to make her way over to the living area.
"Alright" Agent Carter said quietly and clicked her way to the living room and sat down on a large, worn, brown leather sofa.
"Right..." Agent Carter started once Steve had settled himself in a chair opposite her.
"Fury wants me to help you integrate back into the 21st Century, and by that I mean catching up on the last 70 odd years of history, music, literature, science, technology, culture, society...everything really". She said in a rush.
Steve's eyes widened slightly.
"Wow" he exclaimed "though, I should've seen it coming I guess" he said, nursing the coffee mug in his hands.
"Not that I meant for any of that to sound at all patronising, I mean you're a grown man and you obviously know how to take care of yourself and..." Agent Carter rambled and then realised she was rambling.
"What I mean to say is..." she said slowly, eliciting another small smile from Steve "...is that I am here to help you get used to the world today in the most pain and stress free way I can" she said with a smile, hiding the betrayal she felt in her heart.
Steve looked her for a long while and she could only imagine what he was going through. She could barley look at him. She wanted to run out of the building and never come back so that he never had to look at her again. She hated that she was causing that far away, pained look on his face. She had heard her whisper that name as she entered and felt like running away right there and then, but it was pointless, Fury would never let her go.
"Ok, how do you want to go about this" Steve said, finally tearing his eyes away from her, releasing a breath he didn't know he was holding.
"Well Captain..." she started
"It's Steve...just call me Steve" he interrupted and she let a small mile form on her rosy pink lips.
"Ok Steve, well, S.H.E.I.L.D have relocated me to this apartment block so I will be your new neighbour just in case of any...emergencies" she started, looking up into his stormy blue eyes, trying to ignore the blush that was rising in her cheeks.
"I will prepare lesson plans for us to go through to cover all of the years you have missed and pay special attention to important historical events etc" she said smoothly, taking a sip of her coffee.
"After that, the day is pretty much yours to do with what you will and if you need me to hang around for any reason, if you ever just want to talk, or want a sparring partner or just want to yell at someone, I'll be here" She said sweetly, earnestly and he could feel his own cheeks get warmer.
"You've given up an awful lot to teach an old dog new tricks Miss" he said sadly, looking down into his coffee cup.
"Sophie, please..." she started and Steve nodded.
"Look, Steve, I'm not going to say I understand what your going through because I simply, can't imagine what it would feel like. This is going to be hard for you, really hard but you will get through it, I promise" she said, placing her well manicured hand on his knee.
Steve looked up at her and had to look away quickly, she reminded him of everything he could never have and it hurt beyond belief.
"Ok Sophie. You must want to get settled into your new apartment so why don't you go unpack and we'll get started this afternoon" he said. Sophie nodded.
"Perfect" she said and left the apartment, leaving Steve to his thoughts.
"Peggy"