A closer look into the moment where Steve got that text. Set during the Avengers meeting about the Accords.
The tension was palpable. No one knew exactly what do about the dispute. One thought kept running through their heads, they could all find a compromise, right? Cap glanced down at his phone, an older model, non-Starkphone he'd gotten a lot of heckling from Tony about, but he preferred things simple where we could get them.
It was a text and most his friends were in the room anyway, which meant it wasn't of world importance. The conversation was inherently more critical but he couldn't help but flip the phone over to see the text.
She's gone. Went peacefully in her sleep.
Instantaneous. Steve felt his blood pump in his ears and in his chest painfully. No. No, no she was the love of his life all those years ago… His large, sure hands went numb and he felt the phone slip helplessly through his fingers.
The room went silent as the phone clattered against the tile. All the Avenger's eyes turned to Cap, the debate dying on their tongues. She's dead, she's dead. The girl who taught me what it means to serve my country, what love is. Gone.
"Steve?" Natasha was the first to say something. He couldn't hear her though, over the buzz invading his ears. He'd had concussions less debilitating. She's dead, my girl, my last connection to the old world, the last tie to who I used to be. His breath was strained too. In less than a second, he was up. "Sorry, I—there's something I…" In the last three seconds, all the blood had left Steve's face.
Everyone else, his parents, the Commandos, Howard, Dr. Erskine, they're all dead. And Bucky he's as unreachable as he always has been. And, God, Peggy Carter, that beautiful—
He had stopped walking halfway to the door. He wanted to rest his head against the cool glass, sink onto the floor, but he was Captain America and he had to be stronger than that. He couldn't fall apart because a 90-year-old woman died. But Peggy was never, never old. To him, it was like she'd been commanding troops only a couple years ago. So it wasn't a "her time has come", it was a tragedy, a skilled woman taken too early with so much life left to live.
"Cap!" Tony was standing in front of him arms crossed. It was clearly not the first time Tony had called to him. And when had he gotten up? Tony lifted one of his hands up to snap loudly in Steve's face. He flinched back a little.
"What's up, Cap?" Tony still looked a little tense from the argument but he seemed distracted enough.
Cap's mouth felt like cotton. "It's Peggy. S-she's…" His throat closed up, understanding and horror appeared on all of their slack faces. They all knew who Peggy was. Steve had actually taken Nat to see her. Tony had met her a couple times when he was a kid. The billionaire stopped moving in surprise and Steve moved past him.
He was down the hallway in a moment. She's gone. He put a hand over his mouth in shock. He couldn't regulate his breathing. He couldn't breathe at all.
Steve rounded a corner and slid down the wall, focusing on getting his breath back. It was a little easier on the floor. His bright eyes trained on the glass wall. The city was still moving like it always did. SHIELD wouldn't halt to mourn. He picked up footsteps coming around the corner. They stopped when whoever it was came into view of him. There wasn't a sound for several seconds but Cap was cared too little to lift his head.
"How you doing, buddy?" Footsteps continued over to him, his voice strangely light for Tony Stark, especially considering he was near yelling moments ago. "Just, ah, stopped here for a break, huh?"
Steve brought his eyes up to look at his friend. "Seemed like a good place to take a break."
Tony laughed sardonically, sitting by his side on the floor with only a moments' hesistation. "Listen, if you need to take a few days and…well, I can convince 'em." He paused for a moment. "She seemed like a great girl. My dad, well it was mostly about you, but he talked about her too. How she kept—" Tony cut himself off. Cap still didn't know how many years the agent had spent trying to find him. How many years his own father had. "How she kept at what she believed in." Who she believed in.
"Everything's so different now. It has been since I thawed out but, Peggy, she was my last connection to everything I knew. When I was with her, I was the 16-year-old kid from Brooklyn again." He swallowed heavily. "I try not to think about it but, I never got to say goodbye to Howard, the other friends I made in war, my friends back in Brooklyn, my mom." Even the newspaper boy who would ride by in the morning was dead by now.
Steve blinked back the tears, thick in his eyes. Later, he would let his grief out, but not now. He'd fight and hurt his friends following his hard-won morals during the war. And later, Tony would listen to a video of Sharon Carter's speech at the funeral and maybe, just maybe, he would see where Steve had come from. Have nightmares where he goes to far and kills his friend, Steve, trying to get to the Winter Soldier.
"Yeah, I hear ya, Cap." Tony said, reaching over and giving Steve's arm a couple of slaps. "Never got to say goodbye to my pop either."
Despite himself, Steve chuckled a little. "Never worked out that little virtual reality therapy thing?"
"Well I did, it wasn't terribly useful, unfortunately." Tony said, lips curling into a sly grin. "Just made me realize how much older I'd gotten."
Steve looked down at his hand. It was still as unblemished and strong as they had been when he'd gotten the serum. "Yeah, I know the feeling."
Thanks for reading! I'm planning on writing another Captain America 3 fanfic so keep a look out! Thanks for reading and please leave a review :)