This is another one-shot, with Evie de-aged to a toddler.


Steve sank onto the sofa of the Avenger's common room laughing at his teammates. It was July 4th, his birthday. When they have bought decorations and star-and-stripes goodies, he thought that they were for a Independence Day picnic. Then, Jarvis called him up an hour before they had planned to deck out the common room, and when he arrived, he was met with shouts of "Surprise!"

Tony plopped a Uncle Sam hat on Steve's head, and little Evie came out of nowhere calling Steve's name.

"'Teve, 'Teve, 'Teve!" She was wearing her sparkly blue princess dress and has clutching a little American flag tightly in her hand. She dashed over and threw her arm around Steve's neck as he leaned down to hug her. "Happy Birf-day, 'Teve!" she giggled happily.

Steve pulled her up into his lap. "Thank you, Doll." He grinned a bittersweet smile. It was hard sometimes for him to look at the woman he loved so much and see a little girl in her place. "You look mighty swell in that dress." He said pointing to her outfit.

"Thank you, 'Teve," she bashfully answered. "Kent said it was okay to wear out 'cus today is special." Steve glanced up at Clint, who shrugged.

"She really wanted to wear it today, but I don't usually let her wear her dress up stuff in public," the archer answered. " I figured a birthday could be an exception."

"Well, it's very pretty," Steve smiled at the toddler. Evie bashfully grinned again. Just then, Pepper came out with a huge rectangular cake iced to look like an American flag with candles that spelled out "Happy Birthday"

"Wasn't sure if we could fit the right number of candles on there, so we went with these," Tony teased. Nat, who was lighting the candles, shot Tony a dirty look. "What?" he defended. "Gramps is ninety-something; that's a lot of candles!" Everyone rolled their eyes and settled down on the sofa and chairs around Steve, Clint taking Evie from Steve's lap. With a big breath, Steve blew out all of the candles at once amid the cheers of his teammates. Pepper cut the cake, making sure to cut an extra-large piece for Thor.

Then came the presents. Steve mostly received various books, CDs, and movies that his team thought he needed to be familiar with to blend in with modern society, except for Thor who brought him a history of Asgard. With each new title, he grinned and shook his head. Finally, Evie turned to Clint.

"Is it my turn?" she asked him.

"Yes, Princess, it's your turn." He laughed as she jumped off his lap to get Steve's gift. She brought him a small box wrapped in paper emblazoned with his design from his shield.

Evie handed it to him with a huge smile. Steve carefully unwrapped it to reveal a tin of 100 Prismacolor colored pencils. "For your draw-lings!" Evie said excitedly. "Now you can col-yer them!"

Steve drew her into a tight hug. "Thank you, Doll; they're perfect." He told her. When he released her, she clapped her little hands and giggled.

"Now the big present!" She cried and ran off into the kitchen.

"Big present?" He could hear her talking, then she reappeared, dragging a grinning someone behind her by the hand. The last person Steve ever thought he would see again: Bucky.


Thoughts?