PLEASE READ A/N

I'm really surprised by the feedback I've received in such a short time! I am writing this story because I find the premise interesting but positive reinforcement goes a long way in making me more inspired.

I realised before writing this chapter that I've made 2 mistakes in the last chapter when it comes to MCU canon. Agent Coulson died at the end of Avengers and Harry met Tony in 1998 so they couldn't have discussed his time in Afghanistan then. I don't know if I should let things be or edit the last chapter so any comments you have regarding this are welcome! This chapter focuses on Steve and Harry only so these two things shouldn't affect it.

When the Avengers had been arguing on the helicarrier he had been planning to roam around the country for a while, see the sights and get to know how much his country had changed. Steve was going to have breakfast after his daily morning jog and deciding where he wanted to go first or if he wanted to leave at all when he saw Harry in the kitchen. He was in pajamas and a worn out T-shirt and flipping pancakes like a pro.

"Good morning Steve" he smiled. "Do you want any?"

"It'll be easier if you make eggs. I eat a lot."

"I'm raising a teenage son. Don't worry about eating a lot. I'll be making eggs in any case, whenever Teddy is at home I try to cook all the meals myself."

"Oh yes, he told me he studies at some boarding school. You don't like the schools in New York?"

Harry laughed but shook his head. "No nothing like that. If it was up to me I'd keep both the boys near me but it is a tradition. It's an exclusive private school in Scotland and very few people who are not part of the families that have been going there for generations get in. My parents went there, so did Teddy's and I went there too."

"Sounds fancy"

"It is, a little bit. It's in a castle." Harry's eyes were twinkling when he passed filled with eggs and bacon to Steve and Steve felt his breath catch. Before he could embarrass himself further Clint walked into the room and stole bacon off his plate. Harry hit him on his hand, "Oi! Wait for your turn."

"But I'm hungry." Clint whined and if it was Steve cooking instead of Harry he would've given him the plate immediately to shut off the noise. But Harry kept glaring for a second then went back to cooking.

"That doesn't work on me. Sit down and wait for your turn."

Clint pouted but was waiting silently. Steve had never thought a firm father tone could be attractive but apparently everything Harry did attracted him.

Slowly everyone started entering the kitchen and Steve wondered why they couldn't have slept in and given him some more time alone with Harry. Teddy walked in half asleep and sat next to Steve.

"Good morning old man, phone working okay?"

"I don't remember you being so obnoxious."

"Well you weren't flirting with my dad then."

Steve spluttered but then Teddy started laughing. "Don't worry about it. He looks at you the same way."

"I was not worried." Steve bit out but his heart was soaring. From Teddy's expression it was clear he knew that.

"You're leaving next week?"

"Yes, I wasn't planning on coming home but Dad was having a busy time at work and James was feeling lonely. Thank god I was here. My friends won't believe me when I tell them about the alien invasion."

"I think your father would have preferred it if you were safe away from here."

"Oh I don't think he was worried about that. Our house is very well warded."

"Warded? I don't security systems help against aliens dropping from the sky."

Teddy looked like he wanted to say more but stayed quiet and started eating his breakfast. James took his plate from Harry and came and sat on Steve's other side. He held out his hand and said, "I don't think we've been introduced. I'm James Potter but I guess you can call me Jamie, Teddy told me you're the guy that likes daddy." He said it with such a serious expression on his face and Steve didn't know if he wanted to laugh or bang his head against the table.

Bucky had always said he was shit at not letting his feelings show on his face but it was a particularly bad day when even kids figured out what he was feeling so easily.

"Boys, are you troubling Steve?"

"No daddy" said the two boys with a believably innocent expression on their faces and Steve felt that they spent too much time with Tony.

"Uh huh. Eat your breakfast and leave the poor man alone. We'll be leaving soon so freshen up and meet me here in an hour."

Harry started walking towards his room but called Steve a moment later.

"Give me your phone."

"Why?"

"So you can save my number. We're going to the park on Sunday, remember?"

"Yes of course."

Harry saved his number on Steve's phone, asked him to call on Saturday night so they could decide where to meet, winked and left. It seems the whole family wanted to drive him crazy. At least he was sure about one thing, he wasn't going on his cross-country road trip anytime soon.

Steve was on his bike driving to the nursing home Peggy called home. He had gotten to know about it a few days after he had woken up but hadn't found the courage to visit till now. He still didn't know how he would behave or what he would say to her but he owed it to her to at least visit. The doctors had suggested a particular time for Steve to visit in when Peggy was lucid generally and he didn't know what worried him more – that she would be lucid and he would meet the 90 year old version of the woman he had once wanted to build a future with or if she wouldn't remember him and this is would be one more person in the list of people that didn't know the pre-serum Steve.

He arrived at the nursing home and was quickly ushered into Peggy's room by a young looking nurse that wouldn't stop looking at him and blushing. Steve was no novice at receiving the attention of girls, he had received enough of it in his year touring as Captain America but he still felt supremely uncomfortable in these situations.

"Steve? Steve Rogers, is that you?" said an old wrinkly woman in a hospital. Everything about Peggy had changed, her lips were no longer red, her hair wasn't the beautiful brown it once was but her eyes were still the same colour of blue they had always been.

"Hi Peggy. It is me."

"Oh Steve! Come here. I told them you know, I told them you were alive, that nothing could have happened to you but no one but Howard believed me. He searched for you for so long Steve. And Tony kept the expeditions up." She gave him a hug and for a moment Steve let himself wonder about the life the two of them could've had together. They would go dancing once the war was over, he would get down on one knee a year later. They probably would have started S.H.I.E.L.D together and had a few kids along the way. He pulled back a minute later and decided to let go of all the missed opportunities. Peggy was a wonderful woman and they would have built a beautiful life together, but that was neither here nor there. He couldn't keep thinking of what-ifs.

"So tell me what's going on? When did they find you?"

"Well, it has been almost three months" Steve said with a shamefaced expression but Peggy was smiling at him understandingly and he felt his heart lighten. "There was an alien invasion in New York last week. They've made a team called The Avengers, we helped stop it. I think they're calling it the Battle of New York."

"Everything happens in New York. I'm glad Sharon decided to find me a home upstate."

"Oh, who is Sharon?"

"My niece. She works for S.H.I.E.L.D too."

"Oh. So did you get married?"

Peggy smiled and said, "Yes I did a few years after you fell. He was older than me, a good man, He already had kids from an earlier marriage and I wanted to focus on my career so we didn't have any kids. He died almost 20 years ago."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be Steve. He lived a long and happy life. I think we've seen enough to be grateful when someone dies peacefully. Anyway, tell me how do you like the new century."

"I am not particularly fond of it, the buildings are made of glass and people don't talk to each other a lot. It's just different."

Peggy patted his hand, "Hang in there Steve. Things are different but not all of it is bad. Back in the days women like me were the exception, I'm happy to say America is full of Peggy Carter's today. Also you can marry a man now!" she shot him a mischievous look.

"Like I cared about public opinion even back then."

"That is true. I had heard some positively raunchy stories about the Howling commandoes barrack."

Steve laughed and thought about his days with those men. Only a few of them were interested in men but with just men around they had found comfort where they could find it.

"I don't know about raunchy but we had some fun times together."

"See and now you can have those fun times in public" Steve raised his eyebrow, "Okay well maybe not in public, but you know what I mean. You should give yourself a chance Steve. Get to know some new people, make friends. Despite how old you feel you are just 23. There's a lot more to life than war."

Before Steve could reply Peggy's eyes grew glassy. "Steve you're back? I told them you would come back! We won the war Captain, you saved us. You have to take me dancing now!"

Steve smiled sadly and kissed her cheek, "Of course Peggy. We'll go dancing soon."

Before Steve could reply, a different nurse came into the room and told him visiting hours were over. Steve looked at Peggy one more time, vowed to visit more often and left.

It was a nice Sunday afternoon and Steve was waiting near the duck pond for Harry and the kids. James saw him first and started waving madly and ran towards him a minute later. Harry shouted something but James ignored him and kept running towards Steve. Harry shook his head and started walking at a more sedate pace while Teddy walked with what could easily be called a swagger with earphones plugged in. Before he could notice anything else a small body crashed into him, hugged him around his legs and stepped back just as fast.

"Hi Steve! How are you?" James red hair was reflecting the sunlight, his blue eyes were twinkling and his smile was gap toothed. Steve hadn't seen a cuter sight in a long time.

"I'm good kid. What have you being doing for the past few days?"

"Oh Dad had taken a few days off so we went with Uncle Tony to our place in the Hamptons. I really like our house there; we have our own beach you know? Uncle Tony doesn't like it a lot; he says he prefers the beaches in Malibu. I like his Malibu house more too; we don't have Jarvis in Hamptons. But dad says Uncle Tony should take a few tech-free holidays, and then Uncle Tony pretends he's dying without his lab but he still plays with me on the beach."

'Kids are same everywhere' Steve thought 'even if they holiday at the Hamptons instead of Coney Island.'

"Are you chatting Steve's ear off Jamie?" Harry teased as they came nearer.

"No dad" James rolled his eyes, "His ears are fine. I know what a fallen ear looks like; Uncle George told me mom talked his ears off whenever they met and now he doesn't have an ear."

Steve raised an eyebrow and looked at Harry. "Ginny's brother George lost an ear in an accident."

"No dad! He told me mom talked his ear off."

"Of course Jamie. Next time you should talk his other ear off, then he'll match. Okay buddy?"

"But then he'll be deaf dad." James said in a tone that clearly conveyed Harry didn't know anything.

"No. Didn't you know? He can hear from that hole where his ear is supposed to be."

"Huh", James looked like he had been given the secret to the existence of the universe.

"Can we get on with feeding the ducks now?" Teddy said.

Steve looked at him and said, "Well aren't you a ray of sunshine today."

"Oh ignore him Steve. Teddy's missing his girlfriend." James sing-sang.

"How many times do I have to tell you? Victoire's not my girlfriend."

"You can keep telling me, it's not like I'll be believe you."

"Okay boys stop it. Time to feed the ducks" Harry said in the same firm tone that made Steve's knees weak. He passed out bread crumbs to both the boys, asked Teddy to look out for Jamie and walked to a Magnolia tree.

"Think we should spread out a blanket here?"

"Yes it's fine."

He went about spreading the blanket and kept the picnic basket on top of it. Steve removed his shoes and sat down next to Harry.

"You guys do this every Sunday?"

"I wish. I try to bring Jamie as often as I can and we come regularly whenever Teddy's home. He pretends he's too old for this but he enjoys himself too."

"Yes. I don't think many 14 year old boys would enjoy coming to the park with their father and younger brother."

"Teddy's a good kid. Way better than how I was when I was his age."

"Oh?" Steve smirked and shifted closed to Harry, "And how were you as a teenager?"

Harry lay against the tree trunk and closed his eyes. His neck was long and pale and Steve had the strangest urge to lick his Adam's apple. He had a small smile on his face which was equal parts wistful and sad.

"I was a git. I brooded a lot and never talked to people about what was troubling me. I was rash and quick to anger. My fifth year at school was the worst but everyone understood and stood beside me anyway."

"Your friends?" Harry opened his eyes and smiled. "Yes. Ron and Hermione, they really are the best friends a guy could ask for. My life in England wasn't easy and they could have left so many times but they always stayed and helped me out. Ron's family too, they took me in and treated me like a member of their family."

"They're still in England?"

"Yes most of them. There's Arthur and Molly who've been like parents to me. They are content in their little house in England and Molly keeps pestering everyone to come for family dinners. They have seven kids. Bill travels a lot; he's living in Peru currently. Charlie works in Romania. Percy works at the ministry and George travels too but mostly between New York and England. He owns a business here too and helps out with Jamie a lot. Then there's Ron who handles George's business in Britain and finally Ginny, my ex-wife."

"You're close to the family even after the divorce?"

"Yes." Harry said happily, "For the longest time I wanted to be a part of the Weasley family so bad that I think I married Ginny to officially be related to them. After we decided to separate and explained things to the family Molly hit me on the head and said that I'd been part of the family since I was 12 and Ron had first invited me to stay. I think I cried that day."

"That's nice. I haven't heard of divorced couples who are so friendly even after they separate." Steve knew he was fishing for information and it seems Harry knew too because he smirked at him and then closed his eyes again.

"About a year after James was born Ginny and I discovered that we were more interested in the same sex and got married for the wrong reasons. She's a sportsperson and in an all-women's team so when she fell in love with a teammate we decided to call it quits. Now the kids live with me and Ginny visits whenever she can. She's a good woman but I think she's better suited to the role of the fun aunt."

Steve didn't say anything and kept looking at Harry. Harry was interested in men. He had winked at Steve a few days back. Harry was interested in him. Maybe. Hopefully. Steve hadn't felt so happy in a long time. He could hear the kids playing catch nearby, Teddy helping Jamie out whenever he couldn't catch and got frustrated. He shifted closer to Harry so that their shoulders touched, Harry leant closer and soon Steve's arms were around his shoulders and he thought 'This is life'. It took him a moment to realise Harry was saying something.

"What?"

"What did you do this week?"

"Well I visited Peggy and talked to her for a bit. Natasha took me shopping because apparently plaids and checks make me look like an idiot."

Harry snickered, "I think you look nice in anything Steve. How's Aunt Peggy?"

Steve didn't know which part of that sentence he wanted to focus on. He decided to go with the latter part. "You know Peggy?"

"Yes Tony introduced us about a year after I came here. She was better then. She looked at me and immediately said, 'Oh this one is a Stark'. We met quite a few times over the years. I take the kids and go meet her from time to time. I think she's one of the most wonderful women I've met, and I've met a lot of wonderful women."

"Yes she's so grown up and different from the Peggy I knew but she's similar at the same time."

"I can't imagine how hard it must be for you Steve. When I moved to New York I struggled a lot, I had lived in a remote Scottish castle or the suburbs my whole life and suddenly being in a city which was full of people and building and cars was tough. And I was just shifting from one country to another. You shouldn't be too hard on yourself. The fact that you are trying to live and fight is a good enough reason to be proud of yourself."

Steve wanted to thank Harry or say something but he felt so choked up. Since he had woken up he was berating himself for learning things fast enough, not knowing the cultural references, not understanding technology and he hadn't known how much he needed to hear these words. He pulled Harry closer and Harry squeezed his thigh. He hadn't needed to say anything else. Sitting under the shade of the tree with Harry in his arms and two genuinely great kids playing nearby, he knew at least one thing in his life was easy.