Chapter 4

By: MysticFantasy

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"Another round over here!" Jim declared at the bartender who quickly began to fill more beer glasses.

"Don't over do it guys." Steve advised with a smirk on his face.

"Come on Rogers. This is a celebration." Dum Dum declared. "You're back with us and we get to be a team again."

"Yeah Cap." Gabe agreed. "To be honest, all of the missions we've had after what happened weren't nearly as fun or exciting. We're really glad to have you back."

Steve smiled at the men before him as a waitress placed glasses before each of them that were filled to the brim.

Phillips had called the five men to the army base where Steve made his appearance to them. Jim had right away believed that he was seeing things and demanded that James slap him to get him to snap out of it.

Luckily there hadn't been any hitting involved and Steve was glad to see that his team still looked, and acted, the same.

After the surprise meeting, they had been given time to go about the city and celebrate. Their first place of celebration was the very same bar where the five men had agreed to be part of Steve's team.

"So, is Howard driving you crazy yet?" Jim asked.

"He's going about telling everyone that you're staying with him and keeping him in line." James added with a smirk.

"Howard is a handful." Steve answered. "But he is helping catch up on the years I missed. Not much has changed."

"You're right about that." Gabe said. "The only thing I've seen that's changed is the president."

Steve chuckled.

"So when is Phillips letting you come back?" Dum Dum asked as Gabe quickly explained to Jacq what they were talking about. Steve was actually a little surprised that the Frenchman hadn't learned English yet.

"Well, at first he said that I could return whenever I felt that I was ready. Then he turned it around and said that he'll let me come back when he thinks I'm ready." Steve explained.

"That man can never make up his mind." James said before taking a drink of his beer.

"Think he'll let you back any time soon?" Jim asked.

"Doubt it." Steve answered. "He thinks I'm still thawing out."

"I'd be more worried that he left you to Stark's care." Gabe declared with a smirk.

Steve and the others laughed at his statement. The super soldier was happy to be with his team again. Just laughing and sharing stories of what's happened while he was gone. He listened with undisturbed attention as the five men told him that they were either married or seeing someone, how many missions they'd gone after the raid on the Hydra base, how they'd each taken the news that he wasn't coming back...

He hated that he made everyone believe that he was dead but they all assured him that they weren't upset about it and were glad to have him back.

Hours quickly went by. As did glass after glass of beer.

Steve quickly found himself grateful that he wasn't able to get drunk but at the same time he wasn't very fond of making sure that his friend's were falling over themselves as they grabbed taxi's to take them home.

After making sure the last of them were safely on their way home, Steve decided that he should he heading home as well. He decided to walk instead of getting a cab in order to take a better look of the area.

Gabe had been right about things not having changed much. Everything was pretty much the same.

It didn't take long for Steve to get back to the mansion. As soon as he walked in, he right away heard a woman's laughter.

Looks like he finally found a girlfriend. Steve thoght with a smirk as he tried to get by the living room without disturbing Howard.

"Steve!"

Well, no such luck there.

The captain halted and walked into the living room where he spotted Howard standing from the sofa where a beautiful brunette woman sat.

"Have fun with the guys?" Howard asked.

"Very eventful." Steve answered.

"Good. Steve, let me introduce you to Maria. Maria, this is the one and only Captain Steve Rogers."

"Ma'am, it's a pleasure to meet you." Steve said shaking hands with the woman.

"Believe me, the pleasure is mine." Maria said with a smile. "I thought Howard was just trying to make an impression when he said that he personally knows Captain America."

"You never really can tell with him." Steve said jokingly, making Maria laugh. "Well, I'll leave you two alone. It was very nice to meet you ma'am."

"It was very nice to meet you as well Mr. Rogers." Maria said and Steve took his leave but not before he sent a smile to Howard who smiled in return.

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A/N: As I have stated in some of my other stories, I'm not familiar with the Iron Man storyline so I'm just winging the whole Howard and Maria thing. Please, no flames.