Kinda a short chapter, but a new one coming soon!
I still do not own Captain America
Steve was stuck. More figuratively than actually. He was suspended in some sort on limbo. Everything was fuzzy around him and he felt as if his very essence was so fragile that is could be puffed out by the faintest breath.
"Where am I?" he called into the darkness.
"The crossroads," a voice replied. Still the haziness was in front of him and Steve could not make out where the voice was coming from.
"The crossroads of what?"
"Your life." An image flashed before his eyes. It was Peggy, a picture taken of her in mid-laugh, holding an ice cream cone, with a dot of ice cream on her nose. But something was off. She was older. Not the crisp, orderly woman she was in the army. She looked normal, happy. The image wavered and faded away.
"That is your future if you choose to return now."
"How can you know?" Steve asked.
"Do not ask such pitiful questions that you can not hope to understand the answers to. You may be a super soldier, but you are still a mortal." The voice thundered around Steve.
Another image appeared. It was another woman, but she was not Peggy. She wore a tight black outfit with a belt that held a red hourglass symbol. She had startling red hair and piercing green eyes. She simply stood in the image, gun in her holster and a hand on her hip. Everything about her screamed 'assassin' to Steve. But he couldn't help feeling mildly attracted and curious about this woman he had never met.
"Who is she?" Steve asked, curious.
"She," the voice said. "Does not even exist yet. But if you choose to leave behind what you love now, you may come to find new love in the future."
"The future can change."
"Yes it can. But the choice is still yours. Choose wisely," the voice faded into nothingness, leaving Steve floating in the darkness of his mind.
"Peggy. A love I know that I have. I should go back to her," Steve thought. "But this other woman. What will happen to her? Will I ever meet her?"
Even though Steve was curious, he ultimately had to do what he was trained to do. And that was to go with his gut.
"How's the captain?" someone asked as Howard entered the mess hall.
"Okay I think. I just hope he wakes up. He doesn't seem to be too cold anymore. It's amazing we found him alive," Howard said, smiling as he retrieved a bagel.
"That super-soldier stuff really does make him super," someone else said. Howard smiled in response and headed back to the room. Closing the door behind him, Howard turned around, about to take a bite of his bagel, as stopped dead in his tracks. Steve's eyes were open, staring at the ceiling. His eyes seemed uncertain though, as if he was debating between something. They moved unsteadily, searching his surroundings.
"Steve?" Howard asked, moving toward him slowly and setting his bagel next to the compass on the nightstand.
Steve turned his head slightly so that he was looking right at Howard. "What day is it?" he asked in a raspy voice.
"Sunday. The plane crashed. It took us a few days to find you. We brought you back here and you were almost frozen. We retrieved your shield too," Howard said, picking up the shield that was by Steve's bed and showing it to him before putting it back down.
"I missed it," Steve said.
"Missed what?" Howard asked. He knew what Steve was talking about, but he wanted to make sure Steve was talking about the same thing.
"I had a date," he said, trying to sit up.
"Woah there, let me help you," Howard said, standing up. He doubted he would be any help to the captain, but at least he could try. Soon Steve was sitting at the edge of the bed, eyeing Howard's bagel. Howard handed it over and Steve took a huge bite. "I'm sure we can work something out. We should be docking tomorrow and the plane would take a day about to get back. When I get back I could tell her to meet me at the Stork Club someday in the coming week. But she would actually be meeting you," Howard finished.
"Why would you do that for me?" Steve asked.
"I've seen the way she looks at you. Like you're the only person in the world. She's never looked at anyone else like that."
Steve thought back to the image of an older Peggy, caught in such a precious moment. If he was with her, maybe there would be more moments like that.
Steve finished off the bagel before replying. "You would do that?" he asked.
"Of course. You're Captain America! Maybe you guys could grab some fondue afterwards," Howard said, smirking. Steve smiled in return and Howard knew everything would be okay.
Fondue. "I understood that reference!" You will get both references if you have seen the movies with Cap in them :). As always, please read and review!