2014…

"I'm telling you, he's gaga for you Laila." Taylor said from where she was sitting up on the desk wearing a pair of skinny jeans, a pair of cowgirl boots, a high necked sleeveless light blue halter top blouse, a pair of gold feather shaped earrings, and her ever present bracelets.

"Then why doesn't he ask me out?" Laila questioned as she worked flipping some of her long midnight black hair over her shoulder as her dark brown eyes scanned the paper she was holding. She wore a teal blouse that stood out beautifully against her dark skin, a pair of skinny jeans, and a pair of bell flats.

"Cause he's a man." Taylor shrugged. "You just need to make him ask you out in a way that makes it seem like he's asking you out of his own free will."

"Really?" Laila looked up at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, that sounded just as creepy out loud as it did in my head." Taylor said with a wince.

"Little bit." Laila said with a mirroring wince, then she looked surprised. "Well look what just walked in through the door."

"Why hello Mr. Rogers, what brings you to our humble abode?" Taylor asked the super soldier as he walked up to them.

"Hey Taylor, I was out running a met a guy named Sam, he invited me to come." Steve answered suddenly looking embarrassed.

"That's great, Sam is a real good guy." Taylor smiled as she hopped down from the desk. "By the way, this is Laila, Laila this is Steve."

"Nice to meet you." Laila smiled brightly shaking hands with the super soldier.

"You as well ma'am." Steve replied.

"Come on, Sam's down here, should be wrapping up soon." Taylor led him away from the front toward the back where the gym was located. "This is it."

"Thanks Taylor." Steve said as they looked into the hall to a large room where Sam stood at a podium before a group of seated people staying in the doorway.

"The thing is, I think it's getting worse." A woman said. "A cop pulled me over last week, he thought I was drunk. I swerved to miss a plastic bag, I thought it was an IED."

"Some stuff we leave there, other stuff we bring back. It's our job to figure out how to carry it. Is it going to be in a big suitcase or in a little man purse?" Sam asked them all. "It's up to you."

"He's real good." Steve said as Sam dismissed the class.

"The best, he's really helped a lot of people, myself included." Taylor said crossing her arms. "I tried to get Cheshire to come, but…well you know Cheshire…."

"Yeah." Steve already knew what she was getting at, watching as Sam dismissed the class and they started to leave.

"I'll see you next week." The woman from earlier said as she and the others walked out the front doors.

"Definitely." Sam said as Taylor and Steve walked over to him.

"Sam, I brought a visitor." Taylor called out.

"Look who it is, the running man." Sam said as he gathered some of his pamphlets.

"Caught the last few minutes, it's pretty intense." Steve commented.

"Yeah brother, we all got the same problems." Sam said. "Guilt, regret."

"You lose someone?" Steve asked.

"My wingman, Riley." Sam answered, his face falling a bit. "Flying a night mission, standard PJ rescue op. Nothing we hadn't done 1,000 times before until an RPG knocked Riley's dumb ass out of the sky. Nothing I could do, it's like I was up there just to watch."

"I'm sorry." Steve said empathically.

"After that, I had a really hard time finding a reason for being over there, you know?" Sam went on.

"But you're happy now, back in the world?" Steve asked.

"The number of people giving me orders is down to about zero…so hell yeah." Sam smiled. "Are you thinking about getting out?"

"No." Steve said then seemed to second guess himself. "I don't know. To be honest I don't know what I'd do with myself if I did."

"Ultimate fighting." Sam said making Steve laugh. "Just a great idea off the top of my head."

"Don't listen to him, you can do whatever you want to do." Taylor said nudging Sam in the side. "What makes you happy?"

"I don't know." Steve shrugged.

"Hey, Taylor, can I borrow you for a second?" Laila called out to her form down the hall.

"Sure." Taylor said with a bright smiled. "See you in a couple of days Steve, keep any eye on Cheshire for me."

"I will Taylor, have fun on your trip." Steve nodded with a smiled as well before she turned walking away.

"Are you two…?" Sam questioned making Steve's ears go red.

"No, no, no, just friends." Steve replied quickly, gaining a nod from Sam before they moved on to other topics of conversation.