Training was as gruelling and challenging as she thought it would be but her determination and the letters of encouragement she received from her family and Steve only pushed her to keep going. The fact that Bucky's letters had stopped a few weeks after she had reached Camp McCoy only made her more determined to follow through with her training.
Finally, after almost one and a half months of training, she was sworn into the Women's Army Corps. She met Colonel Philips that afternoon and by that night they were on a plane to the Italian front. Her WAC uniform still felt foreign to her but the sense of pride and strength to do what she needed to that came from wearing the dark khaki jacket, beige blouse, beige skirt, black shined oxfords and dark khaki cap made her feel gratified in a way that had nothing to do with conceit. She was going to be helping to protect her country in some small way and she realised now what pushed Bucky into signing up as soon as Pearl Harbour had been bombed.
Her brown leather satchel had her new credentials in it as well as a notebook and pencil, Colonel Phillips' list of companies that he was in charge of and a collection of letters from Steve and most importantly Bucky. She had also slipped two sealed letters into the bag just before she left Camp McCoy, both were to be posted to Steve and Bucky as soon as the plane landed and she had the time to get to a post office, or the weekly post roundup happened, whichever came first at the base they were headed to in England.
Once there she was trained quickly in what a field secretary was to do and what the protocol was for an ambush on the camp or an airstrike.
With that out of the way she boarded a plane with Colonel Phillips and other personnel and they flew to the Italian front where America had one of its base camps and she met Peggy Carter, an English resistance agent as well as others that were helping with the war effort. The next few months flew by and she kept up with her letters to home as well as to Steve who had now become Captain America. Even seeing all the posters with his face plastered across it she was still amazed by what had happened to him. In his letters he had confided in a code system she, Bucky and he had come up with as children about Doctor Erskine and his Super Soldier serum, his grief at the doctor's death, Phillips's refusal to let him fight, Senator Brandt's idea to make Captain America in Steve's words 'a performing monkey', and Steve's hopes to one day soon join the ranks of American troops at the front line. In turn Alina wrote about her fear for Bucky who was on the front lines and from whom she only received letters sporadically, her life as Phillips' aid and secretary, and the suffering she saw when she volunteered at the medic ward set up on base.
About four months into her service, she finally saw Steve. He had been flown over to Italy as Captain America by Senator Brandt to entertain the soldiers there. Unfortunately his show didn't get off to a very good start. After being pelted with tomatoes and heckled to get the dancing girls back on stage, Steve, in his Captain America suit, left the stage and Alina was called away by an officer at Phillips' orders to go and deliver a message to the relay station a few tents down from the Colonel's centre of command. When she returned it was pouring with rain and when she got into the command tent, her cropped brown WAC jacket, matching skirt and blouse were soaked and her hair was a mess. But it was the sight of Steve standing in front of Colonel Phillips' desk that made her smile until she heard his request.
"I need the casualty list from Azzano," Steve said.
Heart in her throat, Alina listened frozen to the spot.
"You don't get to give me orders, son," Phillips told him but Steve wasn't backing down.
"I just need one name, Sergeant James Barnes from the 107th," he explained.
Phillips pointed at Peggy Carter who stood at Steve's side, "We are gonna have a talk later that you won't enjoy." He told her.
"Please tell me if he's alive, sir. B-A-R…" Steve asked.
"I can spell." Phillips interrupted him.
Alina braced herself against one of the tables set up around the room as Phillips stood up and walked to the other side of his desk flicking though papers in his hand, "I have signed more of these condolence letters today than I would care to count. But the name does sound familiar. I'm sorry."
At his words Alina's whole world imploded, "Wh-what?" she gasped out bringing all eyes in the tent onto her.
Steve was in front of her a moment later and she realised she was swaying dangerously on the spot.
"Is she alright?" Peggy asked him.
He pulled the small redhead into a hug and looked between the English woman and the Colonel, "She's Sergeant Barnes' wife," he explained.
"Oh, God," Alina gasped her fingers clutching at Steve's sleeves as her legs almost gave way, everything around her falling away as she felt like she was drowning, crushed under the realisation that Bucky wouldn't be coming back.
"Hey, hey," Steve got her attention bending down to look her dead in the eye as he dropped his voice low so that only she could hear, "He might still be alive," he murmured and Alina focused on the familiarity of his open honest face and gentle eyes while she forced herself to calm down.
After she had nodded in understanding, Steve turned back to Phillips, "What about the others? Are you planning a rescue mission?" he asked stepping back up to stand in front of Phillips as Peggy helped Alina to a chair and handed her a cup of coffee one officer must have grabbed for her after her near collapse.
"Yeah, it's called 'winning the war'," Phillips snapped.
"But if you know where they are, why not at least…" Steve started only to be cut off by Phillips.
"They're thirty miles behind the lines through the most heavily fortified territory in Europe," the older man circled an area on a map set up on an easel with his finger, "We'd lose more men than we'd save. But I don't expect you to understand that because you are a chorus girl."
Steve's shoulders lifted and he looked Phillips right in the eye, "I think I understand just fine."
"Well, then understand it somewhere else," the Colonel ordered before moving to talk to his officers. "If I understand the posters correctly, you've got somewhere to be in thirty minutes."
Steve studied the map for a moment before moving to help Alina to her feet, "Yes, sir. I do."
The shaking petite woman let him help her to the medical tent where he called a nurse to treat her for shock. As he turned to leave, Alina caught his arm, "Where are you going, Steve?" she asked softly.
He hunkered down in front of her, wrapping the blanket that had been put around her shoulders when she was assigned a cot tighter around her body, "I'm going to get those men back and find out if what they say about Bucky is really true."
Tears welled up in her light blue eyes making them look larger than they actually were, "Promise you'll come back safely," she whispered her hand tightening in the lapel of his damp trench coat.
Steve smiled soothingly, "I'm Captain America now. Of course I'll come back."
Alina nodded and leaned into the kiss he pressed to her temple before he stood and let go of her hand, walking out of the field hospital, Peggy following him.
