When the back end of the jet opened, Steve was immediately struck by the cool, fresh air of British Columbia. Before him was a single-story log cabin looking like it came straight out of a storybook. Soft, pale grass surrounded a small lake and beautiful evergreen trees created a veil to hide them from the outside world.

Steve squinted his eyes into the sun, thankful Agent Hayes had gotten him a jacket as the frigid October air bit at his pale skin. The sound of clamoring metal pulled his attention back to the jet where Hayes was dragging her suitcase down the ramp into the grass.

"Ugh, mud." She groaned as she lifted her shoe, seeing the bottom completely soaked in brown goo. Steve laughed lightly at her disgust and pounded his chest to disguise it as a cough when Hayes glared up at him. "Sorry."

"I'm not a clown."

"Never said you were." Steve retorted with a grin, wandering back to the woman to help her with her bags, "Let me get those for you."

"Thank you, but I can handle it. You have your own things to collect." She motioned toward the jet where the man was dragging a massive suitcase out of an opening in the side. Steve trotted up the ramp and looked down, picking up the bag easily as the man stared up at him.

"It's heavy." He said, smiling for the first time since Steve had met him, "Not that you'd realize that."

Steve rolled his eyes at the man's teasing. Even when it was a compliment, Steve was a joke. He carried the black suitcase down the ramp to Agent Hayes, who whispered quietly with the blonde woman she'd called Jasmine.

"Here are your keys. The van is parked just down the road past the perimeter fence. If you need anything, you know how to get a hold of us." Jasmine said, looking from Agent Hayes to Steve, "Good luck, Agent. Captain."

"Thank you." Steve replied with a forced smile that he hoped would put the woman at ease, but he failed spectacularly as she shot Hayes an annoyed look instead. Steve nodded and looked down at the dirt, thankful that soon he'd have some time alone.

They stood outside until the jet was out of the sight, then Agent Hayes turned to Steve with a big grin, "What do you think?"

"It's… quiet." Steve stated, not having an opinion on the outside of a wooden house. "Isolated."

"That's kind of the point." Hayes answered, and Steve was thankful her chipper attitude had returned. It would be a long couple of weeks if they were both uneasy. "Let's go inside."

She untangled the keys and got her grip on one, placing it into the lock and turning it. Steve heard the door click, but when she turned the knob and pushed, nothing happened. She tried again, leaning her weight against the door as she groaned. "It's stuck!"

Finally, Steve reached around Hayes and grabbed the doorknob, twisting it gently and giving the door a firm push with his free hand. Agent Hayes cocked her hip and placed her hand on her waist, twisting her lips in frustration, "Show off."

"Yeah, I get it, I'm strong, let's go inside." Steve mumbled, grabbing his bag with one hand and hers with the other before she could protest. He went through the door first, pausing to look around the small space.

To his left was a kitchen with old appliances and a small wooden table with four chairs. Straight ahead was a green couch covered in decorative pillows and throws facing a fireplace. He noticed a door at the edge of the sitting room and assumed that was the bedroom, "Is there only one room?"

"Yeah, but the couch is comfy. This is my room." Agent Hayes teased as she dropped her bag onto the couch and plopped into the cushions. "I like sleeping by the fire."

"Don't you want the bed?"

"No, I want you to have the bed. I'm your handler, I make sure you're taken care of." Agent Hayes told Steve as she draped her right arm over the back of the couch to get a better look at him, "Don't even think about arguing with me. The room is yours."

Steve shifted his weight from foot to foot, causing the floorboards beneath his feet to groan, "I feel bad."

"You don't need to. I'm fine, really." Agent Hayes assured Steve, crossing one leg over the other to get a look at the bottom of her shoe, "Shit, I'm tracking mud everywhere."

Steve felt the corner of his mouth turn up into a smile and he wanted to tease her for making a mess, but he didn't know what to say. "It's fine." He blurted, internally cursing himself for not thinking of something better to say. "I mean- I don't care." He saw Hayes raise her brow, and Steve suddenly felt like he was digging himself into a hole, "I- never mind."

Agent Hayes unzipped her boots and discarded them by the fireplace, standing to grab her suitcase and situate it near the bookshelf. She unzipped it and carefully removed several neatly folded shirts before pulling out a flat rectangular bag, "So, computers are a thing. We have the internet, which is immensely helpful when we need to look something up." Steve stared at her blankly, so she elaborated, "If we need to learn, we can use the internet. It has the answers to everything that has a known answer."

"I'm afraid I don't understand." Steve told her as she sat the 'computer' to the side and continued to unpack her clothes. She removed several books and then began to repack her clothing, seeming to only want to collect her few things. Steve wondered if he should go unpack his own clothes, but he didn't even know what SHIELD had bought for him.

Agent Hayes scooped up her 'computer' and her books, depositing the latter on the bookshelf before taking the former to the kitchen table. "Basically, this will help you catch up on what you've missed. It will help you understand the 21st century better. I'll help, but even I don't know everything." She teased, and Steve smiled weakly in response. She looked from his suitcase to her computer, then back to Steve, "I'm sure you're starving. I doubt there's any food here, but I can go into town and pick a few things up? What do you like?"

"I eat anything." Steve admitted truthfully, looking out the windows, "Could I maybe come with you?"

"Oh. Umm…" Agent Hayes trailed off as she leaned on the back of a kitchen chair, "Director Fury wants you to stay here. At least for a few days before we go to town. We just need to make sure you are in a good enough mental state to be around people."

Steve felt his stomach drop at her words. It wasn't SHIELD's fault, per se, they didn't know who he was or what his personality was like. The idea of being trapped in the woods to keep him away from regular people made Steve sad, though. He would never hurt anybody unless he had to. "I understand."

"I know it's hard, but it'll get easier. This is a safe house. It's meant to keep you safe… but also everyone out there." Agent Hayes's voice was laden with guilt as she looked out the window at the evergreen trees, "There's a laser fence around the perimeter. If you go beyond it, the alarm will sound and, to be honest, I don't know what booby traps SHIELD has hiding around this place." Steve twisted his lips and looked down, causing Hayes to ramble on, "But, hey! It's fun here. The water is clear, it's full of fish. There are walking trails within the perimeter, and wildlife comes through here. It's fun, my friends and I come sometimes when nobody is being held- using it." She corrected, but Steve sighed, having caught her misstep.

"Nice save." He muttered and she chuckled nervously, playing with the ends of her hair, "I'll eat anything. Get what you want to eat. I, uh, I eat a lot though. High metabolism." Steve shrugged and made Agent Hayes smile. Her smile put him at ease as he took a few steps towards the bedroom, "If you're sure you are okay with the couch, I'll go look through my things that they bought for me."

"If you don't like them, I'll take you shopping for something you do." Agent Hayes promised as she fiddled with the keys. Suddenly, her face lit up like she had an idea, "What do you like to do? Like, for fun?"

"For fun?" Steve parroted, looking around for an answer, "I went to the pictures. Sometimes I'd go on dates, but those weren't really fun." Steve scratched the back of his neck, realizing he couldn't do either of those things while in seclusion, "I like to draw."

"Oh, yeah? Are you any good?" Agent Hayes asked sincerely, and Steve just nodded, choosing not to elaborate now. "Okay, thanks. I'll see you soon."

The moment Agent Hayes was out of sigh, Steve went to work looking around the cabin. He opened every cabinet and drawer, pulled aside the curtains and ran his fingers along the walls to look for cameras or microphones to keep tabs on him. After a while, Steve decided he couldn't find anything, which meant either SHIELD wasn't watching, or they had more advanced techniques of keeping tabs on their super-powered assets.

Steve drug the suitcase into the small bedroom, leaving the door open so he'd know when Agent Hayes returned from the store. He gave the bedroom the same once over that he'd given the rest of the safe house, but once again, he couldn't find anything to cause him worry. The bedroom had more character than his room at SHIELD headquarters had. There were framed patchwork art pieces and another bookshelf next to a small window looking into the evergreen trees. The bed was massive, covered with a heavy quilt and several green pillows that matched the couch in the main room. To the side was an open door into the bathroom, and he could see it was a good size, unlike the cramped restroom he'd used this morning.

Steve lifted his suitcase onto the bed and found the zipper to open it up, revealing stacks of neatly folded plaid shirts. He carefully unpacked them, setting them on top of each other on the bed until he reached the bottom, finding several pairs of khaki pants and another pair of jeans. In a side pouch, he found a bag of toiletries and underwear. Steve was pleased with what SHIELD had bought him. It felt old-fashioned and comfortable. He wondered what Agent Hayes would think.

After putting away his belongings, Steve began pursuing the bookshelf for something to read. One piqued his interest above the others, and he carefully pulled it off the shelf, feeling scared to read what it held inside.

The History of Captain America

Steve sat on the couch, careful to lower himself slowly to test its integrity. He ran the pad of this thumb over the photo of himself on the cover, wearing the USO costume and addressing the audience in- New York? New York. He remembered that show. It was his last before he was shipped overseas. It would come to be the last time he saw his home.

Flipping open the cover, his breath caught in his throat when he read a quote by Founder of SHIELD Margaret Carter. Steve remembered the question Agent Hayes had asked him in Fury's office- if he'd known who founded SHIELD. It was Peggy.

Steve began to read on, starting at the beginning. The author had no idea about his past, but they'd tried to piece together what they could. With Bucky dead before Steve, there wasn't anyone to fill in the blanks, only what little information the SSR had on Steve, like his medical records and names of his parents. By the time he reached the aftermath of Erskine's death, he was so engrossed in his own story, he didn't even hear the door open.

"I'm back!" Hayes called loudly before realizing Steve was sitting ten feet in front of her. He looked up at her, breathing heavily and she immediately set down the bags she held and ran towards him, "What's wrong?"

"It's just…" Steve trailed off, closing the book so Hayes could see what he was reading, "I just can't believe that this was so long ago." His voice was tight and he cleared his throat to try and get some relief, "To me, this feels like yesterday, but I'm history."

"You're a part of it. And you can be a part of it again if you'd like." Hayes knelt in front of Steve, placing her hands on the hardcover book that he gripped tightly. "I've read this book, and I'm sure a lot of it is wrong. Only you know the truth."

"But this is my legacy. It doesn't seem real, I'm just one man."

Agent Hayes leaned back and fell onto her ass, smiling up at Steve as he reached forward to grab her. He quickly retracted his hands and leaned back into the couch, setting the book to the side, "You need help with the food?"

"Yes! Actually, that would be nice." Hayes said as she leaned onto her upper back and used her hands to push herself to her feet. Steve's jaw fell open a little, unable to contain how impressed he was by the woman. Her smile was so bright that it was contagious, and Steve grinned up at her like a fool. "Like that? I'll teach you someday."

Steve nodded, ducking his head before standing, "What can I help you with?"

Agent Hayes moved back to the bags she'd discarded and quickly set them on the table, beginning to unpack the food. Steve watched as she divided everything up, then told him where to put it. "Put that stuff in the freezer, that in the fridge," she listed as she pointed at her little clusters of groceries, "and the rest can go in the pantry. Give me a minute, I'll be right back, there's something else in the car I need to grab."

Steve nodded, beginning with the frozen foods and being thankful there wasn't very much. She'd purchased lots of meat and vegetables, with a large sack of potatoes. Steve studied the few boxes of crackers she'd instructed he put in the pantry, and a small box of cookies that were pre-made. He put away the marshmallows, then studied the Hershey's candy bar wrapper until he heard Hayes come back into the cabin.

He looked up at her with a stunned look on his face as he lifted the Hershey's bar, "You can just buy these now?"

"Yeah." She said as she walked up behind him. "Do you like them?"

"I only had one once. It was a big deal. They'd give them to the soldiers." Steve said quietly, setting the candy bar down and looking at Agent Hayes. He noticed her holding her hands behind her back, hiding something, "What's that?"

Agent Hayes smiled up at Steve, producing a blue paper bag from behind her back, "I can't bring in a movie theater, and I can't do much in terms of getting you a date after one day. That being said, this seems like a really good place to sketch."

Steve opened the bag and pulled out a sketchbook and pack of pencils, feeling his heart swell as he opened up the box and ran his finger over the graphite. "Agent Hayes… thank you. It's been a long time."

"Yeah." She paused, and Steve met her gaze with a sweet smile. "I'll make lunch. Take some time. I want to see if you're any good." Hayes said as she shooed Steve out of the kitchen.

He looked over his shoulder when the woman turned on the stove. He saw her scratching the crown of her head as she studied the appliance, and Steve realized she didn't know how to use it any more than he did.

Steve slipped out the front door, taking a deep breath of the fall air before settling down on the stoop in front of the lake. He heard the window slide up and Agent Hayes muttering behind him as he opened to a blank page and began to sketch.