Steve stepped into the elevator on the night of Christmas Eve. That morning they had all, except Clint who had already left, decorated gingerbread houses. Apparently it was a tradition in Pepper's family that she and Tony had thought it would be fun to continue. The final creations had ranged from traditional (Steve and Pepper) to beautiful and foreign looking (Natasha and Bruce) to a cheerful mess (Thor) to futuristic including gingerbread men robots (Tony, of course). Steve had spent the afternoon putting the finishing touches on his gifts for his teammates and friends. Now, he was on his way to Christmas Eve service.

"Garage level, please, JARVIS," Steve said.

"Apologies, Captain Rogers, but everyone is waiting for you on the Common Floor. May I take you there first?" JARVIS asked.

Steve furrowed his eyebrows. "Um, sure." He had told the team his plans for the evening. If they needed to see him now, it probably meant something was wrong.

When the elevator doors opened onto the Common Floor, Steve was surprised to find everyone dressed up and nothing obviously wrong.

"What's going on?" he asked, stepping out of the elevator.

"We thought we would go to Christmas Eve service with you," Bruce said.

"As long as you don't mind," Pepper put in.

"No, I'd love to have you," Steve said. "It's just… why?"

"It's important to you," Natasha said, "and you've made it matter to us."

"Yeah," Tony said. "This side of Christmas seems a little more relevant after your chats."

"This is one of your fundamental beliefs," Thor said. "I would like to understand this thing that is so much a part of who you are."

Steve smiled. "Thank you."

So when Steve went to church that night, he didn't sit alone. Together the Avengers listened to that old, old story. The story of a God who loved broken people so much that he left heaven and glory and power behind to come into the world as a fragile baby, born to poor parents in a conquered nation.

When the speaking was over Steve's favorite part of the service began. They had all been given candles as they entered, and now as almost all the lights were turned off, the ushers lit the candles of those sitting in the front and back rows. Then, as the congregation rose to sing "O Come, O Come Emmanuel", the lights began to spread, each person lighting their candle from their neighbor's.

The light reached their row. Steve tilted his candle to get it close to his neighbor's, and the wick caught fire. He turned, holding his candle steady, and Natasha angled her candle to light it from his. Bruce lit his from hers, and shared his light with Thor, who transferred some to Tony, who passed his to Pepper.

As more and more candles were lit, Steve looked at the nativity scene set up on stage. This is what you came for, he though. Light came into the darkest night that first Christmas. Now we can share that light with others and hold it up to light the way.

Steve lifted his candle high above his head as they reached the chorus:

"Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel."

Thank you for coming to us, Steve thought.

Fin.

Thank you all so much for your feedback; I love knowing what my story means to you.

Merry Christmas! I hope you all have a blessed holiday season.