In the end, Diana won the debate about which one of them - her or Tony Stark - would go with Steve for moral support for his first visit with Peggy Carter.

She'd won by simply explaining that, "The Lasso of Hestia compels whoever is bound by it to tell the truth. Sometimes, that has included truth buried beneath lost memories. I can't guarantee it will work with Peggy, but I will try."

Stark simply regarded her thoughtfully. "I so want you and your lasso in the next SI board meeting."

Diana laughed aloud at that. "I suspect that would be the first and only board meeting I would ever attend."

"True," Stark acknowledged. "So I reserve the right to call you in for one meeting, if the defecation and the ventilation are on a collision course."

"I'm not sure that's a right," Diana said, "but I will help, if I can."

"Good," Stark said before turning to Steve. "You can have an SI private jet for the trip."

"Tony -"

Stark shook his head. "Nope, not taking no for an answer. It's faster and more private that way. Speaking of - you're both also getting new StarkPhones."

"Different than the one you already gave me?" Steve asked, and Stark only nodded.

"Far more encrypted than that one," he said.

"I understand giving Steve an encrypted phone," Diana said. "But why me?"

"Because you're practically family now - being friends with Capsicle and Aunt Peggy - and family takes care of its own."

Diana could only nod her thanks at that, too overwhelmed with the thought that without intending to, she had somehow created a family to … not replace but rather serve in the stead of her family on Themiscyra.

But then, that was already true, even before Steve Rogers' return and this meeting with Howard Stark's son, wasn't it? What else were Bruce, Clark, Arthur, and Barry if not a substitute family?

Family picnics are going to be a blast.

The thought came from nowhere, and she fought back laughter. Perhaps it would be better to wait a while before her two families interacted any further.

Fortunately, Stark had chosen not to accompany them to London.

"I told the pilot to take you wherever you want to go after London, too," he'd said. "Just - stay in touch."

So now, armed with the latest StarkPhones, Diana sat with Steve as the pilot guided the aircraft over the Atlantic. The cabin attendant had brought them water and offered other drinks and snacks, and now they were seated across from each other at a table, almost as if they were at a café somewhere.

Steve stared down at the coffee he'd requested until they were almost within sight of Greenland. Finally, he looked up, and Diana set aside the new translation of The Iliad that she'd been reading. Comparing what modern authors had to say about that story to what her mother and sisters had told her was always interesting. Now, though, her friend needed her more than her curiosity needed indulging.

Steve cleared his throat before saying, "That was him, wasn't it? To your right in the photo. The other Steve you knew."

Diana blew out a slow breath, unable to meet Steve's gaze. "Captain Steven Trevor, pilot, American Expeditionary Forces."

"The first man you ever met."

"Yes."

"He must've been a helluva guy."

Diana couldn't help the smile that tugged at her lips. "He was. He was - everything noble about men, everything that made me question the hatred my mother and sisters had for them. Imperfect, flawed but still beautiful."

"You still miss him." It was an observation, not an accusation, necessarily, but still Diana flinched before forcing herself to look up.

Steve's expression was full of compassion, and Diana swallowed, hard, before she could say, "I don't think anyone ever stops missing their first love. But it's … nostalgia, now, more than anything else. He was a good man, and I am proud to have known him, to have fought beside him. Just as I am proud to know you and fight beside you."

Steve looked away, a light blush suffusing his cheeks. "I remember you asking if it was something about men named Steve."

Diana laughed quietly. "Even by the time I met you, I was still terribly ignorant of so much of Man's World. I thought parents named their children for the qualities they wished them to have, not just choosing pleasing sounds."

"Sometimes, it's for the meaning," Steve said. "Sometimes it's pleasing sounds."

"And you?" Diana couldn't help asking. "Which was your name chosen for?"

"Mm." Steve looked thoughtful. "I don't know that my mom ever said for sure, but I tend to think I was named for famous Stevens in history."

"Oh?" Diana said. "Like whom?"

"Saint Stephen, the first Christian martyr. Stephen, King of England. Steven Foster, a songwriter who wrote a lot of popular songs. There were others, too, but those are the ones who come to mind."

Diana studied him for a moment. "I can see all of them in you."

"Even the songwriter?"

"You're an artist, just as he was. Your chosen forms may be different, but the artistic impulse is the same."

Steve appeared to consider that for a few moments before he met her gaze. "I wish I could have known him. Captain Trevor, I mean."

"You're much like him," Diana said. "I think you might have been friends."

Steve smiled at that, but it faded. "There's - something else I want to ask you, but I don't think you're going to like it."

Diana felt her brows lifting. "I can't promise I won't like the question, but I can promise I won't be angry with you for asking."

"That's probably the best I could ask for," Steve murmured. He took a breath. "When you were talking about wanting to help me - when you used the lasso on yourself - you stopped yourself from saying something. I'd really like to know what it was."

"Oh." Diana looked away, out the window at the clouds passing beneath them, to collect thoughts that Steve's simple question had sent to the four winds. She'd barely admitted the truth to herself, so how could she admit it to him?

Steve sat silently, waiting, and finally Diana looked back at him.

"Please don't ask me that now," she said. "After you see Peggy, if you still want to know - ask me then."

He stared at her, started to speak, swallowed, and nodded.

WW - CA - WW

Steve carefully removed Diana's lasso from Peggy's wrist. The lasso had, apparently, acted as an anchor the way Diana had hoped, if her whispered instruction to, "Remember the truth of who you are, and where and when," were any indication.

Peggy's caregiver had warned them both that Peggy rarely remained in the present longer than an hour these days, so Steve considered the almost two hours they'd had a gift.

Not a gift without a cost, though. Some of the things Peggy had told him troubled him more than he could articulate.

So when he joined Diana in the library where she'd waited for him, Steve supposed he shouldn't be too surprised that she barely glanced at him before asking, "Is everything all right?"

"It's not all right," he said. "It's not all right that one of the smartest people I've ever known is slowly losing her mind and memory. It's not all right that she's alone here in this big house. It's not all right that -"

He stopped himself, realizing that he still held Diana's lasso. He offered it to her with a sheepish, "Sorry."

Diana took the lasso, stowed it in her bag. "You have nothing to apologize for. It was a poor question. I should have asked, how are you?"

Steve followed her out of the house and to the limousine that waited for them - another Tony Stark provision. With courtesy that was normal for him but now considered old-fashioned, he held the door for her and followed her into the back seat.

"Troubled," he said finally as the car pulled away from Peggy's home. "Some of the things she told me are … disturbing."

"If I can help, I will," Diana said. "Even if it's just to listen."

"I don't know that you can," Steve said. "Not yet, anyhow. But I have come to one conclusion."

"What's that?" Diana asked.

"I am going to take time to learn this world - college, officer school, all of it. I'm just a weapon, somebody's tool, if I don't know the ways of this time."

"That sounds more definite than you have before - is that because of what Peggy told you?"

"Mostly," Steve admitted. Then he blew out a breath. "I came to another conclusion, too."

"Are you willing to share it?"

Steve chuckled. "I wouldn't have brought it up if I weren't."

But that didn't mean the words were coming easily. He swallowed, hard, and shifted in the seat to mostly face her.

"Diana - I think I know what you were going to say before, at Tony's."

Her eyes widened. "Steve -"

"Please - let me finish."

It was her turn to swallow and nod, her expression serious.

"If I'm right, the answer is that I'm not ready now. Partly because of Peggy, and partly because of those things I'm not willing to discuss yet."

"I understand," she replied softly.

"But that doesn't mean I'll never be ready," Steve continued. "Just - not now. It's selfish of me to ask you to wait, so I won't."

"You're allowed to be selfish sometimes," Diana murmured. "And it's not selfish if I offer."

His breath caught. "Diana -"

"It's my turn to finish." She smiled to soften the words, and he nodded. "I wanted to be with you during the war, but your heart belonged to Peggy Carter then, and it still does now. I didn't say anything then, and I wouldn't have said anything now if you hadn't asked."

Steve could only gape at her. He'd had no idea she wanted him so long ago, but even if he had, he wasn't certain he would have done anything differently than he had.

Now, though - judging by the look in her eyes, now Steve had the promise of a second chance he'd never expected to have, and he'd make the most of it, starting with bending his head toward hers.

Her lips met his, and the kiss was as full of gentle promise as his first kiss had been full of desperate need.

When they both had to breathe, she smiled against his lips. "When you're ready."

"When I'm ready," he agreed.

NOTE: This is the end of part one. Part two is in progress, and I should be posting it next week. I'll update this story when I do. Thanks for reading!