Tina sat sleepily at the kitchen table, trying to decide who was happier to see their food; Steve or Carter. As Steve was 21 years older than the baby, it was entertaining to see the look of delight on his face that bacon could cause. He's almost 22 years older than Carter. Wow. Can't believe he'll be only 23 tomorrow. He seems so much older than that sometimes…and sometimes so much younger. Tina was very pleased to have found out about Steve's ironic birthday, the 4th of July. It was actually Tony that found out (albeit accidentally) while snooping through Steve's old records trying to prove a bet with Clint. He mentioned it in a joke, and Tina capitalized on the moment. A surprise party it was, then. She felt a bit confused as to why he didn't want her to know, but she guessed that he didn't want any undue attention. Or maybe he forgot…how long must it have been since someone celebrated his birthday? He was in the army for years…I can't imagine they'd be throwing balloons and streamers around. I can't wait for him to see what I planned!

Steve was overjoyed that Debi still remembered him in the morning. Maybe Jeff reminded her…The soldier had gotten quite fond of Jeff, liking his straightforward manner and easygoing nature. His morning only got better when he chowed down on pancakes (very nearly as good as Bruce's) and perfectly cooked bacon (Thor would have thought he'd died and gone to Vallhalla…wherever that was). Across the table, Carter cooed with happiness.

"Good stuff, huh, buddy?" Steve commented.

"Yum!" the baby laughed in response.

Carter's three year old brother Ricky scooted up next to Steve.

"Carter loves to eat his foods. He goes nom nom nom nom!" he chirped.

Tina laughed and tousled Ricky's mop of curls as she got up to help put dishes away.

…

Tina and Jeff sat on the dock, under the old weeping willow, attempting to entice fish out of the lake with their poles. Steve could see them talking softly, and made sure he kept his distance so that his enhanced hearing wouldn't pick up their conversation by accident. He wanted them to be able to have their daddy-daughter moment in peace. The wind blew hard, making the trees creak and groan. But…as long as it's windy…Steve was struck by a sudden idea. He gathered the littler kids and raided Tina's art supplies.

"Steve! What're we doing? What're we making?" asked Joey excitedly.

"A kite. Ever flown one?"

"No. I've seen them before, though. I have an app on my iPod with kites in it," Joey said knowledgeably.

"Trust me pal," Steve said as he searched the lawn for a straight stick, "This is gonna beat any game you've ever played."

"Can I do it too?" Kenny begged.

Steve squinted up at him through the bright sunlight from where he crouched, tying the sticks together in a T.

"Sure thing."

A sudden gust swept across the wooded property, and Steve heard a loud crack. His head whipped up in time to see a large branch of the willow collapse on the dock where Jeff and Tina were still sitting. As it fell, all Steve could see was Tina's green eyes wide in fear. The branch obscured them both from view. Without another thought, he sprinted across the yard, leaping onto the now-broken dock as the branch was still settling. Jeff came up out of the water, looking surprised but unhurt.

"Tina!" Steve shouted in desperation.

He hurdled over the branch to the other side of the dock and saw golden curls splayed across the wood. Tina was lying on her stomach, hands underneath herself and appeared to be attempting to get up.

"Tina, are you okay?" he asked frantically.

Steve lifted Tina up and cradled her like a baby in his arms, scrutinizing her for signs of injury.

"Yeah, I think I'm fine," she responded shakily. "It grazed my shoulder a little."

Steve examined the wound, which to his relief wasn't deep or very wide.

"You got lucky."

His eyebrows pulled together in concern and in worries not quite yet assuaged.

"I'm fine, Steve," she squirmed, trying to stand on her own, but iron arms held her in place.

"Chrissy?" Jeff asked.

"Yeah, Dad, I'm fine," Tina called, redoubling her efforts to stand.

"You okay, Jeff?" Steve asked.

"It didn't touch me. I just got wet. Ah damn, my dock!" Jeff groaned in frustration.

Steve stood, still holding Tina and leaped from the broken piece of dock to the bank.

"Show-off," Tina muttered, finally giving up and letting the soldier carry her inside.

The young boys stared at Steve with new eyes. Not only could he kick a kickball the farthest and make a kite, but he could save people. Like a real-live hero. Wow.

Steve sat Tina on the counter while her aunt Amy brought a band-aid and some peroxide to clean the scrape with. He stared into her eyes with enough intensity to make Tina feel a bit self-conscious.

"Steve, I'm okay."

"Yeah. I know. It's a tiny little cut."

"Yup."

There was a silence as he gently dabbed the wound with antiseptic, careful not to hurt her. Tina waited for him to say what was on his mind. Pushing him never got her anywhere, so she decided to calmly wait until he wanted to bring up whatever was bothering him.

"I…when you…eh, I don't know," he mumbled.

Tina said nothing, she just searched his blue eyes for clues.

"It scared me. Really, really badly," Steve confessed.

"And you weren't even under the tree," Tina quipped.

"No," he said, frustrated, "You…You make my life good. Heck, you made me have a reason to live in this century." Steve placed the band aid over the cut. "I didn't really have a purpose before that."

"Sure, you did," Tina comforted him, "Everyone looks up to you, Captain. The A…your team…needs you."

Steve barked a harsh laugh.

"Sure," he said acidly, "Captain always has a purpose. Everyone counts on him to be there when the day needs to be saved. Steve Rogers, though, he's a nobody. No one needed him."

"Well I do," Tina argued.

She studied his face, saddened by the bitterness in it. His expression softened as she spoke.

"I know you do," he whispered into her ear, "That's why it would kill me to lose you."

"Your team needs you too. They love Steve, too."

He smiled crookedly and brushed his fingers across her cheek.

"Okay."

Tina kissed the tip of his nose, then hopped down from the counter. She took his hand and led him back outside.

"You know I've never actually met Captain before?" she noted.

"I hope it stays that way. If you do, it'll be because there's serious danger. And I'm not very nice when I'm him. I'm kind of bossy."

"Leader-y is what I heard."

"Deadly."

"Strong."

"Lethal weapon."

"Valiant hero."

"Walking flag."

"Patriot."

Steve stopped and gave Tina a sideways look.

"You always seem to win these arguments," he commented.

"Because I'm good at circular logic. You're good with real logic, which stumps me," Tina sounded slightly boastful of her ability (or lack thereof).

Steve rolled his eyes, but felt better nonetheless.

"No, really," Tina continued, "I wanna see you all suited up."

"Ha. No."

"Please?" Tina begged, batting her eyelashes. She continued in a horrible imitation of a southern accent. "I sure do love me a man in uniform."

Steve gave a genuine laugh then, but mussed her hair instead of answering. She sighed and switched subjects.

"So, are you excited for tomorrow?"

Steve stiffened almost imperceptibly.

"What's tomorrow?" he asked with forced nonchalance.

Tina cackled internally. Oh, I love watching him try to lie to me. This is entertaining. He can pass a lie-detector test saying whatever fantasy comes to mind, but can't stand keeping little things from me.

"The fourth of July!" she enthused. "It's practically your holiday!"

"Oh, yeah," Steve said, shifting his weight and nervously flattening his hair.

"Should be really fun, huh?" Tina smiled up at him, enjoying his failure at lying more than she'd like to admit.

"Uh, yeah. Sure."

Steve's eyes darted all over as he avoided meeting Tina's stare. Thankfully for the soldier, Kenny and Joey marched up to him with the beginnings of a kite.

"Are we gonna finish this?" Joey asked plaintively,

Steve nodded and set to work. Tina and Kenny decorated it, while Joey and Steve set up the frame. Tina wrote all of their names on it and handed the finished product to Steve.

"Who's first?" he asked with a grin.

The whole mess of kids began jumping up and down frantically yelling 'me!' Steve held a hand behind his back.

"I've got a number behind my back. Whoever guesses closest goes first."

Tina would always remember that afternoon as one of her favorites. The wind kept up speed, and the boys played with the kite the rest of the day. Macy was busy tanning and therefore out of the way, Mom remembered a lot, Dad laughed a ton, and Steve was happy. As Tina climbed into bed next to her favorite man, she was a little sad that the day had ended. But as her mother said, "Don't be sad it's over. Be happy it happened." Tina lie on her side and snuggled against Steve. He threw an arm over her protectively, twitching slightly in his sleep. She tensed and listened. Although his night terrors were becoming less and less frequent, they still happened about once every week or two. He fidgeted again, then let out a sigh of what sounded like happiness. Tina took that as a good sign. She closed her eyes, anticipating the next day. Steve has one helluva birthday coming to him.

Okay guys, so I'm thinking that the next chapter is gonna be pretty fluffy, but after that it'll get kind of serious for a few chapters. Probably 5-6 more chappies total.

Lemme know what you thought! Review please! It makes me happyyyyy :D