Disclaimer: Again I only own Lucy and a few plot point changes I made to accommodate her. I don't speak German; I just thought it would be a nice touch. Also I am not a steganography expert (Wiki: the practice of concealing a file, message etc. within another file, message, image or video.) so please take it with a grain of salt. Enjoy!

-permafrost-

When Peggy and Lucy retired for the night, Lucy felt exhausted. Her cheeks were locked in a perpetual smile that ached after they left the bar. For most of the evening, the adrenaline pumping through her veins had blocked out the pain. Now that her hormone levels were slowly returning to normal, the soreness had set in. But it was a good kind of discomfort. It reminded Lucy that her moment with Steve wasn't an illusion. And what a moment it was. She smiled again in spite of herself.

During their dance, Lucy and Steve were no longer a part of this world. Instead, they detached from it like a kite waving in the wind with only a single silk thread some how connecting them back to reality. And reality was so much better than how they imagined such events could unfold.

"Soo…" Peggy grinned as they leisurely walked back to their quarters, "It went well then?"

-permafrost-

Lucy had woken up early that morning. She found sleep to elude her, as her mind was too restless, still buzzing from the night before. Going into the lab early, she set about the arduous task of continuing to decipher Doctor Erskine's notes. It had been months since she began. And every time she went back to the mountain of notebooks and scratch paper, she couldn't help feeling like the formula was intentionally evading her grasp. Almost like a sealed bottle holding a secret message, bobbing up and down in the water just out of range from a dock where she sat, pleading for the tide to bring it closer.

Throwing down her pen in frustration she crumpled up the paper she was scribbling on and threw it into the wastebasket. She sighed no matter how clever she might be the serum lacked a certain element that for the life of her she could not quite remember. Closing her eyes she rubbed her temples and sat back in the chair. A thought having come to her, she leant down to open the bottom drawer of her desk that hadn't been touched in months. There she found and pulled out the last item Erskine had gifted her the morning of their experiment. It was a half full bottle of schnapps. Lucy wasn't much of a drinker, but Erskine insisted she keep it for 'The celebration of our success, tochter'. *tochter: daughter in German

After his death, Lucy had been reluctant to part with the alcohol. But she had also avoided looking at it as the scent brought back too many memories of her mentor. She regarded it now, twisting the cylinder back in forth in her hands, trying to read the label. There it was. Some sort of flash, a reflective bump in the paper that when the light hit just right, bounced back at her. It was tiny, something that would have gone unnoticed if she wasn't looking at the faded label so long trying to translate the German. She ran her finger over the spot. The paper felt slightly different there, slicker and not as grainy. Pulling away the reflective substance she revealed a tiny metal disk about one-millimeter in diameter. It was a microdot.

Gasping, Lucy jumped to her feet and ran back into the lab. There she quickly grabbed her equipment and brought it back into the office shutting and locking the door behind her. Carefully removing the disc and using the magnifiers, she read the text that had been placed onto it. It was addressed to her from Erskine. The last piece of the puzzle had finally been revealed. Memorizing the information, she brought the disc back into the lab and melted it down. After the spy had gotten into their lab in Brooklyn, she could never be too safe. Then checking the time, Lucy went to join Howard and Colonel Phillips in their meeting. A grin spread across her face, the tide was beginning to turn in their favor.

-permafrost-

As Steve walked into the SSR headquarters that morning, he found himself to be utterly distracted. After the dames had left, the rest of the night condensed into an ineffable blur. His mind couldn't seem to focus on anything that wasn't related to her. The way the marvelous sky mimicked her azure eye color. How the rich mahogany desks seemed lackluster when likened with the shine of her hair. And how nothing could ever compare to her brilliant mind.

He strolled through the busy room and stopped when he reached the desk of a blonde woman who was currently pursing the newspaper. "Excuse me." he called, "I'm looking for Mr. Stark."

"He's in with Colonel Phillips and Miss Barnes." Private Lorraine answered absentmindedly. She finally looked up to acknowledge him and did a double take, "Of course you're welcome to wait." She finished folding up the paper.

Steve nodded and gestured to the side table where he chose to lean, anticipating his appointment with Stark and Lucy.

"I uh," she held up the tabloid, spinning around to face him, "read about what you did."

"Oh, well… yeah…" Steve stuttered humbly, "Well that's, you know. Just doing what needed to be done."

"Sounded like more than that." Loraine regarded Steve predatorily, "You saved nearly 400 men."

Steve cleared his throat not sure how to respond, "Really… It's not a big deal." Hearing praise coming from somebody other than Lucy or Bucky caught him off-guard.

"Tell that to their wives." She stalked forward leisurely.

"Uh…I…I don't think they were all married." He crossed his arms, uncomfortable with the space rapidly deteriorating between them.

She was directly in front of her now, "You're a hero." She continued.

He scratched his forehead not meeting her eyes, "Well that, you know… that depends on your definition really."

Lorraine reached out and gripped his tie, "The women of America." She purred sensually, "They owe you their thanks." She looked around and tugged him behind the bookshelves, "And uh… seeing as they're not here…"

Steve followed her panicking and not sure what to do. He leaned his head back far away from her, trying to evade her searching lips. Then as they were about to make contact a commanding voice from behind them made their presence known.

"Captain!" ordered Peggy's disgusted tone.

Steve whipped around stepping far away from the Private. There stood Peggy, her hands on her hips, on the verge of a full-blown tirade. Next to her stood the only person whose temper, when roused, could rival Agent Carter's.

There stood Lucy, her face an alarming mask of indifference. "We're ready for you now, if you're not otherwise occupied." She said monotonously before swiftly walking toward the laboratory.

Running after the two furious women Steve pleaded, "Agent Carter, Lucy, wait…"

"Looks like finding the right partner wasn't that hard after all." Peggy snapped unable to even look at him after what she caught him about to do.

"Peggy, that's not what you thought it was." Steve continued worriedly glancing at Lucy's ridged back in front of him.

She snapped right back, "I don't think anything, Captain. Not one thing."

"You always wanted to be a soldier," Lucy added, "and now you are, just like all the rest of them." She spared him one cold glance over her shoulder.

Steve's stomach turned to stone inside him, she knew that wasn't true but it hurt all the same and he countered, "Well, what about you and Stark?" this caused Lucy to freeze in her tracks, "How do I know you two haven't been fondue-ing?"

Lucy blinked at him and continued on her way.

Peggy gave him an exasperated look and shook her head, "You still don't know a bloody thing about women."