21.

Brooklyn, New York City

June 14th, 1943

After her conversation with her mother, Isabel finds herself avoiding Steve as best as possible. It hurts a little to talk to him and see him so happy and moving on from the death of his mother when she feels so broken inside. It's not that she ignores him, because she couldn't possibly. She just locks herself up in her room after dinner and emerges the next day for work. She still talks to him, trying to act normal, but she finds that even so much as looking at Steve causes her heart to hurt, as though he's reached in and crushed it with his bare hands.

Steve doesn't say anything about why Isabel spends more time hiding out in her room and only really emerging for meals and work. He just assumes that she's run down, overwhelmed by her break up with Danny a few months ago, about Bucky going overseas any day now, and about dealing with so many war-related injuries at work. He decides to give her the space she's obviously wanting, and so does Bucky, the two of them spending their nights in playing chess after Isabel goes to work or to bed.

Despite his promise to Bucky, Steve reads in the paper on an early bike run that the army is being more lenient with their recruitment. His ambition takes over the logical part of his brain, and his desperation finds him at yet another recruitment centre. He sits in the chair reading the paper again, shirtless. Next to the healthy man beside him, he looks rather pathetic and sickly, but he doesn't let that get to him.

"Boy, a lot of guys getting killed over there," the man notes, reading his own paper.

"Rogers!" A voice calls, signalling it is Steve's turn to be questioned before the medical. He puts down his paper on the chair as he stands.

"Kind of makes you think twice about enlisting, huh?" The man beside him continues, looking extremely nervous.

"Nope," Steve smiles, walking up to the podium.

"Rogers?" The interviewer asks, continuing at Steve's nod. "What did your father die of?"

"Mustard gas. He was in the 107th infantry. I was hoping I could be assigned–"

"Mother?" The interviewer interrupts.

At the mention of his mother, Steve's confidence falls, replaced by a heartache that is always there, but normally buried, only to resurface at her mention. "She was a nurse in a TB ward. Got hit, couldn't shake it."

The man shakes his head, raising the 4F stamp over Steve's form. "Sorry son."

"Will you just give me a chance?" Steve pleads, making the man halt in raising the stamp.

"You'll be ineligible on your asthma alone."

"Is there anything you can do?" Steve asks again.

"I'm doing it. I'm saving your life," the interviewer says finally, stamping the sheet roughly. He hands it to Steve, who takes it, defeated.

Steve hurriedly throws his shirt, tie and jacket back on and leaves the centre, his cheeks hot. He hurries through Brooklyn to the local cinema where he promised to meet Bucky for an eleven o'clock screening. He doesn't see Bucky anywhere, so he buys himself a ticket, hoping to find Bucky inside. He enters and looks around, not spotting the familiar head anywhere in front of him. He decides to sit near the back, close to the entrance to the screening, and settles in for the advertisements.

"War continues to ravage Europe, but help is on the way. Every able bodied young man is lining up to serve his country," the war advertisement begins, and most people in the theatre sit in silence, paying their own respects to the cause. "Even little Timmy is doing his part collecting scrap metal. Nick work, Timmy!" Steve smiles as a small child walks through the frame wheeling a small red wagon with scrap metal.

"Who cares! Play the movie already!" A brute voice calls in front of Steve, rowdily pointing to the film operator in the box above them.

"Hey, you wanna show some respect?" Steve hisses, but he goes unheard, the man sitting again at his friend's insistence.

"Meanwhile, overseas, our brave boys are showing the axis powers that the price of freedom is never too high…"

The sounds of the ad are cut off again by the man's insistent voice. "Let's go, get on with it. Just start with the cartoon!"

"Hey, you wanna shut up!" Steve finds himself shouting, his mouth moving before his brain can catch up. The man turns to him, his eyes absolutely blazing with fury, and he snarls at Steve, who sinks a little lower in his seat.

"Together with allied forces, we'll face any threat, no matter the size!"

The man grabs Steve's collar and drags him from the theatre, through the lobby past the cashier who looks incredibly worried for his safety, and out into the alley behind the building. Steve is torn between hoping Bucky will turn up to drag the guy through the dirt and attempting to do it himself.

The man immediately starts laying into Steve, punching him hard in the side of his mouth, drawing blood. Steve falls to the ground but scrambles back up, arms raised in the fighting position. He doesn't even manage to get a punch in before he's knocked down again, pain exploding in his arm when he hits the ground and makes a loud splash in the muddy puddle. Steve stands again, holding up a trash can lid as a shield, glaring at the smug man.

"You just don't know when to give up, do you?" The man sneers, laughing as he prepares to attack again.

"I can do this all day," Steve counters, forcing his legs to propel him forward.

The man easily knocks his shield from his hands, punching him one more time in the face and sending him flying backward into the metal trash cans onto the ground. Steve sees the man stand over him, leering, raising his leg to deliver one final blow.

"Hey!" A voice yells, and suddenly the man is pulled away from Steve by the collar, and Bucky is pushing him away out of the alley. "Pick on someone your own size!"

The man takes this as an invitation for another fight and makes a swing at Bucky's face. Bucky dodges it easily, the fist flying past his nose. He uses the man's momentum to spin him around, sending him running out of the alley with a kick to the backside. Bucky watches him go, making sure he's definitely leaving, before walking back over to Steve, who is just picking himself up off the ground.

"Sometimes I think you like getting punched," Bucky notes, leaning down to pick up the enlistment letter that has fallen out of Steve's pocket and onto the ground.

"I had him on the ropes," Steve says stubbornly, busy dusting the mud off his beige jacket. "How'd you find me?"

"Don't I always find you?" Bucky asks. "Cashier told me you got dragged into the alley. Seemed to think I'd probably find a dead body."

"I was fine."

"How many times is this?" Bucky asks, reading the form. "Oh, you're from Paramus now. You know it's illegal to lie on your enlistment from. I'm sure Is told you. Seriously, Jersey?"

Steve looks up then, using his jacket sleeve to stench the blood flow from his split lip. He notices Bucky's official army uniform, the hat titled on his dark hair, and his face falls. "You get your orders?"

Bucky almost sighs, but instead tips his head backward, a cocky smile flitting onto his features. "Sergeant James Barnes. Shipping out for England first thing tomorrow." His voice fades toward the end, but otherwise he retains his confident facade.

"Do your parents know?"

"Went round there and told them first thing this morning," Bucky nods. "Ma cried, Dad told me he was proud."

"Does Isabel know?"

"Yeah, I told her afterwards. It wasn't good."

Isabel had cried and cried when he'd told her. It all suddenly felt very real. Bucky had let her cry into his shoulder, clutching onto him tightly. When she'd pulled away, her eyes had been serious and panicked.

"Bucky, listen to me," she'd said, grabbing his shoulders to centre him to her. "Mom taught us the prayer that you gotta say if it's the end and you've got time. Do you remember it?"

He did remember and she'd made him repeat it and promise he'd say it if he was in a circumstance he didn't think he'd make it out of. The prayer felt big and solemn rolling off his tongue, lines his body had never wanted to welcome.

"I should be going," Steve mumbles, bringing Bucky back to the present.

Bucky's eyes catch on Steve's split lip, the blood on his cheek. "No, you shouldn't be. You promised, Steve. Isabel is going to need you now more than ever," Bucky reminds him, his voice extremely solemn. Steve looks at him, then nods.

"Come on, man. It's my last night. We gotta get you cleaned off," Bucky says, grabbing Steve roughly and dragging him along out of the alley. He throws away Steve's rejected enlistment form, leaving it to rot in a puddle of muddy water.

"Why, where we going?" Steve asks.

"The future," Bucky smirks, handing Steve a brochure for the World Expo.

"I don't see what the problem is," Bucky is saying as he walks a freshly changed Steve toward the Modern Marvel's Pavilion, passing the World Expo statue in the Flushing Meadows Park. The massive globe spins on its axis in a marvel of metal and colourful lighting, a futuristic train passes overhead with a loud roar, and the night sky is lit up by firework explosions all around. "You're about to be the last eligible man in New York. You know there's three and a half million women here." Bucky almost looks jealous, since Steve knows it'd be his dream to court each and every one of them.

"Yeah, well I'd settle for just one," Steve mutters, looking down at his shoes with a sheepish smile on his face.

"Good thing I took care of that," Bucky says smugly, making Steve look up.

"Hey, Bucky!" A female voice calls from the base of another statue, where Connie and Isabel are standing, waiting for the boys. Bucky waves at Connie, a bright smile lighting up his face. Steve glares at Bucky for a second before conceding, sighing and fixing his fringe. He gulps and stands a little straighter as they finally meet up with the women.

"Ladies," Bucky greets, kissing Connie's cheek and wrapping his arm around her waist. He raises his eyebrows to Steve as if daring him to do the same, but Steve stays back and gives him a quick glare.

"Hey, Is," Steve says quietly.

"Steve," she greets with a smile, but it lacks any true happiness, her eyes noticeably dark.

Bucky drags Connie off toward the entrance gates of the Pavilion to buy their tickets, leaving Steve and Isabel to wander along behind. Isabel holds her purse with both hands and Steve has his hands in his jacket pockets, both of them hunching in on themselves. While Connie purchases the tickets with the wad of notes Bucky handed to her, Isabel looks around at the growing crowd around them. Bucky gives Steve a look as they take their tickets and start through the gates, showing their admission slips to the guard. Once they're cleared, Steve gulps and then turns to Isabel, offering her his arm. She smiles at him and takes it, threading her hand into the bend of his elbow.

"Welcome to the Modern Marvel's Pavilion and the World of Tomorrow. A greater world. A better world!" The announcement says as they walk through the area, weaving through crowds of ecstatic people to see the exhibits. In a glass case stands a wax figure in a tight spandex suit, a superhero of sorts, whilst on the stage in the far corner is a red motorcar with thick whitewall tyres. In the middle is a large-scale model of a planet, showing its inner layers and its glowing core in the middle. Model rocket ships and cars float overhead, supported by wire to make them look as though they're flying.

Bucky and Connie walk hand-in-hand, Bucky smiling like a kid in a candy shop at all the science.

At some point Steve buys some popcorn, appearing back by Isabel's side with the small bag in his hand. He offers her some and she takes a handful, picking at it as they walk. They stop when they hear a gathered crowd begin to clap, drawing their attention.

Connie gasps. "Oh, my god! It's starting!" She says excitedly, dragging Bucky toward the stage. He follows willingly, running after her. Steve and Isabel shrug at each other, following behind. They huddle into the crowd who clap, watching five women dressed in top hats and skimpy dresses stand in front of the red motorcar.

"Ladies and gentleman, Howard Stark!" One announces, the women holding their top hats and pointing as Howard Stark himself runs onto stage, flirty as he hands over his own hat to one announcing his arrival and pulls her in for a long smooch. The crowd cheers and chants, a woman in the crowd professing her love for the wealthy celebrity, who wipes the red lipstick from his mouth.

Beside Steve, he sees Isabel roll her eyes, which makes him laugh. "He's such a show off," she says.

"Ladies and gentleman. What if I told you that in just a few short years, your automobile won't even have to touch the ground at all?" Howard Stark asks through the microphone, his voice filling the auditorium. The women easily remove the white-walled tyres from the red car, moving them to the side of the stage. "With Stark Gravitic Reversion Technology, you'll be able to do just that."

Stark presses some buttons and moves a lever, making the car lift from the ground, hovering in the air. Everyone watches with dropped jaws as the car supports itself.

"Holy cow," Bucky mutters in utter appreciation.

Suddenly, the machinery replacing the car's calipers shorts out, exploding and sending the car plummeting to the ground. The audience jumps backward with a shout, making Isabel grab Steve's arm in fright. Her eyes wide meet Steve's, and she immediately dissolved into laughter, letting go. In front of them Bucky laughs at the failure, still amazed by what he's seen. He turns around to smile at Steve excitedly, feeling giddy.

"I did say a few years, didn't I?" Stark says smoothly, making the audience laugh.

Conversations start up amongst audience members, the incessant chatter the perfect distraction for Steve to sneak off to the Enlistment centre he spots behind them. None of Steve's friends notice him leave, watching as Stark awkwardly laughs off his mistake and talking about what they've seen.

"Shall we go dancing by the band?" Bucky asks, having spotted another stage on the other side of the pavilion with a band playing music and a crowd of couples dancing. Connie seems enthusiastic and Isabel shrugs, so Bucky's smile widens. "Hey, Steve, what do you say we treat these girls…" Bucky says, turning around and trailing off when he sees only his sister behind him, with Steve nowhere to be seen. His eyes scan the crowd, immediately falling on the recruitment poster.

"Where'd Steve go?" Connie asks beside Bucky, clinging to his arm.

"I'd bet my bottom dollar he's trying to enlist again," Bucky says with a sigh. "Come on girls."

Bucky leads them through the crowd toward the temporary recruitment centre set up for the Expo. The three of them walk up the stairs toward the oval-shaped building, a bustle of uniformed men and other's just enlisted walking in, out and around the building.

"I'll go in and get him," Isabel says, leaving Bucky and Connie standing by the entrance before they can reply.

Once inside the building, she watches as Steve steps up onto a metal plate, his image reflected in the face of a painted soldier on the wall. Only, his face doesn't quite match up to the soldier's, his eyes and forehead only just visible in the man's chin. Isabel sighs, feeling bad for her friend.

"Steve, what are you doing?" She asks patiently, appearing next to him.

"Belle, come on," Steve groans at being found so quickly, having not even had the chance to try to enlist before he's about to be talked out of it.

"Don't 'come on' me. If you wanted to enlist you should have gone straight in and done it instead of puncing around with this," she says, waving a hand to the soldier's form on the wall. "You knew we'd work out you were gone and we'd come and find you."

Steve looks past her, spotting Bucky and Connie standing impatiently by the entrance. "You guys go back to the pavilion, I'll find you when I'm done. I'll be quick."

"No, Steve. We aren't going without you." Isabel sighs, a heavy breath. "Please, don't enlist," she asks of him, taking his hand in her own. "Stay here in New York. Don't go away."

"I have to," Steve protests. "I need to do this." His eyes are pleading and he squeezes her hand in reassurance, and Isabel has to look away.

Bucky appears next to them then, shoving Steve's shoulder and pushing him off the plate slightly. "Come on. You're kind of missing the point of a double date," Bucky notes. "We're taking the girls dancing."

Steve turns around, looking like he's resisting rolling his eyes. "You go ahead. I'll catch up with you," he offers again, standing next to Bucky with his hands in his pockets.

Bucky nods his head, a frustrated smile on his lips. "You're really going to do this again?" He asks. He's never had as much patience with Steve's antics.

Steve nods, shrugging his shoulders. "Well, it's a fair. I'm gonna try my luck."

Bucky looks behind Steve angrily, then meets his eyes. "As who, Steve from Ohio? They'll catch you. Or worse, they'll actually take you."

Steve nods his head, then looks down at his feet. "Look, I know you don't think I can do this–" Steve begins, but Bucky cuts him off.

"This isn't a back alley, Steve. It's war."

Isabel puts a hand on her brother's uniform-clad arm. "Buck, calm down–"

"I know it's a war," Steve says easily.

Isabel frowns at their arguing, looking away in frustration. Her eyes eventually land on an older man with grey hair and rounded glasses who walks toward them with a handful of files, stopping in his tracks to listen to Steve and Bucky's conversation. He looks curious of Steve, almost admiring him for his strength and determination.

"Why are you so keen to fight? There are so many important jobs," Bucky cries, exasperated.

"What do you want me to do? Collect scrap metal–"

"Yes!"

"–in my little red wagon?" Steve asks stubbornly.

"Why not?"

"I'm not gonna sit in a factory, Bucky."

"I don't–"

"Bucky, come on," Steve persists. "There are men laying down their lives. I got no right to do any less than them. That's what you don't understand. This isn't about me."

Isabel watches as the older man closes his eyes momentarily, nodding to himself as if he's found something he's been looking for. She looks away, confused, back to Bucky, gauging his reaction.

"Right," Bucky says sarcastically, nodding his head as he makes eye contact with Isabel. "'Cause you got nothing to prove?"

Steve is silent, closing his mouth against any argument. He looks at Bucky stubbornly, maintaining eye contact. He isn't going to be the one to back down, not this time.

"Hey Serge! Are we going dancing?" Connie calls to Bucky from the entrance, watching impatiently as Bucky and Steve argue. She has no idea what about though, considering she's too far away.

Bucky turns confidently toward Connie, extending his arms out. "Yes, we are."

While Bucky's still turned away, Steve smiles sadly at Isabel. She nods back, mouthing "I understand". She reaches out and holds his arm, patting it sadly.

Bucky turns back around, and Steve smiles sheepishly at Bucky. Bucky shakes his head, searching for the right words as he takes a few steps away. He looks at Isabel in acceptance, then back to Steve. "Don't do anything stupid until I get back," he tells Steve, his tone both light and serious at the same time.

"How can I?" Steve shoots back. "You're taking all the stupid with you."

Bucky laughs, shaking his head as he comes back in for a hug.

"You're a punk," Bucky says seriously.

"Jerk," Steve replies, accepting Bucky's hug and patting him on the back. As they pull apart, Steve says, "Be careful."

Bucky nods. He then looks at Isabel, who makes no intent to move and follow him. He knows she'll be there to see him off tomorrow. Steve watches solemnly as Bucky walks away toward Connie. "Don't win the war 'til I get there!" Steve adds. Bucky turns and sloppily salutes him, before meeting up with Connie.

"Come on, Con. They're playing our song," he tells her, holding her waist as they walk off down the steps away from the centre.

"What about you?" Steve asks. "You gonna go dancing?"

"I'm not really in the mood. I'll stay with you," Isabel says with an understanding smile.

Steve nods, shoving his hands back in his pocket. He turns and walks into the recruitment centre to check in, Isabel walking by his side. As she passes the man who'd been watching them, she notices him stare at Steve as he walks past, his eyes sparkling. The man then meets her eyes, and gives her a reassuring smile. She looks away, frowning. Just before they turn the corner, she looks back again, and the man is still watching after them.

Isabel sits in the waiting room, patiently watching the hustle and bustle of the tiny room. Steve disappeared into the curtained area over a twenty minutes ago for his medical examination, and a few seconds later, the man who'd watched them had gone in behind him. She supposed he may be a doctor or an official, considering he looked more professional and had been holding a wad of paperwork. But the way he'd watched their exchange and watched them walk into the building was unnerving. She's worried the man had seen Steve's potential and determination and is going to enlist him.

She becomes increasingly fidgety as time passes, her thoughts running wild. Perhaps Steve's been caught out for lying. It does seem overly suspicious that he's being kept for so long. It never takes such a long time, they normally take one look at his form and stamp it 4F straight away. Isabel taps her hand on her knee, looking around worriedly. She really should have gone with Bucky.

Eventually the curtain opens and the man walks out, holding it open for Steve to emerge. Isabel immediately stands up and makes her way over to them.

"I can offer you a chance," she hears the man say. "Only a chance."

"I'll take it!" Steve replies hurriedly as though the offer may be taken away if he doesn't reply fast enough. Steve looks tiny next to them man as the doctor sorts through the stamps to find the one he wants. Isabel stops next to Steve, looking questioningly at her friend.

"So where is the little guy from, actually?" The man asks, looking expectantly at Steve.

"Brooklyn," Steve says proudly. The man nods, stamping his form, before handing him the file.

"Congratulations, soldier," the man says with finality, flashing a smile to Isabel as he turns and walks away, disappearing into a corridor. Isabel watches him with wonder as Steve quickly flips open the file, revealing it has been stamped "IA". Steve stares at it, taking a deep breath of relief. Beside him, Isabel also takes a deep breath to calm her racing mind.

Steve smiles, looking up at her with determination. "I have a chance."

A/N: We've finally made it into movie territory. Hello Captain America: The First Avenger! The story will try to stay as close to story canon as possible, though I will definitely be filling in many of the blanks in the plot and may be using some aspects of the comics :)

So sorry for the long wait on this chapter! Life really threw me a curve ball lately and I haven't had any time to upload, let alone write anything. I had to do a two week university course to catch up a subject, as well as work and play sport. Then, we had to put down my dog that I've had for many years due to an untreatable illness. Finally, my dad is in hospital at the moment awaiting surgery. Needles to say I've been very busy and haven't felt much like writing. I've gone back to normal university classes now so uploads may still be stunted but they'll be coming :) thanks for being so patient!