@cptcvrter
Sometimes, the hardest part about being the 'Man out of Time' wasn't everything that had changed. It was everything that hadn't. The things that balanced on the cusp of time, so close to how he remembered that it made him ache. A storefront here, a little park there. And of course, the living history herself. Agent Peggy Carter. Captain now, of course.
Steve had been avoiding her. There was no easy way to admit that, especially to himself. Sometimes when he saw her coming down the hall, he turned on his heel and ducked into the first door he could find. The last real conversation they'd had, he'd promised to take her dancing. And now he could barely look at her, without a thousand memories and emotions rising up in his throat. So it was purely by chance that he walked past that conference room, and caught a glimpse of her. Standing in her full uniform. Holding a shield. And Steve froze. Like he was back in the ice, except that he could feel it all, everything he'd been afraid of feeling for a year. He stared at her through the big glass windows, and let out a long breath.
Almost without thinking, he stepped forward. Opened the door before he could talk himself out of it again. "Peggy?" he called softly. He cleared his throat. "Captain? I uh... hope I'm not interrupting anything." He folded his hands in front of him, wishing he had his own shield to occupy them. "I think it's time we talk, huh?"
