2024/2016
2024
On a cold November morning, the sound of Lily waking up across the room rouses Lee and Steve from their slumber. Steve is the first out of bed, striding over to the crib to pick up his crying child, cradling her in his arms as he carries her over to her mom.
Lee sits up so she can take Lily from her husband as he leans down to kiss her forehead before saying softly, “I’ll go start breakfast.”
Lee hums a “thank you” in response before Steve leaves the room.
Later, Lee enters the kitchen wearing one of Steve’s large flannels to cover her body.
Sometimes in warmer months she’ll steal his t-shirts to wear, the ones that are a more relaxed fit on him than those seemingly two-sizes-too-small shirts he used to wear. Lee asked him once why his shirts were so tight, not that she was complaining, and he told her it was to get a better fit under his suit. Now in retirement, he doesn’t need them for that reason, but he keeps some around, wearing them occasionally so that his wife can admire the beautifully bulky frame of her super soldier husband that he knows she loves so much.
Even being married with a kid Lee still takes every opportunity to ogle Steve, as retirement has not affected his physic one bit, and he happily indulges her and finds opportunities to check her out right back. One aspect of his appearance that has changed is that he’s back to sporting a supple beard and slightly longer hair after Lee convinced him to grow it all back out. She thinks it’s incredibly sexy and he finds it to be more relaxed and better suited to his new pace of life than shaving daily.
She walks up and wraps her arms around Steve’s abdomen from behind, resting her head on his back as he finishes up at the stove.
“Hi, love,” Lee whispers to Steve as he shuts off the stove and turns around in her embrace, leaning down to kiss her.
“Hi, honey. Breakfast is ready. Where’s Lily?”
Pointing to the baby monitor on the counter Lee said, “She’s sleeping again.”
“Good, that means I get you all to myself for a bit,” Steve wiggles his eyebrow, pulling her in for more kisses. “Are you working today?”
“Nope! I was thinking maybe we could go for a hike later, bundle Lily up and get some fresh air?” Lee smiles up at her husband.
“Sounds wonderful! Let’s eat before this food gets cold, yeah?”
As they move to sit at the kitchen island, Lee’s thoughts are pulled back in time to the early days of their relationship before everything went to shit amongst the Avengers over the Sokovia Accords and Bucky Barnes, and before Thanos came along to wreck the universe.
After their first brief, but intense meeting at the Avengers Compound, Steve and Lee found ways to evade Tony’s watchful eye to see each other whenever she was around, although they figured he’d know anyway given that FRIDAY was always watching. Steve would pull her away from the office during breaks or at the end of her work time when Tony thought she was leaving for the day. They’d go for walks around the grounds or tuck into the couch in his room, talking for hours, just genuinely enjoying each other’s company as they got to know each other. They’d talk about their pasts, their hopes and dreams for the future, and even seemingly mundane things that might have been disinteresting to anyone but themselves. He’d listen to her speak about her passions with admiration for what she wanted to do to help the world, seeing the foundations he shared with her.
Steve would even go into the city to see her on days she wasn’t at the Compound when he wasn’t away on a mission and could slip out with few questions from the other Avengers. Sometimes he’d take her around Brooklyn, pointing out what had and hadn’t changed since his days there, reminiscing with stories of his past and family, good and bad, including his shenanigans with Bucky and his multiple attempts to get into the military. She loved listening to him talk and hung on to every word as she continued to piece together who he really was underneath the public-facing Captain America mantle as he revealed himself bit by bit to her. Other times he would just keep her company while she studied in her apartment, feeling grounded in her presence, and occasionally sketching her when she was too deep in focus to notice what he was doing. She soon found his company while she worked or studied more comforting than distracting as it was at first, like she was at home with him around regardless of where they were.
Tony eventually stopped trying to keep them apart, seeing that their connection was real and deep. He was happy for the pair of them, especially Steve who he was concerned would be single forever given his predicament of being thrown out of his own time. Lee is an old soul, sharing the same core values as Steve, even if they approach them differently. Steve can be a bit more relaxed about legalities, choosing to defy authority when he feels it’s wrong. Lee prefers to work within the system, using her cunning, reason, and moral appeals to justice to make the system work for the little guy as best she can. She really would have been a great corporate lawyer like her family wanted, but luckily, she chose to use her powers for good which also led to her meeting Steve and forging friendships with the extended Avengers family.
While Steve and Lee value their differences in each other, they were the cause of a couple of years of pain and heartache when Steve went against Tony and the rest of the world to protect his best friend and stand up for what he knew was right.
2016
Lee was studying in a café in the city when breaking news out of Lagos, Nigeria came on a nearby television. She knew Steve had gone on a mission there with most of the team and immediately dropped what she was doing to watch. Quickly getting the gist of just how badly things had gone, she packed up her things and made a beeline for the Compound, wanting to be there when everyone got back.
When she arrived, Tony was the only one there and he was visibly upset.
“Hey, Tony, are you okay? Is everyone safe?” Lee queried her boss who had quickly become like a father-figure to her.
“No, Lee, I’m not okay, those people from Wakanda are not okay. They are dead because of us, because of Steve, because of Wanda, because we “Avengers” kill people, Lee,” Tony was seething.
Lee was shocked, her mouth hung open as she did not quite expect that reaction from him.
He continued, throwing his hands in the air in exasperation, “You’d think we’d have learned to be more careful after Sokovia, and think about the consequences of our actions, but apparently not.”
“Tony, you weren’t there, maybe that was the best any of them could have done to prevent something worse,” Lee spoke softly, slowly approaching him to try and calm him down.
“You’re right, I wasn’t there, the mission was Steve’s lead because he feels responsible for Rumlow’s actions after the whole HYDRA situation.”
“Rumlow’s actions are his own doing, no one else, and Steve, Nat, Wanda, and Sam did what they thought needed to be done to prevent him from doing anymore harm. I’m not saying the deaths of those people in Nigeria is right, but those deaths are more on Rumlow than on anyone else on the team. He had clear intentions of killing many, many more people than died today.”
“Lee, Wanda doesn’t know how to control her powers and yet Steve takes her out on a mission like this in a city full of people?! I don’t think so…”
“Okay, so maybe it wasn’t the best decision to take someone who is still learning on such a high stakes mission, I can see your point there. But from what I saw, Wanda realized her mistake, no one is going to punish her more than she’s going to punish herself. She cares about protecting people, she’ll want to make this right and learn more so she doesn’t repeat it in the future.”
Lee might not have been around the Avengers for very long, but she quickly picked up on everyone’s character. Wanting to help people also meant she needed to know how to read people fairly quickly to understand if she was being taken advantage of on the rare instance someone had bad intentions. Wanda was a hard one to read, but Lee could just feel that deep down she had a good heart, even if she didn’t know how to go about conveying that in the world and often got it all very wrong.
“I get that, Lee, but we need accountability, who gave us the right to act like we do, we aren’t Gods, except Thor I guess, but he’s off galivanting around space or whatever right now so he doesn’t count.
The rest of us are just people, human beings, enhanced or not, who can and do make mistakes. Don’t you see how dangerous we are, Lee?”
Before Lee could respond to Tony’s heavy thoughts, FRIDAY announced the arrival of the team. They both rushed out to meet them at the Quinjet. The whole team looked visibly distraught as they disembarked the aircraft, Steve supporting Wanda as she was barely able to walk from shock. Lee started towards them, and Steve gave her a small shake of is head indicating to her she should stay away right now while he helped Wanda. Lee backed away with a hand over her mouth in deep concern. Tony called out to Sam and Nat to meet him in the conference room ASAP, leaving Lee to walk away alone.
Before she left the Compound, she asked FRIDAY to tell Steve to please call her once he was alone and done taking care of Wanda.
~~~
About a month after the Lagos incident, the writing of the Sokovia Accords was announced on the news, with backing from Tony Stark. This didn’t surprise Lee after Tony’s initial reaction to Lagos.
However, she was concerned about what it all meant for the team. Steve, knowing Lee was a student of the law and trusting her judgement, brought the Accords to her to look over and help him understand what they were being coerced into signing. He understood Tony’s call for accountability but didn’t like the politics of it all and wasn’t sure that Ross could be trusted. After looking over the document, Lee gave Steve plenty of reasons to not sign on. She certainly saw the merit in some aspects of the agreement, but others concerned her deeply, and she shared both sentiments with Steve, giving him the full picture and her full opinion of the situation which he valued greatly.
“I’m not going to sign this. I can’t give up my autonomy like this. I won’t hand myself over to the control of another institution that can be corrupted… I just can’t,” Steve told Lee definitively after they were done going over the document, papers spread out on her coffee table in front of their position on her couch.
Lee nodded in understanding, remember what she had been told about SHIELD and HYRDA, but also frowned in concern for what this might mean for the man she had grown to love and care for deeply over the past ten months since their first meeting. “What does this mean for you? You’ll have to retire?”
“I don’t know, to be honest. I can’t see myself not stepping up when something bad is happening to people who are defenseless and don’t deserve it.”
Lee pulled Steve into a hug, stroking his back gently as he buried his face into her neck, letting her embrace provide him with a moment of comfort and stability in the face of this lifechanging uncertainty.
“Whatever happens, I’m here for you, whatever you need, whatever you decide,” Lee spoke softly to him, “I…”
Steve pulled back so he could look at her in her hesitation.
“I love you, Steve,” Lee said, looking into his eyes before heat rose to her face and she glanced down.
He moved his hand to her chin, bringing her gaze back to him.
“I love you, too. I think I have since the day we met,” Steve whispered as a huge grin threatened to split Lee’s face in half in response.
“Really?” she breathed.
“Really,” he responded, glancing down at her lips before slotting his over hers for the first time.
She sighed into the kiss, sparks flying between them like they did that first day they met. They had been taking things really slowly, physically, given Steve’s early 1900s upbringing. Sometimes they would hold hands, cuddle, or kiss each other on the cheek, but no more than that and certainly not in public. This didn’t bother Lee as much as she thought it would because she loved the emotional connection with him so much it almost didn’t matter. Although now that he was kissing her, she never wanted him to stop. Steve felt the same. This new level of connection between them, one born out of love, nearly overwhelmed him. He hadn’t kissed anyone in decades, but he knew none of his previous kisses had ever been quite this electric.
He pulled away so they could both catch their breaths, caressing her face lovingly as they held each other’s gaze.
“Um… wow,” Lee spoke with a small chuckle.
“Wow back at you. I know I haven’t exactly kissed anyone in a while, but I don’t remember it being that amazing,” Steve blushed at his confession.
“It’s not just you, trust me. That was… that was something else.”
Steve leaned in to kiss her once more, needing to feel that spark again as her hand reached up to grasp the back of his neck to deepen their kiss.
~~~
A few days later, Lee got a call from Sam, answering it happily before he told her that Steve had gotten a message that Peggy had died and that they were going to London soon for her funeral. Sam knew Steve needed her and that he would have a hard time asking for her himself as he was used to handling things with Peggy on his own. Sam also told Lee he wasn’t sure what would happen with them both after her funeral as the signing of the Accords at the UN in Austria was to happen shortly after. She hurried to the Compound, finding Steve in his room packing up some things for the trip, barely holding it together.
She rushed over to him, pulling him into her arms, “Oh, Steve. Sam called me. I’m so sorry.”
He started to sob at her embrace as she moved them to his nearby bed to sit down on the edge.
“I’m here, let it all out,” she whispered to him as he cried into her shoulder, finally letting his emotions bubble to the surface.
After a few minutes of holding him and placing kisses on his forehead, Steve looked up.
“She was my first love, the last piece of my past left in this century. Except for Bucky, which, I don’t know where he is, if he’s safe, or if he even knows who I am.”
As a fresh wave of sadness washed over Steve at his thoughts of Bucky. Lee pulled him back into her embrace, silently pouring her love into him as tears welled in her own eyes, not having the words to comfort him in his unique situation.
Once Steve composed himself again, he placed a soft kiss on her lips before looking her in the eyes, silently thanking her for being there for him, knowing there wasn’t much else either of them could do in this moment.
Lee cleared her throat, “Sam said you guys might be gone a while after you leave for London, something about the Accords being signed?”
“Yeah, I’m not sure what’s going to happen. Neither of us are planning to sign… Lee? If things go south after the UN meeting, I just want you to know that I love you.”
“I love you, too, Steve,” Lee whispered as her heart started to break, knowing him well enough to expect that things could go incredibly unsmoothly if anyone tried to capture or control him against his will following his decision to break from the Accords.
As they held each other tightly in a goodbye that held an unknown reunion date in the future, neither of them could have predicted what was about to go down in Vienna or how it would keep them apart for the next two years.