in the shadows ? steve rogers

042 ? who is steve rogers?

Grace nodded. "I remember." She looked over at the picture of Bucky. "He looked like he'd seen an alien when he saw me talking to you."

Steve shrugged. "In his defense, he'd never seen that before. After the war ended, did they, uh... did they ever find him?"

"No," she said softly, shaking her head. "No, they, um... Peggy sent the Howling Commandos to go look. Figured they'd owe it to you. But the train was moving so fast when the accident happened that they didn't have an exact location and everywhere they looked, it was empty. They figured somebody found him and buried him."

Steve nodded, letting out a breath. "They made this whole thing..." he said, looking around at the exhibit. "And I don't know why."

"Why?" Grace repeated with a tilt of her head. "They made an exhibit because you exemplified what it meant to be an American. And maybe the thought is outdated, but you were a symbol of hope to so many during the war. Not just with the USO tours and your..." She chuckled softly. "Your really strange short films. But because you were an ordinary man who did an experiment all because he wanted to serve his country. Though, I think most people leave out the many failed attempts you made at trying to enlist." Steve huffed out a laugh and she shrugged. "Whether you believe it or not, you were, and still are, a symbol to many people."

Steve smiled softly. "I see you've gotten better at your inspirational speeches."

Grace shrugged. "What can I say? Howard didn't give them to his son, so someone had to. You may think that you don't fit in here, but you do. You just have to find that place."

He nodded. "I was gonna go visit Sam at the VA," he said. "You wanna come?"

"I would, but I have some work over at SHIELD to do," she replied, pressing her lips together. "Say hi for me, though."

⸻ ~~~ ⸻

𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐕𝐄 𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐍𝐄𝐃 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 doorway of the VA as Sam was counseling other veterans and their trauma. "The thing is, I think it's getting worse," a female veteran said. "A cop pulled me over last week, he thought I was drunk. I swerved to miss a plastic bag. I thought it was an IED."

"Some stuff you leave there, other stuff you bring back," Sam told the group. "It's our job to figure out how to carry it. Is it gonna be in a big suitcase or in a little man purse? It's up to you."

Sam finished his goodbyes to everybody when he spotted Steve waiting for him at the entryway.

"Look who it is," he said, walking over to the blonde. "The running man."

Steve chuckled softly. "Caught the last few minutes," he replied, referencing the meeting. "It's pretty intense."

Sam nodded. "Yeah, we all got the same problems. Guilt, regret."

"You lose someone?"

"My wingman, Riley," Sam said with a nod. "Flying a night mission. Standard PJ rescue op, nothing we hadn't done a thousand times before, till RPG knock Riley's dumb ass out of the sky. Nothing I could do. It's like I was up there just to watch."

"I'm sorry."

"After that, I had a really hard time finding a reason for being over there, you know?"

"But you're happy now?" Steve asked him. "Back in the world?"

"Hey, the number of people giving me orders is down to about zero," Sam replied with a smile. "So, hell, yeah. You thinking about getting out?"

"I don't know," Steve said with a sigh. "To be honest, I don't know what I would do with myself if I did."