26 - History

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Steve and I both have a day off before our move to Washington so we spend it wrapped in blankets watching documentaries on the History channel

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Steve and I both have a day off before our move to Washington so we spend it wrapped in blankets watching documentaries on the History channel. Because Steve's a huge nerd and hates missing out on things. "Hey Vik?" Steve asks after documentary number four. "Yeah what's up?" I prompt. "What did you mean all those months ago? When you said you trained Nat." He queries. I sigh, "Fuck." I whisper. I pause the documentary and face Steve, "Before I tell you this, promise me you won't get mad." I demand and Steve promises with an outstretched pinky. I run my hands through my hair and begin to speak, "After you 'died' I was lost, I pushed Peggy away, in my mind I had no-one. So I decided to go back to the only place I felt powerful." Steve's face furrows. "I followed Zola through Europe until he stopped in Siberia. It was the only base we missed, the new home of HYDRA. I asked him to make me stronger, and to help me forget. And he did." I explain. Steve sighs, "So you went back to HYDRA after vowing to stop them?" He asks. "Yes." I answer.

"Anyway, after a few decades there, I was approached by another member and asked to rejoin the Red Room as a trainer. Nat was the star pupil, and I trained her after hours, trained her with the values you taught me. I might have chosen to go back to them and to push the memory of you away but you instilled something in me that encouraged me to help her. So after Howard and Maria died I escaped, asking Nat to find me as soon as she can, and found Tony. And the rest is history." I finish. Steve nods slowly, "Are they still active?" Steve asks. "Honestly I don't know. I wasn't meant to know about the Starks' death, HYDRA had away of keeping you from the news. Once I left I never looked back. Nat and I don't talk about it." I reply. "For all I know HYDRA is everywhere." I add. Steve takes a moment to register the information. "Okay." He speaks after a few beats of silence. "I'm obviously not okay with the fact you went back to them after everything but I can't blame you I guess. You were lost, they helped you find yourself the first time, why couldn't they this time?" He explains.

I smile softly and kiss his cheek before ruffling his quiff, "Thanks Stevie." He smiles gently, "Anytime." He answers and I press play on the documentary again. At the end of this one Steve yawns, "Can't you just tell me the biggest events of the last 70 years sweetie? I can't sit through another old guy tell me about Stalin." He jokes. I laugh, "I can try." I pick up my mug of coffee and blow the steam away. "Okay, 1950s. We had the Korean war, Eisenhower was elected, Elizabeth the Second became Queen, the double helix structure was discovered, Stalin died, Brown vs the Topeka Board of Education, Polio vaccine, Montgomery Bus Boycott, Suez crisis, Sputnik, Little Rock interrogations, Castro took power in Cuba, and Alaska and Hawaii became states." I list. Steve writes down some of what I said on a notepad next to him for additional research. "I'll take you through TV and music another time." I say before he can ask. "The '60s?" He asks. "I was in cryo for some of the '60s but I'll see what I know. JFK was elected, Eichmann was captured, Bay of Pigs, Berlin Wall was built, Freedom Riders, JFK was assassinated." Steve looks at me, "Before his term was over?" He queries. "Yeah, year before. I had nothing to do with it, but I can't say for definite it wasn't HYDRA." I explain. "What else? Civil Rights march on Washington, Equal Pay act, Civil Rights act, Mandela was imprisoned, space walks, Voting Rights act, Malcolm X was assassinated, Chinese cultural revolution, first successful human heart transplant, first African-American US Supreme Court Justice, MLK Jr and Robert Kennedy were assassinated, Nixon became president, Apollo 11, Stonewall riots, and Woodstock."

"What was Stonewall?" Steve asks. "The Stonewall riots were demonstrations by members of the LGBTQ+ community in response to a police raid at the Stonewall Inn. They wanted LGBT rights in America, and rightfully so. And obviously a few months ago the Supreme Court issued a 5-4 decision on United States vs Windsor." Steve smiles at the history and I spend the rest of the night taking him through the biggest moments in history.

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