brooklyn - steve rogers. / captain america.

twenty-seven.

steve rogers
chapter twenty-seven
oct. 19, 2013

london was where the funeral for peggy was, so funeral is where sam and i went. carrying the casket was a lot more emotionally difficult than i had ever imagined. but then again who ever imagines carrying their first love's casket where they lie dead.

i sit in the front with sam, the choir's singing comes to a stop and i feet a hit on my shoulder from sam, a nudge. i look at sam with my brows furrowed, he tilts his head to the alter and i look up. 

it's the woman i once flirted with, who i thought was just my neighbor but was actually an undercover agent on assignment to protect me. kate. no- sharon. when bucky went winter soldier on us and natasha wouldn't stop pushing.

sam shrugs his shoulder and then the woman who was once my neighbor began her eulogy.

peggy was her aunt. she's peggy's niece. 

"she had a photograph in her office," she began," aunt peggy next to jfk. as a kid, that was pretty cool. but it was a lot to live up to. which is why i never told anyone we were related."

well, that explains a little. but not the full story.

"i asked her once how she managed to master diplomacy and espionage in a time where no one wanted to see a woman succeed at either."

i look down at my fingers and then up at her, trying to collect my thoughts. trying to remember peggy. her red lipstick, her accent, her confidence, her.

"she said, compromise where you can but where you can't, don't. even if everyone is telling you that something wrong is something is right. even if the whole world is telling you to move, it is your duty to plant yourself like a tree, look them in the eye and say 'no, you move.'"

the rest of the ceremony went fast and everything was beautiful, her memory was well respected and will continue to be well kept.

i lean against one of the pews when the church was empty. everyone had gone but i know the second i leave the building, i leave her.

footsteps trail behind me, i turn back and see natasha slowly approaching.

"you know, when i came out of the ice, i thought everyone i had known was gone," i look up and my eyes met with hers," then i found out she was alive," my throat went dry," i was just lucky to have her."

natasha smiles small,"she had you back, too."

i nod slowly, accepting everything that had happened and realized natasha was talking about ana. but i can't talk about ana.

"who else signed?" i change the subject.

"tony, rhodey, vision," she breathes out.

"clint?" 

"says he's retired."

her tone says otherwise.

"wanda?" i ask.

"tbd," like natasha, her answers were straightforward," i'm off to vienna for the signing of the accords. there's plenty of room on the jet."

a sigh escapes my lips, another thing on my plate. 

"just because it's the path of least resistance doesn't mean it's the wrong path. staying together is more important than how we stay together," natasha reasons.

"what are we giving up to do it?" i argue, and natasha sighs. 

i know she's disappointed, but i refuse to give into the control. we would surrender our rights. ana wouldn't sign it.