America's Sweetheart (Steve Rogers) - 1

10

The bar was lively with celebration and the drinks were flowing. Steve was settled at a table along with a small group of men that he'd put together to help him raid the number of Hydra facilities that had been marked on the map he'd seen while helping the men to escape. He'd seen them in action, they would make a more than capable team.

He'd tried to seek Mo out after spotting her with Stark on his return, however Phillips had other plans for him for the rest of the day, and so he'd spent the afternoon with the Colonel and Peggy going through everything he knew and had seen. When he'd finally finished and freshened up (finally earning his place in the war) Mo was nowhere to be found.

"Phillips suspended her from duty sometime before you returned." Peggy had explained to him when he'd asked whether she'd seen her sister.

"Wait what?"

Peggy nodded. "For taking you over Austria without permission. Howard told me that she's also never allowed to fly for the SSR again."

"That's unfair. I need to speak to the colonel." Steve said and brushed past her, knocking on Phillips office door before walking in. "Colonel...I need to speak with you."

Phillips gestured for him to the shut the door,  and then eyed him suspiciously from behind his desk. "I'm listening."

"I want you to allow Captain Carter to fly again."

Phillips exhaled. "She broke protocol..."

"And in doing so helped me to rescue all those men who returned with me. She deserves some credit for her part in all this. For what she's done, no one really gives her any."

"And rightfully so, she's still a kid, reckless at that." The Colonel responded and then sighed. "But I suppose without her you wouldn't have succeeded where you did."

Steve looked at the Colonel hopefully. "Does that mean you'll give her another chance?"

"She's had all the chances she can take Rogers." And then Phillips pondered some more, having some kind of inner battle with his conscience, "But I suppose she's the only pilot we have now after my other two were gunned down...fine, I'll give her another chance."

"I also want her on the team."

Phillips looked at him as though he was crazy. "No way..."

"I'm gonna need air support to get to some of these bases. It's that or Hydra are still one step ahead. The men I've picked can take on anything, they're the best at what they do – but I also need someone who is the best in the air...and Mo Carter is that sir, even you can't deny that."

The Colonel ran his hands down his face. "Fine...Carter can join your barbershop quartet of death, but I still expect her to perform the usual duties for me. Is that clear?"

"That's good enough for me."

"You'd best go give her the good news then."

"I would, if I knew where to find her."

Phillips snorted. "Easy, she'll be drinking those boys under the table at the nearest bar." It was no secret that this woman was no ordinary woman – as Steve was beginning to find out. There was a hell of a lot more to her that he had to learn.

As Steve arrived he hadn't seen Mo anywhere in the bar and decided that tomorrow he'd find her and tell her what was happening, but right now there was a celebration to be had. To the destruction of the Hydra base, and to the triumphant return of the men who were imprisoned there.

"Time to open another tab Cap." Dugan slammed his empty beer glass down as the others laughed.

Steve shook his head in disbelief but got up anyway to get another round. They were in the back room of the bar so it wasn't as loud as it would have been sitting in the main area. As he was talking to Bucky, he happened to look to that way before seeing a familiar person stood at the bar giving the bartender a look of disgust.

"Do I look like the kind of girl that drinks gin? Whiskey, and plenty of it." She demanded and slid onto the stool.

Bucky looked to where Steve's gaze rested and nodded his approval. "Pretty girl..."

"You say that to her face, and she'll punch it." Steve smirked as his friend frowned. "Captain Carter. I met her while training." He confirmed.

Bucky blinked, not believing what he was hearing. "You actually spoke to a woman? Ok who are you and what have you done with the real Steve?"

"Still here...just...I dunno, conversation comes easily when it's with her." He looked into his beer glass. "Anyway I need to talk to her, she's gonna be flying us into some of the areas we can't reach on foot or by road. At least, I hope she agrees to."

Bucky chuckled at this. "Only one way to find out." and nudged Steve in Mo's direction. "Go get 'em tiger." 

As he appeared next to her out of the corner of her eye, Mo looked across at him with a mouthful of whiskey before swallowing it. Very unladylike but Steve didn't care. "I see you made it back in one piece...Phillips was most impressed." She smirked and refilled the glass using the bottle that the bartender had given her.

"I wouldn't have been able to do it without you...Peggy told me that he grounded you from flying and suspended you from duty."

She nodded. "All in a good day's work. But I'd do it again. Phillips just doesn't like that I don't follow his orders when they're wrong."

He slid onto the stool next to her, turning his body to give her his full attention. "Well I spoke to him, and I got you back on duty as well as flying."

Mo snorted at this. "What? Was he drunk?"

"No, but when I requested that I wanted you to help me and the team out with future missions he couldn't exactly say no." Steve smirked at her as her face changed.

"You...you want me?"

He nodded. "Yep. There's gonna be some tricky bases to get to. If you can give us a ride, I'd appreciate it."

She made a 'ha' sound to herself and then downed the rest of the glass. "Ok Mr America, count me in."

Pleased that she'd agreed, Steve sipped his own drink, but still there was one thing playing on his mind. "You know...I saw you with Stark earlier. You seem...close?" Howard Stark was a handsome guy and it wouldn't have surprised Steve if he and Mo had started walking out together, but somewhere inside there was a pang in his chest of something that he couldn't quite explain. 

"Jealous Captain?" Mo chided.

"What if I am?" He was feeling a little more confident now.

Mo looked him up and down. "You don't strike me as the jealous type."

"So what do I strike you as?"

She leant in a little closer, her eyes staring deep into his playfully. "You really don't want to know that answer." and slipped off of her stool. "As it happens, Howard said that if I happened to see you, then he wants to see you in the lab at 8am sharp tomorrow morning. I think he has a few toys for you to play around with, see if you like them or not."

"I'll..." The word came out of his mouth in more of a higher pitch than he wanted it and he cleared his throat, "I'll be there." He said a little more deeply, reverting back to more of a professional stance.

"Good. Oh and before i go? There's nothing going on between Howard and me. He's not my type." 

Steve blinked for a moment. "So...what is? Your type that is..." 

She smirked but decided not to indulge him with her answer. "Goodnight Captain..."

"Goodnight Capt-Elizabe...I mean Mo." He stumbled over his words, almost forgetting how to address her for a moment.

For the first time, he noticed her cheeks flush a little before she turned and walked out of the bar with the sea of men's heads turning as she went.

"Well...she certainly knows how to make an impression..." Bucky said now as he also was watching her leave.

"Yeah..." Steve said to himself. "She certainly does."