𝐋𝐈𝐁𝐄𝐑𝐓𝐘 & 𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌𝐒 | 𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞

𝟎𝟏. 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐫𝐚

𝟏𝟗𝟒𝟔, the war had ended just over a year ago. Where most were adjusting to the crisp winds of the autumn season, Lorene was trying not to catch frostbite in the arctic circle. She probably should've been in Brooklyn or accompanying her sister on a mission alongside the Howling Commandos; however, she'd taken a few personal days to continue her latent obsession. There were only a few people who knew of her ice escapade, and recent fugitive from the law, Howard Stark, was one of them.

"I thought you had plans to be in Rio?" Lorene questioned, raising an eyebrow with disapproval as Howard opened the liquor cabinet aboard the boat.

"That changed when I got your call," Howard retorted, pouring himself a glass of whiskey before silently offering her one as well.

She shook her head and turned down the invitation, knowing it wouldn't do much good with her enhanced metabolism. "Don't trust me to take care of your boat?"

A beat of silence passed. She turned her head with an insulted look, but her gaze softened as she noticed that Howard swirled his glass but had yet to drink from it or lift his eyes from the ground. His voice was broken as he admitted, "I could just use a friendly face right about now..."

"I didn't get a chance to speak with her..." Lorene referred to the fact that she'd been watching from afar when she picked Howard up from the Griffith. "But Peggy seemed pretty upset."

"She's got a lot on her plate." Howard shrugged, taking a quick swig without actually answering her implied question. He moved past her to look over the navigational charts while changing the topic of conversation. "Aren't you cold?"

She barely glanced down at the red, white, and blue uniform that had become like a second skin. It was probably pride that kept her from throwing a coat over her shoulders, but she shrugged the thought aside. "Too busy to be cold."

Out of habit, she gently massaged her hand to ease the phantom ache associated with the cold acquired following an incident where she'd shattered the bones of the right.

"You still havin' problems?" Howard raised an eyebrow. "I thought you said the doc cleared you months ago, said the serum healed it better than ever."

Lorene chuckled, reminiscing on the moment it had occurred. "You should've seen how hard I hit him."

"If you don't mind me asking, what warranted that anyway?" Howard asked, highly amused.

"It was Hitler." Lorene rolled her eyes as she leaned up against a wall of consoles. "Did I really need a warrant to hit him?"

"Touché."

Lorene glanced over at the blipping screen that continued to ping at a consistent pace. Nothing had changed over the past half hour and it didn't look like there'd be any change soon. She sighed. "What now?"

"We head to the next grid point," Howard announced as he altered the direction of the boat. "An energy signature is bound to spike at some point. We just gotta keep looking."

"Thank you..." Lorene's voice trailed off as she offered him an appreciative look. "... for not giving up."

"Hey," Howard returned the look, but quickly moved past the emotional vulnerability with a nonchalant shrug, "when Lady Liberty asks for a favor, I'd be a fool to refuse."

She gently shook her head, looking down at the floor with a gentle chuckle concealed in the back of her throat. There was a hint of bitterness as the ache of loss nipped at her heart once more.

Howard gently placed a hand on her shoulder. She slowly lifted her eyes to meet his gaze as he offered her a comforting smile, the same pain hidden in his eyes, just to a lesser extent. "Besides, he was my friend too."

The platonic moment was broken by the white noise of the radio transmission system, signaling that someone was trying to establish communication. Lorene took a seat by the radio and placed the headphones over her ears, listening intently. She quickly jotted down a few notes in shorthand on the notepad located on top of the table then turned toward Howard once she had deciphered the code.

"Do I even want to know how we have a signal in the arctic circle?" Lorene suddenly questioned with a hint of hostile skepticism.

"Probably not," Howard nodded in agreement, accepting the implication that it either wasn't done by what she considered either ethical or moral. He quickly returned the focus to the transmission. "So what was that about?"

"That was Charlotte," Lorene briefly explained. "She said Peggy needed the Commandos to meet her in Belarus."

"Hmm..." Howard contemplated the invitation that wasn't exactly up for debate. "I've been meaning to restock my supply of vodka."

Lorene rolled with eyes half-heartedly by his concern of priorities, but continued to smile as she adjusted the coordinates. "Looks like we're headed to Russia then."

Once again, the search for her brother had to be put on hold to fulfill the responsibilities of her duty, but she knew it was the way Steve would've done it... or so she convinced herself. She was constantly in a war with herself over matters of family and country, but believing she was doing right by Steve was the only way she could convince herself to close her eyes and sleep for even a few minutes at night. Although she was still spirited and carried a lit torch of passion, the war had taken its toll on her just like every other soldier.

The only difference now being that she couldn't bring herself to stop fighting, and she might never be given the chance to either.

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𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐞| Welcome to the age of Agent Carter! I know this chapter's a bit shorter than the others, but I thought it was a nice way to ease into all of the action to come. Any thoughts or predictions? As always, any support is appreciated so don't be afraid to vote or comment on the chapters.