In This Moment | Captain America One Shot

In This Moment

Steve and Peggy

The office lights were dim.

It was still afternoon, but the heavy cloud over the sky obscured the sun, only allowing a few weak rays to filter through the open window. The cool breeze blew gently into the office, ruffling papers and filling the room with the sounds of New York. Several car horns honked. People talked loudly. Sirens wailed in the distance.

The man that sat behind the office desk was doing his best to ignore all of these big city sounds, sounds he was still becoming accustomed to, sounds so different to anything heard seventy years ago. His head in his hands, he tried to concentrate on the report before him, but it wasn't proving to be much use. His mind was distracted, lost about seventy years in the past, on a pair of warm brown eyes and red lips that parted into that beautiful smile he had loved.

Steve Rogers sighed, rubbed the back of his neck and turned the page, hoping to find something more interesting and attention-captivating on the other side.

A mysterious new threat had emerged, and Fury had asked Steve for his assistance in finding the man's identity. So far, that meant reading report after report after report, and though he usually wanted to get the job done, today Steve just couldn't concentrate.

He sighed and leaned back, clasping his hands behind his head. He paused for a few minutes, hoping a quick break from reading through tedious files would help him concentrate on the job better.

But when he returned to the work, he found out that wasn't the case. After an hour, all he managed to get out of the information that the subject's last name was most likely Cortez.

He pushed it his chair back and stood up. Maybe he should chase this small lead he had. Perhaps a bit of variation would help him keep his mind in the present, not seventy years in the past.

He stretched and made his way to the room that contained the files of every person alive in America, a fact that was fairly impressive.

The walk wasn't long, and Steve soon entered the dark room. He switched on a lamp and the interior of the room was thrown into relief, showing the numerous bookshelves all lined with files. A hint of dust hung in the air, shadows cast over the floor by the imposing bookshelves.

Steve briskly made his way over to the 'C' section and started to finger through the numerous file names, processing each of them in his mind.

Cade... Cage... Cahier... Cair... Cameron... Carlos... Carter... wait.

Carter?

His eyes widened at the name, but he quickly composed himself. That didn't necessarily mean Peggy. Carter was a very common last name, from what he'd heard. It could be anyone. Anyone at all.

But the urge to know was too great. He sucked in a deep breath and began to sift through the numerous names under the Carter name.

Andrew... Amanda... Brian... he flipped through them faster, his heart beating furiously in his chest. Logan... Lauren... Mae... Margaret.

Steve bit down on his lip as he stared at the name, that name among thousands in this room, but it may as well have been the only one. His eyes glued to the small, printed black letters, he tried to process what was before him, and what it meant.

With a shaking hand, he reached out and grabbed the file. The material felt rough in his hand as he pulled it out and stared at the yellow file, wondering if he should open it, wondering if he was ready to see whatever is inside. Peggy could be dead. And if she wasn't dead... she'd have white or grey hair, a shadow of the woman she once was. Could he bear to see either of those?