The Valentin Series, Book 1: The Valkyrie (Captain America fanfiction)

Chapter 18: Mark Me

James made his way to the kitchens, absentmindedly toying with the pendants on his necklace. She had been on his mind ever since the first day they met.  Sure, he was brainwashed and in the Red Zone when they met, but when he woke up the next day all he could think about was ravens wings, pretty brown eyes, and long wavy hair. When he saw her again, he knew it was her he had been dreaming and thinking about, and somehow it snapped him out of being the Winter Soldier long enough for her to see the humanity in him and befriend him.

James shook his head, remembering how she patched him up with what little she had in the sling bag she had brought with her. They stayed awake that night, him asking questions, while she sat on the rafters, her wings wrapped around her like a cloak, answering what she could. He remembered asking her about New York, what it was like now, and if they both got the time off, would she save him a dance. She laughed and jokingly agreed, both of them never thinking it would ever be possible. He made her promise to see him again, to which she replied: “You get lost again, sweetheart, I’ll come find you.” And he did just that; every single time.

Dance. She still owed him a dance. James smiled as he entered the kitchen; he now knew how to break the ice barrier Camilla had built.

“Lookin’ good, Sarge,” Sam Wilson said from the stove as he boiled water for his hot chocolate. He noticed the super-soldier, who was dressed in dark blue sweatpants and a maroon muscle shirt, walk I with a small smile on his face, “Heard your girl’s in the house.”

James looked up, startled, it took him a few seconds to recognize the man in the leather jacket and jeans, but he grinned back at Sam when he did. “Hey,” he greeted, “Yeah, she’s here, but I don’t know if she’s still my girl after what happened a while ago.”

“Trouble in paradise this early?” Sam asked as he poured the hot water into his mug, “Hot chocolate?”

James shrugged, “Yeah, thanks,” he accepted another mug full of the hot drink from Wilson.

“I mean, if it’s not too, you know, intruding,” Sam began, “What happened?”

“Well,” James said stirring at his hot chocolate, he decided on a whim to trust Sam Wilson. If Steve did, then he would, “I kind of told her I love her then she kicked me out of her room.”

Sam sputtered, choking on his sip of hot chocolate, “Man, that’s cold."

James just shrugged as he took a sip from his mug.

“I haven’t met this girl of yours yet,” Sam said, “But judging from her file, she’s not one to listen to her feelings, or to actually have feelings.”

“I wasn’t one, as well,” James pointed out.

“Nah, you were different,” Sam replied, “You had the feelings, just had them repressed, erased. But this one, if she’s anything like Agent Romanov, she won’t know what to do with them.”

James mulled this over, a slight frown shadowing his features.

“But, hey,” Sam shrugged, rinsing his now empty mug in the sink, “Like I said, I haven’t met her, yet. So I’m gonna go home now, I just got back from assignment, and I need my bed.” He said as he patted James on the back before he walked out of the kitchen.

In an abandoned cottage in the Black Forest, 3 years or so ago:

“What if you fall in love?” James asked the woman beside him whose hands were entangled in his own as they gazed out at the stars through a hole in the roof.

“What do you mean ‘love’?” Angel replied, never taking her eyes off the sky.

“Won’t you stop? If you find the right guy, settle down, have kids?” he probed.