In Your Eyes // Steve Rogers

My Love, My Life

The Light Dimension looked the same as I had left it. It was still dark, with white wisps of light cascading upwards to form the structure of the hallway. Steve held on tighter to me when he realized he couldn't see the floor, but I assured him the white wisps tracking our weight and movement was solid. He would be safe.

Steve looked upon it all with wonder. His frail hands reached to touch the wall, where it lit with a soft touch. He and I carefully made our way to the Pedestal where I could overlook time. The door opened for us, and the room shifted.

The blue and white of the Quantum Tunnel lined the walls spherical room. The floor underneath our feet turned to a solid white. I helped Steve up the stairs to the Pedestal where I overlooked time. I summoned a chair for him to sit and I lowered the Pedestal on which the Orb sat to his level. I leaned on the armrest of the chair for us to look together.

I waved my hand over the Orb to wake it. I summoned the spheres of moving memories into the air in front of us for him to better see. Instead of submerging us into memories, I played them as though they were movies.

I pulled memories from his past. He asked me to see a baseball game from when he was a child and to relive the memory of a ride called the Cyclone at Coney Island that he and Bucky had taken. We laughed together as Bucky sprinted from the ride as soon as it stopped, his hands over his mouth.

He asked me to look at the moment we had met. It was nearly twelve years prior to now, for me, at least. It was after the Battle of New York. Fury suggested he come work with S.H.I.E.L.D, to preview the sectors and figure where he wanted to stay and work.

We were both so young. I was twenty-two years old. I was bright and shy and complacent-- we both were. There wasn't a sign of bags under my eyes. I stood tall and strong as Steve walked into the STRIKE Team office, and as I looked at the man who would become my husband, I had no idea of the journey meeting him would send me on when our hearts decided that was the one.

"Hi, Captain Rogers. I'm Clara Blake," I greeted, my smile so big my eyes were barely open. I held my hand out to shake his and he chuckled as he shook it. "It's such an honor to meet you. I used to be a history teacher, before all of this, uh, well, I guess I was in school to be a teacher and I remember learning about you, and just wow. You're so tall. Or maybe I'm just short. But anyway! I'm the leader of the Team. I plan all our missions, get them approved, I go on them-- you get the drill. If you were to join us, I'd probably become Second in Command, but that's okay. It'd be an honor to fight with you."

"I would hate to take over your team," said Steve, shaking his head. He had watched me ramble with his eyebrows raised, but at last, he smiled. "It would stay yours, or we could share responsibility."

My eyes widened. I couldn't stop nodding at him. I was beyond impressed with his decision to trust me to lead the team, he made me entirely nervous, and I was in shock from the situation of me meeting someone who doubled as an idol.

Steve had made up his mind when he met me. The rest, as we know, was history.

"I was so excited to meet you," I chuckled. "If I could go back and tell her everything you got me into..."

"Okay, no way!" said Steve. "You're the one that got us into the Triskelion mess."

I pretended to think about it. "I don't know. Agree to disagree."

I continued to let our memories play through. We watched the late nights at the office planning missions, we watched our first ever mission and his reaction when he found out I had powers, we relived us taking down S.H.I.E.LD.

My jaw dropped when I saw him fight the STRIKE Team in the elevator. Steve chuckled, his pride returning. I held my hand over my chest.

"You jumped out of an elevator?! That's what that was? You had an elevator fight and you won?"