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April 12, 1942

"Steve, I'm going out with Maria. Don't burn the apartment down." She yelled through the house as she grabbed her spare key. She heard him mumble something but ignored it, as she left the apartment for the first time in a couple weeks. Steve was pouting in his room because he was having a hard time getting in the war. He had enlisted 4 times now but they refused to let him join because of his many, many health issues. Clara wouldn't put it behind him to somehow make it into the army. She knew that he wouldn't give up until he got in, she just dreaded the day he got in. She couldn't lose him too.

Maria had said something about Clara needing to cheer up. It was true that Clara hadn't been her usual chipper self without Bucky but Maria hoped to change something about that. "Hey Maria." Clara said upon seeing her friend, waiting for her at the end of the street. "Clara, darling." She called out to her friend in a posh-sounding voice. They both kissed each other's cheeks, pretending to be stuck up. Eventually they broke character to give each other a hug. "It's been so long." They said at the same time, breaking into a fit of laughter.

"I have someone I want you to meet." Maria said, dragging Clara to the park, where they usually spent their mornings back in their college years. They slowed to a walk as they neared a bench. Clara saw a man sitting there and her eyes went wide as she looked at her blushing friend. "Is that the infamous Howard Stark I've heard so much about?" She whispered to her friend, who did not return a reply. "Maria." The man said, standing up to greet the two girls. "And you must be Clara. I've heard so much about you." He reached his hand out to her and she smiled, shaking it. "And you're Howard Stark. I've heard a lot about you as well." She said smiling at the man. He wasn't unattractive, he was actually fairly handsome. Nothing like her Bucky though...

"All good things I hope." He winked at Maria. Clara shrugged. "Depends on the year." Clara jokes. "I heard your boyfriend is fighting over there." Howard said as the three walked around. Clara had heard a lot of conversation starters like this. For her dad and for Bucky. "Umm... yeah. He left in March." She answered, trying not to be impolite. From the corner of her eye she could see Maria nudge Howard. "His name is James Barnes, right?" Clara looked surprised that Howard knew who she was dating. "Yeah, that's him. How do you know him?" She asked him. Maria sighed, realizing Howard hadn't listened to her. "I've seen him. He's doing real well. Probably one of the better men." Clara smiled at the ground. "Yeah, that sounds like him." She chuckled.

They had stepped into a coffee shop and while Maria was making the orders, Howard had pulled Clara aside. "I can help." She looked at him confused. "What are you talking about?" She asked him. He rolled his eyes slightly and looked at Maria, making sure she was still busy. "You don't have to wait for him to come home. I have a way so that you could just open your eyes and be with him again." Her eyes wide, Howard fell silent as Maria came back. "What were you guys talking about?" She asked them. Howard looked at Clara as if telling her not to say a word. Not that she could even if she wanted to. All she could think about was seeing Bucky again.

______

Steve had finally gotten enlisted. Something about a crazy German man and the little guy. Clara was unsure of pretty much everything Steve had told her. She was devastated. Clara had considered calling Howard. Making the one call she refused to make. Instead she gave someone else a call. Maria. Together they quit whatever jobs they had before, and like the other women of the time, became nurses in the war. They knew of the horrors that they would see. Frankly, they didn't care. They knew the war effort needed more women and they were willing to help.

Maria went to Howard first, said he could get them in the easy way. So after a couple months of training the girls were finally official nurses. Their first task was with Howard. He said he needed a couple nurses but they had to be trustworthy and who better than two good friends.


June 23, 1942

"Wonderful weather this morning, isn't it?" The older lady asks Howard, who tips his hat to her. "Yes, but I always carry and umbrella." He answers. She nods and goes to the front desk. Howard tells the two girls to follow him as they are led to a bookcase. He looks at the older lady and she nods, the bookcase then opening. Clara looks at Maria, both of them excited. This seemed awfully secretive for them. They walked down the hall, which led to a laboratory. "Follow me ladies, the soldier will be arriving soon and we don't have much time." They nodded and followed him down the stairs to the lab where he turned everything on, allowing it time to warm up before the soldier was to arrive. Pictures were being taken of the three of them, for record.

Soon, the doors that they had just come through were thrown open. This time it was the agent that the two girls had been told about. There was a small detail that Howard left out, that made Clara want to punch him for. The soldier, was Steven Rogers. Maria looked at the girl, whose face was struck with awe and fury and reached her hand out to comfort her but the girl was already moving towards the boy that had just walked down the stairs. "Clara? What are you doing here?" Steve asked her. "I could ask you the same thing Steven?" She didn't have a chance to say anything else before Howard coughed and gave her eyes that told her to do her job and talk later. She made it her top priority to hit Howard later. "Take off your hat, shirt and tie." She told Steve. He nodded and as he took off the articles of clothes, she took them from him and folded them in a pile. Clara then pointed to the metal contraption that he needed to lay in, Steve following her instructions.

As Clara and Maria helped Howard finish setting everything up, Clara noticed the doctor talking to Steve and the small eye contact between Agent Carter and Steve. She smiled to herself, hoping that everything would work out great. She was praying. The doctor began to speak to the witnesses above, who were all highly classified people. Clara, ignoring his whole speech, was putting the bottles serum into the contraption in which Steve laid in. She gave him a small, hopeful smile and squeezed his hand before letting Maria give him a shot of penicillin.

Standing back, Clara watched as the device turned on and Steve was injected with the serum. She turned away from what was about to happen and watched his heart rate. His vital signs were normal at 40%. So they kept going until they heard an agonizing scream. They were prepared to stop it but Steve didn't let them. Clara wanted them to stop, she didn't want any harm to come to Steve. But Steve made them keep going. So they kept going until they got to 100%. Then, they shut it down. Clara rushes from her spot, as the mechanism stands back up, opening and releasing a blast of steam. When it clears, Clara and the doctor are the first ones there, ready to catch Steve if he falls. Except, looking at Steve now, Clara didn't know if she could lift his weight.

In the mechanism he was almost unrecognizable. Steve stood there, taller and definitely more fit. His head rest against his chest and as a second later he was staggering out of the mechanism, worn out from the experiment. "Damn Steve." Clara mumbled in his ear as she and the doctor caught him. "Did it work?" I look at the doctor and we both refrain from laughing. "It did. Definitely did." Clara tells Steve. The crowd from above rushes down to the lab to take a closer look at Steve. Agent Carter was one of the first down as she looked at Steve, a faint tint to her cheeks. Clara knew that look. She gave the same look to Bucky a while back. "How do you feel?" Agent Carter asked Steve, trying to refrain from touching his now very toned chest. Clara handed her a shirt, which she immediately gave to Steve. "Taller." Steve responded, making the two girls chuckle a little. Up until that point, Clara and Steve had been the same height. "Well, you're definitely taller." Clara tells him.

As the people crowded around the doctor, giving him their congratulations, there was one man that stood apart. Clara had no time to think about it much, before the conference room upstairs exploded. Steve covered her as glass shattered around them. The man who was apart from the others, was now running. Clara looked behind her and saw that the last of the serum was gone. The doctor stood up, though Clara was not sure what he planned to do. In a matter of seconds he was shot down, dead. Agent Carter tried shooting at him, only hitting him once in the leg. Clara and Steve both rushed to the doctor's aid. The doctor was still breathing but barely. Before he died, he pointed to Steve's chest. Heart. Suddenly, Steve was up with a real angry look on his face. Agent Carter had left before him and Steve followed shortly after. He was still the same person, just a little bigger now. 

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