The Right Partner | Steve Rogers

Field Trip

The first time they met was by complete accident. Madalyn "Mady" Hewitt knew that Steve Rogers was in Washington D.C. Everyone did, but she never thought she would be lucky enough to meet him in person. At the Smithsonian no less.

Mady was one of the lucky few chosen to chaperone the second grade field trip, and was keeping an eye on the ten children put under her watch. The ten children were scattered around the exhibit, trying their best to answer the scavenger hunt questions in record time. The first group to answer all the questions correctly, won a prize.

She couldn't help but laugh, watching the little rugrats running back and forth between the many sections of the museum.  Specifically "The Star Spangled Man with a Plan". She felt sorry for the guy. That song was awful.

So there she was, watching a bunch of rowdy kids while trying to catch up on her reading, General Patton: A Soldier's Life, appropriately enough. Mady had a love of history ever since she was a little girl. Of all kinds, and with a long line of military men in her family, it was hard not to have an appreciation for military history. 

There was a loud holler coming from her left, causing Mady to close the book with a groan. Her niece ran up to her like a bat out of hell.

"Aunt Mady! Aunt Mady! Jenny, won't listen to me!" a little girl exclaimed, her scarlet pigtails bouncing around her face as she and another child darted out of the exhibit to the small table Mady was occupying. "I told her! I told her the answer to the question, and she won't listen! She thinks it's something else. Tell her, Aunt Mady! Tell her I'm right!"

"That's not true!" the second girl, Jenny, cried. "I read the question and then I read the paragraph on the wall. I'm right, Miss Mady! I know I am!"

"What was the question, Jenny?" she asked them, hoping the people around the table would soon stop staring at them. Nothing was worse than children having a meltdown in public.

"What was the name of the plane that Captain Steve Rogers crashed into the ocean that saved millions of people?" Jenny answered, reciting the question word for word.

"And what do you think the answer is, Taylor?" Mady asked her niece.

"I said it was the Red Skull."

"I see, and what do you think the answer is, Jenny?"

"It's Valkyrie," she stated matter-of-factly. "I read it on the wall and one of the videos even talked about it. I'm right!"

"No, you're not! I am! Right, Aunt Mady?"

"I'm sorry, Taylor, but Jenny is right on. The plane was called the Valkyrie. The Red Skull was the evil man that Steve Rogers defeated during World War II. I bet that's an answer to another question on the scavenger hunt though, isn't it?"

"Yeah!" both girls shouted. "I'm sorry, Jenny."

"It's okay, Taylor. Let's go and finish this so we can win the prize!"

"That kid is going to be the death of me." she shook her head, flipping the book back open. "All right, George, let's find out what was going through that brilliant mind of yours."

"Excuse me, ma'am. Would you mind if I sit here? All of the other tables are full."

"Not at all," she took her bag occupying the empty chair, placed it on the floor beside her, doing a double take when the man sat down across from her. Poor guy.  He looked like he was trying so hard to blend in to not be noticed by everyone else. A ball cap hung low over his face, and the collar of his jacket popped up for extra security. The only thing missing were those stupid, hipster glasses people wore nowadays for absolutely no reason. "That is if you don't mind sharing this tiny table with me and the occasional eight-year-old or five."