The One Shot Chapters (18+)

Steve Rogers - Blip Pt 3

Steve watched from the doorway as Lissy played with Hazel, not having made himself known to them yet. 

Finally, the little girl clocked him and pointed in delight. "Ste! Ste!" 

Lissy looked round and smiled. "Hello". 

"Hey. Sorry, didn't mean to look all creepy watching you - it's just nice to see a kid smiling and playing when the world's like it is". He said, now walking into the room. 

Mattresses were on the floor, lined up. Each one with its own pillow and blankets. The kids slept on them, as many crammed into the rooms as they could manage. 

"I know right...it's like we're squatters" Lissy shrugged as he looked around at the scene, Hazel's little legs running to him. 

He crouched down and hugged her. "And how are you?" 

"Up! Up!" Hazel demanded, happy that her friend had come back to play again. 

Steve had become a regular visitor to the orphanage/children's home - whatever way you wanted to look at it. He'd bring in anything he could if it meant that it made a kid happy, or even if it helped the adults who worked there - Lissy especially. 

With each visit that went by, he'd got to know her a little more, and then there were the talks they had outside of those walls, once the Brooklyn support group had ended, she would appear and they'd simply walk the streets, just talking. 

"It must be hard, to go through war, wake up and have to navigate a new life before this all happens...you're stronger than any serum that's for sure". Lissy had said one day as they'd stopped on the Brooklyn bridge, looking out onto the waters where apparently whales had been spotted more frequently. The water was cleaner too...

He stared at the water below them. "You've gotta move on...make the best of what you've got. I'm still always gonna be the skinny kid from Brooklyn who no one took a chance on". 

"Until Erskine..." She pointed out. She knew the story, the history. Captain America's legacy had been a part of the history lessons she'd sat through growing up. Lissy remembered where she had been when The Avengers had first made themselves known...she'd been at the heart of it, having been stuck in the train station trying to take cover when the Chitauri had held them there. 

That was when she'd first seen him. 

She still had nightmares about that day, even now. More so than about her stupid fiancé. 

"You alright?" Steve asked. 

"Yeah...I will be eventually". 

Lissy now watched Steve get down onto the floor to play with Hazel. "She sometimes asks for you. I'm starting to feel like I'm being replaced". 

He grinned. "I don't think that you would ever be replaced, you're the only mother figure Hazel has ever known". As he looked up, he met with her gaze. 

She looked away, her cheeks turning a light shade of pink. 

"I know that given the current circumstances, this is gonna sound weird, but do you wanna grab a coffee sometime? Away from here, totally a separate thing from the support talks..." He finally plucked up the courage to ask her. He wouldn't be offended if she turned him down. Steve knew just how dedicated she was when it came to her duty to the kids. He'd been on dates, some a success and others a total disaster, but back then he'd not been able to determine as to whether they'd wanted him for him or just Captain America. 

But Lissy? She was different, and now they were in different times, as much as he hated to admit that. 

She now looked at him a little shyly and smiled. "I'd love to..."