Shall We Dance - A Steggy Fanfiction

Twenty - Two

Steve rushed to her side, bending down beside her.

"Ma'am? Ma'am, are you alright?"

The woman looked up at him, confusion leaving her deep blue eyes as they landed on his face.

"Hmm? Oh yeah, I think so. I'm just a bit clumsy is all," she spoke softly, a smile on her lips as her face lit up.

Steve helped her to her feet and over to a nearby chair.

"Do you mind?" He asked once she had sat down, motioning if he could check her hands for glass.

"Be my guest," she said, her smile not leaving her face.

Steve took her small hands in his, noticing a small cut along the inside of her left palm. On her instruction, he fetched the first aid box from its spot behind the counter. He kneeled down in front of her and opened the box on the floor.

"Do you mind me asking what happened?"

"Not at all. I just slipped and next thing I know I'm sitting in the remains of a vase with you pickin' me up." She paused for a moment. "You know, you remind me o' my husband. He was always cleanin' up after me when I got clumsy."

Steve glanced up to her face from her hand, seeing a beaming smile plaster on her face.

"You kinda look like 'im too. Tall, handsome, a gentleman too. I never did know how I got myself a dreamboat like him."

Steve cleaned her cut and began bandaging it for her, his military training kicking in as he fixed her up.

Once he was finished and satisfied that she had no other injuries he repackaged the first aid box and put it back. He took a step out from behind the counter.

"Sorry, ma'am, but do you have a sweepin' brush or somethin' that I can use to clean up the glass?"

"No. No, son-"

"Ma'am," Steve held up his hands to stop her. "I insist."

Her eyes lit up as she smiled at him.

"Just behind the counter," she replied, pointing him in the right direction.

The Captain grabbed the brush and swept up the glass, picking it up using the dust pan and brush that he also found. When he was finished he walked back to the moment, crouching beside her.

"Are you sure you're okay, ma'am? Is there anything else I can do?"

"Now, son, you needn't call me ma'am. Mabel will do just fine and I'm sure. You've done more than enough," she replied with a toothy smile as she looked down at him.

"Yes ma- Mabel," Steve corrected himself. "Once you're okay, then I don't mind."

"Okay? I'm more than okay. I'm swell! How could I not be just perfect when I have a fine young man like yourself helpin' me out?"

Steve chuckled quietly as he stood up, holding his hand out to Mabel. She took it and he helped her to stand.

"Say...." She looked at him questioningly.

"Steve," the Captain offered.

"Say, Steve. Since you helped me, let me help you with the thing I know most about." A smile tugged at her lips as she spoke. "Does a handsome fella like you have himself a dame?"

Mabel walked around the counters so she could lean it on and face him, her eyes nit leaving his face.

"I-"

"And just so you know, Steve. I'll know if your lyin'. It's a gift," she said with a wink.

Steve grinned at her and leaned his side against the counter just a bit down from her and sighed in defeated.

"I do."

Mabel beamed at him.

"And what is the name of this lucky, lucky lady?"

Steve felt a wide smile form on his face.

"Peggy."

The woman giggled, her blue eyes sparkling as she clapped her hands together and looked at him.

"Mabel?"

She put her hands to her lips, trying to contain her excitement.

"Son, do you know what just happened there?"

Steve shook his  head, his eyebrows furrowing slightly.

"No, ma'am."

"Mabel," she corrected. "Steve, when you said her name, boy, you should have seen your face! It was like a kid's at Christmas one Daisy-Lou in 2-14 when Bernie's has a sale!" She walked out from her behind the counter as she spoke. "Your eyes lit up like you'd just won a thousand dollars!" She paused, stopping beside a picture that hung on the wall opposite the counter. "Steve, I'm gonna be honest with you," her eyes flickered to Steve and back to the picture. "I haven't seen that reaction all that much in my twenty-five plus years-" she joked.

Steve chuckled, causing Mabel to smile.

"-but, the last time I did and I knew it was completely genuine was when my husband looked at me the last time I saw him. Tuesday, 24th May 1915. We weren't married that long, not long enough to have kids.... successfully-," she sighed. "-but besides the point. 29th August 1915, I got that dreaded knock on the door. The one everyone in the world feared. The one telling them that their loved one ain't coming h-home." Mabel took a deep breath, a single tear making its way down her face.

Steve wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulder.

"You're probably wonderin' why I'm borin'  you with this," she went on. "Thing is, Steve, if that's the way you look just sayin' her name, then I have no doubt in my mind that you love her like Fred loved me, if not more. My point is, I had the one for me and I know from just talking to you that you have yours-"

Steve knew she was right. God, he loved Peggy more than he thought possible.

"-but I lost mine. He was snatched from me and I don't want that to happen to you. So don't wait. Who knows what's gonna happen tomorrow. Live now, Steve. Love her with everythin' you've got, get married, have seventy-five kids and just be happy. Be happy, Steve, okay?"

This woman was a genius. She knew nothing about him or his life and yet she knew everything. Both Steve and Peggy worked and lived dangerous lives, never knowing when a goodbye would be their last.

That's it.

He knew now what to do, what he wanted to do, what he needed to do.

Steve pulled Mabel into a gentle hug, afraid of crushing her fragile body in his arms.

"Thank you, Mabel."

"I did nothing, but thank you, Steve."

"You did," he reassured her. "More than you know."

Mabel looked up at him, her beaming smile back, her eyes shining.

"Go get her, son."

Steve gave her a quick waved and headed back to S.H.I.E.L.D., all the way trying to remember where he had put his mother's ring.