✪ American Noise ✪ [Captain America]

Chapter 7: Steve II

As Steve was locking the door to his apartment, he heard rustling and possibly mild cursing coming from the other side of Liz's door. He turned around just as Liz was exiting her apartment, hopping on one foot as she wrestled a shoe onto the other. Steve could not help but smile.

"Good morning," Steve greeted.

Liz jumped as if she did not expect anyone else to be in the hallway. She turned around from closing and locking her door to face Steve and smiled, "G'morning."

The Liz that now faced Steve was a Liz that he had never seen before. For one thing, she had on a small amount of makeup outlining her emerald eyes, and her lips had been painted a shade of red that reminded Steve of cherries. Her auburn hair had been left down and fell evenly about her shoulders, which were covered with capped sleeves that were attached to an American blue, A-line dress with a V-neckline. The dress had small white polka dots scattered evenly across it, and the skirt flared out slightly from Liz's waist down to the hem, which ended just above her knee; a familiar style that Steve remembered some women wearing in his time. Liz had traded in her black cross-body messenger bag for a small red purse that she clutched delicately with both hands in front of her. The shoes with which Liz had been struggling had a moderate heel and closed toes and were a shiny crimson color that matched the handbag.

"You look..." Steve began before he could stop himself, then suddenly panicked as he felt blood rushing to his face as he searched for the right word, Beautiful? No— Gorgeous? No— He felt his heart begin to beat faster.

"Patriotic?" Liz offered, looking down at her coordinated American flag-colored attire with a nervous smile as she brushed her hair behind one ear.

"Lovely," Steve smiled.

"Thanks," Liz looked at him, and Steve relaxed to see that she approved of his choice of word. Her cheeks looked pinker than usual. Steve was not sure if that was rouge or if she was blushing, though he decided that he liked it either way.

"You clean up pretty well yourself," Liz added, "Ready to go?"

Steve nodded, and they made their way down the stairwell to meet Pops.

Steve followed Liz as she let herself into Pops' apartment on the ground floor, where she found him in the kitchen.

"'Morning, Pops," Steve watched Liz kiss her grandfather on the cheek as he stood in the entryway by the front door.

"Good morning, Sunshine!" Pops beamed at her, "You look absolutely beautiful! Doesn't she, Steve?"

Steve thought that he caught Liz rolling her eyes at Pops. Steve felt blood rushing to his face again as a nervous smile took over, "Yes, sir. Lovely," was all he managed to get out in response.

After Pops had attempted to force-feed everyone a quick breakfast, the three of them were on their way. The Metro grew crowded as they went further south down the Red Line towards central Washington, D.C., and even more so after they transferred to the Blue Line at Metro Center on their way west to Arlington. Arlington National Cemetery had its own stop, but there was still a ways to walk from the station to the main entrance.

It was an absolutely gorgeous day. It was sunny, with a few white and fluffy clouds scattered across the blue sky. A light breeze persisted, which helped to abate the increasing temperature of the morning. There were many other people heading in the same direction.

As they approached the main entrance to the grounds, they were greeted by children handing out roses. It took Steve a moment to realize that they were groups of boy and girl scouts. A boy who must have been about the same age as the Schaefer twins that lived in their apartment building ran up to Liz, holding out a red rose.