Reality in Motion

become these people

"Surprised to see you here." Q greeted her friend once she was close enough to him. For a second, she didn't recognize Dawson. Hair combed back, and beard trimmed he was dressed in a dark suit with a matching dark purple button up. His hands slipped into the pockets of his suit pants while a sigh escaped from him.

"I'm not here for you." he made that clear before jutting his chin out and to where Sharon was standing by the grave with some other family members. The service had ended a bit earlier and everyone proceeded outside to watch them lower Peggy's casket into the ground. Steve had stayed back in the cathedral to have a moment to himself, which was understandable. Funerals were weird for him. Luckily, he hadn't had to attend a lot in his lifetime, but they still managed to freak him out a bit, "Sharon and I are friends too, remember?" he defended his appearance at the funeral with a raise of his eyebrows. She gave him a small smile, nodding to herself a bit. She wasn't trying to get into a fight with him,

"Right, no, I knew that." she crossed her arms over her chest and raised her shoulders up, "Just thought you and Nat would already be on your way to Vienna by now."

"Jet's leaving in a few." he assured her, then paused for a moment, "Room for you too, you know." he offered, ignoring the shake of her head and continuing with his last ditch attempt to get her to change her mind. Much like Natasha was trying to do with Steve inside the cathedral, "C'mon, Q, you know this is something you're for."

"And it's something you're not." she reminded him with a pointed look. "I'm staying because I want to support Steve. Just like you're going to support Nat." Opening his mouth, he got ready to start the fight they had had before in the compound. Then, knowing it was no use to go around in a circle again, he let out a heavy sigh; she was right. The explanation was plainly put, yet so complicated too. With a shake of his head, he let out a slight laugh,

"God, when did we become these people? So..." he wasn't really looking for an answer, just wanted to point out the differences between them then and at that moment. The two of them never would've put someone else's needs and wants before their own. Especially Q.

"Selfless?" she offered helpfully and he gave her an unamused look,

"Sure." he scoffed, thinking of a different word to describe their actions. Never had he thought he'd be someone who chose a girlfriend over his own ideology.

"When we realized we had people we didn't want to lose." Again, such a simple answer that held so much meaning for the both of them. He studied her for a moment before looking over her head at the remains of funeral party that were standing by the grave. There was only a small group left, talking quietly to the family. Others had already begun to make their way over to the wake.

"So Rogers isn't signing, huh." he already knew that, but just wanted to confirm it.

"No, I don't think so." she didn't look surprised by it, or even angry or nervous. Just like she knew it was going to happen. It wasn't surprising to Dawson either. The man had enough bad experiences with governments trying to control his actions for the greater good. Raising her shoulders up, she made a face, "Hey, maybe he'll finally retire." Dawson scoffed at that,

"In this economy?" he raised his eyebrows, playing along, "Guy better wait until he's at least a hundred and five. At least." she grinned at him while he shook his head. There was a pause where he kicked the ground with the toe of his foot, then made eye contact with Q, "Think that'll actually happen?" his friend's inability to sit on the sidelines was one of his biggest downfalls. Always putting the greater good before people like Q or even himself.

"I don't know," she sighed, looking off to the side, "I'd like to hope yes, but...I don't know." she ended up saying, not saying what she meant. Both of them knew that Steve said a lot of things, but never really followed through. Instead, she just gave him a sad smile and shrugged again, then moved on, "What about you? Uh, you and Nat going to be the power couple on Capitol Hill?" Her teasing got him to scoff and give her an annoyed look,