"How many of you ready to help me sock old Adolf on the jaw?"
Lottie sighed as she watched Steve from the sidelines. She knew the second that Senator Brandt said he was sending them to Italy to perform for the troops that it was a horrible idea. Her head was pounding as she thought of every possible outcome of this performance, and unfortunately none of them were good. He head pounded every time she thought to hard about anything, actually.
"Okay. Uh... I need a volunteer."
"I already volunteered! How do you think I got here?"
Lottie couldn't help but roll her eyes at the comments from the soldiers. They were all a bunch of pigs in her eyes.
"Bring back the girls! Get Slate to come dance for us! I'd love to see that ass-"
"Okay, that's enough," Lottie smiled lightly as she watched Steve try to stop the comments of the crowd. She turned her back on the stage, walking away from it as she tried her hardest to ignore their situation.
Charlotte couldn't help the frown on her face as she walked through the camp. Medical tents were full of soldiers, injured from the front lines that were only five miles away. Lottie would give anything to be fighting alongside them, and she knew Steve would, too.
"Lottie!" She stopped in her tracks, looking back with a smile when she notice that it was Steve behind her. He caught up, tugging off his coat and hanging it over Lottie's head as the sky's opened up above them.
"Shouldn't you be on stage?" She questioned her best friend, looking up at him only to see his piercing blue eyes already looking down on her.
"They wanted the girls back. Plus, I didn't see you. Wanted to make sure you were okay,"
"I'm alright, Stevie,"
The pair took their seats underneath a close by tent that held all of their supplies for the show. The rain was pouring down now as the group of soldiers that had been watching the show dispersed back to what they were supposed to be doing.
Lottie was lost in her own thoughts as Steve sat beside her, his sketchpad that Lottie had bought him during their stop in Milwaukee in his hands as he studied her, his hands moving on their own on the paper.
She stole a glance back at Steve, a soft smile crossing her lips as she caught sight of the sketchpad: a drawing of her. She couldn't help the reddening of her cheeks as she looked back to Steve's face, though he wasn't looking at her but at the paper before him
"There's a thousand other things you could draw, Stevie,"
He looked back up at his best friend, the words tumbling from his mouth and his cheeks reddening before he could even think twice.
"But none as beautiful as you,"
Lottie smiled, shifting herself closer to Steve as she laid her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes as she tried to block out the cold around them. Her 'Slate' suit did nothing for warmth. Steve gently leaned over her, grabbing his jacket and draping it across her shoulders as he returned to the drawing.
"Hello Lottie, Steve,"
The pair turned, smiling when they noticed that it was Peggy standing behind them. Steve closed his sketchbook as Lottie stood up, enveloping their friend in a hug. It had been months since they had last seen Peggy or Howard.
"What are you doing here?" Lottie questioned their friend, moving back to stand beside Steve. He handed her the jacket once again, seeing her shiver lightly from the rain once more.
"Officially I'm not here at all. That was quite a performance."
"Yeah. Uh... I had to improvise a little bit. Crowds I'm used to are usually more uh... twelve," Steve explained, rubbing the back of his neck uncomfortably. Peggy hummed in agreement.
"I understand you're both America's new hopes,"
"Bond sales take a ten percent bump in every state he visits," Lottie added in as Peggy tuned to look at her best friend.
"You sound like Senator Brandt. And what does he have you doing?"
"Tracking those bond sales, apparently that's all me and my brain are good for,"
"That and having cartoon versions of your breasts flying off the shelves," Lottie looked down at Peggy's comment as Steve stood up, looking over at the agent as he held Lottie close to him.
"Phillips would have had us stuck in a lab,"
"And those are your only two options?" Peggy mused, crossing her arms as she looked at the pair, who were both looking back at her. "Lab rats or a dancing monkeys? You two were meant for more than this, you know."
Lottie eyes trailed over to the oncoming medical van, tugging on Steve's sleeve as they watched dozens of soldiers get unloaded and carried into the waiting medical team.
"They look like they've been through hell," Lottie whispered, sad eyes gazing after the soldiers. Peggy nodded in agreement.
"These men more than most. Schmidt sent out a force to Azzano. Two hundred men went up against him and less than fifty returned. Your audience contained what was left of the 107th. The rest were killed or captured."
Lottie paled at the number. 107. She looked up at Steve, who's eyes had gone wide as well. Lottie's grip tightened on Steve's arm as the man turned to look back at their friend frantically.
"The 107th?"
"Is something wrong?"
Steve was out of the tent before Peggy could even finish her sentence. Lottie shared a look with Peggy before hauling Steve's jacket over her head, taking off after he best friend as Peggy followed along behind the pair.
Lottie's kid to a stop beside Steve, panting as Colonel Phillips looked up from his paperwork. Peggy stood opposite of Steve, trying to address the situation.
"Well, if it isn't the Star-Spangled Man With A Plan and his liaison. And what is your plan today?"
"I need the casualty list from Azzano," Colonel lifted a brow at Steve, about to interject and oppose when Lottie stepped forward.
"Sir, please, we just need one name. Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes of the 107th. Spelled B-A-R-"
"I can spell, girl," Colonel Phillips cut Lottie off, silencing her. Lottie's hand instinctively found Steve's as they gripped one another, watching as Colonel Phillips got up from his chair and flipped through the condolence letters he had been signing. "I have signed more of these condolence letters today than I would care to count. But the name does sound familiar. I'm sorry."
Lottie felt her heart break as Steve's grip on her hand tightened. She looked down to her shoes, willing the tears not to fall, before looking back to the Colonel.
"What about the others? What's the plan for the rescue operation?"
"It's called winning the war," Colonel Phillips answered her, brushing past them to take another file from a soldier within the tent. Lottie's eyes widened as Steve whipped around to face him.
"But if you know where they are, why not at least...?" Colonel Phillips whipped around to face Steve, their faces inches away from one another.
"They're thirty miles behind the lines. Through the most heavily fortified territory in Europe. We'd lose more men than we'd save. If your liaison here would take a second and run over the idea, she'd tell you I'm right. But I don't expect you to understand that, because you're a chorus girl. You two have somewhere to be in thirty minutes."
Lottie's lower lip trembled as her and Steve finally let go of one another. Her head was pounding at the thought of a rescue mission, every single idea of what could happen flowing through her head, and she caught Peggy's concerned glance. She only shook her off.
"Yes sir, we do."
Lottie and Steve exchanged a glance, their eyes telling the whole story. They were on the same page. Before Peggy could question anything, Lottie and Steve were marching out of the tent and through the field.
"What do you two plan to do? Walk to Austria?" Peggy questioned them, watching as they dressed themselves. Lottie threw Steve his coat to put on as she zipped the catsuit up to her neck, throw a black leather jacket from a chair on and stealing a smaller pair of boots that she knew belonged to Peggy. Steve dressed himself in his jacket, new boots, his shield, and one of the helmets from the dancers behind him.
"If that's what it takes," Steve told her, grabbing the last of his and Lottie's stuff before moving toward an abandoned vehicle outside the tent.
"You heard the Colonel, your friend is most likely dead,"
"We don't know that yet," Steve told her again as Lottie climbed into the passenger seat of the truck. Peggy looked to her, pleading with her.
"Lottie, I know you've thought over the situation. Colonel Phillips is-"
"He is right if you look at it from his perspective, but he's missing one key part," Lottie explained, looking up at her. "Steve and I. You said we were meant for more than this, did you mean it?"
"Every word," Peggy promised, looking from Lottie to Steve.
"Then you've got to let us go,"
Steve looked away from Peggy, climbing into the driver's side of the car. Peggy put her hand on the wheel, looking between Steve and Lottie for a moment.
"I can do a lot more than that?"
Lottie lifted an eyebrow, meeting Peggy's eyes. Her own widened, realizing immediately what was going on: Howard Stark.
"Peggy, I can't promise that he's going to want to help,"
"Not if I ask, but he will if you do,"