Bring Her Home

1: 04

Flora shipped out to England with another group of men. Some eyed her suggestively, but one man who introduced himself and told her he wouldn't let anything happen to her.

As soon as she arrived, she looked around for Bucky. He was the only one she knew, excluding those she'd spoken to on the way to England.

He walked up behind her and said, "Hey, Flor."

Flora turned and smiled. "Hi. Thank goodness you're okay."

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, war is unpredictable."

"You're not wrong. Did anyone make a fuss over you or try to harm you?"

Flora shook her head. "No. If they had, I would've given them a good punch to the jaw."

"I'd pay to see that."

She scrunched her nose slightly as she smiled, then let out a soft laugh.

"Sergeant! Private!" a soldier called.

Bucky and Flora followed after the group of soldiers.

Bucky glanced after Flora with a light smile which slowly turned into a frown. He'd always hoped there could be a future for them, but strangely he doubted they could ever be more than friends. The scariest thing wasn't falling in love. It was falling in love with one of his best friends and not knowing if she felt the same way.

Flora glanced at him, smiled shakily and took his hand to try to ease her mind.

Bucky squeezed her hand gently. Maybe there was a chance for them in the near future after all.

US TRAINING CAMP

An officer said to other soldiers training, "Ready, exercise!"

"Recruits, attention!" Peggy Carter ordered. "Gentlemen, I'm Agent Carter. I supervise all operations for this division."

"What's with the accent, Queen Victoria?" Gilmore Hodge asked. "Thought I was signing up for the U.S. Army."

"What's your name, soldier?"

"Gilmore Hodge, your Majesty."

"Step forward, Hodge." He stepped forward, smirking. "Put your right foot forward."

"Mmm... We gonna wrassle? 'Cause I got a few moves I know you'll like."

Peggy punched him, knocking him down.

Colonel Phillips drove up and called, "Agent Carter."

"Colonel Phillips," Peggy noted.

"I see you're breaking in the candidates. That's good!" He turned to Hodge. "Get your ass up out of that dirt and stand in that line at attention 'til somebody comes tells you what to do."

Hodge got back up. "Yes, sir."

Colonel Phillips addressed the new Army recruits. "General Patton has said that wars are fought with weapons but they are won by men. We are going to win this war because we have the best men..." He saw Steve and continued. "And because they're gonna get better. Much better. The Strategic Scientific Reserve is an Allied effort made up of the best minds in the free world. Our goal is to create the best army in history. But every army starts with one man. At the end of this week we will choose that man. He will be the first in a new breed of super-soldiers."

While Phillips spoke, Steve unpacked and trained where he failed to keep up and got bullied by the others.

"Rogers!" Sergeant Duffy called. "Get that rifle out of the mud!"