Hello Captain (Steve Rogers)

Steve! It really is you!

Steve's POV

If I hadn't been prepared for Jace, I wasn't prepared to see his family, either. It would be like when I'd first seen Peggy in this time  – in my mind, they were forever young, frozen at whatever age they'd been the last time I'd seen them, but they weren't. Time had moved on and left me behind. I was a little nervous about how I would be received at the Barnes household.

"We don't have to go, if you don't want to, Steve." Sarah said softly, looking up at me. She took my hand and twined her fingers with mine. I was grateful that she didn't know how hard this was for me; at the same time, I was glad she was here with me. She was my anchor to this time.

"I need to do this, Sarah. I need to see Rebecca and Bucky's brothers. Bucky's family was all I had after my Mom died and they were there for me when I needed them."

"Then it's good that they'll have you back again, even if it took almost 70 years for you to come back. I'm sure it was hard for them to lose you both one after another."

I gave her a sad smile. She had a way of looking for the best in a situation. Rebecca would be at least 80 now. It was possible she might not remember me. Or worse, she would hate me for not being able to save her brother.

The front door flew open and two boys came running out before we even got up to the steps. These must be Jace's little brothers. They didn't slow down as they launched themselves at Sarah, who had anticipated the attack, pulling her hand from mine and flipping over them suddenly, landing lightly on her feet. They spun around to face her and sandwiched her in a hug.

"No fair, Sarah! I hadn't even touched you yet!" said one of them.

She laughed. "Then I win this time. James, Grant. I have someone I'd like you to meet." she turned them to face me and their eyes were wide. Their blue-grey eyes were the same as Jace's, a shade lighter than Bucky's had been. My heart clenched painfully as suddenly as I thought I was seeing Bucky as he had been when we had first met as kids. Their jaws dropped as they recognized me.

"Steve, this one is James." She pointed to the one who closest to me. "This one is Grant. They're 10 going on 3. Boys, this is Steve Rogers. He's a friend of mine from work."

"You work with Captain America?" said Grant, looking me over.

"Sure do. Iron Man too."

"No way! That is so cool!" exclaimed James. "I can't believe Jace didn't tell us you knew Captain America!"

"Did you know our great-uncle James Buchanan Barnes? Grandpa said you did."

"I sure did. He was my best friend since we were your age. We lived in the same apartment building in Brooklyn before the war." Sarah pulled us toward the house as they peppered me with questions. They were so excited they were bouncing and skipping around me.

"Did you really fight together? He was a Howling Commander?"

"I heard you personally punched Hitler in the jaw!"

I laughed, thinking back to my USO days. "Yes to all three, but it wasn't the real Hitler and I punched him over 200 times."

They chattered at each other so quickly I couldn't understand them.

"Where are your grandparents at, boys?" Sarah asked, speaking over their chatter.

"They're all in the back yard. They said it was too nice to stay inside."

Sarah took me through the house to the back yard. There was quite a few people out there and I saw a group of older people sitting at a table under a shady tree. She pulled me towards them, smiling and waving at various people as we passed them. Jace came up on Sarah's other side and said something to her in a low voice. We walked over to the table and Jace got everyone's attention.