Even After Everything | Steve Rogers

Chapter 9

Steve went back to his apartment, and me to mine. I watched T.V. for a bit, not wanting to do anything else. I felt guilty for drifting apart with Peggy, when she left SHIELD I made no effort to continue our friendship. I finally decided to get off my couch and visit the nursing home Peggy lived in.

I walked in and was greeted by a nurse, asking me to sign in and pointed to the room she was in.

"Peggy," I smiled as I walked in the door.

She turned over and met my eyes, hers lighting up as she saw me.

"Cora! I haven't seen you in so long. It's been so long."

"I know Peg, I am so sorry. I feel so awful for not seeing you more often-"

"No, don't. I know you're busy woman Cora. Please don't feel guilty," she said warmly.

I smiled at her sadly. We continued our talk for a bit, catching up on all that we had missed.

"There's something in your eyes," she said suddenly.

"What?"

"There's someone isn't there. We were friends for quite a long time, Cora. I can tell when you have your eyes on someone."

"Okay, what is it with everybody, because I don't have feelings for anyo-"

"Who is it."

"I don't-"

"Cora!"

I sighed, "fine, yeah there's someone I work with. But, he doesn't know, and I'm not sure if I want him too, and I don't even know if he feels the same way. And well this is awkward because you-"

"Steve."

"What? How did you-"

"You're wearing his jacket Cora, it was slightly obvious."

I looked down at the jacket I was wearing, Steve's. I had forgotten to take it off before I left. I had only now noticed that there was a small S. Rogers stitched into it. I sheepishly looked up, "I'm so sorry this seems, wildly inappropriate because of your guys' history. I won't if you don't want me too-"

"Cora, after he crashed the plane, I started a new life. I found a husband and started a new family. If he can be happy that means everything to me. And in all honesty, we were only two people who had feelings for one another in a short period of time."

I smiled at her , and we talked for a bit more and I promised to visit her every weekend, determined to keep that promise. As I walked out, I bumped into someone. I looked up, seeing Steve.

"Oh, hey Steve! Funny seeing you here," I laughed awkwardly.

"Oh Cora, guess we had the same idea," he smiled. I looked back in the room and saw Peggy laughing at me.

"Well, I'll see you back at the apartment, bye," I turned around quickly and started to leave but not before I waved to Peggy one more time.

* * *

"Alright Steve what kind of candy,"

"Taffy?" He asked.

"Taffy? What, are you a grandpa?"

"Are you ever going to stop making fun of me for that," he rolled his eyes, smiling.

"Probably not," I sighed.

"How old are you anyway? I've never known."

"What kind of a gentleman asks a lady's age. Honestly, very rude," I said seriously. Steve had an apologetic look on his face and I immediately felt guilty, "oh no no, Steve I was joking."

"Of course," Steve recovered, giving a laugh.

"But, if you'd really like to know- and you might have forgotten that I am technically an immortal goddess- I am 1,599 to be exact."

Steve looked surprised, "Wow, and you make fun of me for old age?"

"Woah woah woah, you might have a point. M&M's?"

"Sure," he laughed.

"By the way, I have the extended version of Lord of the Rings, so this is gonna take," I paused, pretending to think, "About 11 hours."

"You're kidding, right?"

"Not at all," We grabbed more candy and popcorn and after paying, went back to Steve's apartment with the trilogy in hand.

We walked up the stairs to Steve's door, and saw a woman on the phone, "That's so sweet. That is so nice. Hey. I gotta go, though. Okay, bye," she turned to Steve and straight up ignored me, "My aunt, she's kind of an insomniac."

"Yeah," he smiled awkwardly, and pointed to her laundry basket in hand, "Hey, if you want...if you want, you're welcome to use my machine. Might be cheaper than the one in the basement."

"Oh, yeah? What's it cost?" She asked with a smile.

"A cup of coff-"

I out of nowhere became jealous, and somewhat surprised myself from the rush of emotion, "Well if you go to a laundromat it's about 4 dollars for wash and dry. And honestly buying your own machine is probably a better idea to save some money, so you might want to think about that," I said while dragging Steve over to his door. The woman gave me a dirty look before saying to Steve- "Oh, I think you left your stereo on."

"Oh. Right, thank you," Steve nodded. We noticed the door was partly open, and I heard music coming from inside. We both looked suspiciously at it, and decided without speaking to go around and through one of his windows, in case there was a break in. When we got outside the building, Steve stopped me with his arm.

"What was that for?"

"What?" I asked, like nothing had happened in the hallway.

"What you said to her, shutting her down like that, we were just trying to have a conversa-"

"Oh I'm so sorry Steve, it sounded like a great conversation about washers and dryers," I rolled my eyes and tried to walk away, but Steve stepped in front of me again.

"Why do you care if I'm talking to her?" He asked.

"I don't. And I don't know if you care, but there is most likely an intruder in your house, so we might want to look into that." We both climbed up to his window and stepped in, Its been a long long time flooding our ears.