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"Any word from him at all?"

Peggy shook her head, her red lips pressing into a thin line as she did so. Her brown curls bounced up and down with her head movements, and her eyes were worriedly staring at the woman in front of her.

"Why don't you sit?" Peggy suggested with a soft tone, one she didn't use at work. "You look ill."

"How long has it been?"

"After the last time you asked? Two minutes to be exact."

(Y/N) gave her a look. "Since he left."

"I — "

"Agents," a male soldier came into the tent, holding a set of pictures in his hand from the surveillance flights.

Peggy took them from his hands and nodded at him in farewell. She gave (Y/N) a look, as if to say that she was apologetic and gestured for her to follow her. They both silently headed to Colonel Phillips tent, since they had to show him the new reports that came into camp.

" — As a result, I must declare Captain Rogers killed in action. Period."

(Y/N) tried not to show how the words made her heart stop or that knot in her stomach to tighten, but Peggy seemed to notice. She took a step forward into the tent and handed the pictures to the Colonel.

"The last surveillance flight is back," she reported. "No sign of activity."

"Go get a cup of coffee, Corporal."

The Corporal typing on the writing machine stood up and left the tent alone with the two agents and Colonel. The air was tense, and (Y/N) was already bracing herself for harsh news.

"I can't touch Stark. He's rich and he's the Army's number one weapons contractor," he turned around to stare at both women with an angry glare. "You both are neither one."

"With respect, sir, I don't regret my actions," Peggy spoke up with a raised head.

(Y/N) stood firm on her ground. "And I'm sure Captain Rogers doesn't regret his either."

It felt odd to her to refer to Steve in such formal manner, but for professional purposes, she had to pretend as if the thought of him being killed in action didn't affect her as much as it truly did.

"What makes you think I give a damn about your opinions?" he snapped at her words.  "I took a chance on you, Agent Dewitt. And you too, Agent Carter, for heaven's sake. And now America's golden boy and a lot of other good men are dead 'cause you care about the guy."

"I believe in him."

"Well, I hope that's a big comfort to you when they shut this division down."

His eyes focused on the movement outside the tent. Soldiers were running toward the same exact direction, as if something was catching their eye.

"What the hell's going on out there?"

(Y/N) had a theory, yet she couldn't confirm it if she didn't go and see for herself. Peggy and her trailed after Colonel Phillips, falling in between the other soldiers that were piling up to see something unfamiliar coming through the tree line. The piled up men moved to the side once they saw what it was, and that's when (Y/N) was able to see it with her both eyes.

There, leading a group that had more than 200 men, stood Steve, walking up to the entrance of the camp without a single scratch. What she also couldn't believe was the person walking on his left, her eyes nearly watering when they settled on Bucky's disheveled form, carrying a rifle in between his hands. Behind them were countless of other men, some driving tanks and the injured sat on the top of them to give them rest.

"Look who it is!"

The soldiers at camp who opened a path for the others to pass began to applaud at the man in the front. They erupted into cheers and excited whispers, and the ones who weren't outside stared leaving their tents to see for themselves.

Colonel Phillips moved to a halt right in front of Steve, meanwhile (Y/N) and Peggy knew it was for the best to stay behind and wait for the man's reaction. (Y/N) had to keep all her emotions at bay and not jump up front to embrace her friends, preferring to stare at the men on the sides instead.

Steve saluted Colonel Phillips firmly as if he didn't do anything wrong. "Some of these men need medical attention. I'd like to surrender myself for disciplinary action."

"That won't be necessary," said Colonel Phillips with a much calmer tone than before.

"Yes, sir."

The Colonel turned on his heel, ready to leave the scene, but he lowered his volume for (Y/N) to hear. "'Believe in him', huh?"

(Y/N) didn't utter a response as she watched Colonel Phillips walk away from the scene. Meanwhile, Peggy confidently took a step forward for her to be eye to eye with Steve, looking up at him with curious eyes.

"You're late," she said.

Steve pulled out his destroyed transponder. "Couldn't call my ride."

(Y/N) caught Bucky's eye from behind Steve, and even though they were both equally emotional from seeing the other again, they couldn't resist the urge to share a knowing look at the interaction.

"Hey!" Bucky called out to the crowd all around. "Let's hear it for Captain America!"

The crowd all around cheered again, this time five times louder. Steve's eyes filled with intense pride at the applause and he contained the huge grin from escaping his lips. (Y/N) clapped too, not too enthusiastically like the others, but still trying to show her support. She took a step forward in between Steve and Bucky, placing her arms on their backs to bring them into a side hug, not too affectionate for it to be unprofessional.

Both men instantly inched closer to the side hug as the crowd kept cheering and clapping, even patting Steve in the back. (Y/N) felt like she was finally breathing her first breath of warm air in a while, and having her friends on her side made that better.

Bucky wrapped his arm around (Y/N)'s shoulders, pulling her closer to whisper down to her as he pointed at Steve. "He's taller than us now."

"I know," she laughed. "I'm still not over it yet."

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(Y/N) and part of the division were brought back to the base in London, away from the camp in Italy. The base was in the underground parts of the city, where it wouldn't be easily found by any enemy spies and avoid any incident like the one back in New York.

(Y/N) was wearing her regular uniform, smoothing the wrinkles on the sleeves as she watched Steve from the table's corner as he marked locations on a displayed map. According to the newspapers, Steve was supposed to receive a medal of honor for his actions, but instead he was here marking a map with the others.

"The fifth one was here in Poland, right near in the Baltic," he leaned down to point it with his fingers. "And the sixth one was about here, 30, 40 miles west of the Maginot Line."

A soldier took Steve's backed up posture as an indication that the map was finished and pulled it from the table. He rolled it up again and left the area, and (Y/N) nodded at him in farewell.

"I just got a quick look," Steve shrugged.

Peggy raised her eyebrows to mimic a scoff. "Well, nobody's perfect."

The trio moved away from that table to follow after Colonel Phillips, waiting for the superior orders. There, in another table, laid the map with three dimensional figures that represented the weapon factories that Steve had seen in the map back in the Austrian facility.

"These are the weapon factories we know about," Steve spoke up again. "Sergeant Barnes said that Hydra shipped all the parts to another facility that isn't on this map."

Colonel Phillips turned away from the map and headed to a different spot in the base. "Agent Carter, coordinate with MI6. I want every Allied eyeball looking for that main Hydra base."

Peggy nodded at the order with silence.

"What about us?"(Y/N) asked as they all came to a halt behind the Colonel, referring to the division in general.

"We are going to set a fire under Johann Schmidt's ass," Colonel Phillips responded, accepting a file that another female agent handed him. "What do you say, Rogers? It's your map. You think you can wipe Hydra off it?"

"Yes, sir," Steve accepted immediately with a firm nod. "I'll need a team."

"We're already putting together the best men."

"With all due respect, sir, so am I."

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"That was disgusting!"

(Y/N) exclaimed with a laugh, though her face was shaped into a disgust expression. She stared at Bucky with wide eyes, as if she couldn't believe what she had just witnessed. Bucky, on the other hand, was trying to contain his loud laughter yet his cheeks were a hint of red due to embarrassment from the belch he had erupted.

"You act like it's the first time you watch me do it," Bucky said with a chuckle, swirling the glass of whiskey in his hands.

"Yeah, but for heaven's sake, Buck," she swatted him with the back of her hand in the arm. "We're in public. A little decorum would be nice!"

"'Decorum?'" Bucky almost spat out his words. "Hell, that Carter lady is starting to infect you with their fancy words, huh?"

"Agent Carter," (Y/N) corrected, and Bucky raised his hands in surrender at the tone. "And no, I happened to know all those words before. I just didn't use them with you because you wouldn't understand them."

"Oh, really?" Bucky raised his eyebrows in surprise, bringing the glass to his lips. "Ouch."

Silent passed as Bucky drank from his alcoholic beverage, and (Y/N) stared at her hands placed on the bar, monitoring from the corner of her eye how much her friend was drinking for the night. When she saw him chug the last of his glass down in one breath, she raised a hand to stop him from chugging it much further.

"What?" Bucky exclaimed, eyes wide.

"Lower down on the drinks, will you?" she tried to maintain a scolding tone. "We have work tomorrow."

Bucky scoffed with a laugh. "Why aren't you harassing Steve too?"

"Because Steve can't get drunk now."

"Lucky bastard."

(Y/N) shook her head at her words, and her actions made her see down the hall, perfectly on time to see Steve approach the place the two were sitting in at the local bar.

"Speaking of which, here he comes."

Bucky sat up straight from his once crouched position at (Y/N)'s words, his eyes following Steve as he sat down on the free chair right beside the two.

"See? I told you," Bucky's words were directed at Steve, eyeing the woman beside him before taking a drink from his glass. "They're all idiots."

Steve had planned on recruiting five men from the 300 he had saved back in Austria, the ones that he thought were best for this specific mission. (Y/N) knew that part of his plan was to bring Bucky in too, yet she couldn't quite shake the disappointment at being forgotten, despite already having a job in hand.

"How about you?" Steve asked instead. "You ready to follow Captain America into the jaws of death?"

"Hell no," Bucky shook his head with a low voice. "That little guy from Brooklyn who was too dumb not to run away from a fight. I'm following him."

Steve stayed silent at those words, which Bucky took as a signal to keep talking. "But you're keeping the outfit, right?"

"You know what?"

Steve glanced to the Captain America poster on the wall, announcing the places he would be visiting. Over the picture was a new text glued to it, which read out 'Tour Cancelled'; referring to Steve's break from doing shows to be a real hero like he wanted to.

"It's kinda growing on me."

The trio shared a laugh, and the woman from the group hadn't realized how long it had been since they've laughed all together. She was ready to order another drink to the bartender, but a jab on her ribs made her snap her head to the side with a frown.

"What about you, (Y/N)?" Steve asked, a sheepish grin plastered on his lips.

"What about me?"

Steve and Bucky stayed silent, yet had knowing looks on their faces as if they had a common secret. (Y/N) squinted her eyes in suspicion until the gears inside her head clicked and realized what they were hinting at.

"Oh. Oh," she came to a realization with her eyes wide. "Oh! You're being serious?" she tried to mask the excitement in her voice.

"You want me to join your elite combat squad?" she confirmed out loud. "Did Colonel Phillips approve?"

"After a few attempts, yes," Steve responded, leaning back on his stool. "He said you were perfectly capable for a job like this one."

(Y/N) tried to find any sort of hint that it was a joke from Steve's part, yet she couldn't find nothing. It was funny, though. Colonel Phillips had nothing nice to say about her to her face, but had the guts to do it behind her back.

"Are you sure?" (Y/N) eyed him suspiciously with crossed arms. "Your male ego won't be damaged when men start making fun of you for having a woman on your unit?"

"Well, you know how we are, doll," Bucky responded this time with his smug tone. "Someone says something bad about any one of us, we throw a punch. It's always been like that. And now we have an advantage."

He wrapped his arm around Steve's shoulders and patted him on the chest to prove his point. The blond laughed and playfully shoved Bucky away.

"Like he said," Steve jerked his head to Bucky's side. "It's us 'til the end of the line, remember?"

(Y/N) smiled warmly at those words, not hearing them in a long time. She felt much more sure of herself now that she had her friends' support on this decision.

"What are we waiting for, then? I'm in."

see what i did there in the last lines? i'm so funny haha
also, the pacing was a little weird, but it'll get better, i promise lol.

-see you soon, bex <3