Brooklyn 1943

It had only been a matter of hours, yet Y/n's heart was still aching, throbbing. The mere thought of her best friend going off to war was agonizing. She had woken up, still draped over Bucky's couch, to his sister shaking her gently. She told Y/n that Bucky had left for England over an hour ago, and had left her a gift.

After hesitating to open it, she finally built up the motivation and unwrapped the paper. She lifted up the small note that was placed on top.

𝙳𝚎𝚊𝚛 𝚈/𝚗,

𝙱𝚢 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜, 𝙸'𝚕𝚕 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚕𝚎𝚏𝚝 𝙱𝚛𝚘𝚘𝚔𝚕𝚢𝚗 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝙴𝚗𝚐𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚍. 𝙸 𝚍𝚒𝚍𝚗'𝚝 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚑𝚘𝚠 𝚝𝚘 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚕𝚢 𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚕 𝚢𝚘𝚞, 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝙸 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚢𝚘𝚞'𝚛𝚎 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚋𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚢 𝚏𝚞𝚛𝚒𝚘𝚞𝚜 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚖𝚎 𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚐. 𝙸 𝚍𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚝𝚘 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚛𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑, 𝙸'𝚕𝚕 𝚋𝚎 𝚋𝚊𝚌𝚔 𝚜𝚘𝚘𝚗. 𝙸 𝚊𝚕𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚢 𝚖𝚒𝚜𝚜 𝚢𝚘𝚞, 𝙸'𝚕𝚕 𝚜𝚎𝚗𝚍 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚕𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢 𝚍𝚊𝚢 𝚒𝚏 𝙸 𝚌𝚊𝚗. 𝙼𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚜𝚞𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚂𝚝𝚎𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚐𝚘𝚘𝚍 𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚎𝚊𝚌𝚑 𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛, 𝚍𝚎𝚊𝚕? 𝙰𝚗𝚍 𝚍𝚎𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚒𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚢 𝚍𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚘𝚘 𝚖𝚞𝚌𝚑 𝚏𝚞𝚗 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚖𝚎.

𝚂𝚎𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚜𝚘𝚘𝚗, 𝙱𝚞𝚌𝚔𝚢.

Underneath the note was a small, gold bracelet engraved with 'For my best girl'.

Now she was back in her apartment. Her heart flushed with worry as she held the bracelet close to her chest.

If only he had woken her up before he left, but when she thought about it, it made sense. He couldn't bear to let go of Y/n and Steve just like that. He most likely thought that sparing the tearful goodbyes would be easier on the three of them.

All of a sudden she heard a knock on the door. She hastily wiped her tears and went to open it.

"Oh, hey Steve." She gave him a small smile.

"Y/n..."

"Don't worry I'm fine. Do ya want some coffee?" She opened the door wider and gestured for him to come in.

"Actually I'm alright. We gotta head out for our training soon. Doctor Erskine will be waiting for us." He said in a low tone.

Y/n turned around to face him. "What about you Steve. Are you doing okay?"

"I'm fine Y/n, stop worrying so much." He grinned lightly. "Bucky knows what he's doing, and we gotta catch up to him."

"You're right Steve. It's just that I can't help but worry. You guys are my family."

Steve placed his hands on her shoulders. "Y/n.. everything will be okay. Now c'mon, we got our own battle to prepare for." He tossed her a uniform. "Doctor Erskine said to put that on as well."

"Right." She turned around quickly and wiped the tears forming in the corners of her eyes, hurrying off to her room to change.

The uniform was already freshly ironed and ready for her. She set it down on her bed and sighed softly at the sight. She had been accepted into the army, a woman. Her heart buzzed in excitement.

After a few minutes of getting ready, she stopped in front of her mirror.

"Should I wear makeup?" She thought to herself, her eyes inching over to the borrowed makeup from Lana from the night before.

"Forget it. This is the army, not a night out." She sighed with a wave of her hand, almost relieved that she wouldn't have to go through the trouble.

As soon as she stepped out the door, Steve shot up. She giggled at his demeanor. "Someone's antsy."

"Hey! I'm just a little anxious is all." He mumbled.

"I'm just messing with you Steve. It's crazy, I never imagined we'd be this lucky."

She opened her closet and frowned. "I didn't think this through very well." She muttered to herself.

"Steve looked passed her shoulder. "What's the matter?"

"I... nothing." She dug through her shoes, hastily trying to find the right pair.

Steve let out a small chuckled, reading her thoughts. "What about the boots that you bought that one time when we all went hiking.

She whipped her head around and grinned. "Great idea!" She ravaged around the dark closet until her hand came in contact with the black, leather boots.

She fumbled with the laces until she finally tied them as tightly and securely as possible, giving Steve a nod of approval to open the door.

They hopped onto the train, then into a taxi that took them all the way to a training camp just outside of Jersey.

As they approached the site, Doctor Erskine stood awaiting their arrival, another soldier stood next to him. Y/n furrowed her eyebrows when she noticed his face fall at the sight of the two of them.

"These are your recruits?" He whispered not-so-subtlety to Doctor Erskine who ignored his comment. Y/n fought back the urge to give him a dirty look.

"Mister Rogers, Miss Y/l/n." He held out his hand for them to each shake.

"Right this way." He led them to the training grounds where a series of soldiers were all doing laps around a field.

One of the leading soldiers blew a whistle, ordering them all to line up single file. Y/n hurried over to the end of the lineup, placing her hands behind her back like the rest of the men.

"Recruits! Attention!" Y/n glanced down the row of men. Her eyes lit up when she saw a woman with mid-length, curled hair walking down the line "Another woman?" Y/n thought to herself. She was stunning. Her hair was perfectly styled, her makeup done gorgeously. Y/n couldn't help but look down at herself and frown at how underdressed she was compared to her.

"Gentlemen, I'm Agent Carter." She spoke with a British accent. "I supervise all operations for this division."

"What's with the accent Queen Victoria? Thought I was signing up for the US army." A soldier commented. She stopped dead in front of him and glared. "What's your name Soldier?"

He smirked. "Gilmore Hodge your majesty."

"Step forward Hodge." She instructed, cutting him off.

Y/n watched as he snickered to the rest of the soldiers. "Put your right foot forward." She told him once he took a step.

"We gonna wrestle? Cuz I got a few moves I know you'll like." Once the words had left his mouth, out of nowhere, she delivered a brutal sucker-punch to his nose, knocking him to the ground.

Y/n stifled a laugh as she made eye contact with Steve, who was laughing a few feet away from the guy.

She brushed herself off and turned when her name was called. "Agent Carter!"

"Colonel Phillips." She nodded.

An older gentleman approached her and the recruits. "I can see that you're breaking in the candidates, that's good."

He turned to Hodge. "Get your ass up outta that dirt and stand in that line of attention till somebody comes and tells you what to do."

Hodge didn't bother wiping the blood trickling down his nose as he stood up straight. "Yessir."

Colonel Phillips eyed the soldiers before beginning a speech. "General Patton has said, 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 stopped and glanced at Steve. He flashed a look at Doctor Erskine before continuing. "And because they are gonna get better, much better.

They were soon dismissed from the line and told to follow another leader to their beds to unpack. Before Y/n could follow, she was stopped by someone's hand on her shoulder.

"It's amazing that you made it here."

She glanced to see Agent Carter giving her a warm smile.

"Oh..." Y/n's hand shot into a salute. "Agent Carter."

Agent Carter chuckled. "Just call me Peggy. It's nice to see another woman here, especially a respectful one."

Y/n's expression softened. "Thank you. I was impressed by that punch you gave Hodge over there.

"Yes well we get a lot of those kinds of men here. Think they're all strong and mighty the moment they first arrive." She scoffed.

Y/n chuckled. "You won't find my friend Steve to be anything like that." She motioned her head to the camp building. "It's been his dream to fight for his country, to be here."

"And what about you? What's your dream?" Peggy turned to her.

"Well so far, I've already achieved one, and that's getting here. The only thing left now is to prove why I'm meant to be here."

Peggy nodded. "Well, that's enough isn't it. Now why don't we settle you in now Miss.."

"Y/n." She held out her hand. "Y/n Y/l/n."

"Pleasure to have you here Y/n."