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"You've been asleep, Cap...for almost 70 years. You gonna be okay?"
"Yeah. Yeah, I just...I had a date."
Steve sipped from his beer. It was his fifth one, and the bartender looked worried, but Steve wasn't get to get drunk...he was never going to be drunk again.
"You okay, pal?" The bartender asked.
Steve nodded and looked at him. "Yeah...maybe."
"Alright. And no offense, man, but you kinda don't look like you're from around here."
"You've got that right." Steve took another drink.
After another hour, he left the bar. Walking down the crowded, noisy streets of New York City, he could help but look up every so often. It's amazing how much can change in 70 years, he thought. He put his hands in his pockets and ducked his head.
It took almost an hour, but he finally made it back to the apartment building that S.H.I.E.L.D. had given him. A weekly allowance, a nice place to say...it seemed like the perfect life for the Captain, but all he did was sleep, read a bit, go to the bar...this wasn't his time, and this wasn't his type of crowd.
He opened his door and stepped into the dark hall. When he clicked on the light, he noticed himself in the mirror on the wall. Who knew that the scrawny kid from Brooklyn would turn into this? Steve thought, placing his keys on the table under the mirror. He looked down and noticed his compass, and sighed as he picked it up.
I wish you were here...
---
"So, what's your name?"
"Um...Steve."
The man smiled. "Well, Steve, would you care for a drink?"
"Uh I...I don't.."
"It's okay. You don't have to...but I have to say, for a soldier, you're the cutest one I've met so far."
"Thanks."
"But you kinda look familiar...I can't put my finger on it..."
"I"ve been told that."
"Nah, but you look like someone...ya know, famous."
Steve smiled and nodded. "Famous? Me?"
The man grinned. "I'm Captain Jack Harkness." He held out his hand.
Steve reciprocated. "Captain Steve Rogers."
---
Steve lay in bed, the compass laying on his chest, and he watched it rise and fall with his breathing. It was open to reveal a picture of Jack.
"Don't you want a picture of me?"
"But...why? We're going to be seeing each other later...right?"
"I just think you'd want a momento of me, Steve. A picture can't hurt. Plus, I can always be with you, if you get deployed to some country in the next week."
"Fine."
When the picture developed, Jack handed it to Steve. "Keep it where you'll always find me."
---
"So, uh, I've seen you down almost 6 beers now. You feeling alright?" The bartender asked. It was the next night, and Steve was in his usual spot at the bar. He nodded.
"Damn, man. That's a lot of alcohol for one man. But then again, you look like 10 guys all packed in one. Seriously! How did you get so...huge?"
Steve smiled, but only slightly. "You could say it was a miracle."
"I'll say. If I had your muscles..."
But Steve ignored the rest of what the man said. After a while, Steve stood up to leave and placed some money on the table.
"You know," the bartender said, wiping down some glasses. "You could use someone. You look really...not happy."
Steve nodded. "Yeah, I actually had someone...but I lost him some time ago."
"That sucks. Who was he?"
Steve's hand then ghosted over his pants' pocket, where the compass was. "A Captain."
---
"Jack..."
"Steve..."
---
"Captain, I think you'd want to see this."
Steve was in some part of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s headquarters. Part of him living in the 21st century meant learning about the world of today. He was studying about 'The Internet' and 'Google' when a pretty brunette agent came up to him.
"Yeah, what is it?"
She smiled. "Well, some of us went in your record...and..."
Steve stood up, and she lead him down some corridors and finally, into a room with a glass window. It looked like an interrogation room.
"What...?"
The light in the other room turned on, and....
"Jack?!"
It was indeed Captain Jack Harkness. Still young, still smiling, and sitting at the table in the other room. Though he couldn't hear him, Steve swore that he could hear Jack humming.
"How? How did...?"
"We find him, still young? Well, your file indicated your friendship to Captain Harkness, and while some of us were with Torchwood-"
"Torchwood?"
"Yeah. They're an alien-fighting group based in Britain. They had a file on the same Captain Jack...and, get this...he's been alive this whole time!"
"But that's...that's.."
"Yeah, I know." The young agent said. "And some of us thought bringing him here...it would help you. Here." She walked up to the far wall and pressed a button, and a door opened into the next room. Steve breathed in. The agent nodded, and he entered the door.
Jack looked up, and smiled. "Captain." He then stood up.
Steve couldn't believe his eyes. "...Jack?"
And that's when they ran into each other's arms.
"You still owe me that date." Jack said into Steve's neck.
Steve nodded. "Yeah. Yeah...I do."