Prologue

It had been nearly two months since he had woken up inside of a SHIELD building. Two months since Colonel Nick Fury told him had been frozen for nearly 70 years; stuck in a state of suspended animation while his friends lived the rest of their lives and died. Seventy years since he had missed his date with Peggy, since he had taken down the Red Skull, since he had lost Bucky.

The feelings it left him with was worse than any of the scars the war had tried to give him. At least in combat you can live or die fighting, you have some say in your fate. This… This felt like he was weak teenager again, physically helpless against all that the world wanted to throw at him. Except even then he had been able to fight back, although it never did much good, now he was just lost, free-falling. For the first time in his life, Steve Rogers felt hopeless.

Chapter 1

Steve walked down the street of the neighborhood he used to call home. He barely recognized anything. New York and Brooklyn had changed so while much he was gone; old shops he used to visit are long closed, either boarded up and graffiti-covered or renovated into some chain store. Even his old apartment complex was different, torn down and turned into office space. One thing had remained relatively unchanged though, a small two-screen movie theater called Queen's Cinema he used to visit when he was a teen. He and Bucky frequented the small establishment before Bucky had enlisted, back when each showing only cost 10¢. The last memory he had of the place was bittersweet; Bucky had to save him from getting beat up in the alley out back, that was the night before Bucky shipped off to England in the 107th Infantry.

Now he was back here on recommendation by Fury himself. He had spent most of his first months working out for hours a day in the SHIELD building he had first woken in. He would box into punching bag after punching bag, trying desperately to not to think about the helplessness that was constantly on the verge of consuming him. One night, the Colonel came in with a team of agents to help him start becoming accustomed to the modern world. Rogers had quickly tried to shrug them off, but Fury would only play ball if Steve made an effort to engage in activities beyond the SHIELD building, as he hadn't been outside the place since he first woke up.

As a compromise, Fury would leave Steve alone if agreed to go out at least three times a week. He also suggested Queen's Cinema as a possible first activity for Steve, as they held a showing of classic movies every Thursday night for $5 a ticket. Tonight they were playing Frankenstein, he remembered sneaking in to see the movie when he was only 13, and it had scared the hell out of him. He bought his ticket and skipped the concessions and headed straight into the theater.

When he stepped in it felt for a second like he had traveled back in time. Although they had updated some of the furnishings and the electronics, the interior of the empty theater had remained relatively unchanged. He couldn't stop himself from thinking of the times Bucky had dragged him there on double dates, or when they gorged themselves on the salt-water taffy they had snuck in from their trip to Coney Island.

He almost walked right out; the experience was so overwhelming. But he stopped himself; if he didn't go through with this he would be stuck dealing with Fury's lackeys and their 'acclimation program.'

"Suck it up, Rogers," he muttered to himself.

He then slid into the nearest seat and got settled in. At this point he realized the theater wasn't completely empty, as he had first thought. There was a brunette woman sitting a few rows ahead of him who didn't appear to notice his arrival. He wondered if she was there alone, maybe her date was getting them refreshments. But then he remembered that women were more often openly independent these days, a fact that he had noticed when seeing many important female operatives at SHIELD. This self-reliant aspect had always appealed to him, it was a trait he had recognized in his mother, who single-handedly supported and raised him after his father died in WW1. He had known another similarly strong woman, but he tried to push the thought of her out of his head. Thinking about Bucky had been painful enough; he didn't need to torture himself tonight with thoughts of Peggy as well.

He was saved by the start of the movie. He watched in silence, sometimes struck by parallels of the creature and the Red Skull. Both physically contorted, man-made monsters searching for something. But he quieted the thoughts of his former Hydra nemesis, that monster was long dead. After he quieted his mind, the seventy-minute movie seemed to pass too quickly, and soon the lights came up and he was left to deal with reality.

The woman in front of him stood up, stretched and put her hand over her mouth to cover a large yawn. She turned and noticed Steve for the first time.

"Oh, hi!," she squeaked in surprise, "I had no idea you were there."

"Oh sorry, I… I came in at the last second," he muttered with a small smile. It seemed that after seventy years he was still incapable of talking to women.

They both took a second to surmise the other. She was truly beautiful, tall with high cheekbones, full lips, and a crooked smile. With her dark brown, curly hair and red lipstick, was Steve was once again caught with thoughts of Peggy.

She could sense an unexpected wave of sadness in his handsome features that she didn't understand. But she was also struck by his appearance; he had to be at least six feet tall with a strong clean-shaven chin and dark blond hair, and gorgeous as hell. She suddenly remembered that she should probably respond to his comment.

"Oh that's okay! I'm just not used to… I'm just normally the only person that ever comes to these showings. It seems no one really cares about classic movies anymore, but I really love them. I'm Charlie by the way, actually Charlotte, but no one calls me that…"

If he hadn't been so full with thoughts of Peggy he probably would have chuckled at her awkward, adorable rambling. Instead he gave her a smile, that didn't completely reach his eyes.

Charlie had the urge to comfort this strange sad man, but she shrugged it away for fear of scaring him off and gathered her things. As she reached the door she heard him call out to her.

"Charlie, wait!" She turned towards him.

He paused thinking of what he should say, "My name's Steve and it was… it was really nice to meet you."

He headed towards her and held open the door, irritated with himself for almost forgetting his manners. As they reached the front of the theater, Charlie turned and gave him a genuine, dimpled smile.

"It was nice to meet you too, Steve."

They turned their separate ways, each left with their head swimming with thoughts of the other.

So that's the end of chapter 1! How'd you guys like it?

Again, I'm keeping the first chapters kind of short, as Charlie and Steve sort of ease into knowing each other.

Thanks for reading (and maybe even reviewing)! :)