Clicks and flashes

For the first time since he had woken in this newer, stranger, and completely different time, Steve Rogers believed that not all of it had gone in vain. Not all of the internal and external battles he had fought had been for nothing.

He was standing on the observatory deck of the Empire State Building in the early hours of the morning. The vast expanse of New York stretched out in front of him, covered by a blanket of fog. Luckily, being this high up gave Steve a breathtaking view of the city that lay below him. The sky was blue above him, and the sun shined down and warmed him through the tan jacket he wore.

He turned his head to the side and gazed at the smaller woman that was tucked into his side. A small smile played at the corner of his lips when he saw her furtively taking photos with an old Canon model. That camera, after all, had been the reason they were together now. He supposed the small piece of modern machinery, which he had once deemed unimportant, to be thanked a big deal for bringing them together.

The morning was gradually blending into the day when Steve finally made his way to the observatory deck of the Empire State Building. This had become his favourite place to collect his thoughts when the bustling and busy city beneath him became too much to handle. There were days when he woke up with nostalgia clogging his throat and the modern buildings, people and surroundings were just something he didn't want to deal with. The building had already been constructed when he lived in the past, and he had fond memories of going up to the top floor as a boy together with his mother. They were the types of memories that kept him going. He was in this for them.

When he arrived, there was already a young woman standing near the edge, looking pensively out over the city. Steve stood a few feet away from her, and let his thoughts run free once more. It was odd how on top of the highest building in United States, he could finally think. As the faint breeze that blew in the summer mornings over the streets and stirred the leaves in ye trees, so the wind on top of the tower stirred the memories in Steve and filtered the thoughts that left him nostalgic and wishing for the past. The subject of his thoughts at the current point in time was the battle of New York against Loki.

He knew he wasn't the only one after the events that had suffered nightmares and flashbacks. He knew that Stark had gotten these nightmares, as well. Too many times had he woken up in the middle of the night; Loki's manic grin haunting his mind. The sight of so many wounded, so many innocent people dead caused his blood to boil. Steve was not a bitter person by nature, but Loki was a man damn hard to forgive when he had blown up most of Steve's hometown and threatened tons of innocent lives just for his own selfish ambitions.

He was pulled from his thoughts, however, by a furtive, hissed expletive to his right. He looked aside to see the small woman he had seen earlier struggling with an old camera. She jiggled with switches and pressed buttons; yet nothing happened. In fact, it seemed that the situation seemed to grow worse with every second she held the offending object in her hands and was fiddling with it. Steve frowned slightly, before his lips quirkier upwards at the corners.

The sight was comical; seeing the large camera in her small hands as she fidgeted with it. It became quite clear that she didn't know how to work the contraption, and that was the reason why she was handling it the way she was. Steve's attention was then drawn to the woman herself. She was definitely not a New-Yorker. Her accent was strange to hear when she spoke; the frequent hissing of expletives and other words that didn't sound like American English. The accent sounded like Peggy Carter's, but not exactly the same. It was not American, nor British, he decided. Australian, maybe? He had heard his fair share of them in the past couple of weeks. Australian tourists were frequent in America nowadays.

The woman was smaller than him, with short, shoulder-length brown hair. Her eyes were a deep and expressive ocean blue as they roamed the surface of the camera and glared at it. The slim eyebrows that framed her eyes were pulled into a frown, and her mouth was grimaced in frustration. Steve looked at her for another moment, and then averted his eyes. It was rude to stare. At least his manners were still in commission.

His thoughts turned towards the battle again, and he continued to lose himself in them as time passed by. He was taken from them, however, when he felt a faint tapping on his shoulder. "Excuse me, sir?" It was the woman. Steve turned around with a quizzical eyebrow raised. He still couldn't quite get used to the directness of people in this time. "Yes, ma'am?" He asked politely. The woman blushed and held out her camera. "Could you, perhaps, help me? This thing isn't quite doing what I want it to, I'm afraid..." She said, flushing even redder.

Steve took the camera in his hands and looked awkwardly at it. He knew, to a certain extent, how cameras worked. But this thing... It felt like S.H.I.E.L.D.'s technology all over again. It was his turn to flush red. "I don't quite think I can help you there, ma'am. I'm not much of a genius with these things, either." He admitted shamefacedly. The woman nodded apologetically, and smiled at him. "Well," she said, "At least it's nice to know there are more of us technologically inept out there. We're not a dying species yet." Steve grinned at her. Her pride and joy at being 'technologically inept' as she so called it, was simply infectious. For once, Steve thought it wasn't too bad that he didn't know his way around technology. He didn't really need it, so what was the use? It simply didn't matter.

Steve turned back to the railing to look out over New York, and the woman resumed fiddling with her camera. Neither had moved away from the other, and they stood in comfortable silence for a few minutes before Steve saw a flash out of the corner of his eyes which was confirmed with a click. "Yes!" He heard the excited whisper from the woman beside him and turned his head towards her.

She was holding the camera in the air, grinning wildly. "It works!" She declared in excitement, and held the camera out to him once more. "Could you...?" She asked, trailing off at the end of her sentence. Steve looked nonplussed at the object for a moment, before it clicked in his head. "Oh!" He exclaimed, "Of course!" His cheeks coloured red again.

He took the camera and held it up. "Which button?" He asked, and the woman pointed to a button on the top right of the object. Steve nodded and held his thumb over it. He looked through the watch glass at the woman as she posed and smiled, with the New York City skyline serving as her background. He took the photo with a satisfying click, and handed the camera back to her. The woman grinned as she looked at it. "Thank you..."

"Steve," he said helpfully.

The woman smiled. "Claire." She said, and held out her hand. Steve took it in both of his and shook it. Claire smiled again when he let go. "Thanks again." She said, "At least I can now take photos without the fear of the thing exploding." She commented casually and indicated the camera as she turned. Steve grinned at her retreating back.

As she was about to leave, Steve rushed forward. Something had compelled him to stall her leave, although he couldn't quite fathom why. He caught up to her in three long strides and caught her by the wrist. Claire turned and raised an eyebrow. "What is it?" She asked. Steve looked at her for a moment, before his brain was jumpstarted into action again. "Right. Would you mind it if I took you out for a coffee some time?" He asked, shuffling nervously for a moment. His cheeks had flushed red again, and all over again did he feel like he was a schoolboy; asking a girl out to the school's promenade ball.

Claire tapped her upper lip for a moment, and then cracked into a grin. "Yes, Steve, I would like that." She answered. Steve stopped his shuffling and looked at her with a beaming smile. "I'll meet you tomorrow at nine at that little coffee shop on the corner of 45th and 63rd avenue." Claire said, and Steve nodded. "See you then." She said, smiling. She turned around and left the observatory deck. Steve watched her leave, and released the pent up breath he had been holding. It left his body in a sigh of relief. This directness of his was so unfamiliar to him; it almost matched the directness of people in this age.

It was a foreign feeling that spread through him when Claire smiled in his direction, yet he liked it. It almost matched the feeling when Peggy had done the same. Steve shook his head slightly. He had sworn to never move on from her, but maybe that promise was destined to break. Peggy had always wanted the best for him, after all. He glanced once more in the direction of the elevator that would take him back to the bottom floor, and he smiled faintly. He breathed another breath of relief and ran a hand through his hair. He still wasn't quite sure what had happened. He walked back to his original spot by the railing and looked down. Peggy would be proud.

His fond memories of their meeting faded into the background when he pulled away from them. He looked down at Claire. He liked her. She had a heart of gold, and a fantastic personality. She admitted she was a video and movie geek, and also one of the few people who knew his secret. It hasn't been easy to tell her. At first, she didn't believe him. As time passed, however, she saw the sense in his explanation and understood. Steve was quite sure it hadn't sunk in yet that she had fallen in love with Captain America.

Steve marvelled how well they went together. Claire wasn't completely technologically inept, as she so aptly put it. She knew her way around most modern technology, and she had made it her mission to teach him how they worked. The first time he went to her apartment, she taught him how to use a phone. The attempt hadn't been in vain completely, but Steve still didn't know what the majority of the phone's functions were and how they worked. Claire was what she called an 'old soul'. She was wise beyond her years and as a result was quite old fashioned in her ways. She was modern, yet old. Steve treasured that about her. With Claire he could share things that weren't of the norm in this modern age because they were simply deemed 'too old'.

She also had a knack for movies. She loved sitting back and watching whatever had caught her attention. Steve had already come over quite a number of times to watch a film with her. She explained every single detail of the film to Steve when he didn't understand, and without either of them knowing the two hours the film was supposed to run turned into three.

Steve smiled. Claire had all of these special and strange quirks that could only be described as her own. Without them, she simply wouldn't be herself, and Steve wouldn't have her any other way. The quirky Claire was his and he wouldn't trade her for the world.

The woman in question currently held out her camera, and grinned peevishly. Steve looked down at the object then up at her. A twinkle of mischief inside her eyes caught his attention. "Steve, I think I might need your help," she said, and Steve straightened up. "Yes?" He said, "How can I help?" Then realised his mistake. This is what Claire had been planning.

The woman held up her camera, and Steve cracked a smile. He shook his head slightly at her antics as he took it from her and held it up so that the lens was turned towards them. He tucked Claire under his shoulder and smiled into the lens. He snapped the photo as Claire grinned at him. The click and flash was all he needed.

"Perfect."

Hello, all!

Just a quick fic I wrote in dedication to my awesome friend SpectrumLight! It was her birthday on the 30th of September, so it's a bit late, but I hope she'll forgive me.. :P

Her fave Avenger is Steve, so I HAD to pair them. I hope you like it, Spec!

To any others; enjoy, and don't forget to review!

~SunsetWanderer