Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Danielle Marsh is 19 years old during the start of World War II, and when a few of her friends are interested in joining the "USO camp shows" she tags along...but quickly loses them down a crowded hallway. At the intersection...Dannie can go either right or left. This is Dannie's, and the Avengers, lives when she decides to turn…LEFT

An Unhappy Unit

"How many of you are ready to help me sock old Adolf on the Jaw?"

The silence that followed "Captain America's" hearty question had Steve Rogers faltering.

"Okay. Uh." Steve turned awkwardly towards the sidelines of the stage, where one of the backup dancers stood. Her brown eyes looked wary, but she grinned when she saw Steve was looking at her, raising both hands to shoot him a thumbs up. Steve smiled tightly and turned back to the grumbling audience. Before he could continue with his spiel though, a soldier from the audience yelled out, "Bring back the girls!" and the other soldiers began to cheer loudly.

Steve looked back to one of the "girls," HIS "girl", if only in his head, and she shrugged. "I think they only know the one song," Steve warned, "But, I'll see what I can do,"

"Do that sweetheart," a voice drawled out, and another cupped his mouth to be heard, "Nice boots tinkerbell!"

The crowd roared with laughter, and Steve sighed. He could see the woman on the side of the stage clench her fists, the fake smile dropping quickly as she got irritated.

"Come on guys, we're all on the same team here," he tried to reason tiredly, but his weakness only made the audience grow rowdier.

"Sign this!" The crowd roared again at the childish antics of the soldier currently without any pants on. Steve's mouth dropped open, and the sound of footsteps rushing towards him distracted him from the tomato that was flung his way.

Luckily an arm reached out and snatched the tomato from the air, seconds before it made contact with his face. The tomato was hurled back into the audience, Steve was manhandled away from the mic, and an angry female voice took over.

Steve shook his head slowly as Dannie Marsh, the petite USO dancer from Oklahoma, cowed a crowd of soldiers into submission with nothing but a stern talking to.

And Steve thought of when he first spoke with the spitfire himself.

The Baseball Game

"Now batting we have number 9, Matt Stonebrook, for the Cardinals. And the first pitch is a strike!" Steve grimaced at the radio, though he didn't look up from the letter he was writing.

"Spud Chandler has been on a roll all afternoon," the announcer added. "He's itching to finish this game and hand the Yanks a tenth world championship."

"Pitch two is another strike." The second announcer reported. "Stonebrook is looking antsy. For being one of the Cardinal's top hitters, he's not caught anything this game, has he?"

"Pick it up, Stonebrook," Steve muttered.

"Oh. A Cardinals fan?" The slightly disgusted voice had Steve looking up.

It was one of the USO performers, Steve recognized. With all the makeup and their costumes, they all sort of blended together on the stage, and they were all highly unapproachable, at least for Steve.

But in loose army fatigues and with her dark hair falling in damp curls around her face, this dancer didn't look so…scary.

"I'm not so sure if I can dance behind a cardinals fan." The woman shook her head sadly, and Steve quirked a smile.

"Not a cardinals fan," he corrected. "I just really don't like the Yankees."

The dancer tilted her head. "Let me guess. Dodgers?"

Steve nodded. The woman raised a fist. "They're not bad. They're definitely better than the Yankees." Steve laughed and nodded, and the woman took a seat next to Steve.

"I'm Dannie Marsh," she introduced, holding out her hand. Steve shook it.

"Steve."

"Wait." Dannie Marsh returned Steve's handshake firmly, then leaned back. "You mean to tell me your first name ISN'T Captain?"

Steve laughed again. "Not hardly." He admitted. "It's not even my rank."

Dannie eyes widened. "No!" She said shocked. "I never would've guessed!" Steve shrugged and Dannie turned slightly towards the radio.

"So what's the score?" She asked, settling in as if she planned to stay.

Steve found he didn't mind. He'd laughed more in the last five minutes than he had in what felt like years.

"1-0." He grimaced, and Dannie grunted.

"Come on red birds," Dannie encouraged the radio. "Eat those yanks for breakfast!"

Steve turned away from his letter, and leaned back in his seat, attention successfully diverted.

"Anyone seen Dannie?" one of the other dancers asked later. When the other girls shrugged, the red-head went to look for her friend.

She paused when she heard two loud yells coming from a nearby tent.

"He dropped it!" The dancer smiled at Dannie's disbelieving tone, raising an eyebrow when a deeper voice spoke next.

"I can't believe it…he does know this is the world series right?"

"It's not little league anymore bud!" Dannie insulted, and the dancer turned and began to walk the way she came.

Dannie was just fine.

Although, if any other dancer had been invited into Captain Steve Rogers tent, they wouldn't have been listening to a baseball game…

But that was just Dannie.

A Tomato a Day

"Hey! Don't you know that tomatoes are a delicacy? Don't waste them on this loser!"

The crowd, shocked at first by the angry dancer in front of them, chuckled.

"Also," Dannie pointed a finger at the crowd, "A very wise person once told me that if you don't like what's happening right in front of your face and you can't find a respectable and moral way to back up, then you sit down, shut up, and don't forget that even wild animals have manners, so you should too!"

As the Dannie had continued to speak, the crowd had slowly joined into whatever she was quoting, as if they'd heard it before…as if they'd heard it many times. By the time the quote came to an end, the audience was word for word with Dannie.

Dannie leaned away from the mic, stunned. She turned to Steve, who shrugged and raised his hands. She turned back to the audience, and a slow smile grew on her face.

And a solder from the audience stood and held his hands to his mouth, forming a megaphone.

"MAAARRRSSSSHHH." He yelled.

Dannie clapped her hands and pointed at the man, nodding and beaming.

And the crowd of solders began to cheer and clap.

As if they knew her or something.

Steve shook his head wryly.

This was really just Dannie…being Dannie.

An Unlikely Ally

Being a walking talking dancing monkey for the senator and all of America wasn't fun…but it was tolerable when Steve was reminded that this was his way of helping fight the war.

With a friend who understood what it felt like to want to do more but wasn't able to because of what they looked like, it was almost okay.

After the first game, Dannie Marsh and Steve Rogers had become friends. Dannie was a part of his performance, so where he went, she went. And where she went, sarcasm, sass, and an understanding ear followed. Steve and Dannie grew close as they traveled and confided in each other. Steve admitted that he hated being the center of attention, and Dannie complained that she'd wanted more for herself than being a half-naked doll.

"All of my brothers under 30 enlisted. Dad said if we were able and young, we should be doing something." Dannie shrugged and drank from the beer in front of her. Steve held his in one hand, but didn't bring it up to his mouth. "I wouldn't have minded wearing the uniform and joining the fight but," Dannie gestured to herself, where she wore casual clothing but her face and hair were still styled from the performance they'd just finished. "This was as close as I could get."

Steve shrugged. "I don't know. I met a woman during boot camp who was as close to the action as I was. I don't think that can stop you." Steve looked down at his drink. "Now, she's closer to the action than I am."

"No." Dannie switched her beer with his, and slapped his arm gently. "Don't do that."

"Do what?" Steve smirked at the empty beer bottle she'd traded with him. She took a swallow of his nearly full one.

"Act like your life is over. It's not. You may be wearing tights right now, and I may be wearing next to nothing most of the time," Dannie rolled her eyes, "But we're going to do some camp shows, right? We'll be close to the action again, right?" Dannie raised her beer as if in a toast. "Who knows? Maybe this is our chance. Maybe they'll need Captain monkey and his backup dancer to save the day."

"Have you ever even held a gun?" Steve furrowed his eyebrows.

Dannie held up a finger. "I have twelve brothers." She put up a second finger. "My momma died when I was a baby, so my daddy raised me like I was just another boy." She held up a third finger. "when I was 15 I caught the eye of a neighbor boy and my daddy wouldn't even let me talk to him until I knew how to load, unload, and shoot three different types of weapons…blindfolded."

Steve raised his eyebrows.

"I see I've underestimated you," He admitted, smiling at the woman he wasn't sure how he would've survived this press gig without…at his friend.

Dannie Marsh smiled and nodded.

"Everyone does." She confided.

Steve didn't doubt her.

Marsh's Kid Sister

"Y'all know my brother?" In Dannie's excitement, her voice had slipped into the slight twangy accent that came from being raised in Oklahoma.

The man that had yelled her last name grinned and nodded. "Michael Marsh, that bastard!"

Dannie nodded quickly. "That's him!" She confirmed.

"You're his kid sister then?" Another voice yelled.

Dannie scoffed. "Do I look like a kid to you?" She teased, and the crowd laughed and hooted.

"So this is the 107th?" Steve started, scanning the crowd slowly.

He knew the 107th.

"What's it like being forced to work under my big brother?" Dannie asked the crowd.

The soldier grinned. "Michael Marsh was a good man… a good soldier."

Steve didn't miss the use of past tense, and neither did Dannie. He moved forward to stand behind her.

Her head tilted and her smile faded. "Was?" She repeated lightly. Her hands fell to her hips. "Where's my brother?"

The soldier shared a look with a few other men around them, and they bowed their heads. Dannie's lips pursed, and she ignored Steve, who moved his hand to her back and put pressure there.

She stayed where she was. "Where," She repeated, voice low, "Is my brother?"

When the crowd stayed silent longer, Dannie opened her mouth, but Steve knew where this was going, and he moved his hand from her back to her upper arms.

She began to struggle when she realized Steve was trying to get her off the stage.

"No." She whipped her head to the side to glare at Steve, "I need to know,"

Steve leaned forward. "Not right here. Go talk to that guy in the canteen." Dannie opened her mouth to argue, and Steve pushed. "You'll get the answers you want." He promised. "Just let him do it in private."

Give yourself privacy to react, was what Steve was really saying, and Dannie's breath caught. She nodded once, then marched off the stage, head held high.

Steve scratched the back of his neck, shrugged at the audience, then walked off as well.

Hitler's Dead

Steve realized something a few weeks into their friendship.

Dannie was quickly becoming one of the best people Steve had ever met, and seeing as she was a girl, it was a weird feeling.

But it never felt like anything more than friendship…at least not until she punched Hitler in the face.

It was a part of the performance: Steve would be giving his spiel, and Hitler would be sneaking through the line of backup dancers, heading to attack Steve.

Steve would "catch" Hitler at the last second, punching him in the face, and defeating him for the sake of the audience.

In this particular instance, Hitler made it about three quarters of the way through the line of dancers before he was knocked flat on his back.

When Steve whirled around, Dannie was still holding her fists up. Her face was a mask of rage and indignation before she saw Steve watching, and she quickly dropped her hands and shot him a bright smile.

Steve turned back to the audience slowly. He smiled. "See? Everyone can sock old Adolf on the jaw, even you!" The crowd bought it after a moment, and the performance continued.

Steve cornered Dannie afterwards.

"What was that?" He asked. But Dannie had shrugged and refused to comment.

Luckily, the other dancers were more than happy to fill Steve in.

"I'm so glad that guy is gone!" One of the dancers admitted. "He was so handsy!"

Steve's eyes narrowed.

"He acted like just because we look like floozy's meant he could treat us like it," Another girl added.

"Guess he grabbed the wrong rear this time!" One of the girls joked, and the rest of the room burst into loud laughter.

Steve's eyes widened, and then narrowed into slits.

And when the actor who played Hitler left the performance on crutches and only after apologizing profusely and in a panicked air to Dannie, Steve smiled in satisfaction. Dannie shot him a suspicious look, but she never brought it up again.

And Steve didn't regret breaking the guys leg for touching Dannie.

He would've done the same for any of the other dancers.

Really.

For Our Brothers

Steve watched from a corner of the canteen as Dannie sat across from a few soldiers. The one in the middle spoke slowly, face serious. Dannie nodded every few moments, her eyes glued to the soldiers face, her fists clenched in her lap.

Steve itched to go to her, to place a hand on her shoulder…but he stayed where he was.

"She's cute."

Steve turned. Peggy stood next to him, a small smile on her face and eyebrow raised.

"She's finding out that her brother is dead." Steve corrected.

"That doesn't make her less cute." Peggy tilted her head. Steve huffed.

"We're friends."

"I can see that." Peggy blinked.

Steve rolled his eyes. "Stop fishing. That's it. We're friends."

"If you say so." Peggy turned to watch the conversation go down. The soldier seemed to have finished his story, and he clapped a hand on Dannie's shoulder before rising and taking his leave.

Dannie sat for a moment at the table, eyes wide, frozen.

"He's not dead."

Steve turned to Peggy again.

"It was a mission gone wrong." Peggy explained slowly. "Many of our men were captured. Miss Marsh's brother was one of them."

Steve pursed his lips. Then, with one last glance at Dannie, who had stood and was moving quickly out of the canteen, he turned and did the same.

He had a colonel to speak to.

Dannie was waiting in his tent with two of the helmets that the dancers used in their costumes in her hands.

"I heard they got a friend of yours too." She spoke immediately.

Steve nodded, and Dannie threw one of the helmets towards him. "This sounds like a job for Captain Monkey and his trusty backup dancer."

Steve looked down at the helmet. Then he looked back up at Dannie.

Her eyes were hard, her face determined. She wore army fatigues and she raised an eyebrow.

"I already asked that Peggy woman. She said it was fine. She'll even give us a ride, but we gotta go. Come on," Dannie moved to the door of the tent and gestured out. "Let's go,"

"Dannie," Steve said slowly, but she interrupted him.

"Steve. This is our chance. Remember?"

And Steve did remember. He remembered the conversation he had had with this woman, and maybe this WAS their only chance.

"Let's go get our brothers," Dannie said lowly.

And Steve put on the helmet she'd handed to him and saluted her sharply.

"After you Soldier." He grinned.

And Dannie returned the smile, and then laughed.

A dancing monkey and a USO performer up against a huge base fully of unfriendlies?

Maybe it was an unwinnable mission….

But at least Steve had done something worth talking about.

And he was doing it with one of the best people in the world at his side.

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~CLC~