Author's Note: Here it is, dear readers, the denouement of this short story! I hope you all enjoyed it and thank you so much for the feedback! Again, this plays a little fast and loose with the history of Superman in the DC cinematic universe, because I haven't seen all his movies, and because the background needed a little tweaking for the Avengers to fit in. Also, I took the easy way out in this fic and assume that at the conclusion of Ragnarok, Loki either fakes his death to escape (again) or Thor and Bruce just report his death to keep the discussion minimal.

Chapter Four

Seeing Diana approach, Rogers misconstrued her intentions and held up a hand to stop her. "It's...better to just leave Bucky alone, when he...gets like that. He doesn't mean anything by it."

"I know," she reassured him. With a deep breath, she explained, "A man far too much like you told me the same about another good man, before you were born." Rogers blinked, and she gave him a wry smile, holding out the copy of the photograph. "Charlie. He was a sniper like your Bucky, but sometimes what he carried inside, it was just too much."

Rogers considered Charlie's picture. "Scottish?"

"Yes."

"My father went over there, only about a year before the war ended. I still have some of the letters he wrote to my mother. She told me she knew, the first time he talked about action, he'd never be the same," said Rogers.

Diana couldn't recall from her histories what the result had been. "Did he recover?"

Rogers shook his head. "He didn't make it home. He died during the spring offensive, before I was ever - " He looked up and saw Diana's face. "I, uh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean..."

A rueful laugh bubbled out of Diana. "Don't apologize. It's not your fault we have so many things in common." She tapped picture above Steve's face. "This was my Steve. Steve Trevor. He died preventing a final offensive, only a few days before the Armistice."

Steve Rogers stared at the photograph, at the fair-haired man named Steve among a band of people who were clearly not assigned soldiers. "Oh." Now he understood. "I'm sorry. That's must've been..." He looked at her, and she grinned, shaking her head.

"I know, you've been imagining any number of terrible reasons I avoided you, and the answer turns out to be entirely petty."

"No." He answered so quickly that she was startled, but he was even more resolute than Wanda or Thor. "It's not petty. There's nothing petty about it." His smile was sad. "After I came out of the ice and found out everyone I'd ever cared about was either dead or - or close to it - I almost refused to join the Avengers. Even though there was a crisis that threatened the whole world and picked up right where I left off in 1945, just the thought of being part of a group like that again, I didn't...didn't want to."

"But you did, and you saved the world," said Diana. "That's no small thing."

"Maybe. Lucky for me, nobody really reminded me much of them. Even by modern-day standards, this crowd is weird," he remarked, and laughter came to her more easily. "Though...if it makes you feel any better, when we were moving into Dubai, I saw you out of the corner of my eye and almost called you Peggy."

Diana raised her eyebrows. "I'm very flattered. I've read a great deal about her, although I didn't know she went into combat."

"Oh, believe me, she did." His eyes grew distant, no longer seeing Diana. "Sometimes it was on the streets a hundred miles from the front, other times it was undercover, but Peggy did plenty of fighting. After I went into the ice, she led the Howling Commandos more than once. Hell, before I went into the ice, she was our commander in all but name, just as much as Colonel Philips."

Diana smiled. "I'm sorry I never met her." Maybe there were things she could share with Steve Rogers after all, things that he would understand, as no man left in this modern world could. "You know, when Steve Trevor brought me to London, I followed him into a meeting of British Command. Such a gaggle of self-important old men, all shouting over each other, completely removed from the people dying at the front...and I silenced the entire room just by having the temerity to enter while female. I had no idea why they were so shocked."

Steve laughed out loud. It was a lovely laugh, and closer to the house, Sam Wilson and Natasha Romanoff stopped their own conversation and turned in surprise. Romanoff beamed, the brightest smile Diana had seen from her yet. Wilson might grin more often, but there was a startled pleasure in his eyes that was hard to miss.

They're not used to hearing him laugh, at least not like this.

Steve hadn't noticed, and went on with his own story. "The first time I saw Peggy was at Camp Lehigh in basic training. I guess you know the British got over their scruples about women in the armed forces by the time another world war came around. We Americans were a bit behind them. One of the other recruits got salty at seeing a pretty lady giving orders. She laid him out with one punch. I think I fell in love with her right then."

How I wish Etta could have heard that story! "I wish I could claim that I won Steve Trevor's heart by wading into battle with British High Command, but I'm afraid not. I think he was too busy trying to keep me out of trouble. Well - one of the elderly Cabinet speakers did come out to thank me for silencing the room long enough for him to finish his speech. I was flattered until he turned out to be Ares, God of War, who I'd been brought into this world to destroy, and whispering vile advice to the leaders on all sides of the war."

Steve blinked, then laughed again, and Diana had to admit she'd been hoping he'd react that way. She'd managed to be flippant about that battle before, even with Napi's sons, but she'd never spoken of it to a stranger – other than Thor. "If I didn't know Thor, I wouldn't believe you."

"And Loki?"

Steve winced and glanced around. "Speaking of taboo subjects."

"Ah. I didn't realize. So," she made sure Thor wasn't in earshot, but lowered her voice anyway. "It's true that they're brothers?"

"Adopted, yeah. Thor and Bruce feel a little...complicated about him. Apparently, he switched sides for and against Thor more than once, but in the end, he saved both of their lives, as well as Asgard. Now he's dead. But hearing about him sets Barton's teeth on edge. Loki took Clint's mind under control with the scepter back in 2012. Not what you'd call forgivable."

"No. But I've seen what it does to people, having to fight those they love the most." Diana looked out over the hills in the direction Bucky had gone and dared to ask, "Is that why you refused the Sokovia Accords? Because it would've meant turning on your friend?"

Steve shook his head. "No. A lot of people assume that, but they're wrong; I'd made up my mind before the Vienna bombing. It was actually...if any one person was the reason, it was Peggy."

"Peggy? But wasn't..." Diana caught herself, but too late. She'd thought that Peggy Carter had died before the Sokovia Accords were passed, but assumed she must be mistaken.

Steve looked away and shook his head. "It was actually the day the Secretary of State came and made his pitch to us. The first day I ever heard the damn Accords existed. We were still arguing about it when...I got the news."

Aghast, Diana demanded, "And they still tried to force you to make a decision at a moment like that?"

He shrugged. "In all fairness, I didn't really participate in any discussions after that. But at Peggy's funeral, her grand-niece, Sharon, she said something. Something Peggy used to say. 'You compromise where you can, but when you can't, don't. Even where everyone is telling you what's wrong is actually right, and the whole world is telling you to move, it's your duty to plant yourself like a tree, look them in the eye, and say no, you move.'"

Powerful and wise words indeed. Like something Antiope would say. Diana sighed. "The more I learn of your Peggy, the more I am sorry we never met. You should be proud, Steve, that her wisdom guided you at such a hard time."

But Steve looked troubled. He seemed to be working up to saying something more, so Diana patiently waited until he asked, "How do I know, though? Whether it's genuinely that something's wrong, or whether it's my own pride talking? That's what I…can't stop wondering now, how could I have been right about the Accords when it ended so badly? I keep going back over everything that happened since – since she died. If Tony and I - Tony Stark, I mean - if we'd managed to get it together before Siberia, Helmut Zemo's whole scheme might have failed, and half the Avengers wouldn't be fugitives now."

Diana saw movement in the distance, too far for Steve's eyes, and smiled to herself. It was Bucky Barnes, on his way back already. "I wasn't there, of course. You'll have to tell me. When could you have yielded?"

"After - several times, but the one I think about the most is after they brought Bucky in. Tony almost convinced me. If I'd signed then, it might've even helped Bucky. Tony would promised he'd get a psychiatric hospital instead of extradition to Wakanda to be executed for the bombing. Then we'd have been working together when Zemo made his move, and after that, I could've gone to Tony for help. We'd have figured Zemo's play then. At least there'd have been more of us in Siberia, and it wouldn't have ended the way it did."

Diana was surprised to see such doubts expressed by Steve Rogers, a man reputed to be so resolute, but maybe she was seeing the real man, rather than the myth. She couldn't blame him for doubts; they could be powerful and ugly things with hindsight before anyone's eyes – even hers. She rather doubted that Steve's nostalgic faith in Iron Man was so warranted. "Tony Stark's a very controlling man, you know. He reminds me of B - of Batman."

Steve chuckled. "I know Batman's Bruce Wayne; you can say it. Don't worry, we've all known that for years and haven't told, not even Tony, and Tony hates the guy."

"I can't imagine why; they are exactly alike in all the worst ways," Diana agreed, and this time they both burst out laughing. "The combined weight of their egos in the same city would probably cause a black hole." They laughed harder.

"Their fathers were old business rivals; at least, that's the story I've heard," said Steve. He shook his head. "Sometimes, the things Wayne would write about Tony, it seemed more like he considered Tony a rival because of Iron Man. That he wanted to be the only superhero in town."

"And the conflict with Superman was further evidence, I know," Diana admitted. "It's...both more and less complicated than it seemed, and like your conflict with Stark, there were third-parties who wanted to ensure they'd destroy each other." She saw the look on Steve's face and said quickly, "Bruce didn't kill Superman. The creature did that - though Bruce and I both knew that if they hadn't let themselves be manipulated, we might have brought it down sooner, and saved his life."

"Who was he? I mean, I know it's none of my business, but I always wondered. Is he enhanced?"

Diana considered it, then decided to take a leap - or at least a small step - of faith in Steve Rogers. "His name was Kal-El. He's not from this world, though he was raised here by a human family. He was a good man, though in Bruce's defense, Kal-El wasn't entirely innocent in their rivalry. Nor was I. Any one of us could have spoken up - or better yet, we could have listened to each other. We failed to do that until it was too late to save him." She sat down on the grass and looked up at him, silhouetted against the sunset. "I failed my Steve too," she confessed softly. "I knew so little about humanity, and I didn't understand what he tried to make me understand about this world until it was too late. If I'd recognized the truth about mankind sooner, I might have been able to save him."

Steve sat down next to her. "The easiest time to make mistakes is when we're out of our depth. When I brought that plane down, I wasn't thinking clearly. I loved her. I wanted to get back to her. But part of me was already giving up. Red Skull was dead. Zola was as good as dead, or so I thought. I didn't want to go home without him."

"Bucky?"

"Yeah, the thought of facing his sisters and his mother…but that wasn't all. I didn't know how I'd live without the war, without Hydra to fight. She was gonna teach me to dance. It seemed crazy. That wasn't my world. At least part of me was relieved as the plane went down, that I had a way out of it." He squeezed his eyes shut, and Diana's throat tightened in sympathy. His voice was rough when he was finally able to go on. "When I woke up, I was glad...at first. Glad I hadn't succeeded. Then I realized it wasn't 1945, and...I found out everything else. Everyone I ever cared about was dead. She was 92. Sometimes I think I must've been punished for something. It's just a question of what."

Diana stared at him in complete disbelief and barely managed not to blurt out her disgust. She rallied herself and kept her voice light. "You're Christian, yes? Let me guess: Catholic?"

Steve chuckled. "Is it that obvious?"

"I've learned that it's very impolite to poo-poo a man's faith, but sometimes I can't help myself, because that notion of yours is...I'm at a loss for words, and I speak hundreds of languages. Loco, absurde. Poppycock, balderdash." As she hoped, he laughed. "There's more to this universe than you or I or even Thor can fathom, but there's no supreme being with any sense of justice who'd inflict a fate like that on you as punishment, Steve Rogers."

"I know. Realistically, yeah, I know that." He smiled sadly at the sky. "What can I say, I was Irish Catholic. Maybe not so much anymore. Guilt's hard to shake."

"That's true no matter what you believe of the greater universe, but I know of no gods or mortals that can move time backwards for us to fix our mistakes. And Steve - my Steve - he told me, 'it's not about what anyone deserves. It's about what you believe.'" Steve Rogers looked thoughtful at that. It pleased Diana. "Hardly anyone in this world gets what they deserve, least of all the people who're hurt the most. The ones who deserve to suffer the most often suffer the least. Still, people like you and I, the Avengers, and Batman, we struggle somewhere in the center."

"That's profound."

"I've had a hundred years to figure it out, so I hope so." They both laughed. Farther down the grounds, Bucky was back in sight of the other Avengers. He saw Steve with Diana, but didn't move to join him, instead heading for the house. Diana mused, "In the first few weeks after you and Bucky escaped, Stark wasn't shy about revealing the Winter Soldier's role in his parents' death. Yet he said very little about you."

"I sent him a letter," said Steve, and pulled a small, outdated flip phone from his pocket. "And the mate to this. He hasn't called."

"No, but you and your friends have appeared in public...what, some five or six times now since? Iron Man can reach Mach 2. If he wanted to intercept you, he could do it. He hasn't," Diana pointed out. "He could have tracked us from Dubai or any of the places you've fought to your safe houses. He hasn't done that either. Nor has Vision, who they say can see the entire Internet."

Steve stared at her. Diana was surprised that this thought hadn't occurred to him. Surely at least a few of his friends might have reached that conclusion even if Steve couldn't.

"I could've...sometimes he and Vision and Rhodey have operations not that far away. I could've gone to them. I haven't."

"Why not?"

Steve sighed and gestured with his head towards the house. "I can't let him hurt Bucky again. Hell, Buck's less afraid of that than I am. That's what - what we argue about the most, including today. He thinks the Avengers could reunite if he weren't here. Even if he's right, I think it's too high a price to pay. Bucky was innocent. It was Hydra, not him."

"That's hard for people to accept who've seen his face when he was the Winter Soldier."

"I don't care," Steve snapped, his voice hard and angry. This was a side of Captain America she'd imagined to exist but hadn't met before - as intense and rigid as Bruce Wayne had been at his worst. But Diana couldn't find cause to condemn Steve's feelings. "They can't have him. It wasn't him. He had no control, no choices, no memory. Hydra was full of monsters and most of them got away with it, but the people now, they don't get to take it out on him. I won't let them."

"What does he say about that?" asked Diana gently.

Steve sighed and rested his elbows on his knees. "It...varies. Sometimes he agrees with me. He deserves the chance to live. Peggy, the Howlies, even Howard, they all got to live. I get to live. He went through the worst of us all. He has a right to try and survive."

"And other times?"

"Other times he doesn't think he's worth it. He remembers what Hydra made him do. It's hard for him to remember that it…wasn't really him."

Diana leaned back on the hillside and watched stars coming out. "It was hard for me to accept at first, that human souls have the capacity for both light and darkness, and the choice lies with them alone, not with the gods. And how few people get what they deserve. Sometimes I still have to remind myself. I envied your Peggy, that she got you back. I don't envy your Bucky any of what he's suffered, but...maybe you returning to this world was finally something he deserved, after so many years of suffering. You, the one man who would always speak up for him no matter what he was forced to become."

Steve looked back at her, puzzled. "I don't..."

Diana sat up and patted his back. "I'm saying you're a good man, Steve Rogers. I thought all the good that people spoke of you had to be myth, but now that I know you, I see they're right. You bring all that's good in mankind, and fight for the people who need it the most. You don't give up on those you love, even when all the world is telling you that you should."

Steve blinked, then his face fell, and he scoffed bitterly. "Tell that to Tony."

Diana nudged the flip phone. "Why should I? He knows already." Steve looked down at the phone as if he'd forgotten it was there - let alone what it represented.

The sounds of Wanda's guitar floated over the grounds, but Wanda wasn't the one playing it. The song was something vaguely familiar – American Western, maybe a dance tune, Diana thought. On the garden terrace behind the house, Natasha and Sam were dancing, and a few moments into the song, a figure with long dark hair and a bigger, darker figure went to join them.

"My God," Steve breathed. Diana looked at him. His expression was utterly stunned, then she thought he might cry. "I haven't seen him dance since Brooklyn."

Bucky must have been teaching Wanda; their movements were more hesitant than Natasha and Sam. But Diana could see why this would move Steve so much. "Shall we join them?"

"No! No, that's okay - I mean, you're welcome to - Thor could probably use a partner." Steve gave her a sheepish smile. "I can't dance."

Diana stood up but looked him over dubiously. "I can't imagine that's for any reason other than lack of trying."

Steve flushed in the dim light and looked at his knees again. "Peggy was gonna teach me. Never had the chance. I just...can't."

Diana sighed. "My Steve taught me. Not how to dance altogether - we danced in Themyscira – but he taught me how your people dance." She gave him a knowing smile. "It was nearly thirty years before I danced again, but I did."

"What...made you decide to?"

She knelt in front of him. "I was in Russia near the end of the second world war. Surrounded by men - boys, really - who hadn't eaten a good meal or slept a full night in years. Let alone seen a woman. But rather like Amazons, Russians don't need a partner of the opposite sex to dance – it can bring joy even without romance. So they still danced when they were off duty, no matter how much blood they shed, no matter how cold and bitter the nights, because it reminded them of who they were. The night I joined them, they danced for me, and at last, one mustered the courage to ask me to partner with him for a slow dance, like I'd danced with Steve before. I couldn't save them all, or heal their hurts, let alone bring peace to this world. But that night when I danced again, I felt closer to my Steve than since I lost him."

Steve's eyes glittered in the darkness. Diana held out her hand. "I never had the honor of knowing your Peggy, but I don't believe she'd have wanted you to refuse to ever dance."

Steve's laugh sounded a little closer to a sob. "No, she'd have words for me, for being so dramatic."

Diana dared to press him. "Let me teach you. Let your Bucky see you learn. Let your friends hear you laugh. It will help all of you." She stood up but kept her hand outstretched. "Monsieur?"

He took her hand and let her pull him to his feet, and she couldn't hold back a grin at his startled expression to see how easily she could lift his weight. No, a supersoldier wouldn't expect a woman to be able to do that. I can carry your weight and then some, Steve Rogers. Let's see what we can teach each other. "Madame?"

She took his arm, and they went down the hill to the jaw-dropped astonishment - and utter delight - of the Avengers.

It wouldn't last, of course. But for a few hours, they could laugh, and they could sway. They learned that Thor and Sam had fine singing voices, and Clint and Wanda both played the guitar. They found that Natasha was exquisitely graceful, and Wanda was a fast learner. Steve...had not so much on any of the aforementioned qualities when it came to dancing - at all - but he was game to try.

So all was right with the world for this one night, and when the world went wrong again, they would all remember this.

~Fin~