Showing posts with label holiday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label holiday. Show all posts
December 25, 2019
July 4, 2016
December 25, 2015
July 4, 2015
February 14, 2015
Keeping It Basic on Valentines
At the agency's headquarters, Steve Rogers had an office. He rarely
used it, preferring to be in the field constantly. It was late in the
agency's building, Steve sat at his desk in his office with most of the
usual stacks of files moved to another location in the room. His latest
attention was to a old ratty book that looked like it had yellowed
pages. He flipped through it carefully, but then set it down away from
the center of the desk. He then pulled to the center a ream of scrap
paper, a small bottle of Elmer's glue and a jar of glitter. He sat there
at the desk and again pondered on what kind of direction he was going
to take.
"Com'mon, Steve," he mumbled to himself. "You've punched out Hitler over 50 times, but somehow you've got to know how to make this simple little thing look great. Is this befitting a princess?"
At that moment, Diana had just arrived outside his wide open door. "Hey, Steve, I have the latest briefings to go over." She was still in her civilian office suit, but several the buttons on her white blouse had been undone. She had a stack of manilla file folders and a clipboard in her arms, but precariously hiding a second alternative motive. Steve looked over in her oncoming direction wanted to panic. Was the surprise ruined? Steve couldn't let her see the special art project he was working on before it was finished. He quickly swooped up his art supplies and tossed them into any random desk drawer. But in his hustle to hide the contents, the glitter's lid wasn't fastened tightly and spilled. He tried to pose nonchalantly and prop his head up by his fist.
Diana always had a standing welcome when it came to Steve's office, so she let herself in through the doorway without bothering to knock. The click clack rhythm sound of her heels on the signaled her tip-toeing into the room. Steve watched her slow deliberate march forward toward his desk. Her shoulders dipped and her hips swayed back and forth. He tried not to make eye contact with his gaze. However, with each stepping movement, Steve could get a peek of Diana's cleavage. When she arrived, she flopped the stack of files and clipboard in her arm and revealed her true surprise intentions.
"It must be casual weekend at HQ." Steve looked up at her. "Who are those for?"
With a big smile on her face, Diana placed a bottle of Napa Valley's finest red wine and two long stem wine glasses. "I thought you might be thirsty," Diana looked down. "but is something on your mind? You always stand up when I enter the room."
"Oh, I'm very sorry, I guess I have been preoccupied tonight." Steve let a grimace curl his mouth and stood up from his chair anyway.
"Do you have a corkscrew?"
Steve quickly scanned his previously bare desk. But he also searched for evidence to his heart design. "Um, I don't think so, I don't keep something like that in my desk. I don't drink in my office - pointless to me when I can't get drunk." Steve needed a way to dismiss her self-invitation with his mind on finishing the paper heart.
"In that case," Diana reaches out for a pencil cup and finds a sharp letter opener and violently plunges it into the cork stopper. "I'll take care of it myself." With a strong heave, she pulls out the letter opener with the cork and holds it out like a lolly on a stick.
Steve's face went from a coy ambivalence to downright impressive. "You really don't know your own strength."
"Or, I just have some gifts left over from the gods." Diana asserted. She placed the bottle of wine back on his desk with the label out towards him to read. She then turned behind her to fetch a folding chair for herself and planted it right beside Steve's office desk.
"An '84," Steve picked up the bottle and poured some into the wine glasses. "I heard it was a good year."
Steve watched as Diana measured the wine equally in each glass. Steve eyes finally made contact with hers as he followed Diana picking up the glass closest to her up to her lips. Before taking that sip, she checks for Steve's cooperation, smiled, then signaled with her eyes directing him to his long stemmed goblet.
"So what are we drinking to?"
"You don't have a calendar in this room? Did you lose track of what day it is?"
"No, I know what day it is, I'm just too busy with work to plan for days." Steve looked away from Diana to out his office window. The February snow continued to lightly fall gathering to pile up along the outer windowsill.
"You're a hard man, Steve."
"I'm a busy man." Steve picked up his drink from the lip of the glass between his fingers. He turned it up to his mouth.
"You have to smell it first," Diana insisted. "You don't know anything about wine."
"The last time I even dared sip it, I was in an encampment over in France. Another soldier from the 107th had pocketed a bottle from an abandoned winery. When he took it out we all sipped from our canteens or G.I. tins. We didn't stop to appreciate it, just glad that we had a few minutes of not getting our heads shot off." Steve's nostalgia was taking a somber tone. He could feel Diana's lighthearted visit turn to another therapy session. His eyes glazed over as his war-torn visualization alienated him from Diana. A few minutes go in silence before he hears Diana's voice sharply cut through the PTSD.
"Well, you're not in France now, you're here with me." Diana pointed with her index finger on the desk. She tapped with her nail. "Look, I'll show you." Steve watched her bring the long stem glass up to her nose and breath in the aroma. Once her eyes close, her face commits to blissful changes. Steve watches voyeuristic as she indulges herself in the pleasurable aroma of the wine. He can't really tell what she is thinking about but when she opens her eyes again, she is smiling wide again. Steve watched her enjoy her moment of satisfaction. Was it the lights in the room or was Diana again working her mojo on him? Steve witnessed her big grin gleaming like the her costume's golden tiara. He could feel his guard sliding away. For her sake, Steve tried again, to learn properly and picked up his glass.
"Here's a tip for you," Diana broke in. "Not by the top, but by the stem," She held out her own wine glass demonstrating it to Steve. "If you hold it here then your hands aren't warming the wine. It could stay chilled longer."
Steve tried it on his own. The sophistication really wasn't his normal style, but as long as it kept her pleased, he played along with it. It had a real fruity taste on his pallet. He let the wine slowly swish on his tongue to savor it. That was the only genuine pleasure that he received from alcohol. His metabolism didn't allow him to get drunk no matter the quantity.
"So, what are you doing here tonight?" they both asked each other in unison. Steve smiled and nodded.
"You first."
"I'm monitoring the shipping routes from Madripoor to Latveria. Assessing the intelligence reports,.. you know.. the usual."
Diana paused after his answer. "I just saw the light on." She followed that up with yet another gleaming smile. The expression changed quickly as her hands reached down to her feet yanking her black quarter inch heels off. She then dangled them by the tips of her fingers on her left and and flopped them together like a rattle.
"How much of those intelligence reports requires art supplies?"
Steve's coy demeanor turned to internal panic. Was she spying outside his door long enough to see his special surprise project? "Oh, that.. um.. well..," Steve stammered as he tried to come up with a dodge to the question. In the field, Steve Rogers was in command of many including himself. He is fast thinking battle strategist, the way he could perfectly bank and boomerang his shield was no help to escaping Diana's relentless inquisition. He could feel the grip of Diana's compelling presence and personality. She teased him more with a clear view of her open blouse by leaning in closer towards him. Was she even aware of her tousled exhibition, Steve wondered?
He tried never to lie to her. He couldn't. Stalling is he best he could do to duck the questions he couldn't answer. "No, I'm serious, I really was looking at intelligence reports.... it's just that.."
"..that's wasn't all you were doing." Diana finished his sentence. "Unless this place turns into a gentleman's club when we're not around, the glitter on your cheek is real suspicious."
Steve's face became flush with red as the same wine shade. He finally noticed the spilled glitter on his desktop and rapidly searched for more obvious locations.
"You've got that stuff all over your right cheek."
Steve playfully swats away her hand that she sopped up by her tongue. He recoiled away from her as she reached out with a hand to wipe it off. The further he pulled back, the further she reached out to touch him. "What are you? My mother now?"
Diana succeeds in wiping his face from the crumbly silver pieces. She caressed his face in such a gentle way that the touch on his face felt like a tranquilizing gesture. Steve recalled and compared it to the precipitous kiss that Diana gave him at Christmas time. That holiday kiss was forced on him unexpectedly, but connecting to her in the moment now had him turning like clay in her hands.
There was no other way around the truth. Where was his usually trusty shield to block the truth seeking missiles fired in his direction? This meant that Steve had to give in easier than he wanted. His covert holiday project wasn't at all finished and he'd rather get back to completing it. If he stalled her longer into boredom, she might have left him alone, but there would have been stern consequences.
He chose to slide the top drawer of his desk out and reveal some of the truth. It had to be set out delicately if she was to be brought in to his private feelings.
"That looks like it's been through a war." Diana's eyes got a little wider to Steve as the surprise had been rushed to waste on her persistent interrogation.
"Yes. Actually, It's been through two wars," corrected Steve. It was a grey bound book with yellowed pages. It was held together by a rubber band. He placed it on top of the desk.
"I remember you mentioning this a while ago. Is this actually it? You're drawing pad?"
"Yea, I sent it back home before the war ended and I wasn't going to have any more time to myself. It wasn't until just recently that someone from the Maritime museum gave it back. It's been in storage for over 70 years." He watched her reaction feeling at his most vulnerable with her in a long time.
"May I hold it?"
Pausing to search for some final assurance, Steve chose to carry through with his intentions. He placed it in Diana's hands as she asked respectfully reaching out to touch the missing piece of history. Steve got some satisfaction as he lived through Diana's discovery like it was a secret diary. The delicate pages were a trove of doodles and notes. A history book of the man she knew as Steve Rogers and as the masked avenger Captain America in a past life. What must she have been thinking while browsing through some pages, Steve pondered. Maybe even before he would get too deep in the war memories, Steve re-directed the conversation back to his favor.
"Actually, I was working on something more simple than that." Steve brought out to reveal his other project along with the ream of colored paper, scissors, a black sharpie, and some lace streamer. He didn't quite get it finished, but since he was interrupted, maybe he could make one with her. Or at the very least tell him if she appreciates it and should continue.
"Oh, that looks like a Valentine heart." "Did you do that, Steve?"
"Well, I was working on it.... After the intelligence report."
"Who was that going to be for?"
Steve turned over the construction paper that started to be cut out along one side. The scraps of lace and paper fell to the desk and revealed a unique stenciled wording. THE PRINCESS, it read while some of the letters had already been filled in with the black sharpie. "I don't know if you would like it. Or maybe you'd expect more from me. I wasn't sure."
This was the critical moment that had to pay off. He read her gentle face moving around for any clue to her initial impressions. It wasn't an expensive jewelry or empty calorie treat, but it was giving her something more valuable than all the riches in the known world. It was the simple beauty in the value of simplistic gestures like a homemade Valentines Day card. He was giving a part of himself to her. From this moment on, he trusted her a little more with his own feelings and there was no going back.
"It's incomplete! Here, Let me see an.. mind if I join you?" Steve got the sketch pad back from Diana's grasp while reaching for the red paper heart. "I've always wanted to do one of these."
Steve smiled at his relief that Diana wasn't resistant to the Valentines intentions. "When I was at the children's hospital, I met a few little girls who knew how to do this. They had good teachers to work with there." she confessed to him. "I'm so touched by this that I don't know what else to say."
He felt as if he were following through with more charm for her. They both smiled at each other. Steve told her about the way he agonized over how much work he wanted to make it right just for her. They worked together through the night over more of the wine that Diana brought to the office and finished up the heart shaped gesture on red construction paper.
"Com'mon, Steve," he mumbled to himself. "You've punched out Hitler over 50 times, but somehow you've got to know how to make this simple little thing look great. Is this befitting a princess?"
At that moment, Diana had just arrived outside his wide open door. "Hey, Steve, I have the latest briefings to go over." She was still in her civilian office suit, but several the buttons on her white blouse had been undone. She had a stack of manilla file folders and a clipboard in her arms, but precariously hiding a second alternative motive. Steve looked over in her oncoming direction wanted to panic. Was the surprise ruined? Steve couldn't let her see the special art project he was working on before it was finished. He quickly swooped up his art supplies and tossed them into any random desk drawer. But in his hustle to hide the contents, the glitter's lid wasn't fastened tightly and spilled. He tried to pose nonchalantly and prop his head up by his fist.
Diana always had a standing welcome when it came to Steve's office, so she let herself in through the doorway without bothering to knock. The click clack rhythm sound of her heels on the signaled her tip-toeing into the room. Steve watched her slow deliberate march forward toward his desk. Her shoulders dipped and her hips swayed back and forth. He tried not to make eye contact with his gaze. However, with each stepping movement, Steve could get a peek of Diana's cleavage. When she arrived, she flopped the stack of files and clipboard in her arm and revealed her true surprise intentions.
"It must be casual weekend at HQ." Steve looked up at her. "Who are those for?"
With a big smile on her face, Diana placed a bottle of Napa Valley's finest red wine and two long stem wine glasses. "I thought you might be thirsty," Diana looked down. "but is something on your mind? You always stand up when I enter the room."
"Oh, I'm very sorry, I guess I have been preoccupied tonight." Steve let a grimace curl his mouth and stood up from his chair anyway.
"Do you have a corkscrew?"
Steve quickly scanned his previously bare desk. But he also searched for evidence to his heart design. "Um, I don't think so, I don't keep something like that in my desk. I don't drink in my office - pointless to me when I can't get drunk." Steve needed a way to dismiss her self-invitation with his mind on finishing the paper heart.
"In that case," Diana reaches out for a pencil cup and finds a sharp letter opener and violently plunges it into the cork stopper. "I'll take care of it myself." With a strong heave, she pulls out the letter opener with the cork and holds it out like a lolly on a stick.
Steve's face went from a coy ambivalence to downright impressive. "You really don't know your own strength."
"Or, I just have some gifts left over from the gods." Diana asserted. She placed the bottle of wine back on his desk with the label out towards him to read. She then turned behind her to fetch a folding chair for herself and planted it right beside Steve's office desk.
"An '84," Steve picked up the bottle and poured some into the wine glasses. "I heard it was a good year."
Steve watched as Diana measured the wine equally in each glass. Steve eyes finally made contact with hers as he followed Diana picking up the glass closest to her up to her lips. Before taking that sip, she checks for Steve's cooperation, smiled, then signaled with her eyes directing him to his long stemmed goblet.
"So what are we drinking to?"
"You don't have a calendar in this room? Did you lose track of what day it is?"
"No, I know what day it is, I'm just too busy with work to plan for days." Steve looked away from Diana to out his office window. The February snow continued to lightly fall gathering to pile up along the outer windowsill.
"You're a hard man, Steve."
"I'm a busy man." Steve picked up his drink from the lip of the glass between his fingers. He turned it up to his mouth.
"You have to smell it first," Diana insisted. "You don't know anything about wine."
"The last time I even dared sip it, I was in an encampment over in France. Another soldier from the 107th had pocketed a bottle from an abandoned winery. When he took it out we all sipped from our canteens or G.I. tins. We didn't stop to appreciate it, just glad that we had a few minutes of not getting our heads shot off." Steve's nostalgia was taking a somber tone. He could feel Diana's lighthearted visit turn to another therapy session. His eyes glazed over as his war-torn visualization alienated him from Diana. A few minutes go in silence before he hears Diana's voice sharply cut through the PTSD.
"Well, you're not in France now, you're here with me." Diana pointed with her index finger on the desk. She tapped with her nail. "Look, I'll show you." Steve watched her bring the long stem glass up to her nose and breath in the aroma. Once her eyes close, her face commits to blissful changes. Steve watches voyeuristic as she indulges herself in the pleasurable aroma of the wine. He can't really tell what she is thinking about but when she opens her eyes again, she is smiling wide again. Steve watched her enjoy her moment of satisfaction. Was it the lights in the room or was Diana again working her mojo on him? Steve witnessed her big grin gleaming like the her costume's golden tiara. He could feel his guard sliding away. For her sake, Steve tried again, to learn properly and picked up his glass.
"Here's a tip for you," Diana broke in. "Not by the top, but by the stem," She held out her own wine glass demonstrating it to Steve. "If you hold it here then your hands aren't warming the wine. It could stay chilled longer."
Steve tried it on his own. The sophistication really wasn't his normal style, but as long as it kept her pleased, he played along with it. It had a real fruity taste on his pallet. He let the wine slowly swish on his tongue to savor it. That was the only genuine pleasure that he received from alcohol. His metabolism didn't allow him to get drunk no matter the quantity.
"So, what are you doing here tonight?" they both asked each other in unison. Steve smiled and nodded.
"You first."
"I'm monitoring the shipping routes from Madripoor to Latveria. Assessing the intelligence reports,.. you know.. the usual."
Diana paused after his answer. "I just saw the light on." She followed that up with yet another gleaming smile. The expression changed quickly as her hands reached down to her feet yanking her black quarter inch heels off. She then dangled them by the tips of her fingers on her left and and flopped them together like a rattle.
"How much of those intelligence reports requires art supplies?"
Steve's coy demeanor turned to internal panic. Was she spying outside his door long enough to see his special surprise project? "Oh, that.. um.. well..," Steve stammered as he tried to come up with a dodge to the question. In the field, Steve Rogers was in command of many including himself. He is fast thinking battle strategist, the way he could perfectly bank and boomerang his shield was no help to escaping Diana's relentless inquisition. He could feel the grip of Diana's compelling presence and personality. She teased him more with a clear view of her open blouse by leaning in closer towards him. Was she even aware of her tousled exhibition, Steve wondered?
He tried never to lie to her. He couldn't. Stalling is he best he could do to duck the questions he couldn't answer. "No, I'm serious, I really was looking at intelligence reports.... it's just that.."
"..that's wasn't all you were doing." Diana finished his sentence. "Unless this place turns into a gentleman's club when we're not around, the glitter on your cheek is real suspicious."
Steve's face became flush with red as the same wine shade. He finally noticed the spilled glitter on his desktop and rapidly searched for more obvious locations.
"You've got that stuff all over your right cheek."
Steve playfully swats away her hand that she sopped up by her tongue. He recoiled away from her as she reached out with a hand to wipe it off. The further he pulled back, the further she reached out to touch him. "What are you? My mother now?"
Diana succeeds in wiping his face from the crumbly silver pieces. She caressed his face in such a gentle way that the touch on his face felt like a tranquilizing gesture. Steve recalled and compared it to the precipitous kiss that Diana gave him at Christmas time. That holiday kiss was forced on him unexpectedly, but connecting to her in the moment now had him turning like clay in her hands.
There was no other way around the truth. Where was his usually trusty shield to block the truth seeking missiles fired in his direction? This meant that Steve had to give in easier than he wanted. His covert holiday project wasn't at all finished and he'd rather get back to completing it. If he stalled her longer into boredom, she might have left him alone, but there would have been stern consequences.
He chose to slide the top drawer of his desk out and reveal some of the truth. It had to be set out delicately if she was to be brought in to his private feelings.
"That looks like it's been through a war." Diana's eyes got a little wider to Steve as the surprise had been rushed to waste on her persistent interrogation.
"Yes. Actually, It's been through two wars," corrected Steve. It was a grey bound book with yellowed pages. It was held together by a rubber band. He placed it on top of the desk.
"I remember you mentioning this a while ago. Is this actually it? You're drawing pad?"
"Yea, I sent it back home before the war ended and I wasn't going to have any more time to myself. It wasn't until just recently that someone from the Maritime museum gave it back. It's been in storage for over 70 years." He watched her reaction feeling at his most vulnerable with her in a long time.
"May I hold it?"
Pausing to search for some final assurance, Steve chose to carry through with his intentions. He placed it in Diana's hands as she asked respectfully reaching out to touch the missing piece of history. Steve got some satisfaction as he lived through Diana's discovery like it was a secret diary. The delicate pages were a trove of doodles and notes. A history book of the man she knew as Steve Rogers and as the masked avenger Captain America in a past life. What must she have been thinking while browsing through some pages, Steve pondered. Maybe even before he would get too deep in the war memories, Steve re-directed the conversation back to his favor.
"Actually, I was working on something more simple than that." Steve brought out to reveal his other project along with the ream of colored paper, scissors, a black sharpie, and some lace streamer. He didn't quite get it finished, but since he was interrupted, maybe he could make one with her. Or at the very least tell him if she appreciates it and should continue.
"Oh, that looks like a Valentine heart." "Did you do that, Steve?"
"Well, I was working on it.... After the intelligence report."
"Who was that going to be for?"
Steve turned over the construction paper that started to be cut out along one side. The scraps of lace and paper fell to the desk and revealed a unique stenciled wording. THE PRINCESS, it read while some of the letters had already been filled in with the black sharpie. "I don't know if you would like it. Or maybe you'd expect more from me. I wasn't sure."
This was the critical moment that had to pay off. He read her gentle face moving around for any clue to her initial impressions. It wasn't an expensive jewelry or empty calorie treat, but it was giving her something more valuable than all the riches in the known world. It was the simple beauty in the value of simplistic gestures like a homemade Valentines Day card. He was giving a part of himself to her. From this moment on, he trusted her a little more with his own feelings and there was no going back.
"It's incomplete! Here, Let me see an.. mind if I join you?" Steve got the sketch pad back from Diana's grasp while reaching for the red paper heart. "I've always wanted to do one of these."
Steve smiled at his relief that Diana wasn't resistant to the Valentines intentions. "When I was at the children's hospital, I met a few little girls who knew how to do this. They had good teachers to work with there." she confessed to him. "I'm so touched by this that I don't know what else to say."
He felt as if he were following through with more charm for her. They both smiled at each other. Steve told her about the way he agonized over how much work he wanted to make it right just for her. They worked together through the night over more of the wine that Diana brought to the office and finished up the heart shaped gesture on red construction paper.
December 25, 2014
The Captain's Christmas
Steve stood before the adorned Christmas tree in the studio hallway
where many of the other agents walked by. Many moments were like this
for Steve since returning to active duty. The memories of long ago were
creeping back up on him and the holiday down-time were making it even
harder to block out. Many of Steve's agents and teammates would often
see him gazing off stoically, but it had become so commonplace that they
didn't bother disrupt the process. Every so often, Steve would see
something or hear a phrase and it would remind him of someone from his
past. That unusual ache in his heart would be something that only he
would uniquely have to bear.Steve Rodgers would look over his
shoulder at the bustling agents in the building being totally oblivious
to the corner where the Christmas tree stood. It was a modest tree for
such a public display. Instead of the red ribbons, it was given a red,
white, and blue theme. The tinsel was a red-white-blue paper streamer
and the usual round bulbs were excluded for USA flag mini decorations.
Steve let the aromatic pine smell circulate through his nostrils. It
reminded him of the time he was marching through Germany and the fresh
wood campfire would be the only source of rest and warmth.
Despite the building's occupants passing by Steve and the patriotic Christmas display, there was one soldier-warrior who could relate to Steve. While Steve was in the Army, Diana served the country in the Navy department. She often looked at Steve with such reverence and respect. They've both lived out long lives and lost so much to time. Diana Prince, with her alternate persona as Wonder Woman, served to protect mankind in their battles with evil. Diana stood silently behind Steve watching his stoic stance.
When the moment was clear, she approached Steve. "It looks lovely, doesn't it?"
"It fits in here. I like the national colors all worked in."
"Yes, even with the sudden alterations," she said nodding at the dangling bullets that Steve placed on the tree.
"Oh, these were a Christmas gift from long ago. The soldiers in my company, during the war, gave them to me as a gift. So, every year, I take them out and look at them."
Diana let a brief moment go by in silence before choosing to speak again. "You know you're not the only one who's lost friends."
"I know."
"He must have been a good soldier."
"He was."
Diana reached out to Steve and pulled him closer. Instead of meditating on the seasonal icon, she then focused her attention on the indomitable Steve. She had three inches in height to him and she would often use her body language to not ever make him feel as if she was looking down at him. She adored him in moments like this. Diana subtly let Steve over to the side wall where a mistletoe was also slung.
"I'm still learning about your Christian traditions, Steve."
"And I'm grateful."
"What do you still want? What does the great Captain America want for Christmas?"
"I have everything that I need."
Diana stepped in closer to him while not losing eye contact with him. "Are you sure?" A smirk had formed in her lips.
"I want,... I wish... I could give more."
"See! There it is. That bottomless desire to give. It's okay, Steve, you can let people return your admiration."
Steve and Diana made eye contact at the same moment. Each of them felt the same feeling for each other. For Steve, all of the confidence in the world could still betray the stoic expressions he usually portrayed. Diana's more subtle powers of seduction were more of a mystery even to herself. Some say, they are a blessing from the goddess Aphrodite, but others would just describe that her own natural beauty shined outward. Steve became lost looking into her eyes. He had broken free of the haunting destructive memories of the war in favor of the current magic present in front of him.
"Let them go, Steve," said Diana as she grabbed him around the waist tighter. "And hold on to me."
Diana's lasso she inherited from her Themysciran island was no match even for her feminine wiles, even when she wasn't aware of them, are her strongest weapon. The lasso revealed the Truth in the known universe, but even the hardest men would melt away just by being in her proximity.
"But, I'm not your Steve."
"I know. I've left him in the past. Along with the memories of the War."
Steve's loyalty to the love of his life was still so strong. Diana again increased her affections by pressing her majestic bosom into his sternum.
Finally, Steve let go and gave in. He was trained to be aware of his surroundings because so many looked to him for motivation. While under the mistletoe, Steve Rogers embraced Diana Prince in a passionate lip-lock. He let her be his most precious present to himself. He allowed her embrace to swell within him and be overcome with a healing compassion. The awful burden of just being both a man out of time and the enduring façade no longer mattered.
Once Diana's own satisfaction was reached she pulled her head away. "Merry Christmas, Captain."
Germany December 1942Steve reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a G.I. nametag and a few old shell bullet casings. One was red, the other white, and a third blue. But these casings had fishing line tied around each one. Steve ceremoniously clustered them one by one on the tree and then continued to stare at the tree as if he were in a trance.
"Hey! What's this?"
"It's your present, Captain! Open it up!"
Captain America was handed an military issued artillery container re-purposed with a cloth material wrapped around like a big bow. At first the Captain didn't know what to say and just looked surprised to the soldiers in his unit. It was getting to be Christmas time and the guys all wanted to show their appreciation to their fearless leader.
"Aw, shucks, guys. I didn't have any time to get you anything."
"It's okay, Captain." shouted the first lieutenant from the group. "You're already going to help us get home to our families. That's a gift in itself!"
Captain America just obliged the soldiers and removed the improvised wrapping from the artillery box. What trickled out were 3 modified bullets, one casing was colored red, the other white, and the third was blue. With it was a small torn paper which looked like it came from a German newspaper, but someone had crudely drawn a couple of soldiers with a Captain America figure standing in the middle. It had a caption: "Keep Fighting"
Despite the building's occupants passing by Steve and the patriotic Christmas display, there was one soldier-warrior who could relate to Steve. While Steve was in the Army, Diana served the country in the Navy department. She often looked at Steve with such reverence and respect. They've both lived out long lives and lost so much to time. Diana Prince, with her alternate persona as Wonder Woman, served to protect mankind in their battles with evil. Diana stood silently behind Steve watching his stoic stance.
"So, What am I going to do with these?" Captain America asked juggling the three bullets in his left hand.Diana also noticed the other field agents and passers-by not notice the living legend in their midst. Diana couldn't read minds, but she pondered on just how this society got in just such a position to overlook such things. Her Themysciran amazon sisters honored their heroines as well as the cycles of nature. It was moments like this that brought her to an even closer understanding of her Captain. She too was a displaced person in a time that was foreign to her. But with the Captain, even in his old-fashioned manners, she felt a kinship to him. Soon, she was aware of her own gaze upon him gazing on the Christmas tree.
"Ya plant them in the ground and watch it grow a beanstalk" blurted a soldier in the company. The rest of the soldiers either chuckled or let out a little laughter. But another soldier stepped forward and explained that they were the three bullets that he was supposed to use when he met up with Hitler.
"Alright guys, if I get there before you do, I'll just throw these at 'em." That got just as equal a laugh as the first joke.
It was often a little tension in the company, even though the guys felt safer knowing that they had the Captain America looking out for them, they knew that they could be killed in battle at any moment. So, it made them appreciate the smaller gestures while they were together. It might have even had been the last Christmas they spent alive.
Another soldier blurted out in tune to "O Tannenbaum" and the other soldiers in the company followed in.
When the moment was clear, she approached Steve. "It looks lovely, doesn't it?"
"It fits in here. I like the national colors all worked in."
"Yes, even with the sudden alterations," she said nodding at the dangling bullets that Steve placed on the tree.
"Oh, these were a Christmas gift from long ago. The soldiers in my company, during the war, gave them to me as a gift. So, every year, I take them out and look at them."
Diana let a brief moment go by in silence before choosing to speak again. "You know you're not the only one who's lost friends."
"I know."
The sound of the particular gunshot stayed burned with the fuse of the memory of Dutch Sutton. He was bringing up the rear in the platoon that day, marching along the wooded path to the next safe point. They were only 120 yards away from an extraction point."This is a time for giving," Steve said while looking into Diana's eyes. "Some people gave everything they had." Steve again reached into his pocket and dangled a dog tag with the name D. Sutton on it. He then placed the dog tag on the tree next to the cluster of shell casings. They both looked at the tag twinkling along with the tree lights.
"Don't you die on me, soldier! On your feet!"
Sutton's eyes fluttered at a seizure pace. Following that, his body went into shock and started to spasm. Captain America held him in his arms and used the shield on his back to deflect any further attack. Sutton became a victim of a snipers bullet. The rest of the Army soldiers furiously whipped around to target any threat they could see. Further bullets started raining around them. Still, no one could identify the attackers. It could have been any of the the Germans or fascist allied Italians, or the more secret sect they began to gather intelligence on - soldiers with an ominous octopus logo on their uniforms.
Dutch Sutton struggled to speak, but he was determined to tell Captain America what he needed.
"Hey, Cap, we're almost there, right? We get to go home now?"
"Yes! All of us. We're going home."
"I can see it from here," said Sutton as he stared off in the distance. "It's got big pearly gates. I can see my family all waiting for me."
"He must have been a good soldier."
"He was."
Diana reached out to Steve and pulled him closer. Instead of meditating on the seasonal icon, she then focused her attention on the indomitable Steve. She had three inches in height to him and she would often use her body language to not ever make him feel as if she was looking down at him. She adored him in moments like this. Diana subtly let Steve over to the side wall where a mistletoe was also slung.
"I'm still learning about your Christian traditions, Steve."
"And I'm grateful."
"What do you still want? What does the great Captain America want for Christmas?"
"I have everything that I need."
Diana stepped in closer to him while not losing eye contact with him. "Are you sure?" A smirk had formed in her lips.
"I want,... I wish... I could give more."
"See! There it is. That bottomless desire to give. It's okay, Steve, you can let people return your admiration."
Steve and Diana made eye contact at the same moment. Each of them felt the same feeling for each other. For Steve, all of the confidence in the world could still betray the stoic expressions he usually portrayed. Diana's more subtle powers of seduction were more of a mystery even to herself. Some say, they are a blessing from the goddess Aphrodite, but others would just describe that her own natural beauty shined outward. Steve became lost looking into her eyes. He had broken free of the haunting destructive memories of the war in favor of the current magic present in front of him.
"Let them go, Steve," said Diana as she grabbed him around the waist tighter. "And hold on to me."
The red blood started to soak the soldiers chest and uniform. Instead of an earthy green, the shirt and jacket were stained with a muddy red that came pouring out from the gunshot wounds. Dutch Sutton's life was the Army and it was literally seeping into the very fabric of what he stood for. If it weren't for his friend and field Captain, he also felt proud every time he saw his country's colors of red, white, and blue. His blood also splashed onto Captain America's uniform. In a small way, he too, became a part of the Captain America mythos.
"No! You're coming with us to the extraction point! You're going to make it, soldier!" Captain America pounded furiously on the wounded soldier's chest. His actions, though small, may have been trying to prolong the adrenalin momentum in the chance that the medic within the company would reach in time. Captain America hovered over the fallen soldier with his shield pointed skyward hoping that it would prevent any further bullets from doing their damage. "Hey, Cap. Remember me on Christmas next year?" Dutch asked as his voice and soul finally left him.
Diana's lasso she inherited from her Themysciran island was no match even for her feminine wiles, even when she wasn't aware of them, are her strongest weapon. The lasso revealed the Truth in the known universe, but even the hardest men would melt away just by being in her proximity.
"But, I'm not your Steve."
"I know. I've left him in the past. Along with the memories of the War."
Steve's loyalty to the love of his life was still so strong. Diana again increased her affections by pressing her majestic bosom into his sternum.
Finally, Steve let go and gave in. He was trained to be aware of his surroundings because so many looked to him for motivation. While under the mistletoe, Steve Rogers embraced Diana Prince in a passionate lip-lock. He let her be his most precious present to himself. He allowed her embrace to swell within him and be overcome with a healing compassion. The awful burden of just being both a man out of time and the enduring façade no longer mattered.
Once Diana's own satisfaction was reached she pulled her head away. "Merry Christmas, Captain."
Merry Christmas 2014
Merry Christmas from the Patriotic Power Couple!
Looking forward to plenty more written blogs in 2015!
Looking forward to plenty more written blogs in 2015!
December 11, 2014
July 4, 2014
February 14, 2014
December 25, 2013
Happy Holidays from Captain America and Wonder Woman
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| Credit: Captain America Wonder Woman Fan Fiction |
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