Lost and Found

"No-one expects you to pick everything up straight away; we've had decades of gradual change, you've been dropped right into the middle of it." Sitwell said gently.

"I know" Steve said quietly. "It's just not much fun to feel so obsolete."

Sitwell looked at him, openly surprised. "You're not obsolete, you never will be. You're Captain America. That still means something to people around here."

Steve forced himself to smile as warmly as he could. "Same time tomorrow?"

Sitwell nodded, and patted the laptop computer they'd been working on. "I want you to keep practicing. Don't worry too much, you can't break it. Well, unless you actually break it."

"I'll try not to throw it out the window." Steve assured him, though that was exactly what he wanted to do to the device. And then he'd throw his new cell phone and the television right after it. That would be ideal.

"Have a good evening, sir" Sitwell said, excusing himself.

"Hey, Sitwell?" Steve called. "Could you… uh… could you loan me a few bucks? Just for a few days until they get my back pay and pension sorted out."

"Sure" Sitwell said, reaching for his wallet. He handed Steve a twenty. "Is that enough?"

"That's great. I promise I'll get it back to you."

"No problem." If Sitwell was curious why Captain America needed cash, he didn't let on.

"Where are you going, Captain Rogers?"

Steve stopped, but didn't turn to face Nick Fury.

"For a walk. Thought I might find a burger place, get some dinner." He glanced back over his shoulder at the man. "They do still make burgers in this country, right?"

"Commissary upstairs does. Pretty good too, from what I hear."

Steve was quiet for a moment, choosing his words very carefully. "I need some fresh air. I've been cooped up in this building for weeks now. I just want a night off. I want to get out there, see what it's really like out there now."

Fury silently contemplated him. "You won't much care for it."

Steve shrugged "What else is new?"

Steve looked up at the unfamiliar façade, and the unfamiliar skyscrapers beyond that. Yep, he was lost, all right. He sighed, and thrust his hands into his pockets. The sun had long set, the temperature had dropped, and he'd lost track of how long he'd been wandering. He hadn't come across a diner in his ramblings, so he'd bought a succession of hotdogs from street vendors as he walked. He paused, looking back down the way he'd come. He knew he'd have a tail or two, and it galled him that he was going to have to identify the S.H.I.E.L.D. spooks and ask for their help in getting back to HQ. He walked slowly, looking carefully at every adult he saw, but after twenty minutes he was still alone, and possibly even more lost. Then, to add insult to injury, it began to rain. Steve turned his collar up, and sought refuge in a doorway, pausing to decide what to do. It seemed improbable that Fury had let him out without a shadow. Maybe they had been instructed to do this on purpose- let him get himself lost, just to prove a point. He laughed briefly and bitterly; he didn't know Fury very well, but that seemed like something the man would do.

He leaned against the doorway, thinking, when he felt a strange sensation of familiarity. It took him a moment to realise he could hear music coming from down the hallway, and it was a song he knew… He drifted further in, drawn towards the music, and stopped outside an open door. He listened to The Andrews Sisters sing about the Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, and for a moment he didn't know when he was. He peeked into the room. It was a large dance studio, and a dozen or so couples we scattered about the room, attempting to keep in time with the lively pace of the music. Some of them moved confidently, and were clearly enjoying themselves. The other looked almost as lost as he felt, as they went through the motions. The instructors worked their way from couple to couple, correcting and encouraging.

He stood and stared at the dancing couples, a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach. This was completely familiar, yet he had never himself danced. He'd made a date to, once….

"You're not too late." A female voice said.

Steve startled out of his reverie. The female dance instructor had come over to him. He stared at her.

"Class really only started a few minutes ago, so you've got the rest of the hour if you'd like to join in? This is the beginner's class. Are you a beginner?"

Steve's eyed strayed back to the dancers and he nodded.

"All right. Well, it's ten dollars per class-"

Steve reached into his pocket and produced a bill without really even thinking about what he was doing. He handed it to her.

"We take payment at the end of class, but that's okay. Come on in, don't be shy" she said. She took Steve by the arm and very gently guided him into the class. He looked at her. She had a friendly face, and when she looked up at him, it wasn't with curiosity or pity; something he'd gotten used to these past few weeks.

"Have you ever danced before?" she asked him.

"No. Never. But… I've always wanted to."

"Well, then," she said with a smile. "You're in the right place, at the right time."

Author's note: I own nothing, and I gain nothing but amusement from writing these stories. Again, my thanks to Voiceofdisbelief for running her experienced eye over this for me. This might eventually move a to Marvel's The Avengers movie category, should they ever create one! Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this.