A Steve endgame ending I would have actually liked (and would have done justice to everyone invovled and their stories)
Steve goes back to deliver the infinity stones, of course he does.
But he drops by at the Stork Club. A week the Saturday after he initially went into the ice. 8PM. He’s only a few minutes late, and Peggy is still waiting.
And they dance. They have their dance, their moment together, their what-could-Have-been.
But Steve knows he has to go. Peggy knows it too, she’s a smart gal, Steve’s best gal. She knows that there are great things ahead for both of them, great happinesses and sadnesses but also great lives and loves. For both of them. She recognises that while the time and the love they shared together was beautiful, it was not meant to last. They’ve had their time; they’ve had their dance.
And it’s hard and it’s sad and it’s awful but they both know it’s the right thing to do.
And then quietly, Steve returns to the present. He returns to his future, to his start-over. His chance, now, to lead his life.
He gives Sam the shield. He deserves it, he’s been a loyal friend and he’s more than capable and deserving of it. He will be a great Cap, and Steve has done more than enough fighting now. It’s time for a break.
And so he retires to a quiet life. Gets a job at a local shop, adopts a cute little dog, and is always on hand to help out the local kids with anything they need.
And he gets to spend time with Bucky. Bucky, his best friend, his home, the person who is most closely connected to his soul. They finally get a chance to figure this out between themselves. Whatever this is. That love, that connection, whatever it was that kept them going, that made them break through brainwashing or drop the shield for 100 years. That unspoken thing that was so wrong back in their time but now maybe, just maybe, is ok.
And there’s a lot to learn. A lot of feelings to sort through and categorise and things to figure out but they do it. They do it because they have the time, and they ending and the opportunity that they deserve, that they’ve worked so hard for.
Peggy is allowed her life, in her time. She is allowed the family she built for herself, she is allowed to fall in love with another man, her husband, she is allowed her career as founder of SHIELD. She is allowed the opportunities to grow as a person and to forge a life for herself. She is allowed the happiness that she found, that she made. And she knows, deep down somewhere, that Steve is happy too. That Steve got the quiet life, and the love, he deserves. And she’s happy for that.
And Steve knows that Peggy was happy. That she lived her life to the full and she experienced joy. It’s the only thing he’d want for his best girl.
Everyone involved is emotionally (and often physically) battered and bruised. They’ve been through a lot. But they’ve carved out their own happiness. They’ve been given the dignity of the chance to make their own lives, to write their own endings.
And life goes on.