Title: Signed with a Step and a Beat of a Wing
Challenge #82: Flight
Fandom: Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Rating: G
Length: 703 words
Summary: Sam's footing took a bit of time to find.

His Momma always said that from the minute he took his first breath he'd hit the ground running and was always keeping her on her toes.

It started when he was born ten days before his due date, not early enough for there to be any health issues but ahead of the game enough to put a wrench in everyone's plans because not only had the crib not been put together yet, but she hadn't had a chance to stock the fridge and Aunt Helen wasn't going to be able to get off work to come to help out for at least a week. They'd managed to make it work, she told him years later, but he could've made things easier for everyone involved if he'd just done what'd been expected of him from the get go.

Then, just shy of a month old, Momma turned her back for just a second to reach for something and Sam rolled himself right off the changing table. Luckily, their big bruiser of a cat broke his fall. Well, lucky for Sam, according to her Herman didn't seem to appreciate it all that much. The doctor had been surprised he'd managed to roll over so early, but Momma? Not so much. Apparently she'd spent most of the following Sunday dinner complaining to Grandma Nan that Sam got in more trouble than she'd thought was even possible for a baby to manage. Grandma Nan, having raised nine kids on her own, was decidedly unimpressed.

After that it was pretty standard for Sam to do his best to try to turn his Momma's hair gray, the way you'd hear her tell it. He was constantly climbing things, his poor parents never knew if they'd find him perched on the top of his dresser reading a book or scaling to the top of the bookcase ready to jump off and dive onto the couch. She always said that if he had a motto it'd be Why crawl if you can walk or walk if you can run? and as he got older it didn't change, only expanded to Why run if you can drive and, eventually, Why drive if you can fly?

His time in the 58th was amazing, pararescue combined two things he loved - moving fast and flying high - and enabled him to discover a new one, helping people. Serving his country, working with his friends, and doing his best to save the world were all added bonuses. And he had the time of his life while doing it. Not that he ever told his Momma how dangerous it all was, of course. She pretty much adopted the whole squadron though, and make sure she sent enough cookies for everyone for Christmas and always included something in her packages for Riley and little things for anyone having a birthday. It was amazing what a note from home with just a simple message about being appreciated could do for morale. And when Sam had accidently let it slip in a phone call that Mark wasn't sure he'd be able to get the stuff he'd need to celebrate Passover properly she'd packed up a box and had it out in the mail within the hour.

She continued to send out letters and the occasional care package after Riley died and Sam had come home and spent all his time wandering aimlessly around the house. "It gives me folks to worry after," she'd explained. "I gotta have someone to fret over and it might as well be those boys since now you're just sitting around the house like a lump." She'd immediately followed that by saying she was glad he was home and not in danger but that if he didn't find something to do with his days he was going to be taking his life into his own hands because she was only going to be able to put up with his moping for so long before she snapped.

Sam started jogging along the Mall the next morning and went to the VA that afternoon. He'd been still long enough, it was time to get moving and maybe, just maybe, give his Momma something to complain about again.