Steve Rogers looked over the bridge of the helicarrier at the Avengers. Stark was talking with Dr Banner about… something, he was not kidding when he muttered when they were talking technobabble calling it English. Thor was seemingly staring into space near the front and Natasha and Clint were standing to one side, Steve was certain that there was something between them. "Amazing isn't it" came from his side. Steve turned to see whose voice it was and saw Commander Maria Hill standing just behind him.
"Commander which part are you referring to? I always had faith that we would pull through, but I was concerned when that missile came." Steve remarked.
Maria chuckled "I wasn't talking about the mission, less than a day ago, you all wanted to rip each other's throats out, now though, it's like you're inseparable."
Steve looked down, he knew that the underlying tension had not dissipated, merely had been put aside in the face of a great challenge. "Are we though? I mean look at us, Barton and Romanoff are to themselves, Stark and Banner are in their own little world, Thor is at the front, alone in his thoughts, much like the 'Man out of Time', at least until you spoke. Not that I mind ma'am." he replied, adding the last part almost as an afterthought. He had heard the stories of "The Ice Queen" and while he did not believe them, it still would not do to test the validity of them. 'damn, why must I always be awkward around people, particularly women?'
It was at that moment when a bright white light shone on their faces and the next thing they know, they are surrounded by people in robes and the Helicarrier is gone. "Master? What is going on?" one of the aliens asks.
The human closest to her turns to her and says "I have no idea Ahsoka, perhaps the Council will know something." and then proceeds to approach them.
In an uncharacteristic show, Stark turns to Commander Hill and persuades her to take point, with Captain Rogers behind her. The human in front of them extends his hand and says "I'm Anakin Skywalker, Jedi Knight and General of the five hundred and first legion. You are?"
"Maria Hill, General Skywalker, I recommend that we meet with your council before anything else is said, just to be safe."
Anakin nodded and gestured with said hand to the set of double doors. "This way folks."
No one said anything, Steve's mind was racing, the only Anakin Skywalker he knew was a fictional character from a movie. The elevator reached it's destination and Anakin had them wait outside, and that's when Tony said something. "Anyone have an idea about what is happening?"
Steve nodded. "What I think is crazy though, after all, the only Jedi and Anakin Skywalker that I've heard of is from Star Wars."
Before anyone could say anything to that though, the chamber doors were opened and Anakin motioned for them to enter. Before they did Maria turned to Stark and muttered: "Don't say anything!"
Stark seemed to get the message as he said nothing about the holograms or the various types of aliens. "Welcome you we do." the little green alien said. "Grandmaster Yoda of the Jedi High Council I am."
Maria looked at Steve before speaking, looking for some sign that she should withhold any information, but instead, Steve simply nodded, telling her to say everything. "I am Commander Maria Hill of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division of Earth, I am under the impression that it means nothing to all of you, am I correct?" when the Jedi nodded, she continued, explaining the history of SHIELD and the Avengers and introducing the people behind her. Master Yoda rubbed his chin as she told her story, he, along with most of the council, felt a great disturbance in the Force earlier that day, but they had believed it to be related to Master Kenobi's report from Mandalore. It would seem though to have been attributed to these 'Avengers' coming to their galaxy, their purpose unknown. "Hmm, unusual this is, the Will of the Force this may be, to what end though, consider this we must," he said once Maria finished her story.
Master Windu spoke next "You will be provided with quarters here in the Temple and a history of the past decades, to familiarize yourselves with our culture, will also be sent." he then gestured to Anakin. "Knight Skywalker, escort them to their quarters, you and your Padawan will be in charge of them until further notice."
The Avengers took that as their cue to leave and, with prompting from Anakin, bowed to the Council and followed the Knight to their quarters.
After Anakin left them, Steve poured over the data from the High Council, trying to determine if the movies he saw would apply, and unfortunately, in going over the last decade, it had been shown that he was right. Palpatine was the Sith Lord they were looking for, now it was just a matter of proving it. He had been working on it for several hours and was trying not to nod off looking at the monitor of the datapad that the Council gave them when he heard a mug being set down, looking up, he saw Maria sitting across from him with a mug of steaming liquid for the both of them. "What is it? The drink I mean," he asks.
Maria smiled "They call it Caf, but it's similar to coffee back home. How's the research going?"
Steve sighed "Palpatine is the Sith Lord, just like in the movie, but the problem is how do we get proof to the Jedi before Order Sixty-Six happens?" he rubbed his face, the serum made it so he did not need to sleep long or often, but the effects of the past few days has begun to take their toll on him. Much to his surprise, Maria stands and puts her hand on his shoulder. "I feel that my skills will come in handy with that, but I'll do that in the morning Soldier Boy, for now, you should rest, we've had a long couple of days and serum or not, everyone needs sleep."
Steve sighed and started off to bed before stopping and turning to Maria. "Do you think we'll get home?"
Maria shook her head. "Unless something happens, I suspect that we are stranded here."
Steve nodded "Goodnight Maria."
"Goodnight Steve," she replied. She waited for Steve to leave the room before picking up the datapad, while she had been serious about getting him some rest, she was as much of a workaholic as him, if not worse, and she wanted to get proof to the council quickly. Hacking Palpatine's data feed was child's play compared to security systems back on Earth, and, much to her surprise, it wasn't hard to find the evidence she would need to convince the Jedi Council. However, she took more than she thought she would need knowing about Anakin's relationship with the Chancellor, he would be the most challenging obstacle to overcome, but she was confident that the amount of evidence would convince him. It would take some time before the data was completely transferred to the pad, just enough for her to analyze something she had noticed earlier. Or rather she would have if while she leaned back into the chair and shut her eyes for a moment she hadn't felt the strong hands giving her a massage that she had desperately needed. "I thought you were going to rest as well if I had known you were going to work on this…" she heard behind her, from a voice she didn't expect to hear after telling him to sleep. "I told you to rest Captain."
Steve scoffed "I recognize that you gave me an order Commander, however, considering you've gone through the same things I have and chosen this path, I've elected to ignore it."
Maria smiled, Fury had said something similar to the World Security Council just before they launched a nuke at New York. "Captain, you did the hard part, you've fought a battle and had to keep the Avengers together. I've just dealt with agents on the Helicarrier."
"And took a grenade on the Bridge, and had to deal with Coulson's death, and had to put up with us, would you like me to continue? Battle compares only slightly to the things you've gone through in the past few days, take it from this soldier, you'll be thankful for the rest," he said, knowing quite well that many soldiers chose to keep going until their adrenaline ran out and they crashed.
Much to his surprise though, he felt Maria relax, and when he looked down, she was well and truly asleep. Ever the gentleman, Steve scooped Maria up, and carried her to her bed, each Avenger having their own bedrooms. Tucking her in, he noticed the peaceful expression on her face and felt his chest tremble, if he was going to be honest with himself, he had fallen for her when they first met on the Helicarrier, but he knew that she wouldn't return the feeling, he was too far broken to have someone love him, but he could not resist the urge and decided to kiss her forehead and whisper "Sleep well Blue Eyes."
He had not yet left when Maria's eyes shot open. In truth, she had woken up once Steve took her into his arms but had been so comfortable and too tired to argue, the kiss, however, that had taken her by surprise and it took all her willpower to remain calm and to keep from bolting into Steve's arms. Tears came to her eyes as she began to rationalise what had happened, she was in love with Steve Rogers, the man behind the Captain America mask, but she knew that he was too caring for someone as broken as her, that he deserved someone better than her. Steve noticed, rather heard, her tears and was by her side faster than she thought humanly possible. "What's wrong Maria?"
His ignorance of her situation was cute, and she could not help but lean into him for comfort. For a while, they simply held each other, one in need of consoling, and the other ready to help when the other was ready to talk. Eventually, Maria withdrew from the embrace but could not bring herself to say what was bothering her, but Steve's face just brought on more tears. He thought for a mere moment that there was something on his face, but dismissed it quickly as he felt nothing, then a thought came to him. "It's me, isn't it? What have I done?" he asked.
Maria brought a hand up to wipe her tears. "No, it's just that I'm too broken to be loved and yet I cannot help but to fall in love."
Steve was startled "With me?" he asked. She gave no audible clue, but she nodded and her tears seemed to intensify. Steve was stunned, for him, it had been less than three weeks ago when he had plunged a plane into the Arctic and Peggy had revealed her feelings to him, then soon after that, he found out that Peggy was most likely dead and then had to fight a battle that should never have happened. And to top it all off, he had been transported to another universe and now Maria had admitted to her feelings to him, and yet it felt different to when Peggy did; granted, the obvious aside, it had been out of the fear that they wouldn't see each other again, this time, that wasn't there. The more he thought about it and held Maria, the clearer his course became. He shifted slightly, allowing her to lay her head on his chest, and kissed the top of her head. "You're not broken, at least not as bad as me. I thought it impossible for anyone to feel anything towards me, the 'Man out of Time' as the papers back home called me, and I thought that no one would be able to fill that hole I had, yet, I found myself drawn towards you on the Helicarrier's bridge." Maria pulled back and looked him in the eyes "Yes, I was drawn to you then, I fought at New York to prevent you from fighting." he put his forehead against hers and not another word was said between them all night. And the two broken halves slowly became whole...
Author's Note: Here is the project I was referring to in When Jedi Love, my Reylo fic, Love Is More Than A Candle In The Darkness, sprung from a writing exercise that I was doing and will be updated less frequently than this one, and this one's updates will be less frequent then When Jedi Love. Please Review, I appreciate any and all constructive feedback.