Author's note: Welcome to my sequel to Hide & Seek. This is definitely post-Civil War and it is FULL of spoilers, so if you're reading this and you haven't seen the movie yet, ye be warned!

I hope you all enjoy it! If you do, please leave me a review and favorite/alert!

And as always, I don't own anything related to Captain America.

*Aftermath*

Prologue

It had been approximately 16 days, 12 hours and 47 minutes since she'd met him in Germany to get the gear back to him and Sam Wilson. She'd known it was a risk that when she took it, it would mean the end of her career with the CIA and, more than likely, what she had done would be considered an act of treason against both the US and the newly ratified Sokovia Accords. Sharon Carter: criminal. It had never been her intention to have that title, but her Aunt Peggy would have probably come back to haunt her (Sharon wasn't so sure she believed in that or not, but didn't want to chance it) if she didn't help Captain Steve Rogers.

When Sharon had been accepted into the CIA two years ago, just a short three months after signing their lease on their apartment in Chicago, Steve told her she needed to go. She'd hesitated, of course, but he'd made several very good, and logical, arguments as to why she couldn't pass up the chance.

Two years ago…

"And what about you and I, Steve?" she asked.

"You and I will…we'll always be us," he smiled.

"That doesn't mean anything, you know that right?" Sharon replied.

Seated on their couch, Steve pulled her into a tight hug and just held her for a while, neither of them saying anything.

After a long while of silence, Sharon finally spoke.

"I don't have to go," Sharon said. "I love you, Steve. We could…"

"Sharon, I love you, too. And that means I want you to be happy. You'll never be happy just holed up in this apartment. I know you miss SHIELD. And Chicago is so far away from your family," Steve said. "You have to take this opportunity. The Agency clearly knows that they'd be foolish not to accept you into their ranks. And Tony's been making more and more comments about this new Avengers facility in New York. He wants to have us all centralized so we can be ready to go."

"Are we breaking up? Is that what's happening?" Sharon asked, a telltale tear fell down her cheek.

Steve wiped it away gently with his thumb.

"It's not a break-up. It's more…a pause. For when the time is right. You know as well as I do that my timing has always been bad," Steve smiled. But Sharon could tell he was having a hell of a time, too, despite the smile on his face.

"You have got to be the nicest person that's ever broken up with me, Steve Rogers."

"It's a pause," he replied. "You and I will…"

"And if the time is never right again?" Sharon said. "If we'll always simply cross paths now and then?"

"Then those will be the best days ahead."

Sharon totally lost it at that point and sobbed uncontrollably into Steve's shirt for the remainder of the evening. When she'd finally got control of herself that night, they'd made love one last time.

The following morning, Sharon let the CIA know that she'd accepted the position on their team and both Steve & Sharon packed up their few personal belongings amongst the recently purchased furniture and décor of their Chicago abode and said their good-byes. Sharon was picked up only a few hours after her acceptance of her new job and texted Tony to let him know what was going on between the two of them.

And until two weeks ago, when her Aunt Peggy had passed away in her sleep, that was the last time her path had crossed with Steve's.

Sure, they'd texted now and then, but both of their jobs kept them busy in different parts of the world. She'd talked to him after the events in Sokovia; she'd needed to hear that he was okay. And Sharon had been keeping in touch with Tony, her godfather, and Nat, because it was the usual. But for the most part, everyone was keeping to themselves.

Steve had wasted no time getting to London for Peggy's funeral. Steve had agreed to be a pallbearer without hesitation and Sharon's heart broke all over again when she'd seen the tears in his eyes while he carried her dear aunt into the cathedral.

News of the Sokovia Accords had broken the same time that Peggy had passed away. And Sharon knew, before she'd even talked to Steve, how he would react to them. There wasn't a doubt in her mind that both he and Sam Wilson wouldn't be signing them. And that didn't matter to them because the both of them were needed elsewhere during the huge ratification process in Vienna.

After the funeral, Steve had found her and the two of them clutched each other tighly in their grief. They'd gone out to get coffee and ended up talking for hours.

The spark between them, even though they hadn't been face to face in nearly two years, was still there. And Sharon was certain that they were going to wind up in her hotel room, rekindling things.

And sure enough, they'd ended up going upstairs, but she was on the phone with her boss while she paced back and forth. She was on the joint counterterrorism task force stationed in Berlin and the UN had just been bombed by an individual that was identified as James Barnes. Bucky. Steve and Sam watched the flat screen TV on the wall while Sharon rapidly fired off questions about the situation. Then announced that she had to go to work. Her Aunt Peggy would have to understand.

Everything else that she'd done after that; everything that would be career-ending wasn't even a choice she had to think about. She'd brought Steve and Sam along with her on the helicopter that came to pick her up and she'd managed to pass along the bit of intel she had. And that the order was too shoot on sight if and when Bucky was spotted.

She'd done her job while Bucky was trying to escape; she'd led Natasha and Tony straight to him. Sharon had joined the fight against Bucky; if she could bring him back alive, then they could continue their work with him. And in her fight, sure there was some recognition as to who she was, but he'd still thrown her into a table. Sharon had four broken ribs that made her wince in pain when she moved the wrong way.

Sharon had then also walked right into the evidence holding and taken both Steve's and Sam's suits as well as his shield. If she hadn't already gotten herself labeled a traitor, then this act surely did it. She'd met him, and Bucky and Sam, near the airport in Berlin.

"They'll come for you," he'd said.

Sharon had already made fun of his idea of a getaway car. It was old and small. And it was very enjoyable watching him unfold himself out of the driver's seat.

"I know," she'd smiled.

"Thank you, Sharon," Steve had said again.

And then they'd kissed. And all of the feelings they had for one another had come bubbling to the surface. And reluctantly, she broke away.

"I should go," she'd said.

Sharon knew she had to go right then and there because if she didn't, then she'd never go. And Steve had things to do and that man would never let her stay to help him fight.

That was the last she'd heard from Steve Rogers. She knew that he'd escaped a huge fight in the airport with Bucky while Wanda Maximoff, Sam Wilson, Clint Barton and Scott Lang were all sent to the Raft. In all reality, she felt like she should be there, too, but alas, she was on her way back to the US before she could be extradited and tried for treason.

In the time since Steve and Bucky, and then Tony, had made it to Siberia, Sharon had gotten several voicemails from her godfather. She didn't regret helping Steve; she'd do it again in a heartbeat. She loved Tony dearly, but he deserved a warrant out for his arrest, too. The Iron Man and War Machine suits were some of the most deadly weapons of mass destruction ever created and then the upgrade into the Hulkbuster suit was like the original design on crack. He was using the signing of the Sokovia Accords to atone for his own sins, against the people of the world as well as Pepper Potts. When, without the creation of Ultron last year, the tragedy of Sokovia would never have happened. And without the work of the Avengers in Sokovia, many more people would have perished.

Sharon shook her head, in an attempt to clear up the jumbled thoughts that were running around. She'd made it to the safe house she'd kept all these years. Her aunt had always talked of the importance of having somewhere to go, somewhere safe, if she wanted, or needed, to get away.

The place was a small cottage, set on a bluff overlooking Lake Michigan. It was just ten miles north of a coastal town called Manistee. She'd gone there with her cousins when she was a little girl and with her first few paychecks combined with the money she'd saved over the years, she'd gone up there to have the small place built. As an adult, she'd consistently made the pilgrimage up there, to spend a few nights to regenerate and make sure the place was still standing. Sharon had made sure it was equipped will all the state of the art equipment, some non-expiring supplies, and personal care items, so she could make unexpected visits.

The sun was beginning to set and had cast quite the impressive glow on the water behind her place. She'd checked every nook, every cranny for signs that someone had found her out, but the fact that she never told anyone, even Steve, about the place combined with the fact that it was registered to a woman named Sydney Patterson, she'd found it untouched since her last visit.

She finally breathed a sigh of relief as she walked out the back of the cottage into the cooling sand. She sank down and planted her tired body on to the beach and watched the sun go down and the waves crash on the shore.

Sharon was finally beginning to doze off when her phone alerted her that she had another voicemail. She was using a burner phone currently and was having all of her messages forwarded to this one.

She hit play and Tony's voice filled the night air.

"Listen, kiddo. I'm sorry…for everything. I really just need to know you're okay. Rhodey, in between cursing at me during his physical therapy sessions, was asking about you, too. I think I'm beginning to understand why you gave the CIA gig for something…or someone…you care about.

I know I've made a lot of mistakes in my life, and when I first heard that you'd helped Rogers and stolen his gear back for him, well, I…I was very upset. But I think I get it now, Sharon."

There was a very long pause before Tony finished.

"You…you don't need to tell me where you are. I promise that I won't track you down, but if you need me, I'm here. And if you wanted to let me know you're all right at some point, well, I would really like that.

I love you, little girl."

Tony sounded like he'd choked up at the end and Sharon had certainly had teared up. She was happy to have heard from him, even though he sounded more depressed than she had heard him in a long time.

She typed out a text to him, but quickly deleted it. It didn't feel right. Not yet.

Sharon continued to sit in the sand until the sun had completely disappeared into the horizon. If she didn't go inside now, she would end up sleeping out on the beach, and normally that thought wouldn't bother her. But she knew she would be safe in the cottage.

She completely locked down the cottage and checked all the corners and closets again before she finally laid down on the couch. As she drifted off into an uneasy sleep, she hoped that the piece of paper she'd snuck to Steve back in Germany had been found by him, and him alone.

…

Author's note: so what did you think?! Let me know, you wonderful people!