AUTHORS' NOTE:
Here comes a fun and extensive Captain America/Avengers/Winter Soldier story from yours truly, Monique and Kyla. We've been putting a lot of thought and effort into this and we hope that you love it as much as we do. Also, expect to have several cameos made by Andy and Thor from "Take Me or Leave Me" and "Thousand Years" because they are priceless.
WARNINGS: Language, Sex, Violence, Blood, Dark Themes, Angst
ENJOY!
xxxx
Angela Stark peered at the sleeping super soldier, trying really hard to figure out what she should say to him when he woke up. She only knew as much as she had been briefed about, keeping it to herself because Nick Fury had asked and she certainly didn't want her older brother, Tony, to know anything about this. He was still in the dark about her involvement with S.H.I.E.L.D. and she wasn't about to let him think any differently—Hell, she hadn't told him about her powers yet either.
They were half siblings and he knew something was up when she was sent by their mother to Professor Xavier's School for the Gifted, but he never really looked into it. Tony was far too busy with his company and so when Angel was recruited by S.H.I.E.L.D., she made quick friends with Natasha Romanov and became an agent and now she was supposed to make Steven Grant Rogers feel safe 70+ from the future he had been encased in ice in. She didn't know how she was going to do it, but she fluffed her hair went into the room as Steve stirred.
His eyes opened and he looked up at the ceiling fan, everything fashioned to look like the time he had left, even though Angel thought that was overkill. She wanted to be completely and utterly, 100% honest with the man she had somewhat idolized even though she never told Tony or Howard that. Angel tried harder than anything to try and keep herself separate from the rest of the Starks, sans Maria, who raised her as her own even though she was Howard's flesh and blood and not hers. Steve, however, sat up and heard the door open, looking at her with a look on his face she couldn't quite place.
At first, he seemed scared and then his eyes lit up like he was so excited he couldn't handle it, standing up and hurrying to her as she started toward him. She opened up her mouth to tell him what she had been perfecting for the last couple of hours, watching him sleep with Coulson, but instead, she found chapped lips pressing to hers and her heart skipped a beat. Her legs felt like they were going to buckle underneath her and butterflies erupted in her stomach…in fact when he pulled away and smiled at her, she even smiled back until it hit her that she had no idea what was happening.
"How long was I out? How did you find me?" Steve asked her, stroking her hair. "How did you…the last time I saw you, you…why are you looking at me like that?"
Angel paused a moment. "Um…do I remind you of someone?"
"Yeah, you're Angel," Steve said, pausing too. "Why? What's going on? Are you alright?"
"I…" Angel took a deep breath and tried to breathe. "…Steve, you were kind of frozen in the ice caps for…for 70 years…"
xx
A lot of things about time travel didn't make sense but one thing did: Angel was here in the past because she had been sent here by her out of whack powers. Steve had been telling her all about how they had first met and what he remembered and she knew she was who he was thinking of…it all made sense. Even after a small freak out he seemed to understand that it was the most logical way this all made sense and yet that made this even crazier. She'd been getting to know this great guy and falling hard for him and yet he was so damaged and sad because everyone he'd ever loved was gone and she couldn't help him…until now.
Pure energy coursing through her system was making her out of whack and she reached up to stop a nose bleed as she felt it, not feeling so hot, but wanting to be here. If this was what Steve had described, this was how they had met and though that made her feel kind of strange, stranger things had happened and she paused when she heard a loud noise. This was her father's Expo, in the past, way before he'd even met Maria and married her and had Tony and she didn't know how she felt…certainly anxious.
"Come on, Steve, have a little fun," James "Bucky" Barnes told his best friend, Angel perking up her ears. "This can't all be about the war, can it?"
"No it can't," Corrine Rogers, Steve Roger's older sister said smiling over at her brother, "This is actually about me," she explained with a nod, her friend Lillian laughing beside her. "I planned this shindig, and you're going to appreciate it."
"Plus, you've got a date to entertain," Bucky whispered now nudging Steve in the side, both of them looking over at Corrine's best friend with interest when she winked over at them.
The announcer spoke up and Corrine froze, looking up as he started to ask everyone to make their way to the stage, "It's starting, come on!" Corrine cheered grabbing onto Bucky and Lillian's hands and dragged them towards the stage, Steve following after them.
Corrine cheered and clapped, rolling her eyes as Howard Stark came onto the stage, winking down at her before kissing one of the girls on the stage he handed his hat to, and took the microphone from her.
It was strange to see Corrine and Bucky in the flesh and not just from pictures that Steve reminisced over, and it was also strange to see Steve there…shorter than her. All of her focus was pulled away when her father came on stage, but she kept glancing at the group out of the corner of her eye, smiling as much as she could because she had to look impressed, even if she wasn't. Howard Stark had never been there for her or her brother growing up and it was because of all of these inventions—they had always been more important than his family.
Despite understanding how they worked and being able to hold her own and help Tony make them, she despised them. She despised his company and she despised his work and regardless of having stocks in it in the future because she was his daughter, she couldn't help but roll her eyes even though her heart hurt. Right now, she was torn between crying and making snide comments, but she found the strength to just smile, occasional looking at Steve to keep her grounded…he was after all why her unstable time jump had led her here looking out of place.
"Ladies and gentleman," Corrine bit her lip looking back at Bucky with wide and excited eyes as Stark got ready to introduce the new invention he'd been working on, saying all the words she'd written out for him, "What if I told you in a few short years, your automobile, won't even have to touch the ground at all." The crowd started to talk amongst themselves as they clapped and Bucky slipped his hand onto Corrine's waist pulling her back.
"He's crazy right?" He whispered and she just laughs shaking her head as she demanded him to 'just watch' while the women on stage removed the wheels from the automobile, revealing metal plates on the gears where the wheels should have been.
"With Stark revert reversion technology, you'll be able to do just that." Corrine met eyes with Mr. Stark just as he pulled the lever, giving him a thumbs up when the area around where the cars wheel started to glow orange and hovered off the ground.
"Holy cow," Corrine laughed at Bucky's words, smiling at him, "you helped him do that?"
She gave him a shrug, "More or less."
Angel knew she was more or less a Stark when she could pinpoint exactly what was wrong with her father's invention, but things would all work out for him more or less. He'd become more famous and richer and find Maria and settle down, have Tony, think his life was perfect, have a way too late mid-life crisis, have Angel and then everything would be taken from him and given to Tony in one fell swoop. He couldn't know that his life was going to turn out so differently than he thought it would now…but how could he, right?
The wheels started to spark, and Corrine bit her lip, praying nothing was going to explode, and she met eyes with Howard again as he took a step back, wincing when the car fell to the ground in a crash, the crowd wincing with him, Angel clapping her hand over her mouth to stifle a laugh.
"I did say a few years didn't I?" The entire crowd laughed with Howard, and Corrine rolled her eyes at him before pointing at her wrist, telling him to remember the time they were supposed to meet up that night, and he just nodded at her laughing nervously before walking off the stage.
Steve sighed, turning around to look at the recruiting poster hanging on the wall in the back, and glanced back over at his sister who was now laughing with Bucky, his arms wrapped around her waist. Steve had been trying to get into the army ever since America jumped into it all. Each time he went though, they always turned him down; he didn't meet the requirements to be a solider, but his best friend Bucky did. Bucky and Corrine's feelings for each other were more than obvious to anyone around them, but for some reason they just never saw it. But now that Bucky was going off to war, Corrine was starting to open up more, and Steve had never seen his sister cry as much as she had since finding out about Bucky's deployment. If he were to join the war alongside his friend he'd be leaving his sister alone, but he could be able to keep Bucky safe for his sister… so she could be happy and start a family with his best friend.
So, he was going to give it another shot, he quickly walked backwards, bumping into someone in the process, "I'm sorry," he said quickly and quietly as he turned around, looking up at the beautiful girl, and felt his face grow hot, "I'm real sorry," he said again trying to seem like he wasn't staring, before clearing his throat, giving her a nervous awkward smile, and headed for the recruiting center.
"You don't have to worry about it," Angel said, following after him. "Have you been recruited yet?"
It was a painful subject for Steve and she knew that, but at the same time she also knew that they were supposed to meet here. Steve had given her most of the details of it but not all of them, so she was winging the dialogue and wondering if that was how fate had really settled things out for her…had this infection of pure energy that was slowly killing her from the inside out and she hadn't told anyone but Reed about it, brought her here on purpose? Was Steve an anchor? She certainly thought that he grounded her.
"No," Steve said slowly, disappointment crossing his face as he looked up at her. "I…you must think I'm completely pathetic."
Angel gently rested her hand on his shoulder. "I don't think that you're pathetic at all…quite the contrary, I think that you have a lot of heart."
Steve glanced at Angel as she set her hand on his, grasping it gently and then bringing it up to her lips to brush them against his skin. His whole body shivered at the touch, just as attracted to her now as he was when they had met, not able to fully voice his love, but knowing it was there, trying to find the right moment. He reached up and cupped her face, running his thumb along her jaw and smiling at her, wishing there was something else that he could do to repay such words.
"You have always been the man with heart," Angel repeated, resting her free hand on his shirted chest and stroking where his heart lay beating beneath. "Everyone has always seen you as a hero and you might not see it, but you're a hero. You're the best kind of hero because you fight with your ideals, not necessarily with your brawn and you know what? You haven't always had brawn…so what does that say about you?"
Steve smiled and kissed her gently. "I don't know how I could get through all of this without you, Angel. I thought for a moment that I'd lost you too and I know I couldn't bear it, but it's you. You've always…"
"It's okay," Angel said as he trailed off. "I know it's still hard for me to wrap my mind around it, but you know me and I was there and when the day comes that I know all of that too…I was sent to you for a reason, and I'll figure out why."
"I'm tempted to believe it was God's way of telling me I did something right," Steve admitted, a blush tinting his cheeks. "I certainly must have…"
Steve smiled at her, his heart thumping away in his chest as she slowly moved her hand off of him and blushed herself. She wasn't usually all this forward, actually, a trait she didn't share with her brother where romance was concerned, but Steve brought something out in her. Perhaps it was because from what she knew of him, he was more than ready to serve his country and maybe someday lead a normal life regardless of having so much pain in him that Angel had always wished that she could take away. Natasha had even dropped the words 'soul mate' and Angel had kept denying, but deep down it made her wonder because she was here. She was making unstable time jumps, manipulating time and space, and they were bringing her to Steve—had brought her to Steve…so it was certainly plausible.
"I, uh…" Steve began shifting uncomfortably. "I don't know, I'm just surprised…"
Angel smiled nervously. "Surprised about what?"
"That you're still talking to me," Steve admitted, making eye contact with her. "I have a tendency to push women away…especially attractive ones."
"Well, I'm not all that shallow and I don't think your date is either, but if your heart isn't in it," Angel tried, looking over at the group and then to him, "then that's on you. You can't choose what your heart wants, but you have to be open to listening to it."
Steve nodded and looked back at the recruiting information. "My heart's telling me not to give up."
"Then don't give up," Angel whispered, smiling at him.
She felt another nose bleed coming on so she took her leave, not wanting to make him feel bad for her in any way. Steve was kind of sad without her presence, but he smiled as he watched her head back into the crowd, looking back to all of the army things and taking a deep breath. His heart wasn't in dancing or the date: it was in finally getting past every ailment that kept him here. Past his asthma, his heart problems, his respiratory issues—he just wanted to be a soldier and serve his country like every other American man was able to do.
"Hey Steve," Bucky called out to his friend pulling away from Corrine briefly, "what do you say we go treat these girls—" he trailed off when he noticed Steve was no longer behind him and he sighed, turning back to Corrine as she noticed her brother was gone too.
"I wonder where he's run off to," she sighed as she turned to stand beside Bucky, Lillian shrugging.
"He went that way," Angel said and the three turned to look at her, frowning when they noticed her wiping at her bloody nose, "towards the recruiting center."
Corrine quickly went to her side, pulling her handkerchief from her coat pocket, "Oh honey what's happened to you?" She asked quickly, her mothering ways over taking her as she handed the taller woman the piece of cloth, "you said you saw my brother?"
"Thank you, I'm alright," Angel told them. It was a lie, but it wasn't her first and it wouldn't be her last. "Sometimes it just acts up and there's a lot of excitement…I'm Angel, by the way."
Corrine nodded and then walked hand in hand with Bucky, Lillian to her right alongside Angel, the woman who'd they just met, heading towards the recruitment center.
"Here, let me go in," Bucky said quickly as he pulled away stopping Corrine from going any further, "you have this thing you do that, well, you get judgey."
Corrine scoffed, "I do not get judgey." She argued crossing her arms over her chest and Bucky just smiled shaking his head.
"Give me two minutes with him, and then we'll all go dancing," Bucky said holding his hands out and Corrine smiled, rolling her eyes before gesturing for him to go.
"We need to get you some better clothes sweetheart," Corrine turned when Lillian spoke to Angel, and she laughed lightly.
"You are dressed a bit," Corrine let her eyes wander over the girl's clothing biting her lip, "How can I put this without offending you," she muttered to herself, before smiling, "You're just not dressed for dancing," she said now clapping her hands together as Angel smiled because she knew that her clothes were definitely not for the time period at all.
"Really?" Angel asked, looking down at her pencil skirt and blouse. "This is all the rage in Paris," she teased smiling.
"I'm sure Bucky will be okay with us stopping at my apartment to get you some nicer clothes," Lillian says with a shrug. "You look about my size, and it's not like Bucky's going to mind to see us three getting undressed."
Corrine gasped, her face hot as she turned to Lillian, "That's so uncalled for Lilly," she said shaking her head as she looked back to Angel who laughed, "I'm so sorry about her, she has to filter."
"I also have no soul," Lillian added on with a shrug, "but that's less significant."
"Oh, it's alright, I've known people with no souls that aren't anywhere near as lovely," Angel admitted with a grin.
The three girls laughed amongst themselves and Bucky came in then, his arm wrapping around Corrine's shoulders, "You girls ready to go?" He asked and Corrine looked up at him.
"Is Steve not coming?" She asked and he just shook his head.
"He's gonna catch up with us in a bit, he's got some stuff to do," he muttered and she frowned nodding slowly.
"Well," Lillian said looking over at Bucky, "we gotta stop at my place first, get this doll some new rags, now let's go love birds, Angel you're my date," she said turning away from Corrine who was now blushing and wrapped her arm around Angel.
Angel didn't know how much time she had here as she felt herself waning a little, no matter how much the idea of going dancing appealed to her. The nose bleeds were getting closer together and she didn't want to have to explain the disappearing into thing air act to her new 'friends', so she took a deep breath and looked at them. There was one loose end she had to tie up so that they didn't suspect all that much when she randomly appeared again: Howard.
"I would love to go dancing, but we should do it another night. All this excitement has my nose acting up and I need to find Howard somehow in this sea of gaggling women," Angel admitted as she hugged Lillian and then Corrine. "Thank you for the handkerchief, it was much appreciated and I'll repay you somehow."
She knew that if she stayed too long then they would start asking her all sorts of questions, especially Corrine, who was basically like Howard's Pepper and it made Angel smile. It was nice to know that Howard had someone before his downward spiral that Maria had to pick him up from, but she had something she had to do. She had several more time jumps ahead of her and she wasn't sure entirely what to expect, but she had to make sure that she would always be welcome here and she left to find Howard, which wasn't hard when you were Angela Stark and you could manipulate people to your will.
"Da—Howard?" Angel asked slowly.
Howard looked up from flirting with a redhead and smiled at her. "Well, hello there."
"Hi," Angel said as she watched him looking her up and down, praying he was confused about her dress and that was it. "You and I need to talk just really fast…see…I'm your cousin."
Just before Howard could say anything to the contrary, the redhead throwing her dirty looks gave her a smile instead, and then Angel touched Howard's face. He felt tingly and warm before he just nodded, taking on the new set of memories as Angel dawned another nose bleed.
xx
Angel got to go dancing after all.
After coming back to the future shortly after manipulating Howard's memories, Steve found her trying to stop her nose from bleeding and he took her straight to Reed, who had been recruited to help Bruce to keep the Hulk under control. She was thankful to him, but she was also worried because every time the pure energy got disturbed, it started to eat away at her and Reed still couldn't figure it out. Still, it was a week after the first jump that she jumped again, to Corrine, Lillian and Bucky celebrating with Steve about him getting into the army the day after the Expo…it was also bittersweet because Steve would be going to Boot Camp and Bucky was being deployed.
After stopping off with Howard and figuring out where everyone was, Angel found herself in a dress that made her feel a little weird, because her hair wasn't curled. It didn't bother her too much, but she would be out of place even pinning it back in strategic ways, but she would see Steve. This was certainly a part of the reminiscing that she and Steve hadn't really talked about, but he'd told her she was there…told her that he had spent a magical evening with her and she didn't know what that meant. What kind of magical evening? They weren't even technically dating because she was so confused by all of this time travel.
"Corrine?" Angel asked as she got into the bar.
Bucky and Steve were getting the girls drinks, Steve being a stickler as normal about dancing because he didn't know how and didn't have the right partner, and Angel could understand Lillian's frustration there. The beautiful young blonde had come to dance and Steve wasn't going to lead her out on the dance floor, but she had the attention of an attractive man while Corrine seemed to be watching from afar…like a wing woman? Angel didn't know, but she smiled when Corrine turned to her.
"There you are! And you're dressed for dancing!" Corrine teased sweetly, pulling Angel into a hug. "Have you seen Bucky or Steven?"
Angel shook her head. "No, I just got here…I didn't know you would all be here. Are we celebrating?"
"Yes, we are," came Bucky's voice as he handed Corrine a drink. "Steve here, got into the army even though—"
"—Buck, please don't start," Steve said as his cheeks flushed red.
He had already been lectured more than once about how he needed to be careful and he had a feeling that Corrine and Bucky had even talked behind his back at some point about how his ailments gave him no place in the army…and Angel could tell Corrine was a bit upset. She had covered up her red eyes with make-up, but she was worried because her little brother and his best friend were leaving her and this was the last night she had with them. Smiling at Steve and congratulating him, Angel set her hand on Corrine's shoulder and scooted closer to her as Steve hurriedly went to go and get Angel a drink, setting Lillian's down on the table they were occupying.
"Everything is going to be alright…trust me. They'll both be fine," Angel told Corrine gently and that was mostly a promise to her that she would fix it. "No matter what happens or how bleak it looks, I'll make sure that everything is fine."
Bucky raised his eyebrows. "Sounds like a tough promise to keep, but the sentiment is appreciated, Angel."
Corrine nodded smiling over at Angel. "I'm just hoping to be able to go with Steven," she said now, ignoring Bucky when he groaned, "Howard Stark is my boss, maybe he can…maybe he can get me in as a supervisor or something." Corrine was aware that it was just hopeless musings, but it still made her feel better thinking that she'd be able to be sent to wherever Steve went.
"Howard's not going to give you up that easily Corrine," Bucky muttered as he gulped down some of his drink, glancing briefly at Lilly as she walked over with her new date, "You're practically Howard's wife, he's not going to let you go join the war with the rest of us."
Angel squirmed at the sound of that not because it was really true, but because it just reminded her of the fact that Howard had cheated on Maria to have her.
Corrine smiled at him, her eyebrows rising. "Someone sounds jealous," she mocked with a roll of her eyes, before turning to look back at Angel. "Bucky doesn't think women have a place in the war," Corrine said laughing when Bucky went to argue.
"I never said that," he defended himself quickly, looking over at Angel as she raised an eyebrow. "I simply stated that I preferred our women safe and at home, rather than risking their necks over in Europe."
Angel nodded slowly. "Yes, well, I think you might find that women can handle themselves where fighting is concerned and if not with fighting, there are always positions open for nurses."
"Either way, wouldn't it be best to let the men know that they have a home to come back to?" Bucky asked, having talked to Steve about this before.
"Sounds to me like you just don't want to be shown up by a woman," Angel teased and she smiled even though Bucky gave her a look.
Corrine laughed, rolling her eyes as she looked past Bucky at Lillian, "Who's this?" She questioned, pushing Bucky's big head out of the way when he turned to see, making him grab onto her hand and pull it from his face sending her a look when she laughed again.
"This is David," Lillian introduced gesturing towards the man who had his arms wrapped around her waist. "He's a sailor," she said with a grin and Corrine nodded.
"I can see that by his uniform," she laughed, pushing Bucky away again when he went to pull her from her stool. "What on earth do you want?" She laughed, glancing over at Steve as he hurried back over with Angel's drink, the look in his eyes one Corrine knew well when he smiled at her.
"I want you to come dance with me," Bucky stated, spinning her around in her seat his hands going to her waist. "Steve's got himself a new date; you don't have to babysit him anymore." Bucky said looking over at Steve when he glared at him. "Angel," Bucky called out to the girl smiling when she turned to look at him, "why don't you get Steve here to come dance, so Corrine will dance with me."
Angel blushed at that, taking a deep breath when Steve stammered a moment and then they just made eye contact—she knew how much dancing meant to Steve. Corrine laughed when Bucky picked her up despite her protests, and tossed her onto his shoulder and carried her out on the dance floor; once they were there he set her down and took her hands in his, and started to spin her.
"You're such a brute!" Corrine laughed letting him pull her to his chest, dancing quickly along with the Big Band, Corrine turning to look when Lillian ran over with David, Angel and Steve still at the bar, staring over at him with smiles on their faces.
"You love it!" Bucky called out over the music grinning down at her as he took her face in his hands, and she swallowed quickly before he pressed his lips to hers.
"It's about time," Steve said as he watched Bucky kiss his sister, looking back over at Angel. "Those two have been into each other since we were kids," he said shaking his head, happy to see Bucky looking so happy with himself. "They're going to end up married with four kids I'm sure."
Angel smiled at that, feeling a painful throb in her heart because she already loved these people and it wasn't just that…it was because she knew that that didn't happen. She knew that Bucky died and that Corrine went missing and that Steve was going to crash into the ice caps as soon as he really got deeper into this Hydra business, and it was breaking her. The tears appeared in her eyes and she just smiled and nodded, looking away from him, trying not to focus on the fact that he placed his hand on hers because he knew something was wrong.
"Are you upset I didn't ask you to dance?" Steve asked her, nodding when she shook her head. "Did I say something offensive, somehow? I didn't mean to…"
Angel looked at him and smiled. "You're perfect, it's alright. I'm just emotional, I guess, don't worry about it."
Corrine pulled back from Bucky, biting down on her lip hard before shaking her head, "You shouldn't have done that James," she said quickly taking a step back as he sighed.
"Corrine," she shook her head and turned away, giving Lilly a look which made her quickly leave David's side. "Corrine!" Bucky called after her as she and Lilly hurried back over to the bar.
"I, we're going to the bathroom," Corrine said quickly to Steve and Angel, her eyes tearing up as she grabbed her purse, ignoring Bucky as he called out to her again, pushing through the dancing crowd.
"Corrine," Steve went to stand and she just shook her head giving him a small smile.
"I'm okay," she said putting her hand on his shoulder. "You stay, talk to Angel; I'll be right back," she said quickly, hurrying away with Lillian just as Bucky pushed through the crowds, and ran over to them.
"Where'd she go?" Bucky asked out of breath, looking around for her as Steve shook his head at him.
"She went to the bathroom with Lilly," Steve said sadly. "Just give her some time Bucky, she'll come around."
Bucky sighed loudly and then looked at Angel. "Hey, are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Angel said quickly, feeling a nose bleed come on even as she said it, Steve quickly taking out his pocket square and moving to hold it to her nose. "Thank you…God, you guys must think I'm sickly or something. I just—"
"—get nose bleeds when you're overwhelmed? I get it, I've seen it happen," Steve told her with a smile, knowing how it felt to be weak and sickly.
"I just understand what it's like to lose someone," Angel admitted as she shrugged gently. "I lost both of my parents to the violence in the world."
Steve smiled sadly and cupped her face. "I'm sorry to hear that."
"We didn't know you lost them to the war," Bucky added in and Angel just nodded because that made sense, she supposed. "No wonder you came to be with Howard."
Angel just smiled and then she glanced at them and nodded again. "I'm going to go and check on the girls."
When she excused herself, Bucky looked at Steve, who immediately sighed because he knew that instead of talking about his sister, Bucky wanted to chastise him. He'd had the perfect opportunity to ask Angel to dance and Steve had even thought about it, but everything had happened so fast and then Bucky had kissed Corrine and then Angel opened up about her parents and it just wasn't the right time. In fact it even dawned on Steve that he hadn't told Angel how beautiful she looked tonight just because his focus was on the war and he really needed to rectify that.
"Angel is sweet on you," Bucky said shaking his head. "Everyone in here can see it and if I'm mistaken, you kept mentioning her last night…and this morning…and all the way up until she suddenly showed up, like a sign."
Steve took a deep breath. "That's big talk coming from a man who can't even tell my sister how he feels about her…"
Corrine leaned against the counter in the bathroom, Lillian's hand on her back as she tried to calm her friend down. "Corrine, Bucky loves you, it's obvious," Lillian explained and Corrine groaned shaking her head.
"That's not good Lilly," she said turning to look at her, wiping at her eyes. "He's going to war, Lilly, he's going to the war, and Steve's going to boot camp, and they're both going to be gone… and they're both going to get killed." She sobbed, groaning when more tears came and turned away, resting her arms against the counter, taking in a steady breath when the bathroom door opened up again, Lillian smiling at Angel weakly when she looked at Corrine leaning against the sink sobbing.
Angel hadn't really lost her father to war…at least not to his own war. He was a weapons specialist and he was more into his work than his family and then a car accident took him and her mother away and yet, she understood. She understood loss. Angel remembered exactly how she felt when Tony had gone missing and come back with the arch reactor in his chest and it hurt even more. Steve was Corrine's brother and as a sister herself, Angel knew what that weight on your chest felt like when you were helpless to change the events swirling around you.
"Pepper, we have to do something! Don't you understand?!" Angel asked desperately, cheeks tear stained and eyes red. "HE IS ALL ALONE OUT THERE!"
Pepper shot Angel a look. "You don't think that I know that?"
"There isn't anything that we can do from here," Joanna explained with a sigh, blotting her eyes. "Unless you know something that we don't know, Angel…"
Joanna had been onto Angel more and more lately with all of the S.H.I.E.L.D. work and now Tony was missing and Angel could do something. Anything. She had to do something about it all and the quicker the better. This was her brother and she hadn't even told him lately just how much he meant to her and what if she lost him? Tony Stark was the only family that she really had left because he and Joanna hadn't gotten married quite yet, regardless of her basically being her sister.
"I will fix this," Angel said suddenly with a nod. "I can't leave him out there…"
"War is a really shitty thing, excuse my French," Angel said quickly, flushing at her swear word, "but you know what hurts worst in the end? Being dishonest. I mean do you love Bucky, Corrine? Because if you do, I think that you would regret it later if you didn't tell him before he left. Let him have something to hold onto while he's gone…you'd be surprised how much you can accomplish when you do things for love."
Corrine stared at Angel for a bit, wiping at her eyes more as she took in what she said. Did she love Bucky? She'd known him since they were kids, he was always there for her, he always seemed to be interested in her, but he had all those girls, he was always surrounded by girls so she just assumed she was his friend. But he kissed her, he kissed and things came up, and now she really didn't know how she felt about him, but she knew if she lost him she'd be devastated.
"Bucky's a big boy Corrine," Lillian said hugging her friend from behind, "You loving him might just be what he needs to make it through the war without losing his life." She mutters, smiling over at Angel as Corrine nods.
Perhaps Angel had no idea what it really meant to be truly and madly in love, but she knew that when you kept things bottled up, it never helped anyone. She also was starting to feel a little lightheaded and held up a tissue to her nose as she took a deep breath and waved it off. It just meant that pretty soon she was going to have to excuse herself again and she hadn't even gotten to maybe dance with Steve…not that that would actually happen, but it would have been nice.
Corrine sighed. "Alright," she said turning towards the mirror, and trying her best to fix her makeup, trying to hide the fact she'd just been crying. "Let's go have fun," she said with a nod, reapplying her lipstick, and turned to look at Angel.
"You like my brother," she stated noticing Angel blush. "You be good to him; he's never had a girl who liked him."
"Other than me," Lillian said quickly catching Angel's attention, "but Stevey couldn't handle me," she joked, laughing with Corrine before the girls headed back out into the club.
Corrine walked straight over to Bucky who was busy talking with Steve, and she stopped for a second biting her lip as Lillian took Angel by the hand and made her walk back over to Steve with her.
"Bucky," Lillian tapped his shoulder smiling when he turned around. "Corrine would like to speak with you soldier," she said pointing over at Corrine who smiled at him weakly.
"We'll be back," Bucky said to Steve as he gathered his hat, and hurried over to Corrine, who took his hand and led him out of the club.
"I'm counting the days until they actually sleep together," Lillian sighed, taking a sip of her drink as she looked at Steve who cringed at the thought. "You and Angel have fun; I'm going to go find my sailor," she excused herself, and disappeared into the mass of dancing clubbers.
Angel smiled and told her to have fun before she looked at her drink and decided against taking a sip of it. Normally she didn't mind the alcohol in a social situation, but with her feeling like her body was starting to get ready to make a jump and so she looked at Steve and decided to just put herself right out there. It wasn't like this hadn't already happened, so whatever she said was whatever she had already said…it worked like that, didn't it?
"In light of everyone being honest," Angel said suddenly with a smile on her face, "I think it's imperative that you know that I like you…a lot, and I'm alright that you didn't ask me to dance—dancing is about finding the right partner and maybe I'm not it, but someday I'd like to be."
Steve was caught off guard by the statement, but he smiled. "I see we have something in common…"
Corrine led Bucky away from the crowds that were in front of the building, sighing once they stood in an empty alley way beside the club, looking over at him when he seemed a bit confused.
"Corrine," he started shaking his head as he looked down at her, noticing the fact that her eyes were red and puffy. "Corrine I'm sorry I upset you."
She shook her head, smiling weakly. "No, Bucky, you don't have to be sorry," she said, worrying, her lip in between her teeth as she tried to find the words.
"Why are we out here?" He asked, taking a step towards her, making her look back up at him. "Why aren't we in there dancing and having a good time?"
Corrine shrugged. "Because, because we need to talk about something," she said nervously squeezing her eyes shut when she realized how stupid she sounded.
"Hey," Bucky took her face in his hands, making her open her eyes. "Just talk to me Corrine, what is it?"
Corrine looked up at him, her eyes tearing up again. "Bucky I love you," she said placing her hands over his. "I've always loved you…and now you're leaving, and I just, I want you to know that before you go," she whispered, her voice shaky as Bucky took in what she said.
Bucky smiled at her, and leans down, pressing his lips to hers gently. Their height difference didn't make it awkward like Corrine always imagined, in fact, it was perfect, the way his lips molded with hers, and how when she wrapped her arms around his neck he picked her up from the ground some, his hands tangling in her hair.
Bucky pulled back for a breath of air, the two breathing a bit heavier as he grinned down at her. "I love you too Corrine," he said, brushing her bangs from her face, and she just smiled back up at him. "I love you, and when I get back we're going to get married." She laughed at that shaking her head as he set her down, taking her hands in his. "We're going to get married, and we're going to live in a house provided by Mr. Stark, and we're going to grow old together watching our kids grow up." He said happily, picking her up again in his arms and spun her around, making her squeal in delight as she gripped onto his shirt.
Steve asked Angel a couple of questions about herself, smiling at the kinds of things they had in common and even laughing a little at her jokes. He felt comfortable with her and she certainly made his heart speed up and it made him want more than anything to just ask her—throw it all out there. For the first time, Steve actually felt like he'd already found the right partner, so he held out his hand to her and she looked at it, feeling like her nose was going to bleed again…she wasn't going to be around that much longer.
"Angel?" Steve asked her.
She looked into his eyes. "Yeah, Steve?"
"Would you do me the honor of dancing with me?" Steve asked her, his nervousness turning into a smile at how easy and natural the words came out, both of them getting distracted by Bucky and Corrine.
The two walked back into the bar, his arm around her waist and she smiled when she spotted Angel and Steve speaking silently together, Lillian on the dance floor with her sailor.
"It looks like you two made up," Steve said smiling over at Corrine when she nodded, Bucky pressing his lips to her hair.
"I've got to leave soon," Corrine said when she noticed the time. "I've got to meet up with Howard." She glanced over at Bucky, noticing the look on his face and she just rolled her eyes.
"Are you going to see me off in the morning?" He asked and she smiled as she nodded, "Good, you too Angel." Bucky said turning to look at her. "I expect you and Steve there."
Angel wasn't quite sure what to say to that because she wasn't sure when she would jump again, not entirely sure if she ever saw them off. Perhaps it would be one of those many disappointments that would befall them all but it was going to have to happen this way because she didn't actually have control over it. She was beginning to learn that time was linear and that was just the way that the time stream crumbled.
Corrine smiled. "I'll make sure they're there," she said and turned to look at Steve. "I expect you to be home by at least midnight Steve." She said quickly, pointing at her brother as she tried to back away, Bucky holding onto her hand. "No funny business you two," she laughed, smiling when Steve blushed and she turned back to Bucky, pressing her lips to his. "See you tomorrow," she muttered against his lips, before pulling away and headed for the exit.
"I'll try my best to make it," Angel told them as she put her hand up to her nose. "For now, though, I think I need to call it a night, but uh…you and I will have a rain check on that dance, Steve—I'm looking forward to it."
Bucky's eyes widened when Angel said it, Steve smiling at her and even offering to walk her home, but Angel declined and took off, neither of them noticing her vanish into thin air back to her own time once she was outside. Steve shrugged a little bit when Bucky turned to look at him and nodded approvingly, Steve rolling his eyes a bit at his best friend, though he was giddy. Angel was finally the one thing in his life that he could really call 'his'.
"You asked her to dance, huh?" Bucky asked her and beamed. "I didn't think you had it in you—I thought all you cared about was the war."
Steve smiled and shook his head. "I'm doing what Angel told me to do."
"Go to war?" Bucky asked him, a bit confused.
"No," Steve said laughing before he glanced at the door she'd disappeared through, "I'm following my heart."
"I think your heart just walked right out that door," Bucky teased, and then he laughed as he ordered he and Steve one more drink.