If you were offered a chace would you take it?


The Chance

Its odd how the moment you finally are willing to give something up, willing to let all the pain it was go and allow the wound to start healing is the moment that an outside for tears it open again and bleeds it fresh.

Steve was just beginning to adjust. Getting used to the idea that there was no way back, no way to get home. And he was beginning to realize he could make the best of it.

He was had a job, a purpose and a calling. The soldier could not live and sit idly and had requested he be trained with SHIELD to act as an agent. He would not agree to becoming an assassin but intelligence. Relations. Liaison. Hell even training instructor. And when he was needed he had the Shield and uniform to rise to challenges against their city and planet.

He had a place to call home. He was back living in his childhood neighborhood. His own Brownstone, bought and paid for with his own money on a quiet street in a good neighborhood. All three floors outfitted and fully furnished. He had his own gym in the basement with an unlimited number of punching bags on order. He had a library and art studio with floor to ceiling shelves of books, a drafting table and a huge tack board to put up his ideas and inspirations. A fully stocked kitchen and even a place to have a small garden and patio on the roof.

He had friends, a functioning group that he could actually turn to when he needed the company or help. He didn't get along with all of them but there was an understanding and Steve knew if he needed something, to either keep him company or give him advice, anything, he knew they were there for him.

And to top it off Steve had Clint. The archer had without trying sunk in and made himself at home under Steve's skin. He was proving to be Steve's best friend and it made him a bit ashamed and caused an ache in his heart that he was beginning to realize that Clint was quickly becoming closer and more important to him than Bucky had been. The archer was starting to wrap himself around the soldier's heart and it scared and pleased Steve more than he could admit.

He was coming to terms. He'd done his grieving and found his way through. He was moving on.

Then this… rift… this gap through time.

Inside an old dance club. It was on the other side of the world. In Cardiff, Wales. The run down and rotting building had once been a favorite spot for soldiers and A Listers. Now it was in ruins. Waiting demolition. But there was a flicker in there. That if you waited and stayed inside long enough there was a ride back to 1941 waiting for you.

It was too early. Steve would have to travel halfway across the planet and have to sit on his hands for four years before he was back in line with what had happened. And the having to sit on his hands thing to let history play out would be painfully difficult. But he would be HOME. In his own time and era.

Steve didn't really know what to think about it. More than anything he was confused that he didn't immediately demand to be taken there. He hesitated.

There was no way he couldn't go. No way he could pass up at the very least being there to have a look at what he could possibly grant him something he thought unattainable.

It was eerie. Just a short flight after he'd been briefed on the situation he stood on the streets of Cardiff. Looking up towards the boarded up building and straining his hearing to catch the faint sounds of familiar music within.

Clint was there with him, so was the man that referred to himself as 'Jack'. The member of 'Torchwood' standing back and keeping his distance while Steve stood in the center of the street and stared up at the building. Clint had no such reservations and stood right next to the soldier, in his space. His posture mimicking Steve's perfectly. Hands tucked into the pockets of his jacket and head tilted back to look towards the top of the dance hall.

The soldier took comfort in Clint's company. He was soothed and calmed by it. Steve leaned a bit to the side and bumped their shoulders together.

They stood in silence for a long time before Steve looked towards the archer and asked with a helpless note in his voice. "… What should I do? Should I go back?"

The archer took a deep breath and let it out slowly, he didn't look towards Steve, just at the roof of the building. "… Do what feels right. What your heart tells you."

Steve looked back towards the building, his mind and emotions muddles. In the moment of silence he caught the faint sounds of laughter and music before it faded again.

"If I go back would… would you come with me?"

It was a cruel thing to ask but Steve had to. He had to know. He wouldn't wish the stress and lonesomeness that he felt everyday he wasn't 'home' on anyone. Especially the person that was becoming most important to him. But that was why he had to ask. Had to know, because he couldn't, he wouldn't without Clint. He needed the archer. Selfishly so is seemed that he was cold enough to ask Clint to sacrifice his world and time and life all willingly. To step back seventy years with him to a world as alien as this one was to Steve.

But he needed to know.

Clint took another one of those deep breaths and lifted a hand to rub through his hair a few times before tucking it back into his jacket pocket again. Then he looked at Steve, meeting blue eyes with grey ones. "Yeah. If you asked me to I would go with you."

Steve's heart shattered and swelled in the same moment. It took a great deal of personal effort for Steve not to reach out and pull Clint close but he kept his hands firmly in his Bomber Jacket pockets, fists clenched to keep himself from tearing the lining out or grabbing the archer. Steve studied Clint's face, as if hoping to find some flaw in the sincerity, almost hoping there was a lie to feed off.

All Steve saw was loyalty and affection, sorrow and concern and confusion tinged with mild anxiety but Clint gave nothing else away in either his body or his voice. The man was deathly afraid and Steve could see it growing deeper but Clint held his ground and stayed by the small truth he'd spoken.

Yes. He would go. If Steve asked him to.

The soldier reluctantly broke his eyes from Clint and looked towards the building, listening again for the music and voices within but it was silent. Deathly almost, as if it were suddenly more of a tomb than a chance way back to the place he'd though he'd belonged.

Steve turned to look towards Clint, "You want to get a nap before we fly back home?"


A/N: Bit of a Torchwood reference there, there was an episode of Torchwood where a dancehall in the city was subject to a time warp between the present day and the 1940s. I figure word would get to Steve and he'd have to have a look for himself. Hope you guys enjoyed!