Disclaimer: I do not Own Marvel, Captain America, or Danny Phantom. I'm just borrowing the characters.

AN: I'm using Emily Browning as a face claim for grown up Dani. Also, this story is pre-Captain America the First Avenger.

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Soldiers Heart

Chapter Two: Brooklyn

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Several Weeks later

Brooklyn. I had no words to describe it. I'd been to Brooklyn before in my universe during the twenty first century. But Brooklyn during the 1940s is just amazing. The people, the cars, the buildings. There was just something about Brooklyn that drew me in and made me feel alive. I couldn't help but think over the past several weeks that lead me to Brooklyn.

Just like Clockwork told me, I was dropped off in Georgia 1941, with Cujo right beside me. Honestly the trip from my universe to this one had left me feeling dizzy and out of sorts. When I'd finally gotten myself together I realized that I'd been dropped off on the side of a highway. Honestly, I wasn't sure what to do. I had no direction, no specific place I was supposed to go to. I felt lost and empty as I stood there staring around me. Finally, I had decided to just start walking down the highway, hoping to come across a town eventually.

I just kept traveling, only stopping when I felt tired or hungry. Every place I went to felt wrong and I couldn't bring myself to stay anywhere. I didn't understand it, but I'm sure it had something to do with Clockwork and the device he'd given me. I'd traveled through Georgia, and into South Carolina. Sometimes people would offer me rides, and other times I would just walk. The mountains in South Carolina were beautiful, and if I'd had accesses to my powers I would have spent a great deal of time flying around them. I spent some time exploring the mountains on foot instead before I decided to travel through to North Carolina then Virginia.

I didn't spend much time in Virginia, and decided to head towards Maryland. When I reached Maryland, I decided to take a break from traveling for a short time. I got a job working in a diner, and staid in a crappy motel for a week or so. I saved up a little bit of money from my job at the diner, knowing that I would need it when I finally decided to settle down somewhere. Maryland was quite interesting and I met some nice people working at the diner. The diner was run by an old man, Mr. Williams, and his granddaughter, Sophie.

Mr. Williams had bought the diner when he was thirty and he and his wife had run it together for almost twenty-five years until his wife died. His only son had started working at the diner with him after that, and his wife and daughter had later joined them in running the diner. Sadly, a couple years ago, shortly after Sophie's twentieth birthday, her parents were killed in a car crash. They'd needed a waitress and had gladly offered me the job. The two had fallen in love with Cujo, and he became the unofficial mascot and guard dog of the diner.

It was a good thing that we did have Cujo, because one day shortly after I started working there a man had come in and attempted to rob the diner. The man had a gun and had attempted to force Sophie to hand over all the money we'd made that day. Cujo, after hearing the man's shouts, had come running from the back of the diner where he was eating his dinner. He'd jumped right over the counter and tackled the man to the ground, knocking the gun out of his hand in the process. That night Mr. Williams had given Cujo a nice juicy steak.

Working for Mr. Williams had been fun, but something about Maryland just didn't feel right, and eventually after about three weeks of being there, I decided to move on. I traveled all the way up to New York, and eventually found myself in Brooklyn. Something about Brooklyn just felt right. Everything seemed bright and warm, and the heaviness that had been in my chest since arriving in this universe had disappeared and I knew instantly that this was the place I was supposed to be.

Cujo had been amazing throughout all of this. He'd looked after me, and had never left my side. He never got tired no matter how much we walked, although that was probably because he was a ghost dog that was disguised as a normal dog. I was glad that Clockwork had sent Cujo with me. Me on the other hand, I got tired a lot, mostly because the dimension watch had locked away my ghost powers. Thanks to Clockwork I was strong in both of my forms, but I still had my limits. Without my powers, I could still run and walk for a lot longer than most people, and could lift more than any normal girl my age and size could. But that was nothing compared to my strength and stamina when I was in my ghost form.

Honestly, it felt weird not being able to go ghost. I'd spent most of my short existence in my ghost form, only changing to my human form when I spent time at home with my family. It was hard not being able to fly, I missed the feeling of being weightless, the feeling of the wind in my hair. I also missed my family, and often found myself staring down at the pictures in the locket Sam had given me.

I sighed, and shook my head to clear away the bad thoughts. I really should be paying attention to where I'm going, not thinking about the past. I glanced up at my surroundings, realizing that I'd continued walking while I was lost in my thoughts, and that the sun was just about to set. Cujo had probably been the one keeping me from running into anything or anyone. I smiled and patted Cujo on the head, causing him to wag his tail. Suddenly the sound of a shout and trash cans falling to the ground caught my attention. The sound had come from an alley up ahead of me, and I speed up.

When I turned into the alley I saw the form of a tall burly man standing over a scrawny blond-haired man who was lying on the ground. There was a large bruise forming around one of the blond man's eyes, and I could see blood trickling down his head. I felt anger boil inside me at the sight. How dare this man pick on someone smaller and weaker than him. If there was one thing I couldn't stand it was a bully.

"Hey, back off!" I shouted, taking a step towards them with Cujo right next to me.

Both men's attention immediately snapped to me at my shout. The tall burly man sneered at me, not seeming to notice Cujo at first. The blond man looked at me in worry, probably fearing for my safety.

"What are you gonna do about it doll?" The burly man asked, smirking.

"Me, not a thing. But Cujo here, he'll tear your throat out if you even attempt to lay a finger on me," I stated smugly.

Cujo snarled, and took a threatening step towards the man who went pale at the sight of him. Cujo was scary if you pissed him off. Cujo came up just above my waist, and his paws were huge about the size of my fist. The man in front of me had realized that this wasn't a fight he was going to win, and held his hands up in surrender. He backed up against the brick wall of the building behind him, and slowly slide past us. Once he had passed us he took off running down the street.

I shook my head in disgust, and turned back to the blond man I'd saved. I glanced over him for a moment, taking in his features. His eyes were a beautiful shade of blue, and his blond hair was hanging in his face. He looked to be about my height, and was definitely scrawny. But to be honest he was pretty handsome.

The bruise I'd noticed before wasn't as bad as I first thought it was, but I was worried about the cut I could see just below his hair line. I quickly moved over to him and bent down next to him.

"Are you okay?" I asked, glancing over the cut.

It didn't look to deep, but I know head wounds tend to bleed a lot. Not to mention he could have a concussion.

"I'm… ugh… I'm fine. Thanks for the help ma'am," He stuttered, staring up at me. His eyes were wide and he seemed to be in shock.

"How's your head? Do you feel dizzy? Nauseous?" I questioned. He stared at me for a moment seeming to process what I'd just asked.

"Ugh… no I'm fine, I feel fine," He replied suddenly, attempting to stand up.

He didn't even manage to stand up fully before he swayed and started to fall back down. I quickly reached out a steadied him, and Cujo rushed forward to the man's other side and pressed his body up against the man to keep him from falling over.

"Okay, I feel a little dizzy," He admitted. I helped him slowly sit back down.

"Just take a moment to catch your breath," I ordered, looking him over for any more injuries.

I was happy to see that he didn't seem to have any more injuries, but the cut on his head was still bleeding pretty badly. He was starting to look a bit pale, which worried me. I needed to get my hands on a first aid kit so I could stop the bleeding.

"Hey, do you live close by?" I asked.

"Yes ma'am. I live in the apartment complex a couple blocks down from here," He replied.

"All right. Put your arm around my shoulder. Cujo and I will help you get back home," I stated, gently helping the man onto his feet.

"I could get there on my own ma'am. I don't want to take up anymore of your time," He denied, trying to shrug out of my hold.

Once again, he swayed on his feet and I quickly steadied him.

"No, I'm helping you home. I'm not going to let you try to walk back home on your own, not when you have a head wound like that," I replied, shaking my head.

He glanced over at me and just stared at me for a moment. His blue eyes were even more beautiful than I had first thought, and I felt captivated by them. After a moment he nodded his head, and we began walking out of the alley. Cujo and I helped him down the street. It took a few minutes to reach the block where his apartment was. As we drew closer to the building I noticed a tall brown-haired man walking towards us. The second he saw the man next to me his eyes went wide and he rushed over to us.

"Oh my god, Steve what happened?" He exclaimed, looking the man over.

"I found him in an alley being beat up on by another man," I answered before Steve could. The man in front of me sighed and shook his head, and Steve smiled.

"I had him on the ropes," He stated. I smiled at that and shook my head.

"I'm guessing this kind of thing happens a lot?" I questioned, smirking.

"Unfortunately," Steve's friend replied forlornly.

"Well how about we get him up to his apartment and patch him up," I suggested.

Steve's friend nodded his head, and moved over to take him from me. I followed after him, and soon enough we had Steve settled on the couch in his apartment.

"Do you have a first aid kit?" I asked Steve.

"I'll get it," Steve's friend said, moving out of the room. He returned after a few seconds with a small white box in his hands. I took the box from him and looked through what they had.

"Could you get a bowl of warm water, and a rag so I can clean off the blood?" I asked, glancing up at Steve's friend.

Once Steve's friend had gotten me a bowl of water and a rag, I cleaned off the blood from Steve's face and gently put a bandage over the cut. Once I was done I put all the supplies back in the first aid kit, and handed the bowl of now dirty water and the rag to Steve's friend.

"Well that should do it, just take easy for the next day or so. And don't go getting into any more fights… at least not until after that cut heals," I stated.

"Thank you, ma'am, I'll try not to get into any fights," Steve replied.

"Yes, thank you for helping Steve out, lord knows what would have happened if you hadn't. I ugh didn't get your name," Steve's friend said, walking back into the room.

"Danielle, but everyone calls me Dani… with an I not a y. Oh and this is Cujo," I introduced, motioning towards Cujo who was sitting by the door. Both men smiled at that.

"Well I'm Bucky, and this is Steve."

"Well it was nice meeting both of you, but I should be off. I got to find a hotel for the night," I said, picking up the duffle bag I'd dropped by the door. Bucky and Steve looked at each other for a second then glanced back at me.

"You don't have a place to stay?" Steve asked, worry evident on his face.

"I've been traveling for the past couple weeks, and I just got into town today. I'm planning on staying in Brooklyn for a while though. It's too late in the day to look for an apartment, so I'm just gonna find a hotel to stay the night in," I explained, shrugging my shoulders.

"The hotels in the area aren't really the best. Not to mention it dangerous out there this time of day," Steve stated, sounding worried. I giggled and shook my head.

"I can take care of myself, not to mention I have Cujo here to keep me safe," I replied, patting Cujo on the head. Cujo barked happily, and nuzzled my hand.

"Still the hotels around here aren't really the place a dame like you should be at. How about instead of staying at a hotel tonight why don't you just stay here tonight. It'll be a lot safer than staying in one of those hotels down the street. Not to mention there's an apartment open in this complex, so tomorrow you could talk to the landlady about renting out the apartment," Bucky exclaimed.

I stared at him for a minute, completely shocked at the offer. I glanced over at Steve who seemed to like the idea. They've only known me for a few minutes and their offering to let me stay with them for the night?

"I… um… I don't know what to say. I mean you barely even know me," I said.

"Well you did help me out. And it just wouldn't be right to let you go out there without a place to stay," Steve replied, slowly standing up.

I felt Cujo nudge my side and I glanced down at him.

"Does this place allow animals?" I asked, looking back at the two men.

"Yeah, MS. Hutchins loves animals," Bucky answered.

Should I accept their offer? This would be better than staying at a hotel for the night, but could I really impose on them like this?

"Well, it would only be for tonight… so I guess I'll stay," I said, awkwardly rubbing the back of my neck.

Bucky and Steve both smiled at that. I set my duffle bag down on the floor by the couch and gave both men a smile. That night Bucky made something for all of us to eat, and afterwards I fell asleep on the couch. So far Brooklyn was amazing, and even though I've only been here for a day, this place felt like home…

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AN: Okay, not really sure how I feel about this chapter. It took me forever to get this one typed out, and I'm not completely satisfied with it. Let me know what ya'll think about this chapter.