He landed in the middle of the street, surrounded by debris and destruction everywhere. The battle of New York.

The start of the Avengers, the start of an era.

There were two stones to return: mind and time. This last one would be easier because he wouln't have to avoid being seen, so he headed to the Sactum Sanctorum a couple blocks away.

When he arrived, from the other side of the street he could see someone on the rooftop, fighting the Chitauri with some kind of green and orange energy. Climbing the building next to the Sactum, he jumped to meet with the guardian of the time stone.

She didn't even flinch seeing him land on her rooftop, like if she was expecting him.

"Hello Captain Rogers" Ancient one said, "I see you've come to keep Dr. Banner's promise."

"Yes" Steve opened the case and took the green stone. "Thank you for trusting us with this, I know you took a big risk."

As Steve reached his hand out to her, she opened the eye of Agamotto, and the time stone levitated to to it.

"Well, it was the fate of the universe at stake, according to Bruce. Besides, sometimes the biggest events start by taking a leap of faith." She smiled, "You could ask Stephen Strange about that."

"Well ma'am, if you'll excuse me there's another stone that I have to return in this time."

Steve closed the case and was ready to leave when Ancient One stopped him.

"Let me ask you something Captain Rogers." She said. Her arms crossed behind her back and her stare directly into his eyes. Her look was firm, but also gentle, like if she could read was he was thinking and just waiting for him to confirm it.

"After you complete this mission," she continued "What comes next for you?"

He was troubled by her question. It couldn't be a coincidence that she was asking him about just that and just now. He suspected she already knew more than she should, maybe it had to be with the time stone, the same way Strange had predicted what would happen in the one reality in which the Avengers won.

"What do you mean?" he asked

"Well, you've been an active superhero for a very long time, and now that the battle is finally over, I'm just curious about what you're going to do." She faced away from him, looking over the edge of the rooftop.

"Go home." He answered, "As simple as that."

"And where would that be, Captain?"

Now she was playing him. Steve didn't know why or how but obviously Ancient One knew what he intended to do after giving the stones back, so why try to make him say it out loud?

"I'm guessing you already know the answer to your question, the same way you know Dr. Strange's destiny 5 years before he crosses paths with you."

She smiled.

"It is a special privilege of the time stone's keeper to have glimpses of the events that will have a major effect in our reality..." She explained, "And you, Captain Rogers, have been an essential piece in it all."

"Yeah, I guess I have." He walked to be next to Ancient One, "I did my part, now I would really like to rest."

"You want to go back to 1946" She said, not as a question, but as a statement. "Live the life you would've had if you hadn't went down in the ice."

Steve didn't answer. She didn't need any confirmation, she knew she was right.

"I gotta tell you, it is not only my duty to protect the time stone, but also reality itself, including this timeline."

"What would happen if I do it?" He turned around to face her, she did the same.

"It would fragment the timelime, creating an anomaly and generating a new brach of reality in which you prevented all of the things you know from happening."

"Are you saying you won't let me?"

"Oh no," She answered, "Who am I to tell one of the future saviors of the Universe what he should or shouldn't do?"

That made Steve even more confused.

"Besides, you won't really change anything about this reality." She continued, "No...I'm going to let that decision to you"

"Why bring it up then?" He asked, "If you are not going to stop me then why is it relevant?"

"The fact that I'm not going to stop you doesn't mean I won't try to change your mind."

She closed her eyes and moved her hands in cyrcles and complicated shapes, leaving a green mist in the air surrounding them. Suddenly, the ground trembled and Steve saw the sky above him disappear to let a lot of images take it's place. They were time windows, and they showed moments of his life.

"You have been called a man out of time Steve Rogers," Ancient One said "But if there's something I have learned in all this years guarding the stone, is that time brings us exactly were we are supposed to be."

Steve stood there in awe, watching the memories, his memories in front of his eyes. Being carried by his mother as a child, laying sick in bed, taking a beat up from a bully, his numerous applications to the army...Bucky, before Hydra washed his brain, and Peggy, training him in camp Lehigh.

Then, there were the memories from after the ice: becoming part of the Avengers, fighting side by side with them, finding a family. But it was the small moments the most precious to him. He could see himself drinking asgardian alcohol with Thor, discussing about music with Tony, drinking Tea with Wanda, and then there was Nat.

Suddenly all the memories, every time window was showing a memory of her. Missions, training sessions, movie nights, just her smiling.

"All of this is in your memories, this is your life" Ancient One said, while looking at the time windows, "And it looks to me like you felt more at home here than you ever did in your time."

Steve didn't answer. It was hard to admit that she was right, he had felt at home in this time. Felt. Home is not the place you're in but the people who is with you. Natasha had been a major part of his life in the 21st century, as the years passed she'd become his family.They were happy memories, but they would never come back. And now it was just too painful to remember them. They had won the war, but it had had a cost. Tony was gone, Nat was gone. There was nothing to go back to. How was he suppossed to return to a place where she was gone?

"I respect you Captain Rogers, and it is my gift to you, as a sign of gratitude for your service, to honour your choice and do not interfere."

"I appreciate that" He finally said, "Thank you very much ma'am."

"Goodbye Captain Rogers, I wish you well."

With that, Ancient One turned around and entered the Sactom Sanctorum, as the time windows vanished. The last thing Steve got to see before jumping from the roof to the street was the vanishing memory of a kiss in a mall escalator.

He smiled and headed to return the mind stone.