I stare at myself in the long mirror, gazing at the dress that Natasha had picked out for me. It was a marathon, shopping with Natasha. We were only gone about three hours…but it felt like three days. We finally settled on a royal blue tailored dress. It fit me perfectly, a slender black belt at the waist, a draped neckline, modified cap sleeves. "Are you sure this is okay?" I had asked Natasha. It was very fitted, but as I said, it did look very good on me. Letting out a sigh, I turn away from the mirror and head for the door. I had a feeling if I didn't get down to the party soon that Natasha would come after me.

The sounds of the party grow louder as I near it. Finally, I reach the top of the staircase that overlooks the party below. There were a ton of people gathered below and on the level opposite of the one I was on. I didn't recognize most of them. Down below, I spot Natasha at the bar. She immediately spots me as well and motions for me to join her. Once I make my way down to the bar, she immediately starts making me some kind of drink. "Think it's wise for me to be drinking with a recovering traumatic brain injury?"

"You're months out of that," she says with an eye roll. "Besides, I think you're going to need some liquid courage for tonight."

I take the martini glass as she slides it towards me. "Ah yes," I say, nodding my head. "Tonight is the night that Steve sees me all dressed up pretty and my memories magically re-"

"Glad to see you've got your smartass-ness back," she mumbles. "Either way, you are talking to him tonight."

I take a sip of the drink as I roll my eyes at her. "Yes, ma'am."

oOoOo

"So, we never finished that conversation from the other day," I say, walking up to Steve. As he turns around, his eye pop out just a little before his finally settles back to normal. I tell Sam hello before turning my attention back to Steve. "Can we…?" I point over to a section of the room where no one was at. Steve nods his head before we both walk over to the corner of the room. "You've been avoiding me again," I say quietly.

"I know," Steve says, looking down at his glass. He downs the rest of the brown liquid inside of it before continuing. "I just-"

"After we first started dating, the first time you went on a mission I cried," I cut him off. His jaw clenches as he looks at me. "I cried like a baby, that entire weekend. I cried and watched every single movie from the 1940's that I owned and I ate three pints of ice cream along with four pizzas…by myself. And when I heard you were on your way back, I cleaned up, got rid of the evidence and fixed you supper." Steve continues to stare at me, his breathing a little heavier. "The um…I remembered that, as I watched you all leave the other day."

"I didn't know that," Steve says.

"I get why you were upset about me getting those memories back. It's because of the way you feel about me," I take a deep breath, desperately thankful for those two shots Natasha had made me take. "When you left for this last mission, I was a nervous wreck. I didn't understand why. We were becoming friends again, yes…but…once that memory came back I felt-" I shake my head, trying not to look Steve directly in the face. After a moment though, I lock eyes with him. "I can't say, what I'm trying to say…"

"Then just say what you can," he says quietly. I could tell he could tell what I was trying to say.

"I just…" I reach a hand up, letting come to rest on his cheek. He lets out a breath and relaxes into my hand a little. "I'm just…I'm not as intimidated by you."

Steve gives me a small smile as I drop my hand from his face. "Okay," he says, nodding his head. "I can work with that."

I return his smile as I slip my hand into his and we rejoin the party. Holding his hand like this was the first time we had ever made any sort of contact like that since my "accident". It felt nice, it felt natural. Luckily, it seemed that Steve was able to pick up on what I was thinking. I didn't want to have to say out loud that I thought I might be falling for him again…or if I was just remembering being in love with him. It was a complicated feeling. I liked it and it made me feel good, but I wanted to be sure it was genuine. The party ebbs and flows, throughout the night. I re-met tons of people, most of who already knew about my "condition" as Tony referred to it. I actually found the term funny. "I like this new Charlotte," Tony had said, draping an arm over my shoulder and handing me a drink he had grabbed from a passing waiter. "She actually likes me…doesn't find me annoying like the last one did."

Eventually, the party fades out and the only people left are myself, Dr. Cho, Maria, James Rhodes and the Avengers. "It's a party trick," Clint exclaims, pointing a drumstick at Mjӧlnir. I wasn't totally clear on where he got the drumstick from, but I didn't pay it much mind as I laugh with the rest of the group.

"Oh, no," Thor says, laughing with the group as well. "It's much more than that."

"Uh, 'Whosoever be he worthy shall haveth the power!'" Clint says, giving a poor impression of Thor. He earns a few more chuckles from the group. "Whatever man! It's a trick."

The Asgardian god shakes his head as he starts to lift his drink to his lips. "Well please, be my guest."

The group jests Clint as he stares at Thor. "Really?"

"Yeah!" Thor exclaims as Clint stands up.

"Oh this is going to be beautiful," James says.

Clint walks around the table in the middle of the group until he's standing in front of the hammer. "Clint," Tony says to the agent. "You've had a tough week; we won't hold it against you if you can't get it up."

Everyone laughs again as Clint grabs onto the handle. "You know I've seen this before, right?" We all watch as Clint's grip tightens on the hammer, but doesn't even budge. "And I still don't know how you do it."

"Smell the silent judgement?" Tony quips to Clint.

"Please, Stark, by all means," Clint says, holding a hand out towards the hammer.

"Oh here we go," Natasha says as Tony stands up in front of the hammer.

Everyone says something about Tony trying the hammer. He, also, is unsuccessful. After his first failed attempt, he tries to lift it with his Iron Man arm, but still fails. James even gets his suits arm and tries to lift it along with Tony. Bruce tries his luck, but is unsuccessful. After his attempt, he momentarily acts as if he's getting ready to change into the Hulk, I'm the only one who laughs at the joke.

"Alright, you're next," I say, hitting Steve lightly on the knee. He gives me a small smile before standing up and walking over to the hammer. When he pulls up on it, I swear I see it budge a little bit.

"Nothing," Thor says with a nervous laugh.

Steve just shakes his head in earnest defeat as he sits back down next to me. I wrap his jacket he had given me earlier, once it got chilly, a little tighter around my shoulders. "It moved a little," I whisper to him as the group tries to get Natasha to try her hand. Steve just raises an eyebrow at me. "I swear it did."

"All deference to the man who wouldn't be king," Tony says. "But it's rigged."

"You bet your ass it is," Clint says.

"Steve, he said a bad language word," Maria says before taking a drink of her beer.

Steve looks over at Tony with a deadpan look. "Did you tell everyone about that?"

"The handle's imprinted, right?" Tony says, ignoring Steve's comment. "Like a security code. 'Whosoever is carrying Thor's fingerprints' is, I think, the literal translation?"

"Yes well that's, us, that's a very, very interesting theory. I have a simpler one." Thor says. In one fell swoop, he stands, grabs the hammer, and throws it in the air into to a spin to catch it again. "You're all not worthy."

The group starts to speak up again until an ear-splitting sound rings out through the room. My hands instinctively fly up my ears, as does everyone else's. "Worthy…" a robotic voice says. Everyone's attention is drawn to the edge of the room, coming from the lab entrance. Everyone stands to look at the tall robot wobbling around, Steve stepping slightly in front of me. "How could you be worthy? You're all killers."

"Stark," Steve says quietly.

Tony whips a phone out of his pocket, tapping on it. "JARVIS?"

"I'm sorry," the robot says, looking down at its own hand. "I was asleep. Or…I was a dream?"

Tony continues to tap his device, JARVIS still not responding. "Reboot, Legionnaire, we got a bogey suit."

"There was a terrible noise," the robot says, moving his head around, but not really looking at anything. My hand moves up to grab the back of Steve's arm. Something about this robot did not sit right with me. "And I was tangled in…in…strings. I had to kill the other guy. He was a good guy."

"You killed someone?" Steve says to the robot. My grip on his arm becomes tighter.

"Wouldn't have been my first call," the robot says, almost blasé. "But, down in the real world we're faced with ugly choices."

"Who sent you?" Thor yells.

The robot presses something between his fingers, but the voice that comes from him is Tony's "'I see a suit of armor around the world'."

"Ultron," Bruce says, amazement almost in his voice.

Everyone looks at Bruce and Tony until Ultron speaks up again. "In the flesh. Or, no, not yet. Not this…chrysalis." He motions to the falling-apart suit he had acquired. "But I'm ready. I'm on a mission."

"What mission?" Natasha asks.

Ultron looks directly at Natasha to give his answer. "Peace in our time." After he answers, all hell breaks loose. More bots come bursting through the walls behind him.

Steve suddenly kicks up the table, blocking the blasts from the bots heading towards us. Everyone separates, fighting and defending themselves. I had hit the deck, along with Dr. Cho. We grab each other's hands, trying to stay low and keep ourselves safe. When I look up, I see Steve is nowhere near me. "Come on!" I say to Helen. She nods her head as she follows behind me, each of us holding onto the other like our lives depending on it. We eventually find shelter behind a piano. The bots seemed to be staying away from that area. The space around us is filled with gun fire and the team yelling. I hear Dr. Cho let out a gasp. Following her line of sight, I see a half a bot aiming at her. It stops, lowers its hand a little, as if deciding against it and then turns and aims for me. Suddenly, Steve appears behind it and grabs it, throwing it away from us. "Cap!" Clint yells from somewhere in the room. Steve's shield lands in his hands, but only for a moment until he throws it, slicing the last bot in half.

"That was dramatic! I'm sorry, I know you mean well." Ultron says, still wobbling as in the same spot as before. "You just didn't think it through. You want to protect the world, but you don't want it to change. How is humanity saved if it's not allowed to...evolve?" He reaches down and grabs one of the busted-up bots, crushing its head in his hands and throwing it to the side again. "With these? These puppets? There's only one path to peace: The Avengers' extinction." Thor throws his hammer, killing the bot housing Ultron. "I had strings, but now I'm free." Ultron's creepy voice rings as it fades out.

I stand up from behind the piano along with Dr. Cho. At the same moment, Steve looks back at me. "You okay?" he asks me. I nod my head, walking over to him. Once I reach him, he immediately grabs me and wraps me in his arms, hugging me to his chest.

oOoOo

After confirming everyone was okay, we all gather in the lab, except Thor who had flown away to see if he could follow the bot that had taken Loki's scepter's trail. "All our work is gone." Bruce says, looking at a computer screen in front of him. "Ultron cleared out, used the internet as an escape hatch.

"He's been in everything," Natasha says, also looking at a screen. "Files, surveillance. Probably knows more about us than we know about each other."

"Nuclear codes," Maria says.

"Nuclear codes," James repeats, shaking his head. "Look, we need to make some calls, assuming we still can."

"Nukes?" Natasha says, arching an eyebrow. "He said he wanted us dead."

"He didn't say dead," Steve says. I could tell just by looking at him that he was angry. "He said extinct."

"He also said he killed somebody." Clint says.

"But there wasn't anyone else in the building," Maria says.

"Yes there was," Tony says. We all look to him as his arms sweep through the air, bring up a 3D image. It looked broken, damaged. He had shown it to me before, when he was explaining the Tower…it was JARVIS.

"This is insane," Bruce says, walking around the image, looking at it.

"JARVIS was the first line of defense," Steve says. "He would've shut Ultron down, it makes sense."

"No, Ultron could've assimilated JARVIS," Bruce says, still looking at the image. "This isn't strategy; this is…rage."

Suddenly, Thor comes flying back into the lab, immediately grabbing Tony by his throat and lifting him into the air.

"Woah!" Clint exclaims. Everyone shifts some, but isn't sure what to do. "It's going around."

"Come on," Tony says in a strangled voice, hitting Thor on the arm. "Use your words buddy."

"I have more than enough words to describe you, Stark," Thor says, glaring up at Tony.

"Thor!" Steve barks, finally diverting the Asgardian's attention away from Tony. "The Legionnaire?"

Thor drops Tony as he turns to address the rest of the group. "Trail went cold about a hundred miles out, but its headed north, and it has the scepter. Now we have to retrieve it…again."

"The genies out of that bottle," Natasha says. "Clear and present is Ultron."

"I don't understand," Dr. Cho speaks up. I had almost forgotten she was there. "You built this program. Why is it trying to kill us?"

The last thing I expect to happen, happens. Tony starts to laugh. "You think this is funny?" Thor says, taking a menacing step towards him.

"No," Tony says, trying to sober himself up. "It's probably not, right? Is this very terrible? Is it so…is it so…it is. It's so terrible."

"This could've been avoided if you hadn't played with something you don't understand." Thor says to him.

The group continues fighting amongst themselves as I start to tune them out. It wasn't intentional, it actually happened a lot. When it happened, that usually meant a memory was getting ready to resurface. One does, but it doesn't seem like a memory. I shut my eyes to fully absorb it. I see myself and Steve dancing around an apartment, a song playing softly in the background. The song struck some kind of chord with me…I couldn't describe it. Till then, my darling, please wait for me; Till then, no matter when it will be…

"We're the Avengers," Tony's voice snaps me back to reality. No one had noticed me zone out. "We can bust arms dealers all the live long day, but, that up there? That's…that's the end game. How were you guys planning on beating that?"

No one answers right away. "Together," Steve says simply.

"We'll lose," Tony says, looking at him.

"Then we'll do that together, too," Steve says. Tony looks at him for a moment before shaking his head and turning away. "Thor's right. Ultron's calling us out. And I'd like to find him before he's ready for us. The world's a big place. Let's start making it smaller."

Everyone moves around the room, starting work on some sort of computer. I continue to stand off to the side, hugging Steve's jacket to myself tighter. Steve spots me still standing there and walks over to me. "I think this is the time where I become totally useless." Steve doesn't say anything, just gives me a weak smile. "I think…I think I'll just head up and get some sleep."

He nods his head. "Alright," he says. "If anything changes, I'll come get you, okay?" I nod my head at him, reaching down to give his hand a brief squeeze. He returns it before I turn and leave the lab.

oOoOo

The next afternoon, when I walk into the lab, everyone is buzzing around. "What's going on?" I ask Bruce, the only one standing still.

"Oh," he says, noticing me standing beside him. "We're, um, we're getting ready to leave. We found someone who might know something."

I nod my head as I spot Steve pass by the table I was standing at with Bruce. I move to follow him to talk to him, but Clint stops me, pulling me down a dark hallway a little way. "Banner tell you we're heading out?" I nod my head. "Alright, what would you think of going to a safe house?"

"A safe house?" I ask to clarify. He nods his head back at me. "Well," I mull the idea over. "I might…I don't know. I guess I'd feel better at one. Since you all aren't going to be here."

"Yeah, and I have this sneaking suspicion we aren't going to be able to come back," he says. I raise an eyebrow at him, silently asking for an explanation. "Ultron has been all through here. I bet Hill is cutting out too once we're clear."

"Oh, okay," I say. "Well, I guess you have somewhere in mind?"

"I do," he says. "Remember that house you remembered that only you, I, Nat, and Fury know about?"

"Really?" I say. "You want me to go there?"

"Yeah," he says. "I think that'd be best, don't you?"

I shrug my shoulders. "Have you talked to Steve about this?" I ask. "I have a feeling he'd have an-"

"I mentioned it," he says. "He was okay with it." Clint reaches into a pocket of his suit, producing a wad of cash. "Here, once we're gone head down to the car rental place two blocks over. Get a set of wheels and head out there. Okay?"

oOoOo

"You know," I say, walking up behind Steve who was doing something with his shield. He turns out to look at me quickly. "The only bad thing about…not being as intimidated by you is that now I'm a nervous wreck before you leave. Especially this time."

Steve gives me a half smile as he leans against the edge of the table behind him. "Well, that just gives me extra incentive to come back. Now doesn't it?"

"I have to ask you," I say. Without even thinking about it, both of our hands come together between us, holding onto one another. "I remembered this song after the attack…Till then, I think it's called. Does that mean anything to…us?"

"Us?" Steve says, his smile growing a little more. He obviously liked that term when used in that context. "Yeah, it did. It would, um…it would calm you down when I left on missions."

"Ah," I say, nodding my head. "Guess you heard Clint has me going to a safe house?"

"Yes," he sighs, the smile fading. "You're okay with that?"

"I am," I say, giving his hand a squeeze. "Are you?"

Steve's eyes shut as he gently squeezes my hand back. "I will be," he says as he opens his eyes. "I'm going to end this and then…" I wait for him to continue, just looking into his eyes. "Maybe…maybe we can go away for a while, just the two of us. If you'd like that."

A smile grows on my face at the thought. I let my body move on auto-pilot again and step closer to him. He watches me as my face moves nearer to his before diverting to the right a little and planting a quick kiss on his cheek. "I'd like that." I say after I'm standing up straight again. Steve doesn't say anything, just smiles at me before standing up and pulling me into his arms, holding me against his chest.