AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Dedicated to Joy—I feel a bit bad that I shoved so much angst down her throat for breakfast this morning…

WARNINGS: Language, Blood, Angst, Innuendo, Dirty Thoughts, Sex

ENJOY!

xxxx

"This place…" Steve began as Angel led him out of the room.

Angel took a deep breath. "We were trying to break it to you gently—I suppose in retrospect there is no gentle way to tell someone that they're 70 years in the future, but hey…you knew it was going to happen for some reason."

"Patience, Angel…"

"I'm not a very patient person!"

Steve chuckled and stopped for a moment, looking at Angel, who couldn't help but smile even though she was confused as Hell. She had no idea what was going on and she couldn't stop thinking about Steve's lips on hers and how if they were going to kiss, it shouldn't have been like that. This was one of her idols and he had awakened from slumber, called her by name, kissed her, and then made her take him to find Bucky—at least the last part made sense.

Bucky had been such a big part of his life—they were best friends and they were comrades in arms and Angel pointed to a closed door. Steve went rushing for it until Angel told him to stop, his hand paused on the door because he wanted to ignore her and rip it open and rush inside, but he trusted her…he didn't have a reason not to. He looked at her with those eyes of his and her knees practically buckled underneath her.

"He hasn't woken up yet," Angel explained to him as she neared the door too.

Steve suddenly looked scared and sad and he opened up the door, going inside and seeing Bucky lying there. He didn't look like he was in bad shape, so Steve calmed down a little bit, but he was also a bit upset because his best friend was lying here and he had put all of his faith in Angel to do this…he had thought that they would both be here safe and sound. So when he looked at Angel, she was certainly feeling guilty, but she didn't feel like she should feel guilty—she was the one who had revived Bucky in the first place.

"You said you did this for me…" Steve said slowly, looking back at Bucky.

Angel raised her eyebrows. "Seeing as how I met you five minutes ago, I very highly doubt that."

"In the 40's, during the war—you told Bucky and I that you came back to save Bucky from dying so I wouldn't be alone here. You defeated a Hydra robot with your bare hand and then died in my arms and vanished…" Steve explained to her.

"I…I…are you talking about time travel?" Angel asked him slowly.

Steve opened his mouth to say something else when Bucky stirred, both of their attentions on him as he groaned a little bit. Still, he opened up his eyes and he smiled at Steve, sitting up slowly and then touching his head with his hand. So far, so good, because Angel hadn't even been entirely convinced that he would come out of this perfectly, but he seemed to be just fine.

"Angel?" Bucky asked him.

Steve pointed to Angel, Bucky looking at her and smiling even more, nodding. "I told you that if we just crashed into the ice caps, we'd see her again."

"That Hydra weapon discharged in your face, Buck—I thought you were down for the count," Steve explained slowly.

"That would explain the energy," Angel said softly.

The two men looked at her as she talked to herself, Angel blushing a bit as they smiled at her, still not entirely comfortable with them knowing her. Still, she set in to explain the conditions that she had found them in because she knew that they would want to know as much as possible about how they were here and how they were thawed out. Then she expected them to tell her about how they knew her, because this was strange and it was killing her that she was in the dark about it all.

"I'm sorry—his synapses are still functioning?" Angel asked out loud as she looked over the scans. "That's impossible, but I can…I can fix that."

Andy looked at her. "You can just fix this?"

"Yeah—Dad went out of his way to have Xavier teach me as much as possible, so I've got this," Angel said with a smile, ripping open Bucky's shirt and touching one hand to his chest and the other to his head. "All I have to do is do this all at the same time…start his brain and his heart and then we wait for nature to take its course. Dad said something to me years ago about how Cap would never want to be without Bucky and I'm not about to make him if he doesn't have to."

"Howard turned you into such a little Captain America fan girl," Andy laughed loudly.

"You should hear her and Coulson talking about him," Sharon responded, shaking her head. "In fact Coulson is in there right now with Cap, trying to reign in how excited he is."

Angel smiled a bit. "He is the hottest man on ice I've ever seen…"

"I don't know…Bucky is a pretty fantastic specimen," Sharon said wiggling her eyebrows.

"Yes, he is," Andy agreed.

Angel rolled her eyes even though she agreed too and then she jump started Bucky's senses. She smiled a bit and she made sure that his vitals were all stable before she went to go and check on Steve and then talk to Nick because that was important too. She was a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and she knew that no matter what happened, she was going to be able to get through this…now to gain Bucky's and Steve's trust.

"I guess you've saved my life twice now," Bucky told her nodding. "Thank you."

Angel smiled a little bit. "If the Hydra weapon hadn't discharged, you wouldn't be thanking me for anything. Look, I'm not saying that I believe what you're saying, but…that Angel that went back in time? She's not me. When Xavier and I were talking about time and space, he had a theory that when you change something in the past, the future that changed it ceases to be, so that Angel that died in your arms? She's dead."

"Part of her is still you," Bucky said, shrugging his shoulders. "You have the same looks, the same father—"

"—the same warmth," Steve added. "You saved Bucky for me twice now and regardless of the fact that that future no longer exists, I am here to protect you."

"I'm here to help him do that," Bucky told her, nodding. "We owe you."

"Great, well…I'm going to go and lie down," Angel responded, turning and walking out.

xx

"He kissed me!" Angel said as she walked into Sharon's room.

She hadn't knocked and Sharon looked like she was having a drink with one of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, but one look from Angel sent him running. At first Sharon thought about being upset, but she really didn't care because she was now intrigued. Angel had been with Steve and Bucky and she wondered if her friend had finally cracked or if Bucky had just taken a liking to her.

"So Bucky really is a ladies man like Howard described?" Sharon asked with a laugh.

Angel shook her head. "No, not Bucky."

"Wait…Captain America kissed you?" Sharon asked her.

"I am far more surprised than you are, and he kisses pretty good for a man who has been in ice for 70 years…" Angel responded, sitting down and touching her lips with her fingertips. "He and Bucky know who I am. Isn't that crazy? He said I defeated Hydra with him!"

Sharon sat up straighter. "Like time travel? Angel, you and Charles were working on that."

"Yeah, but…I have no idea what's going on," Angel said shaking her head. "If an Angel from the future went back in time to save Bucky, that's all well and good, but that's not me—in reality, they don't know me. They think I'm this badass…which I guess I kind of am, but it's strange. They look at me so kindly and they've vowed to protect me."

"Well, I mean…if you saved that sexy piece of ass…"

"Share…"

"Bucky? I would tap that and hard."

Angel laughed and rolled her eyes, taking a deep breath and then reaching for the glass of wine that was meant for the man she'd made leave. She was really happy for a moment as she thought about the kiss and Sharon smiled a bit because she knew that look: Angel had a crush even though she was really upset still, she could tell. Angel wasn't sure what to think about it all, but she'd had a crush on Steve Rogers since she was little and now here he was in the flesh.

"Maybe you should go for it," Sharon offered with a shrug.

Angel gave her a look. "No…I don't need a man. I have a company to co-run."

"You can't hide behind your company," Sharon said sighing. "Just because you've had your heart broken, doesn't mean you should just give up."

"I haven't given up, I'm just not taking advantage of the men out of time," Angel responded. "I have no idea what happened with the other Angel and I want to, but what if I can't live up to her? What if she's this vision of perfection or something for them? I mean they came here for her and I'm the biggest disappointment."

Sharon reached over and hugged her friend. "Hey, Angel…stop talking about yourself that way."

"Oh my God, everything is a joke to you!" Angel said laughing, pushing on Sharon's shoulder playfully. "Alright, I'll talk to them about it."

"Good, because I for one want to know how much of a badass the other you is," Sharon teased, pointing to the door. "Want to get something to eat?"

"Of course," Angel said with a smile.

xx

"She's full of spunk," Bucky said with a nod of approval. "She might have a point though…she's not the same woman who came back in time."

Steve shook his head. "You don't know that. Even if her whole childhood was different, she's still the same beautiful, courageous, loyal woman."

"You don't know that," Bucky responded shaking his head. "I agree that she still has the same heart, but since she probably didn't go through anything the other one did, she's…well she's not the same. I will still protect her, though. Something brought us here and it wasn't her or us crashing on purpose—you said you didn't have a choice. It was you or New York and you chose you because you're a hero."

"I just want to protect you—other than you, she's the only one who has ever tried to protect me."

"I know that…we should see what this world has to offer now, Steve."

Steve nodded gently. "I agree. There is a whole other world outside of these walls but at least I have you here to brave it with."

"You could do it without me."

"I wouldn't want to."

Bucky smiled at that and patted Steve on the back, both of them getting up and heading to the door before they were stopped by Nick Fury. He wanted to talk to them and he wanted to ask them all sorts of questions, but right now he needed to brief them on what it was that happened. As for Angel and Sharon…they were about to meet up with Andy and Tony for some food.

Note: What do I have in store for you? A lot of fun, I promise. Feedback is always appreciated!