Happy Tuesday, my lovely readers!

Apologies for the slight delay in updating, I was called into work for 0700 at 0500 this morning and I got in about an hour ago, it's safe to say I'm slightly exhausted!

I wanna shout out to Fin-Fish Jun-Tesnhi (I don't know whether you're gonna love the story or hate it because of some upcoming chapters... :P) & Megadaydreamer166 (I'll take that as a compliment, I hope you've enjoyed the story?)

Disclaimer: I do not own any Marvel characters that may be used or any Marvel storylines or arcs.

Claimer: I only own the character Elizabeth Jones (Lowri Jones and any other names she uses) and her story past, present and future.


Recap

"Someone's a bit tired." Steve noted with a smile.

Lowri looked over at him as her muscles relaxed.

"You've had more sleep than me." Lowri noted, "And you've got that serum to thank because you're not tired."

"That, and I get to sleep at a good time like a normal person." Steve smirked.

Lowri rolled her eyes at him but he didn't see her.

"Well, I'm gonna try and nap." Lowri said, she unbuckled her seatbelt and pushed it back by the car door.

"What-" Steve began as soon as he saw that she was taking her seatbelt off.

"Relax, Steve." Lowri said as she turned in her seat. "I'm gonna nap in the back. I can't sleep when I'm sat up." She said, she slipped between the two front seats and settled down on her back at first as she bunched up her jacket behind her head and she tested it out.

"Make sure you get a belt around you. I want you to know that I haven't driven a car in a very long time." Steve admitted.

Lowri opened her eyes and cracked a smile at the ceiling of the roof.

"I noticed that when you stalled four times in a row before we even pulled out of the parking lot. Not to mention that you stalled twice before we pulled out of the parking space." Lowri replied, she adjusted the jacket pillow and settled back again. "Should have let me drive."

"How? You're falling asleep on me, Ri. How could you have driven?" Steve asked playfully.

"Better than you." Lowri mumbled, her eyes were getting heavier by the second and her body began relaxing. She could feel herself drifting off into sleep but just before she finally drifted off, she felt something drape across her shoulders and she cracked one eye open, he spied the soft green fabric of Steve's outer coat and she closed her eyes and fell asleep with a smile on her face.


Steve drummed his thumbs on the steering wheel and occasionally glanced in the mirror, mostly to look at Lowri's sleeping form.

Their normal day together hadn't exactly ended well. Going to the Smithsonian with her had been a nice chance to spend time together, not talking but actually being in each other's presence.

Having pizza together was the most normal thing about the entire day. He was hoping that spending the day with her would make him tell her how he feels.

That he loves her and always has.

But he's scared that her feelings have changed about him. It's been more than two years since he woke up from the ice and she hasn't made a move towards him. Sure, they'd kissed on the helicarrier just after the attack on the helicarrier, but he was so relieved to see her alive that the moment had taken over.

And sure, they kissed less than an hour ago but that was to hide their faces from Rumlow and to distract him. It had worked, but she had made the first move.

Steve is able to face an army of trained soldiers and take them out easily but when it comes to talking about how he really feels to the woman who understands him the most, it's impossible.

She really does know how to drive him crazy.

He glanced in the rear-view mirror again at her sleeping form and a smile came onto his lips. Lowri never looks this relaxed. She was lying on her back with one hand on her chest, the other limp beside her, her face looked so relaxed. She's always too busy to look this relaxed. Her features were calm and clear, making her look as young as the day he first set eyes on her.

Her hair was draped down the side, dropping down into the foot well and he was taken back to Camp Lehigh when he first saw her in her civilian clothes and her hair was down her back and he got into a fight with Hodge over her.

Steve had wanted to run his hands through her hair but he had pushed that thought down because she was a superior office, but now she's a colleague.

When Steve was serving overseas with his team, the Howling Commandos, he had told them about her on the first night because he had been down.

They'd asked why and he explained that he had kissed another girl and the girl he actually likes had seen them. Then he added the bit where he left the necklace for her and Dum Dum Dugan threw a pair of smelly socks at him.

They gave him advice on what to say and do when they returned, they said that she would mellow out but for the first few times back, she was still frosty with him.

When Lowri had been cold with him, he realised how much he relied on her advice and guidance, he missed talking with her and for a long time, he never actually realised that he was in love with her until it was almost too late.

When he crashed the plane into the Arctic, he hadn't thought of the pain that he would cause her, he had hoped that she would move on, marry another and carry on her life without him. He still doesn't know how much he hurt her, she keeps that well under wraps but he wants to know. He wants her to open up to him, to tell him how much it hurt.

Yet, Lowri wears the necklace that he gave to her. That must be a constant reminder of him? Why does she wear it all the time?

It was nearing dusk when Steve finally pulled up in front of the gates of Camp Lehigh. He killed the engine and sat for a few long moments with his hands resting on the steering wheel, simply looking out at the training camp where he spent a week training hard.

The tall gates were rusting away and Steve could make out the outline of some of the newer, modern buildings.

Steve hadn't been back to Camp Lehigh since he rode out of the camp in 1942 with Lowri beside him.

The camp looks different, new buildings were in place but the original accommodation blocks where Steve had stayed in were still in the same place.

Steve twisted in his seat and placed a hand on the back of the passenger seat, he looked over at Lowri. She was now curled on her side, still underneath his coat and it brought a smile to his face. Steve reached over and gently shook her shoulder to wake her up.

"Hey, Ri." Steve said quietly. "We're here."

Lowri shuffled under his coat and opened her eyes, she sat up with a loud yawn as she looked out of the window. Once she realised where they were, a smile came onto her face and she turned to him.

"We're home." She said as she leant against the backseats, stretching her arms out in front of her.

Steve looked ahead of him again, back at Camp Lehigh and smiled too.

"Yeah. We are." He breathed.

Steve got out of the car first, he looked up at the rusting gates as Lowri righted herself, pulled her jacket on and climbed out of the car, she stepped up beside him.

Both had a feeling of nostalgia, this place brought the two of them together, this place started them off on their seven-year long journey.

"Are you ready, Major Jones?" Steve asked humorously. Lowri turned her head to look up at him with a small smile on her face.

"Do you know how long it has been since I last heard that?" Lowri asked, she shook her head and looked back at the gates. "Sometimes I miss the military life but other times, I don't."

Steve smiled at her warmly. "Let's go in, shall we, Ma'am?" Steve asked, he raised an eyebrow at her and cracked a smile. He stepped forwards with his shield raised and he swiftly brought the shield down onto the lock and broke it clean in half.

He turned back to her, still smiling warmly at her, he offered her his hand as he pushed the gate open.

Lowri took Steve's hand and they stepped through the open gate onto the base together. The base had changed a fair bit since the last time Lowri had been on the base, there were newer buildings in the base and some of the older bunkers had been pulled down. Most of the accommodation billets were still up and looked as though they had been in some use in the recent past but it was as though the camp was deserted.

She pulled her phone out of her pocket with her free hand and began to activate a tracer to pin point where on the base the drive came from but the tracer wasn't picking up on any signals.

Steve was busy checking out the place, taking in all of the changes without uttering a word. The running track was still there, a little more worn than they remembered but it was still there. Lowri's accommodation billet that she shared with Peggy Carter was still there, standing tall and proud.

Lowri's mind was occupied by the same place but a different time. She could remember running on that track at midnight years ago and Peggy had shouted at her for it. Darkness began surrounding them slowly and Lowri started typing in different commands into her phone to try different tactics but nothing seemed to work.

"There's nothing here." Lowri sighed, she took her hand from Steve's and jumped up onto the raised platform, she sung herself up over the railings and held her phone up higher to see if she could find a signal but there was none.

"It's a dead end." Lowri continued. "There's no heat signatures, no waves, not even radio." She turned to look at Steve. "Whoever wrote this file must have used a router to throw people off. It's certainly worked here."

Steve didn't reply to her, he didn't even look at her. He was looking elsewhere.

Lowri spied the bunker that had caught Steve's attention and her spirits lifted.

"Army regulations forbid storing munitions without 500 yards of the barracks. This building in in the wrong place." Steve said firmly, he stepped off in the direction of the bunker and Lowri watched after him for a few seconds.

Lowri jumped over the rails and off the raised platform, she landed on both feet lightly and she followed Steve across the small patch of grass once used as training grounds.

"This bunker wasn't built for storing ammunition." Lowri said as she came to a stop beside Steve. He was looking up at the building but he snapped his eyes to her with confusion written on his face.

"How do you know that?" Steve asked, turning his body to look at her fully.

"Because…" Lowri trailed off, she pressed her lips together and looked up at Steve. "It'll be easier to explain once we get inside."

Steve lifted his shield and brought it down sharply onto the large lock, breaking the hook clean in half. Steve pushed open the heavy door with little effort. He was about to step through the doorway when Lowri shot her hand out and put her hand on his chest to stop him.

"Watch for the stairs, they're steep." Lowri said quickly, she stepped around Steve and stepped into the doorway. "Here, let me go first." She added. Lowri stepped forward down the first step confidently and she set both of her hands on fire.

She held one hand in front of her and she held one hand behind her so Steve could see too.

The fire from her hands illuminated the stairs in front of her, giving them both a good view of the narrow and steep staircase.

"Did you see the door just on top of the stairs to the left?" Lowri asked, she glanced back at Steve and he shook his head. "It leads to a decoy room, full of maps and tables and chairs, made to look like a briefing room. The stairs used to be covered with a trap door, covered by carpet. Obviously, over the years someone has torn that up."

"How do you know so much about this bunker?" Steve asked, they reached midway and Lowri looked ahead again, continuing down.

"This place was home for a few years." Lowri replied slowly.

Lowri dimmed the hand in front of her so she could reach for the light switch that she knew was just around the corner by the bottom of the staircase. She found the light switch and dimmed her other hand when the main lights that hung above them illuminated the large room.

Steve stepped down beside her and she looked up at him for his reaction instead of looking around the room. He was shocked.

The walls were a light blue/grey colour and on the far wall was the original S. H. I. E. L. D. logo. There were rows of dusty desks, empty shelves and abandoned chairs dotted around the room.

"S. H. I. E. L. D." Steve breathed. He wheeled around to face Lowri. "You knew about this place?"

"Yes." Lowri said, nodding her head. "This was where Project Rebirth began, so Howard, Chester, Peggy and I agreed that this place was perfect for a new intelligence organisation." Lowri said, she looked around the room with a smile on her face. "This is where it all started."

Steve watched her carefully. "Where was your desk?" Steve asked, he turned his head as he scanned the room, searching for a tell-tale sign of her desk.

"Why do you think I had my own desk?" Lowri asked, she couldn't keep the smile off her face.

"I dunno. Maybe because you're one of the original founders, so, you would have taken a role which involved paperwork, so you'd have your own desk." Steve said with a smirk. "And you love your paperwork."

Lowri looked up from the floor and smiled, she glanced back up at Steve and found his eyes on her.

"I had my own office." Lowri confirmed with a smile. Steve's eyes widened and he smiled at her almost mischievously. "It was nothing special, not like the one I have now. It was small, square and dark. Perfect place to have candles though." Lowri shrugged her shoulders.

"Where was it?" Steve asked, his eyes scanned the room eagerly.

"That wall over there," Lowri said, pointing to the wall to the right of her with doors lining the wall. "The furthest door down is mine."

Her office had been right at the end of the room, and she liked it like that. She could remember walking down the length of the room, smiling at everyone she saw, she could remember turning right into her office and sitting down at her desk as if it was only yesterday instead of decades ago.

Steve grinned at her before turning away from her, he followed the wall down and the he disappeared into her office. Lowri adverted her eyes from her open office door and she turned back to the large room.

She felt sorrow take root in her stomach as she saw how deserted and sad the office looked. Lowri dragged her finger along a dust-laden desk and signed as she closed her eyes.

She could hear the new agents being shown around by one of the old SSR agents that they had recruited first. She could feel the history seeping through the cracks.

Why must everything start and end in the same place?

"Er, Ri." Steve called out to her, Lowri turned back to him and she pulled herself from her own little world. Steve was stood just outside the open door leading to her old office, holding something small in his hand and an unreadable expression on his face.

He stepped closer to Lowri and she closed the gap. As she came to a stop just in front of him, he held up an aged photograph in front of him and Lowri felt her cheeks flush.

The aged photograph was the one that she had treasured for many years but she had thought that she lost it a while ago. It was Steve, pre-serum Steve. One that she had taken from his personal file the month that he had crashed the plane and disappeared from her life. It reminded her of the man that she had fallen in love with.

"I thought I lost this one." Lowri said, she reached for the photograph. Steve surrendered it to her and watched her for her reaction. "I was gutted what I realised it was gone. I must have left it here after we moved to the new office in New York." Lowri looked at the photo, taking in the skinny man that had made a big impact on her life without realising it. "That was only temporary though, we moved to DC once we found a good place to build the Triskelion."

"You kept this?" Steve asked, gesturing to the photograph in Lowri's hand.

"Of course, I did." Lowri replied, as she spoke, she slid the photo into her back pocket. She looked back up at him, "It's only fair. You had a photo of me so I had one of you."

Steve smiled at her fondly, as if her answer meant everything to him.

Lowri turned away from him and stepped off into the large room, past the desks and abandoned chairs. She led him deeper into the bunker.

Lowri strolled into one of three old storage rooms at the back of the bunker which had held all sorts of paperwork from mission reports, to insurance papers to personnel files, one of the storage rooms had been designated to holding non-dangerous and slightly-dangerous objects.

On the back wall of the storage room was four medium-sized aged portraits with ranks and names under each one.

"Oh, wow." Lowri said gently as she came to a stop just in front of the first portrait. The first portrait was of Chester Phillips, then the next one was of Lowri, then Howard Stark and then Peggy Carter. Lowri crossed her arms over her chest and leant back as she looked up at the portraits. "They definitely got my bad side." Lowri remarked.

These three-people had such a big impact on Lowri's life and she was so thankful that she had met them. Each had their own impact on her life and she's always hoped that she had an equally big impact on their lives too.

"You don't have a bad side." Steve said quietly as he came to a stop beside her. Lowri glanced over at him and smiled gently in reply, Steve shrugged his shoulders and backed away from her.

He narrowed his eyes at something just past the start of the empty shelves and he headed for it.

Lowri turned from the portraits and faced Steve's retreating back, she spied what had caught his eye, a small breeze blowing a cobweb from the side of one of the old shelves lining the walls.

"Do you know if there's anything behind here?" Steve asked as he headed down the small corridor and stopped in front of the shelf in question, Lowri followed him.

"No." Lowri said, she stepped closer to Steve and he looked back at her with confusion on his face. "Not as far as I know."

"Hm." Steve said, he turned away from Lowri and looked more closely at the shelving in front of him.

"I know what you're thinking." Lowri said as she stepped closer to Steve, she crossed her arms over her chest and watched with slight concern as Steve pulled on the side of the shelving and it shifted to the side, sliding almost too easily. His muscles strained as he tugged on the shelf.

"And what's that?" Steve asked, he stepped back from the open gap and stared at the small corridor that led to an elevator.

Lowri's mouth dropped open at the sight of the elevator. She stepped past Steve, closer to the elevator, leaving Steve standing in the doorway.

"That they've been hiding things from me right from the start." Lowri said, she stopped two paces into the corridor leading to the elevator. She looked down at her hands and concentrated her fire there, the fire danced along her hands and Lowri lifted them up.

She heard Steve step after her.

"Maybe they had a really good reason not to tell you." Steve said quietly as he stepped closer.

"No reason is ever good enough." Lowri replied through gritted teeth. She headed straight for the elevator and as she neared, she dimmed one of her hands and reached for her phone as soon as she noticed the small pad next to the doors.

"Oh," Steve said in a defeated tone. "There's a code."

Lowri smirked, "Just because you can't break this lock, doesn't mean that it's not breakable." Lowri said, she brought up one of the apps on her phone and it deciphered the code within two seconds.

8539

The code worked and the elevator doors slid open.

"Glad there's two of us then." Steve muttered as he stepped around her, careful not to touch her burning hand.

Lowri stared at the open elevator. How long has this been here?

"Are you coming?" Steve asked, he held the doors open and he looked at her with concern.

Lowri looked up at him, smiled gently as she broke out of her own little world and she stepped into the elevator, dimming her burning hand. Lowri ducked under Steve's arm and turned beside him. He dropped his arms and the elevator doors closed with a loud ding

Without any commands being inputted into the elevator or any commands being spoken by either Steve or Lowri, the elevator began travelling downwards.

Steve and Lowri shared a careful look but none of them said anything, the elevator was probably pre-programmed.

What was waiting for them at the end of the elevator shaft? Why was it so important to be hidden in a secret room? Did her peers start keeping things from her straight away?

The elevator stopped with a tiny drop and the doors opened with a loud ding. Steve and Lowri peered into the dark room.

"We should-" Steve began but Lowri stepped out of the elevator with her hands out in front of her, ready to set them alight but as soon as she stepped out of the elevator lights above her switched themselves on automatically and illuminated part of the room, leaving the black outer edge look suspicious.

Lowri looked around her, the walls on either side was stacked with old technology equipment dating back from the 1970's and then it was as though the room spread out, but the lights weren't on in those areas.

Just ahead of her was a series of computer screens and huge hard drives powering the monitors, there were huge, thick cables and wires leading out from the sides and back of the computer, leading off to the sides of the room.

Lowri's mouth dropped open as she stepped closer to the computer, she heard Steve's footprints behind her.

"This can't be the source." Lowri said in disbelief.

How long had this room been down here? The foundations must have been laid before the bunker was built. How could her friends do that to her?

Lowri neared the old computer and her eyes scanned over the dusty equipment. She spied a USB port hub with wires coming out of it, attaching it to the computer. Lowri turned to look at Steve, only a few paces behind her, a look of astonishment on his face.

"Do you have the drive?" Lowri asked, Steve nodded his head and dug in his pocket. Lowri held her hand out and Steve pressed the drive into her hand firmly.

"Here." Steve said, his fingertips brushed Lowri's palm and she turned from him quickly, grasping the drive in a closed fist and she tried to hide her blush. That simple touch had sent a shock to her nerve endings, making her almost shiver.

Lowri plugged the drive into the USB port hub and she stepped back as she heard the sound of the computer whirring into life. Lowri kept stepping backwards until she stopped beside Steve, her arm brushed against his but they were both looking intently at the computer to worry about blushing.

There was one big screen with smaller computer monitors on either side and more below. A green glow came onto the screen and it slowly morphed into words, green lettering on a black background.

Initiate System?


I'm not sure if I can wait until next Tuesday to update this story... Let's just see how it goes. Hope you all enjoy!

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