Half a second later and it would've been too late. Steve's other hand reaches out and grabs her in much the same way as he did Peggy- by the fingers. He trembled under the effort of not slipping forward without something to anchor him. His crushing grip quivered, and still both women began to slide through his hold.

"Help!" Steve barks, teeth grinding and muscles flexing. A sweat breaks out across his brow despite the cold. And maybe that's not the only moisture on his face.

Tony takes a step forward and the train groans, already delicately uprooted from the tracks and tipped precariously, and sways. "We can't," and DJ can't see his face from this angle, but she can hear the despair in his voice. The day that Tony Stark runs out of hope and brilliant ideas is a bad day for everyone.

"Steve," Peggy whimpers, the fear finally creeping in. "You can do this. I know you can."

He clenches his eyes shut, like the sound of her voice is a searing knife in his side. His boots lose their traction for a fraction of a second and he eases closer to the edge. This could hurt him. In so many ways. And DJ… She's come to terms with dying before.

"It's alright," DJ says quietly enough that she hopes the others don't hear. "You can't save all of us, Steve. It's impossible. You have to let go. Let go of me, Steve. It's the only way to ensure the least amount of casualties."

"Don't talk about yourself like you're just collateral damage," Steve grinds out, never opening his eyes. "Don't be clinical and logical likes this is easy."

Her fingers slip further through his. "It's easy for me," she lied, forcing a mirthless smile even though he couldn't see her. "This is why we broke up, remember, Steve? So you would be able to make these hard decisions. We're superheroes, we don't grow old, or… Just let me go, okay? It's what I want."

"Cap-"

"Shut up, Tony," DJ fiercely demands. "Be real. I love that you're a persistent, stubborn little asshole, but you know as well as I do that sacrifices have to be made."

She slips further until she's dangling by three fingers, which are either bruised or broken under Steve's grip. Steve opens his eyes then, brave enough to look the women in the eyes before he makes his choice. An apology tumbles inaudibly from his lips. And he lets go.

The air leaves DJ's lungs as, instead of plunging downwards, she's jerked upwards into Steve's arms. There's a wild look in Steve's eyes and all DJ can do is dig her fingernails into the chest of his uniform. He shakes around her, and manages a weak, "I nearly lost you once. I couldn't do it again."

The illusion crumples around them and DJ wakes up alone again. The rain still beats down, soaking her through. She pushes up off the ground, and- ouch- yeah, those three fingers are a little bit broken. That problem is an afterthought to her, however, and she slides in the mud and scrambles forward through the storm.

"Steve!" She calls out, squinting in the darkness. She stumbles aimlessly forward, sinking occasionally into the mud and weighing herself down. "Steve!"

She hears her name echoing back to her not too far off, and forces her legs to push themselves faster. There's a blur of blue in front of her, and it's lucky that Steve's abilities give him more agility and endurance, because DJ's legs give out as soon as he reaches her. He wraps his arms around her, falling to the ground at his knees, and buries his face into her neck.

"Steve," she breathes. "Steve, why? I don't understand."

"I told you-"

"I heard what you said," she interrupts. "But if you saved her you would've had her back. She would've stayed."

Steve pulls back enough to wipe away the strands of hair clinging to her cheeks. "And I would've lost you."

"But Steve, you love her!"

He furrows his brow and twists his mouth in confusion. "Yes. And you."

It's like DJ's suddenly forgotten how to breathe. "Still?"

"Of course," Steve replies, and he looks genuinely confused. "I know you demanded we not talk about it, but when we lost our memories I wasn't kidding. I still care about you. In that way. In the, um, the love way. And I would do anything to prove that."

"But, I… What about Hill?"

"What about her?" He shrugs a shoulder. "We're not together. We never were in an… Official way."

"Captain America engaging in casual sex?" She teases even though her brain is trying to keep up with this sucker-punch nugget of information. "Who would have ever guessed?"

Even through the rain and the dark she can tell that he blushes. "Yeah, well… And I want you to know that… The way I acted earlier? About you and Howard? I'm sorry. I was… Jealous." He whispers the last word like it's unheard of, and actually, it's a little odd. The paragon of perfection feeling like he can't measure up? That sort of thing doesn't happen every day.

"It's alright, Steve," she assures as he stands up and offers her a hand. "And that whole thing with me and Howard, it didn't really mean anything, ya know? I was scared and-"

"Tony explained everything," Steve stopped her, slipping an arm around her waist as they began to walk together. "And you were right then, anyway. I had no right to be so upset. We haven't been on the best of terms, and that's both our faults, but when we-"

"We don't need to talk about that, either," she insists as they near the group. A tarp is stretched out over branches to protect them from the rain. "It's in the past."

Steve sighs in exasperation and powers on anyway. "But we do. We had sex, Daisy!"

Tony, Howard, Thor, Clint, and Natasha pause in what they're doing to watch them, and DJ rolls her eyes. "A long time ago, guys! You know what he's talking about!"

"You told them about it?!"

"Steve, they figured it out on their own. And if they hadn't, you just announced it to the world five seconds ago." And DJ was supposed to be the irrational one. "It's not that big of a deal. Everyone has break up sex at least once. You're welcome for that life experience. There. Conversation done."

"I disagree," Tony interjects.

DJ groans and lets her head fall back. "Not now Tony, please. I can only take so much stress in one day. Can't we let the whole dangling from a train thing be the main course for today?"

"Hmm, I wonder why you can't handle the stress."

"Damn it, Tony-"

He waves a hand to cut her off. "No, no. You're right. You shouldn't exert yourself. I'll take the liberty of telling-"

"Fucking fine! God!" She turns to Steve, anger blazing in her eyes despite the fact that her stomach is really just churning with nerves. "Steve, I'm pregnant!"

The stretch of silence that ensues is a fraction too long. "I… Was… Is it… Um, Howard's?"

There's a collective groan from the peanut gallery, and DJ's fake anger quickly becomes real. "What the f- No. You know what? I'm going to give you a break on that one. Boop. Rewind. Try that again. I'm pregnant."

"But I thought you were on…" Steve leans forward, lowering his voice like the next part is a dirty word. "The pill."

Natasha scoffs. "If you want to kill him, I'll kindly look the other way."

"Nope, no, it's fine. It's okay." DJ's feeling particularly generous at the moment. "Third time's the charm. Do-over. Here we go. Steve, I'm pregnant."

This time he visibly panics, mouth flapping wordless for a few minutes before he grabs her by the shoulders and looks at her with eyes as wide as saucers. "Marry me."

"Steve, I… I seriously want to punch you in the face right now."

"I wouldn't do that," Clint advises. "Your fingers already look broken."

Steve frowns, letting DJ go. "I don't understand? What did I do?"

"Exactly what was expected of you, Steve," DJ snaps, cutting him with a glare. "Congratulations."

"Don't do that," Steve exhales in exasperation. "Don't just shut me out like that. If you're going to get angry, at least have the courtesy to let me participate in the argument."

His rationality makes all the fight drain out of her, and now she's just tired. Tired of running in circles and having things dangled in front of her, just to have them taken away. Tired of never knowing what he wants, or means, or feels. "Listen Steve, you're a great guy. Obviously. And that drives me crazy. I can't take it sometimes, how perfect you are. Honestly, I prefer you questioning the paternity over proposing."

"I'm sorry, I'm still a little confused." Steve runs a hand through his wet hair, an expression of helplessness on his face. "Just tell me what you want from me and I'll do it. If you don't want me in your life, that's fine. Just tell me."

"Jesus fucking Christ, Steve! That's the problem! It's always about what I want, and I'm aware this argument is a little backwards, but just do what you want for a change!"

Steve pulls the puppy dog face, which doesn't help matters any. "But I do-"

"Oh, don't even pretend that you do what you want. When I left you just disappeared and let it happen! And now you ask me to marry you because you think it's the right thing to do? That's bullshit. That is doing things because you think you have to, because you think you're obligated. That's Captain America. And I didn't fall in love with him. I fell in love with Steve Rogers."

He's actually starting to get frustrated now, an irritated flush darkening his cheeks. "They're the same person!"

"No they're not," she vehemently denies. "And you used to know that. Captain America is a persona. And he's great. He's noble and brave and puts his life on the line nearly every day. Steve is the guy who couldn't remember who he was. Who knew how he felt and wouldn't take no for an answer. He mouths off and thinks too highly of everyone and he fights for what he wants."

"Maybe that's what I'm doing, and you're just too much of a stubborn jerk to see it!"

DJ huffs and crosses her arms over her chest, wincing when she jostles her broken fingers. "Yeah, sure, right. Because you totally want to marry me Steve. Okay."

"You're the most infuriating woman I've ever met!" Steve yells up at the sky. "I took an arrow for you! I chose you on the train! You seemed to think that was a pretty big deal a few minutes ago, and now it's ridiculous that I want to marry you?"

"Yes," she says the word slowly and drawn out as if Steve were a mentally inept five year old. "Loving someone and wanting to spend the rest of your life with them are completely different things."

"Not to me!" He exclaims. "I've been going crazy while you were gone! It's bad enough that you broke up with me, but we couldn't even claim to be friends! The thought of never having any sort of relationship with you ever again was killing me. There was this big gaping hole in my life where you were supposed to be. It hurts to imagine you not being in my future."

It's DJ's turn to fumble for words. "I… Well… That's just stupid!"

"You're stupid," Steve argues back, offended. "When we talked about what happened during the memory lapse-"

Clint snaps to attention, mouth getting away from him. "You told him we kissed?!"

"No, Clint, I didn't," DJ rolls her eyes. "Thank you for that, dumbass."

"You and Clint did what?"

"Oh, get off it, Steve. We didn't know who we were."

Steve frowns, clearly getting ready to not let it go. "I didn't know who I was either, and I was so sure about us. Why don't you feel the same way?"

"Steve-"

"Guys," Tony interrupts. "Where's Bruce?"