Hey ya'll. i had some free time and was feeling inspired so here's another chapter.
"I don't see what the problem is. You're about to be the last eligible man in New York. You know, there's three and a half million women here," Bucky leads Steve through the crowd, trying to spot the girls.
"Well, I'm fine settling for just the one," Bucky rolls his eyes but regards his friend fondly. Steve followed blindly while keeping his head down. The shorter man wanted to be supportive of Bucky's last night but he couldn't hide his own disappointment of being left behind.
"Good thing I took care of that," Steve bumped into the now Sergeant's back as the man stopped to wave.
"Hey, Bucky!" Peering around Bucky's back, Steve spotted Connie and a positively unenthused Ava. The blonde woman leaned against the wall with her arms crossed, watching the girl she was with bounce up and down with much more energy than was necessary. Steve wondered whether Connie had not noticed she had already gotten their attention or if she just didn't care.
"What did you tell her about me?" Steve met Ava's eyes and felt a warmth wash over him as her scowled expression melted into her beautiful smile. Bucky snorted at his friend's full body blush, the kid would probably never get past the hopeless puppy dog stage.
"Only the good stuff," Bucky patted Steve on the back, as he walked ahead to greet his own date.
"I hear you're really good at sweeping the ladies off their feet," Ava met him halfway, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and pulling herself onto her toes for a quick kiss. He returns the embrace as he wraps his arms around her waste, pulling her closer and tickling her ear with his laughter.
"Is that what Bucky told you?"
"He also told me that you were taking me dancing," she pulls her head back and grins at him as Howard Stark takes the stage.
"I got admit to you, I really don't know how to dance," Steve blushes and rubs his neck. Ava laughs.
"Neither do I," they grin at each other, both of them aware of each other's lack of dating experience.
"Guess we'll just have to teach each other," Ava laughs some more, the warmth in Steve's stomach growing. He doesn't think he'll ever grow tired of that sound.
"Oh gosh. We're both going to be terrible then," he agrees as Bucky comes and throws his arms over both their shoulders.
"Come on you love birds, the show is starting!"
They walk up far enough that they both can see, keeping their hands entwined as the inventor started to speak.
"Ladies and gentlemen, what if I told you that in just a few short years, your automobile won't even have to touch the ground at all," Howard turned to thank the women taking the wheels off of the car, "With Stark robotic reversion technology, you'll be able to do just that."
"Holy cow." Steve glances over at his friends, Bucky and Connie completely awestruck at the hovering car, but Ava only has one unimpressed eyebrow raised. She scoffs as the car suddenly malfunctions and drops to the stage.
"I did say a few years, didn't I?" The crowd laughs and disperses, the two couples walking together until Steve pauses as they pass the recruitment center.
"Hey, Steve, what do you say we treat these girls…and there he goes again." Bucky rolls his eyes as he drags Connie towards the other couple. "Come on. You're kind of missing the point of a double date. We're taking the girls dancing. I promised Ava I'd get them to play that slow dance for you guys."
"You're right, I'm sorry I can do this another time," Steve glances at the blonde guiltily.
"It's fine, Steve. James, you and Connie go ahead, we'll catch up," Ava needed a break from the perky brunette hanging off of Bucky's arm anyways. Steve smiles at her, understanding and also thankful.
"You're really gonna do this again?" Bucky sends a betrayed look at the smaller woman, "and since when have you started encouraging this?"
They both shrug their shoulders causing Bucky to run a hand down his face in exasperation.
"As who? Steve from Ohio? They'll catch you. Or worse, they'll actually take you."
"Look, I know you don't think I can do this."
"This isn't a back alley, Steve. It's war!" Ava rolls her eyes and pulls Connie towards the pier; she has heard this argument so many times before.
"Well, this is a waste of time. Come on, Connie. They're going to be whining at each other for at least another few minutes," Steve snorts at her bluntness while Bucky looks even more betrayed than before, "let us know when you're done."
Steve turns back to Bucky after the girls have moved on.
"I know it's a war. You don't have to tell me." Bucky sighs at the determined look in Steve's eyes, annoyed at his friend.
"Why are you so keen to fight? There are so many important jobs."
"What am I gonna do? Collect scrap metal…"
"Yes!"
"…in my little red wagon." Steve gives Bucky an indignant look that the man pointedly ignores.
"Why not?"
"I'm not gonna sit in a factory, Bucky."
"I don't…"
"Bucky, come on! There are men laying down their lives. I got no right to do any less than them. That's what you don't understand. This isn't about me."
"Right," Bucky glances meaningfully at Ava, "Cause you got nothing to prove."
"I don't," Steve notices and bristles at the implication.
"Look," Bucky puts a hand on Steve's shoulder which the shorter man shrugs off quickly, "I honestly don't think Ava is the kind of dame to care whether you're a war hero or not."
"She isn't! And I'm not trying to prove anything to her," Steve gave a frustrated noise, "I'm trying to protect her!"
"I get what you're saying, Steve, but one man can't change a war; it'll continue whether you're there or not. You're more use to Ava alive than dead, plus I don't think she needs much protecting," Bucky shuddered, Ava was tiny but terrifying.
"I'm gonna do this either way Bucky. I have to," the taller man breathes out his frustrations as the girls come up behind him.
"Hey, Sarge! Are we still going dancing?" Bucky turns to Connie and nods before turning back to Steve.
"Don't do anything stupid until I get back."
"How can I? You're taking all the stupid with you."
"You're a punk," Bucky hugs Steve goodbye as he glances at Ava, "I doubt I can trust you to keep him out of trouble."
"Probably not," she shrugs and accepts a hug as well.
"Jerk. Be careful," Bucky walks away with a hand slinked around Connie's waste, "Don't win the war till I get there!"
"Come on, Steve. Let's get you enlisted," Ava smiles at him as she pushes him toward the reception desk, laughing as he tells the receptionist that he just moved here from Ohio. When his name is called a few minutes later, he runs his fingers over hers.
"I think I owe you a dance later," she laughs and gives him a kiss on the cheek.
"I'll be waiting right here."
***line***
Steve stares at the dainty hand in his own. It's strange, she was small before the serum, but they had almost been the same size. Their hands had fit perfectly together, now his dwarfed hers. He sighed as he looks away from their entwined hands to her sleeping face.
"The Captain America museum makes no mention of a pre-serum girlfriend," Tony walks into the med bay with Natasha following. He eyes the super soldier and then the woman on the bed, "I'm taking it you two were serious?"
"We were dating, she was there when I enlisted," he squeezes her hand gently, almost as through he is afraid he'll break her, "she was going to be my girl when I got back." Tony choked on his water as Bruce came in with a clipboard.
"You were going to get married? What about Peggy?"
"What do you mean?" Steve raised an eyebrow, "Peggy and I were just friends."
"But-but-there are like so many stories about you two. They even made a movie! It's a classic!" The genius was going every memory he had of his aunt, but when he thought about it she never actually said she and Steve had dated.
"And a remake of that movie," Natasha chimed in.
"That was terrible," Tony scoffed and Bruce hummed in agreement while Steve blinked in confusion.
"They did?" Both men nod as the veteran's eyebrows shot up, "Peggy had expressed some interest at the beginning but she was the one who gave me back Ava's ring, she never pushed it after that."
"What happened?"
"Mugging," Steve pulled out the dog tags from under his shirt exposing the small diamond ring that hung there with them, "she always got on my case about being reckless, about getting into fights I couldn't win, yet she was the one that ended up dying trying to save someone else."
He paused as he took out his wallet and pulled out a piece of paper, handing it over to his teammates. It was a black and white photo of two people in front of a Ferris wheel, the man was facing the camera smiling at the photographer while the woman was looking back over her shoulder, slightly turned away. The woman's left hand was on the man's chest, the same small diamond ring sparkling in the sun as her right hand was stretched out, pointing toward the ride behind them.
"Fury tracked down some of our pictures after the attack on New York. Bucky took that the day I officially proposed, it had been his idea to bribe the worker to stop us at the top," he lifted the ring still attached to the chain and held it between his fingers, "when my plane went down I thought I was going to finally see her again, but then I woke up."
A quiet washes over the four of them before Tony takes a slight breath.
"No wonder you were such a crab ass when we met."
"TONY!" Natasha hits the genius on the shoulder as Steve laughs.
"I deserved that," Steve glanced at Bruce, "Any idea when she'll wake up?"
"She should be soon, the weapon that Barnes used on her did some damage but her cells are healing at a remarkable rate. The only reason she is asleep now is to replenish the energy needed to heal at this rate," Bruce pauses, glancing at Tony, "it is actually almost the exact same as Elli's regenerative abilities, if only a little faster."
Both the genius and super soldier blink at that.
"What're you saying?"
"I'm saying that she has the same healing powers and was glowing just like Elli does."
"So what you're saying is that Cap's girlfriend is actually a Skīr-r in disguise?"
"Maybe?"
The group sits in contemplative silence before Bruce leaves to run some tests and Natasha follows after him. Tony is just about to leave himself when the woman on the bed starts to stir. Steve sits up straighter as her eyes flutter open, a molten gold that matches his daughter's own irises shocking Tony into a sudden realization.
Ava blinks as white ceiling comes into focus, the florescent lights making her head ache slightly. She glances around until her eyes fall on the Steve Hogan she had met earlier.
"Ava, honey," a muscular arm reaches for her cheek causing her to jerk back in surprise. A kicked puppy dog look falls over his features as her eyes sweep over his figure in suspicion, "please, Ava, it's me."
Her eyes narrow as she scoots farther away. Energy crackles at her fingertips under the covers as she prepares to blow this most recent hydra base and cruel trick back to the hell it came from. Before she can, though, something glitters in the corner of her vision bringing her attention to the center of the man's chest. An engagement ring hangs with a set of dog tags—her engagement ring.
"You can't be him," she shakes her head as she reaches out, "you're too different."
"They gave me a serum," he lets her lift the dog tags and run her finger over his name, "it made me stronger. I know I look different but I'm still me. I'm still yours, Ava."
"They told me you were dead, that the serum killed you," she looks up and touches his face, feeling the familiar yet foreign jaw line.
"Who told you that?" Steve's face scrunched in confusion.
"When I woke up, there was a man and a woman," she touched his hands now, blinking at how different they were.
"Who were they?" Tony felt like he was interrupting a private moment but he needed to start getting some answers if his suspicions were correct. Those golden eyes met his brown ones and lit up in recognition.
"Tony Stark," she scrunched her nose in a way that was too familiar to Steve, "I'm not sure, I don't remember much from that time. I only interacted with the woman a couple times every couple years, the man only ever wore a medical mask around me. I think they were American but it doesn't matter now, the lab was destroyed when Hydra came."
"Hydra? Do you work for them?" Tony glared at her as Steve tensed.
"No, they tried to form me into the perfect weapon like Sergeant Barnes but unfortunately the Winter Soldier program wouldn't take," she levels Tony with a glare of her own, "Instead we have a lovely relationship where they just perform excruciating experiments on me so I blow up their facilities and escape every couple of years."
"And the reemergence of the Winter Soldier being was due to your latest escape?"
"Yes, he is the only Hydra operative that can bring me in. They know I would never hurt him permanently," Steve feels a little light headed as he learns the fate of his two best friends.
"Why hide out at Midtown Elementary?"
"Last time I got out they found me by chance, they can trace large energy spikes but they must have developed something new to specifically trace my energy signature. Before I broke out I felt a surge of energy in the city, I wanted to be near that energy to protect it. I think you know what that surge was." An understanding is reached between the two as Steve just blinks in confusion, was she talking about Elli?
"You're being awfully cooperative," Tony sat back and crossed his arms.
"I hadn't planned on interfering; you were doing fine on your own and I was content on watching over her from afar without complicating things further. But things are different now, you know I exist and I would like to have your permission to get to know my daughter."
"Daughter!? Elli is your daughter? You guys-you-how?" Steve flushed as his eyes darted back and forth between the two. Ava's eyes softened as she glanced back at Steve.
"It's complicated but long story short, Elli is both mine and Tony's child due to Hydra's interference."
"Don't worry capsicle, I didn't have sex with your alien girlfriend," Steve sputtered and flushed even more as Ava rolled her eyes at the billionaire. She keeps her eyes on him as he crosses his arms, "Elli means everything to me."
"I know. I feel the same way. That is why I left her with you, I couldn't protect her back then," she grimaces, "I won't force my way into your lives, but I will never stop trying to keep her safe."
Tony regards her before sighing and standing up.
"I'll think about it," he walks to the door, "but until then, I think you and Cap should catch up. I'll give you an update about Barnes later, Rogers."
An awkward silence is left as Tony closes the door behind him. Ava looks down in her lap, unsure what to say to the man sitting next to her.
"So, are you not human then?" Ava keeps herself from flinching, she never intended for Steve to find out.
"No, I'm not."
"Skīr-r, then?" Ava lifts her head at the word and Steve continues noting her surprise, "Thor explained to Tony who your people are."
"Of course he did," Steve raises his eyebrow as she rolls her eyes.
"You know Thor?"
"No, Asgardians are just annoying to deal with," she does a half grin and he can't help but laugh at the strangeness of it all. She feels slightly at ease after watching him laugh, "I'm sorry I never told you."
"Don't be," he rests his hand over hers, "this is different but it doesn't change how I feel about you, you're still the same girl I fell in love with."
"I missed you, Steve," her smile lights up his world. For the first time since he went under the ice, a familiar warmth fills him.
"I'm sorry I kept you waiting so long," he reaches around his neck and unclasps the chain. He holds out the diamond ring with a goofy grin on his face, "I'd like to return this, if you'll still have me?"
She pulls him down and kisses him, her every touch igniting his skin. When they break apart, she slips the ring on her finger before making room on the bed. They lay next to each other, feeling comfort in each other's body heat—in knowing that their most important person is alive and breathing.
"I love you, too."
This chapter was kind of steve and ava heavy but I was having a lot of fun with their relationship and it turned into this. Oops. Promise Elli will be in the next chapter much more lol