"Who do you work for?" Natasha's husky voice rasped through the silence.
In front of her, chained to the floor and the chair he was sitting on, was Jideo, all but oozing malice.
He remained silent with a defiant look on his face.
"You can play the loyal servant, I'm sure someone wants to tell me the truth. I have thirty of you to play with." Natasha was unphased by his silence after three days of interrogation. She knew the pattern with guys like this. You had to take them through the motions, almost like a dance, the hunger, the thirst, the sleep deprivation, the claustrophobia and sometimes the pain. Sprinkle with manipulation and repeat where necessary.
Steve was in and out while she worked, he found it particularly hard to contain himself around Jideo after they'd found out from one of the other prisoners that he had been Jane's interrogator.
"What did you want with her?" asked Steve from a shadowy corner of the room.
Jideo grinned darkly. "All these questions, Captain." His voice like velvet. "I can tell you that nothing would give me more pleasure than to choke the life out of you. To turn you into a thing."
"I bet you would." Answered Steve.
"Tell us something we don't know," said Natasha, ambling around the man in the chair in the centre of the room.
Jideo breathed a chuckle but remained silent.
Steve worked the prisoners during the day with Nat, Sam, T'Challa and Okoye, trying to find out as much as they could about the apparent splinter cell, and in the evenings, he went to the hospital to see Jane.
The prisoners were not particularly pliable. They hadn't been able to find out who the mastermind of the operation was or what group they were an offshoot of, nobody had claimed responsibility either, even after T'Challa had been forced to hold a press conference to put Wakanda's collective mind at ease about what was now called the Battle of Serpent Valley.
It was the afternoon of the fourth day after said Battle when Steve was on his way out to go and see Jane and bumped into T'Challa and Okoye.
The exchanged a nodded greeting.
"Anything new?" asked Steve.
Okoye sighed, looking at T'Challa who was struggling with rage.
"It would seem that one of our own has betrayed us," he breathed, looking off to the side.
Steve's eyebrows shot up. "Any idea who?"
"No," answered T'Challa, "but when I find out who it was, there will be hell to pay."
This was nothing that Steve hadn't suspected from the night Jane was kidnapped, but he was relieved that T'Challa finally saw it. He had denied the involvement of any Wakandan's until now.
Natasha appeared at Steve's side, her face looking like she was ready to smile.
"I got something." She said, the corner of her mouth twitching.
Steve turned, "from Jideo?" he wondered what she must have done to get that man to spill anything.
She nodded 'yes'.
"It seems that they wanted to see if she could be weaponised, like Bucky," said Nat, "they wanted you too, but she refused to cooperate. That is why you took the brunt of their firepower that night."
Anger flared in Steve's gut as he put two and two together.
"Here?" he asked, his voice tainted with disbelief.
She looked at him as if to say 'don't look so surprised'.
"What are you talking about?" Asked Okoye, irritated.
"Hydra." Said Nat and Steve at the same time.
T'Challa and Okoye exchanged a look of shock and disbelief.
"Here?" they both chimed Steve's earlier sentiment.
"Stranger things have happened." Said Nat.
"She's started to heal." Said the doctor excitedly to Steve where they stood in front of the room Jane was in. Steve looked in and found her on the bed, relief flooding his body.
"The same speed as the night of the surgery?" he asked.
"Not quite, but it's increasing steadily." Replied the doctor. "We expect it to be up to what is normal for her in the next two days.
"Will she wake up?" Steve turned his gaze back to the doctor.
"There's no reason to think that she won't." He answered.
Steve's eyes closed with more relief. He felt like he could hug the doctor.
"Thank you." He said. A smile teasing at the corner of his mouth.
The doctor nodded. "I'll leave you to it then," and with a grin over his shoulder, he disappeared around the corner.
Steve walked into the room, throwing off some of the worries he'd been carrying with a sigh. He walked around the bed and put the fresh flowers he brought in the vase on the bedside table. He pulled the chair by the window up to the bed and sat down next to Jane, looking her over. She looked the same way she had the last three days, and he wondered for a second if the doctor had it right, but the thought of the wrath she must have incurred at refusing to help her captors get him, intruded on his doubt of the doctor's opinion.
Not only had she saved his life, nearly at the cost of her own, but she'd also been unerringly loyal because he had no doubt that they'd hurt her badly for information on him. She was so innocent, she'd never hurt a fly and to have that happen to her broke his heart. He took her small hand in his, and for the first time since she'd been in the hospital, it felt warm.
In Jane's mind, she was still living out Steve's life.
"At ease, soldier!" Commanded the man with the eyepatch. "Look, I'm sorry about that little show back there, but we thought it best to break it to you slowly."
"Break what?" he asked, confused.
"You've been asleep, Cap. For almost 70 years."
The man's words washed over him and what was going on began sinking in.
"You gonna be okay?" he asked.
He felt his heart break. "Yeah. Yeah, I just... I had a date."
"Visiting hours are over sir." The nurses' voice was soft from the doorway.
Steve nodded at her. Visiting hours had been over for about three hours now, but she always let him stay longer. She turned to leave, and his eyes landed on the second bunch of flowers on the bedside table. Nat and Sam had come to visit earlier, and they were thrilled to hear that Jane was healing. He squeezed her hand as if to say 'goodnight' before placing it on the blanket and getting to his feet.
Leaning over, he kissed her forehead. "Come back to me," he whispered. He took one last look at her before turning to leave.
The next two days passed in much the same way as the four that came before it. They spent their days investigating the battle of Serpent Valley and questioning prisoners, without much more success, and Steve sat with Jane for as long as he could in the evenings.
It was just after midnight on the morning of the seventh day when Jane's eyes blinked open under the soft light of the lamp above her head. She looked around, confused, not knowing where she was and pulled herself into a sitting position, groggy from what felt like another lifetime. She looked to the doorway and listened, all was quiet save for the soft voice of a woman down the hall. She pulled her legs over the side of the bed and slid off, expecting to land on shaky legs, but she was solid and felt remarkably strong. The drip needle in her arm moved as the line went taught and she pulled it out, taking a sharp breath in through her teeth.
She looked at her hands, frowning at what she'd just experienced. She looked down at herself clad in a hospital gown, the familiar cold breeze creeping through the back - she was herself again.
She walked around the bed to the door and peered out in the direction she heard the voice and saw the nurses station like an island bathed in light. The nurse put down the phone and fussed with some papers.
Jane tried to swallow the cotton wool that seemed to be in her mouth and began walking toward the nurses' station.
As she came closer, the nurse caught her in the corner of her eye, and her head snapped up. "You're awake!" She beamed.
Jane looked at her for a moment before smiling at the woman.
"May I please have some water?" she croaked.
"Of course my dear!" She exclaimed, throwing her hands up as if chastising herself at not knowing this. She flitted around the corner, and Jane heard what sounded like a plastic cup falling to the floor, before the nurse appeared again, glass in hand.
"Here you go, dear." She smiled.
Jane took the glass from her and drained its contents in one go, pressing the back of her hand to her mouth before muttering "thank you".
"We have to notify your next of kin that you're awake." Said the nurse, excited. "I have three names listed, who would you like me to call?" she asked knowing that Steve would like her to call him, as he'd asked her to do so several times. She was however entirely taken by the strange blue eyes staring into hers and chose to offer Jane the choice.
Jane wanted very badly to see Steve, but after what she'd just experienced and learned about him, she felt a rush of heat flood her body at the thought. She had no idea what she'd say to him.
"Is there a Natasha on your list?" asked Jane.
"Yes, yes there is." Answered the nurse as she ran around the back of the counter and picked up the phone.
"Please ask her not to tell anyone yet." Asked Jane.
The nurse nodded, a little confused as the line connected in her ear.
Twenty minutes later, after draining a whole jug of water and being checked out by the doctor on call, Jane watched as Natasha's figure appeared in the doorway of her room.
She felt tears sting her eyes. "Thank you for coming to get me," she whispered, jumping off the bed and clearing the space to the door in a few quick steps.
"Of course," said Nat.
"No, not now. Well, yes now, but for coming to get me." Stuttered Jane.
Natasha knew she was referring to being rescued and took a step forward, throwing her arms around Jane. "I will always come to get you."
After a long moment, they let go of each other. "I'm so happy that you're okay," said Nat. "How are you feeling?" She had a small frown on her face. The fiery threads in Janes' eyes seemed to glow, but it was so fleeting that she thought she'd imagined it.
"I feel... strong", replied Jane.
Natasha smiled.
"Where is he?" asked Jane.
"He was here for hours every day," began Nat, "but I guess right now he's sleeping, the last couple of days has been rough on all of us."
A small frown grew between Jane's eyebrows. "Will you take me home, please?"
"Of course," said Natasha looking questioningly at the doctor.
"She's good to go." He smiled. "Just bring her around tomorrow as an outpatient for a checkup with her doctor, I'll have the nurse schedule an appointment."
"Thanks." Said Nat.
There was a car waiting for them downstairs, and Jane pulled the jacket Nat had brought her tighter around her as the hospital doors slid open. She jogged around to the passenger side and got into the car.
Natasha slid in behind the steering wheel and the car pulled away.
"Did you remember anything, while you were under?" She asked tentatively.
"Yes," said Jane after a long moment, looking at her hands in her lap, "but they were not my memories," she said wistfully. "They were Steve's."
Natasha looked at her, open-mouthed.
"The serum..." she mumbled.
"Yes," said Jane. "He gave me his blood."
"That he did." Mumbled Natasha, putting her eyes back on the road.
"That's why you called me, isn't it?" she asked.
"Yes." Replied Jane. "I just need some time to process. I have no idea how I'm going to react when I see him."
"So, you know how he feels about you?" Nat asked tentatively.
"Yes," said Jane. "I know everything."
Once they were back at the apartment, Natasha brought over some leftover pizza from her place which Jane finished off before she took leave of her friend and had a long, hot shower. She didn't know how it was possible, but she'd lived Steve's life while she was out. She knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt how he felt about her. A million things were playing through her mind as the water washed over her, but with crystal clarity, she resolved which one she was going to act on first.
She sat on the couch, staring at the wall as the hours passed, her mind replaying another lifetime. She felt like she understood a lot more now, about the world, through Steve's eyes.
It was just before 5:00 am when she heard movement in Steve's apartment, he was in the shower. She frowned at being able to hear the water running.
She waited a couple of minutes until the water stopped before she got up off the couch and walked across the hall to his door. She hesitated for a moment, still not sure what she was going to say and a little scared of how she might react. Taking a deep breath, she reached out and opened the door, stepping inside. The door clicked shut behind her.
She only had to wait a moment before he stepped out of the bedroom to see who'd let themselves in, pulling his white shirt down over a pair of slacks, and froze.
"Jane?" he said softly.
"Steve." She answered, breaking into a run.
He took a tentative step back, unsure of what she was going to do. She jumped into his arms, sending them falling to the ground.
Straddling his waist, her face was less than an inch from his, a stray strand of hair tickling his cheek. He stared at her for a moment before he reached up and tucked it gently behind her ear.
"Good-mornin' Sunshine." He said, breathless, his heart hammering in his chest.
She smiled at the low timbre of his voice vibrating in her chest.
His bright blue eyes burned into hers, and she now understood what lit the fire behind them.
Slowly, she began to close the distance between them. She was a little nervous as she'd never done this before, but she didn't hesitate. She very gently pressed a kiss on the corner of his mouth.
His eyes closed and a low sound rumbled over his vocal chords at the feeling of her mouth.
Both his hands came up, one wrapping around her, and with the other he let his fingers stay into her hair as his eyes opened, begging for more. She kissed him again, but this time, she claimed his lips.
She held the kiss for a long moment when Steve could hold back no more and slowly began to move his lips against hers, letting himself get utterly lost and allowing the world to fall away.
When she eventually pulled away, they were both breathless.
"Hi." She purred, a smile spreading on her face. He couldn't help his own lopsided grin.
He sat up slowly, moving her onto his lap. Clearing his throat.
"How are you feeling?" He asked, blushing.
"I feel strong." She said, letting her fingers play slowly through his beard. "Thanks to you."
"I'm the one who should be thanking you." He almost whispered.
"You gave me your blood." She said.
"Who told you?"
"You did."
A small frown knitted Steve's brow. "Are you sure you're feelin' alright?" He questioned.
"Never better," she smiled.
He didn't know how she knew, but he couldn't be bothered about it right now. She was here, she was fine and he could still feel the warmth of her lips on his.