*~It started with Pizza~*

For the next week, the Avengers were cooped up in an office. Takeaway boxes slowly piled up until Tony made the call to hire in a temporary cleaner. Not that she lasted very long when Steve suggested that they should probably keep everything they spoke about completely confidential. Bea made it her responsibility to tidy up at the end of the day as she didn't have much contribution to the discussion.

There were six Infinity stones and twelve of them.

"Almost everyone in this room has had an encounter with at least one of the six infinity Stones," Steve said as they all bunched up together in a meeting room. Bea had dragged a bean bag in from her old room and had scrunched her legs to her chest, snacks spread out on her lap.

"I'd substitute the word encounter for damn near been killed by one of the six Infinity Stones."

"I haven't!" Scott expressed, "I don't even know what the hell you're all talking about."

"Neither," Bea joined, scanning the holograms in front of her showing the Stones. Each blazing with a different colour. She recognised the space stone from talks with Steve about his time in the army and fight with red skull but other than that, she was clueless.

A few days later the teams were decided as Steve was paired with Bea. She felt better about the whole situation knowing he would be with her and she wouldn't be thrown back in time without any direction.

"Steve should go after the tesseract, he knows most about."

"I mean, my brother died for it but… okay," Thor slapped his lips together in the corner.

"Thor you have to go after the Aether. You're the only one who knows anything about it."

"No, it's fine, I understand."

At the end of each day, Bea collapsed onto her bed, eyes drooping and skin crawling with anxiety wondering whether Brooke was okay. Tempted to call her and get lost in talking to her. In the end she always turned over and resorted with a quick text to her mum asking if she was okay. She knew that if she called and heard her voice, there would be nothing stopping her from getting on a quinjet and flying all the way to England.

From her bedroom side table she withdrew the tracker Alex had placed on Brooke. A bright red light still flashed persistently, reminding her of the mad man chasing her daughter. But whilst the flashing remained it meant he was still tracking her and he had no knowledge that Brooke was in England.

Still, a thick lump at the back of her throat was suddenly hard to swallow.

*~It started with Pizza~*

A quick decision was made by Tony that it would be Steve and Beatrice to go after the space stone. Beatrice turned over a page in her notebook and scribbled the words 'Space stone' in capital letters and squiggled a line underneath it. Her fingers halted on the page as Tony expressed that they would be going back to the nineteen forties to retrieve it.

"Hold on – didn't you tell me Red Skull had the tesseract the entire time?"

"I beat him before," Steve shrugged, "I can do it again and this time I can predict where he's going to be sooner."

"As long as it doesn't result in you having to crash a plane again to do it."

Steve glared at her lack of support, "He had it on him the entire time. I just didn't realise until afterwards. We could get it from him after I found Bucky had been experimented on by Doctor Zola."

At the mention of Bucky's name, her fingers held onto her pen even tighter, refraining herself from writing his name down on her notepad. It had only just occurred to her that by going back in time, meant going back to a time when Bucky existed on this earth. And she would also exist on it. At the same time. Her heart felt as if it was doing laps around in circles. She could see him again.

Steve's eyes found her. Like an internal connection, she knew instantly he was thinking what she was thinking but warning her against it.

Once the meeting was done, he found her outside.

"Whatever it is you're thinking. We can't see him," lectured Steve, cornering her in the kitchen as she tried to innocently make a sandwich. Everyone had gone off for the day, whether back to their rooms or making phone calls with loved ones but Bea struggled to distract herself from her phone where her background of Brooke called out to her. It didn't help that her mother had just posted a Facebook picture of Brooke down at the lake feeding some ducks. She though she deserved a well-earned snack. It was either this or a cigarrete and with Steve around she knew she'd never get away with that.

"I wasn't thinking anything," She responded coyly, working her way around him in the kitchen as Steve refused to move for her to get the butter from the fridge.

"You were thinking you might get to see Bucky again."

"I didn't say anything."

"You didn't have too.." Steve glared. He was getting very good at giving her that look these days. "This is a straight mission. We get there, we find the Hydra base, red skull and the tesseract and get out. Then we can put the gauntlet together and you can see Bucky again."

"Don't act like I'm the only one who's going to have a distraction. Need I remind you that Peggy will be there too."

"Yeah?" Steve frowned, "What's your point?"

"Nothing."

"Bea…" Warned Steve in his 'Captain' voice but Beatrice rolled her eyes, managing to shove Steve out of the way enough to reach into the fridge.

"If you're so worried about me then we should swap partners. Natasha can come along with you and I'll go to Vor… Vormer? Vormir? Somethig like that."

"It's too late to swap now," Steve insisted, "We've all done our own research… well, most of us have." He gave her a pointed look knowing she hadn't done nearly as she was supposed too. She really didn't see the point. She was travelling with the one person who lived through that era. Anything she could possibly research, he would already know. "And I'm not about to let you go on your first Avengers mission alone."

"I wouldn't be alone, I'd be with Clint," She reasoned with a slight shrug. Truthfully, the only reason she was so calm about all of this was knowing Steve would be beside her every step of the way.

"We're going together. End of."

She saluted him, "Aye, Aye Captain."

*~It started with Pizza~*

The hours that passed afterwards were the longest Bea had ever witnessed. The last test runs were taking place. She almost wished the machine would break down just to give herself time to process everything that was happening. Beside her, Thor jittered up and down. She wasn't sure if it was from the nerves or the sugar running through his blood, but it was exactly how she felt on the inside.

"Here's your suit," Natasha bumped shoulders with her and passed her a white and red rubbery suit that felt unnatural between her fingers.

"This is really happening. Shit."

"This is going to work," Natasha nodded positively, "I can feel it."

Bea bunged the outfit under her arm, aware of the literal ticking clock until they would be transported back in time, "If it somehow got lost in translation somewhere along the road, I just wanted to say how thankful I am for everything you've done for me the past five years."

"Oh," Natasha's eyebrows furrowed together, "I didn't do anything?"

"Of course, you did. I've been a mess and you and Steve – you both stuck by me when neither of you had too."

"You helped me too," Natasha smiled, "after losing Clint… I- I… you became my partner."

"It's been a hellish five years, hasn't it?" Now they were here, the grief and the tears all seemed pointless.

Sourly, Natasha nodded. Bea wondered what she was remembering. "it all led us here."

"We wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you. There's all this discussion about who the strongest Avenger is and the truth is, it's you. You're the only one who never gave up."

Natasha paused for a moment and for a sudden fearful moment, Bea thought she had made Natasha cry. When instead, her lips parted and a smile shone out bright, "There's the Beatrice who believes there's good in everyone."

The time finally came to climb the steps of the time machine. Until the last second, Bea clutched onto Steve tightly, her heart jumping with her steps.

"I'll be with you," Steve reminded her.

Yes – she'll be fine. Steve will be there. Nothing bad will happen.

They boarded the platform. Bea couldn't keep still. Her legs were shaking all over the place.

She was leaving this timeline to go into another. She'd never thought she'd part this far from Brooke, yet here she was. She was doing it for her. To get her dad back… and for herself… she really needed him.

Five years of her life she had lost without him. She wouldn't waste any more.

She prepped herself straighter as Steve addressed the group, "Six stones, four teams. One shot."

One shot. That was all. This was her one chance to get him back.

"Five years ago, we lost. All of us. We lost friends… We lost family… we lost a part of ourselves. Today we have a chance to take it all back." Somehow he always said the right thing in the moment, "You know your teams, you know your missions. Get the stones, get them back. One round trip each. No mistakes. No do-overs."

No pressure then.

"Most of us are going somewhere we know." If only she was that lucky – the constant worry was on her mind that someone would tell her some 1940's slang and it would go completely over her head. Or what if she accidently said something offensive that she didn't realise was offensive. "But it doesn't mean we should know what to expect. Just… be careful and look out for each other. This is the fight of our lives. And we're going to win."

"Whatever it takes," Bea finished for him. Blood drummed in her ears.

Everyone got into their positions. She was opposite Steve as he kept his stare on her, and with his eyes she knew he was trying to calm her down but she didn't need it. She could feel that everything would be okay – soon… in this universe it would only be a second and she could only hope that it wouldn't take long wherever they're going.

Tony instructed Hulk to turn the machine one. She could hear Bruce pumping numbers into the keyboard behind, the breaths of all the Avengers hilting as they waited not knowing what was about to happen.

Suddenly something buzzed from her belt. Quickly, she pulled it out, not knowing whether it was going to affect the mission or not.

The black tracker she'd been carrying around since she'd pulled it from her bedside draw was no longer bleeping red. Her hands froze, feeling her fingers melt over the track in a sweat of fear.

Why was it no longer bleeping? Did he turn the tracker off? Did he know she was in England? Why? Why now?

Catching Steve's eye across the platform, he narrowed his eyes, not having quite connected the dots as to why she was looking so concerned at this small device. She wanted to run over to him and tell him exactly what she was thinking. Bruce was still typing away as the machine roared to life. Perhaps there was still time.

No – she couldn't move, if she moved she would screw everything up not just for her but the whole universe.

Natasha? Where was Natasha?

She was next to Steve. She was too far away.

Grabbing whoever's hand was next to hers in a fleet of panic, the wold suddenly sucked itself underneath her. As if she had just jumped off a skyscraper and the only direction was the ground. Her feet dangled in mid-air like she was swimming in it and she could only do one thing and hold onto whoever's hand she had grabbed. She tumbled in circle motions. Eyes closed. Blood pumping through her body like it was on its own rollercoaster ride.

Then everything was calm again and the natural feeling of wind and rain sloshing down on her, could be felt again. She crunched her feet once and the sludgy mud dug deep into her heels. That was at least ground. She was on the ground. Did she fall? Where did she fall from?

"BEATRICE WHY ON EARTH AM I HERE!" That wasn't Steve's voice. She was supposed to be with Steve.

Pinching an eye open, she saw Fifteen. Her Avengers suit had already disappeared, replaced by the combat suit underneath but her hair clung to her forehead drenched in rain. Bea probably didn't look any better.

"Why did you grab me?" She screeched, "I'm meant to be in New York! Where the hell are we?"

"Whe- What?" Blinking once she looked around and saw nothing but a field of mud, in the distance she could make out tents and green and brown figures moving about. She remembered Steve saying something about landing in a military camp.

"We're at Steve's military camp back in the war," She nodded, "We were supposed to then make our way to the Hydra base after getting maps from here."

"Which is where?"

"I-I don't know…"

"What on earth, Bea!"

"I'm sorry!" She cried. She really was. She hadn't meant to fuck up the whole universe, "I didn't realise that by grabbing you I was taking you with me."

"Why did you grab me?"

Why had she- Oh right!

It was still clutched in her hand. Dribbles of rain soaked it and she doubted it would still work anyway. She held it up to her, "This! It had stopped bleeping."

"Of course, it has!" Fifteen exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air, "We're in the nineteen forties. It's not still going to work."

"No- no it had stopped working just before we left… what if… what if Alex knows Brooke isn't with the Avengers."

"Well, there's not much you can do about it now."

She knew that at the click of a button she could be brought back to the twenty-first century where she could track Alex down herself and kill him. The urge to dip out now overcame her but Fifteen glared at her furiously, as if daring her to do it. Her eyes flickering down to the device around her wrist and Bea knew she was just being stupid. Even if she did go back now, she wouldn't get back any quicker to everyone else. Only a second would pass in their universe. They could be here months and no time would pass.

Bea bowed her head, and dropped her arm, "I'm sorry…"

"Better be… I've done so much research into going to New York. I even learnt the blue prints of the Avengers building and I know nothing about being here so you better clue me in!"

Bea looked down sheepishly. She hadn't done her research… she was just going to rely on Steve to know what they had to do and follow along, as she always did. As she kept reminding herself, she wasn't an Avenger. She didn't have the skillset to be an Avenger.

Fifteen narrowed her eyes, "Please say you know what you're doing…"

"Sort of…"

"Beatrice!"

"I know we have to go to the Hydra base in Austria. It's where the tesseract is, but Steve didn't know the exact coordinates so we have to get a map. Problem is I have no idea what map I'm after, or where on the map I'm going."

Fifteen refused to speak to her and in silence they trudged along the path leading to the camps. As they got closer more and more men started to appear. It would be more difficult to stay hidden in the crowd being women. Prepared to tie her hair back and done a military uniform, someone tapped her on the shoulder.

"What the hell are you girls doing here!" A man with a thin moustache crowed at them. He didn't look like a military man, wearing a well done up suit and tie.

"We- we…"

"You better get back stage immediately, and get your costume on. Rogers is on in five minutes."

With no time to explain Bea was dragged away, expecting Fifteen to be beside her. But when she turned the agent was nowhere to be seen.

"Where did your friend go?" The man with the moustache asked, just as perplexed as her.

"Backstage, I expect."

Why was there a 'back stage' in the middle of a military camp?

Pushed into a flimsy beaten down tent, plenty of other girls suddenly appeared around her. Gossiping and giggling. There wasn't much space to breathe. Each wearing blue short skirts barely concealing their knickers. All of the girls sported bright red lipstick, Beatrice stood out like a sore thumb as the oldest there and her lack of make up obvious.

"Here," The man threw a blue outfit at her, "should be your size and for goodness sake put some lipstick on."

Blushing, she ducked down into a quiet corner, wondering where Fifteen had gone. She was in a strange place, in a strange time and she decided now would be the best time to leave her.

"You alright there, sugar?"

Flinching at the noise she turned and found a pretty blonde with bright pink blush painted onto her cheeks, "Oh – I'm fine. Just trying to squeeze into this."

The costume was a tight fit but she scrunched into it with the girl's help as she pulled it down for her.

She didn't want to seem like she didn't know what the hell was going on, but her obvious confusion wasn't hard to miss as the girl waited staring at her.

"When does the show start?" She asked nervously, not sure how else she could get information out about what she was doing here without being too obvious she wasn't meant to be here.

"Five minutes. It's exciting ain't it? This is my third show with the girls and… well… I'm hoping to snag myself a soldier by the end of the day," The girl gave a tasteful wink, "How long have you been touring?"

"It's – uh… my first show."

"Oh, really?" The girl giggled, "Well that's alright. Us girls will show you the ropes. Have you met Steve?"

"Steve?"

"Why Captain America of course. He's a sweetheart."

Gulping on thin air she looked down at her costume. Red and white stripes and a white star were embodied across it. She looked like she was about to head out to a comic con convention dressed as a slutty Captain America.

Too soon, her five minutes prepping time was up. The girls dressed her in red lipstick and attempted at covering up her dark circles before she was rushed out onto stage. A metal hat slapped onto her head as she followed the girls out who all seemed to skip with each step they took.

They were rushed out onto stage. Hundreds of faces staring back at them. There were no lights to blind them out. She could see each and everyone one of them in the murky day light. In the front row there were the few rowdy men who laughed, trying to peer up their skirts.

Music began to play and the girls all began to kick and flick their legs into the air, twirling their hands and rocking their hips. Bea had no idea. She stepped awkwardly to the side, bumping into the girl next to her. She tried copying, keeping a tight smile but they all kept moving too quickly for her to follow.

She assumed she looked like a flailing bangee as the few men that did look at her was frowning before their eyes drifted off to the next girl beside her. It was probably better off that way.

In the crowd the boys cheered for them to do more but when the song came to an end. Bea let out a breath of relief and escaped the stage faster than anyone else. On the creaking steps that led up to the stage she knocked shoulders with someone.

The impact almost made her fall over but she managed to catch the railings.

"I'm sorry!"

"Don't worry – Steve!" Steve freaking Rogers was reaching a hand out to help her, "Oh my god! Thank god you're here… somehow Fifteen got sent back with us and we've got no idea where the tesseract is… and I just did this awful dance, and – why are you looking at me like that?"

"Sorry… I've got no idea who you are?"

"Rogers - There you are," One of the dancers ushered him up the stairs, "It's your big speech. Up you go."

With a shove of his shoulder, Steve was no longer in sight and with him he took a piece of Bea's heart as she realised, she just spoke to Steve Rogers from before the ice. Now she knew, she realised he looked much younger and a hopeful look still glistening in his eye.

"Having fun?"

Fifteen was wearing a full female military attire, her hair done up in a tight bun. Bea wondered momentarily when she had the time to do all of that but realised Fifteen was much more efficient than she could ever be.

"Where the hell did you go off too?"

"To do our jobs," She raised an eyebrow, "Whilst you were off having fun on stage."

Having Fun? She had never been more stressed in her life, "if you really think I was having fun then you need to get your eyes checked!"

"Calm down – I think I've found the map you were on about."

"How have you had time!"

"I'm awesome."

Fifteen passed her the maps. They seemed right. She recalled Steve saying something about it being in Austria. In all honesty, she wasn't really sure but she was willing to trust Fifteen if she'd found the maps. Fifteen was probably listening better in all the meetings than she was, "Sounds good. It's a lead. How are we going to get there?"

"Plane. Duh."

Of course. She was supposed to know that, "Obviously." Then another thought occurred to her, "Do you know how to fly world war planes?"

"Sure. It's just like any other plane."

Fifteen's confidence was irritating her more with each passing second.

"Do you know where we can get a plane?"

"Did you doubt me?"

A/N I hate this chapter so much and I am COMPLETELY aware that this whole-time travel thing is such a mess in this fic. I needed certain things to line up and had no idea how to get them there so this is what we're left with. Just go along with it and forgive me for my sins as a writer. I'm honestly just trying to get her to meet pre-Hydra Bucky and this was the only way I could get her there.

I also am aware I could have simply had Fifteen and Bea land right in the Austria Hydra facility where they're keeping red skull but I literally wanted Beatrice to be dressed as a Captain America dancer for the entire thing because I think it's funny and my humour is trash.

To make up for it I'm going to be updating either tomorrow or Monday where we might even bump into a certain Soldier. *hint hint it's bucky*