Mia slowly regained consciousness, the familiar feeling of shackles and straps holding her down to a table. She didn't recall going back to Base, and she certainly hadn't been placed back in cryo, so where was she? More importantly, where was the Soldier? She had been tasked with one thing above all-to keep the Winter Soldier alive and assist him if necessary. Her life was unimportant, as long as The Soldier was in performing condition.

"Miss Stark, my name is Nick Fury. You're currently in a secure SHIELD facility where you will be kept until we have deemed it safe for you to be released." A voice said, drawing her attention to a dark corner of the room. She couldn't see anything, but she knew that there was only one person in the room besides her, and it was a male, approximately ten and a half feet away from her.

She took in a deep breath before speaking in a slightly gravelly, monotone voice. "Where is the Soldier?"

"Unfortunately, HYDRA operatives arrived before we were able to apprehend The Soldier."

"The Handlers have him?"

"I don't know who your "handlers" are, but my best guess is yes. He's back at your facility."

He was alive. But now she wasn't around to keep him safe. She was wiped far less often than he was, for the simple reason that they wanted her to remember much more when it came time to making her comply. She remembered every time he was wiped. Every mission, every horrible thing that HYDRA had forced them to do to their targets...to eachother. She remembered bits and pieces of her old life, but she also knew that she hadn't been that person in a very long time.

She looked up at the ceiling, allowing her mind to shut out anything other than her own heartbeat. She was going to search as long as it took. Not to find HYDRA. No, to find the Soldier.

XXXXXXX

TEN YEARS LATER

"It looks right, about 1945. Are you sure you don't want me to go in there? I mean, I'm probably better equipped to handle anything he might do. Be easier to see a familiar face first thing." Mia said, wringing her hands as she stared at the monitor. Steve looked just the same. A bit paler, thinner...but alive. Something she never thought she'd be able to say again.

"It's better this way. I understand he's your soulmate, but there's no telling what type of reaction it may trigger in both of you seeing eachother face to face for the first time in seventy years." Nick said, standing behind her chair.

Mia nod in silence, her leg bouncing with nerves. Her eyes never left Steve's face as they waited patiently for him to wake up.

His eyes flickered open, and Mia took a deep breath. The only noise in the room other than the buzzing of the lights, was an old Dodgers game playin on a vacuum tube radio on the dresser.

Mia watched as Steve slid his bare feet to the worn, wooden floor. An agent entered the room, and immediately Mia's eyes narrowed. The outfit was wring. The knot on the tie, the bra shape, the skirt, the hair... it was just wrong. Lucky for them, Steve didn't talk to that many women, and the ones he did talk to weren't wearing stuff like that.

"Good morning. Or I should say, afternoon." The young brunette woman said with a warm smile.

Steve looked up to see her checking her

watch.

"Where am I?" Steve asked with his brow furrowed.

"You're in a recovery roomin New York City."

There was a prolonged silence as Steve looked warily at the radio. He was very tense, and his body language was quickly changing.

Mia pressed on her earpiece to talk to the agents on duty. "He's getting suspicious. His body language suggests he's getting ready to attack. Prepare yourself, he's as strong as I am, but he'll be disoriented. That means he's more likely to be reckless."

"Where am I really?" Steve asked.

Mia prepared herself to go, standing up and looking at Fury with a small nod.

"I'm afraid I don't understand." The agent stuttered.

"The game. It's from May 1941. I lnow cause I was there." Steve informed her.

"Shit. We need to get to the car. Be prepared to follow him when he inevitably escapes the compound." Mia said, ripping her jacket off the wall.

They quickly made it to the car and sped out to the Square, ready to surround Steve when he made his way there.

"You go first. He's gonna be dealing with a lot, and he needs to hear the base of what's happened from you. I'll come out when it's safe." Mia informed Nick as they pulled up in the vehicle. Fury nod and quickly slid out of the van.

"At ease, soldier." Mia heard Nick say over the earpiece.

She watched Steve whip around to see the man standing in front of the car.

"Who are you?" Steve's voice rang out, strong and demanding.

"Colonel Fury, Director of SHIELD. You would have known us as the Special Scientific Reserve."

Steve's eyes narrowed. "Where am I?"

"Round about 34th and 35th. Sorry about that little show back there. See, there's very little precedent for what you've been through. We couldn't tell how delicate your mental state might be. We thought it best to break it to you slowly."

"Break what?"

"You've been asleep, Captain. For almost seventy years."

Steve looked around, stunned. "Seventy...

So this is the future?"

"Well, thanks to you, there is one."

"What about the war? Did we win?"

"Hell, yes. Unconditional surrender, baby. And taking down most of HYDRA was a big part of that."

"How am I...not dead?"

"To be perfectly honest, we're not sure yet. My docs day it's some kind of suspended animation. Dr. Erskine's formula, the extreme cold...I can't break it down for you on a cellular level, but you haven't aged a day since that plane went down. I know it's a lot to swallow. But the world's not as different as it looks. There's still work to be done... Soldier's work."

Steve met Fury's eyes, and Fury signaled to one of the MP's, who brought forward a case. Fury opened it, revealing Steve's shield.

"The world could still use a man like you, Cap. Take your time. God knows if

anybody's earned it, you have. All

the same, there's a place for you on the

team." Fury said.

Steve touched the shield, remembering all that he had been through. He rubbed his head, so many things coming back. Being Captain America, the Commandos, Bucky...Mia. She could see the emotions running through his face and it made her chest tighten. It was time.

"You sure you're all right?" Nick inquired, keeping his eyes on Steve as he heard Mia's door open.

"Yeah. It's just... my gal." Steve said, his voice thick.

"Is closer than you think." Mia said from her spot.

Steve's eyes snapped to her, and it was like a weight lifted from both of their chests that they didn't know was there.

"Mia?" He asked. She looked different. Her eyes didn't have the same life and vibrancy they used to, and she looked almost... haunted. But it was her. Mia was standing there in front of him.

"Hey, Stevie." She said, slowly approaching him.

"Did. You just wake up, too?"

"Not quite, Steve. But it's okay. We'll have plenty of time to talk about that." She assured him. She cautiously reached out her hand, hoping that he would reach out and take it in his own.

He looked down at her hand and carefully wrapped his own around it. That was all it took for her so pull him close and fling her arms around him.

"I love you. No matter what happens from here or what happened before, I love you. And in the coming days, you're gonna be debriefed and here a lot of really bad and messed up things I did when you were gone. I need you to understand that it's not me anymore. I didn't want to do it, and more importantly I'm not that person anymore. But...there's something you need to know, and you need to hear it from me." She said, leaning back to look at him.

"Mia, what are you talking about?" Steve asked in confusion.

She took a step back from him, looked back at Nick, then set her eyes on Steve's. "This stuff you're gonna hear...there's a name I was known by for a long time. A name that's associated with a lot of death. I was The Ghost. The Ghost of HYDRA."