Friday

Katiana knocked on Steve's hotel room door at ten the next morning. He was up and expecting her, already having coffee brewed and sitting out at the table.

He swung open the door and saw her dressed in her too-tight jeans and a red t-shirt tied in the front. Her hair was braided again, with the end pinned up in a swirl behind her head. Steve noticed she wore less makeup than she had the day before.

"Weapons check." Steve said with a raised brow, raking his eyes over her before adding, "Not sure where you'd be hiding anything today."

Katiana rolled her eyes as she shoved past Steve, turning around to face him as he closed the door. She grabbed the hem of her shirt and ripped it up over her head before tossing it onto the bed, "Happy?"

Steve snorted, enjoying the view almost as much as the woman's sass, "Very. I made you coffee."

Katiana pulled her shirt back on and took a seat at the table, looking across at Steve as she took a sip before squishing her face, "That shit is strong! Is that how Kayla likes it?"

"No, it's how I like it." Steve said as he set the sugar and creamer down in front of her. "Figured I'd let you make it how you like it."

Katiana narrowed her gaze at him for a second before grabbing three sugar packets and ripping them open, dumping their contents into her coffee before opening up two creamers, "How did you sleep?" She asked casually without looking up from her drink. Steve had admitted he hadn't slept well with Kayla gone. She didn't feel guilty, per se, but she wondered if being in Katiana's presence brought him any comfort.

"I slept okay. I missed you." He admitted boldly, and Katiana frowned at his confession, "How are the Maximoffs?"

"They are worried you're going to hurt me, or take me away." Katiana muttered before lifting her coffee to her lips to taste, "I haven't told them about our deal."

Steve nodded, taking a drink of his own coffee, "Listen, I know the likelihood of you coming back with me is slim. You don't know me and nothing I say triggers any memories. Whether you believe you're Kayla or not doesn't matter, you don't remember that life. You don't remember loving me." Steve grumbled as he set his cup down. He did meet Katiana's eyes and she bit her lower lip anxiously.

"It's like you said, with the chip in my brain, it's suppressing those memories. It's not that I don't believe you, you've proven what you've said is true!" Katiana argued as she reached forward to place her hand on Steve's. She caught herself right before she made contact and pulled her hand back, straightening up as she faced the mopey man, "I don't remember my past, but I know it, because of you. I owe you a lot for that. It's why I won't try to kill you today."

Steve smiled weakly at her joke and she sighed, downing her coffee before standing up and walking over to the bed. She kept her gaze on Steve as he watched her casually, seeming more sad than he had the day prior, "Come sit with me, Captain." She patted the bed beside her but Steve hesitated. Katiana stuck out her lower lip to pout, having learned yesterday that he couldn't resist her when she was sad.

As expected, Steve stood and walked to the bed, sitting down beside her before cautiously placing his hand on top of hers, "I just thought I could get through to you."

"I told you, I believe you. You've proven who I was."

"I don't want you to believe me, I want you to remember me." Steve grumbled, lifting her hand to his lips. His eyes fluttered up to her, taking in her stunned expression, "Yesterday I told you who you were. Today would you tell me who you are? Tell me about your life with Hydra?"

Katiana pulled her hand away quickly, placing it in her lap. "Why? So you can destroy them?"

"Well, if you say anything helpful maybe, but I just want to get to know you as Katiana."

She noticed his voice was strained, and Katiana realized he had accepted she wasn't his Kayla. His Kayla was as good as dead, and he was trying to decide if he could love this new personality inhabiting his lover's body.

It was as complicated for Katiana as it was for Steve. She wasn't the person he wanted her to be, but she knew he was right. She had loved him in a different life. She didn't know him now, and she didn't love him, but she didn't want to disappoint him. He looked so dejected today that she wanted to comfort him, but she didn't know how.

"I told you what Strucker told me. He told me you were terrible. He planted the seeds of hatred in me, and now I see it was all just to torture you." She said sadly, leaning back to lay down on the back, "I know none of it was real."

"You care about the Maximoff twins. That's real." Steve prodded, looking over his shoulder at her. She saw him bite his lip and sigh before asking, "Did you meet any men while working for Strucker?"

Katiana closed her eyes, burying her palms into her sockets, "Yes. They said I was beautiful. They would take me into town, buy me dinner. Sometimes. Other times, they'd come into my barrack and ask if I wanted company." Katiana rubbed her thighs together and Steve knew where this was going. "I didn't even know if I was a virgin, but it was so lonely not knowing who I was."

Steve clenched his fist to his mouth and closed his eyes, his chest heaving, "Did they rape you?"

Katiana pulled her hands away and there were tears in her green eyes, "Yeah. Sometimes. They stopped once Strucker let Wanda and Pietro out of their cells. I think they made the men stop visiting. Only Wanda would visit me after that."

Steve laid down beside her and she turned to look at him, seeing his eyes were watering too, "No. No blubbering, we've talked about this."

"It's my fault. All of it is my fault." Steve sobbed and Katiana leaned her forehead against his, getting his attention. He stared at her for a moment, then flung himself out of the bed and over to the wall. Katiana watched as he punched the wall, leaving a fist shape indent in the drywall.

"Steve," she whispered, but he didn't turn around, "Steve, look at me."

"You don't even know me. You don't know what I would have done if I had known. I would have torn them in half with my bare hands for laying a finger on you." His voice was shaky with anger. He couldn't see straight. He needed to get out his fury on something but the only person around was Katiana and he sure as hell wasn't going to take his anger out on her.

He realized her hand was on his arm and his shaking frame stilled as she slowly turned him around to face her. She tentatively placed her hand to his cheek before sliding her other arm around his middle. She moved her hand from his cheek to his chest, feeling his pounding heart through his thin black shirt, "I don't let people in easily. I keep my walls up and my emotions nonexistent. I fucked the soldiers to get what I wanted and I didn't feel a thing. The closest thing to love I can recall is Wanda and Pietro, but I see how much Kayla meant to you. I can't be that woman, but maybe we could be friends." She laid her head on his chest, feeling his heartbeat soften beneath her, "I don't remember loving you, but I don't remember you betraying me. You shouldn't feel guilty about things I can't remember."

"I never should have let you go. You broke up with me and I let you go, I should have chased you, but I didn't." Steve told her and Katiana just shushed him, slightly alarmed that Kayla had broken up with him. For a moment, Katiana hated her past self. How could she break up with a man who was so hopelessly in love with her?

"Why did Kayla break up with you?" Katiana asked, squeezing Steve's middle a little tighter as he finally wrapped his massive arms around her shoulders.

"I put a tracker in her engagement ring. I stopped her from working on her serum, which was so important to her, and I left her to save my best friend who didn't remember me." Steve dropped his head to rest his chin against Katiana's temple, and she realized this was the first time Steve referred to Kayla as somebody else. "I chose to save Bucky, even though he didn't remember me. And now neither do you."

Katiana pushed back from Steve and he looked away, thinking she was going to leave him after realizing why she was the way she was. "Did... did Hydra wipe away your friend's memories too?" Steve nodded as he stared at the wall, and Katiana grabbed his chin and pulled him toward her, "You've had a really hard time. I helped make it worse, I worked for your enemy."

"I could have looked harder for you, but the Avengers needed me to fight Hydra. Everyone told me you were dead, even your mother thinks you're dead."

"My... mother?" Katiana said slowly, wracking her brain, "The First Lady? I guess former, you said my father died when I was taken?"

"Yeah." Steve admitted and Katiana considered this a moment, "What are you thinkin?"

"About how I have a mom in America and she gave up on me." Katiana mumbled, running her head, "I don't blame her, I forgot all about her."

"It isn't your fault. It's mine. It's all my fault. And Hydra's. But I can set this right, Tony Stark is the most brilliant man I've ever met, he'll figure out a way to remove your chip. If... that's what you want." Steve said suddenly, realizing she might not want to have her brain cracked open and played with after everything she'd been through. "Katiana, you are your own person now, and if you don't want to remember, I understand. It would make your life very complicated."

"I don't know." She admitted, backing towards the bed and pulling Steve with her, "I know who I am now, but it's terrifying knowing there's somebody else's memories trapped in my brain. But they deserve to be let out, right?"

"That's up to you. You had them suppressed against your will, I would assume anyway." Steve chuckled and Katiana smiled as she slowly sat back on the mattress. "I would like you to remember, but if you don't want to, I respect your decision."

"You would let me banish your fiancé into nonexistence just like that?" Katiana asked as she looked up at Steve, still holding his hands.

"I'm not going to make you do anything you don't want to do. Then I'm just as bad as Hydra." Steve said sadly, pulling his hands away from hers. He backed away a little, giving her space.

Katiana opened and closed her mouth several times before finally asking what she wanted to know, "Do you think you could love me? As Katiana?"

Steve chewed on the request, torn between what he felt and what he knew. Kayla wasn't in there right now. He'd loved the body, but the mind was gone. If he said yes, he'd be moving on with somebody completely new, someone who may never want to let Kayla back out. The question played in Steve's mind: should he let her go or cling to whatever scrap of Kayla he had left?

"I think I maybe could." Steve finally answered, knowing his girl was still in there somewhere, and if he let Katiana go, Kayla would be lost forever. "Do you want me to?"

"You're just really good." She blurted, then snapped her mouth closed, remembering what Wanda had said. There was no good and bad, only right and wrong. Steve had done many things wrong, but he was trying to set them right. "You are different from the other men, and I like talking to you."

Steve smiled weakly and sat on the bed next to Katiana, slowly running his hand up her arm until he cradled her neck, "I will be whatever you need me to be. I promise."

She leaned into his palm, her eyes fluttering shut as she sighed, "Kiss me."

If Katiana hadn't believed she was Kayla Ellis before, she did the moment Steve's lips connected with hers. Her body went on autopilot and took over, fingers carding through his hair as her tongue battled with his. He held her close, kissing her hungrily as he rubbed his thumbs across her cheeks. None of the Hydra soldiers caressed her so softly. No touch meant half as much as this kiss, because she could feel how she fit with Steve Rogers like a puzzle that finally found its missing piece.

He pulled away and leaned his forehead against hers, panting softly into her face as she grinned, "That was... oh, Steve." She purred before leaning forward to kiss him again, "It was our first kiss, but it felt like I've kissed you my whole life." She pressed her lips to his again, not noticing that he was more stoic than her, "I want to kiss you forever."

She leaned forward to continue making out with Steve, but he gently pulled away, causing her smile to fall. "Steve? Was it... was it bad? It was wrong, wasn't it? I disappointed you."

"It's not that. It was how I remembered it." Steve said and Katiana winced at his words. "This isn't a game anymore, if we go there, you come home with me to Manhattan."

"You said you thought you could love me?" Katiana cried out as Steve leaned farther away. She grabbed for him, but he stayed at arms length, "What changed?"

"I can't stay here in Sokovia. I can't abandon my life for someone who doesn't remember me and doesn't want to remember."

Katiana's eyes widened and she began to panic, "You said it was my decision! You said you'd respect whatever I chose!"

"I will respect your decision to keep your memories suppressed, Katiana, but I won't stay with you if that's the case. You can have the life you've created with the Maximoffs here, or you can come with me and we can be together and you can remember. I won't let them take away who you've become but maybe they can bring back who you lost." Steve explained slowly and she finally dropped his arms and crossed hers across her chest angrily. "I didn't mean to mislead you, but kissing you reminded me that you're still her. I can't act like you're a different person."

"Get out." She growled angrily as she shoved her nose in the air and Steve sighed.

"This is my hotel room."

"Then I'll get out!" Katiana snapped as she stood, crossing the room to the door, but Steve's voice caused her to stop.

"If you change your mind, and want to remember, meet me here tomorrow at ten. I'll have to leave soon after."

Katiana didn't turn around, but steeled her jaw and stormed out of the hotel room, slamming the door behind her.

Katiana practically sprinted back to the abandoned house she lived in with Wanda and Pietro. She flung open the front door and closed it quickly, panting against it as Pietro and Wanda stopped arguing to look up at her curiously.

"Well?" Wanda said softly, eyes glowing red before a smile brimmed across her face.

Katiana smirked, "He bought it."

"He thinks you're falling for him?" Pietro asked as he ran to her side, "Is he going to take you with him?"

"He'll only take me back to New York if he thinks I'll let him get my memories back. We got in a fight, but we kissed. I planted the seeds, he knows there's something there." Katiana explained as she led Pietro back into the room and sat on the floor next to Wanda. "We're getting closer."

"As long as you get close to the Avengers before you get your memories back." Wanda warned, looking up at her brother who hovered over them. "His Kayla might not take too well to our plan."

"He'll fall in love with Katiana, I have faith. Whoever I was before is dead and gone. I didn't realize he used it on me, but I'm aware of the chip List implemented in my brain, there's no getting it out. It would take the best brain surgeon in the world to remove something so small. Fuck Hydra. Fuck SHIELD and fuck the Avengers. It's all a tangled mess that took everything from us. SHIELD took my family, Hydra took my memories, and the Avengers' Tony Stark took your parents. Two down, only one more to go." Katiana said wickedly as she looked between the twins.

"You'll go to America. You'll get close to them." Pietro started before Wanda finished, "You'll make Captain America fall in love with you."

"And once I win their trust, I send for you two, and we can all live a better life in America with Tony Stark and the Avengers gone" Katiana swore as she fiddled with her ring, "I worked with the scepter, it'll drive them mad, but that's nothing compared to what you can do." She told Wanda as the younger woman smiled grimly.

"And what if you forget you're just pretending?" Wanda slurred as she wiggled her fingers next to Katiana's head. "You like him."

"Then I'll have Captain America wrapped around my little finger." Katiana explained, raising her pinky, "I can make him do anything."

Pietro sat beside Katiana and Wanda, wrapping his arms around each of them and pulling them close, "To our last night together for a while, but the first night of a better future!"

Katiana was handed a glass from Wanda and she raised it before taking a drink of the cheap vodka. To the better future.

Steve kicked off his boots and sat on the bed with his legs stretched out, video calling Stark on the tablet as he tipped back the bottle of champagne he'd opened for himself. After several rings, Tony's face appeared, "Hey, Cap, gimme just a second, I gotta put you on hold."

He disappeared before Steve could even respond, but he wasn't in a hurry. He had another fifteen hours before he had to leave Sokovia, and he wanted to speak with the team about his actions and his plan.

Tony reappeared and backed away from the screen, showing Romanoff, Banner, and Barton behind him. "How'd it go, Cap?"

"It went all sorts of sideways, but I think it ended okay." Steve admitted, shifting his shoulders back and forth, "We talked, I broke down, we kissed, and then we fought. I told her what you said, that I couldn't stay in Sokovia with her."

"And what did she do?" Nat asked with bated breath.

"She left. Stormed out. She was upset." Steve relayed as Tony looked over his shoulder at Natasha. "She was happy though. She enjoyed kissing me."

"I mean, why wouldn't she, she was almost your wife." Barton called and Natasha elbowed him in the side where Cho had just patched him up. "Ouch! I mean, clearly you've got something going for you, since she liked you before."

"You've planted the seeds, you just have to see if she takes the bait." Natasha said, looking to Bruce. "On our end we've been doing some research. We think we've found a surgeon who may be able to remove the chip once you get her back."

"I told her it was up to her, but she doesn't seem open to it." Steve mumbled, using his free hand to toy with the ring around his neck, "She wants to be Katiana. She doesn't want to let Kayla back in."

"You told her if she comes with you, you want her to get her memories back, correct?" Natasha asked warily and Steve nodded in response, "Now tomorrow, you tell her that you're falling for her again, and that you're scared. Tell her to come to New York with you for a while, and if she still doesn't want her memories back, tell her you'll move back to Sokovia with her."

Steve swallowed, looking at Tony, but the billionaire just shrugged, "Listen, she's messed up in the head. She isn't thinking clearly. Unlike your buddy who took her, she has something actively suppressing her memories. We get it taken out, she should go back to normal. It's your call, Cap. I can reach out to the guy, make an appointment. He isn't cheap though, so you need to decide before I pull the trigger."

"What if she doesn't want to?" Steve asked weakly.

Bruce cleared his throat and pulled off his glasses, sticking them in his pocket as he spoke, "Steve, I know you think this new personality she's created has the right to decide, but you gotta remember what Kayla would have wanted. Wouldn't Kayla want you to get her back so she could be with her family and friends again?" Bruce looked to Natasha, who just nodded encouragingly, "Katiana isn't real. She's been brainwashed to hate you, and from what you've said, you aren't digging up any memories, you're just piquing her interest. This is Kayla Ellis we're talking about, don't you think her mother deserves to have her daughter back after everything she'd been through?"

"You're right." Steve said firmly, "I'm bringing her home, and we're getting that chip out at any cost."

"It's a great cost. Terribly expensive. Even the assistant was an ass on the phone." Tony teased but Natasha reached forward and pinched his neck hard, "Ow! It's fine. I've got it. Get her home safe, Cap. We'll take care of the rest."

"Thanks guys." Steve murmured before the screen went blank, showing his own reflection in the lamplight of the low-lit hotel room. He didn't like deceiving Katiana, but Bruce was right. If there was a chance of getting her head on straight, they owed it to Kayla. Steve owed it to Kayla. He swore he'd make things right, even if it meant betraying Kayla's darker alternate personality.