Steve knew he needed to leave Katiana to reconvene with his team. He could hear Natasha calling for him in the comm, explaining that Banner was still missing. It had been over an hour, but as much as Steve knew the Avengers were expecting him, Katiana needed him.

When Tony Stark called loudly through his comm, he flinched and Katiana sniffled, wiping snot away on her shirt, "You should go. They are looking for you."

"I don't want to leave you until I know you're okay."

"I won't be okay for a long time. If you wait, you'll never see them again." Katiana attempted to tease Steve, but her attempt fell flat and sounded almost threatening. "I'll be okay. I can come with you. Then you can do both."

"You sure?" Steve asked, rubbing Katiana's arm as he gazed at her lovingly, "If you want to rest, I understand."

"We can rest when everyone is safe. We can rest at home." Katiana assured Steve with a brave smile. "I'll rest when I have my memories back."

Steve stood from the examination chair he'd been sitting on with Katiana, reaching to grab her hips and ease her to the floor, "Deal." He draped his arm around her shoulders and held her tight to his side as they walked onto the bridge of the helicarrier. Katiana gasped when she looked through the massive windows and the shattered glass, noticing the broken robot laying amongst the consoles.

"This is amazing." Katiana breathed as she looked about, seeing Tony Stark standing with Thor and Natasha up ahead. When they reached the three, Katiana looked around anxiously, "Where's Clint and Doctor Banner?"

"Banner's gone." Natasha said bluntly, with a little more emotion than she meant to. She narrowed her eyes at Katiana, warning her not to bring up their kiss and exchange in the Hydra base. "Clint is making sure Wanda's okay."

Katiana's chest tightened, looking around urgently, "She's alive?" She saw Wanda and Clint sitting side by side to the left of the massive windows, the latter patting Wanda's knee comfortingly as she cried softly.

Katiana broke into a sprint across the floor, grabbing Wanda's attention and the Scarlet Witch jumped to her feet to meet her friend in a tight hug. Katiana grabbed the back of Wanda's head with one hand and her upper back with the other to hold her close, sobbing into her dark hair, "I thought you were dead."

"The Vision rescued me when the city was falling." Wanda said softly as she pulled away, breathless but strong, "Were you there? When it happened?"

Katiana nodded and bit her lips, trying not to cry again, "Yeah. I was helping Costel. He took the bullets for us."

Wanda placed her fingers to Katiana's head, focusing as red seeped into her skull, and the Maximoff started wailing as Katiana grabbed a hold of her and held her tightly, "Shhh, I know. I know." Wanda raised her read, eyes angry red as she glared past Katiana at the helicarrier they rode in.

"I am no Avenger."

"You sure about that, Kid?" Clint asked from where he sat, grunting as he stood and sauntering slowly to his team, "You'd make a damn good one."

Wanda pursed her lip and looked down away from Katiana, considering Clint's words, "I assume you'll stay with them?"

"Yes." Katiana said softly, turning over her shoulder to look at Steve. She studied the weary soldier, taking in his sweaty hair and dirty face and the way he kept glancing over at her nervously. "I'm going to get my memories back, so I can be the woman he wants me to be." Katiana turned back to Wanda, "That doesn't mean for a minute that I won't be here for you. You're my sister, and I will protect you, no matter what. You don't need to be an Avenger, you don't need to stay with them or with me, but I'll be there for whatever you need. I promise."

Wanda puffed out her cheeks and blew the air out slowly, staring at Katiana with drawn brows, "The Avengers aren't bad, like I thought, but they aren't good either. Their just amazing people doing their best to protect the world. Sometimes they mess up, just like we did."

"So, you're an Avenger now?" Katiana teased and Wanda shrugged, starting to walk back towards the group as Vision fazed through the glass into the bridge.

The Scarlet Witch smiled when he saw her and waved awkwardly, "Yeah. I think I am."

The helicarrier touched down near Makoyic, now the largest city in Sakovia since Nova Grad had been destroyed. Thousands of refugees disembarked and were met by the Stark Relief Foundation, there to administer aid and basic necessities. Natasha continued to search for Banner, but stealth mode kept his location hidden. Clint slipped away without a word, but Thor remained with the team as they were left by the helicarrier near Manhattan.

Katiana had stayed glued to Wanda's side as she said her goodbyes, knowing soon the brief life Katiana had created in Sokovia would be overrun by memories of the years that proceeded it. The trip across the Atlantic felt longer than it actually was, and Katiana counted the minutes before she returned to America.

With the skyline of New York in the distance, she walked off the helicarrier hand in hand with Wanda, ready to face whatever the Avengers had in store for them.

After a few tense, silent minutes, Steve appeared and took Katiana's free hand. She looked at their entwined hands as he asked, "You ready?"

"Where are we going?" Katiana asked quietly as Wanda clenched her hand tighter, "We stay together."

It was a statement, not a question, so Steve quickly nodded and kissed her hair. "Yes. You two can stay together. You can stay in my apartment. I'll be busy preparing the new base Tony's planning upstate."

Katiana and Wanda exchanged a glance, then Wanda asked the question Katiana was too scared to utter, "When will she have the chip removed?"

Steve looked over his shoulder as Tony approached, repeating the question to the man who made the appointment. Tony tapped away on his watch and pulled up a holographic calendar to find out the date of Katiana's procedure, "Two weeks from yesterday." Tony eyed the woman nervously as she ducked her head, "You sure you want to go through with it?"

"Yes. I owe it to myself and my family to know who I am. It won't change my promise. Wanda is a part of my family now. Where I go, so does she."

"It'll be a long recovery from surgery." Tony explained, meeting Wanda's gaze instead of Katiana's. "She may need a little peace and quiet for a while."

"I promised-" Katiana argued, but Wanda gave her hand a comforting squeeze, causing Katiana to look to her. "I won't leave you."

"I'll be okay for a few weeks. As long as you don't forget me."

"I could never."

"Then I'll be okay." Wanda finished, releasing Katiana's hand and gently pushing her into Steve's arms. "I'll begin training to be an Avenger. Then I can protect you the way you've always protected me."

Katiana's lip wavered and she hugged Wanda tightly as the car arrived to take them both to the Avengers Tower. She turned to Steve so she could reach out to him and pull him toward her for a kiss. "I'll see you in two weeks?"

Steve nodded, having not planned on leaving Katiana until her surgery, but if that's what she needed, he'd make do. He could survive two weeks alone to get his Kayla back forever. He held the door to the car as Wanda and Katiana slid in. "I love you."

She grinned up at him, "I love you too. I can't wait to remember how much."

Steve's teeth broke through his smile and he closed the door carefully, patting the roof to tell Happy they were ready to go. Tony sidled up beside him with his hands in his pockets, "Two weeks, huh?"

"Whatever she needs. I'm gonna see Kayla again." Steve explained, turning to the shorter man, "So, I'm assuming there's living quarters in the new facility?"

"Not yet. It's a storage facility, but yeah, eventually." Tony answered, turning as an orange sports car drove up on its own. "How about we head upstate and see what we're working with. You can do some hard labor to pay me for her surgery and rehabilitation. I could think of a lot of better uses for two hundred thousand dollars."

"I'll do anything. Whatever it takes to get her back." Steve told Tony as he pulled open the door to the car and slid into the passenger's seat. "Tony, I can't tell you how much I appreciate what you're doing for me."

"I'll pay for the surgery, but not the wedding." He teased as he got into the driver's seat, "I'm assuming that's still the plan? Romanoff said you had a ring. Got you into a bit of a mess."

"I took the tracker out months ago." Steve grumbled as he loosened the neckline of his uniform to pull out the chain holding the ring, "Should I get her a different one?"

Stark looked over at the blue sapphire Steve produced, his eyes widening when he turned back to the road, "Looks like you put a lot of thought into that one. I guess you'll have to ask her when she remembers it. If she wants a different one, she'll tell you. Keep in mind, you aren't getting pure Kayla back. She'll be part Katiana too, Hydra scientist and badass. Once that chip is removed, you're getting a brand new person who isn't one or the other. Nothing will be the same as it was before. You ready for that?" Tony asked as he stared ahead, knowing Steve would most likely struggle to help Kayla readapt. "Where is it that Fury sent you after you got thawed out? Before they brought you back to Manhattan?"

"The Retreat. Banner designed it, apparently." Steve mumbled, remembering weeks alone, crying, punching, and wishing he'd never been found. "It didn't help much."

"Might help her. She's not going to want to recover from brain surgery in the public eye. She can rest and you two can be alone for a while, sort some things out." Tony suggested quietly, looking over and catching Steve's surprised expression, "What? I'm not completely heartless."

"There's going to be a lot of backlash after what happened this morning." Steve grumbled, wanting so badly to change like Tony had, but Banner had taken their quinjet, including his clothes and his cowl, off the grid. Steve leaned against the door, looking out the window as trees continued to fly by, "I should be there. She needs some quiet, but I should take responsibility for our actions."

"I'm sure people will understand, once they realize she's not actually dead." Tony mumbled, but Steve caught it anyway, raising his brow questioningly. He opened his mouth to ask Tony what he meant, but the billionaire beat him to it, "Pep called while we were on our way back. Sandra Ellis is at the tower waiting to see her daughter. Her little assistant apparently spilled the beans to Mom."

Steve groaned and threw his head back against the headrest, "Tony! Why didn't you tell me before, I would have gone with her! What's she going to do when she gets ambushed by a woman she doesn't know claiming to be her mother?"

"She'll deal with it. She's a grown woman who doesn't need you to babysit her. Plus, First Lady Ellis deserves this after everything that's happened. She doesn't need you there to run interference. Give the woman some space, once she remembers everything you've gone through together, she won't be able to stay away."

"What if she doesn't forgive me?" Steve murmured as he looked at the ring. He ran his finger of the gem and sighed, "What if she is mad at me for everything and leaves me?"

"Then at least she knows who she is and what she's doing. She deserves that much." Tony replied without looking over at Steve. His hands were tense on the wheel, and Steve could feel the nervous energy radiating from the man, "All we can do is our best, Cap. We've made some grave errors the past couple of years, but we meant well. You took down SHIELD to expose Hydra, inadvertently killing President Ellis and causing his daughter to be kidnapped and brainwashed. You meant well, but that's on you. I created Ultron to do everything in my power to protect the Earth, and we all know how that went. People died today, and that's on me." Tony finally met Steve's gaze, and the soldier could tell how haunted Tony was by what had happened.

He didn't respond to Tony, instead Steve just stared out the window, thinking about what Tony had said. He knew he had done what was right by taking down SHIELD, but he could have done it differently. He could have worked smarter, and he could have saved Kayla instead of Bucky. He'd meant well, but he messed up. If Kayla didn't forgive him for that, he'd just have to accept the consequences of his actions.

Happy rolled up to the base of Avengers Tower and got out quickly to open the door for Katiana and Wanda. Wanda's eyes grew wide as she looked at the skyscraper, and Katiana just held her hand tightly in response to her wonder, "I know. It's a lot."

"We'll stay here until your surgery?"

"Yeah." Katiana answered was Happy closed the door and gestured for the two to enter the lobby. As the doors slid open, a tall, thin woman with strawberry blonde hair approached quickly.

"Welcome ladies. I'm Pepper Potts, CEO of Stark Industries. Tony said you two would be coming back to rest while they work on the new Avengers Campus upstate."

"I'm Katiana- well, Kayla. I'm sure you already knew that." Katiana mumbled, then turned and gestured to her companion, "This is Wanda Maximoff. She'll be staying with me until my procedure."

"Yes, Tony said that you two would like to stay in Steve's suite." Pepper replied as she led them toward the elevator. Once the doors closed, Pepper took a slow breath to steal her nerves, then smiled with practiced ease in difficult situations, "I know things must be very difficult for you, but there's someone here who would very much like to see you. I hope you'll oblige and meet with them."

The elevator dinged, but Pepper hit a button and kept the doors from opening, turning toward Katiana to await the woman's answer. Katiana looked to Wanda, and she nodded, so Katiana answered, "Okay."

Pepper smiled weakly and pushed the button to open the doors, revealing the party deck that had been cleaned up since the party several nights prior.

Katiana limped into the room, still in terrible pain from her wound that the SHIELD doctor had patched up after Steve left her alone for a while. She smoothed her hand over her tight braid, watching as a tall blonde woman stood from a couch near the windows.

Katiana swallowed hard as Wanda released her hand, allowing her to move toward the woman who looked to be in her early fifties. Her eyes were rimmed red from crying and her arms seemed to shake as she approached Katiana, studying the young woman intently. It wasn't until Katiana noticed the small brunette woman behind the blonde that she realized this was somebody she knew.

The brunette was Tiffany, the woman from the party, who was Kayla's best friend since they were little kids. Based on the photos she'd seen of Kayla Ellis, Katiana deduced that this was her mother.

When the older woman reached Katiana, she clenched her hands together, looking at her daughter with a mix of elation and devastation. Her voice cracked as she spoke, finally extending her hand for Katiana to shake, "Sandra Ellis. Tiffany says you don't remember any of us, and as hard as that is to accept, it's easier than burying you. I'm your-"

"Mom?" Katiana asked softly as she shook the woman's hand. She didn't remember the woman in front of her, but she believed it to be true. She pulled Sandra forward and wrapped her arms around the woman to cry as her mother broke down.

Tiffany stepped forward, wiping a stray tear from her own brown eye before waving at Wanda, "I'm Tiffany. I was Kayla's best friend."

"Wanda." She replied softly, shoving her hands in the pockets of her red leather jacket. "Katiana's best friend."

"Then perhaps we'll spend a lot of time the three of us after she remembers me?" Tiffany suggested with a meek smile, unsure how the newcomer would take it. The smile that Wanda returned with was genuine and she nodded in response.

Sandra finally pulled away and clenched Katiana's cheeks to study her daughter's face as Katiana wiped the tears from her eyes, "You look so different."

"I think I've gained some weight." Katiana laughed and Sandra joined her, shaking her head at the idea. "I'm sad I don't remember you. I don't remember any of my life except for what Hydra tricked me into doing. I'm scared to remember though."

"I'm sure you are." Sandra answered as she moved her hands to Katiana's shoulders, "I can't imagine what you've been through. If you want to talk, I would love to listen. If not, I completely understand. Miss Potts says in two weeks you'll undergo surgery to get your memories back, and if you don't want to see me between now and the-"

"No, please stay for a few days. I'm scared and all I really have is Wanda. Will you be there when I go for the procedure?"

"Of course." Sandra murmured as she stoked her dark hair, "Anything sweetie." She pauses for a moment, looking to Tiffany before gazing back at her only daughter, "What about Steve?"

"What about him?" Katiana asked.

"Where is he?"

"He's going upstate to work on the new Avengers place. I told him I'd see him for the procedure." Katiana admitted, looking at her feet then Wanda, "Wanda has these... abilities. She can read minds, and affect thoughts. I asked her to give me a vision, and what I saw really messed with my head. It broke through the chip that's suppressing my memories and I remembered how much I loved him. But I tried to kill him and I betrayed him, and then he left me, and it's complicated."

"It's okay. You don't need to explain. Everything is complicated right now, and it's okay to take some time to sort out your feelings. None of us will hold it against you." Sandra assured her daughter and Katiana smiled, relaxing at last, "Listen, Tiffany and I aren't in any hurry. You guys get cleaned up and rest. Miss Potts has my information, if and when you want to talk, let us know. We'll stay through your procedure, okay?"

Katiana pulled Sandra into another tight hug, smelling her floral perfume and hair spray like it was oxygen. "Thanks... Mom."

Sandra pulled away and stroked her cheek, then looked to Tiffany, "Let's go. We'll see them soon."

"Take care, both of you." Tiffany said as they passed, joining Pepper in the elevator to leave Wanda and Katiana alone.

"So," Wanda said as she collapsed onto a plush leather couch across from Katiana, "This isn't so bad."

"No." Katiana agreed, smiling at the thought of having a family, not only for her, but for Wanda. "I think we'll be just fine here."