I know I normally stick to one update/day but, I just couldn't help myself! Things got left on a cliff and I just loved working on this chapter! It's a little shorter, but full of goodies! I hope you guys like it! After this bit, we'll be moving on to AVENGERS! Can I get a hoooooo yeaahhhh! As always, I do not own or have rights to anything Marvel. Yeah I know, I wish I did too. I won't keep you more and will let you get to it! Let me know what you think! Enjoy! Xoxo-NickyLynn
As a child, Rose Rogers had believed in miracles. All the stories she was read were filled with them. The Christmas movies that would come on every season revolved around them. And at one point she had truly believed a miracle would happen and her real family would come knocking one day, coming to bring her home. But Rose never experienced that miracle and as her childhood wonder was quelled by reality, she stopped believing in them all together.
That changed when she looked down at the monitors before her as she stood in disbelief next to Fury. He had called her into one of the S.H.I.E.L.D. command centers in New York, telling her there was something she would want to see. And the thing she was staring at, well….she had wanted to see it every day for a very long time. She had prayed and screamed to God, begging to see it again. She looked down at the screen and so many emotions mixed within her that she didn't even know what she was feeling. "What is this?" she asked Fury, terrified he was playing some sick joke on her. Afterall, there was no way this was even possible.
"A group of researcher were digging through some ice. Turns out the made the biggest discovery of the decade." He told her, watching her reaction carefully.
"This isn't possible." She whispered, wondering if she had somehow fallen asleep on the plane over and was in some hyper-realistic dream.
"Well, it's not probable." Fury said, looking back to the screens. "But obviously is possible."
"My brother's alive?" Tessa said, the words feeling wrong on her tongue.
"You can see why I wanted to bring you in on this and no one else." He told her.
"W-what is this?" she asked, motioning to the fake room that had been constructed. It was like staring at a movie set. The room they had been keeping Steve in was designed to look like something straight out of the forties.
"Your brother's been asleep since the forties, Tessa. We're worried about how he will react to that news." He admitted.
"So you put him in a fake room and lie to him?!" She nearly yelled, swinging around to face him. "He's not dumb, Fury! He'll figure out it's not real and all you're going to do is make his not trust you." She told him, angry she hadn't been told about all this sooner.
"Steve Rogers is dangerous and we have to-" Fury began before another voice filled the air. They both turned back to the screen to see a woman walk into the room. And Tessa's heart nearly stopped as Steve's voice hit her ears.
"Where am I?" he asked the woman posing as a nurse. Tessa couldn't stop the tears that fell from her eyes as she basked in the familiar sound…..a sound that she thought she would never hear again. And suddenly it all seemed more real than any dream she had ever had before.
"You're in a recovery room in New York City." The woman said in response.
Steve took a moment to look around the room, the confusion on his face clear as day. "Where am I really?" he asked her after a moment of analyzing his surroundings.
"I'm afraid I don't understand." The woman said, feigning pretend.
"The game." Steve said. "It's from May nineteen forty-one, I know because I was there." He told her.
Tessa watched the red light below them flash repeatedly as the agent in the room with Steve began pressing the panic button she had been sent in with. Steve stood up from the bed and stalked closer to the woman, his voice and face serious. "Now I'm not going to ask again. Where am I?"
"This is ridiculous!" Tessa said, moving past Fury, sick of the show.
"Whoa, woah, woah you're not going in there yet." Fury scolded, grabbing hold of her arm and stopping her from leaving the room.
"The hell I'm not!" she scoffed. "That's my brother!" she shouted, casting a finger over to the screen. "And you're not going to stop me from seeing him!" she told him, feeling her eyes and skin begin shifting colors.
"Look, let's just calm down and-" Fury began saying before loud crashing sounds cut him off. They both whipped around to see Steve throwing two guards through the fake wall of his room. He ran out of the hole after them and Tessa knew that she would be the only one he would be willing to trust now that the ploy was over.
"Shit!" Tessa exclaimed as Steve ran out of the area, most likely in a panic. She didn't listen to Fury as he ordered her to stay put. She ran out of the room, taking off after her brother who was supposed to be dead, but very much alive. She transported herself down the halls of the building, trying to catch up with Steve. The voice of the woman who had been in the room with Steve came over the P.A. system, alerting everyone in the building to Steve's escape. Tessa raced down the halls until she came out on the main floor. She spotted several S.H.I.E.L.D. agents on the ground and she pushed herself harder, knowing Steve would have made it outside by now.
She transported herself outside onto the busy sidewalk, her head swiveling around as she searched for Steve's familiar form. She caught sight of his tall form, down the street to the left, before he turned down the corner and she lost sight of him again. She jumped through space, nearly being hit by cars, who honked at her in alarm, as she moved down the street. When she came out on Time Square, she found him standing in the middle of the street, turning in circles as he looked at the tall, unfamiliar buildings surrounding him.
"STEVE!" Tessa bellowed, having come to a stop about twenty feet away from him. He whipped around at the sound of her voice, his eyes searching for her. When they landed on her, Tessa could see the confusion filling them.
"Rose?" he asked in puzzlement.
When her name left his lips, Tessa nearly lost it. She rushed forward and threw herself around him, holding him tighter than she ever had before. She couldn't stop the sobs that tore out of her throat. She held him and cried as she felt the realness of him under her fingertips. His familiar scent filled her nose as she clung to him, memories she had long forgotten crashing into her. Steve pulled himself back, bringing his hands on either side of her face. His eyebrows were drawn down in concentration as he studied her, making sure it was really her.
"Rose, what's happening?" he asked, not making sense of anything that had happened since he woke up.
Tessa tried to even out her breathing as she locked eyes with him. Oh, God how she had missed those eyes. "Steve…" she began, swallowing thickly. "Steve you were supposed to be dead. They found you frozen in the ice." She told him, bringing her hands up and placing them over his. "Steve the year is twenty eleven. You've been gone for nearly seventy years." She told him.
"W-what?" he whispered, looking back around at the city surrounding him. The strangeness of it suddenly making more sense. "How-" he began before several black SUVs circled around them. He looked around the area, his muscles tensing for a fight.
"It's alright Steve." Tessa said, taking a step back from him as she turned to find Fury stepping out of the nearest vehicle. "They're friendlies." She told him. "Or, at least most of them are friendly." She amended as she took in the look of displeasure on Fury's face as he marched over to them.
"You and I are going to have a talk later." He said, pointing a threatening finger at Tessa before his eyes fell on Steve. "I'm sorry about that little show back there, but we thought it best to break things to you slowly." He told him.
"Well, we didn't." Tessa said with a roll of her eyes. "Steve, these men are with S.H.I.E.L.D." she explained. "This is Director Fury."
"S.H.I.E.L.D.?" he asked looking down at her.
"It's an organization that was founded by Peggy and Howard." She told him, suddenly realizing just how much he had missed.
He looked around again, his brain desperately trying to comprehend everything. "You alright?" Fury asked him.
"Yeah, I just….I had a date." He said mournfully, and Tessa's heart broke from her him. She reached forward and placed her hand on his upper arm. "Come on, there's a lot to catch you up about." She said, giving his arm a squeeze.
Tessa managed to convince Fury to release Steve into her care, under the stipulation that she wouldn't let him out of her sight and would report back to him should anything happen. So, she took one of the SUVs and brought Steve back to the Brooklyn apartment she kept since joining S.H.I.E.L.D.. She still owned her apartment in Malibu and would visit Tony often, but seeing as a large portion of operations were conducted out of New York, it was only natural to get a place of her own here in the city where she could retreat back to when she wasn't training or on missions.
She pulled up to the apartment complex that was only a few miles away from where she and Steve had grown up and led him inside. She pushed open the door after sliding in the key and walked into the place she had temporarily been calling home, though it had never really felt like one. "Um, just make yourself comfortable." She said, motioning over to the large couch sitting in the living room, across from a large screen TV that had been gifted to her by Tony.
"Rose, I don't understand how any of this is possible." Steve said, looking around the small space curiously. "I mean how are you even still you?" he asked, looking over at her as she undid her boot laces and kicked them off.
"The miracles that come with cellular regeneration." She responded, moving past him. "I haven't aged since taking the serum." She told him before pausing as a thought occurred to her. "I suppose you wont age either." She said, looking back over at him in sorrow. She stared at him for a moment, before being consumed by feelings she hadn't felt for a long time. 'I'm sorry." She finally told him, her voice growing thick. "For the serum, for Bucky….for everything." She told him, having spent many sleepless nights wishing she had had the chance to say these things to him. "All of this was because of me and I'm sorry Steve!" she said, tears falling down her cheeks again.
Steve rushed over to her, wrapping his arms around her in comfort. "Hey, hey. It's alright. None of this is your fault. I don't blame for you anything. And…" he trailed off before swallowing and continuing. "And Bucky wouldn't blame you either, you know he wouldn't."
Tessa let out a sob as she listened to him tell her the words she had spent so long needing to hear. "I blame me." She said, pushing him back enough so she could look up at him. "I don't know how you're back, but whatever forces brought you back to me, I swear I won't let them take you away again." She told him, resolutely. "You can't leave me again Steve." She said, the thought of loosing him again filling her with dread. "Promise me you won't leave me alone again." She said, gripping onto the front of his shirt. "Steve promise me you're not going anywhere this time!"
Steve looked down at the panic filling his sister and suddenly found himself wondering what she must have gone through, dealing with his and Bucky's loss all on her own. "I'm not going anywhere, Rose." He told her. "I promise."
A ringing sound filled the silence that followed, breaking apart the moment. Steve looked around in confusion as Tessa pulled out her phone from her pocket, flipping it open in annoyance. "What Fury?" she asked, swiping at her face and the tears that lingered there. Steve watched her in confusion as she held the small device up to her ear, talking into it like a telephone. "Yes, we're back in my apartment and everything is fine." She told him with a sigh, rubbing at her forehead. "Yeah, I know. Look, I'll report back to you in the morning, alright?" she said, ending the call and dropping her hand down to her side.
Tessa turned to find Steve looking down at the cell phone in confusion. "Oh." She said, her eyes falling down to it. "Right, there's going to be a lot you don't understand, isn't there." She brought the phone back up and held it over to him. "It's a cell phone. It's like the telephone but without the cords. You can also transmit digital messages and text. It's really just a small, personal computer." She explained, moving her finger across the screen, causing it to light up and display the time.
Steve looked down at the device before his eyes drifted back around the room to all the other various items he didn't recognize. "It feels like I'm stuck in some strange dream just waiting to wake back up." He admitted quietly.
"You and me both." Tessa said with a sigh. "Look, I really need to shower and change." She told him, giving him a hesitant look. "Will you be alright for a minute if I-" she began to ask before he cut her off.
"Oh, yeah of course!" he told her, taking a step back.
She eyed him for a minute, before deciding that leaving him alone for a few minutes wouldn't harm him any. "There's food in the fridge if you're hungry. Just make yourself at home, I'll be back out in just a few minutes." She told him before moving towards her bedroom.
She quickly stripped down, showered and changed into some loose shorts and a tank top before making her way back into the living room. She found Steve sitting on the sofa, holding up one of the pictures she had sitting on her side table. She walked over to him and sat down in the empty spot next to him. "Is this a boyfriend?" he asked, holding up the photograph of her and Tony, holding onto each other, smiling brightly up to the lens. It had been taken well before he had ever been Iron Man. Tessa couldn't help the snort that snuck out of her nose.
Steve's eyebrows dropped down as he turned the photograph around, not understanding what was so funny. "Sorry." Tessa told him after she calmed back down. "That's not my boyfriend." She told him amusedly. "That's Howard Stark's son." Steve's eyebrows shot up as his eyes dropped down to study the picture again, looking for the similarities between the two men. "His name's Tony and he's…." she trailed off, searching for a proper word to describe him. "Well, he's Tony." She said, not knowing how to condense the entirety of his extreme personality into one word.
"Is Howard-" Steve began to ask before Tessa's mouth dropped down into a frown and she shook her head.
"No. He was killed along with his wife back in ninety-one." She told him sadly. "He was a good man. He did a lot for this world….and me."
Steve studied the image for a moment longer before placing it back on the table with the other pictures. "What happened Rose? After I went into the ice?" he asked seriously.
Tessa took a breath to steady herself before she responded. Her mouth fell open as she tried to decide on where to begin, or even how to begin. She had trouble finding the words, but after a moment they came. She began telling him about the hospital…and the darkness that had consumed her….she told him about how Howard had helped hide her….she told him about the agency that he and Peggy had help create and she explained why she was so terrified to join them….she told him about Howard's life and what she knew of Peggy's….she told him how she had been there to watch Tony grow…..she told him about Howard's death….she told him everything.
By the time she had caught him up to the point of her joining S.H.I.E.L.D. it was well into the night and they were both starving. Tessa moved over to the kitchen and began making them some simple spaghetti as Steve sat at the small table and watched.
"You know, I have to admit, you're taking all of this exceptionally well." Tessa commented as she drained the pot of boiling noodles into the sink.
"Yeah, well, I'm still expecting to wake up at any minute." He muttered, his hand propped up on the palm of his hand, his elbow resting on the table.
"It's going to take some getting use to, that's for sure." She agreed, walking back over to the stove and setting the hot pot back down. "Captain America alive and well! The press is going to freak when they find out." She said, shaking her head. A thought suddenly occurred to her and a wide smile spread out across her face. She pulled the cell phone out of her pocket and walked over to where Steve was sitting. She squatted down next to him and held the phone out at arm's length, snapping a photo of the two of them.
"What was that?" Steve asked, looking from the phone up to her wide smile as she clicked a few buttons on the device before getting up and walking back over to the stove. "I took a picture." She told him. "I know someone who's going to freak out when he finds out about this." She said, clicking onto the appropriate contact and pressing the send button before powering down her phone. "He's kinda a big fan." She told Steve as she enjoyed the image of Phil getting her text and not being able to get ahold of her to get an explanation.
She shoved her phone back into her pocket with a chuckle before pulling out the serving utensils. She began dishing up two plates of the noodles and sauce, throwing on a couple pieces of garlic bread too before taking them over to the table. Steve moved back as she set the plates down and then herself. Tessa watched Steve dig into the still hot food, realizing that it had been several decades since he ate last. She watched him slurp up the noodles, sauce sticking to his chin and a smile took hold of her.
"What?" Steve asked through a mouth full of food, having looked up to see her staring at him.
"I just still can't believe it is all." She said, shaking her head. "I know that this has got to be difficult for you Steve, but I just can't even tell you how happy I am to see you again." She told him honestly. "I know this will be hard, but I'm going to be here to help you with everything. I have a spare room that you can take, and I'll help you adjust to the times as much as I can. We'll do this together." She promised with a nod.
Steve finished chewing, swallowing down the food before he spoke again. "Till the end of the line, right?" he asked, drawing back on the promise he, Bucky and Rose had made to each other the day of Sarah's funeral.
Tessa nodded at him, a sad smile pulling up her lips. "Till the end of the line." She echoed.