A/N: Alrightie, here we go! A fair notice that I do disregard certain details of the movies. That being said, not everything will be exactly the same (like the years and whatnot).

P.S As always, I have a tumblr account dedicated to my fanfic works! It's a place where anyone can comment about a story or even just talk to me! I often drop aesthetic work belonging to my stories too! Feel free to check it out, my URL is "saiilorstars"

2011.

A young ginger woman walked up the small front steps of a suburban home. She only knocked twice on the bright green door that could've rivaled the lawn before she heard an elderly woman calling her to come in.

"Grandmother?" The woman called when she stepped inside. Her bright green eyes scanned the living room until she found the elderly dark haired woman sitting on the couch. She smiled. "Grandmother," she walked forwards.

"Seren, I knew you'd be coming around," Atria Dade smiled in a way that would let anyone know she was the origin of Seren's own smile. That was just the smaller things she and her granddaughter shared.

"Yeah, you always do," Seren said as she took a seat beside her grandmother. "With those powers of yours, that's kind of cheating."

Her grandmother merely smiled. "I like to think of myself as special."

"Oh, yeah you are," Seren let out a low wolf whistle. Nobody could ever know just how special her grandmother was, nor herself for that matter...unless they knew their true identities.

"How is your mother?" Atria asked as soon as she could, just like she always would when Seren stopped by to visit.

Seren smiled, doing well to hide her sadness. No matter how many years passed by, it would always kill her that her mother and grandmother didn't have the best relationship. It was hard for Seren to believe her grandmother when she said that it wasn't her fault, but that it was instead her own. Seren knew that she would always be guilty for being the reason her mother and grandmother were always at odds.

"She's...okay," Seren eventually said. "Last time I talked to her, she and Dad were going on a cruise or something."

Atria hummed. "Good for them. Now this visit, it's not exactly casual is it?"

Seren's face softened with something her grandmother had yet to see on her granddaughter's face. Seren hardly talked about what went on in her life due to the type of job she held. Atria understood perfectly. Even as a retired S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, Atria remembered the strict protocols the organization had. For Seren to come to her about work, it meant that something incredibly huge happened.

"Oh grandmother, I have worked for S.H.I.E.L.D. for so many years that I thought I had seen it all…" Seren began without her grandmother's urge, yet another red alert that this was going to be big. "Last week...last week something happened. They, um...they found something…"

"Someone," Atria corrected her and Seren nodded.

"Yes. They found somebody who is supposed to be dead—everyone thinks he's dead." Seren brought a hand to her forehead, blocking sight of the terrible worrying crease marking it. "I'm usually calm and collected but this one...this one got me. I was assigned to take care of him while he, um, slept. He was bound to wake up but...I don't think any training ever prepared me for that moment."

"What happened?"

Seren met her grandmother's eyes with utter guilt. "I didn't make it better."

Because in her mind, she could have done a lot better.

Seren, dressed in an old fashioned uniform that was actually uncomfortably tight, watched anxiously as the blonde man began to stir in his bed. She managed to tug one of her long ginger curls of her wig just a bit.

"Ease him in, Agent Soul," she heard Fury's voice in her ear comms.

She barely had the time to subtly nod before the man truly woke up. She quickly entered the role she'd been assigned and put on her best smile. "Good morning," she said then checked the old watch on her wrist. "Or should I say afternoon?"

"Naturally, he didn't know where he was," Seren explained to her grandmother, her hand tugging on the strands of her short ginger hair. She could still feel the itchy wig. "I had to explain to him that he was in a recovery room in New York. It wasn't technically a lie." God knows that she hated lies.

"Technically," Atria mused. Her granddaughter always used that term whenever she tried convincing herself of something. "You didn't agree with the method," she told Seren.

With a sigh, Seren agreed. "Of course not. Steve Rogers was born in the past, lived a decent amount in the past too. I understand why Director Fury gave the order but I don't agree with it. And, it turns out I was right."

Steve had studied the small room he woke up in as soon as he was lucid enough. It was pretty basic for a "patient", but there was something wrong. He knew it after listening to the radio on the side. "Where am I really?"

Seren's smile became tight-lipped. "Exactly where I just said you were. I think you might be a little groggy."

There was something wrong with her too. Steve couldn't quite place it but there was something not right about her. She was standing rigidly across from him, smiling for too long, and he caught her left hand slightly tugging her skirt.

"No," he started again, shaking his head as he climbed out of bed. From the corner of his eye, he saw her take a step back. "The game, it's from May,1941…" He gave a brief nod towards the old radio narrating the game he talked about, "I know, cause I was there."

Seren's jaw tightened. If she could, she would have yelled.

"I was furious!" Seren said, rolling her eyes in irritation. "We are S.H.I.E.L.D. and we made that stupid mistake! How could nobody have known that detail!? How the hell did Fury not know this!?"

"That set him off," Atria knew and it wasn't because she was a seer.

Seren exhaled deeply. "Of course it did! I mean...it would set me off for sure!"

How Seren wished she could yell over the comms. at the moment. Now that Steve was sure she was lying, he was scanning the room all over again. The radio was still going on about the game.

"I'm gonna ask you again. Where am I?" He had walked up to Seren, revealing he was quite taller than her and yet that wasn't intimidating for her.

Seren raised her head at him, one of her eyebrows raising at him incredulously. "Watch that tone and we can talk," she decided to say sharply, fully ignoring Fury's reprimands in her ear. She was supposed to be talking him down apparently. She was no idiot; if Steve got angry with her, he had the power to strike and badly but he would have a very big surprise if he tried fighting her. Still, her cover was blown; there was no way Steve was going to listen to her "non-confrontational persuasions".

She sure wouldn't.

"Who are you?" Steve demanded, though slightly less cold. She had a sharp look to argue with but as far as he knew, the whole place could have him outnumbered.

"If you sit down, we can talk," Seren insisted.

"I don't want to," he snapped. "I want to know where I am and who you are."

'Agent Soul, it's time for backup,' she heard Fury say but her fingers were far from the alarm in her pocket. She would not bring in soldiers to combat a veteran with possible PTSD (the tests in the future would prove it).

Seren brought her hands in front of her, clasping them together, maintaining a formal position. "Captain Rogers, it'll do you some good to sit down. We can, um, we can discuss the war." They did technically have to discuss that with him. "I'm an...ally," she settled for the word. She figured that word had to be familiar to him given the time period he came from.

"An ally for what?" demanded Steve.

"Agent Soul, you need back up!" Fury shouted in her ear.

Seren scrunched her face slightly at the loudness. Steve saw it and briefly wondered what that was about—he had bigger problems. As far as he knew, he was in some Hydra facility.

"Where am I!? Who are you!?" he demanded again, and because it had been just as loud as Fury (who was still shouting at Seren as well), the response he got was not the one he expected from a woman.

"SIT DOWN, CAPTAIN!" Seren yelled at him.

Before Steve could do anything, two soldiers entered the room.

Seren was mortified each time she thought about that terrible response. She had lost her cool in all its entirety. It was like the decade of experience and training had been thrown out the window. "I wasn't supposed to snap!"

Atria, however, laughed out of amusement. It wasn't often that Seren lost it. She wasn't much of the yelling type. "I would say you ordered, which is very you." Now that was more of Seren Soul. She'd learned with ease how to take charge of things, control things to the best of her abilities. It wasn't that hard to imagine Seren taking control of the poor environment Fury had placed her in.

"Grandmother," Seren begged her to be serious, "I was not supposed to yell, much less order Captain America to sit down."

"Stardust would," Atria said with a grin that made Seren sigh.

"I beg you to take me seriously. I messed up. The soldiers Fury called in set him off even more. That's why I didn't want to bring them in at all. I should have just tried explaining but the Captain and Fury kept yelling at me and do you know how loud they can both be at the same time?" Before Atria could answer that she was very aware, Seren sighed heavily. "It doesn't matter, does it? Fury sent in the soldiers anyways. It of course messed things up. This man left his world behind." Her eyes met her grandmother's and suddenly a sad smile crossed her face. "I've heard how terrible that can be." Atria reached out for her hand. "He burst through the room and figured out it was all a fake."

Seren raced through the New York sky with S.H.I.E.L.D. below her. She was trying to get herself ahead of the cars but Steve was fast. He'd shaken off countless S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and cars already and though he was close to doing the same with her, she managed to get up front in the end. She came zooming down on the ground of Times Square, forcing him to a stop.

Seren straightened on her feet and met Steve's crazed gaze. He was freaked out and with good reasons. One moment she was a nurse of some kind and now she was...landing from the sky!? She was in a black one-suit and without her long tresses of ginger hair. His question remained, who was she? Everything else seemed unanswerable. It was all loud and flashy and crowded and—

"Please," Seren called, raising her hands in front of her, hoping that the act would be enough to buy her a few minutes. "Like I said, I'm an ally here. The fight is over, Captain. If you let me talk, we can go somewhere more quiet and...less overwhelming." Steve met her eye and she used that one moment to urge him to listen. People around them were beginning to stop and stare and the last thing Seren wanted was for anyone to get hurt. "It's loud, isn't it?" she asked him sorrowfully. Steve took his eyes off for one minute to scan the area.

It was incredibly loud.

He had to look back at the woman if only to distract himself from the immense noises around him. She wasn't yelling like the last time—and he wasn't doing that either—so maybe he could afford to listen to her for a bit more.

"I'm Agent Soul of S.H.I.E.L.D," she introduced herself. "Allies," she reiterated. "I'm—" She heard the swerving of a car behind her, stopping her altogether.

"At ease, soldier!" Director Fury called as he exited the car. "Stardust, down."

Seren sighed and took a dutiful step back even though she felt like she'd made some type difference with Steve. He had stopped, hadn't he? Looked at her for several minutes too. But an order was an order.

"Look, I'm sorry about that little show back there, but… we thought it best to break it to you slowly…" Fury's voice gained the full attention he needed to finally say the news.

"Break what?" Steve was looking between him and Seren.

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

"Poor thing," Seren lamented. "The look on his face when Fury told him that he was out of his time and there was no way back...oh grandma, is that how you felt?" She looked at the Atria. "You lost your entire world...he might as well have. The 1940s were a long time ago."

"It is hard," Atria confirmed with a nod of her head. "But I moved on eventually. I'm sure this man will do the same. But why are you so worked up about it?"

Seren exhaled. "Because two weeks later when he came back from his well deserved solo-retreat, apparently…he requested something..."

"You could have taken more time, you know," Fury motioned Steve to sit down across him in his office.

The latter was preoccupied momentarily with the room he was in. He may have been doing that each time he entered a room. Everything was brand new.

"Nobody would fault you," Fury said once Steve had finally sat down.

"Yeah, well, everybody who knew me is dead, so…" Steve's shoulders did a half shrug.

Fury didn't comment more on that topic. He only watched Steve deposit the files he'd been given before leaving for the cabin. "You don't want to keep them?"

Steve shook his head. It was about the only thing he seemed certain of right now. "No sir. Everyone's gone, I don't need the reminder in hard copies."

Fury took the files and moved them to a drawer on his right. "Alright, well we did discuss what would happen after you came back. It's been about seventy years so...it's safe to assume that you're going to need a little bit of help adjusting to our new world." Steve nodded silently. He had thought about it long and hard in the last few days before coming back. "I did give you a few files on the agents I had in mind who could help you out. Did any of them stand out?" Steve shook his head. It wasn't that surprising for Fury. "That's alright, I can make the—"

"No one stood out on that list," Steve said, though Fury didn't understand him the first time.

"I know we all must look odd to you but my agents are good. They have been trained for most types of situations. One of them can help you. And they will."

"Nobody on the list stood out," Steve reiterated, "Because not everybody was on that list."

"Naturally…" Fury looked at him oddly. "I have hundreds of agents, Captain. Can't put them all on your table, unfortunately."

Steve agreed. "The woman...the-the one who was in the room when I first woke up—she wasn't on that list." He watched curiously as Fury shifted in his seat ever so subtly. "Agent Soul was her name. I'm sure of it." It wasn't a name so easily forgotten. "I checked that list several times but nobody with that name was on it."

"Like I said, not everybody can be on the list," Fury said.

"But she was good enough to be in that room with me," countered Steve. "I can't imagine you would pick just anybody to be in that room. Especially a 5'5 ft woman." Fury reluctantly agreed. "So why wasn't she on the list?"

"What is the point in all this, Captain? The agents that I lined up are—"

"She flew," Steve cut him off. "In my time, people didn't just fly on their own, not even with Hydra's help. How did she do that? Is she enhanced?"

Fury cleared his throat. "We are getting off topic, the whole reason you came here is to settle your adjustment."

"I want her to help," Steve said, slightly quickly and when he realized that it wasn't all up to him but that it was also up to her, he added, "If she wants to."

"Why?" Fury's one worded question was full of confusion, nearly lost as if the mere idea of that combination never having crossed his mind. And it hadn't. "Agent Soul has her own missions to handle. Besides, I can't imagine that the way she handled your awakening would be something you would forget anytime soon. I don't think you would want to be in the same room with her again."

Steve knew what Fury was talking about. Agent Soul hadn't acted with the softest of manners but in that moment, Steve knew he wouldn't have responded to it anyways. But she had used something that he grasped onto. "She said she was an ally. She said the fight was over. Out in the street, she...spoke in my language. War language. Allies, enemies, fights, even giving commands? She spoke in a way that I would understand and that was done without a script. I know."

Fury once again cleared his throat, this time unable to hide the way his body shifted. The lines of his lips pursed. Steve wondered why it was so difficult to heed the plea? Up until now, everything he asked for had been given to him without a second thought. It kind of made him wonder why this request was so difficult. Why was the help from this woman so difficult to attain?

"Agent Soul...isn't quite...what you need…right now…" Fury finally said, though he really hadn't said much for Steve.

"What?"

"She's...modern," Fury said, deciding to leave it like that.

"Everything's modern," Steve countered, slightly amused with the response. "I can count at least 10 things I don't recognize in this office. I would expect her to be modern because every person in this new world is modern to me."

"I'm talking about a type of modern that would easily overwhelm you," Fury was cautious as he spoke, even when he met Steve's gaze it seemed like he was calculating the latter's reaction. "It might not be something you could tolerate."

Steve recognized that look. He had that look all the time in the past. 'Can you take it?' He would never forget that look in his life. He leaned forwards on the desk, a wry smile marking his face as he looked directly at Fury. "With all due respect, I tolerated many things back in my day. I would like that woman to help me, if she would agree." It wasn't up to Fury, he was making that explicitly clear. He wouldn't see anyone else until he had an honest 'no' from that woman.

Seren, once again, was close to freaking out again. "Why would he want me!? I am literally the worst candidate!"

"Are you, really?" Atria chuckled. "You have a very decent amount of training years under your belt."

Seren deadpanned her grandmother. Why must she insist on acting like it was all rainbows and sunshine? "He doesn't know that I'm not entirely human. He thinks I'm enhanced. Where he comes from, I don't exist! I'm going to freak him out!"

"I don't think you're giving this man enough credit," Atria wagged her finger. "You're forgetting everything he saw before he went under the ice."

"Did he see aliens?" Seren thought she was challenging but her grandmother had the best response and within record time.

"No, but he did come close with Hydra." Atria gave Seren a hard look, asking Seren to say she was wrong. She wasn't, of course.

Seren's eyes dropped to her lap. "I'm supposed to help him re-integrate but I have no idea how to help a soldier out of time re-integrate into society. That wasn't in the description of this job."

Atria sent her a sweet smile. "You will find a way. You help everyone after all."

"Yes, but I've never had to help someone like...Captain America." Seren laughed shortly when she heard what she said. "How do I help someone who's seen war?"

Atria squeezed her hand. "I have seen war." It was why Seren came to her. She was seeking advice from the only person who held a candle to what Steve Rogers was going through. "I have lost many things. You want my advice?"

"More than anything," Seren nodded and turned her body to completely face her grandmother.

"Do not be an Agent. Do not be Stardust. Forget the training that you had. You need to be Seren for this assignment."

"No offense, grandma, but Seren isn't really what S.H.I.E.L.D. wants," Seren scratched the side of her head. It was those words that made a streak of pain cross Atria's heart. It was exactly what her daughter Liana had warned her would happen if Seren grew up inside S.H.I.E.L.D.

"It is what the world needs," Atria said determinedly. She didn't want her granddaughter to live with the idea that Seren Soul was of no use to the world. That's never what she intended all those years ago when she brought Seren to S.H.I.E.L.D.. "It's what that man needs."

"I don't know…I think he needs somebody who thinks like him."

"Unfortunately, you're about 70 years late." Atria chuckled with Seren's reaction. "Do you not trust your all-seeing grandmother, my little star soul?"

Seren couldn't help but to smile at the loving nickname her grandmother appropriated on her as a child. It was the literal translation of her name. 'Seren' meant 'star' which is what her people's—the Celessians'—powers were made up of. And her last name was a given. Atria liked to say she was a star soul. "Of course I do, grandma. You have never been wrong before."

"I needed friends when I arrived on Earth, not soldiers, not agents...I needed people," Atria said, "He needs friends too and if he specifically asked for you, it means he already likes you."

"Can't imagine why seeing as I yelled at him," Seren mumbled.

"He was a soldier—he knows yelling, I'm sure. You and him have more things in common than you realize."

"I do?" Seren almost scoffed.

Atria nodded. "Oh yes, you just don't see it yet."

"Grandma, I don't think we could be anymore different. We have very different backgrounds. I mean, he was born in 1917, I was born in 19...later…"

Atria chuckled as Seren decided to keep her age away, as if she didn't know when her only grandchild was born?

"He comes from a time where women weren't allowed to do much except be quiet and look pretty." Seren scoffed.

"You are pretty quiet," Atria remarked, earning herself a glare in return. "You always were growing up."

"Not because I wanted to but because I had to be," Seren corrected. "Can't keep a secret if I'm not quiet. You're missing the point, grandmother!"

"I'm not, you just need to follow my advice and be Seren. Everything else will soon fall into place, trust me."

Seren of course trusted her grandmother. "Be Seren," she nodded, convincing herself that this was the right way to go. Her grandmother was never wrong, no matter how annoying it was sometimes. She wouldn't start questioning it now. "There's just something else…"

Her grandmother knew that too. "Of course."

"As soon as I saw him, I thought...I got this feeling…" Seren drew in a breath, still shaken from that particular feeling. "I'm not all-seeing like you, grandmother. This is the first time I ever felt something tangible…"

"Do not be afraid," her grandmother said softly. "Sometimes it happens. Or, it could be—as the humans say—our 'gut' feeling. What is it?"

Seren faced her grandmother with a visible fear on her face. "Trouble. I felt lots of trouble in the future. Scary things that...that I think S.H.I.E.L.D. worked hard to train me for. Only I think it'll be a lot harder than they expected."

Her grandmother's own expression softened after a moment, like she too had just felt the same feeling. Her expression was unreadable but Seren presumed that there was something she had caught that was true. "Quite right," her grandmother said somberly.

~ 0 ~

It was all too much. He knew it, he was sure everyone else knew it and it was for that reason that they gave him the same pitiful, yet fascinated, look. He was unique, he knew, he was probably the top story in all of S.H.I.E.L.D. 'Man found in ice.' He was sure that the headline would soon work it's way across the nation once he started showing his face in public.

What was he supposed to do?

Well, for starters, he was supposed to find the agent who would help him out for a while. According to Fury, she agreed to the request with absolutely no protest. Steve didn't know whether or not to trust that guy. He would have to judge how the woman responded to him. As of right now, he didn't know who the woman was, not even her first name. For some reason, Fury wouldn't give him the basic file of the Agent unlike with the others.

"I don't understand the secrecy," he said to Fury the morning he would get to meet the Agent. They were walking side by side down a corridor of the base.

"It's just better to meet than see the papers at this point," Fury said with all the casualty in the world. Steve side-glanced him. They both knew that only made sense now because they were on their way to see her. Steve had asked for that file days ago.

The first snap of the modern world hit Steve when he was led into a briefing room of some kind and saw the woman, whom he would recognize straightaway after the way they first met, sitting at the end of the table. Even though she was sitting, Steve could see some obvious changes between now and the last time he saw her. But physical appearances couldn't have been what Fury meant by being "modern", could it?

The woman's elbows were planted on either side of a device on the table, each of her cheeks resting on the palms of her hands. She was thoroughly focused on whatever the bright screen was showing that she didn't notice she was no longer alone in the room.

"Agent Soul?" Fury was less than gentle about the greeting, making one of her elbows to slip and nearly causing her head to hit the table. Her quick reflexes helped her catch herself but there was a faint flush over her cheeks once she met their gazes.

"M-morning!" She pulled herself up from her seat, her eyes lowering for a second until she felt a bit more confident that she wouldn't make an idiot out of herself anymore.

"Did we interrupt?" Fury gave her an odd look. She wasn't usually one to be startled so easily.

"Noo," she quickly switched the device's screen off. "Um, morning," she said again then realized she had already said that. She inwardly groaned. What the hell was she doing?

"Do not be fooled, Captain, Agent Soul has a much more elaborate vocabulary," Fury said while he eyed his Agent. "You good?"

"Yes sir," Seren nodded, still slightly doe-eyed. She waited until Fury was gone to start again, maybe this time without supervision she would get things right. She cleared her throat and walked up to Steve with her hands behind her back. "Good morning, I am Agent…" But she trailed off when her grandmother's words came back to mind. She met Steve's waiting gaze and started again. Be Seren. "I'm Seren Soul. I would've introduced myself the last time we met but, um…" Nope, that was wrong too. She sighed.

What. The. Hell?

Being the epitome of nervousness allowed Steve to pick that up from her face. It was bemusing, and because it was so familiar it helped break some of that ice. "Yeah, believe it or not that isn't the worst way I've met a woman before."

Whether or not it was a joke, Seren laughed, her eyes widened with the maybe-joke. It melted the ice for sure. It helped Steve boost his confidence that he made the right choice asking specifically for her assistance.

"Regardless of that, um," Seren cleared her throat again, "I need to apologize for that moment. I yelled when I shouldn't have and I ordered you to sit down? Um, I really don't do that unless I specifically have to."

"Well you had your reasons, I wasn't very polite…" That was an understatement and Steve knew it.

"I don't want to make an excuse but, um, it was just really nerve-wrecking. Plus," her nose scrunched, "That uniform was kind of tight. The skirt…" she shuddered just remembering the itchy fabric. Pencil skirts were nightmares and she thoroughly applauded any woman who could withstand them.

Steve managed a smile. That was probably one of the 'wrong things' he couldn't quite place when he first saw her. And to her credit, she did seem a lot more comfortable right now. She looked nothing like she did the last time they saw each other.

Her long ginger curls were shorter than before, practically nonexistent. Her bright orange hair was in a pixie-cut with long side-swept bangs to the right of her head. It suited her clear green eyes and thin pink lips. He could see a tattoo of a star peeking out on the right side of her neck. She wore a dark one-suit that could possibly rival the skirt she complained about yet she didn't seem uncomfortable in this one. In one simple word, she was modern.

Modern.

Fury said it but Steve felt like this couldn't be it. Yes, she looked different than what he was used to seeing in women. No woman would ever have that hairstyle and much less a tattoo in the 40s. But this wasn't the 40s anymore.

Seren felt awkward under his eye. She understood he was probably trying to take in everything when he saw it, which was fair, but it left her with little to do in the meantime. "Um…"

It was suddenly clear to Steve that she was waiting for him to say something. He'd been staring at her for god knew how long. It was his turn to be embarrassed. "Sorry," he quickly looked away for a second, gathering himself to properly introduce himself. "I'm Steve Rogers."

She chuckled again when he extended his hand to properly shake with hers. "Yeah, I know," she said with a shrug and shook his hand. "You were in my 10th and 11th grade history books." At Steve's questioning look, she added, "World History and then United States history. Wouldn't you know it, you spill into both courses."

"Well," Steve cleared his throat when he felt the faint flush on his face. It would take a lot of time before he got used to the idea that he was not only well known to the world but that now he was even in the history books.

Seren got the jist that she'd said things he wasn't ready for. This was exactly why she was so nervous about agreeing to help him. "It's okay," she said softly. "Nobody expects you to have it together all the time. It's like I said back there: the fight's over. It's about you now, so...take it easy."

"Thanks," Steve's gaze lowered in the meantime he found the courage to face her again. He didn't even have to say it for her to know that something was wrong. It made him certain that she was the best person who could help him now. "Thanks for deciding to help me," he said once he realized he had yet to mention that.

"Oh, um, of course," Seren stepped back, having to bite her tongue to not ask him why the hell he wanted her of all people to help him.

"I know you probably have a lot more important things to do than babysit but—"

"Oh no, this isn't babysitting," she cut him, her eyes slightly wide as if he'd said something confounding, and he had. "It's clear that you can definitely take care of yourself—so you don't need a babysitter—and you're not a child. A 'guide' means that there are things you simply need to learn and I am here to help with that." Hopefully. "That's also what anyone with sheer human decency would do, just a note." And she liked to think that she did have that. "I understand your reluctance to trust me and that is completely justified. Trust has to be earned and...we're a long way from that. I'm not an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. right now, I'm just Seren, and I'd like to help you."

Steve genuinely smiled at her. He had always trusted his gut feeling and right now, he got the feeling that Seren Soul was a good person, an honest one.

"Okay, so you already know it's 2011 and whatnot. It's been 70 years, I'm really sorry, but if it's any consolation...you didn't disappear in vain. World War II ended with the Germans losing. Plus, and here's a little bonus, I believe you knew Howard Stark and Peggy Carter?" She saw that answer a mile away. "They helped create S.H.I.E.L.D. We exist thanks to them."

"Really?" Steve gave the room a new look with different feelings. Peggy had really helped start this place?

Seren nodded. "I can show you the videos we have of them. I'm sure Director Fury wouldn't mind."

"Thank you," Steve nodded at her. That had certainly inspired a little trust in her. Up until now, no one had said anything to him. No one had talked to him. All he got were those looks. It was strange but right now, Seren wasn't giving him those looks. She hadn't at all, actually. It was refreshing.

Seren decided to start with the most basic things that were used on a daily basis. Cellphones, tablets and laptops started off in the morning. It was a good way to incorporate important history moments she thought Steve would like (and need) to know.

"I'll make sure that S.H.I.E.L.D. helps you out with a cellphone," she said at some point. "Believe me, you're going to need it whether it's for an emergency or just simple calls. Don't worry, I won't start you off with those Motorola ones. All of us started with that." Of course he didn't understand that all, making her laugh again. "Sorry. I don't make very good jokes."

That got him to chuckle. "You're doing fine, Seren, thank you."

Seren shrugged her shoulders together. "I feel like I'm a walking encyclopedia. Please stop me when I start overwhelming you...or even when you get tired of hearing my voice. That can and has happened."

"I'm good," Steve assured her. "Thanks for checking in, though."

Seren nodded and continued on. She didn't want to be the encyclopedia so she started asking him more of what he knew as well. Whatever he said, she would add with something related that happened after he went under. It helped provide more of a conversation with him too, rather than him just listening to her go on and on. She was not a school teacher by any means.

"Oh!" Seren snapped her fingers all of a sudden, "You know what? We have some computers that we don't even use. You can definitely take on to keep looking through the internet."

"Are you sure?" asked Steve. "I don't want to get you into problems."

Seren scoffed. "Please, I don't get into problems with S.H.I.E.L.D.," she said far too certainly. It earned her an odd look from him in return but she quickly got up from her seat. "Let me go get one so we can set you up with it before you go home! Be back!" she scurried off.

Steve watched her leave with a curious look. He had no idea what to make of her except that she was easygoing. The one thing he did conclude though was that he liked the way she handled him and his situation.

She never had same the look that the other employees gave him.

Author's Note:

So this chapter was supposed to have been uploaded yesterday along with the prologue. I must have gotten mixed up but here we are!

To the reviewer, thank you so much!! I'm glad the short prologue was able to convey that. It's what I was really striving for so your words meant a LOT. Thank you!