Hi all, I wanted to say thank you to everyone that sent me a PM. You all helped out a bunch. I got this chapter done as fast as I could because I felt guilty after that last cliffhanger. This one resolves some of the issues from last chapter but also sets up the future arc. This story is far from over. I just wanted to comment that this is Nora's story, her life. It intersects the MCU most of the time but as you can already tell that won't always be the case. Anyway that's enough out of me. Please keep commenting or sending me PMs letting me know what you think. I love hearing from you all. Thanks for the support. Enjoy.
One thing I never considered when I came back to the past, what if I died? The thought never crossed my mind. I was so focused on preventing Steve and Bucky from dying I never thought of the possibility that my death might have been what caused them to meet their end.
Another thing I never considered was what happens now? I know the stone will disappear and find its new host but what happens to my body? Do I go back to my own time where it found me and Dad gets to bury me or does it stay here in 1944 and Gramps gets a telegram delivered to his hotel telling him I'm dead or would Colonel Philips call him into his office where he and Peggy would break the news to him?
When I closed my eyes for the last time everything went dark but now I was in a meadow. Sounds a bit cliché right? You die and you end up in a garden dressing in white. Except I wasn't wearing white, I was wearing a red wine sundress I remember I bought at Forever 21 a few months ago but never had the chance to wear. The meadow seemed familiar and as I started walking around I realized why.
It was part of the ranch's property. It was a bit far away from the house but I would take Axl here when we were on vacation so he could run around. I saw the house in the distance and walked over to the porch. There was someone on the swing sitting there.
"How do you like it?" I heard them ask. I look at the woman standing there and for a minute I think I'm in heaven and this is actually Nana. Then I look at her eyes and see the eerie glowing green color of the stone.
"You won't even let me die in peace will you?" I say.
"Don't be so dramatic, I'm doing you a favor."
"Favor? I'm dead! You power has healed me to the point I don't age anymore. I don't even get my period because I'm frozen in time. And the one time I need you to heal me. The one time it's life threatening you decide to sit back and let me die!" I shout
"Are you done throwing your tantrum? You're not dead." It said taking a sip of what looked like iced tea.
"What? I was shot. I stopped breathing. I bled out in my soulmates' arms." I said remembering the look on their faces and their shouts begging me to stay awake.
"That did happen but your not dead. They think you're dead and you look dead but you're not. I had to keep you from interfering for a bit so I put you in a temporal field. I altered it so time flows slower here. One heart beat per minute of the area outside of the field. I'm also healing you slower than I normally do."
I was speechless. "Why?!"
"Since the beginning of the universe and the millions of years I've traveled through time you hosts always ask the same thing. And the two things you all refuse to accept is the same. Actions have consequences and death is inevitable"
"I understand that but I don't see what that has to do with me being fake dead." I said a bit confused.
"You won't understand not for a few years at least. I won't keep you here much longer, but before I leave I need you to listen to what I'm about to tell you. No matter what happens don't ask questions, don't get mad at them and whatever they tell you, just go along with it."
"Why can't I ask?"
"That's a question you'll answer yourself later on. Until then, remember no questions. I don't want to have to deal with another Katya." It said. Then it reached over and placed two fingers on my forehead and I started glowing.
I closed my eyes and I woke up back gasping and coughing for air. It was dark and I was completely alone. I was surrounded by a force field and apparently it was holding up a bunch of rubble and pieces of wood that looked to be part of a building. The shield went down and some of the wreckage collapsed letting me see outside. The sky was grey but not because of the clouds but because of all the dirt in the air. I climbed out from the rubble and saw all the surrounding buildings had collapsed.
"What the hell happened?" I said.
I walked towards the center of town. I figured if the team was still in the area that's where they'd be, fighting Deichmann and his men. The town was in ruins. There weren't any buildings left standing. The bell tower was gone and so was the rest of the town. If I didn't know any better I would have said someone dropped a bomb on this place.
As I was walking towards the center, I saw two soldiers walking away. I reached for my gun and a knife but they weren't in my holsters. What the hell?
They saw me, they looked terrified.
"Bitte, wir wollen nicht kämpfen" Please, we don't want to fight, one of them said throwing their guns on the ground and putting their hands up.
"Ersatz uns bitte, ich habe eine Familie und einen Sohn, den ich noch nie getroffen habe." Spare us please, I have a family and a son I've never met. The other one said with tears in his eyes.
"Geh und komm nicht zurück." Go and Don't come back, I said
They both took the chance and ran as fast as they could. I started walk from where they had come from. Eventually I came to something that looked like a giant hill. I walked to the top and saw that it was part of a giant crater. There was a group of people right at the center. I saw some of the sunlight bounce off of something circular and metal. Definitely Steve's shield.
I started climbing down the ten feet of what used to be the buildings of the town square and walked over to them. They were all just standing in a circle. I saw a flash of light at the middle of them before it disappeared. Okay today has been a really weird day.
"Guys, What's going on?" I said getting their attention.
"Nora?" Steve said looking at me surprised and relieved to see me. He ran over to me and hugged me, lifting me off the ground.
"Steve, sweetie, It's good to see you but I can't breathe." I said.
"Oh sorry" he said putting me down. But as soon as my feet were on the ground I was tackled into another hug by Bucky.
"You're okay." He murmured kissing me over and over again before burying his head in the crook of my neck.
"Yeah I'm okay. Not a single scratch on me, but I can't say the same about you guys. What the hell happened?" I said making Bucky release me and look at Steve. The rest of the team just looked at each other. They were all really nervous and were trying to avoid even looking at me.
"After you…" Steve said pausing a bit to stop the tears that were forming in his eyes. "the bell tower was surrounded. There was no way in or out until we found a tunnel that led outside through the sewer. We decided to go after Deichmann. There was no way he was going to let us out without a fight, so we decided to take the fight to him. Turns out that he had killed everyone in the town. Jones, Morita, Dernier and Falsworth found a mass grave where they were all thrown in. Deichmann had the entire town rigged with explosives before we even got there. That's where Dernier got the C4 from. When we confronted him at the town hall. And he had the trigger to the bombs. We managed to find shelter pretty fast. When we came out, everything was destroyed." He said.
It was physically impossible for C4 to cause this much destruction. Not to mention the size of the crater doesn't match what you'd expect from a C4 explosion.
Don't question it Nora, just go along with it. I heard the stone's voice echo in my head.
"Wow, so he took himself and his men out?" Everyone just nodded at that statement. "That's problem solved I guess."
"Yeah."
"Absolutely."
They all expressed similar sentiments. They were all lying through their teeth. And they wondered how I always beat them at poker.
"So what now? Did he spill the beans on any possible Intel for the next base or are we going to have to keep doing recon?" I asked.
"That's the kicker." Dugan said.
"Apparently Schmidt has made enemies in the German ranks. He went rogue and they want him taken out just as much as we do. Deichmann's second in command spilled the beans told us all we needed to know. The factory is in the forest of northeast France, not sure exactly where but nothing the recon team can't figure out." Bucky said, trying to give me a small smile but failing miserably.
"That's great so we're going back to regroup with the rest of the troops?" I asked.
"For now, we'll send a report to Colonel Philips and go from there." Steve said a little too fast. Something is definitely wrong. I have a feeling he's going to try and have me sit out the next mission.
"Sounds good, can we get away from this place, don't want to set of any other bombs." I said going along with their story.
"Of course, lets try to get as far away as we can before the sun sets." Steve said. Grabbing his pack before leading the way.
"Oh I forgot to ask, any of you guys know where my gun and knife are?" I said still wondering where they had gone off.
"No clue." Bucky answered immediately. But here you can have my spare." He said handing me a gun and a small pocket knife.
"Thanks, I'll ask gramps next time I see him for a replacement. The knife is specific for the holster. Maybe I'll ask him about fixing the uniform too." I said looking down at the bullet hole and bloodstain.
"Hey he might give you an upgrade." Said Bucky
"If it ain't broke don't fix it" I said with a shrug and started to climb up the mountain of rubble.
That night everyone was quiet around the campfire. No one said a word. There seemed to be some sort of agreement that I shouldn't be told anything that happened today. I guess that made following the stone's instructions easy, no point in getting mad either. I'll find out what happened eventually. The one thing that is going to get me mad is the way everyone keeps looking at me, like I'm some bomb that's going to explode at any minute.
Earlier I had started to treat their cuts and wounds they were all tense. Normally they try to playfully flirt jus to try and get a rise out of Bucky and Steve but today I didn't even hear a peep out of them.
I'm not sure how much more silence I could take. So I decided to rip the band-aid off.
"Guys, I get today was a weird day and a lot happened but I'm still me. I'm not a zombie trying to eat your brains or anything so can you please stop walking on eggshells around me. The looks you're all giving me are starting to give me the creeps." I said.
"Doll we're not…" Bucky tried to argue but I shut him up by crossing my arms and giving him a look letting him know he shouldn't even bother.
"Bucky shut it, I love you but you have a horrible poker face, you all do. You all don't want to talk about it, I'm okay with that but I'm not okay with the way you're all acting. I'm going to sleep." I said getting up and going into the tent.
"Nora," I heard Steve call out to me.
"Steve don't, just give her some space." Bucky I heard Bucky say.
I went into the tent and unrolled my sleeping bag. I laid down and closed my days. Tomorrow will be a better day. Then again there's no way it could get any worse.
Third Person's POV-
After Nora had left the rest of the team was silent. They didn't know what to say, actually they didn't know if they could say anything. The past day had been hard for all of them. First they saw their friend die and everything after that was hard to process.
"She's right, we've been acting strange since…" Bucky said not needing to finish the sentence for everyone to understand what he meant.
"It's not that we don't want to tell her, we just can't. It's hard to talk to her about today without worrying about spilling the beans." Morita said.
"At the end of the day, it's still Nora, the same brat that can out drink us all given the chance. We just have to forget about today and never talk about it again." Dugan said.
"Agreed." Steve said.
"One thing though, what are we going to put in out reports to explain what happened?" Falsworth pointed out.
"I forgot about that." Steve said groaning. "Everything up until we regrouped and Nora, died… stays the same. After that we need to get our stories straight."
"We were surrounded, and there was no way out until we found a tunnel." Bucky said remembering what they told Nora
"We left to go find Deichmann or any one else that could give us some Intel on Hydra. Deichmann had the town rigged to blow at any minute." Steve said knowing that part was slightly altered. They knew he had the town hall rigged to blow, but it was impossible to rig the entire town.
"We confronted him and he would rather bring everyone down with him rather than tell us anything." Gabe said.
"He died in the explosion, we found one of his men still alive. He told us the location of the base before he died as a result of his injuries." Morita said.
"We were getting ready to head out when Nora found us and that's it." Falsworth said.
"Sounds believable, Think Philips will buy it?" Jones asked.
"Not a chance." Dugan answered.
"He won't but as long as we have something on the mission report he can tell the guys back at Washington he won't give us any trouble." Steve said.
"What now?" Bucky asked.
"We get some sleep." Steve answered.
"That's not what I meant." He said.
"I know what you meant, but its been a long day and I still haven't figured out what we're going to tell her. She needs to go back to London, have Howard run tests." Steve says.
"Good Luck trying to talk her into that, Cap. She's stubborn and she won't want to sit out a mission, not without a fight." Dugan said and everyone else just nodded in agreement.
"So what do we do, she was dead for hours. You know there has to be something going on with her. I don't for a second think she bought the story we told her." Steve said.
"Of course she didn't buy it. Our poker faces are horrible remember. She isn't going to tell us. There's only one person she'll talk to and be completely honest with." Bucky said.
"I know. We'll deal with it tomorrow lets get some sleep." Steve said. They put the fire out and each went to their tents. Dugan had first watch so they were good for a few hours.
Bucky and Steve opened their tent and saw Nora curled up in the middle. They felt relieved to see her sleeping peacefully. She didn't even move when they moved to lie next to her.
"I don't think I've ever been happier to hear her snore." Bucky whispered to Steve spooning Nora from behind.
"I know." Steve said lying in front of her and kissing her forehead.
A Week Later- Nora's POV
After a day's hike back to the Allied Forces Camp we were sent back to Paris. The recon team needed time to come up with a plan now that they knew where to start looking and there was no point having us wait around. The following morning after I came back from the dead the team was doing better. They actually looked at me when they talked to me. They were still a bit tense but they were getting better.
I had a feeling Steve and Bucky were planning something. Anytime they were alone they would whisper something to each other and the minute they saw me walk into the room they would shut up. Ever since I got back they hadn't left my side for a minute. One or both of them were always with me. At first it was nice, then after about a day or two, I started reading in the bathroom to get some space. I didn't want to worry them, especially after what I put them through but I missed my alone time.
One morning I woke up before Bucky and Steve and decided to get a head start on breakfast. I was wearing a blue V-neck A-line dress with black peep toe heels. I was making coffee when there was a knock at the door. I wonder who it could be this early.
I opened the door and standing there was the last person I expected to see.
"Morning kid." Gramps said.
"Grandpa?" I said not believing he was standing in front of me.
"Nora, we've talked about this. Gramps I can handle, Grandpa is pushing it." He said.
"Gramps not that I'm not happy to see you or anything, but what are you doing in Paris?" I asked.
"Came to deliver your new uniforms." He said handing me a wrapped package. "Have you had breakfast?" He asked looking around.
"Nope lets go, I'm hungry." I said grabbing my coat, wallet and keys and walking towards the door.
"Aren't you going to…" he said probably asking about Steve and Bucky.
"Nope, they can fend for themselves today, besides we have to talk." I said.
"About what?"
"My death." I said and that made him stop talking and follow me out.