Hi, everyone! Sorry for the long delay in updating this story. Wrapping the school year up has been crazy (one more week left!), and my kiddos are ready for summer (as am I). I plan to tell this particular snapshot in three or four chapters. My stories will receive some love over the summer for sure! Thank you for reading!

Plane Frustrating Part 1

"Tony? Tony? God, Tony please answer." Steve's heart pounded, more from fear than exertion, as he frantically searched for the billionaire.

The heavy scent of pine on misty air assailed his senses. The mist was obscuring his vision and his head pounded. It took a lot to knock him out, and he had been unconscious long enough to lose Tony.

Can't lose Tony.

His thoughts were disjointed and painful, but he knew that he had to find his friend. It was all a blur, but he was beginning to piece together the events of the crash. Tony, Steve, and Natasha had been called out on a simple extraction mission. Hop on the Quinjet, fly to point A, kick some bad guy butt, secure the object, fly to point B, deposit the object, fly home—objective complete. It had seemed simple enough. Nat was a certifiable badass when it came to being sneaky, Steve was good at powering his way through seemingly-impossible situations, and Tony could crack any security system. Steve had even watched him dismantle this one and he still couldn't believe it. It certainly reinforced the "genius" facet of Tony Stark's personality.

He's really nothing like Howard.

Upon finding himself in the future, Steve had found solace in the fact that Howard's son was alive and well. He had quickly learned that Howard's son was unrelenting, hard-headed, and difficult, but that wasn't really how he viewed Tony now. Tony was still those things, but it all stemmed from a desperate desire to protect the people he loved. Howard may have had those qualities at some time, but Steve knew that Tony's father had withdrawn from his only son. That wasn't the man Steve had known.

A sharp pain in Steve's left knee jostled him from his thoughts.

Right, I'm in the forest.

He staggered slightly as his knee throbbed and refused to support his weight. He put out a hand and caught himself on the rough bark of a tree trunk. He let his pounding head sag and rested his chin to his chest for a moment. An uncomfortably long list of injuries were slowly making themselves known. Nothing was life threatening—the serum would take care of them eventually—but they were inconvenient. They were slowing him down and hampering his focus. He needed to find Tony.

A thought scratched against the back of his concussion-boggled mind.

"I'm forgetting something," Steve muttered, a little surprised that he had spoken the words out loud.

"Hey, soldier," came a woman's voice.

Steve spun around, shield raised, ready to engage in battle, but he stopped short when he saw red hair and black leather.

"Natasha," he breathed in relief.

She was holding one of her shoulders higher than the other, favoring the arm on the same side. Steve couldn't tell what the source of the injury was just by looking, but it had to be extremely painful if she was showing it. She was sporting some visible scrapes on her hands and face, but other than those observable injuries, she seemed to be fine.

"Cap," she said simply. "You've looked better. Have you seen Stark?"

"No," Steve grunted, trying to keep his focus on his teammate. "I think I might have a concussion."

Nat's eyebrows shot toward her hairline, and it looked like she might smile for a second. "Is that so?"

Steve felt the muscles between his eyebrows tighten. "Are you making fun of me?"

Natasha strode over to Steve, still holding her right shoulder at a strange angle. "You're bleeding all over one side of your head and you're turning a few nice shades of purple right now. I think it's safe to say that you have a concussion."

Steve grunted, swaying slightly on his feet. It took him a second to remember what he wanted to ask, but he fished desperately in his thoughts.

"Are you okay, Nat? Is there something wrong with your shoulder?"

He reached out without realizing it, but she stepped back quickly with a wince. It wasn't a sign of mistrust—which it would have been soon after Steve had met her—it was a tell of pain. This concerned Steve even more.

She sighed, curling the fingers of her good arm into a fist and extending them repeatedly. "Something is torn or strained, possibly even broken," she said. "I know we don't have the imaging equipment or medical personnel out here to do anything about it, though, so I'm just going to keep it as immobile as possible."

Steve looked down in frustration, shifting his weight and wincing as his knee protested. Everything around him started to shift dizzyingly, and he closed his eyes and fought to keep his stomach somewhat settled.

He felt a gentle hand on his arm. It startled him back into the world, and he snapped his gaze up to Natasha's concerned eyes. The sudden movement caused his stomach to lurch, and he jerked away from her to lean against the tree as he retched. He was able to fight against losing the contents of his stomach, but it was a close call.

Steve moaned and rubbed his hand over his eyes.

"God, Steve," Natasha said, "how hard did you hit your head?"

"I dunno," Steve said, exhaustion rushing over him. "I can't remember when I hit it. I just have this cut and it's all tender. It'll be fine, though. I can take the hits."

Natasha glanced at him with an eyebrow raised. "Right," she said. "And you didn't almost just puke up your most recent meal."

He glared at her, uncharacteristically sullen. He staggered to stand upright, letting his hand fall from the support of the rough bark. "We have to find Tony, Nat."

Steve felt himself blanch and closed his eyes as the world lurched and spun. "God, I don't even remember if he was wearing his armor. Do you remember?"

Concern danced through Natasha's eyes, but she concealed it quickly. He knew that it was more for him than anything, but she knew it wouldn't help him to see it. So much of his strength came from his ability to be positive in dark situations. She had such a nuanced understanding of his emotions.

She sighed, "he was wearing his suit, Steve. He probably escaped with fewer injuries than we did."

"If he was wearing his suit, he should have found us by now," Steve said, gazing out into the brush like there would be a clear sign as to where they should look. He decided on a direction and started limping.

"JARVIS could be down," Natasha said as she followed her captain. "He could be hurt in a way that would keep him from coming to find us. He could be trapped."

Steve set his shoulders and tried to force the limp out of his gait. He would walk into hell for any member of his team, even if he knew he wouldn't make it back. He would get Nat and Tony home safely. All three of them were going to make it out of this forest and back to the Tower.

Steve would make sure of it. After all, he was Captain America.