"STAY TIGHT TO THE ROCK!" Steve yelled desperately over the roar of guns, one hand gripping the bluff above himself, and the other flattening Jacques to the wall as German soldiers directly above them poured machine gun fire down on his Commandos, and the other men that had followed them up the bluff.

There was a scream as one of the men beside him was hit, and went tumbling down. Steve looked desperately at Bucky on his other side. Bucky was sweating furiously, pupils blown wide as he held tight to the rocks. "Steve, you gotta get up there – otherwise they'll just blow us off!" he shouted. Both men flinched as shards of rocks exploded above them – and when they met gazes again, Steve sucked in a breath at the cut that had opened up over his best friend's eye, blood coating his face. He nodded, and set his jaw, swinging his shield into place on his back and letting go of Jacques.

Hand over hand, he dragged himself diagonally up the face of the bluff, feeling his muscles ache as the continued tensing made his arms shake. He had to draw the fire away from his Commandos.

Steve felt helpless.

There was nothing he could do, as men on the beach, and men fighting inland were slaughtered – He was created to make a difference and he couldn't do anything.

Abe would be so disappointed.

There was yelling above him – and then powerful torch light was shone upon him.

It didn't matter anyways.

There was a loud click as a machine gun was angled directly down at him.

Tonight was the night.

Steve found himself thinking of silver eyes as the grey gun shone in the torches of the encampment above him.

Then – screaming.

The torch light disappeared, the beam flying wildly in the air as the owner of the torch screeched.

Flashes of light from guns briefly lit up the area. There was a thump, and he looked up, squinting in the darkness, feeling wet drip on his face. He yelped as a German soldier with his throat slit stared down at him unseeingly. There was a low growl, and then the body was launched past him, tumbling into the darkness below him. He looked up, just in time to see a hand extend towards him.

It was a female hand, covered in blood so thick that he couldn't make out anything else, but a dulled shine from her nails. He grasped the hand, and was hauled up, his arm socket twanging painfully.

And he came face to face with the last person he expected to see.

"Addy?!" he exclaimed, stepping into her space, and taking one of her bloody hands.

One of her small unwilling smiles broke out across her face – made perverse by the gore and dirt on her skin. "Steve…" she said softly – and for a second, the world around him faded as he took her in.

Smiling, unscathed, alive.

"How- what-?" he couldn't work out what he wanted to say. But her face was hard again, and her next words made the world pop into sharp and horrifying focus again.

"We don't have a lot of time. We have to capture this half of the beach before more men die."

He nodded, dropping her hand, and stepping back. "The rest of the Commandos are ascending the bluff under the biggest gun. There are troops everywhere. Command was lost so I just set orders to make it inland."

She nodded. "Gold Beach was taken like that – you did the right thing. There's nothing we can do, but help them take out the biggest guns. Our transport is coming to get us."

"Already?" Steve asked.

She nodded, turning to look down at the blackness. Steve wondered briefly if she could actually see that far. "I don't think they foresaw it being like this. They don't want to risk their Captain being harmed." She said it derisively – but Steve knew it wasn't directed at him.

"They didn't tell us you were here."

She looked suddenly tired. "All I knew was that you were on Omaha. I was told that by the end of the day, we'd join forces – but then word came that Omaha wasn't captured yet so I came here. I had to find you." She said, and shuddered. "I've never seen anything like this since…" she stopped talking.

Steve put a hand on her shoulder. "We'll finish this – or at least do what we can before we get pulled out."

"What if it's not enough?" she whispered, eyes closing and leaning back into his hand. How long had she been fighting? How much had she suffered today? Enough to actually seek physical comfort.

He'd never seen her do that – excepting when Abraham had been killed.

"There's nothing more we can do. It has to be enough."

They ran together, though Steve noticed she was slower than usual, and slowed with her. Quietly – so quietly they made their way around to the bluff he had been ascending with the Commandos, unnoticed. Though it was the middle of the night, occasional gun fire and explosions from the trenches below still lit up the night. The men at the big guns were laughing and smoking.

Adeline's face changed then, all her features hardening and sharpening into something cold. In one smooth motion, she pulled out a small knife, and in the same fluid motion – threw it. One man slumped over, the knife buried up to the hilt in his neck.

By the time they realised what had happened, Steve and Adeline were already upon them.

Adeline was taken aback by the focus on Steve's face. There was no outwards hesitation as he smacked a man backwards over the bluff with his shield. Just a dull flicker of guilt in his eyes that let her know he hadn't changed as much as he had appeared. She felt something in her ease a little at that.

He was still the man she knew.

But for how much longer? How much longer would this war carry on?

She fought on autopilot, with minimal effort, trying to conserve what energy she had left.

She just had to make it to sunrise.

Adeline threw a man off the bluff, pausing to note the lightening horizon. The gunfire from below was getting closer. She could only pray it meant that with the heavy fire gone, their forces were free to fight their way closer. God, she was tired.

"Adeline!" Steve's yell drew her out of her reverie, and she turned in time to see the bleeding German launch himself at her, and she found she had no energy to resist, as they both went off the edge of the bluff. Steve screamed something unintelligible that she couldn't make out through the rushing wind, and the screams of the man who had fallen with her.

They hit the ground with a thud that Adeline felt in every bone in her body. The fall wasn't high enough to knock her out, but the landing was rocky enough to pierce and batter her body – and kill the soldier she'd fallen with. His death rattle mirrored her own jagged breathing. It was near silent in the sheltered dip between the base of the bluff and the rocks before the beach.

Adeline just tried to breathe without throwing up. She was hurting, and her body was trying to piece itself back together, and she was just so tired.

But dawn was approaching. Gold light was touching the top of the bluff above her now, and in the light, she could see Steve, and he spotted her – and relief filled his face, and Adeline decided she could close her eyes now.