They checked up on him regularly, her agents doing their job quietly and correctly, not to be seen or heard by Captain Rogers. They reported back in a reasonable amount of time, telling her he goes on lots of walks to familiarise himself with the city and everything he had lost.

"He seems... Depressed," one of her most trusted agents told her one day. Maria sighed and then nodded in understanding, tapping her pen on the file in front of her.

"Thanks you Agent Green. Keep me posted on his routine and if it changes," Maria said as an indication for the agent to leave and she does. Maria took a deep breath, placing her pen down on the files she had been signing and leaned back into her desk chair.

She told herself to never love again, to never have someone close to her... They always end up getting hurt and so does she. The thought of him out there though, trying to come to terms with this whole new world on his own… it played with her heart.

She took the rest of the day off, working from home. After a while of thinking about it she decided to ransack the apartment for that one thing, the one thing she needed to see right now.

In a box under the bed Maria found that one thing. The box lid was covered with dust that had collected over the past years of not being opened. She lifted the lid up, her fingerprints imprinting on the lid with the dust now resting on her fingers. She placed the lid on the wooden floor next to her and slowly lifted the pictures from the box.

Old black and white images with cracks down the middle ran slowly through her fingers, as she traced the edges with her index fingertip. The pictures were of her and her family. The family she once had. Her niece was still alive, living in the suburbs. She knew about Maria, talking frequently to her but never face to face. She couldn't risk anyone seeing her with her niece, couldn't risk the hurt it would cause if anyone found out about Maria.

She placed the images that brought a tear to her eye on the ground delicately before noticing the thing she had been looking for.

The ring.

It was still hanging on the old silver chain, the falling to hang at the bottom as Maria picked it up. She took the ring in her hand and rubbed her fingers over it to get rid of the collected dust. She smiled sadly at it before the thought of Steve in his apartment, on his own and depressed slowly crawled into her mind.

When she had found out about Steve being found in the ice her heart had literally stopped. Now looking at the ring it did the same. She undid the clasps and then did it again at the back of her neck. She allowed the ring to fall where it normally did all those years ago, next to her heart before slipping it under her top. She didn't know why she had put it around her neck, opening up memories she had worked on to close away.

She placed the lid back onto the box and slid it under the bed to not be looked in again. She stood up knowing she had to do some work. Sitting at the dining table next to the window in her apartment she got to work on her tablet.

A couple of hours later there was a buzz from someone pressing the doorbell at the front of the apartment building. The camera Maria had installed popped up a video on her tablet of Steve stood at the front of the building, hand running through his hair.

"Come on up," Maria spoke through the speaker, pressing the unlock button on her tablet to allow the door to buzz open. She timed how long it took for him to get from the front of the apartment building to her front door.

Knock, knock.

"It's open," Maria said and Steve stepped inside. He closed the door behind him and stood, watching her.

"I know who you are," he simply said after a couple of seconds. Maria spared him a glance, making sure confusion was easily seen on her face.

"What do you mean?" Maria asked, placing her tablet onto her dining table and looking up at him.

"Maria Rose Wilson-Hill," Steve said, his voice strong but saying her name made his heart ache. "Heard of the name before?" Steve asked her and Maria simply shook her head.

"Can't say I have," Maria told him, hoping to lie her way out of it. Steve was good but Maria was trained to lie her way out of tricky situations.

"You're related to her. I know you are just from looking at you. The second I really, truly looked at you I could tell. I've seen your face before," Steve said and Maria took a deep breath, steadying her racing heart. She kept her face cool and collected, not to show any emotions in front of him.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Maria said calmly, trying to talk her way out of it.

"Don't act dumb with me," Steve snapped, anger in his voice but Maria ignored him and stood up instead. She told herself to not let anger or other emotions take over her. So she waited for him to continue. "For the past two weeks I've been racking my mind, my memories, in trying to understand who you are. You're either her or... A relative who looks exactly like her," Steve said.

"Captain, I think you should stop now," Maria warned, moving over to where her icer gun laid on the coffee table.

"Did you... know her?" Steve asked, his voice softer and calmer this time. The way it broke off at the end, how he couldn't say her name. How he had paused, it had made her look up at him and this time really look at him. She hadn't been concentrating enough at the beginning of the conversation but now she was and could see the affects this whole situation was having on him.

The bags under his eyes showed his sleepless nights, his mind tormented with nightmares from his past. His once golden hair was now a slight dusty colour. It wasn't styled and hadn't been taken care of for the past two weeks. He didn't stand like the solider he used to be but as a broken man, shoulders hunched and frame weak.

Her heart shattered but she wouldn't allow her walls to crack. So she stood up straight like the solider she was and lied her way out, like she did in any tricky situation she was in.

"The first person to manage to survive in ice was you. The first and last person to have super soldier serum was you. The first person to not age is also you. You're the only person, well the only person S.H.I.E.L.D has information about, in surviving for so long without a change in your physical appearance," Maria began. She was lying. First there was her, she managed to stay alive for so long and not change, no scientist proof as to why though. Then there was Barnes, the soldier who was working for HYDRA against his will but Maria wasn't going to be the one who told Steve that, not yet anyway. "There is no evidence that someone without the super soldier serum could survive for years and not age a single day in their physical appearance. So no, I'm not her nor am I related to her in anyway. But if you must know, I was born in Chicago on April 1st, 1982 at 1:12pm, not whenever you think I was or to whomever you think I was. You're going through a tremendous amount of shock and confusion, which means you can easily make mistakes," Maria said and Steve just stared at her. She could tell his mind was racing, memories of their past flickering right in front of him as he connected the dots. He blinked rapidly before his eyes focused on her. He swallowed and nodded slowly.

"I'm sorry to have disturbed you at this hour Commander Hill," Steve said, looking almost upset with the fact he hadn't found her or a way of finding her. Hadn't found a connection to the woman he loved, having finally lost everything. He held himself together as Maria bid him goodnight.

The second he was out that door tears filled his eyes, blurring his vision. Slowly, he made his way home, walking through the thick rain that was now falling.

He had seen the ring. His ring. The ring he had supposed to give his Maria if he hadn't taken a nap in the ice for 70 years. Hill was right about being confused but wrong about what he was confused about. Why wouldn't she just come out and say that she knew his Maria? It was him after all. Did his Maria not tell anyone about him? Not even her family. He didn't have enough evidence but he was going to by the next time he saw Commander Hill.

Hey guys here is the next chapter to my little story. Hope you liked it and please, tell me what you thought it always makes my day:)