The next day Steve had all the files on Maria Hill, born on April 1st, 1982 to Dr. John and Mrs. Mary Hill at 1:12pm. So she wasn't just making that up. He remembered his Maria talking about her parents; Mary Hill stood out to him.

He had gotten the files from S.H.I.E.L.D after sneaking into the files room. He had also taken to the internet to find out about Dr. John and Mary Hill. Oddly enough there were no images of them, nowhere he could find a picture of them either together or alone. Yes they had records, a birth certificate and a marriage licenses, but no actually personal thing they would need.
No driving license or insurance documents for a home or a car.

He dug into some of Hill's other files. How she had moved to Brooklyn after being hand picked by S.H.I.E.L.D from the Marine Corps.

He looked for any personal records of family and...

Nothing.

The reports said her mother died giving birth and father died of alcohol abuse. No grandparents, all dead.
Everyone in her family was dead except her. So if Commander Hill was connected to his Maria then his Maria was dead.

He used the public library to look up Maria Rose Wilson-Hill, born in 1903 to Mary and Dave Wilson. They had records of her living in an apartment in Brooklyn until 1945. When suddenly she went off the map, the year he had died. Files said she had died in 1945 in a car accident, yet there's was no details or pictures to back it up.

There were a few black and white pictures of her dancing in some of the clubs in Brooklyn, but that was all.

He found out about how she had had one brother who married a young woman and had a child together, Ebony Hill, born in 1935. She was still alive and living in the suburbs.

Scribbling down her address, he made his way back to his apartment to get ready to ride out to see Ebony.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the apartment door. He was slightly curious to who it was and checked through the peephole first. A bold man, dressed in a suit and tie with dark glasses over his eyes. Steve opened the door slowly and the man smiled, removing his sunglasses.

"Captain Rogers, I'm agent Phil Coulson of S.H.I.E.L.D," the man introduced himself.

Shit, Steve thought, they know he took the files. He moved slightly to use his body to block the files that scattered the kitchen table, scolding himself for not clearing them up.

"I thought I would come and introduce myself since I will be your new handler," he said, which took Steve as a shock.

"I already have one" Steve said, studying the agent.

"Deputy Director Hill is currently flying out on a mission with Agent Barton, who you'll have the pleasure in meeting when they get back," Coulson informed him.

"Which is how long?"

"Well with these missions, they require radio silence. They could be gone for a couple of weeks up to a couple of months," Coulson said and Steve nodded, trying not to think too much into her sudden disappearance.

"Thank you Agent Coulson," Steve said as a goodbye.

"You need anything, just call," Coulson said, handing the soldier a card with his number on.

"I will," Steve said before shutting the door.

He turned to clear the files from his kitchen table and hide them in his cupboard. He then packed a bag and grabbed his motorbike keys. He waited ten minutes, making sure Agent Coulson had gone, before walking down to his bike parked outside. He placed his bag under the sea and then started the engine.

He had memorised the directions to the nieces home and it took him just under an hour with the traffic.

He pulled up outside the little home, bunches of flowers covering the ground around the front porch. He took a deep breath before walking up the small pebbly path and up the white steps of the porch. He knocked on the front door and he heard a slight shuffle.

"I wasn't expecting you Patty, not until noon anyway," an old woman called from the other side of the door.

The lock clicked and the door opened slowly. The old woman narrowed her grayish blue eyes when she realized Steve wasn't Patty.

"Your not Patty. What do you want?" Ebony asked him, going on the defense.

"Hi, I'm Steve Rogers," he introduced himself. "I know-knew your auntie, Maria," Steve said and Ebony studied him carefully. She suddenly gasped and then smiled, a sign of recognition in her grey eyes.

"Steve Rogers, I know exactly who you are," Ebony said before stepping out the way of the door, gesturing for him to come in.

Steve stepped into the home, the smell of pinewood coming from the candles around the home. Ebony closed the door behind him and went into the kitchen.

"Make yourself at home, I'll make us something to drink," she said, shuffling into the kitchen. Steve walked into the living room, not a single sign of this being an old person's home except for the photographs.

They stood in the frames along the fireplace and on the walls. A picture of Maria holding a tiny baby stood out the most, in the center of the fireplace. She had a smile on her face and the picture was black and white, cracks through the middle of it. Steve smiled at the picture and then glanced at the other ones, Maria appearing in only one of them.
Commander Hill looked the spitting image of her.

The sound of Ebony shuffling into the living room caused him to turn.

"Let me help," Steve said, taking the tray of tea and biscuits from her and placing it on the coffee table for her.

"You're a good man, but I can do it by myself," she said before sitting on the single sofa. Steve sat down onto the double sofa to the right of her and poured them both some tea. "Now, what can I help you with?" Ebony asked, getting straight down to business... just like Maria.

"Well... I wanted to ask you about her... About Maria," Steve began, trying to word it right. "Could you tell anything about her? What happened to her after the war?" Steve asked, hoping he wasn't being too forward. He relaxed a little when Ebony smiled with a nod.

"She told me about you, when I was a little girl," she said, avoiding his words only slightly. "She told me about your job in the war and how you died," Ebony said, picking up her cup of tea. Maria used to come see her every so often, telling her bedtime stories about Steve. "She really liked you," Ebony said before taking a sip of her tea. Steve took in her words, the thought of Maria telling stories about him made his heart warm.

"Do you know if she's still alive?" Steve asked, wanting to find the answers, wanting to know if he had any connection to his old life.

"Oh definitely, she's more alive than me," Ebony said and Steve frowned, causing her to chuckle at his confusion. "She never told you?" Ebony asked, sounding shocked before Steve shook his head.

"Told me what?"

"There's really no explanation for it or there is one and she won't tell me," Ebony said, which only made Steve more confused. "She doesn't age," Ebony simply said and Steve stared at her, mouth open slightly.

"You mean..." Steve wondered off, brain kicking into gear.

"I mean she doesn't age, something happened to her in the 1920's and now she just doesn't age. Right now she's living in the city, working for a security company," Ebony said, waving her hand slightly.

"She work's for S.H.I.E.L.D?" Steve asked, putting two and two together. Ebony nodded at his question.

"Yes that's it. She does. She called me the day they found you in the ice," Ebony said. In Steve's opinion this was easier then he thought. She was opening up to him without a second thought. "She lives in Brooklyn but you know that, don't you," and Steve nodded, still in shock.

"May I asked why you're telling me this? I mean I'm thankful but I expected you to be more closed about this," Steve said completely forgetting about his tea. Ebony gave him a sad smile.

"Because you two are made for each other... Do you believe in soul mates?" She asked and it took Steve by surprise. He scratched the back of his neck, thinking. Did he?

"Erm... There's a strong possibility, yes," Steve said, thinking about the new information Ebony has just told him.

"Well, I do. Maria never did, told me it was nonsense. But when I look at you talking about her now I can tell that I was right to believe... She'll push herself away from you, telling herself she can't love you... but she needs it, needs you," Ebony said and Steve listened closely. "She keeps running away though... But maybe you'll be able to stop her this time," Ebony said and suddenly there was a knock at the door. "Come in Patty," Ebony called, looking at the clock and seeing it was noon.

"Wow, who's this fella? You didn't tell me you had a toyboy," the old woman said with a smirk as she entered the living room.

"You were just leaving dear, weren't you," Ebony said, standing up. Steve took that as his queue to leave, standing up and thanking Ebony with a kiss on the cheek.

He left her home and climbed onto his bike. He sat there for a while, trying to get his head around things.

He suddenly realized that Hill had lied directly to his face without even blinking. So it was her. The ring around her neck meant something, meant that she knew Steve wanted to marry her. She was living a lie, forcing their past together to the back of her mind. Ebony was right about her running away, but wrong about Steve might being able to stop her since she had currently ran away. He needed to talk to her, needed to explain to her that he loved her and that she didn't need to run away anymore.

He took a deep breath before starting the engine of his bike, hoping the long drive home would clear his racing mind. He drove back home getting there at around two o'clock. He then walked the way to Maria's apartment.

He climbed up the fire exit to her apartment number, popping open the window and climbing in. He looked around her apartment, stuff from his visit yesterday now gone with her on the mission. He walked around her apartment, looking for any sign of her old life. He knew it was an invasion of her privacy, but he hoped that maybe... if she had anything about her past it could be a sign that she was holding on. The ring was the first sign so if she had that she most have something else.

He found the box underneath her bed an hour later and pulled it out, fresh fingerprints on the lid...Maria's. He slowly opened the box and looked inside. The same photo of her holding baby Ebony that had been on the fireplace was in the box. He looked through the photos and found a piece of paper at the bottom. It was ripped and crinkled with the writing slightly smudged, but Steve could still read it. He knew exactly what it was the second he saw it.

It was his writing, his scribbles and his doodles around the edge of the piece of paper. He knew it was his speech. The speech he was going to make to her in asking for her to marry him. She had kept it for all those years, this must mean something. He placed the lid back on the box and slid it back under the bed, folding the piece of paper and placing it in his jacket pocket.

He left her apartment and walked back to his own, cutting through the park as he did so.

He took a deep breath, the fresh air filling his lungs. He thought about his life and this new world he was in. He had felt so alone, so lost but finding Maria in this mess that was his life... well it had save him. Three children ran in front of him and across the grass to their parents who sat on a picnic blanket.

Did he want that? To have a family.

When he imagine it, the image was with Maria, both growing old after the war had finished, married with a child possibly two. He hadn't thought about it a lot, but on tour, when everything got a little too stressful, his mind had slipped to the future. Of him and Maria.

The world had flew by and everything he had once known was now either old or dead. Maria was his only connection to the past and she wasn't even acknowledging it.