"It's the year 2017." Answered Steve, his voice soft, but steady.
She frowned and pressed her closed eyelids together tighter, squeezing a tear down her temple.
"I don't know what that means." Her voice shook.
Steve didn't know how to begin to explain it. Before he could say anything, her voice was a fraction louder.
"You said you found me." Her head rolled to the side, and she opened her eyes. It nearly knocked the breath out of him.
"Where?"
"You were discovered at the Cradle of Humankind in South Africa." He began tentatively. "You were buried in a stone box."
She was frowning again. Straining to find something, some small glimmer of memory in her mind.
"Are you okay?" He asked her again gently, knowing that she couldn't be.
She almost-laughed as a few tears escaped her eyes, knowing that he knew the answer.
He wanted to move closer but remembered her earlier sentiment.
"Is it okay if I come a bit closer?" He asked tentatively.
"Why?" She croaked.
"I would like to introduce myself properly." Replied Steve.
She looked at him for a few seconds, but his face gave nothing away.
"You may come closer." She said quietly. "Slowly."
He got up and slowly moved his chair up next to the bed and reseated himself. He slowly leaned forward and offered his hand, palm facing up, a friendly almost-smile playing on his lips, but not reaching his eyes. She looked at his hand for a moment, unsure of what to do and then very slowly brought herself into a sitting position and extended her right hand toward his. He took her hand gently in his. It was small, cold and bony. She was searching his face for a clue to what she was supposed to do.
He smiled gently. "We'll have to find something to call you until you can remember your real name."
There was such certainty in his voice that she would remember that it gave her hope. With his warm hand around hers, she believed him.
"Steve." She stated. "Is that a common name for this time?"
"Well, it doesn't seem uncommon." He said tilting his head slightly to the left.
"What is a common name for one such as I?"
He thought for a second and Jane Doe was all that he could find that suited the situation.
"How about Jane?" He asked
Without any frame of reference for what he'd offered, she resigned herself to his choice.
"Jane... Jane I shall be until I remember."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Jane" smiled Steve.
"As it is to meet you, Steve" came her reply.
Steve shook her hand gently and let go. She watched the exchange curiously.
He looked her over.
"How about something to eat?" He asked, offering her a drink of water from the paper cup on the bedside table.
She took the cup from him, draining its contents in a few desperate gulps; a few droplets of water trickled down her chin. She handed the empty cup back to him, wiping away the water.
He looked at the empty cup for a moment, a frown flickered on his brow, before tilting the cup toward her, with a small smile. "More?"
"Please." She croaked, pressing the back of her hand to her mouth. He refilled the cup and handed it to her. She drained it again, in much the same manner.
"I'm going to ask someone to bring some food; I'll be right back." He said as she lowered the empty cup into her lap. She nodded wearily.
He got up and deactivated the screen with the button on the wall by the doorway. Shuri, T'Challa, Ayo, Okoye and the medical team were sitting just outside the room on chairs they'd brought from the cafeteria, straining to listen in on the conversation.
Everyone jumped up at the same time as Steve came into view. He strode out of the room and approached Shuri.
"She's hungry and thirsty." He had the promise of a lopsided grin on his face, and it roused a sigh of relief from the eavesdroppers. "Do you think we can get her something to eat?"
Shuri conferred quickly in hushed tones with the team.
"I guess now is as good a time as any." She replied.
"For what?" Questioned Steve as a doctor made a call.
"To see how she reacts to our food." Answered Shuri. "She's been gone for a long time. Our diet is likely vastly different from what she might be used to."
A mild look of concern spread across Steve's face. He took a few steps back before he turned to return to Jane.
He found her shaking the last drops of water out of the jug from the bedside table, into the cup. It looked heavy on the end of her skeletal arm and wobbled precariously as she reached over to place it back on the bedside table. She took in a sharp breath through her teeth as the reach pulled at the drip line in her arm, moving the needle in her vein.
She shook the last few drops into her mouth from the paper cup, head tilted back, as Steve reclaimed his chair.
She held it in her lap as she looked at him. Scratching at the needle that had moved a moment before. She took in his features. He looked tired, not just from not sleeping, but in his eyes, she saw weariness under the clear blue surface. To her, it seemed like a lot was going on behind the sternness of his face. He looked like he was straining under a heavy burden, though he was visibly strong and carried himself like he could bear any burden. He had the look of someone who'd been made to be constantly vigilant, someone who had to be strong for others.
"Are you a warrior, Steve?" She rasped. Her gaze held his and Steve felt awkward at how it made him feel. So he broke eye contact for a second. "You could say that."
"Are there any wars raging in this century?" Her eyes took in the shape of his shoulders, his fingers intertwined on his lap.
"Many." Steve tried to avoid her eyes.
"And your war? Is it over?" She caught him off guard and their eyes met once more, but just as suddenly her eyes snapped up to the doorway.
A few seconds later, Shuri's voice came from behind the screen. "Is it okay if I come in? I've brought you something to eat." She said.
Relieved for the distraction, Steve raised his eyebrows at Jane, indicating that she needed to respond.
"Yes, you may enter." Her voice broke as she tried to speak louder.
Shuri walked in with a small tray in her hands. A white bowl was balanced on it as she walked around to the other side of Jane's bed and placed the tray on the bed.
"I'm Shuri." She said with a smile.
Jane shot a quick glance at Steve and then extended her hand. Shuri looked at Jane's hand, reaching out with her own and gently taking it.
"I'm Jane."
Shuri frowned as she shot a glance at Steve on hearing the name he had given her. "I've brought you some soup." Shuri let go of Jane's hand and offered her the bowl.
Jane tentatively took it from Shuri, not sure if she should trust it.
"Thank you, Shuri," said Jane, as she sniffed the contents of the bowl. Her throat contracted at the delicious smell steaming up from it. She couldn't resist.
She brought a shaky spoonful up to her mouth and wet her lips with the hot liquid, letting her tongue slowly test it as she turned her lips inward. It was delicious. She sighed as her taste buds came alive. Quickly, she'd brought another spoonful up and was devouring the contents of the bowl as if it was the most delicious thing anyone had ever eaten.
Shuri and Steve exchanged a worried glance.
"We'll bring some more once you've had some rest. We need to get you used to food again slowly; we don't want it to make you sick, especially not in my lab." Shuri explained as she gently took the bowl from Jane.
"Thank you, Shuri," said Jane, looking longingly after the leaving bowl.
T'Challa let go a sigh of relief as Steve and Shuri exited the room. Jane had fallen asleep quickly after laying down again.
"Thank you for all your help." Said T'Challa to Steve.
"Anytime."
"I've had some of your things brought down to one of the empty lab quarters down the hall. I think, for now, it's best if you stay close."
"I agree." Said Steve.
"I have my people monitoring the room via live feed, and I have several guards on duty, but out of sight. They will let you know should anything happen."
"Thanks."
"For now, let's all get some rest, I think we are going to have our hands full for the foreseeable future."
It was 5:00 am when Steve lay down on the single bed of one of the empty rooms that were reserved for staff use at the Design Institute. He fell asleep easily and slipped into uneasy dreams of being cold. He woke several times during the night, his heart in his throat.
It was 10:30 am when he woke again with a jolt, the events from earlier that morning playing through his mind. He was drenched with sweat from yet another dream in which he had fought Tony. In this one, he had killed him. Strange blue eyes swam in the images burned into the back of his eyelids.
He swung himself out of bed and headed straight for the shower, desperate to let the water dilute the sting of the nightmare.
He wanted to check on Jane before he got some breakfast, so he headed down the hall to the lab. It was abuzz with people in white coats as he descended down the central spiral walkway. He could see a figure sitting on the edge of the bed with Shuri shining a light into her eyes. Her hair looked slightly darker and blonder than Jane's, and her figure was not as gaunt. Steve quickened his pace in sudden alarm. Where had they taken her?
He stepped through the pillar-room doorway and stopped dead in his tracks. He couldn't believe what he was seeing.
It was Jane, sure enough, but her hair had darkened from the grey-white it had been to a light blonde. She had filled out a lot considering when he'd seen her last. She was still very thin but looked healthier. Her eyes shot to Steve's over Shuri's shoulder.
Shuri turned to see what she was looking at and saw the look on Steve's face.
"Good morning. You sleep well?"
"Fine. Thanks." Came Steve's reply.
"What happened?" He asked, moving closer.
"She was like this-this morning; she's improved more since breakfast."
Steve's eyebrows were high on his forehead as he glanced over Shuri's shoulder to check the vitals she'd jotted on her clipboard.
"I'm glad you're here, you can help me, she's been a handful, not wanting anyone to touch her and questioning me relentlessly."
"Oh?" questioned Steve, a look of concern on his face as his eyes locked with Jane's.
"So far, we've covered, roughly, how our historical timeline works and she's been asleep since around eight thousand BC. She's also been made aware that we didn't know that writing had been invented before around five and a half thousand years ago. The stone box she was in has proven us wrong."
"How long have you been up?" Asked Steve.
"We've been at it since 8:00 am, but we've only covered the bare basics. We will cover everything in more detail in time. I have a friend at the University who's dying to meet the subject" mused Shuri, making a motion with her head in Jane's direction. "He's a doctor of ancient history, and he's offered to help catch her up."
Steve frowned at her referring to Jane as 'the subject'. "Is that a good idea? We should be keeping her existence a secret for the safety of everyone involved."
"We know the risks." Quipped Shuri. "He's the only other person we need for this project."
"So this is a project now?" Interjected Steve.
Shuri closed her eyes, her top and bottom eyelashes fluttering slightly against each other.
"Steve, Wakanda is the safest place in the world for the subj... Jane, to be." She corrected herself mid-sentence. "Her rehabilitation is a huge undertaking, so yes, it's a project now."
Steve shot her a disapproving look, pulling her away from an intently listening Jane.
"Let's get a few things straight." Steve began, his jaw set and voice stern. "Jane is not a 'subject' and her rehabilitation, not some science project. It doesn't matter when or where she's from, she is a human being, and she has rights. Everything you would like to do from here on out, experiments, tests, tertiary education, doesn't matter, it's all subject to her consent. If she doesn't want to, you will not force her."