"They need me," explained Steve, "I have to meet them in twenty-four hours."
Jane felt her heart drop straight through her stomach.
"That answers my question," said T'Challa. "I will take Nakia with me."
Steve's eyes fixed on Jane.
Do not worry yourself; this means that Jane will have Shuri, Okoye and Ayo looking out for her. We won't be gone long. I have something our friends in South Africa have wanted for a very long time." There was a sly grin on T'Challa's face.
Jane looked worriedly from Steve to T'Challa.
"If you're sure that she'll be safe..." Steve felt surprised at his reluctance to leave and worry pooled in his stomach as he remembered Ayo's sentiments toward Jane.
"She'll be fine; her schedule is going to be very busy from tomorrow. I doubt she'll even notice that you are gone."
Steve conceded. He couldn't leave his friends in trouble, even though every fibre in his body told him to stay.
"Can I come with you?" Jane asked T'Challa.
"Not yet, Li liweyo. There are still some important skills you need to learn before I will risk taking you out into the world," he replied.
Jane was helpless as another wave of disappointment washed over her.
Steve and Jane exchanged a parting greeting with Nakia and T'Challa, before leaving the meeting room.
As they walked back, it felt like Jane's body heat was going to burn a hole through the sleeve of his jacket. He had not ever been as aware of her presence as he was now. It all but had a paralysing effect on him, unable to find any words for her.
As they reached the lab, Steve remembered the iPhone that had been part of Hedrik's list of required materials. Jane had not started to use it yet.
"Hey, where's the iPhone, the smaller box, you got with your other stuff?" He asked.
"It is in my room." She said.
"Let's go get it," replied Steve.
They retrieved the iPhone and went to the Lab lounge. Sitting on the long couch in front of the TV, Steve explained to her in very loose terms what it was. He opened and set it up for her and showed her how to use the call and message functionality, adding his number to her contacts along with Ayo, Okoye, Nakia, Shuri, T'Challa, Dr Schnell and Dr Leloka, who was going to be Jane's psychologist.
Jane was a quick study, and soon she and Steve had fired a test message between them. Staff moved in and out of the lounge but neither Steve nor Jane noticed.
She seemed fascinated by the technology, and Steve felt a little better knowing she could call or text him. Once they had successfully made a test call each way, both sat staring at their locked screens in awkward silence. Jane turned her phone over, running her thumb over the shiny apple on the back.
She contemplated for a moment whether she should mention anything about him leaving.
She opted to go with: "Do you think that T'Challa and Nakia will be able to get the box here soon?"
Steve put his phone in his pocket. "I hope so."
"Are you going to be okay?" he asked her tentatively.
She looked up from her phone with a small smile on her face.
"I will be okay."
"Will you call me if anything happens or if you need anything?" he asked.
She searched his face for a moment, "I will."
"I have to leave here tomorrow just after breakfast."
"Will you wake me up?" She asked.
"Of course. How about I show you how your phone can wake you up while I'm gone?"
Steve proceeded to show her how to set the alarm and watched as she repeated what he'd shown her to set the alarm for 06:00 the following morning. He asked her what tone she wanted it to play.
"You choose." She said with a grin.
He went into the classic sounds and picked 'Doorbell'. He thought that was the closest thing to him knocking on the door.
Before Steve knew it, his stomach reminded him it was dinnertime. He'd completely lost track of time.
Jane left her study work that night and spent as long as she could awake next to Steve on the couch in the doctor's lounge. They watched whatever was on, neither one taking anything in. Just after 23:00, Jane's eyelids grew too heavy to keep open, and Steve switched off the TV.
"Come on, time for bed." He said softly.
She didn't want to go to bed, she wanted to stay on the couch with Steve, but stood up reluctantly. Dawdling to leave.
They sauntered back to their rooms. When they reached Jane's door, they turned to face each other. Steve was still not used to her piercing gaze. They stood in silence for a moment.
"Goodnight, Steve." She said quietly, her eyes taking in every detail of his face. She wanted to reach out and touch him.
"Goodnight, Jane." He said just as softly, his heart pounding against his ribs. He watched as she entered her room and slowly closed the door, peering through the narrowing gap at him until the door clicked shut.
Behind the door, Jane put her palm on the cold wooden surface.
Steve's face grew dark. Without knowing it, she had brought a little bit of light back into his life. He felt a new tightness around his heart, and his jaw clenched.
Jane waited, not breathing, for Steve's footsteps down the hall. He remained outside the door for a long pause, before she heard him turn and walk away. As his door clicked shut, she took in a deep breath, letting her forehead rest against the door. A swell of emotion washed over her at the thought of him leaving.
The cold burned through his flesh and clung to his bones. His breaths were shallow, and his body shook uncontrollably. He wasn't going to last much longer. He'd fought it for days, but it was close now. He could no longer move in the thick ice around him. It was dark. The kind of dark that hid your hand right in front of your face.
In the haunting quiet a new sound broke through the ice around him. Had they found him? Was it Howard, Peggy? His exhausted heart found hope. As a hole began to appear in the ice above his face, he could see flashes of brown hair. Peggy. It had to be Peggy.
The hole gradually widened as his rescuer chiselled away at the ice. She paused and he watched as a strikingly unusual blue eye peered through the gap at him in the stream of light coming in. It wasn't Peggy.
Her fingers reached in through the hole, and she began tearing away chunks of ice. She was strong. Very strong. Before long, she had removed all the ice covering his upper body. He could see her clearly now, it was Jane, but her hair was brown, like Peggy's. She moved around to his head, hooked her hands under his arms and pulled him out of the ice. She dragged him a few feet before she gently lay him down and straddled his hips. He didn't think it possible, but his heart found a new gear.
She tore his combat suit open, removed her jacket and shirt and lay down on him. Her skin was so warm against his frozen body that it felt like he was burning. The heat had an immediate reviving effect on him, and he could feel life flowing from her to him.
Her cheek was pressed against his, searing life into his face.
"You're going to be okay." She whispered. "I've got you."
The shivering slowly began to subside as heat coursed through his body.
She lifted her head and peered into his eyes, their faces less than an inch apart. His hand came up slowly from his side, still half frozen and he gently tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear, letting his fingers play into her hair.
"Do you think you can walk?" she asked him, "it's not safe here."
"Just five more minutes," he almost pleaded.
There was a crash to his left that shook the ground, and he watched as something massive ripped Jane from him.
"Steve!" she yelled.
He rolled onto his side and forced himself to his knees to search for where she was, but whatever had taken her had disappeared. He felt his body begin to shake again.
She was gone.
Steve woke with a start, his heart racing, drenched in sweat. He rolled over and checked his phone. It was 2:15 am.
Closing his eyes, he took a few deep breaths to try and calm himself until he could bear the confines of the bed no longer. It practically spat him out as he got up and took a few unsteady steps into the bathroom. He didn't switch the light on; he couldn't face the mirror.
The cold water splashing over his face brought him back into the world, but he was unsettled and unnerved. The dream had been more vivid and real than any he'd had for months. He shrugged off the clothes he'd been sleeping in and pulled on his workout gear and headed out to the gym. The Design Institute was deserted. He walked into the dark gym and flicked on the light. He was grateful for the privacy even though the vastness of the place made him feel more alone. He began tearing into a punching bag with a relentless onslaught of punches; if anyone were there to see it, they would have felt a great swell of pity for the gym having to be alone with him.
As the hours passed, he could deny it no longer, there was a seed growing in his heart and the name burned into it was Jane. He could see only her eyes when he closed his. He felt the excitement of his feelings for her marred with the guilt of having let himself develop feelings for her in the first place. This was madness. No one had any idea who she was, not even her. He thought back to all the occasions on which he'd become lost in those eyes and her apparent indifference in those moments stung him. He couldn't pursue this; he would just end up hurting her, his life was too erratic and dangerous. Would she even know what love is?
Love, wow Steve, way to take it slow.
He couldn't act on what he was feeling. It wouldn't be right. She was so innocent. His heart, however, wasn't giving up any ground to his mind as they argued back and forth.
At 5:30 am he stopped for the first time, sat down to unwrap his hands and headed back to his room to hit the shower with no more clarity about what to do about his predicament. All he knew was that perhaps leaving for a while to help Sam and Nat, was probably the best thing for it.
He stopped at Jane's room, bringing his ear close to the door and listened for anything that would indicate that she was awake, but there was nothing. He contemplated going in for a moment before he stopped himself and moved along to his room.
Inside, Jane lay awake, perfectly still, listening. She'd know the sound of his movement anywhere. A frown sprouted between her brows as she wondered where he'd been and why he was stopping at her door. She'd been awake for a while, unable to sleep. The thought of Steve leaving had made her night a restless one. She dreaded the coming moment in which she would have to say goodbye to him, what she hated, even more, was not knowing how long he'd be gone for - if he came back at all.