As they got closer and closer to their exit date, a constant feeling of dread seemed to follow Tony everywhere like something would soon come and tear them apart again.

He clung to Steve almost obsessively, desperate for contact when they were alone and silently sitting in the shadows when they were supposed to be apart.

As the next ten days passed he began to feel like maybe things would be okay as everything seemed to be going so well, which should have been the first clue that something bad was about to happen.

Steve woke up that morning alone after coming back from a mission and passing out in his tent covered in dirt and blood. He frowned at the empty spot next to him, already used to sleeping next to Tony again. He smiled, staring up at the top of the tent and sighing.

"Looks like a good dream," came an amused voice to his left, snapping Steve out of his reverie.

Nick Fury was leaning against the opening to his tent, looking at him with a smile.

Steve sat up shirtless, walking to his footlocker to get dressed while ignoring Nick.

"Is there something you wanted?" he asked, not looking at the other man.

Nick was quiet for a moment before asking, "Is some ass worth ruining your career over?"

Steve looked up, his eyes narrow. "What?"

Nick was no longer smiling. "The other Stark."

Steve looked at him sharply his hands tightened into fists. "What about him?"

Nick walked over to Steve, putting a hand on his bare back. "Everyone else might be ignoring the noises, but I remember what your voice sounds like when you're about to…"

Steve hit him then knocking Nick to the ground.

"Get out," he whispered.

Nick wiped his mouth, grinning before spitting blood on to the ground and standing.

"Think about it Rogers," he said, turning and storming out.

Steve sighed, taking a shirt and putting it on, fumbling with the buttons. He finally stopped moving, closed his eyes and letting out a breath slowly.

He only had another week till the past would finally be in his past again and now he had Nick threatening him with telling everyone about him and Tony? He tried to think about what the Colonel would do and could not think of any scenario where neither he nor Tony would come out of things unscathed.

Tony came through his tent with a smile until he saw the look on Steve's face, his frown deep as he took Steve's hands and kissed them whispering, "What's wrong?"

Steve sighed, looking at their joined hands. "Nick was here."

Tony's eyes narrowed. "About…?"

Steve looked up at him. "You…and me. He sort of threatened to tell the Colonel about us. He…"

Tony suddenly let go of his hands and pulled their mouths together with both hands around Steve's neck, kissing him roughly. Steve kissed back with equal fervor, leading him towards his cot and gently pushing the other man down covering Tony's body with his own. They kissed for several minutes until Steve pulled back to let Tony breathe as he pressed his face into Tony's neck and inhaled his smell.

They were quiet for a moment before Tony whispered, "He's jealous."

Steve nodded. "Yes. We…at the time I disappeared we…I had already had my…indiscretion with Natasha, while Nick and I were still…involved."

Tony hit him in the back of the head and Steve said, "You hit me," looking up with a frown.

"How many people were all over you in the 40s? Like, everyone? Hell my dad would turn gay if you batted your eyes at him and now we're just about home free and your jealous ex booty call is gonna have us beaten to death for being queer?" Tony said, his voice annoyed.

Steve looked angry as he declared, "If you hadn't done what you did, we wouldn't be here Tony. We'd be home, in bed, possibly in the big tub and not still fighting to get back. So don't yell at me," he moved to stand and Tony grabbed his arm, pulling him down into a hug.

Tony sighed, "I'm sorry I just…I hate fucking Fury."

Steve laughed, kissing Tony's cheek. "I know you do. Even after all that's happened, Nick is still my friend but I understand."

They lay in each other's arms, just relaxing when there was a knock outside. Both men froze.

"Steve, it's me," came a voice unfamiliar to Tony but very familiar to Steve.

He pressed his finger to his lips and stood up, shaking his head at Tony when the other man thought to hide. "Come in Dugan."

Dum Dum grinned, taking in Tony without surprise before grinning at Steve.

"I take it Fury's been here?" he asked, still smiling.

Steve frowned. "Yes, he has. Why?"

Dugan ran a finger across his mustache and said, "We're all taking bets on how long before you get caught, though it took Johnson and Skeeves about a month before the Colonel took them in."

Steve paled. "What are you…?"

Dugan raised an eyebrow. "Steve, we're not stupid men around here. Well, not all of us. But we take care of our own. No one told on you and Fury, no one will tell on you and chin beard over there."

Steve let out a sigh, visibly relaxing. He jumped a bit when Dugan slapped him playfully on the back.

"Gonna warn you though, quiet down a bit more or the Colonel is gonna tell you to take it to the woods like Johnson and Skeeves do. And you don't want to be shot in your ass cheek like Johnson was, okay?"

Tony laughed and Dugan nodded at him as he left.

Steve smiled at Tony, sighing and walking back over to where the other man sat. Tony put his head on Steve's shoulder and said, "I like your friends…though I do not have chin beard," he stroked his facial hair, "It's a Van Dyke."

Steve laughed, pushing Tony over again and kissing him, the roughness of the other man's beard achingly familiar again against his skin. When he pulled his mouth away he kissed Tony's chin and whispered, "I love your chin beard."

Tony growled, "It's not…" but then groaned as Steve's hand found his dick and squeezed it through his pants, "…a chin…oh shit," he moaned.

Steve kissed along Tony's jaw and undid the button on his pants, slipping his hand inside Tony's underwear as well.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: The scene I wrote as was is against the site's guidelines so I've posted it to my LJ and the editor for the site will not allow me to post a link though there is one in my author profile. My LJ name is kinneytaylor. There will be MANY scenes in this story I will have to do the same to, but I don't want to try and CENSOR them INTO SOMETHING MORE tame so this will have to do. Sorry.

Tony flopped down on top of him, grinning. "Wow, you sure are a facial hair connoisseur."

Steve grinned at him before taking Tony's hand and kissing it. "I love you," he whispered.

Tony grinned back. "I know."

He laid his head on Steve's chest and closed his eyes, sighing. They still held hands and he squeezed Steve's whispering, "I'm sorry about everything that happened," he kissed Steve's hand, "But I'm not sorry about coming here. To think if I hadn't come…"

Steve squeezed his hand and said, "But you did."

"If Nick hadn't told me about you and Howard, I wouldn't have," he whispered, wrapping his other arm around Steve's midsection.

Steve thought about that silently, swallowing before he whispered, "But you did."

Tony sighed. "Yeah I did."

He felt the ARC sputtering a bit and sighed, sitting up still holding Steve's hand as he did. "I gotta go recharge."

Steve stood and said, "Let me come with you, I'll…"

Tony grinned, squeezing his hand once before letting go. "Nah, it's fine. I'll be right back."

He turned to leave when suddenly everything went white.

When he woke up Natasha was staring at him with worry. "Tony, where is Steven?"

Tony turned and retched, throwing up all over the floor.

She jumped back, crying out. "HELP HIM! He's…"

There were suddenly many doctors and nurses around him and Tony pushed them off. "Steve, where's Steve!" he yelled, trying to stand and falling to the floor, barely able to move.

Strong arms lifted him and he struggled before he saw Bucky staring at him in shock. He grabbed the man's arms. "Bucky, Steve he…he didn't…?" he asked, tears in his wide eyes.

Bucky ignored the question and held him down. "Stark, you need to relax okay. There was a problem with the comm and you had a reaction. They don't…you need to calm down or they're gonna knock you out."

Tony shook his head, tears falling freely now. "NO! STEVE he…we…WHERE IS STEVE?"

Bucky looked at Natasha who was standing against the window with her hands on her now even larger belly. Then his eyes came back to Tony. "We don't know. It…your comm sort of went off early and took you back, but Steve must've…you had yours on you?"

Tony reached down and saw he was wearing a hospital gown. "I…I kept it around in case we…yeah, it was in my pocket."

He nodded. "That must have been it then. Steve probably didn't and you weren't touching so it didn't…how much more time was there?"

Tony sniffled. "A week or so, we…we were keeping track on Howard's…"

And the mention of the name suddenly memories came flashing back at him.

Howard Stark, teaching him how to ride a bike.

Howard presenting him with a golden retriever puppy and naming it Kid.

Howard, telling him his mother had been killed.

Howard sitting in the audience at his college graduation.

Tony nearly fell off the bed, his breath coming in gasps. He grabbed on to Bucky and whispered, "My dad."

"Your dad? He…"

"Is right here, kid," came a soft voice, breaking Tony out of his panic.

Howard Stark stood in the doorway to his room with a sad smile. The tears that had stopped came back in full force and when his father came over to his bed Tony pulled him into a hug.

He didn't feel the familiar stiffening he'd remembered from hugging his father when he was a child before, instead the older Stark was relaxed and holding back just as tightly as he was.

"Oh kid, I'm sorry. I tried to fix it so it wouldn't happen again," he whispered.

Tony pulled back. "Again? It…in the past, Steve he…"

Howard sighed. "It was a scene, I'll tell you. We…" he looked at Bucky, who stood listening with Natasha in his arms and then back at Tony, "…we tried to fix it Tony, I swear we did."

Tony shook his head. "No, Howard don't…he…he's coming back. He is."

Howard looked at Bucky and Natasha again. "Can you leave us for a second?"

Bucky glared. "To hell we…"

Natasha nodded. "Come, James. Tony will tell us what we need to know," she said before leading him from the room.

Howard looked around the room and asked the doctors, "Same for you too," and to Tony's surprise they all did until it was just him and his father alone.

He stood by Tony's bed and declared, "The thing was broken, kid. April came and went, we tried to…"

"NO!" Tony yelled, trying again to get out of bed but Howard stopped him.

"TONY STOP!"

Tony struggled, shaking his head. "This isn't going to happen again! Not after all of this! Not after…" he began to cry, choking.

"Tony breathe! Steve told me to be here when you got out, he knew what happened in the future and I changed it! Maybe," he took Tony's hand and squeezed, "Maybe Steve changed things on his end, I don't…"

Tony was shaking his head, "If you don't remember him leaving, he's GONE!" he yelled, throwing everything off the bedside table next to him.

Howard sighed. "Tony, I'm sorry. I'm…we're all working on things on our end. I made the machine this time, kid, it's not the same okay? We…I was here for all of this, Tony. I watched my kid fall in love in BOTH time periods, I'm not gonna let you lose him again. Not again."

Tony suddenly remembered his father being at his bedside when he'd been in this same room before, telling him to fight for what he wanted.

For Steve.

Memories flashed by and he remembered his father helping from the sidelines, creating the first Mark I prototype, joking on the name Iron Man. He looked at Howard and asked, "How is everything different but the same?"

Howard laughed, wiping tears from his eyes. "I ain't got a clue, kid. No one but you remembers the before and those old memories might disappear. I…I don't know, Tony. But I'm glad I didn't fuck anything up for you."

Tony sighed, breathing out. "I can't be here without him, Dad."

Howard nodded. "I know, kid. I'm going to fix this. I swear on your mother's grave, I swear on my own. I will FIX this."

Tony said, "Did they…can they send someone to go back and get him out?"

Howard was quiet.

Tony felt sick as he said. "They didn't try yet, did they?"

"If we send someone now, they might not be able to get back."

Tony whispered, "Then I'll go. I can just stay there. As long as I have Steve I…"

Howard put a hand on his arm. "Tony, no. We don't know if…if you had such an adverse reaction just coming out, going back in could kill you."

Tony looked at him squarely and said, "So?"

"I'm going to fix this, Tony. I swear to you."

Tony stared at him, his voice thick with emotion when he said, "I know you're gonna try, but if…I can't be here and have him there. I can't. Not after everything. I…I can't, Dad."

Howard put his hand on Tony's shoulder and squeezed. "Trust me."

Tony nodded. "I do."

"Get some rest. In the morning you can help figure this out."

Tony lay down on his pillow, turning his back to his father not noticing the doctors return or his father indicate to a nurse before she pressed a needle into his arm.

He fell into a deep sleep and Howard ran a hand through his hair, sighing. "I'm gonna fix this, kid."