I would like to mention that Marvel is blowing me mind. I also think that Marvel's plan is to take all of the actors and don't leave DC with any to choose from.

I want to give a special thanks to wintersupersoldiers who has proofed this for me. :)

Here you. Let me know what you think.

Chapter 25:

The Changing Tide

Being frozen in ice for seventy plus years was a numbed experience in which he didn't feel a thing. It just went by in a blink of eye and he felt nothing. It was complete and utter nothing. He didn't dream, he didn't think. It wasn't even known if he was alive during that time. How could he have been alive? He was frozen; how could a body survive such harsh temperatures? No one should have been able to survive that, but he wasn't just anything one. He was a soldier… and not just any soldier. He was Captain Steven Rogers, a super soldier with unknown strengths and weakness; however, it seemed one of his strengths was that he could survive extreme temperatures for decades.

After he was thawed, his brain didn't snap back right away and his dreams took a few days (or what felt like days) to return. There was no real way to tell when his mind snapped back to his body and when he began to feel once again, but it all came back to him. His dreams were not of Agent Peggy Carter, the one of three women he had ever been kissed by and the last woman he had kissed. When his dreams came back, they were of Corporal Toni Sark, a woman he had kissed once, a woman he didn't know a lot about; however, he was completely in love with her.

His heart binged when he thought of how he had rejected her after Bucky's death because of Phillips' advice. He told – no… more like ordered Steve not to start a relationship with her, which Steve didn't like. Sure, the Colonel had a point and there was no need for love in war, but he had no right to order him not to start a relationship. But before he could snap, Phillips told Steve that she needed time, that he shouldn't attempt a relationship with her. He told him that he should honor Barnes, his best friend, and just be a friend to Toni. After seeing how broken she was after she learned of Bucky's death, he had known Phillips was right.

So before Toni could even come up with the idea, he shot her down as gently as he could. He played up his non-relationship with Peggy, which wasn't fair to Peggy. At first, he thought he had imagined the pain in Toni's eyes as it disappeared in a blink of an eye but later he could see how crushed she was. It completely crushed him to see her like that, but it had to be done. She was in enough pain; she couldn't handle anything else. It also wouldn't have been right. She was his best friend's dame, even if he saw her first.

However, seeing how badly he hurt Peggy when he went under, it was a good thing that he did reject Toni. Listening to Peggy as she cried, it almost broke him, and if it would've been Toni, he would've surely died listening to her breaking. She, a woman who never opened up to anyone, wouldn't have withstood another blow to heart and he was glad that he didn't break her heart more than it had to be, though it didn't protect his heart. As he was going down, there was only one person he wanted to talk to and it wasn't Peggy. His heart ached to talk to Toni but he couldn't and he knew it. It was the worst feeling in the world and at the last second before he hit the ice, he wondered if he had made the right choice in not pursuing her.

When his dreams came back to him, his desires came to life and all he thought about was her. All he thought about was righting that wrong; sure, Phillips was right then, but now, he was wrong. When he awoke and he would wake up, he would find Toni and he would kiss her like she had never been kissed before. She needed to know how he felt.

The first thing that came to mind when he woke up was her and then the rest of the world. This room, this strange room, was the last thing he thought about. He needed to see Toni. "Where am I?" he asked the Agent staring at him. The radio was on, broadcasting a baseball game.

"You're in a recovery room in New York city," she stated with a smile. She was a pretty woman, but he wanted to see Toni.

There was something off about this room, which didn't look quite right. "Where am I really?" he asked, suspiciously. Toni should've been here; she wouldn't have left him here alone, not after what happened. Peggy wouldn't have left him either.

"I'm afraid I don't understand." She was scared of him and it showed but she forced a smile onto her face. She took a step back to put some distance between them. She had something in her hand and she held it tight.

He knew this baseball game. "The game, it's from May 1941. I know because I was there." Steve replied sharply as he got to his feet. "Now, I'm gonna ask you again. Where am I?" He took a step toward her.

"Captain Rogers?" Her fear was growing.

"Who are you? Where's Toni?" he asked. If she knew he was alive, she would be here with him like she always was when he needed her. She would be here, telling him what was going on.

The agent didn't have time to answer as two heavy armed men came rushed into the room from the door behind the woman. He stared at them for a few seconds, unsure of what was going on. These men looked strange, wearing full blacks, and their uniform looked like nothing he had seen before. Even the HYDRA uniform didn't look like that.

As they approached him, his mind kicked into full gear, and they would need more than just two soldiers to stop him.

*O*O*

Steve had no idea of what was going on or where the hell he was. First, he woke up in a fake room which couldn't hold a regular officer, let alone a super soldier. Second, the building that he was held in didn't look like any kind of building that he had ever seen. It was all futuristic. Thirdly, when he walked out of building and onto the streets, he had no idea of where he was. Sure, he recognized streets signs and he knew he was in New York, but this didn't look like the city he had grown up in. There were so many flashing lights and movie screens displaying ads at a rapid pace, which he didn't even think was possible. How was that possible?

He couldn't even think as he just stared off in disbelief. The honking cars or a crowd of loud people, who were staring at him, didn't draw his attention. None of that mattered to him. He couldn't get his head around what was going on, but he didn't get time to think as black cars circled him, blocking his escape. Even the cars were of nothing that he had ever seen before.

"At ease, soldiers!"

Shaking his head, Steve turned to a man who had stepped out of one of the vehicles and was walking toward him. He looked like a man who had seen a great deal of things and deserved respect, but Steve wasn't sure if he wanted to give that to him just yet. He looked like one of those men from the fake room.

"Look, I'm sorry about that little show back there… but we thought it best to break it to you slowly," said the man with the eye patch.

"Break what?"

"You've been asleep, Cap. For almost seventy years," said the man. He took another step toward him.

Steve didn't know what to say to that. How could that be true? Was it something to do with the Serum? He didn't know, but it all too much for him to take. He closed his eyes as he tried to block out the world around him. It had to be true, right? That was only one thing that could explain what was going on around him.

Rogers took a deep breath as he tried to convince himself. But before he could calm himself fully, his mind drifted to Toni, and his heart just shattered. He had left her. He had left her to suffer seventy years alone. She could've died alone, like she always had been. He had promised himself when he first met her that he wasn't going to allow that to happen. How could he have allowed that to happen?

The eyed him before he said, "Are you going to be okay?"

Steve glanced to the man, as everything for him came crashing down. Toni wasn't there, because she couldn't have been here. She was gone. Gone from him forever and it broke him. Maybe, Phillips was right. "Yeah, yeah. I just had a…" He drifted off because he didn't know what he had. He had told himself that he wanted to see Toni to tell her everything, but he couldn't do that now and he didn't know what to do now.

*O*O*

Steve knew he had to get her off his mind or he was going to go crazy, if he wasn't already crazy. However, if he didn't know what happened to her, he would go crazy anyway. He had to at least find out what had happened to her as it would be the only thing that would settle his mind. He had to make sure she was happy. He just had to. He didn't know what he would do if he found out she wasn't.

He took a deep breath. "I don't know if I want you off my mind, Toni," he muttered as he laid his head on the table. Thinking about her also kept him sane as well. He didn't know if he should believe everything that Directory Nick Fury had told him, though it would be hard to disprove. Though it didn't matter if it was true, she was his focus point, his anchor.

He took a deep breath as he didn't even have a photo of her to remember her beautiful face or smart ass mouth. He had to settle for a damn drawing which didn't do her justice. He had no idea of where he could get a picture—or how to find out what had happened to her. He didn't know where to start; he couldn't look her up in the damn phone book. He did, however, ask Fury if he knew what happened to the officers who were involved in the SSR, and on request, Fury handed over the personal folders, which were laid out in front of him.

Steve didn't know if he wanted to look at these folders; it was one thing to think everyone he knew was dead. It was another to know that they were dead. He took a deep breath as he opened the first folder and gazed. It was of Howard Stark- deceased, and that completely shocked him. How did the genius die? How was that possible? Steve though he out live them all. The folder shook in his hands as he tried to force himself to read it, but he couldn't. He just couldn't. It would be too much.

Unable to look at the details, he flipped to another file which was of Colonel Phillips- also deceased. It was a blow to his heart to see so many of his comrades dead. Again unable to look, he flipped to see Peggy and to his joy, she was still alive and living in England. There was a number listed for her, and for a second, he wanted to call her, but he couldn't do that to her. She had gotten over his death and he was going to allow her that peace.

He quickly turned the folder, finding the folders for the commanders. To his delight, not all of them were dead, but at the same time it didn't bring him joy. Even if they were alive, they were lost to him and it would be wrong to contact them after all of this time, though he was tempted by it. They would know what happened to Toni, whom had been close to a few of them. He took a deep breath knowing that he couldn't do that because that would be selfish of him. Heck, he shouldn't need to ask them as it should be in one of their folders.

Steve flipped pass their pages, looking for Toni's folder, but her folder wasn't here. Making sure he hadn't missed anything, he looked through the folders again, but it wasn't there. It has to be here! He thought to himself. It just had to be there; there was no way that it wouldn't be there. Fury had stated these files were all the personnel involved with the SSR, so it had to be here. So he looked for the file yet again, but it was nowhere to be found. He took a deep breath, as he tried to calm himself but his anger had gotten the best of him, and he hurled the files across the room. He watched as the pages flew everywhere, landing everywhere.

"Fury must've missed one," he said while huffing. Maybe, he did it on purpose, but why would he do that? Maybe, Fury knew how affected he would be by it; however, that didn't make sense. No one knew how he felt about her. No one besides Philips. If he did know, Steve didn't know what the reason would be, but he would ask the Director about it.

*O*O*

"You missed a personnel file," Steve stated as he marched behind Fury, his eyes drilling into the back of Fury's head.

Fury stopped and moved aside as not to disrupt the flow of traffic in SHIELD headquarters, an impressive building if it could be considered as just a building. It was much more than a building. It was far more advanced than anything else on the planet. "I'm not sure what you're implying but I feel insulted, Captain Rogers," he said.

Steve glanced around, noticing a few eyes on him. He wondered briefly if they knew who he was. "I didn't mean to insult you, Director Fury," he said. "The file that I'm looking for wasn't included in the case."

"What are you looking for?" he asked, eyeing him.

With a deep breath, Steve glanced around, eyeing anyone who came close. As they were in the lobby (or what Steve thought was the lobby), there was a lot of foot traffic, and there were a lot of ears around. Steve, who was unsure of what he doing or where he was going, had no clearances and was stuck to the lobby only, even if he wanted to get away from the crowd for privacy. His eyes flicked to the SHIELD's logo in the center of the room and stayed focused on it.

Fury followed his glance. "I understand you're going through a lot right now, Rogers, and I can't imagine what' running through your head," he stated. "If you need a mission to get you back into things, I can-"

"I need that file. That's all I need." Steve turned to him, annoyed. He didn't need a mission-well maybe not now.

"I gave you all the files," Fury said.

"No, you didn't." Why couldn't he understand that he had missed one?

"Which file are you looking for?" Fury asked, eyeing Rogers. "If you're looking for some kind of peace, this won't help you. Knowing that all of your comrades are deceased will only serve to taunt you."

He was sick of people telling him what to do. Why couldn't Fury just give him what he wanted without a lecture? Yes, he understood that he was only taunting himself, but he would be haunted even without the file. He couldn't even close his eyes without seeing the battlefield; he couldn't see anything but bloodshed. "I just need the file on Toni Sark. She worked closely with Howard Stark."

Fury narrowed his eyes. "I don't consider myself an expert in everything, though there're only a few things I don't know. Really only a few things," he replied, annoyed. "But there was no Toni Sark, who worked with the SSR."

Steve shook his head. "Maybe, she was borrowed from somewhere…another department," he said, trying to think of something. Toni had to come from somewhere… but she had lied to him before. Maybe, she was lying about that, but there was no way that she could've fooled Phillips.

"There's only one Toni that I'm aware of and that's Toni Stark, but I highly doubt she was involved in the SSR."

The Super Soldier froze, unable to process that new info. How in the hell did Howard marry Toni, when she couldn't even stand to be in the same room as him? Yes, she was less hostile to him as time went on, but there was no way that she would've married him. She just wouldn't have. Or you just want her sad and miserable, he thought, angry at himself. He didn't like the idea of her marrying Howard at all. "Why is that?" asked Steve. "Maybe, it's the last name thing. Maybe, you looked up the wrong last name."

Fury stared at him, confused. "I didn't. Miss Stark wasn't even born in the 1940's. She's Howard Stark's daughter."

"I…I don't understand," Rogers replied slowly. Nothing was making sense to him. Why would Howard name his child after Toni? Did she leave a lasting imagine with him? However, why couldn't Fury find a Toni Sark in his record?

Fury took a deep breath. "Wait here."

Steve didn't say anything as he watched Fury disappear through a door that he couldn't follow him through. He just stared at the glass doors, wondering why Fury left. What did that man want to show him? He wasn't even sure that he trusted this man. Why would he? This man showed up and told him nothing. There was no proof that he could trust him, besides the fact that he was a part of SHIELD which evolved from the SSR.

It was only ten minutes later that Fury returned with another folder, a newer folder than the ones that Fury had given him before. "Here's Toni Stark's folder. I don't know what you're looking for, but you won't find it with her. She won't be that anchor to the past for you."

Steve took the folder. "Thanks," he said, adding nothing else. He didn't want or have any interest in talking to Fury about what was going on in his head; heck, he wasn't sure what was going on in his head. Everything was spinning and he couldn't make heads or tails of anything. However, a part of what Fury said did rang to him, because he was looking for an anchor. He was looking for Toni, though he didn't know if this 'Toni Stark' would be helpful. Why would she be?

*O*O*

Steve, fighting his negative thoughts, didn't look at the file until he had gotten back to his small messy apartment. He usually was very organized as messes weren't tolerated in the army, but he couldn't find the urge to clean up the tossed files on the floor. Those files were painful reminders to something that he had lost to the hands of time. It weighted heavily on his mind that he was the alone, which was probably why he was pushing so hard to find Toni. You could always go see Peggy, he thought. He closed his eyes, thinking about all of the pain that he had put her through, and he couldn't do that to her. Maybe, once he got head screwed on right, he might go see her. Right now, he wasn't stable.

Taking a seat at the same table from earlier, he opened the file and dropped it immediately. The woman in the photo was Toni, his Toni, but how could that be? How could Toni Sark be Toni Stark? Sure, if Toni Stark was older, he could see it, but she wasn't old enough to have been alive in the 1940's. "I don't understand," he muttered to himself. Did Fury mixed up the photos when he gave him Stark's folder? He had to have had… But the photo didn't look old.

He tried to argue with himself, saying she wasn't his Toni; this Toni Stark was someone who looked like his Toni. It wasn't uncommon for people to look alike. But how could've Howard known that his future daughter would look like Toni? Is it just a coincidence? He shook his head, because this couldn't have been a coincidence. There was no way that Howard would have known his daughter would look exactly like Toni.

"I don't understand," he snapped, as he looked through the file, which was thicker than the others. He went cold at another picture of this Toni Stark, who had the same glow in her chest that his Toni had. They also had the same height, though Steve wasn't sure how he knew Toni's height. "Snap out of it," he told himself as he stared at the picture, his focus on the glow, which haunted him. "It can't be her, but it has to be. She wouldn't look that young. Maybe…." He shook his head. Nothing he came up with made sense.

Maybe she was a goddess or something which would explain why she looked so young. Maybe, she didn't age and Howard took her in to hide her identity. "Now, I'm going crazy," he told himself, shaking those thoughts out of his mind. He flipped a page and started at Toni's biography, hoping that would give him some answers. The word torture popped out at him, which reminded him of something that Toni told him before about being tortured.

"Was this how she had been tortured?" he asked. "But that doesn't make sense. She was tortured before I met her, but this was only a few years ago." Unable to finish reading all of the horrible things those Ten Ring bastards did to her, he balled up the pager and threw it as hard as he could. This had been the torture that she had talked about, but how could that be? It didn't make any sense.

Steve picked up a photo of Toni in which she was smirking at the camera. He remembered that smile; at first, he couldn't stand it, but it had grown on him. He loved how confident she was, how sure she was. He loved that she knew how to handle herself, even if she made him worried. "How can you be the same Toni?" He felt himself relax, and that was when something popped out at him.

*O*O*

He had told himself that he wouldn't see them until he was ready, but he needed to know, and it wasn't as if he went to see Peggy. He had tracked down Dum Dum in a nursing home, who he seemed to be enjoying as he bugged all of the female nurses. Though guys who flirted nonstop annoyed him, it was adorable to see old man Dugan flirt with women half his age; however, it could get annoying after a while. It had to do something with the fact that no one could be mad at an elderly man.

"Dugan," Steve called standing a few feet from Dum Dum, who was joking around with another resident. They were in the common room of the Nursing home, which was filled with visiting family, other residents, and nurses. Dugan and his friend were eyeing one of a female nurses, who was currently assisting another resident.

Dum Dum Dugan turned him, completely shocked. "Rogers?" he asked, trying to push himself up. It looked like he was seeing a ghost as the color drained from his face. "I'll be damned."

"You don't have to get up," Steve started as he took a seat next to him. He stared at him, shocked at how old he looked. He knew seventy years had passed, but it was shocking to see Dugan like this with his hair thinning and turning into different shades of whites and grays. A used cane discolored from years of use sat a few feet from Dugan ready to be used. "How are you doing?"

"I'm seeing a ghost," he said, just staring at him.

Steve smiled, trying to mask the pain of seeing him like this. Would it be this hard with all of his friends? "It's a long story. I came to see how you're doing."

Dugan smiled, still shocked. "Is it really you? You look so young."

"The Serum," he replied. "And there was some ice."

"You could always do things that we could not," he cheered, eyeing a female nurse. "Oh, look its Nancy. I like Nancy."

Steve turned and watched the nurse called Nancy as she was filing some paper. She glanced up and their eyes met, bringing a blush to his face. She smiled, finding him attractive, as he found her attractive. She was pretty, but she wasn't Toni pretty, who could look pretty in anything. He loved the way Toni looked when she wore a baggy engineering jumper covered in oil with her hair in a messy bun. He loved how happy she got when she was working on something. Nancy's smile couldn't compete with hers. No one's could.

"You can't have Nancy. Nancy is mine, Rogers," Dugan stated, watching him.

"No, she's mine," his fellow resident stated from behind him.

"No, Tom. She's mine."

Steve laughed. "I'm not interested."

"Good," Dugan stated. "Why are you here, Steve?" He was eyeing Steve, belief still in his eyes. "I'm know it isn't to catch up, though I would like that. You can pretend to be my grandson and help me with these ladies."

Steve watched as Tom was wheeled away by some male orderly, telling him that he needed to take some pills. It wasn't until the elderly man was gone that he spoke up. He didn't want to talk in front of him. "Toni Sark."

Dugan smiled. "I should have figured."

"Why is that?"

"Everyone thought she was Barnes' girl, but in fact she was yours. She always was. I knew during the poker game when she lit up at the sight of you. It just wasn't the right time."

Steve warmed at that. "I'm trying to figure out what happened to her. I know that–"

Dugan put a hand up to stop him. "My mind slips and at times, I don't remember what I had for dinner, but I…" He drifted off leaving Steve to wonder if he had fallen asleep. He watched him in silence until Dugan spoke again, "Have you heard of Toni Stark?"

That name stuck him hard. Did he know? "Yes."

Dugan grabbed his cane and used it to push himself up. "And how they look alike?"

Steve reached his hands out to catch Dugan if he were to fall. It struck him how old Dugan was as he looked like he was going to fall over at any second. He didn't know how he could handle the fact that all of his friends and allies were either dead or close to death like Dugan. He couldn't watch them die. "Yes."

"It's because they're the same person."

"I…" There was a pause. "But how? I… don't understand," he spoke, looking down at his hands. "I was playing around–"

Dugan shook his head as he stepped away. "Not in public. People already think I'm a crazy old man, which I am, and many not believe it if they hear but they don't need to hear this," he said, leading Steve down a long hallway. It was a lengthy, painfully slow walk for both of them: for Dugan, his weak, old bones ached with each movement. His cane could barely support his weight, but he refused to sit.

For Steve, he walked behind Dugan ready to catch the old unstable man, who looked like he would fall over. Steve didn't think he had ever walked this slowly before and it boggled the mind that someone could walk this leisurely. He eyed Dugan swaying form, unable to get over how old and close to death he was. "So tell me how–"

"Time travel," Dugan answered, still shocked himself.

Steve had come to that conclusion on his own, but it was hard for him to grasp that. "I don't –"

"You don't need to understand. You just need to comprehend that you can't tell or see her."

"What?" Steve asked shocked. How did he know that he was planning on seeing her? And why didn't Dugan want him to see her? "I was –"

Dugan turned to him and gave him the look. "I know that look of yours and what you're planning, but you can't," he warned, taking a seat in a lone chair by a window. "She can't know she went to the past until she goes to the past. You can change everything if you go to her."

"I can see her without telling her."

"And how will you explain it, Steve? How will you walk into her life? She won't know you. Plus, she isn't the same person you met in the past yet. Trust me on that. Trust me."

Steve knew he was right, but it hurt to hear him say it. He didn't want to leave her alone; he finally found her, and he wanted to see her, hold her, kiss her, and never let her go again. And this time, they might have a chance. "How did you figure that out?" he asked. He wanted to protest and say that he could go and see Toni without changing the past.

"Howard did. Back in the lab before you vanished, Toni jokingly told him that, but he didn't figure it out after you disappeared. However, we didn't find out until after she was born and we wondered why he named his daughter after Toni," he said. He tried to laugh but it came out as a cough. "He puffed out his chest like a proud father and gloated that his daughter would invent time travel."

Steve could see Howard doing that. "And he just told you?"

"Well, he told all of us to not say anything, but it was odd seeing her grow up."

Steve closed his eyes, envisioning Toni as a small child. "I bet."

"Growing up, Peggy and her were close," Dugan said with a smile. "They were cute together."

"If you guys saw her, why can't I?" He was jealous.

"It's one thing to be introduced to her, but you can't just walk up to her. Steve, you can't. You have to wait until she comes back from the past and you can't tell anyone. I need you to promise me this." He took a deep breath. "I know it'll be hard for you, knowing how much you care for her, but you can't. If your paths meet, then so be it, but you can't go to her. Promise me this."

Every part of his body was telling him not to promise that. His very breath was taken away from him at the very thought of not seeing her again, and it made his heart ache. However, he knew Dugan was right. He had to stay away from her, because if he didn't, he could change the whole time line, though he wasn't sure how much of the time line would be different since she messed it up in the first place. "I promise."

*O*O*

It was harder to stay away from Toni than he had expected, because her face was everywhere and every time he saw it, he was drawn to it. If he saw her face on a magazine, he had to buy it. If she was in a newspaper, he had to read it. If he heard her name on the street, he had to stop and listen. He had to bring to sketchbook with him wherever he went in case the urge to draw forced it way up to the surface. So far, it had happened quite a few time and each picture was of Toni in different poses; the last pose was her in one of those weird suits that she had created. He had seen a video of her flying in the suit and he couldn't help but draw it as she seemed so free flying.

Steve, with sketchbook open to a blank page, was seated outside a small café in Manhattan. Not a second passed without a person walking past him, and it was about every five seconds that a woman walked by him smiling. Even in old, bland, out of fashion clothes, Steve was still attractive young man, who stood out in a crowd. Though he wasn't an expert in women in any sense, he knew he was attractive and he could get any woman he wanted… well besides the one he wanted.

Here he was just a few yards from Stark Tower, waiting for her to drive or flew by. The waitress made a note about that being common when she noticed him staring at the building. She smiled and walked away not realizing that he was waiting for something more. He ignored the man at the next table telling him to ask for her number, which Steve didn't want at all. He knew seeing another Dame –no, woman –would probably (not) help him get over Toni, but he couldn't even think of going out with another woman.

Shaking his head, he picked up his pencil and started to draw the building, which was striking compared to everything else around it. To him like other buildings around the city, it was an ugly building, but it stuck out to him, drawing him in. It was something that she created.

"You need to get out," he told himself. He needed to get out, back into the world, though he didn't know how he would do that. He had no idea of where to begin; he could take up Fury's offer, but the idea of going on a mission without his commandos was painful. He wouldn't even know how to go on a mission without them, and did the world really need him? They lasted this long without a Captain America, so why would they need him now?

The world had changed so much in the last seventy years and he doubted they would need an old man like himself. They didn't need an old worn out symbol; they just wanted power and frame. There was another reason why he listened to Dugan when he told him to stay away from Toni. He was afraid that she wouldn't want him now, even if she did remember him. He was old fashion and outdated and she was not. Stop thinking that, he yelled at himself, slamming his pencil down.

The drawing, almost completed, had an angry line drawn through it, caused by him throwing his pencil down. The tower was missing the name Stark that the real tower had, but the sketch had a shadow in one of the top windows that he envisioned Toni to be standing at looking over the city. He could see a smile on her face, happy at her work. She was always happy at her work.

He picked up the pencil again to add streets signs and other small details, but he dropped it a second later when he realized where he was. This ugly building was located in the same spot that he had found Toni bloody and injured, calling out for help. This was where it all happened. This was the spot that she traveled back in time, though there was no way to tell if this was when she did so.

Steve stood suddenly, as that promise he made went out the window. He wasn't sure what he was going to do, but maybe, he could stop her from going back in time; however, there was no telling what that would do. It would stop me from loving her, he thought, which took his breath away. He couldn't imagine himself not loving her, and it could change the past completely and they could end up losing the war. They had to have won the war before she interfered, right?

His mind wandered back to that cold dark night when he found her; he thought she was going to die from her injures. Even then when he didn't know who she was, he hated seeing her like that; his heart ached from the sight. He wanted to save her from that pain, but he couldn't. He knew he couldn't and he knew he couldn't stop his own pain either.

*O*O*

"Trying to get me back in the world?" Steve asked, sending another punch to the worn out punching bag. He kept having flashbacks of the war, of his commandos, of Toni's face when she watched him run off. He hadn't realized at the time that she had been scared, that she didn't want him to go, but he could see it in her eyes as he looked back at his memories. Her eyes ate at him as he thought of her.

Fury stepped toward him. "Trying to save it."

Steve still hadn't made his mind up about Fury just yet, but his words struck him and he listed to the man as he talked about the threat to the Earth's safety. Even if he didn't trust Fury, he couldn't let Loki get away with his evil plans, not with Toni's life in danger. She may never know how he felt, but he was going to protect her.

The Super Soldier listened to him, getting angrier with each passing second but he refused to let it show as he had a mission to do even if it was his fault. They should have let it in the ocean, but it was too late now and he had to stop it before it did any more damage.

He wondered briefly if he would see Toni, but he brushed those thoughts away. She wasn't a part of this; she didn't need to be a part of this. She was already hurt by this Tesseract and she didn't need to be hurt again.

*O*O*

"Make your move, Reindeer Games," said Toni.

Hearing her froze him, making him forget where he was and what the mission was. Hearing her voice made him want to drop everything and hold her tight. It made him lose all focus. Shaking his head, he turned back to Loki, who was smirking at Toni. Steve tried to tell himself that there was nothing behind that look of Loki's, but there was something more to it… heat. He wanted to yell at Loki, telling him not look at Toni that way, but he held his tongue.

"Good move," said Toni as Loki put down his weapon.

She landed next to him and he felt his heart skip a beat. He didn't know what to say or how to say it without sounding like a love sick puppy. Why did the sound of her voice do that to him? "Toni," he greeted, happiness dripped off his voice.

She turned to him slightly and Steve could almost feel her glare on him. "Captain," she replied curtly, her voice plain. She was clearly irritated.

He couldn't believe he just did that; he just called her by her first name, which he knew she didn't like. First names were for people whom knew each other; first names were earned with her. They were an honor, which he had earned in the past but not now. Why did he mess up like that? Now, she would never like him.

The end for now.

I hoped you enjoyed this. I wasn't sure if Dugan was still alive in the future, but he wasn't confirmed dead, so he was the commando that I used. I hope no one was too OOC. I have been struggling with that lately.

Anyhow I hope you like.