A/N: I watched Captain America: The Winter Soldier twice already and I must say I am itching for round 3. Also, I have a Cap fiction in the works so that's something to look out for since this story is at its end.

Thank you, everyone for reading and commenting. I appreciate it and like Katherine on VD, all good things must come to an end.

Chapter 16

Reports were flooding in from SHIELD agents around the city, feeding the Avengers information on the situation against the Chitauri and the werewolves. With the Imperial Stone destroyed, the Avengers and SHIELD were able to defeat the Chitauri guards and rescue the human captives. They were immediately transported to SHEILD medical offices for further examination and to combat the Chitauri parasites possessing them. From what Steve could gather, as soon as Katherine stabbed the stone with the knife, werewolves around the city were freed of its mind-control and fled, not wanting to be caught up in the battle between SHIELD and the aliens.

They had won. All because of her.

The woman now lying in Stark's medical ward had risked her life to save all of New York and the very humans she scorned and as a result, they had beaten back yet another possible alien invasion.

Tony managed to get her out of the main chamber before it caved in from the power surge while Steve had ensured the humans were safely in SHEILD's care. Since he was cleared from debriefing with Fury, Steve had immediately returned to Stark Towers where he found Tony and Pepper just leaving the vampire's room.

"She's fine. Just drained of her strength." Pepper said calmly. "We're feeding blood into her system even as we speak. That should speed up her recovery."

"Thank goodness." relief was evident on Steve's face as he sighed. "Black Widow and Hawkeye are monitoring the SHEILD's clean-up efforts. Thor has transported the Hulk to the Nevada dessert to calm him down."

"I gathered that no one but us and Mister Superspy knows that Katherine survive the attack then." Tony guessed.

"Yes. The board of directors are not pleased with Fury for engaging a vampire as one of our allies. They wanted him to lock her up for research." Steve said, remembering what Fury had told him private. "And now that they think she's dead…"

"I'll take care of everything for her." Tony promised, nodding in Pepper's direction. She nodded in return and excused herself from the room.

"So Katherine and the Chitauri, how long have you known, Tony?" Steve asked. He just needed to know. "And why didn't you tell me?"

"Let's see." the billionaire stroked his goatee thoughtfully. "I believe it was the day of the bank heist.

Katherine, as you know, went after Amanda alone. I was able to track her whereabouts using the tracking device in her bracelet and when I found her, she told me that she had an 'in' with the Chitauri. I must admit, I was sceptical at first which was why I didn't tell you or the Avengers. Heck, you didn't even know what she was and had I told you, you would have freaked out big time. I wasn't even sure if she was going to…um, double double-cross us."

"When did that change?" Steve asked, turning to stand by the window, imagining that just two days ago, she had been in a similar position.

"I am pretty sure it was that moment when she blew her true identity to save your life in Asgard." Tony said nonchalantly. "After that, Katherine and I began working on a plan to lure out the Chitauri and we decided we could use her influence on them to lure them into a false sense of security and trick them into thinking we have left the city based on fake information they think they're fed us when it's actually the other way around. You follow?"

"I follow." Steve said solemnly.

"Once they believed that the Avengers have left New York, Katherine was supposed to go back to their leader, Zarkis and have him reveal the mothership location and shut down its defences from the inside so that we can launch a pre-emptive strike on them before they can start the ritual. I had already completed the signal tracer but it could only give us a general location of the ship. Katherine's bracelet was the perfect beacon and that was how we were able to pinpoint the ship's location after she took down its shields. She was supposed to fill you in but you guys were captured before she could, I guess."

Steve nodded. "She almost had me fooled back there. If it wasn't for what she said in the Quinjet before we were attacked…"

"If it wasn't for her loyalties to you, Cap and your belief in her humanity, none of our plan would have worked." Tony said, folding his arms across his chest.

"Despite what she wants us and the world to think, there is a part of her that is still very much human." Steve agreed softly. "I have seen that part of her."

Tony scratched his chin, smirking. "Man, aren't you soft on her."

Steve ignored that last comment, opting instead to enter the ward so that he could sit by her side and wait for her to wake up.

"Say what you will, Tony." Pepper said, entering the room once more. "But I know you're soft on her too. Should I be jealous?"

He scoffed at her gentle teasing tone. "She may be a hundred year old vampire but all I need is one life time with you, Pepper."

"That's sweet." the strawberry blonde smiled, leaning up to kiss her boyfriend. "Corny but sweet."

Tony stared at the two people in the medical ward, one unconscious and the other watching her face closely. "She offered me a way out, Pepper. A way out of my perpetual life and death situation."

Pepper was confused until Tony turned to her and tapped his arc reactor, the one thing keeping him alive.

"It seemed that vampire blood has healing properties. All I needed was to drink her blood, rip out the arc reactor and I'll be as good as new. Whole again." he said grimly as though he was considering that option.

The look of amazement on her face was hard to miss and her eyes began to water from the prospect. "That is…great, Tony. But what's the catch? It can't be that easy….right." she asked, touching his arm.

He smiled fondly at her, remembering why he was so drawn to this woman in the first place. It was her heart and brains that tugged at his artificial heart. "Without my arc reactor, the Iron Man armour will be exactly just that, an armour. It won't be a part of me anymore and what more… if I die in battle or by some freak accident with her blood in my system, I'll become like her. A vampire and I don't know if I can live forever while you and everyone I care about grew old and passed on. I mean, look at Steve, a man out of his time alone and look how living a hundred over years has jaded Katherine. I don't think I can live like that. It's not worth the risk." a heavy sigh escaped him. "I meant what I said, Pepper. One lifetime is enough for me as long as you're here."

Touched by his words, she smiled softly and laced her fingers through his. "I am here for you, Tony, as long as you need me."

~.~

"You'll pay for your insolence, demon. You can't run forever. Your bloodline will suffer for your actions today."

She woke up with a start, the immediate rush of blood hitting her hard as she sat up in the bed. Biting back a groan, Katherine glanced at her arm and removed the IV drip feeding crimson liquid into her. Light breathing drew her attention to the man sleeping at her bedside, his head rested on his arms. His features were relaxed in slumber, giving him the appearance of a tired young man and not a war veteran. He hasn't even bothered to change out of his uniform.

"Steve…" she whispered, reaching out to wake up him.

She then noticed that the silver Stark bracelet was missing from her wrist and she couldn't help but wonder if she lost it in the fight on-board the Chitauri mothership. But as soon as the thought crossed her mind, she dismissed it.

Tony Stark's inventions were anything but flimsy. So that left the only explanation as he had removed it himself. That meant she was free to leave.

As soon as the thought sank in, her survival instincts kicked in automatically and her body moved instinctively, her footsteps a silent pin drop as she dressed quickly.

This was what she was good at. Running and disappearing like a shadow. This was her chance, possibly her only chance to leave New York before SHIELD and any more of Klaus's minions came after her. And she would be a fool not to take it.

She paused at the door, glancing back briefly to gaze at Steve who continued to sleep indicating how truly exhausted he was. A part of her regretted not being able to fulfil her promise to help him adapt to the new world but she knew she had little choice.

"I am sorry, Cap." she whispered as she closed the door quietly.

She made a quick stop at Stark's lab, grabbing the Stark Pad as she called it that had all her details inside and quickly flipped through the images until she found the one she wanted.

"JARVIS, where did Tony find this picture?" she asked.

"This picture was the digital image of the original located in Duke University, Durham, North Carolina." JARVIS answered. "It was part of a research conducted on folklore and parapsychology by –."

"Isobel." Katherine muttered with recognition. "That'll be all, JARVIS. Thank you."

"Always a pleasure, Miss Pierce." JARVIS replied.

Knowing that deleting everything Tony had on her would be futile, Katherine just left the Stark pad where she found it and after grabbing several bags of blood from the fridge, finally made her way out of the building under the cover of the night.

And found Steve waiting for her outside Stark Tower, an unreadable look on his face. She blinked, uncertain if she was staring at an illusion made from the depths of her own mind.

"Steve…?"

"So you were going to leave without saying goodbye." he stated, his blue eyes drifting over the small shoulder bag that carried her blood bags before resting on her.

She shrugged. "That was the initial plan before you found out."

He crossed his arms in front of his broad chest. "You planning on running again?"

"Someone wise once told me that once I started running, I was never going to stop." she said, slowly stepping closely to him. "So I thought it was about time I stopped running and faced my past. Faced Klaus."

"You don't have to do this alone." he replied quietly. "Let me help you."

"No, this is something I have to do by myself…without SHIELD or the Avengers. My problem to deal with. This is my mess, Cap." She could feel his body heat radiating off his form in waves and all she needed to do was to lean in, bare her fangs to his throat.

"You're not alone, Katherine. Not anymore. You have me now and the others whether you like it or not." he said, giving her a small smile as he took her hand and pressed it to his heart, letting her feel its heat and its steady beat. For her to memorise the sensation of human warmth once more. "You know that… right?"

"Yeah…I do." she whispered, closing her eyes as she leaned in and felt his arms envelop her. She listened to his heart, his human heart still very much alive, his body warmth chasing away the chill of her own body. "Which is why I can't let you come with me."

She pulled back to meet his gaze and her eyes seemed almost golden under the moonlight. "This is my decision, Steve…My past to face."

Slowly, he nodded in understanding and reached out to brush back a loose strand of hair from her face. "Stay alive."

"What I do best." she replied softly and tilting her head back, she brushed her lips against his.

A simple chastise touch that gave him a taste of her and it lingered, causing his eyes to flutter to shut.

And when he opened them, he found his arms empty and Katherine gone. As if she had never existed to begin with if it wasn't for the fading tingle in his lips and the very-real feeling of her in his arms.

My past to face….

He tilted his head back to gaze at the full moon, thinking that just 24 hours ago an alien race had come close to destroying the world again. The eerie peacefulness of the night was surreal just as her presence had been. But he knew.

He knew that he would one day see Katherine Pierce again. Maybe not tomorrow but sometime in the future. Maybe when he finally grew old and brittle while she will always remain the same, unchanging. Her voice whispered to his ears, a mere breeze but a reminder of that he needed to do too, for closure.

If you want to move on, you need to deal with the past….

A/N: It's Katherine. Taking off while the dust is settling and not without leaving a mark for people to remember her by. There was no way she could leave without landing one on Steve. I believe she is capable of moments of real affections. R&R