A Super Soldier for the Modern World
Chapter 14
"Put the guns down, guys," Amanda told them. They didn't budge. "I'm the director of SHIELD, remember?"
"Actually, that's me now," Tony told her.
"Then please make them lower the guns," Amanda said.
She and Steve were finally standing back in 2013, but were being held by four SHIELD agents with big guns.
"Coulson, why are they being held at gun point?" Tony asked. "Lower the guns, guys."
The four SHIELD agents tentatively did as they were told, but they were still blocking Steve and Amanda from leaving the room.
"Sir, we aren't sure if they really are Agent 13 and Captain Rogers," Coulson said.
"You think we're not us?" Steve asked. He turned to Amanda. "I'm kind of getting tired of having to prove who I am."
"Ditto. What Cap said," Amanda told them. "I'm am not a life model decoy, okay?"
"Quick, what did I buy you for your tenth birthday?" Tony asked.
"You bought me a monkey. A Capuchin. It wore a diaper. My mom made me donate it to the zoo," Amanda told him. "Satisfied?"
"What did you name it?" he asked with narrowed eyes.
"Like you remember that, but Abu. Like Aladdin."
"It's Amanda. You can go," he said, waving the other agents off and moving to Amanda to hug her. "Where the hell were you two?"
Amanda was momentarily taken aback by his tight hug. They were usually initiated by her. And there was the absence of the arc reactor in his chest.
"What happened to this?" she tentatively pocked the center of his chest.
"I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to worry, but I had it taken out," he said. "As well as the bits of shrapnel," he added quickly when he saw the worried expression on her face.
Tony turned to Steve. "Nice to see you again," he half-smiled.
"You, too," Steve replied, shaking the man's hand.
"So, which one of you wants to explain where you were?" Tony said looking back and forth at them.
"I'd like a proper shower and to clean up my stitches, first. Is that okay with you?" Amanda asked.
"I'd like a few minutes alone with Amanda, too," Steve said. "We have to discuss that thing…"
"Right," Amanda nodded. "That thing."
"Why do you have stitches?" And why are you dressed like that?" Tony shouted after then as they walked past him.
A SHIELD vehicle took them back to Steve's apartment and Amanda started removing clothes as she walked through the rooms.
Amanda didn't turn to look behind her, but she heard the rustle of clothes and she knew Steve was following her example.
Steve Rogers knew full well that he did not need to ask permission to join Amanda in the shower. At first, he'd just watched her remove the nurse's uniform that she'd been wearing.
He followed her into the bathroom and finished undressing the both of them.
Amanda moved to turn on the water and then turned to look up into Steve's eyes.
"Part of me feels really guilty," she told him.
"For what" he asked as he brushed a bit if hair from her face.
"A couple reasons," she said. She looked down at her feet. "My aunt really fell for you. And she knows that, well that I am with you now."
Steve pulled her chin up gently so he could look her in the eyes.
"I love you. I never had a chance to get to know her. I do know you. And that's all that matters. So what else is bothering you?"
"We told the past-you that what happens. We told him his future; your future. Do you feel different?"
"No. And I have to tell you. I know it's not an easy decision to make, but it is the only option I had. I could have let that plane blow up North America, or I could take it down myself. And I would make the same choice today that I did that day," Steve explained to her.
"Do you think time runs like that?" Amanda asked. "Do you think in a couple days everything could change again? If you, from 1943, doesn't make the same choice you did?"
Steve laughed. "I trust myself."
"I trust you, too," she said before rising on her tiptoes to kiss him.
Amanda stepped over the edge of the tub and Steve followed. He closed the curtain and the both of them stood under the custom-designed ceiling mounted showerhead.
"I know you didn't mind the arm life, Steve, but I am very happy to be back with hot water. I didn't think I was that high maintenance until this happened," Amanda explained.
"I think you did pretty well, all things considered."
"I feel gross," she laughed.
"You look just fine," Steve told her. He ran his hands down her side and stopped at the puckered skin on her hip. "Well, except this. Is this okay?"
"Yes, it's just the poor stitch job I did. I've found I really don't like being stabbed. And I think I'll add time travel to that dislike list, too."
She grabbed Steve's soap and squeezed some onto him. She continued to absent-mindedly wash his chest until he took her wrist into his hand to stop her.
"What?" she asked.
His face was unreadable.
"Did I do something wrong?" she asked.
"No, no," he told her. "I just…are you still going to marry me?"
Amanda's own concerned face turned into a smile.
"Yes," she answered breathlessly. "As long as you still want to marry me," she added.
"Of course," he told her, a smile spreading on his face.
He bent to kiss her again and that is when they heard the front door of the apartment open and slam into the wall. Then they heard a voice. A voice they recognized immediately. Natasha Romanoff.
A second later, the shouts were much closer. As in, they were coming from the doorway to the bathroom.
"Get out here. You're both back and you couldn't call your best friend?" Nat yelled. "Well…?"
"Tasha, can't you at least let them finish their shower?" Hawkeye asked them. "Hey guys! Come on, Tash."
"No, I want to know what happened."
"I am not going to talk to you until I have washed the military camp mud from my hair and have gotten dressed. So go make yourselves comfortable."
"Amanda and I need a few more minutes to get cleaned up," Steve said. "Would you close the door, too?"
Both Amanda and Steve heard some kind of angry sound from Natasha and then the door creaked closed.
Fifteen minutes later, Amanda and Steve emerged into his living room where Nat was cleaning under her nails with a very large knife and Hawkeye was flipping TV channels. Both were outfitted in their SHIELD gear.
"It's the middle of the day, why are you both in spy gear?"
"We were working with some new recruits," Hawkeye told Amanda. "Tasha wouldn't let us change before we came over here…"
"It's nice to see you, Clint," Amanda smiled.
"Cut the chitchat. Where the hell were you?" Natasha asked angrily.
"1943," Steve and Amanda answered together.
Natasha and Hawkeye said nothing. They simply stared in disbelief.
"Did you run away for a vacation?" Nat asked.
"Trust me; it was no vacation, Nat," Amanda told her.
"No. Definitely not a vacation."
"I think the both of you need your heads examined," she told them.
"Tasha…" Clint warned.
"Well, we have to meet with Tony in a bit. Why don't you both go, too? And that way we can cover the whole thing all at once," Steve said.
Nat opened her mouth to speak, but Hawkeye answered.
"That sounds good, Cap. We'll see you in a bit."
Natasha bit her lip and stomped out of the apartment without a word.
"She really missed you," Hawkeye said before following her and closing the door behind himself.
"I can't even get alone time with you in my own apartment," Steve said. "How the hell did they get in?"
"They're spies, Steve…" Amanda told him. "But we're alone now…" she trailed off.
One second later, he'd scooped her up and hauled her off to the bedroom. Amanda giggled the whole way.
Two hours later, both Steve and Amanda were fully clothed and standing in Fury's old office with Tony, Natasha and Hawkeye.
"Where's Coulson?" Tony asked.
"I will summon him, sir," JARVIS said. They all waited in uncomfortable silence until Coulson knocked and joined them again.
"Sorry about the armed guards earlier, Captain Rogers," Coulson said.
Steve waved his hand. "It's all right," he dismissed.
Coulson smiled. "Thanks."
"All right. What happened?" Tony asked.
"We wound up in 1943, Tony," Amanda said. "Complete with two Steves, my aunt Peggy and your dad."
Half an hour later, Steve had told them the whole story. They were all staring at them in silence.
"And my dad, Howard Stark, somehow managed to blast you back here? How?"
Amanda and Steve shook their heads. "He didn't really explain the details," Amanda said.
"We were hoping he wasn't going to kill us in the process."
"How did you end up back in my building?"
"Something like clicking our heels together…" Amanda said. "I think it was simply an accident."
Steve scanned the room and something caught his eye. He moved toward it.
"I think Cap might be ADHD," Tony said as they watched him.
"That's the pot calling the kettle black," Natasha muttered.
"That might be racist; I'll have to get back to you on that when we aren't in the middle of something, Romanoff," Tony replied.
"Amanda, it's the plant," Steve told her.
Amanda was out of her seat and joined Steve.
"That was here when I took this office, I swear. Not mine," Tony said.
"It's not that kind of plant, Tony. And I know it's not yours. This plant was in your dad's lab."
"Oh," he said simply.
"I wonder how he knew to send it here?" Steve asked.
"I know why," Amanda smiled at Tony.
He smiled back at her. "Me, too."
Amanda carried the plant to him.
"Here, from your father," she said, putting down on the desk.
"So, is there anything else?" Tony said.
"Well…" Amanda started.
"Amanda agreed to marry me," Steve said.
…
A/N: Let me know what you thought! Thanks! (Any love you want to send would be great…today's my birthday…lol….)